West Sands - BR (SR) Electrified south coast branch terminus - MISSING PHOTOS SLOWLY BEING RESTORED

[Lyddrail]

Is this the signal you were talking about?

Cheers.

[Geep7]

Yep, that would be the one. Best pic I've seen of it yet. Thank you.

[Geep7]

I've done a bit of work this evening to clear an area for the substation.

 

 

I think I might extend it a bit further across to the right, and bring it all the way to the front of the layout. That way I will have room for the cooling room on the back of the substation building.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Geep7

[Nearholmer]

Placing a substation front and centre can only be a good thing.

 

BTW, it needs a personnel door to the left of where the recooler room will go, so that staff can get to said room, and into the 'raft' area.

 

It might border on being a cliche cameo, but you could have guys setting up an isolation to do some work on equipment in the raft, which I seriously doubt is something anyone has done before on a layout.

[Geep7]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

It might border on being a cliche cameo, but you could have guys setting up an isolation to do some work on equipment in the raft, which I seriously doubt is something anyone has done before on a layout.

 

Now this is a thought, although to be totally realistic, wouldn't the power have to be turned off? Hmmm, all trains loco-hauled, might have some merit....

[Nearholmer]

Well, you could have everything turned-off, but that wasn't (isn't) the way maintenance is usually done.

 

There is enough redundancy in the system to allow nearly all maintenance tasks to take place during the day, while trains continue to run. But, being an "end of line" on a single track, your site might well need a bit of care. It might have a spare DC breaker, perhaps.

 

Maintaining the rectifier, for instance, will involve an isolation that effectively turns the sub into a TP Hut, so voltage drop when trains pull away from the station will be quite pronounced, but (if everything has been designed and set properly) there should still be enough to limp a train out.

[Geep7]

Hi all,

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, and I'll be honest not a huge amount has been done until the weekend just gone. Decorating and a family bereavement haven't helped my modelling mojo, so I've been pottering on flush glazing some Bachmann Bulleids when the mood has grabbed me.

 

However, this weekend I came to a bit of a decision about West Sands. Don't worry, it's not about to become a bonfire, but I have decided that I won't be aiming to take it to exhibitions.

 

I think I've realised that it's just become too big to handle to get to a show with just a crew of 2 (I'll be looking at building a small exhibitable layout in the nearish future).

 

With this decided, I've started changing the fiddle yard from a cassette style, to just plain track and points so that I can fit a loco + 5 coaches / 4 car + 2 car unit in the fiddle sidings.

 

And just to finish this post off with a positive note, here is a photo of the layout looking towards the station building from over the substation.

 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Geep7

[Rich Papper]

Never say never, I'd be pleased to see it at one. I had never intended to build an exhibition layout and had no ambition to do so, then one day someone saw Oxford Road on the DEMU forum and asked if it would fit in my car. That was 10 years ago now and it still pops out now and again. I had no idea what I was doing at the first show I went to (some would argue I still don't), but it always seems to be well received.

Good luck with the tweaks to the fiddle yard.

Rich

[leopardml2341]

How have you been doing the Bulleid glazing, Chris?

[Geep7]

1 hour ago, Rich Papper said:

Never say never, I'd be pleased to see it at one. I had never intended to build an exhibition layout and had no ambition to do so, then one day someone saw Oxford Road on the DEMU forum and asked if it would fit in my car. That was 10 years ago now and it still pops out now and again. I had no idea what I was doing at the first show I went to (some would argue I still don't), but it always seems to be well received.

Good luck with the tweaks to the fiddle yard.

Rich

 

The original form of the layout only made it out to one exhibition unfortunately. I'm not entirely sure that the current form of the layout will fit in my car, which doesn't help.

 

Previously before this layout, I had 2 exhibition layouts (American outline layouts admittedly) that did multiple shows.

 

If I'm honest, on reflection I think I'd rather have a smaller shunting style layout to take to exhibitions, where it's easier to chat to the punters.

[Geep7]

1 hour ago, leopardml2341 said:

How have you been doing the Bulleid glazing, Chris?

 

I've been using the SE Finecast flushglaze. It's fiddly work and an improvement on the standard glazing, but by no means perfect.

[Geep7]

Over the past week and this weekend I have managed to get 3 track of my new fiddle-yard laid. As I had only 5 feet in length to spare, to fit a train length of 6 feet, I have had to make a 90 degree turn, meaning the yard is on a curve.

I have managed to keep the tightest curve down to just over 24" radius, which will eventually give me 4 full length roads, plus 2 long enough for a 4-car emu. This should be enough for most of my operating sessions. If anyone would like to see any, I will post some photos later....

 

Yesterday was my birthday, and again I was a very lucky boy and received the below.

