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Minories are made of this


Harlequin
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I like the original title. Then again, I like puns and Dad jokes too! :D

I don't think you'll regret using a Minories track plan. It is adaptable if required, and can be tremendous fun to operate.

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My version of Minories was almost the only bit of my old layout to survive the house move. It's called St. Mary Axe* and located in East London.

* pronounced Simmery Axe.

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5 hours ago, BR60103 said:

My version of Minories was almost the only bit of my old layout to survive the house move. It's called St. Mary Axe* and located in East London.

* pronounced Simmery Axe.


Like you, I salvaged my Minories boards for further use after demolishing the old layout but before I could build a new one. I used a one road fiddle yard on a temporary board to keep things running. Mine was a mirror-imaged and stretched version, with a loco shed added at the junction end, and a crssover in the platforms to allow locos to run around their trains. The operational possibilities and interest were unsurpassed as far as my own layouts have gone.

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It's the best way to approach this design - by building the baseboards first, and making sure the hinge works, and most importantly, that the hinge aligns perfectly.
This will help ensure trouble-free track alignment. A folding layout is something I've long pondered - but never quite got a design I was quite happy with.

The terminus station makes that bridge in the centre look like a more convincing location IMO.
Some folk mightn't bother with this, but I would be tempted to make a "plug-in" road overlay / jigsaw piece - just to finish off, and help hide the join when operating or exhibiting.
I did start to build a minories layout myself, many years back. My plan was to have it as a stand-alone layout, which could be attached to a larger scheme... but that never got finished :(

Good luck with this plan - I'd like to see it completed :)
BTW - I like the title, it's what made me look at the thread, but then again like @SRman I'm a fan of Dad jokes too! I'll get my Snorkel Jacket... lol

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16 minutes ago, marc smith said:


Good luck with this plan - I'd like to see it completed :)
BTW - I like the title, it's what made me look at the thread, but then again like @SRman I'm a fan of Dad jokes too! I'll get my Snorkel Jacket... lol

 

There's no hope for either of us, Marc! :jester:

Edited by SRman
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Hi, it doesn't always have to be a bridge to hide the hinge blocks.  On the layout I'm just starting to build one block will be behind the backscene and the other hidden by a removable building.

 

Roja

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8 minutes ago, 37Oban said:

Hi, it doesn't always have to be a bridge to hide the hinge blocks.

 

I agree that hiding the hinge blocks doesn't necessarily require a bridge.

I have used the hinged baseboard form of construction lots of times and have always tried to avoid that "give away" central bridge.

I would endorse the comment to take care with the hinge alignment.

My carpentry skills are such that I have never yet succeeded in making one truly square and level!

Usually you can get around this but it has proved a little more problematical in fussy N gauge.

 

Heres a photo of Inverness Citadel (a third or fourth string layout in building) showing the hinge disguises.

 

49584042881_a3d88b4527_z.jpg9 by Ian Thompson, on Flickr

 

The disguise to the left is a tannery and the other hinge is under the football stand facing out onto the Moray Firth..

This is a much more open setting than Minories where it should easily be possible to contrive an excuse for a building.

The bridge at the bottom disguises the entrance to the fiddle yard and a goods shed is set in front of it.

 

Ian T

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A good start. Those suggesting alternatives are perhaps missing the point! Part of the Minories charm is the bridge, giving a scenic divide into station throat and platforms. Getting rid of it does away with a feature that a faithful Minories ought to have.

 

There has been a very interesting discussion on the theory, design and "What is a Minories". I think some of us have decided that the time for discussion is over and the time for building has arrived!

Edited by t-b-g
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Thankyou everyone for contributing!

 

I am going to do the classic road bridge covering the hinges. Maybe with a horse-drawn omnibus on the road as a twist on the old cliché.

 

 

I cut the two front sides of the box this morning. Not as neat as I'd like but they'll do:

332783730_SAM_4364resaved.JPG.56094c0e91678fcff5d9469e2a881656.JPG

 

The frames at the ends of each section of the box will be held rigidly by being glued to the front and back side panels. The idea is and give something really solid to fix the hinges to. Hence the diagonal cuts and rounded inner corners for bracing.

