Northwick a oo gauge layout by Twickenham & District MRC

[Northwick Group]

Last Friday was the first running night of the year for northwick and as usual there was a theme with Terriers & pre-grouping stock being chosen. Here are some pictures of what was running.

 

 

And keeping with tradition we lined up all of the terriers at the end of the night (all 16 of them in case you were wondering)

 

[Northwick Group]

over the past couple of weeks we have been busy adjusting the second trench as we have now got a find to put in the bottom of the ditch, this will be a skeleton that is being uncovered. this resulted in the whole of the previous trench being dug up and then widened so that we could insert the skeleton, as pictured below.

 

 

it was then time to build up the surface so that the skeleton would be buried in the ditch, this had to be done in 2 steps due to the thickness of the vermiculite mixture required.

 

 

The first layer of soil has now been added, a second layer will be required to cover up any remaining patches that may show through, after this the area that the ditch is will be darkened down so that it will show up like it would in real life.

 

 

We have also been paying some attention to the cattle dock/ end unloading area the main focus at the moment has been to cut a hole in the wall of the end unloading ramp so that the couplings of the wagons will pass through is which then enables the buffers to touch the wall and so creating a far more realistic gap as shown in the pictures below.

 

 

and to show that it works we put the only road vehicle that we could find on the ramp being loaded.

 

 

the hole in the wall has since had the edges painted black and a strip of wood has been added above to act as the buffer beam, I would include a picture but i can't find id at the moment.

 

 

 

[steve W]

over the past couple of weeks we have been busy adjusting the second trench as we have now got a find to put in the bottom of the ditch, this will be a skeleton that is being uncovered. this resulted in the whole of the previous trench being dug up and then widened so that we could insert the skeleton, as pictured below.

 

 

it was then time to build up the surface so that the skeleton would be buried in the ditch, this had to be done in 2 steps due to the thickness of the vermiculite mixture required.

 

 

The first layer of soil has now been added, a second layer will be required to cover up any remaining patches that may show through, after this the area that the ditch is will be darkened down so that it will show up like it would in real life.

 

 

We have also been paying some attention to the cattle dock/ end unloading area the main focus at the moment has been to cut a hole in the wall of the end unloading ramp so that the couplings of the wagons will pass through is which then enables the buffers to touch the wall and so creating a far more realistic gap as shown in the pictures below.

 

 

and to show that it works we put the only road vehicle that we could find on the ramp being loaded.

 

I'm sure there's a suitable photo caption there somewhere.....especially with the discovery of 'human' remains further up this page.

[Northwick Group]

It has been a while since the last update so I thought that it was about time that I did one. Recently we had another one of our themed running nights and the theme was Pacific class locomotives, here are some pictures.

 

First 2 trains were hauled by Tornado and bittern.

 

BR Standard Class 6 Clan Bucannan arrived with the next train

 

Br Standard Class 7 Britannia also made an appearance.

 

LMS Princess Royal Class Princess Arthur of Connaught arrived with the parcels.

 

LMS Duchess Class Sir William A Stanier FRS is turned on the turntable

 

SR Merchant Navy Class Channel Packet pulled into the station with its train

 

There was also an unusual freight train that arrived on the layout, this was the LNER cantilever set that has been scratch built by Tim, this consists of 5 wagons 2 Protrol B's (one at each end) 2 Flat Q's the next 2 wagons in form the ends (the ones with the cantilever armes on top) and the large well wagon in the centre is a Weltrol N the 2 cantilever arms attach to the weltrol N to enable it to carry heavier loads

 

 

There were also 2 other wagons attached to the back of the cantilever set the first being a Flat U which is a 8 axle flat wagon

 

 

The other wagon being a Flatrol AA that can go in the cantilever set instead of the Weltrol N

 

 

The set of 7 wagons are almost 5ft long from 1 end to the other and haveof 48 axles or 96 wheels in total!

