Lapford station in N gauge.

[Cowley]

I’ve been working on my new fiddle yard extension today. Managed to get the track laid so that I can wire it up and do lots of testing with every single combination of stock that I can think of.
The far end of the yard will lead into my recreation of Eggesford eventually and I’ve incorporated a bit of cant into the new scenic section at the Exeter end of the new board too.

I can’t describe to you how difficult it was trying to get the points lined up with the flexi track at both ends of the loop!



The strange arrangement with the loop nearest the camera on the last photo is because I was using up what I had rather than blowing more money on more new points.
These will be used for stabling the DMU.
I’ve now got those two short roads, three medium (five coaches plus loco), and one long one plus the sidings in Lapford yard.

I bet I’ll end up wishing I’d done more...

 

[hexagon789]

I bet I’ll end up wishing I’d done more...

More than likely, I know I often do, but you've done an excellent job as it is

And I feel your pain with the track work, nothing ever seems to fit properly does it? Even when it should.

 

[takno]

I've got to admit that since I bought an OO train set (cheapest way to get some PKP Intercity stock), the N gauge kit has pretty much all stayed in its boxes. The thought of the fiddlyness is putting me off it a bit. I *think* all I need to do is buy some of the magnetic couplings that were all over youtube a few months ago, and get a couple of better-built baseboards and some decent track cutters, but convincing myself to get going is proving a little tough.

Really liking the Lapford pics though, and it's all giving me the reassurance that it's possible to do decent quality work at that scale

 

[Cowley]

More than likely, I know I often do, but you've done an excellent job as it is

And I feel your pain with the track work, nothing ever seems to fit properly does it? Even when it should.

Thanks Hexagon, I spent the day sorting out the track issues and then wiring everything up. This is what it looks like underneath, not for the faint hearted:



I also ran everything backwards and forwards and it all works apart from my Bubble Car which derails on one of the corners, I may have to reduce the cant slightly on that one.
Here’s a full fiddle yard:

I've got to admit that since I bought an OO train set (cheapest way to get some PKP Intercity stock), the N gauge kit has pretty much all stayed in its boxes. The thought of the fiddlyness is putting me off it a bit. I *think* all I need to do is buy some of the magnetic couplings that were all over youtube a few months ago, and get a couple of better-built baseboards and some decent track cutters, but convincing myself to get going is proving a little tough.

Really liking the Lapford pics though, and it's all giving me the reassurance that it's possible to do decent quality work at that scale

I think it is possible to do a decent job with N gauge now Takno, but it’s definitely a case of playing to it’s strengths (longer trains/more scenery etc), some of the newer models are right up there with the 00 stuff nowadays.
What N gauge stuff have you got?

Lastly, when I looked across the new yard at the back of the houses on the original layout I saw this view earlier which will disappear once I put the backscene in again but it reminded me of Goodrington sidings slightly:

 

[hexagon789]

Thanks Hexagon, I spent the day sorting out the track issues and then wiring everything up. This is what it looks like underneath, not for the faint hearted:

As long as you know what everything does and where everything goes...!

I remember a chap over on rmweb had a numbered label tag on every wire so he could tell in an instant what it was for, though his layout was much larger so it probably made sense on that basis

I also ran everything backwards and forwards and it all works apart from my Bubble Car which derails on one of the corners, I may have to reduce the cant slightly on that one.

Perhaps there's not enough play in the Bubble Car bogies if it's the only one with an issue?

 

[takno]

Thanks Hexagon, I spent the day sorting out the track issues and then wiring everything up. This is what it looks like underneath, not for the faint hearted:

View attachment 87914

That's almost enough to tempt me into using DCC control for everything including the points. In fact getting obsessed with the wiring was my mistake last time I made a real attempt at getting started - ended up spending a fascinating couple of months playing with microcontrollers and serial data buses instead of the trains.

There are some folks on YouTube like Dave at Dean Park who've spent a fortune on keeping their control systems neat and tidy (and still do the modelling), but I reckon if you've got limited time and budget it's definitely best spent on the top of the boards.

