Did you spot the mistake?

Well I didn't until after the post! Take a closer look at the narrow gauge point, see what I did. I've no idea why or what I was thinking. I've arrowed the problem below.

So out came the soldering iron and off came the rails (arrowed) and I re built the point as it should be, see below.

Now I need to fit an operating mechanism for the switch blade and then the narrow gauge will be ready to try running a loco on!

Narrow Gauge Rails to Marks Quay

I've had an interest in 2mm narrow gauge modelling for some time but have resisted the temptation to actually build any. Several Association members (you know who you are) have egged me on to add some narrow gauge to Marks Quay and I finally gave in, having purchased a narrow gauge loco body kit and some wagon kits from Peco.

The recent formation of the 2mmnn3 egroup and the resultant surge in interest that has triggered sealed my fate! Another member sold me a Marklin 0-6-0 chassis so I was well and truly off and running.

The white metal loco kit is very basic and rewards a bit of fettling to improve its looks. Smoothing and filling of some rough areas has made a noticeable difference. I chose to solder it together as I find this works very well with the temperature controlled iron that I have. It is very satisfying seeing the solder run into the joints.

To get the chassis to fit, the coupling rods have to be removed and the cylinder moulding modified on each side. The photo above shows one modified cylinder. I retained the cylinders as the moulding forms part of the chassis and it is hidden behind the loco skirts anyway.

As supplied the cab front looks, in my opinion, rather odd so I have reworked it with some plastic card to something that looks more plausible. There is still plenty to be done before it is ready to run but I think it will look good when finished.

Some further information about this loco kit can be found on Mark Fielders web site.

So now I needed some track to run it on, and I decided to add some to the front of Marks Quay. As you can see from the photograph below it has necessitated butchering some of the existing track so that I now have dual gauge track work entering from the left of the layout. With hind sight it probably would of been easier to take up and relay some of the track rather than modifying it, and that could still be an option if things don't work out.

The rail layout is not quite right and I will post some photographs of the corrected layout in the next instalment.

Trouble at Train Table

Following on from the last post about adding the backscene to the layout I soon discovered that I could not place stock onto the train table with the buildings in place, my fingers were too big!


What to do? I could have made a longer train table but felt that it would be difficult to line it up correctly with the three tracks which might require taking up track and relaying it. Not wanting to do that I added a second pivot hole to the existing train table, in filled the gap and extended the tracks to meet it as shown below.

This means that the train table overhangs the baseboard and cannot therefore be left in position when packed into its travel box. It has to be removed at the end of the running session and now lives underneath the layout with the stock and other bits (I will explain this when I describe the travel box). A thorough workout at Keen House showed that the train table is now usable so I can proceed with the rest of the layout.

Marks Quay Backscene

The backscene is very simply made, being nothing more than 2mm thick plywood cut to size and joined at the corners with aluminium angle. This I stuck on using 'No Nails' adhesive and so far it has proved a strong joint, although I did roughen the surface of the aluminium with sandpaper to improve the grip! The backscene is attached to the baseboard by screws in slots so that it can be easily removed by slackening the screws and lifting it away from the layout. I cut access holes for the point operating switches and also the train table, this later one proved to be impossible to use so it is now redundant.

One thing I hate about model railway backscenes is sharp corners or joints that are apparent on so many layouts. Well I don't have any joints as I only have one baseboard so that was a good start. The corners were easy to disguise by sticking a quadrant moulding into them. This is a plastic moulding I got from a local DIY store and again 'No Nails' was the adhesive of choice. My only concern was that the edge of the quadrant has a thickness, about 1.5mm, which could show as a line on the backscene, this has not proved to be a problem.

I have used PECO sky paper which is stuck on with spray photo mount adhesive. I used this as I did not want a 'wet' adhesive which might soak through or stain the front. Two lengths of paper where needed so the paper join will be hidden by the strategic location of a tall chimney. I have yet to devise a solution to protecting the edge of the paper as there is the ever present risk of catching it and tearing the paper.

