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Making a start on a box file layout (and my first ever blog thread!)

 

Having completed a layout on an ironing board I said to myself that I would take a year off modelling at home in order to progress the club's new EM gauge layout, but after two months I succumbed and decided to have a go at a box file layout. 

 

N gauge is the obvious choice, to maximise operating potential, but I don't have any N gauge stuff, so to keep costs down (another important consideration!) it had to be 00 gauge, so i could use my existing rolling stock. After a few sketches i settled for three box files, two being scenic and one for the fiddle yard. The appearance would be that of a run down urban goods yard, with a small passenger platform. To keep the costs down, I thought I would make my own track, but soon discarded this idea and settled for second hand Peco setrack points and streamline track. Buildings would be made from printed downloads.

 

Playing about with some bits and pieces to hand, and in the scrapbox, produced this idea. A single short platform (suitable for a railbus or a very short auto-train), a coal siding, a private siding adjacent to a factory loading dock and another siding adjacent to a canal. Casting around for a name produced 'Brierley Canal Road', suggesting an almost forgotten station in an old part of a Midlands town.

 

 

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Edited by Booking Hall
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Best of luck with this.

 

Have you decided how to join the boxes together ?  I've previously used magnetic handbag clasps...

 

This is my version of a 3-box layout.

 

http://stubby47.co.uk/default.asp?page=lay002

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/32981-stubbys-latest-boxfile-layout/

Edited by Stubby47
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Best of luck with this.

 

Have you decided how to join the boxes together ?  I've previously used magnetic handbag clasps...

 

This is my version of a 3-box layout.

 

http://stubby47.co.uk/default.asp?page=lay002

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/32981-stubbys-latest-boxfile-layout/

Hello Stubby, thanks for reading the post and commenting. I've had a look at your box file layout and I think it's excellent. It is the sort of thing I hope to achieve. Connecting the boxes together - great idea to use handbag clasps, I hadn't thought of that, but I'm going to make a footbridge assembly and tunnel/road overbridge assembly which will slide snugly down over the adjoining ends of the files, and (hopefully) should keep them together!

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Looks interesting, I will follow with interest.

 

Jerry.

Thanks Jerry, I hope progress will be fairly rapid. I'd like to have it complete in about 3 months maximum, although I planned to build my ironing board layout in six months, and it took two years!!!

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So, with one of the aims being to keep costs to the minimum, I looked out for some secondhand track and points at a recent model railway exhibition. Two good lengths of streamline track cost £2, but although there were points a-plenty, none of them were Peco Setrack. Streamline short radius points would have done at a pinch, but Setrack ones are 10-15mm shorter, and are tighter, and I need all the help I can get in such a small footprint. Ebay came to the rescue and two left hand and one right hand Setrack points were obtained for barely the cost of one new one.

 

While waiting for them to arrive, I decided to make a start by building the station buildings using the Scalescenes small station kit, just to see how well (or otherwise) it would fit in. Three evenings work saw it completed, apart from making some chimney pots. I slightly modified the kit by adding some scratchbuilt valancing to the waiting shelter canopy, as it looked a bit bare without it. I know that the WR AC Cars railbuses didn't run in the midlands, but until I motorize my Dapol Park Royal railbus, it'll have to do!

 

 

 

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Edited by Booking Hall
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The points have arrived, so they were test fitted and the holes for the bridge and tunnel cut, after that I cut the track to length and fixed it all down with Evostik 'Timebond', after soldering the electrical feed(s) in place. These will connect to the controller through a connecting plug and socket, hidden behind one of the 3D buildings.

 

The industrial town backscene also arrived from 'Townscene' so I spent some time playing about with it to work out the best height. Unfortunately, if I set it low enough for the bottom edge to be hidden by the 9ft high wall I want around the coal yard, it didn't give the right perspective, and the lower infill section provided in two places would be too low, meaning I'd have had to cut off all of the roadway which needs to be an integral part of the view through the open gates to the yard. So I had to set it higher, but then there was a blank bit showing which I decided to hide by photographing the terraced houses I built for the club layout, to act as a low relief 'screen'. The fact that I have had to cut them off at window bottom level won't show as the yard wall will obscure it. The sky I photographed myself and printed out in sections. Those on the left hand box cover match very well, but there is an obvious difference in shade on the right hand one. Hopefully this won't be as obvious once the 3D buildings sit in front of it.

