Kenekimura - Lockdown Layout

[Claude_Dreyfus]

As with many of us at the current time, I am currently essentially house-bound. Working from home, and unable to venture out, I thought this would be a good opportunity to turn my hand to building a small layout. Given my lack of ability to venture out for niceties, the vast majority of the layout will be made from bits and pieces in my shed.

 

The Board:

 

To start with, the base board. This is obtained from a friend a couple of years ago, on the premise that it may come in handy one day...

 

 

It is a slightly odd size, 1'8" by 3'9", and quite narrow. But it is reasonably well made, and light (the top board is plywood). There were some slightly eccentric touches - there was some plywood edging along one side and end, countered by two pieces of mdf to balance it. These were removed, the plywood bits reused elsewhere. 

 

The Concept:

 

The Iida Line seems to be a popular subject for modelling, and I have some suitable stock (a mixture of EMUs plus two ED62s (although one came a cropper - more anon). Passenger trains can be two or three carriages long, while the freights were usually only a few wagons long. I have a railway DVD featuring the Iida line, mainly ED62s pottering around, which was certainly inspirational. This layout was to feature a way side station with a small yard serving private industry. As inspired by the DVD, the sidings have their own resident shunter, which will add to the operational interest. 

 

Design:

 

I had some Bachmann/Farish set track curves, which allowed me to check to see if a circuit was possible. It was, so I could manage a continuous circuit, something I lacked on my previous layout, Kanjiyama. The design would be pretty simple, the main circuit with a couple of sidings. The fiddle yard consists of a loop and a couple of sidings. I wanted to avoid everything being at board level, so used the discarded plywood mentioned earlier to give the fiddle yard a little lift so to give one of the return curves could be on a low embankment.

 

To Work:

 

I have a fair amount of track (PECO), both flexitrack and points, so I was able to make use of this. The fiddle yard has small set track points, whilst out the front with medium radius code 80 insulfrogs.

 

 

In the end, I resorted to sticking with the set track curves at the bottom end, the end nearest to the camera. I couldn't get the flexitrack to curve smoothly.

 

Once the main circuit was complete, it was basically wired up to test track connections, curves etc. The hole for the point motor was also drilled for the front point - the fiddle yard will be manual. My ED62 took the honours of being the first to operate. Testing then moved onto the isolating points in the fiddle yard. At that point, one of the ED62s was parked out the front only to be caught by a stray hand. Unfortunately it found the bit of the (concrete) floor between the cupboard and the protective rug. Not terminally damaged, but certainly seriously bashed. It doesn't run as sweetly as before, and there is some bodywork damage to see to. ☹️

 

The small embankment looks a little rough and ready, however this should look a bit neater when the scenic work is started. The platform will be in the gap at the front between the track and the board edge.

 

 

The following day work progressed on the yard and the initial soldering, with the first of the droppers added. I was also able to get two locos operating independently; one in thee yard and one on the circuit.  

 

 

The three sidings at the bottom of the picture will be the main yard. The two adjacent sidings will be loading/unloading, whist the independent siding will be arrival/departure. The siding at the opposite end will act as both a headshunt and have a small shed for the resident shunter right at the end. There will be a low backboard running along the fiddle yard (black base).

 

So, there we are. The track is down and running smoothly. There are some gaps in the sleepers, which will be filled in. Next up, install the point motors plus other bits and bobs tomorrow.

Edited May 16, 2020 by Claude_Dreyfus

[Kiha66]

Looks like a good start Claude, I was a big fan of your last layout so I am excited to see this one come together.  I feel continuous running is best for show layouts, operations are great but after a few hours I get quite tired and am happy to just let the trains run.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Less tangible progress today, but the track work was fettled today, and the two main power feeds were soldered up properly. These were then ran down to a chocolate block, which will connect up to the controller.

 

The point motors (Seep) - recycled from an old layout - were test fitted; requiring some track realignment so the connector rods fit into the switching arms on the points. When removed from their previous layout, their connecting wires were cut quite short. I added new extensions, so they can reach the CDU (also rescued) when I fit that. The point motors may need to take a little time however...I cannot find the recycled switches!

 

 

I have also started some scenery...couldn't resist jumping the gun a little! The pencil marks around the end of the siding in the foreground will be a small loco shed for the yard shunter.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

More activity today, as I fitted the point motors and started the wiring.

 

 

Owing to the lack of switches, this is about as far as I can get with the electrics. The motors are in place, as is the CDU (the bottom left). These are wired up to the chocolate block connectors are the top of the board. From these, the wires to the controller will be connected.

 

 

A fair few years ago I obtained a couple of Greenmax tunnel mouths for my previous layout. In the event they were too big, so went into a drawer. Their time has now come... Not yet fixed down, I need to build up the landscape around it. The backboard has also been fitted, although I think there won't be much, if any, backscene. I suspect it will be hidden by the hillside.

