Ballasting Part 8

Good progress this afternoon with the ballasting through the station almost completed.

Keith.

Ballasting Part 7

The 1st two points are now ballasted.

Soon followed by the level crossing.

Keith.

Ballasting Part 6

1st of the four points ballasted, and good progress on the 2nd.

Keith.

Ballasting Part 5

I have ballasted the canal wharf siding and the main line running parallel to it up to the point-work.

This is halfway along the layout.

Keith.

Ballasting Part 4

One of the difficult places to ballast, underneath the road bridge.

Keith.

Ballasting Part 3

I have laid the 1st 6 feet of ballast up to the road bridge.

Keith.

Ballasting Part 2

Slow progress with the ballasting, but will be worth it in the end.

Keith.

The Start of Ballasting

This afternoon, after making all the preparations, like vacuuming the layout, I have started ballasting the track.

It is going to take a while, and I thought ballasting O gauge track was bad enough!

I am using the end of a teaspoon to drop a small quantity of ballast between, and either side of the track.

I then use a small paint brush to level the ballast, remove it from on top of the sleepers and to sweep it up along the edges.

Keith.

Completed Buffer Stop

Painted, filled with granite chippings and fixed in place.

This means that everything is now ready for the track to be ballasted.

Keith.

Canal Wharf, Engine Shed & Buffer Stop.

The last few pieces ready for the track ballasting.

The brickwork between the canal wharf wall and the siding track, installed and painted.

The inspection pit and flooring inside the engine shed painted.

The start of a scratch built buffer stop.

Keith.

Working Level Crossing Gates

Keith.

Further Work on the Level Crossing.

This afternoon I added the white lines either side of the pedestrian crossing.

I then fixed the level crossing ramps and the pedestrian crossing gateways in place.

I have temporarily removed the other parts of the crossings in preparation for ballasting the track, which I will have to do before I can finally fix the remaining parts of both crossings in place.

Keith.

Pedestrian Crossing Painted.

This morning I have painted the pedestrian crossing. I have also wired up the level crossing gates control board.

Keith.

Pedestrian Crossing

Early stages of constructing the pedestrian crossing alongside the level crossing.

Keith.

Level Crossing Painted

This morning I finished painting the level crossing, it is now ready for installation.

Keith.

Guttering

Yesterday and today Jo and I have fitted guttering down both sides of the railway room.

It is to prevent any rain leakage past the sheeting should the sealant fail, and also to catch any condensation from under the gunnels, so that neither drip onto the layout.

Keith.

Level Crossing Base Colours

I have painted  the level crossing in it’s base colours, and the gates in their final colours.

Keith.

Primered Level Crossing

Level crossing, posts and gates primered ready for painting.

Keith.

Level Crossing Servos and Control Board

Having prepared the level crossing components, I wanted to fit the servos to motorize the gates.

Unfortunately I discovered that one of the servos was where the cross beam under the joint of the 2 baseboards was.

Fortunately this beam is 50mm wide, to support the joint, so there was room to remove some of it to be able to fit the servo, as in this photo.

Both servos and the control board fitted.

The steel activation rods which will be glued into the servo drives are temporarily in place.

The gates will be glued to these rods once the control board is wired up and functioning and I can determine the correct location on the rods to fit the gates.

Keith.

Level Crossing Gates

I have been preparing the level crossing gates and ramps ready for painting.

Keith.

Water Cans, Mops and Boat Hooks.

The now painted water cans, mops and boat hooks are added to the 2 working boats.

And also to Hadar.

Keith.

Progress on Both Platforms

The 1st platform is fixed in place.

Where the station buildings will eventually go on this side of the station.

The 2nd platform is finished but not yet fixed in place, but all the station buildings placed where they will be going.

Keith.

Platform

I have made a start on the 1st of the 2 platforms. I have used Metcalfe paving card that I was given.

I have cut and glued them onto a piece of balsa wood.

Keith.

Working Boat Accessories etc.

I finished painting all the water-cans, mops, poles, bollards and mooring rings.

The water cans.

Mooring bollards.

I have added 2 of the poles to the model of Hadar.

Keith.

Last 4 Street lamps in the Village

I fitted and wired up the final 4 street lamps in the village.

Keith.

More Street Lamps

I have added a further 3 street lamps, 6 working now.

This was after a bit of a rewire as I discovered that where they have a black and a white wire, the black is positive not negative as per standard wiring.

I changed the wiring from red/black, to white/black to match the lamp wires, and swapped the black wire over to the positive supply.

A further 4 street lamps added, I may add 1 more, thinking about it.

Keith.

Traffic Lights

I have wired up the traffic lights.

Keith.

Traffic Lights and Street Lamps

Traffic lights installed, but not yet wired up.

I have also started to drill holes through the baseboard beneath buildings ready to wire up the lights inside them.

I have also added the 1st three street lamps.

Keith