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Hinton Road Engine Shed


GWR57xx
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  • RMweb Gold

This follows on from my Newbridge thread to separate out the engine shed layout from the branch line terminus layout - thought it would be more logical and less confusing now that the two layouts are not interconnected.

 

The current plan is:

 

MPD_05a.gif.62f26580d469d97655be4f7f78ccb01d.gif

 

This is on five baseboards each 1m wide and totalling 4.7m long, plus a fold-down flap extension for the cassette fiddle area.

 

The layout is intended to represent a GWR two-road shed with a coaling stage and 65ft turntable.

 

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  • RMweb Gold
14 hours ago, Simond said:

I have CAD for laser cutting a two road shed in 7mm...

 

Hi Simon,

Your Porth Dinllaen is what inspired me to build an engine shed layout in the first place - that and the need for an excuse to buy the Heljan 61xx and 43xx which would be a bit out of place on a small country branch line.

Your shed model looks superb and incorporates some clever features.

I'd be very grateful if you're  willing to share your drawings, although it will be quite a while yet before I get round to building the shed as I haven't made the baseboards yet.

Thanks, 

Peter

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  • RMweb Gold
7 hours ago, Simond said:

Wow, I’m honoured to have provided inspiration!  And without knowing as well!!

 

 

Hi Simon,

I did credit you with the inspiration way back on November 4th:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/130682-newbridge/&do=findComment&comment=3354103

:)

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Made a couple of small changes to the plan.

The double slip was a late addition intended to provide a means of catching runaway wagons coming down the coal stage ramp, but I wasn't very happy with it. I've replaced it with a catch point.

I've also added a bypass entry road so that locos just needing to turn and/or water but not needing coal can bypass the reception line and go directly to the turntable and/or the water columns at the shed.

I think this works much better.

 

MPD_06.gif.cc9292576156639457234f807d13b883.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

A pallet load of ply has arrived, all perfectly cut to my specification:

 

P1160102.JPG.6e984d733d07b9f4e84d0eed0e15b4f9.JPG

 

So I've made a start on the first of many ply sandwich beams that will make up the baseboards.

First step was to clamp together two of the 6mm ply sides that will be the joining pieces between two baseboards, so that positions for alignment dowels could be marked and pilot drilled:

 

P1160118.JPG.70cbd92d68675300311110a47575ee3e.JPG

 

That done, the parts for the first beam were dry assembled:

 

P1160119.JPG.c97808e454b2d14b4aa8f68d29be34ce.JPG

 

This beam will have four alignment dowels, so there is a softwood block at each dowel position. The spaces between the softwood blocks will be filled with XPS foam cut to size. XPS weighs virtually nothing, is very stiff and glues perfectly with PVA. I think it will add significant strength to each beam.

The first softwood block being PVA'd in place:

 

P1160120.JPG.28c8d6ced425299267b5c2c679a00ce1.JPG

 

Two blocks done, two more to go (I only had four clamps at the time - I've now bought several more!):

 

P1160121.JPG.5346a4ae3a2cb113a8e88e33823d1baa.JPG

 

All four blocks now PVA'd in place. I am not using any screws, nails or pins, just glue. Time will tell whether this is sensible or not.

Note the polystyrene prop under the clamp. This is to support the ply which sagged significantly under the weight of the clamps:

 

P1160122.JPG.c5e7dc8b0286b2147c8bdbe42bab44a1.JPG

 

XPS filler blocks glued in place and clamped:

 

P1160123.JPG.8f7a1028f224401014758449eeeff8be.JPG

 

Inner 6mm ply panel ready to be fixed. Note the inner panel is shorter than the outer panel to provide an overlapped joint at the baseboard corners:

 

P1160125.JPG.48c62dcd4e926b9a769338fb92cd21c6.JPG

 

Glued, clamped and weighted down:

 

P1160126.JPG.2659b1db4a44946c7d491f63ba944efc.JPG

 

And finally, my first completed ply sandwich beam:

 

P1160131.JPG.3fc33f08ed41b353736de9f64a78c3ab.JPG

 

This beam is 1m long, 110mm deep and 32mm thick (6mm ply sides, 20mm infill). I can't bend it or twist it so I am fairly confident that the resulting baseboards will be strong and durable. The layout is not intended to be portable, just transportable in case I ever move house or find a better home for it.

 

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Whilst I recognise that the foam weighs virtually nothing, does the construction need it? With a beam of 2 x 6mm ply, just make the spacer thinner and you have something stronger than you’ll ever need. As I recall, Barry Norman used 4mm ply with 3/8” spacers.