 

[Peter C]

I’ve been working on my new fiddle yard extension today. Managed to get the track laid so that I can wire it up and do lots of testing with every single combination of stock that I can think of.
The far end of the yard will lead into my recreation of Eggesford eventually and I’ve incorporated a bit of cant into the new scenic section at the Exeter end of the new board too.

I can’t describe to you how difficult it was trying to get the points lined up with the flexi track at both ends of the loop!

View attachment 87886View attachment 87887

The strange arrangement with the loop nearest the camera on the last photo is because I was using up what I had rather than blowing more money on more new points.
These will be used for stabling the DMU.
I’ve now got those two short roads, three medium (five coaches plus loco), and one long one plus the sidings in Lapford yard.

I bet I’ll end up wishing I’d done more...

That looks really good @Cowley. I've tried using flexitrack before but I've never been very successful! I also like your use of what you already had - that's the way I've done an awful lot of my layout. The case with any set of sidings/any yard is that you'll always find trains to fill them with - I've learnt from experience

Thanks Hexagon, I spent the day sorting out the track issues and then wiring everything up. This is what it looks like underneath, not for the faint hearted:

View attachment 87914

I also ran everything backwards and forwards and it all works apart from my Bubble Car which derails on one of the corners, I may have to reduce the cant slightly on that one.
Here’s a full fiddle yard:

View attachment 87915

Lastly, when I looked across the new yard at the back of the houses on the original layout I saw this view earlier which will disappear once I put the backscene in again but it reminded me of Goodrington sidings slightly:

View attachment 87916

Those wires may be a bit messy but as long as you know what does what, it should be alright. I've just got two wires for my layout and so that makes me feel all giddy! That shot at the end looks really nice - I'd try incorporating something like that into my layout but I've planned other things and filled the board!

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Perhaps there's not enough play in the Bubble Car bogies if it's the only one with an issue?

That’s definitely a possibility and it’s quite long too. I’ll see what I can do at some point.

That's almost enough to tempt me into using DCC control for everything including the points. In fact getting obsessed with the wiring was my mistake last time I made a real attempt at getting started - ended up spending a fascinating couple of months playing with microcontrollers and serial data buses instead of the trains.

To be fair if I was a bit cleverer with computers I would’ve gone further down the DCC route with the points etc (everything under board is analog)
Mind you though because I’ve used electrofrog points in the station area there still would have been a lot of wiring for them, the various feeds for the track and the power supplies for the point motors etc. I’ve also got all the wiring for the lights under there as well.
I ended up colour coding everything (black and green for track, pink and yellow for lighting and red and blue for points etc) but it still looks complicated under there!

That looks really good @Cowley. I've tried using flexitrack before but I've never been very successful! I also like your use of what you already had - that's the way I've done an awful lot of my layout.

I would have loved to use set track at each end because it’s useful for the curves, but unfortunately Peco only do standard code 80 for their set track and I’ve done all the scenic sections in code 55 finescale as it takes a lot of that clunky look which N gauge can suffer from away. It’s not easy though. Much easier in 00 especially if you use a former and have a mini cutting disc or similar.

 

[Peter C]

I would have loved to use set track at each end because it’s useful for the curves, but unfortunately Peco only do standard code 80 for their set track and I’ve done all the scenic sections in code 55 finescale as it takes a lot of that clunky look which N gauge can suffer from away. It’s not easy though. Much easier in 00 especially if you use a former and have a mini cutting disc or similar.

Ah OK. I've often seen N gauge layouts with clunky-looking track and I must say one of the first things I thought of when I saw your layout was that it was N gauge but didn't have that kind of track. You've done a really good job with that fiddle yard, especially so considering things weren't available which could have made it easier.
I've seen flexitrack shape formers for 00 gauge but never needed one - I might look into a small one for part of my railway centre.

-Peter

 

[hexagon789]

That’s definitely a possibility and it’s quite long too. I’ll see what I can do at some point.

