Dockside - Small(ish) shunting layout

[Tomr91]

Hi All, 

 

I've been playing about for a while with some idea's, and been giving some of my old loco's a service and it's got my feet itching for a proper layout again! 

 

I'm set on a shunting layout, with plenty of scope for various scenarios to keep me occupied. It is in 4mm and It will be in DC. I've been doing a fair bit of research on shunting puzzles and inglenook sidings to give me some inspiration. Dug out some old magazines and spent hours on the forums! Scenario I was working on, is say a raw material coming into the scene, taken to the industry for processing, and moved to the dockside reading for loading to the ships. In the meantime, the 'mainline' loco will need to manoeuvre to the engine shed for maintenance. 

 

I'm slightly limited on space, but I've managed to stretch to a 1220x610 board, this should give me enough space to give some good depth, detailed scenery and plenty of operating potential. It also means it's not too big to move about with a couple of people.

 

I'm not too fussed about Era realism, but roughly it will be set roughly 1930's-50's, run a mix of steam and diesel shunters. I'm sure there's some rolling stock that will make people red with rage, but it's what I have! Let's call it a restored heritage quayside.

 

I'm after some feedback on the track plan, I may have missed something glaringly obvious, it's been a long time since I've done this, so if there's anywhere I can make improvements, changes, I'm happy to listen. I have included a few measurements which I've tried to suit to an 0-4-0 loco and a couple of wagons. 

The only thing that really bugs me is the length of the engine shed siding, as it's the one that can get away with being the shortest, but has ended up being the longest! I might put in a couple of isolation switches in to store a couple of loco's on there. 

There's a couple of annotations, but to be honest, it's a fairly early draft on the content, it's been the layout I've been obsessing over.

 

Thanks in advance! 

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by Tomr91

[Mark Forrest]

You don't mention what scale/gauge you are using, first impression is that plan looks a bit tight for 4mm even in 00.

Key thing with a shunting puzzle is to work out siding, loop and headshunt lengths so they complement each other (unless you are deliberately adding a degree of awkwardness to the plan to make things more interesting).

 

Edit to add: re your engine shed siding, why not just shorten it, there's nothing to say it has to go right into the rear corner of the board. Shortening and bringing the engine shed closer to the front may make the layout appear deeper.

[rue_d_etropal]

dockside - inset track?  How about some working wagon turntables to add interest.

Edited July 20, 2017 by rue_d_etropal

[Tomr91]

You don't mention what scale/gauge you are using, first impression is that plan looks a bit tight for 4mm even in 00.

Key thing with a shunting puzzle is to work out siding, loop and headshunt lengths so they complement each other (unless you are deliberately adding a degree of awkwardness to the plan to make things more interesting).

 

Edit to add: re your engine shed siding, why not just shorten it, there's nothing to say it has to go right into the rear corner of the board. Shortening and bringing the engine shed closer to the front may make the layout appear deeper.

 

Ah! Knew I'd forget to mention something obvious, yes it's in 4mm. There is an air of awkwardness to keep things interesting, the only shortcoming I can see is in the industry sidings where I can split the wagons between the 2, If I could fit a third in I would but I think that's going to be a bit too much. I'm certain at 300mm I can get a shunter and a couple of wagons in which is what I've worked too. 

 

I plan on there only ever being around 6 wagons or so and 2 loco's (incoming train and shunter) on the layout at any one time.

 

Fair point on the engine shed, that's me trying to make the most of the space! 

 

dockside - inset track?  How about some working wagon turntables to add interest.

 

 

Yes along the dock edge the plan is to make it inset, not really thought about using wagon turntables, seen plenty, but I can't really think of an application here for them.

[Mark Forrest]

 

Fair point on the engine shed, that's me trying to make the most of the space! 

 

At least you didn't fall for the trap of making it a two road shed just because you have space for another point on the line leading to the shed

[Tomr91]

At least you didn't fall for the trap of making it a two road shed just because you have space for another point on the line leading to the shed

 

 

Have you been looking at my first draft...!   It did cross my mind, but I'd rather have loco's queued up just to add to the awkwardness. It also means if something bigger needs to visit for some maintenance it can squeeze in, just.

