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Ian Smith
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First time I've seen the baulk road modelled.

 

Brian.

Brian,

Baulk Road is certainly not modelled very often (a great shame in my opinion).  It has been done in 7mm and in 4mm (parts are available from the Broad Gauge Society), but in 2mm it is very much a DIY job.  I have seen photos of some 2mm baulk road, but with "standard" cross sleepered pointwork, and examples of plain track work too.  I however am trying to go the whole hog and replicate turnouts too!

 

Hi Ian,

Very impressive.

One question: why have you painted the facing point lock cover and bar red?

Drduncan

Duncan,

According to some documentation (dated 1907) I have (from the Great Western Study Group) the GWR in the Edwardian (and earlier) period painted a lot of their signalling equipment in "Torbay Bright Red", this included the point rodding, stools, signal pulleys, Facing Point Locks and ancillary bits and bobs. The aforesaid documentation can also be seen at the foot of this website page : http://www.stationcolours.info/index.php?p=1_5_GWR

 

It all adds up to another reason to model this fascinating colourful period in railway history :sungum:  

 

Ian

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Baulk Road is certainly not modelled very often (a great shame in my opinion).  It has been done in 7mm and in 4mm (parts are available from the Broad Gauge Society), but in 2mm it is very much a DIY job.  I have seen photos of some 2mm baulk road, but with "standard" cross sleepered pointwork, and examples of plain track work too.  I however am trying to go the whole hog and replicate turnouts too!

 

According to some documentation (dated 1907) I have (from the Great Western Study Group) the GWR in the Edwardian (and earlier) period painted a lot of their signalling equipment in "Torbay Bright Red", this included the point rodding, stools, signal pulleys, Facing Point Locks and ancillary bits and bobs. The aforesaid documentation can also be seen at the foot of this website page: http://www.stationcolours.info/index.php?p=1_5_GWR

 

It all adds up to another reason to model this fascinating colourful period in railway history :sungum:  

 

I agree Ian; the Edwardian period is a very attractive and colourful time-frame to model. And you are making a top-notch job of recreating the GWR baulk road in 2mm scale too! But I think that rapidly accumulated brake dust, dirt and weathering would have quickly obscured the "Torbay Bright Red" colours within days (cf. white-painted coach roofs and rollingstock wheel rims). So you may need to tone it down a bit. Pre-group railways weren't always as clean and neat as us modellers like to imagine!

 

On the subject of modelling the broad gauge in 2mm scale: You are probably already aware that 2mm Brunel broad gauge track components, roller gauges and back-to-back gauges, and various sizes of rolling wheels on extended axles (all to 2mm Scale Association finescale standards) were made available by the Broad Gauge Society back in the mid- to late 1980s. These didn't sell very well (although I have some) and I believe the BGS stocks eventually passed to the Association in the late 1990s. Not sure if they still exist. But worth inquiring with the 2mmSA Chief Shopkeeper if you haven't already got your fill!

Edited by Phil Copleston
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Phil, After asking various people I concluded the late Pete Whitehead probably had them. Perhaps someone knows where they went next, or if they did indeed vanish.

 

By your own admission the rolling stock wheels weren't up to much. BtB and roller gauges are easily produced with a lathe (I know Ian had one), which just leaves rail.

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Phil, After asking various people I concluded the late Pete Whitehead probably had them. Perhaps someone knows where they went next, or if they did indeed vanish.

 

By your own admission the rolling stock wheels weren't up to much. BtB and roller gauges are easily produced with a lathe (I know Ian had one), which just leaves rail.

 

Rich,

 

On the contrary, the broad gauge rolling stock wheels were pretty good (certainly pre- the "wobbly wheels" era of the early '90s) - plastic centres with blackened brass rims on 1mm steel axles. There was a 7mm 10-split spoke and a 6mm 10-split spoke, plus the Association's 6mm diam. 8-spoke plain and split spokes were also available on extended axles. The brass roller-gauges were CNC'd by Phil Kerr, so were nicely made with check-rail slots too, plus matching turned b-t-b gauges and crossing nose "button" gauges, I remember. 

