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Spital Bridge - Whitby MRCs 7mm Urban BLT


Boris
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This should with any luck be a regular source of updates on the Whitby MRCs new 7mm club layout Spital Bridge (working title, likely to replaced by something more sensible by a responsible adult).  So far we have managed to get a single baseboard assembled and standing upright along with quite a decent looking trackplan.  Using Tom Horn baseboard kits to get the job moving we hope to have track down by the summer.

 

In theory the layout should cover the late LNER into early BR period, but once assembled and signalled suitably it will work for anything from 1940-1990!  It will have a 12 foot scenic section and a 6 foot fiddle yard area (TBC).  A two track platform with a storage road and a goods yard with a small shed, crane and end dock, although once we get to laying track this could well change.

 

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The first board assembled and free standing along with an idea of the bits still to assemble,  We also have a few photos of the other club layout Wensley Cement and Lime which was up this evening for work and some sneaky running.

 

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Each of the scenic boards is 3' x 2', there'll be 4 of these plus the fiddle yard.

 

With any luck we may have more boards built at the next meeting, they go together quite quickly.

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Could you tell me the length and width of the Tim Horn baseboards please. I look forward to seeing this project progress.

Like Mike says they are 3x2, but they come in many different shapes and sizes, including custom sizes if you ask.

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More good progress was made last night, with 2 more boards taking shape.

 

This is the most recent track plan which may be subject to a bit of change once we have the boards together and can experiment with some track

 

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Like Mike says, quite good progress was made last night with 4 people working on the layout one way or another, whilst two people were building boards 2 & 3 another 2 were clearing cupboards and rearranging to make space for the new layout.  At the end of the night we had 1 completely finished board and 2 ready for leg fitting and the adding of the final bracing once the leg sockets are in.  Next week should see leg sockets fitting to the two completed boards and the final board being brought to the point where the leg fittings can be added.

 

The first week after Easter looks to be a painting session to seal the boards to protect them long term as the cupboard they are stored in isn't the driest place in the world.

 

I'd like to think we're at the point where track could start being laid by May.

Edited by Boris
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Ok, so this might not be very exciting for you guys, but for us who were there its quite a milestone. All scenic boards assembled and standing up on their own.  This thread will probably be quiet for a couple of weeks now as next week will consist of the final little bits of wood work and then the boards will be painted in undercoat to keep moisture out, and you don't need to know the details of that.

 

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Two weeks tonight will be when all the board are put up and everyone who is interested in the project is able to talk about the track plan and scenery and their thoughts.  With it being a club project it is important that everybody gets a fair say in how the layout goes up/how the money is spent.  In theory we will start laying track in 2-3 weeks and then that's when the fun really begins.

 

We are however going to take advantage of a certain large model railway show at York to get some bits and pieces.

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Looking forward to seeing your progress. May even be able to push a wagon or two.

It's the first layout I've ever been involved in from scratch so I'm interested to learn new bits and pieces, especially about constructing buildings in 7mm.  I kind of know electrics and wiring having done a 4mm layout but we're quite lucky in that we have a number of experienced 7mm modellers in the club as the idea of waving glue around near expensive O gauge points is not something I am looking forward to!

 

It's absolutely a club project and really all I do is what seems like a good idea that night, take photos and then put them up here.

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It's the first layout I've ever been involved in from scratch so I'm interested to learn new bits and pieces, especially about constructing buildings in 7mm.  I kind of know electrics and wiring having done a 4mm layout but we're quite lucky in that we have a number of experienced 7mm modellers in the club as the idea of waving glue around near expensive O gauge points is not something I am looking forward to!

 

It's absolutely a club project and really all I do is what seems like a good idea that night, take photos and then put them up here.

No fear involved with glue and 7mm points. It is the faith required to ballast scale 2 turnouts.

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Guest teacupteacup

No fear involved with glue and 7mm points. It is the faith required to ballast scale 2 turnouts.

Its not faith thats required, its voodoo!

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So things are progressing nicely on the layout now, all the boards have been painted to keep the damp off, and the opportunity was taken to put some track down and have a think about the finished item a bit.  In the meantime cork floor tiles have been glued to the tops of the boards and the locating dowels have been fitted, the plan for next week is to put the layout up on its own legs and have a tidy up of the cork with some sand paper, and get a couple of paint runs off the board at the same time.  We can also have a scribble on the top to mark out track plans etc.

 

Really we are still very much on target to start laying track by the start of May.

 

The layout viewed from the dumb end on the station platforms, giving some idea of the platform lengths (which will sit in the wideway between the 2 pairs of lines) and widths, the goods yard is at the front of the layout off to the right.

 

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The layout from the station throat end of the layout, the line on the left will be the running line, the line on the right will go into some off scene carriage sidings and possibly a small loco facility.  The siding furthest left will finish about where it is and go onto an end loading dock so we can put CCTs etc in there, the line next to that will continue into the Goods shed which will have a sneaky access to the fiddle yard so the contents of the warehouse can be changed as needed.

 

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Sorry I couldn't make it to the club last night, last minute elderly Mother duties threw a spanner in the works.

 

Track diagram looking good so far.

 

John

That's fine John, believe me when I say there are plenty more jobs still to do!

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I know it doesn't look very exciting but it was to us!

 

The cork has had the gaps covered and any lumps and bumps removed, it was quite a relief to put everything together with the alignment pegs in and find that it all lined up without huge gaps or steps over the joins.  The fiddle yard boards were also dug out tonight and laid at the end of the scenic section and we were pleased to find that they were almost the perfect height for the planned sector plate.  One of our more skilled members is taking them home to work on, and when finished should be impressive as apparently they will fold up into a frame for easy transport and storage.

