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That is a lovely model of a very attractive 'box.  You prove the virtue of using card-kits as a basis and upgrading to suit and you have done so most effectively, really bringing out the potential of the kit, but, at the same time creating an original model. Spot on, I'd say.

 

I should think the BoT inspector would let you leave it where it is!

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You'll be aware that a recurring theme in this web is the theory that anyone building an overbridge will appear trite if they then place a bus on it. Well, here's my granddaughter's helpful take on this. I found this had appeared during her visit here last weekend! So, canal aqueduct rather than roadbridge? Urrhhh... Maybe not.

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You'll see I'm constructing a roadbridge to close off the 'country end' of the station in a tidy manner. Trite? Me?? It started off as an arched bridge, to be done in brick, but there's several things against this. The bridge is quite a dominant structure on a small line like this; by using a girder bridge it could be slightly lower, and two brick piers broken up by a girder would reduce the effect of a single mass of brick. Then it's easier to construct! It's being made from various thicknesses of ply, with a plastikard girder. Now, where did I put that bus?

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Second first-visitor of the evening.

 

Impressed!

 

Plenty going on here that bears out my belief that 0 scale can be done in a lot less space than Peco points have led people to believe for the past c40 years. The fact that it has LBSCR leanings, with Irish bits thrown in, makes it near-perfect.

 

Your cassettes might have solved my ongoing fiddle-yard indecision; are they OK to handle, not too bulky or heavy once full?

 

Did you re-invent the drop-link coupler independently, or did you draw from history?

 

Kevin

Edited by Nearholmer
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I meant to say - I've used the brass rod connection method of joining cassettes to layout before, but did it the other way about, with the rods on the cassette's rails. I thought they might be a little less vulnerable to damage that way. Just my 2p.

 

... and the modified coupler is inspired!! (even if I do like the buffers to act as intended myself)

Edited by F-UnitMad
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Sorry I'm slow in replying, I'm working away from base, school holidays for granddaughters and all that, and just managed to bum the use of a "foreign" iPad. Nice to have new faces on this particular thread, although Jordan is a highly valued contributor to the Englefield thread, and I've been dipping into and enjoying Kevin's" Birlstone" and "Paltry Circus" threads for some time. So, cassettes it is then. I think it's a matter of confidence in handling them. Washbourne has 26" ones, Englefield is 48", which I regard as the top limit for turning O gauge trains. I've made longer ones, but I think they're too unwieldy and heavy. A few posts back, I remarked on needing somewhere to rest the back end when turning it and changing hands from end to end. You can, of course, use cassettes without turning, and just handle the loco like an ordinary fiddle yard, although you lose one advantage of cassettes by doing this. You can also split into 'loco' and 'train' cassettes, making them shorter and keeping handling down. The other aspect of this is some types of auto couplings won't match when they're turned. You'll note that I don't do sides on them, this is just a matter of keeping them level. Some folks do end stops, but if the train is coupled to a loco with worm gearing, then it shouldn't spill off the ends, although loose wagons are a different kettle of fish, and you'll need to keep an extended finger on them. (I think some of your ETS locos are free rollers, Kevin?) Perhaps make a single cassette for a trial to see how you do. The base needs to be stiff with no sagging, and strong enough around the handle holes, handles being a must., so a piece of decent ply is best, rather than chipboard. Then there's the question of engagement. .060" brass rod should be strong enough to stand up to what's required, and I solder it inside a tube soldered to the web of the rail, and it slides into a tube on the web of the other rail, that way you don't lose the tube thickness between the rails, if you follow. I put what you might term the male ends on the station rails just to keep lengths down. If they go on the cassettes, they're at both ends, which increases the overall length by just about 1/2". If you go down separate loco and train cassettes, they go on diagonally opposite corners Station and cassettes. Some folks do jumpers with clips for electrical feed, I find the rod and tube is alright, although sometimes needing a wriggle at the free end. Well, that about covers it, hope you haven't lost the will to live reading all this.

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Having posted that last screed, I notice couplers were also questioned. I find with "model railway" curvature, (tight), buffer locking is highly probable. I just went for something that kept the buffers well apart, even if the gap between stock is higher than looks proper. The couplers evolved as I was using what could be regarded as stupid radiuses, or radii even. I haven't seen them anywhere else, but I'm not patenting them!

