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My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

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RichJF

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It's all magic. That's what Mr Miggins thinks anyway.
He keeps muttering about the steam engines not actually being powered by steam for some reason. Can't think why... ;)

-Peter
We had some Esso & Shell fuel delivered in a couple of wagons last Friday, so we have enough for a couple of weeks! :D

FAD7c8_XIAQ96VN.jpg
 
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Peter C

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Well, dear listeners - I've just been past Mrs Miggins' wool shop and there's a sign of the most incredible curiosity outside - the contents of which I could not wait to impart to you, and so I shall attempt this forthwith.*
It reads:
"WOOL SHORTAGE INCOMING - MAKE SURE TO STOCK-PILE HERE NOW - WOOL PRICES ABOUT TO SKYROCKET"

Seemingly our Maureen has gone completely off the rails (much like the Class 47 going around the layout the other night). Either that or this is some clever marketing technique - which means Mrs Miggins has been replaced with some fake (given that she had the IQ of a marrow) and I assume the real one is already at Dover boarding a ferry to the continent with Mr Miggins with a ticket for the Orient Express leaving Paris Gare du Nord at eleven o' clock this evening as we speak...
I'll be passing the shop again soon so I'll try and get a photo of this most interesting sign.

-Peter

*(I don't really know where this all came from - it sounded funny to me but that's probably the effects of staying awake too long)
 

Cowley

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Well, dear listeners - I've just been past Mrs Miggins' wool shop and there's a sign of the most incredible curiosity outside - the contents of which I could not wait to impart to you, and so I shall attempt this forthwith.*
It reads:


Seemingly our Maureen has gone completely off the rails (much like the Class 47 going around the layout the other night). Either that or this is some clever marketing technique - which means Mrs Miggins has been replaced with some fake (given that she had the IQ of a marrow) and I assume the real one is already at Dover boarding a ferry to the continent with Mr Miggins with a ticket for the Orient Express leaving Paris Gare du Nord at eleven o' clock this evening as we speak...
I'll be passing the shop again soon so I'll try and get a photo of this most interesting sign.

-Peter

*(I don't really know where this all came from - it sounded funny to me but that's probably the effects of staying awake too long)

I like it. It’s like a cheese dream soap opera. :lol:
 

reddragon

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:lol:
The stories from Oldmoor are nothing if not predictable and unbelievable...
(Well they make people laugh so that's good enough, surely? ;))

-Peter
Watch the Onion News Network on you tube if you like those sort of stories, its very funny.
 

Peter C

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Watch the Onion News Network on you tube if you like those sort of stories, its very funny.
I'll be sure to give them a watch - you'll know if I've seen it because the stories on there might start to, ahem, influence the events in Oldmoor... ;)

-Peter
 

reddragon

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I'll be sure to give them a watch - you'll know if I've seen it because the stories on there might start to, ahem, influence the events in Oldmoor... ;)

-Peter
Just in case you don't get it, these are fully believable news broadcasts, just not real. The 9/11 interviews over the new WTC are hilarious!
 

Peter C

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Just in case you don't get it, these are fully believable news broadcasts, just not real. The 9/11 interviews over the new WTC are hilarious!
Ah cool - thanks. I expect that could've caused a bit of confusion without knowing they're not real :lol:

-Peter
 

reddragon

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There's one where they interview someone who wrote a conspiracy theory book that the WTC event was done by the USA government (real book fake interviewee) and the head of Al Qaeda operations, where the AQ man gets very annoyed with the author for trying to take away their glory and talks of his hard work in freezing cold caves planning it.

Another on the planning of the replacement building.

So many if you want some quite silly versions of real stories!

Theres even a train story :)

 
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Peter C

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I doubt that kind of story will be making its way to Oldmoor anytime soon!

-Peter
 

Peter C

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Well it has been a while, hasn't it?
It's pretty safe to say there's been a minimal amount of work done on the layout over the past month (and that's being a bit too generous!). Real life has come back (and then some, but I'm not complaining), so the layout is taking a bit of a back-seat for now. Hopefully, however, things should begin moving again - albeit slowly - in a few weeks' time.

I actually came on here because I suddenly remembered an issue I had with a new engine on the layout (well it arrived about a month ago but I won't tell anyone if you don't). It's this Replica Railways 'Hall':
20210909_203443.jpg

It looks lovely but it won't run around the layout with the tender because of an issue with the sticky-out-y bit (technical term) of the footplate. Here's the bit I'm on about:
Hall 3.jpeg
I think it's probably glued on to the footplate within the cab but it's not the kind of thing I'd want to test by pulling it!

