Brewery Pit

[Grasslands]

Hi Everybody

 

After many years I have decided to start posting about progress on my layout ‘Brewery Pit’.

 

Some of the information will be copy and paste from my blog, but I will keep this topic updated too.

 

 

Brewery Pit is a OO Gauge micro layout (approx 4.5 x 2 ft) representing a brewery complex and warehouses. The layouts primary time period is 1947-1951ish which allows me to run a few locos from pre-nationalisation and also gives me the chance to represent some early experiments in BR liveries.

 

Brewery Pit was designed for shunting and small wheel-base engines.

 

 

An early decision was the switch to digital control (DCC), which reduced the faff of wiring up the railway in the early days of development.

 

Work on Brewery Pit started in January 2008 and the layout is now reaching the final stages of completion.

 

Work to be completed includes setting up my elevated water channel; finishing my water towers; adding some weathering; and maybe a signal box (and signals).

 

 

Hope you like it

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[APOLLO]

I like the stationary boiler. Is it scratchbuilt or a kit ?

 

Brit15

[Grasslands]

Hello Apollo

 

It is a white metal kit, I believe it is a Gem one.

 

There are a few pipes to add to it yet (and the front of it too).

 

It is set up to power the keg washing plant.

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[Black8]

love the stock, any chance of a track plan?

 

nice choice of era to, not my personal preference but always interesting

[Grasslands]

Hi Black 8

 

You would not want to see my attempt at drawing a track plan, so here is the next best thing:

 

 

Notice the incredibly restricted space at the goods warehouse entrance (bottom left). As I do not have a fiddle yard, shunting operations can be quite interesting. I have a great time trying to marshal wagons down that track to be collected by a second loco.

[southern42]

I like the stationary boiler. Is it scratchbuilt or a kit ?

 

Brit15

Hello Apollo

 

It is a white metal kit, I believe it is a Gem one.

 

There are a few pipes to add to it yet (and the front of it too).

 

It is set up to power the keg washing plant.

 

Cheers

 

Tom

 

Hi Tom.

 

I'm interested in your boiler, too.

 

There's an excellent view of a boiler house.on the GWR Southall Shed on a double page spread photo in "An illustrated history of Great Western Railway Engine Sheds London Division" by Chris Hawkins and George Reeve, 1987. The front end of the "locomotive-type boiler" pokes out from the (wooden?) lean-to and the chimney, looking very like yours, stands tall over the shed.

 

I'd be very interested to see your boiler finished. It is really interesting to see the unusual but something you'd like to model yourself makes it all the more exciting. One day, I hope to see this boilerhouse on Great West Road but for the moment I'm still working on the track plan.

 

On your lovely layout: I like your interpretation and atmosphere of your brewery (like the smoke, too It is so different to the 3rd millennium converted brewery buildings and warehouse at the Old Sidings on Avago. The google earth view is a brilliant idea - it shows so much more than just a track plan. Thanks for putting it on Layout Topics.

 

Polly

[Black8]

Thanks for that grasslands, i think on smaller layouts an 'aerial' view can be a lot better than a track plan for getting an idea of what the layout is like as a whole. I'm rather impressed at how much track you have fit in such a small space without everything looking cluttered.

 

black8

 

Edit - also like the use of more Autumn colours on the trees as opposed to the usual summer shades most people go for

[Kenton]

Hope you like it

 

I do, though I am not a fan of photoshopped smoke.

 

and I'm seriously worried how you are going to get that car out of its predicament.

 

Good use of depth in what is a small area.

[Grasslands]

Hi everybody, glad you like my layout.

 

I will post some more pictures of the boiler tomorrow.

 

Kenton - indeed he is going to have some trouble getting his car out of that position (almost as much trouble as getting two lanes of traffic down the road on the retaining wall)

 

Today I have been working on my fiddle yard.

 

I have wanted to construct a fiddle yard for some time. The main constraining factor has been space, as I live in a one bedroom flat. I had previously concluded that building fiddle yards either side of the layout was just impractical in the flat. Plus I had no clue how to fix them onto the layout; wishing I would have constructed them with the base board at the beginning.

 

While at a recent model show in Lichfield, I noticed that one of the layouts had strapped their fiddle yard to the under frame of the model, this seemed the solution to fixing them onto Brewery Pit; making the layout support the weight of the fiddle yard.

 

I then had the revelation that, if designed properly, the fiddle yards could slide up against the main frame when not in use.

 

So today I have constructed the outside frames for the fiddle yards. The outside frames have holes drilled through at regular intervals allowing large SQ bolts to slip through both the fiddle yard and layout frames. These are then fixed with wing nuts and washers. Two or three bolts per side give strong support to the frame.

 

The original plan was for the holes to line up in any position, but this has not quite worked (due to my cack handed drilling), but I think I can sort them out tomorrow, by either widening the holes in the layout frames or setting fixed positions for the fiddle yard.

 

The pictures below show the left fiddle yard open and closed.

 

 

 

 

Edit: removal of word repetition

 

Tom

[Grasslands]

I'm rather impressed at how much track you have fit in such a small space without everything looking cluttered.

 

Thanks Black 8.

 

The main reason is the sharp curves, which are okay if you are using short wheelbase engines. I can tell you that many larger locos derail on the run up to that point in the bottom left corner. To be honest I do not find that too irritating as it confirms that, in reality this would have to be a railway for little engines.

