Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

[Siberian Snooper]

If you build the trolley (s) yourself you can clip them together with toggle clips,  available from Ebay, and align them with pattern makers dowls. I just need to get my head around aligning them with the approach track(s).

 

 

 

[Denbridge]

10 minutes ago, Denbridge said:

I would be very concerned about the prospect of bending down to near floor level and then safely lifting an 8' cassette to layout height. Especially as one grows older. Im only in my late 50's and find lifting my friends shorter cassettes from a shelf just under 18" to layout height rather uncomfortable. 

By uncomfortable i don't just mean physically. The thought of dropping a cassette full a loco & stock. Often kitbuilt makes me uncomfortable 

[SteveyDee68]

5 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

 

Here you go Steve:

 

 https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/162631-two-or-more-heads-are-better-than-one-or-too-late-that-ship-has-sailed/&do=findComment&comment=4338320

 

 

Thank you, Martin, but even better ... how do you actually do that?! 

 

Steve S

[martin_wynne]

7 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said:

 

Thank you, Martin, but even better ... how do you actually do that?! 

 

 

Hi Steve,

 

If you are on a computer, use the right-hand button on your mouse and click on where it says "posted 2 hours ago" or "posted on 10th January" or whatever, at the top left of the post you want to link to.

 

A menu will appear, click with the left button Copy Link Location or Copy Target Location or similar words (browsers vary).

 

Go back to you own post, right-button click on it and click Paste, or just press the CTRL and V keys together on the keyboard.

 

If you are on a mobile device, I'm sorry I don't know. Someone does.

 

Martin.

[gordon s]

If using an iPad, go to the post you want to copy and there are three dots next to edit on the top right of the post. Click on the dots and then share and then copy the link and paste where you want it.

 

Same difference but without the right click....

Edited February 25, 2021 by gordon s

[gordon s]

1 hour ago, Siberian Snooper said:

If you build the trolley (s) yourself you can clip them together with toggle clips,  available from Ebay, and align them with pattern makers dowls. I just need to get my head around aligning them with the approach track(s).

 

 

 

That’s the easy bit. Route the ends and use biscuit joiners. Tongue glued in place and slot on the other track bed. A single line only requires one biscuit.

 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by gordon s

[St Enodoc]

On 25/02/2021 at 03:49, gordon s said:

Needs a bit of work, but job done.....

 

This is the budget model.....

 

Why not turn that into a Paternoster device with the top shelf lining up automatically with the rest of the tracks?

 

That's OK. I'll let myself out, thanks.

[Enterprisingwestern]

10 hours ago, gordon s said:

That’s the easy bit. Route the ends and use biscuit joiners. Tongue glued in place and slot on the other track bed. A single line only requires one biscuit.

 

 

 

 

 

Mike.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Sorted!

 

http://www.rfidandsecurity.com/storage-solutions/vertical-lift-carousel-storage

 

Mike.

[gordon s]

Looks perfect, but I only have a 2.4m ceiling height.
 

No matter a few bits of 4 x2 will sort that.....

[gordon s]

Pure self indulgence on my part, but whilst rummaging in my stock boxes, I came across three locos, an A2, an A1 and Deltic. None had been touched since I bought them years ago when I was working. Seemed like the ideal time to take a break from storage roads and cassettes, so out came the soldering iron and an hour later, two of them are running well on ET. The A2 will be sorted today, if I can put my hands on a decoder.

 

Now rewind 60 odd years and there was me, standing in my usual place at the end of Wood Green platform looking up the line towards Hornsey, where I knew a decent plume of smoke would mean another Gresley Pacific would soon come thundering through. I'm guessing I would have been 8 or 9 years old, when I heard a really strange noise and this emerged as a light engine from Wood Green carriage sidings,

 

Wow! 

 

Having never seen anything like it, I was reminded of the Triang Transcontinental Diesels and of course Deltic has held a fascination for me ever since. Saw it several times after that at Euston and then a few more times at Kings Cross, but nothing prepared me for that day at Wood Green, so the camera had to come out this morning....

 

Edited February 26, 2021 by gordon s

[Ray H]

She (?) holds a similar fascination for me.

 

We moved from Essex to Liverpool because my dad got a promotion so I can't be too sure of the dates but I can still remember seeing her on the stops at platform 1 in the old Euston station. A magnificent beast and, to my mind, one of the nicer paint schemes.

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Sorted!

 

http://www.rfidandsecurity.com/storage-solutions/vertical-lift-carousel-storage

 

Mike.

That's just a flash version of a Paternoster.