Dave

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  • RMweb Gold
1 hour ago, daifly said:

Whilst I recognise that the foam weighs virtually nothing, does the construction need it? With a beam of 2 x 6mm ply, just make the spacer thinner and you have something stronger than you’ll ever need. As I recall, Barry Norman used 4mm ply with 3/8” spacers.

Dave

 

I think that the foam will also help to deaden sound transmission, but that's only a supposition on my part.

I know that my baseboards are over-engineered, but I consider the extra cost and effort at this point is well worth the peace of mind of never having to worry about them again.

This is a long-term project for me, and I don't want to find that in a couple of year's time I'm having to rip everything up because a baseboard has warped.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

While waiting for glue to dry on the ply baseboard beams I thought I'd have a go at de-coffinating my first Peco point.

I wanted to retain as much of the existing sleeper structure and slide chairs as possible.

 

As supplied:

P1160157.JPG.e40f1ab8be8afabd949ac242482dd530.JPG

 

Lid removed:

P1160158.JPG.6bd618af65cf967ad597a948b8cfc43d.JPG

 

Box on sleeper #3 ground off:

P1160160.JPG.64a95bce6b9d02599a1b0702d08cf9b2.JPG

 

Box on and between sleepers #4 & #5 ground down to sleeper level:

P1160161.JPG.060414ca0ecce709efe35932636861b3.JPG

 

Webbing between sleepers #4 & #5 ground down so that it won't be visible after ballasting:

P1160166.JPG.6d22bf636c9f4143e9067a0716cbf835.JPG

 

And finally the pips cut off the ends of the tie-bar:

P1160167.JPG.962a1e966d117d746db1cbb20314c92c.JPG

 

A bit of cleaning up of the swarf, then I'll try to rebuild the missing bits of sleepers #3, #4 & #5 with maybe DAS or Plastic Putty.

I think it's a worthwhile improvement, and I managed not to destroy the point in the process so I'm pleased with it.

I might also have a go at reducing the bulge in the tie-bar a bit.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

As well as the cosmetic mods to the Peco point, I've also been thinking about the electrical mods.

 

As supplied, the wire links added by Peco provide the following continuity:

P1160168.JPG.e45d2c0648b7e99c13fcc56e7e1c54ba.JPG

 

where the whole of the green section is switched by contact between the switch rails and one of the stock (red/blue) rails (not sure if I've got the terminology correct?).

The yellow check rails are isolated.

 

What I think is the ideal configuration is:

P1160168a.JPG.baacc223b8012154b9428e20238168b9.JPG

 

so the switch and check rails are permanently wired to their adjacent stock rail (red/blue) and the crossing vee and wing rails (green) are electrically switched depending on the position of the tie-bar.

 

Have I got this correct?

 

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For Frog switching after the Wiring mod, I now use the Gaugemaster DCC80 Autofrog, one wire to each rail and one to the frog wire then forget it, the magic gismo does the rest, NO SWITCH REQUIRED. for frog polarity.

 

Hope this is of some help.

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  • RMweb Gold

So the wiring mods I think I need to do are:

P1160169.JPG.c662a63759f9c5fba6a719f450662ece.JPG

 

Cut the two links marked in orange which connect the switch rails to each other and to the wing rails.

Add the links shown in purple between the switch rails, check rails and stock rails. I've added extra links to the fishplates that connect the two parts of the switch rails because it doesn't look as though these fishplates will provide good long-term electrical continuity to the moving part of the switch rails from the fixed parts by themselves (they are quite loose when new out of the box, so with use they will only get even looser).

Not forgetting to put insulating rail joiners at the ends of the vee rails (yellow).

The power feeds are shown as blue & red (DCC bus) and green (frog/crossing vee).

 

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15 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

For Frog switching after the Wiring mod, I now use the Gaugemaster DCC80 Autofrog, one wire to each rail and one to the frog wire then forget it, the magic gismo does the rest, NO SWITCH REQUIRED. for frog polarity.

 

Hope this is of some help.

 

Thanks Andy, I'll have a look at those.

I'm still undecided how to switch the points. Currently thinking of either servos or Cobalt iP's.

If I go with servos then the autofrogs would be a good solution, but with the Cobalts I would probably use their internal frog switching.

 

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A bit more progress with the cosmetic improvements: tie bar slimmed down, sleepers filled in and given a brush of sleeper grime.

