Thursday 25th February

Worklist:
Gateway
Tunnel lights
Details
Model shop

Geoff worked on the gateway brickwork, and the curved coping in particular. A simple jig made from aluminium angle allowed him to scribe the radial joints AND perpends for the 'brick-and-a-half' coping.

Geoff has decided on balls for the pier cap features. Wood? Why use wood, when you know you have some bronze ball bearings somewhere (these, rather than stainless steel, are drill-able, for a locating pin).

Stephen managed to mix up some paint to match the stonework - kitchen pale yellow matt vinyl, with touches of dark brown and black poster paint. With the aid of a bent paintbrush, the inside of the tunnel was finished off. This had to be completed before the tunnel lights could be installed. But this will have to wait until next week.

With the work-spaces taken up, Laurence transferred his efforts to sorting through all of the boxes used to hold bits and pieces that had been taken (or fallen) off the layout. Things like tools and equipment from the workshop, doors, buckets, chains etc. These were sorted into wanted or unwanted on the future layout, and will be refurbished ready for reuse.

After lunch, it was decided to make a visit to Model Junction - a railway model shop on the Slough Trading Estate. L & S were in need of some Kadee couplings, which the shop had a decent supply of.

Model Junction

Thursday 18th February

Worklist:
Gateway
Centre board electrics

Just two this week as Laurence is on grandparent duties over half term.

Geoff continued with the gateway; pier brickwork, over-sailing courses, brick copings and stone cappings. A folded scrap of paper was used to investigate the height of the timber gate. It needs to be higher than the side walls, but by how much? The first attempt (gauged 'by eye') scaled 12 feet high. Timber framing and panelling were added that prompted discussions such as 'which is the posh side?' Some research is required on how doors this size are constructed. More anon.

Stephen continued with the electrics on the centre board by finishing the switch assembly. Wires from the switches were taken to a local connector strip.

 Then the various electronic modules were positioned, fixed down and wired in to the connector strip.

Goods shed lighting (led) - power regulator set to 3v
Engine shed lighting (filament) - power regulator set to 12v
Engine shed gas engine motor - power regulator to adjusted to suit
Engine shed gas engine sound unit - power regulator set to 5v and speaker

The units and wiring are in temporary locations and will be positioned finally, in due course. The speaker will be housed in a sound-box. We'll experiment with wood and metal enclosures, and with holes to the surface. Another eagerly- anticipated exercise.

Wednesday 10th February

Worklist:
Main gateway details
Goods shed lighting
Fencing

Geoff made more progress on the main gateway.

Stephen worked on the goods shed led light-strip he'd repaired. As there were a few spare led's left on the 'donor' strip, two more were added, making a 4-led strip, which lit up the shed beautifully. The power unit was fitted under the baseboard and the light strip temporarily secured in the shed.

A switch frame was made from wood strips, and bolted in place under the glass-fibre hillside. There are currently four items requiring power on this board, but space for six switches was allowed for.

Before Stephen took over the board completely, Laurence finished 'touching-up' the ground around the new fence. It was agreed that the gap between the end of the fence and the edge of the timber cross-over would be filled with a post and notice board about being alert to moving trains.

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What to put on the top of the gate piers is a common discussion at present. Balls seem most common, but birds, dogs, urns, pineapples, mythical beasts etc., all find their way onto them. A few examples, in no particular order!

Thursday 4th February

Worklist:
Gateway
Fence
Lighting

Geoff continued to work on the main road gateway into the estate. Piers were extended upwards, to take account of the radiused coping. The new height was discussed in the context of the gate proportions, which could start to look odd. It was agreed that this should be reviewed and consideration given to raising the road slightly, to compensate.

This left-over piece of the coping base shows in ingenuity entailed to construct the feature. Turned as a solid unit, two quadrants have been used.

Laurence glued his new fence into place, after first 'touching-up' the disturbed ground around it.

Stephen brought along a 2-LED unit he'd made up with a power supply, for the goods shed. This was cut off the end of the tunnel lights which were from Wilkinson Christmas light set. It appears that the LED's contain their own resistors, so they can be connected directly to a suitable 3v supply. Glued onto a thin strip of wood, the 2 lights cast a nice light on the platform, but also created a very attractive effect through the skylights. However, the contact adhesive slowly etched its way through the lacquer on the wires, creating a short. The unit was taken home for repair.

As a precursor to fitting the tunnel lights, the very back of the tunnel itself was given an extra coat of black paint, graduating through greys, to the lighter stone paint of the front. However, the middle of the tunnel was very difficult to access, so a suitable 'bent' brush will be sought.

We had a visitor this week, who offered to take a rare photo of the whole group. Nice one Lisa!

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Geoff has another railway project 'on the go' - a compact, multi-level OO layout. He's recently fitted the first of many Fulgarex point actuators, but was very disappointed with the noise they make, in-situ. Following on from the success of the micro-servo-based actuators developed for our layout, he produced a Mk 5 (?) version tailored to his requirements. More highly engineered, and with the point blade connections he's employing, the unit worked beautifully. More in due course .....

Thursday 28th January

Worklist:
Wall copings
Lighting modules
Fencing

Geoff had been thinking long-and-hard about how to make the curved brick copings for the main gate and had produced the sub-structure. This comprised an aluminium ring with a triangular cross-section (apologies for not having a photo!). The 'ring' then had two quadrants cut from it. Triangular wood sections were super-glued to the ends and then fettled smooth. Plain (reversed) pieces of the embossed, brick sheet were glued onto the units and again fettled to produce two curved copings. Once fully dry, these will have the tapered, brick mortar joints scribed on them. These pieces required some working out, together with the radial oversailling courses (More anon!)

The radius of the copings required the corner unit to be moved slightly away from the corner so it looked right. With a car placed on the road (and imagining what a coach would look like) the pier was comfortably moved into a new position.

Stephen had taken the engine building, lighting unit home and glued the lamp-holders in position. The unit is removable, to enable the lamps to be easily replaced. The 9th lamp goes over the lobby area and a hole was required to hold it in place. A lead was made up using a radio-controlled car plug-and-socket to allow the wires to be fed down through the baseboard. One of the power supply units was fitted on the end and set to 12v.

Laurence could only join us for part of the day, but was able to complete the painting of the platform guard fence and should fit it next week.



Stephen demonstrated a mock-up of a freelance railcar he was planning, to run on the Kato Bo-Bo chassis he'd recently purchased.

A lot of thought had gone into the design. A double-ended cab was essential, as the terminus has no turntable. The width of the cab became full-width once Geoff had described what had to be included there. Seating - a centre gangway with longitudinal seating was chosen over compartments, which worked better and would allow people to 'disguise' the motor block of the chassis. Curved vs flat fronts, clerestory windows, engine fittings etc. were all discussed - not always with agreement, but all comments were gratefully received!