The box furniture has now been added and includes the booking-in desk, cupboard, stools, chair, clock and finally the two stoves.
The latter have been modified to act as electrical pick-ups for the lighting, Each stove has a sprung pick up added to the top of the stove pipe which makes electrical contact with copper tape attached to the underside of the roof.
This needs to be tidied up - one of the LEDs in the tube does not work and I have now obtained fresh supplies from Bromsgrov
Here are a few pics of the drain downpipes before painting. They are fabricated from 1mm brass tube with split pins soldered at appropriate points to represent the joints and fixings.
Photos of the stench pipe to follow.
I have revisited my copy of Midland Record No2 and have now found a way of representing the handrail clamps on the walkway so my next task is to make up the signal box walkways from nickel silver strip, brass pins and 0.3mm wire.
Chris Yates has finished building the 'temporary panel' for Lawrence Hill Junction signal box, another job done for which I am very grateful. I say temporary because it only controls the turnouts at present as I have yet to build the signals.
Chris has built in interlocking on the junction using relays with LEDs confirming turnout settings and the junction with entrance and exit to the shed yard is now fully operational.
Lawrence Hill Junction Panel
Lawrence Hill double junction
I completed the trackwork for the junction at Lawrence Hill a couple of months ago and now that I have the legs for the curved board I decided itwas time to lay the track. The junction is constructed off the layout using a templot track plan and has been constructed from ply sleepers using a combination of exactoscale functional chairs and rivets. I like using the latter on pointwork as it enables adjustment to the track before adding the cosmetic chairs.
Some re-alignment of the track on th
A package form York Modelmaking dropped through the letter box yesterday containing the laser cut parts for Lawrence Hill Signal Junc signal box which stands at the entrance to the shed yard.
I need to familiarise myself with the kit of parts but hope to start the build over the next week.
The box opened in 1908 and a replacement 45 levr frame was put in in 1938 at the time the shed was modernised with the installation of the coaling plant and ash tower.
To wet your appetite here
With the walkways now complete and painted - a coat of Halfords white primer with the planks given a wash of Humbrol 53+62 - the time has come to fix them, the steps and the firebuckets to the box.
I decided to fix the walkways to their support brackets using a thin coat of araldite so that removal for any repair at a future date is possible. Here are a selection of photos of the completed signal box - I hope you like the result - I certainly do.
Having formed and soldered up the two main support structures
the main beam was formed from two pieces of rail each 30mm long. There is a narrow gap between the two rails so I used a short length of 0.2mm nickel silver strip as a temporary spacer during soldering. I also used two additional pieces to join the rails together.
I have since modified this by using a couple of pieces of thin double sided pcb to make the beam insulated from the trackwork - [ Mark, I have taken note of you
I have done some research on the type of buffer stops used on the shed and have identified three different types in five positions:-
The first type is found on the headshunt alongside the coaling tower and has been difficult to identify as photos of this area have usually have a 16 ton mineral wagon blocking the view. I have managed to find a couple of useful shots one of which is courtesy of Patrick O'Brien on his flickr site:-
http://www.flickr.co...157625157165429
The buffer stop is to
Further progress on the wiring with Boards 14 and 15 now partially complete. The immediate object is to wire the complete circuit of the double track main line. Boards 14 and 15 are storage yard boards on which the bus bars are now fixed as are the inter board 'jumper' cables. The UTP cab bus units are also now wired.
Board 14
Board 14
Board 14
Board 15
I've just started on Board 16, with just 17 to 20 to go.
After a great deal of thought I've finally decided on a track plan for the fiddle yard - well the main bits anyway. There will be five storage sidings to the side of each of the up and down main running lines which will run through the middle of the sidings. The sixth track will be a run around loop for locos etc. This also has a pair of turnouts for additional storage into the four corners in order to maximize use of the space available. I am considering putting one or more loco turntables in t
Over the past couple of weeks I have added a 2mm layer of adhesive foam to the remaining boards including the seven in the fiddle yard. My choice of a roll of 10m x 1mm 'Envoy Multi Adhesive Underlay' via Ebay has proved relatively easy to lay and economic at just shy of £18 for the roll. The adhesive layer on one side needs careful handling when peeling back the clear plastic covering sheet but once in place it grabs well and sticks. You will not remove it easily. Made of recycled rubber tyres
Engine Shed Sidings signal box is now finished and has taken it's place on the layout. The box is constructed from a Churchward Models etched brass kit I picked up from Ebay, and contains a detailed interior from Springside items with armchair and signalmen from Modelu. The final items, shown in the photos, are the two downpipes which are attached using Modelu cast iron holderbats. Only the two nameboards to make.
To the north of Bristol Barrow Road shed and Lawrence Hill Junction there is an incline on an 1 in 60 gradient to Fishponds Station in the NE of Bristol. The gradient starts at 1 in 89 immediately under Barrow Road Arches, which is the road which bisects the shed yard. The working timetable limits the number of wagons descending this incline to 30. With this in mind I have just finished converting 15 Bachmann 16T minerals to P4 to add to some Parkside wagons to give a rake of 30.
