Dinfield Sidings

[pirouets]

So back in May the old N gauge layout got canned, all the stock checked and sold as I decided that I can no longer manage N due to bad eye sight, and sometimes fat fingers. As I said in a previous post in in the layout planning area, the idea is inspired by StuartM's 2mm finscale scene with a raised mainline and then sidings below. Only difference is I am not hand building the track.

 

The era is the early to mid eighties so BR blue and starting to possibly creep in to sectorisation. So far a couple of Rats have been picked up at a very reasonable price from Alton models. As for the name, well that was born at breakfast this morning as the kids were talking about a couple of places near Reading called Shinfield and Binfield, then my eldest blurted out he wanted to know if Dinfield existed. Turns out there seems to be an area in Bexhill on Sea called Dinfiled but I liked the name.

 

I can't seem to find a plan but I drew this up the other day for the control panel, so i'm sure you can imagine the 2 higher level tracks on the outside. I debating still whether the higher tracks will be on arches or just a raised wall.

 

This first shot shows down the layout to an area that I think will turn out to be some kind of parcels depot. and mainy served by box wagons/ccts and the like. The trains out can go straight across the slips but may need to be shunted coming in so the loco is not trapped.

 

The other end I am still tinking about but leaning towards a cement works (given I have already bought some cement wagons)

 

This is nothing other than a shot looking back up the layout.

 

In terms of fiddle yard I have decided to go for cassettes, so the sidings come out on the lower level, and there is a 6ft gap currently on the upper. I have made a 4ft cassette but moving forward they will all be 3ft as that will be more manageable and 1ft cassettes for the locos. However it will be a while before I have more than a couple of loco's so this is job is not that urgent. The plus about this idea is that nlike on my n gauge layout where I had the classic fiddle yard which got filled, I only really need to have 1 of each train and I can mix and match the cassettes. If you wondering about how the train gets on to the out circuit, the back part of the layout uses set track and curved points enabling a compressed but manageable curve on the runnning lines as well as being able to cross lines in to the fiiddle yard.

 

The final 2 show where I can build extra shelving for the cassettes plus the shelves down the shed, however I think these actually need to be about 6 inches lower otherwise I will drop things trying to get them off the top shelf.

 

 

A couple of other important things

1. Turns out wiring double and single slips is straight forward. I had mis-understood the instructions and how to feed the V. for now I am letting the contact of the blade take care of that BUT I am debating adding point motors, and if I do I will fit the seep motors with the built in switches.

2. Music - My old amp is in there with a bluetooth reciever so I can connect spotify from my phone and listen to just about anything. The peakers are a bit naff and will need sorting but that's something that can wait.

[woodenhead]

Know what you mean about cassettes, made the mistake of 4ft N gauge ones - never felt comfortable handling them.

[pirouets]

Whilst progress is being made, I am mulling over 1 question as to whether I will lift the track, space out the sleepers better and relay. Given I have part of the curve on the upper level that is to close to allow trains to pass I have to lift at least some of the track to fix this.

 

In the mean time on the parcels side of the layout and having been through a number of threads, in particular Mudmagnets Arcacia Avenue I have tweaked the track to add an extra track. The idea is that there will be a platform between the lines for running round and the parcels area, probably backed with some form of scalescene warehouse at the far end to make the building. There is the low relief factory that can be built to go round the corner of the backscene that will be created at the end of the run round lines and the parcels area where the tape measure is in the photo.

 

Also had my first bit of ebay action in years and picked up 5 lima ccts. These have been re-wheeled since with sets from Peters Spares, but I do plan to try some of the other improvements you can find outlined in other threads on here. Also having read a few articles around dry brush weathering once I am ready they will be experimented on.

 

At the the other end no real change but this picture shows the longest train that will run at 5 coaches. It may be possible to run 6 mk1 's and store them in the fiddle yard but I won't be worried if I can't. I've also been cracking on with the railway arches from the scalescenes kit. I reckon to cover the whole area that needs them I will need to build 10 sets from the kit. 1 lesson learned is I have moved to glue sticks rather than a UHU type glue in a tube with a spreder. Far easier to get things right.

