Hi George, just couldn't get the choice and variety of locomotives in 1/29th scale I wanted.Plus with the O scale I'll get more in less space. Davy
Hi Guys well, only had a wee while to spend working on the layout today so heres the latest. I layed and pinned down some track and have tried the track ballasting method I described. I put couple of handfulls of damp quarry-grit/dust in a plastic tub. A handfull of cement powder,mix well till all the grit is infused with the cement powder. (This is a dry mix,no water) pour the mix over the track then brush into place with an old paint brush. Some bit of grit tend to stick to the sides of the rails so I flicked away any offending particles off the rails with a sharp knife then brushed everything smooth. The dampness already inthe mix will set the cement over night. I then covered the whole lot over with plastic bags incase of heavy rain coming on and disturbing/soaking everything,. Tomorrow I'll take the bags off and see the results. Pics attached. Oh...and I also ran that steel wheeled coach up and down the track to make sure there were no offending grit particles to cause potential derailments when it all sets. Cheers DAVY
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Hi Guys,
Apar from the actual layout itself,the whole garden is gettin a make-over at the same time. Wish I could spend all the time on the actual track and train stuff but unfortunately its demolish and rebuild everything as I go kinda thing. Anyway with fair weather and a few weeks a big transformation will take place.....I hope. heres the latest pics. The double track is laid along what can be seen in the pics and is working smooth with a coach as a tester however I won't be permanent fixing track/ballasting round switches etc, untill all my locos have been tested thru the switches. Cheers DAVY
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Hi Guys,
Been plodding away. First locos on the line for a wee photo shoot.Thigs to come !!. Sunset B&O Big Six 2-10-2 and a Q4b in the frame. The Y is starting to take shape. In one photo you can see the shelf in the shed where that spur the Q4b and coach are sittting on is heading for,(where the blue plastic bottle is sitting). That will be the train store. Anyway ,thats the progress to date. Wish it was all done and up and running but Rome wasn't built in a day eh ?? Cheers DAVY
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Davy, Wow. It is great to see the forum getting more international members. Keep the up dates coming.
Good thread, Davy.
I live in the Vancouver area, and I'm interested in what you're up to...
I've got a nice O gauge collection that really should be operated on a larger layout... I've got ample room, on my property, for a nice outdoor layout but, having to lug my equipment in and out, every time I wanted to run my trains, just seems to be a wee bit unappealing.
Watching you, while I'm enjoying a pint of Guinness or a bottle of Belhaven's Wee Heavy, will have to suffice... for the time being.
Some of my Scottish ancestors lived in Currie, in the Midlothian area. I enjoy learning/and hearing about Scotland.
Cheers Lad,
Rick
Looking great Davy. To bad I live on the other side of the world, I'd be there watchin, learnin, and even helpin. Sad thing is I can't find anyone in the US that sells Peco O scale track. Maybe I need to contact Peco and become a dealer as I already sell "G" gauge products. I can branch out into O scale also.
Keep up the great work. BTW raining here so I guess I'll be in the shop today instead of out on the railroad.
Chuck
Hi Guys, glad you're enjoyin the thread. "Currie" you say Rick,thats to the Edinburgh/east side of the country ,I'm nearer Glasgow in the west but no so far away. As for the Peco track, it really is great stuff ,easy to work with too and very good quality. As for buying it. The best price I could find in the UK was from Hattons of Liverpool in England. £60 per box of 12 yards of flexi.Thats exactly £5 a yard and the medium switches are £36 a piece. Hattons are an excellent retailer and their service I have found to be second to none.I don't know how that compares to US track prices.But I'll say this in all honesty, American or German G scale track I found to be an extremely poor second to PECO stuff.Cumbersome ,clumsy,and over complicated. But maybe American O gauge nickel silver flexi is just as good? ,I don't know. Peco make some nice curved turnouts too which I'll probably use on the layout at certain places. Anyway guys,just in for my dinner. Need to go and get on with things.This layout won't build itself ! ha ha ! cheers DAVY
Chuck heres the peco website..... http://www.peco-uk.com/
Hi Davy,
Yes, close to the Edinburgh university lands... is my understanding. I was born in Vancouver, and I have been to Glasgow, in the early 70's... back in my Jock-the-lad days, but not to the parish of Currie. In those days, I didn't care much about ancestry... I just wanted to look cool and meet the babes.
I remember registering at a Glasgow hotel, and there being a language barrier. The proprietor had a strong Scottish accent, and she was having a hard time understanding mine.
She kept asking me... "what's your satin name"? Three times I told her, but she just wasn't getting it... Finally, she accepted my satin name and the boys had a place to stay.
BTW, apparently, in Canada, we call our rail companies railways. Yours, your railway or railroad, is coming along very nicely. Good job, me son.
Cheers,
Rick
Really great stuff! Thanks for sharing it all here.
