Croft Spa

[Les1952]

 

 

Now I have a couple of months without needing to do a lot on my existing exhibition layouts Hawthorn Dene and No Place, I can get this project off the ground properly.  As with the last two construction will be a little intermittent as each of the others will need about a fortnight of preparation before each show.  However this time Hawthorn Dene doesn't need a repair, so I'm OK until May when No Place goes out again.

 

What is Croft Spa?

 

Croft Spa is a model of small wayside station on the East Coast Main Line at the Southern tip of County Durham.  The real one opened in 1841 and closed on 3rd March 1969 with the Richmond branch.  There was no goods yard as the Stockton & Darlington Railway got to Croft first - see the layout "Croft Depot" for details.  Croft Depot is just outside the scenic area I will be able to model.

 

What scale and why?

 

The layout will be in British N, i.e. 1:148 scale on 9mm track.  This is largely because I have most of the trains already for Hawthorn Dene.  For the same reason it will be DCC from the word go, incorporating the lessons I've learned from Hawthorn Dene and No Place.

 

What size?

 

My car is a Citroen Grand C4 Picasso and will take Hawthorn Dene plus all stock and two operators (though as the stock has grown the word "comfortably" is going from that sentence...  Croft Spa then can be ten feet long on two baseboards and can re-use/share the proscenium from Hawthorn Dene, and share the Powercabs and booster with Hawthorn Dene and No Place.

 

Size is therefore 10 feet long (I work in Imperial) and 2 feet 9 inches wide.  The height off the floor I've not yet measured but it seems to be 2 inches lower than No Place as the baseboards are less deep.  That will also make it about three inches lower than Hawthorn Dene.  Perhaps just as well as I can't do a view upwards into this layout.

 

Plenty to talk about.

Les

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Les1952
why not?

[Les1952]

Early thoughts

 

Croft Spa Station had a loading dock at each end and a crossover.  There is an overbridge that spans the site and this is useul for one scenic break.  It had the disadvantage of cutting off the South carriage dock and the crossover, though the Ordnance Survey map of 1895 seems to suggest that the crossover was originally North of the overbridge.

 

A few hundred yards to the North is another overbridge.  Useful as this can disguise the other end of the layout.  Downside is that the main line runs dead straight from one to the other- an issue as straight railways can be boring. 

 

 

I already have the station buildings.  The late Trevor Webster built me them from photos and plans last year.  The brickwork will need darkening as I'm modelling about 1960.

 

HOWEVER I do intend to put ALL of the station buildings that were North of the road bridge onto the site, despite the fact they didn't all exist at the same time.  The windows of the station itself were remodelled at some stage and they have been done in the later state.  The only thing that might be missing is the footbridge.  The two overbridges will probably be made with the current flat tops as rebuilt in the nineteen fifties, while the signal box will be present despite it having been demolished by 1919- it is just too interesting to omit.

 

 

The box as seen from its front - it will actually face the rear of the layout.

 

Les

 

 

[Les1952]

Trackplan.

 

Visible will be a double track line through the station with a crossover part way along the platform and a kickback siding into the carriage dock.

 

 

Round the back either five or six (preferred) roads in each direction in the fiddle yard.  I'm going to use curved Setrack points at the exit only at both ends- my stock trails through them satisfactorily but I'm taking no chances with them being facing.  

 

No need to get out a computer to work this lot out.  Far easier to do it by mocking up the real thing.

 

Les

Edited March 6, 2017 by Les1952

[Les1952]

 

First mockup of the station end shows that I "might" manage to get the six roads into the fiddle yard that I want to.   Note the three Peco Setrack curved points at the exit, together with two small radius streamline.  Most of the track here is Radius 2 or 3 Setrack, with a single curve of radius 4 to throw the whole outer curve a little wider.

 

This also shows how the station sits at the end of the front.

 

Next is to try a couple of alternatives to see if they appear to work better.   Once this is done the baseboard top can be painted white behind the backscene and brown in front of it, ready for drilling and tracklaying to start.  Running in I've also decided to try to gain a little length by taking the first turnout while still at the end of the curve.

