Lofthouse

[Bob Hordern]

This is a new venture, but one which is very similar to my other layout Kirtley Bridge

It is LMS, in the Dales, steam and set in the years running up to WWII.

It is an old exhibition layout I have bought from my Club to basically rescue it from the skip.

I hope to refurbish the station section of this once award-winning layout, though it is now 30 years old and not in the best of health.

Here are a couple of shots of the layout seen in happier times. (firstly the whole thing and then part I hope to work on)

 

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[railwayrod]

Hi Bob.

 

From the photographs the layout looks good but I am sure you will want to rework it in places to suit your needs. There is something alarming in dismantling part of a layout and the task can seem daunting at the outset but once the first "cut" has been made there is no turning back. It is surprising how much enjoyment seems to ensue once a start has begun and at the end I am sure you will be very pleased with the result. On Ramchester (my 0  gauge layout) Howard and I have begun to rework the goods yard surface to lower this to the top of the sleepers rather than the top of the rails, not an easy job but Howard has got stuck in and is making progress. Just at the moment the area looks as though the recent gales have created a bomb sight but we are progressing. This area is one which we had planned to do some time ago but I kept putting it off until the photographs had been taken for the forthcoming "Railway of the Month" in the April edition of Railway Modeller.

 

Anyway I digress. I look forward to watching your progress on the refurbishment and wish you every success with your new project.

 

Rod

[Ben B]

I remember that layout from a 90's issue of BRM... I must have been about 10, I can remember reading it on a train whilst sat at New Street.  Even then I appreciated what an atmospheric layout it was, and I loved the industrial, light-railway look of it.

[t-b-g]

I recall seeing the layout many years ago, perhaps at Doncaster show.

 

It was a very nice layout but my memory is that it was based on the Nidd Valley Light Railway (the van in the photo is lettered NVLR) rather than being a Midland/LMS layout.

 

Having said that, I am sure that a rebuild to a pre war LMS scene will be a most enjoyable exercise. The replacement of the signals with Midland/LMS pattern ones and perhaps a Midland signal box will certainly make a big difference.

 

In real life the Nidd Valley Light Railway was an "add on" to the North Eastern Railway and it had some very interesting locos and stock, including a steam railmotor.

 

 

[Bob Hordern]

All you say is correct t-b-g

However the modelled stock does not come with the layout and my existing locos are very much LMS, plus a nod to LNER.

I'll bring the layout home soon and get it working again and then see what's what. Rule 1 looming?

As for a signal box, it had half a dozen levers set up en plein air, literally on the platform.

 

Heres the railmotor in real and model form.  No 15 Hill (seen at Lofthouse) was an articulated steam railmotor manufactured by Kerr Stuart of Stoke-on-Trent for the GWR in 1905. It was bought by Bradford Corporation for the NVLR in 1921, but was not immediately successful on the Nidd Valley. With the engine pushing, it had trouble ascending the grades between Pateley Bridge and Lofthouse and had to be sent to the triangle at Starbeck, near Harrogate on the North Eastern for turning, so as to put more weight on the driven wheels of the engine.
Bob

 

 

Rod - Yes I've been watching Howard's progress on GOG. (sounds like  a religious allogory )

Edited April 22, 2022 by Bob Hordern
update

[doilum]

Good luck. I remember it well from an era when 7mm layouts were far less common at exhibitions.

[Bob Hordern]

Some progress on this refurb....

• Firstly the two end fiddle yards were removed
• Next the trestle bridge and quarry incline were sold on
• This left eight boards remaining (see plans)
• these were reduced still further leaving the five boards shown above
• these were than trimmed of their legs, excess wood ,old electrics and manual point operations
• This led to the situation below (final board needs work to develop a 'curved' exit track

Edited April 22, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[Bob Hordern]

Some further progress on this refurb....

• Points given new servo motors and mounts
• Track bus and new DC wiring installed
• Control panel built for front of layout

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[Bob Hordern]

Latest position with DCC having taken over control.

A converted Dapol 3F Jinty and an Ixion Fowler LMS2 are the first two locos seen at work.

Lighting and electromagnetic uncouplers are installed, with a few bits of track snagging to do (taped) then we're up and running.  

 

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[Bob Hordern]

This post is about the final board for Lofthouse which had been put to one side for long enough and so I have decided to sort it out. The adjacent board was not retained meaning that  the remaining two boards did not match up. This meant that the riverbed, the trackbed and the contours of the scenery were all at odds.

How best then to rectify this problem?

To tackle the river part first I decided to lower board #1 by cutting 25mm from the base of the framework all round, much as I had done with the other boards. This brought things into line vertically and meant that I had very little left to excavate from the river bank.

To bring the ends of each board into line I built up plywood formers to match with the neighbouring board #2. These formed the outline of the new embankment and the raised level of the field beyond the track. A space was left for the permanent way. The existing fence and occupation crossing were put aside for later.        

 

When I broke up the missing ‘barn’ board I extracted and retained the trackbed. You can see the track still mounted on its trimmed board here in the third photo (yes the jigsaw again!) It was clear that matching up the existing sleepers and rails would be quite a task so why not re-use them. So I next placed the cut out trackbed directly onto board #1 and simply screwed and glued it down. This created a new trackbed at just about the correct height.

The next step was to rebuild the scenery around this structure. Here I used up some old newspaper and plaster found in the workshop as the area involved was quite small. Next I used some old scenic mat and bushes collected from the other discarded boards to match up the vegetation across the two boards.

The crossing, gates and fencing have now been re-located. The embankments have their first covering of grass whilst the farm track has been surfaced in a layer of fine sand and some additional stones are setting in the river bed. This still needs more work to be convincing! The rose bay willow herb clump seen here was salvaged from the original layout.

 

This photo reveals that I’ve still got quite a lot left to do…............fix the engineers dowel and overclip, connect up the track bus, realign and trim the last few inches of rail, tidy up the ballast, add crossing boards, detail the surface of the farm track and plant some trees. Static grass cover is also needed for the fields - the old cover is now thirty years old - but I’ll do this when I can work along the whole of the layout.

More to come soon.

Bob

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[Bob Hordern]

Bit further on now....

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[Bob Hordern]

Early morning arrival at Lofthouse

 

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[DLT]

A great Resurrection job!

[Bob Hordern]

FIRST POST of 2022

 

With Kirtley Bridge running fine on DCC ...

The traverser is seen here transferred to Lofthouse .

Here's where I start to get to work on Lofthouse again now the two layouts are finally joined up.

 

The first task is to up-end the headshunt board and get to work on the points with the second-hand tortoise motors I put by earlier.

 

[Bob Hordern]

Have now put back all of the 'lost' photos, enjoy

[Bob Hordern]

Here we go…….

first run from Lofthouse to Kirtley Bridge https://youtu.be/zU_b4egT5M0

 

[Bob Hordern]

Here's where we are with the reservoir board approaching Christmas !

- more or less complete but not quite.

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[Bob Hordern]

Here’s the next stage..

[Bob Hordern]

Here’s my plan for the end curve. It’s only a mock up at present but …… real problem is getting hold of measurements for the arches and pillars, then working out how far you can go when reducing them into model  form.

[Bob Hordern]

Moving on……..

[Bob Hordern]

The next phase…… looking better 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Bob Hordern

[Bob Hordern]

The plasticard arrived so I’ve started work on the pillars and arches…..

[Bob Hordern]

New year, new works…….

[Bob Hordern]

Getting on with things again after the break...

[Bob Hordern]

New (to me) stock heads towards Lofthouse past the reservoir 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Bob Hordern