Woolmer Green 1935-40

[Jesse Sim]

On 26/07/2021 at 18:03, LNER4479 said:

Hi Jesse,

 

Well, yes, that's what you need to do to mark the centre line of the track ... however, first of all you need to optimise the position of the track pins in the centre of the trackbed. However well you think you've done it, those trackpins will only be in approximately the right position at this stage, especially on the curved section.

 

What you need to do next is this. Measure the off set of each trackpin from the one either side, like so. Write down the measurement (to the nearest 0.5mm will do) and work your way along so that they're all measured. THEN look at the result as a list of numbers and you'll find that they'll wander about, rather than being a consistent number. For a constant radius curve, they should all be the same number; for a transition, they should be gradually increasing / decreasing (by the same amount each step) and a straight should be 0 (fairly obviously - it's easy to mark a straight line in any case).

 

So you then adjust the position of each pin from its present position and re-measure until you get a more consistent list of numbers. You shouldn't need to move them by any more than 5mm, 10mm at worse. At that point, you'll have a truly smooth alignment which will look GREAT as the trains run over it. BUT, it's not as easy as it sounds. Adjusting the position of any one pin, affects the offset measurement of the two either side!

 

I use a spreadsheet to do this; unfortunately, I don't have it to hand at the moment. If the above is of interest, give it a go and see how you get on. I can always send you the spreadsheet later if you want to try it.

 

 

 

On 26/07/2021 at 18:48, gr.king said:

Do you really need a spread sheet? If you know what the radius of the main curve is supposed to be, ignoring the transitions, then use of some fairly simple trigonometry / Pythagoras / sag formula (as preferred) will allow you to calculate what the offset should be for each unit of length. 

 

Or, you could add up all of the offsets in the evenly curved "set out by hand" section, divide by their number, and thus find the average offset .

 

In either case, you'll then know the offset figure you are trying to get as you set out or adjust the pins.

 

Maths……..

 

[gr.king]

It's good for you.

[Jesse Sim]

3 hours ago, gr.king said:

It's good for you.

Surely you can’t be serious 

[gr.king]

The only possible response, in the circumstances, is "Don't call me Shirley".

[Jesse Sim]

On 29/07/2021 at 00:28, gr.king said:

The only possible response, in the circumstances, is "Don't call me Shirley".

Brings a tear to my eyes 

[Sharky]

Just want to tell you both 'Good Luck', we're all counting on you.

[Jesse Sim]

So I’ve been cleaning the layout room thoroughly the last few days, hoping to start track work next week. Think I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue. 

[jwealleans]

War is hell, mate.

Edited August 4, 2021 by jwealleans

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

War is hell, mate.

Yep ..been involved in 3 so far

[lezz01]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Yep ..been involved in 3 so far

Just the one for me, unless you count the cold war and two tours in NI, that was more than enough thank you very much! 

Still suffering from PTSD 39 years later!

Regards Lez.

[PMP]

 

 

 

 

 

These are all taken from the north west end of the viaduct, in the early noughties. You can see the bridge in the background of image #4 and it’s quite pronounced gradient. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by PMP

[Jesse Sim]

4 hours ago, PMP said:

 

 

 

 

 

These are all taken from the north west end of the viaduct, in the early noughties. You can see the bridge in the background of image #4 and it’s quite pronounced gradient. 

 

 

 

 

This isn’t Woolmer Green is it? 

[chris p bacon]

2 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

This isn’t Woolmer Green is it? 

 

It is.

 

We used to view it from the front seats of a Cravens DMU in the 70's, the 09.05 from Sandy on a Saturday was invariably held on the slow after Knebworth so an up Deltic could fly by......

Edited August 11, 2021 by chris p bacon

[Marcus-Jay]

9 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

This isn’t Woolmer Green is it? 

Those pictures were taken here (give take a few meters):

Google maps link

 

If one wanted to split hairs, I'd say that was in Mardly Hill, but its only a few meters south of Woolmer Green.

