Flying Fox 34F Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 2 hours ago, LNER4479 said: And lastly - the branchline. Branchline? Well, more of a cross country route if truth be told. By happy coincidence (ha!) both Garsdale and Riccarton were junction stations. So I've simply linked them up! A few issues with that though. Main one being that Garsdale was a junction with NER (purists will argue that it was MR to Hawes whence it became NER, but you get my drift) whereas Riccarton was the NBR Border Counties route to Hexham. The thought is to have somewhere mid-way to have the chance for trains to either run round and return or at least change locos, probably where the return S&C lines cross the route (where is says '40'). I'm toying with the idea of making a feature of this; a rather cramped version of Reedsmouth Junction would fit. The height difference with Riccarton junction is potentially solved by the use of a spiral (gotta have one somewhere!), hidden by the extensive fell scenery, which again allows for the correct orientation as the line approaches Riccarton. One the left hand side ... that short length of double track? Why, a depiction of a rather spectacular viaduct that use to fill this gap. It's not on either of the respective lines ... but it's definitely in the 'Hills of the North'. And it's my railway. Rule 1 and all that. Now - it appears I have some questions to answer. Stainmore Viaduct by any chance? Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted January 1, 2020 Author Share Posted January 1, 2020 1 hour ago, Portchullin Tatty said: Take a look at frog juicers; it will get around this issue without you needing to stop trains. There are a number of providers; I use these. You will need one per rail; so a pair for each line. In actual fact, thinking about it a bit further, I'll actually need a double change of polarity to get trains off the S&C route and into Carlisle, ie reverse polarity to get through 'Grand Junction' then back again to get into Carlisle station. That smacks more of use of logic with the combination of points at 'Grand Junction', typical of the sort of thing we have done on Grantham with success. I'm actually minded to stop the trains anyway to give a suitable passage of time between passing through Garsdale and arriving at Carlisle. 1 hour ago, Flying Fox 34F said: Stainmore Viaduct by any chance? Paul 'Tis on the Stainmore route for sure Paul; it actually went by the name of Belah viaduct, crossing as it did the river Belah, an impressive 196ft below. Famously designed by Thomas Booch, following the collapse of the Tay Bridge it was treated with some caution being of very similar design and latterly had weight and speed restrictions upon it; it was demolished within a year of closure. Photo above from the disused stations website. O for a time machine! 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted January 1, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 1, 2020 (edited) Well Graham, It was worth the wait and all the better for reading it with fresh eyes after a good night's sleep. I am, as you know, a fan of "system" layouts and this is certainly going to be a grand example of one of those. I had an inkling of the scope from various earlier postings of yours but the whole thing is far more complex and, therefore, interesting - nay, exciting - than I had imagined. Just one (serious) question. There will be a lot of ducking-under to get to the various bits of the layout. How are you planning for the increasing inconvenience (and, dare I say, potential impossibility) of this as the years advance? On the Mid-Cornwall Lines - nowhere near as big or complex of course - once you have entered the railway room via the lifting flap everything else is accessible by walking round. This will clearly be impossible on your opus but I wonder what you have in mind. I look forward to following progress and, who knows, perhaps visiting the frozen North one fine day for a play. Good luck and all the best. Edited January 2, 2020 by St Enodoc 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris M Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 All the best with this project. I'm sure building it will be a challenging and yet also fantastic experience. Looking forward to plenty of photos over the next 10-15 years! I must confess that when I first saw the proposed layout I had to check that the date was January the first and not April the first. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark axlecounter Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 This sounds like a big project. Hats off to you, but like all your other layouts it will be amazing to. mark 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 8 hours ago, St Enodoc said: Just one (serious) question. There will be a lot of ducking-under to get to the various bits of the layout. How are you planning for the increasing inconvenience (and, dare I say, potential impossibility) of this as the years advance? On the Mid-Cornwall Lines - nowhere near as big or complex of course - once you have entered the railway room via the lifting flap everything else is accessible by walking round. This will clearly be impossible on your opus but I wonder what you have in mind. I look forward to following progress and, who knows, perhaps visiting the frozen North one fine day for a play. Good luck and all the best. Good question, John - one that I have given some thought to. The main way in to the layout will be at the Garsdale curve, bottom right, and that at least will be of the opening door design - there's a hell of a lot of scenery at that point so a lifting flap is quite out of the question. After that ... er ... um, it'll probably be a combination of lifting flaps and generously designed crawl under spaces, designed as I go along (well I did say I'd given it SOME thought) 1 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted January 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 2, 2020 When designing Sheffield Exchange the ability to get around the layout was to me quite important, especially as I get older. So is the ability to get me out should I become suddenly seriously unwell, this comes from nursing people who had heart attacks etc and the ambulance crews struggled to get to them. Mrs M was impressed with my pre-planning should anything serious happen to me, the undertaker would be able to get me out before I made the house smell. There are of course many modellers of a senior age who still can duck under the layout and drive their trains. 