Captain Nick Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 I have had my 'eureka' moment following on from the above. During the last few weeks I have tweaked my back to backs to the 14.8 mark and using the flat tip of a large file, I have flattened down any proud rails at the gaps. (these have been flattened down into the cork sub base until the offending rail end is at the same height as the next rail to it). The running of my locos has improved no end. Wobbles have been eliminated considerably and so electrical contact better maintained. Another great leap forward on Wormdale took place just three weeks ago. (n.b This next part of my narrative is written in wife excuse mode!) On a trip up to Buxton in early in December, I became 'lost' in the motorway system and found myself outside a certain emporium in Sheffield that specialises in the fitting of sound. This was a serendipitous navigational cock-up as I just happened, by sheer chance, to have two unchipped locos, bought two years previously, in the car with me. It seemed rude not to enter said emporium to say hello. In doing this I felt it incumbent on myself to festively instruct the lovely people therein to chip my 8F and Jubilee with not only sound, but with keep alive too. WOW! Am I a happy little sailor? You bet I am! These two run through the pointwork beautifully, purposefully and smoothly! The way to go. So, not withstanding being presently without my wife's favour, I can report that trains are now running as they should in Wormdale. Morale is restored! Happy New Year everybody. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rowsley17D Posted January 2, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 2, 2016 Good to have you back Capt Nick, you and your excellent layout photos have been missed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted January 2, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 2, 2016 You have to be very careful when driving around this area, that Sheffield emporium has a secret ray which attracts the cars of all railway modelers within a 30mile radius, it's amazing how many become caught in the trap. So far I have resisted, but it's a constant battle, I can tell you... Al. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bri.s Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Really Glad to hear you've sorted your running problems ,I bet that's a weight off ,your scenics deserve good running ,any video anytime soon ? Brian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 You have to be very careful when driving around this area, that Sheffield emporium has a secret ray which attracts the cars of all railway modelers within a 30mile radius, it's amazing how many become caught in the trap. So far I have resisted, but it's a constant battle, I can tell you... Al. Oh Dear. I'm coming up again next week but I shall have the kryptonite like powers of my wife to keep me from straying onto the M42 and a general north east direction at Birmingham. As she will have done a risk assessment, she will mitigate any desire to go to Sheffield by being at the wheel and will purposefully put us onto the M6 and the north west! I'm amazed Al that you are so strong in resisting such beguiling temptations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Really Glad to hear you've sorted your running problems ,I bet that's a weight off ,your scenics deserve good running ,any video anytime soon ? Brian Hi Brian. I'm afraid that most model work is enduring a bit of a hiatus at present other than a little tinkering here and there. My wife and I are off to the Orient next week for a month and I have spent the last six weeks editing the magazine I do twice a year which can be a bit frenetic. Whilst reclining on a beach somewhere in the South China Sea, I shall be planning my next moves for Wormdale. The most pressing things to be undertaken is the fitting of Spratt and Winkle couplings to some 50 wagons and 15 locos, however, I am inclined to get started on the station footbridge which is a copy of the old Chinley Station one. I have also got to get rid of the cassettes and replace them with a small fiddle yard. So plenty to be getting on with when I get back in February. On another note; have you ever wondered why you can buy almost any magazine at UK airports except railway and railway modelling ones. A curious state of affaires. Much to my wife's chagrin, I always load my suitcase with several kilos of them so as to enjoy reading them on hols.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus 37 Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Hello Nick Until you posted on Fordbanks thread this morning I hadn't come across your thread before. Quite how I managed to miss it I'm not quite sure. All I can say is WOW!! You really have caught the essence of the area brilliantly. The limestone works is simply stunning. I shall certainly be taking some inspiration away for my own layout Peak Dale Wood which is based on Peak Forest much like Fordbanks. Keep up the great work. I shall now be following along with interest. Cheers Marcus 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
380John Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Hi Nick, Great to see you back and glad your problems are all sorted! I understand how frustrating not being able to run anything is as we have just moved and the garage is being prepared for its new role as a layout room! Have a good holiday (much better than being at sea this time of year!) last few weeks at work have been horrendous!! All the best, John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Hi Nick, Great to see you back and glad your problems are all sorted! I understand how frustrating not being able to run anything is as we have just moved and the garage is being prepared for its new role as a layout room! Have a good holiday (much better than being at sea this time of year!) last few weeks at work have been horrendous!! All the best, John Hi John. Yes I'm very glad not to be fighting these gales and I think of you guys working out there when its bad. We are meeting up with a former Meridian old man and friend in Hong Kong who is now Fleet Director for Wilhelmsons Car Carriers in Korea. Ugh! High sided and single screw in this weather! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
380John Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Must be fun berthing one of those lumps this time of year! I prefer my ASD! Look forward to seeing more of wormdale in the coming months! Cheers John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe MCMLXI Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Great to see you back Capt. Nick.. have a great break and we'll all be all looking out for future updates on Wormdale in 2016 .... I'm very glad to see the years ended very positively for you on the track front! best regards joe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fordbank Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Hi Nick, Just been introduced to your thread by your posting on Reflections on Peak Forest. And what a privilege and inspiration. The East Buxton Lime Firms kilns are fabulous and we clearly share an interest in the way in which the Peak Line melds into the limestone scenery. Marcus, through his Peak Dale Wood thread, has shamed me back into the chilly garage and now Wormdale will clearly set new scenic standards for me to aspire to. Enjoy your trip abroad, Look forward to future postings, Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 Hi Nick, Just been introduced to your thread by your posting on Reflections on Peak Forest. And