Buckingham West

[Richard Mawer]

Its been a while. Belated Happy New Year.

 

We’ve had a couple of operating sessions, but its been a slow start to the year. However, I have finished the ballast and ground cover in the yard at Brackley Road. In the yard its artex, painted (far too) light brown - looked rather orange! - then painted with sleeper grime and weathered black via my airbrush for the detail and rattle cans for overal dusting. I need to tackle the green stuff now and build the warehouse to hide the plug sockets.

 

 

 

[Ray H]

Thanks for sharing those.

 

That the colour/effect that I think I need in at least the smaller of my two goods yards.- interesting point there, should it be an apostrophe on the end of Goods?

 

I've always imaged that artex only comes in relatively large quantities. Is that so or have you managed to source a more reasonable/much smaller supply?

[Richard Mawer]

Thanks for sharing those.

 

That the colour/effect that I think I need in at least the smaller of my two goods yards.- interesting point there, should it be an apostrophe on the end of Goods?

 

I've always imaged that artex only comes in relatively large quantities. Is that so or have you managed to source a more reasonable/much smaller supply?

Hi Ray

 

It comes in quite a large tin. Its next to the vinyl we both use in pic #467. Cost about £15. Will last this layout and probably be used in DIY too -whatever that is? I went for Polycell smooth ceiling paint. Its just thick and stays roughly where you put it. It does shrink as it dries, but stays flexible.

 

Rich

[Ray H]

Thanks Rich.

 

I suspected that might be the case price wise.

[Richard Mawer]

EXPANDING BUCKINGHAM WEST

 

Two things have bugged me at Buckingham when operating. Well far more than that, but two consistently. Platform 1 (arrival) wasn’t quite long enough. Or more’s the point, I couldn’t locate the starting signal far enough away from the buffers to accommodate the train loco, 5 coaches and the pilot. The pilot never got inside the signal. The other was that the third carriage siding was a tad short and sometimes a rake in there fouled the middle siding. It certainly fouled the horses and carriages dock.

 

So I have extended part of that board by 9”. Platform 1 is now longer and so are 2 carriage sidings. As a bonus, the goods arrival/dep line (next to platform 1) is also longer as are two of the goods sidings.

 

I now have room for a station building at the end of the train shed, a bit of access road and space round the goods shed.

 

 

 

 

 

The pilot is now behind the starter.

[St Enodoc]

EXPANDING BUCKINGHAM WEST

 

Two things have bugged me at Buckingham when operating. Well far more than that, but two consistently. Platform 1 (arrival) wasn’t quite long enough. Or more’s the point, I couldn’t locate the starting signal far enough away from the buffers to accommodate the train loco, 5 coaches and the pilot. The pilot never got inside the signal. The other was that the third carriage siding was a tad short and sometimes a rake in there fouled the middle siding. It certainly fouled the horses and carriages dock.

 

So I have extended part of that board by 9”. Platform 1 is now longer and so are 2 carriage sidings. As a bonus, the goods arrival/dep line (next to platform 1) is also longer as are two of the goods sidings.

 

I now have room for a station building at the end of the train shed, a bit of access road and space round the goods shed.

 

6B2F608C-C1AC-4ECB-B6B9-6621E5306907.jpeg

 

1CB99AC2-0F6D-4822-BA61-A44A11E2A860.jpeg

 

C464F536-2635-4629-993E-1DD792C0D412.jpeg

 

94DFC35A-AF71-4BD9-9E3E-0957F75DE19E.jpeg

 

The pilot is now behind the starter.

Very nice Rich. How did you fit it all in - have you and your crew joined Weightwatchers?

[Richard Mawer]

Very nice Rich. How did you fit it all in - have you and your crew joined Weightwatchers?

Ha ha!

 

There was more room at that end than elsewhere, but yes that is as much as I can do. I couldn’t extend the engine shed or else no one could get by. The nearest corner had to be angled too.

[Silver Sidelines]

All breath in?  It is coming together and looking good.

 

Ray

[Richard Mawer]

BALLASTING

 

I can’t work out whether ballasting is tedious or thraraputic?

 

Anyway I’ve done 1/8 of the main lines: my first attempt at double track. Reasobly happy. It all needs air brushing with sleeper grime down the middle between the rails and then in a line along the sleep ends taking in the rail sides. Having consulted “The Big Four in Colour” the rail sides seem to match the sleepers and ballast in just all pervasive crud. The rail sides only seem to be a rusty red in little used locations such as sidings, in my era.

