7mm Expanding Eu

Peter Smith

Active Member
Don't worry - this is nothing to do with Brexit! Eu is a French loco shed layout built by John Smith and myself, and also a real town close to Le Treport on the French coast.

When we built the layout we decided to make the tracks onto the turntable so they didn't line up with the one opposite, forcing us to use the turntable more but it was a mistake and made operating more difficult. We have made a new 4' board and now the tracks all line up so we can run straight across the table without moving it...apart from anything else we can now have a 241 Mountain if we see one for sale, and that wouldn't fit on the turntable despite it being 72' diameter.

This is the new board...it's all got to be finished to take to Boulogne at the end of October.

EU NEW 1.jpg

The new tracks are obvious, giving us much more storage space. The new board replaces on that was 2' long to the whole layout is only 2' longer. We now have a siding for the oil tankers which previously blocked the oil fuel gantry.
EU NEW 3.jpg

The SNCF concrete stop blocks are built from plastic.

EU NEW 4.jpg

My aim is to ballast it before going to Folkestone show this weekend in the hope that it will have set when I get back next Monday. I'll post some more pictures when it's all finished.

Peter
 

Peter Smith

Active Member
I've ballasted and painted the track on one side of the board; the ballast nearer the retaining wall needs a bit longer to dry. Hopefully it's not now obvious that one section is new.

EU 1.jpg

EU 2.jpg

I took off the turntable deck to avoid damaging it.

EU 3.jpg

EU 4.jpg

Hopefully I'll be able to finish it tomorrow, and if so I'll take some pictures with loco's on.

The gap between the boards is quite obvious but at exhibitions we fill it with Blutak and sprinkle on loose ballast so it disappears.

Peter
 

Peter Smith

Active Member
I like low-tech solutions! It makes a bit of mess when you take the boards down, but the Blutak generally stays in place so doesn't need replacing each time. The biggest challenge is matching the colour of the loose ballast to that on the layout so you don't get a different coloured strip - we generally use Woodland Scenics medium cinders.

Loose static grass fibres do the same job where areas of grass meet across a join.

Peter
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
Hi Peter,
Looks very nice. I like the shedmaster's chateaux in the background. :)

What is the source of the turntable, kit or scratch built? My brother and I hope to build a small BR Midland depot at some point and we went halves on a 65ft turntable kit from Kitwood Hill Models. It's a laser cut article and is complete including the motor and gearbox but is not set up for indexing. It's a generic British type turntable not based on a specific prototype, but if like us you just want something to turn you locos, that looks the part, you can't go wrong for £110 all in. I think he does a continental version, but not as big as yours so I assume yours is not one of his kits.

Cheers,
Peter
 

Peter Smith

Active Member
The Chateau is the real one from Eu Peter, once the home of French royalty. It's the only bit of the real place on the layout.

The turntable is made by Real Model of Germany, and comes ready made with DCC control and sound. It operates using a small coreless motor under the deck and has a sound decoder just like a loco.

I've pretty much finished the new board now - hopefully you can't tell which bits are new.

EUNEW1.jpg

EUNEW2.jpg

EUNEW3.jpg

All the track was painted using spray cans once the ballast was dry; I treat the original colour of the ballast as the undercoat.

I need to disguise the different colour of the brickwork on the retaining wall, but at shows a long train of coaches stands on the back line so it won't look as bad as it does here.

EUNEW4.jpg

Peter
 

Peter Smith

Active Member
We've just got back from Boulogne exhibition which was hugely enjoyable, so here is a new video taken on Sunday morning:


And here are some new pictures:

BOL1.jpg

This shows the new baseboard but hopefully it isn't obvious that we've done anything.

BOL2.jpg

We added the narrow platform for the staff train.

BOL3.jpg

The new signal, which works from the DCC controller via a Hoffman point motor.

BOL4.jpg

The spilled sand makes it obvious what the gantry is for.

BOL5.jpg

The scratchbuilt 140C.

BOL7.jpg

The newest addition, a scratchbuilt 'Revolver' 4-4-4T.

BOL8.jpg

The layout will be at Peterborough show in December.

Peter
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Très Francais! Merci bien, Peter et John. La prochaine, si vous plait, visitez Languedoc!

Seriously, a fine layout, lot’s scenic ideas to look into.

Paul
 
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