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Warrington Bank Quay - The Northern Approach - OO DCC


Wild Boar Fell
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Having followed the development of Revolution Trains' N Gauge Pendolino project, and subsequently ordering one, my interest in modelling the current scene has been renewed. My interests have covered the 1960's transition era LMR Steam/Diesel and the current North West scene, but layout wise my previous layout was a 1960's Cumbrian Freelance layout (Wild Boar Fell), which was reluctantly sold a few years ago. Since then I have come up with several layout ideas based on real locations local to me, with Warrington's Dallam Branch Sidings (set in the 60's) being the favourite. But then I started tracking down all the vehicles to make a Hornby Pendolino, a few hours playing around with Google maps and a bit of thought led to a new plan...

 

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Warrington Bank Quay is the town's WCML station, situated next to a giant soap works and slightly to the north of Arpley yard. part of the station bridges the 'Low Level Line' used to take coal to Fiddlers Ferry Power Station. I must point out to anyone who has never been to the station, it is not the grandest or most photogenic location. It does however have an interesting trackplan.

 

WBQ is far to large for me to model in full, so the plan is to model the 'Northern Approach' from the Liverpool Road bridge south to roughly the mid point of the station. As no convenient scenic break exists along the station, I plan to use a silhouette of the nearby power signal box to block the view beyond this point. As it so happens, this distance works out conveniently in model form as 16ft. This section would include the Low Level Line. At the moment my plan is to build purely the scenic boards but to allow for future conversion into a continuous run layout. I wish to use the layout to develop my skills for building catenary, digital point & signal control as well as using code 75/83 properly for the first time.

 

A basic outline of the 4 4ft boards is shown in the image below, the WCML connected lines are marked in red, the Low Level in yellow, the disused (possibly disconnected) Crosfield's lines in green, whilst the platform outlines (not quite correct) are shown in blue. This is not the final plan, but a trace from Google Maps. The final depth of the scenic boards is yet to be finalised, but it may be necessary to remove the Crosfield's line to make the boards smaller/ more easily transportable.

 

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Whilst the layout will not have an exact running period, the platforms and station building will be as per the recent rebuild (Circa 2011). Further layout planning is continuing, with baseboard construction anticipated to start within the next few weeks...

 

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https://flic.kr/p/ccfkXS

 

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This looks like it is going to be very good. The idea for the scenic break is a smart idea. Agread its not the most photogenic but I do think it has plenty of atmosphere from its industrial surroundings. Certainly used to enjoy watching the loco changes in the loops and the class 20's on MGR traffic although that was 25 years ago!

 

Cheers

 

Simon

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Thanks everyone, the scenic break issue is the what has come up every time when I have discussed the idea for Bank Quay with others. To be completely honest I am still not sure whether the PSB idea will work (I think I will only be able to tell that after it is built), but it seems the most viable so far without compressing the track plan.

 

Edit: Fortunately by that point on the station, most of the view down the line should be blocked by the canopies.

Edited by Wild Boar Fell
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Great layout idea. Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one.

 

Now following!!

 

Have you considered N scale?/ You could model the whole station comfortably in 16ft!

Cheers, 

My stock is all OO gauge, with the exception of the pendolino that is on order. So I don't see myself changing scales any time soon, but that is very true.

 

On a side note, I plan to add a guide to creating the Pendolino Coach U for anyone wishing to model the 11-car version using the Hornby Model, this will be over on the Modifying & Detailing section shortly. But here is a teaser...

 

post-13109-0-61271900-1465909234_thumb.jpg

 

Wild Boar Fell

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  • RMweb Gold

Great layout idea. Looking forward to seeing the progress on this one.

 

Now following!!

 

Have you considered N scale?/ You could model the whole station comfortably in 16ft!

 

But that still leaves the question of a scenic break at the south end.

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  • RMweb Gold

Until the speed improvements of approx. 10 years ago there used to be a trailing crossover between the up / down main lines - this was under the Voyager in your photo.

 

Don't forget the trap points.

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A few more things,

Firstly below is an updated plan showing the now corrected shapes of the platforms, I have also marked on the location where I believe there are trap points, certainly the one on the down head shunt exists (see https://flic.kr/p/rQ7V4h),Beast are you aware of any others? Hopefully I will get down to the station again soon to confirm a few things. For instance from photos it appears that the Fast lines use concrete sleepers, but the up slow (Platform 1) and the up loop appear to use steel sleepers or at least in part. 

