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Warren Lane (formally The Layout Formally Known as Warren Lane, and Wulfruna) again...


Satan's Goldfish
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My fairy tail came true, following the small cardiff show last weekend, my radiant honey said " leave the layout downstairs till the stafford show, save effort putting up into loft, " I was knocked down with a feather, photo evidence is available,

There is also now a unicorn graving in my garden.

 

See, dreams can come true!

 

I've pre warned Mrs SG that because she's ordered several hundred pounds of new bedroom furniture that i'm going to have to build, the 'small' original Warren Lane trolley and 3 'full round' fiddle boards will be making their way into her dining room......

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Cheers folkes, I hope to compliment Alan's previous work as best I can!

 

One thing that has received the Alan seal of approval is the plan to return it to a 'full round' layout. And after lots of tweaks the 'intended' plan is below, and so is a quick guided tour:

 

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starting at 12 o'clock, the middle of the fiddle yard, and working around clockwise, those that remember the old full round fiddle yard will see that the track plan has been slightly changed on it. The outer 2 tracks will be able to hold either 2x 8ft trains or 1x 16ft train each, with the rest of the yards tracks able to each hold an 8ft train each.

 

Shuffling round to 1 o'clock and the exit of the fiddle yard, the tracks appear into daylight at the end of a through station with 2x island platforms. At 2 o'clock the lines combine, this is really the end of the fiddle yard point ladder but moving it on scene.

 

3, 4, and around to 5 o'clock is a simple stretch of 2 track GEML running through open countryside and onto the original Warren Lane boards.

 

Of these original boards, 'board 1' between 6 and 7 o'clock will receive a minor track alteration with the addition of a 'cripple siding'. Scenically, the main thing that needs removing to accommodate this siding is a fuel tank, which is ok because.....

 

 

.....at 7 through to 8 o'clock is a new fuel tank location and siding for a couple of fuel tanks. At this point, the track coloured blue is the headshunt for the container terminal, the track closest to the board edge has space for stabling 3 diesels.

 

At 9 o'clock is the curved crossing. This allows a release from 1 of the 2 spurs at the end of the headshunt to allow stabled locos onto the 'Down' line to run to the far end of the container yard. But mostly it's just to help the track layout there look busier than it actually is as a contrast to the simplicity at the other end of the layout!

 

at 10 o'clock are the 2 spurs mentioned above which can hold a pair of AC Electric locomotives each. The outer of the 2 spurs will hold an abandoned GUV next to a short loading platform. The inner Spur ends at a buffer with a short stretch of disused track behind it, leading to.....

 

.....at 11 o'clock the GEML enters another through station on its run to London, this time there's 3 platform faces and a centre through road. The 'Up' line runs through the centre line with a facing point for it to reach the outer platform face, this facing point would originally have been a crossover, the other leg of which is the disused track from the stabling spur.

 

Back around to 12 o'clock and into the fiddle yard :)

 

There's a lot of detail not covered there, a lot of labling has been removed from the plan to keep some of the scenic plans as a suprise!

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Damn it! This wasn't in the plan! ;)

 

post-9147-0-63159500-1454530178_thumb.jpg

 

This was however, the new primary 'Maggie' shunter. A Bachmann 08 found on offer at the Canterbury show t'other week, Kadees fitted, just needs a good weathering session :)

 

post-9147-0-40708400-1454530202_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

Edit: just seen the old girl has come 4th in the Layout of the year award! Big well done to Alan and Maggie for that achievement. If that doesn't inspire me to crack on and get it back to that level when it's re released then nothing will!

Edited by Satan's Goldfish
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The weather is still conspiring against me for infrastructure work, but despite the wind I've managed some conversion work on one of the old layout transit/storage trolleys. This now has a third role as legs for the fiddle yard.

 

Nothing has been removed, the fresh pine timbers are the new additions. One side has a pair of these (one at each end):

 

post-9147-0-53730900-1454854189_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

And the other side has a pair of these:

 

post-9147-0-54061100-1454854137_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

Scenic board 3 (the far end of the container yard) fits back-scene down in this trolley, and the 2 shelves underneath hold fiddle yard boards and other long thin items when in storage and transit mode:

 

post-9147-0-90861900-1454854312_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

Now when the layout is set up, 2x lengths of wood hinge up and over to create cross beam supports for the central fiddle yard board. The fixed lengths holding the support beams stretch down the side of the trolley to provide extra strength to the now well used sheets of ply that make up the sides:

 

post-9147-0-19729800-1454854480_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-46349100-1454854709_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

For the height setting, when WL was full round a couple of years ago we drilled extra holes in the trestle legs that the fiddle boards were to stand on. By a remarkable coincidence, this height is exactly the same as the trolley plus 2 of the timber lengths I'm using on end:

 

post-9147-0-83475700-1454854739_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

Hopefully there will be a break in the weather next weekend, there's due to be a test erection at the end of the month and there's still far too much to build :(

 

I also need a good sort out of containers, cranes, stock, etc, which will probably consume the rest of my day now. There's people waiting for the sale of certain items!