 

Next week we are all taking some time off to get the other O gauge layout out, dust off some stock and have a running night!

 

The week after the pencils and marker pens will be out along with some stock items and some track so the track plan can be marked out on the board tops and some track laid in the not too distant future.  In other news we had a chat about the proposed goods shed and the suggestion was made to base it on the one at Cattal on the Harrogate line, which is still currently standing and is (to my knowledge) fairly unique as it is an NER weatherboard structure.  Now the NE were well known for their distinctive wooden buildings, but to my knowledge there is only this one goods shed in the weatherboarding which should be interesting.  The rationale being that, when painted (either sand and green or oriental blue and off white - the jury is very much still out on that) it will be a colourful and attention grabbing structure to make the layout really stand out.  We also have the advantage that it is still standing so measurements can be grabbed!

 

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This is an image unashamedly nicked from a google search, showing the shed in NER days apparently in county cream with copper beach doors and structural elements.  It's about the right size for us as well which is about 2 wagons lengths, or just over, which seems almost a standard size for the smaller stations in the area, if build it will be an interesting deviation from stone or brick warehouses.

 

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I like the idea of the wooden goods shed. The signal box might suit also albeit it somewhat small. But then again, you would know. I'm about to start the Polak signal box kit.

 

I like that little box, although if we were to have something like that it'd be more like the Kettleness example which is slightly larger and a lot more ornate, at the moment they're thinking of putting the box at the end of the platform, which makes sense for single line tokens and shunting.  I think it'll likely be a little more generic though, likely a variation of the NER 1b design,  Crabley Creek or Thorpe Gates are about the right style and size, although being a nut I fancied one over the line like Hexham - I was invited to return to my corner at that point!

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The Signal Box in the photo is rather nice, I suppose the best thing to do is once the track diagram is finalised work out how many levers would be required to operate station limits then add in the off scene advance starter plus anything else required within the box and work out how big it would need to be.

 

Once we know that we can always add in "modellers licence".

 

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Signal Box in the photo is rather nice, I suppose the best thing to do is once the track diagram is finalised work out how many levers would be required to operate station limits then add in the off scene advance starter plus anything else required within the box and work out how big it would need to be.

 

Once we know that we can always add in "modellers licence".

 

John

The back of a fag packet calculation would yield 20-25 so any standard NER brick box would cover it, New Bridge sort of size would be typical althoguh I quite like the look of something like Seamer West:

 

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Although if the wooden Cattal type box appeals Kettleness is a fair bit smarter and a nice size:

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, after a few weeks where not a great lot happened because of other things going on at the club, car woes, real life and a printer malfunction we now have some progress to report!  I apologise if this is turning into a blow by blow account of how to build a 7mm layout, but to be honest I struggled to find much information so I'll be detailed about this for others for future referance.

 

We are quite keen to get the track layout and the curves right so we have printed the plan off from Anyrail and are sticking it to the layout top to give us a template to work to.  Position of points etc has been tweaked before we laid the plan so we can try and get the point motors in the frame bays as best we can, and the positioning of the double slip is critical to the whole layout.

 

Working sections out is quite straightforward with a simple layout, so next weeks job is to finish the jigsaw puzzle and scribble on the top to mark out section breaks etc with a view to track going down in the not too distant future.

 

Viewing side to the left with the goods shed nearest the camera along with the end on dock and approach trackwork

 

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Viewing side to the right from the station end.

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Just a quick note to say that the first bits of track were laid this evening with the slip being located and cut into 2 bits over the board join, droppers added to points and the point on the crossover also laid.  Check back in a couple of weeks when there should be significant progress to report!

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  • 4 weeks later...

A little more progress has been made laying track this evening over the top of the now fully stuck down track diagram, which we need as the layout has some very long curves on it.  Unfortunately the double slip has had to come up again tonight as one of the wing rails was badly distorted due to a manufacturing defect and major surgery was required to rectify the issue - not really what you expect when you spend nearly £100 on a piece of track.  The defect only really showed up when vehicles were pushed through the slip and derailed which was why it wasn't noticed sooner.

 

You need to agree a wiring convention at this point and stick to it to make life easier later on.  To make sure everything is secure at the ends, the bottoms of the rails are soldered to the tops of brass pins where they cross the board joins, just to give the rails a little bit of protection when the boards are being lifted in and out of the cupboard, we also glue the track down with PVA and tack it in place with pins that are flush with the sleeper heads so when the track is painted they won't be too obvious.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Just a quick update to show that we are still working on the layout as best we can (around our recent show etc), the track laying is coming on VERY nicely with about 70% of the track laid and terminated at the baseboard ends.  We have terminated the track on some nice 20mm brass pins secured from ebay which we can solder the ends of the rail to where they cross a baseboard join to make them a bit more robust.

 

A good tip to get the long sweeping curves right like we have on this layout is to look at the track from the end from a postion about 12 inches above the rail head and you will be able to see any major kinks and straighten them, or just make sure you have nice smooth curve transitions.

 

So the first photo is looking from the station with the goods yard on the right, with the end loading dock closest to the camera and the goods shed road leading away off the board.  You can also see the approach pointwork as it leads into the station.

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Looking from the other end, towards the station - there is a final board beyond these 3 which is being left until last as its only 4 completely straight track sections.

 

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