 

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During part of the improvement work, it appears that the platforms were re-paved. Whilst on the prototype this looks very smart, unfortunately the pattern has not been reproduced by any of the plastic sheet manufacturers (as far as I know). As a result it looks like I may have found a suitable test project for my Silhouette cutter. For those interested, I have sketched out the pattern below, also of note is that the paving slaps (grey) are different sizes on each side of the platform. See the squarer slabs in front of the 66, and the rectangular slaps in front of 60009. Visible behind Union of South Africa is the aforementioned Power Signal Box.

 

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Wild Boar Fell

 

Edit: Correct link now added, https://flic.kr/p/rQ7V4h

Edited by Wild Boar Fell
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Cheers, 

My stock is all OO gauge, with the exception of the pendolino that is on order. So I don't see myself changing scales any time soon, but that is very true.

 

On a side note, I plan to add a guide to creating the Pendolino Coach U for anyone wishing to model the 11-car version using the Hornby Model, this will be over on the Modifying & Detailing section shortly. But here is a teaser...

 

attachicon.gif20160405_220656s.jpg

 

Wild Boar Fell

Could you post a link to this new thread, very much interested....

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Just checking through some slightly older photos, I have managed to locate the second trap point properly, this is slightly to the North of the location marked on my diagram previously pushing it the other side of the board joint. The photos date from the time of the rebuild as can be seen in the second image. I had gone to see the 'Train of Hope' hauled by 46115 Scots Guardsman (01/10/2011) although I seem to remember the charter was cancelled or heavily delayed so I didn't see it.

 

The trap point is just visible beneath the signpost in the foreground.

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The dug up platforms (That would make an interesting model, but it would really limit the time period)

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Having had a bit further thought about the size of the boards, I have decided to remove the over grown Crosfield siding at the back and shift everything else backwards. In doing so, this would allow me to fit everything from the kerb of the booking office, up to the backscene/boundary fence (including some of the buildings in low relief at the north end) within 2 1/2 foot.  

 

Essentially, this would only mean losing the grassy section seen on the right of this photo https://flic.kr/p/ccfkXS which I reckon should still allow a for an acceptable representation of the station.

 

WCML100, I will put up the photos/ guide shortly.

 

Wild Boar Fell

Edited by Wild Boar Fell
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Whilst no physical progress has been made on the layout this weekend (Happily spent assisting Roundhouse and the team on his excellent model of Banbury Station), many ideas for Bank Quay were gained. A long term goal would be allow for computer control through an interface such as JMRI. Obviously this is a long way off, with only the scenic boards to be built for now.

 

Drawing work has started on the station building (main entrance) to allow for the planning of it's construction. At this point it looks likely that this will be a mainly plasticard glad structure using either Balsa (as used on Wild Boar Fell) or foam board (which has been used on our club layout). Dimensions have been taken from Google maps to give the overall size, with the detail and height being worked out by counting bricks (as fun as it sounds). I am planning a research trip to Bank Quay shortly to allow the remaining buildings to be drawn up. These mainly brick structures will either be laser cut, or scribed using the plotter.

The canopies require further thought. A rather 'quirky' feature of the canopies are the catenary masts protruding through them.

Seen top right (https://flic.kr/p/xqhtsd)

 

I have also received over the weekend an Arduino Uno micro-controller along with an servo driver board, I am planning to use this to control all of the point work on the 4 boards, with SG90 servos fitted beneath each point. For now, an interface with push buttons will be developed to allow the routes to be set. When necessary, the Arduino may also be used to control the signalling.

 

Finally, it wouldn't have been an exhibition without a purchase of some sort, this weekend has seen the addition of two more Sheds to the fleet, both happen to be 66200 Railway Heritage Committee, which conveniently matches my existing EWS 66. Fear not however as these are planned to take on the following identities (Both seen running light engine in opposite directions within 1 minute of each other).

 

66061

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66109

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Prior to renumbering the pair are seen hiding behind Banbury, undergoing 'testing'.

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Stay tuned for further updates soon...

 

Wild Boar Fell

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  • RMweb Gold

Cracking project!

 

Many happy days there back in the 70s...that soap factory certainly dominated the scene

 

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Looking forwards to further developments

 

Phil

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Some interesting photos there Phil, thanks for posting. By way of comparison here is the station on 16/04/2014 from virtually the same angle as the last photo, think the station certainly looks smarter nowadays. Yes that is a batch of 68's being delivered to Crewe.

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Wild Boar Fell 

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