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Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.


jamie92208
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Well we got set up last night at Upton (Between Wakefield and Doncaster) and are looking forward to the day. 4 boards, 2 stock crates, some display boards, the station buildings and assorted tools, bits and pieces fitted into the estate (Just) and it all ent up quickly. Just got the stock to put on when we get there this morning.

 

Jamie

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Well today was a good day with all sorts of other railways at Upton. G scale, vintage Triang, Hornby Live steam and others. I took 4 boards with the station area. Got some track laid into the horse dock and did some work on the canopies while talking to the public. I did have time to do a test of the electrification clearances.

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I'm trying to work out whether O1's would have been able to work on the system. The frequency was correct but the voltage was about half of what they ran on.

 

We also had a UP big boy sitting in the yard.

 

However it was the first outing for a semi completed canopy section and here is the result.

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They still need quite a bit of work. Finials, gutter detailing, another coat of paint and a back wall. However the three bays are glazed and looked better than I thought they would. I'm not sure I've got the correct shade of brown for the lower part of the pillars and will try and get hold of some venetian red (chocolate) to quote Midland Style. perhaps someone on here can tell me where the dado is on a column as they were brown up to the dado. All four boars and associated junk plus 2 stock boxes and some tools went into the Volvo so all is now set for Maidenhead in May.

 

Jamie

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I'm trying to work out whether O1's would have been able to work on the system. The frequency was correct but the voltage was about half of what they ran on.

 

H

 

Hi Jamie

 

They could have been fitted with a step transformer which would have potentially resolved this issue if enough current was available!

 

XF

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Hi Jamie

 

They could have been fitted with a step transformer which would have potentially resolved this issue if enough current was available!

 

XF

 

Maybe we will never know but the day has proved that thew gear I want to bring to Maidenhead will fit in the Volvo.

 

Jamie

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I've spent much of the last 3 days trying to get the platform canopies looking somthing like before we go out to Upton on Saturday. This has involved gluing glazing material into three of the assembled roof units. The glue that I'm using is some model aircraft canopy glue and takes 3 hours to set. This means that to each of the four pieces to be glued into each awning have to be done over 2 days and left to set for several hours with weights in them. The end result is worthwhile and i have also got the first coat of paint onto one unit of three bays fof the west end of the up platform. The result looks OK and I will take some pictures over the weekend.

 

I've also managed to put the framing onto another three roof sections and have got 75% of the three painted. Steady but time consuming progress.

 

Jamie

75% of 3, now grey cells say eerrrmmm, 2.25 canopies done?? Edited by supersonic
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Jamie doesn't know it, yet! but I have had to do some delicate surgery to the entry to the fiddle yard. The gradient up/down the viaduct came to an abrupt stop at the baseboard joint and suddenly found itself level......eerrrrmmm not going to run very well in service. I have smoothed out the joint area which led to a much more natural gradient on the last part of the viaduct. The brown ply single track into the yard has been subtly parred down to attempt to achieve a gentle transition back to horizontal That should need less re-railing when running. I was ably assisted by our dark horse carpentry star Keith, he is a wizard with a plane. Sorry followers, will try to remember to take some pics. :O

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No we haven't gone to sleep or emigrated and there is plenty of work going on but not a lot to show for it at the moment. Tracklaying is nearly finished and we ahve started wiring the layout. This has involved a lot of thought and design work. Much putting up of selections of basebpoards and then thinking hard about what we want to control from where and how to do it. The fist panel, on the Castle branch is well on the way and the Loco Shed Panel and Main Panels are being worked on. I have also spent much time and effort sourcing the correct type of interconnectors for the various boards and panels. I had hoped to reuse the shells that I had on Long Preston and just replace the contacts in the mutipole connectors. However other events conspired against this. RS, my supplier said 'discontinued' and pointed me to an equivalent product that was 6 times as expensive, 42p per socket or pin as opposed to about 7p each. As I need at least 800 pins and 800 sockets this is out of the question. After a lot of help on the MERG website I worked out that for less than half the cost of the new contacts I could change to another system from Molex and use that. The parts have now arrived and tonight we assembled the first cross baseboard jumper and put about 1/3 of the wires on one board. I have also done a lot of the documentation for thCastle branch, locoshed and station area where 3 panels need to talk to each other. Hopefully I will be abl;e to show some pictures of the progress soon.

