RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted May 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 16, 2020 (edited) Hats off Steve! Welcome to the Sheep Chronicles....best of luck!!. I can sense what you are thinking but there are only so many ways you can lay track........... The photo is of Sheep Lane, my first layout that I finished in many years.....in fact the first layout I finished. The first I exhibited and the first that appeared in print........and I've not looked back since. It's also directly responsible for bringing me into contact with some very fine fellow modellers, many of whom have become friends. Enjoy. Rob. Edited May 16, 2020 by NHY 581 Sausage hooves 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted May 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 16, 2020 Try moving the point in front of the Jan's back towards the baseboard edge and start the loop earlier. That will lengthen the loop. Rob. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Share Posted May 16, 2020 17 minutes ago, NHY 581 said: Try moving the point in front of the Janus back towards the baseboard edge and start the loop earlier. That will lengthen the loop. Rob. Exactly what I was thinking, but lengthening the loco release rather than extending the loop! It has occurred to me that if all the track moves fractionally to the left it might give me a slightly longer brewery siding and kickback siding, although the quay siding may shorten in the process (there is a pub a la the White Swan to place in front of the entry track!) I can also see the advantage of lengthening the loop simply to give more breathing space around the three wagons, rather than trying to squeeze in four wagons! Ah, decisions!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted May 16, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 16, 2020 9 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said: Exactly what I was thinking, but lengthening the loco release rather than extending the loop! It has occurred to me that if all the track moves fractionally to the left it might give me a slightly longer brewery siding and kickback siding, although the quay siding may shorten in the process (there is a pub a la the White Swan to place in front of the entry track!) I can also see the advantage of lengthening the loop simply to give more breathing space around the three wagons, rather than trying to squeeze in four wagons! Ah, decisions!! Steve, I think you are there..... Rob. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booking Hall Posted May 16, 2020 Share Posted May 16, 2020 55 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said: I have text Jim at The Locoshed in the hopes of a LH set track point, am keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't rain so I can spray the new trackage, and am girding my loins to attempt some soldering later today. Maybe by tonight I will have power to the track at last! Hi Steve, glad you've found a good solution to your quayside layout plan. I have a spare 2nd hand Setrack LH point if you can't get one. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Share Posted May 16, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Booking Hall said: Hi Steve, glad you've found a good solution to your quayside layout plan. I have a spare 2nd hand Setrack LH point if you can't get one. Thank you for the kind offer, but fortunately Jim will drop one off later today as he passes to go home from his shop, so problem solved. (He has stayed open for online and telephone/mail order sales although his shop is closed to visitors - and I recently purchased my PLA Peckett through him rather than via RoS (despite their special offer) as I want my local model shop to still be there when this is all over. He doesn't need to, but he does drop off items locally to his customers too, whilst this situation continues.) Reading through your own dockside layout thread, I would have offered to send you some Scalescenes concrete dock surfacing as I printed/copied a good bundle off for myself, then remembered that my offer of fishplates couldn't help because the site office had closed on your caravan site. At least your layout is visibly progressing - mine seems perpetually stuck on the track layout! Docks Away is looking superb, and I do like how you have modelled the water using toilet paper - although I'm glad you did that after the toilet roll crisis and not during it; can you imagine the outcry?! Good to see you home again in sunny Burnley, but don't relax your shielding - expect a second wave shortly, and more like a tsunami if the clowns in Westminster force schools to open when they currently plan. Best wishes Steve S Edited May 16, 2020 by SteveyDee68 Stupid bl@@dy autospell!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booking Hall Posted May 16, 2020 Share Posted May 16, 2020 That's good Steve, at least you'll be able to get on with it today. Good on you for supporting your local model shop too. I have bought a few things from The Locoshed when they've attended local exhibitions, and now I am lucky that 'The Model Train Centre' has opened up in Nelson, just two miles away from me. Thanks for the kind words about my new project, I'm really pleased with the way it's developing, but I do wonder if the toilet roll crisis was caused not by the general public but by panicking would be docks layout modellers No, I shan't be taking any chances, especially so since my wife DOES work in a school, although she's now isolating in the van! Best wishes and looking forward to your progress now. Getting the track layout right is vital to the success of a model, so it is time well spent. Paul 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted May 16, 2020 Author Share Posted May 16, 2020 Whilst waiting for my final point to arrive, I have been considering the latest change to the trackplan, in terms of operational value... Hats of Rob, you were absolutely right; as long as I have even a minimum of a fiddlestick hung off the left hand entrance/exit, the new plan lets me play operate in at least three different modes - I did a schematic to prove it to myself! Now thinking about the scenic treatment; my mockups with the Metcalfe Warehouse may be jettisoned as simply too overbearing, and I shall go back to half-relieving the remains of the substantially less bulky brewery kit I previously butchered! Hours of fun! