May June 2019 Update

We have had some super work done by Richard to build and detail the platform canopies, one is complete and can be seen on the following photos. Richard is working on the second and will add more detail like spouting and downpipes etc.

Here another view of the station with platform 2 and 3 central canopy in place..

A May Running Night took place to allow club members to run their own stock on the layout, here  a few photo's of the busy but successful night...

 Graham contemplates the rolling stock and wishes he had brought more down!

 Graham and Gary move stock whilst Jacob acts as their signal man..

 Gary and Jacob at the other end of the layout using our rotating sector plate..

 Moving the sector plate into position to allow the approaching train in...

Some happy boys playing trains! that's what it is all about!

March/April Update 2019

Adding more detail as we go along....

The first couple of months meetings have been about making decisions on the backscene all the way along. We have cut down the standard backscene to spread the full length of the layout, we have joints yet to disguise with trees and foilage and or buildings.

Board 1 - At the station end, Richard has been busy building more prototypical buffers for the goods yard, he is also still working on the two platform canopies and a small weigh bridge for the goods yard. Kevin L. has completed the weathering of the platform edges and also painted the additional walled arches for behind the station as well as the initial work on the road surface and paving to the main town bridge. (thanks to Richard for the loan of the buses to make the bridge come alive!)

Steve 2 (Copley) has been looking at how we can perhaps use photographs behind the walling and arches in the town section - showing rooftops etc. Also built a long warehouse to bridge the rear scene from the housing into the station walling, and also a kit built Goods shed.

Board 2 - Kerry, completed the ballasting of points, is experimenting! with trees right now and then moving on to completing the backscene of his board. After all the reaching over! he can then look back at the front of his scene where he has been building railings along the mound.
Board 3 -  Steve 3 (Cope) - roumer has it that a ghost of a signal box appeared some weeks ago out of the mist! it evaporated and has not been seen since!
Board 4 - Kevin M. working on completing the backscene, it will probably have a Asian appearance as he has been out in India doing some research!
Board 5 - Ted also working on backscene, he is also trying to disguise some Solar Panels on one roof of the line of houses on our background photographs - seen as we are supposed to be in the 50/60's this house is well ahead of its times unless we do some clever cover up!

Summer round the corner - watch out for further updates...

Sterte Bay December 2018 Update

Here are a few shots to show progress on our layout...

We have had two running nights on the layout where club members have been able to run their own DCC loco's.

Lots of interest in our rotating 10 track tables where we load stock ready to run...

Debating why we have just two tracks not showing full power! - by having lots of stock running it helps us find any weaknesses in our trackwork or wiring.

At the other end of the layout is our second 10 track rotating table so we can easily turn stock throughout the operating session. Two younger operators in charge tonight!

Three of our members are working with stock near the main station board. Our Club Running/Test Track is in the foreground. We are also looking at backscenes and one of the chosen scenes is propped up to see how it looks.

We will continue to have regular operating/running nights when work is not required or planned on the layout.
Watch out for more updates in the New Year - Happy Christmas to all our viewers.

July 2018 Update

Here are a few shots to show progress as we get to grips with the finer detail of the layout...

 

The station area has had several items started and completed.. the bridge is currently getting treatment on the under arch brickwork by Kevin L. Some initial painting by Steve. Some walling at the rear of the Quay line and Richard is working on the final detail of the platform canopies. Kevin L. has also completed the surfacing of the platforms. The buildings at thr rear are just test pieces to see how the background can be created. Plenty more to do on this board!!

General view of board 1 showing the station with one of the canopies built by Richard - another is in progress for the main station platform.

 

Here closer detail of the archway brickwork and platform surface completed by Kevin L.

 

Here detail of the archway brickwork in progress to meet up with the lineside walling.

Here detail of the planned concrete panels for the rear of the station platform - they will be painted and weathered and sited along the rear platform edge. These are typical Southern design.

 

Here one of "The Workers!" - Kerry patiently ballasting pointwork on his number 2 board.

 

As he has found out, the key is to secure the ballast carefully so as not to jam up the points!

