Inspiration - and a renewed interest.

I was at Modelrail Scotland in Glasgow at the end of February with my boy and the misses, i had not been for a few years and i wanted to see what was all new.

I was looking around the Gaugemaster stand when i seen this starter set for £100.  i must have looked at it for a while, because my misses noticed.  I was sitting with the boy looking at a large G-Scale thomas layout when she disappears and comes back with it, saying i should really get myself back into trains (as she puts it).  So i took up the challenge.

I am almost finished the great wall of china which is my back garden, and i am putting plans in place to build a workshops about 6 meters by 3 meters, where i am going to build mobile layouts to take to shows.

With my new track set and the load of buildings and rolling stock i have started trying to plan a movable layout which i can take to model shows.  While looking over google imagines i came across this little layout, which covers most of the things i want to put in my layout.

 I have a high level viaduct station kit, and the front road plates,  I also want to add the trams into the layout as the models are great.  But i will need to take this idea and make it my own.

A new direction, but not the End

As the title says i am moving in a new direction.  

My Japanese N-Gauge project is on hold, i am going to be working in different scale On30.  I will be back to complete a Japanese layout one day.

You can follow from here if you wish, 

http://lewislakerailroad.blogspot.co.uk/

Thank you for following me so far, i hope to hear from you on my new blog.

At a Crossroads, and yes it is finished.

Hello, it has been quite a while since i last posted and many things have changed, some good some bad.  I have been working hard in the house and garden since the start of the year, so all modelling has been put to one side, which is sometimes a good thing.

So i have being doing modelling of a different kind, there is still a few bits to do, a paving area, decking and a fence to build,  But it is starting to really take shape.  One big change will be the new shed that will replace the old one in the picture.  I have a rough size of 2.5m by 3.5m to play with, which is a good size.
I am at a bit of a crossroads,  I am not sure if i should build a static layout in the shed, or build it as a workshop and build modular layouts i could take to model shows.  It will be well into next year before i have the shed built so i have time to plan out what i want to do.

I was in Germany in March and picked up a DCC Sound Soo Line loco in HO for 120 Euro's, and since then i have been looking over Ebay and managed to pick up quite a few.  I like the colour scheme of the Soo line with the White and red.   I have also picked up some CN loco's as alot of the Soo line stock was bought by the CN and repainted,  but again i liked the colours.

Well as most people know i have been building a N Scale Carpark for over a Year now, and i am pleased to say its finally finished.  All the lighting, cars and people are in place and it looks pretty good if you ask me.








To fill the carpark with cars i use the bags you can buy off Ebay, they contain 50 cars of different colours.  and i picked them up for under £10.  Now some of the cars in the bag are twisted a little, these i put it in the places where the would not be in full view, but i would say they are definitely worth the money.

 You can see from other posts how i put the lighting in each floor,  I also replaced the plastic lights at the top of the carpark with working ones.  If i had know about the cars you can now get with the working head and brake lights, i would have used them.  But i am happy with the the over all effect.

With all the lights in the room off, it really shows the lightning in the carpark off well.  All the wiring for the lights runs along the roofs and into the stairwell, where i drilled out a hole in the floor so the wires can pass through.

 Once the carpark is in place, be it on a static layout or a modular exhibition i will add more detail on the outside help help it blend into its surroundings.

This kit was a pleasure to build, the Instructions are very clear and easy to follow and i think it will look great on any layout.

As for my next build i think it will be the shed out the back, but i do have a load of kits to get on with, there is the full Kato High Level Station, we will see.

Its nearly there

Most of the floors are in now apart from the top two.  I have managed to pick up some working lights from a club mate, so I can lose the plastic ones.

 

 

 

 

The finished build is just around the corner, honestly....

Back in the attic.

It has been a few months since I posted and nothing has been done really.  I have been looking over track plans and looking over the web for some ideas.  But the House and Christmas took over.

I have been looking into Automating the layout using Rocrail or JMRI, I am not sure which one to go for, so I will need to read up more about each.

http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php

http://jmri.sourceforge.net/

I don't believe you can do much shunting in N Gauge, so watching long passenger and freight trains will be the way forward, and being able to run the layout from a PC appeals to me.  So I am moving back into the attic for the time being.