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted May 17, 2020 Author Share Posted May 17, 2020 Managed to spray up the new point/s and some track ready for butchering trimming tomorrow. After cleaning the rail tops as previously (with a coffee stirrer) plus the inside edges of the rails, I decided to test my points by hooking up some spare track to each of them one by one, powering them from the heel (?) and running my Janus over them. The two new points both had the Janus stop dead crossing the (dead) frog... investigation resulted in (1) cleaning the rails where point blades touched the running rails and (2) bending the little tabs up to have more positive contact with the point blades when thrown. My other points all worked fine on testing! So, having now sorted (finally) the trackplan and got the track ready, now I need to get it wired. And to that end, I want to make sure that all the point rails have feeds or links to ensure power is provided to each part. I think I've read before about soldering a wire from each point blade to the appropriate outer rail. The rails after the point blade pivots appear to be powered from the pivots themselves - do I need to link these rails to the point blades too? Lastly, the rails beyond the (dead) frog - should these also be linked to the point blades, or bonded across to the next piece of track (as I intend there to be power feeds to each piece of track, fed from a common bus). To think I wanted to avoid the "complexity" of live frogs! Once I have that information, either from someone responding or after I go searching the forum, I shall fire up the soldering iron, grab some spare track to practice upon, and see if I can teach myself how to adequately solder! Fingers crossed (and not burnt) I might have the trackwork powered by tomorrow evening - even better still, stuck down and powered!! Hours of fun! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 (edited) Hi Steve, I'm no electrical expert but what you've said seems ok but I'm not sure how it would all work with dead frog points, with both point blades and associated rails live I think you risk a short at the frog unless you switch polarity. I'm sure you'll get a definitive answer on here but this is the website I've looked at when I've wired points. It might help. https://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/Electrical_Page_2.html I like the schematic you've drawn, that explains the operating principles really well. Edited May 17, 2020 by sb67 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted May 17, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 17, 2020 Morning Steve. My layouts all rely on the point blades to send the electrickery about the place. My only wiring are for the feeds . Rob 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted May 17, 2020 Author Share Posted May 17, 2020 8 hours ago, sb67 said: Hi Steve, I'm no electrical expert but what you've said seems ok but I'm not sure how it would all work with dead frog points, with both point blades and associated rails live I think you risk a short at the frog unless you switch polarity. I'm sure you'll get a definitive answer on here but this is the website I've looked at when I've wired points. It might help. https://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/Electrical_Page_2.html I like the schematic you've drawn, that explains the operating principles really well. Thanks - I've bookmarked that page for future reference. Very clearly explained. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted May 17, 2020 Author Share Posted May 17, 2020 (edited) On 17/05/2020 at 07:50, NHY 581 said: Morning Steve. My layouts all rely on the point blades to send the electrickery about the place. My only wiring are for the feeds . Rob Rob - that was the way I was going to go (KISS) but testing the points last night showed the frailties of relying solely upon blade contact for power. Some of these points are second hand, and are not quite as "positive" when changing over as newer items. I don't know whether it is a case of "firmer, more positive contact" or additional power feeds - I am studying the page suggested by Steve (sb67) very carefully! I am now up to page 62 of the Sheep Chronicles - my, it is an interesting, informative and intertaining [sic] read! Also lots of helpful shots of weathered vans - I haven't attempted painting, let alone weathering, but lots of inspirational stuff there! (Oh look, another descriptive "i" for your thread!) Cheers Steve PS The lovely Jenny A in "Logan's Run"! My, that set a young man's pulse racing, back in the day! Edited August 2, 2020 by SteveyDee68 Removed spurious spaces! