Schoolboy error 😱 with all those wires 🤭 you should have used tinned spaghetti 😇 Good old reliable 33 🤩 never let's you down 🤴 Very best wishes from the Emerald Isle ☘️
Good morning Paul! Haha! I never thought that my choice of tinned tomato sauce covered food would be so controversial! :) Ah, the 33, what a superstar! All the best, Ian.
Thanks very much Chris! It feels great to finally have a "live" piece of the layout in place! Hopefully I'll have the next section installed in no time at all - well, by Christmas maybe? Lol! All the best, Ian.
Haha! Thank you very much! Yes, I must admit that I'm relieved to get some actual track fitted at last, and that all of the planning has paid off! I've learned a load of things from installing this section, and with three more sections of Tricky Bit to go, I'm sure they'll be a lot quicker to get into place! I'm sure there'll be the odd cliffhanger along the way though! :) All the best, Ian.
Getting there Ian, i remember the feeling on my first permanent track laying in the lower storage, wow I so wanted to make sure it was spot on and having watched so many video's and looked at books there seemed so much to think. As a kid I had 2 layouts with dodgy track in places and I knew i would enjoy the layout if it worked as it should. So Without doubt the more track you lay the more consistent you get and it becomes a well oiled process, the key is sticking to it. We are all so lucky to have You tube where we can learn from peoples experience. I am sure yours will be good. all the best
Thanks Chris! I've had similar experiences with dodgy track during my first stint in the hobby! I was way too eager to get track down, rather than work through a good process of achieving what I wanted! Age had definitely brought more patience, and an ability to think things through, and like you say, RUclips is a great help in learning different techniques! On to the next section of the Tricky Bit now - rinse and repeat as they say! :) All the best, Ian.
Morning Ian, yes, dropper wires do have a mind of their own. They never quite like going down the hole and getting out of the way. They much prefer leaving a little bulge you have to try and hide with ballast. Nice to see it all worked as it should. Well done! I've made a note of the tools you have used and will be out this morning for tins of beans. Very useful AND you can eat them too. Cheers
Good morning Simon! Despite all of the planning, I knew everything wouldn't go completely smoothly, but my worst fear was pulling a dropper wire too hard, and it becoming detached from the rail! Thankfully that didn't happen! Yes, you can't beat a tin of beans - great on the layout, or on toast! All the best, Ian.
@@iansngauge I ended up having to drill larger holes than I first imagined. Only solution. Drives you nuts. But well done on soldering to the rails in the first place. I tried that and melted a lot of sleepers and gave up. Of course I wasn't using flux like you did so it didn't go well.......
@@ngaugeonashelf4417 - The key to soldering the underside of the rails was to place a solder pad on the underside first, and use a soldering iron set to 420C - counterintuitive I know, but the hotter iron isn't in contact with the rail long enough to melt the sleepers! Cheers, Ian.
Hi Ian, great milestone, congrats on that and great to see your first train running on the layout! The baked bean stacks to feed the dropper wires through did make me laugh but it worked great! There will be no stopping you now with the track laying! Cheers Gary
Hi Gary! Thank you! Yes, seeing a train run on a "live" part of Shelfington was a great feeling! Haha! Baked beans are great to use on the layout, or on toast! It's a very versatile tin! I don't suspect I'll get any quicker at track laying though, as I've still got The Tricky Bit to complete, then I've got to figure out how I'm going to implement the curved inclines - which will involve my first real attempts at laying curved code 55 track! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian Good to see the bit-formerly-known-as-tricky in its place and a locomotive traversing it. As others have said dropper wires never lie as they ought or as you want them to do. That is why the almighty invented ballast. I remember how I felt when I could run a loco over the many junctions at the front of my layout and it is a great feeling to know that you have successfully wired everything in. Stephen
Good evening Stephen! We're not quite there yet, as there are still at least another three sections of The Tricky Bit to be completed! It was definitely a great feeling to see the first loco cross the first section of it though! Haven't thought about ballasting yet, as this section will be behind a scenic breakboard, but I'll need a way of blocking up the straws, otherwise the train room carpet will get ballasted! Lol! All the best, Ian.