 

 

Just having another play with it, By changing (what I have now named) Point H, I can add an extra 30mm or so to that length which brings them all up to 300mm now.

Edited July 20, 2017 by Tomr91

[phil_sutters]

What are your plans for unloading your cargo ships? At the moment you haven't any room for cranes, unless you use the Airfix type that could straddle the tracks. They are quite big for a small quayside.

http://www.vintage-airfix.com/images/Type%202%20Travelling%20Crane%20(header).jpg

[Tomr91]

What are your plans for unloading your cargo ships? At the moment you haven't any room for cranes, unless you use the Airfix type that could straddle the tracks. They are quite big for a small quayside.

http://www.vintage-airfix.com/images/Type%202%20Travelling%20Crane%20(header).jpg

 

 

I was just about to put a question on about this. I've already got a Dapol travelling crane on it's way to me - mainly to check the size and clearances.

 

Has anyone been able to make them move along rails? It would be for the right hand side of 'B' points. I'm thinking along the lines of a rail either side, with some sort of pulley system to move it along them.

[Mark Forrest]

Have you been looking at my first draft...!

No, but I do have loads of plans I've drawn over the years where I've done exactly the same

[phil_sutters]

I was just about to put a question on about this. I've already got a Dapol travelling crane on it's way to me - mainly to check the size and clearances.

 

Has anyone been able to make them move along rails? It would be for the right hand side of 'B' points. I'm thinking along the lines of a rail either side, with some sort of pulley system to move it along them.

I'll bet someone has had a go. The problem will be having to have the rails absolutely level, as the wide spread of the four* wheels will need pinpoint accuracy to keep them on the track.(* I can't remember whether there is one wheel at the foot of each leg or a pair.) The wheels would need decent flanges to help them stay on the tracks. You have then got to factor in the circular motion of the crane loaded and unloaded. As for a pulley system - where will the traction ropes be attached? The middle is where the railway tracks are. Getting even pulls on both outer edges will be very tricky.I think you are onto a major engineering work with no guarantee of success.

[Tomr91]

I'll bet someone has had a go. The problem will be having to have the rails absolutely level, as the wide spread of the four* wheels will need pinpoint accuracy to keep them on the track.(* I can't remember whether there is one wheel at the foot of each leg or a pair.) The wheels would need decent flanges to help them stay on the tracks. You have then got to factor in the circular motion of the crane loaded and unloaded. As for a pulley system - where will the traction ropes be attached? The middle is where the railway tracks are. Getting even pulls on both outer edges will be very tricky.I think you are onto a major engineering work with no guarantee of success.

 

This is the one in question:

 

It was more the along the track movement I was thinking to add a bit more movement in the layout, a fully operational crane hadn't crossed my mind! I'll get it built and have a look then, as I'm not sure at this point how it goes together and operated! It may be a bit ambitious for my first foray into a layout in a few years, but we shall see. We can only but fail! 

 

 

 

On the layout itself, I have put together a quick mockup using some standard track I have, most of this will be replaced with flexi-track as there are a lot of shallow kinks included in the plan, however I wanted to test lengths of the sidings. The hopper wagon is the same length as a 0-6-0 loco, which will be the largest of the 'mainline' loco's on the layout, and I've used that as it's easy enough to wheel around, As measured, In all the shunts I can fit the loco and 2 wagons, however I am going to modify the top section slightly and in reality there isn't that much space remaining for the scene itself. I'm also going to angle the whole layout slightly on the baseboard to squeeze out a little more length on the sidings. 

 

[The Johnster]

My instinct would be to have the road leading offstage to whatever fiddle arrangement you are going to provide disappearing behind the industry, so that you can extend the modelled area along the quayside in front of it.  A warehouse is more likely than an industry in that location, but not a given; industry is perfectly possible.  I am uneasy about the Airfix/Dapol/Kitmaster crane, though.  It is about the only thing available that is suitable, but it's not really suitable.  It is actually a Dockyard crane as opposed to a dockside crane, designed for lifting smallish items into and out of ships under repair, not for the heavier and necessarily faster work of cargo handling.  The problem you are going to have to negotiate your way around is that ocean going cargo ships are big, and the cranes needed to handle their cargoes are big too.  If you can, get yourself down to Bristol where there is a stretch of preserved dockside with proper ship cargo handling cranes, and check out the size of those bad boys; you could fit that little crane clear in beneath one of them!