 

You could be right - that the late Peter Whitehead may have snaffled up most of them. What happened to all his 2-mil stuff? But I bet there are some other broad gauge wheelsets hanging around in others' gloat-boxes somewhere! I seem to remember there where quite a lot of them in stock.

Edited by Phil Copleston
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Hi Ian, good to see a thread for Modbury. I do like the back story. Some day when work eases up I'm going to redraw the map of the GWR in the 1900s, as there are a number of Edwardian stations and lines on here that never seem to show on the official maps! I suppose they were forgotten in the wake of the GWR's rush to enhance and upgrade the system after the fall of the broad gauge. All those cut-offs and new lines seem to have produced some railway backwaters that the rest of the world forgot!  :)

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You could be right - that the late Peter Whitehead may have snaffled up most of them. What happened to all his 2-mil stuff?

A fair bit of Peter's broad gauge stuff went back to broad gauge society contacts to dispose of, though I recall much of that was larger scales. I think some was taken to 2mm meets and the sale table. And, like with many deaths, some was chucked away as not worth dealing with in the available time - there is only so much that a couple of friends can do when the family would like the room emptied in a short time.

Some of his (not 2mm/N) models went through Ebay for charity, and one box of those (anyone want some US O scale narrow gauge side tipper wagons ?) is still in my shed seeking a buyer.

 

- Nigel

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On the contrary, the broad gauge rolling stock wheels were pretty good (certainly pre- the "wobbly wheels" era of the early '90s) - plastic centres with blackened brass rims on 1mm steel axles. There was a 7mm 10-split spoke and a 6mm 10-split spoke,........

these were originally produced through the late Neil Ballantyne, if I recall correctly.  I certainly got 4 axles of the 7mm ones from him and they all run perfectly true.  2 axles went under my Officer's Saloon and the other two went into an etched chassis I had produced to upgrade the CR refrigerator van I first built in 1969-70.  The body has now been corrected by adding the beading between the framing and the planking, removing the ventilator in the roof and adding the ice boxes.  The drawing I originally built it to was wrong in these respects.

 

Jim

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I agree Ian; the Edwardian period is a very attractive and colourful time-frame to model. And you are making a top-notch job of recreating the GWR baulk road in 2mm scale too! But I think that rapidly accumulated brake dust, dirt and weathering would have quickly obscured the "Torbay Bright Red" colours within days (cf. white-painted coach roofs and rollingstock wheel rims). So you may need to tone it down a bit. Pre-group railways weren't always as clean and neat as us modellers like to imagine!

 

On the subject of modelling the broad gauge in 2mm scale: You are probably already aware that 2mm Brunel broad gauge track components, roller gauges and back-to-back gauges, and various sizes of rolling wheels on extended axles (all to 2mm Scale Association finescale standards) were made available by the Broad Gauge Society back in the mid- to late 1980s. These didn't sell very well (although I have some) and I believe the BGS stocks eventually passed to the Association in the late 1990s. Not sure if they still exist. But worth inquiring with the 2mmSA Chief Shopkeeper if you haven't already got your fill!

Phil,

Once I have finally constructed all of the track work and the point rodding it will all get a bit of toning down.  I don't want to do it piecemeal as I am concerned that it could end up looking like a patchwork quilt!  As for the 2mm scale Broad Gauge bits and bobs that used to exist, I have little or no use for them - my track work and stock is all to "narrow gauge", as yet I have no intention of back dating to pre-1892  :no:

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Once I have finally constructed all of the track work and the point rodding it will all get a bit of toning down.  I don't want to do it piecemeal as I am concerned that it could end up looking like a patchwork quilt!  As for the 2mm scale Broad Gauge bits and bobs that used to exist, I have little or no use for them - my track work and stock is all to "narrow gauge", as yet I have no intention of back dating to pre-1892  :no:

 

Ooops, my mistake, Ian. I couldn't have looked at your photos hard enough! And I think talk of "baulk road" confused me. Dohh! But anyway, even as GWR 'narrow gauge', what you have already produced looks absolutely superb! I hope to see it for real at a show someday. And I get what you're saying about toning it down later to get overall consistency.  :good:  

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It is good to see this available to a wider public. I have only seen one other layout which featured narrowed Bulk road Bob Harper's Maristow. The whole layout is well thought out and with this quality of workmanship it should be a real winner.  

