YORK for York Show 2023 and beyond

[queensquare]

2 hours ago, kirmies said:

This weekend has been a key moment in the gestation of 'This is York' - putting together the baseboard and the etched roof sections with two key questions:

• Will they fit?
• Will it look as I imagined/hoped it would?

Given that this is the culmination of work that has taken up most of my modelling time  this year the prospect of doing this was quite exciting and decidedly tense at one and the same time.

 

So......how did it go?

 

Day 1: fit the 9 sections of roof previously mounted on the test section of baseboard:

On the whole pretty good - one or two minor adjustments needed but nothing too serious or catastrophic.

 

Days 2 & 3: gradually adding on 15 more roof sections (each one consisting of three cross beams - all that soldering!).

This can best be summarised in a kind of time lapse video:

 

I am well chuffed! Here's what the final position at the end of the 3 day event looks like:

This leaves the 4 column section of taper at this end to build and then the back wall (oh, and everything else that remains to be done!). 

 

 

Magnificent,

 

Jerry

[Sithlord75]

Brilliant.  Captures the feel of the station when you walk in.

[CF MRC]

A unique concept that is working so well!  Just needs CF at one end and Waverley at the other…

 

Tim

[Ian Morgan]

Obviously the work of an artist and genius. Us mere mortals could never have come up with such an idea or concept, but see the results and just stand in jaw-dropping awe.

 

 

[kirmies]

Thanks for all the positive feedback - MUCH appreciated!

 

The last few days have been spent 'consolidating' the build work over the weekend and installing the first attempt at lighting. As on my previous layout Laramie Engine Terminal' I'm using LED strip but, in the intervening years between then and now, LED strip technology has moved on and 'continuous strip' is now available. Whereas the stuff on Laramie had 120 LEDs per metre (so there were gaps between each light) this stuff has 480 per metre so provide a continuous strip of light:

thus avoiding the tendency which the previous stuff had to create mini pools of light.

As before I'm using a mixture of cool and warm light but this time all in one strip called 'natural white' which is said to be half way between the two colour temperature wise. As can be seen from this low flying drone shot, it seems to work pretty well. so, for once, the first attempt may need very little tweeking.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by kirmies
Re-adding photos

[kirmies]

Close observers will spot the wonky columns siting in the corner at the end of the video.

These are on the list of fixes to do but are inaccessible at the moment so will have to wait until I disassemble for painting.

[drduncan]

It is breathtaking and I can’t wait to see it finished.

drduncan

[kirmies]

THIS IS YORK for York Show 2022 2023

 

Confucious when he wrote 'May you live in interesting times' had clearly not lived through a pandemic!

 

So many things haven't happened as planned since March 2020 and, I'm afraid, 'THIS IS YORK for York Show 2022' now has to be added to this long list. As of today, it has become THIS IS YORK for York Show 2022 2023

 

It was always an optimistic (some said foolish) plan to attempt to build a layout of this size and complexity to an exhibitable state in around 16 months. And so it has proved.

 

As is always the case, everything has taken longer than expected but also, as a result of Covid as much as anything else, considerably less time has been available to spend on the layout than was anticpated and this has led over the past couple of months to the inevitable conclusion that there simply wasn't going to be time to get done everything that needed doing before Easter 2022.

 

A quick chat with Ken Gibbons (the late Mal Scrimshaw's successor as York Show manager) a few weeks ago rearranged 'This is York''s exhibiton debut from Easter 2022 to Easter 2023 and, now the decision is made, it is a considerable relief.

 

On reflection, I'd far rather do it well than do it quickly and progress will continue to be reported here as and when there's something worth reporting.

 

Wishing everyone the very best for 2022.

 

A photo update will follow in the next few days......

 

 

 

 

[bradfordbuffer]

3 hours ago, kirmies said:

THIS IS YORK for York Show 2022 2023

 

Confucious when he wrote 'May you live in interesting times' had clearly not lived through a pandemic!

