Chippenham and surrounding Wiltshire lines - A long term project in OO to watch model trains run by

[Mikkel]

Impressed at your efforts to support the local model shops Matt. You don't deserve that result, but I suppose any business has its share of unprofessional traders.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Sure does, well Hattons did me proud, as usual.

All arrived yesterday and put into place to as a rough guide. Stupidly I overlooked a connection to the rear of what will be the large shed and calling stage  but this can be finished off at a later stage. The important mainline and station area is facilitated with the appropriate points.

So spent a hour bending a double slip to match up a left and right curved points to make a three line cross over. Not my idea instructions found here;

Sorry about the big link, I'm using a tablet and I am not very good with it (frankly computers in general).

Big thank you to LNER4479 for the very clear and helpful instructions. Will post a picture of the outcome if anyone is interested?

I am using code100 nickel silver racetrack, so just shows that even points can be flexible if you are careful. Not brave enough to build my own track, I'll stick to learning how to build rolling.

 

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Can't believe that track laying takes so long. I do not recall it so time consuming and I am using code 100. Just think if I was building my own it could be 2025 before any rolling stock rolls! Anyway it is slowly coming together, fingers crossed rail testing soon before all sections to be put in and further tested.

Still pondering over the use of point switches against the hand of God.

[lmsforever]

Even when its down track can catch you out ,yesterday the three way in my fiddle yard died and compromised running.I had a look through my track draw and found a point I had forgotten about .After an hour and a half relaying the yard it all worked thank goodness  good luck with your efforts.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Real progress. I have managed to lay the entire layout this week. The trackwork  has not been fixed in anyway but I have managed to changed the plan slightly to make it as close to the prototype as possible, with the obvious space compromises. I ended up using all the point work I have stashed for 'Calne' and nearly all the available track as well! I am really please with the final track plan/look. Now just need to cork underlay the mainlines and fix the rest down, adding appropriate sleepers etc. I need to tweak the loading bay near the station (shorten).

 

 

MPD based loosely on Didcot but this is my chance to incorporate my own design and 'freestyle' Great Western modelling as opposed to the disciplined modelling of a real location. The bottom storage sidings have been connected and made correctly. The other corner (not pictured) is the same length as the MPD but all storage/fiddle yard sidings, my Thingley Junction. Calne branch will have to wait a few years so I can get the main layout up and running first, (line running into the yellow lid in picture 1). I will post the original drawn design verses the changes improvements I have been able to add in a future post. This will show how the layout has evolved from paper plan to false start to new paper plan to live developments during track laying. 

 

 

 

Any views regarding motorising points verses hand of God, please? I am still undecided, originally I was to motorise the points hence the brown paper marking all the cross braces and support tops. It is a one-man layout most likely for my own pleasure only as it is not portable nor do I have local interest.

 

All comments welcome.

[AdeMoore]

Matt certainly looking good. In fact it must be pretty large as the track looks N gauge in those photos! Well to my eye on an iPad!

i only have experience of wire in tube for points so can’t comment or otherwise on point motors or the like but I did find Stu’s post Here interesting almost like  a layman’s guide to servos. But I know not.

MERG kits etc.Here. price wise on point. No pun intended.

 Cheers 

Ade

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Thanks Ade, definitely OO. I prefer that scale for modelling but if I did have n gauge then I could have had a scaled version and easily fit Calne branch in with room for some fun space. The pictures where taken with a camera phone, my Good Lady kindly took them for me. She is also my hardest critic! 

[Mikkel]

Wow, that's significant progress. And a lot of space as Ade says. This is going to be quite a layout. 

 

I re-read the first post to remind myself of the period(s):

 

On 16/10/2018 at 15:56, No46 said:

I will try to keep train formations correct but not all at the same time, i.e. an outside framed Pannier freight may be passing a King hauling a rake of Colletts on the main line.

 

Looking at the photos I can just imagine it, in fact I can hardly wait 

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Here's the revised track diagram for Chippenham side.

 

 

The black is the original track from my first attempt, the red is the newly added track of which is a lot more prototypical (red crosses is removed track).

 

For reference the OS map source used;

 

 

 

 

 

[ISW]

On 15/09/2019 at 19:48, No46 said:

Any views regarding motorising points verses hand of God, please? I am still undecided, originally I was to motorise the points hence the brown paper marking all the cross braces and support tops. It is a one-man layout most likely for my own pleasure only as it is not portable nor do I have local interest.

 

All comments welcome.

My layout(see link in footer) is also for my own use and, although it 'can' be dismantled, is not portable by any stretch of the imagination. However, I find that having the turnouts motorised is much nicer than 'the hand of god'. I find that having a mimic panel for operation invaluable, as I can see the status of all turnouts without having to manually check on the layout. Route setting is clearly much easier and faster.

