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Clecklewyke and the Bradford North Western Branch


clecklewyke
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Another couple of photos of my semi-scenic fiddle yard, which I call Scargill Sidings. The throat is controlled by a geographic panel which is on a long lead so that when I am operating alone I can operating alone I can move it alongside the main BNW controls. It saves a lot of walking about!

 

The.first is of a field barn whose funcios are twofold. First I wanted to do some real modelling as a relief from fettling track but it’s main purpose is to hide a point motor I had replaced.and relocate

 

in a more accessible location. All the ohetr point motors are easily reached but normally hidden by the embankment.60A1829B-37C5-42D5-937E-43696EA4BAD1.jpeg.985c102ffd4f3c053f62d2ac796d3bbd.jpegbF6C984DD-BA0C-49A8-B322-08AED8760BEF.jpeg.61f4f948aeaa529685600f8a42d46adb.jpeg7AAD125C-282D-4156-9953-505E5FEA65A2.jpeg.a4800b3e4682caa8b82fe5013e0b5fad.jpeg

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  • 8 months later...

I was hoping to load some pictures of recent work on the Bradford Northwestern branch but I simply cannot work how to do it using my new iPad. It was fine when I had a laptop and a separate camera but RMWeb Will not accept pictures from my iPad.

 

I think it could be either because the pictures are of the wrong format or they are too large to be accepted by our M web that my knowledge of the iPad is insufficient to allow me to work out which of these is the case. 

 

I think it could be either because the pictures are of the wrong format or they are too large to be accepted by our M web but my knowledge of the iPad is insufficient to allow me to work out which of these is the case. 
 

Has anyone else experienced this with an iPad and can they offer some help please. Thank you, Ian.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ive sorted my iPad problem so here are a couple of photos of recent events on the BNW  branch.

 

First I must record our practice of a vital modelling skill, displayed for the first time to the general public This is surprising because I use it every few minutes when I’m at my desk. For the record I’ve forgotten what we were looking for: I know we never found it.

91E53006-DA98-404C-A55C-C5C6023CEDDE.jpeg.5047af7b6f2832c5cfe9a22740f84fef.jpeg

The second photo shows what for me is important progress - working signals. Yes, I know we’ve been here before, when the BNWbranch was a P4 layout. It’s taken a long time to get the track working reliably but now it’s full speed with the signals - three down, eight to go. The gantry is up and working and two more home signals are nearly complete. Mike Megginson is making the four platform starters and somewhere I have two signals  from the original Clecklewke. So soon drivers will be able to follow signals. Since the signalmen  already communicate by block bells we’ll soon be able to have a perfect operating session. Lots of bells, whistles and chuffs but no talking. My wife just wouldn’t understand...

 D0D8B457-78B2-43CD-AF1C-89931016808E.png.d4b4efca98c1eeabe2ef6ecc47613cb2.png

BUT I’ve just got a Jinty with a brilliant sound system from the de Boer works and I’m spending hours shunting the goods yard. But isn’t that what BNW is all about?

 

Ian

Edited by clecklewyke
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  • 6 months later...

Nah you've moved to New Zealand and the earth has been shaking again? 

 

Great to see that your back! No doubt lockdown is causing upheavals... then again some of us know this as "modelling time" 

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Maybe this photo, taken a few days later, will help to explain:


B400410A-7073-4399-AC51-257B64DA6652.jpeg.1e874170c581ad5849039bb65d195765.jpeg

Can you see the join?
 

Then this, taken a bit further down the line, shows the rough positionS of the new MPD, Gormley Junction, with the main, over-tracks, building of Clecklewyke station behind:

E39D9910-3B3C-4A90-8138-35FCC3AB42E3.jpeg.347134df4ffbceda448c51cdfdd2969a.jpeg

Edited by clecklewyke
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Well it’s like this. I didn’t intend to do any work on Clecklewyke until later in the layou’s development. Instead I had meant to finish off Bradford North Western- the buildings ,the roof, the signals, background buildings and general details.

