Docks away!, or, making a virtue out of a necessity . . .

[Booking Hall]

4 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

 

That's first time I've seen that plan! I am drawing inspiration from the White Swan "hole in the wall" and have amassed many photos off the internet (thank you Google) so the coal yard looks in the right orientation behind the Swan Inn - I guess the hole in the wall wasn't possible given the tight curve (it was a straight track originally) meaning exaggerated clearances.  Look forward to your build!

 

Steve S

It is such an appealing subject isn't it. I look forward to seeing your develop too Steve.

[Booking Hall]

It's ben a few days and some slow progress has ben made. The dockside level insulation has all been fitted in place and after marking out the track layout the points were glued down. All the rest of the track has been cut to length and also awaits glueing down, but before I do that I need to add the wiring. I need two power feeds, one at each corner top left and bottom right, and a couple of isolation breaks would also be useful. One part way along the crane siding and the other on the loco 'shed' siding middle right, so that shunting can take place using two locos.

 

This threw up a problem - where to fix the power feed jack socket and isolating section switches? I decided that a backscene was needed on which they could be mounted, and which would also help support the low relief buildings on the road level. Fixing one to a cardboard baseboard was not going to be easy though. After a bit of thought I made a triangular piece of hardboard with a piece of 3" x 2" glued and screwed to it which will be glued down to the baseboard to give the maximum resistance to bending. The backscene board, also to be made of double layered corrugated cardboard, will be glued to this and to the back edge of the insulation board. Then, further pieces of insulation board (purloined polystyrene packaging) will be glued in the void to raise this up to the road level and to give further support to the backscene. If care is taken, this should hopefully suffice.

 

I'm not entirely happy with an awkward curve between the bottom right hand point leading to the next point. The chance discovery of another Peco Streamline Y point could help to ease this, and, as a bonus, allow the crane siding to be positioned closer to the dock edge, giving more space for the goods shed behind it. Trouble is, I glued the points down with Copydex so getting the one to be replaced up again might not be easy!

 

Other time has been spent building the Scalescenes dock edge and the crane base.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos

[Booking Hall]

My boss used to say to me "Paul, don't forget the 6 P's - Proper Planning Prevents P_ _s Poor Performance"! I was reminded of that today after I lifted the bottom right hand point and re-planned the track layout using the newly-found Y point. It was then that I realised I didn't have enough fishplates left to join all the remaining track together. Not a problem if I'd stuck with the Peco Setrack RH point I'd originally used, as it has some fishplates already fitted. Doh! No chance of getting any more fishplates anytime soon, so I had to stick the RH  point down again, although I have adjusted the angle slightly so that there is a better flow to the next one and to the crane siding.

 

Apropos also of not planning properly, I realised that I haven't printed off enough of the Scalescenes cobbled and concrete hardstanding sheets to complete the layout, and stuck in my caravan, I've no means of doing any more, so I'm revising my plans to now ballast the oil tank siding, the engine shed siding and the exit stage left siding, however, I've no ballast, so I'm drying teabags and will go and dig up some soil to dry out, sieve and blend with the tea grains to try and make something that will do. Modelling under isolation circumstances certainly makes you face challenges and make the best of the little you have!!

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos

[Calidore]

Hi @Booking Hall, I like this a lot. The ‘slice of’ a scene rather than compressing a complete area into a model is a productive tactic, I think. The track plan looks fun to operate and bonus points for the whale / Nessie in the harbour!

 

Adam

[SteveyDee68]

Oh no! What a shame - if you had shouted out earlier about a lack of fishplates, I could have posted you some (the post box is on the corner and I have a spare stamp or two) - that is, of course, if you get post where you are!

 

Nice to see your layout moving quickly forward. I spent most of the evening peering at photos of the area around the White Swan (particularly a photo showing the area flooded) in order to make a kind of impressionistic sketch of the groupings of buildings and/or rooflines near the ‘hole in the wall’. I am not modelling it accurately, but want to achieve the 'essence', mainly using Metcalfe buildings suitably butchered adapted.

 

The Scalescenes harbour wall looks good - I have got myself some balsa to wrap the piling cover layers around, rather than gluing multiple layers of card together - John Wiffen's kits are superb, but can be hard on the cutting fingers!

