Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.

[MarshLane]

Really enjoying following the progress of Lancaster Green Ayre. Only seen it once on exhibition but have followed quietly in the background more regularly on here!

 

Full of admiration for how you not only deal with something that size in a small space, but also manage to transport it across the country!

 

Rich

[jamie92208]

More to report tonight.  We've now got the station board and the start of the Castle Branch and shed tracks (Boards B3 and B4) erected at the clubroom. Last night e spent some time looking at photos of the station to sort out how many lamps, barrows, seats etc that we need.  I actually found kits for most of them.   Tonight Sam made a start on the point rodding by carefully dismantling all the old Long Preston Point rodding into component parts.   We then sketched out where the runs are going to be and Sam will start modifying the rodding stools to get the right number that we need.  Meanwhile his dad John has made  start on assembling some platform barrows and is then going to have a go at some of the S & D lamp kits.

 

I worked on the spear fencing for the exit from the goods yard and got the first stretch and the gates glued into position.  It looks quite good.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

 

Work has continued both at the clubroom and at home.  The great tidy up of my modelling room has meant that certain detail items have surfaced having not seen the light of day for many years. One of the tings that I am doing is to finish off the detailing of the Overhead line masts in the station area.  Gantry 20 had come loose on one of it's mountings and Gantry 19 didn't have it's registration arms or insulators.   These are all small items.   The registration arms in particular are some lovely little castings made from a master created by Russell Whitwam.   Unfortunately when I specified it several years ago I didn't work out how they were going to be mounted.  Now I've got to file some tiny boltheads off the mounting clevis's then drill a 0.55mm hole in their place.  These then need to have the two part V hangers mounted in the clevis using a lacemakers pin to secure them and allow the arm to pivot. This means soldering them with a piece of paper in the clevis.

Here are a few of them that I managed to assemble without breaking any of my drill bits.

The complete assemblies were then soldered into position on Gantries 19 and 20.  Here's Gantry 19 with two of the registration arms and insulator pots in place. This will get a coat of grey paint this afternoon.

 

Jamie

Edited July 26, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Another good evening's work at the club last night.

 

Here's the fencing and gates for the goods yard that got done last week,

The matching piece of fencing on the other side is installed on the correct board. We are also going to have a small removable protector board on the end of the baseboard.

 

Sam is working on the point rodding getting stools glued onto bases but we spent a bit of time last night getting Lancaster North signal box positioned. The concrete corner bases are Milliput and will be painted in due course.

They say the camera never lies so I will have to do some work on the alignment of the signal.

 

TTFN

 

Jamie

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Not an awful lot to report as I am away from the layout for 7 weeks.  We are currently in Bournemouth then got to France on Saturday.  I have however managed to secrete a crate of modelling items in the car.  This has even proved useful as I needed to apply a soldering iron to the power lead to the computer and a screwdriver to an errant kitchen cupboard.  Before I left last Friday I managed to get all the remaining HLE fittings installed between the platform canopies.  Some extra finials have been ordered and Sam is going to install them along with more point rodding in the station area.   The signal has been straightened up.

 

Hopefully I will manage to get my little 1F tank running while I'm in France and also hope to make o=some progress on the first EMU set. I did however discover that I'd come without the right Allen Key for slater's driving wheels and fortunately Squires have come to my rescue and are posting me a couple to Bournemouth.

 

I also managed to get some other things from the very helpful staff at the Bournemouth Model Railway Centre this afternoon.

 

Jamie

[sir douglas]

It has taken a while to get this far with only one length of rodding fixed down, i originally tried hydrocal footings for the rodding stools with pieces of coffee stirrer to sit them on but i wasnt happy with it so they were dug out and replaced with blocks of firework sticks. a base coat of black has been paintedc around the base of the signal box

26-6-2017 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

 

over time most of the station canopy finials have either got bent or broken off so Jamie ordered some more so i could replace the missing ones, but to start off with i have taken off all the finials to put them back on straight

[sir douglas]

3 of the cranks were soldered onto the rods, i couldnt start chipping out ballast for the rest of the rodding through the station but i forgot the mallet for the chisel, and i got some more stool bases stuck down

Edited July 4, 2017 by sir douglas

[sir douglas]

sorry no pics from last night but instead from Friday

 

setting 3 stool bases across the mainline for the point to the left under the canopy

14-7-17 (3) by Sam, on Flickr

 

2 showing the 2 points for the goods yard and shed locked together as a pair

14-7-17 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

 

14-7-17 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

 

that run of rodding can now have the bases painted and patch up the ballast

 

on friday and last night ive been laying the bases and some stools for the slip but im having trouble digging and cleaning the trenches into the ballast under the end of the platform behind the brass blocks in the first pic

[sir douglas]

I had to slew some stools a bit to create room for a point crank and the 2 cranks for the slip are now glued down, i have 1 crank left which I'll put under the platform edge

21-7-2017 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

[sir douglas]

2 steps forward and 1 step back.

