RMweb Gold Popular Post ikcdab Posted August 10, 2020 RMweb Gold Popular Post Share Posted August 10, 2020 (edited) Time to break cover..... Charlton bridge is my forthcoming, biggest and most ambitious project to date. In the past, I have built various small branch line layouts but now I have the chance to build something really get to grips with. The concept is 1960s southern region mainline perhaps more to the west of the region than the East. So something loosely based on the lines to Salisbury, Weymouth or Exeter. All built to 00, but as finescale as I can get it. If anyone was sad enough to look at the various postings I’ve made on here and the Templot forum over the last few months, you will pretty much get an idea of what I have been up to. This thread is now an attempt to draw it altogether and to present a coherent story. But to start at the beginning. Having been a lifelong railway enthusiast, I have built different layouts in the past ranging from 009, 4mm to 7mm and most recently a 16 mm garden line with live steam. Virtually all of these layouts have been end to end types of various different sizes. I have a friend who has a large 00 layout in her loft representing ‘summer Saturdays in the West’ which is a large double track oval with various branch lines off. I actually have rather enjoyed just watching full length trains belt round the double track oval and decided that this was a sort of thing I was after. It has been gently simmering in my mind for several years waiting the opportunity and the enthusiasm to make a start. Back this time last year I built a small workshop and found I had space for yet another branch line terminus which I based on ‘Minories’. This was built with SMP track coupled to handbuilt soldered points. The track was designed using Templot and the whole thing was moderately successful inasmuch as everything ran okay and the track looked good but operationally I still hankered after the oval. Then of course came lockdown. Seeing that I would be stuck at home for several months it seemed like the ideal opportunity to move ahead. We have a large garden and there is no difficulty in accommodating a new railway shed. Accordingly I set out a track design that would suit me then worked out the size of shed required to accommodate it. 7.5m x 4.5m was the final size that seemed to be about right. Out came the spades, spirit levels, screwdrivers, hammers, and seemingly enormous piles of timber and over a couple of months a new super duper shed was put up. It was lucky that we also had someone else locked in with us as I couldn’t have done it all on my own, hefting around large sheets of 8 x 4 onto the roof is not the easiest thing! Here are some pictures showing the shed in progress. i'm really pleased with the outcome. Its now all completed, electrics, lighting, flooring, ceilings, decoration etc. For now, my wife is using the new shed as a table tennis room while i construct bits for the new layout. The plan is to move into the shed during september to start putting together the kit of layout parts i am assembling. I will add new entries over the next few days to catch up on progress. Ian Edited October 29, 2022 by ikcdab Images reloaded 27 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 10, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 10, 2020 (edited) So now to the track layout. Templot has been my friend and I have spent many hours designing, tweaking and refining to get exactly what I want. I highly recommend this software for anyone who wants to do proper flowing track and the support and help from the developer, Martin, is first rate. The basic premise is a large double track oval minimum radius curves of around 1.8 m with transitions from the straight, in fact I don’t think there is any straight track on it. Off of the double track oval is a double junction spawning a double track branch line that descends at 1 in 90 and goes underneath the oval and emerges into an enlarged “Minories”. Platforms should be able to accommodate seven coach trains and I have added a good yard. Also off of the double track oval is a single lead junction that spawns a long single track branch line leading to a terminus based on Weymouth quay. There is a fiddle yard consisting of two loops off of each of the main lines. Again the track will be SMP, but after having been not quite happy with the visual appearance of soldered track previously this time I am going for ply sleepers with C&L plastic functional chairs. Point work will be operated by servos triggered by MERG servo drivers. I am very keen on the route setting and the main terminus has the servos worked through a diode matrix to provide 10 different routes but more of that later. Edited October 29, 2022 by ikcdab 15 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Ian Having shed envy, but ensure you have plenty of insulation mostly to keep you warm during the winter, but to stop wild temperature swings which would play havoc with expansion/contraction. Might even be worth experimenting with a few (3/4) yards of track laid now and see how much it contracts over the next 6 months The plan also looks very interesting, echo's of Bath come to mind along with a standard west country branch line coupled with trains going round and round (something I find quite therapeutic ) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 11, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 11, 2020 (edited) 49 minutes ago, hayfield said: Ian Having shed envy, but ensure you have plenty of insulation mostly to keep you warm during the winter, but to stop wild temperature swings which would play havoc with expansion/contraction. Might even be worth experimenting with a few (3/4) yards of track laid now and see how much it contracts over the next 6 months The plan also looks very interesting, echo's of Bath come to mind along with a standard west country branch line coupled with trains going round and round (something I find quite therapeutic ) Ah well yes. There are some 12 