 

P1160175.JPG.5b2417facaf9e974b1eee92d9e011b8d.JPG

 

P1160176.JPG.fc73a966fb59fdb5dccb3a894727da92.JPG

 

I'm happy with this as a first attempt. I think once painted, weathered and ballasted it should look ok.

 

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  • RMweb Gold

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted on this thread 😮!

Things have been progressing, but at a very slow pace and in several different directions. I seem to be able to work on many things in parallel and not finish any of them!

 

The reason for posting now is that the latest side project involves the control panel for the layout, and last week I came across this topic:

which introduced me to printing onto dibond panels (an aluminium composite material).

 

Long story short, I ordered a panel for Hinton Road Shed:

DSC02724.JPG.b757b8f68895328c5ca1cdc6469ecb05.JPG

 

Full story here:

 

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  • RMweb Gold

I was intending to use the DCC Concepts Cobalt-S levers to control the points but they've been unavailable for over a year now with no sign of them re-appearing so I've given up and resorted to standard DPDT switches instead. Slightly disappointing but at least I know I'll be able to get replacements and/or additional ones whenever I need them.

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  • RMweb Gold

A parcel arrived late last night from Grainge & Hodder containing some 6mm ply panels to make up the control panel:

DSC02725.JPG.624956ae1ff0fd081b224718eabc7787.JPG

 

DSC02726.JPG.6b13d7b00f2fc79ef097fe51428a3c3f.JPG

 

Here they are just slotted together, but fit together perfectly:

DSC02727.JPG.23476979ee50859cb90a713296da7c7d.JPG

 

And with the dibond panel propped in to check the fit, alongside the cardboard prototype:

DSC02729.JPG.7f30f94f460c628fea03edcd7465cec8.JPG

 

Panel needs drilling for LEDs and switches, then folding to fit the enclosure.

The ply will be treated with shellac and varnish before glueing together.

Then all the electrickery needs to be installed...

 

Very very pleased with the panel and the enclosure, just hope my finished article does them justice. 🙂

 

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  • RMweb Gold

Slow progress, but at least there is some:

Dibond panel has been drilled and folded;

Switches & LEDs have been wired up and fitted to panel;

Enclosure has been varnished and glued up;

Circuit board for internal connections has been made up and fitted;

Connections have been buzzed out and so far all is good...

 

DSC02757.JPG.d94e4d5611123497d847535be8edde67.JPG

 

DSC02758.JPG.1f14931dbbf9b677196fe684adb6a120.JPG

 

DSC02759.JPG.838bd7573b0bd27f7d5b8661aa9532ea.JPG

 

DSC02760.JPG.9f5b2a5f327ec54beb4258a3a8251e6b.JPG

 

Next step is to wire up the LEDs to the connector board then make up the back panel with connections to the rest of the (yet to be built) layout.

 

A little bird has dropped a hint that Santa will be bringing something to help with making up the back panel 🙂.

 

 

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  • RMweb Gold

My latest distraction...

For a while now I've had a growing desire (oo-err missus, don't titter) to try building some of my own track, having marvelled at some of the examples shown in RMWeb.

I downloaded Templot and tried and failed to get anywhere with it, finding the interface and terminology totally baffling. After a while I decided to try again and followed one of the many tutorials and managed to produce a simple point template (which turned out to be very easy). However, the next step of getting from the printed template to building an actual point sorry, turnout was another daunting hurdle for me. The printed template has sat gathering dust for the last few months.

More recently I now have a need for some display bases to be used for stock that is off the layout and in the cabinet. Up to now I have just used the fiddle cassettes as I haven't yet built the layout!

So I thought I'd take a baby step and build a piece of short straight track to use on my first display base, to prove to myself that I could (or couldn't) do it.

Templot was fired up again to create the template, which I kind of managed to do but couldn't get it exactly how I wanted. In the end I drew up a quick template using QCAD, which I found much easier for a simple piece of straight track (I wouldn't try that for any other track formations).

The Templot attempt did highlight one major error I'd made earlier, and that was I hadn't calibrated my printer. I'm so glad now that I hadn't gone ahead and built the turnout I'd previously printed!

So, here's one I made earlier:

DSC02785.JPG.e8b46f6df6e271601fcf715e696eae07.JPG

 

I found the whole exercise to be very relaxing, absorbing and eventually rewarding when I rolled a wagon smoothly from one end to the other.