 

Having nosed round the web I need to think about the ground cover and ballast. When I look at pictures of places such as Exxter goods yard which served concrete wagons the track has very tidy ballasting and then concrete surfaces for lorries, etc so its tidier than I imagined.

 

Finally the desk is sorted and in use now. Having a shelf to my left under the layout makes this a far easier area to work.

[class"66"]

Looks rather good so far..

[pirouets]

Blimey these retaining walls will take a bit of time, but its worth it. Been using the Scalescenes kit and have about 50% of the walling done so far. The curved area is now fixed in place and the 1st photo shows a train exiting

 

 

The second shows the wall as it stands so far. There are a few small pieces to add to the to wall. Fixing it was a thing line of PVA at the bottom with a thin bead across the top, and the various heavy items to hold it in place whilst the glue set.

 

 

Having been to Aldershot yesterday I have come to the conclusion that the track will come up to spread the sleeper spacing. The only piece I will not be able to do is where the track goes under the bridge now things are fixed but I can live with that.

 

I'll start on that when I get bored of making retaining wall.

[pirouets]

So a big sense of achievement today having built the 1st of the cassettes for the upper fiddle yard, and more importantly run a train through it succesfully. I need to take a bit more care with the next ones as due no quite getting one end alinged there is a slight kink in the nearer of the 2, which means I had to putt a 2mm piece of card under the other to level it. The track was layed on dollops of PVA which seems to have worked.

 

 

Whilst this has been going on, I now have another 4 lots of walling done, and now need to make just 2 3/4 more of the scalescenes arches kit to complete that element.

 

Finally in my last post I did mention I should space the sleepers but am second guessing that. Having tried it on a small offcut of track, it took ages to cut the webbing and respace, so will think about this for now and not rush in to something I reget.

[pirouets]

Finally made it with all the arches. In the midst of this I have had a leak in the roof and you can see in the left hand side of the picture the staining it has caused. I am wondering however whether just to leave that as some kind of weathering that has happened, or spillage of something on to the arches. Any thoughts? The leak in the roof was sealed with 3 coats of ronseal as the felt is fine, its just a couple of the nails that have let the water in.

 

 

A few more cassettes are underway and I am going to have a mix of 3 & 4ft cassettes plus given my longest rake of wagons does not fit in the 4ft with the loco, I will add a few 1ft cassettes for locos which will make handling simpler.

 

Finally I have pulled apart one of the Lima CCTs I got. This will be my 1st ever bit of bodging so we shall see how we go. New wheels are fitted but they do not turn that well, so along with shawplan glazing I think I might try and sort that out. The other quick piece will be to get some new couplings fitted.

 

 

[pirouets]

Nothing major over the last few weeks but have nearly got the backscene boards in now which do frame the scene. There are 2 end pieces still to fit (see second picture) which hopefully will be done tomorrow. The idea behind the 2nd picture being a stepped end is the piece that can be seen will have a low relief building along the sides that will be the main element of the goods/parcel area.

 

[pirouets]

So i've been thinking (and before anyone asks, no that was not a new years resolution). I was looking at some pictures of Exeter Central cement sidings which then lead me to this picture on a thread - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70626-goods-yards-and-freight-handling/page-2&do=findComment&comment=1054701

 

The plan of Bristol Laurence Hill freight got me thinking that a better way to use the sidings would be as marked on the picture below rather than the 3 sidings on the right being parcels with the cement at the other end of the layout. On the cement side I am wondering as the final picture of the linked thread shows in that post is the inner of the 2 sidings for delivery of cement sacks, etc and the longer outer siding for the cement wagons and that I may have to ease the track out slightly towards the baseboard edge to have room for the cement plant

 

It also means that any shunting is a simpler move and that still leaves the inside siding at the curved end of the layout as a potential 3 option such as scrap.

 

Also now the final 2 pieces of the back scene are in I think this end of the layout has turned out well and just needs a bit more careful thought as to the buildings that wrap round the edges against space for any vehicles.

[pirouets]

Hmm, not sure I recognise the picture above now a s a little change happened and instead of siding a station has appeared.