 

Next up, the niceties of working out which buildings to use and how they fit. I have a few to choose from, but the rough layout will be as below.

 

 

The scrubby pencil lines are where the main access road to the village will be. The bus marks the spot! To the right, where the various huts are, will be the industrial site - loading and unloading. These will likely need to be scratch built - along with the loco shed.. 

 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

A final photo showing the street...ran out of space to add this photo in the previous post.

 

 

The pencil marks to the right marks the path of a small lane, which will be climbing at this point. There may be some small structures further up the track. I wanted the houses to be close to the tracks. Not ideal for the residents though...

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Today's activities started with relaying the right-hand curve. I didn't like the set track, so replaced with flexitrack.

 

 

Next up came the start of the scenic superstructure. I have a fair amount of this solid pink foam, which I have used on previous layouts. The first run has been completed along the back of the layout. The lane climbing the side of the hill can just about be made out,

 

 

Finally for today, a picture of the to-be resident shunter with a couple of wagons.

 

 

[valkyriepm]

Wooooooo that´s gonna be great!

[Das Steinkopf]

14 hours ago, Claude_Dreyfus said:

Finally for today, a picture of the to-be resident shunter with a couple of wagons

 

Nice, they used to have a similar shunter work the yard and cement works at Moto Zenkoji. 

 

 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Thanks for posting that. That is one of the scenes from the DVD I have. The entire Iida line segment is about 20 minutes long.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

More updates, this time mainly centring on the scenery and testing.

 

The hillside above the right-hand tunnel was carved out, however before it could be fixed, I needed to ballast the track underneath. First up, the carving. 

 

 

The various levels were built up, and the tunnel mouth test fitted.

 

 

Next, the track beneath where the tunnel will be had the bed painted, and the ballast fixed down (the usual dilute PVA solution).The inside of the tunnel was also painted.

 

Finally came the testing. I needed to ensure the ballasting was fine and things still worked okay. The wiring was fine, so it was a case of cleaning the track of any left over glue and ballast. I did find the main line point motor connection bar was fouling wagons as they were being reversed into the yard. This was fixed by adding some packing between the motor and the bottom of the board.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Playing testing session.

 

 

The fiddle yard isn't too large, but probably sufficient for the size of layout. The blue 119 is a Greenmax model, whilst Micro Ace provided the white version. A Tomix ED62 lurks in the background.

 

 

An overall view of the layout, with building in their proposed locations. The 119 is where the single platform will be located. The upper part of the hill over the right-hand tunnel has yet to be permanently fitted. A job for the coming week.

 

I'm back working next week, so progress will be slowed quite considerably, but I'll keep plugging on when time allows.

Edited April 5, 2020 by Claude_Dreyfus

[ranger10178]

Looks fantastic! Sorry to hear you'll be going back to work... - it's nice to have some enforced time off!

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Indeed. I had a week off - I suspect there isn't going to be too much scope for going on holiday this year! The advantages of the lighter evenings is that I will be able to do a little bit most evenings. And we have Easter weekend coming up as well...

[Claude_Dreyfus]

So, it has been just under a week since the last update, but things have been progressing. As I have been working from home during the last week, my activities were restricted to a little bit of ballasting, or adding a bit of scenery.

 

So here is the starting point for Good Friday morning.

 

 

Ballasting is my normal technique. I made a blend of Woodland Scenics ballast (5 parts brown, 1 part grey and 1 part dark grey). It is then added to the track using an old spoon, then spread through the track with a fine brush (actually a make-up brush). Then it is sprayed with a fine mist of water (actually using an old nasal spray bottle). Finally the glue is added - in this case Woodland Scenics cement - administered by a pipette. It requires at least two doses of glue to make sure it is properly fixed. Obviously extra care is required around the points!

 

Given that I am trying to make this layout entirely with stuff I have at home, I had to be a little creative with the scenery. I have very little modrock, and even less plaster (or pollyfiller) than usual, so alternatives were sought.

 

This time I have gone for newspaper strips dipped in a slightly dilute PVA. The tunnel mouths were also given an initial undercoat spray.

 

 

The gaps in the ballast on the main line are around the points (done after the photo was taken) and the level crossing.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Next stage of the build. Looking a little bit cluttered here, but the roads are starting to take shape. These are simply cardboard, with the various joins being covered by the paper mache method. 

 

 

The building on the left is just dumped there as work progresses!

 

Once fitted down, the roads were painted with the same textured road paint I used for Kanjiyama (also the source of the buildings). The main points were also ballasted...still to complete the remaining sidings. The first of the paint on the landscape has been added.I tend to start with a dark base colour, building up lighter shades before the base scatter layout is added. Finally I will be using a Grassmaster to give some more grass texture. Starting to look like somewhere! 

