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Warrington Bank Quay - The Northern Approach - OO DCC


Wild Boar Fell
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A bit more work on the 325 cab and the 365 PTOSL. The cab is starting to look more like that of the 325 having been built up to the Mk3 profile with a considerable amount of filler, once I am happy with the overall shape I will open up the cab window and few other smaller changes.

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PTOSL, starting to look more like a railway vehicle again with the missing side sections put in place. The pan well has also been opened up to roughly the right size, judged against some photos over on Flickr. The body end needs adding soon along with the window arrangement corrections.

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Wild Boar Fell

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Four Little Diamonds...

 

I had the 13 CDA/HAAs together for the first time so thought I'd have a quick photoshoot with them. Okay the photography isn't brilliant but looking forward to seeing what a full rake will look like. Only the front wagon has received the full body mods and respray so far.

 

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Wild Boar Fell

 

(Back to the 'Big Railway' tomorrow :) )

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A little bit of progress on the layout itself again, I've treated the platform surfaces to a new coat of paint so for the first time they are all in the same colour. This is not to say the surfaces are perfect quite yet (especially P4 which requires a lot more work yet), but the idea being to minimise the amount of filler dust/crumbs that makes its way into the ballast before it is stuck down. Since then I have also repainted the edging stone and applied the variety of stone shades to P1 & P2, these now need toning down.

 

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Not the most exciting progress admittedly, but helps make the layout appear somewhat tidier.

 

Wild Boar Fell

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Preparations for the push south.

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Quite a few little bits and pieces done today. First off was the landscaping of the area immediately south of the Low Level Line, I have now achieved a profile here that I am (for now anyway) happy with. This has also now been covered with a grass mat. The polystyrene has been cut back to allow the walkway and retaining walls to be added at a future date. This grassy area will also eventually have the 'Cage' fitted (the security fences complete with roof panels).

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The cage (just to the right of the shot).

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A start was then made on bringing the station entrance level closer to the correct level. For this is was necessary for the Low Level Lines to put in a re-appearance, which in the interim had been utilised as a tool tray. Unfortunately I then ran out of sensibly sized pieces of 25mm polystyrene, I'll have to 'liberate' some more from Lunerigg in the near future.

 

This area along with the platforms (which had also been utilised as a virtual quarry, paint store, tool box, cup holder, etc) were completed cleared and cleaned. This is to allow preparations for fitting the remainder of the platforms along with the structures. A start was made on the down platforms, with a pocket created for the buildings to sit into (to allow them to be removable as they span the board joint). Once this has set, hopefully I can start adding the base layer of 10 Thou before adding the edging stones and ultimately the platform surface.

 

Now shifting to the opposite end of the layout, other sections of polystyrene have been used to build up part of the bridge structure and adjacent embankment (the Great Bear truck depot). This has not yet been landscaped. Similarly the sections used for the bridge sides will be cut down to the required height before they are clad and the deck is added.

 

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Happy Modelling,

Wild Boar Fell

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Genesis

A brief look at where it all began, my first loco.

Whilst digging around in a stock box the other day looking for something else, I stumbled across the loco that started it all for me. Given to me as a birthday present (I'm guessing in 1999) I had a choice of either the purple diesel or a Hornby 'Egg timer' (Class 58). Prior to this, my exposure to model railways was running my father's locos and stock which at the time was all based on the 'transition era'. This was the first 'modern' loco (In reality 47817 had been repainted once if not twice since then) in our fleet, to be followed a year later by ARC 59103.

Naturally as it has a Lima Ringfield in it, it has never failed me with only minor maintenance (wheel cleaning mainly). However it always has sounded like a vacuum cleaner.

 

As the fleet grew and my interests shifted towards the transition era with building of Wild Boar Fell the loco went into storage. Being worth a lot in sentimental value, I don't intend to try and modify the loco to bring it up to contemporary standards, but it'll find a place in the display cabinet.

It was interesting to see at DEMU this year Loughborough Model Centre (of Derby) selling some reprayed Bachmann 47s as 807 & 817. Maybe on day this would be a fitting tribute.

 

Anyway, the photo below is based on this one found on Flickr, albeit at the other end of the station. https://flic.kr/p/eyT1Kb

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Wild Boar Fell

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Hi wild boar fell

 

On the national power conversions did you ever 3D print the ends to replace the Bachman ones or did you use the slaters card and replace them or stick them over the top of the Bachman ends

 

Nik

 

Hi Nik,

The National Power wagons were purely Plastic Card. No Bachmann involved (ok the bogies will be).

But yes the corrugations were the Slaters' sheets.

 

HTH

Wild Boar Fell

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So whilst the glue dries on the next two boards worth of ballast, another little project I have been meaning to do for a while.

Right back when this thread started I was working on an 11-Car Pendolino, upto testing it was found that the existing running gear was not upto the job (not to my surprise), moving a 9-Car was also a struggle. The simplest solution would be to swap bodies on a second motor fitted vehicle and operate it in Top and Tail. This however would probably be fairly troublesome especially if one powered vehicle stalled. Without going for a full blown re-tractioning, I decided that it would be better to fit a second motor bogie to the same vehicle.

 

After acquiring part of another Pendolino set last summer (only 5 car so far). I decided to use the latter as a donor chassis leaving me with one good set incase the conversion failed. Oddly the spare motor bogie only had 1 driven axle (I'll swap this out at some point in the future). One chassis had the circuit board and associated mounts and ballast weights removed from their place over the leading bogie, this area was then opened out by drilling and cutting away the existing plastic. This nearly led to disaster as the floor was being removed, the chassis cracked. This is the reason for the two white sections of plastic strip either side of the motor bogie. The bogie cradle from the donor chassis was then removed and fitted over the new location. 

