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Beginners OO 1950's Banff


aardvark
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21 hours ago, aardvark said:

 

Thanks for the kind words, and for explanation of the image.  I doubt that the engineering train was up to any good - the photo is dated as April 1968 with the station closed to all traffic on 6 May 1968.  I also note the Man In Black standing by to work the lever frame, the signalbox having been gone for some years by then.

I don't have the track plan to hand, but having looked again at that image, in the immediate foreground the "main line" sleepering appears to indicate a point has been taken out, would this have been the Loco Shed siding?

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Martyn.

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9 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

I don't have the track plan to hand, but having looked again at that image, in the immediate foreground the "main line" sleepering appears to indicate a point has been taken out, would this have been the Loco Shed siding?

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Martyn.

The same picture is in George O’Hara’s book.

 

In 1968 I presume there is a fair chance that it is a recovery/demolition train? Presumably the loco shed connection may well have gone after passenger services ended in 1964.

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19 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

I don't have the track plan to hand, but having looked again at that image, in the immediate foreground the "main line" sleepering appears to indicate a point has been taken out, would this have been the Loco Shed siding?

 

I hadn't noticed that particular detail, but I think you're right.

 

There's an undated photo at https://www.transporttreasury.com/p814816928/hbce7b68d showing that the track through the engine shed as well as both the north and south platform track had been lifted sometime between the end of passenger services (6 July 1964) and the end of all services (6 May 1968).  While Banff was never a bustling station, it must have been sad to see the station in this state.

 

4 hours ago, Ben Alder said:

IIR it was the last scheduled freight in 1968 and a member of the GNSRA recorded the occasion.

 

Hmmm - thanks for correcting the record and prompting my failing memory, Ben Alder.  The photo of the D5125 was taken by Ken Jones of the GNSRA on 3 April 1968 and appears in the May 2018 issue of the GNSRA Review, where Ken had the following to say:
 

Quote

The 09.13 bus from Portsoy to Macduff duly arrived from which I alighted in Banff High Street and walked down to the station. By great fortune I arrived at exactly the same time as D5125 hauling two brake vans and one mineral wagon loaded with coal. This truck was gravity shunted into one of the remaining sidings, the passenger platform track having already been removed. I took the opportunity to ask the guard if I could travel back to Tillynaught in the brake van and he happily agreed, indeed offering the opportunity to travel to Buckie. So good luck and timing had allowed me to make my first and last journey on the Banff branch!

 

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Seems to be the thing to do is a 2020 retrospective.  But don't worry - this won't take long.

 

At the start of 2020, I had blank baseboards and mock-ups of the major buildings.

 

At the end:

P1160581.JPG.cc929f8f2ed8ed8edf9af80363afacd3.JPG

 

I have 2 of 4 baseboards with track laid.  Somewhat disappointing, given all the extra time that 2020 has given us, but it is what it is.

 

Nevertheless, I'm not down-hearted, as this is progress.  Perhaps 2021 will see the track-laying complete with possibly a start on buildings.  Who could tell?  I think if anything, 2020 has taught me not to be too definitive about future plans.

 

I wish everyone well for 2021 - I mean, how bad could it be?  And I would recommend Death to 2020 (Netflix) to anyone who enjoys a laugh and doesn't mind a bit of language.

 

 

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10 minutes ago, aardvark said:

Seems to be the thing to do is a 2020 retrospective.  But don't worry - this won't take long.

 

At the start of 2020, I had blank baseboards and mock-ups of the major buildings.

 

At the end:

P1160581.JPG.cc929f8f2ed8ed8edf9af80363afacd3.JPG

 

I have 2 of 4 baseboards with track laid.  Somewhat disappointing, given all the extra time that 2020 has given us, but it is what it is.

 

Nevertheless, I'm not down-hearted, as this is progress.  Perhaps 2021 will see the track-laying complete with possibly a start on buildings.  Who could tell?  I think if anything, 2020 has taught me not to be too definitive about future plans.

 

I wish everyone well for 2021 - I mean, how bad could it be?  And I would recommend Death to 2020 (Netflix) to anyone who enjoys a laugh and doesn't mind a bit of language.

 

 

Progress is progress, as you say. The rate doesn't really matter - it's a hobby, after all. Half the track laid? A lot of folk never even get that far!

 

All the best.

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8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Progress is progress, as you say. The rate doesn't really matter - it's a hobby, after all. Half the track laid? A lot of folk never even get that far!

