south_tyne Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 8 hours ago, Martin S-C said: I do have the Bachmann Type II. However I find the occasions when the hooks fail to couple to the right side is quite rare and the issue with changing a coupling system is I have 100s of vehicles to convert. I'm 90% satisfied with the Bachmann tension lock. If during operations it becomes a serious problem (rather than just a minor problem). I'll look at the whole issue of couplings again. Meanwhile. Moar track! MOAR! Martin, I would stick with the tension locks too. As you said, they are reliable and, given the amount of stock you have, the cost of converting to kadees would be astronomical. The modern smaller tensions locks are fairly unobtrusive and to be honest, to my mind are less obvious than a kadee, which I always think look quite incongruous in steam-age British stock. Granted the latter may have operational benefits but the cost aspect would far outweigh these in my opinion. It is always something you could revisit in the future when the layout is up and running, the bulk of the expenditure is commited, and there may be more funds for other things. Just my rambling thoughts and good to see further progress this week! David 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted July 6, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 6, 2019 Couplings, a couple of suggestions: 1. if you have some fixed rakes of goods wagons, consider 3-links within the rake. Getting rid of the horrid protrusion of the NEM socket below the headstock makes such a difference to the appearance of pre-Grouping wagons. I don't find it makes such a big difference for later goods wagons, which tend to be busier below stairs anyway. On the other hand, tension locks do give you a similar behaviour of a train, with wagons closing up on setting back and gradually getting under way one-by one on starting. Which brings me to point... 2. for fixed rakes of carriages, consider the Roco type couplings. These have no longitudinal slack, so the whole rake moves off as one, as a screw-coupled passenger train should. I'm not familiar with Kadees, if they give a similar rigid coupling, then you really don't want to use them for a loose-coupled goods train. 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 (edited) I saw the Roco Universal couplings in use on the Nene Wharf layout at the King's Lynn show and was impressed. They do not look like any prototype coupling but they are less obtrusive than the Bachmann, plus you get the ability to propel without recoupling. They use Tri-Ang style uncoupler ramps which is one of their drawbacks. I think on British outline coaching stock, even steam era, they would not look too bad. I have no fixed rakes of wagons at all, and my coach rakes are only going to be 2 to 3 vehicles but the Roco design impresses me more than the Kadee. The Roco also plugs straight into the NEM pocket although that's no help with kit-built stock of which I have a fair number. Today saw Snarling Junction's track and the gradient up to Nether Madder all laid. With Snarling complete the branch and main lines are connected so everything we've laid to date can now start to be tested with some proper train services. I shall lay the high level loco shed and carriage sidings tracks next. A reverse loop module is on order for the loco turning triangle at NM. Snarling had an interesting double slip assembled by Neil out of two back to back short Y points. These were hacked down to minimal length and had their underneath webs cut about in order to flex them until one of them ended up with a straight route in one direction. The whole assembly has worked very well. We test ran a loco over this section in all directions and there was a small amount of pinching when travelling through one of the routes but this will be cured with a copper clad fitted beneath and a dab of solder. A conventional Peco double slip did not come close to fitting here and the only other option was to chop about an SMP or C&L kit. 'Double slip' at the west end of Snarling. The three nearest tracks are, from left to right, main line to Puddlebrook, branch exchange siding, branch. Looking the other way. The branch exchange siding will only need to hold 3 or 4 vehicles. A different angle. The nearest Y point has been bent into a straight very short right hand turnout and the further one is now an asymmetric Y, the left arm a tighter radius than the right. The east end of Snarling. Pontefract's Creamery siding at left background and flour mill siding to the right with some extreme curvature. The cut-outs are for a stream which on the left runs between man made stone wall banks and is culverted under the tracks. Looking south east. Armisford mill and siding. The stream referred to above is the Little Madder River and flows from right to left. It enters the scene beyond the mill, is bridged by the railway carried on a stone arch, is then bridged by a country lane to swing right and pass behind the mill. A mill race beneath the far side of the mill powers an undershot wheel. The main line climbs on a gradient up towards Nether Madder behind, curving around to the right. Right rear are the two loco coaling roads and the crown timber siding. Just visible beneath everything are the hidden "Hereford/Gloucester" loops served by the circuit. Looking south at the loco coaling roads and the crown timber siding. There will be a stand of trees on rising ground behind the timber siding and a lane and fields on the low ground in front of the main line. The raised board front right is the +7" height of Nether Madder and the goods headshunt will be here with earthworks down to the fields. Looking south-east from above Armisford mill with work commencing on laying the pointwork at Nether Madder station throat. The cluster of points on the left-hand track will be for the loco shed and loco works roads with the turning triangle formed by a straight track along the wall and a curved line towards the station throat around to the right. The other curved arm of the triangle will be almost above the branch track in its tunnel (where the drill and hammer are being used as weights to hold down some PVA'd cork sheet acting as a support to the camber of the curve). The right hand cluster of points are ready to be laid for the entrance to the goods yard, the headshunt and the small mileage yard. Nether Madder will be the principle yard for freight on the system with goods trains arriving here to be sorted into services for the branch, colliery empties and for Green Soudley. Empties also return to the Madder Valley exchange sidings from here. Edited July 6, 2019 by Martin S-C Added pics and description of progress. 