I had a similar issue with one of my Bachmann Mk1s, loosing the screw on one bogie cured the issue it seemed to be too tight and was restricting the ability of the bogie to tilt much thus causing derailment on curves. Might be worth checking similar on your Bubble Car?

 

[Cowley]

I had a similar issue with one of my Bachmann Mk1s, loosing the screw on one bogie cured the issue it seemed to be too tight and was restricting the ability of the bogie to tilt much thus causing derailment on curves. Might be worth checking similar on your Bubble Car?

In the end I reset the cant slightly Hexagon because it was definitely a little too sharp. Lots more testing today and one curve entirely replaced to smooth the curve out. Still banked but all running perfectly as far as I can tell.
I had to do quite a bit of chasing of wiring underneath today because the sidings had stopped working.
After a bit of head scratching it was traced back to a loose connection on the busbar which thankfully wasn’t too difficult to work out due to the colour coded wiring.

Anyway, in the words of Slartibartfast... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast

“Great things are afoot”

I finally got my class 31 from TMC, and I’ve got to say that if I’d had such a thing as a 13 year old I’d have lost my mind!

How on earth can that be N gauge!?

 

[Iskra]

I had a similar issue with one of my Bachmann Mk1s, loosing the screw on one bogie cured the issue it seemed to be too tight and was restricting the ability of the bogie to tilt much thus causing derailment on curves. Might be worth checking similar on your Bubble Car?

It might even need tightening, I have a Black 5 that kept derailing until I tightened a screw under the chassis.

In the end I reset the cant slightly Hexagon because it was definitely a little too sharp. Lots more testing today and one curve entirely replaced to smooth the curve out. Still banked but all running perfectly as far as I can tell.
I had to do quite a bit of chasing of wiring underneath today because the sidings had stopped working.
After a bit of head scratching it was traced back to a loose connection on the busbar which thankfully wasn’t too difficult to work out due to the colour coded wiring.

Anyway, in the words of Slartibartfast... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast

“Great things are afoot”

I finally got my class 31 from TMC, and I’ve got to say that if I’d had such a thing as a 13 year old I’d have lost my mind!

How on earth can that be N gauge!?

Ah that’s amazing! Looks cracking in that livery and sounds amazing, as good as my oo sound fitted models.

 

[matt]

In the end I reset the cant slightly Hexagon because it was definitely a little too sharp. Lots more testing today and one curve entirely replaced to smooth the curve out. Still banked but all running perfectly as far as I can tell.
I had to do quite a bit of chasing of wiring underneath today because the sidings had stopped working.
After a bit of head scratching it was traced back to a loose connection on the busbar which thankfully wasn’t too difficult to work out due to the colour coded wiring.

Anyway, in the words of Slartibartfast... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast

“Great things are afoot”

I finally got my class 31 from TMC, and I’ve got to say that if I’d had such a thing as a 13 year old I’d have lost my mind!

How on earth can that be N gauge!?

I too have recently bought the sound fitted Railfreight 31 although mine is just out of the box rather then any weathering. Its a great model and sounds good too.

 

[Cowley]

I too have recently bought the sound fitted Railfreight 31 although mine is just out of the box rather then any weathering. Its a great model and sounds good too.

I really enjoyed running it this evening @matt, just about worked out all the functions now too...

 

[matt]

I really enjoyed running it this evening @matt, just about worked out all the functions now too...

Yes there is rather lot of sounds for such a small loco. It's my 2nd sound fitted loco now as I've also got the 40. Next on the list is hopefully 50046 from Dapol.

 

[Peter C]

In the end I reset the cant slightly Hexagon because it was definitely a little too sharp. Lots more testing today and one curve entirely replaced to smooth the curve out. Still banked but all running perfectly as far as I can tell.
I had to do quite a bit of chasing of wiring underneath today because the sidings had stopped working.
After a bit of head scratching it was traced back to a loose connection on the busbar which thankfully wasn’t too difficult to work out due to the colour coded wiring.

Anyway, in the words of Slartibartfast... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast

“Great things are afoot”

I finally got my class 31 from TMC, and I’ve got to say that if I’d had such a thing as a 13 year old I’d have lost my mind!

