Chumley End

[gismorail]

Now that  Chester Northgate Shed layout is completed and having enjoyed taking it to the Bala Lake Model Railway show earlier in the year I have started to plan another small exhibition layout based on the Cheshire Lines Committee operations in the Chester area in the late 1950' early 60's time period. 

For those that have followed my ramblings within the pages of RM 'wibblers'  I have given up on the idea of trying to create Chester Northgate station as it's just too much to model within the space that my shed can accommodate and my attention for a permanent layout has crossed the Welsh border to Wrexham Central which offers an interesting mixture of Great Central and GWR and once construction starts I will post my efforts in a separate thread. I have been able to draw out plans for the main station area and goods yards and I am happy with the general look of the model to be undertaken but I'm currently carrying out further research before committing such a large project. 

 

So with all that going on why am I building a small layout I hear you ask !!! Well I need to try out a couple of ideas that I have for the Wrexham Central layout and I have for years been flicking through the pages of Iain Rice's wonderful Layout Design books and have always wanted to attempt one of he's excellent schemes. One in particular has captured my imagination in 'Layout Design Finescale in small spaces' called Witheridge where the intrepid author has combined a rather interesting branch line station by combining bits of different stations from the Culm Valley Railway 

 

 

What I like about this scheme is the fact that the normal loss of space in the station platform area has been eliminated by not having a run round loop within the platform and the simple reversal of a passenger train makes operation a bit more interesting. The reversed entry into the goods yard gives a 'snag' to be aware for shunting and the combination of a cattle dock leading onto a mill siding adds to operational interest.

 

The Cheshire Lines Railway was not famous for 'rural idyll' as Mr Rice would call it , the Winsford Branch which opened in 1870 and left the Manchester - Chester line near Cuddington had a very chequered history and the township of Winsford was anything but rural  tranquillity with all the salt works. So Chumley End is going to be a total figment of ones imagination but with a little bit of true fact thrown in. 

I came across a little know fact that whilst the Chester & West Cheshire Junction Railway was incorporated by an Act of 1865 to construct a line from Mouldsworth to Mickle Trafford and on to Chester by 1874 it was in 1906 that the Cheshire Lines Committee applied for a Light Railway order to construct a branch line from Tarporley to Mouldsworth.

No doubt as in other areas Edward Watkin was looking to exploit the rich agricultural business of rural Cheshire but alas nothing ever came of these proposals despite the Act of Parliament. 

 

The above map shows how I think such a line would have been constructed on a geographical path across the Cheshire countryside. I have for reasons of interest named the station ''Chumley End' which on a local note is a shortened lazy way of pronunciation of Cholmondeley which is right in the middle of the rich milk producing area between Chester and Nantwich . An area where an animal feed mill , dairy and large cattle auction and local weekly market could be justified offering much needed business for the railway. Having been a farmer from the area its an interesting fact that in the time being modelled Cheshire was the third largest dairy county after Somerset and Leicestershire and fast forward to the current day there are more horse's in Cheshire now than cows........ !!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew P]

Sounds good Martin, looking forward to seeing this develop soon mate.

[gismorail]

Thanks Andy , you do realise that you are partly to blame for it's construction I've had so much inspiration from your Pencarne layout 

 

Having made a commitment to build this layout I'm afraid the mid night oil has been burning and I have been busy marking out the track diagram. I had roughly marked out the track plan on the age old decorators lining paper (the thickest that I can get my hands) as I'm not a great fan of planning software, just can't get my head around it to be honest,  I find that a hands on approach in 3D is far better as I can get a good feel for the scene that I am trying to create. Once marked out i had a good rummage in the' everlasting' wood supply corner of the railway room and found some 9mm ply board that I had started a layout on years ago. It was intended to build an 0 gauge station area on these boards and most of the surface on one side had cork sheeting laid on it so it was a simple job to cut off the areas which were not needed, scrap it off with a chisel and sand back to the ply board.