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On the old Warren Lane thread someone once asked how many containers we had.

 

post-9147-0-21669000-1454860475_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-31918400-1454860504_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-65934600-1454860532_thumb.jpg

 

This isn't counting the ones fixed to the layout or the ones Alan still has.

 

from left to right; 40ft standard height, 5 stacks of 20s, 40 standard height, 40ft high cube, 45ft and 30ft, and another stack of 40ft high cubes. In the rear box are another 9x 20ft, 8x 30ft, and a large number of mixed 40s awaiting repairs/attention of some description (missing doors, door bars, floors, respray required, etc). In the front box is 9x Dapol 45ft ribbed containers waiting for door bars to be fitted, and 12x individually numbered Dapol 45ft curtain siders also just awaiting door bars (torn on this last lot, there's an entire train load right there but I have no use for them! Probably really should sell them).

 

Anywho, that gives a rough idea how many containers there are. If anyone wants to count them then feel free, but I'm not! They are all C-rail, Dapol, Bachmann, Wild Boar Models, or Hornby originally, some have been weathered, some resprayed, etc

 

 

 

Edit: 228 there. Procrastinating......

Edited by Satan's Goldfish
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Edit: following post superceded by post #58, but this one has been left here to show plan evolution and simplification.

 

Attaching these here so i have a good point saved elsewhere other than the computer to return to if it all goes to ######. About to dive into the Auto Run computer design :scratchhead: You'd have thought i would have learned restraint from the first panel i built :nono:

 

 

 

post-9147-0-63920800-1457615903_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

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Edit: diag updates

Edited by Satan's Goldfish
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  • RMweb Gold

On the old Warren Lane thread someone once asked how many containers we had.

 

attachicon.gif20160207_153442.jpg

 

attachicon.gif20160207_153448.jpg

 

attachicon.gif20160207_153454.jpg

 

This isn't counting the ones fixed to the layout or the ones Alan still has.

 

from left to right; 40ft standard height, 5 stacks of 20s, 40 standard height, 40ft high cube, 45ft and 30ft, and another stack of 40ft high cubes. In the rear box are another 9x 20ft, 8x 30ft, and a large number of mixed 40s awaiting repairs/attention of some description (missing doors, door bars, floors, respray required, etc). In the front box is 9x Dapol 45ft ribbed containers waiting for door bars to be fitted, and 12x individually numbered Dapol 45ft curtain siders also just awaiting door bars (torn on this last lot, there's an entire train load right there but I have no use for them! Probably really should sell them).

 

Anywho, that gives a rough idea how many containers there are. If anyone wants to count them then feel free, but I'm not! They are all C-rail, Dapol, Bachmann, Wild Boar Models, or Hornby originally, some have been weathered, some resprayed, etc

 

 

 

Edit: 228 there. Procrastinating......

Just a few more containers up the wall and you wont need to redecorate again :sungum:

Edited by roundhouse
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  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure if layout legs, or over engineered 'sculpture'....

 

post-9147-0-71502200-1455970384_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-38869400-1455970346_thumb.jpg

 

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So what's going on here then. Well the original plan was for the small (narrower) trolley to support the centre fiddle yard board when the layout is set up. Like this:

 

post-9147-0-79020400-1455970202_thumb.jpg

 

however, there's only space in the bottom of this trolley for 2 of the 3 fiddle boards, in transport and storage the 3rd board would have to sit on top of the 2 scenic boards stored on the other trolley.

 

The other day I realised that if I used the above trolley to support the middle scenic board Instead when the layout is set up, then the middle fiddle board could be fitted to the other trolley rather than just stored on it and save a few minutes set up time.

 

This is all well and good, but the other trolley is just a board on wheels with 2x scenic boards stored on it which need all round access to remove for set up. Fixing a fiddle board above them kinda inconveniences that a little, so the whole structure needs to be able to hinge out of the way. Which is good, but a 6ft fiddle board and legs being hinged over 90 degrees at the bottom isn't a light item. So it's overkill engineering time to take the weight during setup and keep it non-wobbly when the layout is in use. I'm glad it's all on wheels!

