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Basford North


dibateg
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Tony,

That handbuilt pointwork looks superb.

My other half presented me with the attached t shirt the other day. She seems to have captured the sentiment well.I think it probably sums up the mood for most of us just now.

 

Keep well and stay safe everyone

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Thanks Richard - I still like to party... no chance of that at the moment...

 

I like it David!

 

A good friend of mine has kindly been designing the control panel, here is the first pass which seems to get me more motivated in getting on with the track laying.

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38 minutes ago, dibateg said:

Thanks Richard - I still like to party... no chance of that at the moment...

 

I like it David!

 

A good friend of mine has kindly been designing the control panel, here is the first pass which seems to get me more motivated in getting on with the track laying.

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That looks like a proper model railway to operate! Is the change from Leen to Zeen Valley deliberate or a cock up?

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Slow - but steady progress, the junction for Bulwell Common is complete, ready to be installed. The weather continues to be too good!

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and in context

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I've been plotting the course of the backscene - its going to be tricky, but possible. Plans are fine, but once it starts to get on the ground, aspects and visual compromises become more apparent. I was determined to have a junction - that in itself had resulted in a lot of thinking time!

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I was experimenting today with my camera and tried some low level shots to see what they would look like.  This would be the view looking up from Vernon Road although the down platform would be in the way of the wagons on the right...

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I originally designed the layout to come to pieces, but for certain parts it is just not practicable to do so as several turnouts will straddle board joins and I've been agonising over various solutions.. I had to call on the expertise and highly regarded opinion of 'er indoors.  'Why would you ever need to take it to pieces? - Don't over think it and just do it!' I can think of many layouts that are not designed to come to pieces.. looks like I am joining them...

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I've been out in the garden a lot, but I've completed the next assembly, an outside single slip. Getting the electrical breaks in was a challenge as some short sections of rail needed section breaks, so I've had to resort to nickel silver baseplates at strategic places to maintain integrity. This also allows the use of flux cored solder as N/S will solder nicely with that without having to resort to flux.

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Meanwhile I'm working in the other direction, whilst I agonise over some more decisions on the scenic side. The fan into the storage yard. I needed some long curved turnouts and unfortunately, the Peco curved point is 6foot on the outside radius, so that would not do. At least the ones I made on copper clad can be knocked up quickly in a couple of hours. They just need packing with some cork to match the height of the plain track. Slow progress 'cos 'er indoors keeps putting me on outside jobs.

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I made a mistake with part of my original design of the Eastern approach to the station, so Jim kindly re-worked it for me. It's simpler. The local printers are still closed, so I've resorted to A4 prints. Which with care are manageable. This re-work also means that the Bulwell Common line can be hidden behind a retaining wall. The straight sections can be seen just at the bottom.

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The fan takes shape, and I'm going to approach it from the other end now.

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Does anyone know where I can get bullhead rail joiners? I'm nearly out of the very nice SMP O gauge ones ( Markits are out of stock ) and the Peco SL-10s don't seem to fit C&L rail very well.

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1 hour ago, dibateg said:

Does anyone know where I can get bullhead rail joiners? I'm nearly out of the very nice SMP O gauge ones ( Markits are out of stock ) and the Peco SL-10s don't seem to fit C&L rail very well.

Rail joiners Tony??, it's not a train set, you'll be using set track next!!

 

Mike.

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18 minutes ago, dibateg said:

An update, there is a complete circuit now, and I've lashed up a temporary DC feed to the down line. Excuse the ropey video, from my iPhone.

 

 

 

 

Nice one Tony.

 

Worth celebrating.

 

Just a few little finishing off jobs now!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been chugging away making turnouts, there is a whole group together beyond the photo. in the meantime I've put a DCC decoder in a friends Finescale brass Brit: 70021 Morning Star. It runs a treat, but I must get round to oiling the axles of the tipplers... Here it is coming off the link to Bulwell Common. It's nice to be able to test locos at home now, but I miss a cuppa and a chat with mates whilst we  run a few trains.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Point production continues, but I've run out of point blades for the moment..

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Track laying progresses further East, I guess there would have been room just to add the 'rat hole' to Bagthorpe Jn, but the complication of having a line underneath the layout and how to return it was more work than I wanted to commit to. I have to be realistic what I can achieve as a solo effort for the moment. L-R Headshunt, Down from Bagthorpe Jn, Down from Leen Valley Jn, Up to Leen Valley/Bagthorpe Jn. The Bulwell Common line to the right will be offscene.

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I'm wiring as I go along. For some reason the short circuit buzzer didn't go off when I created one. Took half an hour to find it... Three bus's here, Up, Down and Goods Yard. Gaugemaster auto frogs for the diamond crossings and Tortoises in evidence.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm doing some preliminary work with the backscene. It will be mounted on the wall rather than the layout. It will be painted a basic sky colour. I have ideas on how to create the background. I have read and re-read Paul Bambrick's book several times.....

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Meanwhile, its fun to try different loco's on the layout, the shape of things to come, 92069 and 63770:-

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A rainy afternoon and I thought it would be a good idea to mock up the up line platform buildings, to see how they fit in with the back scene. First one is the clerks office, which wasn't actually on the platform, although the floor level seems to be set at platform height. With these in place I can examine the viewing angles. I've no drawings, so I've worked out the dimensions from some photographs.

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So it was out with the paint rollers to create a graduated sky, from darker at the top to a whiter at the bottom. It was recommended to put the whole lot in a line to get consistency ( Mr Bambrick's book ). I used two rollers , one for each mix. What I'm trying to get is a hazy summer sky. It is a bit washed out in these photos, but there are actually vague areas of white in the sky. I'm no artist though!

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I think I will make up a composite background, but I've not been able to find views of many backs of 1930s council houses and the ones in Brayton Crescent are quite individual. However, for proof of concept I've trawled the internet and come up with this Photoshopped test piece between the two railway buildings. In the 60s of course they would all have had those metal window frames - I remember them well! There is a fence all the way along the back of the station ( represented by a redundant venetian blind slat ) , so that make makes a convenient break between the layout and the back scene. The image is also reduced to force the perspective. The waiting room is approximately at platform level. I want quite a low viewing angle - more a natural viewpoint, than having the background towering over the layout.

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There will be a couple of council houses down on the left and the ground level will gradually rise up to that notch in the backscene.

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The next task is to create some mock up's of the bridges over the line, whilst I consider the backscene...

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Thanks Richard - my intention is to create the houses separately and attach them to the back scene. I shall have a play around with Photoshop and see what I can do with the Critall windows.

The backscene progresses, and upstands support it with ( for the moment ) clips at the top and stops at the bottom - most of which will be below ground level in any case. The main compromise is where it has to bend around the internal corner of the building. If only I'd extended the building 6 feet.... and another 6 feet............. The Bulwell common line passes under the mock up GC built bridge and goes offstage through the backscene. That exit will be hidden by the road embankment. The pieces of cork are where I'm trying to work out the position of the Park Lane road bridge to create a convincing layout of the roads. Some lighting additions will hopefully improve the scene.

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