 

Just noticed - nice work on the railings on the crane. How did you do that, may I ask?

 

Stay safe, and enjoy your build.

 

Steve S

Edited December 31, 2021 by SteveyDee68
Comment re railings on crane

[Booking Hall]

10 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

Oh no! What a shame - if you had shouted out earlier about a lack of fishplates, I could have posted you some (the post box is on the corner and I have a spare stamp or two) - that is, of course, if you get post where you are!

 

Nice to see your layout moving quickly forward. I spent most of the evening peering at photos of the area around the White Swan (particularly a photo showing the area flooded) in order to make a kind of  impressionistic sketch of the groupings of buildings/rooflines near the hole in the wall. I am not modelling it accurately, but want to achieve the 'essence', mainly using Metcalfe buildings suitably butchered adapted.

 

The Scalescenes harbour wall looks good - I have got myself some balsa to wrap the piling cover layers around, rather than gluing multiple layers of card together - John Wiffen's kits are superb, but can be hard on the cutting fingers!

 

Just noticed - nice work on the railings on the crane. How did you do that, may I ask?

 

Stay safe, and enjoy your build.

 

Steve S

That's a very kind thought Steve, but I'd crashed on before I saw your post. The site office is closed for the duration so I don't know whether any post would get through anyway! I just used cotton thread on the crane , wrapped around each railing stanchion once and fixed with a drop of glue. It will probably look a bit 'hairy' close up! Wishing you well with your project.

[Booking Hall]

17 hours ago, Calidore said:

Hi @Booking Hall, I like this a lot. The ‘slice of’ a scene rather than compressing a complete area into a model is a productive tactic, I think. The track plan looks fun to operate and bonus points for the whale / Nessie in the harbour!

 

Adam

Thanks Adam, wiring up is progressing well and I should soon be able to find out what potential it has. Well done for spotting 'Moby Dick', I just hope I'm a better modeller than a cartoonist!

[SteveyDee68]

11 minutes ago, Booking Hall said:

Thanks Adam, wiring up is progressing well and I should soon be able to find out what potential it has. Well done for spotting 'Moby Dick', I just hope I'm a better modeller than a cartoonist!

 

I don't think I'd be alone in saying that Brierley Canal Road and Far Wittering both qualify you as a damned good modeller, never mind the cartoons!

 

Steve S

[Booking Hall]

On 02/04/2020 at 17:44, SteveyDee68 said:

 

I don't think I'd be alone in saying that Brierley Canal Road and Far Wittering both qualify you as a damned good modeller, never mind the cartoons!

 

Steve S

Nice of you to say so Steve, thank you!

[Bochi]

You could live on that dock without ever leaving! Pub, café, shops, dwellings...brewery...

[Booking Hall]

All track is now glued down, wired up and tested. I spaced out the sleepers on the top left exit to the fiddlestick, the oil tank siding and part of the engine shed siding as these will be the ones I will ballast. You may wonder why I only did part of the engine shed one, well, the answer is that I'm using second hand track and the sleepers are inordinately difficult to move, because of oxidisation on the rails, so that was the point at which I gave up! I told myself that engine sidings were often rail deep in ash, crud and so on, so I could safely get away with this here!

 

Next job is to paint the backscene. This will be a first, as all my previous backscenes have used commercial prints, but I don't have one to hand and as you know the whole thing is a bit of an afterthought. I do have some blue, white and grey paint, so I'm going to try an impressionistic sky scene, graduated from blue to pale blue with a dash of grey thrown in. Luckily, there won't be much of it visible so I will probably get away with it even if it goes horribly wrong!

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos

[Booking Hall]

I'm clearly no Michelangelo!!

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
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[Booking Hall]

No work done on the layout for the past day, instead, made a start on the Scalescenes Clyde Puffer. It's very demanding in the card cutting department, but the way it comes together is a work of art!

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos

[Booking Hall]

As a break from the intensity of building the Puffer, yesterday I weathered the track. As this is a marine environment, I imagine the rail sides will be quite rusty i.e. a brightish red oxide, but I didn't really have the correct colours with me, only Burnt Sienna, Viridian, white, black and a tiny amount of yellow acrylic, so I had to make do. Then I glued on the backscene using 'No More Nails' and fitted the 'control panel'.