 

I mentioned in the first post that I wanted try out a couple of ideas that I personally have not tried before and one was to build my own point work so that i could get away from the normal preformed turn out and actually make them fit the location required. To enable me to get a flowing track formation I have have come up with a way of marking out the diagram with the use of a long type of 'french curve' I consists of the plastic moulding and can be purchased in most good large DIY super stores and it comes in the form of a 'T' shape. Hopefully the following photo's will explain it better.   

 

 

Picture 1: shows a close up of the plastic' T' moulding and how I have drilled holes on both sides so that paper pins can hold the moulding in place and the track formation can be marked out. The top of the 'T' which sits on the cork under lay is a couple of millimetres over scale for 00 gauge track but as I am going to be using C&L ready to lay track work and the point work will be produced using roller gauges and templates etc it should not cause a problem. The most important thing at this stage is to make sure the track formation has a good flow to it. Just as an aside in case anyone was wondering it is possible to mark out a 36'' radius curve with this moulding you need plenty of pins but it can be done. 

 

 

Picture 2: gives a longer view for the main running line of the track formation and one can look along the line to check the consistency with the flow of the curve that I am trying to achieve. 

 

 

Picture 3: Having run a black ink marker along both sides of the moulding it is then removed leaving a nice impression of how the track will look once in place. 

 

 

Picture 4: the second running line / run round loop has now been added with the aid of the moulding and before inking in the track alignment the six foot spacing was checked with a scale ruler.

 

I also managed to get over to my local Building Merchant today and purchase some 9mm Ply board unfortunately they did not have Birch ply in stock which is my preferred base board material so the standard type will have to do. We are very lucky around here to have a builders merchant who is able to cut sheeting materials on a vertical saw which helps greatly in the production of model railway base boards as I can get lengths cut to the required size. The other great advantage to this service is I don't have to get the trailer out every time I need 8x4 sheets as once cut the pieces will fit into my estate car. 

 

So the main job today has been the final cutting of the outer sheets to the correct sizes which will form the carcass's for the two main base boards. 

 

 

My approach to baseboard construction is akin to the 'dreaded' flat pack furniture packs without the instruction sheets which only ever get read when all else fails.      It does mean that one has to have a fairly good idea of the lie of the land before committing to the construction therefore the 3D planning process is important.

 

Hopefully if I get a nice local job tomorrow and get home handy....  further construction can take place ....  

 

 

 

 

[shedman]

Hi M, good to see you've started layout building again. It looks an interesting project with an intriguing track plan which I will follow with interest. Love the idea of the "T" extrusion. Trevor

Edited September 14, 2016 by shedman

[gismorail]

Well I've been lucky two days on the run ......... got home from work before 6pm both days.... so bit more time to get into base board construction.

 

As this is being built as an exhibition layout I like to create a 'Theatre' type scene so that the layout is displayed to the viewing public as a three-dimensional picture with is animated by the movement of trains. To achieve this the viewing height is an important factor and I like to present the scene at eye level so the people viewing the scene on display don't have to 'stoop' . More Iain Rice thinking coming into play 

To illustrate this I have included a photograph of my Northgate Shed layout at the Bala show back in May this year. 

 

The base curtain was something of an last minute fitting as the black one that I had made was not long enough due to a misunderstanding with the lady who I ordered it from. I noticed that by presenting the layout at this height people tend to spend a good length of time viewing the layout as they can see the detail better at eye level. 

 

To get this 'Theatre' type scene I tend to adopt the 'flat pack' furniture method as I find that it reduces the weight and makes scenery construction a lot easier than working up from the normal ' window frame' base board method. It might well take a little longer to construct as you have to precut all the former's with extra care especially at the  base board's end as they need to be identical to make a good base board joint.

The ends of each side panels are routed as are the locations of each cross member's  

 

 

as are the board ends. 

 

 

I have employed aluminium angle to join the whole framework together and have used M5 machine bolts as fixings rather than wooden batons. My thinking behind this idea is to aid assembly as well as giving greater rigidity to the whole board construction before the baseboard tops are fitted. 

 

 

No nails paste is applied prior to the cross members being fitted.

 

 

The layout legs have been made to 'just' slot into the under side of the boards as the following pictures illustrate 

 

         

 

        

 

 

And just to show the the last couple of nights handy work the first base board frame is successfully constructed.

