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Trent Valley Railway - Heljan Container Crane


TrentValleyRailway
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Matt,

 

Why haven't I come across your layout previously? Neither here on RMWeb or YouTube. I blame the search engines. As I subscribe to quite a few railway layouts on YouTube, I can't understand why it hasn't offered your layout in the recommendations. Okay, rant over.

 

If you look at my layout (https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/133913-burton-on-trent-south-ramps/ or link in footer) of 'Burton-on-Trent South' I think you'll see we have a lot of similarities:

  1. Started about the same time.
  2. Overall size about the same.
  3. Same gauge.
  4. Same era.
  5. 2 layers, storage on lower, scenic on upper.
  6. Ramps between the levels.

It was the use of 'ramps' that got me interested, as that is what I'm building at present. We seem to have agreed on a ramp slope of 1 in 40 (2.5%) as well.

 

Anyway, I'll be following your progress and going back over some of your YouTube videos for ideas / tricks / etc.

 

 

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On 30/09/2019 at 20:16, ISW said:

Matt,

 

Why haven't I come across your layout previously? Neither here on RMWeb or YouTube. I blame the search engines. As I subscribe to quite a few railway layouts on YouTube, I can't understand why it hasn't offered your layout in the recommendations. Okay, rant over.

 

If you look at my layout (https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/133913-burton-on-trent-south-ramps/ or link in footer) of 'Burton-on-Trent South' I think you'll see we have a lot of similarities:

  1. Started about the same time.
  2. Overall size about the same.
  3. Same gauge.
  4. Same era.
  5. 2 layers, storage on lower, scenic on upper.
  6. Ramps between the levels.

It was the use of 'ramps' that got me interested, as that is what I'm building at present. We seem to have agreed on a ramp slope of 1 in 40 (2.5%) as well.

 

Anyway, I'll be following your progress and going back over some of your YouTube videos for ideas / tricks / etc.

 

 

 

Sure do have many similarities and following your layout build topic with interest too, particularly how tidy the cabling is under the Burton layout.

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19 minutes ago, TrentValleyRailway said:

 

Sure do have many similarities and following your layout build topic with interest too, particularly how tidy the cabling is under the Burton layout.

Matt,

 

Making my baseboards removable was key to getting the wiring tidy. Then the baseboard is removed and turned over access is really easy. Labelling is also important for tracing faults and helping to remember which wire does what.

 

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13 hours ago, TrentValleyRailway said:

Progress made on the start of the inclines for cork underlay and the track.

 

Matt,

 

Ramps starting to look the part. Are you just pinning the track or gluing as well? I tend to glue to prevent buckling of the track in hot/cold temperatures.

 

Any reason you are using concrete sleepers for what, I assume, are mostly non-scenic and visibly obstructed tracks, given that concrete sleepered Peco track costs a bit more that the timbered variant?

 

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On 05/10/2019 at 10:54, ISW said:

Matt,

 

Ramps starting to look the part. Are you just pinning the track or gluing as well? I tend to glue to prevent buckling of the track in hot/cold temperatures.

 

Any reason you are using concrete sleepers for what, I assume, are mostly non-scenic and visibly obstructed tracks, given that concrete sleepered Peco track costs a bit more that the timbered variant?

 


Only pinning the track on the non scenic sections, makes it very easy to dig up and replace if ever the track section goes dead or breaks.

 

on the scenic sections where I will ballast as well going to look at gluing the concrete sleepers down so don’t have the shiny black pins showing through the concrete sleepers.

 

reason for concrete sleepers is firstly a modern image layout so will look great alongside scenery for Trent Valley section representation of the WCML, and then to distinguish between the running lines and the sidings in the fiddle yard so I have a continuous run (loops) around without going through the sidings. 
 

B6E1652A-1826-44BA-84AE-FE0267B6B242.jpeg.acf805ed384c01dee3f66b4fe461930b.jpeg

 

FEAD2DB1-C565-453E-8A13-4CE9F4E802A0.jpeg.0cfd75ec01df099c51401e8db982d2e7.jpeg

Did my research and found a retailer which had  the full box of peco tracks that were the same for concrete or wooden sleepers at bulk price. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I made a big decision earlier in the summer to rebuild the removable section or now what is to be known as the lift out sections. (See post in August and August layout update video)

 

I concentrated on getting the lower level lift out sections completed first and one of the inclines, particularly the one that only crosses the lift out section once. Having done that work in the summer I left the other 2 (two) lift out sections to do later. To keep things going on the layout in different areas, as to not get bored, I’ve returned to these final two lift out sections with progress pictures on the highest incline crossing below.