 

Kevin M. has done some excellent ground coverage to enhance the appearance of board 5 - the Factory Area, this board is nearing completion other than weathering and some figures and action to bring it alive!

 

Here a better shot of the blending in of the tunnel archway by Kevin M. Note to self - must include some rolling stock in future shots!!

Keep looking for future updates!

Creating the Control Board for Sterte Bay

Now busy creating the main Control Board (or mimic board) for the Layout....

Having now agreed on the final name for our layout - Sterte Bay, we are preparing the final bit of electronics to ensure we can operate it. The schematic diagram was designed on MS Powerpoint and then sized onto 2 x A4 sheets. The 'box' is made from 3mm ply and as can be seen above, will be finished off with wooden edging. Before fitting the actual toggle switches and individual LED's, the whole printout was sprayed with matt sealant to help promote a longer life.
Besides the point control, there are switches for Initailising the whole board and also any scenery lighting we place. There are also LED's to show Board power and Track power.

Now the time consuming wiring and soldering of all the switches and a lot of LED's!!
The computer looking board above left is a CML Towermaster (DTM 30) which allows the whole control board to be hooked up to the layout with just two wires; 12v power and our Loconet bus.

 Above, the ribbon cables have now been soldered to each of the point switches, next are the LED's.

Preparing the Led's - Each Led has a positive and negative stem, (anode and cathode) when fitted on the control board it is difficult to identify especially if you want to cut down the length of the stems. The solution is to use some small wire sheath sections and slide these on the appropriate stems. The Led' can then be cut down and the tops bent over for easy soldering later.

Here are the stages for preparing the Led's... top right - sheath applied to stems, top left stems now bent over, centre bottom - the stems are cut down.

Original Led and finished cut down Led ready for mounting into board with bevels before soldering to ribbon cables. More to follow.....


Look out for the Sterte Bay layout at the forthcoming Poole Club exhibition on Nov 5th where we will show progress to date.

September Update

The layout is beginning to have that 'finished' look, even at this early stage - we have now fitted both the front valance and the backboards!

First the front facia...

Now with the backboards added, what a difference!

 

Thanks to the two Kevins for making this happen. Kevin L did a fantastic job of cutting, sanding down and painting the front facia and Kevin M arranged with one of his contacts to cut the five main backboards to size.

 

We can now work on the rear scenery and ground work and plan for it to run directly up to the backscene. We can also set about choosing any photographic backscenes to use across the whole layout. Getting the right scene and scale is the challenge for this. 

Keep watching!.......

August 2017 Update

Here is a snapshot of our progress on the new 00 layout as at August 2017

Work on board 1 - the Poole road bridge is secured in place with the viewing side Skytrex arches, thanks to Geoff for help on this. The station building is approx 75% complete. Richard is working on the platform passenger bridge which needs adapting as it is too high as it stands. Kevin L has done great work on the platforms, the main areas are almost complete now we need to work on the surface around the main station buldings and under the bridge area.

 Kerry's board 2 has now had the base layer of embankment grasses added and Kerry is near completing the mock Holes Bay shoreline. More detail is to be added like fencing and work on the footpath as well as considering the scenery in the middle trackwork area.

Steve Cope is developing board 3 with an area of railway ditritous, pools and piles of waste materials that was ofeten seen railside. He is also building the main signal box which will appear near the toilet roll soon! Contributions of old wheel sets, bits of rail and cable drums very welcome!

 Kevin M is working on board 4 and experimenting with different ground cover to establish a common scatter materails as well as bushes, trees etc. The front edge of this board as with board 3 will have a small embankment with groundcover.

Ted on baord 5 has moved on from the main factory buildings to start ground cover and walling near trackside.

Kevin with help has almost completed the "joining board" with two levels. Top level links the double mainline from board 5 to the sector plate and the lower level seen here is the branchline which will host DMU/EMU's etc this terminates at the lower right of the picture.

 The "rotating sector plate" which contains 10 storage tracks, is nearing completion with Kevin M, Ian, Ted and others all adding their help. Electrics are now been added and tested. Once comlpete we just have to build yet another! at the other end of the layout!!

More  work in August is planned to add the front facia boards and also the backscene boards - keep watching!