Special Operating Notice

The Blackcloud Railways web presence has been rebuilt. The blog remains here on playingtrains.wordpress.com until such time as the site’s photo storage capacity is exhausted (probably some years off yet) but I have migrated the layout pages over to blackcloudrailways.wordpress.com where any future additions will also be found. The internal navigation for both websites is interlinked, so you should still be able to find your way around. If you require access to unlisted layouts the search facility in the sidebar here on Playing Trains may be of assistance. If you still cannot find what you’re looking for please get in touch by email (oscalemodeller@aol.co.uk)..

Adding a couple of inches

I have added a minor extension on the south end of Grande. Two or three times a day the Cuarto mineral train drops off a set of loaded hoppers on the middle road at Grande and picks up the waiting empties for the return run.

Between the empties departing and the next set of loads arriving the local shunter pulls any mixed freight wagons from the goods siding so the hoppers can transfer their loads to a waiting broad gauge wagon via the elevator.

It is not much of an extension but that half car length is the difference between having to split a set of hoppers during unloading or shoving all three over the pit one after the other.

I originally thought I’d have to extend the two broad gauge tracks too but the FCPyF compound boundary wall on one side and a large bush on the other mean the cantilevered extension just needs to be an embankment with the narrow gauge siding on it.

Hands on modelling

I have mentioned this in the past but it still rings true, when I first got internet access twenty some years ago there was an American modeller on one of the Yahoo groups (Do you remember them?) who built and operated shunting layouts using dummy locos, pushed by hand.

Consider the alternative, a supposedly steam or diesel engine being powered by electricity delivered through the running rails. Not really any more prototypical than pushing them by hand is it?

Anyway, back to the American gentleman, he got his enjoyment through solving the shunting puzzles. Freight cars could not move unless attached to the locomotive. How the locomotive moved was irrelevant to the freight car and, in turn, to solving the puzzles.

I have refined the manual contact with dummy locos slightly by using puppet rods to push or pull them, and also for “gravity” shunting on Esquina del Fuego and Meyham.

Using dummy locos and railcars saves fitting motors, gears and electrical pick ups, making construction a lot simpler, while the puppetry makes for extremely reliable operation.

Not one of the locos in the images or video above is motorised, they all rely on puppetry for animation. The reason I am waxing lyrical about push-along trains is because the Autumn 2026 edition of The Micro Model Railway Dispatch features an Inglenook layout built using Lone Star Trains (as opposed to Treble-O-Lectric).

It would probably be possible to attach a puppet rod to a Lone Star locomotive for a hands off appearance when operating but is it necessary? As with the American modeller referred to in the opening paragraph I’m sure Ben Bucki’s enjoyment when operating Star Lane Sidings comes from working out how to reposition the wagons (using the locomotive of course) rather than seeing the train move. There will be modellers who pooh-pooh such simplicity, preferring to spend mega money on electronic gismos to make their trains move… Then have to spend ages pushing buttons to get those gismos to work. I’ve tried DCC when guest operating at an exhibition, it does not float my boat.

If you like small layouts and you’re not familiar with the e-zine I would thoroughly recommend taking a look at The Dispatch. It is free, published quarterly, there’s no need to subscribe if you don’t want to but registering by email will gain you early access to the publications. At the time of writing this the Autumn ’26 edition has been circulated to subscribers only so you’ll have to wait a week before it goes public. When it does you will be able to find it on the link below.

micromodelrailwaydispatch.com

Terraced houses

It’s market day and I have a game of chess organised for this afternoon so just a brief update on the Blackcloud Tramways “High Street” micro. The laser cut MDF wargame scenery kit was delivered yesterday. I have loosely assembled the wall pieces, using back and front to get two for the price of one. Plain card will be provide the unseen rear of the building in addition to being used to double the roof’s length. The cushion stuffing is standing in for trees to fill the empty spaces on either side of the houses.

