Jump to content
 

Ashwood Dale - Lockdown and an itch that needs to be scratched


eldavo
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Premium

Scarily it is 10 years since I embarked on a new layout for myself.  I have been heavily involved in the building of the Winchester Railway Modellers layout Redbridge Wharf but maybe it's time to start a new project.  I've had a desire to build a pre-grouping layout based on the Midland Railway for quite a while, in fact since I saw a couple of top-notch layouts in the Railway Modeller in the early 70s.

 

I've built a couple of layouts in 4mm (00) over the years and the last layout, Waton, was N gauge simply because I'd never played with that scale.  When I joined the Winchester Modellers there was an active 0 gauge group and they started to brainwash me and it wasn't long before I was building loco kits and coaches though mainly in BR(S).  One day though a poorly built and basically falling apart 0 gauge Midland Railway brake van came up on ebay at a silly price and it had to be purchased.

 

It was taken apart and rebuilt, including adding the missing roof, and painted up.  The rot had set in...

 

1343604319_Brakevan.jpg.7600fab7c3eeb1057bb1f0d9030db2c4.jpg

 

Not much happened for a couple of years then I had the opportunity to buy a large collection of 0 gauge stuff from the estate of a deceased modeller.  There was a lot of stuff!  I ebayed something like half the inventory of kits as they weren't relevant to my modelling interests, odd GWR and LNER stuff, which left me with a pile of part built or unstarted kits for Midland locos and coaches.  The die was cast.

 

Lo and behold 3 weeks later my old mate PhilH turned up on the drive having also bought some stuff from the same estate and handed over two large piles of coach etches that I had apparently "forgotten".  In the pic below there is small selection of the etches plus 4 part-built clerestory coaches, a part built Slaters Midland Compound (yum) and 1 or 2 part-built class 1 0-4-4 tanks.  This is the tip of the iceberg and there are boxes, correction crates, full of loco detailing bits and track components. 

 

Collection.jpg.27f74cc042cb92a2b382823899e506cb.jpg

 

Edited by eldavo
  • Like 9
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Sometime later I started digging into the pile of stuff for things to build.  Obviously with a large number of Midland loco kits to build the first thing I tackled was a Merchant Navy!  Actually mad as it sounds this was to add to the roster of BR(S) locos that we sometimes use when exhibiting the Winchester Railway Modellers Abbotstone layout.  Eventually though my eyes turned to the Midland stuff.

 

Looking at the bits and pieces of coaching stock there were a number of part built Bain 54ft clerestory coaches that looked as though they could be completed reasonably easily.

961492947_Partcoach.jpg.831c69ac085cc1fbde5f1eb2ae146b4a.jpg

 

Of course that was far from the case.  After looking at them it became obvious they had not been assembed well and also had taken knocks along the way.  Fortunately a dig in the pile of etches revealed several sets of bits for the same coaches so I decided to build one from scratch.  That was the start of the problems...

 

The etches appeared to be from PC Models and I had sides, ends and underframes but no bogeys, interiors or roofs and only a few of the required cast bits.  Good job I had a 3D printer as all the missing bits were created using it.  The build was challenging to say the least but I seemed to have built 3 (so far).

 

2073837286_Bain54ftclerestorys.jpg.36428e909f844ebd48ceffa67a1a895c.jpg

 

Of course I had to learn how to use a bow pen along the way.  Can't model pre-grouping if you aren't prepared to tackle the lining!

 

 

  • Like 10
  • Craftsmanship/clever 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

The first loco to emerge from the pile of bits was a Johnson single.  I had several complete kits but for some reason finding a pair of large driving wheels and a part-built running plate led me to believe this would be a good project.  Pretty strange given I've never really been a fan of these locos.

 

This was another challenging build as again there were bits missing that had to be scratch built or 3D printed.  The kit wasn't overly clever either but that's not unusual.  Here she is still in pristine condition as I haven't got round to weathering anything yet.

 

Spinner1.jpg.44a530898df7c8e0a51101e8d1c16a2b.jpg

 

Spinner2.jpg.67984f2cdc8ad7dae54cb4369eaba798.jpg

 

The original kit seems have expected the chassis to be built rigid but this one is compensated.  Of course I didn't have any instructions for the kit so who knows how it should really have been built.  It's built with Deeley modifications but I only had Johnson fittings so things like the smokebox door are 3D printed.  The boiler was cut and rolled from plain brass sheet as I didn't seem to have that part.  What did I find in another box just after I'd finished building?

