7mm The Yard

Hobbyhorse

Western Thunderer
IMG_1364.JPG IMG_1362.JPG IMG_1363.JPG First outing yesterday of our groups new layout called The Yard, is very industrial with working crane,radio controlled lorries and it's standard gauge 7mm and narrow gauge. We only started it last September so it's still early days with lots to do, but it was well received and ran well.

Simon
 
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Hobbyhorse

Western Thunderer
Thanks Dan, we're going for a different approach on presentation and the RSJ was part of it. On the bottom of the layout is the still framing that's also exposed.

Simon
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Whoever came up with the RSJ idea should be very chuffed with themselves!
 
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Hobbyhorse

Western Thunderer
Agreed, a nice touch.

How do they manage to miniaturise the radio receiver gear to the n'th degree yet the transmitters are more like a 1980's boom box with all the bling and switches?
For the crane at the moment we're using an off the shelf transmitter, but will be making some of our own which will be a lot smaller than the big boxes with lot of switches that aren't really needed. What came to light operating the layout for the first time over the weekend was its difficult it times to align the hook on the crane, especially when a large amount of people are viewing the layout. So we will fit a small Bluetooth camera into the crane cab to view what's going on and build the monitor into the new transmitter box. We need a few more lorries and cars also and the thought process with these is for the a single handed version of the transmitter.
 

Hobbyhorse

Western Thunderer
IMG_1374.JPG
Just to bring you up to date on how a group of four of us built this layout, The Yard, to an initial deadline, which was last weekend, of 13-14 January 2018.

It all started on 2 September 2017, when Ken had an idea!

Our club, the Orpington Model Railway Society, needed a small layout to fill a space in the January 2018 exhibition.

So what could we do?

Well, Ken had an idea, we already had in stock for a few years now a manually operated gantry crane rescued from a layout that was being scrapped, we also had a radio controlled lorry, which was one of the first built by Giles of End of the line and Denton Brook fame, both these layouts of which Ken and myself are guest operators. We also had narrow gauge and standard gauge stock from our layouts Half Way, Theobald's Yard and Whiteoak Light Railway, so all it needed was a small setting to stage this equipment.

The scene was set, three straight tracks, no points and a roadway to keep it simple along with some small factory buildings to give it a purpose.

Here is the initial mockup from 2 September 2017, consisting of one 2 foot x 3 foot board and a 2 foot x 2 foot board, what could be simpler? That's all sorted then, or so we thought!

Simon
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
A lot of visual stimulation in a small space!
I thought the TK driver was going to be a show-off and do a 360 reversl around the back of the n.g. van and under the gantry at the start :D

Can you reveal the origins of the Sentinel and the sound file ? I've not heard a real one but can imagine that is exactly how they would sound.
 

Hobbyhorse

Western Thunderer
A lot of visual stimulation in a small space!
I thought the TK driver was going to be a show-off and do a 360 reversl around the back of the n.g. van and under the gantry at the start :D

Can you reveal the origins of the Sentinel and the sound file ? I've not heard a real one but can imagine that is exactly how they would sound.
I've only heard a Sentinel on an old DVD so I've matched it as best I can.
The Sentinel is from a Impetus kit, it's fitted with a Soundtrax chip using the USA sounds with the chuff set for ten chuffs per rotation. I've turned off most of the sound as bells and air compressors aren't required but altered the rod clanking to be quite loud.
The good thing about these chips is 16 sounds can play at the same time, and with some manipulation it's amazing what can be done.
 
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