Evening Ian - well we have a bit of shelfington for real - bet you're pleased as punch as they say. Can't say I agree with the choice of baked bean old chap 😂😂 if anything goes wrong with this section it's defo the beans fault 😅😅. Great update 😊
Good morning Euan! Thanks! Yes mate, I'm incredibly pleased at getting my first bit of "live" track installed! Haha! It's good to know I can blame any shortcomings in this section on my choice of baken bean! :) All the best, Ian.
Hi Frank! I think I've got about ten feet available at the rear of the layout, which is a far cry from the three foot long baseboard I started planning Shelfington on! I know what you mean though, as I tend to look at people with huge loft layouts with a slight amount of enviousness! Lol! All the best, Ian.
So satisfying seeing trains running, and this is just the start. Ive just reinstalled my reverse loop with the reverse module only to find it didnt work, gratefully all well after 3-4 hours on my knees. Treat yourself to a lovely cup of tea. 😊. Great work and look forward to further progress
Good morning John! It was a great feeling to see a train traverse part of The Tricky Bit for the first time! And look, it's the first part of the layout that isn't blue!!!! Lol! Great to hear that you got your reversing loop working again, all of that praying must have paid off! :) Cheers, Ian.
Thank you very much Sir! Yes, I feel it was worth spending time figuring out how I was going to do this! I've learned quite a lot from installing this section, and hopefully I'll benefit when I come to install the next sections! Cheers, Ian.
Hi Ian, it's great to see your planning and experiments result in this successful milestone 🙂 Given that the tricky parts of the tricky bit are done, it must be easy peasy from now on! Picking up on a comment you've had on background audio - I saw a tutorial about lowering the volume of the frequencies of speech in the music (or other background things) during talking - it made a big difference and maybe might help on more devices? The video was by Alex Cameron and the title is “Make your dialogue POP over background music”.
Good morning Jonathan! Thank you! There are still a couple of more Tricky Bit sections to go, but at least I've learned some good lessons from installing the first section to be a bit more confident about tackling them! With the audio, I found out that Jules was talking about volume levels when I wasn't speaking! Have you experienced problems with my music / voice levels? I usually go for a music level of 10dB lower when I'm talking, and check on tablet, TV and computer before uploading! Thanks for the info about lowering volumes in speech frequencies! I've attempted something similar previously, but I wasn't happy with the effect as it made everything sound weird! I'm no expert though, so will find out what I was doing wrong when I check out the video! All the best, Ian.
@@iansngauge I'm a long way off mastering audio - mine always sounds way more muffled to me on RUclips (especially on my TV) than what I listen to before upload. This week I'm away from home and when watching your video on the TV here the standalone music seemed louder than the voice-only parts, and when it was both I found the speech a little difficult to hear over the music. But this is all very subjective and maybe device-specific - it seems you've already come across my only piece of audio wisdom! I usually find your videos crystal clear to hear 🙂
@@endoorrailway - I think maybe I set the music audio a couple of dB higher than I normally do, but it's so difficult to know what the right level is, as like you say, it's all very subjective, and completely device dependent! I bought a set of reference headphones so that my voice levels should always be correct, but if I adjust the music while wearing them, you wouldn't be able to hear it!!! My process is to normalise the voiceover in DaVinci Resolve, so that it peaks at around the -5dB level! I then I usually adjust the music to play at -8dB, and duck it to -18dB during the voiceover! It's worked pretty well so far, or at least I've not had any other complaints! It would be interesting if you could let me know how the video sounds when you get back home! :) Cheers, Ian.
