Steam_Julie

Nice one. Julie

It should be notes that, you have to add an extra sleeper or two at the switch end of the point to be able to make a viable point. I.e. you can't have the tiebar on the end of a point. The tiebar replaces the stretcher bars on the prototype. Julie

The more observant amoungst you will have realised that I use Anyrail to do my basic design and Trax 3 to produce the point templates. I've used the package that's best for the task in progress. The first two photographs are the template sheets that I will cut up and attach to my work board to construct the actual points, more correctly called turnouts. The photograph below, is of a sheet laid out to check that the proposed handing of the points would work to produce the desired track layout. It was a very useful process and I discovered my initial thoughts were incorrect. Better to discover a mistake at this point than after point construction is complete! I'm going to leave the decision about the exact length of the loop until track laying stage. This is because I'm going to adjust the distance between tracks to a minimum, to give the layout a more spacious feel. I hopefully will have the time to start construction next week. My eyesight is now getting back to normal, following my operation. Julie

I've not made any progress with the layout, for a very long time! That's because I have not felt able to grab the Bull by the Horns, so to speak, and solve the major problem. The phase that up to now, dared not speak it name, is electrical pickup quality. When I attempt to run a train along the trough line, at a scale speed it almost always stalls on the goods yard entry point. The problem stems from a design decision onthe manufacturer, in this case Farrish, to pickup from the back of the flanges. This looks good, but failure occurs when the loco, especially steam prototypes traverse a sharpish curve. The drive wheels on most model loco's are in effect semi-radial, meaning that they move in a traverse motion as the loco moves into the curve, resulting in one set of contacts, not being in contact with the wheel. This results in there being no electrical circuit and thus he loco stalls. The use of live frog points, improves the situation, but does not solve the problem. The Basingstoke Area Group of the 2mm Association have tackled this problem, to acheive acceptable running on their Freshwater layout, see link below. http://bag.2mm.org.uk/2016_01_01_archive.html I'm now convinced that I to will need to add extra pickups to solve my running problems. I think that this solution will also aid running on Holloway Goods too, more than the installation of live frog, or more correctly called crossing, points. Julie

I'm interested, how did Ruston Quays perform @ the Peterborough show? Julie

From the last time I made a blog posting about the layout progress, it might not be seen as major progress. I've painted the baseboard top, to cover up the felt tip drawings of the track locations. This is not for beautification purposes, but to allow the track planning to progress, so that I can decide the exact location of the canal. This will allow it's construction and when that is complete, not including the ground cover, the completion of the baseboard. This will include the backscene etc. I've also been drawing the point templates for the construction of the paintwork. I'll be using PCB sleepering and solder construction, but more about that in later posts. I have taken delivery the sleeper, a few days ago. I use trax, version 3 to design and print the templates, below is a photograph of the computer screen showing 4 points, 2 left and 2 right. You will notice they are slightly curved on the main road. Points on the real railway are rarely have a strait main road. The points are effectively fine scale setract points. This is because of the site constraints of the model and that the prototype would have used small radius points for similar reasons. It was constructed as a horse drawn tramway, linking two canals and was only connected to the main line network, as an after thought! Julie

Taking the video wasn't planned, it just naturally happened on the day. This is often the case, planning does not seem to work out improve the result and can often appear staged. I've tried to recreate the lazy days at the end of summer, with a steam hauled freight passing ponderously along the railway, as if the viewer was looking over the wall. I agree with your comments about Youtube videos. But one has to have moment asap, at the start, to sustain the interest of the Youtube generation. I wish you could upload them to RMWeb directly, but this doesn't fit the financail model of BRM! Julie

My eyes are much better now and this morning I received the package containing the PCB sleepers for building the points. So all in all I think that progress will be quicker from now on! Julie