[Harlequin]

Hi Gordon,

 

Thinking about your storage problem: (Bear with me...)

 

If you took the storage access line off your main lines outside your station entrance crossovers you wouldn't have any problems with wrong road running because traffic could just cross straight over immediately. You'd then need more distance to achieve a shallow gradient so...

Could you run the storage access line right around the outside of the room, behind ET, descending as it goes, obviously. You might have to notch or reconfigure some supporting framework and it would go through the stairwell, I realise, but it would be against the wall, where it wouldn't get in the way (I think).

Then turn back under the scenic area (plenty of clearance by now, at least 150mm at 1:100) and either emerge into the operating well or possibly, if the clearance is sufficient for access, run under the scenic area between the support legs.

 

If you can get the storage under the scenic area that would be great because you could use the existing framework to support it and it would keep the operating well clear - but it depends whether it's accessible enough down there or not...

 

[gordon s]

Apologies for not getting back before now, Phil. I've just sat and watched Alex Salmond for six hours on TV. Found it riveting and all credit to him, he didn't hesitate or bluster on any answer for the whole time. Fascinating....

 

OK ET....

 

Thanks Phil, for taking a look. Here's my take on what you are proposing. Ignore the storage lines down the middle, but I assume you are suggesting taking the storage from point A on this plan.

 

 

There is space behind ET station to run another line particularly one that is descending. I'm assuming the new line will replace the existing one that starts bottom right. It would have to use that space as there is no room at all next to the side wall.

 

 

Next thing to overcome is the board structure itself. I don't think I have shown this before, but the main frame is 90mm x 20mm planed timber. The track bed is raised 82mm above that and the trackbed is 12mm.

 

 

The total depth is 184mm and say you need a minimum of 200mm clearance under the timber frame. You're now up to 384mm, which at 1:100 is going to need 38.4m run. I can't go any lower than the top trackbed over the stairs as it will clash with the hand rail and I'd get shot if I cut some of that away. I've only just been forgiven for this and this was 2007.....

 

 

At that rate, I'd need to go round the layout twice to find a 38.4m run.....

 

The other problem is anti clockwise trains which at present can cross the main lines into line 7 and then be shunted off into storage. With a downslope line on the outside, it just adds more complexity for trains to access the storage as they can no longer use line 7. Great if I could have both as that would work, but there is only room for one line next to the stairwell wall.

 

I'm open to any suggestions, but really have a hang up about anything hidden from view, particularly a 15 road storage unit where trains cannot be seen and mechanically I now realise it can't be done, but many thanks for looking at it. I take a more in depth look at cassette's over the weekend to see if they provide a solution.

[martin_wynne]

Hi Gordon,

 

Here's my latest solution:

 

 

Large turntable with just two 180-degree positions, so just a simple bolt to locate each way.

 

Arriving engines remain trapped until another loco takes the blocking train away, even after they have been turned. After which they can run back to the yard entrance and back on to their next train.

 

The train sequence will need some planning, because locos other than on the middle road will be swapping tracks after turning. 

 

But it's simple to build, quick to operate and several locos get turned in one go. And the yard tracks are longer.

 

Patents pending.

 

Martin.

 

[gordon s]

Now that’s interesting Martin as it gives me the option to reduce the length overall and improve access around the back.

 

Food for thought.....

[Barry O]

Gordon

 

if you have plenty of locos and can store a train plus incoming loco in a siding long enough to get a loco in to pull the train out .. why make it more complex?

 

I intend to have break vans at each end of  my  goods trains to make it easier to run trains from my dead end sidings...

 

I really like "KISS" ..

 

 

Baz

[eldavo]

Do you need to turn the locos in the storage area?  How about if you leave the locos trapped until their train has been hauled out by another engine then send em back up to the MPD to be turned. Would generate a bit more traffic.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

 

[martin_wynne]

12 minutes ago, eldavo said:

Do you need to turn the locos in the storage area?  How about if you leave the locos trapped until their train has been hauled out by another engine then send em back up to the MPD to be turned. Would generate a bit more traffic.

 

Hi Dave,

 

In other words carriage sidings -- which could be part of the scenic layout. But already suggested and rejected. Gordon wants a fiddle yard storage rather than carriage sidings.

 

Martin.

[Harlequin]

1 hour ago, gordon s said:

Apologies for not getting back before now, Phil. I've just sat and watched Alex Salmond for six hours on TV. Found it riveting and all credit to him, he didn't hesitate or bluster on any answer for the whole time. Fascinating....

 

OK ET....