 

So many things haven't happened as planned since March 2020 and, I'm afraid, 'THIS IS YORK for York Show 2022' now has to be added to this long list. As of today, it has become THIS IS YORK for York Show 2022 2023

 

It was always an optimistic (some said foolish) plan to attempt to build a layout of this size and complexity to an exhibitable state in around 16 months. And so it has proved.

 

As is always the case, everything has taken longer than expected but also, as a result of Covid as much as anything else, considerably less time has been available to spend on the layout than was anticpated and this has led over the past couple of months to the inevitable conclusion that there simply wasn't going to be time to get done everything that needed doing before Easter 2022.

 

A quick chat with Ken Gibbons (the late Mal Scrimshaw's successor as York Show manager) a few weeks ago rearranged 'This is York''s exhibiton debut from Easter 2022 to Easter 2023 and, now the decision is made, it is a considerable relief.

 

On reflection, I'd far rather do it well than do it quickly and progress will continue to be reported here as and when there's something worth reporting.

 

Wishing everyone the very best for 2022.

 

A photo update will follow in the next few days......

 

 

 

 

York wasn't built in a day?

[bradfordbuffer]

54 minutes ago, bradfordbuffer said:

York wasn't built in a day?

Or should I say ....Eboracum?

[kirmies]

I've just updated the layout's website home page (link at the bottom of this post):

...and amended the 'Days to go' countdown from 106 days (to Easter Saturday 2022) to 463 (to Easter Saturday 2023).

Far from feeling like an admission of defeat, it felt very positive and MUCH more comfortable!

Reference by Bradfordbuffer to Eboracum reminded me of the latin saying:

Festina lente - Make haste slowly.

Whilst checking that my latin spelling was correct I stumbled across this:

 

Hâtez-vous lentement, et sans perdre courage,
Vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage,
Polissez-le sans cesse, et le repolissez,
Ajoutez quelquefois, et souvent effacez.

(Slowly make haste, and without losing courage;
Twenty times redo your work;
Polish and re-polish endlessly,
And sometimes add, but often take away)

 

by the 17th century French poet Nicolas Boileau (who I have to say, I'd never heard of)

 

Although writing about composing poetry, this sounds like good advice to me - must try to remember it!!

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by kirmies

[Caley Jim]

15 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

Or should I say ....Eboracum?

Jorvik?

 

Jim (Ah've picked ma windae!)

[kirmies]

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022!!

 

It’s exactly a year since I launched this thread and committed myself to getting ‘This is York’ ready for the York Show at Easter 2022. As reported a few days ago, this has now had to be delayed until Easter 2023 so it would be easy to be glass half empty and focus on what hasn’t happened.

 

But I think it’s much better to be glass half full and look at what has been achieved:

 

A year ago I had a fairly crude mock up of part of the layout made full sized out of foam board and plastikard:

 

Since then, the roof has been drawn in CAD, test etched and built, amended and the whole roof is now complete and installed on the main station baseboard (which also didn’t exist a year ago):

January 2021 mock up:

Layout as of now:

Mock up:

Layout:

Four A1/A3s are now VERY nearly completed:

as are four A4s:

and half a dozen other locos (J6, J39, O4, D20 and two K3s) are in varying stages of completion.

 

Around 50 coaches have been completed. Around a third of these are ready to run Dapol Gresleys which just needed rewheeling, weathering etc. The rest are re-sided Dapol, Hornby/Arnold Pullmans or kit built.

 

Finally, a year ago the return curves (AKA the fiddle yard) were built and track laid. They are now automated but still need the exhaustive testing I found so necessary with the fiddle yard for Blea Moor to ensure reliable running.

 

So, looked at like, this a great deal has been achieved but there is much more yet to be done.

 

My aim is to be able to post a video of a train running through station by this time next year.

 

Given that this means building the four remaining 4 baseboards and installing, wiring and testing the track over all of them not to mention dismantling and painting the roof, I’d better get cracking!