what a privilege and inspiration. The East Buxton Lime Firms kilns are fabulous and we clearly share an interest in the way in which the Peak Line melds into the limestone scenery. Marcus, through his Peak Dale Wood thread, has shamed me back into the chilly garage and now Wormdale will clearly set new scenic standards for me to aspire to. Enjoy your trip abroad, Look forward to future postings, Andy Hi Andy. many thanks for your kind comments and I'm sorry that I haven't replied until now. I've not logged on for a few days, being busy with other things. I am impressed with what you are doing and I'm pleased to see that the old Midland Line through The Peak is becoming so popular amongst fellow modellers with various locations being modelled. Just as winter arrives in the High Peak this week, we shall be attempting to get over the Cat and Fiddle on Thursday morning to get our flight to Hong Kong from Manchester . All that hassle so as to get free parking for a month at my mate's house in Buxton! Regards Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 I have been back from holiday for four weeks and after a slow start I have been back up to Wormdale (in a loft conversion) and tinkered about with it. I had become increasingly niggled by the lime kiln sidings area over by the hill on the right hand side. It kind of looked too 'flat'. It then occurred to me that at Peakdale and when the Midland built it's line up through Millers D. they left odd pillars of rock around in fact just north of the station the line appears to go into a cutting but in fact the track bed is on a ledge above the river and the builders have left a thin embankment of rock on the outer side. Also, where the signal box was they left a small pillar of rock next to it which of course is still there. I have tried to replicate this latter feature next to the signal box in Wormdale while adding a larger pillar of limestone in the sidings. I am happy with the result as I think it visually break up the area and adds more interest. I have also tried to replicate the shape taking into account the flow of the geology before any excavations took place. See what you think. I have also added more vegetation to this end of the layout and there is a lot more to do by adding general detritus, mess huts and yard lamps. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bri.s Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Great pictures,I love the track level one looking up it makes everything colossal and very realistic Great modelling Brian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
380John Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Hi Nick, Nice to see you back. Hope the holiday went well. Brian makes a good point, the trackside shots show a great sense of scale. The weathering and detail over such a large area are fantastic. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 Another pic from rail level 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted July 30, 2016 Author Share Posted July 30, 2016 Well nothing much has happened over the last three months except for installing a fence between the kiln sidings and the mainline. I have also scratch built a couple of plate layers huts. I am about to go a Spratt and Winkling on almost all of my rolling stock. There is also a lot of detailing to do around the kilns and crusher such as yard lamps and point levers etc. I want to get this done before I do any further drastic scenic work although I may start the station foot bridge. Having badly sprained my ankle getting off a boat (50 years of getting off and on the damn things without mishap) two weeks ago, I can barley get up the stairs to the railway room at the moment but I did take a some photos today. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted July 30, 2016 Author Share Posted July 30, 2016 A badly photoshopped Black Five lifting a stopper from Platform 5 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rowsley17D Posted July 30, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 30, 2016 Welcome back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HymekBoy Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 Great layout, love the heavy industry and scenic work! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Alister_G Posted July 30, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 30, 2016 Sorry to hear about your ankle, Nick, but great to see you back, and some wonderful photos. Don't you need a fishing licence to go Spratt and Winkling? Al. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 Sorry to hear about your ankle, Nick, but great to see you back, and some wonderful photos. Don't you need a fishing licence to go Spratt and Winkling? Al. Hi Al. I guess you do but my efforts will be more akin to poaching. I have been looking at all the posts on here and elsewhere about S&Ws so I think I'm good to go. I have always been impressed with them at shows etc and they will be way cheaper than kaydees. I'm also looking at ways to semi- permanently couple rakes of coaches and putting S&Ws on the ends. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus 37 Posted July 31, 2016 Share Posted July 31, 2016 Hi Nick Good to see you back. Sorry to hear about you're ankle. Extremely painful as I've done it myself in the past jumping off my mates tractor into some wet grass. Own fault as I was rushing!! Great to see some more pictures of your stunning layout and will look forward to seeing more. Hope that ankle gets better soon. All the best Marcus Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nick Posted November 4, 2016 Author Share Posted November 4, 2016 Well I've finally got back to doing some more modelling and doing something I've been putting off. I thought sometime ago that I would like to see what Spratt and Winkle couplings would be like. I had liked the hands free operation of these which had impressed me at shows and felt that they were so much easier on the eye than most others. So a couple of weeks ago I sent off for a starter pack in 4mm finescale and also ordered a couple of packs of the ready made version. Now these latter items are very handy but also expensive if you have a large amount of stock to retro fit. There are only 4 pieces in the pack but if you only fit them to one end only then obviously there are enough to fit 4 wagons. This is what I have done and using the wire supplied in the starter pack have made loops for the other end of the wagons. I found this latter operation the hardest to achieve and tried two methods. The first method was to make a staple shape and glue this to the underside of the buffer beam, a method easier described rather than accomplished. The second method was to fit a bar across the inside lower hemisphere of the buffers. Both worked but I preferred the first method as it was easier on the eye and more easily fine tuned. The gluing of the loop to the underside proved difficult to achieve the strength and robustness required so I came up with sandwiching the ends of the loop between two small wafers of gash corrugated plasticard and then gluing this in place underneath the buffer beam. I should point out that I'm using the lower method of mounting these couplings. I have completed 8 wagons and have tested them with magnets placed under the tracks. Shown above are the trucks tested on a piece of track which is the same radius as the minimum found (offscene and about 3ft) on Wormdale and all were found to operate well although some further adjustment was made. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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