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Windmill End


k22009
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  • RMweb Gold

This will be my first layout for 40 years, so its about time.

 

It has taken an age to decide what i wanted from it all and to get a track plan onto paper (i think this one was number 62) that worked for me, but i've finally bitten the bullet and made a start.

 

The basics are a board 1800 long 500 wide. Midlands based EM gauge so all hand built track with an 009 industrial line from Peco track. There will be a foam board back scene added later, a 50mm extension at the front edge of the ply top is off scene for the slide switches etc that will be used for frog switching and hopefully enough room for a small "control panel area"

 

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There will be a small station at bottom left with a factory serving the spur at bottom, small engine shed at right, track off right fed from removable cassettes. In the centre left will be a canal basin with a covered trans shipment area serving both the main line and 009 industrial at the top. Factory, small foundry, workshop in centre with an additional 009 engine shed adjacent to the EM gauge one again 009 fed from removable cassettes. If all goes well an additional board may be built to the right in lieu of the cassettes. In general lots of grot and grime, chimneys everywhere, no greenery really, maybe some overgrown foliage etc.

 

Baseboard has been made from 9mm ply on a 2 x 1 timber frame, under this i have cut and fitted 25mm of foamboard insulation to deaden the noise a little, this will leave a space for electrics. On the top i have laid 12mm of foam board and cork under the EM gauge track. The 009 will mostly be laid direct as a good section will be flush with the finished surface. All points will be operated by wire in the tube, templot plans for the turnouts were PVA'd to the cork and all of the surfaces have either been emulsioned brown or varnished. The sleepers for the EM track are a mix of ply for the track from C&L and cut lime for the turnouts from a model boat shop. All were laid and then stained with 2 coats of Colron Jacobean oak. 

 

The attached photos give an idea of where i'm at at the moment.

 

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and a few with some pre made Scalescenes and modified Metcalfe and LCUT buildings in approximate positions.

 

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Next up is drilling holes for the droppers and i think i may ballast the track before laying the rails with the possible exception of the turnout Vees which i will probably position before the templates disappear under ballast (i will have a start point for building up the turnouts that way).

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Tonight's job was to drill for the droppers which i've done, then start making the crossing Vees for the 5 turnouts. I have made them all B6.

A small wooden jig was made

 

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and likewise pins through the templot template in a block of wood to solder the scrap etch ties to everything. The ties match the sleeper positions so will be cut back to the rail andhidden by the chairs either side and a dropper will be soldered to the one under the vee for frog switching.

 

post-24421-0-97249200-1547669044_thumb.jpg

 

Dave

Edited by k22009
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  • RMweb Gold

Ta

 

The layout name comes from an area of Dudley where my dad was bought up along with 8 others, they lived in the windmill at Shavers end.

 

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I'm originally from Tipton 'on cut' bought up in a dark old end terrace that had a canal wharf right out the back gate with the rolling mill and foundries on the opposite side. The Brymill as it was locally called (British Rolling Mill). The kitchen, separate to the house was a converted brick outhouse/workshop and had a single small window that you could look out of mesmerised watching the red hot ingots zipping back and forth on the rollers. The canal in those days was a stinking stretch of oily, polluted water full of rubbish, that harbored no life at all, you could taste it when you went out the back, the smell of the whole scene was something else. Much has changed in a few years though, it's long gone, the houses were all compulsory purchased, the canal was filled in and its now a sparkling clean housing estate with grass growing. My grandfather was foundry foreman and he regularly used to regale me about whole days setting the moulds for huge locomotive engine wheels as he described them in casting sand only to have them collapse at the last minute between one of the spokes. Hence the idea for having a canal and foundry on a layout.

 

Anyway i digress i'm at a chicken and egg situation.

