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Clecklewyke and the Bradford North Western Branch


clecklewyke
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No changes in the 1937 appendix, is the 1960 appendix of interest ?

I would guess that 1960 would be entirely appropriate - "1958" was always a bit loose - given that one of my trains is a Calder Valley 3 car set, which significantly post-dates my period - but then the G5 predates it so on average I've got it right...

 

Many thanks for your help,

 

Ian

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Ian,

 

Firstly, sorry for getting your name wrong on my earlier comment - no insult intended! In my rush to post during my lunch break I must have mis-read an earlier post!

Anyway, thanks for the additional viaduct photos and explanation. I love WD's and have one to appear on the Delph goods from time to time - I'm not sure they ever ran there in reallity (I think Lancky Cl 27's and Fairburn tanks were used), but Lees had some, so they could have. I was lucky enough to spot Larry's push-pull coaches when he was producing them and bought sufficient to make up several prototypical driving & trailer combinations (in conjunction with a couple of coaches I made myself).

A future visit would be something to look forward to. I'm retiring on Friday, so will have more time for modelling related activities!

I'll look forward to S4N in 2013 & 14, then. I'm there myself, this year, doing loco constuction. If you attend, please say "Hello".

You mention an MRJ article on the use of Safeprint foam sheet - can you advised which issue number it was (I have the lot, including issue 0!).

 

Dave.

 

I should be at S4N so I'll look you out. The MRJ article was strictly speaking about the use of pizza bases but I don't eat pizzas... Allan Goodwillie tells me that Safeprint has been used for years in primary schools as a safe replacement for linocutting and he has been using it for buildings for a long time. But it was new to me and a revelation in terms of speed and ease of use. The article referred to is in MRJ196.

 

Good luck!

 

Ian

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a wonderfully evocative photo of the approaches to Bradford Exchange, sent to me from the bottomless well that is Mick Nicholson's photo database, but it's not the B1 I am interested in, rather the lattice girder road bridge behind it.

Does anyone have any better photos of the bridge? I want to build a bridge based on it for Bradford North Western but I believe the original has been demolished so I cannot photograph it directly. I think it would have been above where Bradford Interchange is now.

post-4908-0-24935900-1334233486.jpg

Thanks as always,

Ian

 

Edited by clecklewyke
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Nasty Reaction to Super Glues - Beware!

 

It seems that I am one of the 5% of the population who can become sensitised to super glues, giving pretty nasty flu-like symptoms and skin inflamation. I confirmed this yesterday after I went to the doctor complaining of very runny nose, congested chest and chapped hands. He agreed with my self-diagnosis of an allergic reaction to these damn glues.

 

So beware - if you get these types of reactions they will only get worse every time you use the stuff. See

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate#Safety_issues

 

I have thrown away my bottle and will not risk using it again. My problem is now to find a replacement for some specific uses of them. I suppose we did without them before they were invented but I do not want to go back to boiling up cows' hooves...

 

But then I suppose we did without lovely materials such as embossed plasticard and the new (to me) revelation, Safeprint foam plastic sheets.

 

I am currently building a mill using Slaters' embossed Plasticard. I chose to laminate it to Safeprint mainly because having once cut out the windows in the Plasticard it is so easy then to slice through the Safeprint using the Plasticard overlay cut outs as guides - much less hard work than cutting through thicker Plasticard. I had used the Superglue because other glues have significant disadvantages - most simply do not produce a strong enough bond and others which incorporate solvents (Mek, Evostick etc.) destroy the foam structure of the Safeprint. I have successfuly used Copydex for small joints but it does not dry out quickly enough when laminating large areas (e.g. A4- sizes). No Nails is ideal for joining corners - drying out reasonably quickly and producing a nice strengthening fillet but like PVA it does not dry out and does not adhere to the plasticard very well when used for laminating.

 

So - has anybody got any other suggestions for glues for this purpose? I do NOT want to have to cut through thick Plasticard for the many windows I will be making for the Mills of Bradford and Clecklewyke!

 

Sorry not to add pictures but my runny nose and chapped hands are not a pretty site!

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  • 1 month later...

One of the important aspects of my project is operation and this demands working signals. I think it is important that the functions of driver and signalman are separated and that the drivers, as far as possible, simply need to read the signals in order to know whether they are safe to proceed. I have now reached the stage on my layout where this is possible, apart from a few shunting moves, which we are happy to imagine the signalman authorises with the wave of a green flag - so far imaginary, but we’ll see!

