Cumberland Road

[pirouets]

I have to say that I am glad this option is available as well as the blog, so a quick catch up how I got to the current position I am in.

 

The Plan

 

 

The idea is that I effectively have 2 linked layouts, so I can run trains on either, or the whole thing at once if I am feeling adevnturous. I have to say I do spend a fair amount of time trundling trains around the branchline.

 

Wycliffe - The main line

 

This is a simple town station with a small yard to receive goods in. This side of the layout is now Diesel based as I am in the process of thining out my steam stock.

 

The first shot is where the goods shed will sit, and on the other side an area that contains a warehouse

 

The overall station. This is the picture after about a year of work

 

More recently I decided that there should be a park area above the station in front of the houses and shops.

 

And this is the current picture of the main line

 

I am working on a market scene on the other side of the station. Its been coming on slowly now for about 9 months

 

I have started making my own buildings and scenery on this layout and this was my first attempt at fencing by the goods yard.

 

I have not got the fiddle yard entrance that well design and I recently had a "eureka moment" on how to improve this using curved points which will add about 60cms to each storage road.

 

I am thinking of adding some ivy to one or 2 of the buildings. This attempt was done simply using UHU glue and scatter

 

Cumberland Road

 

Early stages of development on the branchline

 

About 6 months later I had got to this, but I am not happy with "bog brush" trees

 

Looking through the bridge down the line

 

14xx arriving into Cumberland Road

 

A recent shot with some new tree's added.

 

I have some money saved so am looking over the winter to try and improve the fiddle yard. Other jobs in progress include

 

Completing the houses above the station area

Complete the shops by the station

Complete the station building

Add colour signals to the main line

Improve the ground coverage with weeds where needed

Try and finish the market area

Cover the branch area with static grass in some area's

Finish swapping the bog brush trees for improved models.

 

Anyway, better get back to work.

[archonix]

Nice use of space. What size is the shed?

[37058]

SUPERB Could you give the overall size of the layout, Wycliffe also the terminus section.

 

Cheers, Keep up the good work looking great

 

Anthony

[archonix]

So rather than worry about like a loon I decided to go and look on your old thread. 12x6. I thought it might be something like that.

[pirouets]

Sorry, never noticed the previous questions. Yes the shed is 12 By 6, so I lose about 4 inches in either direction for the shed frame. the board for Wycliffe is 30 inches wide, and Cumberland road is on a 12 in wide board.

 

I've been thinking about one of the issues that has bugged me since the idea was dreamt up and that is what sort of buildings should go round the market area. Originally when I started on the buildings I was thinking of something along the lines of

 

 

But since then I moved away from using Kestrel kits and built all the terraced houses I need myself, so I came back to it an think I need to create a new building. Rather than have 4 or 5 in the space I am going to try and create 1 building containing up to 5 shops. The first template I have made is shown below

 

 

I'm going to tack some walls in place from scrap card to check the idea out. If this does not work I will make a 2nd template with 3 or 4 shops.

 

I've also been doing some work in other area's with the first people being fixed in place, all the terraced houses are now fixed in place with drain pipes attached and the first shop signs added. Also the branchline has some new grass added and telegraph poles

 

 

Finally I am now fully converted to diesel operation on the layout and with a class 24 that Santa is bringing means I have enough stock to run the whole layout with out steam. The deciding factor was running quality in the end as the diesels cope far better with my imperfect trackwork, which in turn has reduced the need to ensure that the rails were sparkling clean for each running session.

 

Anyway, I doubt i'll be posting anything else in this thread before Christmas so I hope you all have a great day on Friday.

[HealeyMills]

Absolutely fab layout - bet its cold in the shed at this time of year though

 

Please could you tell me what make/ type of point motors you use in the fiddle yard area?

[pirouets]

The shed isn't to bad. The heater go the temp to 10C the other day in about 15 mins. After that, I just stick extra layers on so I don't have to run the heater to hard.

