# Dauntsey - UK GWR in T Scale



## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

I have finally settled on the subject of my third linear motor T gauge layout - Dauntsey, a minor junction station on the GWR main line to Bristol in SW England. The layout will be 6' x 2', the equivalent of 33' x 11' in HO, and about the largest size I can manage as a single-board portable layout. Even with all that to play with, some compression and rearrangement will still be necessary! I was looking for a site on a GWR main line, preferably ex-broad gauge for the wider track spacing, with a small goods yard off one line and a refuge (passing) siding off the other, plus a road overbridge and a nearby canal with a lock. Having a junction for the branch to Malmesbury is a nice bonus.

Operationally, it will feature a double track main line with plenty of storage and automated shunting, half a mile of working canal, and a small working road system.

The scale will be 1:480, about 6% smaller than the normal T Gauge 1:450, since recent experience shows that the linear motor drive system works best with carriages exactly 24, 36 or 48mm long. Choosing 1:480 means that standard British 57' coaches work out to be 36mm across the buffers, and 9' wheelbase goods wagons 12mm (so two wagon bodies on a combined chassis add up to 24mm). 25 wagons per foot! 

The track for the down main line (outer loop) has been assembled into roughly 1m sections and fit checked. The next task is to wire, install and test it before doing the same for the up main. The Anyrail track plan shows the full design for the rail side - these are all the functional tracks, and there will be additional non-functional ones to complete the full station plan. The points are shown in almost-finished form, and have been assembled from standard track pieces.


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

Back onto things after the usual distractions and delays. The canal loop is now finished and ready to install on the layout. The end of the month should see the track, wiring and electronics complete followed by the start of the scenic work.


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

You do some amazing stuff, great fun to follow along.

Magic


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

A working canal system! There are some really ingenious lock systems on canals that can keep you modeling for years! Really ingenious model! What an idea!


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

All the track has been assembled and installed. All the electronics modules have been built and tested. There are currently 75 3-wire cables dangling beneath the layout, all of which need to plug in to those modules.


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## nxn (Feb 4, 2020)

Wow this is really interesting as it reminds me of Bruton in Somerset UK where I went to school. Bruton has a similar GWR mainline with a road bridge and the river Brue. No sidings though - the nearest is the junction at Castle Cary. Not sure if this line was ever broad gauge. No canal locks, although the Brue has had several historic floods, and now has a flood control dam that overflows through a culvert under the railway line. Google maps link:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/B...x2f4aadd826289605!8m2!3d51.113338!4d-2.452895

Choice of T scale allows you to make it portable which is amazing.

Dave Nixon


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

Enough pieces of the layout have now come together to make publishing a preliminary work-in-progress video worthwhile. Baseboard, track and electrics are finished, and construction of the scenery has begun. The initial one-section-at-a-time test software has been replaced with something a bit more elaborate. The final version will manage up to a dozen trains on the main line instead of the current four. The trains are test pieces or borrowed from a previous layout. There are still plenty of rough edges here, but it should start to give an idea of what it is all meant to look like.


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## Chaostrain (Jan 27, 2015)

Wow, even a working elevator. I'm fully impressed! Amazing and very well done.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Stunning, simply stunning!! :appl:


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

After a few months with no work on the layout, construction has resumed. The basic scenery is now done, with the backscene and foliage coming next.


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

A bit more progress on the scenery - backscene, trees, hedges and a bit of a general cleanup. I'll save the fences and the rest until the final detailing phase, so for now it is back to the moving bits...


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

Looking very nice.
Amazing work in that small scale.

Magic


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

With the scenery mostly done, it is time to get things running again. First, the canal...


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Martink, you are a magician!!!


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## Severn (May 13, 2016)

Ah ...those are canal barges.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Amazing.


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

While the layout is currently frozen in its almost-complete state, I have been working feverishly on the trains. All the locos and passenger stock are now done, including milk tankers and mail coaches that ran at passenger speeds and often attached to passenger trains. A total of 19 locos of 10 classes, and 63 carriages and other vehicles of about 18 types. Next job: nearly 200 goods wagons. Arghh!!

All the models are 3D printed in ABS on a common hobby FDM printer, then hand painted and with paper coach sides. Home-made decals were used for the milk tankers. As usual, the video is cruel and shows all the defects.


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

Amazing stuff there, love it.

Magic


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

About 2/3rds of the planned goods wagons have now been built. This is enough to run the layout, but with shorter trains than it is designed to handle. I'll do the rest at the very end of the project. They are built the same way as the buildings and passenger stock: simple 3D printed body shells, roof and underframes hand-painted, with paper sides for the detailing. I tried decals, but this approach proved more effective. One of the big advantages of the linear motor drive is that it can run very long trains. One of the big disadvantages is that I then have to build them! Next step: the software, bringing it all to life.


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## Aard D'Vaark (Aug 1, 2019)

very nice indeed, a labour of love ...


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

Very impressive indeed, great choice of music as well.
 

Magic


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

The scenic detailing is mostly done, just waiting on a few extra bits and pieces to arrive (people, better signals, etc.). I'll do a final video or two then.


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

Very nice! I really like how well you've gotten the foreground to blend into the background.


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

The layout is now more or less complete, with just a few scenic details, minor software updates and another heap of goods wagons still to do. They will be postponed until nearer its first exhibition showing. So, here is the last planned video with all the pieces working together. I simply let the layout do its own thing while moving around with the camera, and kept just missing out on some good shots - just like the prototype!


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## Severn (May 13, 2016)

Wow that's really great!


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

Looks great! The background is excellent and blends to the layout very well. I'm curious if its something weird with the camera that causes the trains to appear "twitchy" in this video or it that's characteristic of this scale?


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## martink (Oct 30, 2015)

Mark VerMurlen said:


> I'm curious if its something weird with the camera that causes the trains to appear "twitchy" in this video or it that's characteristic of this scale?


It is a real effect, although the camera does exaggerate it - it is much harder to notice in real life. Because of the short lengths of UK rolling stock, each vehicle's drive magnets are in a single block rather than spread out into two bogies/trucks, so the effect is the same as if you mounted a coach body on a single rigid 4-axle bogie with pizza-cutter wheels on a normal layout. It is not an issue with longer more modern trains.


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