[PMP]

10 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

This isn’t Woolmer Green is it? 

Yup, it is. See attached below

 

 

As @chris p baconmentions this location isn’t known as Woolmer Green, it’s Marley Hill/Oaklands. The village of Woolmer Green is a distinct settlement about 2km to the north, though housing infill is removing the clear boundaries 

 

Ps Pictures were taken by me on a photo assignment for local paper for local people….

Edited August 12, 2021 by PMP

[LNER4479]

And do bear in mind that lineside vegetation is far more rampant in the modern (post-steam) era than it was back in the day, making some locations virtually unrecognisable today. 

[Jesse Sim]

I couldn’t believe it is, vegetation is rampant. 

[LNER4479]

It does rain rather a lot this side of the globe ...

[jwealleans]

... and doesn't catch fire so often.

[Dylan Sanderson]

And everything's the right way up

[PMP]

1 hour ago, Jesse Sim said:

I couldn’t believe it is, vegetation is rampant. 

Yep you don’t get a good view of the viaduct until winter as there’s so many trees around it in the valley floor 

[Jesse Sim]

2 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

It does rain rather a lot this side of the globe ...

 

1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

... and doesn't catch fire so often.

 

1 hour ago, Dylan Sanderson said:

And everything's the right way up

And apart from the floods, fires, deadly animals on land and sea and extreme heat it’s a lovely place to be 

[Bogie]

4 minutes ago, Jesse Sim said:

 

 

And apart from the floods, fires, deadly animals on land and sea and extreme heat it’s a lovely place to be 

 

Exactly!

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

Yes it's Woolmer Green, although in the 70's it was a lot more 'Open' the embankment and cuttings were only grass, the house's on the Down side could easily be seen from the train, on the Up side, you could see right across the fields.

 

manna 

[Jesse Sim]

Well time for an update on the layout itself. Pleased to announce the southern fiddleyard entrance track is laid, not bad for blunt xurons, half a dozen beers each night and reusing previous track. I had to buy half a dozen new Electro points for the tracks out of reach, I decided this was ideal for the running of trains where cleaning between pointblades. The best thing to do would be to use electro points everywhere but I had so many insul frogs already it would have been a waste of money. So insul frogs to the front and electro frogs to the back. I may tweak a few curves as I’m not happy with some. You can also see in the bottom of this image a lone cobalt mounted above the board, obviously it’s because there’s a bast**d beam right underneath. I had a thought of just bending the exisiting wire to suit and mounting it on top, thankfully it work. 
 

 

 

Something else you might notice is the removal of the control panel, I’ve decided on splitting the two fiddleyards up and using LED indicators. The south end ‘box’ will be mounted to the right in the first picture (you can see it marked out in red). The ‘North box’ will stay where it was but obviously considerably shorter, again you can see where it will sit by the holes in the baseboard at the front of the fiddleyard just to the right of the picture below. 
 

 

The previous control panel controlled both the end fiddleyard entrances and the mainline, I didn’t like this set up as I had to keep doing 180s to find switches and work out which way the tracks went. So it will be mounted on the scenic section right opposite the bottleneck. However, it won’t be like the previous one with the trsck plan drawn out and switches at there respectful places. I’m going for an actual signal box set up using the cobalt S levers from DCC Concepts, I’ve used them before to control hidden siding points and found them most enjoyable. So I’m going down that route as there are considerably less points and signals. Hopefully paint them up as well like the real thing- which I will need help with on colour coded levers.
 

In conclusion the layout will still be set up for only one operator, but it has the opportunity to allow a maximum of four, One for each fiddleyard entrance, one for down trains and another for the up trains but with more room to breathe, it was a bit cramped on the old layout. That being said I’m also installing another NCE controller connection on the far side, so anyone can operate (preferably the UP trains) but I also like sitting on that side, as if I’m a viewer at a model railway show. Plenty to do, but all I have at the moment is time due to the lockdown, the main reason I started the rebuild. Had my first Fizer Jab as well, no second head or loss of DNA yet……