 

Les

[Les1952]

progress to the side

 

 

After a battle - technology had it in for me - I've now got the two PTP points attached to the rear face of the boards.  From the pic you can see that the frame is a lot shallower than on Hawthorn Dene, which may not be a bad thing.

 

Neil has built the framing from 9mm ply with a 6mm ply top.  The cross-members underneath have lightening holes, which should be very useful for passing the few wires through that need to go through.

 

The layout is held up by three trestles, two under the station board which has a lip to hold the farm board in place while it is held together by split pins through hinges at either side.  This quick method of locating we nicked from a layout our group saw at Sileby show some years ago, and it has been incorporated into Hawthorn Dene of mine, and the group's Rise Park, plus the late Trevor Webster's Stamford East and Whatton Parva. I've got a pair of locating dowels in as well, which is a bit like belt and braces as the split pins and hinges on Hawthorn Dene hold the layout alignment quite satisfactorily on their own.

 

More to follow.

 

Les

[Les1952]

Now I've worked out how deep the fiddle yard needs to be I've started to paint the baseboard top.  The delightful shade on the right was the nearest tester pot I could find to dark brown, and delineates the area that will be scenicked.  I'm going to find an off-white tester pot to do the floor of the fiddle yard, though the track will all sit on a layer of cork to try to make it a little quieter than Hawthorn Dene, and also to get a decent cess at the edge of the ballast out front.

 

 

The track is still going through different iterations of the end curves and pointwork.  I've chosen entirely electrofrog points for the running-in pointwork.  The exit pointwork includes three Setrack curved points on the down line, and two on the up.  Most of the rest of the points are electrofrog, though not all (I hadn't quite enough).

 

I next need to get hold of some cork for the underlay.  Funeral tomorrow and a trip to Darlington on Saturday means it might be Monday before I get to Access Models for the cork.  Newark was totally snarled up all day due to a pair of pile-ups on the A1 which closed the road all day in both directions.  

 

Plenty to do, but plenty of time.

 

Les

 

BTW that is Hawthorn Dene at the far end of the workshop, standing on end.  No Place is out of sight to the left, sitting on the workbench.  The thing that looks like a television is a fan heater.

Edited March 9, 2017 by Les1952

[Les1952]

A word on Croft Spa's platforms.

 

They were short.   Not only that but they were not the same height.  The up platform was full height (or at least by the time I'm modelling it.)  The down platform was low apart from two raised areas beside the loading dock.  This was the side with the station building on it.  There were three wooden steps that were placed so that passengers boarding or alighting from trains could do so without having to jump down.

 

The odd platforms are one reason for using Croft Spa.

 

East Coast Main Line trains didn't call here.  However there was an occasion when an A4 shunted the South carriage dock - or more accurately detatched a Pullman car from the Tees Tyne Pullman and left it in the South carriage dock. 

 

Stopping trains were the Richmond branch service, normally a 2-car DMU towards the end ( a nice shot in one of the Marsden videos shows a class 101/108 mongrel unit on this service).  Before that it would usually have been a V1/V3 or L1, or maybe a G5.  I have a G5 and two LNER coaches and class 101, 108 or 101/108 DMUs.  If I use a DMU on the Northbound stopping service which then accelerates across the layout that might be a good excuse for a sound-fitted Farish DMU.  Perhaps, or perhaps not - lets get the layout built first....

 

Les

Edited March 10, 2017 by Les1952

[Les1952]

"Neil has built the framing"

 

When I made "No Place" I built my own baseboard from a kit.  The result is 2 millimetres out of square.  This is fine for a single board layout but not good enough when two boards need to be joined together.

 

The articles I wrote on Furtwangen Ost for Continental Modeller and on Hawthorn Dene for first Railway Modeller and then BRM  netted me enough in payment between them for me to afford to have PLS Layouts (Neil Stephenson) make me the boards for Croft Spa.  My joinery just isn't good enough. 

 

Unlike Hawthorn Dene this layout sits on three trestles- Hawthorn Dene is a bit too heavy for comfort with the legs built into the layout.  Two of the three trestles have already seen service under No Place, and will do so again.   No Place was originally going to re-use the trestles under Furtwangen Ost, but I got a good offer for that layout including the trestles.