 

The driver is actually a representation of me.  A 3D model was created using photogrammetry then printed on my Wanhao D7 printer.

 

Edited by eldavo
  • Like 12
  • Craftsmanship/clever 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't like pre-grouping, I don't like Johnson singles, I don't like brass kits, and I don't like clerestory coaches. 

 

Nevertheless, I am now following because I like everything I see above! Ha.

 

Quite nicely done!

 

Will

  • Like 1
  • Funny 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

No sign of a brass kit here.  A while back, four years ago in fact, one of my Winchester Modellers buddies and I were commisioned by Ian Allen to produce a book on 3D printing and laser cutting.  We needed examples for the book so an 0 gauage wagon seemed a reasonable challenge.  Would have been rude not to pick a Midland Railway prototype.  I only had a fairly basic 3D printer at the time so the results weren't stupendous by the standards of 2020.

 

The wagon was built from a kit of printed parts.  The only parts not printed were the wheels, buffer heads and couplings.  Here's a cruel close up of a pair of wagons.  Highlights the fact that I need to practice my lettering!

 

1617880856_3Dwagons.jpg.23b982e5ab774ff8668202fdc9beac0d.jpg

 

I got distracted by other things after these so didn't push on to build more wagons until more recently.  I acquired a whitemetal kit for a bunker coal wagon from another member who was selling up and then picked up the Furness models variant from eBay.  These were both assembled and though a bit crude (normal whitemetal spawn of the devil stuff) turned out OK.  I had also acquired another 3D printer that used photosensitive resin so thought I would experiment and lo and behold two more bunker coal wagons appeared.

 

882386219_Bunkercoal.jpg.4cfefe387392e940b21502aed7bea1e5.jpg

 

I think(!) the printed versions are the front two in the photo, the original kit is at the rear with the Furness models version 3rd back.  Can't think why I would need bunker coal wagons but there they are.

 

  • Like 2
  • Informative/Useful 1
  • Craftsmanship/clever 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

People tend to associate the Midland with clerestory coaches but when you read up on the subject, in the tomes written by those that know, in fact the majority of the coaching stock was of the arc roof kind,  Slaters do a number of kits for 6 wheeled and bogey arc roof coaches so it was inevitable that a few kits would land on my workbench.  In the pic below the two coaches at the rear are bog standard Slaters kits though the transfers are home made.  I have a few more 6 wheelers I've acquired over time that are waiting for attention in the paint shop.

 

1113632532_Arcroofcoaches.jpg.8e7a802bfb5e12f005e07009dabf217d.jpg

 

The more interesting, and more challenging, example is the longer bogey coach at the front.  This is a Bain period suburban.  Mr. Bain obviously thought the quickest way to boost passenger carrying capacity was basically to rehash the earlier Clayton arc roof design just making a longer version.  The origins of this coach are my stack of brass etches.

 

I found 4 sets of etches for the bodies and interiors of these Bain coaches in the stash.  The chap who had amassed all this stuff was a fairly prolific modeller working not just on railway models but also model boats and submarines.  He worked in the aircraft industry and clearly knew a thing or two.  The etches carried his name.

 

As always I was convinced that as these were nice shiny new etches assembly would be easy.  Yeah right!  Halfway through after I had found that assembling the multiple layers of the sides was a tad tricky and that the interiors were too narrow it dawned on me that these were probably prototypes that had either been discarded as needing rework or that nobody had ever attempted to build.  I wasn't about to let a little thing like that stop me.

 

The underframe was built up from bits of PC models etches that I had previoulsy used for the 54ft clerestory coaches, the interior, roof, roof vents, gas lamp tops and bogeys were all 3D printed.  It's a bit rough and ready and I haven't yet plucked up the courage to tackle the other three coaches to make up a rake.

 

As you may have noticed there is a bit of a theme to my rollingstock building.  Acquiring stuff cheaply does not mean assembly will be straightforward.  I haven't learned!  The pic below is of a 6 wheel clerestory full brake.  Slaters do a nice kit for this and in fact the underframe of this coach is from Slaters.

 

As part of the big stash I acquired several Slaters coach kit boxes full of bits for 6 wheelers.  I started building what I though was a 6 wheel 3rd class clerestory.  I managed to get it built and started painting it but when I looked at prototype pictures realised it had the wrong pattern of windows.  I had managed to build a clerestory coach using a pair of arc roof sides.  Argh!!!!  I wondered why the interior partitions seemed a bit narrow. Doh!