Hi Guys,
"Y" trackwork complete ,now I can get this area landscaped and the track ballasted. In the UK ,I believe the term "railroad" was the first to be used then gave way to "railways" which is the term now used . Today we tend to think of "railroad" as USA-speak. But I think most folk over here think of "Railways" when it comes to Canada. "Canadian Pacific Railway" "Canadian National Railway" ,or "Canadien" mes amis Quebecois ,non ? ha ha ! DAVY
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Merveilleux Davy. Please give us some close up pictures as you ballast the tracks and the turnouts. Seeing your layout revives in me the desire to build one outside, as I will never have enough space for an O scale layout in my home. I cannot wait to see the other parts of the layout.
Yves
Aye, tis a fine looking wye ya have there, Davy Mac. A nice visual feast and useful, as well. I wouldn't mind having a wye, myself.
I'm noticing that, at least on one side, there's not much of a barrier between your joint and your neighbors yard( I think you guys call them your gardens). Anyway, how do the Frohmeyer's, Vic and his clan, your neighbors, like your trains etc?
BTW, I only just recently read the bit about Canada calling it's rail outfits railways. Before that, I always wondered why there was two different terms?
So the Rebs use railroad, and the True North Strong and Free uses railway... got it.
Thanks for sharing... cheers,
Rick
Here's a thought... a little late for Davy, but something to ponder -
EMD uses a rubber gasket, or something similar, to lessen the vibration felt inside their isolated cab models.
Would some type of gasket, maybe even that thin foam(sill gasket) used on top of cement foundations, to prevent moisture from reaching the wood sill plate, work - to mitigate the effects of frost? A gasket might reduce or eliminate the ground shift/movement, associated with frost?
I would suggest lining the sides, as well as the bottom.
Rick
Hi Guys,
By the time I have the ballasting done the timber is encapsulated in cement.Also with the amount of drainage I don't enviseage any problems with frost. A waterproofing plasticiser in the cement also keeps water out. Anyway guys,did a wee bit landscaping in the "Y"this afternoon. beautifull warm day here. Anyway,all I did was mix up some crushed rock (same as I use for the ballast)with some compost to make a gritty mix for alpine plants, Edged the trackside with stones then filled in with the grit and compost mix.laid pea gravel over the top. Keeps weeds down and also helps to hold moisture and also stops the compost from getting splashed all over in heavy rain. Another tried and tested method that works well. DAVY
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WOW!!! Thats looking great. BTW thanks for the Peco web site. I guess it's easier to get your Peco product where you live then in the USA. Other than Walthers I can't find anyone who carries it and Walthers only sells things at full retail. Anyway I'm still looking.
Chuck
Very informative post Davy. How are the neighbors once you have trains going with sound?
I keep forgetting you were a G guy, the neighbors must be accustomed to your trains...
One of the benefits of running your O outside is that, you don't have to concern yourself with the dust found indoors. On the other-hand, outdoors, you've got critters and outdoor debris to contend with. Either way, there's ongoing maintenance.
The thing you have, that I really miss, is a decent amount of track to run on... My trains would look cool, motoring about that layout of yours.
Cheers,
Rick
Hi Guys, well ,yesterday was spent on groundwork/landscaping etc.No actual train-stuff as such. I'm out of track anyway so I'll need to get more next week. Yesterday I worked on the area next to the house to the top side of the "Y". I cemented in some big flat stones along the boundary towards my neighbour's place ,pulled out all the old plants and compost and what was a rockery. Filled the area in with hardcore/rubble and got it ready for laying the last piece of track towards the shed and for re-landscaping. 1st 3 pics show the progress in this area over the day.next two pics show the landscaping I also did yesterday along the back fence.Still a bit to go. Finally the last pic shows the route to be taken off the Y along the other old flower box/wall. So thats things to date. 8.40am here as I post this ,am just away to make a start again ! As for the neighbours ,well, fortunately most of my neighbours work 9 till 5 jobs whereas I don't. Being a pro musician most of my working hours are weekends and evenings so I have the place to myself day and daily most days !PS In the last photo you can just see some of the G scale track (bottom left hand corner) still in situ. I still have a fair bit of the old track to lift.That will be going today.
Cheers DAVY
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"Pro musician" you say. Care to elaborate?
Re: your layout - is that straightaway in your last picture, the one that's bracketed by wood and has shrubs growing on the left side, situated in the middle of your back yard?
What do you estimate your finished layouts combined track length will be?
I think a train, headed by a nicely detailed Deltic locomotive, would fit in quite nicely... in that locale.
Rick
Not a criticism, but my personal preference... I liked the look of your wye, better... without the bigger pieces of rock placed in it's center. I prefer the look of your wye in the preceding picture... it looks quite natural and realistic.
Rick
Hi Rick,I play keyboards ,accordion and bagpipes. Musical mercenary thats me !