 

Croft Spa has a firm solid base which should withstand exhibition knocks.  The only thing is that I will need to be careful where I site the two circuit breakers under the board, to avoid them being damaged by trestles when setting up.  A similar issue will apply to the sensors for the colour light signals eventually.

 

Les

Edited March 10, 2017 by Les1952

[Les1952]

No photos to show but-

 

The area of the baseboard that is to be the fiddle yard is now painted white.  I'll do the underside of the boards when I need to get at underneath for another purpose.   I'll certainly have them painted before installing the power bus.

 

The cork sheet at the South end of the fiddle yard has been acquired, cut to size, and stuck down with PVA.  It is in no state to be photographed just yet as every heavy tin or other object is holding it down while the glue dries.  Maybe tomorrow or more likely on Wednesday I'll get a picture or two.

 

The longest fiddle yard road works out at just under 8 feet long, and I've definitely got 6 roads in each direction.  That bodes well for being able to run decent length representative ECML trains.

 

eBay has netted me another A1 (the fifth) and a short rake of old Farish Pullmans- enough of the latter to complete the Tees Tyne Pullman set. There is also an NCE Circuit breaker on its way, one more to source.   All I really need is a DCC fitted Farish V2 capable of pulling eight coaches, preferably backwards....

 

Les

Edited March 13, 2017 by Les1952

[Les1952]

First track laid

 

I've now laid the South end curve and the first pointwork on the cork I put down yesterday - one sheet width.

 

At the North end of the fiddle yard the cork is now down and being weighted while the glue dries.

 

 

A view of the track laid so far.  I used Peco fishplates with drop wires on the up line, and will keep the wiring for this side red and black.  I've not used fishplate droppers on the Northbound side as these will be pink and blue.  

 

 

The longest road in the down yard will be about eight feet long. The A1 (one of a pair of new ones now) is at the exit end of this road. This A1 wil either become SILURIAN or AULD REEKIE - I have plates for both so whichever identity isn't taken by this one will be taken by the other.

 

 

Plenty still to do.  How much will get done before the holiday

 

Les

[Les1952]

Thursday update

 

No pics today but -

 

• I've glued down the second length of cork at the North end of the fiddle yard.  The second length at the South end went down yesterday.
• I've now laid the first length of track in road 12 (nearest the board edge) at the South end of the fiddle yard.
• I've made 4 each (for now) of blue and pink droppers from fishplates so the Up line won't have many wires soldered to rail sides.
• I've also laid properly the curves at the North end of the fiddle yard, using the new drop wires here.

Still a lot to do.  Progress is steady rather than sparkling.  The aim is to get it running better than Hawthorn Dene -  not that there is much wrong with Hawthorn Dene's running but the low speeds help disguise a couple of less-than-perfect bits.  Here the line speed limit is 60mph (and a bit more if the driver is in a hurry) rather than 20mph so trains that fall off will do it more spectacularly- hence more care to make sure they don't fall off.

 

Les

[millerhillboy]

Good work Les, keep posting. I'm following this with interest.

 

I like your rolling stock, not to dissimilar to my own. Would be interested to see another 60160.

 

I've got a 60535 currently on my workbench thread, awaiting plates as they transfer from N gauge society to modelmaster

[Les1952]

Fruitful Friday

 

I've got the first four full lengths of track laid in the fiddle yard.  I decided to start at the end where the fan was going to be the most cramped, the exit at the North end of the yard.  As I get more cork down I'll extend these to the South end and build the sidings from front to back.   The brake van is being used to test that it runs smoothly pending getting some electrickery installed.

 

 

 

Looking the other way you can see just how close to the board edge the front road (Road 12) is.  There will be a wooden wall along the board edge to stop trains falling off, just as with Hawthorn Dene, though that is plastic and a little lower than this will need to be as it is slightly further from the track.

 

 

Finally, looking at a temporary line through the platform just to check length.  The platform on the real station wasn't long enough for an express so five-and-a-bit Pullmans is about right.  These Pullmans should make up half of one Tees-Tyne set.  The other set will be the correct number of Met-Camms with an old brake on each end.  I'm unlikely to have both Pullmans running at the same time as even with twelve trains each way there might be too many other calls on track space..

