Dunnington, Derwent Valley Light Railway.

[Signaller69]

On 11/10/2019 at 08:53, David jennings said:

In your photo above I’m very impressed with the concrete on which the point lever is mounted. How did you get that crazed / weathered effect ? Really good .....

Thanks David, it is a printed card worn asphalt sheet by Busch (HO 7416 which come in packs of 2 sheets) which looks very good but does not feature any relief. It is better than my efforts at trying to produce old, damaged concrete hard standing though!

Edited October 15, 2019 by Signaller69
Photo and add to info

[Signaller69]

The pointlever has been painted and fitted in situ.

[Signaller69]

The rear of the backscene has now been painted black and a Gaugemaster Photo backscene will hopefully be added tomorrow. I have also finally fitted the Narrow Planet name and works plates to the YGD Fowler.

A rather nice feature of the bespoke Narrow Planet service, is that the Works plates could be specified to feature the actual number of this loco, 4100005.

 

As can be seen in the last photo, wheel guards, in the form of some Plastruct section have been added too, though I think the real loco merely had lengths of bullhead rail welded to the frames! 

 

The slight gap around the base of the cab is due to my forgetting to refit a couple of tiny screws last time, which have since vanished of course... 

[Signaller69]

And a shot of layout progress so far, with the backscene removed, showing the hidden sidings and cut out for the bolt on sector plate.....

So.......backscene to finish, station building & platform to complete, Stationmaster's house gable end to make, Sawmill to complete, control panel to build and wire in, sector plate to finish, scenics & detailing to work on and facia panel / lighting rig to make and fit.....and Wrexham Toy & Hobby show to attend on 16th November.....well, I did say it may still be a work in progress!

[Tortuga]

I especially like the use of the double slip in the fiddle yard

[Signaller69]

2 hours ago, Tortuga said:

I especially like the use of the double slip in the fiddle yard

Thanks, it was left over from an  abandoned project so it made sense to use it as it also saves space.

[Signaller69]

The backscene has now been fitted using Deluxe Materials "View Glue". Having looked at ID Backscenes and Gaugemaster (and previously used both ranges) I settled on this one from the latter range (GM703) as the closest available to the fairly flat, rural village feel I was after. I used two and a half of the three sheets, though the top and bottom edges had to have about 3" removed along each sheet to fit the 6" boards. I would have liked to use the "N" gauge 6" high version for a more distant effect, but as each sheet is half the length of the "OO" version, this would have meant either joining 5 sheets from 2 identical backscenes, or blending together 2 different ones to get the length required.

I was surprised there are no photo backscenes of flat countryside available, all having hills or mountains in them. So this will have to do for now at least. That said, I'm pleased with the overall effect of how it looks.

[Signaller69]

The sector plate has had the visible part ballasted, followed by the DAS clay "filth" treatment to match the layout track, and help disguise the unmodified Peco Code 75 point. Once the clay has dried, a blast over with "Sleeper Grime" paint will follow, along with much static grass weed growth. A partial backscene will be added too to lesten most of the "hole in the sky" from most angles. The sawmill shed (where the screws are) will help with this too once completed.

[john new]

You are making very good progress on this. Out of curiosity do you know when Churchill was re-painted from the black livery into the yellow it had at the line's closure date?

[Neil]

That's very nice Martyn, but could I suggest that the backscene is tweaked to get rid of the distant hills. One of the characteristics of the real place is that it looks so flat with the horizon marked by distant trees. Here's the view looking away from the site of Dunnington level crossing towards Elvington, and spinning round almost 180 degrees the view across the old station site now occupied by the garage and other industrial buildings. There are some gentle hills towards Holtby but they're not visible from the old station site. The rest of the model is brilliant, takes me back to my teens when we placed pennies on Metcalfe Lane crossing in Osbaldwick for Joem to flatten.

[Signaller69]

2 hours ago, john new said:

You are making very good progress on this. Out of curiosity do you know when Churchill was re-painted from the black livery into the yellow it had at the line's closure date?

I'm not sure, but it seems to have ended up at Layerthorpe for intended sale not long after repainting (c. Late 70s/ very early 80s iirc, which was probably the reason for the spruce up). I will have to check photo dates etc tomorrow.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Signaller69
Add to info.

