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Gresley Junction


thegreenhowards
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Hi Gilbert,

 

Yes the fiddle yard is a bit complex. I’ve just spent the last couple of weeks relaying half of it to squeeze in an extra track and make the middle three tracks reversible. It’s worked really well and I now have 16 tracks including 2 half length ones at the far side and some kick backs. Several of them can take two trains, so lots of storage, (but still not enough!).

 

I intend to work round the layout over the next few days starting with the fiddle yard as that is the engine room.

 

The nearest track is a line for mixing and matching mark 1s and catering cores to make up the myriad of second tier trains that formed most of the ECML service. This was inspired by your experience on Peterborough North, so thanks for that. In fact, quite a bit will be familiar as PN and Little Bytham are my main guiding light for this layout.

 

i look forward to your comments.

 

All the best

 

Andy

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The pic and the track layout look good so far, looking forward to seeing more, especially the station area! If you still need to develop some scenic sections, this layout could provide good inspiration: 

 and this one 

 and this one 

and this one 

 

Looking forward to seeing the progress on the layout,

 

Matthew

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3 hours ago, gordon s said:

Great to see another ECML layout and it must be wonderful to have that length of run. The viaduct is particularly impressive, so looking forward to seeing more pics as it develops.

Thanks Gordon,

 

Gilbert put me onto your thread and I’ve enjoyed following your trials and tribulations.

 

Andy 

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2 hours ago, croydon junction said:

The pic and the track layout look good so far, looking forward to seeing more, especially the station area! If you still need to develop some scenic sections, this layout could provide good inspiration: 

 and this one 

 and this one 

and this one 

 

Looking forward to seeing the progress on the layout,

 

Matthew

Thanks Matthew,

 

I’m familiar with all those threads, and they’ve all been good inspiration especially Peterborough North which I’ve been lucky enough to visit a couple of times. Grantham is outside my timeframe but I’m a big fan. Worth the admission price alone when it’s on show

 

Andy

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5 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Hi Gilbert,

 

Yes the fiddle yard is a bit complex. I’ve just spent the last couple of weeks relaying half of it to squeeze in an extra track and make the middle three tracks reversible. It’s worked really well and I now have 16 tracks including 2 half length ones at the far side and some kick backs. Several of them can take two trains, so lots of storage, (but still not enough!).

 

I intend to work round the layout over the next few days starting with the fiddle yard as that is the engine room.

 

The nearest track is a line for mixing and matching mark 1s and catering cores to make up the myriad of second tier trains that formed most of the ECML service. This was inspired by your experience on Peterborough North, so thanks for that. In fact, quite a bit will be familiar as PN and Little Bytham are my main guiding light for this layout.

 

i look forward to your comments.

 

All the best

 

Andy

 There can be some strange results from following my path Andy. I now find that I may actually have more catering stock than I really need.

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10 hours ago, great northern said:

 There can be some strange results from following my path Andy. I now find that I may actually have more catering stock than I really need.

Gresley and Thompson catering cars are so elegant that one can never have enough! I accept that you may have more than you strictly need for some trains. However, correct if I’m wrong, but I seem to remember that you’re missing a few of the more esoteric cars such as D.258 and  D.275 buffets, and that strange one with a few seats that ran in one of the Cleethorpes trains.

 

Personally speaking, I find catering cars like Pacifics - I love them, so I’ll have more than I strictly need.

 

Andy

 

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Having introduced the layout yesterday, I will go through the different parts over the next few days. Today, I’m going to start with the fiddle yard. That may be slightly unconventional, but it’s the engine room of the whole layout with all the sexy bits (the trains!); and It’s where I’ve been working for the last few weeks so it’s fresh in my mind.

 

My old fiddle yard had three problems.

Firstly, I had run out of space for storage (a familiar problem I’m sure) so several longer rakes were in cardboard boxes and others were in a cassette system;

Secondly, it had push back sidings with complete trains on a curve and I could rarely get the train out without some form of derailment; and

Thirdly I only had one reversible siding in the middle and that was only reversible in one direction. As I got round to planning a timetable/ schedule I realised  that a number. Of trains needed to run both ways (Talisman, Yorkshire Pullman etc.).

 

So after dithering for several months, I ripped up the ‘up’ (inner) half of the fiddle hard about three weeks ago including the push back sidings, and relaid it with track spacing at 45mm instead of 50mm and medium radius points instead of large in places. This allowed me to get in one extra road. I also replaced the entrance and exit arrangement for the first three roads so they are accessed (from the station side) via a double slip (brave or foolhardy possibly) and they exit at the other end onto the outer circuit and return to the inner if required via a crossover.

 

I was against a deadline as Bill Bishop of this parish visited last Thursday, but I had it all finished by last weekend and persuaded my son to run through the sequence with me to test it all. It seemed to work well with only a couple of derailments which I have subsequently fixed. If Bill reads this, maybe he could testify, but I think it behaved quite well when he was here (although there were some problems caused by my incompetence!).