 

 

I see one of the pink drop wires I made up for the Northbound (anticlockwise) circuit has managed to slip into the picture.  I'm using red and black for one circuit and pink and blue for the second one.  Each will be protected by its own circuit breaker so a short on one line doesn't stop affect the other (unlike on Hawthorn Dene where it makes the whole lot stutter).  Odd that this layout is looking West at a line running North-South or thereabouts, just like Hawthorn Dene.

 

Still plenty to do.  Visitors and house tidying tomorrow, Nottingham show on Sunday.  I might manage one more day before going off on holiday.  Who knows...

 

Les

Edited March 17, 2017 by Les1952

[Les1952]

Good work Les, keep posting. I'm following this with interest.

 

I like your rolling stock, not to dissimilar to my own. Would be interested to see another 60160.

 

I've got a 60535 currently on my workbench thread, awaiting plates as they transfer from N gauge society to modelmaster

 

Thanks for the encouragement- I'll need plenty of that as things go wrong (as they will...).

 

My three A2s are 60526, 60538 and 60539, the three North Eastern Region ones.  

 

 

Top and botttom pics taken on Hawthorn Dene, but the two new A1s are the first locos specifically for Croft Spa - and to bolster the fleet as Kenilworth is definitely a workshop pet, with a detatched worm this time meaning it is awaiting repair yet again....

 

Must straighten BRONZINO's chimney, though running at a show it isn't noticeable, just offends me in photographs.

 

Les

Edited March 18, 2017 by Les1952

[millerhillboy]

Thanks for the encouragement- I'll need plenty of that as things go wrong (as they will...).

 

My three A2s are 60526, 60538 and 60539, the three North Eastern Region ones.  

 

Top and botttom pics taken on Hawthorn Dene, but the two new A1s are the first locos specifically for Croft Spa - and to bolster the fleet as Kenilworth is definitely a workshop pet, with a detatched worm this time meaning it is awaiting repair yet again....

 

Must straighten BRONZINO's chimney, though running at a show it isn't noticeable, just offends me in photographs.

 

Les

Great stuff, I have to say that the more LNER Pacific's I own the more I grow to love them. Not being old enough to have seen one in anger sadly.

Out of interest where or how did you get the red backed plates. I recently converted a modelmaster plate for a britannia to red backed manually but it was painstaking to say the least.

[Les1952]

Great stuff, I have to say that the more LNER Pacific's I own the more I grow to love them. Not being old enough to have seen one in anger sadly.

Out of interest where or how did you get the red backed plates. I recently converted a modelmaster plate for a britannia to red backed manually but it was painstaking to say the least.

 

The red backed plates came from the N Gauge Society at the time David Baverstock was making a valiant attempt to sort out the plates he had been passed on by Ray Hansen.  I think the NGS Shop still has red backed plates.

 

I can just remember A3s standing pilot at Darlington but KENILWORTH is the loco I particularly remember at Green Street -  several happy hours spent gawping through the railings at it, or at 60884 which seemed to be first choice deputy.  I also remember A4s WILLIAM WHITELAW and LORD FARINGDON standing as pilot, presumably sent on from Gateshead when KENILWORTH was away. 

 

I haven't (yet) got WILLIAM WHITELAW but do have LORD FARINGDON, my only Farish A4 and only analogue one.  It is available for use on Rise Park.

 

Les

[Les1952]

First fiddle yard road laid

 

I did say I was going to lay the roads from front to back, so the first one is road 12, the front one.  One of six Up roads each of which will take 2 trains.

 

 

It gives some idea of what the rest will look like.   I only got one road done because I've mislaid two packs of Peco fishplates with drop wires.  As there are 4 pairs in each pack I have enough to finish roads 15 to 12 as there are two pairs on each road- one each side of the middle.  Not a major panic as I'll remember where I put them at some stage, and I need either another pack or enough plain fishplates to make myself a few more.  I need to make another dozen each of blue and pink in any event.