[Signaller69]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

That's very nice Martyn, but could I suggest that the backscene is tweaked to get rid of the distant hills. One of the characteristics of the real place is that it looks so flat with the horizon marked by distant trees. Here's the view looking away from the site of Dunnington level crossing towards Elvington, and spinning round almost 180 degrees the view across the old station site now occupied by the garage and other industrial buildings. There are some gentle hills towards Holtby but they're not visible from the old station site. The rest of the model is brilliant, takes me back to my teens when we placed pennies on Metcalfe Lane crossing in Osbaldwick for Joem to flatten.

Many thanks for your comments Neil, yes I agree that the backscene is not really representative of the Dunnington area. Sadly the range of available photo backscenes is very limiting and I have no desire at the moment to try to produce my own, so it will have to do for the time being. I am undecided how best to achieve a satisfactory impression as my artistic skills are not fantastic. I'm thinking a photographic sky with either suitably distant hazy photo images pasted onto the horizon, or painted on by hand, both of which ideas fill me with trepidation. Or possibly just a painted hazy sky with blurry tree line, in the "less is more" style which may be the best solution, having seen some very nicely done examples around. Suggestions welcome!

 

Best regards.

Martyn.

 

 

[Signaller69]

14 hours ago, john new said:

You are making very good progress on this. Out of curiosity do you know when Churchill was re-painted from the black livery into the yellow it had at the line's closure date?

Thinking about it, I'm sure I have seen a photo of Joem with Churchill still in black in the background, so it must have been 1977 at the earliest, but the earliest photo I have seen of Churchill in the mustard yellow colour is Sept. 1981, looking immaculate and working at Dunnington still, so I suspect it had only just been repainted. Around the time the line from Layerthorpe closed on 22nd Sept. 1981 it was purchased from Yorkshire Grain Driers by the DVR and moved to Layerthorpe, with a photo showing it outside the loco shed there in October 1981. Presumably it saw a little further use there until being put up for sale with the other DVLR stock in 1982; no buyer being found it was presented to the Yorkshire Museum of Farming in 1983.

[DLT]

Dunnington is looking super Mr. Signaller, I hope I can get to see it some day.

All the best, Dave.

[Signaller69]

Sector plate progress today. Track weathered, point motors fitted, sides and ends cut and painted.

[DLT]

I really like that idea.

[Signaller69]

The sector plate scenics are complete except for a good covering of static grass.

 

I have also made a card mock up of a Gable end of the Stationmaster's House to see how it will sit.

 I think it may look better cut back to just show the end wall, placed diagonally across the corner, with the roof profiled to match so that side walls running into the backscene are eliminated, something like this:

The real building was 'L' shaped as built, so a tree or 2 and a small garage might be another option to hide the fact the rest of the house is missing from the backscene. An L shape scenic flat along both axis of the backscene could be another possibility. Decisions, decisions....

 

[J25]

On 20/10/2019 at 17:31, Neil said:

That's very nice Martyn, but could I suggest that the backscene is tweaked to get rid of the distant hills. One of the characteristics of the real place is that it looks so flat with the horizon marked by distant trees. Here's the view looking away from the site of Dunnington level crossing towards Elvington, and spinning round almost 180 degrees the view across the old station site now occupied by the garage and other industrial buildings. There are some gentle hills towards Holtby but they're not visible from the old station site. The rest of the model is brilliant, takes me back to my teens when we placed pennies on Metcalfe Lane crossing in Osbaldwick for Joem to flatten.

You are a little bit out with your Google maps, Neil. The filling station existed alongside the railway from at least the 1950s.The railway passed through what is now Phillip Welch's car showroom beyond the filling station and along the far side of the side road (this road originally ended in a cross-roads opposite Common Lane to the east of the station (hence the name Four Lane Ends), but it was diverted when the railway was built to avoid the need for two level crossings.

[Neil]

Thanks J25, I picked the views from a point just to the York side of the crossing as they (particularly the second one) better match the sideways onto the station viewpoint of the model. You're quite right though that I should have made this clearerin my description.

[Signaller69]

1 hour ago, J25 said:

You are a little bit out with your Google maps, Neil. The filling station existed alongside the railway from at least the 1950s.The railway passed through what is now Phillip Welch's car showroom beyond the filling station and along the far side of the side road (this road originally ended in a cross-roads opposite Common Lane to the east of the station (hence the name Four Lane Ends), but it was diverted when the railway was built to avoid the need for two level crossings.

