Les1952
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Posts posted by Les1952
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So, if Alf and Geoff were laying track, what were the rest of you doing?
Evening all.
Last Tuesday Jim was at work and didn't get (he'll be there tomorrow) and I was making the tea, taking photos and generally tidying up as my next job needs some track laid.
Trevor was seated at a table
making a start on the first building- the waiting room. Armed with a sheaf of photos taken at Rothley Station and a set of scale plans of actual GCR station buildings kindly provided by someone I'll credit later as I've forgotten his name.
Here are the part-finished ends of the waiting room. All buildings will be made from plasticard apart from the toilet block on the station. This will sit across the board join and is to be removable. We'll use a Farish Scenecraft one for this as it is high risk for damage. There will be a spare one as well. Shame they're not 1:1 scale as the Bingham clubroom has no loos........
Almost time to feed the cat.
Another session and some new photos tomorrow.
Les
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Snowy Monday- hibernating in the workshop.
.....once the drive was cleared for the first time, that is.
The plaster is well on the way to being dry so I've had a first go at adding a bit of colour to part of it- cheapo oil paints from Bookseller- recommended to me by Fred Hempsall. There will of course be a layer of scatter (or two) and there is a bridge, fencing and bushes etc to go on it, but the green makes an improvement in itself.
I was thinking opf plastering the next section tomorrow, but that is a Rise Park working session, so it will have to wait until Wednesday. Exam marking starts on Friday (what a good time to go to Manchester for meetings) so not a lot will get done for the next month.
Meanwhile I've put a balsa surface where much of the road surface is going to be. Pollyfilla here and there then plaster for the slope.
While waiting for the paint and plaster to dry I've been attacking the "might work occasionally" box and discovered enough Peco Jubilee parts to make a complete loco. It has taken a bit of fettling but now runs adequately, and may yet improve.
I thought it came with a green tender top but that hasn't surfaced yet. Lining and lettering this will keep me occupied for a while- the Hunt is waiting starting, the Cattistock plates are still on order from Modelmaster Jackson Evans.
Plenty to do
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More tracklaying details.
Geoff is tinning each rail on the underside before soldering the rail to the copperclad at the board joins. The copperclad was also very carefully cleaned before being similarly tinned. Hopefully that results in a neat, flat join across the baseboard- or at least a sight flatter than I can manage.
Another repeat from the Hawthorn Dene thread- the trailing points used at the fiddle yard exit. No moving parts- the blades are removed from the Peco point, the mechanism and spring are discarded, then the blade is cut short to allow flanges to pass behind it as well as over it. Once installed it takes a bit of fettling with a fine file to get the point smooth. The only down side to this system is that you can't reverse a train back into the fiddle yard if you send the wrong one out by mistake. On the other hand most derailments on Parnhams are caused by exit points being set incorrectly or by trying to revesre a train into the fiddle yard so it is no great loss........
More to follow
Les
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Simon
You went to school in a building where the side panels were hung from the main frame- that's why there were places where you colud see out through the gaps in the walls...... There were, as you know, places where you could pass bits of paper through the wall from one classroom to the next- most internal walls were suspended from the ceiling. Just follow the prototype.
All the very best....
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Three new bookings.
I've now had formal invitations for the following showss-
Sheffield on 13th and 14th April 2013
Grantham on 31st August and 1st september 2013
Sileby on 15th and 16th February 2014.
All the very best
Les
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Ten days of steady, if slow, progress.
hello again.
There may not have been any posts for the last ten days, but there has been a bit of work going on- and a lot of trains run while glue has been drying. Where to begin?
Starting with the drops- the ground level round them is about done, with just edges to chamfer before the plaster layer goes down. In the meantime I've knocked a railing off (not the first time) so will have some repairs to make before finally seating them.
Plastering the embankments started today- I've started with a comparatively easy bit as I've not done any in years- Furtwangen Ost doesn't have banks, only walls. Insulting tape over the track is easier to clean off than plaster (says he hopefully..) There is an overbridge to go in just before the hole in the backscene at this end. - this one
At the colliery end there will be a conveyor passing over the line to take stone to the beach- I've abandoned the aerial ropeway as I can't get a convincing route that doesn't involve wires stopping at the baseboard edge.......
