Yet again, I have destroyed what I have and have moved on to something different.
I was contemplating opening up a Youtube channel and describe how I would make a small 6 x 1' switching layout in HO. Then I tried ballasting the N Scale layout. I managed to glue up 4 out of the 10 points and couldn't fix them. As they were now ballasted, they were stuck firm so I couldn't get them out to try and free them up. So... I decided that the idea of an HO switching layout sounded good - especially as I have a nice little SW2 switcher complete with DCC and sound that I had left from my previous HO layout that got taken down on the arrival of my mother-in-law. In fact, the loco was a Christmas present from my friend in Connecticut so I would be glad to be using it again.
Then, I proved one of the laws of entropy. It takes you weeks to build the basic structure of the layout, lay track and fix all the wiring BUT it takes 2 1/2 hours to rip it all up! The foam core went down to the apartment block bin room, the wiring went into a bag for later use (that includes the SwitchPilots etc.) and the track went into a box ready to be cleaned up and sold on eBay.
After cleaning the Kato track, I put it all back in its display cards ready to be sold. Then I realised what a huge task it would be to actually ship all of the Kato packs that I had. I might have achieved £100 for the lot but I can live without that. I came to the same conclusion about selling 25 freight cars. Hence, I now have both of these packed away in our storage unit for later use (??).
I have dug out all of my Märklin, Roco and Pike stuff which I will try and sell as there is a lot of money there and I will also try and sell the four N Scale locos, all of which have nice decoders installed.
I have bought a couple of lengths of Peco code 83 track and 2 #5 points plus a couple of DCC Concepts Cobalt IP point motors. The idea behind that was to test the plan for the 6' x 1' layout but that has been overtaken now. It seems that DCC Concepts IP motors as unavailable so I will go with their analog motors which I can drive with my Switch Pilots. My LHS is getting some more code 83 so, hopefully, in a few days I will be able to buy the rest of the track. Now, the problem.
I would like to try the idea of a Youtube channel as my use of foam core is quite unusual and might get some interest. However, I am hesitant about doing it for a few reasons. Like a lot of people, I hate the sound of my own voice when I hear a recoding. Secondly, I have to get the flat quiet which is currently an issue as my wife has a bad chest cough! I do have a nice Olympus mirrorless camera which can take first class video and can also take stop frames so, once going, I can do some good stuff when building the baseboards, for instance. Also, I am quite adept at iMovie and have a copy of Adobe Premiere so am well set up technically.
The New Layout
Here is the current thinking regarding the new layout. It will be about 7'x 1' 4" with a 2' 6" extension as a "fiddle yard" or staging as the US calls it.
More to come on this when my thinking is straighter.
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