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted July 1, 2020 Author Share Posted July 1, 2020 UPDATE There is no update! I have been sidelined by the small matter of improving a Blue Triangle Pullman! Lord knows why, not even half of it would fit on Woodhey Quay! HOUR OF FUN! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted August 2, 2020 Author Share Posted August 2, 2020 (edited) UPDATE Meant to do this yesterday (a whole month no less) but sidetracked by a family birthday... Despite having done nothing whatsoever on Woodhey Quay, I have exchanged some three link screw couplings for some wire recommended for use as droppers for getting power to the track. Girding loins and preparing to attempt to solder again, and maybe will be able to run some locos under their own power in due course! Still deciding whether to proceed building with adapted Metcalfe kits and brick papers for this layout, or to bite the bullet and reclad everything in Scalescenes textures! And in other news, Greater Manchester, East Lancashire, West Yorkshire etc are back in pandemic 'lockdown' again... my warning to Booking Hall back on 16 May to not relax shielding may have been slightly early but now feels slightly prophetic! Hmmmm .... perhaps I should pick 6 numbers out for the national lottery! Hours of A&E fun! UPDATE 2 My loins remained ungirded and so I still need to tackle the soldering! As a friend would say to me, "Get a grip!" Edited September 7, 2020 by SteveyDee68 Spelling & update Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungus the Fogeyman Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Steve Only just come to this thread. Can I lob a spanner in the works viz a viz track plans. If you're looking for the open look Rob gets on his layout (and having seen them in the flesh more than a few times, they look even better than the photos!), why not model just one end of the run round loop and have 2 lines running offscene? I do it on a few of my micros, Friday Bridge being an example (think there's a thread for it somewhere in the boxfile, micros and small stuff section!) Just a thought Disgusting of Market Harborough 2 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted August 15, 2020 Author Share Posted August 15, 2020 Hi Bungus! Thanks for posting - you can tell that I haven't updated here for a while! I have been distracted by Blue Pullman trains (model and prototypical), then by the Night Ferry, then by searching for an "alternative" train ferry location to Dover/Harwich, collecting articles and books on the subjects and most recently researching Newhaven Harbour and reading the thread in RMWeb about the model of the same by Colin Parks, and then this morning learning that Colin had passed away a couple of years ago (of which I was blissfully unaware), all of which have conspired to not do any actual modelling as such! I do admire all those layouts that make use of "trickery" when it comes to run round loops and off stage traversers and such, but it is one of my "things" that I want to be able to run around my train/wagons without having to shift a traverser/sector plate/train cassette about 'off stage'. For a spectator, the illusion is as slick as a Derren Brown presentation of mind reading skills, but as I will be both operator and spectator, a half loop would be like watching a play with no wings to hide behind, and being able to see the mechanics of the scene changes on full view. When watching a play or even the TV, as a viewer we have to "suspend our disbelief" and this is the same with our modelling, the difference being that we can be the operator, the viewer or both at the same time. Personally I want to mostly forget that the rest of the world is a stock cassette, rather than be constantly reminded of it. But thank you for the suggestion all the same which has, at least, prompted me to think about getting back to doing some modelling! Steve S 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastworld Posted August 18, 2020 Share Posted August 18, 2020 (edited) As an alternative location for a port - how about Richborough? It did have a railway connection but the Port wasn't a success, but as a "might have been" it could be good. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richboro_Port_railway_station Stu Edited August 19, 2020 by eastworld Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted September 7, 2020 Author Share Posted September 7, 2020 On 18/08/2020 at 16:23, eastworld said: As an alternative location for a port - how about Richborough? It did have a railway connection but the Port wasn't a success, but as a "might have been" it could be good. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richboro_Port_railway_station Stu Hi Stu Thanks for the suggestion. I've had a lot of private correspondence regarding Wagon-Lits and viable alternative locations to Dover for siting a train ferry. I'm now fairly set on Newhaven as a location, except in my "might have been" world I am thinking of re-naming it Broadchurch Marine (after the TV series of the same name) so that nobody can say "It wasn't like that!" (Broadchurch being, of course, totally fictional!) In other words, nothing like Newhaven (!) except that I will try to use locos and stock seen at the real location.* Meanwhile, the BIG update for Woodhey Quay is that I have become disenchanted with the Metcalfe kits I was hacking about, and am now looking instead to populate the layout with Scalescenes structures! (At least that way the finishes will match the quayside walling.) Currently still sorting out building footprints - would like to avoid parallel lines if possible, so some mockups for rooflines will be needed to ensure I don't end up with odd looking angles against the backscene. Plus ensuring that the two ends "balance" is another thing to think about. The track plan itself may be finalised, but the changes in proposed buildings may mean some adjustment front to back in terms of where the track is laid. HOURS OF FUN! * Except, of course, when I am running other SR locos or possibly even through trains from the WR or MR (got to have an excuse for a Blue Pullman!