 

So here is the new fiddle yard before it was fully restocked.

 

2CA491C4-F6CD-427F-BD52-33DEC218518E.jpeg.24c998b028f3b8c2a5337c25b16ca83f.jpeg

Locking towards the entrance from the station with the double slip evident.

 

1A869958-21EE-4C5A-829A-F95F87DD6B5B.jpeg.53fdf7d7d376e59d44ed42a8b05886b2.jpeg

Looking towards the far end from the station as the tracks curve round

 

2966C0EF-86F6-4013-A189-81FB44D66867.jpeg.bc742cfcdf8285a3803a48af237a3b16.jpeg

The exit at the far end of the fiddle yard with the crossover from outer (down) to inner (up) in the right foreground. There are still push backs on for the down slow (the four tracks to the right of the crossover) but these are entered on the straight and have caused less problems.

 

2548E898-DEB5-4387-83F7-C971032E988B.jpeg.0829d93dd3c4bae6f98b3f5a78964945.jpeg

And here it is fully stocked.

 

I have a cassette system (based on Peterborough North - thanks Gilbert) which allows smaller trains to be stored off layout. I built this myself and my carpentry was not it’s not as smooth as it should be, so the storage shelves will need rebuilding at some stage. But the cassettes work well and allow shorter trains to be fed into the schedule. With the new fiddle yard I may use it to store parts of mainline trains as well but will need to build some more cassettes first.

0FBE0856-EF28-4639-B741-F7DCE2B0A3FC.jpeg.c52efe88a0a4ce76f53c3a48b01ef0c1.jpeg

He is a cassette with my rubbish train, modelled on the Ashburton Grove rubbish train which used the bogie sulphate wagons as produced by Parkside Dundas.

 

Andy

 

Edited by thegreenhowards
Correcting English
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2 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Having introduced the layout yesterday, I will go through the different parts over the next few days. Today, I’m going to start with the fiddle yard. That may be slightly unconventional, but it’s the engine room of the whole layout with all the sexy bits (the trains!); and It’s where I’ve been working for the last few weeks so it’s fresh in my mind.

 

My old fiddle yard had three problems.

Firstly, I had run out of space for storage (a familiar problem I’m sure) so several longer rakes were in cardboard boxes and others were in a cassette system;

Secondly, it had push back sidings with complete trains on a curve and I could rarely get the train out without some form of derailment; and

Thirdly I only had one reversible siding in the middle and that was only reversible in one direction. As I got round to planning a timetable/ schedule I realised  that a number. Of trains needed to run both ways (Talisman, Yorkshire Pullman etc.).

 

So after dithering for several months, I ripped up the ‘up’ (inner) half of the fiddle hard about three weeks ago including the push back sidings, and relaid it with track spacing at 45mm instead of 50mm and medium radius points instead of large in places. This allowed me to get in one extra road. I also replaced the entrance and exit arrangement for the first three roads so they are accessed (from the station side) via a double slip (brave or foolhardy possibly) and they exit at the other end onto the outer circuit and return to the inner if required via a crossover.

 

I was against a deadline as Bill Bishop of this parish visited last Thursday, but I had it all finished by last weekend and persuaded my son to run through the sequence with me to test it all. It seemed to work well with only a couple of derailments which I have subsequently fixed. If Bill reads this, maybe he could testify, but I think it behaved quite well when he was here (although there were some problems caused by my incompetence!).

 

So here is the new fiddle yard before it was fully restocked.

 

2CA491C4-F6CD-427F-BD52-33DEC218518E.jpeg.24c998b028f3b8c2a5337c25b16ca83f.jpeg

Locking towards the entrance from the station with the double slip evident.

 

1A869958-21EE-4C5A-829A-F95F87DD6B5B.jpeg.53fdf7d7d376e59d44ed42a8b05886b2.jpeg

Looking towards the far end from the station as the tracks curve round

 

2966C0EF-86F6-4013-A189-81FB44D66867.jpeg.bc742cfcdf8285a3803a48af237a3b16.jpeg

The exit at the far end of the fiddle yard with the crossover from outer (down) to inner (up) in the right foreground. There are still push backs on for the down slow (the four tracks to the right of the crossover) but these are entered on the straight and have caused less problems.

 

2548E898-DEB5-4387-83F7-C971032E988B.jpeg.0829d93dd3c4bae6f98b3f5a78964945.jpeg

And here it is fully stocked.

 

I have a cassette system (based on Peterborough North - thanks Gilbert) which allows smaller trains to be stored off layout. I built this myself and my carpentry was not it’s not as smooth as it should be, so the storage shelves will need rebuilding at some stage. But the cassettes work well and allow shorter trains to be fed into the schedule. With the new fiddle yard I may use it to store parts of mainline trains as well but will need to build some more cassettes first.