 

However with operations suspended by the Covid emergency (can’t get the staff don’t you know) I thought time was ripe to relay a section of the up line n the viaduct which had developed a nasty hump next to a faulty rail joint. So I started work on that and from there I rather lost the plot and one thing just led to another. I thought that while the track was lifted I may as well install the point work that was always planned to go there for the entrance to the engine sheds. And then things escalated. Clecklewyke  has always been seen as a temporary scene, which would eventually be developed in both directions. I’ve done so 

in the up direction with the viaduct but the down direction trackwork was still temporary and hidden behind screens..Realising that I had all the buildings necessary for the extended scene I calculated that the main extra work, apart from the track and signals, was the extension of the retaining wall, which would be quite straightforward, using multiple sheets of Wills “course stone”.  This would be fun, especially painting it, which is really quick and easy using dry brushing techniques on the Wills mouldings.

 

I had made the station.buildings decades ago for my first, Minories-based, BNW but the excellent engine sheds are the work of someone in the Newport MRC and the coaling plant came from Don Rowlands’ origial Rhuddall Heath. The retaining wall is now painted and I’ll post more details when I get the chance but for the moment I want to build rather than write!

 

ian

Edited by clecklewyke
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Hi Ian

Trying to catch up with lots of things now that I'm feeling better (not for discussion here).

Having just got used to operating the full BNW track layout at our last session this is going to be a whole new board game! A locoshed to run from/to rather than a fiddle yard will be very different. Will there be a turntable? Will we need another operator? This is going to get interesting.

All we need is for full lockdown to be lifted and the pubs open so that we can have the full experience of a Cragies session.

Looking forward to our next visit.

Happy days are defineatly coming soon.

Philip

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There's nothing like an MPD on a layout, I think I spend more time running engines around the yard than running trains. This is mainly due to the lift-out section having to be put in when I want to run trains.

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6 hours ago, SteamAle said:

Having just got used to operating the full BNW track layout at our last session this is going to be a whole new board game! A locoshed to run from/to rather than a fiddle yard will be very different. Will there be a turntable? Will we need another operator? This is going to get interesting.

 

Philip,

 

Another signal box so I am told. More block instruments required...

 

Ian,

 

Glad to see progress, you knew it made sense. I didn't think it required wrecking the joint though :)  Keep us appraised of progress.

 

Will there be a turntable?

 

best wishes to you and your domestic management,

Richard

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1 hour ago, Winander said:

 

Philip,

 

Another signal box so I am told. More block instruments required...

 

Ian,

 

Glad to see progress, you knew it made sense. I didn't think it required wrecking the joint though :) Keep us appraised of progress.

 

Will there be a turntable?

 

best wishes to you and your domestic management,

Richard

Thanks for your comments, guys. A common thread seems to be the question of a turntable. Well , turning locos  is really the most important requirement at Gormley but I’m not sure how to achieve it. I honestly don’t think I have good enough eyesight to build a turntable. All the proprietary models and kits seem to be for very big turntables which would look silly at Gormley and would be extremely difficult to fit in. It’s a long shot but I don’t suppose anyone knows of a smaller (60ft?) turntable going spare? One temporary expedient would be to imagine the turntable and much of the MPD point work to be offstage and simply use a Peco  local lift lift to turn the engines round - and use a lot of imaginationThe problem is that MPDs do take up an awful lot of space and there isn’t much of it going spare at Clecklewyke.
 

We have a similar problem with block instruments as Clecklewyke will become a block post meaning we will need two more instruments (or possibly four instruments if I decide to dispose of the two rather large ones I built. Again, I don’t think my eyes are good enough for me to build any more black instruments so I will need someone to pbuild them for me. Step forward Hornby, DCC concepts or mega points, please.

 

Then there is the question of signals. There will need to be starters in both directions and shunt signals at the entrance to the MPD.
 

And then there is the question of turning the main line through 90° without it looking silly. Luckily Iin OO gauge should be able to employ 2 foot radius curves and hide these non-prototypical bits behind buildings, bridges etc. As Iain Rice points out  one advantage of eyelevel layouts is that it is quite easy to hide things as one is not looking down on them. (Sadly we no longer have to worry about Chris King in this respect as he would certainly have been able to peer over the rooftops and discover my subterfuges!)


So there we are. This started with me wanting to replace a bit of poor track work and has ended up with a pretty massive project! But it’s fun isn’t it…

 

Ian

 

Edited by clecklewyke
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  • 2 weeks later...