 

Many thanks for your support John :friends:.

 

My apparent rate of progress is partly due to the diminutive scale of my enterprise.  In comparison, the scope of your own endeavour just makes my head explode :swoon:.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This interesting short clip popped up on Facebook, Banff is featured briefly at the end with Standard Class 2 2-6-0 78045 propelling 2 coaches out of the train shed platform (about 3min 40s).

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/395149113834140/permalink/1131679593514418/

 

Apologies if you have already seen it.

 

Regards,

Martyn.

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3 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

This interesting short clip popped up on Facebook, Banff is featured briefly at the end with Standard Class 2 2-6-0 78045 propelling 2 coaches out of the train shed platform (about 3min 40s).

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/395149113834140/permalink/1131679593514418/

 

Apologies if you have already seen it.

 

Regards,

Martyn.

 

Many thanks Martyn: apologies not necessary. I hadn't seen this footage before, and in any case, I can't imagine a better way to spend a couple of minutes.

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Another thing I've been doing to while away the odd minute here and there is looking through DaveF's father's photos.  Not my region of interest, but still some stunning photos of a bygone age.

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/69274-dave-f-more-photos-added-21-june-from-1947-to-1955ish

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

So, 1885 days later after post #1, I have all scenic-area track finally laid and (mostly) wired; the four baseboards up, connected, and a test train run from one end to the other.

 

P1160793.JPG.6d4ac4857158fa8b9c23879cf530d2f6.JPG

 

We see here the 1035 from Tillynaught, passing the engine shed on its way to terminate at the Banff southern platform.

 

P1160794.JPG.45f0ad005ccfecb1943b76053cd320b7.JPG

 

I was puzzled as to why some of the baseboard join track ends were no longer as well aligned as when I laid them, but I suspect that the plywood that I had bolted to the ends of the boards to protect the track had actually had the opposite effect.  I will look at adding a little card or other padding to avoid this reoccurring, before wielding the soldering iron to correct the alignment.  Another small learning along the – errmmmm – track.

 

Having made this milestone (what’s the metric equivalent?), my modelling world suddenly explodes with potential projects that, one day, may make my layout view-worthy.  High on the list will be turnout actuators, along with frog switching.  While my trusty class 4MT with stay-alive makes it through unifrog turnouts without a wired frog, it doesn’t manage electrofrog turnouts without the use of alligator clip cables – something which is sure to lose its shine quickly.

 

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manually restored lost images
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3 hours ago, aardvark said:

So, 1885 days later after post #1, I have all scenic-area track finally laid and (mostly) wired; the four baseboards up, connected, and a test train run from one end to the other.

 

P1160793.JPG.7b5df42d59984c35457a1371de274a8e.JPG

 

We see here the 1035 from Tillynaught, passing the engine shed on its way to terminate at the Banff southern platform.

 

P1160794.JPG.0cae088395004f0e882bff052fbff444.JPG

 

I was puzzled as to why some of the baseboard join track ends were no longer as well aligned as when I laid them, but I suspect that the plywood that I had bolted to the ends of the boards to protect the track had actually had the opposite effect.  I will look at adding a little card or other padding to avoid this reoccurring, before wielding the soldering iron to correct the alignment.  Another small learning along the – errmmmm – track.

 

Having made this milestone (what’s the metric equivalent?), my modelling world suddenly explodes with potential projects that, one day, may make my layout view-worthy.  High on the list will be turnout actuators, along with frog switching.  While my trusty class 4MT with stay-alive makes it through unifrog turnouts without a wired frog, it doesn’t manage electrofrog turnouts without the use of alligator clip cables – something which is sure to lose its shine quickly.

That is looking brilliant. 

Cheers

David

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1 hour ago, Ben Alder said:

Well done! Nothing like seeing the first movements.

 

Quite right, Richard! More than 60 years ago I recall a family magazine having an item on model railways, and urging the reader to get things running as soon as possible. It does wonders for motivation. 

 

EDIT : As an implausible aside, the BBC News website today has a pic of a meeting room packed with angry ladies - in Mullumbimby. 

 

 

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13 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

As an implausible aside, the BBC News website today has a pic of a meeting room packed with angry ladies - in Mullumbimby.

 

What a funny old world that our little town would feature on the BBC.