What happens is this piece sits over the platform at the front of the tender when they're coupled together, like so:
Hall.jpeg
But the only problem is that it's a very tight fit indeed. There's plenty of room for the pin sticking out from the tender to move around in the cut-out underneath the footplate, but the fact that this platform area fills the whole space in the tender reduces the movement to just this, if you can even make out that they're not horizontal:

Hall 2.jpeg
And so clearly this won't work on a third- or second-radius curve (I found this out the hard way when I first got it!). The question is; how is it fixed? My first thought was to carefully sand the extension piece down so it didn't fill as much of the platform on the tender - I'm not going to be spending a lot of time, if any, looking at the cab so it's not a major issue if one side ends up slightly thinner than the other.
You clever people have probably had to deal with hundreds of these engines and know all of the clever tricks to solve their issues! ;) Is there a better way of making the tender move about more freely?

As far as I'm aware, the engine's barely been used. It's a superb little model and it'd be lovely to have it running around on the layout at the head of the Mk1 rake - just like on the GWSR. There's a 'Modified Hall' on the GWSR (Foremarke Hall IIRC) and the main reason for choosing this one was to recreate some of the scenes I've seen so often at Toddington.

Thanks in advance for any help - and apologies for what seems to be quite a rambly message; I'll stop now before I waffle-on about any more problems... :lol:

-Peter
 

Iskra

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I may have misunderstood the issue, but some steam loco's come packaged with a short drawbar and a long drawbar. Would using a longer one not solve the issue?

It is a nice looking loco too btw :)
 

Peter C

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I may have misunderstood the issue, but some steam loco's come packaged with a short drawbar and a long drawbar. Would using a longer one not solve the issue?
That's a good idea - but I'm not sure the Replica Railways models had that feature unfortunately. The pin on the tender is part of the underframe and sticks out and then up from the front of the chassis - there doesn't seem to be a way of removing it.

It is a nice looking loco too btw :)
There's just something about the Modified Halls I really like - the overall design just works better in my eyes than on the original versions.

-Peter
 

fourtytwo

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Hi Peter, I don't think Iskra meant the part attached to the tender but rather what it hooks into on the loco, perhaps we could have an upside down coupled photo for a good look :idea: The tender to loco gap looks about right, maybe the original model had alternate footplates. I guess you could always Email replica in the hope someone is still there that remembers the model. Nice looking loco from me too, I like Halls as I had a very good runner in N gauge with a Farish loco.
 

Peter C

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Hi Peter, I don't think Iskra meant the part attached to the tender but rather what it hooks into on the loco, perhaps we could have an upside down coupled photo for a good look :idea: The tender to loco gap looks about right, maybe the original model had alternate footplates. I guess you could always Email replica in the hope someone is still there that remembers the model. Nice looking loco from me too, I like Halls as I had a very good runner in N gauge with a Farish loco.
Ah OK - here's the underside then (sorry about the poor quality):
edited.jpg
The bit circled in green is the cut-out underneath the cab floor where the pin/peg from the tender goes up into the engine. The red circled bit is the piece the pin is part of, which is in turn part of the overall chassis of the tender (or at least that's what it looks like).
I'm wondering if it's a replacement piece that's been fitted now you say that. I might try and see if there's any way I can find out - there's a website called "Replica Railways" somewhere online but whether it's of any connection to the original company I can't remember!

-Peter
 

fourtytwo

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Hi Peter, IMOP there is something very odd in that picture, ignoring your footplate problem the tender buffers would also prevent the model going around a curve, this implies the tender is indeed coupled to close to the loco and may have been modified from its original form. I am beginning to wonder if the loco socket for the tender pin was located on the OUTSIDE of the loco body (making it closer to the tender) and has in fact been broken off and that due to its not being there you are trying to engage the pin with any possible location. Of course what we really need is another owner of this model to pipe up :smile: Failing that thay do indeed have a website http://www.replicarailways.co.uk/images/stories/Downloads/archive.pdf and that document contains your loco but sadly they have no construction details on the web however they do have an email [email protected] and phone 01793 642 594
 

Cowley

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It looks to me like this has been altered to close the tender up to the loco perhaps so that it could be displayed in a case rather than run on a railway?
Could a simple fix be to just make a small tab with a hole in it for the pin and then glue it onto the existing tab so that the gap is extended by a few millimetres?

