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CARROG in 4mm & Ruabon discussion...


coachmann
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I assume you’ll be starting a new thread? It’s a shame to see Carrog go, but I think you’re quite right to do so if you’re finding it “operationally boring”.

Building it, changing it, up scaling it, down scaling it again all allowed you to explore and improve your modelling skills, but once done... that’s it, nothing to do but watch the trains...

There’s nothing wrong with that, but having something a little more complex means you have the option of choosing ‘watching trains go by’ or ‘operating to prototype’

I guess that’s why I keep gravitating back to my quarry next to a mainline...

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Re starting a new thread, it's a possibility.

But please leave this open. It has been an inspiration to many people modelling rural GWR and Western Region. It even has me thinking about that 'next' layout.

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Running Trains around is great, different Freights, different Locos, Slow Goods, Fast Expresses.

 

But with Kings Moreton, I soon tired of that, shunted a few bits about, but then switched off and went indoors.

 

KM will be gone on Saturday, and a NEW project is planned, I enjoy the planning, building, and seeing it all come together, so yes Larry, Carrog didn't offer enough, as beautiful as it was, it is a sleepy backwater on a single Track Line.

 

Good luck with your new adventure.

Edited by Andrew P
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Nothing more will be done to Carrog now that I have determined what I want to do next. Carrog's stone station building will not go to waste, as I have it in mind to attach a platform canopy for use on the Up platform. The front face of the building will become the street entrance at the front of the layout. A pal has sent me a RTP building which i intend using on the Down platform, again with a new canopy. The project will keep me occupied for some time I should think.

 

Track is taking up my 'lying in bed thinking' time. This is the big teaser! It will be either all-Code 100 or bullhead augmented by flat bottom Code 75 turnouts not currently in the bullhead range.

Edited by coachmann
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Track is taking up my 'lying in bed thinking' time because I am undecided on whether to go for the uniformity of Code 100 or go with Peco bullhead once again augmented with HO Code 75 slips and diamonds. This is the big teaser! It will be either all-Code 100 or bullhead augmented by flat bottom Code 75 turnouts not currently in the bullhead range.

Larry,

 

Bearing in mind that you recently changed Carrog from Code 75 to Code 100 and your thinking behind that change perhaps all Code 100 would be best.

 

Warmest Regards,

 

Dave

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Nothing more will be done to Carrog now that I have determined what I want to do next. Carrog's stone station building will not go to waste, as I have it in mind to attach a platform canopy for use on the Up platform. The front face of the building will become the street entrance at the front of the layout. A pal has sent me a RTP building which i intend using on the Down platform, again with a new canopy. The project will keep me occupied for some time I should think.

 

Track is taking up my 'lying in bed thinking' time because I am undecided on whether to go for the uniformity of Code 100 or go with Peco bullhead once again augmented with HO Code 75 slips and diamonds. This is the big teaser! It will be either all-Code 100 or bullhead augmented by flat bottom Code 75 turnouts not currently in the bullhead range.

Code 100, not perfect, BUT IT WORKS. :sungum:

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Question for you young Larry. Would you rather have trouble free Running and Shunting etc, or looking good and rip out again in 12, 9, 6, 3 Months?

Code 100 is so rigid that it is forgiving of a less-than-even trackbed, but it is worth recalling that the section through Carrog's platforms served me well and was never relaid unitl code 100 replaced it.   

 

Time moves rapidly in Coachmann Tower and I am definitely adopting Peco bullhead and tracks through the curved platforms will be very carefully cambered.  Curving points and slips only leads to poor running so I am not continuing the curve beyond the platforms. That said, it will all be laid on new baseboards.

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Larry

 

I have an article in a Model Railroader mag in France by one of their staff that has super elevation designed around gluing small pads of plasticard under the outsides of the HO sleepers, the thickness of the pads increadng as the curve gets tighter. This seems to me to be a simpler, possibly better, way of setting up the camber than using a sander. Being in England at the moment I cannot quote the source but the article is very convincing. I am thinking about employing this for the curved scenic portions of Penmaenpool.