 

 

 

I'd been mulling this for a while and was reading a copy of Railway Modeller with an article about a smaller station in York and that led to the thought of changing the area so it can serve passangers and parcels. The parcels building is being built out of one of the scalescenes kit and I am still mulling over the station building. Who knows, maybe time for a scratch build

 

I am thinking the main services will be DMU but who knows, that classic of a 31 with 3 surburban coaches may put in a show.

 

It does leave me with one other change to make as these 3 lines have a single slip feeding them, so if I want to be able to push back parcels coaches or vans that will need to be swapped to a double slip. I think then 1 siding will be for parcels/coaches or anything pushed back from the station whilst the other will be a siding for an industry of some description - who knows the cement siding may move there. In the mean time as well as building the platforms it will also mean a wiring change so that if I have a loco trapped by the coaches, to pull those out with a shunter I will need 3 new isolation switches. Best I start strectching now for the back contortions needed.

 

[pirouets]

Wow, its been a year since I started on this. Not a lot has happened over the last few months even though Golf & I have come to an amicable seperation and I have not played since april which you would think would give me a reasonable amount of time, however the hifi and simply listening to music has been enjoyed quite a bit over the last few months instead.

 

Anyway tonight I did finally finish off the work on the slips and wire up the section switches in the platform area and for once, it seemed to work 1st time. Yeah!!! Now that is all done next job is to finish of the trackside walling on the top level and paint the backscene whilst thinking about the buildings that will fill up the space.

 

Who knows, there may actually be some progress coming up.

[Pigwife007]

Hi Steve

Good to see you've got back on the horse so to speak. I've spent the last few evenings tinkering

With my layout. I hadn't even looked at mine for a many a week. Suddenly I sat here reading a lot about what others are doing and planning my next session.

 

Keep it up Dan

[pirouets]

So end of year is here and I think I have got past my rip it up and start all over again problem. I was constructing a small station round the 3 sidings on the lower level but it just looked wrong and cramped, so a simple piece of destruction solved the problem. By just leaving a single platform I can run parcels and the DMU leaving me the other 2 sidings to shunt in and out of.

 

In the picture below my thinking is I will put a small 1/2 width station building in at the end of the tracks which will be extended by a couple of inches and instead of a big warehouse, put a 1 or 2 story building at the back platform edge against the backscene.

 

 

As you look down this picture you can see the sidings and it gives back the old idea of being able to drop cement wagons off to be unloaded.

 

 

So next step is going to be finish the platform and then 2 jobs need starting

 

- Paint the backscene

- Ballasting

[pirouets]

So in between reading and trying to get my head round whether the SOS Junction layout thread is using this forum to develop some form of TV show or just a bunch of modellers chatting with occasional spurts of modelling but its quite an amusing read.

 

I got back in the shed myself today and add the new area for the station building along with the extra couple of inches of track. The good news is I got it right as I can now fit in the parcels rake plus a loco with clearence in to the siding next to it.

 

 

I've added a simple brick wall to stop any plastic people who get added at a later date from falling over the edge. That will also be added down the back edge of the platform once the surface has been laid.

 

 

In terms of station building I am wondering whether to use this GWR scalescenes kit that comes with a goods shed and simply build the front half whilst using the free low relief warehouse as as the parcels building. i'm not back to work till the 9th so we will see how progress goes before then.

[pirouets]

I have been playing with a scalescenes low relief ware house kit toinight that will sit on the platform and act as the parcel depot building. By adding a wall to wrap it round the back scene it starts to fill the slot nicely.

 

 

Alongside this I had a pile of printed off scalescene kits and was always getting in a mess with the amount of paper, so have nicked a few A4 holders off my wife as she has a stack of them and now they are all nicely parceled up which makes things easier to find and much tidier when put away.

 

 

I've actually given the whole shed a good sort out which has helped along with setting up my old hifi speakers in the shed which means i'll have to be careful or could probably annoy the neighbours 5 or 6 doors down if I turned it up to loud but the music sounds a whole heap better now. Tonights work was accompanied by Oxygene (Jean-Michel Jarre) & Little River Band greatest hits.

[pirouets]

I've got a few days before I return to work but the kids are back at school and Ali is back at work and given I am stuck in waiting for a 3/4 size table tennis top to be delivered either today or tomorrow.