 

Jamie

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Well after a long hot day in semi shade at the front of the garage. It got progressively warmer as the sun moved round. I have finally finished soldering all the connections onto the relay matrix on Board C1.

C1 is the traverser board at the end of the castle Branch. the controller also is set up to shunt the goods yard next to the Loco shed. Both Loco Shed and the castle Branch send and receive traffic to'from the Station. The Goods yard headshunt runs across the Loco shed exit. This mean that there are some secdtions of track that are common to all three panels depending on the set of various points and signals.

 

The Control panel for the Castle Branch ws going to be free standing on the inside but when we put the trial back scene up we realised that the operator needed to be outside the layout to see the yard. Therefore we have incorporated the panel into the board.

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The panel is not yet complete but the indictor LED's for the points are working.

The signalling system between the three panels is controlled by a set of relays. On Long Preston each set of three was located near the changeover point between the panels. Our new electrical guru, Keith Smith suggested that they should all be in one place and visible. This has great benefits as they can be checked and seen to operate without having to crawl under the boards.

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Here is the matrix with 4 sets of signalling relays plus three more that control the handover between the control panels. Keith made a lovely job of mounting the relays in one panel.

The only problem then was wiring them all up. I got the first 4 done over a two day period and then set my stall out today and this is the result.

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Maybe I should have gone for DCC.

 

Anyway all the relays work and the latches latch and unlatch at the correct times on test. Now I 've just got to terminate all the wires in their correct positions.

 

Jamie

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What relays are you using Jamie?

Omron MY4's and MY2's 12v. I had a lot left over from my previous layout and the bases are the same for either the 2 pole or the 4 pole. They have an orange piece that is easy to see move so having all 15 visible just below a folding control panel will make fault finding much easier. I believe that the current MY series have an LED which lights when there is power to the coil. Hopefully I won't need to buy any more.

 

Jamie

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It hasn't all gone quiet I've been busy wiring panels and boards for the last 2 weeks. If anyone is interested we should have the goods yard and castle branch up in our clubrooms in Wakefield this Sunday. SWMBO has gone to France for a week (with 3 of her schoolfriends) so I'm taking advantage of peace and quiet and will be virtually living at the clubrooms till Sunday to try and get trains running. Anyone is welcome and entry is free. All the other club layouts will e on show including Menasha and eagle Rock.

 

Jamie

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Well a milestone has been reached. The first locos have run in the shed yard, controlled by the correct panel. 2 years 3 months of tracklaying and wiring and we put 5 boards and some backscenes up for the club open day, The backscene, at the end of the Castle Branch actually has it's proper scenic break including the start of a terrace of cottages that go along St Georges Quay.

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The viaduct and parts of the goods yard can be seen together with the locoshed control panel that was perched on the baseboard.(Otherwise it would have obstructed the doorway,) The first two backscenes have been given an initial coat of light blue and now John has to work out what to paint on them. The scenic break wasn't quite in the correct place but certainly looked good.

 

This was all part of a club open day and we had quite a lot of visitors and some good comments. I spent the day talking to the public and also adding gutter frames to more platform awnings. I had a train, static in the platform and this was the result.

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The effect of the awnings and the shadows they create was quite good to look at.

We even ran a few locos in the shed area and across a diamond crossing. There are some snags to sort out but I was very happy with the result and even got two of the control panels taking to each other . Now back to the grindstone of painting awnings while watching Woodstock, the Directors cut.

 

Jamie

Edited by jamie92208
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Jamie, this looks as if it will be absolutely brilliant! I remember Green Ayre well and worked there on secondment from Lancaster Castle station in the mid 1960s, walking down the linking track, which was a designated walking route.

 

My friend Edward Meadowcroft sent me this link. he used to arrive at Green Ayre for school every day throughout the 1950s , often popping into the sheds to see what was in.

 

I have several photographs of Green Ayre. You probably have many images yourself, but I will be happy to email you what I have if it will help your project.