 

I am trying to standardise on a way of installing signals which allows them to be removed without having to unscrew baseplates or disconnect mechanisms. In my experience signals are very liable to damage from shirt cuffs etc. when working on track. So I use telescopic square-section brass tubing to allow the signal to slide into a slightly larger cross-section tube soldered to a baseplate which is firmly anchored to the baseboard, and therefore can be permanently disguised with ballast etc. I find that friction is quite enough to hold the signal in place. The operating mechanism consists of a striking plate attached to a crank which pushes the signal push rod “offâ€, with a small spring to make the signal return to “onâ€. Because I am an old codger, unable (or willing) to learn new tricks I use solenoids from MSE to move the crank. Sophisticates will no doubt use servos and build in “bounceâ€.

 

I am attaching a few photos demonstrating this approach. The signal is from a Gibson kit of an ex-LMS lattice UQ signal - probably not very appropriate for Bradford NW but a nice change from the ubiquitous LNWR LQs. It’s mounted on the side of a temporary, non-scenic connection between Clecklewyke and Bradford NW but it functions as BNW’s home signal, so is important in preventing trains entering station limits until there is a suitable route for them. This unusual method of mounting also allows the innards to be seen easily when the plywood shied is removed.

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The diagram is a cross section of the base of a signal.

 

The parts shaded brown are fixed - the baseboard, the mounting plate and the larger section brass tube soldered to the mounting plate.

 

Those in green are the signal - the post at the top soldered into the smaller section tube, with the joint reinforced with a short length of the larger tube. Part of the tube is cut away to give access to the innards in order to adjust and solder in place the end stops.

 

The red parts are the moving parts - the push rod, made of hard brass wire; the two end stops made of small diameter copper tubing soldered to the push rod and which control how far the signal arm moves; and the crank and striking plate, which transmit the movement of the solenoid to the push rod.

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It will be seen that the blue and green components can be removed from the brown components without having to dismantle anything.

 

This all works well with simple single-arm semaphores but will need development for multiple arms and gantries. I think the principle will work if I use separate tubes for each of the push rods.

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Hope you don't mind me mentioning but the LMS only used lattice straight posts for signals over 35', some of the constituents used them as standard of course (Scottish ones)

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Hope you don't mind me mentioning but the LMS only used lattice straight posts for signals over 35', some of the constituents used them as standard of course (Scottish ones)

 

Too true - that's why I said it was probably inappropriate for BNW. Unfortunately Gibson's instructions didn't mention that and I did not find out until after I'd built it.

 

Eventually, when I replace the temporary section, I will probably put the signal behind a bridge, so the lower part is invisible and it looks taller than it is - another benefit of eye-level diorama type layouts is that you can get away with such ruses. For the moment I'm not too concerned. The signal fulfills its function of controlling trains: since the baseboard is non-scenic an incongruous signal is not too much of a problem. Anyway, those at BNW are still (temporariiy) GWR!

 

(But at least the gauge is right...)

Edited by clecklewyke
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  • 10 months later...

A lot for me to learn here Ian, thanks!

It's interesting that we are coming from the same starting point - John Cockcroft's article on Bradford Exchange operation - and are going in slightly different directions. I'm hoping we can share a lot of research. I do hope you get to live in Yorkshire!

 

There has been little progress on BNW in the last few months although our local area group do operate it once a month or so. I've been busy rebuilding Humber Dock for this year's Scalefour North. This is now finished so I should now be able to get on with the BNW branch. The first developments will be on Clecklewyke and the viaduct as these are pencilled in for Scalefour North in 2014.

 

Ian

Edited by clecklewyke
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  • 2 months later...

Work is slowly progressing on BNW. April 2014 and Scalefour North still seem a long way away but I think I am going to meet that deadline. The basic scenery is now complete, apart from some more trees and the little matter of some ballast on the main line over the viaduct. That should be completed in a week or so and then I can concentrate on presentation - the lighting, backscene, proscenium arch and the left hand fiddle yard, which meeds to be enlarged to cope wth five foot long trains.

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the latest development - the gate to the yard of Rice's Mill, with a little gesture of respect for the great IAR! Behind the mill a Fowler 7F crosses Mill Gill viaduct with a freight for Gormley Junction.

 

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post-4908-0-64085800-1374528151.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

More progress today - dull stuff including painting the front of the layout and the lighting beam black. More interestingly, I was able to plant a superb tree kindly donated by Chris King (of the Cumbrian Region Area Group of the S4 Soc). It was one of the rejects made by his wife. If this was a reject...

