Boris Posted July 27, 2019 Author Share Posted July 27, 2019 Great first day operating the layout at Goathland, the layout itself has behaved flawlessly, the past 6 weeks of testing have definitely paid off. It has been largely late LNER into early BR today and this has been well received by the public and we have all been nicely surprised by the amount of operational flexibility we have got. We have learnt a few lessons though: Another loco may be needed - we're all working on that! Don't be too enthusiastic about putting stock on the layout - I got carried away with a coal train and livestock train and completely gridlocked the layout this afternoon! The parcels train was VERY well received, this needs expanding on I'm sure i will think of some other bits to add to this list. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaymzHatstand Posted July 28, 2019 Share Posted July 28, 2019 It was good to finally see the layout in person, there's certainly plenty of scope for development and it'll be fascinating to see that happen. Eventually there'll be a fully lined and numbered G5 available for service on it (complete with couplings), but it was nice to see it able to actually run on the layout yesterday in its base coat. Looking forward to seeing more developments as they happen. Cheers J 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 Nice to see J and the G5 running on Spital Bridge. I believe the layout worked well for the whole weekend and members enjoyed running it. I am currently working on casting platform sides in both finishing plaster, with PVA, and plaster of Paris to see which is more acceptable. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 (edited) Much plaster casting has taken place! Most are ok, the broken bits will be used as fill in pieces. Edited August 7, 2019 by kes . 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 Production line making 18" a day. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 Maggie will get her conservatory table back soon! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted August 6, 2019 Author Share Posted August 6, 2019 Those have come up really nicely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 The master for them was made from brick plastic sheet glued to thin mdf and stepped out at the top. This was then coated in thin petroleum jelly so a mould could me made using silicone bath sealant. There are plenty of videos on YouTube showing you how to do it. The plaster casts were made 9 1/2" long to allow the ends to be filed to fit. They were then glued to wooden batterns using no more nails type adhesives. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted August 8, 2019 Share Posted August 8, 2019 This weeks task is to make the two sides of the platform ramp. I will probably make these as a top capping and a sloping wall section, and glue them together. Then my plaster casting is over, at least for this layout! I do have a mould to make 5" high 4" wide arched retaining walls, for my own layout, so I might experiment with that. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted November 20, 2019 Author Share Posted November 20, 2019 Kev and Dave have been extremely busy over the past 7 weeks building the platform, they have spent a considerable amount of time etching the outlines of the coping stones and the flagged platform surface into plasticard that was cut to size, unfortunately I haven't managed to take a good useable photograph of it but the overall effect in person is extremely impressive and will look even more striking once it has all been painted and the stones picked. For referance we used photographs of the old Heaton station to get the size of the coping stones correct and flagstone information was received from Wurzell Forever who looked it up in an NER record for us - although we tweaked the measurements slightly as having the flags and copes the same size might be vaguely prototypical, but it didn't look right on the model. We're gradually building up to a ballasting party, the next job will be to add cosmetic point rodding to boards C & D as this really needs to be done before ballasting. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted November 27, 2019 Author Share Posted November 27, 2019 Tonight saw the start of some playing about with point rodding and making up a crank bench for the layout. Over the past couple of weeks we have spent some time working out the rodding runs for the point rodding from the signal box, and this week saw some of it being laid. All of the components come from BSE, 4 packs of their 6 way rodding stools (can be cut down) and a couple of frets of cranks and compensators as well as pulley wheels for signal wires. Really all that has been fitted so far is a 3 way stool in the 6 foot which will "drive" the carriage line traps and the FPL & point on the farthest section of the main to main crossover, these could have gone down the other side of the line, but derailing something off the traps onto the point rodding seemed like rather a bad idea so it was decided that it was going the other way! It's difficult to see because I lost track of time and had to take the photo quickly at home time, but the cranks are at slightly different heights so if worked wouldn't foul each other. The stools look quite high (being raised on mdf inserts to clear the ballast) at the moment as they are going in before the ballast along with the crank benches, then we ballast, then the cosmetic rodding goes in. The jury is currently out on whether to use square or round section as we could currently use either, the 2 wires in the stools are slightly over scale and are being used purely for aliignment purposes. The green bit of plastic is a renedra base which is about the right distance for the stools and is used as a spacer. Tonight I learned that I need to make the cranks up at home rather than the club otherwise this really will take a very long time! 