 

A few trial fitments were needed to get the correct alignment and height (actually it still needs lowering a tad). Then the wiring was soldered onto the PCB, taking the opportunity to solder all the other connections too. Powering up for the first time I realised my mistake, in fitting the power bogie the correct way around I had forgotten to swap the motor wiring over. Admittedly the tug of war going on between the bogies was slightly amusing, a quick correction with the aid of the soldering iron sorted that.

 

Finally it was a case of mounting the PCB back in an appropriate place and securing the wiring, then re-attaching the body. At some point I'll have to arrange a load test to see if this cures the problem.

 

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Wild Boar Fell

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Liverpool Road - Spanning the WCML

 

In order to give more time to let the ballast dry, attention today has shifted to the very northern end of the layout. This being the Liverpool Road Bridge which I went into detail about near the beginning of this project. Today saw work on making the pier formers which are of two different heights, those over the yard lines being about 2ft lower than those over the WCML. In both cases there is not a lot of headroom, the contact wire on the real thing is not far below the base of the bridge deck. Having just trialled the clearance with a Pendolino Panto, sprung pans are definitely going to be needed on this layout. A Class 60 has now done the honours of checking the clearance on the yard lines too. The tight nature of the spans should aid this as a scenic break, especially with the road being as wide as it is.

 

The other tricky bit is due to me pulling the Down Slow closer to the Down Fast just beyond the scenic area, this means the pier between these lines has to taper to give sufficient clearance (it looks tighter than it is). 

 

Anyway some photos, the later ones showing a mocked up deck for reference only.

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and to fulfill the cliche...

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As can be seen, some of the polystyrene still needs cutting down to a more appropriate height, but I got distracted by the BTCC.

 

Wild Boar Fell

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not updated here in a few weeks,

Work on the bridge had been progressing and reached the state below, work on the western abutment is needed to match up the faces and everything needs painting or weathering before assembly.

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Some minor rolling stock work has also taken place, the Pendolino has had its damaged cab replaced, whilst the broken cab has had the coupling cover removed as a possible future project to allow a Pendo Drag, once a Dellner has been fitted. On the subject of fitting Dellners, the first of the Super Voyagers has had functioning couplers fitted (ok Scharfenberg not Dellner). With 'Doctor Who' complete next up will be 'Louis Bleriot'. This should ultimately allow at 10-car formation to be made if required.

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Now for a small plug. Next month is this years Warrington Model Railway Exhibition on the 20th/21st October. I should be helping on one of the club layouts previously mentioned in this blog 'Arley Dale'. I'll try and bring some of the Bank Quay fleet with me along aside some more contemporary stock, it would be good to let the 'Challenger' set stretch its legs...

 

Yesterday's future, today's history...

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Wild Boar Fell

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

More Dellner bodging...

 

With Doctor Who now modified with the Hornby couplers, attention has now turned to the Thunderbird.

In this case the locomotive is 57307 Lady Penelope, fortunately the modifications to the loco do not have to be permanent. All the equipment is mounted onto a spare NEM coupler, the Dellner then pivots about the centre of the new NEM box allowing the consist to negotiate tighter curves (limited by the nose fairings of the 22Xs). 

Should I wish to run the loco with tension locks, it is merely a case of removing the new arrangement from the box on the bogie. In time, the Thunderbird will probably be used more on the Pendolino drags rather than with the voyagers. 

 

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EDIT: To avoid confusion the loco is sat on a temporary test track within the walls of Platform 1 & 2.

 

I'll try and remember to bring Lady P and Doctor Who with me to the WMRC Exhibition mentioned previously (next month).

 

Wild Boar Fell

Edited by Wild Boar Fell
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  • 1 month later...

Evening all,

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. 

Since the last update some small bits of work have progressed on the layout, but I've also had the opportunity to help operate WMRC's Arley Dale at their exhibition a couple of weeks back. It was good to give some of the stock a chance to turn their wheels again (last time for most was Hazel Grove two years ago).

 

On the layout front, I've been doing some small tweaks to the grassy areas and added the 'Road-Rail Access Point' although this still needs some planks in the 4-foot. Once everything is stuck down I'll give it all a blast of sleeper grime/ frame dirt to tone it down a little.

 

At the southern end of the layout I've added some more of the platform walling to P4 although this was made more difficult due to the 'ribbon' having warped to the point of resembling a horse shoe (ok not quite, but still pretty drastic in 3ft). The aim is to allow the edging stones to be added along P4 so the surface can be added ready for the buildings.

 

The low-level line is now in the process of being ballasted. 

 

Also at the front of the layout, a start has been made on preparing the station forecourt area, this has now been brought closer to the correct level and a start has been made on the retaining walls (still a long way to go). The retaining walls are oddly in Flemish Bond, rather lucky I had a spare sheet. At some point soon I'll have to start planning the booking office.

 

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To finish, another 'Boar on Tour' photo, but where is the loco?

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Back to the 'Big Railway'...

 

Wild Boar Fell

 

 

 

 

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Progress on the layout is looking good. That rake in the last picture looks brilliant.

 

I have no idea where the locos from. My first instinct was Switzerland, but I am going to go for something further north and take a completely uneducated stab in the dark with Sweden...

 

All the best

Dave

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I seem to recall a friend of mine coming back from Germany with a photo of something similar. Can't remember whether it was Hamburg or Berlin. keep up the good work ,I live in Runcorn and know WBQ well. All the best, Trevor

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Thanks to you both for your kind comments.

The loco was indeed in Germany, this and another Rack loco are on public display in Munich/Munchen.

 

Meant to include this photo in my previous post, the latest addition to the fleet, very happy with it. Looking forward to a red one next.

The 47's on rescue duty due to a major de-wirement in the Warrington area.

 

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Wild Boar Fell

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