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Northroader,

Very interesting about your cassettes.  I have read elsewhere 'how tos' on cassettes but different ideas are always welcome.  I have a fiddleyard but I put in an extra point, unfortunately at the back of the fiddleyard, to run to a cassette so any information about how others have done it is useful.

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Northroader

 

Thanks for the cassette advice - I hope I haven't wasted too much of your time, because in parallel with you writing, I decided to opt for a turntable fiddle-yard. I had a play with a train on a nearly four foot long plank, and found that turning it wasn't a comfortable experience, and you are right about the ETS locos having clutches.

 

Regarding couplings: what you have devised is almost identical to the "drop-link" coupler, as used from about 1900 by the likes of Bing, Carette, and, hence, Bassett-Lowke. One of their versions, Carette I think, even has "ears" on the sides of the links, like yours. They are the perfect solution on railways with sharp curves and/or a lot of side-play at the gauge-face or wheel-bearings.

 

Kevin

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Simon is quite right.

 

Any cassette over 2' is getting to be unweildly, and a three coach train and loco becomes very tricky indeed!

 

Since the 'accident' I now use hi-density foam inserts before turning long cassettes, but even now am working on replacing them with smaller units.

 

One thing people tend to forget, with white metal loco kits, or modern heavyweight rate diesels, is how the centre of balance is seriously out of kilter at one end......

 

With the not entirely unexpected result of it all ending up on the floor!

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Simon

 

Indeed, and I did fully understand that before the trial with a plank, which confirmed my reservations about the system for my purposes.

 

If I was building a fine scale layout, where I wanted to vary train formations, keep locos facing whatever way they did on the prototype, run one train a fortnight to a light railway terminus etc, I would go for cassettes. But, I'm after presenting a rapid succession of shiny biscuit-tins on wheels, which is why urban, with a turntable FY, will work better in this case.

 

BTW, although turntable FYs are an ancient idea (I found a layout with one at each end in a magazine printed in 1910), the tinplate fraternity is hooked on "roundy-round" displays, replicating 1930s Hornby catalogue illustrations, so me dragging along a terminus-to-FY essay will come as something of a radical move!

 

Kevin

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Sorry to barge in, but while we are on the subject of off-stage arrangements, I might make a bid for enlightenment.

 

I was never persuaded by the Denny train turntable.  Apart from the space it would take up, the carriages themselves would not be turned in reality. Now let us say that the practice on my odd-ball lines is to turn all engines, even tanks.

 

Let us also suppose that I have board width for enough storage lines for each of the trains. Leaving aside for the moment the wish to add or subtract vehicles, e.g. horsebox or carriage truck, the main need is to transfer the locomotive from one end to t'other, in my case turning it in the process.

 

Aside from a modest saving on the length, I wonder what advantage a cassette would offer?  I have an irrational prejudice against locomotives travelling through the skies in cassettes.  I cannot say why, but I feel happier with the idea of them remaining on terra firma.  It just worries me for some reason.

 

Would not a traverser with enough roads for the number of trains, plus one, with a fixed board at the end with a small turntable be just as neat a solution?

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Simon

 

Probably ought to be in one of my threads, rather than cluttering-up Washbourne, but I am baffled as to why so few timplaters want to operate in a "railway like" manner, indulge in a spot of shunting etc.

 

For a while, I thought that the coarse locos were uncontrollable, and would only stop or gallop, but that isn't true. Even ancient things are highly controllable, and the modern ones equal or better their fine-scale cousins. It is largely about habit, I think.

 

Kevin

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You're very welcome to "clutter up" this site with a meaningful discussion on the rights and wrongs of fiddle yards, and what operating potential you can get from any sort of model, I'm finding the views exchanged fsascimatimg (whoops, it's this borrowed pad) and I'm sure at the end of it we're getting nearer to better modelling. Please go on.

Edited by Northroader
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On the subject of cassettes, FWIW, i developed a system for use on my 2FS layouts using 6m ply for the base of the cassette and 12mm Aluminium angle for the running rails.  Between the running rails is infilled with card, apart from the flangeways, and the sides are built up with 60thou styrene glued inside the angle.  Inside that is a strip of foam draft-excluder strip which neatly brings the internal width of the cassette to just sufficient to clear vehicles.  Spacers 6mm below the top stop the sides bowing in when you lift them and strips of 3mm x 60thou give you something to lightly grip.  The 6mm gap at the top allows them to be stacked, the base being narrow enough to fit between the sides.  There are styrene 'gates' at either end which slide in grooves bounded by strips of 40tou square styrene.   Connection to the layout is via short lengths of angle, with electrical connection and alignment made by small bulldog clips, the gates being set back from the end of the cassettes by 10mm to allow this.  Alignment has recently been made even more positive by the fitting of 'tongues' made from pcb between the angles on the boards, these projecting out by a couple of mm to engage with the cassette.   I also use them for transport, placing short lengths of foam material on top of stock to limit any movement in transit.

