Dublo 3 Rail Layout

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by Wolseley, Nov 20, 2018.

  1. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    I haven't got anything much done as yet, but construction will get underway shortly, as I purchased a 8'x4' sheet of 9mm plywood and nine lengths of softwood (more or less 2"x1" whatever that is in mm) as well as a quantity of screws and some alignment dowels. The plywood sheet has been cut in three, as I wanted to be able to dismantle the layout, even though my intention is to have it permanently erected.
     
  2. ianvolvo46

    ianvolvo46 Staff Member Moderator

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    Your on you're way Wolseley .. not seen a 3 rail Dublo layout so ……

    Ian vt
     
  3. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    Just to show that it's under way, here's a photo of one of the end boards. There are two and they are mirror images of each other - one is finished, but I still have some work to do on the bracing under the other one.

    P1010435.JPG

    P1010436.JPG

    And here is the centre board:

    P1010437.JPG

    P1010438.JPG
     
  4. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    All the boards are finished. I now have to fit some legs and paint the boards before I start laying track, but I won't be doing that for a week or so, as I'll be in Canberra for a few days over Christmas.
     
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  5. Cherokee

    Cherokee Guest

    Well done. Merry Christmas. See you soon !
     
  6. mydadstoys

    mydadstoys Full Member

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    Hi Wolesley. You have done a nice job on the baseboards, I’m looking forward to seeing some progress after your break. Merry Christmas :cheers:
     
  7. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    I'll sort out the legs later this week, and then all I have to do is paint the top and sides of the boards before I can start putting some track down. Because it will be sharing a room with several pieces of furniture rather than having a dedicated room all to itself, I'm going to use screw in table legs rather than 2x1 timber or trestles.

    The plan is pretty much finalised, although I might reassess whether a couple of small sidings should go in or not when I see it laid out on the boards. I would have liked a run around loop for the goods yard, but I couldn't fit one in without having to delete other features I wanted more. Basically it is the sort of plan that you would find in one of the Hornby, Trix or Tri-ang plans books - in fact I used Dublo's plan 26 as my starting point. It will, however, feature a bit more scenery than you would expect on a classic Dublo layout from the 1950s, but the scenery will take second place to the trains. Here's the final draft of my plan (and Dublo's plan 26 for comparison):

    Dublo.jpg

    26.jpg
     
  8. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Nice. I'm looking forward to seeing the make of this. :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

    Cheers and Happy New Year !

    Gary.
     
  9. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    I bought the legs today at Bunnings in Seven Hills (the Castle Hill Bunnings was out of stock, so it was a choice of going to Northmead or Seven Hills for them). I also got a litre of paint in an earthy sort of brown colour (it's a Colorbond colour called Jasper) my idea being to paint the board an earth colour as a base and then put green on it where the grass should be. I haven't decided how to represent the grass but I might get one of those sheets of paper (or is it plastic?) covered with flock and cut it to fit - I think Faller still make it. Or I might make a concession to the 21st century and try static grass - it intrigues me. One thing I don't want to do is use coloured sawdust, even though it was around in the 50s and 60s I don't like the stuff at all - been there done that.....
     
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  10. mydadstoys

    mydadstoys Full Member

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    Look forward to seeing the legs fitted to the baseboards and what you decide to use for the grass work.:thumbup:
     
  11. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    The layout will be both a place to run my collection of models (which are mostly, but not all, 3 rail Dublo and Trix) and, when I say run, I am talking of watching them mainly go around, rather than performing complex shunting manouevres and as an amusement for our grandsons (aged 15 months and 3½).

    I did want some scenery, but the main thing is to be the trains and, although I am aiming for something along the lines of a 1950s layout, I didn't want the track to just be laid on a surface that was a uniform colour, like the vintage layouts you see that are laid out on a table covered in green cloth. I am leaning towards using static grass, even though it is a rather recent development and not contemporary with the equipment I am using. If I do use it, the few trees I choose will probably reflect current modelling standards as well, but everything else will be firmly fixed in the 1950s, even down to a collection of Dublo Dinky cars in the station car park.
     
