Brewery Sidings Junction

[idlemarvel]

I have started on a new layout to very approximately represent Brewery Sidings Junction near Newton Heath, Manchester, sometime in the 70s, post steam.  I have found a few nice YouTube videos showing the signalbox workings at Brewery Sidings and nearby Miles Platting, and track layout at signalbox.org.  I have very little space (in my shed or "man cave" as my wife calls it) so the layout is limited to 4' x 6' (more than a micro hence "mini").   Picture of shed below. 

 

I will have to simplify the actual track layout (at the time, it is much simplified nowadays) due to usual space limitations.  I have lots of settrack so that's what I will use (code 100) but with Peco medium sized points, slips and crossovers.  I will include a proposed track plan later. Baseboard is shown below.

 

 

You can see it is a standard 4' x 6' baseboard, framing in 18x69mm timber with 6mm MDF topped with 4mm cork tiles.  The legs are made from stud timber braced on 3 sides.  You will also notice a big hole in the middle (approx 2' x 4') which is for operator access (it has to be against a wall on more or less 3 sides) but you have to imagine it will have removeable scenary section in the middle, lower than the track (track is at rooftop level in prototype).  The scenary will have high buildings (factory, warehouse) to try and hide the track loop, and I plan to feature the Rochdale canal.  And of course the Brewery Sidings signal box.  I hope to be able to make a feature of the signalling, which was mixed colour and semaphore at the time.

 

Lots of work to do which should keep me busy over winter.

 

[idlemarvel]

I have been doing some research on the track layout and here is the situation as of 1986/87 from signalbox.org and other sources:

 

I don't have room for the down goods, so this is the proposed layout so far:

 

 

I have also moved the up goods to the "inside" as the up and down main and up goods connect to 4th, 3rd and 2nd radius curves.

 

This is not too different from the layout as of today:

 

 

The signal box has been demolished and AFAIK all the semaphore signals have gone.

 

As I have quite a bit of modern stock and I going to see if I can make the layout suit both 70s and modern era.  I can make the signal box removeable, but making the sempahore signals (which I want to be operable) removeable / swappable with colour signals will be tricky.

[idlemarvel]

I have come up with a track plan, see below.

 

Basically it is three loops, 2 outside are up and down main, inside loop is for goods.  The top of this diagram is the front of the layout.  There is a (disused) siding which will double as programming track.  The whole layout will be scenic, and as mentioned before the middle cutout will contain removeable scenery modules with high buildings at the rear to hide the return loops, to some extent.

 

I have done a dry run laying the track, shown below:

 

[Neal Ball]

Good luck with your new project!

 

Plus - Welcome to RMWeb!

[idlemarvel]

Thanks Neal.

Managed to spend some more time on the layout.

I have started laying the track.   I have decided to use pre-ballasted underlay, for several reasons:

- I'm tired of applying ballast the "conventional" way (ballast granules and diluted PVA)

- It's a pain to get off if you want to reuse or relay the track

I acknowledge the conventional approach gives the most realistic results but I thought I'd try a different approach.  I've tried plain foam underlay and although it was easy to lay it did not look at all realistic even when painted and weathered.

 

This is where I've got to after about an hour:

 

The effect I'm going for looks like this:

 

If I weather the brown ballast between the rails and lay a mix of brown and white ballast between tracks it might give the right sort of effect.

 

I have also started fitting Cobalt slow motion motors:

 

They're quite easy to fit if you drill the holes from above beforehand, as per the instructions.  Well, as easy as anything which involves trying to fit four small screws upside down while crouching under the table!  I found it much easier once I used some velcro sticky tabs to hold the motor in place before fitting the screws.

[The Bigbee Line]

When is the next instalment?  Interested to see how the underlay looks when painted.

[Jaggzuk]

I like the idea of this one, and looking forward to see the progress on here.

 

 

 

As I am hoping to build a small layout for my young son, who currently has a single OO loop on the floor, I am surprised at how much track you got into a 6x4.  So can I ask what the radiuses you have used of the set-track loops?

 

 

All the best for thuis one.

 

Paul

[idlemarvel]

I like the idea of this one, and looking forward to see the progress on here.

 

 

 

I am surprised at how much track you got into a 6x4.  So can I ask what the radiuses you have used of the set-track loops?

 

 

All the best for thuis one.

 

Paul

 

Thanks Paul.  I've used a mixture of 4th 3rd and minimum 2nd radius.  I can include a track layout showing the individual pieces if that would help.

[idlemarvel]

When is the next instalment?  Interested to see how the underlay looks when painted.

 

I have finished the underlay and will be doing some basic weathering this weekend.  I'll include a picture then.  So far it has taken about 4 hours.

[Jaggzuk]

  I can include a track layout showing the individual pieces if that would help.

That would be useful if it is not to much trouble.