 

If you are going to incorporate that particular type of travelling crane, I would incorporate something like a graving dock in place of the industry, or move the industry up the other end and dispense with the engine shed.  You don't have to model the actual dock, just the engineering workshop part with the crane outside. It makes into a somewhat top heavy model if not ballasted low down, by the wyay  An engine shed of that size and type is not that likely in that location anyway; we are clearly in a large town and if the docks are worked by BR locos, as the South Wales ports were, then a bigger shed not far away but not that close to the quayside would provide the locos, while if there is a Port Authority like Bristol, London, or Manchester with it's own locos, they too would be from a biggish shed that incorporated workshop facilities.  Think I read somewhere years ago that Port of London Authority's railway was the   second largest in the UK in terms of track miles and number of locos owned to BR.

 

Dock areas of this sort are massive, the docks themselves are measured in acres and the dock areas, usually incorporating several large docks, in square miles, vast districts of cargo handling, ship repair, engineering, meat cold storage, warehousing, hydraulic pumping stations to work the lock gates and swing bridges, timber wharves, stone or sand unloading wharves for the dredgers, fruit handling facilities, oil storage depots and tank farms, oil distributors handling wholesale supplies of fuel oil for industries and bunker for ships, and in South Wales or the North East, coal, always coal out and pit props in.  Acres of railway storage and sorting sidings, little trip workings to the myriad warehouses and workshops and refrigerated warehouses, bonded warehouses with customs and police keeping an eye.  The trick is to to model a small corner of activity and make it plausible, so that your traffic has purpose, with goods being delivered and collected, but a part of the holistic whole, with it's backdrop of cranes, masts, and funnels.  You don't even have to model anything directly to do with shipping; all sorts of things went on on the docks!

[Tomr91]

My instinct would be to have the road leading offstage to whatever fiddle arrangement you are going to provide disappearing behind the industry, so that you can extend the modelled area along the quayside in front of it.  A warehouse is more likely than an industry in that location, but not a given; industry is perfectly possible.  I am uneasy about the Airfix/Dapol/Kitmaster crane, though.  It is about the only thing available that is suitable, but it's not really suitable.  It is actually a Dockyard crane as opposed to a dockside crane, designed for lifting smallish items into and out of ships under repair, not for the heavier and necessarily faster work of cargo handling.  The problem you are going to have to negotiate your way around is that ocean going cargo ships are big, and the cranes needed to handle their cargoes are big too.  If you can, get yourself down to Bristol where there is a stretch of preserved dockside with proper ship cargo handling cranes, and check out the size of those bad boys; you could fit that little crane clear in beneath one of them!

 

If you are going to incorporate that particular type of travelling crane, I would incorporate something like a graving dock in place of the industry, or move the industry up the other end and dispense with the engine shed.  You don't have to model the actual dock, just the engineering workshop part with the crane outside. It makes into a somewhat top heavy model if not ballasted low down, by the wyay  An engine shed of that size and type is not that likely in that location anyway; we are clearly in a large town and if the docks are worked by BR locos, as the South Wales ports were, then a bigger shed not far away but not that close to the quayside would provide the locos, while if there is a Port Authority like Bristol, London, or Manchester with it's own locos, they too would be from a biggish shed that incorporated workshop facilities.  Think I read somewhere years ago that Port of London Authority's railway was the   second largest in the UK in terms of track miles and number of locos owned to BR.

