RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted March 17, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17, 2018 I like this. The simplicity of a magazine describer, but with the extra clarity of 4-character descriptions - which didn’t even exist when magazines were introduced. Magazines worked well at the time, although where boxes were close a wrong description would get parroted forward and things might get difficult. Hence the evening in 1969 when the Up Brighton Belle went via Crystal Palace - South Croydon (probably, but maybe it started at Purley) sent a wrong description to East Croydon, who passed it to Gloucester Road, and at Windmill Bridge Junction the train was routed to Norwood Junction instead of Selhurst. Somebody, probably East Croydon, realised the error and Norwood did the diversion back towards Victoria. I recall when we were doing stageworks for the Victoria scheme in the early ‘80s, there was sufficient train data in the Regional database that we used ASMIS - Automatic Setup Manual Interpose System. This gave the guy at the fringe box a live list of up to 10 4-character descriptions of trains due about that time, and he chose the correct one on the VDU and interposed it to the new panel box. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 (edited) Hi, It’s been 3 years since I purchased Norwood Road from Pete, and after 4 exhibitions and an appearance in BRM, I have been thinking about the future of the layout. After much thought, I have decided that 2019 will be last year for the layout to be exhibited and that the only change to be made is to replace the point in the fiddle yard that lost its spring. This is an extract from my SJPModels Blog here: https://sjpmodels.wordpress.com/2018/03/18/norwood-road-the-future/ Simon Edited March 21, 2018 by St. Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted March 18, 2018 Author Share Posted March 18, 2018 Hi, By the way, I will still be updating this thread with reports from shows and answering questions etc, but you just won't see anything improvements or changes to the layout. Simon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 Hi, As you may have seen, Norwood Road will be attending the RMWeb SWAG Members Day in Taunton at the end of April, see here for details: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/132527-swag-members-day-2018/ Looking forward to it, there will be new pieces of rolling stock, including a Class 450 and a 2nd Dapol 73 as well as a GWR Class 800 (yes, I know it's not in keeping with the period or area, but I should try and give it a run!). Simon 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 21, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 21, 2018 Great looking layout Simon, looking forward to seeing it at Taunton. Cheers, Dave,. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted March 21, 2018 Author Share Posted March 21, 2018 (edited) Great looking layout Simon, looking forward to seeing it at Taunton. Cheers, Dave,. Thanks Dave, quite looking forward to bringing it down to (almost) southern territory! Simon Edited March 21, 2018 by St. Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike B Posted March 22, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 22, 2018 Sad to see you've decided against continuing to exhibit Simon as there's not many good quality modern image layouts on the circuit.....but after reading through your blog, it's understandable. Good luck with whatever you decide to built in the future and keep us updated Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Sad to see you've decided against continuing to exhibit Simon as there's not many good quality modern image layouts on the circuit.....but after reading through your blog, it's understandable. Good luck with whatever you decide to built in the future and keep us updated Hi Scoobyra, Whilst I won't actively look for exhibitions after 2019, if people invite the layout, I will definitely think about taking it to shows, but it will be in the same guise as you see it now. In terms of what's next, I've started designing and planning for it here: https://sjpmodels.wordpress.com/2018/03/18/planning-a-layout-part-1-geography/ (it's going to be big, but take a long time!) Simon 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike B Posted March 22, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 22, 2018 Hi Scoobyra, Whilst I won't actively look for exhibitions after 2019, if people invite the layout, I will definitely think about taking it to shows, but it will be in the same guise as you see it now. In terms of what's next, I've started designing and planning for it here: https://sjpmodels.wordpress.com/2018/03/18/planning-a-layout-part-1-geography/ (it's going to be big, but take a long time!) Simon Nice one - it'll need quite a lot of space! I've long thought about building Fareham seeing as I live 6 miles from it but even in N Gauge, it takes up 15 feet......and that doesn't even get you to the tunnel! It'll be great to see you build it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Nice one - it'll need quite a lot of space! I've long thought about building Fareham seeing as I live 6 miles from it but even in N Gauge, it takes up 15 feet......and that doesn't even get you to the tunnel! It'll be great to see you build it. Yeah, it's not going to a full Fareham, it'll be a 'looky likey' version, I've got it down to 18ft scenic, that's with shortening it quite a bit, but it still gives a good feel for it. Simon 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted April 24, 2018 Author Share Posted April 24, 2018 Hi, Just to remind everyone that Norwood Road will be appearing in the sunny South West this weekend at the SWAG Taunton Members Day on Sunday: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/132527-swag-members-day-2018/ Looking forward to it! Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Graham_Muz Posted April 30, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 30, 2018 Really good to see you with Norwood Road at the SWAG day yesterday and pleased that it was running so well and that the issue with one one the points was managed to be identified, tweaked and resolved to improve running. I hope that all the positive comments and discussions you had will convince you that with a few minor mods to the presentation (information screens) and operation etc. will convince you that this could become a very popular layout on the exhibition circuit being bang up to date and educational in terms of signalling practice etc. (Logistics of transportation etc can be overcome with a little help from your friends I am sure ) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 Hi All, Here is my report on Norwood Road's trip south to Taunton: The weekend starts off on the Saturday morning (the actual show is on the Sunday) when we load the van. This weekend saw us helped by our good friend Roger, so has helped (and continues to do so) enormously with the electronics side of the layout, particularly the fantastic Train Describers. The loading of the van was quick enough (as everything was still packed up after Doncaster and we made our way down the M4 & M5 towards Taunton. The first stop was the Taunton Model Railway Groups clubroom on Bishops Lydeard Station on the West Somerset Railway, a couple of hours was spent with other RMWeb members getting up close with the Taunton MRG’s main layout Bath Green Pack and their new layout of Bishops Lydeard itself. It’s always nice to view the layout closer than at an exhibition usually. The evening was rounded off with a meal in a pub down the road and discussing everything from the TSB chaos to the next Model Railway Challenge. The next day was show day, this show is one of the more hectic shows in that set up doesn’t start until 08:15 for the show opening at 10:00, luckily we managed it, although we did have to re-solder the track at the town end of the fiddle yard as our previous attempt at increasing the width of the layout ended up every so slightly out of alignment!. The show itself, was laid back and a great way of spending a few hours in the company of a polite bunch of enthusiastic modellers (even if they are totally bonkers!). However, we still had the problems we had at Doncaster, the most obvious one being the non DCC friendly insulfrog points in the fiddle yard. It should be noted that despite these problems, I was happy with the layout operated, including how it all worked after a very quick set up and the signalling worked perfectly yet again (plus the track circuit indication which dropped out at Doncaster managed to rectify itself!). I’m very confident that the next lot of shows will go much better than the first couple. This is extract from SJPModels Blog, to read the full post, please go to my Wordpress site. Simon 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 Really good to see you with Norwood Road at the SWAG day yesterday and pleased that it was running so well and that the issue with one one the points was managed to be identified, tweaked and resolved to improve running. I hope that all the positive comments and discussions you had will convince you that with a few minor mods to the presentation (information screens) and operation etc. will convince you that this could become a very popular layout on the exhibition circuit being bang up to date and educational in terms of signalling practice etc. (Logistics of transportation etc can be overcome with a little help from your friends I am sure ) Thanks Muz, yes, the weekend has given me a confidence boost, and I'm convinced on the few minor mods that you and roger suggested. Simon 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted May 19, 2018 Author Share Posted May 19, 2018 Hi, I know that this thread is about Norwood Road, but I know there's a couple of people who like to see what I'm developing next, so I thought I would post the links to my two latest Blog entries here: Planning Collingwood Part 3 - Initial Design Planning Collingwood Part 4 - Signalling Scheme Plan. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten Norwood Road, there's plenty to be done for next years exhibitions. At the moment, I'm re-writing my sequence to take into account new stock (both since the last time I wrote it and the stuff that will arrive before the next show). It was planned that there would be sequence at Doncaster, but this was abandoned before we started as it had assumed that certain pieces of rolling stock went around the layout in a certain way, which turned out not to be! A sequence may seem a little odd for a two track layout, but the reasoning behind it is one to prevent the same trains trundling around hour after hour, and two to allow us to use all the possible signalling moves. The other thing I'm going to do is design a system for motorizing the fiddle yard, I have the point motors ready, but I need to think of a system to control them and link them with the Train Describers. I will probably make one more