The underbridge went in the bin- or at least the front of it did. I messed up the weathering on the brickwork. This is Mark II, where I part-weathered the brick plasticard first (acting on advice from Trevor Webster). The arch stones are still to be added, but I'll do some more of the weathering on the bridge first. This angle also shows up the different parapets.
Looking up into the bridge the bricks are a lot darker inside the real thing, so my cocked-up weathering here won't be noticeable. Still a lot of work to do, but a bit more promising than the first try.
Meanwhile the contours in the hollow behind the underbridge are starting to take shape. This can't really be finished until the bridge goes in because of the angles needed.
Also tackled- the final one of the clockwise exit points has been stopping slow-moving trains. I had put it down to flangeway clearances but after fettling there has been no improvement. Yesterday I tried running one of Furwangen Ost's diesel fleet. This stopped repeatedly before reaching the blade. Re-doing the wire that transfers power to the frog made no difference- nor did making sure the track is spotless. I've soldered a jump lead across the point, which should sort it all being well. It lands in the departure road at a point that has to be permanently live anyway- i.e. between the point and the fiddle yard dead section. Once the track is vacuumed and cleaned tomorrow I'll see if it has made a difference.
Almost tea time.....
Les
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Les
Really looking forward to the progression of this. Keep the photo's coming as really helps keep the enthusiasm of others watching a layout develop. IMHO anyway.
David
Many thanks for that, David- much appreciated.
Three details from the last photo-
- The board edge is black- we've had to put a plastic edging on it as on this side the ply was splitting a little as a result of the saw cut. Oddly enough I've not suffered this on Hawthorn Dene, I must have got a better quality sheet, though mine is 3.6mm rather than the 6mm here.
- The white either side of the board join is 20 thou plasticard. The copperclad is the right thickness for Code 55 track, but we're using Code 80 so it needs raising a little to avoid getting humps at the board join. There will still be a very slight undulation in the fiddle yard but less than the gradient caused by the slope on most exhibition hall floors. In the past we've worked out that getting a layout flat across joints at exhibitions is more important than getting it absolutely level- we never have locos running at their adhesion limit.
- The layout behind Alf belongs to another BMRC group - the Thursday N-gauge crowd. This is Ashtown, which the club was given as bare boards with track, and which has now been wired to a new control panel at the back and is ready for scenioc work.
And so back to bed....
All the very best
Les
PS one of the pairs of glasses in post #9 is now in use......
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Evening, all.
Building the Fiddle Yard
Tuesday this last week involved laying plain track in the fiddle yard, staring at the Rise Park end.
Alf checks alignment ready to pin another length down. The length of white plastic is the between-track gauge.
The wiring diagram was more-or-less completed before any track was laid. On the front of the layout droppers will be soldered to rail undersides before the track is pinned down. On the hidden parts and in the fiddle yard the droppers will be soldered to the rail sides.
More later
Les
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To use an electromagnet you would need one developed for the Microtrains system.
Does one exist?
Les
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Fiddle Yard continued...
this plan is also repeated from the Hawthorn Dene Colliery thread. It shows the long-short arrangement for each fiddleyard road. Every road is divided into two sections. The one nearest the exit is kept short- in this case two Pacifics long (not that LNER Pacifics were allowed to double-head, the only train that involved that had a special dispensation to do so as a means of getting a Pacific from York to Doncaster without using up a light engine path).
The capacity of each road is the total length of the two trains in it- which can be a long one and a short one, or two medium sized ones. The front train is held with its loco in the short section, and the rear one is pulled up close behind it. This is the system we have been using on Trevor's layout "Parnhams" layout for a few years, mostly successfully. The downside is that the motive power of the two trains in each road has to be matched for speed- so that the second can move up as the first moves out, and preferably before it emerges into view of the paying punters out front.