I used: 

  • ply sleepers from Intentio (these are 9', even though I ordered 8'6". I'm not bothered though as 9' is very appropriate for my chosen period);
  • Peco code 124 bullhead rail;
  • Peco Individulay chairs;
  • C&L roller track gauges;
  • Double sided tape to stick sleepers to template;
  • Butanone to fix chairs to sleepers;
  • Superglue to fix rails to chairs.

I foresee a very slippery slope ahead of me...

 

Hinton Road Shed will still be built using Peco track and turnouts though, because I've already bought them and because I want to get something running sooner rather than later. Something for the future though.

 

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If I was starting a layout over this is the was I would go. I have become increasingly frustrated by the fixed nature of Peco points although I would continue to use the flexi track in appropriate places.

 

Paul R

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  • RMweb Gold

A package from Greenwood Model Railway Products (who I've only very recently come across) was delivered today.

 

I'd decided that, rather than starting with a scratch built turnout on a Templot template, I'd be better starting with a kit so as to get familiar with the basics before trying to run.

 

To that end I ordered a B6 kit and while I was browsing I thought I may as well try their 60' straight track panels for a bit more practice and as a comparison to building off a printed template.

 

The 60' panels (420mm) come as a pack of 5 laser cut ply templates:

DSC02786.JPG.f792885a162bbe2ff68de187b0c39f77.JPG

 

I also ordered some Exactoscale GWR 2-bolt chairs (I was very pleased to find these available here as otherwise they only seem to be available from the Scale Seven Group shop, only available to S7 members).

Peco code 124 track appears to be a good fit in the Exactoscale chairs.

 

DSC02787.JPG.95d1c14f7e8462c927114b2505d5ec73.JPG

 

The Greenwood turnout kit includes some nifty laser cut ply track gauges, but these seemed to be very slightly narrower (31.5ish?) than the 32mm C&L roller gauges so I stuck with the latter for this build.

 

The Peco chairs have a very small "key" moulded into the chair, and they all point to the right so there's no choice of which way they face.

The Exactoscale chairs have a very much more pronounced "key" and they are handed (each sprue has 5 right and 5 left facing keys).

I'm sure I once read somewhere that single line bi-directional tracks had the keys alternating left & right, so that's how I laid them out:

DSC02788.JPG.be6abd75a3aa7ee8aed461b7a6dd3295.JPG

 

This didn't look quite right to me, so before opening the Butanone I thought I'd check on t'internet.

Glad I did, because my search turned up this RMWeb entry from a few years ago:

 

 

So off came the chairs and put back on with the keys driven "towards the joint":

DSC02789.JPG.2cc150c7a71f1c4efe44e4ba4bcb9415.JPG

 

which I think looks much better (thanks @martin_wynne).

 

Just for comparison, here is the first panel I made (see post above) alongside some Peco flexitrack and the Greenwood panel (closest to camera):

DSC02790.JPG.d8b88c8b53ec4ab27d5332e97143996c.JPG

 

How do they compare?

The Peco Individulay chairs look OK to me but the Exactoscale ones definitely look better. Both do a good job of holding on to the code 124 rail, but I don't know yet whether there is any difference in how well the Butanone glues them to the ply sleepers.

The Greenwood panel has sleepers that are a close match to the Peco flexitrack sleepers in width, both of which come out at about 9.6" compared to the Intentio ones which are (as near as) exactly a scale 10" wide.

The Greenwood panel has variable sleeper spacing along its length, being prototypically closer together at the ends. It also has the benefit of not having to faff about with sticking sleepers onto a template as all the alignment is done for you. It was all really very easy and straightfoward.

 

I'll get round to the B6 after a bit more practice on straight panels.

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

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  • RMweb Gold

FWIW, a few more comparisons:

View from above:

DSC02792.JPG.a0a3ad4862bf53b0470d04550a77480e.JPG

 

End on:

DSC02791.JPG.b51723e469f6a0b2651247cf14ee023e.JPG

 

The rail is all Peco code 124.

The Exactoscale chairs appear to hold the Peco rail at a slight cant whereas the Peco chairs and flexitrack hold the rail vertically (gauge is still 32mm for all).

 

The overall heights are all very slightly different:

Greenwood track panel with Exactoscale chairs: 7.7mm

Peco Flexitrack: 7.3mm

Intentio sleepers with Individulay chairs: 7.0mm

 

The sleeper thicknesses by themselves:

Greenwood: 3.25mm

Peco: 3.35mm

Intentio: 2.75mm

 

Side on view:

DSC02793.JPG.16e178797708869866c1e86ebe6a9b7b.JPG

 

What's my point?

I have no idea, just thought it might be of interest to someone... 🙂

 

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