 

It was duly taken apart and I went rummaging in my piles of stuff again and came up with a pair of full brake clerestory sides.  These don't look to be Slaters in origin but were persuaded to fit on the Slaters underframe with Slaters ends and roof.  It doesn't look too bad.

 

1412439327_6wheelfullbrake.jpg.0419a47a83e0aebb82f3824fd44831b7.jpg

  • Like 9
  • Craftsmanship/clever 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

As well as trying to create a silk purse out of a sows ear (on numerous occasions) with stuff from my scrap pile I have also acquired a few things from various places along the way.  The two 4-4-0s pictured below being a case in point.  Both were bought from secondhand dealers at different shows.  Of course neither are perfect!

 

The class 2 (2P to the LMS and BR folks) No.378 is a nicely built kit though I'm not quite sure whose.  It was purchased from a guy who had built it for someone as a display model but had then subsequently bought it back, fitted it with Slaters wheels and a motor and gearbox.  A good price was negotiated and it came home with me.  On close examination and testing all seemed to be well but the pick-ups weren't too clever and it ran a bit slowly.  Extra pick-ups were fitted to the tender which sorted one issue but it was still sluggish.  I stripped it down and removed the motor and gearbox and found the gear meshing was poor and the gears themselves had worn badly with just a little use.  New gearbox ordered and fitted and away she went sweet as a nut.

 

440s.jpg.ac8f2effdc5f8f55e0a405264503df00.jpg

 

The compound 1005 was another find at a show and I was doomed to buy it from first sight.  I just love Midland compounds.  When I came to test it with a decent load on I found it couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.  Further examination and it was obvious that it was sitting to high at the front.  Oh dear.

 

Here we go again.  It was stripped down and is actually a rather nicely made example of the Slaters kit, but...  Someone in their infinite wisdom had decided to take out the springing on the driver axles and solder the axleboxes solid in the frames, badly.  Out with the 100watt soldering iron and the axleboxes were removed cleaned up and the suspension reinstated.  The mounting of the front bogey was adjusted and now she sits properley on the track and though not the greatest of pullers at least works OK.  I've also added tender pick-ups to this one and will give her further attention in due course.

 

Not all the engines in my fleet are red as the period I'm modelling is immediately pre Great war, 1913-14 when most freight engines were black.  I have a quartet of goods haulers...

 

597645122_Goodsengines.jpg.e5d23d1df23a803f3ad96d0d9c8ad500.jpg

 

The two class 1 goods tanks at the back of the pic were both eBay acquisitions and are very different.  1786, the open cab version, came to me in plain black with no motor and unnumbered.  It's a beautifully built loco from an unknown brass kit.  I stripped it down, fitted a Portescap RG7, numbered it, detail painted, added crew and coal etc. then light weathering.  It's a great little loco.

 

1730 is a resin body kit and arrived painted and finished in BR condition.  Well actually not truly BR condition as it represented a preserved example which had a non-standard open cab with and extra bit added to make it a full cab.  It didn't represent anything that ran in Midland days.  After much browsing of books and studying photos the cab openings were reshaped and a number of details were added to the rather basic model before it was repainted and numbered.  It's not bad, runs well but won't win any prizes.  It was cheap!

 

1943 is a Mercian kit with the older chassis design built pretty much as intended.  Nice and straightforward providing me with a class 3 goods engine.

 

3076 is one of the ubiquitous class 2 goods engines built from a Shedmaster kit.  Lots of nice detail castings but probably not the easiest of kits to build.  This one came out of the crates of stuff and just to add interest it's former owner had ordered up the bits make a large wheel version rather than the version the kit was intended for.  As I'm always up for a challenge that's the way I built it.  It has a 3D printed smokebox door as I only had a Johnson pattern one.

 

  • Like 7
  • Craftsmanship/clever 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

This will be the last of the rollingstock background posts (I think!).  Some considerable time ago I acquired a Johnson class 1 0-4-4 tank loco, again from eBay.  This one is another beautifully built Slaters kit but it was finished in early LMS lined black livery and had auto train gear.  This put me in a quandry firstly because the black livery was beautifully applied and I hated the idea of stripping it off and secondly as I wasn't aware of any of these locos being auto fitted during the Midland era.  I couldn't find any mention of them being fitted in any of my books on locos.