Quiz Time...
Which of the group (an engineer) has two pairs of glasses to wear when modelling (not usually simultaneously) and is said by the rest of the gang to need a third pair to find the others when he puts them down?
Answer will be revealed (or not) in good time.
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A look at Home
Home for the layout is racking built by Trevor and Alf about two and a half years ago when we first moved "Farndon Road" from Newark to Bingham. Last Christmas (2011) we took the decision that a layout that took six people to exhibit and needed a van wasn't a viable prospect for us to complete as an exhibition layout. It took us about 6 months to sell the layout and get it on its way to its new home in Belgium.
Once Farndon Road had gone the shelving was adjusted so that each of the four RP-TV boards could be stored the right way up on a separate shelf. This gives the advantage that if a board is ballasted or glued it can be stored safekly away from other groups in the club. The bottom level has all the odds and somethings stored in plastic boxes, the next three have the Rise Park boards and the top is for the Top Valley Goods board.
Fiddle Yard.
Apologies to those who have read much of this before on the Hawthorn Dene Colliery thread. The Rise Park part of the project is designed to be operated by two people seated on tall kitchen stools behind the layout. Top Valley Goods will have a third operator at the right-hand end looking from the front, or behind the short side of the L-shape. If things are tight RP can be operated by one person, but he would need to walk from end to end.
Points at the entrance fan to the fiddle yard will be hand-operated as these are within reach of the operator. Points at the exit end are of the Stephen Rabone/Richard Deas "trailing" type, as used in the large exhibition layout "Littlewood" and by Mr Simon on "Gresby". Due to a mistake made by me when purchasing the points for conversion to trailing we ended up with four right and four left trailing and the same number of hand-operated. Rather than buy extra points, and have some left over that weren't useable on either RP-TV or my HDC layouts, the fiddle yard fans for both layouts were altered to the following-
The longest line is nearest the board edge.
More later...
Les
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Board construction schematic.
This is the diagram I drew for Hawthorn Dene Colliery- (plan view showing the way the boards are constructed). The outer frame is a sandwich- the difference is that instead of the 3.6mm ply on Hawthorn Dene's boards a slightly thicker 6mm ply has been used on the three Rise Park boards. The outer is a 6mm-9mm-6mm ply sandwich, with more air on the sides of the two end boards than on the centre board.
The ends are filled solid as these are where most stress will happen. Legs are permanently hinged to the board, and the diagonals on the end boards are permanently attached also.
Looking along the three boards in the BMRC clubroom this week- while it is cold we're working in daytime for the winter. The nearest board is the Top Valley end. Top Valley Goods will sit over this starting at the backscene (the pencil line running along the boards) and making an L-shape running away from the camera. Boards for Phoenix Park in the background. Tracklaying began before Christmas and the two fans for the fiddleyard have been laid. Schematics later.
Time for bed, said Zebedee.......
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Trackplan- part 1
This is the trackplan for the visible part of the roundy-roundy. Slightly foreshortened, the visible part is about 8'6 long, and the loop occupies about 80% of the length, leading off before the site of the former junction.
The loop exits via a crossover with sand drag. As Rise Park is somewhere North of Nottingham (trying to avoid Top Valley according to Alf) goods trains might be held in the loop waiting for the yard at Annesley to have a line for them. No corresponding loop Southbound as goods trains wouldn't set off South until a path was available at least as far as Nottingham Victoria- at least that's our story....
The line veers off to the right at a former junction, with a second cutting running straight ahead to a boarded-up tunnel mouth. Not shown is another lifted kick-back from the goods loop into a factory (which now sends its goods out through Top Valley Goods Yard.
The track plan for Top valley Goods hasn't been finalised, waiting for the lower line to be built so areas that can't be used for point motors (due to trains passing under) can be determined. If TV isn't in place the end will be covered by an urban scene- the layout will get more countrified as it moves towards the left.
More later, including a fiddle yard schematic (nicked from Hawthorn Dene Colliery)
All the very best
Les
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The baseboards.