 

The photos show a D49 passing through Clecklewyke, about to pass behind the new tree on the last lap of its journey with a Hull - Liverpool express. The train will reverse at Bradford and be taken over the Pennines by a Black Five.

 

post-4908-0-77844400-1376241073.jpg   post-4908-0-51026000-1376241098.jpg

 

(Can anyone tell me how to make these pictures larger?)

 

So a few steps nearer to Scalefour North in April!

 

Ian

Edited by clecklewyke
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  • 3 months later...

At last some more news. I have been getting a couple of hours' work on BNW most days but it's mostly boring stuff, but includes some forestation - a mixture of wire armatures coated with Polyfila/PVA/paint mix, Hydrangea florets and sea moss, all covered with foliage made of proprietary scatter and chopped wool (from the dogs' bedding!), mixed in the blender, stuck on with hairspray. The blender survived! Some of the canopy is supported by wire netting.

 

Here are some photos of progress so far.

 

First, the bare wire armatures.

 

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The back of the viaduct, which will not be seen by viewers, showing the beginnings of the woodland. The wire trees are made of thick copper wires, so this supports the wire netting adequately. You can also see the mechanism of the signal that was on the viaduct. This is being replaced by the gantry pictured below.

 

post-4908-0-30203300-1385036532.jpg

 

The signal gantry which I am currently working on - mostly from Wizard Models parts

 

post-4908-0-78150800-1385035025.jpg

 

A 7F with a freight train

 

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Ivatt 2MT on Mill Gill viaduct, above mill workers' cottages.

 

post-4908-0-17378700-1385035082.jpg

 

Rice's Mill with 2MT above

 

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Edited by clecklewyke
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  • 2 months later...

There has been lots of unreported work getting Clecklewyke ready for Scalefour North on 12/13 April but it has been largely unphotogenic, such as support structures, more cassettes, improving wiring, generally making the railway work better. And somehow, I have not found time to make postings.

 

However, one aspect that can be reported quickly is the timetable. We operate the Bradford North Western branch to a timetable based on the platform workings of the L&Y side of Bradford Exchange, as published in an article by Model Railways a long time ago. The timetable for the terminal station has had to be modified for Clecklewyke, which is a through station a few miles up the line from Bradford (in my imagination). We can therefore now include additional longer distance goods trains which run to/from Scargill sidings. One interesting feature is the number of light engines between Gormley Junction MPD and the goods yards and passenger terminal: one of the features of the 1958 service was the number of non-revenue-earning workings to get locos and rolling stock to where they were needed, unlike our modern shuttle services of standard formation trains.

 

The timetable will be displayed to the public but I'm still trying to work out how to do this with ideas ranging from high-tech computer screes to simple "roller blinds" as used on NER stations, or simple printed lists of trains.

 

So here is an extract of it. The slightly odd layout stems from its origins as a station working document. Up and down trains are in different columns, which is a help to the operators. Each is a signalman in charge of a fiddle yard and they drive trains away from their yard, but only if the line is clear, which is shown by block instruments and signals operated by the signalman at the other end of the layout.

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Edited by clecklewyke
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  • 3 months later...

Rather belatedly I can report on our success at Scalefour North.

 

Although the railway is almost entirely my own work, operating it and exhibiting it could not be done without the enormous help of members of the Cumbrian Region Area Group of the Scalefour Society, in particular of Phil Tuer who hired and drove the van, and Steve Griffiths who acted as "second man" in the van and, with Phil and me, shared the operator duties. 

 

Erection was without problems (would that this were always the case...) but our inexperience showed in that we were just about the first to arrive and the last to leave on Friday evening. No doubt our earlier trial run with a "Tea and Trains" afternoon in our village hall had helped us learn the tricks of the trade but we could still improve.

 

post-4908-0-08616600-1401646815.jpg  

 

We had (or rather I had) decided to run to our timetable, displaying the details of trains on a "roller blind" system. I think this was a good idea - at least for the operators as we had to engage our little grey cells rather more than if we had just run a random sequence of trains, so I, at least, was not bored by Sunday evening. However, I was not aware of much interest by the viewing public in the timetable - as always, most just stood to watch two or three trains pass, then moved on.

 

I have to say that I thought the layout looked pretty good. The first impression was striking, with neat black framing of the layout, a well-lit scene encompassing quite a height range, from the stream in the valley bottom about three feet above floor level to the highest mill chimney at about six feet, with a tall sky back-drop closing the scene. I heard a few people comment that the colour was right, and that it was clear what we were portraying - the industrial West Riding in the 1950s. I had deliberately chosen a limited palate of colours - black, white, yellow and burnt sienna - for the buildings and landscape, apart from the subdued greens of the grass and trees and very pale grey/blue of the sky.

