Warren Lane (formally The Layout Formally Known as Warren Lane, and Wulfruna) again...

[Satan's Goldfish]

4 minutes ago, rhysnationalexpress said:

I’ve seen a few videos and pictures of the layout but not seen so much of the rolling stock , just wanted to see some of the running formations and rolling stock 

 

as I’m doing something similar 

 

(have tried to message private )
Rhys 

 

 

I'm 'working' from home next week so I'll see what's to hand. My intended era of operation is a very loose 85-99 so it can very it depending how i'm feeling, and geographically if may be a bit vague at times whether it's GEML or West Anglia Mainline (diversions are always a good excuse) as I've got NSE stock to make up the Ely mk2 sets as well as the Norwich IC sets. At least EMUs and crosscountry stock are fairly interchangeable on those 2 lines.

 

In its previous life on the exhibition circuit the stock mainly consisted of various container flats for the yard and suitable locomotives to pull them (all kadee fitted for hands-off operation), and the mainlines were run with whatever the various operators brought along to 'play' with.

 

From memory, the last few exhibitions when it was running 1990s era end to end usually saw an NSE 321, intercity mk2 DBSO push/pull set, a 'speedlink' freight..... there must have been others but I can't recall off the top of my head! There will be a lot more pictures and videos on the original Warren Lane thread in the layout topics area from when it was owned by Alan and Maggie.

 

2013/14 ish when it was first running as a roundy in a late 90s/early 00s era there were a couple Anglia push/pull sets, parcels, various freights, etc. Dan and Mick Laurence would usual bring some of Mick's excellent track maintenance vehicles too. For the Peterborough show it was run with GNER stock instead of Anglia which made a nice change.

[Satan's Goldfish]

Managed to get far enough through other workshop jobs that the layout received some attention today. No trains running yet, but I brought a job forward that I'd planned on leaving until much later; getting one of the storage trolleys under the middle scenic board (don't expect any glamorous scenic pictures in this post!)

 

The scenic boards were supported on 4 heavy duty trestle legs. A few pages and many years ago in this thread I altered one of the storage and transport trolleys to have a couple of bearers rest across the top when the layout wasn't packed up in it. That trolley has been getting in the way ever since setting the layout back up, doing other jobs in the workshop had cleared enough space that I could finally work out how I was going to get it under the layout. The original plan had been to take the layout apart to get it under, but that's not easy when you're working on your own...

 

So, the old trestle legs sat underneath like this go keep them in place:

 

 

 

There's 2 sets holding up the middle board, so I had to improvise extra supports on the neighbouring boards to take the weight so the proper legs could be removed and leave space for the trolley. These wedged under nicely with sheets of wood balanced on top:

 

 

 

The trestles for the middle board were then removed, leaving it suspended in place by 4x m6 bolts and aligning dowels. Having to be under the 'hanging' board to remove the legs definitely lead to some faith in the temporary engineering now holding the layout up, but I'm still here typing so if didn't all fall on top of me

 

 

 

 

Trolley was then wheeled round and the bearers hinged over to sit on top. The bearers sit about 15mm higher than the bottom edge of the board sides so the trolley was going to have to be leaned over to get them under...

 

 

 

 

More to follow, I've reached picture limit!

[Satan's Goldfish]

I bit of swearing was involved getting it under but it just about squeezed in. The below shows how close the bearers are to the board ends. Just need to fit bits to the board to support the weight now, but that's tomorrows problem ;) 

 

 

 

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Following on from a recent request to show more GEML stock, I went through some boxes to see how much coaching stock I've got that I'd forgotten about...

 

I'll start with pictures of what's currently posing on the scenic side: the 'latest' purchase (good few weeks ago now!) of 4 Lima mk1s have found an Airfix 31 to run behind. I've got another set of 4x Lima/Triang blue/grey mk1s to create a similar rake, plus a couple in NSE to mix up the colours a little as well as early mk2s for a bit of variation. I've seen a few 1980s pictures of regular 4 coach mk1/2 sets with a 31 at the front on various GEML cross country services.

 

 

 

 

At the other end of the layout is the engineers train. The 37 looks a bit too clean, but the rest of the train has been weathered by Dan Lawrance. I've got loads I need to finish off for the seacows too.

