Waggon restored

As you may remember my original waggon was out of service due to glue getting caught up in the coupling which meant the coupling did not move as the waggon itself moved around curves, causing derailments. I've finally got around to taking the couplings apart and finally "de-glueing" them. The waggon seems to run fine now with no mishaps so far! Its taken its place in Eskalon's departmental train.

A new coach

And for Christmas Eskalon gets a new coach. This will be paired with the Jam Sandwich and will take over the "B" passenger duties.

Was the running before Christmas

Merry Christmas to all visitors to this blog!

Falcon reprieve!

Because Falcon had developed a distinctly metallic grinding sound i had decided to put my oldest engine into storage however a final clean seems to have solved the issue so Falcon will remain active until i get a 5th engine at least! Its great to have Falcon back to normal as usually it was the smoothest of runners. In other news the main station has now been glued down and a couple of trees have been moved.

New waggon

Time for a new waggon before Xmas? I picked up this nice Egger-Bahn waggon off Ebay, i was especially pleased to get it because of the colour, adding some real variety to the rest of the freight fleet which is in various shades of brown!

Recent updates

To get rid of a brown out caused by a dodgy point i've added a wire "bypass" for the point, i've also started using logs to cover up electric cables and other unnatural breaks in the scenery. Hopefully the layout won't end up looking like a hurricane has hit it with bits of wood all over the place!

Falcon will be withdrawn at the end of the year when a new coach for the Jam Sandwich arrives. One of the Zillertalbahn coaches will also be withdrawn (the non-push pull one) to make space for it. Falcon and the coach will be cleaned and then put in storage for 6-9 months when they will return and some other stock will take their turn have a rest. 

I'm thinking now of getting another engine early next year, probably one of the new Liliput shunters but until then everything is running fine!

Close in

The much easier access to the layout i now have after moving Eskalon means i could take these interesting close-ups.

Splitting up the station

I'm experimenting with splitting the station and having a terminus and a through station to add some operational variation. Its probably time to start naming these stations too.

Some operation

Some photos from today's running.

A change of orientation

One major problem with where Eskalon is sited is that the layout was somewhat deeper than i originally intended and thus there wasn't really enough space. Because of the layout of the room the layout is in i couldn't easily operate the layout and also the far side of the layout was only just reachable. So i have now reorganised the room and moved where Eskalon sits, a rather intricate operation as the layout was never designed to be moved but all went well. Now i can actually sit properly at the side of the layout while operating it and i can now reach the far side of the layout easily. In fact a photo like this would have been impossible until today.

Real Mariazellerbahn

Another video, this time from the Mariazellerbahn home to the prototype for our new Rh 1099 locomotive, and we can see these amazing (and 100 year old!) locomotives ploughing through the snow!

Real Zillertalbahn

Well seeing as Eskalon is deviating from the prototype somewhat lets see a lovely video of the real thing. Great shots of the real Falcon travelling through the snow!

Latest workings

A few photos from today's running, in one of them you can see two of the new huts though i haven't decided where they will go yet so nothing is glued down...

A trio of lineside huts

Some new buildings for Eskalon, these lineside huts from a Faller kit. Just a bit of painting needed then they can be added to the layout.

The Jam Sandwich

Well all engines on Eskalon have nicknames, our latest has now been given one too. Presenting... The Jam Sandwich! Of course 1099.013-3 isn't exactly red and white, more orangey-red and cream but lets not split hairs. In other Eskalon news some new buildings will be joining the layout soon.

1099.013-3 at work

Some better photos of the new engine on a freight train.

Into service

So the test run went fine so now Engine #4 has been let loose on a proper service. We haven't thought of a nickname for it yet.

And Engine 4 is...

Well we speculated what Engine #4 would be last month, in the end the latest engine to arrive at Eskalon was neither of the shunter options but instead... a Roco Rh 1099 electric locomotive!

Lights on

Now the nights are drawing in, we need the lights on.

Threading through the tree avenue

Growler moves through the tree avenue, it can get quite a close fit in places. Btw the oiling didn't work, Growler still growls, but i guess as long as he runs ok...

Time for a bit of oil

With Falcon developing a bit of a raspy growl when travelling in 1 direction i thought it was time i performed a bit of maintenance on the fleet and oiled the gears. Growler really needed the oil as it no longer growls now! The nickname will remain intact though. Unfortunately oiling Falcon doesn't seem to have solved its growl but it might just be a case of the oil needing to work its way in. Here is Growler on a post-oiling test, without the cover.

Wishlist 2015

2014 has been a good year for Eskalon, we've managed to iron out (most) of the operational problems and made good progress on scenery and building up stock. With the year now entering its final few months i thought it was time to plan what Eskalon needs to achieve in 2015. Maybe late next year we can revisit this list and see how much we've deviated from it...

• Another locomotive or two is planned though the layout is starting to fill up. Rotation of stock will be employed next year with locomotives and rolling stock spending time in storage.
• Scenery building will continue, the centre of the layout needs to be finished.
• Improving the appearance of the track is a must, making it look a bit less "train set".
• Adding an isolation section on one of the sidings to boost locomotive storage potential.
• Some more people... and road vehicles!

Plymouth hauls a coach!

To complete the proving trials of Plymouth with normal rolling stock and not the industrial waggons (i've wanted to remove from the layout) he set about trying to pull one of the 2 coaches. As the coach is rather heavy Plymouth did struggle a bit especially on the slightly up inclined sections of the layout but he did make a full circuit!

Waggon 5

Waggon 5 is an open one like Waggon 1, actually its very similar but is a different colour and has different markings. Its an older Liliput model i picked up of eBay. To celebrate its arrival Falcon took all of the layout's freight stock on a trip. Waggon 1 has left the layout now though to undergo some maintenance. Some glue got into the coupling mechanism when i was giving it its coal load earlier in the year so now its prone to derail whatever its connected to!

Plymouth freight thrash

With all this talk of a new switcher loco to handle shunting and freight trip works maybe my existing switcher Plymouth might be feeling a bit left out? The modified couplings on the non-mineral line stock actually work really well with Plymouth too so here is the Minitrains loco handling the Liliput stock van train, and handling it well too.

The identity of Engine 4... and 5?

We plan to add a fourth locomotive to Eskalon in the next month or two. Its most likely going to be D10, a Liliput model of a Zillertalbahn shunter. It will fit in well with the layout.

However we've also got our eyes on a Roco shunter too. This may follow later in the year or early next year to help supplement Plymouth on mine work. One problem with HOe is that you arn't inundated with choice with regards to rolling stock. Still this makes the choice of what to get easier and saves money!

More trees

I've added 10 more trees to the layout, some different heights to mix things up. Plus i've resited some of the older trees. The new tree avenue corner of the layout is coming along nicely.

Reusing a skip

Years ago i bought an OO/HO scale skip but never got to use it. I found it recently and i thought i would finally give it a job: augmenting one of the buffers on Eskalon. Obviously the English lettering had to go so a grubby grey / rust effect mixture has been used to repaint it and i've also added a "coal" load. I'll probably give it a bit more painting later on but it looks quite good for now. Here it is plus a couple more recent pics.

Same way

After a bit of shunting both passenger trains are the same way around for once. Look like they are going to have a race!