 

Perchance I was looking through my tomes on coaching stock for background info on the Slaters arc roof bogey coaches and came across a photo of 1257 sandwiched between a pair of converted Clayton arc roof coaches.  Whoopee I wouldn't have to remove the auto train gear.  It still took me a while and some practice of painting and lining other locos before I summoned up the courage to strip the paint from the loco but eventually it went into the grit blaster cabinet and there was no going back.

 

Having seen the pictures of the auto train though I just had to try and reproduce it.  A Slaters kit for a Clayton arc roof brake compo came up on eBay and my mind turned to kit bashing.  With some luck and a following wind I was able to knock out a reasonable representation of one of the auto fitted coaches.  The kit had etched brass bogeys which are a detailed representation but are a pain in the whassaname to build.  I built a pair for another coach but this time gave up on them and used my own 3D prints.  3 parts stuck together with super glue in 5 minutes flat, job done.

 

1508247386_Autotrain.jpg.747f4bcd01d6445846beba64237f6dd7.jpg

 

I've been working on the other coach for the set but it's not in a fit state to be seen in public yet.

 

The Midland had loads of non-passenger carrying 4 wheel stock so having had some success in producing goods stock with my 3D printer this seemed like a logical step.  Digging through the books I chanced on details of a meat van that was painted in fully lined passenger livery as well as a very similar, if not rather obscure, corpse van.  Some tinkering in my favourite CAD program and a few iterations of printing and these two arrived...

 

695794280_NPCvans.jpg.a2536bd880e43a443719958b11a4fcfd.jpg

 

They are far from perfect but from 3 feet they don't look too bad.  Wheels, couplings, handrails and vacuum pipes are the only non-printed parts.

 

I'm running out of Rover Damask red paint now so I might have to think about building a layout even though there is still a compound, well tank, 4F and a 1P tank still in my kit stash.

 

  • Like 5
  • Craftsmanship/clever 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

The itch of building an 0 gauge layout has been there for over 10 years since I built a workshop at the end of the garden.  The building is 7.2x4.2 metres overall which gives me a floor space of approximately 23ftx13ft (just to mix up the units of measurement).  The idea was that, at a pinch, I could get a small 0 gauge layout or a complete circle test track in the space.  Assuming a minimum radius of 6ft.

 

As with my other layouts, if I was going to build something in 0 gauge it would have to be exhibitable.  Further, it would have to be visually appealing and fun to operate.

 

Along the way I acquired a part-built 0 gauge layout.  In fact I'm the 3rd owner of this, it having been started by our club chairman then passed on to another member and thence to me.  It has an interesting track plan that I have been trying to reuse for a long time without finding a fully credible set up.

 

O_gauge_track_2Dec12.JPG.cdfa193b7e0976b8bdd8c820bca75ef6.JPG

 

A more serious problem was the baseboards.  These were originally "substantial" in that they used pretty thick plywood frames and a very thick MDF top surface and so were heavy to say the least.  Also they have been modified several times and could not be used for a mobile layout as they are.  Back to square one then.

 

I toyed with the idea of some sort of roundy roundy set up but even with pretty good space I have couldn't see how I could get an interesting track plan in.  Another option was to build a small branchline terminus set-up.  There's enough space assuming fairly short trains.  The Midland didn't seem to have too many of these to choose from so I couldn't find anything that attracted me.

 

Thinking on the 0 gauge layout then stalled for some time while I was distracted with other projects, primarily the clubs 00 gauge layout.  All the time though I was building odd locos and stock and my target had become creating enough stock to allow a full Midland running session on the Winchester club layout Abbotstone.  I've pretty much met that target and with the lockdown preventing me from doing anything on the club layouts, my mind came back to starting another layout.

 

Many hours have been spent perusing the disused stations website and exploring OS maps via the National Library of Scotland.  This is where I came across Buxton Midland, a really interesting track layout in a confined space.

 

http://disused-stations.org.uk/b/buxton/index.shtml

 

No way I could fit it all in in the space I have but it's certainly given me some inspiration.  I think I can create a U shaped layout, station to fiddleyard, where I can assemble most of it in my workshop.  For exhibition use there would be extra bits that can't be fitted in the workshop but they shouldn't be critical.

 

My first jottings in Trax (can't get my head round Templot) are shown below...