 

Here's hoping for a great 2022!

Edited May 31, 2022 by kirmies
Re-adding photos

[CF MRC]

You could always use some spare etches as a bus garage*, Pete.

. 

 

Tim

(*Stockwell bus garage)

 

[Sithlord75]

14 hours ago, kirmies said:

 

 

Shame 4491 isn't one of them - but given what we are doing in the cricket....

 

Stunning looking model - hopefully I will make it over whilst it is out on the circuit to see it.

[kirmies]

 

43 minutes ago, Sithlord75 said:

Shame 4491 isn't one of them - but given what we are doing in the cricket....

 

Stunning looking model - hopefully I will make it over whilst it is out on the circuit to see it.

More A4s are planned - 4491 could be one of them perhaps with custom made nameplates 'DOMINANCE OF AUSTRALIA' and a decal of the Ashes urn on the cab side 

[CF MRC]

My Australian wife would probably concur…

 

Tim

[richard i]

8 hours ago, CF MRC said:

My Australian wife would probably concur…

 

Tim

How many wives of other nationalities do you have?

[CF MRC]

That’s for me to know…

 

Tim

 

(I knew someone would take that bait)

[Sithlord75]

8 hours ago, CF MRC said:

That’s for me to know…

 

Tim

 

(I knew someone would take that bait)

So long as they all don't meet on a cruise liner...

[Caley Jim]

An invitation to a gentleman's club Christmas dinner included the line 'Members may bring their wife or girlfriend, but not both!'.

 

Jim

[St Enodoc]

30 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

An invitation to a gentleman's club Christmas dinner included the line 'Members may bring their wife or girlfriend, but not both!'.

 

Jim

That's similar to the old naval toast: "To wives and girlfriends - and may they never meet".

[peach james]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

That's similar to the old naval toast: "To wives and girlfriends - and may they never meet".

That would be Saturday .  Fortunately, my parents are married, so I'd not know all the custom of the wierdroom
PO2 James Powell, RCN  (Retired)

[kirmies]

Finally the batch of 4 A3s and 4 A4s is completed.

I've posted on here before how batch building is a double edged sword - one the one hand you do end up with a whole batch of stuff built but......it takes ages.

When I first started building 'This is York' I divided the work up into 'modules' with a target completion date for each. This felt very efficient and positive at the time.

So first the good news: the 8 Gresley pacifics are completed......

And now the bad news, the target date for completion was the end of March 2021.

The best laid plans etc.

[kirmies]

So, having gone to all this effort and built 8 replacement 2FS chassis for my Dapol Gresley pacifics, was it worth it?

Or perhaps the broader question is:

Now that there is N-gauge Finetrax, is it still worth modelling in 2mm/ft finescale?

First of all, what now looks similar whether N-gauge or 2FS?

• N-gauge trackwork (if using Finetrax) is now ALMOST as good looking as 2FS track. The main difference being the size of the flangeways
• With diesel locos, coaching stock and wagons looked at from a distance it's hard to tell the difference

So what about steam prototypes? Let's compare a Dapol A4 staight out of the box:

With one of my newly finished 2FS converted ones:

(Please, for the purposes of this comparison, ignore the missing rear pony wheels on the 2FS version - I had forgotten to put them back on when the photo was taken!).

 

Fairly obviously, the main difference is the finer scale wheels and valve gear (although the much improved hand rails also make a big difference). Having tried fitting finer valve gear onto the Dapol wheels I can report that this is NOT a job I would recommend!

 

To me this demonstrates that all the time and effort is very much worthwhile and roughly equates to the difference between the Triang-Hornby Flying Scotsman I had as a boy and a finescale kit built A3 or one of the very best modern ready to run models.

 

Or, to put it another way, the first photo couldn't really be anything other than an N-gauge model whereas the second just might be a photo of a 4mm model.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by kirmies
Re-adding photos