pictures of my loft layout

Here are some pictures taken in March of the installation of the Lenz

150 6 station DCC decoder used to control 9 turnouts. Click on previous to see them roughly in order. Enjoy

Very nice but my back hurt just looking at those pictures.

Cheers

You don't know the half of it. I have a right leg that doesn't bend fully (motorcycle accident in 1975) plus a large belly so getting under the boards requires me lie down. Strangely enough when I 'm down there it's not too bad but god help me if I have to get up to get some tool or piece of equipment I forgot in the first place :-))

In message , Mike Hughes writes

Here are some more pics of the Lenz 150 being installed including one showing just how much of mess I get into when working out where the wires go and testing them. Start here

"Mike Hughes"

You take the cake Mike, and I thought I was messy. :-)

In message , Roger Traviss writes

OK here's some that show a less messy piece of work

Despite that dreaded 4 letter word ***k [1]getting in the way I've still managed to get some modelling done. The BM&W (my loft layout) now has a backboard in place. Pictures taken last week

's already changed so look out for more pics to follow soon.

[1] work

Back?

I resemble that!

You're getting somewhere! Will the sky tilt back when you're done?

In message , Lobby Dosser writes

It's already got clouds on it and the background blue is now shaded so that it starts light at the bottom and gradually gets darker at the top.

I've taken some photos but it will take me a couple of days to get them on my site so keep looking out for them - there's even one of the rear end shunt that took place!

In message , Lobby Dosser writes

Here's your answer

The lower temperatures have meant that I've been able to get more modelling done on my loft layout this summer than I would have expected. I've not only fitted a backboard but have also got some clouds painted. Some of them (the good ones) were painted by Cliff South while the others (not so good) are painted by me. See what you think starting at

My only excuse for poor painting was that I was trying to despatch for two loco engineers at the same time.

At our last session (Wed 1st Sept) NMRA members Cliff South and Brian Woolven joined me in the loft. After the initial running (=play) session we had a short working session - that's when Cliff painted the clouds - and I started to speed match one of Brian's locos to my 'master' set.

Trying to be clever (you can guess what's coming can't you) I was running the master locos, Brian was running his loco and Cliff was running my SD70M demonstrator with a tank/double stack train. This was working fine as the speed matching locos were running on speed step 7 so weren't going too fast. Then I decided to run Cliff's train into the secondary route which it did without problems - in plenty of time for me to reset the route and allow Brian's loco to continue on the main.

I set the switches on my key pad and assumed that everything was OK. Then there was a loud crash, the double stacks and a couple of tank cars came off the track and ended up on their side. It was at the moment that Cliff said "I'll bet he doesn't take photos of that" that I was undoing the camera case and then took the following shot

We subsequently discovered that the 'gremlin' was in action again and the Lenz LS150 controlling that switch had given up the ghost again and required the AC power switching off and back on again to reset it (thanks to Mike Ruby for that tip)

I also put two half relief building against the backboards to double check clearances. I can get two tracks between them and the 'main' track. Here's three photos showing how they fit starting at

anyone has any (very) cheap half relief HO scale buildings they don't want I'd be delighted to take them off your hands. I'll be at Weston next Saturday if anyone wants to sell some on.

The problems were really minor and were soon resolved. So Cliff and Brian went about testing the continuous sections of track while I was setting the switches. In the following picture

's eyes are closed. He had stopped his train and was listening to the 'clickety clack' of the grain train as it went past him on speed step 28!

We enjoyed ourselves. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Looking good!

Been hearing some of the downside of DCC lately, with your derailment being just the latest. Others include controllers being very picky about track condition.

Cliff's clouds Are good. Does he have that stick through his watch strap?

The Building 'flats' also help the overall look.

Keep the pictures coming!

In message , Lobby Dosser writes

Trust me, these problems are nothing compared with the problems yo can get with DC - especially if you are trying to build a large layout. Try designing a system that will allow you to leave any loco any where, double, triple (or more) head, operate any of the switches from one keypad which can be plugged in anywhere on the layout, and see how many electrical switches and how much wiring you have to do :-))

He also did the clouds on my Lynneton Yard portable layout.

and others

No he is holding it with his left hand

They certainly do. Just need to get some more at a reasonable price. The ones you can see here plus 3 I used on Lynneton Yard all came from a dealer who had bought them with rolling stock. They'd been built and were quite bulky so I got them at a bargain price!

Will do. If you go to the main window on my fotopic site you can sign up to receive notification when I add pics. I sometimes add them then it can take a couple of days to get the captions added. Go here

Thanks for the words of encouragement. It helps keep me working knowing that others enjoy seeing the work - and the little comments help me to correct mistakes as they happen.

p://mikehughes627.fotopic.net/p66941262.html

Do you remember what kind of brush he used?

He used two brushes, selected from a range of artist's brushes I'd bought some time ago. Both are fairly stiff, one flat about 1/4 inch wide, the other round and a bit wider. The whole range was a cheap pack bought from a hobby shop.

Hope that answers your question

Snip

If you've not been reading some of the other threads, I may know where you can get some building flats. :()

Downtown Deco just came out with some. Don't know if they're in your budget range, particularly with shipping across the pond.

BTW, ran into an fellow on your side selling some US outline HO. He has some On30 that might interest me. E-bay name is edjamcollectables (Edward James Collectables). Sheffield based.

Thanks for the link to your main page, I've book marked it.

Best Regards, LD

In message , Lobby Dosser writes

Not pictures of a layout this time but they may be of interest.

As part of the Crossrail project Network Rail are building a new station at Blackfriars in London, England. One of my daughters works for Balfour Beatty the main contractor. They held an open day fro friends and family last Sunday.

Here are a few pictures of the work taking place. Hope you enjoy them and that they are not *too* off topic :-)

Quite ON topic. Strikes me I've never seen a construction site on a model railroad. The Blackfriars construction would be a terrific model. Also looked through the Fort Edmonton pictures. Lots of modelgenic buildings there!