 

 

The area to the right of the town still requires some thought around how this will look. Current thinking is some sort of cement works (in keeping with a lot of the freight traffic along the Iida line). Quite how that will fit in the space available, I'm not sure, but it will probably be that the loading point would be remote from the works themselves; a similar situation to a cement works at Shoreham; just down the road from me. The furthest siding will be the loading/unloading point, which is likely to be in a small shed. 

 

I also need to start thinking about the station. The single platform will be quite bare, with a small station building located just beside the green patch right at the front.

[inobu]

Claude,

 

lol...you did all that and I managed to get a speaker 15.6 x 27.8mm speaker enclosure done........

I'm going to find something to eat again......

 

Good going ....

Inobu

 

 

 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Cheers. In fairness, I have pretty much had two solid days at it. Still a lot to do, which will keep me occupied for the good few weeks to come!

 

The only thing I don't have are two-way toggle switches for the points, I will either have to get these in, or try to think laterally... 😲 

[Kiha66]

Great progress Claude!  I'm taking a lot of notes, you're really showing the steps that go into a first class layout.  I had never though to try paper mache, but that makes a great street and also does a good job blending in the building bases!  I'll have to pull my layout out of the garage and start work on it again....

[Claude_Dreyfus]

The layout has a number of steep slopes and rock faces along the back and in the cuttings. The newspaper on the hillside was too smooth for rock, so I dug out some Sculpamold to give it some texture. This also helped give the landscape some more rigidity. 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding the Sculptamold is a bit of messy affair, as fingers are involved! The Sculptamold is malleable, light and dries rapidly; it's good stuff. 

 

Next up comes more colour. The areas which will be rock were painted grey; a mixture of black, white, brown and yellow. Some parts of the mix were darker than others, which gives a less uniform appearance. 

 

 

 

It's amazing the difference a little bit of colour makes! The remaining bit of bare pink foam will be covered up by a concrete retaining wall. The ballasting has also been completed! Now I really need to get going on the right-hand side of the layout.

 

 

[Das Steinkopf]

On 12 April 2020 at 6:56 AM, Claude_Dreyfus said:

 

 

 

The area to the right of the town still requires some thought around how this will look. Current thinking is some sort of cement works (in keeping with a lot of the freight traffic along the Iida line). Quite how that will fit in the space available, I'm not sure, but it will probably be that the loading point would be remote from the works themselves; a similar situation to a cement works at Shoreham; just down the road from me. The furthest siding will be the loading/unloading point, which is likely to be in a small shed.

 

A cement works sounds like a good idea as they were very common along the Iida-sen up until the late 1980's, have a dig around and you will find plenty of photos of small cement plants with a couple of silos that were served by one or two sidings, I would love to spend some time hunting for the photos I have seen but I'm a little bit preoccupied with my Tokaido Honsen project 😉.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Das Steinkopf

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Not too much progress today, but the concrete wall behind the yard has been added. This is simply card, given a spray of under coat and then painted with a mixture of grey and concrete coloured paint. I now need to blend it in to the hillside behind.

 

 

 

Overview of the town.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Not too much progress now, as work unfortunately gets in the way! There has been some gradual progress, with extra colours going down, and work starting on the buildings.

 

 

The shed was initially mocked up in paper.

 

 

The engine shed itself will be made from 20 thou plasticard. The window frames come from a Pikestuff kit. Some of the parts can be seen in this picture...still requiring a little bit of trimming...the right-hand side of the entrance was cut a little wonky. No matter, that's what files were invented for!

 

 

The main part of the shed was assembled, and the lean-to office was added. The scenery around the structure is a little ropy at present...but that will be sorted out once the shed has been completed and I can bed it in. 

 

 

The lean-to gets its roof. The corrugated iron is simply made from kitchen foil, embossed by rolling a small screwdriver over the foil. A brief spray with undercoat to give it a little more rigidity.

 

Hopefully there will be more progress on this structure during the week.

[valkyriepm]

Nice! That´s a great looking shed! Love the little structures 🙂

 

Martin

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Thanks. Since those photos were taken, I have needed to modify it a little more; reducing its height by about 3mm. Not a lot, but makes a noticeable difference. The first coats of paint have been added, both inside and out. I may get it completed at the weekend!

 

In other news, the first mock-up of the cement works structures are being plotted. The only thing for certain here are the dimensions of the wagon loading 'tunnel' (for want of a better word). The structure mock-up is too big, but is useful to see how this will fit into the overall appearance of the layout.

 

 

 

The Bachmann US covered hopper is bigger than the wagons that will be used, so is a good template. If that fits, then anything Japanese will!

Edited April 22, 2020 by Claude_Dreyfus

[Bob_NZ]

I love the way you think 'outside the square' to find solutions / materials.  The hidden fiddle yard concept certainly adds so much to your operation choices and gets away from always having a train doing a visual loop.

.. keep at it!