 

i thought i could take the rodding to the far point under the platform edge before going across but on monday i realised it wouldnt work because of which way round the rods sit next to each other and one of the rods would have to go over a crank so obviously i cant do that so instead it will have to go straight across under the slip.

 

other than having to rip back up the stool bases and wasting the ballast that was dug up i painted the finished rodding

24-7-2017 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

24-7-2017 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

[jamie92208]

That's looking good Sam.  One of the problems is that most of the photos that we've got show the post 1933 arrangements where one central signal box o the down platform controlled the whole station and the rodding layout was totally different, thus we are having to design this layout from first principles, using the signal box diagrams for Lancaster North and Lancaster South boxes.

 

Jamie

[sir douglas]

sorry no photo

 

the short rodding to the slip is now done and ive cut some of the ballast across the mainline

[jamie92208]

I'm now back safely in the UK and am looking forward to seeing the progress on the layout when I get to the club tomorrow evening. I didn't manage to achieve much whilst I was away but did progress with installing the power lead to the layout.

It's hanging down from the ceiling in this picture.

There will be a standard caravan type socket on the end which connects with a male plug that leads down to the floor to a distribution board. This way no one has to step over a cable when looking at the layout.

 

I would have been able to wire it up but I forgot to take the socket and No1 son forgot to bring one.

 

I also met John Holden of Liverpool Lime Street today at the Sandtoft Trolleybus Gathering and had a good natter.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[Ohmisterporter]

Steady progress being made Jamie. Mention of an MR Steam railmotor "preserved" in Northumberland was made on the T3 thread, I had no idea that one still existed although it is hanging on grimly. Am I right in thinking that MR steam railmotors were built pending electrification of the L-M-H line?

 

http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=629

[jamie92208]

Steady progress being made Jamie. Mention of an MR Steam railmotor "preserved" in Northumberland was made on the T3 thread, I had no idea that one still existed although it is hanging on grimly. Am I right in thinking that MR steam railmotors were built pending electrification of the L-M-H line?

 

http://www.cs.vintagecarriagestrust.org/se/CarriageInfo.asp?Ref=629

Thanks for that. I wasn't aware that it had been moved from Shildon. it looks as if someone is trying to take care of it but it needs some tlc and preferably covered storage. They were part of a general move by several railway to produce low cost lightweight vehicles for branch lines. I know that the GWR, LNWR, Furness and L & Y had them and probably others. As far as I know they were not directly built pending electrification but it was trialled on the Heysham workings and there are several photos of it at Heysham. There is a booklet about them that was published by the Midland Railway Society but I'm not sure if it is still available. John Patrick has made the lovely model of it that runs on Green Ayre.

 

The trailer vehicles were almost identical to the trailer cars that were built for the electrification and the electric motor cars were very similar to the railmotor power cars. Deeley probably just had the existing designs adapted.

 

Jamie

[sir douglas]

setting the base for the last crank infront of the signal box and clearing up the board to start blending in the new work

 

5-8-2017 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

 

last monday Jamie made put in some hydrocal to fill around the stool bases and cover up some-what over the bare white hydrocal, now just needs a top up around the bases and covering over to blend in with th surrounding "black crap"

5-8-2017 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

 

this pic has just made me realise ive got some dirt on my camera lense

[jamie92208]

A good evening was had at the club. Sam spent some time gluing down more point rodding bases. Dave was working on cutting out a piece of balsa to surrounds a mast base in the platform. the real one was planted in a brick lined pit with sleepers around the column. This is what we ended up with.

Superglued to the lattice work. It now need painting and weathering.

The same has been done on the down platform around the signal base.

Th other end of the gantry sat on a block of concrete and this is what it looks like.

It needs blending in.

I also spent some time working out how to fit the canopy section that surrounds the ends of the station footbridge.

This is the end result. The bits all need painting and it won't be fixed until the footbridge is finished.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[sir douglas]

some of the canopy finials have been re instated, Dave painted the timber work around the overhead posts on the platform, Jamie has cut replacement canopy glazing and we have been fettling them and glueing them in, as we go around replacing glazing, we are also repairing the canopy framework. most of the point rodding is now done on this board except for the run down under the platform edge under the canopy to the far point

14-8-2017 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

14-8-2017 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

Edited August 16, 2017 by sir douglas

[Dava]

Looks like an engineers' possession! Will we get to see it electrified, fully running & complete before it heads to France?