 

After that I couldn't resist trial assembling the various parts already made to see what it will look like, and in my haste put one of the dock edges upside down!! The loco is my Burnley Corporation Gas Department Barclay tank, bought for a future gasworks layout, but which looks very much at home here. Now desperately trying to think of a name for the docks which would fit with the initials BCGD!

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos

[CameronL]

5 hours ago, Booking Hall said:

 The loco is my Burnley Corporation Gas Department Barclay tank, bought for a future gasworks layout, but which looks very much at home here. Now desperately trying to think of a name for the docks which would fit with the initials BCGD!

 

How about "Booking Cove General Dock". Love the combination of rail and harbour.

 

Best wishes

Cam

[The Johnster]

This is starting to take on a bit of real character, Bookster.  A puffer sort of restricts things a little to the West Coast of Scotland, though there were exceptions such as Ilfracombe's infamous 'Snowflake' (see Little Muddle topic).  They were not (as Snowflake proved many times) really suitable for open water work, designed for Highlands and Islands trading which was sheltered by the Hebridean islands, and sized to fit Scottish canals.

 

The name is beyond my inventive capability, sorry, but this is clearly a tidal harbour not a dock, general or otherwise; the water level would be higher in a dock, with the ship's gunwhales closer to level with the edge of the wharf.  Puffers did their own unloading with the block and tackle of the boom rigged to the mast, collapsible for negotiating the Clyde bridges in Glasgow.  My feeling is that you really need a bigger coaster if you can source one and fit it to the layout, something about 120 tons.

[Booking Hall]

1 hour ago, CameronL said:

How about "Booking Cove General Dock". Love the combination of rail and harbour.

 

Best wishes

Cam

Thanks for that suggestion Cam, it's better than any I've come up with so far!

[Booking Hall]

On 08/04/2020 at 15:14, The Johnster said:

This is starting to take on a bit of real character, Bookster.  A puffer sort of restricts things a little to the West Coast of Scotland, though there were exceptions such as Ilfracombe's infamous 'Snowflake' (see Little Muddle topic).  They were not (as Snowflake proved many times) really suitable for open water work, designed for Highlands and Islands trading which was sheltered by the Hebridean islands, and sized to fit Scottish canals.

 

The name is beyond my inventive capability, sorry, but this is clearly a tidal harbour not a dock, general or otherwise; the water level would be higher in a dock, with the ship's gunwhales closer to level with the edge of the wharf.  Puffers did their own unloading with the block and tackle of the boom rigged to the mast, collapsible for negotiating the Clyde bridges in Glasgow.  My feeling is that you really need a bigger coaster if you can source one and fit it to the layout, something about 120 tons.

Thanks The Johnster, I'm realising that I'm on a steep learning curve here! No doubt what I learn in building this practice run I can do better when I get to build a larger version. I do have, in the loft at home, an unbuilt 'Shell Welder' kit, and I remember seeing how someone had converted this from a tanker to a coaster. I think the converted 'Shell Welder' is the one on the right in this photo I took at out MRC exhibition in 2018. I also have an unbuilt USS Savannah nuclear powered ship kit (that's a kit of a nuclear powered ship, not the other way round!), but that might be a bit implausible, and probably way underscale!.

 

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by Booking Hall
forgot to attach photo!

[The Johnster]

A converted Shell Welder sounds ideal, but sort of restricts you to the late 50s at the earliest for period; she’s fine for the next 30 years, though!

[Sturminster_Newton]

 All the original plan on a 4' x 2' baseboard in OO? The ruling radius must have been 8 or 9" and possibly the pointwork scratch built.

 

I shall have a do at building this using my Marklin MyWorld plastic track which uses R1 for all it's mainline track and R2 for pointwork.

 

I can see that there will be a problem mixing R1 and R2 to feed the fiddle yard in the original position perhaps moving it to the left hand side and feeding the yard from the spur behind the crane would be a more practical solution.

 

Building the layout with rigid plastic track will show whether this flight of fantasy is feasible for set track or whether it needs a redesign without using several sections of flexible track to connect the various areas whether the alignment causes double set geometry for the track.

 

First indications are that a slightly larger baseboard (1800 x 900) is needed even with R1 as the minimum radius.

 

[Booking Hall]

21 hours ago, Sturminster_Newton said:

First indications are that a slightly larger baseboard (1800 x 900) is needed even with R1 as the minimum radius.