@@iansngauge Morning Ian! I've watched the video through again (bonus ad ££ for you 😉) at home - I think it's much better than when I was away. There are some points where the music gets quite loud relative to most of the video (e.g. roughly the section where you test with the 9V battery), but I'd say this is a blip and seems to be because the original volume of that music track has quite a wide range in it - the production process you describe seems really good - I might have to copy some of that! Sorry so many of my words have been about the audio volumes - there were loads of really interesting points in this video's content. I'm definitely in the "tins are tools" camp myself 😉 One thing I was wondering (because I can't remember well enough what you said in previous videos) - are the isolated sections for train detection further along the lines than this cluster of points? I'm looking forward to the next Tricky Bit video 🙂
@@endoorrailway - Hi Jonathan! Thank you so much for watching again - the extra 0.05p made in ad revenue will go a long way towards my next loco purchase! :)) It's good information to have, and it leads me to think whether I should put a maximum dB level on the music per song, rather than as a whole! Since your last comment, I've watched the video by Alex Cameron, and will try his method of removing voice frequencies from the music! The previous time I tried it, I was using a VST plugin, and it made the audio sound "grainy" if that makes sense! Haha! The "tins are tools" camp! Love it! Regarding train detection - yes, and no! There will eventually be a break in the rails between the two sets of dropper wires to the left of the points, and another two breaks in the straight section after that! I wondered whether I should cut the rail while on the workbench, but will practice lots before I eventually make the cut on the layout! Thanks again! Enjoy your Bank Holiday! All the best, Ian.
Thanks Jules! Ah, isn't the loudness of incidental music the thing that flooded Points of View mailbags a while ago, with complaints from persons of a certain age? Lol! I've found that music levels can differ immensly depending on what you're using to listen through! If I use my reference headphones during production, the levels sound great, but when I listen through the TV or computer, you can barely hear the music at all! I therefore usually set the background music to about 10dB lower that the voiceover, which works in most cases! Obviously it hasn't for you on this occasion, so sorry about that! Cheers, Ian.
Great work! Well done that man. One thing, I do like the extra effort in the video production, but you might want to fade the music a little more when you're talking... its at a fine level when you're not speakikg though. I did struggle a bit to hear you! I'm playing back through a smart TV for reference.
Hi John! Thank you! Duly noted about the music! I do watch the videos, on several devices, before I upload, just to check that I've got the audio levels correct! However, I seem to have missed the mark on this one! Must try harder! :) All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian question did you have music playing, I've look at the other comments no one else said anything if you did, if you didn't i need to find out were it was coming from but on our sound system it over powered your speaking i could hardly hear you, and i enjoy listening to you because it's interesting. I'm having trouble finding all the auto frogs I'll send what ive found so far, I've also found 2 bags of servos you can have them if you which, then i sore you use the three cable wire with the push fit connector I've got loads of the from 100, 150, 200, 300, i think ive got 600, 1000 lengths, if you what l can send you them you can use what you want, and we can come to some arrangement on how much and it won't be much. Sorry back to the video i think you should work for nasa, your very patient and methodical. Were both getting to the best bit laying track, I've just got more baseboards, so i can now learn how to get the points to change with LoDi and iTrains. p.s. I'll get it post on Tuesday
Hi Colin! Yes, I had music playing in the background, but I seem to have misjudged the volume levels! I check all of my videos on several devices before I upload, so am not sure what happened with the audio this time, but I'll try and ensure it doesn't happen again! I'm certainly interested in the longer servo cables, say 400mm and upwards, and servo motors are always handy to have! I look forward to receiving your "goody box" when you have time to send it! :) Good luck with your baseboards! Cheers, Ian.
Schoolboy error 😱 with all those wires 🤭 you should have used tinned spaghetti 😇 Good old reliable 33 🤩 never let's you down 🤴 Very best wishes from the Emerald Isle ☘️
Good morning Paul! Haha! I never thought that my choice of tinned tomato sauce covered food would be so controversial! :) Ah, the 33, what a superstar! All the best, Ian.
Great news Ian, congratulations - now the hard work starts........... ha ha. Chris
Thanks very much Chris! It feels great to finally have a "live" piece of the layout in place! Hopefully I'll have the next section installed in no time at all - well, by Christmas maybe? Lol! All the best, Ian.
