BEECHES TMD

TRACK LAYING AND BALLASTING

All of the track is Peco.  As this is a modern image layout I have used flexitrack with concrete sleepers.  The photo slideshow shows some early photos of the layou with track loosley positioned.

The points are almost all long slips as this gives such a realistic appearance to the layout.   There are several straight and curved turnouts and one crossover.  The small, hidden fiddle yard uses two medium radius turnouts. 

I found that time spent planning the positioning of the track is well worth while.  I have made mistakes before, positioning points only to find that they lie directly above a support so there is no room for a point motor under the baseboard!   I have found that it is also valuable to obtain buildings and other items so that again the track can be put in just the right position. 

The wiring involves one main wire leading from the central board to both ends of the layout.  At various stages there are terminal blocks with separate wires (like droppers) wired to sections of track (to copper clad sleepers - visible in the gallery photos).  The locos all run very smoothly - most if not all even crawling along at setting 1 on the Powercab.

Most model railway sites include a photo of the spaghetti under the boards - so here's mine.  It took a while to improve the soldering skills but all the point motors finally worked!  There's certainly a technique to soldering.  Experienced modellers will consider this very basic but for anyone starting out - a few tips to avoid weak joints ....

i)  put the solder against the wires or whatever you are soldering and then touch the solder on the joint with the iron.  Let the solder flow over the join - you shouldn't need very much. ii)  try to avoid overworking the solder - the flux goes and then the solder becomes weak and less fluid.  iii)  if the solder is not sticking (probably dirty or overworked - start again iv) don't touch the join for too long with the iron - the heat is conducted and it can melt wire covering, damage DIN connectors etc

I hope these tips help.   If my advice is not accurate and an expert reads these pages please let me know!!

Dark grey Carrs ballast was purchased at the 2007 Manchester Model Railway Exhibition.  The track was all laid and point motors added.  All the main wiring was in place and checked before starting.  I have used the tried and tested method of diluted PVA with a few drops of washing up liquid.   A syringe makes fairly precise application of the liquid possible.    

Dummy electric point motors have been added to the points that are not going to be controlled by hand levers (entry to TMD, on crosssover and one other point at back of layout.  These were obtained from Unit Models - hand painted and detailed.

Two Berko ground signals have been added, controlling entry and exit from the TMD.  Cable and ducting was supplied by Ten Commandments. 

EARTH AREAS

Several people who have seen the layout or photos have commented on how realistic the soil / bare ground areas look.   IT IS SOIL!!!  I know we are all trying to make our layouts look realistic - some more than others.  I have used real soil before and I agree I think it does look realistic - but then it is the real thing!!!   Also a cheap option!!

I collected some garden soil (high mineral rather than organic content).  Dried the soil in the microwave (oven would do) (don't tell my wife - and yes it was cleaned afterwards). You can then crush it with a hammer to make between very fine particles to a powder.  I also used some lumps of clay in the same way (more orange / yellow colours).  If you mix these you can of course vary the colours.  Very fine sand would work too. This was then sprinkled on the boards and I used a dropper with dilute PVA and small amount of washing up liquid to fix it in place.  I find it is better to build this up in layers rather than try to make mounds of the stuff (often not set inside). 

I think it looks really good (don't wish to sound immodest) but a lot of this is subjective and personal preference.  Once you put down static grass or other materials for vegetation - this also looks good against the soil colours. 

The different shades are important - look in reality and you will see that bare ground is often in patches of different shades - browns, greys - also different particle sizes etc.  Often there is natural and man-made debris around too.   In railway sidings / yards - areas where oil has dripped etc.  I still need to work on this - Beeches TMD is not finished yet.  These touches I feel all make a layout look more realistic.