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Booking Hall
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I've had a busy week in other ways this week, so not much done on the layout; but I have made a start on the low relief factory which I'm building from a Model Railway Scenery download. I've modified it slightly to include some loading bay doors which will connect to the loading platform adjacent to one of the sidings. I still have to decide exactly where to cut the frontage horizontally, so the box lid will close, and how to hide the joint! I'm thinking initially of a pipe or cable run.

 

 

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I like the idea of the fold down front bits, but still think that building layout on the lid so you can have tall buildings in box at back is better . I am wondering if I might make the front(top in mine) to open, so it is easier to see .

Getting it all to fold together can be tricky but I enjoy the challenge.As long as everything is positioned correctly it all goes together. I try not to have any parts that have to be assembled, but I do have sections of rail to join tracks across boxes, and for my French layout I had a detachable cover for the fiddle area.

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I like the idea of the fold down front bits, but still think that building layout on the lid so you can have tall buildings in box at back is better . I am wondering if I might make the front(top in mine) to open, so it is easier to see .

Getting it all to fold together can be tricky but I enjoy the challenge.As long as everything is positioned correctly it all goes together. I try not to have any parts that have to be assembled, but I do have sections of rail to join tracks across boxes, and for my French layout I had a detachable cover for the fiddle area.

Hi, thanks for the post. I chatted to you about box file layouts at the Blackburn charity exhibition in January. I'm beginning to think the same way as you now, seeing how the difficulties in arranging tall buildings to fold or assemble are mounting up! But I would have concerns about the lid staying flat enough for track laying. Mine have already started to 'bow'. Still, as you say, it's a good mental workout!

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Hi, thanks for the post. I chatted to you about box file layouts at the Blackburn charity exhibition in January. I'm beginning to think the same way as you now, seeing how the difficulties in arranging tall buildings to fold or assemble are mounting up! But I would have concerns about the lid staying flat enough for track laying. Mine have already started to 'bow'. Still, as you say, it's a good mental workout!

What I was trying to show at the Blackburn show was that it was possible. I have had no problems with the lids, but I did stick down a thin corrugated piece of cardboard. This was initially to raise track, but I have now found it best place to run the wires. One thing you don't want to do with cardboard is get it wet, and with my new layout, I have used Wilkinsons brown filler as ballast, and taken care when glueing scatter etc. I was planning to ballast track in conventional way, so fitted a thin piece of card to base of track, so I could ballast in a safe area,then glue(superglue is my prefered glue) this all to the lid. So far, I have had no problems with the lid warping. Hopefully my new British HO boxfile layout will be ready soon, and then I can write about it and why I chose to model in HO.

I plan to have the French boxfile layout at the Blackpool tram exhibition in June, and the KWVR gala in July. I am at Heywood(Rochdale) this weekend with another of my layouts and showing people how to use my 3d tram track, and a small one dayer at Rishton Church the following Saturday.

 

 

Just had a thought about why the lids might be warping, and that is because they are not flat. As I have the lid  on table, they are being held flat.

Edited by rue_d_etropal
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What I was trying to show at the Blackburn show was that it was possible. I have had no problems with the lids, but I did stick down a thin corrugated piece of cardboard. This was initially to raise track, but I have now found it best place to run the wires. One thing you don't want to do with cardboard is get it wet, and with my new layout, I have used Wilkinsons brown filler as ballast, and taken care when glueing scatter etc. I was planning to ballast track in conventional way, so fitted a thin piece of card to base of track, so I could ballast in a safe area,then glue(superglue is my prefered glue) this all to the lid. So far, I have had no problems with the lid warping. Hopefully my new British HO boxfile layout will be ready soon, and then I can write about it and why I chose to model in HO.

I plan to have the French boxfile layout at the Blackpool tram exhibition in June, and the KWVR gala in July. I am at Heywood(Rochdale) this weekend with another of my layouts and showing people how to use my 3d tram track, and a small one dayer at Rishton Church the following Saturday.

 

 

Just had a thought about why the lids might be warping, and that is because they are not flat. As I have the lid  on table, they are being held flat.

