Inspired by Brent June 1947

[The Fatadder]

following up on the talk of signal boxes, I have a stinking cold and don’t fancy being outside so Instead I’ve cracked on with the CAD for the signal box.

 

undecided as to what I will use for the upper sides, but the core will follow my usual 20 thou, 10 thou, 20 thou sandwich approach.

 

it will of course be getting a full interior (and lighting)

 

Quite glad that all the fancy valancing  had gone by the late 40s!

[Captain Kernow]

What will you use for the windows, Rich?

 

[The Fatadder]

2 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

What will you use for the windows, Rich?

 

 

It will be the same approach I used on the water tower and up station building.  I use the silhouette cutter to cut the windows from a sheet of 10thou plasticard, then the core of the structure from a sheet of 20thou, and another sheet of 20thou embossed plastic for the surface (I still need to look at what is available for this to model the timber finish.

 

These are glued together with Limonene before assembling the 4 sides / floor.   In this case I am planning to add an extra layer of probably 10thou between the window layer and the timber (as I have a feeling it may be less rigid than the SE Finecast brick I have used before.

[The Fatadder]

I am still thick with cold, a state which is not exactly encouraging me to go out to the garage to work on the layout.  However after a couple of evenings with no work, I have finally managed to get something done.

 

4 more lengths of platform surface have now been installed, this takes it up to the final most complicated section which needs to box in the signal & requires the curve out from the narrowest point.  Hopefully a job for the weekend…

Given all of the key railway buildings are now drawn up, I wanted to start getting an idea as to how things will look.  In particular to test the fit of the buildings on the down platform (given the tight clearances).  To that effect an Amazon box has been chopped up into an approximate impression of the two remaining buildings (Kite’s Croft’s goods shed remains a very good place holder for Brent’s shed and is only about 20mm too short…)   I am quite happy with the result, certainly happy enough to progress to the next stage of running the buildings through the cutter, though the roofs and canopies will be somewhat further down the line. 

Once the platform cores are finished the next two jobs will be adding the grass bank to the rear of the up platform from pink foam & adding lots of point rodding bases

[Captain Kernow]

Starting to come together, Rich. I see you've opted for a stone goods shed, rather than a brick one?

 

[The Fatadder]

1 minute ago, Captain Kernow said:

Starting to come together, Rich. I see you've opted for a stone goods shed, rather than a brick one?

 

the current shed is just a place holder, which happens to be almost the right size. 
 

the goods shed is probably the hardest of all the buildings to make given by its nature it needs thin walls and no internal bracing.  My gut feeling is my usual approach will not be up to the job so the plan is to get the core laser cut from timber.

 

I have drawn up the building in full in CAD but not yet progressed to actually breaking it down into a cutting file... 

 

As ballasting starts to progress into the yard it will become more important to grt the build done...

[The Fatadder]

The final section of platform is now complete, with the exception of the section around the signal.  The track has been cleaned and hoovered so it is now ready for some track testing, Berkeley Castle is ready with my test train (comprising of a Mk3 sleeper for overhangs (as a 70+ft coach) and a spare Centenary brake for testing width.  The former will eventually be finished in Great Western Trains Merlin livery while the latter will either end up as. Centenary BCK or a super saloon.

 

Kingsbridge No1 is sat in the branch platform ready to test the branch line (once that dammed slip is working...

 

It’s still very slow progress, but at least it’s progress 

[St Enodoc]

3 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

The final section of platform is now complete, with the exception of the section around the signal.  The track has been cleaned and hoovered so it is now ready for some track testing, Berkeley Castle is ready with my test train (comprising of a Mk3 sleeper for overhangs (as a 70+ft coach) and a spare Centenary brake for testing width.  The former will eventually be finished in Great Western Trains Merlin livery while the latter will either end up as. Centenary BCK or a super saloon.

 

Kingsbridge No1 is sat in the branch platform ready to test the branch line (once that dammed slip is working...

 

It’s still very slow progress, but at least it’s progress 

Those buildings on the island platform seem to work quite well now Rich.

[The Fatadder]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Those buildings on the island platform seem to work quite well now Rich.

Thanks for the reassurance, I was thinking the same but it’s always better to hear someone else say the same.  
 

the footbridge is still bothering me, being too short by one panel (given I wanted to use the Hornby valance and roof).  I will need to see it once the canopy’s are properly in place and see if that helps.  For the moment I need to add a card canopy to the up building to complete the look.  It may be that bringing the footbridge towards the track by 20mm will solve the issue...