 

A couple more tweaks on the warehouse/parcel/mail unit but have come to the end of what I can do until the scalescenes door sheets arrive as something has gone pear shaped with the order. Have emailed scalescenes and I reckon it will be here by tomorrow as this happened once before. I have added a couple of Royal Mail signs and that is the reason I want different coloured warehouse doors and windows.

 

 

I've also got some off cuts of track and done different ballasts on each of them.

 

 

I'm thinking its either the dark grey which is 2nd in from left or the light grey on the right for the lower area of the layout and the used the dark brown ballast on the left hand track for the main line. 4 out of 5 of the ballasts tried are fine ballast I used on my N gauge layouts in the past. I did try some medium ballast but I think its to coarse.

 

Before I start ballasting I need to fit all the infill sleepers which if I get a chance I will do later today.

[pirouets]

So tomorrow is back to work and the break is over - BOO HOO HOO. But I do feel as though progress has been made in the last week. I have a couple of final tweaks to do to the Royal Mail building but it fits well and alongside this I have built a station building. This is one part of the scalescenes medium kit. Now I do realise that the mail building kit is a red brick and the rest of the layout is a brown/red brick but my back story is this is a new addition in the early seventies providing a central distribution/sorting where as the rest of the area was built many years before.

 

 

 

I've also now added the back wall to the platform which helps complete the scene and gives the platform a good bit of definition. I will need to think about careful placement of things like signs/benches and lights to cover a couple of small rough spots on the surface.

 

 

I think before I try and go to much further I need to outline a list of jobs so I do not forget but painting the backscene and ballasting are probably high on that list.

[pirouets]

Hmm, another 3 months gone by - am I getting old as seems like only last week I was posting madly across RMweb whilst having a week off. One key thing I have achived is to pick up a Class 31 which just about complete's the core loco's I want for the layout, so in futuer most of my focus for stock is about a couple of coach sets and freight. Anyway simple progress to show for now.

 

1st of all a bit of ballasting down now in the station area though I do seem to have broken one of the insulating sections doing this which I will need to fix

 

 

At the other end of the layout I have been working on the warehouse that will fill in across the angled backscene and so far so go I think.

 

 

And finally some new cassettes for the fiddle yard - these are 600mm units and designed to take short freight and 2 car DMUs.

 

 

The other thing that has happened is my kids have both decided they want a layout so the 1st of 2 small boards has been built and the n gauge track and stock I have resurrected. My eldest wants to put a post up about that in the near future.

[pirouets]

So it turns out that if you don't pay attention and cross 2 wires over in the loom, that would explain why I could not run a train from where I put a cassette in the fiddle yard round to the outer line. This has been bugging me for a while and so having figured it out tonigh I would now like to say - on this day 29th April, 2017 I AM ABSOLUTLY THE DUMBEST SCHMUCK ON RMWEB :-)

 

How the heck did I not figure that out for so long!!!!!!!

 

As a result all is calm in the man cave now and I can start trying to plan better how to operate the layout.

[pirouets]

Been thinking about how to operate this layout at the moment and have started outlining a plan in XL. Rather than think of times specifically at the moment I am working on movements in, around and out of the lower area. I have around 40 at the moment but the key question I have for myself is what would make roughly a day. I need to get Peter Denny's Buckingham book and to have look at the timetabling in it

 

In other news it turns out that my RMweb signature is right on the money. I started on building a warehouse to fit the empty space near the pointwork. But being a total wombat, when I linked the 3 pieces of card together, I did so meaning I could not put brick paper on the mirror image sides which given I went for a northlight roof style is a problem. However after having a think in the shed it hit me that perhaps they will make good very low profile buildings behind the upper level track.

 

So carried on and if I add about 1cm of card to give it a bit of depth I think its OK. So instead of the original plan for 1 building I will work on these over the coming days.

 

And when I say next few days, it will be that as I am just starting what I will call a little career break having left work on Friday and plans for what ever is next is looking at Mid Sept to go back. Question is just how much will I get done? There is a list of things to do on the house, plus I will be off for the school holidays so get to spend that with the kids, plus golf does seem to be coming back on the agenda having played for the 1st time in 14 months (I had a tantrum like a 3yr old in April last year and stormed off the course and out of the club)

 

[pirouets]

So as I said before, been thinking about operating the layout and so far have built around 50 moves for the lower station and sidings area which I think is about right as I got through around 30 moves earlier on trying it out. The only change I am thinking of is having a couple of local trains that are engine & coaches rather than DMU, 1 of which is in the time table so far.