 

 

 

 

 

Container flats have been shown off many times before, but in those shots there's a very obvious empty FLA 5 set in the first picture, and a loaded one in the second. There's more flats around the layout and packed up still needing various amounts of attention (I've got a 3rd FLA 5 set plus I think enough bits left over to make the prototype 3 set!) but it's already quite crowded, and seeing that RealTrack have announced FSA/FTA flats it'll just get busier (saves me a job of making my own, been putting that one off!)

[Satan's Goldfish]

Rather more unpacked into the fiddle yard than I was expecting. Passenger trains are mostly made up of various mk2 coaches and despite the length of the layout I run them at a maximum of loco+7. This is because the container trains are limited in length by the size of the container yard and makes for a rough maximum train length of 8 feet. In the real world, freight is often longer than passenger services so it would look a bit odd on the model if those passing on the mainline were longer than those in the yard. Plus at a maximum of 8ft, I can fit 2x trains on each storage track

 

it's a bit tough to see everything clearly in the pictures below, but there's 2x push/pull 'Anglia' sets (the second DBSO needs making), one has a mk2 buffet, the other has a mk2. There's 2x 'Intercity' push/pull sets (again, I need to make the second DBSO) and a couple of spare BSOs if I want to run just 'pull' services. I've enough spare Airfix mk2s that I'd like go tackle a few cut and shut BFOs in the future for the Intercity and blue/grey era services. The plan is then to use the left over 'SO' parts of the BSOs to make a couple more 'Anglia' 8 window 2nd class coaches. Following all that, there still seems to be enough coaches in the stock box to make up a mixed Anglia/IC rake, or mixed IC/Blue-Grey rake, only need 1x 'Express' in each direction so doing well there!

 

I've a few NSE mk2s as well for when the layout is pretending to be on the West Anglia Mainline. I repainted a mk2 buffet in NSE colours for that a while a go, it could do with neatening up really! If I mix in non-aircon blue/grey mk2s then I can make up 2x of those rakes for Kings Lynn services. I've also a few regional railways mk2s hiding at the back there, whilst I have seen pictures of those in mixed livery trains doing summer Saturday runs to the coast it was by no means an every day event and think they may end up donating themselves to making up a couple of 312 EMUs.

 

Finally there's parcels stock. Turns out a 47 + 8 GUVs will fit nicely in the 8ft length, which was a surprise as I didn't realise I had that many GUVs! There's a TPO set as well which was planned to be 6 coaches (I've a pair of PCVs to go at each end) but having seen how many GUVs I can fit I think the TPO may now be an 8 coach set instead. I've a vague memory of seeing the TPO stabled at Norwich and can remember it being quite long...

 

Still more coached in the box and I know I haven't found them all yet. There's quite a few 86s and 90s still packed away too, plus other freights...

 

 

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

 

 

 

 

 

Then there's the Bratchell NSE 321 EMU that I've left in the box for now, along with a couple of 156, a 158, and some gen 1 DMUs (although I've not got a 101 and that's all I can ever remember travelling on as a child). Plus the bits to make a 302. And I'd like a couple of 309s eventually as well... the hobby never ends!

[Satan's Goldfish]

 

 

I knew I kept hold of these 2 bed legs for a reason...

 

 

 

Need some big screws to go through the frame into the posts, and a couple of fillets of thin ply to fill the gap between them and the baseboard, so the temporary supports are still in place for now.

[PhilJ W]

I never throw away timber offcuts. At the moment I'm looking at a 4 foot by 9 inch piece of 12mm MDF and imagining a micro layout.

[Satan's Goldfish]

25 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I never throw away timber offcuts. At the moment I'm looking at a 4 foot by 9 inch piece of 12mm MDF and imagining a micro layout.

 

Do it!

[Satan's Goldfish]

Found 8 big screws! So made some gap filling fillets of 6mm ply, dropped the temporary legs (centre board didn't drape at all ) then screwed the old bed legs in place through the front and rear of the layout. All good and cleared space back under the layout again.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, while moving everything around again, I found 4 more boxes of stock... I still can't remember buying that 2nd 'Mainline' class 37!

 

 

 

 

That's all for Warren Lane today, I moved on to garden railway work after that.