Here is a
Having completed fitting all the droppers on the current scenic boards - roundhouse excluded - I have made a start on adding the BUS bars to the layout. I have decided to split the scenic section of the layout into a number of power districts or Zones as follows;
Zone 1 - Up Main
Zone 2 - Down Main
Zone 3 - Turnouts Group 1
Zone 4 - Turnouts Group 2
Zone 5 - Loco Shed Sidings
Zone 6 - Loco Shed coal/ash area
Zone 7 - Loco Shed rear sidings
Zone 8 - Loco Shed Turntable & Roundhouse si
It is a while ago since I did any wiring on the layout when the UP and DOWN main lines were partially completed and wired with their own BUS bars and droppers.
I decided it was time to get on with some more wiring and started making more droppers out of 1/0.6 wire, these being soldered onto double ended tags which can the be fixed to the underside of the boards.
Over 200 of these were made up in preparation for the task. The single core wire is easier to push through the 1.3mm holes drilled th
I am due to take delivery of the model of Days Road Bridge over the next few days so here are some photos of the model primed and ready for extra detailing and painting.
All photos courtesy of Chris Dening 3DCD
I have recently received delivery of the first of a new set of baseboards which will extend the layout into a continuous circuit with a long fiddle yard down the opposite side of the shed. This first board is at the rear of the shed and workshop and will allow trackwork extensions to the roads off the 20ft loco turntables outside the workshop; the sidings alongside the shed and workshop and an extension to the main line under Days Road Bridge towards Bristol Temple Meads. All the new boards are
Having added the single slip and extended the sidings onto the Days Road board I decide to do some work on the bridge itself. First task was to modify the parapet by removing the 'indents' and straightening the brickwork.
The bridge structure was fixed onto pieces of 6mm ply to form a base to set into the foam on the baseboard top.
The structure was given a coat of Halfords red oxide primer before the brickwork was detailed and weathered prior to a final blend coat of Humbrol
Having settled into the new large shed I have given some thought to extending the layout into a continuous run with a long fiddle yard down one side of the building with the layout along the other. With this in mind I need scenic breaks at each end of the layout. At the north end the break will be the road bridge at Lawrence Hill north of the Junction signal box, whilst at the south - Temple Meads - end it will be Days Road Bridge. For those of a certain age this will evoke memories of climbing
Just in time for Christmas here is D41 plus four Bachmann Mk1s on the first test of the Up Main from Lawrence Hill Junction through the storage sidings. The Bachmann Peak runs on a Rumney Models chassis courtesy of Justin and the Mk1s run on Bill Bedford bogies courtesy of Morgan - thanks to you both.
Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.
Robin
I have a rake of Comet coaches which I converted from 00 using Bill Bedford sprung bogies and Gibson P4 wheels. These coaches are a fixed rake and have now had Alex Jackson couplings added to each end to enable a test run of the complete set. As they are heavy I decided to use one of my converted Bachmann Peaks, D13, to pull the test train.
For those interested the rake is made up as follows;-
Corridor Brake Composite D1720A Restaurant Composite D1811 Open First - Porthole D2160 C
This update covers work carried out since my last entry. The lift out board has been tweaked to ensure it slots into the layout by the shed door. I have replaced the over catches with a more robust set to ensure the board locks firmly into position.
Black card strips have been laid in preparation for the final lengths of track to complete the UP and DOWN main lines.
The second pair of ' King turnouts' for access to the Up and Down Storage sidings and the Second Crossover are
As mentioned in previous posts I have decided to use the Brian Morgan turnout operating units for all the pointwork on Barrow Road. Brian has produced some superb etches for B & C switches in P4 which can be obtained from the Scalefour Stores. His main interest is the GWR and whilst the original units were designed specifically for Great Western loose heeled switches he has also produced the other version for non GW railway turnouts.
The TOU etches, one for the standard B, C switch, th
I have been looking through my collection of photos taken in and around Bristol Barrow Road shed during the 1950s and 1960s and have noticed two photos of what I believe is the shed breakdown train in the sidings alongside the shed. Is anyone able to assist in the identification of any of the three vehicles, one of which appears to be a modified clerestory of Midland Railway origin whilst I have no idea on the other two.
Ivo Peters 1957 - the three vehicles are in the road behind the Mog
By way of a change I have spent some time assembling the two kits of laser cut parts for the boiler house and the stores at the rear of the shed these being the last of the buildings provided by York Modelmaking back in 2010. Both buildings are made from 2mm laser cut mdf with hard plastic [Rowmark] for the window frames and brick details which I glue to the mdf. Each building was given a coat of grey primer and coloured using Faber polychromos crayons. The tiles are also from York and are self