 

Coincidentally, my wife was one of the "angry women" at that meeting.  Her attendance caused the garage to be empty, thereby providing me with the opportunity to erect my train set layout.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've lashed out and bought a 4-axle rolling road to assist with the running-in of engines.  Previously, with Scottish ancestry at the fore, I had thought to avoid the expense of a rolling road, thinking I could just my locos up and down the layout.  However, a discussion with gordon s from his hospital bed has led me to reconsider.  After all, a rolling road is only about 1/3 the cost of an average loco.

 

Here’s my trusty class 4MT stretching its legs – I think it covered more scale miles yesterday afternoon than in the preceding 5 years.

 

P1160800.JPG.c84efa4d01a43bc8e8ba268a5bea28d5.JPG

 

Other locos will emerge from the cupboard in due course for a similar airing.  Initial run-in will be done on DC before disembowelment to fit DCC decoders.  Since I don’t own a DC controller, I'm going to temporarily installing a decoder external to the loco under test, between the DCC controller and the test track.

 

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4 minutes ago, aardvark said:

I've lashed out and bought a 4-axle rolling road to assist with the running-in of engines.  Previously, with Scottish ancestry at the fore, I had thought to avoid the expense of a rolling road, thinking I could just my locos up and down the layout.  However, a discussion with gordon s from his hospital bed has led me to reconsider.  After all, a rolling road is only about 1/3 the cost of an average loco.

 

Here’s my trusty class 4MT stretching its legs – I think it covered more scale miles yesterday afternoon than in the preceding 5 years.

 

P1160800.JPG.1c55b0db54f59c5e1e7c993cf7f85a4b.JPG

 

Other locos will emerge from the cupboard in due course for a similar airing.  Initial run-in will be done on DC before disembowelment to fit DCC decoders.  Since I don’t own a DC controller, I'm going to temporarily installing a decoder external to the loco under test, between the DCC controller and the test track.

You can use a 9V battery for running-in on DC. Running DC locos on DCC, although possible (depending on the decoder), isn't recommended.

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46 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Running DC locos on DCC, although possible (depending on the decoder), isn't recommended.

 

Hi John:

 

I'm cautious to write the following, as there is a greater chance of me not understanding you rather than the reverse, but nothing ventured ...

 

I think you might be referring to running a DC loco under a DCC controller without a DCC decoder.  I vaguely recall reading something about loco #0, although I suspect that would depend on the controller.  That was not my plan.

 

I had thought to run a loco through a DCC decoder, just like normal, except that the decoder would be beside the track rather than inside the loco.  I can see that there would probably be a higher IR drop between the decoder and the loco motor, but that doesn't seem like it should be that much of an issue.

 

If it is me that is not understanding, I'd appreciate someone pointing out what the problem is.

 

No hurry though, as nothing is likely to happen today. It rarely does ...

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20 hours ago, aardvark said:

 

Hi John:

 

I'm cautious to write the following, as there is a greater chance of me not understanding you rather than the reverse, but nothing ventured ...

 

I think you might be referring to running a DC loco under a DCC controller without a DCC decoder.  I vaguely recall reading something about loco #0, although I suspect that would depend on the controller.  That was not my plan.

 

I had thought to run a loco through a DCC decoder, just like normal, except that the decoder would be beside the track rather than inside the loco.  I can see that there would probably be a higher IR drop between the decoder and the loco motor, but that doesn't seem like it should be that much of an issue.

 

If it is me that is not understanding, I'd appreciate someone pointing out what the problem is.

 

No hurry though, as nothing is likely to happen today. It rarely does ...

 

In theory it could work...but if there is a short such as through less than adequate wiring or a derailment then you could fry the decoder (some have overload protection built in but it isn't advisable to use a decoder in this manner).

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25 minutes ago, aardvark said:

 

Hi John:

 

I'm cautious to write the following, as there is a greater chance of me not understanding you rather than the reverse, but nothing ventured ...

 

I think you might be referring to running a DC loco under a DCC controller without a DCC decoder.  I vaguely recall reading something about loco #0, although I suspect that would depend on the controller.  That was not my plan.

 

I had thought to run a loco through a DCC decoder, just like normal, except that the decoder would be beside the track rather than inside the loco.  I can see that there would probably be a higher IR drop between the decoder and the loco motor, but that doesn't seem like it should be that much of an issue.

 

If it is me that is not understanding, I'd appreciate someone pointing out what the problem is.

 

No hurry though, as nothing is likely to happen today. It rarely does ...

Ah, I see what you meant. Yes, that should work - although the battery sounds simpler to me!

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