15 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted July 8, 2019 Author Share Posted July 8, 2019 The trackwork of Green Soudley station begins to take shape. I've also laid the track for the C&W shops and the carriage shed as well but didn't take any pics of those. I imagine this weekend could see track-laying complete. The next job will be adding motors to points, wiring up and getting the lever frames and control panels built. 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chuffinghell Posted July 8, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 8, 2019 It’s looking great, very impressive 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted July 8, 2019 Author Share Posted July 8, 2019 Nothing to do with my railway but I had a wonderful day out yesterday to a Gauge O garden railway built and operated in the true retro style. It was stud contact electric, moderately scale track (not coarse) and worked by 5 people at 5 stations using only bell codes and a sequence hand written on bits of paper attached to clipboards (!). Not a single computer-generated piece of printed documentation in sight. It was very old school with massive wooden control panels with big brass switches and electric section switches that apparently were the bomb release switches off Lancasters. The track was raised on wooden legs in the manner Freezer and Pritchard would have been proud of and apparently has been operating for 50 years. It was a glorious sunny afternoon, not too hot and not too chilly and the day closed with tea and cake in a most congenial setting. I took quite a few photos but due to the forum limits I will post these up over several days. In some pictures I have blacked out some non-railway clutter under the trackbed boards so that things look better, and in a couple of pictures have photoshopped in extra greenery to cover unsightly areas but otherwise all is as-seen. More tomorrow. 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 Is that MB’s layout? Anyway, very nice indeed. It looks like coarse-scale track to me, though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted July 9, 2019 Author Share Posted July 9, 2019 It is MB's yes. Maybe it is coarse scale, I am not familiar with O gauge standards of which I'm aware (at least) that there are several. I was thinking its not as coarse as the track I saw at the O Gauge meeting a couple of months back, hence possibly my confusion. I'll post some pics of locos and maybe you can see from the wheels what level of coarseness it is or isn't! 10 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 That's a lot of very nice LNER. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted July 9, 2019 Author Share Posted July 9, 2019 The owner's main interest is the GCR and its constituents, but he also has a fondness for later Eastern and Midland region companies as well. There was only one GW loco in action that I saw which could have been a visitor, but one other was out of use, and no Southern though there were a couple of Southern/constituent goods vans. A few LNWR coaches were around as well and I spotted a Caley brake van in among the piles of goods vehicles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted July 9, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 9, 2019 It looks to be dual standard power delivery wise too. Centre stud contact and third rail. Presumably there is some very elderly steamers that pick up off that 3rd rail? Looks like my kind of railway to operate! (I wouldn't be surprised if some of Frank Roomes stock was running on that..... I wonder if it is?) Andy G 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted July 10, 2019 Author Share Posted July 10, 2019 (edited) I was told there are some Bassett-Lowke locos on the layout, an LBSC 3-car electric unit being one of them which has the original B-L motor bogie I'm told. I will sound like a real ignoramus now and confess to not knowing of Frank Roomes. A quick internet search brings up nothing but a reference back to RMWeb and a thread discussing inspirational layouts from the past where his EM gauge "Lutton" gets a mention. Here are the last few pictures of the garden railway. A rare Southern bogie parcels van. Holt Dairy private siding. Wonderful old school control panel and hand-written operating sequence. I cannot recall the last time I saw anybody use a bulldog clip! The principal terminus in a shed about 12ft x 8ft. It looks a bit grotty but the atmosphere in there was great. 1940s era ex-RAF switches. Bakelite rules! Some subsidence in the main boards has occurred... Edited July 10, 2019 by Martin S-C 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted July 10, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 10, 2019 It always makes me smile to see good old fashioned coarse scale 'O' gauge layouts that are still in working order. Thank you very much for posting these pictures Martin. 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 Superb railway, isn’t it? The subject of the very complex history of 0 gauge track and wheel standards got done to death in my thread, so I won’t repeat it all here (everyone will be glad to know). 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 5 hours ago, Martin S-C said: I was told there are some Bassett-Lowke locos on the layout, an LBSC 3-car electric unit being one of them which has the original B-L motor bogie I'm told. I will sound like a real ignoramus now and confess to not knowing of Frank Roomes. A quick internet search brings up nothing but a reference back to RMWeb and a thread discussing inspirational layouts from the past where his EM gauge "Lutton" gets a mention. Here are the last few pictures of the garden railway. A rare Southern bogie parcels van. Holt Dairy private siding. Wonderful old school control panel and hand-written operating sequence. I cannot recall the last time I saw anybody use a bulldog clip! The principal terminus in a shed about 12ft x 8ft. It looks a bit grotty but the atmosphere in there was great. 