The longest cassettes I have are 700mm which, in 2mm scale, will accommodate a loco, 13 wagons and a brake van or a loco and 6-7 bogie coaches, depending on the size of loco and coaches, or equivalent in 4 or 6-wheeled coaches.

 

Some photos:

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End view showing the gate and the foam strips.

 

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Looking down on a short cassette with 1A and the officer's saloon.  There is a piece of expanded polystyrene in behind the saloon to stop it moving in transit.  Since taking this photo a little of the infill betwen the Al angles has been cut away at each end to accommodate the alignment tongues.

 

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Two cassettes stacked up showing the strips to aid griping them.

 

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The AL angles on the baseboard (this is on my old layout, 'Connerburn').  The cassettes sit in a slot in the fiddle yard baseboard, resting on the outer edges of the Al angles.

 

Hope this is of interest.

 

Jim

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It's bad enough trying to use 3link in O, god help anyone doing it in 2mm. It's beautiful craftsmanship getting very close to the appearance of the real thing, but not very practical, surely? Your cassettes look well thought out and crafted, and an example to us of how it can be achieved. Thanks for the post.

Edited by Northroader
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But, I think I saw three-link couplers, and side-chains, on the end of a 2mm/ft scale vehicle; now that is REALLY impressive!

 

You did indeed, however there is also and Alex Jackson coupling in there too.  Testament to how unobtrusive they are.

 

BTW, I did set out to use 3 links in 2MM, but when no-one else could work them I switched to AJ's.  Still fit the 3 links for looks, though!   :)

 

Jim

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Thought I'd put in a shot of one of the locos running on Washbourne. The prototype was a one-off which Messrs. Kitsons had built in 1868, and sold to LBSC, J.C.Craven being in the habit of collecting miscellaneous engines. Stroudley added side sheets to the wrap over cab, which gave it a different look to every other Brighton loco., and added air brakes with the new livery. It was usually found on the Bognor and Littlehampton lines. It kept going to 1895.post-26540-0-52994900-1459624084_thumb.jpeg

There's another, better model of it in the recent Brighton review. This has an ogee curve to the tank top, which looks quite elegant. I missed this, and gave it a plain curve, which makes it look quite lumpy. Mine doesn't have the detailing or paint finish done so well, either. It was built as an 040, with the motor in the firebox, and weight placed to bring the centre of gravity well forward. The trailing wheel set is done as a pony truck, having plenty of sideplay for the point curvature, and a steel strip over it to keep the wheels on the rails.

You may spot a station building taking shape in the background, looking rather battered, as it having an extension added, and also the start of the scenic background.

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Well, I've just managed to wrap up the overbridge work, so here's a shot of how it looks now without any boats on top. It's a very simple job in plywood nailed and glued together, then covered with some of kirtleypetes brick paper, with a coat of Humbrol flat varnish.The girder is just plastikard and square section strip from Slaters. Using it as a grandstand, we have a v.i.p., the patron saint of RMweb, the blessed Saint Jenny herself, with mummy, daddy,(fresh out of clink), and little wossisname. They're on holiday in the town, and indulging in her love of trains whilst out walking. I hope they're not waiting for a bus!

post-26540-0-51767200-1460466975_thumb.jpeg

Edited by Northroader
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A most excellent bridge, and, like Saltdean, shows to advantage that the subtleness of brick papers works just as well in the larger scale.

 

Like the bridge occupants, too.  I read with interest some years ago a pamphlet advances several possible locations for the setting of the railway Children.  The reality is, of course, that the places described in the book do not have to be based upon a single prototype location.  The most convincing case, in my view, was that made for the MR-GC joint line in the region of Marple.

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Now for something to run under the bridge, normally teamed up with the 042T. This is a goods set, the full length for what's permitted on the branch, and the only wagons I've got suitable for a LBSC line. The brakevan and open are scratch built, mainly brass strip chassis and plastikard tops, and the mineral is Slaters, if I remember correctly. There is the chance it wasn't around until later than 1880.post-26540-0-12195500-1460639951_thumb.jpeg

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