Julian has been in touch with his model railroad bench work – he’s made one module lower than the others for river and viaduct:
“Hi Alistair,
As promised, a progress report.
A friend of mine has made the various sections and modules to complete the base boards for the finished layout – well, if any train layout is ever ‘finished’ !!
The end boards (01 & 03) are at different levels for the river and viaduct (02), with a river wharf and ware houses climbing a hill towards the castle (on 01).
On the end boards on the right, will be the farm & dairy on the right far end (03), and front right, the brewery/factory (05) These structures will be on hills, with tunnels and cuttings for scenic changes.
An incline will take the branch line from the end of 06 up and along the back of the complete layout to board 01, where it circles and descends to join the main line again. There will be a small station here. The existing station on 06 will be complemented with a high-level station at the back of the village / shop area (05), and branches to the dairy and brewery.
The hills will be layered fibre board off cuts glued and shaped, then covered in a filler impregnated cloth for the base before painting and flocking. Some buildings will be set into the structure to reduce their height and create interest.
The tops of the hills can be removed to access the lines just in case a train decides to shed carriages or derail! Its a technique I read about many years ago and was very effective on a narrow gauge layout I built. If there is enough interest, I can send you pictures of this layout. The dairy and brewery are built on removable bases, ready just to be dropped into place.
Just in case readers are wondering why, the legs are angled and fitted to the garage floor/wall join, so it is near impossible to kick them and collapse the structure!
On the right side of the garage, the complete side folds down (05), just in case my wife decides to get a smaller car that fits into the garage!! Her Ford Eco-Sport does not, so I am safe for the time being!!
Regards,
Julian”
“Dear Al,
In common with many of your readers, I too started a model railway in retirement and with the added incentive of grandchildren.
I had a Hornby Dublo 3 rail set when I was a child in the 1950’s to which additions had been made over many years including the introduction of Hornby 2 rail. The track and locomotives were packed in a trunk in the mid 1960’s and remained there until 2014.
I had the largest shed I could built in our garden (7ft X 12ft – 2.1 Mts X 3.6mts Approx) and used timber scrounged for building sites to make the table. Impatient to ‘play’ with the trains ASAP the track layout evolved by trial and error and what I could fit into the space.
Almost three years later I have enjoyed countless hours of fun working a layout with its many faults but still giving me hours of pleasure.
It’s not finished (Are they ever?) and now I am tempted to stop and start again to iron out some of the wrinkles I have found.
True scale does not look realistic, it needs a visual perspective
Grandchildren need a continuous loop to see non-stop action. Point to point is too slow for them
Young grandchildren are distracted by vehicles and scenery.
I attach a track layout and some photos that I hope you might find of interest.
Best wishes
Andrew,
Cooroy, Queensland, Australia”
Now on to Rob:
“Hi Al, this is a progress report on the new Farland that I thought might interest you.
I have two areas to the point of semi completed states now. The layout is starting to show its true colors a bit.
The video is best through good speakers otherwise one will miss the low tones.
Thank you,
Rob”
Latest ebay cheat sheet is here
A huge thanks to Julian for sharing his model railroad bench work, Andrew and Rob.
That’s all this time. Please do keep ’em coming.
And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you feel you’re missing out on all the fun.
Best
Al