 

The point motors are just normal Peco ones fired by a diode matrix so I only have to press one button to select the required track.

[pirouets]

I've had a bit more of ago at creating a new building for the Market Square. I knocked up a simple frame using mounting board and have then created a front for 2 of the shops. For the first time I am using board from the back of A4 pads and I have to say it is way easier to work with.

 

My first thought was to create a basic template that would set out the height for the windows

 

This is one side of the card now marked up.

 

I then added a sheet of scalescenes paper to cover it having cut out the windows.

 

I have loads of window templates in power point, and the doors, first & second floors used these.

 

I made a new set for the ground floor windows and added a bit of "flounce" to the design with simple curves in the top section

 

The big question is, with "Mr Jones" standing to the left of picture 5, isthe building too tall in the ground floor, or do I need to take 7mm out of it?

 

Also, on my blog, it was noted that I rarely seem to add pictures of trains on the layout, so having just picked up a couple of class 24's, 1 bought by me, and the other was a present, I ran a few tonight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did not take a picture of it, but the shed also has a nice new addition of a little DAB radio (Tuned to Planet Rock of course) that I can also hook my Ipod into.

 

Anyway, thats all for now.

[pirouets]

I've cut another piece for the new shops. This time I remembered to add the brick lintels above the windows. I have to say that I think this creation will be a mock up of the final thing, and I will restart by building it in sections next time round that can be connected together.

 

 

 

I've also decided to replicate a formation I saw on the site recently. It was a Class 50 with a mix of wagons, tailed off with 5 presflo's and I liked it so much I put a similar rake together with my new 24.

 

 

Finally its been snowing some what, and in 4 hrs it has reached 2/3rds of the way up to the door. I will probably have to dig out a path as its forecast to snow till around lunchtime tomorrow

 

[pirouets]

I have been looking at how the Market square building has been coming on and I can't say I can see it working out as I have been doing too much working out of the design as I go, so I am going back to the start but with a new approach of doing this as a modular building in the same way Scalescenes create a row of buildings.

 

With the down time yesterday I came up with this base template for the card I need to cut

 

 

I have marked out onthe computer the cut lines needed. The building front was cut out and glued onto medium card and I have cut out the windows and doors now. I have to say that it has improved the accuracy of the layout and clean-ness of the cutting. I also have created the windows on Accetate to match the building tempate so I can affix all windows in 1 go

 

My plan is to create 2 strutures, one using the windows printed on Accetate, and 1 where I make each window frame, and back it with glazing. I want to see the difference that this creates in the look of the building as I think the extra depth a modelled window will have will be a big improvement.

[pirouets]

Carried on with the town square shops. I changed the approach and have re-made the template, and built up a far better card frame first of all, including some of the key formers to ensure it is strong.

 

 

The using a new template printed out, I pasted it to some card, cut out the windows, added scalescenes brick paper, brick lintels above the window, and to improve the windows, I had draw these on the computer with the correct spacing so that a complete row could be fixed in place in 1 go. This process of drawing on the computer first and thinner card has definitly improved my accuracy and I have 1 window which was slightly out.

 

 

I also have the next piece of the model ready to cut the windows for.

 

 

I now have a good supply of card that should last me some time. I found 15 a$ pads being thrown away so had all the backs.

 

 

Only problem is the mess this all makes.

 

[pirouets]

Work has very slowly been happening along with a lot of playing trains. I am pretty much running everything now with green diesels but have kept hold of some steam stock should I wish to swap the branch to steam for an evening.

 

A class 24 plods it way down the branch to pick up a single passenger at Cumberland road.

 

The class 20 arrives in the loop with the evening milk train to await the next thorugh pasenger to pass

 

Pottering about in the yard at Wycliffe is a class 08 moving the first wagons of the day

 

I have picked up a couple of signals recently and have installed them at wycliffe. I will have a crack at wiring them up later this week.

 

I've also added the final shop front for the market square shops. I have to say that curverd backscenes may look better but they are a complete pain the a£$e to model around.