I am pleased with the effect and am now considering whether or not to add some backscene buildings from the Townscene range or just stick with the 3D buildings on the layout!

Marks Quay at the AGM

I've been busy getting Marks Quay ready for the AGM so have not had time to post more on its construction. The four 16T wagons are now painted and back on their wheels and I have sorted out a wiring issue to do with relocating the train table.
The layout also has a carry/storage box which has taken up a lot of my free time recently but now that that is substantially complete I can get back to modelling.
Hope to see you at the AGM and I will start posting again shortly.






Marks Quay from the viewing side, siting on the storage box.

Marks Quay in the storage box with the lid open.

Turnout Operation

I decided to keep the turnout operation simple. In general I dislike motor operation partly because of noise but also because of the need for extra wiring. To me this is an added complication and more that could go wrong. I prefer mechanical operation and for Marks Quay I have used wire in tube. Some years ago I bought a starter pack from Cornrad Controls and had never used it, so this was my chance.

You will have seen the photo of the tie bar from the previous blog and I cut a groove in the baseboard to accommodate it. Likewise I cut a groove from the end of the tie bar to the edge of the baseboard where I mounted a slider switch to handle the movement of the switch blades and the electrical switching of the turnout. In the groove I laid the tube making allowance for an OMEGA loop. This is quite large and I let it hang down through a slot in the base board.

In one case, I had to add some additional wood to mount the switch to but this will be behind the back scene. One of the joys of not planning ahead! I won't detail the electrical side of this now as I will cover it later when I write about the wiring of the layout.

To connect the turnout operating wire to the switch I drilled a hole in the toggle and passed the wire through this. To lock the wire I used the metal part of electrical terminal blocks cut in half as these already have screws fitted, saving me the work of making them. I notice from the photo that one has split, and will require replacement.

This is not a new method of turnout control but one that I feel can be reliable and easy to use. The tubes are held into the grooves with some silicone sealant that I had to hand but any glue would have done.

I had the slider switches and control wire/tube in my bits box so still no more expenditure!

Track Plan and Construction

The track plan evolved from two small layout plans that I saw on Carl Arendt's excellent web site Micro / Small Layouts for Model Railroaders. You will have probably gathered from the site title that it is aimed at north American modellers. Nevertheless there is much to inspire and I would recommend this site as a good place to start if you are struggling for a small track plan.
This photo shows the track plan I proposed to build but after some discussion with fellow 2mm modellers I decided to remove the turnout shown ringed, reducing the layout to two turnouts. The track plan was transferred to the baseboard by taping it to the top and using a pin to punch through the paper along the centre line of track plan. Once the plan was removed I joined up the holes in the baseboard with a felt tip pen.

I had in my storage box some built and part built track and point work from previously aborted layouts. I had more than enough for the track plan. The track work is constructed using 2mm Association sleepers onto which is soldered plain nickel silver rail. This is done in a jig as shown and no chair plates are used. As the track will be buried when the layout is finished there is no need.

Only one rail is soldered on in the jig and the resulting comb is stuck in place on the base board using white PVA glue.

Once dry, the second rail is soldered into place using 2mm Association track gauges to set track gauge. The sleepers used were old style 2mm Association ones with the large gap. I built the two turnouts from the same materials as none of the old turnouts that I had was of suitable size.

The turnout operating tie bar is as described in the beginners guide. A piece of PCB turnout sleeper is laid on edge, two thin phosphor bronze wires wound round it and soldered in place. Tails are left which are soldered to the ends of the switch blades. The copper is gaped in two places and a hole drilled for the operating mechanism.

The Beginners Guide describes the tie bar in greater detail and a copy should be on the workbench as you build your layout.

At this point in the construction of Marks Quay I have not had to buy any additional items so the cost so far is still £1.50.

