Bernard Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Claude - Having just gone through this myself, how do you plan to make the Tram tracks? And will you be using an auto-reversing unit to operate the tram line? Link to comment
Bernard Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Claude - Any more updates, I curious to see the new Tram line. Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted December 16, 2009 Author Share Posted December 16, 2009 Not as yet, although we do have a plan of action for the next few weeks... This Friday we will be doing some work on the tram depot area - basically a two-road shed - and running the line up to the interchange station. This is nothing special, just a single platform with a linking walkway to the main railway station building. Next Friday is Christmas Day, and somehow I don't think I'm going to get permission to slope off to railway club that evening . Likewise for the following week, which is New Years Day. That said, there is a threat that the station board - a 4' by 3' section will be taken down to allow some dedicated work, as opposed to just playing trains all night! Currently the idea is for the tramline to cross roads, instead of running down the middle of them. As the line departs the interchange station, it will curve sharply to the left crossing a road and then running along a small corridor between the main road and a small feeder for the strip mall. It then turns to the right, passing between the houses, on a wide 180 degree curve. It is now following a dedicated trackbed, running behind some traditional style buildings before recrossing the first road it crossed after leaving the interchange. The line then swings round behind a row of residential buildings to a small hidden yard. Currently it looks like we will be adding an extra layer of thick card and fitting the tramline flush into this. Full updates of progress will, of course, be provided in the near future... Link to comment
Mudkip Orange Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 This Friday we will be doing some work on the tram depot area - basically a two-road shed - and running the line up to the interchange station. This is nothing special, just a single platform with a linking walkway to the main railway station building. Pics or it didn't happen. Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 This Friday we will be doing some work on the tram depot area - basically a two-road shed - and running the line up to the interchange station. This is nothing special, just a single platform with a linking walkway to the main railway station building. Pics or it didn't happen. Sadly the snow stopped play. Our club house is situated in a tiny village accessable only to little single-track roads, and given the snow falls, combined with the ice (and a 36 mile round trip for me) it was decided to give it a miss. Sadly due to the way Christmas and New Years fall, we wont have another club night until 8th January Running out of time!!! Link to comment
Bernard Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Claude - I know Jan 8th is your next meeting, how is everything going in the prep stage? Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 6, 2010 Author Share Posted January 6, 2010 Not well I'm afraid. We have had yet another very heavy fall of snow, effectively cutting off the village where our club is located. For those of you in the UK, and have been watching the news today, the A3 runs about three miles to the west of our location... Roughly about a foot of snow has fallen over the last 24 hours or so. That in itself is pretty small, but for the UK, especially the southern counties, that's huge - probably the biggest since 1987. I have a number of kits at home, including the two road modern loco shed from Kato, however I need to measure this against the existing tracks before constructing it. As the show is only a few weeks away, drastic steps are needed, or a redesign of the town area. Sadly we have been in similar situations before in terms of layout building for shows...I never learn... Link to comment
Bernard Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Claude - Has the snow cleared up and are you able to get back to the layout? Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 13, 2010 Author Share Posted January 13, 2010 Not yet . Obviously the alarm bells are seriously ringing now as what with Christmas and New Year, as well as the snow, we have lost five weeks worth of work. In the rural areas we have over a foot of snow, which does not seem too much, but these are untreated, narrow and sometimes steep country roads. The layout will still be shown (we have two exhibitions in February), it's just up to us to make a few modifications in view of the dead-line, as well as spending a couple of days solid on it. Mrs Dreyfus will be away for work in the first week of February, so hopefully I can take a days holiday and make some major progress. In the meantime, fingers crossed for Friday... In addition, I am awaiting a couple of boards for a new project (which are being constructed by a couple of fellow club members for me), which is replacing my personal project (Chuo line) covered elsewhere on this forum. This is for a layout challenge for another forum I am a member of (RMWeb). It's Japanese, of course, and inspired by a thread from this forum. More details on this anon... Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 Yay! Finally we managed to get to the club last night. There have been some rearrangements of the buildings, and the tram line has been significantly altered. We have started to add some of the ground works as well as draw up a proper plan (still at the club for 'out of hours' working). A number of photos were taken for siteing purposes: The first shows the main town. Note that the boulevard has been rediced as the tram line no long runs this way. I have tried to bunch the buildings together a little more. Picture 2 shows the location of the police station as well as the trackbed for the tram line. Picture 3 is looking down the tram line towards the terminal station, which leads onto.... ...picture 4 showing the depot area with shed...which looks a little too English at the moment, so will be modified. Picture 5 tries to convey some of the older streets in Kapanese twons, although it still looks a little open. Once of the usual detritus is added it should look a little more hemmed in. A big advantage is that the town area is on one board, so we can string wiring and such like up. Picture 6 shows a mixture of the old style buildings and newer apartments. Picture 7 is the shopping parade... ...and finally we have the station area which has been cleared down. Hopefully the station building will be with us next week. The tram line is on the extreme right. Hopefully some activity will take place during the week, although I won't be able to make that, so we may see some more significant progress then. Link to comment
