Coupling Clinic II
009 couplings model-railways narrow-gauge inglenookScenic development on the Inglenook rattles on, but a layout isn't much use without something to run on it. I had a decent selection of wagons on hand, and to run through the shunting puzzle they all needed couplings.
Using a wagon already fitted with Greenwich couplings as a reference point, I fixed a spare at the end of the fiddle stick to act as a height gauge for the rest. All coupling systems work best when the fitting on each vehicle is consistent, Greenwich especially, so it's worth the time and effort to get them right. I think I'm slightly over "regulation" height here but as long as everything matches this I should be okay.
The Greenwich system uses fixed magnets under the track, which attract iron wire added to the tails of the coupling loops. When the coupling is not under tension (or in other words when the vehicle is pushed rather than pulled over the magnet) the loop will pop up to enable uncoupling. If the stock will always be facing one way on the layout – as it is here – it's often better to fit a loop on one end only to avoid them getting in each other's way.
To have a full coupling test rig I fitted a magnet on the fiddle stick, seen here with the chassis of a Bachmann RNAD van. The standard Bachmann coupling is fitted in a NEM socket, a compatible Greenwich version is available but here I'm testing a prototype 3D printed coupling body which allows a loop to be fitted. This new development seems to work very well, and makes converting RTR stock faster, but it is dependent on the NEM socket being at that consistent height.
With a few vehicles (kit and RTR) suitably fitted I had enough to try running through the Inglenook puzzle in the simpler 3-2-2 configuration. I think it should just about be possible to do a full 5-3-3 version with a bit of a tweak to the front siding, but I'm going to need to prepare more wagons!
Previously at the Coupling Clinic
Make It Happen
009 model-railways narrow-gauge inglenookI often tell people I hate the idea of building a layout to a deadline. This continues to be correct, however the flipside is that nothing ever happens. Where this causes a problem is that I now have specific sized space at home, and the most recent unfinished layout project is not that size.
So, I thought, why not finish that layout and find a new home for it, and then start on the one that will fit better? You can imagine what happened (or didn't happen) next.
Therefore sometimes you just need to throw yourself at the problem. When the opportunity arose to take something to the upcoming Sussex Downs 009 Group members' day, with about a three month lead time, a serious look at the state of the small 009 inglenook I started during Covid times back in 2020 led me to think I actually could do something with it.
I'd actually gone a reasonable distance with it before my kids needed the spare room back for home schooling, and then we moved house, and the layout already had track, wiring, basic scenic forms, some ballast and the single building I thought it needed. So the new to-do list was, broadly: fiddle yard arrangements, make the wiring sensible, scenery, stock. Easy.
Painting it brown and doing some test pieces with the static grass applicator I'd bought (and done nothing with for 18 months) made a surprising amount of difference. Under decent lighting it actually started looking like the picture I'd had in my head, and the whole endeavour felt possible.
Encouraged, I made a jaunty sign with the extremely torturous name for the layout and started buying things that might fit well on it. The Morris van from a rummage box will need de-branding, as this is meant to be approximately the 1960s and the works yard for an oil prospecting operation on Purbeck, using the bones of an old clay tramway.
The most important thing on the list, the fiddle stick, came a bit later than the rest of this flurry of activity as it was my first attempt at designing parts for laser cutting and so they had to be made. This is now in place, along with the wiring made sense of (well, first fix at least), and the whole thing can be put up to operate in what feels like a logical way. Most importantly, it all works properly and "feels" like a real layout at last.
The steam loco is James's scratchbuilt Quintus, which came to live with me a few years ago and now finally has a suitable home. Everything from here, then, is "just" scenery and stock. No doubt I'll be burning the midnight oil at the end of March, but from the viewpoint at the start of February it seems like I might actually have a good time getting there. We'll see, perhaps I'll blog about it some more!
Trigger's Broom
meta model-railwaysNew blog, old posts. Is it still the same website if you change everything apart from the contents?
For ... reasons I had to move web hosts (including all the domain and email config for Narrow Planet, fun times) so I took the opportunity to rebuild this long-neglected blog. If it's of any interest at all it now uses Eleventy and Tailwind running on Vercel, instead of Wordpress and was a learning exercise as much as anything.
I also believe in the permanence of the web so I didn't want to just turn the thing off and succumb to link rot. Maybe I should start updating here again? Who knows!
2020, as you're probably aware, has been a weird old year. I count myself as fortunate that my day job is (currently) fairly secure although as I write this Lockdown 2 is fast approaching to get in the way of the Christmas sales period. The side-hustle has also been keeping me busy, and with the traditional Autumn exhibition season being replaced by virtual events we have some product announcements we would have done in person ready to go - particularly for the newest bit, Planet Industrials.
I did start a small 009 layout (seen above) as a modelling project during the spring but this fizzled out when the desk it was set up on was requisitioned for home schooling. Perhaps with the winter drawing in I should get on with it, it would give me something to write about here at least.
Next year it looks like I need to move house, find larger premises for NP and keep the other plates spinning, all in uncertain conditions. Should be a fun ride!
More posts can be found in the archive.