How on earth can that be N gauge!?

That engine looks and sounds brilliant - I'd subscribed to your YT channel at some point and it was nice to see the notifications for those videos this morning when I checked my phone
You mentioning getting to grips with the functions reminds me of my Bachmann 121 - it's got lighting features for seemingly everything and even after a week of owning it and running it I've still not fully understood what buttons make what things happen!

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Yes there is rather lot of sounds for such a small loco. It's my 2nd sound fitted loco now as I've also got the 40. Next on the list is hopefully 50046 from Dapol.

I still haven’t actually heard a Dapol 50 with factory sound, I did consider it with mine but thought I’d hang on until this came out.
Do the 50s already have the speaker fitted - as in could I get a sound chip for mine do you know (this could all get very expensive)?

That engine looks and sounds brilliant - I'd subscribed to your YT channel at some point and it was nice to see the notifications for those videos this morning when I checked my phone
You mentioning getting to grips with the functions reminds me of my Bachmann 121 - it's got lighting features for seemingly everything and even after a week of owning it and running it I've still not fully understood what buttons make what things happen!

-Peter

Thanks Peter. I’ll probably do some decent ones when there’s some sun coming in through the window at some point.
I think there’s about 28 different functions on that loco and I thought I’d broken it yesterday because it completely stopped working, in the end (after a rising feeling of panic) it turned out to be a loose wire underneath the actual railway that knocked.

Anyway you’ll like this one hopefully...

 

[Peter C]

Thanks Peter. I’ll probably do some decent ones when there’s some sun coming in through the window at some point.
I think there’s about 28 different functions on that loco and I thought I’d broken it yesterday because it completely stopped working, in the end (after a rising feeling of panic) it turned out to be a loose wire underneath the actual railway that knocked.

Anyway you’ll like this one hopefully...

You're very welcome - I'm hoping to make some more videos when I can work out what to do and when we get more sunlight soon too
The number of times that's happened to me is unbelievable: probably because I use the Hornby power track with somewhat dodgy connections after a couple of years' use. I only realise something's wrong when I try another engine and it doesn't work either!
I actually just got the notification for that video before seeing this post - I love the sound that engine makes. The layout and the train itself also look really good too: when I get some lights for my stations, I'd like to try running some nighttime trains properly.

-Peter

 

[hexagon789]

In the end I reset the cant slightly Hexagon because it was definitely a little too sharp. Lots more testing today and one curve entirely replaced to smooth the curve out. Still banked but all running perfectly as far as I can tell.
I had to do quite a bit of chasing of wiring underneath today because the sidings had stopped working.
After a bit of head scratching it was traced back to a loose connection on the busbar which thankfully wasn’t too difficult to work out due to the colour coded wiring.

Anyway, in the words of Slartibartfast... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast

“Great things are afoot”

I finally got my class 31 from TMC, and I’ve got to say that if I’d had such a thing as a 13 year old I’d have lost my mind!

How on earth can that be N gauge!?

That's a beauty.

It might even need tightening, I have a Black 5 that kept derailing until I tightened a screw under the chassis.

Depends on the issue, this was in my case definitely a screw being too tight

 

[xotGD]

Just to say that the sound of that 31 just alarmed my pet rabbit!

 

[Cowley]

Just to say that the sound of that 31 just alarmed my pet rabbit!

Tell it not to worry because it could probably outrun it.

 

[Peter C]

I was looking through the interwebs the other day @Cowley and found this: http://www.hondawanderer.com/50031_Lapford_1990.htm
I don't know if it's of any interest to you but this is the description:

50031 Hood passes through Lapford station on 16 September 1990 with the Pathfinder Tours 1Z18 'Tor Retour' railtour, being a re-run of the previous May's 'Taw & Tor Tourer'. The train, which started from Manchester Piccadilly, is here returning from Barnstaple. Note the sidings in the foreground (since removed). These were retained for a weekly fertilser train.

Quite interesting to see that one of the sidings is bright orange from all the rust!

