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Moxley Heath - 7mm Lt Rly - Carl Arendt Challenge


Guest Jim Read

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Guest Jim Read

I lost interest in the 00 layout I was going to make on this board and just left it hanging on the wall for a year.

A few weeks ago I decided to resurrect the board and do it in 0 Gauge, taking on Carl Arendt's challenge of a working layout in 4 sq ft. The fiddle/traverser is only 15" long and would not take a loco and two wagons so I decided on a small loco length 7" fixed extension.

Here's the track plan.

fmjsm1.jpg


And this is where I am at the moment.

2qcgy90.jpg

The building on the right will be in front of the fiddle and I will do a mirror print of the terraced houses.

Exhibitions I will be at the following with the layout, many thanks for the invitations.

Saturday the 8th September 2012
Gildersome Baptist Church, Church Street, Gildersome, Leeds, West Yorkshire

Saturday the 6th October 2012
Heathcote Group, Shepshed High School, Forest Street, Shepshed (near Loughborough), Leicestershire


Jim

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looks cool :)

I agree with the above - small space / big scale rocks.

 

not wishing to be a killjoy- I guess the layout is the classic inglenook - give or take - if so, will the loco runround help much? is there no way of extending the traverser by the same length?

 

feel free to a ) shoot me down (then I will learn something - if only to keep me gob shut) or b ) ask me to show you how I did it better (when I will hang my head in shame and make excuses about spending time building stock with nowhere to run it...)

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Guest Jim Read

Hello CM,

 

Nice to find you here :-)

 

The reason for the extension is twofold, I can only get 4ft into my little car and I have to move the seat forward to do that, Imagine if you will a train of a 4 wheel coach and little [CM&DPR] brake van, loco first as a workmans train entering and pulling up at a little plaform. The train has to be reversed to pull out again loco first, the fixed extension + the traverser will allow this to be done, taking the place of two points making a loop.

 

After that has been done imagine two wagons on the other [top on the plan] traverser track, the loco has to get behind these to shunt and swap them, again the extension + traverser is used to position the loco behind these two wagons. Extending the traverser would not allow any of the above moves to be made.

 

As for the idea well it's taken from Moor St Station in Birmingham where there was a traverser loco release I used to watch it as a child, I just inverted it.

 

Thanks for the question I expect lots of people will thank you for it :-)

 

Jim

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Jim Read

Hello all,

 

Decided to call it Moxley Heath, a twig off the Moxley Light Railway to serve a couple of factories.

 

53r4mt.jpg

 

I've made the point and laid the rest of the track and sprinkled it with a few wagons to see what it looks like.

 

Jim

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I like this. The "simple" addition of the traverser to the plan giving the run round potential adds considerably to the operating potential. Yet another layout that says that 7mm is perfectly workable in a small space.

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Guest Jim Read

Hello Kenton and hello Dave,

 

I'll be wiring it up very soon so that I can try it out especially the point. I have used the blades as a switch in the past with just a loop of thick wire under the board linked to the frog. This time I'm using wire in the tube actuated by a DPDT slide switch and will have a go at using the switch to change the frog polarity.

 

Thanks both for the nice comments :-)

 

Jim

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Guest Jim Read

Hello CM and Hello Job,

 

Thanks both for the comments.

 

I suspect the space is due to the wide angleness of the lens :-) though I do seem to be able to get a reasonable amount of stock onto it and can of course assure anyone reading this that it was totally unplanned and the operation left completely to chance. Just like the real thing!

 

Cor blimey!! I've been looking at DLT's Charmouth layout and have written to him about the rail spikes he uses and have also found some made by a place called Micro Engineering, I must do that it looks Reely Grate! [as they say in Moxley]

 

Jim

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Hi Jim,

 

Thanks for the comments, the spikes I have used are by KBscale, http://www.kbscale.c...rack-parts.html But they are specifically for narrow gauge, so might be a bit small for your standard gauge track

 

Paul Martin at EDM Models sells the Micro Engineering track parts, check http://www.ngtrains....Track/track.htm and scroll down to near the bottom. Again their spikes are aimed at narrow-gauge, but might be more what you are looking for. I haven't seen them up close myself, so I can't comment on their actual size.