If I can make some new doors two of the ground floor windows will be replaced so the terrace has four instead of two houses. The combined structure will sit slightly lower in relation to street level when its foundations have been prepared. Replacing the department store with the terrace should create the desired “dreary northern town” look.

While I was in town a couple of eBay bids came in as winners. When the two lots (both from the same seller) are delivered I will have sufficient two foot radius curves to make a complete circle with some left over. There are also a pair of turnouts included so I am more inclined to go for the modular idea enabling a small(ish) shunting layout to be set up on the floor indoors while also leaving the option available for outdoor operations in fine weather. My RC Hunslet, being made from MDF, is not suitable for a garden railway when it is raining!

This and that

I retrieved the three Blackcloud Tramways micro layouts from storage yesterday so I could take fresh photographs for a website update. High Street has been in an unfinished state since 2022, the department store never looked right and I lost interest. A new Sarissa Precision kit has been ordered to replace the flat roofed building, hopefully the box file based micro will get completed soon.

On a somewhat larger scale, I mentioned in the previous post about my radio controlled SM32 diesel struggling on Hornby 1ft radius track. A box of 2ft radius curves has been delivered today and the loco can manage four skip wagons with no problems. There are not enough track sections for a full circle yet so, now knowing that they are suitable, I have put a bid in on some more.

The engine and train are currently adorning a bookshelf until such time as I can plan and construct a small garden railway for them. No hurry, the weather is back to normal and it’s a bit wet outside! On which note, you’re probably thinking Hornby tinplate track is not ideal for outdoors. I intend to paint it before use so it should last. However, a very tempting all-weather alternative to garden railwaying might be to attach small scenic bases to the track sections so they can be assembled in a similar manner to the Kato-style micro modules for indoor use.

Back on track

After the recent turmoil created by replacing the carpet I reclaimed the front room on Wednesday and moved the furniture back out of the garage. I can see the layout again! Track and wheel cleaning are on the cards for the FCPyF so a much delayed operating session can take place. There is still some alien rolling stock and other bits and pieces that need removing from the layout first so the session will be next week at the earliest. The FCPyF is not the only thing in mind though, I have made some progress with Allt-Na-Ballt’s conversion from O9/On18 to OO9/HOe this morning as shown in the raw, unedited, video below. Still to do after the paint on the platform dries, glaze the ticket hut window, fit a door on the netty and glue the buildings in place.

On the topic of roundy roundy layouts, I have added some ballast weight to my SM32 RC diesel in the hope that it’ll be able to pull the skin off a rice pudding. The Hornby tinplate track is for a proposed garden railway at some time in the future. Even with new batteries she struggled with two skips in reverse and didn’t like the one foot radius curves at all when running forwards. I need some larger curved sections. Apologies for another unedited video, I just do not have the patience for farting about with the various on line editors that are available. This is a hobby, it’s meant to be fun.

Another pending project for when Allt-Na-Ballt’s conversion is finished is altering the off stage arrangements for Cognito to use cassettes instead of clamped on fiddlesticks. There is no shunting involved with Cognito but some of the rolling stock has missing couplers, the cheapest way of replacing these is to use magnets and paperclip wire. I may also replace some of the existing hooks and loops to get closer coupling within the trains.

Some new four wheeled coaches have been delivered this week, they will replace the CCS’s bogie stock. Cognito is wired for conventional operation but it should lend itself to puppetry, at least for stopping trains. A puppet rod can push the rear of the train on stage as far as the station, by which time the front of the train will be obscured by either the water tower or the goods shed so the rod can be attached to the loco and pull the train off stage.

The diesel loco in the photo above has been borrowed from the Sans Serriffe Railway and may take up residence on the Cahoots, Cognito And Sane. The CCS is a freelance railway so nobody can say the use of imported foreign locomotives like the British steam engine and the Italian diesel is out of keeping.

SDRM October 2026

Easy walking distance from Newton For Hyde railway station and Bee Line bus services from Hyde bus station.

