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Installing the uncouplers

 

I didn’t want to remove the track in order to install the magnets, so I cut away some of the sleepers.

 

Then, I cut slots in the plywood trackbed with my jigsaw.

 

The magnets were installed and the sleepers glued back in place.

 

After ballasting the magnets will be hidden in the interests of realism.  There will be a simple method to help locate them.

Painting the tracks

 

I began by airbrushing a coat of dark brown on all other the track.

 

After, I painted a rust colour the side of the rails : inside darker than outside, and extra dark around the blades and the frogs of the turnouts. I drybrush the sleepers with a light gray to show the old grain of the wood.

Joining the tracks

 

Each rail end is soldered to a brass screw beneath it. By this means the track can’t move and will remain in alignment.

 

Sleepers are then glued in place to restore the apparence.

 

First operating test

 

During the first test of operation, I shot several photographs…

These test permit me to find the mistakes I’ve made before continuing my work : the next steps are track painting and ballasting.

Click on the right photograph to begin the slideshow...

Wiring

 

The track is wired on a supply and common return basis – there are five sections and feeds to the Tortoise switch motors.

 

Point frogs (turnout “vees”) and blades are live to ensure reliable operation.

 

Banana plugs ensure the electrical connection between the boards and a colour coding system is used.

 

 

Turnout switch motors

 

I would like to have something reliable, realistic, and robust that will provide efficient operation from a switch on the control panel located at the front of the layout. Tortoise switch machines were obviously the best choice offering slow action, no maintainence, and easy wiring with only two wires.

 

The minimal thickness of the baseboards requires that the Tortoise motors are mounted in a horizontal position. They are held in place with a wooden bracket and adjusting screws, and metal drive rods connect to the hole in the tie bar of the Peco points.

Track laying

 

The track is Peco bullhead code 132 which is a good representation of the type used on old French branchlines.

 

The siding which serves the coal and fuel retailer is Peco code 100 rail on wooden sleepers attached with scale spikes.

 

The screws and large washers seen in the photograph are just there to keep the track in place until ballasting is done.

Clearance for the buildings

 

Drawing the plans I allocated the space for each building. During the construction, I have built cardboard mock-ups of these buildings to obtain an idea of the final result.

 

This method allows me to avoid mistakes before building the final models. The mock-ups and the location are not yet fixed to allow for further modifications on an esthetic grounds.

Trackbed

 

I simply used 5 mm plywood screwed on the cross braces. This system is light and sufficiently strong.

Benchwork

 

The layout comprises two 5'-0" by 1'-8" boards. I have used the American "L girder" system but simplified with cross braces: I call this “M girder” - M for Molinaro ! It is a joke…

Trackplan

 

After much sketching, when the plan was finalised, I began a full size drawing using photocopied turnouts, and after some tests the definitive trackplan was produced.

Trafic

 

The station is served, during the week, by three incoming and departing railcars a day. On Sundays, two trains are sufficient. When demand is high a carriage can be coupled to the railcar. From time to time, and on the market days, the train comprises a locomotive and several carriages.

 

Goods trains run when needed to businesses served by the line: a coal and fuel retailer, local farmers, a potatoe packaging factory, the goods shed, etc…

The concept

 

This layout will represent the free-lance station of Inchy-en-Artois. The railway never arrived at this small town in reality but modelling permits it !

 

The Inchy-en-Artois branch belongs to the VFIL (CGL) company. It starts from the Boisleux-Marquion-Cambrai line specifically between Quéant and Marquion and heads in a southerly direction.

 

The line crosses the countryside curving between fields and running up the hills before reaching the town of Inchy-en-Artois. After crossing a small bridge over the “Hirondelle” river, the track arrives in the yard at the end of the line. In the past Inchy-en-Artois wasn’t the terminus of the line but economic recession defeated the railway system.

 

BOISLEUX-MARQUION-CAMBRAI RAILWAY

O scale  1/43.5

 Motive power

 Railcars

 Carriages

 The building of

the layout