 

I'd managed to get some wide copperclad Paxolin strips at Nottingham show last weekend.  I've used it two strips deep as this gives me the right height for the rails- something I got wrong on Hawthorn Dene with the result that there is a distinct gradient up to the middle of each fiddle yard road.  I've used epoxy to glue the paxolin down and when I get some more small screws I'll screw the strips to the board as well.  I did the first one to be sure I had an appropriate drill and check the size of the screws I need to buy.

 

 

This is just at the right height.  I'll solder the rail to the paxolin in groups of three to four roads at a time before cutting the rails and slitting the paxolin to isolate the rails from each other..  You can see the idiosyncratic cutting back of the cork underlay.  The paxolin doesn't quite reach the board edge as we have had problems on Rise Park with copperclad on one board touching the copperclad on the next board when the board expands, making isolating sections stop isolating.  This runs quite well so far, or at least wagons and coaches freewheel through without bumping.

 

Nothing will happen for the next two weeks as I'm otherwise occupied.  More details in early April.

 

Les

 

[south_tyne]

Hi Les,

 

Glad to see you've made a start on this and I'll be following with interest. I love Hawthorn Dene and I'm sure this will be equally as good! Croft will make a cracking basis for a model. I'm currently toying with the idea of a small terminus as a testbed for an introduction to N gauge, depicting an imaginary extension of the Richmond branch up to Reeth.

 

Anyway I'll be following with interest and look forward to reading of further progress Keep that North Eastern Region flag flying!

 

David

[Les1952]

Many thanks for that, David.

 

Sorry it has taken so long to reply but I've been away for a fortnight.  I got back into the shed this morning for a couple of hours and laid the next two fiddle yard roads.  I think I might get time tomorrow and Friday as well, though I'm going to have to go to Darlington on Saturday.

 

Meanwhile- five trams and a trolleybus to identify, in the order they were taken.  I couldn't do 6 trams as city 4 only has trolleybuses.  Cities 1 and 2 also have trolleybuses.  I didn't see any in cities 3,5 or 6. The 4th and 5th were taken on the same day, the others in order.. Where did I get to on holiday?  

 

 

No prizes.  Looks more like the inspiration for Furtwangen II than Croft Spa.....

 

Les

 

[Les1952]

Thursday's progress

 

I've now got the whole of the UP side of the fiddle yard laid and started on the DOWN side.

 

 

This means that tomorrow, all being well, I should get well on with the down side, assuming I don't run out of track.  I've used over half of the box I bought just on the up side and I'm also getting a little low on track pins despite not bending very many (about one on five which is a decent average).  Coaches freewheel through the roads quite happily. 

 

 

The track over the board join is a little high, by just under a millimetre.  Since taking this photo I've soldered one side of road 7 (the second one down in the picture- distinguished by the flux spread on the copper waiting for the iron to warm up).  It needed quite a large amount of solder to fill under the rail but it is very secure.  Far better to use too much solder and have it looking a little ugly on the outside of the track than to use too little and have it break.

 

There are one or two wobbles in the alignment.  On the front the track is Code 55 which sets itself straighter naturally, so the visible trackwork will be aesthetically better.

 

Time for bed.

Les

[Les1952]

_{Friday progress - no pics}

 

_{Tracks five and six now laid and pinned down.} 

_{Another twelve fishplate drop wires made (2 red, 2 black and 4 each of pink and blue)}

_{Tracks 7 to 12 now soldered firmly to the copperclad at the board end ready for slitting and gapping later.}

 

_{Answers to trams-}

_{1.  Budapest}

_{2.  Bratislava}

_{3.  Vienna}

_{4.  Salzburg trolleybus}

_{5.  Linz  (Postlingbergbahn)}

_{6.  Prague}

 

_{Possible chance for some prototype pics tomorrow.  Going to Darlington so might just get time to stop at Croft.}

_Les

 

_{Edited because Internet Explorer had played silly with the font size...}

Edited April 7, 2017 by Les1952

[Les1952]

Field visit part one

 

I got to Croft this morning on my way to visit my sister and took these and other pics of views where Google Earth is less than helpful.  I'm going to have to alter the slope on the field North of the village as it is too steep for a cricket ground, though the heights are much greater overall than I'm modelling.  

