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Basford North


dibateg
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Thank you for the interest chaps - its always useful to have other eyes and ideas, especially as this has come together over a year of isolation...

 

Yes - some turnouts are assumed offscene - I wanted to keep as much of the flavour as I possibly could, but like any model - there is some heavy compromise. The multi- arm calling on signal in the goods yard has so much character, but  it's diverging routes could not be accommodated in the space. A always - we never have quite enough, but I also have to be realistic about what I can achieve, doing a lot on my own. It did cross my mind that I could probably fit the Bulwell Common and Basford North complex in the space in 4mm scale! The diverging up line that drops down gradient to go to Bagthorpe Jnn would just not fit - not to mention all the work to accomodate it. So again it is assumed offscene and I wanted to keep that distinctive 3 arm gantry at the station.

 

The original layout is quite curious in that the down line from Bagthorpe Jn doesn't immediately join the down line from Leen Valley Jn where they meet, but continues along side it to merge in front of the signal box.. That creates a lot of extra crossing work where the exit comes from the bay platform to the up line. So in order to get it all to fit, I've simplified that arrangement. I can only assume that it was to allow certain conflicting movements to take place - and I've not figured those out yet.

 

Also the connections in to the bay - lookking at the original plan ( assuming it is right ) passenger trains coming from Leen Valley Jn could not run in to the bay to terminate. They must have had to shunt back in to the shunt spur and the draw forward. Conversely as far as I know there was no passenger service via Bagthorpe Jn that terminated at Basford North, I assume that the direct access from that line to the bay was to allow empty stock from the carriage sidings adjacent to the down line from Bagthorp Jn a route straight in.

 

I'm hoping it will create some operating interest, if not entirely accurate. If only I had twice the space and twice the time!

 

Regards

Tony

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It was my bad writing that created Zeen Valley Jn! A friend is designing the control panels....

 

Hopefully this gives more idea of what was going on - the original plan. Wouldn't it be great to have the loco and carriage sidings..

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Don't Mike!

 

We've had a re-design of the station control panel - I've made up a temporary one for the moment. I've re-arranged some of the sidings , the middle siding looked too cramped. So I've created an engineers siding to use up some of that space between the station and Park Lane. More compromise I'm afraid...

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The storage yard control panel is now usable, and so it's time to run some test trains to see if it all works. I couldn't understand why 90437 wouldn't run, on investigation it turns out I'd forgotten it hasn't got a decoder in it yet.

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On 23/02/2021 at 18:26, tomparryharry said:

I'm dyed in the wool Western, but that looks marvellous.  It's criminal that the Central was wasted.

 

It was indeed but the GCR wasn't the only company in the area. Basford North was actually a GNR station, although linked via the junction to the GCR main line.

 

That area was my late father's stamping ground and I have a few of the books that have been published on the railways of the area and the few photos he took of the railways around that neck of the woods. The history of the GCR, the GNR and the Midland, all fighting for the same coal traffic, is fascinating and caused the GNR and the GCR to form an uneasy local alliance to try to pinch a share from the Midland, who in most cases were there first.

 

When you go to visit the area north of Nottingham now, the amount of railway that is left is tiny compared to how much there was. Out of the three companies, the Midland has fared best, with some of their lines still intact. The GCR and GNR lines have all but vanished.

 

This layout ticks all the boxes for me. Most modellers go for either the bucolic branch line or the main lines with expresses thundering by. The secondary main lines , which made up the vast majority of the mileage on the railways and can be hugely interesting, seem to get squeezed out between the two extremes.

 

I have posted these before elsewhere but these are a couple of scans of my dad's photos from the area.993401950_IMG_20200508_0003(2).jpg.565941e1b543eda0260ffe95e566f69a.jpgIMG_20200508_0003.jpg.679e872a395afe83c8c46488bdc196ff.jpg903952040_3FMansfield1948.jpg.8e74ca261f892f1f1811957893b78af4.jpgIMG_20200508_0002.jpg.875a5aa4c2cdc632bd91c343f925a643.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Tony - they are fascinating photos. Modellling the area in the early '50s would be really interesting.

Wiring continues, and with the control panel in place, power control has been commissioned. Work is in progress to connect the point motors. At the moment the panel is just a temporary lash up.

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With the storage yard now functional, we can now run some trains. A type 1 D8058 ( Heljan ) heads West with empties for Stanley colliery. Although actually they probably didn't appear until after my time period.