And so an end to the everlasting saga of the unfitted track to the layout, what cliffhangers will you bring us next… 😂 Congrats on the result.
Haha! Thank you very much! Yes, I must admit that I'm relieved to get some actual track fitted at last, and that all of the planning has paid off! I've learned a load of things from installing this section, and with three more sections of Tricky Bit to go, I'm sure they'll be a lot quicker to get into place! I'm sure there'll be the odd cliffhanger along the way though! :) All the best, Ian.
Getting there Ian, i remember the feeling on my first permanent track laying in the lower storage, wow I so wanted to make sure it was spot on and having watched so many video's and looked at books there seemed so much to think. As a kid I had 2 layouts with dodgy track in places and I knew i would enjoy the layout if it worked as it should. So Without doubt the more track you lay the more consistent you get and it becomes a well oiled process, the key is sticking to it. We are all so lucky to have You tube where we can learn from peoples experience. I am sure yours will be good. all the best
Thanks Chris! I've had similar experiences with dodgy track during my first stint in the hobby! I was way too eager to get track down, rather than work through a good process of achieving what I wanted! Age had definitely brought more patience, and an ability to think things through, and like you say, RUclips is a great help in learning different techniques! On to the next section of the Tricky Bit now - rinse and repeat as they say! :) All the best, Ian.
Morning Ian, yes, dropper wires do have a mind of their own. They never quite like going down the hole and getting out of the way. They much prefer leaving a little bulge you have to try and hide with ballast. Nice to see it all worked as it should. Well done! I've made a note of the tools you have used and will be out this morning for tins of beans. Very useful AND you can eat them too. Cheers
Good morning Simon! Despite all of the planning, I knew everything wouldn't go completely smoothly, but my worst fear was pulling a dropper wire too hard, and it becoming detached from the rail! Thankfully that didn't happen! Yes, you can't beat a tin of beans - great on the layout, or on toast! All the best, Ian.
@@iansngauge I ended up having to drill larger holes than I first imagined. Only solution. Drives you nuts. But well done on soldering to the rails in the first place. I tried that and melted a lot of sleepers and gave up. Of course I wasn't using flux like you did so it didn't go well.......
@@ngaugeonashelf4417 - The key to soldering the underside of the rails was to place a solder pad on the underside first, and use a soldering iron set to 420C - counterintuitive I know, but the hotter iron isn't in contact with the rail long enough to melt the sleepers! Cheers, Ian.
@@iansngauge I'll stick with my ready made droppers! It's cheating I know......
Hi Ian, great milestone, congrats on that and great to see your first train running on the layout! The baked bean stacks to feed the dropper wires through did make me laugh but it worked great! There will be no stopping you now with the track laying! Cheers Gary
Hi Gary! Thank you! Yes, seeing a train run on a "live" part of Shelfington was a great feeling! Haha! Baked beans are great to use on the layout, or on toast! It's a very versatile tin! I don't suspect I'll get any quicker at track laying though, as I've still got The Tricky Bit to complete, then I've got to figure out how I'm going to implement the curved inclines - which will involve my first real attempts at laying curved code 55 track! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian Good to see the bit-formerly-known-as-tricky in its place and a locomotive traversing it. As others have said dropper wires never lie as they ought or as you want them to do. That is why the almighty invented ballast. I remember how I felt when I could run a loco over the many junctions at the front of my layout and it is a great feeling to know that you have successfully wired everything in. Stephen
Good evening Stephen! We're not quite there yet, as there are still at least another three sections of The Tricky Bit to be completed! It was definitely a great feeling to see the first loco cross the first section of it though! Haven't thought about ballasting yet, as this section will be behind a scenic breakboard, but I'll need a way of blocking up the straws, otherwise the train room carpet will get ballasted! Lol! All the best, Ian.