The video below shows a friends layout, which has an off the peg photographic backscene, with a 3D Mid ground, with a train moving the the foreground. I am assuming that the steam train is on a down grade and it is coasting, i.e. now exhaust. The video was taken using a hand held smart phone. I have learned from his experience that a problem can exist with a backscene printed on absorbant paper, can lead to expansion and thus rippling of the backscene. One possible solution to this is a coat of mat varnish to seal it and prevent water ingress. The intention was to simulate looking over a wall and observing the passage of a goods train. Julie

I haven’t got that far yet! I have carefully examine the image onscreen. The first stage will be to print the image out in monochrome. This will give me an idea of how well it will work, without the expense of colour printing. If it's OK then I'll get it printed out using a colour printing service on a single sheet. Julie

Sitting, as one does, when waiting for a train at Birmingham New Street. I had nothing to read, so like many others I resorted to playing with my phone. I selected the camera, and was about to take some train pictures, when I spotted the Panorama option. I played around with the option, with little success. But I then remembered that you can search for phone manuals online, at first with little success, because the first 2 I found were badly written. I eventually found a well written PDF. One section of which is reproduced below. My phone is a basic Android Pixie phone, so my assumption is that these type of features are available on other smart phones. So why is this useful in railway modelling I hear you ask. The answer is in the production of photographic backscenes. Traditionally you take the pictures and then stitch them together at home using a computer. But there are pitfalls, if you make a mistake when taking the photographs, you may require to retake them. This is a problem when the location is hundreds of miles away from home. The advantage of using a smart phone is the images are stitched together, in the phone, then and there. You can check they work, before you leave the photo location. They are also rendered into a single graphic file. By selected the SD card as your preferred storage location, a large file can easily be handled. You can also check the image in detail, by magnifying it when looking at it. You need to practice before taking images for your project. I found that after about six practice panorama shots, I was getting reasonable results. An example of a panorama shot is shown below. I had to reduce the picture size to very significantly to enable it to be loaded onto RMWeb. I took the shots, by rotating the camera through an angle. By choosing the photographic locations carefully, I think the results were excellent. You could take the panorama in a strait line using a bicycle saddle, on a smooth surface as a substitute track and dolly. If a single panorama shot is not long enough, you can stitch two shots together or stitch parts of a single shot on either end of a single panorama. You can always reverse a shot, within a graphics package to aid the stitching process. You might have problems if something moves quickly whilst you are taking the panorama. When I was playing around on the concourse at New Street, I took a panorama and a lady in the left middle had three eyes, two mouths and noses! This was because she moved rapidly whilst the shots were being taken. Because I took the original photographs at the highest resolution of the camera on the phone, I was able to enlarge the panorama by a factor of over 5 times and the image was still good enough for a backscene! Julie

It may not be radical to you, but to Peco it's revolutionary! Even totally behond the pale! Julie

I considering what to do to allow the points to be moved. I am considering using the Peco PL11. But using them upside down to may them easier to hide. I've asked questions of the Peco Tab, Technical Advice Bureau, but have not recieved an answer to my question. This is probably becuase my idea is too radical! I would require to design a different spacer to allow it to be fixted to the baseboard. I can't see any reason why my idea should not work. Julie

The foam I am proposing to use, is blown paper pulp, and this has better UV characteristics than plastic foam. You can improve the protection of plastic foam to the effects of UV radiation by painting it. I've done this with Peco plastic foam, by spray painting it with grey paint. At this point Sidney Prichard is probably spinning in his grave. Peco have never accepted that painting the Peco product is acceptable. The current Peco demonstration layout, recently moved to a northern model shop has all the track ballast uncoloured and completly clean! Track ballast is not the same in different parts of the country. Oil from locomotives causes black patches, where loco's stand for example at signals and bay platforms. Track ballast in a given location varies because, not all of it is the same age. As parts of the track require to re-tampted as a result of track settlement new ballast is added, which is fresh and unweathered. These differences can be simulated, on a model by differences in the painting. Julie

I've been following other people's experience in the model press. I've seen other people use plastic based, but then you have the same problems, as with Pecos foam track ballast & the foam crumbles, due to exposure to UV light. Julie

