KevinWalsh Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Firstly a little preamble for perusal. Albion Heath The background Albion Heath is a fictitious MPD and Exchange Yard in a sheltered low lying & level area of the Black Country heathland, conveniently in a ‘cove’ left behind by glacial retreat in the last ice age and close to a modest community. The line was built by the Derbyshire, Staffordshire & Worcestershire Junction Railway in 1849 to rival the LNWR, although constraints to finances meant the line was single track for its whole length North from Winson Green to Dudley Port. Initially there was only a loco coaling point and refuge sidings put in by the company at Albion Heath, once the line passed into LNWR ownership this was expanded into a loco changeover point and goods exchange sidings. At the grouping in 1923 the LMS expanded facilities further and put in an MPD as a sub-shed of Monument Lane and included a carriage servicing and light repairs facility alongside the goods exchange sidings (including a local coal merchant’s office/coal cells); the LMS also put in a small Halt for the workforce but this stop never saw any use by public passenger services. The GWR was granted running rights over the line in 1927. The main through line sees a variety of traffic including branch services from Wednesbury & Tipton to/from Selly Oak & Kings Norton, GWR services between Stafford & Cheltenham and excursion traffic North and South avoiding Birmingham. The line is also one of the diversionary lines when the main Birmingham to Wolverhampton line is out of action. The reality Albion Heath is a new ‘N’ gauge layout under construction by Uckfield Model Railway Club, comprising 2 boards of 4ft * 2ft 6” each with a scenic area of approximately 80%. The layout is the replacement for UMRC’s exhibition layout “Oakley”, which has proved popular with exhibition goers and especially their children who we allow (and actively encourage) to operate the shunting yard. The decision to build a new layout was brought about by an off-hand, light-hearted remark after one exhibition that stuck and grew into a plan. The layout will be set firmly in the mid 1930’s to end of steam/early diesel era with correct prototypical train formations and services. As part of our ethos to entertain and engage with the modellers of the future the layout will actually have two controllers for the public to operate with club members/operators in control of the route panels (AKA signal boxes); one will be the MPD/Carriage sidings and the other will be the exchange sidings & through lines. This layout will take the “Have-a-go” concept to the next level, in that we will have 2 control boxes front of house for exhibition visitors to drive trains from (under club member’s supervision) and both of the front boxes will have to talk to each other and also to the fiddle yard operator in a prototypical signal box manner. It is expected to have this layout completed to exhibition standard by Autumn 2019. The layout was started January 2015, in the sense that we started the planning for it then. It took us 6 months to settle on a plan that we liked and gave us all the operating potential I was looking for (me being the CME of this layout). The build has now reached the stage where there is enough to look at and I will continue to use this inane dribble to document further progress.......... Pics and track plan to follow later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 Trackplan Albion Heath Track plan.pdf Corked Baseboards Rough layout to check final track plan Track levels varied Start of track laying Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 17, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2017 About time it had a thread lol, but you seem to have missed that nice photo I took that got you in it!! Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 Just for you Gary, and to prove that layout CME's actually do some of the work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted January 17, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 17, 2017 I'll be honest I expected a slightly shorter answer ending in the word off! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 I've realised that the initial posts for this layout are missing the pics for UMRC's bespoke baseboard joiners, so here they are Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinW Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Are you actually safe to use that soldering iron, or is it a posed shot? Still got to say the layout looks good Kevin Colin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 Are you actually safe to use that soldering iron, or is it a posed shot? Still got to say the layout looks good Kevin Colin HAHAHA, yes I'm fully versed in safe practices with a soldering iron, sometimes I'm even allowed to plug it in . Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will have the outer tracks linked up and then move onto the MPD and Exchange yard. At the current rate of progress I should have all the track down and checked for free running within 4/5 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJMR Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Lovely layout and nice to see the progress! I do like those joiners, makes sense otherwise you could spend ages trying to get them to slot in. Keep up the great work! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 Lovely layout and nice to see the progress! I do like those joiners, makes sense otherwise you could spend ages trying to get them to slot in. Keep up the great work! Thanks, One of the club members designed them, initially in wood and now in aluminium, and he sells them if anyone is interested in purchasing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted January 30, 2017 Author Share Posted January 30, 2017 Tonight at club saw further progress with the completion of the outer loop. Next stage is to start working inwards towards the Exchange Sidings and MPD/Carriage docks. Pics of progress (and a cleared up baseboards) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 Further progress tonight at club, all the outer lines are now connected and the MPD link line has been laid including the long head-shunt, pics below Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamperman36 Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 Like those board joiners, have you any more details of there design and how they work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted February 14, 2017 Author Share Posted February 14, 2017 Like those board joiners, have you any more details of there design and how they work Hi, They are chamfered in such a way that as you drop one over the other it pulls the boards tight against each other. If you PM me your contact details I'll pass them onto the club member who designed and sells the joiners Kev Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelham Street Posted February 14, 2017 Share Posted February 14, 2017 It's really coming on, It looks quite big in the photo's. I the scenery going to be industrial, urban or rural. I don't know the area at all.looks like it will be interesting to operate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted February 14, 2017 Author Share Posted February 14, 2017 It's really coming on, It looks quite big in the photo's. I the scenery going to be industrial, urban or rural. I don't know the area at all.looks like it will be interesting to operate The scenery (what there will be of it) is rural, railway set in landscape rather than landscape built up round the railway Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truin Posted February 16, 2017 Share Posted February 16, 2017 And guess who is having to sort out the wiring ( remembering it is DC as we both have too much stock to convert!). 'Oakley' CME Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 No update pics this week, some more points were installed by the PWay gang, however not a lot was done as I was busy chatting to a prospective new member for the club and I forgot to take any pics Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 A double quantity of pics this week, showing the progress of last week and this week's progress, which this week was the first of the run-round loops in the goods yard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 Looking over the recent pics, I think next Monday I need to get some pics from baseboard level to show the different levels that are across the layout Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
porkie Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 Looking awesome so far. Been seeing this evolve on FB. Looking forward to seeing your next update Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 This evening at HQ saw the 2nd runround loop in the exchange sidings installed, which just leaves 1 point and 3 dead-end sidings to install next week before moving onto the MPD trackwork. All the photos tonight are of the track from a ground-level viewpoint to show some of the levels across the boards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted March 8, 2017 Author Share Posted March 8, 2017 There have been quite a few views of my random photo dumping and I would assume similar readings of my inane drivvle at the top of the thread, if any of you are regular viewers/followers I would appreciate a little feedback (although one of the followers normally gives that feedback as I'm wielding the soldering iron on a Monday night ). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted March 8, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2017 Dunno which follower that could be!!! :jester: Gary Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinWalsh Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 Another Monday night working on the layout and another update. Tonight saw the installation of the last point and 3 sidings in the goods sidings yard, this now completes this end of the layout track-laying. Also I took a little time to prep the area for the MPD headshunt to MPD proper line and points , this will start going down next week. As ever any feedback gratefully accepted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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