GWR Branch - Castle Down. Mostly GWR with an odd SR working

[andyram]

Did you spray the ballast with water before adding the PVA , water and washing up liquid mix?

[sjrixon]

That's a no Andy... So that's what I'll try tomorrow!

[Liam]

Are you using a ballast spreader Scott? Can save a lot of time using one of those.

 

Oh yes, and now there's spreaders for the water/PVA/washing up liquid mix!

[sjrixon]

I've seen the spreaders.. If I were building a larger layout that I might have invested...

[andyram]

I found the same thing happened on our club layout when the ballast was not sprayed with water before the glue was applied. I have always used water on my home layouts and have never had a problem.

[sjrixon]

I had a chance to do a few bits.. Having sprayed it, you can see the PVA mix flows so much better into the ballast, so thanks. Question now is, did I have enough PVA in the mix.

[sjrixon]

The spray did work, quite nicely, thanks I've a couple of gaps after the clean up, but that's to be expected as it's quite difficult to make sure you get 100% coverage. They watery PVA has also dulled down my sleeper colour which I'm not 100% happy with. I think I'm going to need to get the paint out and touch up some areas. I did spend a bit of time cleaning up the excess ballast with a small stick and then quite a lot of time cleaning out the points and checking everything worked. 

 

That forced a quick test with a Pannier.

 

 

It's all not looking too bad.

[sjrixon]

After shunting the yard the Pannier sat at the end of the station while the crew went for a brew. Then the 2.23 Southern working arrived. Going to be trouble ahead as she is now blocked in!

 

[andyram]

I am glad the water spray worked. The layout is looking fantastic. I always find the points tricky to deal with when ballasting. I have a couple two sort out following my ballasting exploits today.

[Andrew P]

After shunting the yard the Pannier sat at the end of the station while the crew went for a brew. Then the 2.23 Southern working arrived. Going to be trouble ahead as she is now blocked in!

 

IMAG1227.jpg

Very neat work young Scott, it's looking good.

[sjrixon]

Thanks for all the likes and positive feedback All helps to keep going..

I've started the planning and testing the operation of the layout. The plan was always a shunting layout, lots of freight working and passenger trains with maximum interest, tail traffic etc. Some may argue that it will be too busy for a branch, but my layout my rules applies. Also, it's not like any public is very going to see this. 

 

Spending time trying to figure out what each van might actually be employed for was quite difficult at times, but also interesting. Thinking about what might be on the train provides a reason for the movement and I can see this developing over time as I refine the details of each wagon. It also makes me want some different stock and some more variety from other companies. But I should finish my pile of kits first.

 

​For some reason I can't post the rest... Forum doesn't like me!

 

Edited August 21, 2017 by sjrixon

[Liam]

Thanks for all the likes and positive feedback All helps to keep going..

 

I've started the planning and testing the operation of the layout. The plan was always a shunting layout, lots of freight working and passenger trains with maximum interest, tail traffic etc. Some may argue that it will be too busy for a branch, but my layout my rules applies. Also, it's not like any public is very going to see this. 

 

Spending time trying to figure out what each van might actually be employed for was quite difficult at times, but also interesting. Thinking about what might be on the train provides a reason for the movement and I can see this developing over time as I refine the details of each wagon. It also makes me want some different stock and some more variety from other companies. But I should finish my pile of kits first.

 

​For some reason I can't post the rest... Forum doesn't like me!

 

Unlike locos, even before nationalisation wagons were frequently found to roam other companies networks and this continued after nationalisation; I didn't buy a Hornby Gresley BG to go on my exhibition layout for no reason!

 

If Southern PMVs (and a GWR 'Obbo') can get to the Kyle line in Scotland (though that wasn't until post 1970) then I reckon you're within your rights to run stock from the other Big Four companies. Branch lines aren't that boring after all . . .

[sjrixon]

I've been reading a lot about how trucks moved around the system as a whole... Never quite realised that and they say the LMS had lot with other companies. 

 

On to Part 2...

 

I wanted more classic gwr types, which have started taking shape with some Parkside and also older Cooper craft kits. But I honestly never realised how much wagons moved around after the war. 

 

 A large proportion of my wagons also don't have loads, so that's another project that's started. Then I want to try my hand at a little bit of better weathering, some of my early Hornby trucks have been used to bolster the roster, these were badly weathered by a much younger me, so I plan to try and 'update' them a little. Ultimately they will probably be replaced.

 

The stock movements look like the following. Slightly driven by what has been built on the layout, but also what stock has been aquired over the years. 

 

The brewery has a loads of full and empty barrels taken too and from the bayplatform loading dock. Also general goods/grain in closed vans.

 

The creamery has deliveries from the local area of churns in a Siphon, with fresh milk being taken away in the milk tankers. (I'd like a 6 wheel siphon).

 

Castle Down is attached to a medium town that has a significant mail traffic. A siphon and a general brown vans are used for this trip. I'm not yet 100% sure on the exact working. Also market day brings in a large amount of brown stock in a dedicated train.

 

A small amount of fish also comes and goes.

 

Local genrty require the use of a horse box on a regular basis. 

 

The general goods stock covers most other eventualities. Closed vans for general merchandise, ventilated and PARTO vans for fruit, veg etc from the local farms. Coal for the local community. 

 

Also to be seen are Macaws with logs loaded, some flat wagons with pipes and other general loads.

 

The 5 road fiddle yard is loaded as follows. 2 passenger trains, 1 parcels and 2 mixed goods. 

 

 

[sjrixon]

Part 3.. 