 

 

Will update when the next phrase of base board construction is completed 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gismorail]

Been fairly lucky this week and have not had to stop out in the wagon this week or ' tramping' as it's know in the industry' and have been able to crack on with the baseboard construction. One good thing about this way of constructing baseboards is that it becomes a bit like a production line and once the scenery levels have been worked out things going together fairly quickly,  This has mean't that the second board soon takes shape and once the track bed is screwed into place along with the backscene the whole becomes very ridge. 

 

 

I like to curve the back scene around the layout corners as I feel that a 'square' corner just doesn't give the scenery any real to 'flow'  and I have found that on small exhibition layouts one needs to blend the back ground into the main scene to achieve any real depth of perspective. 

 

 

It does take some extra work to achieve but I feel that it's well worth the effort and it also adds a great deal of strength to the whole construction which is always important when a layout is being taken out the shows. 

 

 

I have used brass alignment dowels and the old fashioned ' nut & bolt' joining method at the main board joint.

 

92:IMG_0010 (700x603).jpg]               

 

On the legs I have fitted adjustment feet so that the level of the layout can adjusted with ease 

 

 

 

Main scenic boards joined together for the first time. 

 

Well that's it for now for folks 

 

 

 

[gismorail]

With the main boards now completed my attention has turned to a fiddle yard and I have given a lot of thought as to what form this should take. The maximum train length is going to be no more than three coaches plus locomotive so a four foot fiddle yard would be minimum requirement so that immediately rules out a fan of sidings as the fiddle yard would have to be half the layout length to accommodate such a scheme. My thoughts were going towards the traditional sector plate or even a traverser which would require careful design and manufacture to give reliable operation. The one operational set back would be that I would be restricted to four trains storage in the available space which would mean man handling stock which is a situation that I wished to avoid especially during exhibitions. Fortunately the October issue of the Hornby magazine provided the answer thanks to Nigel Burken's article on a flexible storage system involving a cassettes. Now I have in the past attempted such a system on an 0 gauge layout but was never happy with the electrical current transfer between layout and cassette but in this article Nigel has come with a quite clever solution using a simple plug-in system involving brass rod and tube. For those who have not read the article all will be revealed as the layout build progresses. 

 

So having sorted out what type of storage system I am going to use I have been able to build a suitable fiddle yard board.

 

                                                           

 

Two views of the completed fiddle yard. 

 

The join between fiddle-yard and scenic board was going to be critical having opted for the storage cassette system so levels at the board end have been made as level as possible 

 

   

 

 

 

At the fiddle-yard end of the layout there is a Feed and Seed Merchants which in Iain Rice's plan has a gated siding that allows grain hoppers etc to enter a loading bay 

 

                                                                 

 

It would appear on the plan that the siding ends at the back scene and when I had drawn out the track plan I found that I would only be able to store two hoppers at a time so I decided to extend this loading bay though the back scene and into the fiddle-yard giving some more operational flexibility 

 

                                                                  

 

The above picture shows the extended Mill loading bay siding as well is the first cassette which has an 18mm ply base and copper clad end ready for rails to be soldered too. 

 

 

Hope my ramblings are of interest more to follow tomorrow hopefully. 

[Andrew P]

Evening Martin, wow mate, I've somehow missed your last couple of up dates, but I must say, I'm impressed with your carpentry skills, I'm really looking forward to seeing this develop, and some Track go down. Can I have a play in November please? hahah.

[gismorail]

Evening Martin, wow mate, I've somehow missed your last couple of up dates, but I must say, I'm impressed with your carpentry skills, I'm really looking forward to seeing this develop, and some Track go down. Can I have a play in November please? hahah.

Hope to start track laying this week Andy with a certain amount of trepidation to be honest never built 00 gauge track before without normal templates so hope it's going to work out ok . If it does operation in November is a possibility 

As to the carpentry skills the photos hide a lot 

[gismorail]

To continue on last nights update having made a extension to the loading bay at the feed mill my attention has turned to the other end of the layout. In the original Iain Rice layout plan the end of the station track has another gated siding leading to a loading bay servicing a Dairy and having considered this more deeply I felt that it was repeating what's happening at the other end of the layout and as with the mill siding only two wagons could be accommodated. 