I’ve been cutting quite a lot of plastic sheeting recently and have either devised or  re-discovered a very useful tool for this purpose.071D8EFA-320B-44C7-8DA0-1CDDF3C0A671.jpeg.ae3617537dee24c0db4964e442b9940f.jpegAs can be seen it is essentially a cutting board to which is attached a steel rule and a guide set at right angles to the rule. I have assembled it with a hot glue gun. And this is it in action.
2A9E1CF3-47CF-444D-A10D-E4B934B40346.jpeg.2a3ecbbaebbf52de8d8a8701f293ce6f.jpeg


 

it gives a right angle cut every time with no fumbling to get a ruler in place and mark out a right angle. The version shown was intended to be a test of the concept, shence the use of scrap material and the crudity of constructtion. But it works perfectly well and I will continue to use it until it falls apart, when I might think of doing something a bit more sophisticated. It took 10 minutes to make and most of that time was spent finding its components. It will save hours of modelling time.

Ian

 

Edited by clecklewyke
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Here are some more photographs of an alternative arrangement for Clecklewyke. 
 

i’m happy with the station arrangements and just have the canopies and footsteps to the overhead building to build.(at a later stage I will build some cottages et cetera as a back scene.) 

 

However the MPD creates problems.  There are four potential elements to include, the engine sheds, cooling stage, turntable and point work for the entrance to the engine sheds. I simply don’t think I have room for all these elements without it looking extremely cramped. So I think one must go and the least important element is the point work leading to the open doors of the sheds. Moreover these require 4 feet of length to fit in. So if I reverse the engine shows we can imply that the pipework is offstage I and concentrate on the most visually interesting bit of the engine sheds, the offices and chimney for the sand drying furnace. To make it lol work the two tracks feeding stage will be “disappeared” behind a view blocker on to  cassettes in a small non-scenic fiddle yard. This will include a racks with shelves on which to store locos? I’m not yet certain whether the turntable can fit but I’ve tried to send here it is.

 

 

3B42069E-2F63-414A-8513-BF4E212905DD.jpeg

BEA9E073-254B-4E89-842A-A7FEF4C3625C.jpeg

E10B4A99-9623-4DCF-9934-ED8476EC3EB2.jpeg

55D526A7-8392-444C-9884-9313688091E8.jpeg

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  • 3 weeks later...

I can report some more progress on Clecklewyke.The platform buildings and canopy are now just about complete, needing only some details of painting and the valances.
 

.I’ve been musing over the layout of the MPD. The problem is one of space and the fact that the loco shed is so long.My original thought was to have only the interesting end of the local shed I interview with all the points work for the entrance entrances to the shared roads off limits. This would allow what will be a small fiddle yard, with shelves on which to store locos until needed.

it would look something like this.

E0A041DC-6C23-4B28-B9E6-81757312CB46.jpeg.c05699a2e5784c6f6acb91735b57d2d1.jpeg6BB1A03F-0A41-4E4F-9AFC-663F9C43D0FD.jpeg.4a614eff318a6448950c519c8cf72532.jpeg

That temporary lighting rig support must go! Advantages of this are that it is more spacious and requires fewer points.

 

The alternative would be to have the whole engine shed on scene like this.
18E67E93-EAF7-48D3-A447-4B42EDABF56D.jpeg.9afa03322250e333e757db683ef31e9a.jpegI

611790FF-6A5D-4FBE-9248-10E87B7A754C.jpeg.5259e7de2ab6bf96e5b4b73779727302.jpeg
One disadvantage of this option is that I will have to relay all the tracks in the shed and coal stage as there are P4.

It will be seen that the position of the turntable changes according to the scheme chosen.I will build it  on a demountable subbase board so that it can be put whetevver  I eventually choose and also be passed on to a friend who has offered to look into the motorising of it. I’ve chosen the Peco turntable as it seems to be the best compromise between ease of build and good looks.

 

With either option the tracks through Clecklewyke will turn through a 2 foot radius corner, hidden by buildings, roads et cetera, which I hope will lead the uninitiated eye to believe that’ the main line goes straight on through the wall!)

 

So I am now looking forward to the arrival of my birthday present to myself which will comprise the Peco turntable and Ratio valances, courtesy of Rails of Sheffield.

Ian

 

 

Edited by clecklewyke
To correct iPad’s misinterpretations of my dictation, e.g. “Cole” for “coal”.
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  • 3 weeks later...

A little more progress to report. 
 

