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Ellesmere


rhyd-y-clafdy
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Looking forward to seeing this wonderful layout at Rainhill this weekend and will say Hi  :fan:

 

Hi. Thanks for the comment! Will look forward to meeting you.  A friend and I had a day out and took a DMU from Northgate to Wrexham Central in March 1967.  We then travelled from Wrexham General to Shrewsbury behind a Black 5  on a Birkenhead - Paddington but didn't take any photos at Northgate.  Ah well! Hindsight!!

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Another picture of Ellesmere taken today (05/03/2016) at Rainhill Model Railway Exhibition.

Taken from the goods yard looking towards the footbridge and station.

 

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More to follow.

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I really must get round to seeing this, I saw Rhydyclafdy at Porthmadog one year and couldn't work out why the backscene looked familiar. It was of course because I was looking at my home village! Oddly enough not long after I moved to Duddleston Heath (between Ellesmere and St Martins)  and then Oswestry not long after, and am now back in Rhydyclafdy! 

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I really must get round to seeing this, I saw Rhydyclafdy at Porthmadog one year and couldn't work out why the backscene looked familiar. It was of course because I was looking at my home village! Oddly enough not long after I moved to Duddleston Heath (between Ellesmere and St Martins)  and then Oswestry not long after, and am now back in Rhydyclafdy! 

It is at Rainhill tomorrow, 6th March. The next opportunity is Wigan in October of this year,

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Well having made the trip to Rainhill show on Saturday have to say that the layout is as good in real life as in the pictures. That station building is a Master Piece of modelling 

 

post-5136-0-52428400-1457302822.jpg     post-5136-0-38331100-1457302840.jpg   post-5136-0-34933500-1457302860.jpg

 

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A proud owner overlooks the operation 

 

Well Done 

 

 

 

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 Larry thought you would enjoy seeing the photos from the show, a lot of research gone into this layout and it is a credit to Phil. My Dad took my on the train from Wrexham to Ellesmere when I was about four years old (1960) then we had a walk down to the Mere but I cannot remember a great deal of detail but do remember it seemed a long walk back to the station.

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 Larry thought you would enjoy seeing the photos from the show, a lot of research gone into this layout and it is a credit to Phil. My Dad took my on the train from Wrexham to Ellesmere when I was about four years old (1960) then we had a walk down to the Mere but I cannot remember a great deal of detail but do remember it seemed a long walk back to the station.

I think any kind of walk seemed a long one at 4 years old ha ha. I walked up our lane to the main road at Gee Cross (Hyde) and was surprised to see how short it was a couple of years back when we attended a funeral. I agree Phil has modeled a lot of detail that might be missed by the casual observer of photographs. I mean we are talking 50 years ago even if to some of us it may be like only yesterday. The two tie-rod sidings behind the Up platform are well modeled. Phil has very kindly sent me scale drawings of the station building, which I will put to good use.

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Really glad you posted the pictures Gismorail. There is a lot more well-observed detail than I realised on this very impressive layout.

Larry,

 

I have a lot more pictures to post. I just need to get round to processing them. 

 

Ian

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Thanks for that one Ian.  And thanks for all the help over the weekend!

 

Gismorail.  It was really nice to meet you and I was so relieved that your journey was not a waste of your time. Thanks for all the lovely photos although my wife said it was not the most flattering picture of me.  Don't show too much interest we are always after operators!!!

Phil

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Thanks for that one Ian.  And thanks for all the help over the weekend!

 

Gismorail.  It was really nice to meet you and I was so relieved that your journey was not a waste of your time. Thanks for all the lovely photos although my wife said it was not the most flattering picture of me.  Don't show too much interest we are always after operators!!!

Phil

Be more than happy to help out if I'm free 

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Here is a picture of 46511 and 1432 at Ellesmere and a similar picture on the layout for comparison.

 

 

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The shot of 46511 and 1432 has been copied from the thread 'PGH's photographs of British Railways from c1960', and has been used with the generous permission of Philip Hindley.

 

Philip's thread contains other interesting pictures of Ellesmere and the area. See http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79414-pghs-photographs-of-british-railways-from-c1960/

 

 

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Some more pics of the station in its current state taken this morning

 

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I really hope something good happens to it soon, be a shame to see it go to real rack and ruin as I notice a few windows that aren't boarded up are smashed

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Some more pics of the station in its current state taken this morning

 

00529C60-0796-4885-AD06-07A5A4970ECB.jpg

 

1F40C741-0E4B-4EDC-AD4C-645467D037E0.jpg

 

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I really hope something good happens to it soon, be a shame to see it go to real rack and ruin as I notice a few windows that aren't boarded up are smashed

 

Thanks for posting those Big Jim.  At least it is still there! I notice they have levelled/surfaced the area in front of the building but I am still anxious about it's future

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Well with Rainhill exhibition out of the way it is time to put things right. Overall the layout performed quite well and it was good to meet old and new friends.  Thanks to all for the support and positive comments.  