 

5224121_BuxtonMk1.jpg.7198b38ccc952270dcc9835afb28de9a.jpg

 

This is 24ft long and the lefthand 4ft by 2ft6" board is mostly station building and would not be required when at home.  There is a goods shed and sizeable loco shed.  Fair bit of interest and it retains the awkward operational aspects of Buxton.  Operation would be from the bottom edge on the plan i.e. inside the U but that is where problems start to occur.  The goods yard is on the furthest point from the operators so how the heck would I deal with uncoupling.  More thought needed.

 

I did print this out to see whether it really could be fitted in my shed.  It did!  There would be another 3ft or so of platform extending out of the door in this photo.

 

1600762883_1stlayup.jpg.8c9a6cab705ab74a2d18940fd49f00b6.jpg

  • Like 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

After further doodling and fiddling I came up with another version of the previous plan.  To resolve the problem of having the goods facilities within reach of the operators I've switched the loco facilities and goods facilities round.  This doesn't greatly change the shape of the overall plan but makes it workable.

 

2075085311_BuxtonMk3.jpg.c5c44289f6f7dec045e0ab1b33974ec1.jpg

 

Still pondering whether this is the one to go for.  If it hadn't been for the lockdown and the fact that I can't get 8x4 sheets of birch ply I would probably be slaughtering timber by now.  A pause is probably a good thing.

 

Anyway I have been getting distracted attempting to clear stuff off my workbench...

 

1525584033_lockdowndistractions.jpg.2b396841c1c5d4b9b622b629b70ea099.jpg

 

The saint has been built from a Slaters kit and has been waiting for transfers and finishing touches for at least 3 years.  The Heljan Deltic has been waiting for a buffer to be replaced and some weathering for a similar amount of time.  It's still waiting.

 

The class 66 has literally been on my workbench for 11 years!  It's a pretty awful kit and I slung it in it's box in frustration and thats where it stayed under a ton of other stuff.  It would have been thrown in the bin but I'm just plain stubborn so with the help of my 3D printer and a lot of bodging it's getting close to finished.

 

None of these has anything to do with the Midland project but you know how it goes.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

All looks great but....

 

I appreciate that  that you might not be interested in building a 4-6-2 Bulleid. Not your normal Southern stuff but different to the small LMS?  A big loco as well of course.

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Well we Midland guys just build a SDJR 7F if we feel the need for something bigger than 4-4-0 or 0-6-0. If that don't scratch the itch then there's always Big Bertha! :locomotive:

Regards Lez.

  • Like 1
  • Funny 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I think I've already scratched the Southern/Bulleid itch...

181661749_MerchantNavy.jpg.c9bf60df310cd86866c9a66c88d8a3dc.jpg

 

I'm in remission but if it reappears I have a West Country kit on the shelf which should sort it.  ;-)

 

I really should decide how I'm going to build the baseboards and get some materials ordered.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Premium
2 hours ago, O-Gauge-Phil said:

Hi,  how was the Slaters Saint?  Did it all go together without to much grief?  Did all the bits fit?  It's on my lockdown list.

 

Thanks

Phil

Hi Phil,

 

I don't recall having any real problems with the Saint other than those of my own making. I bought it years ago as I fancied trying a Slaters kit and the Saint is quite an elegant prototype (for one of those copper capped things).    :-)

 

Cheers

Dave

 

  • Funny 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Must’ve been ok then, for a carrot topped kettle.  You never forget the pigs but Slaters are a good make, so I wouldn’t expect anything else.  You  don’t see many Saints about. Perhaps they are a bit big for most people’s layouts.

 

Thanks again 

Phil

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Just for change I haven't got distracted (much) and have actually made some progress on the layout.  I was still not entirely happy with the trackplan so have moved on to version 4.  This one sorts out an operational problem with the loco shed.  In the last version the shed area was entered from the runround loop behind the signal box leading to a problem whereby locos could only be moved around the complex using the loop.  Didn't seem right.

 

To resolve this I've added a small headshunt for the shed area fed from the main running line.  This makes it all a bit cluttered so I may have to have a bit of a clear out.

 

1060876564_BuxtonMk4.jpg.174122e06406a88cfaad2696b04e633e.jpg

 

I had originally intended to build each of the 6 baseboards 1220x750mm (4ft by 2ft6" in old money) from plywood in a fairly conventional manner but it occurred to me if I could reduce the weight I could increase the width and still be able to handle them.  For the Winchester Railway Modellers Redbridge Wharf layout we created a number of baseboards from high density polystyrene insulation foam and they are very very light.  Time to do something similar for my own layout.