 

My email is;

 

owlpub@hotmail.com

 

I look forward to seeing some images on this site as your project progresses.

 

Good luck! (And a lot of hard work too.)

 

Best wishes

 

Peter

(Lancaster former Porter)

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Well a milestone has been reached. The first locos have run in the shed yard, controlled by the correct panel. 2 years 3 months of tracklaying and wiring and we put 5 boards and some backscenes up for the club open day, The backscene, at the end of the Castle Branch actually has it's proper scenic break including the start of a terrace of cottages that go along St Georges Quay.

post-6824-0-90284300-1341168909_thumb.jpg

The viaduct and parts of the goods yard can be seen together with the locoshed control panel that was perched on the baseboard.(Otherwise it would have obstructed the doorway,) The first two backscenes have been given an initial coat of light blue and now John has to work out what to paint on them. The scenic break wasn't quite in the correct place but certainly looked good.

 

This was all part of a club open day and we had quite a lot of visitors and some good comments. I spent the day talking to the public and also adding gutter frames to more platform awnings. I had a train, static in the platform and this was the result.

post-6824-0-03103500-1341169110_thumb.jpg

The effect of the awnings and the shadows they create was quite good to look at.

We even ran a few locos in the shed area and across a diamond crossing. There are some snags to sort out but I was very happy with the result and even got two of the control panels taking to each other . Now back to the grindstone of painting awnings while watching Wodstock, the Directors cut.

 

Jamie

 

Just seen your pictures. Awesome, particularly as the layoiut is in O Gauge!

 

Peter

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Jamie, this looks as if it will be absolutely brilliant! I remember Green Ayre well and worked there on secondment from Lancaster Castle station in the mid 1960s, walking down the linking track, which was a designated walking route.

 

My friend Edward Meadowcroft sent me this link. he used to arrive at Green Ayre for school every day throughout the 1950s , often popping into the sheds to see what was in.

 

I have several photographs of Green Ayre. You probably have many images yourself, but I will be happy to email you what I have if it will help your project.

 

My email is;

 

owlpub@hotmail.com

 

I look forward to seeing some images on this site as your project progresses.

 

Good luck! (And a lot of hard work too.)

 

Best wishes

 

Peter

(Lancaster former Porter)

 

Hi Peter

 

Thanks for the comments. I've replied to you by email.

 

Jamie

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Much is still being done. I have spent a lot of time working on the platfrom awnings. I've now assembled all 20 frames. They were then painted and the excess scraped off the rear for the glazing to fit on. Due to their shape glazing can only be done one quadrant at a time on each section with weights holding down the piece being glued. An hour later move on to the next quadrant. So far I've done 10 pieces out of 68. The supporting girders have been drilled and the plywood frames cut. I've still to work out how to do the gutters that run along the front of the frames.

 

On the layout the platforms are slowly being surfaced with with Tony Bond and John Patrick gluing individual paving slabs on. John has painted several sheets of Black Cartridge paper in various stone colours and so a varied surface is starting to emerge. There are some 30 feet of platform edging to do and so far it's looking good. Meanwhile Dave Keith and myself are carrying on with wiring. The final tracklaying has been done and last night another point motor was fitted. Russell Whitrwam has also started on the next catenary supports for the viaduct piece that will test the catenary system. Hopefully I will get some photos soon to show the progress,

 

Jamie

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As promised a photo of progress. Not a very good one as I only had my phone with me tonight.

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Here you can see that Uncle T (Suoersonic of this parish) has been gainfully employed over the weekend making a cardboard mock up of the footbridge. It's secured by a bulldog clip in the middle so that it's overall length can be adjusted. It looks rather large. On the down platform you can see part of what I've been doing, 10 fully glazed awning canpoies. I've placed 38 of the 68 quadrants of glazing now so am on the downhill stretch now.

 

Cheers

 

Jamie

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I was searching the Lancaster Gazette archives yesterday and found a specification for the Greyhound Bridge - the 1911 one - and am attaching it as it may be of interest.

 

Best wishes,

 

Tim Churchill

 

Hi Tim

 

Thanks very much for that. There are a lot of details in there that are new to me. Did the footbridge from St Georges quay to Skerton ever get built or did Lancastrians have to wiat until the new Millennium bridge.