-Peter

 

[Iskra]

I was looking through the interwebs the other day @Cowley and found this: http://www.hondawanderer.com/50031_Lapford_1990.htm
I don't know if it's of any interest to you but this is the description:


Quite interesting to see that one of the sidings is bright orange from all the rust!

-Peter

That's a really nice photo. I like the appearance of the locomotive the most, the roof weathering is nice. I always think Mk1's looked good in Intercity livery too.

 

[Cowley]

Ah @Peter C I actually had seen that photo but the version I’d seen was much more blurry so you couldn’t see the track details so well. Thanks for that.
Our very own @Ash Bridge was on that train and he took this photo at Barnstaple:



Anyway I’ve been busy tinkering away with the buildings for the new section around the back of the layout over the last couple of weeks. I want to get everything built first while I keep testing the track thoroughly for any glitches, so I’ve made myself a little work bench in the corner of the front room where I spend much time chopping up tiny bits of plastic and balsa wood.

First up is the station buildings, I’d got as far as building the walls and putting the windows in but the roof was giving me the fear due to all the weird angles. In the end I just bit the bullet and made a start...
The first thing to do was to seal a section off downstairs so that I could put a light in it without it leaching through any gaps anywhere, once that was done and the main part of the roof was on it came together surprisingly quickly.
I’ve still got to weather the walls down a bit but this where I’ve got to at the moment:





Because the track through the station is slightly reversed compared to the real thing I’m naming this Eggishford because it’s Eggesfordish.
But from certain angles it looks pretty much right even though some of the windows and other bits are different.
It’s definitely the most complicated thing I’ve ever had to make though!




The other thing I’ve been making is the very distinctive signal box at the Exeter end of the station. This was a replacement for the original signal box that was severely damaged by floods in the 1960s (in fact it might even have been completely washed away along with the section of platform it sat on).
Again it’s not exactly the same because I just made it out of bits that I had kicking around in my box. It’ll have a light in it as well plus a wee man on the steps ready to swap the single line tokens.
Here’s a photo of the original (not my photo) taken sometime around 1987:



And here’s my recreation:






As my friend Paul said the other day “OK Nick well done, you have literally recreated the ugliest railway building in Devon...”

And what does every signal box need? That’s right an interior!



Utterly pointless, but at least I know that it’s there.
Next up will be a road over railway and river bridge with arches that I’m going to use as a scenic break. I took this photo of it last year:



So there you have it.
Thanks for reading this long rambling post guys.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Mr Cowley I think you should explain to Peter C that the siding at Lapford is covered in proper Devon rust which is virtually the same colour as the soil in those parts

Your Eggesfordish main station building looks just super and the signalbox.....well as you say, hardly an architectural wonder but certainly an accurate representation. Did you say wee man as in perhaps some ways it does resemble an oversized WC building?

 

[Cowley]

Mr Cowley I think you should explain to Peter C that the siding at Lapford is covered in proper Devon rust which is virtually the same colour as the soil in those parts

Your Eggesfordish main station building looks just super and the signalbox.....well as you say, hardly an architectural wonder but certainly an accurate representation. Did you say wee man as in perhaps some ways it does resemble an oversized WC building?

It does look like a toilet!
If it was a toilet it would definitely have shiny BR toilet paper and that horrible green soap...
Yes we do a good line in rust coloured soil down here, mind you Australia make a big thing out of it with that Ayers Rock and I don’t think there’s that much difference.

 

[takno]

That station building looks great. I wouldn't have thought for a second it was n gauge

 

[Iskra]

Amazing work on those buildings. I like the little detail too of including the postbox. And, yes that signal box is certainly ...'functional.'

 

[Cowley]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated. @takno - This gives a good idea of scale, when it’s almost dwarfed by a little Humbrol paint tin.

 

[takno]

Thanks guys. Much appreciated. @takno - This gives a good idea of scale, when it’s almost dwarfed by a little Humbrol paint tin.

View attachment 88739

I'm a little caught between awe at how good your modelling skills are, and awe at how good cameras are these days!