'Porlock', 009 - Scenic work underway

[Pre Grouping fan]

For my first layout thread I thought I would cover the build of the 009 layout I'm in the process of planning.

 

The Plan so far:

- A fictional terminus station set in north Devon. You could call it a fictional branch off the original L&B route I suppose.

- Basic idea for landscaping is based off of Woody Bay with land rising behind and falling in front of the track which itself will be on a down gradient towards the fiddle yard.

- It will be a mix of L&B prototype structures and kit/scratch-built where needed. 

- DC control with isolators controlling train movements.

- Sector Plate fiddle yard capable of handling 4 3 coach trains at capacity.

- Currently un-named, Some ideas: Blackmoor Vale, Bratton Moor. Suggestions welcome. 

Name Chosen

Porlock is a village with a steep hill between Lynton and Minehead. It's a bit far for and extension to the L&B but I think it works. 

 

- Will be available for exhibitions once complete/presentable in the south of England although others considered.

 

Current progress:

Track plan finalised as can be seen below.

Track laid, wired and now fully tested

Control panels almost complete

Scenic work started. 

If there is interest I will try and update regularly.

 

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Pre Grouping fan

[Pre Grouping fan]

Preparations/planning progresses 

 

Trackwork:

This will be Peco Mainline flexitrack but with a difference. Being based on the L&B, the track will be cut into 30ft lengths and have 12 sleepers per panel. All adds to the realism.

Im using a basic spacing jig to space the sleepers from eachother and from the end of the rail. A spot of superglue on one rail helps hold them in place and still allows flex on curves when tracklaying does commence. Its a very time consuming process and 6 "panels" are complete so far.

 

I have also found a way of fitting the new Bullhead fishplates to the 009 rail by simply filing the foot of the rail back almost flush with the body? of the rail. This I feel adds even more realism to the layout.

 

Control Panel

This I plan to make like the interior of a signal cabin. It will use Peco point switches in the PL-27 enclosure/mount with isolator switches on an "instrument" shelf above and a track diagram with LED indicators to show if each section is live/dead. A rough mock up of whats planned below

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by Pre Grouping fan

[Pre Grouping fan]

On the rolling stock front I have been working on coaches recently.

 

The standard Peco couplings looked rather chunky. I decided to keep the main body as I felt it looked closer to the chopper style couplings the real vehicles were fitted with. That and and Greenwich couplings look too small/weak on large coaches like these. 

 

I modified them by removing the plastic loop and replacing with a Greenwich coupling loop and now work with magnets for auto un-coupling. I may replace the plastic wheelsets as well at some point.

Having done this, I recently saw a website that make scale working L&B Chopper couplings that fit the NEM pockets without modification:

https://nzfinescale.com/emporium/detail-parts-other-scales/l-and-b-oo9-couplers-nem-fitting/

 

Reasonably priced but but postage is the killer coming from New Zealand.

 

I have also made a set of coupled vacuum pipes which complete the look on what will be a semi coupled 3 coach rake.

The coupled vacuum pipes are 1mm elastic and 1dia x 0.5mm magnets to replace the moulded ones. Currently this will only be on the fixed 3 coach rake but may expand to freight. 

 

Theres various other items of stock going through the works being made fit for service on this or other layouts.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Pre Grouping fan

[Pre Grouping fan]

Long time since the last update and this is a bit of a long one.

 

I have now collected the baseboardsso construction can commence. I decided to get them built by someone else as my carpentry skills aren't really brilliant. I'm really glad I did because what I have is excellent. The time/skill/thought that's gone into these shines in the quality of build

 

Here's a few pictures courtesy of Mulberry Modelling Works:

From the front it stands at just under 11ft long and 22" wide

 

The main trackbed and farm track woodwork rests on an open frame to save weight and allow wires through the large holes. The flat are at the rear is for cottages which may or may not be modeled. 

 

The pelmet uprights for lighting bolts to the backscenes and the actual pelmet is a friction fit in the suports. It also folds In half to aid transport. This view also shows the basckscene framing which has made them solid, they even dowel together over the board joint. 

 

Fiddle yard with sector plate and shelves for stock. The area to the right of the sector plate may be used for keeping locos ready to run onto the stock. The thought gone into this I really like, the shelf panel lifts out and the end folds down leaving it flat and compact for transport. 

 

Then today once set up in my garage. I made a right mess starting to fill in the gaps with celotex insulation. 

 

Other work that's been going in is the control panel has been built up to a stage where I need to try it on the boards and decide its final location/mounting method. 