 

The basic format is a top surface of 50mm thick high density insulation foam with framing and supporting structure of 6mm birch ply.  Inset into the top surface at the ends is a strip of 15x15mm softwood to allow brass screws to be inserted to support rail ends.

 

Baseboard1.jpg.7397154f40d6e092e89b352ae2c2957e.jpg

 

The foam needs a fair bit of support so the lower 60mm of the ends and sides are doubled skinned with another 6mm of ply, to provide shelf for the foam to sit on, plus there is a grid of cross bracing.  Corner joints are reinforced with 15x15mm softwood and screws.  It may be worth cutting holes to further reduce weight as my "back of a fag packet" estimate suggests this would save around 400 to 500grams.  I have one under construction so when I find out what the final weight is I can make a decision.  It's a lot of holes so if it doesn't make a worthwhile difference I can live without the extra work.

 

656920191_Baseboardexploded.jpg.7c78cc0bba4a139ec7cc46af97b06539.jpg    

The insulation foam comes in 1200x600mm sheets so is made up of 1 1/2 sheets with a glued join.  Choice of adhesive is fairly important here as any glue that contains solvents melts the polystyrene.  On Redbridge we used solvent free grip fill which works but, as it's PVA based and needs one surface to be porous, doesn't ever cure completely in joints between two pieces of foam.  Luckily there are a number of construction/grip fill adhesives that are both solvent free and not PVA based.  I'm using EvoStick "Sticks likes..." and it does!  Timber to timber joins use traditional PVA based woodworking adhesive.

 

Cheers

Dave

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

One down five to go. This may take a while!

 

20200606_161032.jpg.3b99c29df6ba0401b8c3ba42d703cb19.jpg

 

If I had some appropriate scales I would measure the weight. I would estimate it is less than 6Kg.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

  • Like 2
  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Premium

Progress has been made.  Two more baseboards have been assembled and all three have had a coat of acrylic varnish to seal things.  Experience has shown that if you don't give the insulating foam some sort of sealing coat it's a devil of a job to glue anything to it with any of our normal modelling adhesives.

 

In addition other pieces of innocent timber have been tortured into submission mainly in trying to figure a way of supporting the baseboards.

 

20200619_163149.jpg.f7918752b3bcd058786192063dd2bf56.jpg

 

As ever solving one problem causes another.  In this case it's down to the width of the baseboards again.  Having 3ft wide boards seemed a really good idea when looking at trackplans.  Having solved the weight (5.5Kg) and thus handling issues I then had to decide on the height to display at.

 

Many O gauge layouts seem to do away with a backscene to allow easy access for coupling etc. but to me it makes the layout seem like a picture without a frame.  I intend to have some form of backscene so to be able to reach across, to encourage the inevitable recalcitrant loco, the boards need to be slightly lower than I would normally set them at.

 

For my current layouts I use steel trestles for support but they are too narrow to easily support the boards at the joins and with 6 scenic boards, plus several boards for the fiddleyard, I would need an awful lot to hold this one up.  I figured some form of support beams would allow me to use less trestles.  Easy but...

 

If I use a support beam of a reasonable size then the trestles won't go down low enough to get the boards to the right height.  Some innovation required.

 

I'm also thinking about how this lot will get transported.  The common way is to use end boards and pair up baseboards and lug them around with or without a trolley.  Must be an easier way.  How about having some sort of transport frame for the baseboards that double as one or more of the supports?

 

Current thinking is shown below.  There will be two skeletal transport frames each accomodating 3 baseboards and mounted on 100mm castors.  These frames provide support for 4ft or so of baseboard at each end of the scenic section plus supporting one end of two 8ft support beams.  One central steel trestle with a couple of steel brackets supports the other ends of the 8ft beams.

 

866116246_baseboardcrate.jpg.372ae741538ccb8f38383f68f683259d.jpg

 

The beams are 100x18 mm softwood cut from 3m long tongue and groove floorboards which should be rigid enough to support the boards.  I had originally thought I would use the floorboards as they came but then it occurred to me that if the tongue or groove bits got damaged when chucked in the back of a van I would be stuffed so I ran the boards through the table saw.

