In line with my budget aspirations, I have been trying to make a control panel for the wire in tube point control. I acquired some switches from eBay, and using some offcuts of wood, a smattering of glue, some screws and some 0.8mm piano wire, I made the item below.
I’m not sure if this will work long term, however it was fun making it, and taught me a few things in the process.
We move on.
I have now decided on a final layout, that shouldn’t have too many changes.
It still has a shunting puzzle section, and with a fine selection of isolating sections, will allow a few shunters to potter about on the layout.
We move on.
With the cork laid and dry, despite having designs in mind, I had a play with several different options, to see what seemed to work in the limited space, with the track I had available.
I also acquired a controller with dual controls, and accessories feed, so should be interesting to use.
Boxes were used to simulate buildings as I got closer to what I wanted.
We move on.
I said earlier I am no joiner, and with this in mind I managed to obtain a table from Freecycle to use as a baseboard. It is sturdy, and a reasonable size of approximately 1200 x 750mm.
After securing some foam backed cork panels, I liberally applied PVA glue to the tabletop, and stuck the cork down, giving me a smooth surface to work on, with enough depth to be able to put wire in tube point control in.
We move on.
I had to make a decision on how to start, and the first place would be a baseboard.
My woodworking skills as you will see as this blog progresses are not really up to the standard to make a safe, secure and stable baseboard, so I looked at alternatives.
As budget is a big concern with this project, so after a search on Freecycle, I found a suitable item to start with, a table, sized approximately 1200 x 750 mm.
I wanted some operational interest, as well as something good to look at, and decided a shunting puzzle type layout would be a good start, a variation on the classic Inglenook.
This set the size of the world I am creating, and the ideas started as shown below.
We move on.
I am a frustrated modeler, who after a change of circumstances has decided to finally make a model railway.
I have no previous experience, and will be sharing my journey.
I am going for an Inglenook type layout, with an adjoining abandoned station for added scenic interest.
Below are the first design ideas I am finally happy with.
We move on.
John Smith's Rail 