Bernard Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Claude - Nothing like being under the pressure of having to get the layout ready for a show! It looks like you and the club have done a lot since you were able to work on the layout. I noticed in one of the photos you use styrofoam under the buildings to raise them. Is this for a sidewalk? Looks good! Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 The two buildings towards there rear have been raised simply for a little added interested. All sidewalks on here will be created just using card...the road will be a board height. I have some sidewalk barriers to add to the Japanese feel. Link to comment
EWS60008 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 This looks impressive mate! Keep it up! . Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Thanks... Progress has been running on a couple of fronts tonight. Firstly the townscape has moved down to our hosts house for closer attention. No pictures of that tonight, however the first couple of layers of paint have gone down and it is already looking good. The platforms have been stripped and repainted, and the old tatty footbridge has been repaired as a stop-gap measure until something more suitable can be fashioned. Some tinkering with a new controller has got the goods yard working, and hopefully next week we'll have the branch moving as well. The first tracks have gone down for the tram line, however I am not happy with these, so they will be realigned next week - again no pictures of this as it does look pretty suspect . We won't be energysing the tram yard as we won't have time, however the section from the tram station to the mini fiddle yard will be working. Visually, the biggest change last night was the erection of the catenery masts. This has immediately made a huge difference, as witness picture number one - the double-deck 215 EMU being ideal to test heights and things... Picture two shows the testing of the yard - a pair of Tomix Tarumi Railway TDE10s... Link to comment
Bernard Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Great job on the over grown grass on the tracks and track bumper. Where did you get the modern windmill? Link to comment
KenS Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 The catenary really does change the character of the scene. Comparing picture 1 here to the first photo in the thread makes the difference clear. I really like how this looks, and I'm looking forward to more photos of your progress. Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Thanks... The windmill is a standard Faller model...it has a motor, although does turn a little quickly; it must be a very windy day! Link to comment
EWS60008 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Claude, Are you planning to fit lights into the Kato and Tomix buildings? It would be great to see some night time operations especially if you are planning to have working colour light signals on the layout as well as an illuminated town . Cheers Ash Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 23, 2010 Author Share Posted January 23, 2010 Sadly not at present, in fact the signals - if I manage to get them in time - will not be operational. Something to look at as a future development, although it will depend on the volume of any exhibition invites the layout gets. At present we have two - both next month - however it was specifically designed as an exhibition layout, and the trackwork, electrics etc has not changed as part of this upgrade, so hopefully we will get a few more. It will depend on how many shows we attend, and how far into the future, as to whether or not we add enhancements such as this. Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 28, 2010 Author Share Posted January 28, 2010 As part of our on-going publicity for the layout, a clearer sense of place has been envisaged. Yet again I'm playing fast and loose with the facts, however by re-routing a number of feeder lines to one junction, as opposed to the prototypically correct three separate locations, the variety and interest really starter to expand. Trial blurb is below: The Chuo (Central) main line runs for 400 km, linking Tokyo and Nagoya via the mountainous inland route on the main island of Japan - Honshu. Yamanouchi Oshika is a middle-sized town in the Yamanashi Prefecture, situated on the Takao to Shiojiri section of the Chuo line. The Chuo main line is busy; mainly with local passenger traffic, although a number of limited express services do operate from Tokyo. Freight traffic is mainly bulk, oil and container trains, as is common with most of Japan. Some modellers licence has been taken to converge three lines at this one location; the Fuji Kyuko; Minobu (with its distinctive Red and white liveried stock) and the diesel-operated Koumi line. These railways all link with the Chuo line along this section, but at separate locations. There is also a light-rail, operated by tram trains, which heads off into the Japanese Alps. The freight yard is mainly concerned with the transfer of traffic between the electrified Chuo main line and the diesel Koumi line, as well as some limited local traffic. KiHa 110s for the Koumi line; the Minobu line class 115 is currently on its way from Mr Plaza Japan, and this chap (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fujisan-Limited-Express.jpg) operates the Fuji Kyuko (on my hit-list). Sooo many cool things available for this layout now (and knowing my luck all will be sold out before I can get hold of them!)... Link to comment
scott Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 the Minobu line class 115 is currently on its way from Mr Plaza Japan Cool--that's a nice one. Did you get the four-car Kato set? We only have the three-car Tomix set, but it's one of my favorites. Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted January 29, 2010 Author Share Posted January 29, 2010 the Minobu line class 115 is currently on its way from Mr Plaza Japan Cool--that's a nice one. Did you get the four-car Kato set? We only have the three-car Tomix set, but it's one of my favorites. It's the Kato set. I've had my eye on it for a while, and thought it was high time to add it to the collection, especially now I have discovered it can be legitimately [sort of] be run on our layout. Link to comment
scott Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 [sort of] is good enough for me! :-) At least you *have* some sort of internal logic to you layout... Link to comment
disturbman Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 You to Scot, it's the internal logic driven by chaos and your liking. That's a pretty solid logic. ;) I too love this 115 Series, it was allmost my first Japanese model train. But I couldn't find at the time so I changed my focus. Link to comment
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