 

The castors arrived today courtesy of the large South American ladies so I better crack on and figure out how to build the transport frames.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

  • Like 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Just in case anyone is under the illusion that I have changed my modelling ways and gone all organised and engineer like with these CAD drawings etc. here is a shot of my latest creations...

 

20200621_115706.jpg.ab523b5d3d8abb6c8723068c19cacb81.jpg

 

 

These are the "hangers" that support the ends of the four 8ft long beams on the central steel trestle.  The easy way of making these would have been to order up some mild steel strip, heat it with my brazing torch, carefully bend it to shape and possibly braze on some stiffening ribs.  What sort of challenge would that be?

 

These are a pair of T hinges attacked with a hack saw and bashed with a hammer.  You can see how carefully the metal was prepared as evidenced by the pink paint still attached!

 

Cheers

Dave

 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Despite temperatures in the 30s I've been mad enough to spend time down in the workshop pushing on with the heavy engineering on this project.  I've managed to build one of the transport frames/crates/supports to check I've got the measurements right and that the idea works.  Apart from sorting some way of locating/clamping the boards in, sanding and varnishing it's done.

 

937888398_Transportcrate.jpg.932c3199f1448baa60df20a3da8b0f96.jpg

 

Thankfully it's not too heavy and moves on the castors very nicely.  Shouldn't be a big deal to roll up the garden and load into a van.

 

It also works quite nicely as one of the end supports for staging the layout.  There are a couple of slots that one end of the 8'6" support beams locate into.  The other end of the beams are supported by the exotic brackets I made earlier slung on a steel trestle.  As the beams simply sit in the slots of the frame I can adjust the length of the set-up so that it is shorter when in my workshop and extended to full length when out and about.

 

982715860_Supportbeams.jpg.1c328d0e73080bb47546246a98ce0768.jpg

 

The basic structure works fine and is easy to assemble but I need to figure a way of positively locating the baseboards.  At the moment they just sit on top which is a bit vulnerable to the odd unintended shove.  Here's half the scenic section assembled.

 

688872182_3boards.jpg.b2520d17b07e52e6cce9fcc11356d0a1.jpg

 

There's quite a lot of it!

 

Cheers

Dave

 

  • Like 7
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Premium

More progress with baseboards etc.  I now have 5 boards assembled plus both transport/support frames.  The final scenic board to be built will be made to split in two so I can assemble a slightly shorter layout at home.  Yet more tweaks and simplifications have been made to the trackplan.

 

1712835915_trackplanmk7.jpg.b8e22d0d8b2560f29ba30c243bb2638b.jpg

 

Time to print it up and play Brio trains to make sure it all works.  Also a good opportunity to take a look at viewing lines and see just how squashed in things are.

 

Below is the view from the righthand end of the layout.  The compound and clerestory coaches are sitting in platform 1 which actually will be 750mm longer so there is scope for a longer train.  The autotrain on the left is in platform 3.

202954791_2ndlayup1.jpg.07b5fe7806084d4194dabb0d72ae1d3c.jpg

 

Looking from the other end a single is running in from the fiddle yard passing the goods facilities to its left.

681549386_2ndlayup2.jpg.c7f1e34b0c2bbd77f087b5c98f7c8991.jpg

 

At the extreme left end of the layout are the loco facilities.  The 2P is sat on the 55ft turntable while in the centre is the 2 road engine shed.  The tank loco in the foreground is sat on the ash pit road.

 

2028926054_2ndlayup3.jpg.ff0352b3e61f8c10dda0cf5ecb8ff300.jpg

 

Standing more towards the centre of the layout and looking right the single and coaches are snaking their way into platform 2.  On the left in the distance a goods train sits in the goods yard headshunt waiting to depart.

 

936607632_2ndlayup4.jpg.657a0a3c89d909d42f95f2b971fb3e87.jpg

 

I think it all works but I'll spend a bit more time peering at it before committing it to track.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

All 6 baseboards for the scenic area now assembled along with their transport/support frames. Now all I need is some track components...

 

20200711_165137.jpg.78ddabb78bb6e0f20046607e90b677ff.jpg

 

As an experiment I have built some track already with some bits and pieces I had in stock but I fear a single 30 ft track panel is not going to go far.

 

image.jpg.2ed7523f3c7939a7f3074ae2c3bb33d2.jpg

 

Cheers

Dave

 

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...