 

Dava

[jamie92208]

Sam and I have had a good evening down at the club. Sam continued sorting the awning glazing out and I had a go at working out how the awnings would fit around the footbridge. The usually very detailed drawings are silent on this point. However the original construction drawing from 1889 has the following written on it.

"particular instructions will be given by Clerk of Works re cutting away of awning and finishing ????? against footbridge." In other words the draughtsman got bored and left the detailed work to the men on site.

 

the footbridge was built by Dave from etches that I prepared plus resin castings that he did. It needed a bit of work and I managed to get the window frame etches soldered on. The bridge was trial fitted and the two modified awning section fitted round it.

 

 

This shows the whole bridge in place. I've decided to glue the canopy pieces to the bridge then bolt the whole structure down through the platform and baseboard. The pillars are wider than the lattice section so I've cut some pieces of coffee stirrer to fill in the gaps. They show on here.

 

When glued in place they will strengthen the whole assembly. I also need to work out method of securing the awning sections to the wooden frames of the other awnings. If they can be screwed into place it will make the whole canopy a lot stronger for transport.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Evening all. Sam and I had a good evening at the club last night and Dave helped me with the footbridge which is now looking better. I glued the four lengths of threaded rod into it's pillars and then drilled holes in the platform so that it can be secured in the correct position.

 

Today I tidied enough of my modelling room to actually sit down and do some modelling. The main purpose was to get on with the EMU's in time for the photo session at the end of the month. The main problem has been the fiendishly complicated Slaters bogies. I force myself to get something done and after about 4 hours work had a motor coach actually sitting on some track This is the first time I've ever built a powered vehicle from scratch.

 

Here it is. quite long 60' in real life. One motor bogie as per the prototype and 1 trailing bogie of the same design used for the trailers.

A lot of head scratching went into getting the ride height correct and I succeeded at the motor bogie end. I need to put some more packing on the other end. There is also all the underframe detail to complete and the roof to cover plus painting and lining. The interior is complete.

 

This is what the end looks like.

This is the Westinghouse equipped motor with a diamond frame pantograph.

The motor bogie has two ABC traction motors.

The trailing bogie has been fitted with pick ups to lengthen the pick up wheelbase and hopefully improve running but I still need to hook it up to the motor bogie.

A real milestone.

 

Jamie

Edited July 27, 2022 by jamie92208

[Dava]

It will be wonderful to see the station completed, with catenary and a Midland EMU running. This was clearly part of the original vision behind the layout!

 

Dava

[jamie92208]

It will be wonderful to see the station completed, with catenary and a Midland EMU running. This was clearly part of the original vision behind the layout!

 

Dava

Thanks for that. It certainly was. I've always had a fascination for electric trains and did ride on the ex LNWR ones at Lancaster as a child and can remember the overhead at Heysham.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Evening all. I've decided that I must have done something very wrong in a previous existence and that Slater's bogies are my railway equivalent of the absolution task set out by a Catholic priest. 2 Bogies and a set of axleboxes sir for daring to suggest that red locos are better than green locos.

 

Anyway I decided to attempt another task today. The station footbridge badly needs a roof. I have the drawings so there is really no excuse. I set to work to make a framework from plasticard that could have thin ply attached to it. After a few calculations and some cutting and solvent use this was the result.

Then after it had hardened 1/32" ply was araldited over the girders.

An hour later this was the finished product.

 

Then it was down to the clubrooms, en route some masking tape was purchased and put on the ply then Dave painted it with Railmatch roof dirt.

This was the result.

I thought it looked better from this angle and it gives you some idea of the structure.

This is what the ends look like but I have no idea if there was a screen over the end by the 1920's.

That also shows the tapered H girder at the end fabricated from 20 and 40 thou plasticard.

Once the roof was tried in place I made a start on the upper staircases. As I've got no 4mm thick timber I used some Balsa and some more 1/32" ply to create 30 step units. The steps will have 13 risers and you can see my new one and one of the ones that Dave built some time ago. It's coming on.

 

Jamie

[sir douglas]

glued a few more breaks in the canopies and rebuilt one of them. this one hadn't been put together properly so ha gaps in it and this made it weaker and came apart more than the others, it was teased off the structure and taken apart to be cleaned up and rebuilt, the pic below shows it centre of shot glued back down and ready for glazing

21-8-2017 (1) by Sam, on Flickr