 

Picture copyright gaugemaster.com

 

I'm not entirely sure if Rapid ever visited the south coast, but I like the Warships and the livery variation, plus they are technically adopted Southern locos (that's my excuse), and it'll look good on my cross-country passenger set. Unfortunately I can't run it on the layout yet, as I don't have any spare 21 pin chips.

Edited December 16, 2019 by Geep7

[Geep7]

With the 3 new fiddle yard tracks wired up and commissioned, I've been able to run my first full 5 coach train into West Sands.

 

 

Here it is waiting to depart for London, with a Std 4 at the head.

 

The coaches are marshalled as a Bulleid 5-Coach set (BTK-CK-TK-TK-BTK), and will be numbered as such once I've finished the flush-glazing. So far only the nearest 2 coaches are done.

Edited December 19, 2019 by Geep7
Wrong photo uploaded

[Nearholmer]

Looks good.

 

Have you decided to elasticate your date-setting? I thought we were in c1968-72.

 

As it happens, I rather like B&C coach livery, and I'm sure that if the paint technology had been as good then as it is now it would have lasted longer and better.

[Oldddudders]

10 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Looks good.

 

Have you decided to elasticate your date-setting? I thought we were in c1968-72.

 

As it happens, I rather like B&C coach livery, and I'm sure that if the paint technology had been as good then as it is now it would have lasted longer and better.

"Elasticated dates" should be selling well at the Festive Season!

 

I think the Maunsell pull-push set probably indicated a gentle easing of timescales, a concept I have utter sympathy for. Aiming for a narrow timeband is admirable, but really does limit you. 

[Geep7]

Regarding the dates, the layout is still going to be representative of the 68 - 72 era.

 

The reason for the appearance of the earlier steam era stock, is that they are my fathers, and he has a rather large Southern steam era collection, but nowhere to run them, so they will appear on the layout from time to time.

 

Because most of the infrastructure is still "steam" era, it doesn't look out of place.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

My modelling time period is supposed to be the end of steam to pre TOPS, but thanks to elastification, a jackshaft shunter, 3 green Falcons, Bulleid 11001 and the upcoming BB gas turbine amongst others, seem to have materialised in Dr Who fashion.

 

Mike.

[Geep7]

It's Christmas Eve, and I think it's time to thank everyone who have contributed to the West Sands thread over the past year. Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful 2020.

 

[Geep7]

First update of 2020 from West Sands.

 

Recently, West Sands was visited by NBL Warship D838 Rapid on an inter regional express.

 

The loco is now fitted with a Howes Class 42/43 sound chip. It sounds really good, but due to the prototype not being around anymore to record, it's an approximation.

 

As a sort of new years resolution, I intend to try and finish as many part finished projects on the layout this year.

 

First up to be finished will be the station building, which will be seen lurking in the background of some of the photos. I intend to do a full update on this later this evening, so watch this space....

 

Following the station building will be the canopy, and then the sub-station, although both these and the station building roof are suffering as I'm getting low on plasticard sheet.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Geep7
Corrected the name of my Warship :-)

[Siberian Snooper]

No doubt the DTG, will get 821 running at some point, they were a dedicated  bunch when I had dealings with them, but they are knocking on a bit now.

 

 

[Geep7]

So here is the current progress on the station building.

 

 

Here is the main entrance on the left, with what will be a small cafe through the right-hand doorway.

 

This is the elevation that faces to the front of the layout. After a discussion at the club last night, I am going to add another door to the right of the large window and have a small minicab office, Cosi-cabs or something like that.

 

This is the elevation that faces the station concourse. From left to right we have the ladies waiting room, the gents toilets, the entrance to the concourse from the front entrance, and a door to the offices along the back. The small windows (for the toilets) i've been advised need to be moved down below the concrete lintel, as this is likely to be a structural element.

 

Whilst I'm at it, I really should thank my fellow REC club member Kevin for giving me the original idea and initial design for the station building, as well as giving me some constructive advice regarding architectural design.

 

Hopefully there should be more progress this evening.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Geep7

[Nearholmer]

That is seriously good!

[Rich Papper]

That is brilliant! That shot of the front door with steps is just perfect. Thanks for sharing.

Rich

[Geep7]

So some progress this evening. I've managed to move down the 2 small windows on the concourse side, and make an opening for the additional door for the minicab office. All far from perfect, and need some filling and cleaning up.

 

 

 

Hopefully once cleaned up I can start to test fit the windows and then make a start on the roof. I'm tempted to start painting it, but I won't rush into it if I can help it.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Geep7

[Nearholmer]

You could always highlight, rather than attempt to disguise, the alterations (subtly different brick colour etc) because by c1970 the real thing might well have been altered a bit.