Crossways Wagon Works, an experiment in 7mm

[Sun VI]

Here's a little layout that I've been working on since the end of last year. It represents a number of 'firsts' for me: 7mm, narrow gauge, track building, an RMWeb thread and so forth, so please excuse the mess ups along the way. I should also advise that in terms of progress, snails out sprint me any day. So, here goes ...

 

Background

Crossways Wagon Works is what remains of a much larger wagon and carriage works that was built before Grouping in 1923. The original company was absorbed into the Southern Railways, work continued until Nationalisation. The site was initially kept busy with new British Railways rolling stock but declined as freight traffic shrank, then became cut off from the network when the line that served it was closed by Beeching. The works were sold to the local authority to be divided and let out as temporary industrial units pending redevelopment that never seemed to come about. In the meantime a highly motivated preservation society had sprung up and purchased several miles of the old line. New track was laid and a motley assortment of rolling stock obtained. The local authority at last pushed its redevelopment plans through but, having seen the economic benefits of the tourism generated by the preservation line, decided to retain a small part of the old works for heritage purposes and leased this to the preservation society. There was a problem though: so much of the site had been absorbed into the redevelopment (swimming pool, sports and leisure centre plus flats at the other end of the site) that there was insufficient space for the points to provide a fan of track leading to the remaining three bays plus support buildings. This was overcome by building a traverser which also incorporates a 15” narrow gauge line, echoing the narrow gauge line that ran throughout the works in its heyday.

 

Inspiration

This started in a roundabout way from seeing Steve Bennet’s G nine examples at Expong at Swanley in 2013 (see www.Pepper7.com ). He makes loco’s and wagons in 7mm scale as well; I started to get the idea for a shoebox layout based on these. I subsequently bought a Mite, the chassis coming from a Bachmann Plymouth.

Implementation

I recently came up with a plan on Any Rail that would use the Mite as a tiny works shunter and showed this to friends in the Bridport club; Alan, who does O gauge, was enthusiastic and suggested that we build it. Given that the track work is a little unusual, I’ve decided to hand build it using C&L code 125 rail with copper clad strips. I haven’t attempted this before but there aren’t any turnouts and there are no curves, although alignment of two gauges of track with a moving traverser will require a little care. The traverser also presents some challenges such as how it will be propelled and how to construct it so that it looks acceptable as the principal part of the scenic area. Another matter to be considered is the couplings: I really dislike seeing the ‘hand of God’ dipping into a layout and so I want to incorporate magnetic uncoupling but how to do this when using a narrow gauge loco to shunt either full size wagons or a narrow gauge service trolley has got me thinking.

So here’s the track plan for a single line feeding a three bay workshop, plus stores and a narrow gauge loco shed. The base board is 42”x 15” including a fiddle area at the back of the workshop. There will also be cassettes on the left for the line in (minimum 15”) and the stores narrow gauge (say 6” maximum).

Edited April 24, 2016 by Sun VI

[Sun VI]

Baseboard Planning

We decided to make the baseboard from 6mm ply. Using Any Rail, I produced a cutting plan

and, with a second print, made a scale model to see how this looked.

 

I don't think that I've seen Any Rail used this way before, perhaps I've not looked hard enough.

Everything seemed satisfactory so we had an 8’ x 4’ sheet of ply cut to size at Bridport Timber. We’ve put this together using 12mm x 12mm softwood battens.

[Sun VI]

Here's today's episode of the on-going sago ...

 

Baseboard progress

Here’s the base board for the scenic area and right hand fiddle yard,

still to do are the mouse holes for the standard gauge entrance and the narrow gauge entry to the stores. I did make two neat brackets to hold the left end back snug to the main backing but, unfortunately, the base board fell the floor and they broke. No great problem, they can easily be glued together again, but I shall wait until I do the back scene (which I do not anticipate for a while yet). I managed to make several foul-ups, a couple of holes in the wrong places and the back board sat 6mm too high - all solved with wood filler, a piece of 6mm strip wood and some quick setting PVA.