 

I used XL to do the table as I could add some simple formulas which are not shown to check the balance of inbound/outbound movements along with the column that shows which loco's are in use. Quite how I use this in the shed I am yet to work out whether I just have the sheet or convert to cards, but I might add all the point and switch settings as when playing earlier there were a few times I either had a point wrong or left a section powered after parking a train.

 

Still to be figured out is adding the upper line runnings which I am thinking of around 30, which would mean 80 movements for the whole process. I also need to think about better organisation of the stock shelves as I move cassettes around

 

So at the moment the table is

 

 

I've also made up the 4 sides for the warehouse unit and this time managed to paper the right sides and the picture below shows it blue tacked together as part of working out the width I wanted. Plan is to line the inside as well once the windows are made as I have realised with the size of the building its easy to see in. I may even go as far as to make so contents for the warehouse.

 

 

[pirouets]

I finished running through the operating plan today and realised i did not think about how many 3ft cassettes i would need to hold the stock.

 

Along with this i need a better way to be able to swap locos as its not simple when they are in the cassette wuth the rest of the train. So i am thinking that having 2 or 3 1ft loco lift cassettes would be useful and as i have enough 4ft pieces of mdf to make 2 of each initially.

 

This way i can then keep the 4ft cassettes i have for use on mainline stock as they are not easy to turn around when being used to feed the lower level.

[pirouets]

So a bit more work on the warehouses today. Had to duck in and out of the shed as by the early evening it had climbed to a balmy 36C in there.

 

The low relief is coming on and I have added window sills, brickwork above the window and the basic roofing is on now but needs the roof joins covering. I also need to have a think about rain pipes to catch the water from each of the V joints in the roof so will have a look round the web to see what is available.

 

 

The main warehouse now has the inner lining added so if someone looks in they won't see white card and I am debating what to put inside the warehouse itself. Hopefully I will get the front side complete tomorrow.

 

 

 

[pirouets]

A bit more building work on a store for the sidings area and how I think it will sit alongside the other building which will now be the 2nd of the 2 pottery buildings. Lots more to do on them but I think I have the layout I want and now need to think about how the outside of the yard area will look.

 

 

I've also created trhe surface for the yard area from the station. I needed so plaster in the house as for some reason we lost the mains to the ovens which was under the floor and the new route is chanalled in a couple of walls and needed a smothing layer. So the remains of this have simply gone on the board as it was a mess having ripped up a platform I decided I did not want. I will need to touch up the ballast to join in it neatly. I'll probably make a sample off the layout to try out paint surface colours.

 

 

In the mean time I need to start on the buffers which all need priming and painting up.

[pirouets]

Not a huge amount of progress as lost a week and a bit to a bout of vertigo of all things. Simply sitting at the PC and the world started spinning and did not stop for a while. Thankfully seems to be over and I have managed to use a knife in the shed and all fingers still where they should be. Got cracking with a few jobs in the last couple of days.

 

Firstly the buffers are all peco ones but they are now primed and one of them nearly has its main dark coat finished. Does improve the look no end but I need some red paint for the effect of the light on the buffer.

 

 

I've also started looking at a new control panel as I changed the design of the layout and never fixed this, along with the fact I could do with improving the standard of the wiring every where. Not had any faults but I do snag the odd wire getting tools out. The picture was done in powerpoint and I need to create a template for the right hand side where the controller will go.

 

 

Finally starting to think about the roof's for the 2 buildings I have started on so been cutting out the card that will fit flush to strengthen the roof and building, but need to find a thin card that can take the scalescenes tile strips and then sit on this.

 

 

The other problem I have found is the upper track on the inner curve at the station end does have a de-railment problem for the MK2 coaches. It seems to be the transition track between code 75 & 100 so I am debating whether the lay the upper track with code 100. This would mean I could run my old Wrenn castle along with a couple of my Dads older loco's that I now have. Not going to rush in to this as I may find a set of Mk1 coaches runs better as the length of the coach is shorter and hoping to get that set in September.