Dauntsey Lock - GWR in Linear Motor T Gauge

[martink]

This is a continuation of a previous topic in the general layout section, with a slight change to the layout's name and the topic title.

 

After a break of a few months, work is once again underway on this one.  The basic scenery is now done, although still lacking major vegetation, backscene and most other details.  The main holdup was the canal surface - trying to come up with something that both looked like water and worked reliably.

 

 

[DavidMatthewson]

Very neat Martin - I look forward to seeing stock moving on it.

 

[martink]

The backscene has now been constructed and installed, although with no attempt yet to properly blend it into the scenery. It started out as a half-way suitable panorama found on the web (and free for personal use!), was heavily edited in Paint and GIMP, then glued to a painted sky. It should look better with the dummy road overbridge painted and trees to conceal the other track pass-throughs.

 

 

[DavidMatthewson]

Nice work...

[St Enodoc]

Looks good Martin. I like the way you've continued the tracks on to the 2D backscene. How does that look from different viewing angles?

[martink]

6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

... How does that look from different viewing angles?

While both sets of drawn tracks are optimised for viewing from the middle of the layout, the backscene is curved by nearly 45 degrees at the ends so they actually line up quite well when viewed from anywhere except right at or beyond that end.

[martink]

A bit more progress on the scenery - trees, hedges and a bit of a general cleanup. I'll save the fences and the rest until the final detailing phase, so for now it is back to the moving bits...

 

 

[martink]

With the scenery mostly done, it is time to get things running again.  First, the canal...

 

 

[DavidMatthewson]

The lock is wonderful! (But not sure about the bright orange car.. ;{ }  

[martink]

8 hours ago, DavidMatthewson said:

The lock is wonderful! (But not sure about the bright orange car.. ;{ }  

The cars are temporary, and completely wrong for country & period.  It all looked looked a little empty, so I put them there just for the video.

[Ben B]

That canal is a very impressive bit of engineering, the working lock is a fantastic feature!

[DavidMatthewson]

14 hours ago, martink said:

The cars are temporary, and completely wrong for country & period.  It all looked looked a little empty, so I put them there just for the video.

I have some traction engines and tractors you might like!!

[martink]

I have had a couple of people ask me how the canal lock works, so here are a couple of CAD images.  Both the scenic bits and the working parts are 3D printed, and the whole thing is driven by 3 servos. The structure and supports were designed for 5 servos to handle the more common double gates, but that was just getting too crowded. The assembled view gives the green elevator piece stretched legs to show how it all fits together.

 

Progress is continuing on the layout itself, with the trains currently under construction.  The locos (19 of 10 classes) and passenger stock (63 of 19 types including milk tankers) are nearly finished, and I am plucking up courage to start the goods wagons (180-200 in total).  These figures should be about 20% more than I actually need, but allows some choice when setting up trains and sequences.   Why oh why didn't I pick a one-train-a-day branch line?

 

With this one nearing completion, I have pretty much settled on the basic concept for layout #4 - Penzance circa 1913 on a 6' x 2' board.  This will feature basic terminal operation including the small loco depot and turntable that closed the following year, running to an out-and-back reversing loop.  I can even fit in most of the long-vanished Penzance viaduct.  And, most importantly, reuse a lot of the new GWR stock!

 

[martink]

After a fair bit of work, all the locomotives and passenger stock have been built, including milk tankers, siphons and TPOs.  These are not the final train formations, but do represent all the major types the layout will handle. 

 

All the models were 3D printed on a common FDM printer, then hand-painted and with paper sides on the coaches.  The milk tankers use home-made decals for the lettering and ladders.  For the period, the locos should all have variations of the "GREAT WESTERN" legend on their tenders and tanks, but I was unable to produce an acceptable version so had to go with a golden blob to represent the shirt-button logo instead.  As usual, the close-up shots in the video are cruel and highlight all the defects.

 

 

[martink]

About 2/3rds of the planned goods wagons have now been built.  This is enough to run the layout, but with shorter trains than it is designed to handle.  I'll do the rest at the very end of the project.  They are built the same way as the buildings and passenger stock: simple 3D printed body shells, roof and underframes hand-painted, with paper sides for the detailing.  I tried decals, but this approach proved more effective.  One of the big advantages of the linear motor drive is that it can run very long trains.  One of the big disadvantages is that I then have to build them!  Next step: the software, bringing it all to life.

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2020 by martink
Display Youtube as video rather than link

[martink]

The scenic detailing is mostly done, just waiting on a few extra bits and pieces to arrive (people, better signals, etc.).  I'll do a final video or two then.

 

[martink]

With the layout basically complete, here is the last planned video of it.  I let the layout do its own thing, while moving around to different positions with the camera.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

41 minutes ago, martink said:

With the layout basically complete, here is the last planned video of it.  I let the layout do its own thing, while moving around to different positions with the camera.

 

 

Working signals next Martin?????

[martink]

27 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Working signals next Martin?????

I actually spent a couple of days trying out various ideas for working semaphores, but could not achieve anything repeatable.  On the other hand, I've done colour lights successfully in T Gauge, so the next time I do a modern image layout..., or maybe Paddington with pre-war GWR searchlights....

[Halvarras]

This is a remarkable piece of work Martin, and a great deal achieved in a short time - I wish I was even half as productive!

 

The title caught my eye because back in the early 70s I was stationed at RAF Lyneham up the hill and occasionally walked to the bridge at Dauntsey on a sunny Sunday afternoon (it's quite a distance and road traffic on the winding hill would be a discouragement these days) to see if anything interesting would pass by - strangest sight was an engineer's train top n tailed by a Hymek and a Peak. I think it was the last location I ever saw D1000 'Western Enterprise' in action too. I could detect evidence of a station here and somebody in the Swindon Model Railway Club, which I had just joined, filled me in on the history, so on my next visit I knew to look for the alignment of the Malmesbury branch. By then it was just two parallel hedgerows separated by grass stretching away across the fields, so it is of particular interest to me to see it all 'up and running' in (very) miniature! Nice work!