| Archive for thecentralstation.myfreeforum.org Railway modelling for all Scales and Gauges |
| Even older tom |
Ridley, USAHad a bit of a doodle while watching telly last night (well, what else can you do? Actually WATCH the thing?) and came up with this as a plan for my Z gauge. I think 'Ridley, USA' has a certain ring to it...
I'm going to use the 'paddle store' model from the site Pol found which I'll rescale and have sitting next to the dock... http://www.zippys3dmodels.co.uk/page13.html The base is going to be 3 mm ply covered with 9mm MDF that has the creek cut out - that should give a scale 2m drop from the water's edge. Then again, if telly is crap again tonight, I might just change it all... |
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| poliss |
Ridley Station USA on the B&O line.
http://www.lcpimages.org/inventor...ailroad/images/B&Oalbum99.jpg |
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| Even older tom |
Ding dong! 
Cheers Pol - that's brilliant. I'll try and make the layout station have the same 'feel' (not necessarily exactly like it) as the real one. Useful detail there as well... thanks. |
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| poliss |
Came from this website. http://www.lcpimages.org/inventories/B&ORailroad/ | ||||
| Even older tom |
The truss bridge featured on the page is just the type I had in mind when I drew my sketch - that's definitely going on the layout!
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| poliss |
Isn't that a pic of Bruce Grobbelaar in the survey team photo? | ||||
| Teleman |
Re: Ridley, USA
My Deb always falls asleep while watching telly
I like the plan , how about making it into a coffee table ? then you can watch that in front of the telly 
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| Even older tom |
Re: Ridley, USA
That's in the back of my mind Pete. I built an oak occasional table a couple of years ago which is perfect for modification. I'll see how heavy the layout ends up and take it from there. |
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| Chris |
Hi Tom.
Looks really nice (after I imported the drawing and enhanced it!). I'm not that experienced; however, some points to make as requested. Scenically, it looks really good though I would tone down the hight of the mountains a bit is you are going to put it into a coffee table. Are there cuttings a both ends? 'Ware of including a tunnel as you will need access to it and, again, if this is a coffee table model people will see it from all sides. Also access may be difficult. You can guarantee that someone will bump into it and knock the train off the track. (At my first exhibition, while I was having lunch, someone bashed my table and derailed all the trains!) How about offsetting the river entry and exit. A very short distance (1", say, between the end of the bridge and the entry to the cutting/tunnel could look good) and have the outflow from the lake at the other end of the board. I am using MDF for my layout and I wish I hadn't. Probably OK if you are gluing the track but driving pins into it is a pain, even using a pin pusher. Make sure, when you assemble the track, to check every joint by running a finger over each rail in both directions. I could have sworn that all mine were OK and found three where the rail had ridden over the fishplate but I couldn't see it. (My eyes aren't 20/20.) I don't know what set you have bought but unless you are using 220mm radius track (assuming you are using proprietary track) long cars will look a bit silly on the curves. [I have put all my long coaches on eBay because of that.] You could use all Peco track for it except that the sleeper spacing is for UK not US tracks. MTL will give you the US spacing. Get a good magnifying headband - I cannot work without mine! Good luck, Chris. |
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| Will |
Looks a nice plan, loads of scenic potential. | ||||
| Joe |
Looks like a really nice plan, it looks like the sort of layout you would see in an american toy shop, built by a speciallist for the shop. 
Good luck with it, I really like the plan. Joe |
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| Even older tom |
Thanks Will and Joe - let's hope it lives up to expectations
And even more thanks to Chris! The sketch wasn't to scale (the mountains looked like baby Alps!) but I take the point about height. I was thinking of having a sliding top (like you get on ice cream freezers in shops) which might be a pain to put a coffee on, but there you go - my trains or your coffee. what's most important?
Thanks for the tip about pinning, I'll go for the glue option. The river exit is actually a road but the idea of moving the bridge to one side really appeals.
Point taken about track assembly - I guess my eyes are in as good a shape as yours! As far as track radius, long carriages and tunnels go, it's all in cuttings and that bit of the layout is not too important as long as the train stays on the track .
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| Chris |
Possibly a better answer would be to have a single sheet of glass with a wooden surround and piano hinged on one side and with two fine chains to stop it flipping right over. That way you don't risk someone adding an extra waterfall. Hot brown water just does not look right on a model railway (or a computer keyboard!!). Chris. |
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| upnick |
Hi Tom,
Look forward to seeing this layout take shape
Have you thought of using insulation board for the base on top of the MDF a 4FT X 2FT sheet would cover your board, stuff i use is called xtratherm and comes with a backing silver paper either side easily peeled off .... i would make it quieter and you can carve any features into it really easily ... if you choose to use it its messy but gives good results ... see my layout morganth for proof
about £4.75 + vat for a 2 inch thick sheet This link inspired me to use it http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=222 Video shows how easy it is to use |
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| Even older tom |
Good point Chris.. a hot brown waterfall is NOT on the plans!