Rise Park is made on three baseboards. The centre board has legs on both ends and is braced diagonally, while the two end boards are piggybacked on it with a sigle leg on the outer end.
The underside of the centre board, seen outside the BMRC clubroom this morning.
The centre board erected, showing the diagonal bracing fitted. Again taken outside the BMRC clubroom this morning. Also shows the split hinges that lock the two end boards in place.
The Top Valley end boad showing the underside, inside the clubroom. The construction is the same as on my layout "Hawthorn Dene Colliery" The board in the background belongs to the BMRC OO-gauge layout "Phoenix Park".
More to follow.
Les
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Rise park and Top valley.... So own up, which one of you has the Bulwell connection?
Alf lives in Rise Park.
All the very best
Les
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Firstly- who we are.
The Bingham MRC (BMRC) Wednesday night mob consists of five members and one occasional member. The five are-
Trevor Webster,
Geoff Warren,
Alf Hodkin,
Jim Ross,
and myself, Les Richardson.
Our Occasional member is my son Simon, aka Mr Simon.
Early Planning and criteria.
In order to be able to erect the layout in the Bingham MRC clubroom it needs to be no more than 12 feet long. It also needs to be effectively a "roundy-roundy plus", ie keeing the punters happy by having a constant procession of trains on the main line, while giving a play area independent of the main line for shinting to take place.
It has been decided to make the layout as two parts, each of which can be exhibited separately, or combined to make a single L-shaped layout. The pictures below show the mock-up and give an idea of how it might work. The white area to the left was the original attempt at the Rise Park end.
The piece sticking forwards is Top valley Goods Yard- which will be fed from a small fiddleyard above that of the main layout. Rise Park Station is shown mocked up near the middle of the layout. Where the main line dives under Top valley Goods there will be an abandoned junction and a deep rock cutting.
The Rise Park boards are to be exhibitable separately- size 12' by 2'8". Top valley Goods is 4' by 2', and if exhibited alone will have its own (cassette?) yard.
More to follow......
Les
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For the arch you have the option of scribing individual bricks onto a plain arch of plasticard, using boiling water on a length of plasticard four bricks high and then holding it until it sets, or shapeways/etching/printing something and painting it to match.
Arches are a pain.
That is what had worried me- then ringing Trevor this evening for advice brought up the name "Scalescenes". I've bought and downloaded their arches and windows sheet in dark red brick N and printed it off. There are arch segments of 4 brick high archway- I'll try those first (ignoring the fact it is actually five bricks high). I may have to print the sheet bit at different magnifications until I get the right radius but that isn't a major problem.
Paper overlay on brick plasticard is mildly unusual, but if I can get it to work...
Time to feed the cat.
L
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A new year, a bit of visible progress
Still spending a lot of time waiting for glue to dry while running trains to soak test the track. Running has got to the stage where everything that runs into the yard without problems will also run out safely- the odd few that won't give a lot of trouble on other layouts and are in a queue for improvement.
Progress with the bridge. The prototype has a change of brickwork at the height where the join is.. What doesn't show up in the photo is the parapet on the far side, which is complete- this side will be the one with the railings. In the background is a piece where the bank will have a brick wall included in it.
The problem I have to address next is the four rows of bricks forming the arch itself- getting something I can bend to shape.....
Much research still to do.
Happy New Year to everyone.
Les
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Have now discovered there are TWO books on the Skinningrove ironworks available- the new one published by the Industrial Railway Society aslo has good contemporary pics of the ZigZag and houses round it, track plans and OS map offprints.
But you knew that already, I supect.
Keep on posting updates.
All the very best
Les
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Post Christmas sillies.
Some work done today finishing the painting of the rail sides and sticking a little more ceiling tile in place. This then degenerated into a Boxing Day running session, partly as I'd a couple of odd engines to test before finding their boxes and possibly offereing them for sale.
View of the underside opf the board showing the SCART plug and lead- the third attempt at getting a suitable one. This one has heavy duty ribbon cable, is 0.5m long and has gold-plated plugs mounted straigt on the end of the lead- angled plugs proved difficult and the non-plated plugs and lead caused a voltage drop.