7A1F56AB-A113-4AFB-AB08-8433816A298B.jpeg.f9a7165146a46136f1d81ef21892c81e.jpegEC31E617-6E65-4220-A115-38A24E014955.jpeg.5113f3a5c16adfdfe471548b6d84050b.jpeg

 

 

Edited by TrentValleyRailway
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16 hours ago, TrentValleyRailway said:

I made a big decision earlier in the summer to rebuild the removable section or now what is to be known as the lift out sections. (See post in August and August layout update video)

 

I concentrated on getting the lower level lift out sections completed first and one of the inclines, particularly the one that only crosses the lift out section once. Having done that work in the summer I left the other 2 (two) lift out sections to do later. To keep things going on the layout in different areas, as to not get bored, I’ve returned to these final two lift out sections with progress pictures on the highest incline crossing below.

 

Progress is looking good.

 

Do you have any problem with water blowing under the garage door? I know it does in my garage, and I have to ensure any wood near the door us up on bricks.

 

Where you have 'lift out' sections (or hinges?), what's your plan for keeping track alignment at the joints; soldered rails to brass screws or PCB type sleepers?

 

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On 02/11/2019 at 11:47, TrentValleyRailway said:

Planning the track layout for any layout or train set is always important. I have put together a video which documents my experiences on the Trent Valley Railway.

 

Matt,

 

Tell you what, I'm impressed with your ability to lay track to decent alignments and curves under / between the timber support structures and ramps. I think you must do yoga in your spare time!

 

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On 05/11/2019 at 15:19, ISW said:

Progress is looking good.

 

Do you have any problem with water blowing under the garage door? I know it does in my garage, and I have to ensure any wood near the door us up on bricks.


on the water blowing under the garage door - yes if it’s raining in the right direction but it only sleeps under the door and not floods. picture below is with it raining outside!

A783880A-A835-4E63-90AC-077F3EE0D3D3.jpeg.c6dc2d40659a2abd213c356f8502f8b6.jpeg5095A193-F47E-42AA-B177-A1942CF750DD.jpeg.a34aed140370715ee0df20c0a9f649e4.jpeg

 

then hopefully you will also note (excluding the wood spares on the garage floor) the main layout is supported by kitchen unit legs with adjustable legs to level the layout boards. 
 

I have also left a gap between the layout and the garage door, constrained by the brickwork in the corners of the garage - gap shown below which is about a 2-track width

65852814-5BF7-4436-B9F7-1F61C73248EC.jpeg.f13be3b9d3d7f458246c9ae004121865.jpeg

Edited by TrentValleyRailway
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On 05/11/2019 at 15:19, ISW said:

Where you have 'lift out' sections (or hinges?), what's your plan for keeping track alignment at the joints; soldered rails to brass screws or PCB type sleepers?

 


track alignment is simply kept very much spot on by the fact that the terminal blocks have male and female plugs that line up the tracks for the lift out, I have later found that screws are required each side of the block on the woodwork to ensure they don’t move or spin as the lift out section is inserted/removed.

 

picture below along with the August layout update which has a longer feature in the video explaining how the lift out sections work 

 

BAC13F58-4072-475D-91B3-FB7A3887BBDC.png.104535b7e07bac9b95b54ea5788ff5b3.png


 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, TrentValleyRailway said:


track alignment is simply kept very much spot on by the fact that the terminal blocks have male and female plugs that line up the tracks for the lift out, I have later found that screws are required each side of the block on the woodwork to ensure they don’t move or spin as the lift out section is inserted/removed.

 

picture below along with the August layout update which has a longer feature in the video explaining how the lift out sections work 

 

Matt,

 

Very tidy, with the electrical connections also providing the alignment as well. Cunning. Not sure my woodworking skills would permit me to use that method though.

 

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A day out to a different location for a model show this time at the British Motor Museum. Highlights of all the layouts below. More updates on the Trent Valley Railway to follow at the end of this next week.

 

Great British Model Railway Show 2019 - Part 1

 

 

Great British Model Railway Show 2019 - Part 2

 

Great British Model Railway Show 2019 - Part 3

 

 

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