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A Derby Friargate train arrives at Basford North with K2 61738 in charge. The Thompsons are Sidelines, and the Gresleys are Kirk with Newbold underframes and JLTRT bogies. The K2 was a second hand purchase, builder unknown.

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Wiring continues, board 10 is one of the busiest, with the control panel attached to it. I've also organised the control cubical with a shelf for the DCC equipment. I'm on the home straight now, just two 25 way D connectors to wire up.

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I have more stock than sidings, and I've identified some dead space behind the Bulwell Common line that could be used for some long storage sidings. So I've Templotted up some turnouts to see if it is possible.

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I can cantilever some extra board off the edge of the existing boards... Trouble is my initial planning was very accurate, there is very little ply left. Come a dry day I will fire up the jigsaw!

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Basford panel is now commissioned, lights up and even works. There were just a handful of wiring errors. Trains can now traverse both arms of the junction with me having to crawl underneath and manually change the points.

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Station pilot for the day is '350 13032 and was used for testing the goods yard. It burbled up and down testing the sidings and turnouts.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks Ade -  

I've spent a couple of rainy mornings working on a mock up for one of the council houses. Usual thing - counting bricks to try and work out the size. I'll try it in situ and see how it looks. This is No 1&2 Saxondale Drive, this is the back.

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I also finished installing the extra storage sidings, just need to install the point motors:-

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  • 1 month later...
On 13/05/2021 at 11:39, dibateg said:

Thanks Ade -  

I've spent a couple of rainy mornings working on a mock up for one of the council houses. Usual thing - counting bricks to try and work out the size. I'll try it in situ and see how it looks. This is No 1&2 Saxondale Drive, this is the back.

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I also finished installing the extra storage sidings, just need to install the point motors:-

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From my desk sat looking at the houses on Saxondale Drive, but from here can't tell which is 1 and 2. All the ones I'm looking at are in small terraces of 4 houses rather than semi detached. Each block of 4 is also different from the next with all been of a slightly different style.

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Yes - that was the complication - all the blocks are different, but as always in model railways there has to be a compromise. I've not come up with a way of representing all the different styles on the back scene - unless someone has a cunning plan. I was hoping to fit both of the buildings in this view, but the four dwelling building ( on Vernon Road ) on the left just won't fit. So I have had to simplify it with the semidetached one ( Saxondale Drive ) in part view on the right. Google street view has been very useful in working out dimensions.

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Map plan:-

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I've been on outside duties in the good weather, but I have had time to run test trains and check the trackwork. There have been one or two areas that have needed minor attention.
On the indoor days I have been tinkering away with the abutments for the Park Lane bridge. Kindly designed and laser cut for me by Geoff Taylor. This is my first foray ( for a long time ) in to structural modelling.

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I'm now starting to make up the Park Lane approach to the railway bridge. The Dapol boxes on the other side represent the continuing road embankment with the Brooklyn Road bridge mock up on the left. The whole approach section is removable to allow maintenance access to the middle of the boards here, as this is the layout's widest point. I've just got to work out the best way of getting Park Lane offscene, a possible bend to the right and some trees maybe..

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've not had much time for modelling recently, but I have made further progress on the Park Lane bridge abutments. The next step is to make up the girder section and wing walls.

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On 26/06/2021 at 08:28, dibateg said:

I'm now starting to make up the Park Lane approach to the railway bridge. The Dapol boxes on the other side represent the continuing road embankment with the Brooklyn Road bridge mock up on the left. The whole approach section is removable to allow maintenance access to the middle of the boards here, as this is the layout's widest point. I've just got to work out the best way of getting Park Lane offscene, a possible bend to the right and some trees maybe..

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Good morning Tony,

 

Apologies for my not following your excellent thread more diligently. 

 

Seeing this picture, you've taken me back some 66 years, when, as an eight year old, I'd use my Tri-ang boxes for making bridge abutments.

 

The problem was, they weren't temporary! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've been away from the railway for a bit as we opened up the garden under the NGS scheme for charity. 

I was just doing odd jobs here and there. There was a warm day where I could open up all the windows and dig out the Sparmax spray gun and spray the track. That went pretty well, once I started using the right thinners... I tried using a piece of hardboard to get the wet paint off the rail tops, but it made an awful mess. So I made up a scraper from some scrap N/S rail to do it after it had dried. That took a few days... well nearly a week... A steel scraper did too much damage to the rail head.

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