change to the fiddle yard and that is to add a crossover at the country end mirroring the one on the other end of the fiddle yard between the outer loop and the center fiddle yard road. I'll do a Blog Post on the above two subjects in due course. Simon 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted August 3, 2018 Author Share Posted August 3, 2018 Hi, A small updated, unfortunately, Norwood Road won't be attending the Calne Model Railway Exhibition in January, however I have been able to secure another exhibition after a quick chat with Mike Wild: Great Electric Train Show - 12th & 13th October 2019 - The Arena MK, Milton Keynes I have also agreed to a feature in Hornby Magazine on the layout, so look out for that at some point in the future! Simon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted January 6, 2019 Author Share Posted January 6, 2019 (edited) Hi all, Just to remind everyone, Norwood Road is appearing this weekend at the Chiltern Model Railway Exhibition at Stevenage! As part of our preparations to the layout, we've added a small scenic section. This is at the Town end of the layout, originally it looked like this: I've been meaning to extend the tram line so that it goes 'off scene', however after thinking it though, Dad and I thought it look better if the we added a scenic section within the limits of the existing baseboard to extend the tram line to a new Tram Stop: This is so that the tram now goes from somewhere to somewhere and it will now just look like it has stopped at the Tram Stop rather than simply disappeared. There's still some minor detailing to do before the weekend, but above is what you will see. Talking of the Tram Line, as I can't find a suitably modern scale tram for a reasonable price, I've decided not to have one and just pretend the line is either under construction or maintenance and stick to running my Sentinel Shunter and Engineering Wagons. Also, I hope Stevenage will see a vast improvement in operating and rolling stock as I've spent alot of time and money on ensuring everything works as I hope it does. I'm looking forward to the weekend and I hope to see some RMweb Members there! Simon Edited January 6, 2019 by St. Simon 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
s182ggu Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Good Luck with the changes, Simon - hope it all goes well. Best Wishes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coline33 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Simon, the tram stop looks Tramlink-like, well done with those awful H-girders! Why not do as John Clarke did for his "West Croydon" layout and build a CR4000 based on the Alphagraphix card kit with the motor bogie in the 'C' section. Far cheaper than the LTM RTR release of some years ago which was based on the Halling H0 scale K4000 for Koln with its differences. John has since 'graduated' to the Stadler by scratch-building - now that does take a real effort!!! All the best, Colin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 Simon, the tram stop looks Tramlink-like, well done with those awful H-girders! Why not do as John Clarke did for his "West Croydon" layout and build a CR4000 based on the Alphagraphix card kit with the motor bogie in the 'C' section. Far cheaper than the LTM RTR release of some years ago which was based on the Halling H0 scale K4000 for Koln with its differences. John has since 'graduated' to the Stadler by scratch-building - now that does take a real effort!!! All the best, Colin. Hi Colin, Thank you, I was hoping to get my 3D printed tram stop components here for the weekend, but unfortunately I couldn't, but they will be there for Risex. I wasn't aware of the the card kit, I'll look into that option! Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coline33 Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Simon, please tell us more about these tram stop components and from where can they be obtained. Colin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 Simon, please tell us more about these tram stop components and from where can they be obtained. Colin. Hi Colin, There are models to my design which I have 3D Printed via Shapeways: They are a waiting shelter, 2 x Oyster Card Readers, 2 x Poster boards and 2 x destination displays. They are modelled specifically on the Croydon system (apart from the waiting shelter, it is a generic modern design). I haven't set them to be purchased, but I can if there is interest in them. Simon 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coline33 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Thanks, Simon, I will see what interest I can find for you. Colin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swifty11 Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 I really like that little waiting shelter. When I’ve got my tramway sorted I’ll buy one for sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 I really like that little waiting shelter. When I’ve got my tramway sorted I’ll buy one for sure. Hi Swifty, Thank you, there is also a full version for station platforms ( https://www.shapeways.com/product/EFJ2A3X24/p-01-platform-shelter?optionId=42815227 ). The Tram Stop stuff is for sale at £37.99 (I apologies for the price, I don't quite know how it has got so high!): https://www.shapeways.com/product/UXSEVWSN3/t-01-croydon-tramlink-tram-stop-detail-set?optionId=83418208 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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