 

Firstly the station site. Apart from how overgrown it is, I was a little surprised by how compact it is.  The rear boundary is close enough for the station building not to fit the site if turned sideways.  The rows of buildings behind the station are in Belgrave Terrace and comprise-

 

with back to the station in order along Belgrave Terrace- large Victorian semi with rear extension, detatched house that looks as if it was intended to be part of a terrace, two detatched bungalows with the first on top of the embankment and the second at the bottom, three pairs of thirties semi-detatched bungalows, and lastly a modern detatched house (too modern for the layout)

 

Opposite side of Belgrave Terrace, facing the station- Corner shop with idiosyncratic extension along Belgrave Terrace, access to yards, terrace of eight houses with the last having a modern extension, Baxby Terrace (street), modern bungalow, thirties semi and two more modern bungalows.

 

 

On this subject, the closeness of the higher of the two detatched bungalows. This one is built on the top of the bank behind the station buildings. The tree house seems almost to be buit on the end of the conservatory.  Beneath the fence there used to be the end of the platform and the carriage dock, which had a track running behind it which isn't shown on the OS map I got from Darlington library.

 

 

I'll probably use the tree house as a feature.  The trees will help shield the fact that the bungalow won't be exactly right.  There are some continental bungalows with the right roofline but these are a little ornate.  I did at least confirm what I had thought which is that the two detached bungalows were probably the same when built. Front views later some time.

 

 

The chapel is actually too far from the station to be on the model, being at the bottom of Baxby Terrace.  However, the row of terraced houses behind the station has a modern extension at the end furthest from the main road, so I'll put a chapel in here before Baxby Terrace..

 

 

Again, the Comet is too far from the station to be modelled in the right place. .  I'll put a pub just beyond Baxby Terrace in the spot where the first modern bungalow stands.  I may have to move the modern semi down the road a little.  Note in the picture above how close the back of the chapel is to the back of the pub....

 

 

Looking down Hurworth Road from the station overbridge showing how steep it is, and that the road bends to the left before then right just after Belgrave Terrace.  This will help with the curve of the backscene at this point.   On each side of Hurworth Road are terraces of three houses on the hill, with the lowest one having a complete floor more than the uppermost.  More kits to be built in the wrong order.....  The green shop on the right shows Belgrave Terrace.  The Station entrance is a gate on the corner opposite the shop.

 

 

The pedestrian-only entrance to the up platform from Hurworth Road.  This will be at the very front of the model.  The hedge will be along the front edge of the baseboard here.  Banks Terrace is too far from the station to be modelled.

 

A close-up of the Hurworth Road overbridge.  The grey seems to be modern reinforcement for the embankment.

 

 

Lastly, a distant view of the overbridge that will frame the North end of the visible part of the layout. Note that the track is actually in cutting for the entire distance between the bridges.  

 

 

I'll lower the embankment to the right to give a view into the railway and not model trees along the full length of the embankment to the left.  Just to the left of the bridge in the distance is a farm.  If I do go along with the idea of a cricket pitch I'll probably omit the farm altogether and use foliage around the bridge on both sides of the line to hide the exit hole in the backscene.  It helps that there are a lot of trees above the station just South of Hurworth Road bridge and that the houses here (Railway Terrace) are far enough from the railway to be off the front of the layout.

 

Plenty to think about....

Les

 

 

 

[Les1952]

Belgrave Terrace details

 

The more I look at the pictures of the beginning of this terrace the more I realise I've either got to ignore the prototype or indulge in a huge amount of cross-kitting.

 

 

The corner.  I'm going to have to think hard about this one.  It is distinctive and can't really be ignored.  

 

 

Starting along Belgrave Terrace note that the roof is hipped at the end rather than having a gable.  Then look at the bay windows.  I think that the second and third houses in this row were originally the same with the end one different, but who knows.  However, a pair the same in right then left hand will suffice.  

 

Beyond here I didn't get photographed but the next two have smaller bays and upper deck windows that were probably the same as each other to start with but not the same as the first three.  The roof line is the same here as well, then there is a change of roof line for the final three, of which the middle one may also have been a shop.

 

The good news is that the semi beyond Baxby Terrace is sufficiently nondescript to use a standard kit.

 

 

Pics of other side to follow.

 

Les

 

[Les1952]

More building progress.

