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87023Velocity

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Blog Entries posted by 87023Velocity

  1. 87023Velocity
    Well now that the Wigan exhibition is out of the way, the group is going to continue with the work on Millport Victoria. Over the coming year we will be working on a new fiddleyard board, continuing the work on the shed area and also replacing some tired buildings, which have seen better days and it would be easier to build a like for like replacement rather than trying to rescue them.
     
    The big news is the group has decided that as part of the re-wire, we are going to convert Millport to DCC operation. Millport was previously operated as per cab control DC method and we are hoping that DCC will allow the operating potential to be increased. We are also contemplating operating the points using Tortoise point motors, they were previously old H&M point motors.
     
    Obviously, we will also need to look at converting the locos to DCC. The majority of Normans Locos have not run for over 10 years, so as we service each loco, they will be hopefully converted to DCC. With regards the rolling stock for the layout, every item will be examined and checked. Things like back to backs on the wheelsets, missing buffers replaced, missing screw/3 link couplings replaced. As we start to work our way through the rolling stock, we will post some pictures of the rolling stock on here and detail what work is required and also maybe detail whose kit it is etc.
     
    As mentioned in previous postings, the work on Millport is limited to Tuesday evenings only, however the group may look at undertaking some weekend work to help speed things up. The rolling stock for example is not too bad, because the repair/service can be carried out at Members homes.
     
    Thanks for reading
     
    Simon
    (On behalf of the Millport Team)
  2. 87023Velocity
    Well, I've not updated this for a few weeks now. All the track work which we had planned to relay or reposition has now been completed. However when looking more closely at the layout, we found a few more areas which needed to be lifted and re-laid which we initially tried to straighten/repair. These where tracks which had crossed base board joins and had been damaged at some time during storage/transportation.
     
    Next stop now is the Wigan Finescale Model Railway exhibition on the 12th and 13th December, the layout will be in island which will be mainly LNWR and pre-grouping layouts and traders. There is still quite a bit of work for the group to do on the scenic side of the layout, aswell as the mamoth task of re-wiring the layout and fitting all the point motors. The layout will be displayed with some of Norman and Peter's stock on static display aswell.
     
    After the show, we will not resume work on Millport till the New Year now. This will consist of remaing scenic work and the re-wire. Once its operating, my Railexpress steel 37's will be having a bit of a run , sorry some LNWR stock will be test run!
     
    Cheers
     
    Simon (On behalf of the Millport Team)
     
     
  3. 87023Velocity
    As planned, the spraying of the newly laid track commenced last night. The spraying of the track was undertaken using a badger airbrush spraying basic Railmatch sleeper grime. The main areas which received attention where the new sections which have been laid, shed and station/parcels area.
    Whilst it is not easy to see in the attached pictures, Norman had applied different shades to the track areas to represent general grime/soot/dirt etc. This type of weathering will be applied over the areas which have just been relaid and sprayed with a base coat of sleeper grime.
    As can be seen in the foreground of the first picture, the Heljan turntable stands out with its factory weathering. The turntable will be a seperate project to detail/weather etc to help it blend into the era modelled.
     

     

     
    Millport is due to feature at our Wigan Exhibition in December as a static display. As part of the display, Peter Thomas has laminated the editions of the Railway Modeller which Millport featured in. The two editions of RM show the different format which Millport has been exhibited over the years. This will hopefully give an insight to how Norman planned and developed Millport.
     
    Cheers
     
    Simon
  4. 87023Velocity
    Well hopefully I will have got this right!
     
    Some of you may have come across Millport Victoria in the past on the exhibition circuit. The layout was the creation of the late Norman Heaton who sadly died in the spring of 1998. The layout continued on the exhibition circuit for a few years afterwoods until a major electrical fault caused it to be placed in storage.
     
    Below, I have copied the text from our webpage www.wiganfrm.org.uk which explains some of the history of Millport from its early days as an 'L Shape' layout to its final format.
     
    Millport Victoria
     
    Millport Victoria is the creation of the late Norman Heaton, for many years a stalwart member of Wigan & District MRS. Started in the 1970's, the layout first became into being as an 'L' shaped layout (appearing in this guise in the December 1984 edition of the Railway Modeller).
     
    After a few years Norman felt Millport, in this form, was becoming difficult to place in exhibitions, and so between 1988 - 1991, rebuilt the layout into its current format as an end to end layout (as featured in the 1998 December Railway Modeller).
     
    The layout attempts to capture the atmosphere and period of a small but properous North West manufactuing town at the trun of the 20th Century, railway operations being carried out in accordance with the practices of the London & North Western Railway Company.
     