Edited March 29, 2018 by Northwick Group

[sbduck]

I'm trying my luck at a cake box challenge as one of my non Northwick projects, why not look in on my 'blog' about it and tell me what you think.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/132913-put-your-back-into-it-lads/&do=findComment&comment=3112636

 

Hopefully it will be in a presentable condition in time for our Library event.

Edited April 4, 2018 by sbduck

[steve W]

I'm trying my luck at a cake box challenge as one of my non Northwick projects, ........

Get a move on then, .....

[sbduck]

Get a move on then, .....

I didn't say what year it would be finished ;-) :-D

Edited April 4, 2018 by sbduck

[Northwick Group]

It has been a while since the last post, recently Northwick went to Twickenham Library for the annual event that Twickenham & district MRC and is aimed to showcase what the club gets up to. this year Northwick was set up in its entirety and was operating, here are some pictures.

 

[Peter Crawford]

When's the 'layout rewire' going ahead. Hopefully not after your next exhibition outing! 

[steve W]

When's the 'layout rewire' going ahead. Hopefully not after your next exhibition outing! 

Ah! would you be volunteering? .

'I have a cunning plan', but like most of Baldrick's ideas, this one has got a few flaws which need ironing out. It's a bit more than a rewire as the PW dept will be doing some significant track alterations and we want to introduce a bit of route setting as well. Planning has started, last week in fact, 2000 feet up a Spanish mountain (well, there wasn't much else to do other than to meditate and monotonously recite Ohms law one hundred times before gin o' clock)

Cheers!

[Northwick Group]

Why not come and see Northwick in action in the flesh at Twickenham MRC's open day?

 

July 21st (10am to 4pm)

Kerswell Hall, Wills Crescent, Hounslow

TW3 2JF

 

For full details see www.tdmrc.org.uk

 

Hope to see some of you there!

[TEAMYAKIMA]

As a long time Twickenham MRC member, I can remember the early days when this layout was first built and it was nowhere near the standard you see today. A few years ago a new team took over the project at a time when it was past its best and that new team have extended and refurbished the layout beyond the committee's wildest dreams.

 

Nowadays I visit the club very rarely and so I am looking forward to seeing this layout running at our club open day this Saturday, July 21st 10am to 4pm.

 

For full details of all the exciting things we'll have on show please visit our website www.tdmrc.org.uk 

Edited July 16, 2018 by TEAMYAKIMA

[Northwick Group]

Here are a couple of pictures from last Fridays running session to wet you appetite on what to expect to see this Saturday on Northwick at the club's open day

 

 

Hope to see you there

[Northwick Group]

Last Saturday Northwick was up and running at the clubs annual open day, if you came along we hope you enjoyed seeing the layout running and if you did not have the chance to come and see it then here are some pictures from the event.

 

 

Even the archaeologists arrived in time for the open day

 

[Northwick Group]

It has been a while since the last up date but we have been busy rectifying the issue that we have been having with the goods yard and that is that the surface has been continually lifting in places over the past couple of months so we decided that it was time to take the plunge and strip back the affected area right back to the base board and start again. 

 

The first step was to start excavating where the worst of the raised bits was and we soon discovered the cause of the problem and that was there was roof felt at the base which had become detached from the base board and so was causing the rest of the area to lift, you should be able to see the roof felt in the center of this picture.

 

So we then set about removing all of the areas that were loose ready to start again.

 

once this had been done we then started the process of reconstructing the goods yard, the first step was to add a layer of the vermiculite, art mache, water and paint mixture that we used on the hill sections of the layout, this was done in 2 layers so as to allow each layer to fully dry before adding the next.

 

Whilst the second layer was drying we took a low level picture to show how level it was.

 

When the second layer had dried we then sanded the mixture back so that it was level with the original surface.

 

As we needed to "cover up" the fact that we had been there we decided that we would take the opportunity to change the colour of the goods yard surface from a dark grey ash colour to a brown dirt with stones in it as after much consultation it was decided tht this would be the more prototypical surface for a goods yard, to achieve this we first painted the new section a mixture of browns and blacks for a base colour and once dry we applied PVA to the surface and created a mixture of soil, ash, coal, and various colour and grades of ballast to put over the PVA. here is how it looked whilst it was still drying.