large rolls of wool fibre insulation in the walls and roof. The walls are all made of 3 x 2 framing. Lined on inside with 12mm osb. Then stuffed with woolfibre. Outside is wrapped in moisture proof membrane, then clad. The roof is the same but 18mm osb and covered in coroline sheets. Have done a lot of testing on the temperatures recently. Last weekend it was 30c in the garden, shed interior stayed around a max of 25c. I'll post interior shots later. No chance yet of testing cold temperatures of course, but will have heating. Ian Edited August 11, 2020 by ikcdab 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 11, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 11, 2020 (edited) Here are pics of interior. As said, it's lined with 12mm OSB throughout. The roof is 18mm OSB, but ceilings are 6mm ply with the insulation laid between the joists as per a standard house. Edited October 29, 2022 by ikcdab 11 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted August 11, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 11, 2020 16 hours ago, ikcdab said: For now, my wife is using the new shed as a table tennis room Thin end of the wedge! Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 11, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 11, 2020 12 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said: Thin end of the wedge! Mike. Well the promise is that we turn the garage into the new ping pong room.... Ian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallman28 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Nice space although if it were me and I had that much room I would be going up in scale from 00 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 11, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 11, 2020 3 hours ago, smallman28 said: Nice space although if it were me and I had that much room I would be going up in scale from 00 Well each to their own! I want full length trains and wide radius curves. A larger scale would compromise that and I have a lot of oo already anyway. Ian 2 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigwife007 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 Very nice Ian what a huge space. Plan looks good with plenty of space for scenic details. just make sure you have plenty of good lighting. I use LED batons they look like a normal strip lighting fittings but are far superior in lighting and very beneficial in the low cost to run and give out minimal heat. i shall keep checking in on your progress dan 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 11, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 11, 2020 2 hours ago, Pigwife007 said: Very nice Ian what a huge space. Plan looks good with plenty of space for scenic details. just make sure you have plenty of good lighting. I use LED batons they look like a normal strip lighting fittings but are far superior in lighting and very beneficial in the low cost to run and give out minimal heat. i shall keep checking in on your progress dan Hi Dan, I have installed 4 LED batons. Each claims to be 6000 lumens, so 24000 lumens in total. Yes they are vastly superior to ordinary strip lights and the total cost was just under £100. Ian 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 My railway room was a built by the previous owners as a music studio so is already insulated and brick built too! It's similar size to yours, about 7m long x 3.8m wide. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted August 11, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 11, 2020 I too have a serious case of shed envy. I'm in the middle of project bigger koi pond right now so I have no chance of a bigger shed. Regards Lez. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted August 12, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 12, 2020 6 hours ago, lezz01 said: I too have a serious case of shed envy. I'm in the middle of project bigger koi pond right now so I have no chance of a bigger shed. Regards Lez. Priorities, priorities, priorities! Mike. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 13, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 13, 2020 (edited) I'm a bit of a butterfly so have been making lots of different parts for the new layout. Here are baseboard members. (The red lines on the track layout above).The baseboard will be open frame with the trackbed from 9mm ply. These cross members are made of three layers of 6mm ply to give a light but strong support. This is not a new idea. The ones you see here are where I had several cross members of a similar size so it was easy to make up a big sheet and chop it into 100mm strips. Trickier is around the ends where each member is a different length. I am thinking of batching these (for example all the ones between 400mm and 500mm) and then cutting individuals to the correct length within the width of the outermost spacers. Not sure yet! Ian Edited December 29, 2022 by ikcdab 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold scottystitch Posted August 13, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 13, 2020 On 11/08/2020 at 09:35, ikcdab said: Well the promise is that we turn the garage into the new ping pong room.... Ian I bet that idea gets batted back and forth...BOOM BOOM!! Seriously, though, that's a great looking shed with plenty room and well lined. Best Scott. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 22, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 22, 2020 (edited) We had visitors last week and so work got delayed, but this week its back to normal. I am building this layout in a series of building blocks. Having completed the single lead junction, i have now turned to the double junction. This sees the main line curving away to the right with the branch also curving right on a slightly larger radius. Using C10 turnouts made templot recomend a movable diamond crossing. Initially i was a bit phased by this, but I have been calmed down by wise words on the templot forum to the effect that these are easier to build than fixed diamonds. We shall see. First step was to print out the templot templates and fix them to 3mm cork, then trimmed to the ballast shoulder. This lot was then fixed in turn to 9mm ply and the ply cut to baseboard width which here is 30mm either side of the centre lines. Next step was to chop up some 0.8mm ply into 4mm strips and cut the sleepers to length. These were painted/stained and fixed with pva to the template. This has given me a very secure foundation for the track. Holes were drilled for electrical connections. see below. next step is to make the crossing vees. I use the method suggested by @Brian Harrap which uses no jigs and allows any angle. First a piece of rail is folded in half and soldered.Then the vee is carefully opened up to the correct angle using the template as a guide. temporarily held in place by a piece of copperclad. Then it is carefully filed to a blunt nose: lastly, using straightedges and flangeway guides, i solder it all up to the wingrails on 0.3mm 3mm wide brass shim to make a complete unit. this can then be superglued directly to the sleepers in the right position. Here are the set of 4: a 1 in 8 and 1 in 12 for the crossing and two x 1 in 10 for the two turnouts. displayed here over the edge of my desk as i had also attached droppers. Then to build the unit. Hope to get some progress on that tomorrow, but i am running very low on rail and i am waiting for a delivery. No sign of the postie yet! Edited December 29, 2022 by ikcdab 5 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 22, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 22, 2020 I'm not entirely sure i am happy with the 1 in 12 vee, I think the taper is too long and is slightly hollow. I may well chuck this one and remake it when i get more rail. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 Ian Looking very good, the one thing about the society filing jigs is that they both allow the correct angles to be filed and with a bit of practice hold the rails in place whilst being soldered. My one concern is how you hinge the switch rails ? Just out of interest why is it a switched diamond rather than a diamond crossing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted August 23, 2020 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 23, 2020 14 minutes ago, hayfield said: Ian Looking very good, the one thing about the society filing jigs is that they both allow the correct angles to be filed and with a bit of practice hold the rails in place whilst being soldered. My one concern is how you hinge the switch rails ? Just out of interest why is it a switched diamond rather than a diamond crossing Easy answer....cos templot told me. Seriously, I understand that switch diamonds were used for angles shallower than 1 in 8. On my crossing, one vee is 8.75 the other 12.02. So templot by default makes it a switch diamond. I think there is enough length in the rails to avoid having to hinge them, there should be enough natural flex just as on ordinary turnouts. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 Ian Watching your skill sets I can see no reason why you could not build a diamond crossing rather than a switched Diamond. But if its been discussed in Templot then there is something I am not aware of. Certainly building it on a curve increases the difficulty. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted August 23, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2020 The switch blades should flex easily enough, we have some shorter ones than this in Carlisle's switch diamonds - but they did need much thicker wire in the Tortoise point motors to drive them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted August 23, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 23, 2020 9 minutes ago, hayfield said: Ian Watching your skill sets I can see no reason why you could not build a diamond crossing rather than a switched Diamond. But if its been discussed in Templot then there is something I am not aware of. Certainly building it on a curve increases the difficulty. It certainly isn't possible in 00, Carlisle is EM. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted August 23, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 23, 2020 23 minutes ago, hayfield said: Just out of interest why is it a switched diamond rather than a diamond crossing Hi John, On the UK prototype fixed K-crossings are not permitted flatter than 1:8 (on some pre-group lines it was 1:9), and then only provided all 4 legs are straight. If there is any curving the limit is lower. The reason is that the risk of wheels mis-tracking is too great, i.e. taking the wrong road as they cross over the K-crossings. With wider than scale model flangeways, and especially if they are on a curve, I suggest lower limits. Say 1:7.5 for P4, 1:7 for EM / 00-SF / 0-MF, 1:6 for 00-BF / GOG-F as the flattest angles for fixed K-crossings. Switch-diamonds are much easier to build than fixed K-crossings. There are no K-crossing check rails needed -- which on a fixed K-crossing need to be very accurately positioned, and on a slip because of the wider flangeways are very difficult to find space for (especially in 00). The only downside to a switch-diamond is the need for two extra point motors. Even that is not really a downside because it makes the electrics much easier -- just treat a switch diamond as two turnouts toe-to-toe for the polarity switching at the V-crossings. The setting for fixed K-crossings or movable (switch-diamond) in Templot is at real > K-crossing options. cheers, Martin. 1 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 Michael and Martin Thanks for adding to my knowledge, I guess with 00 gauge smaller radii is the norm and I have not seen plans from either C&L or Exactoscale for switched diamonds (accepting the latter is leaning more to P4 rather than being universal). Thanks again I stand corrected (must keep up with Templot Club topics) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now