Don

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I strongly suspect that the main components of Torbay Bright Red were lead tetroxide and linseed oil. Various mixes of these two components were once much used as a tough and long-lasting anti-corrosion red paint for metal in situations similar to point rodding and the like.

 

Lead tetroxide was so much more resistant to attack by hydrogen sulphide than white lead paint (which quickly blackens as a result of the formation of black lead sulphide) that the main weathering effect is likely to have been from the slow degradation of the linseed oil component of the mix. That said, I doubt whether it was ever as bright as it appears in the model photo despite the commercial product name. I can, just, remember my father applying it to something and I would have said that it was close to bauxite, but not only does that vary considerably but memories of paint colours are notoriously fickle.

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I was talking to the owner of a local decorating shop today (buying a dye for turnout timbers) who started his apprenticeship as a painter in the sixties. He said the last time he had used Red Lead as he knew it, was at Hinkley point. Red Oxide (Bauxite?) is nowhere as good he said. I suspect Torbay Bright was the top coat on a red lead primer.

Don

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Watched the first episode of Gryf Rhys-Jones series 'Through Africa by Slow Train'  today, which my wife had recorded.  He was in Namibia and at the end was on a line that was being rebuilt across the southern part of the Namib Desert between Ludoritz and Keetmanshoop.  Not sure what gauge it was, but at least part of it was baulk road!!  Probably to get better support in the sand.

 

Jim

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Watched the first episode of Gryf Rhys-Jones series 'Through Africa by Slow Train'  today, which my wife had recorded.  He was in Namibia and at the end was on a line that was being rebuilt across the southern part of the Namib Desert between Ludoritz and Keetmanshoop.  Not sure what gauge it was, but at least part of it was baulk road!!  Probably to get better support in the sand.

 

Jim,

 

The line from Lüderitz to Keetmanshoop is now part of the TransNamib Railway, which is 1,067mm (3 ft 6 in) 'Cape Gauge': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransNamib

 

About the TransNamib track - you are exactly right! It IS modern baulk road (of sorts) known as 'TMT' (Tubular Modular Track) for use in difficult geotechnical situations or to prevent engulfment by sand. Going slightly off-topic now, but see this South African rail industry website: http://www.tubulartrack.co.za/index.php/tubular-modular-track/what-is-tmt/  And some clear photos of this TMT baulk road:

 

post-14107-0-30754300-1436127801_thumb.jpg

 

post-14107-0-65226600-1436127836_thumb.jpg

 

post-14107-0-37487400-1436127858_thumb.jpg

 

Hope the above clarifies.

Edited by Phil Copleston
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  • 1 month later...

A little more progress in the last couple of weeks.  All of the track work in the station area has now been laid, effectively that was just laying two turnouts and a couple of sidings since Expo.  Laying the plasticard transoms in the 4 foot took time though.

 

The hardest part was getting it all to work electrically though!!  Not because it was particularly difficult but because I was stupid!  I had worked out the wiring for the crossing from Down Main to Goods Loop (via the diamond crossing), and wired up everything to 3 relays to control crossing polarities, etc.  All worked perfectly well when the crossing was Normal, but when Reversed I got a dead short.  A couple of days were spent on an off checking my logic (I thought perhaps since retiring my brain had gone soft), but still couldn't find the fault.  Re-gapped all of the rail breaks, still a dead short when the crossing was reversed.  In an act of desperation I decided to unsolder all of the wiring from rails to the relays (but kept the power feeds to the relays intact), another test, another dead short!  Checked the little breadboard circuits for each of the relays and discovered my stupidity.  I had not gapped one of the breadboards across the power lines feeding one of the relays!!  A happy hour reassembling all of the crossover wiring yielded a station area that works exactly as I wanted it to.