Thanks Nick, that's interesting stuff and lightweight.... hmmm... [Adds to list of possibilities!] |
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| TheThing |
Looks really good Tom.
I especially like Stepney Station from the American site - looks like norman Bates should be peeking out the windows! Just how small is Z scale compared to OO? |
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| poliss |
Z is 1.4mm/ft, OO is 4mm/ft, or 1:220 and 1:76. Which is extremely, very roughly (and probably wrong) about 1/3 the size of OO.
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| upnick |
Hi Hugh, Here is a pic of the gauges Z,N,OO,O 
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| TheThing |
Thanks gents.
Z gauge makes OO look monsterous! I'm liking this idea of a coffee table layout as well... |
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| Joe |
That picture makes 0 guage look absolutely Huge! Its funny though, the track spacings look very different between scales (I Knoiw that sounds stupid but you know what I mean) |
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| Even older tom |
Do you mean sleeper spacing rather than the track spacing Joe? If so, the Z gauge uses German spacing, the N and HO (OO) is British but I think the O is narrow gauge in this instance. Confused? I am! 
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| bando1_de |
Timeout, please!
The rightmost train looks like it is LGB. That's not 0-gauge but rather IIm (track spacing 45 mm, scale 1/22.5). This narrow gauge for II-Gauge. Just contributing to the confusion
Erhard |
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| TheThing |
Brain anuerism! | ||||
| Joe |
So It is what 009 is to 00, ie narrow gauge for gauge 2?, And yes Tom I did mean sleeper spacing sorry, the Jargon has started to go to my head. LGB is still huge nontheless | ||||
| Even older tom |
I got a bit deeper into planning the construction of the layout and I think I can build the whole thing for free! 
Having sorted the garage and shed out and found some interesting stuff, I realised I could use the following: Base = Solid pine from an Ikea shelf unit. Foam topping = A very dense foam from an old bedroll. Mountains = Card and garden wire frame covered with newspaper and 1/2 packet of wallpaper paste that I found. Lake = From an old tin of gloss varnish. Colouring = Loads of nearly empty matt white emulsion and I've already got more tubes of acrylic paint than you could shake a stick at! Ballast = Hornby 'gravel' which scales up to 'chippings' on Z scale Trees and ground cover = got a drawer full of odd Woodland Scenics stuff and loads of wire to make the armatures. Buildings = Free card models scaled to suit I've even found a full bottle of scenic adhesive which I didn't use when building Ridley!
Figures and cars could be a problem but I'll see if I can get any cheap off fleebay. Anything else you can think of that I've missed? If so, please suggest a way to make whatever it is for free - this is now a QUEST....
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| TheThing |
Tom,
Do what I've been doing - join your local freecycle.org and get stuff from there. You need to offer something up first, but I'm sure you can find something to give away. Then you can post wanteds for what you need. So far I've got: - 21mm MDF for the table top 2 layouts (both too big, but I have taken the track off. Some of the track I've freecycled on) Assorted old coaches and wagons A gaugemaster series e controller 2 Hornby controllers, one of which I freecycled on) A Hornby 3rd rail set with the Duchess of Montorse loco, tender, some coaches and wagons (must! clean the track up) 50 copies of Steam Rail magazine and various Model Railway mags All for free and all from local freecyclers! That's not including toys and books for the little chap, a breadmaker, coffee maker etc etc! |
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| Even older tom |
Thanks Hugh I'm already a member but our local one is just full of c++p, to be honest. 
OH, and while I'm here, I forgot the trestle bridge - no problem because I have loads of spare strip-wood from my ship models. |
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| TheThing |
You can go a bit further afield as well. I belong to Mole Valley and Sutton (which is the next one over from me). Sutton is a bit more densely populated so tends to get more posts. Mole Valley is full of older people so you get more train orientated stuff.
I forgot to add that I got the Zero one controller off freecycle too! |
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| poliss |
Look out for old wooden pallets too. Come in very handy for bracing etc. Got any rubbish dumps near? I don't mean the landfill ones. You can get some very nice stuff at the junk ones. Picked up a copy of the Dalek World there once.
*shakes stick at tubes of acrylic paint* |
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