Two test trains- a noisy V2 runs North with a fast train (this V2 is the double-chimney one which will stay at least for now) while the brass Erie Lackawanna SD45-2 runs the other way on a train- I said it was silly season. The SD45-2 cost an arm and a leg and at first wouldn't run through any pointwork. I eventually traced this down to the bottom of the fuel tank. this had a makers plate firmly attached which brought the bottom of the loco body to 0.5mm BELOW rail level. It now doesn't have its "Overland" plate, which is in its box. It still finds any bump in the track as the pilot is only 0.5mm clear of the rail.
Time to go and sort some eBay.
Les
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All trackwork on the main line part is complete. There are no points out front on the lower part. I'll ballast it this side of Christmas, a boring task but one with low physical stress.
I haven't, though the railsides on the underbridge board have been painted track grot, and the top level on this board HAS been ballasted (and most of it is still there after a good vacuuming.....)
Such is life.....
Merry Christmas one and both
Les
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Checking heights
I've been spending yet more time waiting for glue to dry, in between spasms of Christmas shopping and carol rehearsals- earn some money for Grantham Operatic tomorrow evening by singing carols at a posh hotel's Christmas Eve dinner....
Today's music Freddy and the Dreamers, not loud enough to keep visitors away so I could get on, unfortunately.
Some of the glue holding the ceiling tiles down is drying, so the bank down to the coal drops can go in. The front edge has been cut back a little here to give a bit more clearance to the running lines.
First go at cutting out an arch for the underbridge- this side needs to be a little deeper as the
roadtrack under it slopes down to the front of the layout. Needs to reach down to the bottom of the expanded polystyrene- the other side is shallower, but that side has a proper parapet while this side doesn't (a reverse of the underbridge at Easington). The stuff underneath is felt-faced card, the first thing about the right size I laid hands on.Les
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Side tank resolved
I've had the side tank to bits again, marked what was the underside of the motor with a letter T (easy because it comes away from the chassis as soon as you take the body off) and reassembled it with the letter T upwards. It now runs the right way, so last time I "turned the motor over" I must have put it back the same way as it was before. Problem solved.
A couple more bits of polystyrene glued down and a lot more waiting for things to dry. In the mean time I've been trying to sort out my 9Fs as follows-
92050 of first batch now has the centre spring conversion and the pony wheels from my weathered one and runs perfectly through all sidings.
92231 of first batch has original pony wheels and runs through the outer roads of each yard but not the middle three (reverse curve on Peco medium points too much for it)
Evening Star runs perfectly through all sidings
92133 (?) weathered one without spring, now has pony wheels from 92050 and runs as 92231.
I can live with that- all are useable. After New Year I'll try to get two pony spring converrsion kits, and two replacement pony wheelsets.
Meanwhile a perfect runner meets a "two roads only" runner out front- both of these can be left to circulate the layout provided 92231 uses the outer fiddleyard roads. Note the wonky cab on 92050- this is the one Fred Hempsal reviewed in the NGS Journal when new- and a lot of people spotted the wonky cab....
Mr Simon is home for Christmas and naturally has a train to test- I wonder which of this pair it is.......
Les
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If you talking about the B4 sidetank, it could be worth unclipping the bodyshell and rotating the motor to it on its otherside. The trouble with the Arnold chassis is they have the habit of shedding gear teeth, so handle with care.
Paul A.
It is the green side tank that runs backwards- I'll try inverting the motor again, just in case I accidentally put it back the same way last time I did it...... What doesn't help with this one is that the body isn't actually fastened down with anything so occasionally comes loose. At least the maroon saddletank is firmly fixed.
No real work done today, waiting for ballast to dry and glue to go off, so I just ran trains and watched them go by. Nice and relaxing.
Les
Gresby - N Gauge Great Central (MS&LR 90s-2000s)
in Layout topics
Posted
That sounds as if the model will be more heavy duty than Nottinghamshire CLASP.......
L