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted December 3, 2019 Author Share Posted December 3, 2019 Now for a slightly amusing anecdote for our regular readers. We will be used to model railways being a source of domestic disharmony, usually relating to size, mess, expenditure etc. Not so in the Boris household. My wife has read the thread and come down to the part regarding running point rodding, unfortunately for me, she has pointed out that I has missed a drive off for the detonator placer! Unfortunately, knowing the track plan she has worked out where it would be and has also worked out that the Up side rodding run is one drive short! We have to have a detonator placer on the layout because she has painted the lever up in the signal box apparently. I'm giving up and going back to the kitchen to cook and clean where I belong. Whilst making sausage caserole for dinner it occurred to me to run the detonator placer run down the back of the goods road, because we have also managed to create a 3 foot extension board for the layout for a budget of about £20 including track and running it with the main to main & trap drives will cause problems when we reach the now modelled end of the goods shed siding. All I have to do now is model a detonator placer, which has to include a servo because she wants to see it working! 5 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 After getting the Christmas and New Year playing of trains out the way, attention has turned to a little bit of homework I brought home from the club over the 3 weeks break.. As you know our master craftsman Kev has managed to produce a single 3 foot baseboard from scrap wood laid around the club room, complete with fittings. I think the total outlay for a layout extension has been about £15 which is pretty good for a O gauge. My holiday job has been to prepare the track for layout, so adding cosmetic rail joints and painting before laying (Kev has prewired the board so tonight its pretty easy), the main running line ison 60 foot lengths like the rest of the running lines on the layout and the goods line/yard road is on 45 foot lengths. We have also added a short extension to the end of the goods shed road, allowing a couple of vehicles to be pushed through the shed and left if needed, nothing overly fancy, just a couple off cuts of track and a Peco buffer stop. Buffer stops tended to be on their own little panels of track so a short piece was rescued from the scrap pile for this purpose and once laid will have its cosmetic fishplates added over the real joint. Now, being incredibly bored this afternoon I have had a play with the standard Peco dumb end, the rail built ones are all well and good, but I fancied something a little older/less solid for the end of the shed road. Now, we have a set on a siding at Levisham very similar to these that were recovered from a goods yard relatively local to the railway, but unfortunately I can't remember where. These are a standard LNER steel set although with a wooden cross beam, so here is a quick how to guide for those similarly afflicted with boredom. The Peco stops come in 5 pieces, the outer and inner frames and a slightly generic cross member with a moulded lamp on top. Grab yourself a piece of balsa or beech roughly the same length as the supplied plastic member and a good 3mm thick, use the supplied plastic crossmember as a template to drill out the 2 1.6mm holes so the lugs from the frame work locate in the wooden beam. You can then fasten the rest of the stop together as per the instructions and add the wooden member as appropriate. A lot of these buffers had steel plates for buffers to strike rather than allowing repeated impacts to split the wooden beam, these were added again using the Peco crossbeam as a template and cutting 2 pieces of card from the buffer packet to the right shape - they also hide where the drill might come through a little, The rail surfaces were painted with Vallejo leather brown acrylic which is easier to work with (to me) than the classic Humbrol Red Leather enamel used for painting rails. Now, onto the cross beam, I based this with Citadel Corvus Black which is really a dusty dark grey than a true black, so it gives the impression of fading. This was then drybrushed with Vallejo London Grey to give it some age and weathering to bring out the grain of the wood, a little more was applied to the square edges to give a bit of extra definition. The steel buffing plates were painted with Citadel Abaddon Black (which is again a dusty finish but closer to a pure black), dry brushed with a dark brown to add the impression of a little bit of rust coming through and finally a delicate drybrush of Gunmetal to give a very slight metallic shine to one or two corners to show fresh wear and trick the mind into thinking they are steel rather than 2 offcuts of cardboard! 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 A productive night tonight for Spital Bridge, we saw the track laid and wired on the extension board tonight, 2 straight running lines and the end of the goods shed siding. The idea of this extension is to give everything a little bit more room to move as well as help the viewing public understand what is going on. Rather than shunting in and out the fiddle yard all the time now we will be using an extra scenic part of the layout. It's also been tested electrically connected to thee rest of the layout, but of course next week we have to run stock on it to be sure..... 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 15, 2020 Author Share Posted January 15, 2020 We had a play tonight now the extension is all laid and wired. A conflat and a Palvan sitting in the goods shed road. Shock van load testing the buffer stops on the extension board A J50 on part of the coal set in the back road of the platforms Load testing the extension, the snowplough is on the Goods/Yard road, the Deltic with the suspicious number is on the main and the J50 is on the Goods shed extension. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted February 12, 2020 Author Share Posted February 12, 2020 (edited) Some more progress to report on the layout recently, point rodding is coming on very slowly and Kev wired something really cool up tonight as well. It's a slow job, but the rodding and crank benches are gradually spreading and ideally by the time they are finished it will be dry enough for the ballast to dry in the cupboards at the club. We had a playing night last week and it was remarked on that you when shunting the yard you only need to control one point to shunt the yard once your loco is inside the traps. It's much easier to shunt the yard from the front of the layout rather than reaching over all the running lines and platforms, so it was commented wouldn't it be nice to have a local control for that point. Kev, who is our resident electrical genius, suggest a latching DPDT switch like they use on stomp boxes on guitars, and promptly turned up with one this week and installed it in about 20 minutes. It means we can control the yard from either the control box, or have someone with the walkabout controller at the front of the layout shunting the yard and interacting with the public. I think its really cool anyway, even if nobody else does! The gratuitous gubbins shot showing the DPDT switch on its mount replicating exactly the arrangement in the control box. The mounting on the front of the layout, this will be hidden behind the front curtain so as to discourage little fingers playing, but you will be able to feel for it if you know its there. I was so impressed I even shot a video. Edited February 12, 2020 by Boris 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted February 12, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 12, 2020 My right hand is famous... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted February 12, 2020 Author Share Posted February 12, 2020 47 minutes ago, Worsdell forever said: My right hand is famous... So many obscene comments, so little time..... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted February 13, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 13, 2020 I foresee problems approx 30 mins before close of exhibition. Person out front attempting to shunt yard, person at control point with wicked sense of humour . . . Paul. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted February 13, 2020 Author Share Posted February 13, 2020 2 hours ago, 5BarVT said: I foresee problems approx 30 mins before close of exhibition. Person out front attempting to shunt yard, person at control point with wicked sense of humour . . . Paul. I foresee problems approx 30 mins after close of exhibition. Person at control point struggling to remove controller from rectum. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 Make sure it is unplugged from the control panel first. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 We might get an G5, N10, Y7 all together on the layout this year. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 Last night, Boris and I had a running session, with Peter making tea and watching, and Trevor drinking tea and watching. We had a good selection of freight stock varying from semi scratch built LMS long low, through to Palfits and other wonderful BR wagons. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kes Posted March 5, 2020 Share Posted March 5, 2020 The extra 3' of length makes all the difference. The little shunter takes over a minute to get from one end to the other! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 Three of worked on the layout on Wednesday and its quite amazing what a difference a little bit of paint makes to a structure. Kev and Dave finshed off the platform top engraving and undercoated it with a can of Random Grey that we found haunting the back of the club cupboard, we think its been there at least 15 years, probably longer. Kev then used his tester pot collection to base coat the brick work on the platform, mixing a couple of shades together to get a little bit of variation starting to come through. Initially the plaster platforms were sealed with matt varnish with a small amount of Ronseal wood stain in there, again just to give a little bit of basic colour. Kev will continue to build up thin layers of colour on the brickwork until its a suitable red shade and then it will be weathered with a steam age layer of crud from an airbrush. Finally there are a couple dimples in the plaster that will be picked out with a bright fresh brick colour to represent a little bit of frost damage. The top will be shades of brown for the sandstone flags finally washed with a dark brown to give mortar. Elsewhere Boris (complete with cafe Alle du Boris mug now) played with the rodding run. Finally the end is near on that tasked as all the cranks are in on the points and drives along with the stools all running back to the signal box. Final job is a couple more stools to add in the signal box area and once ballasting is compete add the rodding and tie it all back to the cabin. A final side project has been the completion of some BR H containers which can be used as a scenic item in the yard or a wagon load, currently displayed on a members medfit. These kits are available from Dave Parkins over at MMP and are his usual high quality offering. Another 4 loaded ones will be in the offing fairly soon. Upcoming jobs are now ballasting, a rail motor run off on board E and some scenic items to go on the loading dock to break it up a bit. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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