Hi Sturminster Newton. It was apparently built and exhibited as drawn. The original article in the June 1988 railway Modeller mentioned that the minimum radius was just under 9" and that some shortening of some of the Peco small radius and Setrack points would be required. Although it's a clever design, getting a lot of railway into a small space, I don't think it would work very well as an exhibition layout, being two-sided. I agree, continuing the spur behind the crane 'off stage' to a fiddle yard would work well, and be less problematic than that shown on the right of the plan.

 

I have sketched out the design making the track centres at the left hand end of the top and bottom half of the layout identical, so that they could join up if the layout was opened out along its long middle axis, with the tracks at each end curving away behind the 'spine' of buildings to fiddleyards, and that makes quite a nice arrangement in an 8' x 1' footprint.

 

Good luck with your developments.

[Booking Hall]

The last couple of days has seen progress both with the 'Puffer' and on the layout itself. The cliff along the rear has been built up in scrounged polystyrene packaging and carved into a steep, rocky face. The sea at the front has been built up by about 2mm to avoid having a gap below the dock edging, which is just under 50mm, and the edging itself has been fitted into position. The vertical timbers have been trial fitted to decide on spacing, but I won't glue these in place until the dock top edging has been fitted. This will require some building up of the ground levels to nearly come flush with the rail head and is going to involve quite a lot of cutting multiple pieces of card to be stuck down before the surface overlay is fitted. I have to take this carefully as I only just have enough printed concrete and stone setts sheets to cover the area I want, so there's little margin for error here.

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos

[Booking Hall]

Today I started the laborious task of bringing the ground levels up to just below rail head height. After quite a lot of deliberation and experimentation with the materials to hand, I chose to make it a four-layer system. The first layer is 2mm card, which matches the height of the sleepers. The 2nd layer is cereal box card which oversails the top of the sleepers and matches the height of the rail fixings. The 3rd layer is 1.3mm mounting board cut as closely as possible to the line of the rail and to which will be applied the 4th layer, the printed surface finish. This all means multiple measuring, making of templates and curve cutting, with the attendant potential for misalignment.

 

Having got the first two layers down in one area I trial fitted the mounting board, and found that as it is only 15/1000 of an inch below the rail head, it is difficult to get it all to lie level, and may therefore be scuffed when rail cleaning. So, I have decided to dispense with the cereal box layer and accept a slightly bigger step, actually around 25/1000". At least this removes one stage of cutting!

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos

[Booking Hall]

Slow progress is being made with the track infilling, the most difficult part of which is accurately transferring the curved sections of track onto the card for cutting. After trying, with only moderate degrees of success, pressing paper onto the rail top to make a template which could then be cut out, I eventually had a light bulb moment and used a wagon with a pencil held against it to draw directly onto the card. This worked so well that I glued two pencils together separated by  a 6mm spacer which makes 13mm at the points. Now I can draw both sides of the curve at the same time. When cut with a slight outwards splay this gives around 13.5mm on the top surface, 0.5mm less than the back to back dimension. The slight splay allows a bit of 'wiggle' room against the rail chairs.

 

I've also been turning over in my mind how I'm going to apply the Scalescenes concrete and setts overlay. Whether to do it in small sections as I've done the ground build up, or to try and glue a whole A4 sheet over everything, rails and all, then carefully cut the rail gaps with a very sharp scalpel.

 

Doing it in pieces will present the challenge of matching sections up, as the sheet comes printed with casting joints and tyre tracks. Doing it in one piece will rely on me being able to cut the slots accurately and without damaging the adjacent part of the sheet. Quite a problem, because if it goes wrong getting the damaged sheet up without collateral damage to the sub-layer is one worry. The other is that I don't have any spare sheets! So, for the present the jury is out on which way to go . . . . 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos

[Booking Hall]

The track infilling is still progressing slowly, and I can't say I'm exactly enjoying this bit of the build, so, as a break from it I'm having a go at making an oil storage tank, as a vertical round one will fit better in the location I have in mind for it.

 

This is a small baked beans tin, which will be wrapped with thin card and some of the foil I removed from the insulation board, embossed with a cocktail stick to represent the plating.

 

Edited November 5, 2022 by Booking Hall
reinstate photos