 

Dock areas of this sort are massive, the docks themselves are measured in acres and the dock areas, usually incorporating several large docks, in square miles, vast districts of cargo handling, ship repair, engineering, meat cold storage, warehousing, hydraulic pumping stations to work the lock gates and swing bridges, timber wharves, stone or sand unloading wharves for the dredgers, fruit handling facilities, oil storage depots and tank farms, oil distributors handling wholesale supplies of fuel oil for industries and bunker for ships, and in South Wales or the North East, coal, always coal out and pit props in.  Acres of railway storage and sorting sidings, little trip workings to the myriad warehouses and workshops and refrigerated warehouses, bonded warehouses with customs and police keeping an eye.  The trick is to to model a small corner of activity and make it plausible, so that your traffic has purpose, with goods being delivered and collected, but a part of the holistic whole, with it's backdrop of cranes, masts, and funnels.  You don't even have to model anything directly to do with shipping; all sorts of things went on on the docks!

 

Thank you for the info Johnster! Plenty to consider. I might look into sorting out a bigger crane to sit atop the traversing section to suit a dock, as I'm not sure anything bigger in itself would fit - same story with a dry dock, I really am trying to shoehorn a dockside into this space as it's what I want to model, the rest is fitting around it if I'm honest. Some research on the Bristol preserved dock has already proven useful however - I had no idea it existed. 

 

I have dropped the engine shed from the plan, again, a case of me trying to shoehorn too much in and missing my actual point, I wanted what is effectively a shunting puzzle. 

 

The plan has now been amended to fit the industry buildings towards the front of the board, and much more appropriate sidings. The purpose being the incoming wagons are shunted to the warehouses, and then shunted down under the traversing crane, ready for heading back onto the mainline. 

 

 

On the moving crane however, I have discovered this RMweb thread: Link Possibilities! 

[Psiborg]

That plan looks a lot better then the first and should give you hours of entertainment, shunting.  Well Done!

 

 

Simon

Edited July 21, 2017 by Psiborg

[alastairq]

Hi....is it not possible, using crossing, to run a siding down into the bottom left corner [marked, 'industral building']....?

 

Also, as suggestions, Highbridge, for a 'coasting' harbour, which had smaller steam-powered rail-borne cranes........basically, garden sheds on wheels, with jibs?

 

Or,something based upon a corner of Devonport Dockyard?

 

Although, the latter would probably involve too much inset trackage....but, plenty of cranes, etc?

Edited July 21, 2017 by alastairq

[DCB]

I thought the earlier plans looked more convincing.  They all need a ship to give a reason for shunting, even a canal narrowboat , Clyde Puffer or Severn Trow will carry at least 6 wagons worth of cargo.  I think it lends itself to carved up live frogged set track points.

 

I would cram in more sidings, the blokes need to get wagons clear as soon as they are filled and get empties in, so have empties in a parallel road to the quay, pull out the fulls towards the loop, push the empties to the quayside, take the fulls off stage, return with empties, run round, propel to siding by dock.

 

I would go with something like the earlier plan, add a 00 road at the quay edge and use a rail mounted crane for unloading, as the Airfix / Dapol dockside crane both dwarfs a small models and is a bit on the small side for a Dockside crane.  Maybe add a crossover so the shunter can shift it up and down.

 

I like the docks loco depot concept with a decent size industrial building for loco maintenance with the rest of the dock fleet stored while one loco shunts. watering facilities and somewhere the loco can back up to a coal wagon to replenish the bunker would be good.

[Tomr91]

The first purchase has arrived!

 

 

Not 100% it's going to be used, but I am going to construct it and see how it looks. It gives me something to be getting on with - As I can't make the baseboard until I've decided what I'm doing!! 

 

I thought the earlier plans looked more convincing.  They all need a ship to give a reason for shunting, even a canal narrowboat , Clyde Puffer or Severn Trow will carry at least 6 wagons worth of cargo.  I think it lends itself to carved up live frogged set track points.

 

I would cram in more sidings, the blokes need to get wagons clear as soon as they are filled and get empties in, so have empties in a parallel road to the quay, pull out the fulls towards the loop, push the empties to the quayside, take the fulls off stage, return with empties, run round, propel to siding by dock.

 

I would go with something like the earlier plan, add a 00 road at the quay edge and use a rail mounted crane for unloading, as the Airfix / Dapol dockside crane both dwarfs a small models and is a bit on the small side for a Dockside crane.  Maybe add a crossover so the shunter can shift it up and down.