 

You see to be well into DIY and so you could probably follow my route of:

• servos for turnout operation (cheap)
• micro switches for frog polarity (cheap)
• handmade servo / micro switch brackets (cheap)
• MegaPoints controller boards (the most expensive bits ...)
• Handmade mimic panel with push button operation and LED indications (cheap)

It's a fairly low cost solution (possible not the cheapest - that would involve MERG controllers, which are a bit outside my comfort zone), and reasonably easy to build and install. It doesn't use too many cables either. I found the whole MegaPoints system to be nice and logical.

 

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Been a little distracted from the layout in recent weeks whilst thinking about what glues to use for the track, track bed and ballasting, still thinking but in the meantime the Beast from the West has had a little more work completed on her;

 

Ready for priming although a little nervous now as this happened at the weekend ;

 

  Currently stripped back a little and rubbed down ready for a patch of primer to

(hopefully) cure the problem. Respray today, fingers crossed!                                  

 

 

Edited October 30, 2019 by No46

[Bluemonkey presents....]

The same primer from the same spray can in the same environment with similar (if not the same) angles gave me this. Well not exactly the finish I was hoping for however it has worked somewhat and once final livery is applied it may not be noticeable at all, we'll see.

 

                                                                       First time right for these two wagons.                        

 

The spray can is faulty though so it will have to go as I primed myself a number of times this afternoon as well as those wagons and loco.  

[phil_sutters]

Chippenham to me brings back memories of a journey I made along that line in the early '60s. Passing through Box tunnel, we ground to a halt. The guard came through explaining that the communication cord had been pulled. We then started moving, but once out of the tunnel and passing through open countryside just west of Chippenham, the cord was pulled again, by a prisoner being escorted by two prison officers. and he escaped from the train and headed off across the fields. I can't remember whether the officers went after him or not. He couldn't do that now with central door locking, although I suspect that transfers are now always by road.

[Mikkel]

Hi Matt, glad to see that you managed to repair the orange peel. Strange how unpredictable it is.

 

That spray can sounds a little dodgy though - did you get an orange peel effect on  yourself? 

[Bluemonkey presents....]

21 hours ago, phil_sutters said:

Chippenham to me brings back memories of a journey I made along that line in the early '60s. Passing through Box tunnel, we ground to a halt. The guard came through explaining that the communication cord had been pulled. We then started moving, but once out of the tunnel and passing through open countryside just west of Chippenham, the cord was pulled again, by a prisoner being escorted by two prison officers. and he escaped from the train and headed off across the fields. I can't remember whether the officers went after him or not. He couldn't do that now with central door locking, although I suspect that transfers are now always by road.

And they never did catch me!

[Bluemonkey presents....]

21 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Hi Matt, glad to see that you managed to repair the orange peel. Strange how unpredictable it is.

 

That spray can sounds a little dodgy though - did you get an orange peel effect on  yourself? 

 

No but my fingers did look like grey walnuts for a while

[phil_sutters]

8 hours ago, No46 said:

And they never did catch me!

I see you are still using your prison number.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

It has been a while since I last updated this site although I have not put down this thinking cap nor the scalpel and file. I have been researching the glue issue for holding the cork to the neoprene as it would be pointless to have such a good noise reducing layer only to be negated through using the wrong type of glue to hold down the cork/track. For some reason a spray formula came into my head, reducing the risk of a lump or two as well as time saving and better, more even coverage. I have come up with a neoprene based spray adhesive, in the hope it will not react with the neoprene base layer.

https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-general-purpose-spray-adhesive-500ml/3663602709350_BQ.prd

Careful reading is required for the sprays as I discovered some are a foam based type rather than the more liquid spray. The one I have chosen when tested it sprayed like very sticky cobwebs, slightly yellow in colour changing to translucent. The dried glue seems to have slightly elastic qualities and in my uneducated mind this will help with the sound reducing properties.

On testing it works very well although sticks firm very quickly, like a grab adhesive. I have left it over night to check on reactions seems to have worked a treat. Will proceed with this for the cork layer and the track as well although this stage and the entire project is now under severe threat!  The loft space has been viewed as being a potential room conversion! Now although this initially sounds brilliant (which it could be) It will mean the destruction of all that has been built thus far as I never intended for the layout to be removable nor mobile. As you will have seen the construction was more of a build the space rather than build into the space. Additionally to convert the loft into a room just for my pleasure seems very selfish and hedonistic as well as wasteful to the existing layout, although deep down I would love it. Some serious negotiations will be required, more serious and on a much higher level than those insignificant 'Brexit' discussions as well as having to be concluded in a much tighter time scale. 

Anyway along with the two wagons and the recovery paint job I now have a warflat on my work bench! This one is from Matador Models and has been good fun to put together just need to work out the D links for load chaining as I have Cromwell tanks for loads but also hope to have these removable. Another 4 flats ordered to complete a five wagon train that I have found hauled out of Calne.