 

And the layout worked pretty well too, with only a couple of derailments and trains running smoothly and slowly across the 15mph limited viaduct. (Any faster and the viewers might have missed them as the scenic section is only nine feet long!)

 

But - pride cometh before a fall. If all the above sounds to you a bit smug, you are right. First, the Black Five failed, the rear axle jamming on its spring and derailing everywhere. Back in the Askrigg workshop I discovered that this was due to the brass bushes slipping off the cradle on which the spring bears. This was cured by Aralditing them in place and it then ran beautifully on Mike Norris' Preston a fortnight later.

 

If that was merely annoying - after all it was only one of more than a dozen locos - Sunday afternoon was disastrous. Another loco failed - the wheels of the Stanier 2-6-4T completely locking up - a fault yet to be diagnosed and cured. Then a mysterious short appeared, preventing any trains to run on the down line. So, pragmatically and appropriately we put on a Sunday timetable, with single line running.

 

Despite that the best bit came at the end, when we came second in the viewers' poll of layouts. To come second to the masterpiece that is Flintfields was no disgrace but to beat the likes of Brighton Road - wow! I had never done anything like as well, apart from a Halifax show where a smaller version of Clecklewyke was awarded the trophy for "most unusual layout". The pride rapidly disappeared when I discovered that a previous winner had been a Lego train set!

 

So, thanks, folks - to the other members of my team (including David Beale who helped pack up on Sunday, to the fellow exhibitors and traders - all friendly and supportive, to the viewers who were appreciative and asked lots of interesting questions and to the effective and friendly organisers and stewards. James Dickie and his team were excellent, as was the traditional Saturday evening feast in the Toby Carvery.

 

And finally, here are some lovely photos of Clecklewyke at Wakefield by Tim Venton:

 

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Edited by clecklewyke
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Ian,

 

Lovely photos indeed. The layout looks very good. Pity I wasn't able to attend S4N this year (clashed with a do on the Ffestiniog Railway that I'm committed to) so wasn't able to see it in person.

Have you any future shows booked?

 

Dave.

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A couple more from S4N. I do like the canal.

attachicon.gifIMG_0069.JPG

And round the back.

attachicon.gifIMG_0061.JPG

And a view along the viaduct.

attachicon.gifIMG_0062.JPG

 

Naughty pictures of the back of the layout - it's definitely NOT designed for public view. :nono:

 

But I'm glad you like the canal.

 

Dave, good to hear from a fellow Festiniog fan - when I worked in science I used to call myself ID Everett FRS but I was soon rumbled. Did you know that Tim V and myself were both FR volunteers years back - in my case starting on Site 1 at Dduallt, and I've still the scars to prove it!

 

I haven't got any more bookings, more's the pity. I'm not sure how to go about it other than to write to exhibition managers but that does not seem to work. Mind you I did overhear one well known exhibition organiser say "here's another layout where the scenic part is only a third of the length". I thought that having the workings of  one fiddle yard in view and lots of photos and text on the screen for the other might make up for that deficiency. The thing is I do not have enough room at home to build a complete roundy roundy with staging tracks like Clutton and I want to have it available to play with at any time when I'm at home, or CRAG comes round.

 

Ian

Edited by clecklewyke
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Naughty pictures of the back of the layout - it's definitely NOT designed for public view. :nono:

That exhibition manager has clearly "missed" the other attraction of the layout, I have the same problem with Clutton - perceived as a scenic layout rather than correctly operated. Both views are true, perhaps you need to re-emphasise this aspect of yours, which is why I took my pictures!

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Ian, what is the over all length of the layout. You have mentioned that it is 9ft at times but what is the over all with the fiddle yards. I have to say this is another layout that can be photographed from a number of angles that make you think that it is bigger than it is. From the great photos above the layout gives the impression it is part of a landscape. Really well done.

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It takes up a space of 20'X10', which includes room for two operators and access front and back. The scenic section is a banana-shape about 9' long by 2'deep. Each fiddle yard is a cassette deck, about 5'X 2'.

 

So I suppose in fact the scenic section is more nearly 50% of the overall length.

 

Ian

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Simply stunning layout!

 

Really impressed with your west riding buildings/stonework.

The colour of the stonework looks spot on.

Do you mind if i ask how you painted the embossed stonework in detail?

 

Did you start with a black wash then use the lighter colours?

Im just curious as id like that sort of finish on my own layout im building.

 

Many thanks

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