 

                                                                               

 

This has got my imagination running  riot ....... oh dear that's dangerous me thinks      Why not have a freight only branch running off the scene to the dairy or even other industrial sites in keeping with the area of course !!

 

So I have been busy constructing another fiddle yard and cutting an access whole through the back scene / base board 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew P]

That's more like it but how long is it now, and will it STILL FIT IN THE CAR? hahha.

 

I do like the idea of a Freight only Branch, I have one drawn into the plan for my Next Great Project.

 

It's looking really posh now, cant wait to see it.

[gismorail]

Hi Andy well we're up to 17ft now    cannot go much longer as it wouldn't fit in the centre of the proposed Wrexham Central layout which is going all ... round.... the room   

No worries about getting it in the car cos I've got an ''Ifor Williams'' twin axle box trailer     

Yes I thought a freight only line would be different and give the layout a lot more scope.    Got so many ideas in my head at present it's great what a 

Wonderful Hobby this is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shedman]

Hi Martin, It's looking really good, but if you don't resist the temptation to keep lengthening it you'll have to grant the shed an extension!  Looking forward to seeing more. Even managed to get Gismo in the picture I notice. Trevor

Edited September 27, 2016 by shedman

[gismorail]

Hi Martin, It's looking really good, but if you don't resist the temptation to keep lengthening it you'll have to grant the shed an extension!  Looking forward to seeing more. Even managed to get Gismo in the picture I notice. Trevor

Thanks for your kind comments but no more shed extensions as it would fall into building regulations .......and i've got enough buildings to make for the layout

[Andrew P]

Thanks for your kind comments but no more shed extensions as it would fall into building regulations .......and i've got enough buildings to make for the layout

Sounds like you'll need a couple of SMALL holes in the shed walls AKA = Larry / Coachman for home use. hahha

[gismorail]

Sounds like you'll need a couple of SMALL holes in the shed walls AKA = Larry / Coachman for home use. hahha[/quote

 

Mmmmmmmmm now's there's a thought ..... no no don't put idea's into my head you devil

[Andrew P]

Sounds like you'll need a couple of SMALL holes in the shed walls AKA = Larry / Coachman for home use. hahha[/quote

 

Mmmmmmmmm now's there's a thought ..... no no don't put idea's into my head you devil

Out at the Drive end, along the length on the Valley side and back in by the Kitchen, hahhah, then a window on the Valley side to watch them go by, hahhah   :nono:    

[380John]

Looking great and very close to me (Helsby) il be following with interest as this is a bit of local history for me too.

 

Cheers,

John

[gismorail]

Looking great and very close to me (Helsby) il be following with interest as this is a bit of local history for me too.

 

Cheers,

John

Many thanks John I used to live between Helsby and Dunham on the Hill had a farm on the right hand side used to produce poultry and eggs. I can remember the UKF  and Stanlow oil  trains on the branch to Mouldsworth Class 25 sometimes in pairs Class 47 etc. Found a picture of a J10 on the turn table at Helsby and Alvanley station the other day it's in my phone a present will send it to you when i download it . hop[e you enjoy the thread

Many thanks 

[380John]

Many thanks John I used to live between Helsby and Dunham on the Hill had a farm on the right hand side used to produce poultry and eggs. I can remember the UKF and Stanlow oil trains on the branch to Mouldsworth Class 25 sometimes in pairs Class 47 etc. Found a picture of a J10 on the turn table at Helsby and Alvanley station the other day it's in my phone a present will send it to you when i download it . hop[e you enjoy the thread

Many thanks

Oh right I know the area! Small world! Yes a fantastic area and one I've started to research albeit not as much as I would've liked to by now. Picture sounds wonderful, thank you very much. I look forward to seeing it

Great start to the project, very neat and certainly intriguing!

