Friday 11 December 2015

171 - Finished: Tracks, But Not Tank Ones

Hello again and welcome to the final, finished layout. If you are unaware of what we've been up to please take a look at the previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
I'd like to start by thanking everyone who has read through any or all parts of this build. What started out as something to give my dad back his hobby has escalated slightly and my brother-in-law and I have gone way beyond our initial plans for this project. Read on to see what we have accomplished.
Let's start with the main station. Here you can see all three loops approaching the "town" station. The station was made up with a combination of platform pieces, station pieces and the canopy pieces which look awesome. We might try and extend the canopy over the outer loop and siding. You can also see the passengers on the platform and the marshalling yard in the distance.

This is looking back at the main station., sorry for the leftover tools etc that are scattered next to it - we haven't worked out what to do with this area as it may be where the controllers are set up. The siding on the left that comes off the outer loop is long enough for 4/5 coaches.

Continuing on round and we've got the completed marshalling yard (minus a couple of accessories). The incline on the outer loop is missing some track side fencing, which wasn't in with the rest of the pieces, so we'll add this later. There are a few buildings dotted around, including a loading bay, but the final positions may get changed.

This gives you all a bit of a better view of the yard. The long sidings can fit 4 carriages and the shorter sidings will hold plenty of rolling stock or loco's. The two locomotives are from my dad's collection (of over 40 loco's). After a bit of oiling they were running perfectly. The only problem is the incline proving to be a challenge for tender driven trains. There are a few fixes we're working on including a "ghost" car, which is a motorised wagon at the end of the train. On one of the long sidings is the PECO rerailer, which will be used by dad to get the trains on the track. It may get some further modification once he's used it a while.

Carry on up the incline and you hit a small village made up of a cafe, some houses and a church with graveyard. There is also a signal box overlooking one end of the marshalling yard. The hill frontage was covered with brick effect paper and brick effect plastic (the copydex was still drying when the photos were being taken). The hill sections were given a dusting of Halford's Peugeot Conifer green and Halford's Rover Maple brown along with areas of green flock mix and brown flock.


Swinging around the track and you approach the single track "rural" station on the middle loop. There is also a bypass track on the inner loop which leads to the other side of the marshalling yard. On the outer loop is a raised siding and the double girder bridge leading into the tunnel.


Looking back along the track as it curves past (and through) the hillside. The controller will not be staying next to the level crossing. There is a little scene at the level crossing involving some roadworks and the car park next to the station has some activity as well.


Another shot looking across the tracks from the hill top and one looking along the swing out section. We had lots of sheep to dot around and figured we'd split them up across the hill and fields. There are also cows on the other side of the river.

Finally a shot looking at the hill top home as the occupant attempts to coax the goat back in to the garden. We tried to create a few little scenes within the layout. There is an interview occurring on the main station platform to name another.

Thank you all for taking the time out to read/look through this series of posts. My dad has had a few opportunities to use the layout and so far the feedback has been good.

We still have plans for a few other additions, the first of which will be backdrops all the way around the board. Part of this is for aesthetic reasons and part is in case there is a derailment - we weren't sure if dad would be happy with hundred's of pounds of loco and rolling stock crashing on to the garage floor.

Thanks again, and comments/complaints are appreciated as always.

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