 

I like the docks loco depot concept with a decent size industrial building for loco maintenance with the rest of the dock fleet stored while one loco shunts. watering facilities and somewhere the loco can back up to a coal wagon to replenish the bunker would be good.

 

I'm definitely leaning towards the second plan, however a parallel line along the quay edge isn't a bad idea, I could run it off the loco siding and make that slightly longer - I've got a couple of rail mounted crane's too. 

My worry since mocking it up is the board is going to be crammed with track and not enough scenery, I'm going to lay out scenario 2 this evening and see what I can squeeze in.

 

Hi....is it not possible, using crossing, to run a siding down into the bottom left corner [marked, 'industral building']....?

 

Also, as suggestions,  Highbury, for a 'coasting' harbour, which had smaller steam-powered rail-borne cranes........basically, garden sheds on wheels, with jibs?

 

Or,something based upon a corner of Devonport Dockyard?

 

Although, the latter would probably involve too much inset trackage....but, plenty of cranes, etc?

 

Same as above, I do want some area's focused on scenery/buildings, and I'd rather have more line in the inset track area than going the other way.

 

[The Johnster]

No surprise that I like the mk2 plan, and the stabling road for the loco.   This might have watering facilities which would be an excuse for a visiting loco to appear to disrupt proceedings, top it's tanks, and bu**er off again.  I'm less sure about the ships; a Severn Trow, even a motorised one, suggests Gloucester which is another place worth a day out for inspiration, but a Clyde Puffer, very popular on docks/harbour model railways because a) it looks like a proper ship. b) it's small, and c) suitable kits are available, is a less likely visitor unless your are modelling Clydeside or the inner Isles.  Clyde Puffers were designed to serve small harbour communities in areas where there was poor road and no rail access, and were used in waters sheltered from the open sea by islands and connected by canals; they were too small to deal with open waters and too slow to get around a headland against a current, so are associated with the calmer waters of the  Clyde and Western Argyll sea loch coasts, not getting much further in general.  They were often owned by their skippers Para Handy style, and Para would never want to pay dock fees!  A tug is more possible and there are plenty kits available, but avoid the American type with the D shaped bridge; you need something that looks British.  Go for a small docks steam tug, not a big seagoing salvage type; these are understandably popular as R/C models.  You'll find it not that easy to source ship kits that are 'just right', and will be tempted to include small naval vessels such as minesweepers, landing craft or fast patrol boats; these are a bit out of place in a commercial dock in peacetime, although in the 50s and early 60s many war surplus vessels of this sort were stored in such docks until the scrappers could get around to them.

 

My instinct would be to suggest the presence of big ships nearby, just out of sight further along the wharf, but to use the corner of the dock as a reason for there being none moored here.  A tug, small dredger (opportunity for a sand/gravel wharf with conveyors and hoppers dealing in 'aggregates', the dredger doesn't have to be modelled, it could be out working an ebb tide), lighters or barges, or some sort of service vessel, a pilot boat perhaps, is just what might be moored in such a corner, perhaps alongside each other.  If the big stuff is moored along the wharf, the crane rails need to disappear off the rh edge to get at it, and the siding between them does as well.

 

At the risk of cramming the board with track, which I don't think you've done yet as dock environments tended to have areas of dereliction and abandonment punctuated by small pockets of very intense activity such as the corner you are modelling here, i'd find it very hard to resist putting a track in on the left hand wharf, leading from and to nowhere, derelict, rusty, abandoned and overgrown, with one of those rail mounted 'corrugated shed on wheels' cranes decomposing peacefully on it, a very docks like scene...  A set of steps from the wharf edge down into the water at the corner would usually have a few small boats at it's foot, open rowing boats or launches.  Docks water was usually pretty clean, being stagnant and with the sediment rarely disturbed, one of the reasons it was so dangerous if you fell in, as the water is very cold just below the surface and you get cramps, and muddy, dirty water suggests a tidal river or harbour wharf, not a dock.  Despite the danger, they were not railed off as a rule, as being not accessible to the general public there was no legal requirement, though a lifebelt was usually to be found near steps.  A dock is usually fed by fresh water, which has a bearing on the algae and moss on the wharf wall; no seaweed or tide marks here, but maybe a depth gauge painted by the steps.  The height of the quayside wall above the water level was a designed feature that varied from dock to dock and had an effect on how it was worked; too high and the cranes have trouble lifting cargoes into empty ships, too low and they are stretched to load full ones.  A height somewhere between 5 and 20 feet would be within the usual range.

