Thank you Derek

Thank you, Im pleased it was helpful. I would go through every point then with a coach or wagon, scrape out debris as I showed then with an old trushbrush scrub each point with isopropyl alcohol. Test after with a train, if you hear grinding at any point scrape, scrub and clean those areas. Hoping thats helpful

Thank you Luke, I see the layout as a number of zones, which are miles apart from each other. In other words the scenic breaks do the work for you. Hope that makes sense

Ha ha ha, I know what you mean abt the flash sales, all very tempting. Thank you for your kind comments, I had lot of fun doing it.

Thanks Larry I’m glad you like it

Thanks Brian very kind of you to say

Thanks Tony, Ive used sand for years on N gauge, its pretty to scale and stupid cheap. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

Lol, noooo not removing anything else if I can help it ha ha. Glad you liked it and thank you for taking the time to comment.

Hi Stephen, yes we can’t always avoid using the surface mounted point motors. I just didn’t get on with the PL 10s they just didn’t switch properly, but these PL11 are very easy to switch. I know what you mean about the double slip, but you could give the mechanisms a squirt with WD40 first that would protect the point, keep checking it I sure it’ll be fine. I’ve only ever had one point gum up completely and had to replace it, but that was in my early days and I used go very gun ho then. I certainly don’t now

@@piccadillymodelrailways I found the gaugemaster surface mount point motors brilliant as they have a manual switch so you can test and they not bad in price too. Since watching your video I am thinking of using them more thank you for the advice.

Thank you Michael yes I agree, although I got my sand from B & Q lol

I know what you mean, but with some care should be ok. Of all the many many points I’ve ballasted only one broke after being laid, but gratefully it was a quick simple swap out as the ballast had not dried out. Even if a point does stick just soak the mechanism with water and spray with WD40 once the glue has softened. That with lubricate the mechanism, casting any water. Just clean rail heads throughly after with IPA.

Absolutely Euan I think sand looks great, cheaper than chips, and easy to lay. Colours beautifully. I used woodland scenic ballast on my OO, awful stuff, it’s coconut shell and resistant to staining, had to spray. The Javis ballast was amazing because it was ground stone. Strange isn’t it?

Hi thank you. I filled as many as I spotted, the camera had a different view to what I saw. I will fill future ones as required but really not that worried about it. Thank you for taking the time to comment

Hi Geoff thank you I appreciate your support. The sand was actually play sand as it’s been cleaned and quite fine for N gauge. Sharp sand has lots of bits grit and alsorts in it. It works well.

Hi Steve, thank you for taking the time to comment. I’ve used a variety of methods, relay box staging, burying them in platforms, retaining walls, as you said. Lots of things. On this occasion with the two points opposite each other I was reluctant to build them up as the could of looked like columns of foliage rising out of the earth lol

Thanks Andy, as always. I just delete those bot messages no, usually have silly name and a cartoon. The black spots were from unmixed paint. 9/10 the paint glue method works beautifully, but occasionally needs touching, airbrushing, spotting, up or modifying in some way.

Thanks Paul. I do understand, so we each choose the best for our situation and circumstances.

Thanks Jack I’ve used coloured the ballast for years now love the variety of results. Sorry not sure what you mean by ‘injectable’ in this context. Thanks

@@piccadillymodelrailways oops meant objextable....

Thanks Dougie, I do think ballasting is a personal thing and we do indeed do things differently, so we do have to choose the direction to follow on that one. I’ve used paint in the ballast mix for years now and occasionally does come out nicely, other times some extra work is required. It’s a kind of random approach within each micro area, as you don’t always know how it will dry. Yet at the same time control over the general look. On my OO gauge layout I did use a ballast mix from Javis and added sand to make the mix go further, the sand falls to the bottom in the main, leaving stones on top. The whole idea of the layout is to give the impression of a vast area, with the viewer viewing each zone as miles apart from the zone next to it. Surprisingly the bulk of the layout is only 6’x6’ with an extra 4’x 2’, in preparation for the extension in the future. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

@@piccadillymodelrailways It looks *way* bigger than that. 😁 I suippose, with all the scenic breaks, it's hard to get a true idea of the layout's size, especially on camera. So many layouts, of all scales, have a *narrow* dimension(8 x 4, even 10 x 4) that making it square(ish) gives you a lot of extra space, not often seen. Even huge exhibition layouts tend to be long and narrow; you're lucky having that extra space. Apart from anything else, it means you can get away from the standard oval shape. The more I watch your layout, the more I like it. It's very *different* in so many ways.👍

Thank you.

Hello - no idea the finest orange wire I could get, guessing around 0.2mm overall diam

Hi, how you colour / weather the ballast is your choice. There is no right nor wrong. I think it is quite important to choose the right size of ballast. I use kiln dried sand for N gauge, and a very fine one for OO. Remember one piece of ballast can be held in a persons hand. Personally I apply the ballast with a spoon and smooth with a 1/2” paint brush or slightly bigger. The idea is to clear the rails off the sleepers, no higher as it can stick to the rails and cause derailments. I tap the rails periodically with the spoon as this helps settle the ballast into the rails. Charlie from Chadwick did an excellent video which I’ll link below. Spray track with Isopropyl alcohol then apply glue with a dropper. For the glue mix 50:50 PVA and water then ( you can add a drop of washing up liquid instead of Isopropyl alcohol if you don’t have any). I then add brown / grey paint to the mix so track is partially weathered with the glue mix. You don’t have to. Pure PVA is fine. You can weather the track after/ paint rails IF YOU WANT TO. Your choice. When glue is dry check points move ok, and trains run smoothly over track. If not use a small screwdriver to remove ballast partials. Repeat as necessary until trains run smoothly. Finally use a track rubber to clean track as there will undoubtedly be dried PVA on surface with could interfere with electrical contact. Track rubbers work so well. Charlie’s video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hNOEhcmXkrmziJs.htmlsi=SaUwTFe4-U48teOq

Hi, thank you for taking the time to comment, sorry N gauge ballast (or fine) is good for OO gauge, IMO. A single piece of ballast should fit comfortably in the hand and an N gauge person is only 12mm from head to foot, so their hands are around 1mm so ballast is much smaller again. At the end of the day we each do what we prefer, that is good as then no two modellers nor layouts are the same.