 

Traverser progress

I made a mock-up to find out if the traverser would run at a controllable speed using a Kato non-bogie tram chassis for propulsion, and to find out at what height the traverser base should be set on the layout.

 

For the bed of the traverser, I used three rails instead of two, with the Kato running on the centre and a Peco N gauge wagon chassis on either side as outriggers. It was rather fiddly to set up but ran reasonably, although a little fast. The addition of some weight was a great help, about 4oz (100g) on each side worked wonders. With a traverser travel of a fraction over 12”, the Gaugemaster controller will creep it across in 90 seconds, about 0.0076 mph.

[Sun VI]

Chronologically, this was during December 2015

 

Track progress

I’ve mentioned that this was my first attempt at building track so I expect that I went about it in entirely the wrong way, however the fact that 9mm gauge and 32mm gauge tracks are required on the same sleepers did complicate matters a little. I made up a finger board on an old offcut using a soft wood batten with hard wood spacers to:

i) give the correct sleeper spacing;

ii) place the rail at the correct distance in from the sleeper end.

 

 

I used a short piece of Peco O gauge flexitrack to find the sleeper length (60mm), hence a centre line of 30mm. I then worked outward from the centre line to see where the 9mm track should be positioned and cut the hardwood fingers to a depth of 23.8mm. The width of the hard wood strip was just under the correct sleeper spacing, so I glued a thin piece of microstrip to each finger.

 

I could now insert sleepers, solder the first rail, remove the section, turn it round, feed the other side of the sleepers into the jig, solder on the other rail and end up with N gauge track central on O gauge sleepers. The result was that it worked. I had to redo some of the joints and, where too much heat had been applied, turn the sleeper over and try afresh on the clean side. I did a 15” section with double spaced sleepers using a new tube of Draper’s lead/ tin, rosin cored solder. With a liberal brushing of Carr’s yellow flux, this went very well, needing only a shortish touch with a 50 Watt iron to get the solder flowing right under the rail and a thin silver line on the other side. Having checked that an N gauge wagon ran freely, a quick run up the centre with a slitting disc, connect to the controller and yes, the Mite ran to and fro’.

 

 

I calculated that the first rail of the O gauge needed to be placed 12.3mm in from the end of the sleepers. To achieve this, I put wood screws horizontally into the backing batten behind and between the spacing fingers of the track jig. This enabled me to position the first track precisely and solder it down.

 

I then used a pair of roller gauges from C&L to position the final rail.

 

 

An O gauge wagon ran freely, so all appeared satisfactory. I’d now completed the test strip of dual gauge rail. Looking back on my efforts now, I must say that the soldering was dreadful, it could only get better.

[Sun VI]

We're still back at last December ...

 

Baseboard progress

I took the baseboard over to the Bridport club where club mate Derek very kindly cut out the traverser pit, the piece extracted will be used as the base of the pit.

 

 

Traverser progress

I started by drawing the traverser and its trackwork full size so I could be sure of the clearances and so I could decide whether to place the 9mm run-around track on the same sleepers as the O gauge and 9mm within, or to make the additional line as a completely separate track. Keeping all lines on one sleeper seemed to offer the neater option, so I went with that.

 

 

Having decided to go for the longer sleepers, I couldn’t use the original method of putting one rail in place then turning the track around and soldering on the opposite rail. Instead, I positioned and soldered the outside O gauge rail first then used the roller gauges to position the inside O gauge rail. I then made the inside 9mm track by using the O/9mm gauges described below. Finally I turned the track around and positioned the sleeper ends to take the outside rail for the 9mm run-around and fitted the inside 9mm rail, again using the homemade gauges to position it correctly.

 

For the first DIY dual track gauge, I bought one of C&L's ‘economy’ O track gauges which is a rectangular, non- roller design. To keep the 9mm track dead centre in the O gauge, I very carefully cut and superglued pieces of copper clad strip into the centre recesses to give a 9mm track gauge for code 125 rail.