Levelling up

I still have a garage full of displaced furniture but, after a fortnight, I desperately needed to do some laundry this morning so I rearranged stuff sufficiently to gain access to the washing machine. This also meant I could get to both ends of San Fernandez with enough room to manoeuvre while doing a long awaited civil engineering job. The baseboard for Veinte Veinte station and San Fernandez Junction has been lifted by about half an inch at each end and checked with a spirit level to ensure it is still sitting flat.

I then lifted the north end of Casablanca’s baseboard by half an inch and checked both San Fernandez Bridge (house doorway) and Casablanca station for being level. They were, almost perfectly so. Objective achieved! The south end of Casablanca is still at the same height as it was and the uphill slog now starts on Casablanca Crossing (garden doorway). The track is on a tangent across the bridge though so there’s less drag here. Until now there had been an uphill gradient against southbound trains through the curve at Casablanca. Some adjustments to the shims under the bridges were needed to align the rails perfectly, a minor job involving coffee stirrers and sticky tape.

While San Fernandez can be moved it is by no means portable. Casablanca station and both bridges are lift out sections. The south end of Casablanca Crossing joins onto fixed benchwork for the rest of the run. The line continues uphill to a summit at Colina Rosa, from there is down grade to Jones River then level for the remaining distance to Grande.

The photos don’t give much away. They were carefully aimed to hide the mayhem that is the rest of the garage. You seriously do not want to see the mess. I certainly don’t like looking at it. The seeming normality of No.85 with a southbound mixed is a welcome sight. However, today was the last chance for an August ops sesh and it ain’t going to happen. Hopefully next month will see the trains running a full timetable again.

On an unrelated topic, I have recently bought a batch of HO coach bogies, purely because the price was right and having no firm plans for them. These German narrow gauge coaches are interesting, note how the entrance vestibules are on the bogies instead of being part of the main chassis. This may be a feature worth modelling.

Resurrecting Cognito

I have still got a garage full of displaced furniture so no access to tools and workbench. This means there has been no further progress with converting Allt-Na-Ballt from On18 to OO9 and I’m getting quite p!ssed off with the carpet shop!

With time on my hands to browse eBay I have acquired a couple of Piko four wheeled coaches this evening. I am not sure how easily they can be dismantled for painting but I would like to finish them in the tarnished varnish applied to FCPyF coaches if possible.

They’ll be allocated to Cognito, there’s nothing like a few new items of rolling stock to bring fresh interest to old layouts. I am also planning to share some of the puppetry locomotives and railcars from Bodoni to further increase the variety of trains available for use on the micro layout.

When I can actually get some work done I want to modify Cognito slightly so it can utilise the standard cassettes used with the Ferronor micros instead of the existing clamp-on fiddlesticks which are just visible in the 2019 photo of the layout shown above.

Allt-Na-Ballt becomes Alta Nabout

Alt-Na-Ballt is moving from the West Highlands to Sierra Oculta where it will become Alta Nabout (working title), an intermediate station on the line from Arroyo Dublo to Quécarajo.

The cluster of buildings was originally a Ferrocarril Internacional station, absorbed into the FCPyF when the most of the FI system was abandoned.

What’s in a name? Alta Nabout obviously mimics Allt-Na-Ballt which, in turn, was chosen to sound a bit like out and about due to the layout’s partially hidden circle of track. Allt-Na-Ballt was so spelt to appear like a Scots Gaelic place name, Alta Nabout hopefully looks as if it’s Latino. Alta translates from Spanish as high but Nabout is dubious. The only reference I can find is an Arabic surname. Maybe the area was settled by a family of migrants from northern Morocco who arrived with the Spanish. On the other hand, maybe it doesn’t need such in depth analysis.

Progress on this project may be slow at first, the garage is still a no go area due to displaced furniture and the new floor covering for the front room has been set back at least a week due to the carpet shop being short staffed.