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  12. Dr Tony

    Dr Tony Full Member

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    Well trees and grass are still essentially the same since the 1950s. Maybe try Gormo's method with the rubber foam carpet in underlay, chopped up and coloured with cheap paints and a Kmart coffee grinder. Then use some sort of strainer to spread it around. Best thing about it, apart from being cheap, is that you can get any colour you like.
    I have found that those grass mats are very hard to get looking like something other than a grass mat.
    Cheers
    Tony
     
  13. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    The baseboard is now ready to accept tracks. I finished painting the surface last night. The colour I used was selected so that it could double as track bed surrounding the tracks and also as bare earth. I took a length of Dublo track with me to make sure the colour looked right against the colour of the track (Dublo 3 rail track has a painted tinplate base like early Marklin track) and the one I chose not only looked right, but also brought out the colours in the track base. The remainder of the baseboard will be covered by scenery although, given that the layout will be in the spirit of a 1950s classic Dublo/Tri-ang/Trix type of layout, what scenery there is will take second place to the trains.

    The baseboard is 8’ x 4’ and is in three pieces. The legs are screw in legs sold in hardware stores (in my case at Bunnings, which had them for almost half the price that IKEA were selling them for). I have probably over-engineered it by putting four legs on each section of the baseboard but (a) Dublo track is all metal and what I’m using will weigh a few kilos once I’m finished (b) I wanted something I could erect and dismantle all by myself (I’ll need a second person to help if I ever need to move either of the larger boards though) and having to juggle a centre section with no legs didn’t seem to be a good way of achieving this and (c) I didn’t want to end up not making it strong enough and have to start all over again. The legs also have adjustable feet (a range of about 2cm) which I thought might assist in lining everything up.

    I had originally intended buying legs with a chrome finish, but they were more than double the price of black ones.

    P1000002.JPG

    There are two bolts and three metal alignment dowels at each join.

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    It all went together as planned, and fits into the room:

    P1000005.JPG
     
  14. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Makes a nice dining table in the mean time till track is laid :avatar:
     
  15. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    I'm setting out the track on the baseboard to see if it all fits the space as intended. There is a lot of track cleaning to do (a Peco track rubber for the railheads and Mr Sheen furniture polish (!) for the tinplate track base). Surprisingly though, a number of pieces of track I have appear to be unused, or at best lightly used. Some rail joiners need straightening out, but not as many as I thought. The track plan is going to need a bit of tweaking as, when the tracks go down on the board, not all of it ends up exactly where it shows on the computer generated printout....

    P1010441.JPG
     
  16. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    How are you fastening it down?
     
  17. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    The track pieces (excluding a few of the smaller ones and the diamond crossings) have pre-drilled holes and are designed to held in place by screws - Hornby specified number 2 woodscrews. You have to be careful not to screw them down too tightly, or they will distort the track base. Also, as the centre rail is the feed and the outer rails and track base are the return, you have to make sure that the screw heads are not so big that they might make contact with the collector shoes or centre rail.

    Screen Shot 2019-01-26 at 9.22.57 am.png
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2019
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  18. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    I had forgotten they were pre drilled.
     
  19. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    It looks like I'll have to delete one siding from the terminal station. The island platform doesn't quite fit between the tracks the way the computer thought it did....
     
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  20. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    I have had to effect a few changes to make everything fit and it looks like I might need a few more quarter straights to complete everything. I need some more buffer stops too, so I can feel another visit to John Winkley's online shop coming on....

    Aside from fiddling about with track, I've been trying some buildings and platforms in position and I've assembled my goods shed. While I was assembling the shed, I realised that it has never been out of the box - and we're talking about a kit that's between 55 and 60 years old. The thread on the crane seems rather brittle though, so I might have to replace it. For those of you who haven't seen a Dublo goods shed, here's what they look like. The platform and building are plastic, with brass screw fittings, and the crane is metal (mazak?).

    Goods_Depot_Kit_with_crane_Hornby_Dublo_5020_(DubloCat_1963).jpg
     
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