The last pic with the greenery to the left is approximately about 1/3rd up the garden from the house. I'm maybe being a bit frustrating but I think I'll keep the over-all pictures till the last as it all comes together.Like a good strip-tease,bit by bit, ha ha ! Those shrubs are actually miniature alberta spruce trees.Some of them have gotten too big and I'll be ripping some out and replacing them with younger ones probably but not in their present locations.
As for a deltic diesel, mmmm....maybe?? but don't hold your breath. I'm a steam fan first and foremost. I'd rather run British Railways Britannia pacifics or Clans/
9F 2-10-0s, Black fives. The kinda steam I remember from my childhood and youth. I will acquire some British outline locos in time but British O scale models are a lot more expensive than American generally. Probably because its a smaller market and they don't have the volume of sales as stateside. Anyway ,just stopped for dinner. Over all length of the layout ?? Haven't a clue,I'll pace it out one of these days and have a rough estimate. Cheers DAVY
Hi Rick,
Still a fair old bit of landscaping and planting to go yet ,plus track ballasting.
I have to keep in mind that its a railway in the garden as opposed to a garden built around the railway. I think once I get to the stage of close up pics and stuff you might see things a wee bit different.
As for British O gauge ,check out this company....http://www.djhmodelloco.co.uk/...try=United%20Kingdom bear in mind that British O gauge is 1/43 scale as opposed to US 1/48. DAVY
Are you in a band, a studio musician, or a one man show?
About a year ago, there was a piper that used to stand in a little grove of trees, sort of hidden, playing the bag pipes. You could hear the music, but had to scan the park to find it's source.
I've been a diesel-electric and electric guy, mostly. In 2004, I started out with one of Lionel's R-T-R steam sets, but quickly gravitated to the diesels. I have a little over 50 locomotives... mostly MTH's Premier motive power. My most recent acquisition is a UP SD50 with 3.0. I have a 3.0 UP SD24 due shortly, and I have a 3.0 CP Train Master ordered, plus a scale wheels Taurus 3 ES-64-U4(a modern European electric).
I'm actually pretty satisfied with my collection... I've got most of what I wanted.
The only thing I'm missing is a layout that could give my equipment a good run...
The engines you've shown seem to fit the size of your layout, quite nicely. That's what I'd like to have.
BTW, it dawned on me yesterday, that you can run with the smoke on... without the smoke impacting you(wind might be a factor). No ceiling and walls to trap it.
A final BTW, I've got a few excellent electrics - A New Haven EP-3, a Milwaukee Road all-black Bi-Polar and a Pennsylvania P5A. Those units would look great operating on your layout especially, if there was operational overhead wiring.
Take care lad and enjoy tonight's gig,
Rick
Davy! very interesting post. Do you have a trackplan, how large is your outdoor railway?
Hi Guys, Rick,.... I only have one diesel unit at present,its a Weaver 2 rail B&O FA1 A and B lash up .The B unit is a dummy. I like the earlier generation of US diesels. And as I'm doing the transition era mainly B&O, FAs etc ,Baldwin sharks etc., were rubbing shoulders with steam and I like the early B&O diesel paint schemes. Generally speaking I prefer Eastern US steam.I'm not over keen on West Coast steam though I do like the UP FEFs. However generally speaking I like the diesel/gas turbine colourschemes of the west like the Santa Fe Warbonnet,UP Yellow,etc.etc. So maybe in time I'll treat myself to some of those.
George, so far my track plan is a double track mainline circuit with the already built Y. I'm swithering whether to do an engine servicing area at the topside of the Y next to the house ????. Other than that I might widen out the run along the back fence to 4 tracks to give two passing places. I'm not going to make things over complicated though because basically I just like to watch steam trains in action.If I go digital then its a big enough layout to have 2 or three trains running on each line at a time . Anyway we'll see. Cheers DAVY
Hi Guys,
Made a mess of this post so I'll try again !!. Ist pic shows the track bed now completed toward the storgae shed. next two pics show the rear area of the garden. I am putting in a paddling pool for my grand kids next my fish pond. This "paddling pool" is actually an old fibre glass water-plant storage/demonstration tray I got from a local garden centre which is closing down. I cleaned it up and painted the inside with hammered enamel blue paint. Its laid on levelled concrete blocks bedded in coarse sand. I put a bath plug in it which I got from a local plumber's merchant. To empty it you simply pull the plug and the water drains down a wee drainage channel I cemented in between the underlying blocks and into the fish pond. Simple !.
Now I have to build up the ground level lay patio/landscape etc; Quite a lot to do yet but upwards and onwards ! Cheers DAVY .
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Looks like you've commandeered the entire backyard for your layout. Either Mrs. Davy is a real good sport, or you've got her tied up somewhere... out of the way.