8 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post LNER4479 Posted January 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) Anyhow, enough talk for now - there's some serious building to get stuck into. I had the festive period to myself (didn't fancy the Christmas Rhine cruise!) so an ideal opportunity for some wholesale moving stuff about and reconfiguring around the grand plan. This is the 'gap' that needed filling, Garsdale to the left and the first board of the 'Grand Junction' (already previously installed) to the right. Supports, firmly anchored to the floor and wall. And now the previously seen board propped up against the wall put to good use. This is 1 inch blockboard, recovered from when we first moved in. In complete contrast to a portable layout, this is brick sh1thouse engineering (I can easily stand on this) but with some justification - it needs to support up to two layers above it. Now we're less than a streamline length's away. This remaining gap marks where Garsdale emerges from the covered boards (the Edinburgh fiddle yard to be exact!) And now bridged! The fill in piece is more shaped so we can carry on the scenery profile a little on from the Garsdale scene. And all nice n level - the new, spherical bubble I bought for the spirit level sat nice and central. Good stuff. Not readily apparent from this view, the new boards now allow for storage of model railiway building 'stuff' underneath as part of the process of at least making an attempt at keeping all this neat and organised (ha!) More to follow... Edited January 2, 2020 by LNER4479 23 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post LNER4479 Posted January 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) Just as a reminder of where we are... We're in the bottom left hand corner of the grand masterplan. This appears to depict the area around Canal, with the Edinburgh fiddle yard above that. However, beneath all this lies the big four way junction and that is highlighted in yellow. Here it is in real life, temporarily laid out for now, The points are Code 75, recently acquired on the back of Barry-O's mega order for his layout. I'd have cheerfully used Code 100 for hidden tracks but for the fact that the live frog long crossing is only available in Code 75 and I don't want any dead frogs on any hidden tracks (unlikely to have them on visible tracks for that matter). Here, we are affixing cork sheet for underlay to provide a suitable surface to lay tracks on. Right up as far as Garsdale as that will be the first to be joined up. He's at it again! The first double junction in particular needs to be on a curve so there has been the usual removal of sections of underneath webbing. I ended up removing and reattaching the link wires to give the thing freedom to flex. I reckon I've got a five foot radius curve in there as it's an almost exact match for a long radius point. And so here it is, as laid two days ago (New Year's Day). Just to summarise, the furthest away set of lines go to Garsdale; the next set are the northern lines onwards from Carlisle, returning to the 'Rest of the World'. The reason for no cork (yet) for the other two sets of lines is that a gradient is required as the next nearest set of lines is the start of Shap bank(!) so I need to install some rising boards on top of the blockboard here. The nearest set of lines (the return lines from Garsdale) will simply return to base level beyond the junction. And a final view (for now) to show the effect of the curved junction. That'll be it for a bit now - need to focus on getting Grantham to Southampton later on this month, followed by Shap to Glasgow next month. But we'll plug away as and when we get the chance. Edited January 2, 2020 by LNER4479 36 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted January 3, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 3, 2020 Bubbles. So last century. http://www.badobsessionmotorsport.co.uk/product/make-the-noise-t-shirt/ Mike. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted January 3, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 3, 2020 12 hours ago, LNER4479 said: the new boards now allow for storage of model railiway building 'stuff' underneath as part of the process of at least making an attempt at keeping all this neat and organised (ha!) Graham, I store lots of stuff (not just railway stuff but general household stuff too - that was the justification for building the railway room (garage) very soon after we moved in) under the layout. The stuff is stored in cardboard boxes or on Ikea Kallax shelves, in either case mounted on boards with castors rather like a remover's dolly. That means I can move them out of the way when I need to work under a baseboard. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 ... and all the boxes are labelled 'bits n bobs' for ease of reference, no doubt The castors idea is a wheelie good one so I'll file that one away for future reference 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted January 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2020 13 hours ago, LNER4479 said: The castors idea is a wheelie good one so I'll file that one away for future reference Yes, you can always roll it out later. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted January 4, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2020 5 hours ago, St Enodoc said: Yes, you can always roll it out later. Where's the groan button when you need it.... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 When I built Wencombe I also had the storage cupboards(cheap kitchen units) mounted on castles for ease of access under the layout. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard i Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 24 minutes ago, westerner said: When I built Wencombe I also had the storage cupboards(cheap kitchen units) mounted on castles for ease of access under the layout. More castles needed than Edward 1 built in Wales. Very expensive option. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 I hate predictive text!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously mean to be casters. 