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Kings Tawton. North Devon line 1980s


Ramblin Rich
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Ramlin Rich's rural railway roundy-roundy!

I'm just starting this thread as a placeholder to show I have made a start on my oft-mentioned layout idea, based on the North Devon 'Tarka line' in the 1980s (although that tagline didn't get used until the 1990s!). I've had a long fascination with this line which had traffic flows in the 1970s and 1980s more akin to Scottish lines: short loco hauled passenger trains (with mail/parcels traffic), DMUs (some with tail traffic), loco hauled DMU replacements in the late 1980s (class 50s on 2-3 decrepit coaches!) and varied goods traffic including ball clay, milk, timber, fertilizer, resin, cement and grain to / from various stations ( see the North Devon line services thread).

My idea is based on a passing loop (like Eggesford) but retaining goods sidings to 'nick' the traffic which went to Lapford, squeezed into an 8'6" by 7'6" home office space (there was a planning thread showing thoughts a while ago too).

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Progress has been snail like due to work & family commitments and I've come to accept I will be using largely off the peg items.

I've finally got around to getting boards up in the office, using Ikea Lack shelves and Linmon table tops - fairly lightweight and very stable. There's a dropped down section across the window area incorporating a stream bridge.  Track is Peco 00 bullhead plain track, with 'standard' code 75 points as the curved ones aren't in the bullhead range yet. The plan includes cassette fiddle yard with offset entry, to allow trains to enter from oposite ends at the same time without having to change over, but I've shown a 'through line' with a dogleg to allow round & round use.

Progress so far is getting track base down (using 5mm wood fibre underlay and 5mm ply inserts where track crosses board joints) and soldering wiring onto the Peco code 75 points (bonding track & stock rails together). I next need to lay in wire-in-tube point control, using slide switches to switch the electrofrog polarity; I've removed the over-centre springs and will use the switches to keep the rails in position.

A few phone pictures as proof of progress!

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An earlier version with sidings the other way, but showing the space will allow loco + 4 coaches

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Current state

 

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(excuse the photo quality, there's not a lot of light in here!)

I am glad there's finally something to show for all the talk over the years, but it will probably be some more time before there's a working layout to talk about!

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21 minutes ago, slow8dirty said:

Really good news Rich, well done for sticking with it.

Cheers, great to see you're back in circulation too! Just noticed you're kicking off with Roshven. Wierd that 2 serial procrastinators are starting at the same time! :scratch_one-s_head_mini:

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Really like your plan Rich.

I was looking at photos of Kings Nympton earlier today when it still had a remaining goods siding that had somehow survived into the late 70s/early 80s, and imagining how that station crossed with Eggesford (with its passing loop) would make a very interesting model if you could capture the ambiance of the area.

You’ll need to make a lot of trees though...

 

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Thanks, it's that combination of Eggesford's loop plus sidings for freight that I've been aiming for. I've only seen 1 picture of goods traffic in the siding at Kings Nympton and I've a feeling it was before the track was rationalised, I don't think it got much use after that.

The layout name is a mash-up of Kings Nympton & Bishops Tawton; whether it's Kings or King's is debatable!

And yes it will need trees although I'd like to incorporate a pub in the corner by the station ;) and our daughter wants to have a farm the other end, with pigs - her favourite! :)

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  • 1 month later...

Great to see you finally make a start for your sake more than anything. I know you've been full of enthusiasm for this for a (very) long time now.  Your track plan is almost like a mirror image of Lapford!  I don't quite fit in with your "serial procrastinators" title. I actually made got quite far with my Barnstaple ish layout before things came to a halt about 2 years ago. I never got around to starting a thread on it but it's still there under a layer of dust and I know I will return to it at some point.

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress however slow it may be.

 

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Thanks for 'bumping' this Chris. Would be good to see posts on your Barnstaple-ish if you do resurrect it .

 

What with work and Christmas preparations I've made little movement, I'm concentrating on getting the point control wire-in-tube and cranks in place first before  fixing track. Small steps but quite crucial. Once the w-i-t is fixed, I can get some track down at last!