[Denbridge]

4 hours ago, No46 said:

It has been a while since I last updated this site although I have not put down this thinking cap nor the scalpel and file. I have been researching the glue issue for holding the cork to the neoprene as it would be pointless to have such a good noise reducing layer only to be negated through using the wrong type of glue to hold down the cork/track. For some reason a spray formula came into my head, reducing the risk of a lump or two as well as time saving and better, more even coverage. I have come up with a neoprene based spray adhesive, in the hope it will not react with the neoprene base layer.

https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-general-purpose-spray-adhesive-500ml/3663602709350_BQ.prd

Careful reading is required for the sprays as I discovered some are a foam based type rather than the more liquid spray. The one I have chosen when tested it sprayed like very sticky cobwebs, slightly yellow in colour changing to translucent. The dried glue seems to have slightly elastic qualities and in my uneducated mind this will help with the sound reducing properties.

On testing it works very well although sticks firm very quickly, like a grab adhesive. I have left it over night to check on reactions seems to have worked a treat. Will proceed with this for the cork layer and the track as well although this stage and the entire project is now under severe threat!  The loft space has been viewed as being a potential room conversion! Now although this initially sounds brilliant (which it could be) It will mean the destruction of all that has been built thus far as I never intended for the layout to be removable nor mobile. As you will have seen the construction was more of a build the space rather than build into the space. Additionally to convert the loft into a room just for my pleasure seems very selfish and hedonistic as well as wasteful to the existing layout, although deep down I would love it. Some serious negotiations will be required, more serious and on a much higher level than those insignificant 'Brexit' discussions as well as having to be concluded in a much tighter time scale. 

Anyway along with the two wagons and the recovery paint job I now have a warflat on my work bench! This one is from Matador Models and has been good fun to put together just need to work out the D links for load chaining as I have Cromwell tanks for loads but also hope to have these removable. Another 4 flats ordered to complete a five wagon train that I have found hauled out of Calne.

Why use cork at all? Cut your tracked from neoprene rubber as well. Cork is just a throwback to the 60s when it became the go to material, in the absence of anything better.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

1 hour ago, Denbridge said:

Why use cork at all? Cut your tracked from neoprene rubber as well. Cork is just a throwback to the 60s when it became the go to material, in the absence of anything better.

The mainline track here is raised and has a very visible shoulder so I am using the cork to lift the mainline and to provide the shouldering.  The neoprene is too thick to do this alone but would also mean the yards would transfer a lot of noise when. I Alison plan to 'plant' all of my building structures so the neoprene can provide this base with ease. This is why I have covered the entire baseboard.

[Denbridge]

1 hour ago, No46 said:

The mainline track here is raised and has a very visible shoulder so I am using the cork to lift the mainline and to provide the shouldering.  The neoprene is too thick to do this alone but would also mean the yards would transfer a lot of noise when. I Alison plan to 'plant' all of my building structures so the neoprene can provide this base with ease. This is why I have covered the entire baseboard.

I meant use neo to create the trackbed on top of the neo base layer. It's far superior than cork and easier to glue rubber to rubber. Adding a cork layer will negate some of the benefits of using neoprene rubber in the 1st place. It's how I've done the last 2 layouts I've been involved with and will never go back to using cork.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

39 minutes ago, Denbridge said:

I meant use neo to create the trackbed on top of the neo base layer. It's far superior than cork and easier to glue rubber to rubber. Adding a cork layer will negate some of the benefits of using neoprene rubber in the 1st place. It's how I've done the last 2 layouts I've been involved with and will never go back to using cork.

I see, apologies for misunderstanding.

The neoprene I have is a little too thick for my requirements but I can see how this would certainly aid any future plans.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Update; Full suspension of the layout build as it is becoming more likely that the layout will have to be dismantled for a loft conversion  annoying however in the long term could be something brilliant (somewhat selfish I know). Does mean that my backbench can be cleared of those midpoint builds. I tried finishing off the painting of the beast and a couple of wagons with Rail Match rattle can paint and all failed. The connection between the can and plastic nozzle appeared to be misaligned or broken. Having had one squirt in my face whilst trying to find out why it was not working I decided to stay well clear and unfortunately had to waste the new a fly full cans of paint. Won't be buying any more of those!

 

So looks like I will not be updating this thread for a while unless I start on the main station buildings in preparation for the restart. There is a possibility of starting a work bench thread as there are still plenty of kits to build especially as I have ordered some more war flats from Matador Models (I think they are still trading!).

 

Wishing everyone Happy Christmas Modelling and thank you for your interests and comments on my threads. Be back soon.

[Neal Ball]

Good luck!

 

Don't let a change of plans put you off, thats just an opportunity to revaluate and do it better / differently.

 

Keep us informed of any progress.

[Mikkel]

Good luck also from me, Matt - and yes please, a workbench thread would be nice if you feel like it.

 

Have a good christmas.