DuTTchy

@moawkwrd The Hornby TT class 08 locos are great for shunting, especially with the Dapol Easi Fit couplings. Hope to show my uncouplers in action soon. @Stephen-1260829 This way works perfectly for me. The underframe is fixed and the baseboard is removable. If needed it can easily be turned around or placed on its side. The baseboard is itself measures 234x60cm and is not to heavy. @Rallymatt Like you suggested, the trackplan is placed in your thread. Nothing new to show on my layout, hope to make time for it this weekend. My new loco arrived with some new figures (photographers and sitting people). The photoshoot More to come soon.

Here's my TT layout based on the Midsomer Norton South station. This layout measures 308x60cm, grid size is 20x20cm. It's just a simple end to end trackplan with a sliding fiddle yard at the end. You can follow the progress here (Midsomer Norton South). André

I only need 2 more wagons but i'm not in a hurry, have to built my layout first. The Peco wagons are also nice but they lack the nem pockets for my Dapol Easy Fit couplings. What i like to do with the shunting is that loco A + 3 coaches enters the station on platform 1 and uncouples. Loco B pulls the 3 coaches out of platform 1 and reverses to platform 2, uncouples and drives back to one of the spurs. Loco A goes to platform 2 and can drive off with the coaches for the next trip. Does anybody knows how this is called in railway terms and is this something prototypical? Thanks, André

Just a little update on the trackplan. This weekend i tried out a few versions and i think this is the one. The plan was made with Anyrail and printed in 1:1 scale. All 3 sidings now have the correct length for the Inglenook shunting puzzle without changing the original station layout too much. Only 6 wagons are present at this time, need 2 more. The Inglenook puzzle requires 8 wagons. Midsomer Norton South has no turnouts for a headshunt so a second loco has to pull the 3 coaches away and free the loco. This is not how it is done there but i like to do it this way.

Hi @RB51, The way i wrote it down is a bit confusing, the first line is about the video. Second line is just a remark that it runs even better on Peco unifrog turnouts. My English is a bit rusty, i don't use it every day🤔. Tried the methode in this Youtube video (2.40-3.10 min) but that didn't go as planned. Couldn't lift the cab up, but i did manage to break off the cabine floor and remove the bulkhead this way. Next time i try it the way @moawkwrd said.

Hi Renoir, Are there on your decoder some tiny solderpads where you can attach an external capacitor to? This is possible on the Doehler & Haass decoders i use. Here you can see an 220µF/25v electrolytic capacitor connected to the decoder. It is just enough to keep things going, don't expect miracles. The capacitor fits snugly in the cabin, i just had to be brave and remove the black bulkhead without causing to much damage. It runs fine now over the Hornby insulfrog. On the Peco unifrog turnout you can even run at super crawl speed André

@GMD Yes we are. Sometimes it's very handy to be tall but i lost count of the times i bumped my head😠. The baseboard is ready. Next step is to take a decision on the final trackplan.

Some goodies have arrived. The workers are here to assist me with all the work to come. And the DCC decoder is for my new class 08 shunter which is on its way, hope to receive it in a few days. The figures and the Land Rover are both 1:120 but it looks a bit weird. Measured the standing guy and he is almost 2 meters tall (just like me so this is plausible 🙂).

Hi GMD, The fiddle yard is hand operated only, just like i want to do with the turnouts and magnet uncouplers. For this i will use some push/pull and rotating rods. The short headshunt track should be long enough for the locos on my wishlist. Later this year i hope to buy one of the J50's (maybe more😁) and in the future the Pannier tank engine (my favourite loco).

@StuLarge It's always good to be bit weird 🙃. @Martin-369195 The magnet i used is the Kadee #308. These are quite large (50x38mm) en a bit expensive (£7.00 in the UK). Bought mine at Modellbahnunion in Germany but they are out of stock now. Because they are very large i decided to cut them im half. This was easy, they are not solid magnets but a kind of hard rubber and it doesn't affect the magnet's polarity. The steel intensifier plate is a bit harder to cut in two, had to put it in a vice and use a hacksaw. Now i have two for the price of one and they are still large enough. Also drilled a 3mm hole in the steel plate so the magnet can be attached to a kind of hinge (pictures in next update). The original magnet left and right the magnet cut in two.

All rolling stock is now fitted with Dapol Easi-Shunt / Easi-Fit couplings. Did Dapol change the name of these? The coupling pockets are all nem355 so fitting them is a piece of cake. Made a short Youtube video of the Sliding Fiddle Yard in action. Everything works fine and i am happy with it. Next job on the list is building the baseboard, hope to do this next week.

Link to the Somerset & Dorset Railway. https://sdjr.co.uk/ I really like the atmosphere at this station and it offers many shunting possibilities, just what i was looking for. Today i nearly completed the sliding fiddle yard and the sliding mechanism also works fine now. For this i used some aluminium angle (10x10x1mm), found some coated angle at our local DIY store.. This slides better than the basic brute ones. Next step was the short track at the end which has to be on the same height. Made this with a piece of aluminium (50x115mm) and M3 screws. This way it is easy to adjust the height by turnings the nuts. The end result, tomorrow i hope to connect some power to the tracks and do some test runs.

Now i know why the name Midsomer sounded familiar 😀. The sliding fiddle yard is taking shape. I used a piece of white furniture panel (62x20 cm). This is heavy and straight, just what we need. The panel with a small slot for the uncouple magnet. Here you can see the Kadee magnet, this magnet is cut in half (later more about this). And now it is covered with a piece of white paper, looks better i think. Before laying the tracks some dropper wires are soldered under each rail. All tracks are nailed on the panel and the wires are soldered on 2 pieces of copper tape. The progress so far. On the far right a short piece of track (12cm) is planned for the shunter. After uncoupling it can make a headshunt using a free track. Tomorrow we are going to work on the sliding mechanism. This will be something simple with some aluminium angle profile.

Hi all, I am about to start the build of a new layout and like to share my adventures to come. In the past i have built a few layouts in H0, 00 and N-gauge and never really finished one, sounds familiair?🤔 This time it will be a TT layout with a simple trackplan and lots of shunting fun. On my search for a small heritage line terminus i found a charming little station. It's Midsomer Norton South (Somerset & Dorset Railway) and after viewing several videos of this station on Youtube the decision was made. The frame for the baseboard is already made and the fun can begin. Midsomer Norton South station Midsomer Norton South in TT with an Inglenook shunting puzzle and at the end of the line a small sliding fiddleyard. Baseboard is 305 x 60 cm. Rolling stock : Hornby TT Track and points : Peco Couplings : Dapol Easi-Fit magnetic couplings Uncouple magnets : Kadee #308 DCC controller : DCC-EX First job this weekend is to finish the fiddle yard. More pictures coming soon. André