All the best,

 

John

[gismorail]

Good evening all. Had a excellent day out yesterday at the Wigan Model Railway show and am glad to report that it was up to it's usual high standard both layout and trade wise. Managed to get all the bits and pieces I was after and more       that I did'n't expect to purchase......... oh well what the hell can't take it with me   

 

Anyway all fired up today and have put in a good shift on Chumley End ..... Very nearly at the track laying stage now but have a few jobs to complete in preparation for the PW department moving in. The main task today has been to sort out the connections of the storage cassettes to the main running line at both ends of the layout. As I mentioned earlier on in this thread I have opted for this type of fiddle yard storage to get the most out of the space available and am hoping that the cassette's once made will do for other layouts in the future. 

following Nigel Burkin's excellent article in this months 'Hornby Magazine' the base of each cassette is 18mm ply board cut into strips 7cms wide, the length is dependant on the train length of course.

 

Both ends of each cassette and the exit from the main base-boards are fitted with a rectangle of 1.6mm single sided copper clad board and a very thin slither of plastic-card to get the rail height level and this is glued and screwed to the base. 

 

 

 

 

To make sure that each track is soldered in the correct position I have made a jig out of plastic-card 

 

 

When soldering track to the copper clad board I placed a straight Peco track-setter in place to make sure that the rails are both straight. 

 

After careful measurement to make sure that there is sufficient clearance from the track to avoid fouling the stock 3/32 Brass tube is soldered to both sides of the copper clad end plates with brass rods in place whilst this is done to make sure all line up correctly 

 

 

The cassette now simply unplugs from the main base-board with the brass rods giving a reliable electrical connection therefore eliminating any need for any wiring on the fiddle yard boards.

 

 

It is my intention that the brass locating rods will remain on the main base board end  for easy of operation. Further work on the cassettes will require ply board sides being fitted and a gate system to make sure that stock is safe when moving around the fiddle yard but this will be done at a later date. 

 

Well that's where I am up to for now and I hope that this cassette system will inspire others to give it a go, it's a very simple system which I'm sure will give reliable operation.

 

If you want further information Nigel Burkin's full article is in Issue 112 October 2016 Hornby Magazine 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew P]

That looks excellent Martin, F/Y's have always been my let down, (along with good track laying, neat ballasting, decent electrics, good carpentry, realistic operation etc).

 

This is really coming on so neat mate.

[gismorail]

That looks excellent Martin, F/Y's have always been my let down, (along with good track laying, neat ballasting, decent electrics, good carpentry, realistic operation etc).

 

This is really coming on so neat mate.

Well with all those 'let downs' Andy you seem to do a pretty good job and your work is a excellent in my book. I'm hoping that this cassette system will stand the test of time and serve other layouts in the future. Might well do a rebuild on Northgate shed fiddle yard for it's appearance at Wigan next year.

The important thing with the system is that each cassette end has the same alignment at both ends to each base board exit and you might have noticed on the jig I have mark which side of the cassette is towards the front of the layout, as the other end of the cassette is opposite hand as it were  

 

[gismorail]

Managed to get a few of hours in the man cave tonight. and have started to prepare the track bed and have given all the cork under-lay a good sanding to make sure that the surfaces where the track is going to be laid are nice a level and smooth.

 

As the point work is going to be hand built to suit the location I have re-marked the layout of the track diagram. I have started to convert my '00' stock to Kadee's  and have decided to install electromagnets in the main uncoupling locations and these will have to be installed before the track is laid so it is important that I know exactly where to sink them into the base board. 

 

Looking towards the Mill / main fiddle yard end. (the white blotches on the back scene is some filler on the counter sunk screws which is still await a final sanding down. )

 

Track layout towards the station / dairy end

 

I have not built custom points before so it's all a bit of a learning curve for me personally.  I read all sorts of articles / books/ video's etc and I reckon that the way I'm going to tackle it is to build them in formation directly on the base board so that I get the 'flow' as smooth as possible.

 

 

 

 

I have marked out the pattern of the crossing timbers which will be glued to the cork underlay in readiness of the PW gang when they turn up on site. 

 

 

I have found that a mirror placed at different angles to the track formation is a good way of checking the flow of the rail . This will be extensively used once I start laying rail and it is a bit like a PW foreman putting his 'eye' to rail level to check that it's running true. 

 

 

  

[Andrew P]

Morning Martin, Track planning looks very thorough and well thought out, I like the mirror idea.