The station roof is completed with Ratio valances and the buildings just await the entrance staircase (a filleted Metcalfe kit), some detailing and weathering.823347F4-C585-46EE-B77E-C0CE5760572E.jpeg.b2109e7f257029d17db0f1dc6f6f0133.jpeg
95EE93DE-C8C5-4825-8FE6-CB5687640DFB.jpeg.3e6e30283515e3d3d1639e5e87ad2817.jpeg

The Peco turntable is nearly complete. I am delighted by this kit: It was easy to put together, the only difficulty being the microscopic text of the instructions. To my eyes it looks like a real turntable, not some kit designer’s idea of of one. It is longer than I would have liked but is the best compromise available to me.

 

I am still swithering over which of the two schemes outlined above to choose. It might require a toss of the coin but I confess I do like this view of a loco “squeezing” between the shed and the coaling stage.523C5C74-81AF-4FD6-9C31-3FB239A430EE.jpeg.7b367f202eda7654f55fdfe85a258f72.jpegthere are precedents for really cramped MPDs, especially Macclesfield, a wonderful prototype which I have.never seen.modelled.

Edited by clecklewyke
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This is a map of Macclesfield station area. Anybody interested? It has a cramped loco shed and goods depot and the station lies between a tunnel and a road bridge so would make a wonderful diorama.

image.gif.5b92419631b2add7dbad6f693840a1c1.gif

 

Edited by clecklewyke
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  • 3 weeks later...

Slow progress but progress, nevertheless. I have been sitting up the lighting rig, or proscenium arch as Iain Rice would have it, above the new section of Clecklewyke, using a fluorescent tube bought years ago for this very purpose. It creates quite a I long scenic diorama but I have yet to resolve how to support the centre of the lighting rig. Maybe I could cantilever asupport from the wall behind the scene but this is 300-year-old stone and I’m not sure how secure the support would be. Here are some photos:6169F0CF-9AAE-4AA0-B97D-CD71D21EAEB3.jpeg.305bc273c2e05b4e7f30e798a696e645.jpegE444D9D0-15E5-4202-A581-A585B5561DD1.jpeg.0a9e238075c8a7efc2c55107b0149cb0.jpeg
 

The track is still to be laid and then it will be on to the enjoyable jobs - improving the back scene and adding som buildings. I fancy some more mills and gable ends of terrace houses. Whatever I do it will be broad brush, impressionistic stuff, aiming to catch the essential West Riding character rather lots of detail.

Edited by clecklewyke
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Hi Ian, I am thinking about using some of the photos sold on this web site

 

https://www.kirtleymodels.co.uk/backscene-packs

 

although the stone buildings are few in number. There's some free stuff too in the More section in Printed papers : station notice and signs, advertising etc.

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1 hour ago, Rowsley17D said:

Hi Ian, I am thinking about using some of the photos sold on this web site

 

https://www.kirtleymodels.co.uk/backscene-packs

 

although the stone buildings are few in number. There's some free stuff too in the More section in Printed papers : station notice and signs, advertising etc.

These are really lovely but as far as I can see the back scenes are only made in 7mm scale. Note also that they seem to be based on photographs taken from street level and so the roofs will look wrong on a layout at table level. 
 

Did you find his Birmingham diorama – absolutely fabulous!

 

I wonder what he would have charged to make your Derwent spa buildings?

 

Ian

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7 hours ago, clecklewyke said:

These are really lovely but as far as I can see the back scenes are only made in 7mm scale. Note also that they seem to be based on photographs taken from street level and so the roofs will look wrong on a layout at table level. 
 

Did you find his Birmingham diorama – absolutely fabulous!

 

I wonder what he would have charged to make your Derwent spa buildings?

 

Ian

 

Hi Ian, didn't notice the 7mm scale. Oh well back to searching Google, although I have asked if can do 4mm scale. Perhaps he'll suggest I reduce them like his free prints.

Edited by Rowsley17D
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3 hours ago, clecklewyke said:

D sorry to have been the bearer of bad news. Let’s hope they can do 4mm as well.

 

Best wishes

 

Ian

 

Hi Ian, I emailed Peter at Kirtley Models and while he doesn't sell the backscenes in 7mm he says he will send a copy be email for me to resize free of charge! Sounds like a bargain to me, nothing lost and everything to gain.

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