RMweb Gold mudmagnet Posted June 1, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 1, 2015 Hi Darren This sounds like a good plan! I appreciate that Torrington MK1 was not designed as an exhibition layout and well done for being able take out a couple of times, but as you appreciate, building a layout for home is a different proposition to building one for exhibition. Give some thought to board sizes, construction, packing and transportation before starting work. I think that may well need to make some compression as the hand built points will be longer than the Peco ones and you don't want to make the layout over long. I'll book you in to the. Barnstaple show then! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markeg Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Hi Darren, Your plan sounds like a great idea. All the best with it and I look forward to seeing how it all comes together. At our club here in OZ, one of the members built his exhibition layout in nine months from start to finish. It is digital/DCC is about 24' by 8'. It can be put up and packed up by one person and run by one person, but he usually has at least one other. It has both and end to end and full circuit with a fiddle yard. It also has a Faller car system. It won best layout at our exhibition, which I was one of 2 judges as I am the exhibition manager. It has featured in one of the local magazines and he has had requests from all over the country. It won best layout at the weekend at the Albury Show. It depicts both suburban trains that ran in the 60'-70's and country trains. It is the best Australian exhibition layout I have seen, not only for the quality, but for the running of trains and a car/truck. So good for the punters, both modellers and joe public. Unfortunately the youtube link is not working, well pasting it is not. But if you wish to view it, it can be found by looking for "Town and Country Model Rail. emd645e3c is the name of filmer/photographer. 4th listing down. I have run my DCC sound Deltic on this layout. Just thought I would add my bit to show what can be done. And if you do a better job on Torrington MK2, then we are in for a treat. Mark in OZ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 Since I finished Torrington MK 1 new photo and information had come to light, also I have been in contact with a chap who's father owned Reads sidings and he has photo of this. When I built the sidings I had no reference to what was there and just made a generic building.later I found out that the siding just did not handle coal, but also wood. Track work this time will be done using Templot over the BR track plan I have, this will give me a very accrete layout of the track. Base boards will be made not from 2 by 1, but ply frame sandwich, this will give a lighter base board. Also I am going to make the base boards a little wider this time as I had to make some comprise on the track work, due to my locale hard where store only selling ply of 2 feet wide. Point control will be by servos using MERG boards and this time I want all the signals and ground signal to work and light up, just need to work out how I can hide the fibre optic cable on a LSWR lattice post signal?. The other thing I want to do is have Torrington as a through Station as it was on the real line, mid you there where only 6 trains a day for passenger working and twice a day for the clay works, but I think it will add something to the layout. A long time ago I did think about ripping all the track up and replacing it with had built, but looking at it a little more meant a lot of damage to the building and a complete rebuild of the station area. Now working on the track layout using Templot and I will put up a new track plan once I have finished it, the other thing is should I start a completely new thread on this or just add on to this one, what do you think?. Darren01 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony Teague Posted June 2, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 2, 2015 Darren Stick with this one but amend the title - that way you have the history for comparison etc. Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Stick with this one mate, it will be like a history book Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I agree with Black Rat and Tony. Do as I am doing and slowly amend the title of the thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY NORWOOD Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 The other thing I want to do is have Torrington as a through Station as it was on the real line, mid you there where only 6 trains a day for passenger working and twice a day for the clay works, but I think it will add something to the layout. Hi Darren Are you going to put a fiddle yard at that end, this will make the layout longer. What year was Torrington made as a terminal station? you could show the line carry on but with buffer stops at the end of the line before going into the bridge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted June 3, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 3, 2015 Hi Darren, I agree with Ray, if its a through station you will be taking up a lot of space with fiddle yards, or will it be a continuous run? I would model it as a through station but still operate it as a terminus with the line dissapearing and ending under the bridge. A terminus gives you more operating potential, yet you retain the ability to add a second fiddle yard for exhibitions, or if you find a bigger space for the layout. Do you have room for a continuous run? It really depends on how you want to operate at home. The problem with FY- Through Station-FY type layouts is that you can end up with most of the "operation" taking place in the fiddle yards! I must admit I'm not familiar with they way the prototype operated after the Halwil line opened in 1925; did passenger trains run through from Barnstaple to Halwil? Or was Torrington a sort of "Frontier" post where trains from both directions terminated? Or could you run it with three-coach trains arriving from Barnstaple, shunting the carriages and continuing towards Halwil as single coach or mixed trains? Many photos of the Halwil line show single coach trains, with or without wagons attached. All the best, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinW Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Hi Darren, interesting to hear what you are planning with Torrington, and I shall watch your progress with mkII as I enjoyed reading what you did with mkI. Colin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Hi Looking at the layout I have worked out I can make it 12 feet long, using the bridge as a scenic break at the Barnstaple end. At the other end as some of you have said I going to take the track under the road bridge and end it there, this way it will give the layout the illusion that it continues on to Halliwell . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Hi Looking at some of the comments on here the layout will be 12 feet long with a scenic break at the Barnstaple bridge end, (used to be 20 feet) as there is a bridge towards that end into the fiddle yard. After talking to Ray about this end of the layout I am going to have the head shunt running on to the fiddle yard, as on the last layout I had another 4 foot scenic section with the head shut. This will reduce the layout to 12 feet and an 8 foot fiddle yard which I have built all ready, this is the shortest I can make the layout and still fit in the track work in. The other end of the layout I will place the track work under the road bridge, but not have a fiddle yard at that end, this will mean I will not be able to do is have clay trains running through from Marland clay works and any trains that would run to and from Halwill, but at home I can do this . I have also been playing around with Templot this week working out the track plan I am going to use to build the track on and have run into a little dilemma, looking at the track plan I have as a bases for laying Templot over the plan I am using is just a line drawing, I am trying to work out what points to use, B7, B8, what would be the best size points to use for a branch line?. The other thing I want to do is have the station facing towards the front of the layout, as I last time I had it with the back of the station at the front of the layout, as I think it will look a lot better this way. I must admit I'm not familiar with they way the prototype operated after the Halwil line opened in 1925; did passenger trains run through from Barnstaple to Halwil? Or was Torrington a sort of "Frontier" post where trains from both directions terminated? Or could you run it with three-coach trains arriving from Barnstaple, shunting the carriages and continuing towards Halwil as single coach or mixed trains? Many photos of the Halwil line show single coach trains, with or without wagons attached. Hi Dave Operations at Torrington for train running through to Halwill ran like this; The train from Barnstaple would arrive on platform 2, where the passengers would alight the train and cross over the line to platform 1, where a single coach train( sometime with some goods trucks on the back) would be waiting to take them on to Halwill. This would allow the train that had come from Barnstaple to run round and back on to its train in platform 2, once coupled up it would cross over the points on to the up line and then back into platform 1, ready to return to Barnstaple. As the SR did not like sets to be broken up, a few spare coaches would be used for this job, as a few of photos I have shown a few sitting in Torrington yard that were used to do this job. Darren Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 Hi Have now started the point work for the layout and playing around with some buffer stops as well, so far i have done all the points for the yard area, just need to do the double slip and three more points, B8 this time. Darren Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 Hi Sorry it has been a bit long since i up dated you about Torrington Mk2 , So far i have built all but two turnouts for the layout, Still go the double slip to Finnish and the shed road Turnout i am working on now. All the wood is ready for the new base boards, but this time i want to put some height into the layout by dropping the front down, the last Torrington i built was to flat for my liking. The track plan is down and just needs printing out, so i can lay the timbers down, the turnouts i have made away from the layout and will drop them in as i lay the track down. All the turnout will be controlled with servos as along with ground signals and signals, when i built the first layout the line came to an end and was run like a terminus, when in fact the real line run on to Hailwell, this time i am going to take the track under the road bridge. This will give a better look to the line, i am still not sure if i will have another fiddle yard on this side, as you only get 4 trains a day using this part of the line?. Sorry no photo ,unless you want to see Turnouts?. As soon as i start getting some track down i give some more up dates. Darren Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold mudmagnet Posted August 24, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 24, 2015 Good to read that you are making progress Darren! Look forward to further developments. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ramblin Rich Posted August 24, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 24, 2015 Hi Darren, even if you don't have room for a fiddle yard at the Halwill end, it's still going to look better with tracks going out under the bridge. You could save a bit of space by using a sector plate beyond the bridge if needed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 HI Been thinking a bit more about the Halwell end of the line and doing a fiddle yard for that end, I looked at what size i would be able to get away with. Well i have worked out that i only needed four feet to be able to run the clay train and a single coach that run twice a day and only two tracks, Well i looked about and found a Peco point i had and some track and went ahead and built it,I have painted it and added some fold up leg , the only thing is the layout has now ended up twenty four feet long! At home i could not set this up like this, But if i ended up doing a show it would be good to run the layout as it should, i was never really happy that i made the Mrk1 as a terminus, Mind you Torrington up to 1926 was. Also i have been working on my PDK Drummond Loco and have now got the VERY SMALL builders plates to put on, ordered the smoke box number and shed plate,then i can start the weathering, this 700 has turned out to be one of the best loco i have for looks and running. I am thinking of selling some of my RTR to fund more kit loco's of the loco that ran on the line, the only loco i can not find as a kit is a Ivartt tank, strange no one seems to do one, only in 7mm?. Track work i have only the double slip to do now and that's it for the points, I did have to make to trap points, one for the yard and one for the shed road. I gave another up date soon. Darren Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted September 5, 2015 Author Share Posted September 5, 2015 Hi Here some thing i have been getting ready for weathering for Torrington, Still needs the air brush over it. Takes some time to get a loco ready for the final part of the weathering, hope you like her, and my fruit D. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren01 Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 Hi I have finally got round to weathering my PDK 700, i copied it from a photo of the real loco i have. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted September 7, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 7, 2015 Holy Moly !!! Fabulous weathering Darren, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devonbelle Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Well done Darren the Drummond looks brilliant (my late father used to refer to them as Black Motors when he saw them on the Swanage branch). Your Torrington Mk2 plans sound very exciting - and it would be lovely to see your finished work at Torrington. Keep up the good work. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holgate Junction Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Darren, This is a fantastic layout history with some brilliant photos showing your great skills. I have enjoyed going through the pages over the last few hours and look forward to seeing more of your work in the future. Matthew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted December 1, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 1, 2015 Hi Darren, Any news or progress to report? All the best, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestCountryClass Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Superb layout Darren, Well Done ! love the detail, proper weathering, great loco's, fab ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 What has happened to Torrington? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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