BTW, it's okay with me if you want to call one of your water features... Lake Rick.
Also, a Mount VOXmore feature might finish off you're outdoor layout... quite nicely.
Do you ever perform "Swamp Snake" by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band?
Rick
Hi Rick, nah still plenty room for the Mrs to sunbathe and lounge about in other parts of the garden.She does what she wants indoors, the garden is my domain. Anyway spent quite a busy day running back and forth bringing in hardcore ,rubble,sand ,cement and a trip to the local river to get smooth stones for edging the paddling pool. They are just placed at the pool at the moment,..figure them out like a jig-saw first then they'll get cemented in place. The big pond's water level is way down right now as I have to work in the area next to the paddling pool which is normally covered in water. Anyway ,time for a shower and relax. I'm absolutely snookered tonight. Weather fiorecast isn't great this week ,hope it doesn't hold me back too much . Cheers DAVY
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It's looking great Davy. You'll have to explain to me what a "Paddling Pool" is. I've never heard the term. I love watchin what you're doing. Keep up the great work. It's actually sunny here finally so I may even get to run a train today on the garden railroad.
Chuck
Hi chuck, "paddling pool" is UK speak for a small pool for young kids to splash about in in relative safety. Last week I half joking said to my eldest grand-daughter Rebecca (7 years old) that I could get a wee pool in for her near the Y,anyway she didn't take it as half joking. When I finished the Y and there proved to be no room for a pool there she said not too pleased at all..."hmmmmph....,I take it I'm not gettin my paddling pool then !!", so, she guilt tripped me into finding a place for one.She's now a happy chappy because she's gettin her pool. The thing that takes me most time is carting all the bits and bags of building materials onto site. I have no direct access and have to walk everything thru the house. However I'm gettin there. I think ??
Cheers chuck DAVY
Do you have to lug the rocks through your house, too? It looks like you've used a significant amount of materials so far. Does anyone lend a hand, or are you a lone wolf builder?
I'm interested in seeing the overall view... the one you're holding back. I know, the stripper thing...
When finished... it should be a great place to enjoy your trains.
Take care,
Rick
Well Davy Mac this railway of yours sure as my interest.
Clem
Hi Guys,
When I first moved into this house 30 odd years ago the garden ran right down the hill. I levelled it uphill.Its about a six foot drop to the downhill neighbour's now at its highest point. Every bit of material I brought in myself and lugged into place. I do everything myself. Don't let anybody work wi me because they usually just get in my face even though they try to help. Folk can also be full of opinions when you are half-way thru something and its frustrating because they can't visualise the finished article that I see in my head. So, I'm quite happy doin my own thing Rick.Keeps me fairly fit too though I do find the mid-belly area harder to keep in check these days ha ha !
Anyway guys,rain forecast later today so I'm away to get a wee bit done while I can.
Glad your enjoyin the project Clem. Cheers DAVY
So you're a wee bit of a control freak are ya... Davy? Just kidding, Lad.
I like doing my own thing, too.
A few years ago, when I was just getting into trains, a guy asked me to join an organization called TTOS. I said, no... not interested. I used to see these model train magazine articles, that spoke about groups of model train guys getting together; and these guys, when they got together, had rules, operating assignments..., everything seemed to be controlled. That's not for me.
Re: the 6' drop at the side of your yard - your neighbors, on that side, must have a weird view when looking towards your property; with Davyland rising up majestically and towering over their meager peasant patch.
BTW, were you ever a fighter... a boxer? The moniker Davy Mac reminds me of a fighters name.
Keep at er me son.
Rick
I like it. Nice thread. Thanks for taking the time to post it.
Hi Rick,
Well have been in a few fisticuffs in my day and I'm no particularly soft but nah, I'm no a pro fighter.I like the quiet life. As for control freak? , well maybe a bit but only on my own patch, but I like to think I'm a free spirit, like you I don't like red tape and rule books. Guys who get into that should be politicians no friggin playin at trains! , I like being a big kid away from work, if you lose the magic imagination of a kid in adulthood in my book you're as well dead. I just like doin my own thing and have my own ways of doin them,but having said that if I see somebody else with a good idea or a better way I'm always up to learn. As for Ian and Margaret my next door downhill neighbours,nah,they don't mind the big stone wall, they get a good bit of privacy. Anyway Rick, the rain threatened all day but has only now got serious so I got on not too bad. I took these next two pics halfway thru the afternoon and have since pushed things on a bit further.With fair weather I should finish the paddling pool tomorrow. Anyway you can see how I'm goin about things. Right now I'm off to one of my daughters for dinner.Oh and you can see the old G scale track still in situ crossing over the small waterfall /stream, that has all to be lifted and a new bridge built for the 2 rail locos. The waterfall /stream is a nice feature and it will be gettin a makeover too.....watch this space !! Cheers DAVY
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