Page 122: February 2017

February 13, 2017 by Gert

Scrapbook update numer 122 is here for you to enjoy. Have fun reading and be inspired!

R.I.P. Car Shop – by Alain KAP from Saarburg, Germany

Name: R.I.P. Car Shop
Scale: HO
Track: PECO Settrack from Starter Set
Benchwork: IKEA “APA” box
Size: 150 cm x 30 cm
Lighting: two fluorescent lights (60 cm each)
Operation: DC (but may also be used with DCC)
Turnout control: manual push rods
Theme: Switching Layout Inglenook 3-2-2 (6 cars + 1 engine)

I’ve built it for a contest in the german MIBA Magazine.

It is an Inglenook and the theme is a Railroad Car Repair Shop. I built the layout in two IKEA APA-Boxes with attached cassette which has a double purpose, as changing rolling stock and as a run around. Six cars are switched by a switcher Inglenook style. Due to the very small space I had to reduce the Inglenook to 3-2-2 with three cars to be switched behind the locomotive. I chose railcars with six different colors, which is very easy with american rolling stock. I then painted a dice with each of these colors. To make the switch list I roll the dice three times and this is also the sequence in which the cars have to be behind the engine. After the train is complete I put the cars back at random locations on the layout and the game starts anew.

This was a fun project which allowed me to concentrate more on the scenery with small vignettes. Track is from a PECO Starter set. The connection between the two boxes is concealed by a highway bridge and the passing to the cassette through an engine shed.

The background is decorated with cut-outs of the box art from Walthers kit boxes and left-over walls from structures.

The construction of the layout with lots of pictures can be checked on my blog (sharing-know-how.blogspot.com) Search for APA

Ingly Nook – by Scott Pollard from the United Kingdom

Scale: 009 Narrow Gauge
Baseboard size: 73cm by 25cm
Webpage: https://www.flickr.com/gp/144333239@N04/AVS548

Ingley Nook is my second micro layout. Small layouts fascinate me and I’ve become highly inspired by the Models of Yuta Atellier. Im a member of the Blackburn Model Railway Society, UK, working with two very talented and experienced modelers, John (my father) and Ian. They have share their wealth of knowledge each week with me.

The layout is not based on a place in particular but I hoped to capture the essence a feeling of a small Narrow Guage siding in the UK. Presentation of any model for me is to try and make it like an ornament you’d have inside your home. With this in mind I had the idea of using picture frames as a baseboard. They have a nice, already constructed finish to them so I simply replaced the glass with a piece of MDF wood cut to sized and glued in.

The Track
Constructed of the new Peco Set Track the simple Inglenook plan came together very quickly. Cork is glued beneath for the track. Points are control by the simply wire in tube method with some decorative small wood handles for operation.

Scenics
Buildings are mainly Ratio Kits that I have put together and painted. Platforms and raised area is constructed of foam core board. Scatter and texture is mainly made up of Woodland Scenics, Javis, and Cat Litter (Yes he said Cat Litter). By mixing cat litter with straight PVA glue and then pressed into a mold made from lego, I have created my own walls on the layout.My cobble road is made up of DAS moldelling clay PVA glue to the base board anf the piece of square brass tubing pressed in to it to create the cobbles.

Rolling Stock
I’m not a very prototypical modeler so I run whatever I have built or bought. My stock mainly comprises of Peco, Minitrains, Lilliput, Roco, Colin Ashby and Eggerbahn.

Future of the layout
The layout lives in my home on my shelf and I use it to test my builds and couplings. It is a small layout so I look forwards to being able to easily take it along to Narrow Gauge Exhibitions in my area and hopefully promote the 009 scale.

Piper’s Yard – by Andrew Cockburn

Piper’s Yard is my latest minimum space OO Gauge layout, completely fictitious, following my favourite theme of industrial shunting, and set in the BR blue era of 1970’s/1980s. The layout is based around S. Piper, an imaginary manufacturer of rubber hoses for industry, which relies on rail transport for the import of raw materials/the distribution of finished products, while a small goods/coal yard, warehouse & engine shed help add to operational interest.

The baseboard is a 2” x 1” framework with a plywood base, and is actually constructed in two halves, each measuring 1.5’ x 1’, giving total area of 3’ x 1’ (4’ x 1’ including the removable fiddle yard), to enable easy transportation/storage in specially-made end pieces, while the fiddle yard takes the form of a removable hidden siding, constructed from 2” x 1”/plywood. Track is Peco code 100 with electrofrog points, ballasted with Javis chippings, while train control is achieved via a Modelex walkabout controller, which is powered by a cased transformer from the Gaugemaster range. The latter also supplies power to the points, which are operated via sprung toggle switches in conjunction with a CDU, which is another Gaugemaster product.

The main buildings/structures are a mixture of scratch/kit-built, and are low-relief in nature. The factory is constructed from the usual “ingredients“, i.e. balsa, card, plastikard, plastic strip, also brick/stone/tile sheet from the Superquick range, while the warehouse building has actually been “commandeered” from another OO layout of mine (Houghton Lane Yard). The engine shed is a Dapol plastic kit, modified to include interior detail. Other features such as lineside huts, pallets etc. are mainly from Knightwing, Unit Models, Wills and other contemporary ranges, the “population” is courtesy of Bachmann, while grass & shrubbery has been represented using Woodland’s Scenics products.

Naturally with such a small layout operation is fairly basic, therefore running matters do not follow a strict timetable, although I still try to keep operations as realistic as possible. As mentioned before, I tend to favour BR blue operations, but by changing rolling stock, it also possible to switch to the earlier BR green era. Piper’s Yard took about four months to build, and given it’s overall size of just 4’ x 1’, is rather compact and portable. The layout has given me much enjoyment, from both a constructional and operational point of view, and I hope it may serve as a source of inspiration to any fellow modellers who may just experience a similar problem to myself, i.e. a lack of space!

Bridge Street – by David Collett from Middlesbrough, U.K.

Scale: 00 (4mm/ft)
Baseboard size: 33” x 13” (84cm x 33cm) Scenic area 24” (60cm)

Bridge Street is a grimy backwater of the UK railway network set in the 1980’s. It is the end of a small yard and was designed as a simple shunting layout. The overall dimensions are to allow it to both reside and be operated on a shelf in a cupboard. The track is handbuilt with the code 75 rails soldered directly onto copper clad sleepers. The buildings are constructed from Fomex with the stonework scribed into the surface. A short traverser in the fiddle area holds a shunter and wagon or two wagons.

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