[dvdlcs]

On 24/04/2020 at 03:50, Satan's Goldfish said:

 

Took me a while to work out why some MSC boxes were red with yellow text rather than the more prevalent, at least where I am, yellow with black text.

 

The red boxes appear to be leased, presumably long term as they've been painted in MSC livery, and they don't have MEDU/MSCU tags. Certainly seen some with GLDU ownership tags, which is one of the leasing companies.

[Satan's Goldfish]

7 hours ago, dvdlcs said:

 

Took me a while to work out why some MSC boxes were red with yellow text rather than the more prevalent, at least where I am, yellow with black text.

 

The red boxes appear to be leased, presumably long term as they've been painted in MSC livery, and they don't have MEDU/MSCU tags. Certainly seen some with GLDU ownership tags, which is one of the leasing companies.

 

 

Leasing other boxes seems quite common and has been happening for a long time. One of the boxes for the layout is an OCL box in brown rather than the usual blue. And I think, if I remember rightly, the doors on a lot of Yang Ming containers will have a Florens logo up in the corner too.

[Penrhos1920]

On 25/08/2019 at 13:07, Satan's Goldfish said:

Finally! The layout is back from storage, a huge thank you to Tim Horn for babysitting it for the last year and helping bring it back and getting it in late last night. It was all just 'dumped' where it stopped in the workshop last night, so spent this morning sorting it out. 

 

 

 

Those trestle legs haven't been set up since 2015......

 

The plan is still to compress it as much as possible. In its previous full round format it used 8 sets of those legs, they take up a lot of space when moving it about. Hopefully by the time everything is done, if it goes out and about it will just need 2 of them.

 

In its 2nd lease of life I want it set up and running all the time, and my workshop has been designed around this. First job though was working out what height the layout needs to be at for all the new leg solutions. As the new end curves from Tim Horn were designed around my old BritMod leg widths I'm using that as a height guide. It's only a couple of cm lower than the trestle height that used to support the fiddle yard so I think it will work all the way round. The fiddle yard is to sit inside the dexion racking down the side of the workshop, but the cross braces were too high so I've spent the morning drilling out rivets and bolting them back on slighty lower.

 

 

 

A couple of bits of packing needed on the shelf under the curve, but all worked well.

 

All 4 cross braces along the length were lowered and the fiddle boards g-clamped together (still not sure where the securing bolts were packed!) There's locating dowels in the ends that need incorporating with the new curves to fix it all together properly.

 

 

 

 

The middle fiddle board will be fitted on top of one the transport trolleys, hence the big gap in the racking to wheel it in... once the garden shredder has gone!

 

Scenic set up next, but I need a second pair of hands to help lift.... and find the tub of bolts!

 

That looks a pretty permanent structure with a concrete base and breeze block first coarse.  Did you need to get LA planning permission?

 

It looks like you didn’t insulate the walls and roof?  Is it warm in winter?  How did you fill the eaves gap?

[Satan's Goldfish]

2 hours ago, Penrhos1920 said:

 

That looks a pretty permanent structure with a concrete base and breeze block first coarse.  Did you need to get LA planning permission?

 

It looks like you didn’t insulate the walls and roof?  Is it warm in winter?  How did you fill the eaves gap?

 

It's not as permanent as it looks and still classes as a garden shed in this area (next door neighbour is a builder and laid the blocks for me, I checked). The frame work just sits on the walls and isn't screwed down, got a bit nervous first time the wind picked up but it didn't move anywhere. There is damp course under the slab and on top of the blocks though to help protect the wood. The addition of the blocks (and painting the outside of them in masonry paint) only happened after talking to a friend that was about to rebuild his shed; he'd found water running down the outside of his cladding had splashed back up from the ground and rotted the bottom of his frame work about 6 inches up. We both ended up building similar designs with shed cladding going over blocks at the bottom to stop that from happening. I'm quite pleased with having built it, definitely more satisfying than buying one ready made, and it's been up for over a year now with no issues.

 

There is foam insulation slowly going into the walls and roof before they're clad, work on the layout may have been slow this year but the workshop has still been receiving attention. It didn't get too warm during the summer and last winter didn't feel too bad either. There are a couple of electric wall heaters to fit once the interior cladding is finished though just to make it a little more comfortable.