    Norman based the concept around two totally ficticious companies, the Millport Junction and Millport, Crawford & Pemberton Railways. Indeed he even gave Millport its very own historian, the Rev, James Seddon who wrote
     
    - The most striking feature of the history of the place is the extraodinary rapidity with which is has risen from obscurity into a degree of splendor and importance, without example in the history of any commercial country. The grandeur which pervades the modern building of our English town may scarcely be out vied in stateliness and certainly not in fitness and utility, by any palace-city of the past.
     
     
    For any layout based on an urban conurbation, the architecture becomes all important in making a realistic setting and so it is with Millport. Buildings are based upon actual prototypes, indeed the station building and canopy is a copy of Wigan Wallgate Station ( still in existence today). A myriad of details further helps to fix the period as that of a bustling Edwardian town.
     
    Norman was paricularly fascinated by this era and its innovations and set to giving Millport a Barber's Shop for the sole purpose of including an advertisement for 'Clamps Rotary Brushing Apparatus'!
     
     
    Track is SMP 'Scaleway' flexible track whilst all the points and crossings are constructed using SMP rail and copper clad sleepers. However the only original track work is found int he area of the station throat and turntable, as Norman regularly undertook to modyfying the track plan even after the re-build.
     
    Motive power consists of a stud of approximately fifteen LNWR locos, mainly kit built with extra detailing although there are some that have had to be scratch built where necessary. Passenger stock is also hand built using Ratio, Slaters and etched brass kits with the use of Trevor Charlton sides and finished by Larry Goddard or David Sudley. The resultant rakes of stock are some of the finest examples of pre-grouping vechiles to be seen on the exhibition circuit. Goods stock is again a mix of kit and scratch built items ( the perils of modelling a pre-group railway).
     
     
    Norman sadly passed away suddenly in the Srping of 1998 and for a time the continued exsistence of Millport was in doubt. However his relatives kindly passed the ownership over to Peter Thomas and Stephen Roberts of Wigan Finescale Railway Modellers.
     
    At present the layout is earmarked for a complete rewire as some of the original wiring has started to give problems and after completion Millport will continue to be exhibited as a fitting testament to the memory of its creator.
     
     
     
    The above is a bit of background information about Millport Victoria, further posts/updates will concentrate on the work being undertaken.
     
    Simon
  5. 87023Velocity
    Right, as part of the plan to enable Millport to be exhibited again, the group has decided to carry out some extra work besides the re-wire which was already planned.
    First item we tackled was the layout storage covers/boxing, these protect the layout during storage and transit to shows and clearly had seen better days. Fortunately we have quite a few members who are quite handy at carpentry unlike myself. Whilst these new covers were being made, new backscene boards were also fitted to help freshen things up.
    Next on the agenda was the alignment of the baseboard joints, to help improve things we fitted EM society pattern makers dowels to keep the alignment along with case clips to hold the boards together.
    During its final years on the exhibition circuit, the fiddle yard on Millport was at a slight angle to the rest of the layout. The group decided that the fiddle yard may be better if it was in line with the rest of the layout. So the board which attaches to the fiddle yard has now been modified.
    Finally we come to the turntable, most people who tried to turn a loco on Normans turntable generally need a bit of practice to get the hang of it i.e. lining the rails up. Norman could turn a loco and line it up first time of course! There was no alignment mechanism etc, you had to do it by eye.
    A Heljan turntable has been purchased and fitted, this has required all the shed area to be re-worked, the Heljan turntabel is approximatley 10-15mm bigger than the previous set up. However because the shed area on Millport is quite compact, the shed has had to go and there are now 3 stabling roads in its place. The water tower and coaling stage are still present.
    Well that is a brief summary of the work that has been undertaken over the past 6 months. I will take some pictures tonight and hopefully post them tomorrow as this might help with some of the description above.
     
    Cheers
     
    Simon
  6. 87023Velocity
    Although we have good clubrooms, they are not just used by ourselves and therefore we have to box Millport up after each session. We try to spend a good hour and a half working on the layout were possible.
    Some of last nights tasks for the group were the laying of track in the station area and completing the track laying in the shed area. Also a start was made on giving some of the buildings some TLC in the form of a gentle dusting and hovering.
     
    Below is a photo showing the track laying in the station/parcels area.

     
    Below is the work being undertaken in the shed area.

     
    This shot shows the station front which if you do not know is based on Wigan Wallgate station forecourt.

     
     
    As the majority of track re-laying etc has been completed, the plan for next week will be to airbrush the track hopefully.Please note there are some buildings missing from the layout hence some gaps that can been seen, they are currently in storage and will be fitted at a later date.
     
    Cheers
     
     
     
    Simon
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