[Northwick Group]

Since the last update things have been moving quite quickly, first up is a picture of how the goods yard looked after the glue had dried and the excess hoovered off.

 

 

The main focus of the group has now been to make a start on relaying the track work on board 3 which is the first step for the re-wiring of the layout which will also be started soon, this was first mentioned in post #42!

Since the last post we have been busy coming up with ideas on how to redesign the route which the locomotives take from their platforms to the turntable. We have decided to do this because at the moment it takes too long to turn the locomotives and it also causes bottlenecks within the goods yard because the locos currently use part of the goods yard on the route to the turntable. Below is a sequence of layout diagrams showing the route which the locomotives currently take once the train has arrived at the station and the loco has uncoupled and pulled forwards to the buffers.

1. The loco reverses from platform 2 to the shunt signal outside of the signal box

2. The loco goes forward from the signal outside the signal box to the goods receiving road

3. The loco reverses from the goods receiving road to the shunt signal in a goods pilot siding 

 

4. The loco goes forward from the shunt signal in the good parts siding to the goods yard entrance

5. The loco reverses from the goods yard entrance to the turntable and gets turned.

Below is a diagram of the current version that we are thinking of using the new track is highlighted in blue, the trackwork that is going to be removed is highlighted in red,  during the brainstorming session we decided it would be a good idea to create a new siding for the station pilot (highlighted in green) as this will stop potential bottlenecks being created in the bay platform as the station pilot is currently stored in the carriage siding that comes off of the bay platform (location circled in red), it will also be one less manoeuvre for the station pilot to pick up the carriages in the platform. 

 

Here is a list of the points which are going to be used with corresponding numbers on the diagram.
1. Double slip - we are using this so that you still have access to all the platforms from the downline as well as the goods yard.
2. Asymmetrical three way point.
3. Right-handed A5 point.

This will result in a new shorter route for the locos to be turned whilst also keeping the operations within the goods yard and the engine yard separate. Below is a set of diagrams showing the new route that the locos will take to the turntable. 

1. The loco reverses from platform 2 to the shunt signal outside the signal box.

2. The loco goes forward from the shunt signal outside the signal box through the double slip and the three-way point to the engine yard entrance.

3. The loco reverses from the engine yard entrance to the turntable and gets turned.

Please let us have your thoughts and ideas if we can improve this further.
 

 

Since then all of the points that would be required for this have been built by Tim & Steve B and can be seen in their positions in the picture below ready for the lines to be drawn around them so that we could make a start on removing the existing track work.

 

 

Removal of the existing track then started we decided to remove everything right back to the baseboard as we knew that we would come across roofing felt as underlay for the track which has caused us plenty of problems previously when we adjusted the track work and left the roofing felt in the past.

 

 

Once the existing track work was removed along with the roofing felt underneath it we placed the new points in their positions to make sure that everything was lining up like we intended it to.

 

 

Whilst the permanent way department have possession of the track a  bus replacement service was implemented to ensure the passengers could still get to their destinations.

 

[Northwick Group]

After all of the destruction the reconstruction has now started, the first part was to put down a layer of cork where the track will be going, we then soldered on the dropper wires to the points and tested them out one more time to ensure that the position of the points were correct before drilling the holes in the base board for the droppers. 

 

 

once the points were in the right place we then made a start on making the straight section of track, we decided to make the straight parts of the track from the copper clad sleepers and rail in order to make use of what we had left over from making the points.

 

[steve W]

..... and then came the Pandemic.......

Subsequently it has taken a bit of time to get the layout going again, but rewiring is virtually complete with  a few snags being sorted on running nights.

[TEAMYAKIMA]

From what I've seen on the club's Facebook page, it's not only the layout's wiring that has come on in leaps and bounds lately - this recent photo shows a very well modelled layout with a highly professional presentation.