Evening Ian - well we have a bit of shelfington for real - bet you're pleased as punch as they say. Can't say I agree with the choice of baked bean old chap 😂😂 if anything goes wrong with this section it's defo the beans fault 😅😅. Great update 😊
Good morning Euan! Thanks! Yes mate, I'm incredibly pleased at getting my first bit of "live" track installed! Haha! It's good to know I can blame any shortcomings in this section on my choice of baken bean! :) All the best, Ian.
I'm envious of that long stretch of straight track you have. Way beyond the < 5 feet that I'm working with.
Hi Frank! I think I've got about ten feet available at the rear of the layout, which is a far cry from the three foot long baseboard I started planning Shelfington on! I know what you mean though, as I tend to look at people with huge loft layouts with a slight amount of enviousness! Lol! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian Fantasic a start made in operations, only down to your very due diligence, I'm sure. well done. Thanks
Thanks very much Pete! Haha! I've certainly taken my time about things, but hopefully the procrastination has been worth it! Cheers, Ian.
G'day Ian, a very planned and structured approach to get to the successful end result! Nice job. Cheers
Hi John! Thank you! I'm very pleased that my methodical approach has helped me get the Tricky Bit installation underway! Cheers, Ian.
So satisfying seeing trains running, and this is just the start. Ive just reinstalled my reverse loop with the reverse module only to find it didnt work, gratefully all well after 3-4 hours on my knees.
Treat yourself to a lovely cup of tea. 😊. Great work and look forward to further progress
Good morning John! It was a great feeling to see a train traverse part of The Tricky Bit for the first time! And look, it's the first part of the layout that isn't blue!!!! Lol! Great to hear that you got your reversing loop working again, all of that praying must have paid off! :) Cheers, Ian.
Yes, congratulations 🎉 what a nice milestone. All your preparation paid off nicely.
Thank you very much Sir! Yes, I feel it was worth spending time figuring out how I was going to do this! I've learned quite a lot from installing this section, and hopefully I'll benefit when I come to install the next sections! Cheers, Ian.
nice work , well done Sir :)
Thanks very much Darren! Much appreciated! All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian, it's great to see your planning and experiments result in this successful milestone 🙂 Given that the tricky parts of the tricky bit are done, it must be easy peasy from now on!
Picking up on a comment you've had on background audio - I saw a tutorial about lowering the volume of the frequencies of speech in the music (or other background things) during talking - it made a big difference and maybe might help on more devices? The video was by Alex Cameron and the title is “Make your dialogue POP over background music”.
Good morning Jonathan! Thank you! There are still a couple of more Tricky Bit sections to go, but at least I've learned some good lessons from installing the first section to be a bit more confident about tackling them! With the audio, I found out that Jules was talking about volume levels when I wasn't speaking! Have you experienced problems with my music / voice levels? I usually go for a music level of 10dB lower when I'm talking, and check on tablet, TV and computer before uploading! Thanks for the info about lowering volumes in speech frequencies! I've attempted something similar previously, but I wasn't happy with the effect as it made everything sound weird! I'm no expert though, so will find out what I was doing wrong when I check out the video! All the best, Ian.
@@iansngauge I'm a long way off mastering audio - mine always sounds way more muffled to me on RUclips (especially on my TV) than what I listen to before upload. This week I'm away from home and when watching your video on the TV here the standalone music seemed louder than the voice-only parts, and when it was both I found the speech a little difficult to hear over the music. But this is all very subjective and maybe device-specific - it seems you've already come across my only piece of audio wisdom! I usually find your videos crystal clear to hear 🙂
@@endoorrailway - I think maybe I set the music audio a couple of dB higher than I normally do, but it's so difficult to know what the right level is, as like you say, it's all very subjective, and completely device dependent! I bought a set of reference headphones so that my voice levels should always be correct, but if I adjust the music while wearing them, you wouldn't be able to hear it!!! My process is to normalise the voiceover in DaVinci Resolve, so that it peaks at around the -5dB level! I then I usually adjust the music to play at -8dB, and duck it to -18dB during the voiceover! It's worked pretty well so far, or at least I've not had any other complaints! It would be interesting if you could let me know how the video sounds when you get back home! :) Cheers, Ian.