 

[Silver Sidelines]

I found it therapeutic - but like a lot of medicines - in small doses.

 

Ray

[Richard Mawer]

SHORT CIRCUIT

 

Just as an update ballasting is continuing along with backscenes.

 

But the last week has been spent finding a mysterious short circuit, which had suspended operations on the line. It turned out to be an isolated rail joint that had closed up somehow. I expected the cold weather to cause gaps to widen as rails contracted. Perhaps baseboards contract more. I don’t know. But the small piece of plastic between the rails had gone missing too. All very odd, but with multi controllers and complex switching, it took a long time to find.

 

The good news is normal service is resumed.

 

Rich

[Ray H]

They can be a pain to find as recent experience at the club has shown us (twice).

 

The first one was whilst fitting MERG Train on Track Indicators (ToTIs) to part of the layout. Two sections of track were consistently showing a non-existent train on track. We traced one fault to some oil (or similar) that had been spilt on a short length of fiddle yard track allowing a small but enough current to flow through the ballast and the spilt oil. Another track had a similar problem but here the ballast was touching the underside of the different rails in separate places which again gave a fault indication. This fault was on a recently ballasted section which obviously hadn't dried and disappeared after we'd made sure none of the rails were in contact with the ballast.

 

More recently whilst adding seemingly endless droppers as part of the layouts conversion for DCC operation and resolutely keeping the two tracks of the main running line electrically isolated we found an aged bond between the previous common return rail of the two tracks which was why we kept finding continuity when none should have existed. Fortunately we've used Wago connectors and were thus able to break the layout down into sections reasonably easy until we found the errant link. It still took a couple of hours to find it!

[Richard Mawer]

I have a couple of questions about scenery.

 

1) Does anyone have any experience of the vinyl backed Readygrass grass mats that mould with heat?

 

2) I need a hard scenic finish in one area, flat onto the baseboard, where occasionally I will have to lean over with my hand on the surface. Any ideas what surface material would be hard wearing enough? Obviously not static grass! Varnish as water?

 

I’d welcome the help.

 

In the meantime, ballasting and backscenes continue.

[Stubby47]

Larry Goddard (Coachman of this parish) has used the vinyl sheets on the different versions of Carrog.

 

As for the hard surface, the vinyl sheets might be sufficient themselves, but it also depends on where the ground is - urban (car park), rural (field), industrial (old factory foundations), etc.

 

Stu

[Richard Mawer]

Larry Goddard (Coachman of this parish) has used the vinyl sheets on the different versions of Carrog.

 

As for the hard surface, the vinyl sheets might be sufficient themselves, but it also depends on where the ground is - urban (car park), rural (field), industrial (old factory foundations), etc.

 

Stu

Thanks Stu. I can make the ground whatever I want really at this stage - within reason. Its on the outskirts of a village, or in the village, quarry or ex- quarry. 1930s of course.

 

I’ll look up Carrog.

[Stubby47]

Football pitch? Cricket pitch?

[St Enodoc]

Football pitch? Cricket pitch?

Sandpaper would make a good cricket pitch...

[Richard Mawer]

Sandpaper would make a good cricket pitch...

So I understand!. Better than yellow tape and dirt.....

[Richard Mawer]

BUCKINGHAM WEST STATION BUILDING

 

For quite a while now passengers at Buckingham West have been protected from the elements by Stubby47’s excellent Brunel train shed. When the board ended at the end of the shed I just imagined there was a station building beyond. I toyed with one on a backscene. Now that area is extended, it was just free entry onto the platforms! That would never do. So Buckingham now has a station building beyond the train shed.

 

I needed something that looked suitably grand for the end of the line, but not on a scale of Paddington or Temple Meads. It also had to fit in the space. After looking at all the rtp options I turned to card kits and low and behold the ancient Superquick terminus was going to fit.

 

To make it fit exactly I have not included the side wings or angled walkways. On the rear I cut off the concourse and canopy because I wanted it flush to the shed. As designed it’s very ostentatious. To make it less “train set” the clock tower and dormer just had to go too. Its now much simpler, I had to cover the roof with scalescenes slates because the original printed design had cut aways for those features.

 

I think it looks slightly less Superquick, but there’s no hiding its parentage. Still, it is a reasonable addition and compliments the excellent train shed.

 

 

 

The roof has burnt out on the photo. It is actually slate paper.

 

 

 

[Stubby47]

Nicely done, it does look a good match.

[Richard Mawer]

HELP NEEDED

 

I need help - it has been said!