 

Paul

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I wrote some drivel last night at the worse time of day for straight thinking so cit has been deleted ot keep things tidy. The approach track to Carrog is on open-frame baseboard and it is the plywood track base that is cambered, not the cork.  I intend using this method through Ruabon station.

 

A cambered cork base is actually very simple to form. I mark out the radius on the baseboard and glue down 1/16" cork to double track width. It is then sanded down until the inside edge of the curve is flush with the baseboard surface while the outer edge remains 1/16" thick. I check to ensure the cross-section is a constant 'cut' with no dips. Then a track-bed of 1/8" cord is glued on top. It is tapered off to match adjacent 1/8" cork where the curve ends. A 2' steel rule is used to check all is well at transition points..........I enjoy the work and never rush it.

 

This morning's chivvy at photos of Ruabon plus viewing some video shot in the early 1960's have put some new ideas into gear. A Dee Valley train is seen departing the bay over the off-set scissor crossover. The curved complex of track can be seen extending far beyond the station platforms....

 

post-6680-0-34068900-1534585318_thumb.jpg

 

This is how I want to view model trains leaning to the curve as they speed through non-stop....

post-6680-0-20375900-1534585317.jpg

Edited by coachmann
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I wrote the above last night at the worse time of day for straight thinking. The approach track to Carrog is on open-frame baseboard and it is the plywood track base that is cambered, not the cork.  I intend using this method through Ruabon station.

 

This morning's chivvy at photos of Ruabon plus viewing some video shot in the early 1960's have put some new ideas into gear. A Dee Valley train is seen departing the bay over the off-set scissor crossover. The curved complex of track can be seen extending far beyond the station platforms....

 

attachicon.gifWEB Ruabon 2.jpg

 

This is how I want to view model trains leaning to the curve as they speed through non-stop....

attachicon.gifWEB Ruabon 1.jpg

 

Larry, I too have built my layout with open-frame baseboards and the plywood track base too is cambered (a lamination of 2 x 6mm birch ply).  The maximum cant on the LNWR was 6" which is 2mm in 4mm so I stuck 2 x 1mm plywood sleepers onto the outside risers before attaching the ply road bed.  Cork was also then stuck on top of all his before laying track.  It worked for me and avoided any major sanding.

 

Peter

 

post-13283-0-66639600-1534592007_thumb.jpg

Edited by Brassey
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Larry, I too have built my layout with open-frame baseboards and the plywood track base too is cambered (a lamination of 2 x 6mm birch ply).  The maximum cant on the LNWR was 6" which is 2mm in 4mm so I stuck 2 x 1mm plywood sleepers onto the outside risers before attaching the ply road bed.  Cork was also then stuck on top of all his before laying track.  It worked for me and avoided any major sanding.

 

Peter

Thanks for this Peter. You're doing it the proper way with independent cant on up and down tracks plus a flat siding. I like it.

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Thanks Philip. Fascinating and really useful views, as they show parts of the station I haven't seen before. Is that a private dwelling behind the bay platform? The long wall on the right is presumably a bridge parapet. I am surprised at the narrowness of the up platform, in fact I would go further and say it is weird how small stations look today when stripped down to bus shelters in the middle of some waste land.

 

My renewed interest in BR did not take place until late-1976 and I was wondering if this route had only just been passed for mainline steam at the time of your photos. I had driven to Shrewsbury on business a couple of years earlier to meet the importer of the Fulgurex brass 'Kings', and I wish now I had taken more notice of the railway. I think I drove past Ruabon station as I seem to remember the roadside railings for some reason.

Edited by coachmann
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I did wonder myself about that building at the right hand end of the footbridge.  It looks like a house but its on railway land so must have had some railway use.  I checked google maps and it seems to have disappeared although the area round the station is now overshadowed by trees and you can't get that open view from the overbridge in my 1975 photos.