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post LNER4479 Posted January 25, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2020 (edited) For those not aware, Shap features in the March issue of BRM, the digital edition of which is out now (yes, I know it's only January - all to do with 13 issues per year), paper copy out Thursday. I'm normally a traditional paper copy version myself; however I'll highlight the digital edition on this occasion as there's an 8 minute excerpt from my Dad's 1964 cine films of the route, available ONLY via the digital version (ie it's not on the DVD that comes with the mag). In my highly biased opinion, it's worth the purchase price alone for that. https://pocketmags.com/british-railway-modelling-magazine Enjoy! Edited January 25, 2020 by LNER4479 17 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard.h Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 1 hour ago, LNER4479 said: For those not aware, Shap features in the March issue of BRM, the digital edition of which is out now (yes, I know it's only January - all to do with 13 issues per year), paper copy out Thursday. I'm normally a traditional paper copy version myself; however I'll highlight the digital edition on this occasion as there's an 8 minute excerpt from my Dad's 1964 cine films of the route, available ONLY via the digital version (ie it's not on the DVD that comes with the mag). In my highly biased opinion, it's worth the purchase price alone for that. https://pocketmags.com/british-railway-modelling-magazine Enjoy! Excellent article with plenty of background info on train formations and how the banking sequence works plus the atmospheric cine film, really enjoyed it 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNER4479 Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 Thanks for that; glad you enjoyed it. My sub. copy hit the mat today, so nice to see it all in print and photos reproduced in the mag. Last missing piece of the jigsaw is the photo montage I put together on the construction details. Some of this was posted on the first few pages of this thread but you can get at it all in one place at: https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/Techniques/hills-of-the-north-construction-diary Meanwhile, just three-and-a-half weeks to go to Glasgow so, with Grantham safely back home, attention now turns to show preparations and some rolling stock work. Stay tuned. 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post LNER4479 Posted February 9, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 9, 2020 (edited) Remember this? We're aiming to put together a four coach formation for Glasgow show (which will be history in just two weeks' time - yikes!) See that middle coach? Well, here goes: This is - or rather was - a Hornby Teak Sleeping car. To be honest, never really going to find much of a use for that so it has been sacrificed to the cause. And these are some sides from a Bill Bedford D.115 TK which seems to be the correct configuration for the vehicle coach depicted. Droplights and hinges added and donor vehicle now fully prepared for its new sides. Vents above the doors were added last night. Quite a bit of effort to get to this stage. At times it's felt like it would be easier to build the whole kit from the ground up. But, once the sides are affixed then we should be on the home straight as roof, under-gubbins and bogies are all ready to go. Tonight should be the night for sticking the sides on. Meanwhile: On the 'last great project' some more tracklaying has been undertaken. This is the second of the double junction formations, again with a slight curve induced in the long crossing and now the head of steel is proceeding towards the Garsdale boards. And, five yards further on, the link up has been made and the 'first' train makes it on to the Garsdale section. Suddenly, we have a 30 foot run down the length the chapel. Looked at from the other direction, the link into Garsdale can be seen more clearly. And here the two double junctions can be seen together. All trains passing through in this direction are heading for the 'rest of the world'. Next step is to install the point motors so that the attendant frog switching can be installed and bring it all to life. Edited February 9, 2020 by LNER4479 33 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted February 17, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 17, 2020 Hope the trip to Glasgow goes well. Sorry to be missing it! Baz 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post LNER4479 Posted February 18, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 18, 2020 (edited) Last posting before Glasgow, featuring more work on coaches: The Gresley D.115 TK Hornby conversion had its sides affixed and here has had the cream followed by custard (!) spray treatment. Meanwhile... Another vehicle targeted to make its debut is the kitchen car for the Midday Scot. Tis is a Comet kit for a D.1697 LMS Kitchen car (pre-Stanier), which was kindly assembled by Mr. Duck of this parish. He left me to sort out the ventilators so, following careful study of photos, this is what I came up with. The so-called ventilators above the square windows are actually from an etch for a planked wagon end, upon which I have scribed additional lines before fitting as shown. Now with custard and cream treatment. Might as well do the two together. And these are their portraits taken just, as they will appear at Glasgow. I don't think you have to be too eagle-eyed to spot that neither is QUITE finished ... Interiors mainly. I'll get them fully finished for the York show. Hopefully ... See you in Glasgow, if you're going. Otherwise, there'll no doubt be some sort of post-show report. Edited February 18, 2020 by LNER4479 23 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwealleans Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Quote Hope the trip to Glasgow goes well. Sorry to be missing it! They might be sorry you missed it by Sunday night.... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMS29 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 18 hours ago, Barry O said: Hope the trip to Glasgow goes well. Sorry to be missing it! Baz We will be sorry you are not there, this is a 3 day show! Tom 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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