 

 

For the other gauge, I marked out a short length of the hard wood strip, made 4 saw cuts and gently opened these out to the correct rail width. Having used both gauges, I much prefer the hardwood one: it was easier to make, it doesn't conduct heat so can be held in position within millimetres of a soldering iron and it's robust - superglue wasn't sufficient to stop two pieces of copper strip detaching from the aluminium.

 

 

And here's the completed traverser track - I do assure you that the tracks are actually parallel.

 

[Sun VI]

I didn't make much progress during the winter months, it was too chilly to go in to the garage.  A few opportunities did arise though.

I visited the Bristol Gauge O Guild show at the end of January and acquired: a Slater’s salt wagon kit; an old, unbuilt, Meteor plastic and white metal LBSCR Stroudley cattle wagon; an old unbuilt A.B.S. LBSCR open wagon in white metal, and a Slater’s rectangular tar wagon kit.  I also splashed out on a Connoisseur Models' four wheeled birdcage brake coach.  I'd been looking at the Connoisseur kits on-line and after a chat with Jim McGeown and seeing his excellent instructions and little introduction book for new brass kit builders, I couldn't resist. 

I went over to help at the Tonbridge MRC show in February and bought two Roxey white metal kits: a LBSCR 10t machinery truck and a LSWR 15t stone wagon.  I'm not entirely happy with these, I bought them thinking that they should make a simple start to white metal kits, only to find that they require spacers between the solebar and axleboxes and repositioning of the brake gear.  I 'phoned Dave at Roxey and he explained that he'd bought the kits from their original producer and found a problem, had included some generic spacers to address it, but had not yet rewritten the instructions - I was not impressed.  Together with a Roxey LBSCR Stroudley bird cage brake van kit and a couple of second hand trucks and vans  that I’ve accumulated, that should be adequate for running the layout and provide a decent little LBSCR themed goods rake for my Dapol Terrier ‘Thames’.

 

[Sun VI]

April 2016 update

Traverser progess

I couldn’t summon up sufficient enthusiasm to make a new traverser, so very carefully measured and removed about an inch from the end of the mock-up and mounted that in the baseboard. To me it looks satisfactory at present, but has yet to be wired up and tested.

 

 

Track progress

I made a start on the two headshunts, the photo’ shows the first, 75% complete. I’ve not bothered to take the narrow gauge to the very end as the bufferstop will prevent full travel.

 

My track building method has changed: I’m now soldering one standard gauge rail first using the finger jig and ensuring that each sleeper is square to the rail before soldering it. I then attach the first rail and sleepers to the corresponding rail on the traverser with a track joiner. The second standard gauge rail is also joined to the traverser with a track joiner, then soldered to the sleepers using roller gauges to keep it precisely aligned. While there is plenty of room between the rails, I clean and polish the soldered joints using files then steel wool (having used a lot less solder in the first place and only soldering one face). After a thorough clean up, I use the homemade hardwood dual 0 and 09 gauge to position the narrow gauge rails, again starting by connecting each to the corresponding rail on the traverser for alignment. The joints on the first are cleaned before soldering the second. A final clean up of surplus solder is followed by a wash with Cif to give a fairly neat finish.

 

Finally I’ve just laid the headshunts, the traverser track and the first track test piece on the baseboard to give a vague idea of what the layout will look like. The traverser track is deliberately too long at present and will need each end sleeper to be repositioned before trimming the surplus tracks and mounting on the traverser platform (to be made).

 

[Sun VI]

I went to the Bristol show on the 29th April and was very impressed - excellent layouts in a wide range of scales and very good trade support too. However, what really made the trip worthwhile for me, was this laser cut loco shed kit from a firm called LCut.

 

 

With a little modification I can visualise this as Crossways Wagon Works and it will save me a lot of time over scratch building something too. I also acquired 6 electro magnetic uncouplers and 0 gauge DG couplings from Wizard / MSE.