 

 

I've used some old playing cards to create the goods trains, this very much follows the ideas from layouts like Hintock. Below is a sample of a couple of cards. Some are seen as 2 trucks in one card, either 2 that I don't want to separate or a long wheelbase that takes up 2 spaces.

 

8 trucks are drawn to start on the layout and then 5 are draw into each of the mixed goods in the fiddle yard. At the moment this is almost 95% of my active stock, so that needs to change!

 

 

Then I started looking at how the trains would actually run. I plan to have a sequence that list passenger and goods, but that will ultimately be quite simple. But that can wait for another day..

 

[andyram]

I like the idea of the card based system. I am developing one for my new Loch Tay based layout, using a card design seen in the August edition of Model Rail.

[sjrixon]

I've pretty much built this layout to support a card system, shunting has always been my thing. It was a key reason for DCC too, I've been able to get some amazing low-speed performance.

 

Here were my findings on the first test run..

 

Option 1

 

My first plan was to run the goods train into the station and then draw 5 trucks for the return working. This resulted in moving the whole train into the sidings and then removing all the trucks that started on the layout. It felt a little 'forced' and odd, as you really knew what was going to be drawn. 

 

Option 2

 

I shuffled all the cards, the arriving trains trucks and the trucks in the yard. This was better, but a lot of the arriving trucks didn't need to be shunted as they were now just passing through. Being drawn again for the return working. 

 

Option 3 

 

The train arrived and shunted all the trucks into sidings. I then moved the loco and the guard's van out of the way to allow the passenger train to arrive. This has a couple of twists, I don't have a shed or any real head shunt, so the guard's van was in the bay and the loco can normally be tucked either in front of the creamery or the point in front of the shed. I then used the goods loco to move around the tail traffic while the passenger loco took on water. Once the passenger departed, I drew 5 trucks and made up the return trip.

 

While some will argue two locos in this small station is too much, please see rule 1. This gave a much more enjoyable operation and was made even better as I'm using dcc. I also can now see a small stabling point by the creamery, a lamp hut and a few odds and ends I think would work quite well. 

 

I better get back to ballasting now.. But here are a few shots of the running.. 

 

 

 

[Liam]

I'd like to suggest option 4 Scott; flip a coin to decide which freight train to take out, then when at the station draw 4 cards (just to even it out a little) to decide what to take back to the fiddle yard. This might add some surprise and unexpectedness to the game.

 

The layout is looking great, did you build the baseboards yourself?

[sjrixon]

Option 4 could work! I'll keep it handy if I want to mix it up.

 

Yes, baseboards are mine.. Not the best, not the worst. It's just a lightweight frame with an OSB top. I actually built most of them for a much larger layout, that never saw the light of day. They had been sat in my Dad's garage for about 15 years! They had been made much too big, designed to fit a layout, not designed to be moved. I used them as a starting point to make some more manageable boards for this layout.

[Liam]

A tape measure revealed the other day that the baseboards I have in storage are too small for Kinlet, so I'll probably have to buy some custom built ones! I saw that Model Railway Solutions do gift vouchers, might be one for Christmas . . .

[sjrixon]

Wood work isn't too hard, just measure twice cut once. A youth of helping my Dad around the house stood me in good stead for plenty of DIY in my own house and also the ability to build what I want. That said, the custom made, professional ones do look very, very smart. I did nearly go that way, just couldn't quite bring myself as the layout wasn't ever going to leave the railway shed.

 

I'd come to a little bit of an impasse with the layout. Cripiled by options.

 

I really needed to tidy up and hover the railway room.

But I didn't want to do that until I'd made the next lot of mess.

The back hill was the next mess as I wanted to plaster it.

But I couldn't plaster it as I knew the gap for the signal box is too small.

The gap couldn't be made bigger until I'd built some steps to know how big it was going to be.

But then I need to also think about signal.

Where does the signal go? As a loco would need to pass the signal to use the run round.

 

Then Kevin posted this.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/120848-little-muddle/?p=2830332

 

S on the signal.. Could that be for shunting? Could that be the answer? The signal stays at danger as you can't access the section, but you could pass it under the bridge to shunt and run round.

 

Right.. Time top chop the top of the signal box and do some updates..

 

 

I think this signal box was originally built by my grandad. I'd had thoughts of replacing it with more of a GWR design, ratio one. But as this one has a nice history I thought I just bring it a little up to date. I'm going to build some steps, add some railing around the top for starters. I also think the windows would look nice with some tweaks.

 

 

 

[sjrixon]

The signal box is underway!

 

I wasn't going to attach it to a base, but the steps were going to be too fragile to be done in fresh air. The railing was quite quick in the end, some pretty stiff 1mm brass rod. Just drilled out the holes in the walkway and pushed the uprights in, the rail was then bent around and soldered on, simple!

 

[Andrew P]

I have to say, Shunting using the Cards certainly adds to the running, a Passenger Service between Shunts can also be a Brain stormer.

 

If the Box has sentimental value, then I say use it, with a little work it will look good.

 

All the best and keep the pics coming Scott.

[sjrixon]

The wife went out last night, so I had an hour to do some modelling.. As I know how much room I need for the box, off we go!

 

More mess

 

 

Box in place it's tidy again..

 

 

Making more mess!!

 

[sjrixon]

With the 13:22 departed, John went to put the lamp away before going for a well-deserved cup of tea.

 

 

(I'll take the next one with a decent camera!)

Edited August 27, 2017 by sjrixon

[sjrixon]

I was a little worried I'd got carried away with the weathering on the lamp hut. But I think I'm going to leave it for now.

 

The box is also coming along nicely. The stairs are finished, the railings look good and the windows are all but done. 

 

 

It's going well at the moment!