Harlequin

Quick thought: You have two lights close together on many of the slip turning routes. I think that's because you want to show the states of the two sets of points at either end because they could be different, am I right? If so, you could simplify the panel by using just one light and making it only light up when state1 AND state2 are set using a simple diode AND gate. That has pros and cons but it would simplify the board a bit.

Wonderful stuff. Thanks John!

Hi Ian, Doesn't the inconsistent representation of similar track formations with very different mimic diagrams worry you? (It's making my teeth itch just looking at it! ) Technically speaking, a train travelling through the double slip from west to east will encounter the facing red points before the trailing orange but the diagram shows something different... Using the idea you've come up with for the single slip on the double as well would be more correct and more consistent (but would admittedly place a lot of buttons and lights in close proximity).

Deleted. Existing baseboards made my suggestion redundant.

Remember the GWR called it a "Service Time Table", STT, not a WTT and that continued even in BR(WR) times. That might affect your searches.

Hi H, Assuming that you want to make a OO model (you haven’t told us what scale you are intending) the space available is barely big enough for a small branch line terminus, let alone a mainline through station. If you are intending to operate the layout, not just treat it as a diorama, you need to leave room for somewhere for trains to go to and come from - usually a fiddle yard or storage yard. A through station like Orpington either needs a fiddle yard at either end long enough to hold the longest train or for both ends to be connected in a continuous circuit. Fiddle yards and curves consume a lot of space. Fiddle yards are usually on the same level as the scenic area. Alternatively, they can be above or below but to do that you need ramps of one kind or another which themselves take up space and have to be carefully designed to make them work reliably. You need to consider how far you can reach across the baseboards comfortably so that you can work at the back without damaging the stuff at the front. 1400mm is almost certainly too far. You are discovering the compromises that modellers have to make to reconcile their ambitions with the space available. This is often uncomfortable. Look at track plans in books and magazines to see what sort of layouts can fit in your space or conversely, what space is needed to model a station like Orpington.

I understand the frustration. How about changing tack and getting someone else to design the layout for you? That way the designer's knowledge could be harnessed to produce a design to your specification and with all the right bits in the right places (to paraphrase Eric Morecambe) that would get you up and running more quickly.

Oh dear, I hope that's not because of me! Please don't be dispirited. Get something working and have some fun!

No, don't worry. Different people do things different ways. I think Chimer is on your wavelength more than I am.

Actually, I think Pete needs a single voice advising him - to give the plan some coherence. (There are some things I would question about the current plan but I'm staying out of it - too many voices.) GWR engine sheds seem to vary greatly in size, character, layout and relationship to stations. I think it's easy to justify one at this station that might have been provided originally for the branch loco and then crystallised and grew from that seed. Especially if you imagine there's some other infrastructure off scene nearby, such as maybe another branch a few miles further down the line. The layout of the shed area should give locos from the main line quick access to coal and water. Then, further back, provide a small shed building with attached office (one or two roads), turntable, ash pit(s). The turntable is most commonly alongside the shed but may be opposing it. At small sheds, the turntable doesn't usually have any usable spurs off it, just a stub with buffer stop opposite the entry line. Larger sheds might have a few spurs. The coaling stage can be a simple one sided timber platform alongside a suitable track or might be double sided with a short siding behind it for unloading coal wagons. At larger sheds coaling arrangements were even more sophisticated but I think they would be out of character here. Maybe provide a siding to store coal wagons while they're not alongside the stage. The shed area must be trapped before it connects to any passenger lines, either with a simple trap point or a kickback siding that might have some other use.

Further small update: Added the connecting cable (more correctly the trunking) and plugs in the holes on the opposite side. The "plugs" might be bolts but it's not clear so I've just added non-descript cylinders covering the holes.

Here's the next update: The shape of the side mounting plates is a bit of an educated guess. I think I see the angled rear in some photos. The electrical cable passes through one of the holes to connect to the ATC device and pick up voltage from the ramp. I changed some of the washers because I realised that the engineering drawing was showing spring washers in many places. All the bolts are now oriented correctly. Notice that one of the four bolts connecting each side to the mounting plate is reversed. That's exactly as drawn because the body of the device would prevent a bolt being inserted from the inside in that position. And I realised what the front guard bar is really for. It is there to prevent the coupling making electrical contact with the device and giving wrong indications in the cab. Note that the guard is fixed to the outside of the mounting, thus electrically connected to the loco frame and insulated from the device.

More likely just overshadowed by the beautifully curvaceous Dapol streamlined railcar.

If you find d/emu operations unsatisfying those activities might not work for you, though, because they don't make trains do anything fundamentally different on the layout. They still just slide soullessly into platforms, stand a while and slide out again. Only the reasons for doing that have changed. For some people the off-layout activities would add enough interest, but for others, maybe not.

Here's the latest version: Fillets in all the internal corners of the castings. Corrected some mistakes and added some details. Nuts, bolts, washers and bushes. I know some of this small stuff will hardly be visible at 4mm scale but it's good to do it properly so that the model could be used at any scale. (I'm drawing it actual size - it's about 33 inches high.)

Thinking about seeing the back of one, I just remembered that I took lots of photos underneath Caerphilly Castle the last time I was at Steam... All I found was this: D'Oh! Another partial view of the front!

Another useful photo, thanks. (I wish I could see the back of one!) The bar across the front seems to be quite common and is part of the mounting, rather than part of the device itself. I think your idea about it protecting the device from being knocked by the coupling might be spot on. I will try to model this kind of mounting. I've got a cunning plan to combine it with an NEM tongue so that it will plug into an NEM socket on RTR locos.

Yes, that's the idea. I hope to make the model available to the community in some form or other. I'll send you the Sketchup file when I've made a bit more progress if that would help.

I've started to build a 3D model from the engineering drawings in Justin's post: I have mainly concentrated on the castings so far and there's still a lot to do - rounding off various corners, adding nuts & bolts, etc. (Don't worry about the colours or extra lines where they shouldn't be - they are all just to help to see what I'm doing during construction.) It's very satisfying to be able to create something from drawings that are around 85 years old and to see the shapes come to life in a way that the original draughtsman could not possibly have imagined! Notice that the grey shapes are fibre pads and that fibre bushes and washers are specified (not drawn yet) with all 8 bolted connections to provide electrical isolation between the device and the loco frame. As Miss P. said right at the top, the device was common to all locos but the way it was mounted differed between classes.

That makes sense, thanks. The "Save As Type" dropdown is a bit misleading but of course it's the standard Windows File Save dialog.

You should be offered JPEG, amongst other formats, in the Save As dropdown menu. Or am I missing the point?

Photos of 7418 and 7413 on the branch can be found on Everything Great Western.

It's a shame this model is so deeply flawed. Seems to be typical of the problems with DJM's designs, unfortunately. You need to talk to @Captain Kernow. He fitted a new chassis under the DJM/Hattons body but I don't think it was easy!

It looks good but it's not clear what the bay platform is for. And is it a "bay" if the track doesn't terminate? (The horribly jaggy graphics from Xtrkcad make it difficult to see the exact details of some of the crossings.)

Hi Alan, The dioramas look great. Will any of them work for the Big Four era? (Steam at it's zenith rather than steam in decline?)