My O Gauge Journal on
Modelling the GWR
A personal Journey
Projects for the year 2014
December 2014
Finally, got up enough enthusiasm to start on signalling the railway. To see how that develops Click Here.
November 2014
TPO update: The painting is now completed and transfers are in place. The body has had a coating of matt varnish. Click Here to see the full story. Some issues in using JMRI to control the TPO have now been corrected, but resulted in a collision in the tunnel of the traductors which had to be re-soldered back onto the body.
Extra parts for the castle class loco I aim to start in the new year have arrived and is now 99% complete.
The TPO is in the paintshop after successfully completing trial runs dropping and collecting mailbags from the ground apparatus. Checking on the Castle kit shows some parts need collecting, (backhead, buffers, number plates etc). Collecting pictures from sources to aid build to take place later on in the year. The Peckett kit needs numbers creating for it from Guilplates otherwise it is complete and these are on order.
October 2014
The crossing gates problem could not be solved with the current kit so i decided to start again with a different arrangement from GFControls. Their PCB is much more sophisticated and can be used to control signals as well. The use of mini servos and digital 'pots' to fine tune the position of the servos is a great improvement and they do not suffer from 'judder'. For more about how this is achieved click here.
As the police due their duty the need for wagon to collect offenders is becoming more important. Therefore I have started the Morris PV van for them.
September 2014
Two more loco kits from Telford. A Warren Shepherd Castle class loco. A Pecket 0-6-0 shunter from Mercian, Sync disks from EDM models, Motorising kits from Crossinggate models, Roof sections, policemen and box from Invertrain, An Ocean Mails Coach from Western Carriage and Wagon works plus lots of small stuff essential to my hobby.
Control kits for the level crossing gates are proving problematic as shown here:
August 2014
Organised the TPO coach fittings and frets and made a start on the wayside pickup apparatus, (see July link for more detail).
July 2014
Begun the project on Travelling Post Office service on the railway. Click here to see how that progresses.
May 2014
Changed the brewery into a real building on the far end of the layout that has been neglected. Click here to see how i developed this area of the layout.
Updated plan with latest images showing layout as of today. Click on Plan above to view.
April 2014
The station waiting rooms have been completed, (see the updated plan for images).
00 layout have begun integration of points and colour signals using old 2 rail points, Click here for details.
March 2014
The station building that sits alongside the canopy is to be extended and the waiting room has arrived for that to be done.
The 00 gauge layout has had an upgrade of electric points at strategic places on the mainline and the switches for these have firstly been Eckon which have been replaced by Peco switches and a CDU has been added to give a little boost to the points working. Click the link in January below to see how that has progressed.
February 2014
The canopy has waited for its valencing which arrived along with the news kiosk and these have been completed.
January 2014
My 00 gauge layout on the ground floor of my office is now due for a slight upgrade. I am to extend the layout to include a double mainline track. Currently this is only down the station side of the layout. The ledge on which most of it is laid will have to be widened and this i intend to do with 2mm MDF board 6" wide. Click here to catch up with this development
In the new year I intend to start on the station project I've had in mind for some time. As a start I've swapped over the station buildings from Wallingham Park and Longhampton Bridge.
There is a small covered way to the right hand side of the building that will finish it off. Then on the near platform there will be a long covered canopy. All the detail will be in this section of this site. Click here to see how it progresses.
Longhampton bridge now sports a much larger building which looks better now in spite of the restricted platform space. (see below).