 

You are right to take this route, you can't beat the look of handbuilt track, especially on a small layout where its not too much of a chore. Be warned though, I have used a soft trackbase made of dense fibreboard (trade name Sundeala) so that the spikes can be pushed in with a pair of fine-nosed pliers. They go right through the sleepers and into the trackbase, holding everything down. Not sure how this would work with your plywood baseboards, but I know others have done it so its certainly worth persevering with.

 

Hope this helps,

All the best, Dave.T

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Guest Jim Read

Hello Dave,

 

Thanks for the comprehensive reply I'm really grateful to you, I've emailed NGTrains to ask about the size of their spikes and those from KB look just right, I've used Code 100 [00] rail so I don't really mind if they are a bit small.

 

I am reminded of the Bishops Castle Railway they would cut down lineside trees and use them as sleepers and then have to cut down the saplings that grew out of them and if they had some big nails they would use them to hold the rail in place :-)

 

Thanks for the tip about the board I would drill a hole for each of the spikes, won't take long on a small layout like this.

 

And yes I agree handbuilt track and points do look good [full of self congratulation] the first point I ever made was complete scrap but the second one worked fine. Yow doan arf lern alot from jus dooin it.

 

Jim

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those from KB look just right, I've used Code 100 [00] rail so I don't really mind if they are a bit small.

The KBscale spikes should be fine with code100 rail

 

Thanks for the tip about the board I would drill a hole for each of the spikes, won't take long on a small layout like this.

You could try pushing them in first, success will depend on how hard or soft your plywood is.

 

the first point I ever made was complete scrap but the second one worked fine. Yow doan arf lern alot from jus dooin it.

Absolutely. You can read books and "how to" articles till the cows come home, but you'll never learn without having a go!

 

All the best,

Dave.

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Guest Jim Read

Hello all,

 

I must speak up about KBScale and David Janes the owner, I emailed him about the length of his track spikes and got an answer in ten minutes, I've ordered 1,000 of them.

 

www.kbscale.com

 

Gold Star Service award Reely Grate

 

Jim

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Guest Jim Read

Hello CM,

 

Reely Grate well yes the mind boggles :-)

 

Here's the pic of the point, it's code 100 rail soldered to copperclad strips, it's 34" radius which will take something like a Terrier easily. It rest on 2 sheets of thin card to bring it up to the height of the plain track. Some bits of it are not soldered I'm waiting to see how it goes when wired up all I've done so far is push a wagon through it and had to extend the lower check rail a bit.

 

okpxec.jpg

 

It's operated by the wire in the tube, until now I've always used those old Hornby point levers right next to the point, easy to fix if something goes wrong at an exhibition. The DPDT switch will, I hope alter the frog polarity as well, if it moves far enough to make its own contacts. The brass bit with the two screws is cut from some terminal strip and makes a great adjuster for the throw.

 

2e4cjeo.jpg

 

If anyone would like the drawing please send me a message and I'll email it to you.

 

Jim

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Guest Jim Read

Hello Jack,

Thanks for the comment about my point, sorry to hear that your having problems with yours I do hope you manage to sort it out.

You also gave me the impetus for completing the wiring on my layout, and much to my delight the DPDT switch will go full throw and I've used it to change the frog polarity. I tried the layout with a couple of locos and it worked fine and so did the point much to my amazement.

I did a little video for you Jack of the longest loco I've got, a Manning Wardle Class L pushing the longest van a 10ft wheelbase LBSC one which in turn is pushing an 18ft wheelbase 4 wheel coach. As you can see they go through fine.


http://youtu.be/Y2koIUdme2M

Jim

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very nice :)

please could I have a copy of the plan? about time I learned to make track...

it might even be short enough to let me put a siding in charlie's yard, not just a single track

what have you used for the sleepers on the plain track? I am sure it says somewhere, but can't find it

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