Coombe Bridge On the Longroyd Bridge & Bargate Railways

[Stan Williams]

Just a tip when planting trees etc.

Always plant them in odd numbers   ie 3, 5,  7 etc.

No its not an April Fool joke !!

A few years ago, I was watching a gardening programme and the advice was when planting in your garden always plant in odd numbers
The arrangements always look better to the eye, than even numbers.

Followed that advice ever since, plus you can never have to many trees, just look out of your windows, there are more trees than people.

Counted the trees on our Gairloch layout yesterday and it was  150 !!

Stan.

[Krizzy]

150 is an even number Stan!! Did you have your specs on?

Roger

[theelliotts]

Ah but 150 divides by 3 to give 50 groups and by 5 to give 30 groups.

David

[Graeme Dunbar]

I think the 'rule' is not to make the arrangements too regular or symmetric. Choosing an odd number is a convenient guideline. However, three very similar trees arranged in a neat equilateral triangle or a line or five in a pentagon will look as odd as two or four.

Once you start grouping groups applying a strict rule gets a bit silly: two groups of three or a group of three and a group of two to make an extended group of five? and that is just the start.

What is harder to achieve with commercial trees is a convincing arrangement of trees in close proximity. Most commercial model trees are "specimen" trees growing in isolation whereas trees growing together will shade each other and the branches facing other trees will be more spindly, shorter etc. Similarly, with trees in a group, some will be more dominant and others crowded out to an extent. Neat rows of uniform forestry commission trees requires quite a lot of management.

[B.Meldon]

The main issue with trees on a 00 scale layout is their size.
In reality trees are big! Often three or four times the height of a house. In fact the average height of a tree in the UK works out at just over 10 inches (around 26cm) in 00 scale.
The problem is that tress of this size just look wrong on a model railway and they would completely dwarf the buildings and the trains.
I think this is something to do with the way virtually all model railways compress length, having curves that a far tighter than the prototype, short stations, short sidings and very short distances between stations on a model with far more track that would be seen in reality. One mile is a very short distance between railway stations, but on a 00 model 1 mile is 69 feet!

The result is that we need to use smaller than scale trees, but to make them look correct on the layout, this is not easy.

Brian Meldon

[Brian Mosby]

I have made a start on the control panel

its cut to shape & has a coat of primer

[Brian Mosby]

heres how it looks as it is now
I still need to add the 2 engine sheds & the brack in the track in the 3 road shed
100_8361 by brian mosby, on Flickr

[Brian Mosby]

now added the engine sheds & track breaks to the panel
100_8362 by brian mosby, on Flickr

[Brian Mosby]

switchers now fitted & I have started to wire them up
100_8363 by brian mosby, on Flickr

100_8364 by brian mosby, on Flickr

100_8365 by brian mosby, on Flickr

100_8366 by brian mosby, on Flickr

100_8367 by brian mosby, on Flickr

[Brian Mosby]

The control panel is now wired up I may add 1 more switch so the standard gauge & narrow gauge tracks are not powered at the same time at the moment the standard gauge is not powered  I still need to add the point motors & attach the wires to them but the wire is in place I may get this done before Rainhill but as the layout will be a work in progress then it will not matter 


Engine Shed end
100_8368 by brian mosby, on Flickr

Mill end
100_8369 by brian mosby, on Flickr

Control panel in place
100_8370 by brian mosby, on Flickr

& the plug taking the wires on to the next board that has the mill sidings & station points on
100_8371 by brian mosby, on Flickr

[B.Meldon]

One thing that the late Jack Carter did with his control panels was to use different types of switches for different functions.
For example the section switches are large toggle switches, the isolating rail switches are slide switches and the uncoupling ramps push buttons.

In practice this helps a lot when operating the layouts as it avoids confusion because it is very easy to tell what the switches are for.
That said he also made all his point switches (for the solenoid point motors) so they indicate the direction of the points on the panel.

What type of point motors are you going to use? (Solenoid, slow motion, servo motor etc.)

Brian Meldon

[Brian Mosby]

One thing that the late Jack Carter did with his control panels was to use different types of switches for different functions.
For example the section switches are large toggle switches, the isolating rail switches are slide switches and the uncoupling ramps push buttons.

In practice this helps a lot when operating the layouts as it avoids confusion because it is very easy to tell what the switches are for.
That said he also made all his point switches (for the solenoid point motors) so they indicate the direction of the points on the panel.

What type of point motors are you going to use? (Solenoid, slow motion, servo motor etc.)

Brian Meldon

I have some switch covers on order 2 colours red & black I will be using the black for the point & red for the track
as to paint motor it will be Peco or the new Gauge Master ones

[Brian Mosby]

The layout will be at the Rainhill show on the 28th November so come & say Hi & if you would like to run any of your locos just ask

[Brian Mosby]

I have cut the base for the platform to shape & now await the paving slabs to arrive

I have now added the signalbox
100_8406 by brian mosby, on Flickr
100_8407 by brian mosby, on Flickr

I have also stared the static grass Still need to clean up the excess

100_8408 by brian mosby, on Flickr
100_8409 by brian mosby, on Flickr
100_8410 by brian mosby, on Flickr
100_8411 by brian mosby, on Flickr

[Jeff Schumaker]

Your static grass looks good. Whose grass are you using?

Jeff S.