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Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.


MrWolf
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44 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Cruel close up of the L&Y van roof. Still needs a lot of work.

 

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Looks very effective, Rob

Edited by Rowsley17D
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21 hours ago, MrWolf said:

A tidy up and a look at how far I've got  over the last few months.

 

It helps to visualise and keep things moving.

 

IMG_20211115_005444.jpg.2e540b1f9308d9a2304e04d6d460f193.jpg

 

 

I have visited the area for own purposes, and that photo captures the feel of the countryside.

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On 15/11/2021 at 22:34, Regularity said:

I have visited the area for own purposes, and that photo captures the feel of the countryside.

 

Thank you @Regularity, that's quite the compliment!

 

It's intended to be this field, photographed here from the opposite direction on a wet May bank holiday weekend last year.

 

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Edited by MrWolf
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Forgot to say earlier; those shots of your layout are superb. I don’t know if it’s your weathering of the track or the open space you’ve managed to achieve, but I’m struggling to believe that’s big standard code 100 track - especially in that long shot down the length of the line.

Its making me regret my decision to hand build my track :resent:

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7 hours ago, Tortuga said:

Looking really good! I’m almost regretting giving you that pack (but not really - your need was greater than mine)

 

4 hours ago, Tortuga said:

Forgot to say earlier; those shots of your layout are superb. I don’t know if it’s your weathering of the track or the open space you’ve managed to achieve, but I’m struggling to believe that’s big standard code 100 track - especially in that long shot down the length of the line.

Its making me regret my decision to hand build my track :resent:

 

Thanks again for sending me those parts, I think that was a spur to actually get on with the point rodding, I couldn't very well not install it after that. I suspect that I would have kept putting it off otherwise and it would be even more awkward to fit.

 

I think that it's a combination of the two, the land rises only slightly at the rear of the layout, whilst at the front it falls away again towards the edge of the board having risen slightly from the track. I think that weathering with lighter colours has stopped the track looking too chunky.

 

Added to that, I think what helps with the sense of space is the sweep of the formation. Originally I planned a straight line coming in from the back of the boards on the right, to the front of the boards on the left, which would mean I didn't have to add a little to the goods yard board, but I preferred the curve in the western end of the loop.

If I was building my own track, I doubt that I would have finished page 6 yet, never mind 106. Anybody building their own track gets a salute from me. Too much patience involved, but it always looks so impressive.

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42 minutes ago, Silus said:

Hi Rob,

That looks really great.  I'm just about to start rodding, so i've been following your and others' work.  I'm guessing that it is installed still on the plasticard strip - is that correct?

Thanks

Jon T

 

Hi Jon, 

I've built the straight parts of the point rodding onto a strip of 30 thou plastikard to make things easier to handle. That way I can install it as sub assemblies and it sits nearer to prototype height when stuck down to the baseboard with a little UHU glue.

Where the rods have to negotiate a slight curve, I have simply stuck pads of plastikard to the bottom of the roller frames to act as the stools.

I paint the whole thing with sleeper grime first to hide anything that doesn't get buried in ballast.

Lots of people have been very helpful on this thread regarding point rodding and dozens of other things.

I'm sure that if you need to know anything else a question on here will find the answer.

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Building your own track makes sense if you enjoy doing it. Otherwise buy in track. I have seen track were the flow has been improved by modifying the turnouts by cutting the webs between timbers to put a bit of a curve into a turnout.  I generally build my own but when I used some I had lying about I did saw one in half to go over a baseboard joint. It works fine just dont make the cut too close to the crossing or to the flexible area of the blades.

I do like the rodding.

 

Don

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I think that if I were to go down the handbuilt track route, given the time and skills, I would want to go the whole hog and go broad gauge.

I've been seriously impressed by @Charlie586's Wantage Road 1880 Broad Gauge thread, where everything is hand built beyond wheels motors and gears.

 

There was a point (!) during the early stages of building Aston where I thought that I was going to end up with a point over a baseboard joint. Accepted wisdom said that this was a bad idea, but on examination and given my method of securing the rail ends at baseboard joints, it would likely have worked. 

The actual solution was to make the station site a little bigger, so it was a winner all round.

Glad that people are liking the point rodding. I'd recommend anyone have a go, it's not that difficult once you get your head around how the system would have worked.

Better a bit of swearing now than regretting not doing it when the layout is built.

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Charlie has recently commented how the point becomes longer because of the increase in width, and this is the biggest factor to bear in mind if you start to design a small BLT type of layout for broad gauge. Otherwise, have a look on the Broad Gauge Society site (https://www.broadgauge.org.uk) and look at what’s available in their shop, it’s a very tasty range.

Edited by Northroader
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Thanks @Northroader, there's a lot more available than I thought. It will still have to be a retirement project though, in about twenty years, if you're allowed to retire by then! :angry:

 

I've managed to get half an hour today and connect up the longest rodding run to the western end of the loop at least.

 

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Edited by MrWolf
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Morning Rob, 

 

The rodding looks really good but what a splendid job you've done with the station building. 

 

It reallly looks the part. 

 

Rob. 

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Thanks Rob, it's still in the 'too clean' queue, but it's going to have to wait until I finish ballasting. 

Although  I suspect that will probably also be done in stages in between wagon builds...

 

The signal box end of the point rodding is coming together now.

 

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Edited by MrWolf
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