 

1 hour ago, Neil said:

Thanks J25, I picked the views from a point just to the York side of the crossing as they (particularly the second one) better match the sideways onto the station viewpoint of the model. You're quite right though that I should have made this clearerin my description.

My lords, I have a cunning plan...... regarding the backscene. I have yet to get to grips with a new airbrush I received some time back, but this may be the ideal way of removing unwanted features, whilst providing a large area to practice techniques with. The only catch is, it will have to wait until the weather warms up again!  If it works out, then great, but if it goes wrong I will only have lost a backscene.....

[Neil]

12 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

 

My lords, I have a cunning plan...... regarding the backscene. I have yet to get to grips with a new airbrush I received some time back, but this may be the ideal way of removing unwanted features, whilst providing a large area to practice techniques with. The only catch is, it will have to wait until the weather warms up again!  If it works out, then great, but if it goes wrong I will only have lost a backscene.....

 

If that doesn't work another possibility might be to drop the backscene you've already used so that the foreground stuff disappears and you're just left with distant trees on the horizon and lots of sky.

[Signaller69]

4 hours ago, Neil said:

 

If that doesn't work another possibility might be to drop the backscene you've already used so that the foreground stuff disappears and you're just left with distant trees on the horizon and lots of sky.

Thanks  Neil, I will aim for that outcome using the airbrush first, otherwise a hazy sky backscene will probably have the low horizon painted on.

[Signaller69]

The Stationmaster's house is almost done, just needing curtains, bargeboards and window sills adding. The windows are not 100% accurate as they were fudged from some spare signal box windows. ID Backscenes self adhesive brickwork was used. The house had a brick outhouse and I think, a garage. One or other will be represented to the left side, with fencing etc added and possibly the small garden tree in the right corner.

 

The "view blocking" sawmill now has a basic roof from Wills sheets; trusses etc remain to be added.

 

[Signaller69]

The Sawmill roof is ready for painting. Tried a few unusual photo angles too......

[BWsTrains]

On 30/05/2019 at 08:29, Signaller69 said:

During testing of the uncoupling magnets it was found that some of the Model Power coupler (some of my freight stock is so fitted) trip pins weren't being attracted very well. Adding a third magnet inboard of the original 2 as shown has cured this, and made the Kadees more snappy in response too.

 

 

 

Hi,

 

Just come across this topic. My uncoupler solution is a slight variant of the original by Sol which provides a wider uncoupling zone. It replaces three sleepers with stacks of small disc magnets laid flat so N poles on one side S poles the other.

 

To sumarise the key features:
 

A solution for Kadee uncoupling if track and ballast have already been laid.

soften the ballast around 3 sleepers with water and detergent, then cut out ballast and centre portions of the 3 sleepers. The ballast outside the rails should hold the ends of the cut sleepers in place.

 

Three rows of 3mm * 1mm disc magnets assembled in heat shrink tubes, magnets all aligned in same direction. Tube OD 3.5mm - (warning: do not heat shrink, plug the ends with blutak or PU glue)

A support base of x * 14 * 0.5mm PS sheet to place the magnets' top edges 0.8mm below rail tops - x being the linear gap, dependent on your sleeper spacing

Tube spacing - to mimic removed sleepers. Shown here with PECO 100.

 

Longer uncoupling zone than a single magnet placement.

 

 

This works very effectively and is barely visible after reballasting and painting.

 

Assembly tips:
 

• Tape the cut PS base to the underside of a spare piece of track, locate in line and between rails
• Beneath this, tape two slab magnets 1 under each rail opposite poles up. This will help keep the tube magnets in situ while gluing. Otherwise they have a nasty habit of jumping out onto the adjacent tube, superglue and all!
• dab tiny specks of CA superglue onto the PS sheet between sleepers and insert magnet tubes one at a time ensuring poles are all in the same direction. They are drawn to the magnets beneath so fix quickly

 

 

Although I've not yet tested the following, I've read that larger Neo magnets positioned under the rails are as effective and easier to install when laying track.

 

Colin

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by BWsTrains
to add assemby tips