Marks Quay - Two Problems

At the Kent and Essex Group meeting on Sunday I played trains on Marks Quay and that threw up a couple of potential problems that I will need to address before the buildings are fixed in place.

I am not happy with the sector plate which is currently constructed from two lengths of aluminium angle fixed to a piece of plywood. The aluminium angle can be seen from the viewing side of the layout and it also touches the inside of the building. I think a piece of PCB (gaped) with the rails soldered on is the solution. Milling the PCB at the visible end to look like sleepered track will improve the situation.

Problems were also encountered placing stock onto the sector plate as I can’t provide a large enough gap in the backscene. The new sector plate will be longer so that I can load stock from the end, behind the backscene.

I hope to paint the four 16T wagons this weekend if it rains. So much to do, but steady progress is satisfying.

Peter

Marks Quay – The Baseboard

OK something useful at last, well I hope so.

The concept of the under-frame/baseboard as set out in the 2mm Association's Beginner's Guide is to construct it from materials “as found, being left over from various household DIY tasks”. This seemed like a good idea to me so I rummaged around in my shed, you do have a shed full of bits and pieces don't you? No, then its the DIY store I'm afraid.

Well my shed yielded some aluminium channel, 15mm by 15mm and some 12mm MDF which slotted nicely into the channel. Result! Having decided on the size of the layout I cut the channel to suite and fitted three MDF stretchers. I had to buy four rubber feet so as not to damage the table and the under-frame was finished. Cost £1.50 so far.

Onto the under-frame is fitted a baseboard which is conventional in being softwood sides and ends and a plywood top. The only softwood I could find in my shed was a rather massive 45mm by 20mm, still I was not about to start buying materials so I used that to build a rectangular frame topped by 9mm plywood, also from the stock pile.

At one end I cut out a section of the plywood top to accommodate a train table. Hopefully you will see what I mean from the photograph.

Good job I throw nothing away! The Beginner's Guide suggests 35mm by 9mm softwood for the frame and 6mm plywood for the top. Clearly lighter if this is what you have already or are going to buy. I don't think Marks Quay as going to warp!

To be honest either way is not expensive but I wanted to do it as cheaply as possible, why, because I could. Cost so far, still £1.50.

Well that concludes the under-frame/baseboard, the next instalment will be to decide on the track plan and track construction.

Peter

Marks Quay - Layout

I joined the 2mm Scale Association in the late 1970's and abandoned 'N' gauge in about 1982. Since then I have been building up a collection of loco's, coaches and wagons based on GWR practice. My interests centre around the Forest of Dean and I have plans to build a layout based in that area.

As this project is taking time I decided to build a small shunting layout. The principals are based on the layout described in the 2mm Association's publication 'The Beginner's Guide to 2mm Finescale Modelling' *. This booklet was published last summer and inspired me to to build a small layout. So Marks Quay was born. The track plan is fictitious and I got the basic idea from Carl Arendt's excellent website on small layout design. It is a small quay somewhere in the British Isles sometime in the early 1960's. The loco is a Bachmann Switcher which has been finescaled by having its wheels turned down and re gauged to suit 2mm scale track, a service offered through the 2mm Scale Association.

The wagons are BR 16T mineral wagons on etched under frames running finescale wheels which are all available to 2mm Scale Association members. Track is soldered plain track. Photos of progress on the layout may be viewed at Marks Quay.

Peter

(Further posts will be added as progress is made.)

* New edition of the Beginner's Guide published in summer 2006. Completely revised from previous editions, and includes a step-by-step illustrations of the construction of a small layout, British Oak.

Cover's planning, baseboards, track building (plain and turnouts), rolling stock construction and converting N gauge locomotives to 2mm standards. i.e. absolutely everything you need to get running.

This booklet can be obtained from the Association stand at larger exhibitions around the country and also by post from Midland County Publications

Copyright © The 2mm Scale Association, 2001 - 2007.