I've been looking into an alternative to cork sheet, as it is unobtainable locally! I have a sample, obtained free from a local printing firm, of 5mm thick foamboard. It has caused much scratching my head, because I wanted no more than 6mm between the rail top and the surface of the canal. This imformation was gained by looking at pictures, of Cromford Wharf and measurements taken on a field visit. the canal edgeat he wharf, is now steal piling, but from photographs, I know that in the 1950's the edging was stone. The area between the canal edge and the open siding and the side of the transfer shed, which still exists at the prototype location, was cobbles or more correctly, they were called stone sets. When the rope worked railway was built, it linked two canals, one from the Manchester area and the other linking into the North Midlands network via the Erewash Canal. The line was later conected at the North end to the LNWR at Buxton and the Midland Railway at the South end. I think I now have a solution, I'll have photographs to follow soon! Julie

A photograph of Miss Daisy is shown below, she is my sisters dog. The photograph was taken onboard the South West Trains service we took back to my sister's. After visiting the Bristol Harbour Railway and M Shed Museum. Julie

Yesterday I visited Bristol, with a friend call Daisy. We walked around the floating dock and came upon the Bristol Museums 'M Shed' a working museum including part of the Bristol's port railway system. We saw a saddle tank in he livery of the Inland Waterways and Docks Board. This type of working museum could be implemented, using the Ruston Quay format, particularly as the have shunting demonstrations several times a day. They also do train ride, an excuse for a single coach and a guards van shuttling to and fro to a location off scene. The only addition required would be a loco shed to store several small 0-6-0 and 0-4-0 locomotives. The car in the above photograph is crossing the passenger line. The upper level could represent the modern railway with electric or diesel multiple units. The track used by the demonstation shunting only had two bolts per fishplate, BUT the passenger line had the full four! The above photograph shows the contrast between the preserved dockside and he modern financial district opposite. The passenger accomodation on the dockside line, is not quite up to modern standards? Julie

Ruston Quays is in the 2nd track plan book after all. Julie

My depth of vision is improving all the time! I'm going to take my sister's dog, Miss Maisy for a walk around the coast for the first time since my eye surgery. Julie

Hi I'm now back in the world of the seeing! This is just a short blog entry, to show that I'm once again making progress on Holloway Goods. I have managed for many years without a Mitre Box, but on this project I will have to cut blocks, with right angle edges to accurately locate baseboard components. I have finally decided that purchasing one, would be prudent. There is a wall behind the canal, which both separates it from the railway line below and also prevents the canal water flooding the line. I'm going to use a strip of thin plywood, purchased from Addlestone Model Center as the basis of the said stone wall. The excess of the support blocks was removed to allow this to be correctly positioned. I hope to make more progress soon, and will post updates as the layout progresses. Julie

Have a careful look at the photograph, the blue frog, from your diagram appears to be a casting! You could add a piece of plastic to prevent the wheel drop, at la Peco. Julie

Like the video, my only qualm is the smoking in the video. The interlaced sleepers are prototypical on many railway systems, particularly in Ireland. Keep the good work up, LADS! Julie PS why do all your locomotives have faces, is this a comment on your lifestyle?

I will not be able to do any modelling for about 10 days, after an incident involving a train door, which resulted in emergency eye surgery. I been told to lie down in ar darkened room and rest. Julie

I've started the construction process, the initial stages was to decide where the cut should, for the shuttle track. Once this was decided the cut was made using a craft knife. I use the tougher blades, made for professionals, not the general purpose ones designed for DIY. This saves on broken blades, including the dangers of them braking during the cutting operation. It is important, to make many cuts and not to try and force the blade through, as this can lead to accidents. Because the blade is so sharp, these can be serious. Always cut away from yourself and keep fingers clear of the blade whilst cutting. Once the cut was made the spacer were cut, and fixed in position using carpenters white glue. The small screws don't add to the strength of the final assembly, but hold the components in place to allow the glue to set. The next level will be the base of the canal. I have never found the need to use high grade plywood, on my micro layout projects. The strength comes from the rigidity of the assembled structure. Julie