 

4th May 2016
Well, it’s been seven days of mixed fortunes. My soldering iron packed up, but a new Tenma 60W soldering station arrived very promptly from Farnell.  Should anyone be interested, it came with a 0.5mm needle tip, but this isn’t stated in the product information so I duplicated it in the selection of tips that I also ordered – no matter, it wasn’t dear. Early efforts are promising, especially when I tried 145 degree solder.

I thought I’d have a change from track building so had a look at the LCUT loco shed. I made an outline of a three bay shed, white tacking the pieces together. I'm very happy with the look of the shed

 

 

but it’s quite a bit wider than I anticipated, so much so that some rethinking is required. Option 1 would be to keep the base board depth at 15ins and compress the width of the entrances to the bays: this would make everything look too cramped and tight for the notional work space inside the works.

Option 2 is to dismantle (why are things now disassembled?) the base board and insert a fillet along the back to increase the board depth by 3 or 4 inches. If I go along this route, I may as well make enough room to put an alley way along the back of the workshop to increase the feeling of space. Here are some photo’s to show what I’m getting at:

 

 

Of course, this will require the traverser pit to be extended, or more likely built afresh, so it's just as well that I'm not on any fixed deadline.  It also blows away any time that I thought I might have saved by using the kit - but I still think it will be an improvement on anything I might have scratch built.

And finally, odds and ends of track plus shunter and wagon;

 

 

Edited May 9, 2016 by Sun VI

[cklammer]

As much as my 0.02c are worth: Option 1 by 10 cm plus may extending the traverser one or two centimeter to the rear. The gained space to be used for scenery.

 

Christian

[Sun VI]

Thanks Christian, your comment is very welcome .  I talked this over with my friend Alan at the Bridport Model Railway Club yesterday - it was Alan who encouraged me to start the layout and has lent a hand in its construction.  We too felt that 10 cms / 4 inches would be about right.  I wouldn't want to go for less, but I would rather like to keep the layout's scenic area within four square feet, I just find the idea of a 7mm scale micro layout quite appealing.  

 

My eldest son is getting married in 10 days' time, so I don't anticipate any progress for the next two weeks - I hope you'll bear with me. 

[cklammer]

Rome was not built in a day either and they are still at it ...

[DLT]

Hello SunVI,

I didn't know you were an RMweb-er!

Dave.

[Sun VI]

Progress updates: first the Lcut loco shed being reworked as the main wagon works building.  Some of the Lcut components:                                                                                                  

Ensuring the home made roof supports are vertical:                                                                                                                          I added a bracing beam along the top of the entrance bays to keep everything in line, and my own beams and pillars as those provided are less than 2mm thick:

[Sun VI]

Hello SunVI,

I didn't know you were an RMweb-er!

Dave.

Morning DLT,

and I didn't know you were!  I've been very remiss in posting progress but apart from cklammer (thanks for your support), there didn't seem to be much interest.  Still, I'm going to bore the pants off everyone now as I bring things up-to-date.

Cheers

John

[Sun VI]

On to August 2016 and I stretched the layout's depth to 19 inches by adding 4 inches at the front. This required replacing the ends and internal cross bracing.

 

Then the traverser pit had to be reconstructed - by chance I got the depth right first time.

[Sun VI]

Bridport club held an open day on the 30^th April and Crossways Wagon Works was down to be shown as a work in progress.  A flurry of activity during the preceding two weeks included finishing the traverser and getting it working, laying the track and wiring it.  This was achieved at 9:45 pm on the Saturday night.  With bated breath I put the shunting loco on for testing - save for one siding, everything work first time, the one error only needed two wires to be reversed but it showed how easy it is to make errors when you’re tired.  The layout ran very nicely during the open day although I had to make do with pushing wagons as no couplings have been set up yet.  Teething problems were mainly down to differences in height between the traverser and a couple of the sidings.  The worst of these was a jump of about 1mm where the shunter could definitely benefit from a step ladder to climb off the traverser. 

 

Diagonal cross bracing made the base board far more rigid.

 

The back of the workshop in place, together with the front panel masking the tiny fiddle yard.

