My O Gauge Journal on
Modelling the GWR
A personal Journey
Projects for the year 2020
December 2020
The new home for the railway is almost complete. its been
just over a year. The build history is here:
http://img.gg/d95qcGZ The new
room is 13' 7" wide and 21'11" long
November 2020
During the rebuilding of the railway its a good time to
rethink the communications setups. Previously I had used separate
enclosure boxes to make a signal box setup to connect the four areas
of the railway. In the new railway layout there will only be three
areas and the parts will be brought together. Here is a rough put
together of what I intend to do: Click on it for a larger version.
And this is what I have resculptured using two enclosure boxes.
A blanking plate now
separates the two sets of indicators, and a track indicator diagram
will go there with LEDs to show the path currently selected. The
push buttons to work the bells on similar boxes have been moved down
onto the section holding the point levers.
October 2020
It has been suggested that I swap the railway idea for RC boats instead!
Work on the new shed continues. The weather does impact on
progress but we are making good progress.
September 2020
Slow progress on the new build for the railway. But the
large garden shed has now been moved and the garage demolished and
removed from the site. The plans show a double bay cart lodge with
the large railway room at the rear.
The site is now ready for the build to begin in the next coup0le of weeks.
August 2020
PECO O gauge track not readily available at the moment as
are the Cobalt-S switches.
July 2020
Its juggling time for the O gauge kit in readiness for
their new home. In the mean time some building of PO trucks has
taken place. 3 Poundsbury wagons from Slaters.
The Gauge 1 Pannier No4612 has been painted and transfers applied. Just waiting for the number polate etches to arrive to finish that part off. Also RC equipment is under development and will follow shortly. In the mean time,. I have added steam pipes down each side of the footplate and the requisite connectors. |Click here to see it.
June 2020
The Pannier is completed and arrived as requested plain
undercoat, batteries but nothing else as I will finish it myself.
May 2020
Bradley Manor now under way. A couple of issues with the driving
wheel on one side of the chassis resulting in a bust pin so new
wheels had to be ordered. Click
here to see its build.
April 2020
Strange times call for unprecedented measures. While still
waiting for the Gauge 1 Pannier started building the O gauge manor
loco in store for a couple of years from Warren Shepherd..
March 2020
Having solved the running issues of stock and locos, I can
now move onto track fixing and point control. See the projects page
for the latest information on gauge 1 and much more.
The gauge 1 project is still progressing slowly
and currently being stuck in a 3 meter by 3.5 metre room has helped
due to restriction of space. I have a track layout down now with
Tenmille points and track specially made to create a tight 6 foot
curve for the ‘L’ shaped plan I devised. I did away with the PECO
track and point as it was what I would describe as a little light on
scale. Once the track and points are fixed I will use DCC Concepts
levers and point motors to electrify the turnouts of which there
will be three. The signal kits will also be controlled by the same
method as the points but servo controlled using Heathcote
Electronics PCB boards.
I have had to utilise Kaydee couplings on all
trucks and the ‘B’ set coach to avoid buffer lock. (used O gauge
long couplings #746s), and they are unobtrusive and work well. The
goods shed and station building etc though all need painting and
weathering so there is still much to do. So how is the Pannier loco
progressing, looking forward to finishing, powering and adding it to
the stock? I have its etched number plates and transfers now as
well.
February 2020
So called track issues - the old red
herring
click here to see what I mean
I have asked Tenmille to make up track and turnouts for the
Gauge 1 railway. While these are being produced i purchased a couple
of signal kits from them and they are proceeding here.
January 2020
making a start on the gauge 1 railway. As it will be a
temporary arrangement, the boards are bolted together and stretched
across trestles. Possibly the best trestles around are made by Draper at
about £25 each. Here are early pictures of the temporary
situation.
Having made up two trestles I was impressed with how sturdy they were.
Little room for manoeuvre here!
You can see the support given by the trestles in more detail here.
2020
Temporary sidings
Outlining the work necessary for the new railway while building work is completed.