 

 

And finally I've been preparing the track, cutting up more panels/ sleepers and fitting the bullhead fishplates ready for laying. I think I'm almost there with all the scenic side track. I decided to go for N Gauge track in the fiddle yard mainly as its slightly cheaper and probably more durable than 009 track and won't really be seen. 

[saxokid]

Coming along treat from those pictures..

[Pre Grouping fan]

Some progress has been made today. The fiddle yard entrance and sector plate has been corked ready to start on the trackwork. As I think I mentioned before, I'm using N Gauge track here as its marginally cheaper and probably stronger with its additional sleepers and won't really get seen behind the front panel. 

 

I also started to map out the mainline and platform. Using some of the already cut track and a length of N Gauge to model the curve for now. 

 

The carriage siding is inspired by the siding at Woody Bay with a slight incline to give the illusion of the mainline being steeper than what it is which from eye level will look great. 

 

As the track has been cut into 120mm (30ft) panels a lot of checking will be needed with the Mk1 eyeball to make sure it doesn't have major kinks in it but also not perfect as no length of track is ever dead straight. And that the sleepers are spaced evenly when finally laid. 

[Pre Grouping fan]

A long weekend was the perfect opportunity to crack and get some serious work done on the track. 

 

All of the mainline has now been cut/shaped leaving just the station area and carriage siding to complete. None of it is fully laid yet just sitting in position ready for any wires to solder on. Next stage is finish the station and once any wires are added I can lay some pernamently. I've yet to decide on the point motors I'm going to use but will drill a hole under each tiebar before laying each point (or I might have a problem in future!)

 

Close up of one of the track joints, so far there's 40 odd fishplates that have been fitted like this. It gets a bit tedious but we'll worth it I think. 

[Pre Grouping fan]

Spent the rest of the day laying out the carriage siding, loop and goods sidings. And pically I'm a few fishplates short for the carriage siding.

 

I also clipped a controller to the mainline and tested the track which a manning Wardle and Narrow Planet Hudswell Clark made a few trips up/down successfully.

 

Edit: The testing was partly to check the jointed track carried power OK over the long distance, I will probably add one or two additional feeds to ensure power down the gradient.

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Pre Grouping fan

[Pre Grouping fan]

Well Christmas got in the way of track laying  but with all that over, progress can once again be made. 

 

Track has now made it all the way to the fiddle yard.  Its slow progress as I can only lay a few panels at a time with the weights I have but the end is in sight and I can soon turn my attention to the station area again. 

 

I bodged together all the wires into a terminal block for + & - wires to allow testing which is successful so far with only one section dead on a point Frog with no feed.

I have tested the mainline with the NP Hudswell and Heljan Manning Wardle again and a train of 3 coaches. As the garage floor slopes with the gradient it increases drop but the Hudswell made it up only struggling slightly but 3 bogie coaches is more than I would expect from it anyway.

 

The sectorplate has also seen track wired and fixed to it at the pivot end to allow the moving end to be plotted out. Which has assisted in positioning the entry track.

 

Next jobs will be to solder copper clad sleepers over the joints and split the rail then I can finish the sector plate track. And work on the control panels for both ends of the layout. 

[Pre Grouping fan]

Made a lot of progress this last week

 

Track has been laid in the fiddle yard both on the entry road and sector plate. I found using N Gauge track in the fiddle yard that the sleepers are slightly different thicknesses and required a bit of shim underneath to keep the track smooth. Most of the track is loose currently with a few pins holding it in place. 

Clearances are tight at the non pivot end but there won't be more than 2 bogie sets on the fiddle yard at the same time. 

 

I finished laying the loop at the station end the other evening. Almost forgot to drill the hole for the point motor! Good news is it all works apart from the missing point frog switches. Just the last few pieces to lay. 

Currently working on the control panel as it getting to the point where wires are getting tangled to each other and I cant properly test anything.

 

I have also bought some Warm white LED strip to light the layout and some Jack plugs to make it easy to dismantle. More on that next time. 

[Pre Grouping fan]

With help a lot of progress was made this weekend.

 

A bonus with the open frame method is you can make the landscape with whatever profile you desire but once built gives the problem of not much working surface to put tools and they end up on the floor!

 

Work saw these holes mostly filled in with a mix of insulation and polystyrene. A start made on shaping it before it's smoothed with sculptamold. We also plotted out the goods sidings and position of the station building on the platform.

 

One of the next major jobs will have to be the backscene before too much happens or it will become harder to fit.