 

The underside of the traverser showing the four Peco N gauge 10ft  wagon chassis, the current collectors and the frame that fits over the Kato tram chassis.  Note the single thickness of card, this made a real improvement to the traverser operation.  Not shown are the two strips of self adhesive wheel balance weights that I must have added after. 

 

A view across the traverser showing the wasp stripes at the entrance to each bay plus the safety tape around the internal pillars

 

Crossways Wagon Works in operation, as at the Bridport club open day on the 30th April and then at Exeter Gauge O Group's (ExGOG) club evening later in the week.  I made a small plinth for the controller that also provides the switching for the isolating sections.  Initially these were the 'in' track, top left, and the rest of the layout, but has since been expanded - further details will follow. 

 

I received very positive comments at both Bridport and ExGOG which encouraged me no end.  Several people commented that they hadn't understood what I was trying to achieve until they could see the layout in operation.  So much for the effectiveness of my description!

Edited July 5, 2017 by Sun VI

[stadman]

Thought of this when I saw the layout at Exeter this weekend.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/behind-the-signs/26379470940/in/dateposted/

[Sun VI]

Some further progress to report. Friends in the Exeter Gauge O Group, ExGOG, kindly allowed me to put Crossways Wagon Works as a work-in-progress on the club's stand at the Exeter Show on the 1st and 2nd July. It seemed like a good idea as the layout demonstrates both O and 7mm narrow gauge in a very compact area. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the show and gained a lot of positive comments from the audience. I've found that rather than just shunt things about, if I invite people to have a look and explain a little of the fiction while I bring in a wagon for repair and then pick up the tiny shunter on the traverser 'as weight limits prevent the use of the standard gauge loco', I can draw people in, gain their attention and often get a big grin once they see how it all works: very rewarding.

 

I had been trying to think of what to do with the left side of the layout and eventually thought that as the model is of a preservation line, it would be reasonable to assume that in my fantasy world visitors would wish to see the traverser in action but it would be too hazardous to allow them to wander about the site. So, a visitors' centre with a viewing gallery would be ideal beside the stores shed. Given that in my little fantasy world, grants had bee obtained from the Lottery and other sources, the stores shed could now be a little more substantial and become a two storey, brick built structure, with the manager's office on the first floor. On the other side of the layout, beside the wagon works, I still needed a shed for the narrow gauge loco. Rather than scratch build from card and coffee stirrers, I turned to Lcut's website, where all of the components for their kits may be ordered as individual items at very reasonable prices. It was now just a matter of designing the buildings around the various bits and pieces available. The order came through by standard post in less than 24 hours, very well packaged and complete. (NB, I've no connection with Lcut, just a very satisfied customer.)

Planning the narrow gauge loco shed.

 

Using V blocks to ensure the shed walls are square and perpendicular

 

The shed in situ, less door and unpainted.

 

The stores with office over and the visitors' centre, also minus the store's door. The painted roof looks a little bright but should be fine after a weak black wash.

[Night Train]

This is looking really good.

[Sun VI]

Well, I feel as though I'm making progress as the back scene is now on. This is a piece of self-adhesive, non-descript, cloudy sky which was something of a challenge to mount. Fortunately, club mate Derek more or less applied the back which went very well, while I did the left side with help. The right side I did later by myself and I would say the it really helps to have an extra pair of hands available. Still, the end result is very much what I was hoping for and infinitely better than anything that I could have achieved with paint and a brush.

 

 

The white card is the sub base for the 'concrete' edging to the traverser pit, the path from the visitors' centre and the entrance to the stores.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Sun VI

[Jwnewall]

Happy to find this page, loved seeing it at the Exeter model show, a different view on mixing the gauges and offers a lot of potential!

[peak experience]

This is a super layout.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Very clever!

[Smoking gun]

Today is the first time I've seen this layout, and I very impressed with both the concept and craftsmanship.

 

Thank you and regards,

 

Martin

[Sun VI]

Today is the first time I've seen this layout, and I very impressed with both the concept and craftsmanship.

 

Thank you and regards,

 

Martin

Thank you Martin, you're very kind.

John