I’m putting a second post in here Peter to see if you (or anyone else) gets a notification of a new posting when they automatically merge?
Let me know tomorrow please mister. :)
 
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Peter C

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It looks to me like this has been altered to close the tender up to the loco perhaps so that it could be displayed in a case rather than run on a railway?
Could a simple fix be to just make a small tab with a hole in it for the pin and then glue it onto the existing tab so that the gap is extended by a few millimetres?
So sorry I didn't respond to this earlier @Cowley - thought I had but completely forgot. That could be a good fix actually. One of the many joys of the forum: there's almost always someone around who can answer your questions!

I’m putting a second post in here Peter to see if you (or anyone else) gets a notification of a new posting when they automatically merge?
Let me know tomorrow please mister. :)
Again - sorry I didn't see this before. Not sure if I did get a notification but glad that @fourtytwo responded :lol:

-Peter
 

Peter C

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Finally - something happening in Oldmoor, courtesy of a birthday the other week (well, everyone's entitled to one ;)).

I've started putting this Metcalfe Coaching Inn kit together and it's coming along nicely. It's currently plonked (technical term) on the layout in a rather unsuitable location because I needed my desk for other things (apparently model trains aren't as important as one might like to assume!):
Coaching Inn.jpeg
Apologies for the rather odd angle on the photo - I've just taken it now and was just trying to get it done quickly :lol:

It's an interesting kit, formed of three separate buildings which you then glue together. It forms an L-shape to create a small yard in the back - for which I'm yet to make the brick wall to surround it. The slightly-shiny bit on the edge of the roof closest to the camera is from the paint pen we talked about when it came to road markings a while ago (blimey that must have been a couple of months ago now? Can't be, surely) which I thought might have helped hide a small mistake with the craft knife but it's not worked amazingly well.
There are loads of things which need to be done before the building goes on the layout but hopefully it should be on there within the week (famous last words...).

There's also a church kit to build, to replace the now rather-battered one which was on the layout when I started this thread last year. That kit got dismantled (well it wasn't really held together to begin with) and then put in a series of boxes to then be rebuilt later on but it never happened and the card got more and more squished until it became more effort than it was worth to repair it. The church and the coaching inn should hopefully finish off the buildings for Oldmoor town centre and then work on the roads can continue again!


Another new addition to the layout is this wonderful 'Castle' - 5050 Earl of St Germans from Hornby:
Earl of St Germans.jpeg
It's second-hand but to be honest, I really don't mind as it still works really well. The only problem is that it's missing the smokebox door handles but I can replace those I'm sure. It comes fitted with TTS (Twin-Track Sound) from Hornby - one of the things I was looking for in a new engine. I don't always run engines with the sound on (if applicable) but it can be nice. Sometimes this loco seems to be a bit indecisive when it comes to running - it'll slow down occasionally but whether that's just the superelevated curves or not I don't know. It looks quite nice next to the 'King' and having them both sitting around idling with the sound on is very nice indeed!


A couple of other additions to the layout:
Bus.jpeg
This rail-replacement bus. I'd been looking for a bus to go on the layout at some point and this seemed like the ideal one; I know pretty much nothing about buses but this one looked nice and the livery finished it off I thought. Also just noticed that this shot makes at least a tiny part of the town look somewhat finished!


And a final addition - this MDV wagon. I've already talked about it on the What's your latest acquisition? thread so I'll just quote my original post here.
MDV.jpeg
On the subject of new acquisitions (funny given the thread title), this arrived the other day:
View attachment 105363

It's one of Accurascale's MDV wagons, and part of the run by model railway YouTuber Jenny Kirk as a special commission (hence the "JK" logo on the side, which is supposed to be a graffiti tag). It's a lovely model - if not a bit pricey at £30 - and comes with sprung buffers and more detail than you could shake a 1:76 scale stick at. There are a couple of other special bits, those being the "Empty to Wear Yard" text on the ends of the wagon; Jenny Kirk's layout is called Wear Yard so it's a nice thing to put on there.
Apparently the number of the wagon is different to the others in the range so it's more of a special item but I only know that because I heard someone say it! It runs really well, as should be expected for a wagon made now, and is overall a cool addition to Oldmoor.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully there should be some more posts coming soon given the projects I've to work on now. :D

-Peter
 

Cowley

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That’s a good bit of progress on the buildings Peter. The town scene must be looking good now,
I like the Castle very much, that’s a really decent looking model. How does the TTS sound work on it?
 