 

I'm rather pleased with this next shot of Yeo ascending the gradient with a goods train and a carriage set stabled in the siding alongside. 

And finally another looking the opposite way of the goods being shunted by a Hudswell Clarke. 

[Pre Grouping fan]

Since the last update much progress been made. 

 

On one board the insulation/polystyrene has been covered with Sculptamold, this is a paper mache type material which used plaster.

It comes in a bag dried and all you do is mix it approx 50:50 with water and apply it, smoothing with more water if it dries a bit. Took a few days to fully dry in the cold garage though even with heater on while I was working in there. 

 

This edge above was done by sandwiching card between the boards and applying the sculptamold right up to it. And remembering to remove the card before it dried fully. Little bit of sanding and the joint in smooth and almost seamless. 

 

An overview of the boards when cleared for fitting point motors. These were fitted with the boards laying on their back with assistance from a friend. With one person lining the motor up from the front and checking the angle is OK and the second putting the screws in they were fitted pretty quickly. I had wired them up beforehand so all I have to do now is connect them up.

 

Should see some more colour being applied soon with ballast and a backscene in the works. 

[Pre Grouping fan]

I've just realised it's been a long time since the last update so I think it's time 

 

Firstly the lighting pelmet has been erected and LED strip fitted and wired. I have used some jack type plugs to allow it to all be dismantled easily and quickly. I'm not too sure on the shield, my thoughts were it won't blind the viewing public at shows but it does slightly limit the spread of the light at the front. 

 

The backscene is from ID backscenes/Art Printers, its the Old Mill Town pack. I emailed them with custom sizes for length and height and it was printed to those dimensions. They don't charge an artwork cost, only the cost of a standard pack. I chose the premium self adhesive version which was fun to fit but went well and the backing film doubles as a cover to protect it while I have been working since. 

 

Finally for this update, the control panels have been built. These have been built using Model Railway Solutions laser cut control trays, I think these are the medium or large size. 

 

They are supplied without tops so some spare 6mm ply was cut up on a band saw at work and fitted with a few M2 screws, they were lying around and the fine thread appears strong enough to do the Job. 

 

The main box in the process of being built below. This is the stock size but with size with an added lid. Peco point switches with a faux 'King' lever to kill power to the frame on the left and facing point locks over to the right. These are just the on/off switches wired into the switches and just as a novelty feature really. The track diagram and isolating switches were still to he added here. 

The fiddle yard panel was too big as standard so I cut some off the front, made a lid and fitted it with the M2 screws again. This just needs switches for each road on the sector plate to isolate each one as required. 

 

More progress add in another post

 

[Pre Grouping fan]

Part 2 of this update brings us up to where we are now pretty much 

 

The platform is made using the resin sections available on eBay from a seller called a5036. They come in 150mm sections, overall I've used 7 pieces.

They have now been painted to up to be blue engineers brick, that was going on contemporary images of woody bay , although Im not convinced they were blue brick originally as most references I find just say brick edging. 

 

The retaining wall being built up using DAS clay, this will be scribed stone which I've never done before. I've built it up in layers, I placed its quite thick so should leave a thin layer to finish and scribe.

 

This is progress with scenic as of last night. 

I start with Javis earth brown Scenic J31, then before the glue dried added some woodland scenics turfs to add a bit of colour to the ground. I'll be going over this with static grass when I have more areas at this stage. Backscenes covered with the backing film to protect them. 

A final shot of a friends TAW ascending the bank which I quite like

[chrispearce]

Looking great. I'm very familiar with Minehead, Porlock and Lynton/Lynmouth so will watch with enthusiasm.

[scottystitch]

This is looking really good.  Some good modelling and some good ideas too.  I considered splitting my N gauge flexi into 60ft panels, but with a 14ft run, it might have been more trouble than it would have been worth, but on this type of project and size I think it's the right thing to do and will make a difference to the overall feel.

 

I've just received Phillips' L&B Measured and Drawn, so will follow this all the way.  

 

Coming together nicely.

 

Best

 

Scott.

[The Ghost of IKB]

Just found this thread and its very inspirational, any updates?

[Pre Grouping fan]

On 01/03/2021 at 09:22, The Ghost of IKB said:

Just found this thread and its very inspirational, any updates?

 

Thank you for the kind comment.

 

Unfortunately not a lot has happened since my last post apart from a bit of work on the station area.

 

It was penciles in for a few exhibitions last year/this year but have been cancelled for obvious reasons and the enthusiasm to work on it has dropped.

 

Work will resume at some point though.