 

The wall on the right is a bridge parapet, there is actually a river running under the station at that point.  Well you did say you would be doing the baseboards open plan in that area - you will certainly need to !

 

post-14569-0-03581200-1534758984.jpg

 

The extract from the 1961/2 1/2500 OS map might be of interest.  Reproduced from the old-maps.co.uk website, who do allow reproduction for small scale non profit use.  (00 gauge is small scale to me !)

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Hi Larry.

I think the building you mention was the station master's house. It looks to be withing the railway boundary and the caption to a photo (in Ruabon to Barmouth by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Middleton Press) refers to the (then) footbridge giving access to the residents of Plas Newydd and the station master.

Best wishes with the new layout. You'll be back to Greenfield soon!

Dave.

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Hi Larry.

I think the building you mention was the station master's house. It looks to be withing the railway boundary and the caption to a photo (in Ruabon to Barmouth by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Middleton Press) refers to the (then) footbridge giving access to the residents of Plas Newydd and the station master.

Best wishes with the new layout. You'll be back to Greenfield soon!

Dave.

Hi Dave,  You are not far out, as I told PGH I might do Greenfield again. I didn't have DCC/Sound last time and so I had in mind recreating the sound of Austerities hammering upgrade through Greenfield and clanking downgrade afterwards! I saw your Blog the other day.............. That BR Std. Class 2 2-6-2T looks mighty tasty!

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I did wonder myself about that building at the right hand end of the footbridge.  It looks like a house but its on railway land so must have had some railway use.  I checked google maps and it seems to have disappeared although the area round the station is now overshadowed by trees and you can't get that open view from the overbridge in my 1975 photos.

 

The wall on the right is a bridge parapet, there is actually a river running under the station at that point.  Well you did say you would be doing the baseboards open plan in that area - you will certainly need to !

 

The extract from the 1961/2 1/2500 OS map might be of interest.  Reproduced from the old-maps.co.uk website, who do allow reproduction for small scale non profit use.  (00 gauge is small scale to me !)

Thanks for the map Phil. The curve through the station and environs is far shallower than I imagined, but modellers compression will make it sharper. I will aim for an essence of Ruabon. For instance, I could easily build a model of the stations main entrance building, but I am not going to waste the building I made of Carrog.

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Greenfield 1 - Ruabon 0

Given a choice on a 1950's hot summer day of being beamed down to Greenfield or Ruabon, it's a no-brainer for me. Besides, it would be drizzling in Greenfeld and it goes dark at 7pm!  :imsohappy:

Edited by coachmann
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Given a choice on a 1950's hot summer day of being beamed down to Greenfield or Ruabon, it's a no-brainer for me. Besides, it would be drizzling in Greenfeld and it goes dark at 7pm!  :imsohappy:

O.K. Re Match, Ruabon 7 Greenfield 0, the Sun was out and Greenfield weren't used to seeing it. :no:  :no:  :no:  :no:  :sungum:

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... in Greenfeld ... it goes dark at 7pm!  :imsohappy:

 

Nay lad - not noordays !

 

'Tis true, though, in't old days when't moor-grime came doon, t'lamp-lighter were sent out midday.

 

I mind travelling through Stockport one August dinner-time, (midday o'course), in't early 60s; t'were s'dark you'da sworn it were arter midneet.

 

T'aint nowt like that noordays.

 

All't best,

John Isherwood.

Edited by cctransuk
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Lucky me..........In preparation for speed trials between Berwyn Halt and Corwen, one of these arrived in the yard at Carrog today. How the RTR manufacturers install all the fine detail for the price is beyond me....

 

post-6680-0-84735500-1534783148.jpg

 

Truly amazingly detail even on the frosted glass lights in the clerestory....

post-6680-0-82355700-1534783147_thumb.jpg

 

I don't know where I find the time, but I'm back earning a crust again. And so before anyone asks....No, I will not be lining it out.      :biggrin_mini2:

Edited by coachmann
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