For some of you not aware, I recently acquired a 009 layout that was advertised for free on the RM web, article attached : https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/155822-009-layout-now-gone-to-new-home/
Thought I would try keep everyone in the loop how the restoration is going on the layout to bring it up to modern standards and breathe new life back into it. After sorting and arranging a pick up I managed to get layout back down to Southampton from Pontefract, the advantages of having family estate car :-)
We managed to arrange a work day at our club so we could have the layout up all together and start listing a snag list of what needed sorting and in what priority they needed doing, after a couple of hours with brushes, hoovers and air brushes we managed to give the layout a good dusting and cleaning to find the state of the track and some of the mechanism
We then spent some time locating all of the loose parts that had been removed or fallen off the layout from buildings point of view to try see the layout in all its glory and see what was missing. Luckily for us most if not all of the parts are there for the buildings so only small amount needs replacing. As you can see from the photos we were blown away by the level of modelling done by Jack, we were constantly finding little gems on the layout being it an animation or just the level of modelling skill involved.
We did get a loco to complete a rough circuit of the track using controller and some crocodile clips just to see what the joins were like and what bits of track might need looking at. Luckily there are only 2 points that need a bit of attention from the 19 that is on the layout. One that needs complete replacement and one just needs the bar repaired. We then tackled the stripping of all but a few of the electrics as these are most out of date and in need of replacing , only things left are a few droppers for track power , all the yard lights had been damaged so all these were stripped and will be replaced with new L.E.Ds
Repairs on some of the building has started , some will need a fair amount of attention but will be restored , only a couple of things will not be returning on the layout , also a replacement peco point been purchased to replace the broken one that is located in the engine shed .
One thing that I have managed to do it home is seal the boards underneath as the boards are chipboard so were bit flaky in places , this is to be sanded down to remove rough edges before resealing with Pva.
Please find photos after we gave her a good clean and stripped electrics and sealed the boards, also measuring up for the replacement point as we aren't sure what track has been used , You will find on the link for RM web the photos of layout from when I picked it up from the greenhouse. Hopefully in the next article I will have a further update
The Plan – As well as the restoration the plan of action for the layout is to fully digitise the layout for DCC running, install Merg servos for point operation using the old bike spokes .I aim to fully restore the operation of the animations on the layout that we have manage to work out. Animations found so far, forge, gas works pump, timer mill saw, mine hopper cable. I might install couple extras depending what is achievable. There was remains of what looked like an old smoke machine at the mine so again will look at reinstalling that. The set of house at the back will be removed and possible replaced with the housing of the control panel. How the control panel works I am still in the thinking of how best to run the layout. Yard lights and building lights will also be fully restored
Please find link for same article i am running on rm web that will have photos for your reference
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/158935-went-a-restoration-project/&tab=comments#comment-4171930
regards Mark
Looking forward to your updates, Mark.
Jeff S.
Welcome to the forum and for your progress report on "Went". It looks as if it is going very well so far, I'm looking forward to reading of more progress in due course!
Mick
I have a layout made, but not finished by the late Roy Watson (009 member No30) in the 1970's. I started to restore it a few years ago, I got as far as finishing all the electrics and track work and even started the scenery, but the project then stalled and I returned to the scenery work on Westdorf. It is still sitting here up ended in the railway room, I may return to it when the Westdorf scenery is done.
Been a few weeks since last update so thought i would show what has happened to all those dropper wires i was preparing on my desk.
well i managed to install the extra droppers i needed to install on the back fiddle yard , as you can see i got myself set up at home in the spare room so that progress wasn't halted after the closure of the local club and also with the bad weather wanted to be back inside rather then out in the shed
i have now installed a central bus for the roads and sidings on board one and have droppers on all bits of track to improve the reliability of the signal , may look a bit of a rats nest in couple of these photos but has all been tidied up and will be covered wit electrical tape on all the solder joins once i'm happy the layout is in working order
it was then a case of moving onto board 2 and installing both sides of the outer bus , the one at the front will not be connecting up with board one but will be at the back to complete the outer bus across the 3 boards . Again similar to board one i installed the central bus that will be for sidings and Central running track . the aim of having 2 separate buses is so that if one does short that it won't stop operation of the other part of the layout
well board 3 is probably one with more to update on , basically when i acquired the layout there was a board about 16x26 in length which was technically board 4 but due to its size and of the damage it had received it seemed a better idea to permanently bolt it and attache to board 3 , of course would extend the length of that board but it would reduce amount of board joins and trying to look after an additional board which had more chance of being damaged and knocked about
so plan one was to bolt board 4 and 3 together using the bolts layout came with and then gluing them together permanently , i cut down some of the boards that board 4 was made out of as seems to be retrofitted after the other boards so wasn't quite built to same spec . with the boards now glued and bolted i decided to add a triangle support that i hope will help keep thinks all together . Once new fascias and back scenes are made this will also help with stabilizing it all together so they won't be going anywhere . the fascias and back scenes will all be produced so that boards 1 and 2 have the same spec of fascia and back scene aswell.
with boards 3 and 4 now just board 3 it meant i could repair the track joins as over time they have taken a battering so were out of alignment and just little worse for wear so after some think decided to originally replay a short amount of track a couple of inchs across the board join and have a single bit of track bridge it as per photos , 4 joins in total to mend .
After some deliberating and testing i found that the loop at the end wasn't playing ball and where it had been soldered in place a few times due to knocks etc it was unreliable in its gauge so loco was struggling to tackle the curve . it was then decided that i would rip up the entire loop on the end of board 3 and have that as one piece bridge both joins . on all these i slowly removed all the ballast and the old track but trying to leave the cork bed in place so it was kept level with rest of the track on the board . All replacement track was peco 009 with Jagger sleepers on , when joins were made with rail joiners , the old sleepers that had been ripped up were put to use but replacing the missing ones on the track joins .
full article with photos
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/158935-went-a-restoration-project/&do=findComment&comment=4196983
please find video of the testing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg2245fwRBY
Welcome to the forum (and the 009 Society) and good luck with this.
(For context, this is the layout referred to in this topic: https://www.009society.com/forum/index.php?topic=4466.msg31344#msg31344 )