1940s era ex-RAF switches. Bakelite rules! Some subsidence in the main boards has occurred... Gorgeous! Definitely giving me ideas for the new place... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted July 10, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 10, 2019 8 hours ago, Martin S-C said: I was told there are some Bassett-Lowke locos on the layout, an LBSC 3-car electric unit being one of them which has the original B-L motor bogie I'm told. I will sound like a real ignoramus now and confess to not knowing of Frank Roomes. A quick internet search brings up nothing but a reference back to RMWeb and a thread discussing inspirational layouts from the past where his EM gauge "Lutton" gets a mention. Here are the last few pictures of the garden railway. A rare Southern bogie parcels van. Holt Dairy private siding. Wonderful old school control panel and hand-written operating sequence. I cannot recall the last time I saw anybody use a bulldog clip! The principal terminus in a shed about 12ft x 8ft. It looks a bit grotty but the atmosphere in there was great. 1940s era ex-RAF switches. Bakelite rules! Some subsidence in the main boards has occurred... Goodness me Martin, I feel as though I've been in a time machine. H&M resistance controllers, Woolworth's 1/- switches, a proper bulldog clip (not those new-fangled foldback thingies), RAF bomb-release switches, heavy-duty Dexion... and I can smell the creosote even from 10,000 miles away. Thanks for posting these photos and please congratulate the owner on what he has achieved. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted July 10, 2019 Author Share Posted July 10, 2019 Cheers folks, I will pass on your very kind remarks to the owner when I next go along. It is indeed something of a time warp, that railway, 50 years old this year and long may it continue to run. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrkirtley800 Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 That looks wonderful Martin, thanks for showing the piccies. Frank Roomes was around in the 1950s. The very first model mag I bought was Model Railway News in early 1953. The pic on the front cover featured part of his EM gauge layout Lutton, and prominent in the front was a scratch built model of a Kirtley 0-4-4 well tank. I lusted after that engine, and when I got married in 1964, immediately started on my own, finished in 1967, painted by Coachman Larry in 1972 and still running on Kirkby Malham on the Skipton local. It has had new and better wheels and motor fitted, but the bodywork has not been touched. Frank Roomes went on to model in 0 gauge, and still called his station Lutton, and had many scratch built Midland engines on it. I never met him, but devoured his magazine articles. Derek 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted July 11, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 11, 2019 I feel very privileged to have known Frank, even though I would have been no older than about 12 or 13 when he died. If you have the St Michaels Model Encyclopaedia of Model Railways then Lutton in 7mm form appears in it. I have the wooden wall phone with the separate earpiece at home, and Dad was given the choice to pick one of his models to remember him by. Dad choose what he regarded as the essence of Frank and choose this: The old girl is a bit battered, but now lives in a display case. When it comes my way I will get her working again.... I still remember Franks little moustache and a little twinkle in his eye..... Sadly he died too young of a heart attack at the wheel while towing his caravan... Andy G 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 On 25/06/2019 at 18:19, chuffinghell said: You could fit everything I know about signalling on a postage stamp and still have room for an elephants foot mmmmm 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 1 hour ago, Talltim said: mmmmm Yum! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted July 11, 2019 Author Share Posted July 11, 2019 (edited) Thank you Derek and Andy for those snippets about Frank. I wonder if it would be possible to list some of the magazines and other publications his articles appeared in? I would very much like to dig them out for a read. I have MRN copies going back pre-war so should be able to track some articles down without difficulty. Model Railway News early 1953 St Michaels Model Encyclopaedia of Model Railways Does anyone know of more? On a similar note of beautiful models this gorgeous creation was displayed during tea and cakes after my running session at the garden railway the other day. Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Sacre 2-2-2 of the 1880s. As I said, the owner is a fan of the GC and its constituents and wanted something unique. It is entirely scratch built other than wheels, motor and gearbox. It can't run on the owners garden railway but I hope to see it in motion on another finescale O gauge layout at some point. I was advised that it will feature in the O Gauge Guild magazine later his year. Edited July 11, 2019 by Martin S-C 9 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted July 11, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 11, 2019 MRN oct 64. Some scans are here: https://boxerbayrailway.blogspot.com/ I have some scans in the archive of at least one of his articles, I'll try and find it over the weekend. Andy G 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted July 11, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 11, 2019 Oh my that Sacre 2-2-2 is a thing of beauty, - thanks for posting the pictures Martin. 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
relaxinghobby Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 Wasn't one called Robert The Devil after some medieval character with a string personality, or was it a difficult loco to operate? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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