[idlemarvel]

Here is annotated layout showing set-track pieces.  You can use Hornby or Peco for the curves and straights but I used Peco turnouts/points.  You could adapt the layout to use Hornby express points or standard 2nd radius points .  The distance between tracks is the "Hornby" 2.6" which allows for trains passing on 2nd radius curves.  There are a couple of short straights that need to be cut from flextrack, and one of the 3rd radius curves needs to be trimmed a bit.  (Why do Peco turnouts use 12 degree angles not 11.25 degrees?).  In my layout the siding is there as a disused siding "for future development" but you could use it as an entrance to a small MPD or goods yard.  Hope this helps.

[idlemarvel]

Done some basic weathering on the ballast.  It won't win any prizes but I'm quite pleased with the quick result.

 

 

It looks a lot better than basic foam underlay.  I have found with foam underlay you have to secure the points quite firmly to avoid any "play" with the point movement, otherwise the point motors don't always switch all the way.

 

Also started work on semaphore gantry:

 

 

Dapol gantry kit with Hornby home signal.  I know these are terribly out of scale but I have tried to build Ratio kits and they are too fine for my clumsy fingers and failing eyesight.  Also the Hornby ones are sturdy enough and easy to motorise.

 

Finally a basic wiring diagram for the track power, shows the where the droppers are.  I have used insulfrog points with IRJs on the frog toes.  The disused siding is isolated so I can switch it from track power to programming.

 

 

[peanuts]

gonna follow this one with interest as philips park no 1 was my first box in 1990 and milesplatting jn my third in 1993  shame all the sidings were gone by that time 

[idlemarvel]

Finally got the track power done (DCC).  It was pretty straightforward except the crossing was a b@stard. I couldn't get it to stop shorting on almost all my locos.  It's a Peco insulfrog long crossing.  I tried using insulated rail joiners as for all the insulfrog points, but that cured the shorting on the approach but not after the crossing.  I tried nail varnish but that didn't work consistently and extended the dead area too much leading to stalling.  Finally I did what I should have done in the first place, which is to switch the power on/off according to the direction, using the adjacent point as the switch, as per the Peco leaflet "Wiring Peco pointwork for use with DCC".  As I was using Cobalt motors, they already have two independent switched circuits driven by the point setting, so it was just a matter of soldering 4 wires to the bottom of the crossing, wiring those to the Cobalt motor and applying track power to the the centre terminals.  Now no short circuits and no stalling (no dead track).  I won't say it was easy and I wasn't anticipating so much work for what I naively thought was a simple crossing, but you live and learn. :-)

 

Next job is the signalling.

[ess1uk]

looking good

[idlemarvel]

Small update but a fair amount of planning and prototyping gone into this.  I have added and automated some signalling, colour and semaphore, and where possible I have "interlocked" it with the points.  Short video clip on Youtube

 

The black signal gantry is a kit-bashed Dapol model C017, the 3-aspect lights are from TrainTech, and most of the automation electronics is from Heathcote.  I had some trouble with the TrainTech lights, which was my fault not the manufacturers.  I saw they came in a kit which is what I wanted, as I only needed the heads, but the lights come fitted on a long PCB strip that looks like a coffee stirrer.  Normally this would fit in the "pole" of a normal signal, so I have to cut that off and very carefully solder some fine telephone wire to the remaining PBC.  Fitting the back of the lights on after that was tricky, and I haven't quite fixed the light leakage yet.  The Heathcote IR detectors were easy to install, and I also used their servo motor control board for the semaphore signals as they make it very easy to adjust the throw of the servo motor arm after the control wire has been fitted to the signal, and you can also adjust the speed.  They are still a bit too quick in the video.

[idlemarvel]

Some time since I worked on this layout.  I got side-tracked (as you do) with a micro layout (see Sparewood) and a holiday.

I have had a go at recreating the signal-box at Brewery Sidings.  I took the basic Metcalfe card model which was a reasonable match to the original and modified it to have a door and steps at the rear.  I painted the woodwork maroon and added a layer of clapperboard below the window cleaning platform, and added some simple 3D window sills and applied some basic weathering.

 

(rather well dressed signalman returning from bio-break)

 

 

I added a flue and toilet soil pipe from plastic coated wire.  The woodwork was painted with poster paints mixed to approximate colour.  Being a card model, if you slip with the paintbrush it's a bit of a disaster as no way can you remove the paint completely.  I made one slip but I recovered with a photocopy of the original piece made on self adhesive paper, cut to shape and stuck over the mis-painted area.  As Eric Morecombe used to say about Ernie Wise's wig, "you can't see the join".  I used the same technique to add the layer of clapperboard below the window cleaning platform.

 

It's not meant to be an accurate rendition of the prototype, but it gives a reasonable feel and given that it's my first attempt at weathering I'm happy with the end result.