Alan’s uncouplers and point levers

“Hell Al,

I did say that I would show how my uncouplers work, and my manual point levers.

The drawings & pictures should be self explanatory so I hope it helps others if they wish to try it for themselves.

The rough plan for the wheelbarrow has no dimentions as they can be of any size.

They are extremely fiddley though so not for the faint hearted. for every one I make, I throw 3 away.

The orange uncoupler tool is not my idea, I got it from a magazine so can’t take credit for that. It’s painted orange because I keep mislaying it. It has a special hook but I sometimes forget to use it

That’s all for now.

Alan”

(Pics are clickable)

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Some more excellent scratch building from Alan.

Anyhow, please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get going on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

N scale laser cut building kits

Lou has been in touch with his N scale laser cut building kits:

“Here’s some photos of an update on my layout.

Most larger buildings you see are laser cut using acrylic sheets.

Wood loads and wire spools on rolling stock are also done on a laser cutter and I sell them for both HO and NScale.

All track work and turnouts are hand laid using fastracks.

The layout is divided into 96 blocks with over 400 led’s for true signaling.

All touchscreen controlled using a proprietary processor that does not require a Windows or Mac based pc.

The room is 16’ x 20’ HO scale.

Lou”

n scale laser cut building

n scale laser cut building

model train trestle bridge

model train trestle bridge

n scale laser cut building



N scale laser cut building kits:

n scale laser cut building

n scale laser cut building


Stunning pics from Lou – I would love to see some more! His N scale laser cut building kits look spot on.

“My dear Al,

Thank you SO much for all your work, doing this and your other publications.

I’ve been a reader, since 2005, I think and started building structures and vehicles, in preparation for a layout that didn’t materialize until years later.

That one got interrupted by a move, out of state, that lasted until last year, when we were, finally, able to move back to our family land. Now, the basement is mine, and the layout begins, in earnest.

It’s going to be 20’x10′, with two, hinged, 3×3 holes, centered near each end.

1-track-layout

I feel that I need to give a little background, as to what I’m trying to portray. In northern California, the American tectonic plate collided with a mass of granite, a large portion being moved and another, twisting round but remaining fairly stationary. The end resulted in the formation of the High Sierras, Trinity Alps, Marble Mountains, and the Cascades Volcanic system, all twisted round and colliding with each other, as well as raising the sea bed to an elevation of over 5,000 feet, in places. It is an incredible place to spend time in. Sacremanto, Ca., lies at one area of foothils, Truckee, is at an elevation of 5,817′, and further east lies Virginia City, Nv, one of the richest silver mining areas in the world.

Perhaps, many of your readers have never seen the High Sierras, so I’m enclosing 2 small pics of them so you get an idea of what I’m attempting.

2-landscape

3-landscape

And now, here’s the first corner of the layout, nowhere near finished, but I think you’ll get the idea. The waterfall, behind the bridge, and river, will actually have running water in it, pumped by a 12 volt DC single faucet RV pump, resisted down for flow properties.

4-train-layout

There’ll be 4 lines. Here are the beginnings of the first three.

The tunnel has openings behind it.

5-train-layout

The double bridge and waterfall/river.

6-train-layout

The beginnings of the town of “Glory”, in the upper right corner. In mining country, there are two kinds of mines.

All 4 lines are analog. I’ll be running the little Baldwin “American” locos, for the V&T Railway, the “Big Boy” for hauling freight over the Sierras, a doodlebug for the local rural-to town line, and I don’t know, yet, about the fourth line.

You folks may notice there’s no constructed portal, at either end of the tunnel. That’s, actually, the way some of them were – just blasted and pick and shoveled out of the granite. Some 1,200 Chinese immigrants died during the 40 mile Sierras leg of the Union Pacific.

Thank you, again, Alastair, and thanks to all the readers who have contributed to this publication. I’ve gleaned a lot from them.

Be well,

Wolf”


“Hi Alistair,

My tip would be ” stop reading and have a go – you can’t but learn from your successes and your failures”.

Kind regards

Dean”


I loved Wolf’s narrative because it’s something I read time and time again: claim a space for your own! Then make a start…

And I thought Dean’s tip rang true too. Making a start is everything.

That’s all for today folks. A big thanks to Wolf and to Lou for sharing his N scale laser cut building kits.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.





Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

John’s scratch built Uboat

Recently there has been a flurry of scratch building on the site. And that prompted John to get back in touch. Some of you may remember him from his N gauge layout and his unhealthy fascination with scratch building.

John’s maxim is ‘Why buy it when you can build it?’ which probably explains why he built the switches on his layout from scratch.

You can see the layout John created here – it’s the video at the top – and he even shows you how to make a Uboat too…


“Hi Al – thought you may like to see my latest scratch build. As you can see, it’s not train related, but it’s all scratch built. Happy to send more pics/info if you like.

John”

on water

My scratch built Uboat – submerges and gun squirts water.

plans

The plans…

half built

The hull was the easy bit.

insides

Making sure it was watertight was the hard part.

wiring

The wiring looks more complicated than it is.

testing_gun

Testing the gun – squirting my kids made it all worthwhile.

side on water

Another pic of it finished.

John”


What makes John think we wouldn’t find it interesting is beyond me. An amazing project. More pics please, John?

And don’t forget his layout – just watch the top video here. The Uboat stuff is there too.

That’s all this time, folks. Please keep ’em coming. Ebay cheat sheet is here.

Best

Al