Peter C

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That’s a good bit of progress on the buildings Peter. The town scene must be looking good now,
I like the Castle very much, that’s a really decent looking model. How does the TTS sound work on it?
Thanks! I've not yet tested to see what the town scene will look like with the new buildings but it should look quite nice. The main thing to consider is the path in front; the kit comes with a base to put the building on, and that comes with a stretch of pavement at the front of the building. I might end up cutting that down to allow it to sit flush next to the pre-laid paving slabs or I might remove those and try to squeeze the base in. What a Countdown conundrum :lol:

It really is lovely. It fills a gap in the GWR line-up on the layout - now there's a pair of Halls, a King, a Castle, and a handful of other classes. It's turning into Didcot over here!
The TTS is just a DCC sound decoder but on a budget (the decoders in that range cost ~£40 I believe). The Castle has about fifteen or sixteen different sounds - including the ability to change to "coasting" sounds when running so it stops making "chuff chuff" (technical term) noises. There's also a "fireman's breakfast" sound - guaranteed to make you hungry with the sound of bacon frying on the shovel!
It's called "Twin-Track Sound" because the decoder will play two sounds at the same time - i.e. the idling sound (or the chuff-chuff sound for that matter) and then something else on top, such as a whistle (of which this engine has three or four versions), the fireman's breakfast, or the guard's whistle, etc.

-Peter
 

MotCO

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Finally - something happening in Oldmoor, courtesy of a birthday the other week (well, everyone's entitled to one ;)).

I've started putting this Metcalfe Coaching Inn kit together and it's coming along nicely. It's currently plonked (technical term) on the layout in a rather unsuitable location because I needed my desk for other things (apparently model trains aren't as important as one might like to assume!):
View attachment 105899
Apologies for the rather odd angle on the photo - I've just taken it now and was just trying to get it done quickly :lol:

It's an interesting kit, formed of three separate buildings which you then glue together. It forms an L-shape to create a small yard in the back - for which I'm yet to make the brick wall to surround it. The slightly-shiny bit on the edge of the roof closest to the camera is from the paint pen we talked about when it came to road markings a while ago (blimey that must have been a couple of months ago now? Can't be, surely) which I thought might have helped hide a small mistake with the craft knife but it's not worked amazingly well.
There are loads of things which need to be done before the building goes on the layout but hopefully it should be on there within the week (famous last words...).

There's also a church kit to build, to replace the now rather-battered one which was on the layout when I started this thread last year. That kit got dismantled (well it wasn't really held together to begin with) and then put in a series of boxes to then be rebuilt later on but it never happened and the card got more and more squished until it became more effort than it was worth to repair it. The church and the coaching inn should hopefully finish off the buildings for Oldmoor town centre and then work on the roads can continue again!


Another new addition to the layout is this wonderful 'Castle' - 5050 Earl of St Germans from Hornby:
View attachment 105900
It's second-hand but to be honest, I really don't mind as it still works really well. The only problem is that it's missing the smokebox door handles but I can replace those I'm sure. It comes fitted with TTS (Twin-Track Sound) from Hornby - one of the things I was looking for in a new engine. I don't always run engines with the sound on (if applicable) but it can be nice. Sometimes this loco seems to be a bit indecisive when it comes to running - it'll slow down occasionally but whether that's just the superelevated curves or not I don't know. It looks quite nice next to the 'King' and having them both sitting around idling with the sound on is very nice indeed!


A couple of other additions to the layout:
View attachment 105902
This rail-replacement bus. I'd been looking for a bus to go on the layout at some point and this seemed like the ideal one; I know pretty much nothing about buses but this one looked nice and the livery finished it off I thought. Also just noticed that this shot makes at least a tiny part of the town look somewhat finished!


And a final addition - this MDV wagon. I've already talked about it on the What's your latest acquisition? thread so I'll just quote my original post here.
View attachment 105903


Thanks for reading! Hopefully there should be some more posts coming soon given the projects I've to work on now. :D

-Peter

I didn't realise that Routemasters operated in Oldmoor :D
 

Peter C

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I didn't realise that Routemasters operated in Oldmoor :D
I'd like to be able to say "they don't operate that often" given they're rail-replacement buses, but given the service provision (or rather lack thereof) of trains in Oldmoor a lot of the time, I fear this bus is going to be rolling through Oldmoor a bit more often than hoped... :lol:

-Peter
 

Cowley

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Thanks! I've not yet tested to see what the town scene will look like with the new buildings but it should look quite nice. The main thing to consider is the path in front; the kit comes with a base to put the building on, and that comes with a stretch of pavement at the front of the building. I might end up cutting that down to allow it to sit flush next to the pre-laid paving slabs or I might remove those and try to squeeze the base in. What a Countdown conundrum :lol:

It really is lovely. It fills a gap in the GWR line-up on the layout - now there's a pair of Halls, a King, a Castle, and a handful of other classes. It's turning into Didcot over here!
The TTS is just a DCC sound decoder but on a budget (the decoders in that range cost ~£40 I believe). The Castle has about fifteen or sixteen different sounds - including the ability to change to "coasting" sounds when running so it stops making "chuff chuff" (technical term) noises. There's also a "fireman's breakfast" sound - guaranteed to make you hungry with the sound of bacon frying on the shovel!
It's called "Twin-Track Sound" because the decoder will play two sounds at the same time - i.e. the idling sound (or the chuff-chuff sound for that matter) and then something else on top, such as a whistle (of which this engine has three or four versions), the fireman's breakfast, or the guard's whistle, etc.

-Peter

That’s very helpfully explained, thanks for that. :)
 

Iskra

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That's excellent that you have a pub and a bus now! Two model railway cliches that must be indulged :D I nearly bought a (model) pub myself recently, but I must have been feeling particularly sensible at the time and didn't bother- I'm sure one will be along soon enough! 10/10 for doing the Metcalfe kits, I find them a bit too faffy to be honest.

The Castle looks excellent- how do you find the sound quality on it?
 

Peter C

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That’s very helpfully explained, thanks for that. :)
You're very welcome :D

That's excellent that you have a pub and a bus now! Two model railway cliches that must be indulged :D I nearly bought a (model) pub myself recently, but I must have been feeling particularly sensible at the time and didn't bother- I'm sure one will be along soon enough! 10/10 for doing the Metcalfe kits, I find them a bit too faffy to be honest.
You've just given me a brilliant idea - a bus service between the two pubs! Pubs are definitely the heart of a lot of small villages and so having another one for the centre of the town was a must. Definitely go for one if you've got the opportunity - great little things to add to a scene because you can do so much with them.
Thanks! I rather like Metcalfe kits but that's maybe just because I've not built kits from anyone else. They tend to be quite fiddly in parts but I've found that using a small piece of card to apply the glue makes a massive difference.

The Castle looks excellent- how do you find the sound quality on it?
The sound quality is alright - nothing to write home about but nothing bad to comment on either. I'm not sure it needs any more bass because else it can be too deep. There's not a lot of space in the tender for the sound to reverberate but it seems to work.

-Peter

====[old post 20.11.2021, 21:20; new post 21.11.2021, 17:46]===

Update on the new pub - it's finished!
20211121_165115_2.jpg20211121_165136.jpg

After a couple of hours' work this afternoon - admittedly at a fairly slow pace - I've finished the coaching inn. It's a bit larger than I thought it would be, but it's a problem I can solve.
I've tried to finish this one off to a higher standard than some of the other kits on the layout, so I spent some time colouring-in the white edges of the card with a pencil and things like that. There's also the bits of greenery about the place, which seemed to work fairly well on the cottages (which are next to this building) and they work really well at hiding the joins between the main building and the wall/shed and a few other bits.
One of the most interesting bits about this kit for me was the yard out the back and the archway through; it's something a bit different but a pain to put together! The archway is formed from some bits which fold back to create the holes in the walls at each end, and then you stick the brick-textured piece behind those on either side (if that makes any sense). I didn't realise that was how it made until I'd chopped off the "fold-these-bits-back" bits and had to glue them all back together :lol:
At one point, I had a small plastic kit for a small barrow carrying fruit and veg and the like. It came with a copy of Railway Modeller I believe but it's one of the many things which seem to have gone missing in the many changes to the layout! Something like that might've been perfect for the yard out the back so I'll be looking on eBay I expect!

Next thing now is to work out what on earth I'm going to do about the road in front. So there's enough room at the back for the gate from the yard to make some sort of sense, the building needs to be set fairly far-forward from the tracks behind. This means the pavement at the front sticks out onto the roundabout - creating a bit of a Countdown conundrum. The easy option would probably be to remove the roundabout altogether and then just turn it into a bog-standard junction, but that sounds a bit boring really so I might try and make a mini-roundabout (as if the one there wasn't small enough already!). In my experience, a fair few mini-roundabouts tend to be really quite small indeed so there doesn't need to be enough space for cars to go around it properly, just enough so they can go straight over the middle ;)

-Peter
 
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