 

I am struggling to know what to do scenically in one particular corner. Around the outside is the branch at high level, next in is the continuous run about 6” lower and then the base of the incline. So the branch is effectively 2 levels above the other tracks.

 

Added to this is a pillar which is the hinge of the lifting flap and across the incline is a bracket from hardboard through which the tracks pass. Without this, the flap is unstable.

 

There is a level crossing on the branch and I always imagined the road passing over a bridge over the continuous run, using the top of the pillar as road and then disguising the bracket as a bridge. But I haven’t nailed a design.

 

 

 

 

 

I mocked up a normal size arched apperture, but there is a massive amount of brickwork above the top of the arch. The road also climbs from the level crossing, over the bridge in question to reach the top of the pillar. So the bridge needs a sloping top. It didn’t look protypical. Is it?

 

I then tried a tall arch, a bit like a viaduct arch, with the sloping roadway much closer to the top of the arch. It still didn’t look right, but with less mass of brickwork I guess it is more protypical?

 

My other thought was a short tunnel, with a grassy hill and road on top, but a railway would never tunnel through a little hill like that, they would make a cutting and a bridge. Square one!

 

What examples of tall bridges with sloping roads do people know?

 

Or how could I disguise the hinge pillar if I ran the road lower?

 

Then there’s the problem of the “hole” through the hardboard bracket. Any ideas?

[Stubby47]

Take a line from the corner of the room, across the level crossing as far as a point above the main loops, in a gradually falling gradient.

 

This is the original route of the road. From this point it then swings to its right, curving across the incline tracks and then more steeply downwards. It should leave the baseboard beyond the edge of the lifting bridge.

 

The road will need to leave the straight line to dog-leg over the level crossing.

 

This road line should then give you a substantial hill, with two double track entrances buried in cuttings.

 

Possibly.

[St Enodoc]

HELP NEEDED

 

I need help - it has been said!

 

I am struggling to know what to do scenically in one particular corner. Around the outside is the branch at high level, next in is the continuous run about 6” lower and then the base of the incline. So the branch is effectively 2 levels above the other tracks.

 

Added to this is a pillar which is the hinge of the lifting flap and across the incline is a bracket from hardboard through which the tracks pass. Without this, the flap is unstable.

 

There is a level crossing on the branch and I always imagined the road passing over a bridge over the continuous run, using the top of the pillar as road and then disguising the bracket as a bridge. But I haven’t nailed a design.

 

EC9AEAC8-6859-4B36-B607-8349FABBC600.jpeg

 

 

2EEDDACF-E41E-491F-8877-BEA89ACA3E0A.jpeg

 

 

I mocked up a normal size arched apperture, but there is a massive amount of brickwork above the top of the arch. The road also climbs from the level crossing, over the bridge in question to reach the top of the pillar. So the bridge needs a sloping top. It didn’t look protypical. Is it?

 

I then tried a tall arch, a bit like a viaduct arch, with the sloping roadway much closer to the top of the arch. It still didn’t look right, but with less mass of brickwork I guess it is more protypical?

 

My other thought was a short tunnel, with a grassy hill and road on top, but a railway would never tunnel through a little hill like that, they would make a cutting and a bridge. Square one!

 

What examples of tall bridges with sloping roads do people know?

 

Or how could I disguise the hinge pillar if I ran the road lower?

 

Then there’s the problem of the “hole” through the hardboard bracket. Any ideas?

A girder bridge rather than arched?

[RJS1977]

Looking at the photos, it appears to me that the road surface at the centre of the level crossing is at the same height as the top of the pillar, but slopes down towards the front (and back) of the layout. If this could be levelled off, it should avoid having to slope the first bridge back up again.

 

With regards to the alignment of the road itself, in an ideal world, I would say the crossing should ideally be a couple of inches to the left to avoid a dogleg in the road. But assuming that moving the crossing is not an option, there are a couple of other ways round it:

 

1) As well as having a road on the intended course, a second road carrying straight on to the front of the baseboard over both lines would convert the dogleg to a T junction.

 

2) Alternatively, would you be able to bring the road *in front of* the bracket, at a lower height, thus making the top part of the bracket into the bridge parapet/an adjoining wall, though you would still have to find a way of hiding the pillar.

[KNP]

What about one step back and imagine which the topography would have been before the advent of the railway.

Then drive the track through the countryside working out cuttings, tunnels, levels etc.

Looking at the two pictures, how far to the right can you go in order to blend it in with that area as well.

Any chance of some pictures to the right?