(left)
(left)
Early in the layout's history, this is an overall view of the locoshed.
(right)
Now superceded, this was the original fiddleyard located at one end of Nine Mills..
(left)
Class 8P locomotive "City of Hereford" departs Nine Mills Station hauling a rake of Pullman coaches. Crossing over the river on this bridge, the train will pass the loco depot before disappearing through the tunnel. This was one of the newly released Bachman/Graham Farish locomotives.
(right)
Another view of Nine Mills locoshed showing the river bridge, mentioned above in the background, and the tracks disappearing into the tunnel to the right of the signal box.
(left)
An ariel view of the coaling stage at Nine Mills.
(right)
At work to improve the fiddle yard's very sharp radius tracks.(see second picture above)
(left & right above)
Work begins during the latter part of 2003 to extend the layout to its revised formation, requiring the building of twelve 4' x 2' baseboards, all of which will be self supporting with integral legs and adjustable feet for levelling.
(left & right above)
Once the new boards have been built, tracklaying commences.
(left)New lines at the front of the layout.
(right)The new 18 road fiddle yard takes shape.
(left)
Meanwhile work to maintain the condition of existing scenic areas continues during the new construction
(right)
July 2004. Look closely and you will see that recent higher temperatures in the clubroom had affected the track laid to the fiddle yard.
Here work is undertaken to correct the problem by inserting expansion gaps.
(left)
July 2005. A whole year gone! Control panels built and wired, almost all boards wired; new boards and panel added to the existing layout.Now for a test........
(right)
......with the aid of design diagrams (no, not the back of a fag packet!) we'll see if it works........
(left)
......"Hmm - something not quite right".......
(right)
......"I think the problem might be here".....
(left))
......"No, there's a problem here as well"......
(right)
When all else fails, it's a good idea to have look at what's happening under the baseboard.
(left)
The problem resolved and with a helping hand, a loco takes the first tentative run along the fiddle yard.
(right)
Under the watchful eyes of the Club's members, a full circuit is attempted.
(left)
The first ten coach train runs across from the exisitng layout and onto the passing loop on the new baseboard.
(right)
(1) With much of the testing complete, work gets under way to add scenic details. Here, a base of polystyrene blocks has been covered with a plaster mix, which, will in turn be covered by scenic flock.
(left)
(2) With much of the testing complete, work gets under way to add scenic details. Here, a base of polystyrene blocks has been covered with a plaster mix, which, will in turn be covered by scenic flock.
(right)
At the same time a start was made adding ballast to the track. This was a very time consuming task. Having carefully painted the sides of the rails with a suitable "mucky" colour, the fine granite is added ensuring that the points are kept clear so as not to hinder their operation.
(left)
Whoops! The ballast train seems to have deposited too much here.
(right)
Here the same area a few weeks later as exhibited at Modelworld 2006 at Brighton. Temporary scenic texture has been added, and this will be completed in due course with the usual fields of cows etc.
This was our first outing in front of the public and all the hard work of the previous two years responded almost faultlessly. Naturally there were one or two hiccups, but nothing too difficult to sort out.
This view demonstrates just how realistic length trains can be run on N gauge layouts.
(left)
A fiddle yard under pressure. Up to 40 train formations can be stored in this area. The tracks are numbered for the ease of each operator to identify what is where. This is the view that the outer loop operator has.
(right)
A new view of the coaling stage with the newly added diesel depot in the background, and, it would appear that a diesel loco has managed to escape.
(left)
The main scenic area containg the loco shed has now been remodeled using proprietry points. At the time it was decided to alter the location of the coaling and ash plants. Now nearing completion of ballasting the track and tidying up the scenery, testing of the revised electrical connections can take place. As usual, there's never enough time.
Compare this photo with the previous and the differences can be clearly seen.
(right)
Bullied West Country Pacific "Exeter" is used to test the new pointwork to the loco shed.
© 2004 worthing.mrc@ntlworld.com
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