0FBE0856-EF28-4639-B741-F7DCE2B0A3FC.jpeg.c52efe88a0a4ce76f53c3a48b01ef0c1.jpeg

He is a cassette with my rubbish train, modelled on the Ashburton Grove rubbish train which used the bogie sulphate wagons as produced by Parkside Dundas.

 

Andy

 

Andy

 

It was not called the rubbish train but the Ashburton Pullman.

 

I like the storage sidings.

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3 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Andy

 

It was not called the rubbish train but the Ashburton Pullman.

 

I like the storage sidings.

Quite right Clive. I was trying not to use jargon, but it was a characterful name.

 

I’m off to Warley tomorrow, so next update on Monday, when I will start moving found the layout to show how it’s all looking.

 

Andy

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So there are "right" layouts and "wrong" layouts, and GJ is very much a right layout.  I was working the station and perhaps my main problem was remembering which were up and down.  I operated all the stopping services and some of the fast trains, which tended to slow for a signal check - so I could eyeball some prototypical train formations.  Andy would warn me when he would operate a fast train.  A very pleasurable three hours passed in no time at all.

 

Bill

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After an exhausting but enjoyable day at Warley yesterday, it's time for the next instalment on Gresley Junction. I'm going to start with the viaduct section and then work round the layout in the up direction (i.e. anticlockwise).

 

Here is A3 60110 'Robert the Devil' on the up morning Talisman as it was in the Summer of 1957 (before extension to Perth and renaming as the Fair Maid at which stage it got a separate set of stock from the afternoon train).

1469959326_A3Viaduct1.jpg.61cbf6248307d41714449f7f8815a27b.jpg

A view of the full length of the viaduct.

1037181983_A3viaduct2.jpg.4577edaf8958f62c13bb20cb2d990357.jpg

Close up of the far end.

679481224_A3Viaduct3.jpg.33c8197726d2580d1379a1c274c6c3ed.jpg

A view through the arches. 

 

I'm afraid that I find that life's too short for photoshopping, so what you see is the raw layout, warts and all, with my pictures. As such these pictures highlight the need for a backscene. I think I can sort the sky behind the viaduct by using plain wallpaper up the loft wall and painting it blue. However, the final picture shows how abruptly the river stops. I really need to paint a disappearing river into the backscene, but my skills aren't up to it, so I'm still considering what to do there. It's not seen from normal viewing angles, so not a huge problem.

 

The viaduct is loosely based on Welwyn (aka Digswell) viaduct, although is less than have the size. The steep sides, flat bottom and small river are certainly similar to the valley of the Mimram which runs under Welwyn. I looked at lots of photos before I built it and convinced myself that the brick was yellow as were many early GNR structures. However, a site visit since then, reveals that in fact its mainly red brick with some blue brick, possibly as repairs. I used the Scalescenes kit and each arch had to be printed, glued onto card and put together. As it took a year to build (on and off), I'm not revisiting it! I will weather it in due course and hope to reduce the 'in your face' yellowness of the bricks. That will also give me the chance to repair the defects that I never normally notice, but which the camera has highlighted.

 

Andy

 

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51 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

 

Close up of the far end. However, the final picture shows how abruptly the river stops. I really need to paint a disappearing river into the backscene, but my skills aren't up to it, so I'm still considering what to do there. It's not seen from normal viewing angles, so not a huge problem.

 

 

It's maybe the kind of thing the eye tends to overlook when viewing the layout normally, but is highlighted by the camera.  I'm sure it's fine in 'real life'; I wish I could do scenery like that!

 

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2 minutes ago, 31A said:

 

It's maybe the kind of thing the eye tends to overlook when viewing the layout normally, but is highlighted by the camera.  I'm sure it's fine in 'real life'; I wish I could do scenery like that!

 

Thanks for that reassurance. The viaduct is definitely a 'scale over finesse' item, and it grabs the attention on the layout. The surrounding scenery was done with my 13 year old daughter, Ellen, who loves the creative side ….and the mess that goes with it! It's been fun having something to do together and keeping her involved in the railway.

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1 hour ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Andy

 

You mention a backscene behind the viaduct. Looking out my window today , I think you have the sky colour correct as it is. :good:

Yep, same here. Dismal, and too dark for photography. That very nice view wouldn't actually take long to photoshop, especially if you put a a white background behind it. It's stuff like lattice posts, roofs and so on which are a pig to do, as I know only too well.

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9 minutes ago, great northern said:

Yep, same here. Dismal, and too dark for photography. That very nice view wouldn't actually take long to photoshop, especially if you put a a white background behind it. It's stuff like lattice posts, roofs and so on which are a pig to do, as I know only too well.

Believe it or not that is a white background....or at least off-white as it hasn't been painted for 20+ years. It's just the light and the angle of the roof which renders it grey on the photo.

 

Tony Teague did try to teach me photoshopping, but it seemed an awful faff. Maybe once I got used to it, I would find it easier. What's the best free software to experiment with?

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