[The Fatadder]

Last night I finally made a start on the next phase of testing.  The intention is to get the mainline running properly before eventually making a start on the ballasting.    After giving the track a good clean (its not been used in over a year), I started with 4085 Berkley Castle running light engine on the up main (after an accidental excursion into the up loop due to miss set points).  After a couple of circuits it was coupled up to a cross country formation comprising of Hornby Collett & Hawksworth coaches + Mainline Sunshine stock and a Hornby LMS break, which performed to the required standard.

Next was going to be a King (6013) however there was no movement, very odd as it worked last time it was out (no doubt just needs a decoder reset), this in turn was replaced with 6000 following the same procedure as with 4085 but on the down main.  This identified a couple of issue areas a point in the fiddleyard with a slight misalignment and a major bump in a point leaving the station (it wasn’t causing derailments but was throwing the unweighted tender around a lot), and finally a short circuit where an expansion joint had closed.  The fiddleyard point just needed a slight tweak of one rail to correct its alignment, while the short was caused by a neighbouring rail sliding along through the chairs so that it was touching the Vee of the point (slid back into position and a C&L fish plate refitted to maintain the gap).  The bump was more difficult to detect, eventually coming down to a lump of foam (sprayed brown) had got stuck on a chair (in turn hitting the flange).  With this all sorted the up main could be tested with the Cornish Riviera, this has been fitted with paper corridor connectors (loosing the gap) but still has the original OEM tension lock couplings.  The latter caused a few issues, so its getting more important than ever to get on and replace the couplings (and repaint white roofs where necessary).  Further testing at full speed was successful.

The final test was of the yard with 4547, this highlighted a few more areas which are going to need attention.  I already knew that there is an issue with one point motor on the double slip not correctly aligned, however I had forgotten that when I replaced the double slip I forgot to wire it up before painting!  This made retesting the yard a little tricky, so it will have to wait until the wiring is sorted.

I did however pick up on one issue in the yard, I have managed to get paint on the rails when painting the concrete inset for the cattle dock.  A task that is proving rather tricky to clean without risking damage to the finish either side of the rail…

 

The next job is to start adding those bases for the point rodding stalls, before moving on to ballasting.  In turn this leads to a question, I have one point which was operated by a point motor.  Does anyone know of a casting or a 3d print of a GWR point motor available from the trade?

 

 

there is one other problem, there is an issue with the NCE panel, a bad connection between the socket and the pcb meaning the controller looses signal. Going to have to buy a new one this time (and a new charger given the current one is hard wired to the pcb after the last failure...)

Edited February 18, 2020 by The Fatadder

[Tallpaul69]

Glad you are feeling well enough to do some testing Rich,

 

Was amused by the pic of a King sandwiched between two tenders, or am I being thick and there was a second loco double heading the King?

 

Take care

Regards

Paul

 

 

[The Fatadder]

40 minutes ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Was amused by the pic of a King sandwiched between two tenders, or am I being thick and there was a second loco double heading the King?

It is the latter, with a Dukedog filling the role of the assistance engine given that my Bulldog is still on the workbench waiting area pending final finishing.

 

the only thing is that you can’t see the front of it due to the signal box.

[M.I.B]

This is coming along very well Rich.  Thank you for sharing.

[The Fatadder]

11 minutes ago, M.I.B said:

This is coming along very well Rich.  Thank you for sharing.

I think that getting platforms in certainly makes a big difference, moving from plywood to a layout.   Ballasting should make a similar impact (so I need to be ready to start as soon as the weather warms up!)

[The Fatadder]

11 minutes ago, M.I.B said:

This is coming along very well Rich.  Thank you for sharing.

I think that getting platforms in certainly makes a big difference, moving from plywood to a layout.   Ballasting should make a similar impact (so I need to be ready to start as soon as the weather warms up!)

[Brinkly]

Good work Rich. I've enjoyed catching up with your thread. Brent is really starting to look like Brent. Looking forward to future updates.

 

Best wishes,

 

Nick.

[The Fatadder]

It’s been a few weeks since I last worked on the layout, but after spending some time last night painting 2/3s of the garage ceiling.  Today I decided to get on with ballasting.

 

 

There is about a yard of track between the fiddleyard and the first point that requires rodding.  Which is the limit that I can ballast  until I get round to adding a large number of bases upon which I will fit the rodding stalls.   The issue being I haven’t worked out how I am going to do it, other than a thought of chopping sleepers down to the required length before gluing in place. 
 

the ballasting is using the Carrs product glued into place with Klear.  The gap between the tracks will be filled with something finer, again to be decided...