Interesting thoughts - there might be a Mark 2 brewing!!!

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So, the idea of using the two bridges to clamp the boxes together seemed less promising the more I thought about it, as the structures would be quite flimsy. I tried making a couple of metal clips but they weren't springy enough. The answer seems to be 'fold back clips' as used in offices. They hold very firmly, lie flat and the handles can be detached after fitting in place. I won't be able to fold them flat as shown because the retaining walls, which will be a permanent structure, will be in the way. Also, I can fit the underside of the bridges with magnets so they will be held in place against the clips!

 

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Edited by Booking Hall
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With the final locations of the buildings as yet unresolved, today I decided to make a start on the footbridge which will disguise the joint between the two scenic boxes. Plate girders cross the railway and spear point metal fencing will protect the remainder. There will be steps leading down to the station platform and the walkway will sit on a blue brick retaining wall with arches.

 

 

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Edited by Booking Hall
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No model building over the weekend due to exhibition commitments with the club layout, but today sees the footbridge deck pretty much completed. Some 15mm diameter x 1mm thick neodymium magnets have been fitted into the underside to hold it in position acting on the foldback clips. Fencing at the 'short' end will have to wait until the staircase to the platform is positioned and the relationship of the railway footbridge to the canal overbridge is worked out. The canal, which will be derelict, is going to run along the front of the layout, on the drop down flaps. It all needs weathering, of course, but that's for another day.

 

 

 

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Edited by Booking Hall
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Today saw the first section of arched wall made, though not yet permanently fitted in place. The blue engineering brickwork is from the Scalescenes scratchbuilder yard. The door and window is extracted from another of John's kits. The paling fencing is Ratio GWR spearpoint, the plate girders are cut from a very old PECO girder bridge moulding, and the gas lamp is a PECOscene one.

 

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If you can, and don't need them, take the lugs of the point tie bars and whittle down the sleepers where the point motor would fit underneath. Despite still being Peco points, it really improves the look of them.

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If you can, and don't need them, take the lugs of the point tie bars and whittle down the sleepers where the point motor would fit underneath. Despite still being Peco points, it really improves the look of them.

Hi Stubby, that's a good suggestion. I did originally plan to have remote operation for the points using wire in tube, but decided that the projecting ends at the back of the box might be too vulnerable to damage, so as i have to lean over and uncouple the stock by hand anyway, i decided that I could just as easily change the points that way as well.

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Nothing done on the railway today, just found time for an experiment in making a cobbled surface by scribing a piece of pizza foam base, and painting it with poster paint. As a technique it seems to have possibilities, if I can get the scale of the setts correct, and I'm thinking that the surface could be pressed down by a finger to suggest hollows and ruts. Best thing is, I've dozens of pieces of raw material as I've been collecting them thinking that 'they might come in useful one day'!

 

 

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Short section of arched wall now made and test fitted. Need to make the wall returns to line the bridge opening now and add rainwater pipes etc. Also need to increase the height of the arches cut through the box sides so they're less visible from low angles, and will then hopefully look more like girders! Trying out the camera on my tablet as it can get in where my DSLR can't.

 

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The last couple of days have seen the bridge opening increased in height slightly, and squared up, dummy plate girders made and fitted to the soffit, packing pieces fixed in place, rainwater pipes and hoppers made and fitted, the bridge lined through and both sides of the arched walls glued in place. Phew! Bit of a tight squeeze for the 08. The broken rainwater pipe and slightly askew pilaster capping are intentional by the way . . . .

 

 

 

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Edited by Booking Hall
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Next bit completed is the end wall of the station yard. I've made a (very) low relief northlight factory wall, and rather than make it with a removable top section to allow the lid to close, I made it in one and it holds in place with some magnetic strip left over from a shopping list pad that used to sit on the fridge door. The keeper is a length of thin steel cut from a Pepsi can.

 

The rainwater pipes are cut from a wooden kebab skewer and the hoppers are sections cut from a piece of square plastic tube. the collars/fixings are jewellers thin copper wire wrapped around twice and twisted to form a tail at the back. The ghost sign is home-made by printing out the wording at the right size, cutting it out to make a stencil and dabbing it on the wall with white poster paint on a tissue.

 

I'm starting to get the 'hemmed in' look I was after.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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