 

My next trick however is going to be re working the entrances to the fiddle yards. This will enable me to add 2 ft to each line, and mean that each could take 2 full sized expresses should I choose to. More importantly it will mean 4 of the lines will be able to take 3 trains, such as a DMU, and 2 goods trains. Its going to be a bit of pain as it will involve leaning over the back scene but it should fix the issue I have with the fiddle yard.

[pirouets]

I've been really quiet on here lately for a number of reasons of which the biggest is I've been playing a lot of golf recently, but also I have been pondering what to do about the fiddle yard behind Wycliffe as it was driving me nuts with the reverse curve into 1 half of it.

 

Then a week ago I found I needed to fix some wiring, but the problem was the wires in question were right behind the backscene. I did try looking at relaying the fiddle yard but leaning over the front of the layout to do this meant it was a real pain so I took the decision to take the wycliffe side of the layout up this weekend even though there was a lot still to do on the scenics.

 

Its amazing how a bad design decision made 3 years ago on the fiddle yard has come back to haunt me.

 

So what now? I have a number of idea's but the main things over the coming weeks will be

 

1. put new boards down for what ever the new wycliffe becomes

2. Build a control panel for Cimberland Road so I can carry on using this.

3. Do some work on Alvescott for the 2010 challenge.

 

As far as a replacement for Wycliffe I am not going to rush in to anything. I have about 3 different idea's, not of which are fully formed, so I may make a little cameo board to test a few idea's out. The other thing is if peco bring the 3 way points out at the end of the year, then I will be able to build a far better fiddle yard given the space those will save.

[pirouets]

So I thought I would jot a few of the idea's I have in my head down for what to replace Wycliffe with as some of these have been around for a while

 

1. Have a section of line without a station, but a feature such as a freight relief loop (if that's the right term). this could then have an embamkment at the back above which sits a long row of Semi detached houses and bungalows.

 

The aim here would be mainly running trains through a landscape rather than operation.

 

2. Anyone remember Birstall Town in RM? I was taken with this the first time I saw it, but the thing against it is that it is not totally my thoughts. Operationally though I could come up with a back story so I had a DMU service running to the station, and then back out to Cumberland road.

 

3. Have an industrial area raised above the mainline, so I would have trains through a landscape and an area for shunting around.

 

4. Go full countryside with a set of exchange sidings. Again this gives both trains in Landscape and some operational interest.

 

Like I said in my last post I am not rushing. In the mean time I have now removed all the old boards and the wiring. It has to be said I am amazed the old layout ever worked when I un-picked some of the wires. I will put up a picture of the devestation at some point. I think it will be some time before any trains move though.

[mr b]

looking great, and 'all' that room for N !!! Has Cumberland Road have any Cumberland conections or is it fictonal? I'm currently working on St Bees-Nethertown, only wish that your amount of space was available, have you considered a golf course? at present I've started on St Bees golf links, so far its a 2 hole club !!!

 

Mr B

[pirouets]

Sorry Mr B for the late reply. The station is purely fictious.

 

Following the demolition of Wycliffe I have Cumberland road up and running as a steam era layout. I have kept it really simply with the point motors now disconnected and the points operated by hand. At one end this did mean creating a new fiddle yard.

 

 

Apart from the track needing a good clean, it all came back to life very simply. I have also got rid of a few more bog brush trees. I just have the main row to get rid of now at the end of this first picture.

 

 

 

I have spent a good couple of hours pottering pannier's, prarie's and a 14xx autotrain up and down in the last week.

[pirouets]

I've been playing with my new gorilla stand for the camera. I found I was able to get it clipped round the edge of the board and managed to get a couple of shots which before would have been done by hand.

 

 

 

I'm still debating whether to rip this out of the shed now to create a better work space, or keep it as some thing to play with. There is something about being able to run 5 or 6 trains and have a little bit of shunting to offset the building works on the other side of the layout.