 

the plan is to try and manage at least a couple of feet a night.

 

edit: 

one other thing I noticed tonight is that I haven’t fitted check rails to the point between the up main and the up loop.  (I only noticed this while applying the Klear to glue down the ballast.)

I will make some check rails tomorrow and paint before installation.   Can’t believe it got through track testing 

Edited April 7, 2020 by The Fatadder

[Siberian Snooper]

10 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Can’t believe it got through track testing 

 

Just goes to prove that you got the turnout building right, I always test without fitting the check rails, to make sure I got the basic construction correct.

 

 

 

 

[The Fatadder]

A little work on some stock this evening has resulted in a couple of detailed and repainted Oxford Rail toads  (as per my blog here), I also finished off a long term project for a Parkside Beetle (modified with rebuilt doors) 

 

Now its back out to the layout to do the next traunch of ballasting. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

A little more progress, with ballast now reaching the other side of the Avon bridge. Tomorrow it should make it to the Vicarage Road bridge. 
 

 

The only worry is just how much ballast I am using, it’s clear I haven’t bought nearly enough. Rather worryingly a pot of Carrs ballast is now over £10 from Phoenix (the last run I got from C&L was £6!   Assuming I can still buy some (a big if following the news at Warley that it was being discontinued) I think I will need a couple more pots to finish the mainline (and still need to decide on ballast for the yard).  

 

Once I see just how far I get on the first tub I will get an order placed for a rough estimate for the remainder. 

[The Fatadder]

In preparation for tonight's ballasting work, this afternoon I have been preparing strips of 80thou plasticard from which I am planning to make the bases on to which the ModelU point rodding stalls are going to be fitted.  

They now need chopping to length, gluing down before painting with Phoenix weathered concrete paint. 

 

I have my plan for the  rodding, so the other task for this evening is to mark this out onto the baseboard.  The key thing being to identify those sleepers between which rodding runs under the rails.  My intention is to chop out the webbing between these sleepers (and ballasting will probably wait until the rodding is added)

 

 

Speaking of the point rodding, I am also trying to find a cheaper source of the metal for the rods given the amount I am going to need.  One option would be to compromise and go for round rods, then use 0.4mm Piano wire (available on Ebay on a 5meter roll).  The question mark remains over how easy it will be to straighten out the rolled wire...  I have yet to find a source of cheap 0.4mm square section.

[Siberian Snooper]

Can I suggest that you use a strip of emery cloth/paper between the sleepers where your rodding goes, rather than try and ballast between the sleepers after you have put the rods in. You may want to weather it before you put the rods in.

 

Straightening the piano wire will depend on how tightly it has been coiled, the tighter it is coiled the harder it is to straighten. Someone does the square rodding, it may be Wizard Models.

 

 

[The Fatadder]

1 hour ago, Siberian Snooper said:

Can I suggest that you use a strip of emery cloth/paper between the sleepers where your rodding goes, rather than try and ballast between the sleepers after you have put the rods in. You may want to weather it before you put the rods in.

 

Straightening the piano wire will depend on how tightly it has been coiled, the tighter it is coiled the harder it is to straighten. Someone does the square rodding, it may be Wizard Models.

 

 

Thanks, I will give that a go later and see how it looks relative to the rest of the ballasting.   I was thinking along similar lines to ensure enough clearance for the rod.

 

I repriced the stalls today, I need about 240 stalls by my reckoning (based on a 4 sleeper spacing between rollers) more than half of which are 4 rollers or greater.   It’s going to cost a small fortune just on rollers (I have some Brassmasters cranks and will scratch build the rest to save).  Hence looking to see where I can make savings.  However given the limited success finding any alternatives so far I am getting close to just going for the Wizard product and at least getting it right.  
 

hopefully installing the bases now will at least mean I can slowly work on buying the required parts 

[The Fatadder]

First traunch of rodding bases installed along with the next section of ballasting.
 

i have used some scrap materials to mark our where rods will be passing under the rail (along with where the barrow crossing will be installed.

 

I’ve also made a start on painting something else, an Airfix Tigermoth (being finished as the one I had a flight in at Duxford a couple of years ago) which will eventually be hung from the ceiling flying over Brent.  I still need to get a set of transfers for it...  Eventually I will do the Harvard to go with it having done the flight in it last year (and hopefully one day will complete the set with a flight in one of their Spitfires...)

[kandc_au]

To straighten wire put one end in a vice and other end in a drill.
Don't go to far overboard when spinning but it will straighten quite well!

Khris