 

The sleepers are down and stained, i've made cutouts in the cork for the wire in tube and hopefully where the point rodding will go under the track at a couple of locations. I've made all of the crossing Vees and was going to position these on the crossing chairs first of all. Then ballast most of the track apart from a couple of small areas on each turnout near where the tiebars will be so i can still see the template underneath. The turnouts will be set out from the Vee so i dont really need to see majority of the track underneath and my thinking is that it will be much easier to ballast these and the track without the rail and chairs in situ. Alternately i can lay all the chairs and rail while the timbers are free of any PVA residue from ballasting and then ballast afterwards followed by the point rodding and touching up around the stools and crank arms etc

 

Dave  

Edited by k22009
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  • RMweb Gold

Did you stain the whole lot with the Jacobean oak? Track included?

 

The cork track bed was varnished prior to laying the sleepers which were then laid and stained in situ. The area around the track bed has been emulsioned with some left over paint.

 

Dave

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  • RMweb Gold

I'm waiting for some 4mm and 2mm ballast from Greenscenes so while i wait i thought i'd make a start on the covered trans shipment area.

I produced a simple CAD drawing elevation and section through and printed it out at 1:1 scale so i have a template to make sure the trusses match. Eileens sent some Evergreen sections that i needed next day (fabulous service) and i made a start late this afternoon.

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A couple of hours of cutting and gluing sections together and i get the 4 trusses.

 

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Columns, Ties, purlins and assembly next

 

Dave

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  • RMweb Gold

Gave the framework for the covered loading area a coat of primer and decided to use Scalescenes corrugated roof panels instead of Wills/Slaters etc as i liked the pre weathered well used appearance. Cut out the individual panels and glued them down to a 0.5mm thick piece of plasticard. The ends of these sort of buildings were usually partially clad in timber or similar to the eaves level, but i'll leave this open for know, i can always add some later. I'll weather the framework a little before it gets positioned on the layout.

 

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Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

Drilled out the positions for the droppers and popped cut up cotton buds into the holes before ballasting, i also marked out the positions where the point rodding crossovers etc where to go. The crossing vees were located while the Templot template was still visible this will give me a start point for laying the rail. I then ballasted just between the sleepers omitting some of the shoulders where the platform edges will be for know and adding just enough so that i can get the point rodding and then the rails laid, i can add touch up ballast later once the edging is in situ,  

 

IMAG3659.jpg.334bb618d9169ddda6e8d6570de98d7c.jpg

 

The white tubes are for the wire in tube point operation.

 

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Most of the point rodding added and a base for the signal box located.

 

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I'm sure it's probably not prototypically correct but it looks fine to me.

 

I can get on with setting out and laying the rails now.

 

Dave

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  • RMweb Gold

Droppers added but will be soldered to the rails later and the first few rails laid, had to stop as my fingers are a tad sore after threading a few hundred chairs on.

Starting to look more like it now, i somehow remembered to put a set into the rails for the turnouts too. I've omitted all the special chairs for the turnouts at present as they don't need need threading on so i'll do them all in one go at the end when i do the closure rails.

 

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Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

Well finally got all of the chairs and rails down, droppers soldered and buffer stops added. Next job is to wire up everything to make sure its all hunky dory, then i'll add basic platforms from foam board. I'll probably edge them as it may be tricky getting at them with the point rodding being so close but i'll leave the top surfaces for now, i can then paint the rails and tidy up the ballasting at the platform edges to finish that off.

One thing i have to think about is signalling, as i'm not too familiar with this side of things i'll give it some thought as to what i think i'll need.  :read:

 

IMAG3827.jpg.ad99f036aa0dfc7651bf46a377f995dc.jpg 

 

Dave

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  • RMweb Gold

I managed to get all of the wiring done to the rails and turnouts and tested with my sole EM gauge loco a GWR 44xx with Comet chassis, and to my amazement everything worked pretty good first time.  so with that encouraging news i cracked on and got the rails painted with the rail heads cleaned.

 

I've been busy building the platform bases and a blue brick retaining wall behind where the station will sit. However before i glue them down into position i need to paint the buffer stops as it'll be tricky later. Once the platforms are down and fixed into position i can add more ballast around the back of the point rodding up to the brickwork edge and then i'll probably make a template for the platform tops from some tracing paper.