 

Edited by Harlequin
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A good few years ago (2007?) the DEMU society ran a Minories competition - what if we had another one to celebrate 65 years in 2022?

 

You could standardise the baseboard size by arranging for one of the baseboard kit manufacturers to make a suitable template? (Really thinking that I havnt got Phil's woodwork skills!)

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Minories is a work of genius, Cyril Freezer’s masterpiece.  The ‘giveaway’ bridge is permitted, even encouraged, by the original concept, a basement level urban commuter terminus.  The back story is pretty much identifiable as the BR side of Moorgate; the main line stations are further out but railways penetrated further in during the 1870s or 80s as the first class bums in the first class seats moved out to rural villas, followed 40 years later by the Metroland brigade. 
 

But this limits it a bit.  There aren’t many British cities that can support that implied backstory; Liverpool and Edinburgh have similar commuter scenarios below street level, and Birmingham has the tunnels, but the other big cities, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, don’t ‘feel right’ for it.  It’s like Paul Simon’s ‘One Trick Pony‘; it turns that trick with pride!

 

Were I building it, it would need a high or street level goods yard, and the bridge would be at a slight angle to the platforms.  An essential would be a parcels lift, as my version would have a role as a parcels/mail depot overnight, maybe newspaper traffic as well.  A sparser commuter service on Saturday would leave paths for excursion traffic. 
 

 

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Glasgow certainly had low-level suburban sections—still does, and once some small urban termini too. Operated in the 1950s by N2s, V1/3s, Fairburn and standard 2-6-4Ts. On the Caledonian side in the 1960s as it fell into decline even Claytons could occasionally be seen…

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2 hours ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

Glasgow certainly had low-level suburban sections—still does, and once some small urban termini too. Operated in the 1950s by N2s, V1/3s, Fairburn and standard 2-6-4Ts. On the Caledonian side in the 1960s as it fell into decline even Claytons could occasionally be seen…

Top centre on this map...https://maps.nls.uk/view/82891803 is the closed Bridgeton (Brig-ton) terminus station in Glasgow, less than 2 miles from the centre of Glasgow.  

 

Although slightly bigger than Minories, its a very modellable area

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We at Bentley Model Railway Group had a layout called Gladstone Road that was based on the Minories concept, it was supposed to based around surburban Manchester. We eventually extended it to allow through running and finally sold it last year.

 

Extending it certainly added much operational interest for the Operators.

 

Regards

 

Neal.

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Like many other modellers, I also truly love the Minories layout and would like to build a N Gauge version one day, set up north (Yorkshire) with a run-down station with Pacers, Sprinter units etc...

 

Sam

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On 09/06/2020 at 18:22, marc smith said:

It's the best way to approach this design - by building the baseboards first, and making sure the hinge works, and most importantly, that the hinge aligns perfectly.
This will help ensure trouble-free track alignment.

I'd make the hinge itself slightly floppy but use dowels in the mating board ends to secure the alignment when the layout is opened up for operation.

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13 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I'd make the hinge itself slightly floppy but use dowels in the mating board ends to secure the alignment when the layout is opened up for operation.

 

I'm worried about using dowels at all because the ones I have used on my current test layout are very tight and really only want to move in one axis so they might be sticky or totally impossible to engage when rotated into position by a hinge.

 

My current thinking is to just align the boards by hand and use flight-box clasps to then pull them tightly together. Friction would then prevent them from moving.

 

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1 minute ago, Harlequin said:

 

I'm worried about using dowels at all because the ones I have used on my current test layout are very tight and really only want to move in one axis so they might be sticky or totally impossible to engage when rotated into position by a hinge.

 

My current thinking is to just align the boards by hand and use flight-box clasps to then pull them tightly together. Friction would then prevent them from moving.

 

I use DCC Concepts dowels (usual disclaimer) to align my lifting flap. they are quite short and have rounded ends so can move in rotation as well as pure translation. When engaged they are very rigid.

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The problem with loose hinges which I have encountered is that close mating of the end surfaces can be lost at the track level. If the best quality close fitting brass hinges are used then I have now found just a bolt through the two boards underneath is sufficient to hold them firmly together. The higher the hinge position the greater the cantilever result of course.

 

Izzy

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