 

Thanks Phil, for taking a look. Here's my take on what you are proposing. Ignore the storage lines down the middle, but I assume you are suggesting taking the storage from point A on this plan.

 

 

 

There is space behind ET station to run another line particularly one that is descending. I'm assuming the new line will replace the existing one that starts bottom right. It would have to use that space as there is no room at all next to the side wall.

 

 

 

Next thing to overcome is the board structure itself. I don't think I have shown this before, but the main frame is 90mm x 20mm planed timber. The track bed is raised 82mm above that and the trackbed is 12mm.

 

 

 

The total depth is 184mm and say you need a minimum of 200mm clearance under the timber frame. You're now up to 384mm, which at 1:100 is going to need 38.4m run. I can't go any lower than the top trackbed over the stairs as it will clash with the hand rail and I'd get shot if I cut some of that away. I've only just been forgiven for this and this was 2007.....

 

 

 

At that rate, I'd need to go round the layout twice to find a 38.4m run.....

 

The other problem is anti clockwise trains which at present can cross the main lines into line 7 and then be shunted off into storage. With a downslope line on the outside, it just adds more complexity for trains to access the storage as they can no longer use line 7. Great if I could have both as that would work, but there is only room for one line next to the stairwell wall.

 

I'm open to any suggestions, but really have a hang up about anything hidden from view, particularly a 15 road storage unit where trains cannot be seen and mechanically I now realise it can't be done, but many thanks for looking at it. I take a more in depth look at cassette's over the weekend to see if they provide a solution.

 

I can see your extra deep baseboards do make any lower levels quite tricky. And yes, I agree that anything hidden is to be avoided if at all possible.

 

But in the end you might decide that some partly hidden solution is a price worth paying to keep the middle of the room open and all parts of the layout easily reachable.

 

For the record, I was thinking of two possible alternative junction positions:

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

13 hours ago, gordon s said:

At that rate, I'd need to go round the layout twice to find a 38.4m run.....

 

Helixeseses?

 

Mike.

[gordon s]

Some interesting suggestions. The thing I want to preserve is the raised track section at the rear of ET. I chose to have a raised track bed throughout to avoid the flat earth baseboard syndrome. My favourite viewpoints are down at track level and I realised after a while that any buildings or parked? trains in that section would kill that view completely. There are all sorts of scenic possibilities from the embankment with a low level river/canal or a country road/train spotting footpath with an under bridge and any track in that area would negate that possibility.

 

To enable that, I’m looking at taking the storage down to support frame level, which of course means a longer run to overcome the gradient and keep any gradient to 1:100.

Eldavo and Martin have both talked about ‘carriage sidings’ and that’s an interesting thought. Coaches are likely to be in fixed rakes with corridor/brakes each end and you’re right, they won’t require turning. This opens the possibility of a hybrid system with storage for all coaching stock plus loco’s with one additional access road for freight traffic and two/three car DMU’s which would use 4’ cassettes. Removing the turntable and associated pointwork reduces the length of the storage requirement and fewer roads will reduce the width. This should in turn allow free access to the rear of the layout. I have no problem with freight/local traffic stock on cassettes as it opens many possibilities for mix and match and all the cassettes can be stored underneath on shelving. Freight loco’s can also be stored whilst passenger loco’s can return to shed once the stock has departed. Means moving loco’s to and fro from the shed itself, but that could be seen as prototypical.......

 

I can hear Templot calling later this morning, so it will be interesting to see what is or not possible. The one unknown at this stage is the stairwell/balustrade that comes into the room.

 

Thanks for your ideas..... 

Edited February 27, 2021 by gordon s

[Harlequin]

If the storage area is operated as carriage sidings doesn't that mean that, effectively, every train on the ECML has to terminate at and depart from Eastwood Town?

Or to put it another way trains can't just pass through on their way to somewhere else, Edinburgh, London or wherever?

 

[St Enodoc]

10 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

If the storage area is operated as carriage sidings doesn't that mean that, effectively, every train on the ECML has to terminate at and depart from Eastwood Town?

Or to put it another way trains can't just pass through on their way to somewhere else, Edinburgh, London or wherever?

 

That doesn't have to be a problem, Phil. Go back to the old (circa 1930s) ways.

 

A train comes out of storage to start its journey. At that point, ET is, say, King's Cross. After a few laps the train passes through Peterborough, Grantham, Doncaster, York, etc. until it finishes its journey at Edinburgh and returns to storage. The train calls at some of these stations while others would be passed non-stop.

 

Granted, the station nameboards would read ET every time but all it needs is a little imagination, which as railway modellers we are never short of.