 

The 2 legs above are for 1 side, when in storage/ transport the 2 scenic boards on the trolley help the surrounding frame hold its shape. When setting up, these 2 legs will detach and hinge down one side of the trolley. The other sides legs and the top/fiddle board will hinge the other way (as 1 massive heavy structure :/ ) and the scenic boards can be removed. The 2 legs pictured above then hinge back up right and a length of steel angle hinges down off each one to about 45 degrees and connect to an anchor point in the centre of the trolley. The other side with the fiddle yard attached then hinges back up and connects to the top of the uprights, and in theory it won't wobble!

 

This is why it's taking so long to build!

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Sometimes it really does feel like this is taking forever, but today, another progress hurdle has been reached with the curved boards being fitted to their trolleys :)

 

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Only 2 more legs each and all the base board frame work to go. Oh, and 1 of the mounting points interferes with where 2 point motors should be so those points now need moving (hopefully that shouldn't be to big an issue, just means the abandoned GUV may have to become an abandoned CCT or brake van instead!)

 

Moving on, a signalling question! Apologies for the poor light and quality, but at the country end of the existing scenic board is this 4 aspect signal with feather for entering the yard along side the up/down crossover:

 

post-9147-0-85944900-1456502738_thumb.jpg

 

From a previous conversation either at a show or on the Warren Lane thread it was pointed out that this signal was in the wrong place and should be further back àlong the line so it also protects the crossover (the reason it's there is because there was nowhere further back to add it at the time). I'm torn between attempting to relocate this signal back onto the curve board or leaving the signal there and relocating the crossover back to the curve board. I suspect the signal will have been fitted in the same manner as the catenary (###### loads of araldite) and it shares a circuit board with the signal on the other running line hence why it may be easier to relocate the crossover. So, would it be acceptable to just have that signal accessing the yard and using the signals at the end of the preceding station to protect the relocated trailing crossover? Or am I best to leave the crossover where it is and attempt to relocate the signal onto the end of the curve board (And this is before I start thinking about what shunt signals are required for train release from the yard, and light engine moves along the mainline from the stabling point that then reverse over that crossover!)

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  • 1 month later...

Picture free update, for personal family reasons progress on boards has taken a back seat for the moment. However I have been sourcing smaller detailing parts from ten commandments ready to add as wagon loads and detailing around the layout.

 

The Norwich show this weekend saw some stock additions too, whilst I have more than enough 'Anglia' mk2 sets for the mainline, I was a bit light on 'intercity' stock for representing late 80s/early 90s operations. This has now been remedied, although 1 set still needs a bg running with it to make up numbers.

 

I also finally picked up a Bachmann tpo carriage to add to the parcels stock, this should fit nicely between the PCVs with the super BGs for the Norwich - Dover mail train.

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p-p-p-p-project tangent time!

 

Fresh from Hong Kong, via ebay, comes 6ft of 32mm outer diameter conduit.

 

post-9147-0-25777100-1460123546_thumb.jpg

 

The plan? More than enough to create several tanktainers of various designs and lengths. Offered up to the end of a C-rail tank, sizes nicely.

 

post-9147-0-95554100-1460123607_thumb.jpg

 

post-9147-0-21908400-1460123670_thumb.jpg

 

so that's another project in the pile!

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  • 5 weeks later...

I made some transfers once for my N gauge freightliner train, using the ficticious Allied Retail Shipping & Export company.  Not many people noticed.

 

Curious about the curved diamond, is that an 'off the shelf' from somewhere or did you make it/modify it?

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  • 4 weeks later...

It's a peco code 75 crossing with bits of webbing cut out, left on radiator for a couple of days to 'soften' slightly then gently persuaded to curve. There's more info in the 'curving rtr turnouts' thread wherever that's hiding.

 

I'd like to say my recent absence from here has been because I've been soooo busy with the layout.... I'd like to say that, but I can't. Been upsettingly busy at work which has dented my modelling mojo a lot. I need to get back on it really.

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Sorry to hear of the troubles, if it's any consolation here's my picture of Flying Scotsman taken about an hour ago at Redhill ... behind a 12 car 377 which came in at just the wrong moment.

 

post-8328-0-89676400-1464789654.jpg

 

Scotty had a green and the 377 was slowing for the platform so they both ran parallel for a bit then off went Scotty into the distance.  Got a good shot of the 47 on the back though at least.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

A little snip for you then, may not look much but this is the most awkward part of the new track work, but big result it all rolls through smoothly. Famous last words, the rest of the track should be simple now!

 

attachicon.gif20151223_150246.jpg

 

 

 

Ha ha ha, no chance! All the catenary would be wrong ;) Cheers Andy, I'm sure we can get you over for a sneak peak of the new features when it's done.

 

You have done some serious surgery to that diamond. Is it working well?

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  • 1 month later...

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