 

The roof overhangs the eaves all the way round and any spaces left by the shape of metal cladding on the roof is slowly being filled with foam. The only bit I messed up on and is on my list to fix is the ridgeline flashband; the tape was the same length as the building rather than having enough spare length to follow the contours of the metal, so there is a gap underneath it. It stops rain from getting in, but bits falling off the trees outside can be blown under it and some do find gaps in the ridgeline to fall inside.

[Clive Mortimore]

12 minutes ago, Satan's Goldfish said:

 

 definitely more satisfying than buying one ready made, and it's been up for over a year now with no issues.

 

Hi Map

 

I will find that photo of S-Wolf struggling to get through her dog flap. No issues .

 

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

6 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Map

 

I will find that photo of S-Wolf struggling to get through her dog flap. No issues .

 

 

 

It's not a dog flap...... honest! I think that video was on her Instagram, or it may have been Facebook. 

 

I've had a recent change of job location which means WL isn't going to see any wiring anytime soon. I did bring a few boxes of modelling projects with me though so I can work on some wagons, containers, EMUs, etc in between shifts. That Fosters tanktainer will happen one day.... 

[GWRPhil]

Morning 

 

any updates on the layout recently?

[Satan's Goldfish]

On 26/02/2021 at 06:38, GWRPhil said:

Morning 

 

any updates on the layout recently?

 

Not really, a couple of new items of stock but that's about it. Despite a lot of people getting more time at home during the pandemic, I'm getting less and now working away from home for extended periods of time. I do check on it when I'm home to make sure there's no issues and it looks to be surviving well, a credit to the ruggedness with which it was built

[Satan's Goldfish]

Some news! Nothing to do with containers or making things run, but some stock for the layout has arrived back from Mick and Dan Lawrence. Admittedly it's been ready to come back for a while but work schedules never lined up. This will take several posts probably...

 

First up, a pair of PCVs for the TPO. These were undecorated prototypes bought direct from Replica way back when WL attended a show at Peterborough 7 or 8 years ago. They're now finally back with the layout and looking superb.

 

 

 

 

I've reduced the TPO set down from 8 coaches to 7 as it was only just fitting in the 8ft storage yard length, the PCVs are longer than BGs which makes it even tighter, and one of the red BGs will be replaced with a BCK courier van conversion which is also a bit longer. 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Wagons! The 2x kadee fitted TTAs to run with the container flats for the WL fuel point have had a good weathering.

 

 

 

 

A couple of randoms; bogie cement wagon and a bogie sliding wall van beautifully grottied up!

 

 

 

 

And a pair of Replica BGs that received a respray into blue/grey. Can never have too many of those.

 

[Satan's Goldfish]

Last but most definitely not least, 16x of these to represent the North Walsham to Harwich oil condensate flow.

 

 

They all started off as red Texaco TTAs from Hornby but have had added detailing and paint to make them look like the version required and each one is individually weathered differently. I think I need to tone down the 58 pulling them.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers again Mick and Dan, excellent work, and good motivation for me to crack on with the wiring!

[ess1uk]

nice additions

 

 

[DavidMcKenzie]

Just stumbled across this (when searching google for rmweb+dogfish... don't know what goes on with the search engine sometimes). Still a very happy mistake, what a brilliant shed! And a cracking layout. I know the container yard at the front is the main feature, but I love any layout with OHLE and stock to match. Will the 321 make it out of storage one day? 

 

All the best,

Dave 

[Satan's Goldfish]

6 hours ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

Just stumbled across this (when searching google for rmweb+dogfish... don't know what goes on with the search engine sometimes). Still a very happy mistake, what a brilliant shed! And a cracking layout. I know the container yard at the front is the main feature, but I love any layout with OHLE and stock to match. Will the 321 make it out of storage one day? 

 

All the best,

Dave 

 

Cheers Dave. Hopefully one day in the not too distant future the 321 will be running loops! I've got that problem that catches up with us all at the moment; too much work, not enough hobby time for some reason when I am home from work the wife thinks fitting a new working boiler is more important... we clearly have very different priorities 

[GWRPhil]

Hi. 
 

was wondering if there’s been any updates to the layout since the last post. It’s been a year and I’ve missed updates on its progress.