@@iansngauge Morning Ian!
I've watched the video through again (bonus ad ££ for you 😉) at home - I think it's much better than when I was away. There are some points where the music gets quite loud relative to most of the video (e.g. roughly the section where you test with the 9V battery), but I'd say this is a blip and seems to be because the original volume of that music track has quite a wide range in it - the production process you describe seems really good - I might have to copy some of that!
Sorry so many of my words have been about the audio volumes - there were loads of really interesting points in this video's content. I'm definitely in the "tins are tools" camp myself 😉 One thing I was wondering (because I can't remember well enough what you said in previous videos) - are the isolated sections for train detection further along the lines than this cluster of points? I'm looking forward to the next Tricky Bit video 🙂
@@endoorrailway - Hi Jonathan! Thank you so much for watching again - the extra 0.05p made in ad revenue will go a long way towards my next loco purchase! :)) It's good information to have, and it leads me to think whether I should put a maximum dB level on the music per song, rather than as a whole! Since your last comment, I've watched the video by Alex Cameron, and will try his method of removing voice frequencies from the music! The previous time I tried it, I was using a VST plugin, and it made the audio sound "grainy" if that makes sense! Haha! The "tins are tools" camp! Love it! Regarding train detection - yes, and no! There will eventually be a break in the rails between the two sets of dropper wires to the left of the points, and another two breaks in the straight section after that! I wondered whether I should cut the rail while on the workbench, but will practice lots before I eventually make the cut on the layout! Thanks again! Enjoy your Bank Holiday! All the best, Ian.
Great work ian though incidental music a tad too loud 😅 onwards and upwards tally ho !
Thanks Jules! Ah, isn't the loudness of incidental music the thing that flooded Points of View mailbags a while ago, with complaints from persons of a certain age? Lol! I've found that music levels can differ immensly depending on what you're using to listen through! If I use my reference headphones during production, the levels sound great, but when I listen through the TV or computer, you can barely hear the music at all! I therefore usually set the background music to about 10dB lower that the voiceover, which works in most cases! Obviously it hasn't for you on this occasion, so sorry about that! Cheers, Ian.
@@iansngauge I missed earlier comments though I think blue Peter incidental music and here's one I made earlier would be amusing ha ha
Great work! Well done that man.
One thing, I do like the extra effort in the video production, but you might want to fade the music a little more when you're talking... its at a fine level when you're not speakikg though. I did struggle a bit to hear you! I'm playing back through a smart TV for reference.
Hi John! Thank you! Duly noted about the music! I do watch the videos, on several devices, before I upload, just to check that I've got the audio levels correct! However, I seem to have missed the mark on this one! Must try harder! :) All the best, Ian.
Hi Ian question did you have music playing, I've look at the other comments no one else said anything if you did, if you didn't i need to find out were it was coming from but on our sound system it over powered your speaking i could hardly hear you, and i enjoy listening to you because it's interesting.
I'm having trouble finding all the auto frogs I'll send what ive found so far, I've also found 2 bags of servos you can have them if you which, then i sore you use the three cable wire with the push fit connector I've got loads of the from 100, 150, 200, 300, i think ive got 600, 1000 lengths, if you what l can send you them you can use what you want, and we can come to some arrangement on how much and it won't be much.
Sorry back to the video i think you should work for nasa, your very patient and methodical. Were both getting to the best bit laying track, I've just got more baseboards, so i can now learn how to get the points to change with LoDi and iTrains.
p.s. I'll get it post on Tuesday
Hi Colin! Yes, I had music playing in the background, but I seem to have misjudged the volume levels! I check all of my videos on several devices before I upload, so am not sure what happened with the audio this time, but I'll try and ensure it doesn't happen again! I'm certainly interested in the longer servo cables, say 400mm and upwards, and servo motors are always handy to have! I look forward to receiving your "goody box" when you have time to send it! :) Good luck with your baseboards! Cheers, Ian.