 

Below are some photos of the progress to date :

 

Towards Plymouth

 

DSCF1123.JPG.c2470b97a5876eec26589ac9513899ba.JPG

Towards Newton Abbot/Exeter

 

DSCF1126.JPG.cd1405aa508bb46f9e9d0bc804f56d9c.JPG

Low down view (excuse the lens shadow from the flash above)

 

DSCF1130.JPG.da8764e49d69c9677154bf69023f46e8.JPG

Elevated view

 

DSCF1133.JPG.e87c20ef6890ec30b5ce61d0666f0375.JPG

Up View through road over bridge at Plymouth end

 

DSCF1136.JPG.48b1dc051a11752986db48186450ba6e.JPG

The next stage is to construct the TOU's and the memory wire actuators for same.  The electronics for the memory wire actuators are done and are attached to the pile of wires that can be seen behind the goods shed in a couple of the photos.  Once those are in place I can spray all of the track work in the yard (the main lines won't get that treatment until all of the point rodding has been added).  Then I can begin ballasting!

 

Ian

Edited by Ian Smith
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The trackwork looks superb Ian. As for the wiring problems I can only suggest testing as you go then you know the last bits added must be where the fault lies! I am interested in that you chose to go with memory wire. I am leaning towards servos having found some quite small ones.

Don

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The trackwork looks superb Ian. As for the wiring problems I can only suggest testing as you go then you know the last bits added must be where the fault lies! I am interested in that you chose to go with memory wire. I am leaning towards servos having found some quite small ones.

Don

Don,

The wiring problem I introduced was as a result of adding the crossover wiring, I was confident that the issue lay somewhere in the wiring I had added, it was just that there was quite a bit of it - 4 Vees, and 2 other sections all of which had their polarities controlled through the 3 DPDT relays.

 

I had considered servos but we use them for the signals on St Ruth and until very recently experienced servo glitching which I felt could be an issue for points.  We recently upgraded the MERG software on the control boards and I think that has largely resolved the glitching problems.  However I had already decided to go down the memory wire route having read Jim Watt's article in the 2mm magazine.  I have to say that I am at the moment perfectly happy with the memory wire solution.

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  • 2 months later...

Recently I have begun work on one of the structures for Modbury - the Signal Box.  This is based on the one at Bodmin General, albeit a mirror image and (edit : Doh! the 4mm scale one I built was the mirror image version!) having a full set of steps (the prototype has steps that go from platform level rather than ground level).

 

I have "blogged" the construction so far here :

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-16898-modbury-signal-box/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-16949-modbury-signal-box-2/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-17021-modbury-signal-box-3/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-17026-modbury-signal-box-4/

 

The next things to do will be to add the gutters and down pipes, before I can paint it and add some rudimentary internal detail.  The last stage will be to add the windows.

 

241246280_7-Handrail2.JPG.1a3d3d5af8e887740df032dc73b072f5.JPG

 

1267015398_8-Handrail3.JPG.3efb570726769feec0ad9c9da63b1ff2.JPG

 

Ian

Edited by Ian Smith
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Recently I have begun work on one of the structures for Modbury - the Signal Box.  This is based on the one at Bodmin General, albeit a mirror image and having a full set of steps (the prototype has steps that go from platform level rather than ground level).

 

I have "blogged" the construction so far here :

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-16898-modbury-signal-box/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-16949-modbury-signal-box-2/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-17021-modbury-signal-box-3/

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-17026-modbury-signal-box-4/

 

The next things to do will be to add the gutters and down pipes, before I can paint it and add some rudimentary internal detail.  The last stage will be to add the windows.

 

attachicon.gif7 - Handrail 2.JPG

 

attachicon.gif8 - Handrail 3.JPG

 

Ian

 

Very nice Ian. Here is a shot of the one at Bodmin. I feel you have captured it well.

 

Don

post-8525-0-10558300-1379061130_thumb.jpg

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