 

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Dave

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  • RMweb Gold

Over the weekend i've managed to get the ballasting tidied up at the platform edges the platforms are fixed in position and platform top surfaces have been cut and positioned. Checking with a coach and trimming to suit before adding the top surfaces and edging (all scalescenes papers). 

The buildings are just approximately positioned in the photo, it was dark in the shed as we were in the middle of a snow storm so better ones will follow at some point.

 

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Next up is to lay the industrial 009 trackwork.

 

I had decided rightly or wrongly on a lattice bracket signal with 2 tubular dolls which will act as starter for the bay and main platform, it may have a shunt arm on the bay too. There will be 2 ground signals for the run around and goods siding too. The nearest kit i could find arrived Saturday, an Alan Gibson one which i'll look at for some light layout relief if i can fathom how it's assembled.

 

IMAG3856.jpg.789529db4250b2f5f14e159aa4f022ac.jpg

 

Dave

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  • RMweb Gold

All of the 009 industrial track is down and fixed, wired up and wire in tubes added. So next up was to get the canal looking something like. I've used Scalescenes paper from the narrow boat and lock download, i can add the canal brick edges and then start on the top surfaces.

I want the 009 track adjacent to the canal and in the foundry/workshop area to be flush to the surface so i may try Das clay or use some plasticard cobblestones.  I've just positioned the basic buildings to give a flavour of how its taking shape.

The red switches and banana plug sockets are for the EM gauge and the green switches and banana plug sockets for the 009. I will add a small strip of plasticard about 25-50mm high between the main board and all of the sector switches and DPDT slide switches so i have an edge for the scenery to terminate up to.

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Dave

 

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Some rapid progress here!! Looks good - love the canal interchange & shed in particular.

Is the point rodding the Wills 4mm kit? It looks good too - gives the right impression & I for one wouldn't know (or care!!) if it's not 100% accurate.

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  • RMweb Gold
43 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

Is the point rodding the Wills 4mm kit? It looks good too - gives the right impression & I for one wouldn't know (or care!!) if it's not 100% accurate.

 

Thanks for the complimentary comments, it is the Wills point rodding, its not too bad to lay i jointed the lengths with thin pieces of micro strip otherwise i don't think you'd have a chance to get a decent joint. The cranked corners are are a right faff though, i built everything up on my workbench in lengths of 5 or 6 bays it seemed to hold together ok and then just do the final mating joints in situ. Its not cheap at £10 ish a pack but in my view does add quite a lot to the scene.

I'm going to add some of the brick paved areas either side of the canal now so i can then get the canal walls and edging slabs down once that's positioned.

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  • RMweb Gold

A couple more hours at it lat night saw the canal walls and edging done along with some of the cobbles and blue brick drive.

I can ballast the areas not inlaid now. 

 

IMAG3878.jpg.02c6ee81e4d4a922937afef1dc554197.jpgIMAG3881.jpg.cc13b5163eeccf8e6dd233a181cb369c.jpgIMAG3882.jpg.18176f00b952beb564b6e39094bb59d2.jpgIMAG3883.jpg.32c63a4e46a7a4458374bf69f924f84e.jpg

 

A small respite of a few days now while i go to visit a rather sick friend. This can wait.

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  • RMweb Gold

Back at the layout after my brief visit down to the Midlands. The 009 track has been ballasted and while i await various small bags of grass tufts i thought i'd make up the main station access footbridge.

It's a LCUT kit which i shortened considerably, omitted the one flight of stairs and doctored what was left into making the access from retaining wall.

 

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Here it is in an approximate position, the retaining wall, will need a little modification to raise the parapet up a little  and create a gangway, it's not fixed in position yet so that won't be a problem.

 

IMAG3889.jpg.c87370292b01b0c9c5377a7aa964c839.jpgIMAG3890.jpg.4a89e07767ca11198ad3e1fff1816bfd.jpg

 

It'll look better when i get it primed and painted up (once this new dump of snow has disappeared and it's a little warmer)

 

Dave

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