 

Just two more roads to lay in the fiddle yard (tracks one and two in the down direction).  I stopped mostly because I've run out of track pins and almost out of metal rail joiners.  I've also had to widen the cork underlay in the fiddle yard to make a little more room for the two tracks.

 

 

Tracks three to twelve are now laid, with tracks three and four still to finish pinning down beyond the board join.  Down trains will of necessity average a little shorter than up ones, but that is disguised by mixing in slightly more shorter ones running North than South, keeping big trains in both directions.   The train at the far end is a B1 and five Pullmans, showing just how long the trains in an N-gauge fiddle yard can be and still get the layout into a car.

 

 

I've now cut the tracks across the board join on the up yard (tracks seven to twelve) and gapped the copperclad.  That means the up yard track is complete apart from needing a few more trackpins when I've got another packet.  The gaps are wider than I really wanted but he "loose wagons" freewheeled across the gaps without any hint of a bounce, so I'm satisfied, if not completely happy.

 

 

On the other side I've started laying the cork underlay, with the bit between the platforms being first.

 

Tomorrow I've got to go to Onyx Trophies in Lincoln for a "Best in Show" trophy so I'll call in at Digitrains which is just about opposite.  I'll get more track pins and rail joiners and if I remember a second EB1 booster so that as soon as the track is down I can start wiring up ready for soak testing. 

 

Becoming urgent is a decision on powering the three points out front.  Those in the fiddle yard are digital - worked using the operator's digits....

 

Time to do something else for the rest of the evening.

Les

 

[Les1952]

Tuesday

 

Not a lot done this last two days as I've been doing Railway club business, getting a "Best in show" trophy designed and ordered and sorting out leaflet drops.  The rest of the week is also likely to be sparse for similar reasons.  However an escape to the workshop for an hour does help calm the nerves, even when fishplates are refusing to cooperate..

 

I did get into Digitrains yesterday- it helps that the trophy shop is almost opposite.  I now have a second EB1 circuit breaker which will allow me to make two power districts.  This will prevent the situation which happens on Hawthorn Dene if a train causes an intermittent short - all trains stutter for a second.  There are too many crossovers between tracks to do much about it on HD, but putting the up and down lines of Croft Spa on separate breakers will at least stop this happening.

 

Also done, the copperclad at the board joins on the main line at the front is glued into place, track two of the fiddle yard is laid in and pinned down, and the copperclad in the fiddle yard extended o I can lay in track one.  Deadline is the Monday after Easter Monday to have all track laid and cut over the board joins and the copperclads gapped.  I need to be able to stack Croft Spa against the shed wall to get Hawthorn Dene out to take to Bristol.

 

I've got another eight power fishplates made, but will still need a few more.  I've also decided the position of the crossover and got some of the rails cut.

 

Pics of the other side of Belgrave Terrace.  These are stitched up from my pics and Google Earth, ending up as "neither nowt nor summat"

 

 

 

The two bungalows, looking at them again, weren't originally a matching pair unless one or other has had the chimney stack moved over the years.  I think I may have a "close enough" for the one at the top of the bank- I can hide any discrepancy in the trees that are close to it.  The other one is a lot more exposed so will need to look right.

 

 

Two of the semi-detatched bungalows.  It looks as if the one with the black painted windows is the nearest to original.  The problem with these is that I can't find any suitable roofs.  They are hipped-end and fairly shallow.  I'm very tempted to stick with my original plan here of making up the three pairs from six Peco bungalow kits overlaying the walls with Redutex, and just ignoring the fact that the roofs are wrong.  How many people other than me and readers of the rubbish I put on here will know the roofs are wrong is highly debatable. I'm taking bigger liberties elsewhere. 

 

The cultivated hedge behind the bungalows shows the rear boundary, so the gardens weren't that long.  It also shows that the gardes slope upwards.  The lean-to garage is a later addition, as it is on the lower of the detatched bungalows.  The semis are close enough together for none to have a garage behind them, so what is shown on the OS map in each case will be a decent-sized garden shed.

 

The lamp posts are too modern, and no evidence so far of what was there before.  I might have free range in this respect.

 

Les

Edited April 11, 2017 by Les1952