 

The access road, I mean road road not railway road, might well have a few small workshops and such along it, perhaps a greasy spoon cafe; keep it rough and scruffy.  Not too many private cars, more commercial vehicles, and at least one taxi; they picked up a lot of trade on docks (still do) ferrying ship's officers and crews to the local fleshpots.  The fleshpots for the crews would be nearby, but not on the docks proper, and those for the officers up in the town centre.

 

Your kitmaster crane will fall together; shake the bag and show it a dab of cement and it's done.  Easy fun work to build, and while you wouldn't call it finescale, it is not a bad model with a lot of character to it.

Edited July 21, 2017 by The Johnster

[phil_sutters]

My condensed Highbridge Wharf hasn't got further than the wharf, three coasters, three of the cranes and a temporary length of railway track. If I built the whole wharf complex to scale it would be about 10 metres long by  3metres to the water's edge. I personally hate shunting, so my layout/diorama is going to be a static scene on which to park the S&DJR stock I built, converted & repainted about 50 years ago. You can see how far I have got in my gallery at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/4186-the-highbridge-wharf-project/

Edited July 21, 2017 by phil_sutters

[Tomr91]

No surprise that I like the mk2 plan, and the stabling road for the loco.   This might have watering facilities .....

 

Yes I'm a big fan of the mk2 plan, just having the quayside run straight onto the 'mainline' makes things flow much better.

Good suggestions on the boats, I've still not really decided on what industry is going on here, I do like the dredger idea though, plenty of modelling scope then. 

 

It was my intention to run the dockside line off the scene, the board will have a backboard, and what I might attempt is a 1 and a half open viewing side, rather than just the long side, so the backboard on the right edge ends at the inset track section - This will give some nice interesting viewing angles, especially if I can get the crane moving! (stopping it falling off the edge could be entertaining).

 

As for the bottom left, something going off scene interests me, I'm not too fussed about it being part of the layout, If I do something there, it will be something derelict definitely.

 

 

My condensed Highbridge Wharf hasn't got further than the wharf, three coasters, three of the cranes and a temporary length of railway track. If I built the whole wharf complex to scale it would be about 10 metres long by  3metres to the water's edge. I personally hate shunting, so my layout/diorama is going to be a static scene on which to park the S&DJR stock I built, converted & repainted about 50 years ago. You can see how far I have got in my gallery at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/4186-the-highbridge-wharf-project/

 

 

That's superb Phil! That Steamship crane is amazing. How have you made he wooden dock wall if you don't mind me asking?

 

 

In other progress, I couldn't resist making the crane when it turned up earlier! Roof is loose still, as I still want to light the interior if it moves or not, so that needs furnishing and painting properly!

I also printed out a 1:1 plan of mk2 with an additional siding, which if I go with the crane, can't be there as there isn't enough room, or it has to move over slightly, we shall see when I lay some loose track tomorrow. 

 

[The Johnster]

Nice.  Starting to visualise it a bit now.  

 

More thoughts; if you abandon the idea of the travelling crane actually travelling and model it static because making it move has to be done slowly and smoothly and is something of a challenge, and do not intend to use some sort of automatic uncoupling system, the crane needs to be positioned to the extreme right of it's track so as not to be in the way; ignore this comment if you intend to operate the layout from behind!

[Tomr91]

Nice.  Starting to visualise it a bit now.  

 

More thoughts; if you abandon the idea of the travelling crane actually travelling and model it static because making it move has to be done slowly and smoothly and is something of a challenge, and do not intend to use some sort of automatic uncoupling system, the crane needs to be positioned to the extreme right of it's track so as not to be in the way; ignore this comment if you intend to operate the layout from behind!

 

 

Yes starting to get an idea now, just a case of making sure the sizes are correct!

