Midsomer Norton South (TT layout)

[DuTTchy]

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

[Irishmail]

Look foward to seeing this develope.  😀

[GMD]

Excellent - very clean and neat looking baseboard. Keep us updated!

[Dodge1965]

Nice one.. Been here loads, my mother lived in Midsomer Norton till 2019. Lovely area. Look forward to seeing more. 

[ateshci]

The name is even known in Germany due to 'Midsomer Murders' of John Nettles' fame

[DuTTchy]

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.

[Rallymatt]

6 hours ago, ateshci said:

The name is even known in Germany due to 'Midsomer Murders' of John Nettles' fame

Although technically that’s mainly filmed in Oxfordshire. It’s a very dangerous place, usually 3 people die in bizarre circumstances each week. 😳

[Silver Fox 17]

1 hour ago, Rallymatt said:

Although technically that’s mainly filmed in Oxfordshire. It’s a very dangerous place, usually 3 people die in bizarre circumstances each week. 😳

Only 3, I thought it was more. It is surprising there is anyone left, or, who wants to live there.

[Irishmail]

1 hour ago, Rallymatt said:

Although technically that’s mainly filmed in Oxfordshire. It’s a very dangerous place, usually 3 people die in bizarre circumstances each week. 😳

 

29 minutes ago, Silver Fox 17 said:

Only 3, I thought it was more. It is surprising there is anyone left, or, who wants to live there.

Going off topic here, but in one of the Morse episodes, (which did have occasional train scenes at Oxford and Didcot) I think there were at least 6 died in one episode.

[Rallymatt]

Morse is completely unbelievable, he always got a parking space in Oxford… 🤣

[PeterM67]

Quite a few episodes have been filmed in Berkshire as well. Several of the quaint little villages near where I live  have had their fair share of Midsomer murders. This is a dangerous place to be 😂

[mr2002]

What a wonderful prototype. How have I never heard of this station before?

Your baseboard & fiddle yard are coming along nicely.

[DuTTchy]

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.

[DuTTchy]

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.

[StuLarge]

Interested in how you get on long term with the Easi-Shunt couplings I live the idea, adds extra realism👍🏼

Also loving the full white scenery, very calming (yes I am weird)

[Martin-369195]

@DuTTchy - Could you elaborate on the Kadee magnet. Where did you get it from and why cut it in half?

Cheers,

Martin

[DuTTchy]

@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.

[GMD]

Thanks for the video link - very smooth! A few questions if you don’t mind;

is the movement automated in any way or is it just hand operated, and lined up by eye?

is the ‘headshunt’ piece long enough for anything other than an 08?

Thanks. 

[DuTTchy]

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).

 

[DuTTchy]

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 🙂).

 

 

 

 

[GMD]

The DuTTch are meant to be the tallest nation on earth are they not?

[DuTTchy]

@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.

[GMD]

It’s looking excellent so far. Very neatly presented. 

[Dave the Busker]

19 hours ago, DuTTchy said:

Sometimes it's very handy to be tall but i lost count of the times i bumped my head😠.

Hello to another very tall TT person. From what I've read on the forums, there do seem to be a lot of us. Funny how the tallest people have gone for the smallest scale Hornby make 🤣

[Postman On The Rails]

@Dave the Busker you models must look really small or are they just far away 😝