 

There were several issues: the entrance to the traverser sagged (on inspection at home it appears some of the screws  supporting it had completely come out - no idea how) this caused several unexpected uncouplings. The AJ couplings were not reliable as expected with'00' gauge so maybe rethink that - maybe Spratt and Winkles, B and B, DG or back to Kadees. One or two electro-magnetic uncouplers didn't work - I think faulty switches. Any advice on coupling systems would be welcome but I am not sure my fine motor skills and eyesight are capable of some of the options!! My point control extensions (adapted bicycle tyre levers) were a pain maybe to be replaced with Servos! But not too many problems with derailments apart from some early (Mainline etc) freight stock, back to backs OK but fat wheels! The new Hornby Collett coaches looked a treat.

 

Finally heartfelt thanks to Ian Downing and Ian Chapman for their help over the weekend and it was great to see John Williams again.

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Beautiful layout rhyd-y-clafdy.

 

What are the next exhibitions the layout is booked for?

 

Cheers

 

Hi 9793

 

Thanks for the comment - much appreciated.

 

At the moment future exhibitions for 'Ellesmere' are Wigan and Peterborough in October, Stafford in February and Preston in March.  If you are able to make it to any of those please make a point of introducing yourself.

 

Cheers

 

Phil

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  • 2 months later...

I haven't done much recently.  However, just to show that progress is starting again, here are a couple of recent developments.

 

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I now have some Cambrian platform benches thanks to Modelu who provided the excellent seat posts.  They are very fine and I did manage to break a couple.  The Hand Cart was made from bits of plasticard and Langley wheels (they had a tray full of bits at Stafford exhibition). The measurements were taken from a newly restored cart at Glyndyfrdwy on The Llangollen railway.  One is shown in many photos of Ellesmere so I had to have one. I don't know how I'm going to put lettering 1mm high on it!  It should say Ellesmere and have a large letter W on the side. The steps for the Autocoach were already on the layout, again bits of plasticard with brass wire, measurements are guesswork.  The platform lamps were already on the layout.  I didn't realise this one is so not vertical.  A little pressure with the fingers to straighten it is necessary.  The lamp is made from cocktail stick, a bit of brass wire and modified parts from Ratio swan neck lamps. The totems are from Alan at Sankey Scenics.

 

I have also replaced the Up home signal with a more accurate effort in that the signal was only about 12' (again guesswork) but it was very short.  This is actually retrieved from Rhyd-y-Clafdy and cut down.  It used MSE parts.  I intended to use wire in tube for operation but have decided to have a go with servos and Megapoints controller.  I've ordered 4 servos (there are 4 signals on the layout) but still need to order a transformer (apparently minimum 2 amps output) and the controller.

 

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I have also ordered a starter pack of Spratt and Winkle couplings from MSE to try those. I had to have a go with the Alex Jacksons but like people said they are best for EM and certainly were not reliable enough.

 

 A major issue was caused by lack of planning early on.  Tube in wire to control points worked well on Rhyd-y-Clafdy all through it's 14 years on the exhibition circuit.  So I decided to go down that route for 9 of the points on Ellesmere (the other 3 were too far away from the operator so they were endowed with Tortoise motors which have been fine). So after the track was laid I merrily installed slider switches close to the edge of the baseboard and connected them to wire (guitar string - as a guitarist I have lots!!!) and through the brass tube to the points.  Wired up the sliders to change polarity.  Note - being a crude kind of botcher the tubes were secured by bent track pins!! However, I failed to wind in the fact that a loading dock with crane and cattle dock would be located directly above the sliders and there was no room to get fingers under the dock to work the switches!!! I tried extensions made of bike tyre levers (Strong plastic) but they proved wholly unsatisfactory.  At Rainfall exhibition Ian Chapman bought a length of really strong steel wire and said try this. So I have!!  Seems to work! The chocolate block bits are just to secure the rod in place. Notice the crude use of screws to hold them in place. I could have used brass tube but I hadn't got any at that point in time.  If the Servo thing with the signals works I might use servos for the points and the Megapoints controller will work up to 12 servos (unlike Peco's 4!).

 

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Then its down to Ellesmere with the camera to have another go at photos for the back scene now that summer is upon us. Anyone know where there's an old fashioned cattle market not too far away!

 

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