With a revised track plan, the Ground Level below will be the only part of the layout with buildings and details on it.  The Upper level will be large yards for loco storage and sidings.


The picture shows the mainline station at the bottom which can hold an 11 car train (there is an 8 car N700 on show to make sure I have the size correct).  I am going to use the Kato road plates to create my city streets. As you come out the Station you will pass the carpark I am building on the right which will be attached to a shopping mall via a bridge over the road.  As you pass through the city you come across the Football Stadium, opposite the mainline Station.  From there you will pass into a smaller station.  When into a tunnel, where the scenery will end onto the Helix to take you up to the Upper level staging.

As you come up the Helix you will head Left passing the siding which can hold a 16 car Shinkansen, the down into the first of the staging area's.  Loop down the bottom an back up to the top of the Helix, I will be using this siding mainly for freight and the few odd ball locos I have, such as the Snow blower.  Heading around the Helix and down into the High level Sidings where I plan to keep my passenger stock.  The full layout has be designed as a dog bone allow continuous running, and all the sidings can be passed as there is a loop around each.

As I am looking to run the layout automatically using Rocrail or JMRI this should give me enough sidings to store loco's and a huge mainline to run loco's.

Its good to get back into design and building this layout again, it will be good to blow the dust off my loco boxes and give them a run.

Merry Xmas all and have a Merry new year when it come to you.

Bo'ness Chainsaw Massacre. (Carpark Update)



Tree Huggers look away now.......

 

Having finished the lower section of the garden, I made a surprise attack on the top level where my railway shed will be located.   With the weather changing the billion sparrows that use the trees at the top of the garden as a Launchpad, to get the thousand or so bird feeders in my next door neighbour's garden, it was time to move out. 

 

 

 

 

At the back of the garden I have 6.5m by 6.5m space to locate the shed.  I also found a telegraph pole in there, which I need to leave access for.

 

 

 

 

Having cleared the rubble, and bought a big saw, myself and the misses attacked the tree's.  After been bitten to death by Midges the tree were down. 

 

 

I now have 7 big stumps to be dug out.  And a large pile of trees and branch's to be removed.  And a huge space to be filled by a railway shed.

 

With the telegraph pole at the top right of the garden and the support wire coming along the back fence line. I am losing about half a meter off from the back fence and to the right for access.  So I have about 6 meters square to put the shed on.  I will draw the back garden up in AutoCAD to scale and design the layout so I can get as much shed and a less grief as poss.

 

The next stage here once the trees are away, is to get the hut moved forward and the walls built along the sides and the back, and a nice concrete floor.

 

 

 _____________________________________________________________________________

Carpark build update.

 

I have 3 more levels built with lights and cars added.  It has been slow progress on this but time has been against me.  I think I am going to have to pick up more cars as I have close to 100 on already.

 

I am hoping to get more of this built on Wednesday night, at least get a few floors put in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wee Update



The  modelling has completely stopped, so I am re-modelling the back garden instead.

 

 

8 ton of soil later and I have a big hole.

 

Walls now built to take the slope out the garden and make it level.

 

Steps started will need to build an extra 3 to take them to the new level

 

8 ton of soil almost put back to back fill the ground, for the new level

 

We had new Windows & Doors put in at the same time, managed to save the best window and door for the railway shed that will be built up the back of the garden. 

 

Top half of the Steps complete and all soil levels correct.  The ground cover is now down, ready for the bark.

 

Fence all finished bark all down, and misses new washing line in.

Well that's the bottom end of the garden finished, apart from 2 ton of stone.  Weeman has his gang hut and shoot and even a paddling pool if you can believe it for Scotland...

 

 

 

Stage 2.....

Now that the I have completed this part I have permission to move to the back of the garden and the railway shed...   I have started to draw up plans of the building, and once I have a confirmed internal size I can start designing the layout to go with in.

 

So this is what I have been all through the summer,  I hope to get back to building my Carpark soon also.