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted September 7, 2020 Author Share Posted September 7, 2020 On 18/01/2020 at 10:53, TechnicArrow said: I'm glad I'm not the only one! Your layout looks different, especially with the amount of space *not* used for track; I'm interested to see where it ends up. Just re-read this and thought to myself "Totally different to the trackplan you commented upon!" Steve S 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted September 25, 2020 Author Share Posted September 25, 2020 (edited) What have I done?! Pushing around templates of various Scalescenes structures and to get a reasonable roadway between those and the trackage meant pushing the track so far forward that the quayside siding ended up in the quay itself! As a result, trackwork pulled apart and a return to shuffling points about to find a plan that works whilst retaining the loop to allow trains to be run around. That has been going on for a week or so. Frustration has set in, together with a realisation that the baseboard itself is causing some of the issues! I am now contemplating a new baseboard build, possibly with 5mm foamboard as the main material. To that end, I have been reading threads on RMWeb about such builds and have put out a request regarding joining baseboards constructed that way, as I haven't seen it mentioned yet. I am keen to include the following: Entrance/exit point inspired by the "Hole in the Wall" at Great Yarmouth Houses/shops facing onto the quayside Some kind of warehousing/malthouse/brewery as well as the quay itself I am contemplating turning the layout around so the quay is at the rear, as done so effectively on Arun Quay but I am similarly inspired by Canute Road Quay to have the water to the front! I also look at developments on Shalfleet Quay (Isle of Wight) and think about Bleat Wharf, Mutton and Sheep Dip and wonder if perhaps I should stick to the "less is more" principle! Then I remember Metcalfe Yard and Peckett Wharf and Frost's Mill and think of towering warehouses hemming in the track by the quayside ... Decisions, decisions! Edited September 26, 2020 by SteveyDee68 Typos & inspiration sources! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted September 26, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 26, 2020 Morning Steve. Hey, it happens!. I wouldn't rush and don't stress. Here's a photo or two of Bleat Wharf, version 1, which didn't get finished. I ripped it up and started again. Not an easy decision but it was the right one. Rob. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted September 26, 2020 Author Share Posted September 26, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, NHY 581 said: I am starting to think you are either psychic or have hacked surveilance into my room, as the lower picture is almost exactly what my newest track layout looks like, whilst the top photo is the "essence" of Great Yarmouth's "Hole in the Wall" that I am trying to achieve! HOURS OF FUN! Edited September 26, 2020 by SteveyDee68 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveyDee68 Posted October 1, 2020 Author Share Posted October 1, 2020 Woodhey Wharf - Reboot Have pushed various medium radius points about on the kitchen table together with templates for various Scalescenes structures, and have come to the conclusion that I was trying to squeeze too much into the area of my original baseboard offcut. Inspired by other, more "open" layouts mentioned in my post last Friday, I am going to either build a foamboard baseboard (as per Shalfleet Quay) or adapt an IKEA shelf (as per Bleat Wharf), and using medium radius streamline points instead of the set track I was using previously. So, what to do with the baseboard and track? Well, elsewhere I started another 4 foot long layout called DRS Engineering (named after my father's initials, not the train franchise operator!) which had some busy trackwork (interlaced turnouts etc) which I have decided I am now going to use as a dockside layout (inspired by Peckett Wharf, Canute Road Quay and Frost's Mill), keeping the busy trackwork to allow servicing of various warehouses etc (including the new Scalescenes low relief grain silo - dashing out to grab a copy of November's Hornby magazine ASAP!) Which means that DRS Engineering will now use the baseboard and set track from my original Woodhey Wharf! I plan to reduce the width (goodbye dock) and use it as a "scenic test track" on which to run in locos, experiment with scenics, take photos, maybe have a "programming track" at some point in the future should I ever go DCC! For the moment, Woodhey Quay will be "resting" ... but will not go easily into the night! HOURS OF FUN! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted October 1, 2020 Share Posted October 1, 2020 Glad you seem to have found a bit of direction Steve. I'm stuck in a bit of a planning rut at the moment, currently planning on using an IKEA shelf. I like the look of that grain silo too but it doesn't fit with what I want at the moment. I'll look forward to seeing what you do next. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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