 

Jamie

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They had to wait until the millenium! There is another article in 1883 about a meeting in Skerton to raise the money in which they were never succesful. They approached Lord Ashton who suggested tackling the Lancaster City Council but they wouldn't touch it - after all Skerton was not part of Lancaster in those days.

 

I have an Aerofilm 1933 aerial view of most of the Green Ayre station site, showing the sidings and Greyhound Bridge plus the branch leading off to Castle station. As it is copyright, I will not put it up on this site (I had to pay for it) but if you would email me...

 

Tim.

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They had to wait until the millenium! There is another article in 1883 about a meeting in Skerton to raise the money in which they were never succesful. They approached Lord Ashton who suggested tackling the Lancaster City Council but they wouldn't touch it - after all Skerton was not part of Lancaster in those days.

 

I have an Aerofilm 1933 aerial view of most of the Green Ayre station site, showing the sidings and Greyhound Bridge plus the branch leading off to Castle station. As it is copyright, I will not put it up on this site (I had to pay for it) but if you would email me...

 

Tim.

 

Thanks for that Tim I've sent you a PM.

 

Jamie

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A week of work on the layout started with taking it 100 yards up the road to my church and putting it up this morning. I was surprised to be able to get half of it up on my own in 45 minutes then a friend arrived and it took about half an hour to finish off. This afternoon Tony Bond and I spent time at the eastern end of the scenic part doing some cardboard engineering. The aim was to make a mock up of the road bridge which crossed the railway then the river Lune just east of the station platforms. This is known as Skerton bridge and now carries the southbound A6. Rumour has it that the need to widen this bridge lead to the closure of Green Ayre and the Midland route to morecambe so that the railway bridge could be used to save them having to widen Skerton Bridge.

 

Anyway the bridge has to come diagonallly over the corner of the layout then disappeer into the backscene. It also has to be removeable and to cross three basebaord joints. Some of it can be fixed and other parts of both the main bridge and the approaches need to be lifted off to enable the boards to be crated.

 

The first job was to put a temporary backscene on with G cramps and then we set to work with cardboard and gaffer tape and this was the result.

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The approach ramp will need some careful working out to avoid negative camber, but the exercise has been worthwhile and the idea of having the first arch of the bridge go into the backscene seems to work. Later on John Patrick came and laid some more platform tiles and I spent some time fettling rail ends that had got bent in transport. Tomorrow we plan to survey the positions for the various signals as well as some work on the platform awnings.

 

Jamie

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Another day working on the layout and more achieved. I took the awnings up this morning and placed them on the platforms after I had soldered and glued all the spandrels onto the trusses that support them. This is the view along the tracks looking west.

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And again from the east with the signal box from Long Preston in place. It will need a new nameboard to become Lancaster North.

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I still need to put the support girders along the front for the longer section. They are already in place at the signal box end. There is a gap between the two sections for the footbridge to be placed then the awning will be cut around it to fit. (The original plans have a hand written note saying "See the clerk of works on site for precise fitting of the awning.". Eventually there will be 6 catenary support gantries joining the up and down platform awnings but these can't be fitted until the track is fully tested and ballasted.

Also in these pictures you will see the platform paving which is going on apace. 2900 individually painted and laid flagstones. These are painted in a variety of colours on black cartridge paper then cut up into 2' by 3' flags mixed up to give random colour variation then stuck down with evostick Timebond. It's a slow process and though 10' of platform has been completed there is still another 15' to go.

 

After that Tony and I surveyed the placing of the signals and then Tony started to try out a design of small treadles that will act as cancelling devices for the signalling system. I placed some more backscenes behind the station using G cramps and this transformed the view.

P8078877.JPG.95b34bb27aa3542cc1b008bcbd62165f.JPG

The only problem with this was making the appalling discovery that the awnings are hardly visible from the front of the layout as the station buildings hide much of them. However they do look good from either side.

 

In the afternoon I spent time making the first three backscenes for the areas behind the station and will try and put them up tomorrow evening. Hopefully there will be more to report Thursday. as tomorrow I will be tram building.

 

Jamie

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