 

That's very true, it will be operated from the front - and again, automatic uncoupling hasn't crossed my mind, which it probably should as those rear sidings will be a right pain to do manually. Am I right in thinking (and bare with me), that the magnetic couplings are uncoupled with an electro magnet under the track? - It's not something I've looked at in any detail, only in passing.

[Psiborg]

I use Kadee couplings and you can use permanent magnets under the track.  But when I tried using them to uncouple wagons, the magnet pulled the wheels/axels of the uncoupled wagon towards it.  I then decided to use the Kadee electromagnetic uncouplers instead and these work fine - not as cheap though!.

 

 

Simon

Edited July 21, 2017 by Psiborg

[phil_sutters]

 

That's superb Phil! That Steamship crane is amazing. How have you made he wooden dock wall if you don't mind me asking?

 

 

IMG_2899.JPG

 

The wharf was made from  couple of layers of foam wall insulation salvaged from our builder's leftovers, when we had a loft conversion - not for model railway use unfortunately. As that section of the wharf is pretty straight I carved the foam with a multitool half-round saw blade. It could be done with any fairly fine hand saw. I then stuck a length of scrap laminate floor plank to the sloping surface with a hot glue gun - a rapid zig-zag of glue - with the plank pushed rapidly against the foam. To this I stuck an assortment of timber planks - mainly lolly-sticks from craft store - The Works I think. I cut the rounded ends off with a pair of sidecutters - sawing would have taken for ever. I staggered the planks so some joins were visible, but most I tried to get behind the uprights. I gave these timbers a brush over with a thin mix of filler, black acrylic paint and PVA, to give a rather more rough surface than the lolly sticks had - brushing along the planks, keeping the basic outline of the planks visible.

The uprights were more difficult to source as they needed to be about 5mm square. I live near Newhaven harbour and went and looked at the timbers around the quays there. They seemed to be about 15"-18" square. I had some used rocket sticks squirrelled away that worked for some of them. I then ran a circular saw down a bit of 3x4 and took off some 5mm strips, which I then sliced with a Stanley knife. The bottom of the wall had a curious quarter round structure all along the timber wharf. This was a handy bit of quadrant moulding from the garage stockpile. The uprights were kept fairly neat, sitting on top of this structure, with their angled supports leaning into them from in front of it. I put in a couple of step ladders between uprights where I had narrowed the spacing. Being a miserly person, I had cut up a redundant wire mesh bird feeder into one square-wide strips and then, after tidying the cut ends, glued two lengths face to face, staggered so that the steps were half a square apart. Nothing I do is finescale!

The top of the wall was capped with a suitable length of timber, which was rounded slightly on the top edges and then scored with a razor saw blade, to look like the heavy beams that take all the rubbing of the mooring lines, gangways etc.

Another coat of paint - white emulsion with cheap black emulsion and a bit of brown thrown in to vary it. I was trying to emulate the bleached raw timber I see at Newhaven. A certain amount of dry brushing, with lighter mixes helped to add character to the timberwork. Along the bottom, with some ad hoc masking, I used a very fine coating of rattle can green to represent the algae that wood below the waterline acquires. The rusty metal strapping was some orange craft card, nicked from the grandchildren's stock - well I bought it! It was sprayed with matt black paint and, when dry cut into the tapered strips and sanded with a coarse sandpaper to reveal random orange patches. The rings for the mooring lines were just two links of a charity shop necklace chain, with one fitted into a thick card square with a hole punched through it. These were used, I think, so that the ships crew could adjust the lines as the Bristol Channel tides went up and down by considerable amounts. Wrapping the ropes around bollards would have made it a more cumbersome task.

I hope this rather long-winded description is helpful. I shall watch your progress with interest. If you need to know about anything else, let me know.

Edited July 21, 2017 by phil_sutters

[hockeyshooter]

The first purchase has arrived!

 

Have recently bought one of these to go into my dockside section. I'm planning on having it turn using a servo motor controlled through a MERG board - basically a spare channel on one of the points control boards. The crane will live here, straddling the tracks but won't be mounted on rails - in fact I may cut the legs down a bit.

 

 

Am finding it a right pig mitreing these Bachmann dockside sections - didn't realise they were made from such hard material! They're obviously designed only to be used at right angles.