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On 30/12/2019 at 10:04, Temeraire said:

 

 

I remember seeing that Chris, did that 73 ever get a run on it?? Would be good to see any progress here.

 

 

Class 73s in North Devon? Heaven forbid!  Yes Ian it got a fair bit of use before everything came to an unexpected and abrupt halt.  The layout has been untouched for over two years and is now home to many spiders!  I've always known I would get back to it and it's likely to be a while yet. Perhaps I'll start a thread with some of the pics I took during it's construction. I don't want to hijack Rich's thread but here's one  showing, hopefully, how I wanted to capture the scenery around the Eggesford area. 

PB150401.JPG

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It's basically a 15ft shelf down one side of a triangular garage (corner plot) with a big breeze block pillar making an uninterrupted view from one end to the other impossible.  It;s about 14 inches wide at it's narrowest and just over 2ft at its widest.

 

I know you are a fan of the cyber heritage site so you'll reckognise the view I am trying to recreate here.

P9040378.JPG

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  • 2 months later...
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How on earth have we got to the end of March without me getting anywhere? Enough going on already and now into lockdown, but me still going out to work with the NHS at present.

Although progress really is very slow, I'm currently installing wire-in-tube control before getting track laid. A bit of a landmark today though having got the  w-i-t set up to control both ends of the loop and also both of the  points leading into the sidings. Hopefully with having to stay in more I may get a bit of a move on. Pictures need resizing before posting up.

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I missed your thread Rich, what a lovely little layout. :)

 

15 minutes ago, Ramblin Rich said:

How on earth have we got to the end of March without me getting anywhere? Enough going on already and now into lockdown, but me still going out to work with the NHS at present.

Although progress really is very slow, I'm currently installing wire-in-tube control before getting track laid. A bit of a landmark today though having got the  w-i-t set up to control both ends of the loop and also both of the  points leading into the sidings. Hopefully with having to stay in more I may get a bit of a move on. Pictures need resizing before posting up.

 

I wouldn't worry, I have gone a year without doing anything productive on Horrabridge!

 

Best wishes,

 

Nick.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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A little progress to report:

The wire in tube is all set up and working :D

Points and some of the plain track have been primed and the rail edges 'rusted'

Tracks laid out, next job is to attach all the dropper wires to the plain tracks and start wiring. I'm undecided whether to drill through and connect everything underneath (which will be awkward as the boards are fairly rigidly attached!), or make the connections on top & bury the wires in between the underlay / scenery later.

A quick set of photos from the phone to show where I am. Hopefully warming up the soldering iron tomorrow. :O IMG_20200408_163953.jpg.f5627102bfa6e939358b858103eaba57.jpg

'Far left' end leaving the fiddle yard

 

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Bridge section

 

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Start of loop

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The site of the level crossing, heading into a pile of wire!

 

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Where the platforms & station will be

 

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Goods yard entrance points

 

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The points which control entry to the headshunt, arranged as a crossover so one lever controls both ;)

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Main line exiting to right, headshunt on slightly lower level (cardboard) to show separation from main line

 

I don't seem to be able to get rid of this duplicate image below!

 

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Edited by Ramblin Rich
captions for images
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  • 3 weeks later...
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A bit of progress today while dipping into the 'virtual' members day too. As I'd set the day aside I decided to get on with more wiring :mellow:

A few hours later - movement! Heljan 33/1 made it's way from where the fiddle yard exit will be, over the bridge & through the loop entry points. Then the 'lectric ran out (=haven't got any further with soldering droppers) but still, the points worked and it ran well enough. The wires on the bridge board will get buried in the scenery, but other wires will get dropped through the flat boards.

Only downside - I had intended to use a microswitch alongside the points to change frog polarity, but when I checked with a multimeter one pole was faulty. I thought I had a spare but couldn't find it. Plan B is to run the frog polarity wire all the way back to the lever frame at the other end of the station. The layout isn't intended to be moveable but I will still put plugs between the boards, so I'll need another connection for that frog lead...

Pictures to show the situation at the end of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Ramblin Rich
can't get images in right order!
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