 

It also helps that much of the required 'run around' space for the points is designed to be off scene. I often need two engines to shunt on scene; one wagon at a time.

 

Tom

[Grasslands]

I like the stationary boiler. Is it scratchbuilt or a kit ?

 

I'm interested in your boiler, too.

 

As promised here are some more shots of the static boiler...

 

The idea for an unsheltered boiler was from Brewery Railways of Burton on Trent by Cliff Shepherd. In Shepherd's book are pictures of two Lancashire-type boilers (which are much larger than this one); both appear to be powering the keg washing facility.

 

I have added a small sliver of plasticard underneath the firebox (as it was not quite level).

 

 

 

 

Tom

[Grasslands]

I have just been undertaking some tests with the aluminium angle (which is going to be use for the fiddle yard):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb1x4iOnobM

[Grasslands]

This thread has been a bit dead for a while, mainly due to the need to move to a bigger home. This is all sorted now. I have left Newbury and moved to Swindon where i have space galore.

I am keen to finish Brewery Pit before moving onto my next project, so I am aiming to exhibit the layout at the Newbury Model Railway show in Feb 2015. So i have about 13 months to get the layout exhibition-worthy.

I think the things i need to do to it to make it ready as an exhibit are:

To make some legs for the layout to stand on
Create a lighting rig
Install point motors
Finish the fiddle yard

During the move I took an unfortunate back step by destroying the housing estate. It took a long drop from the top of a wardrobe, so I will have to rebuild this too.

Any pointers for someone new to exhibiting? Any other modifications I need to consider?

[Grasslands]

Here are some horrific images from the destruction of the housing estate (some viewers may find these images disturbing )

 

 

[AndyJH]

A great looking layout, certainly one i will need to follow.  Sorry to hear about the housing estate. 

[Grasslands]

A great looking layout, certainly one i will need to follow.  Sorry to hear about the housing estate. 

 

Thanks Andy. It is a bit of a shame, but I was considering replacing the Linka cast houses anyway, as I wasn't too happy with them.

[Raymond46]

Excellent layout. I wonder where you got all the barrels from?

 

Ray

[Gordon A]

I suggest that you need some where to put the coffee mugs, odd screw driver, hand held controller(s).

An A4 notice giving the assumed history of the brewery and railway, in large font, and an aerial shot describing what the buildings are / do.

 

Gordon A

Bristol 

[simonmcp]

Re exhibiting:- take a suitable height stool or seat. A piece of carpet to stand on (exhibition floors are hard the feet). Have a small plastic lidded box for all the nuts bolts and a spanner of preferably a cordless screwdriver. A spare point motor, a long extension lead with multiple sockets, mugs for tea. Also have a checklist of all the things you need to take including stock and controller etc.

 

Nice layout and good luck with exhibiting.

 

Simon

[Matthew Snowden]

Hi Everybody

 

After many years I have decided to start posting about progress on my layout ‘Brewery Pit’.

 

Some of the information will be copy and paste from my blog, but I will keep this topic updated too.

 

 

Brewery Pit is a OO Gauge micro layout (approx 4.5 x 2 ft) representing a brewery complex and warehouses. The layouts primary time period is 1947-1951ish which allows me to run a few locos from pre-nationalisation and also gives me the chance to represent some early experiments in BR liveries.

 

Brewery Pit was designed for shunting and small wheel-base engines.

 

 

An early decision was the switch to digital control (DCC), which reduced the faff of wiring up the railway in the early days of development.

 

Work on Brewery Pit started in January 2008 and the layout is now reaching the final stages of completion.

 

Work to be completed includes setting up my elevated water channel; finishing my water towers; adding some weathering; and maybe a signal box (and signals).

 

IMG_4889 (lowles).JPG

 

Hope you like it

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[Matthew Snowden]

This is a truly a beauty of a layout!!! Right up my street too! I love lil locos n tiny layouts!! Wel dun sir

[Grasslands]

Excellent layout. I wonder where you got all the barrels from?

 

Ray

 

Hi Ray

 

Thanks for the kind words

 

Many of the barrels are made by Base Toys (they come in x4 strips of four barrels) and EFE (they come in x3 strips of five barrels). The EFE ones generally look better, but Base Toys do two different sizes.

[Grasslands]

I suggest that you need some where to put the coffee mugs, odd screw driver, hand held controller(s).

An A4 notice giving the assumed history of the brewery and railway, in large font, and an aerial shot describing what the buildings are / do.

 

Gordon A

Bristol 

 

Re exhibiting:- take a suitable height stool or seat. A piece of carpet to stand on (exhibition floors are hard the feet). Have a small plastic lidded box for all the nuts bolts and a spanner of preferably a cordless screwdriver. A spare point motor, a long extension lead with multiple sockets, mugs for tea. Also have a checklist of all the things you need to take including stock and controller etc.

 

Nice layout and good luck with exhibiting.

 

Simon

 

Thanks for the advice Gordon and Simon. I like the idea of a fictional history and some info about the buildings. I never considered taking some carpet, do you think the wife will mind me cutting a 1m square out of the lounge ?

 

The layout looks quite different right now, as I am doing some re-design work. I will post up some pictures tonight.

[Gordon A]

Have you considered lighting?

 

If the layout is to exhibited high enough you could go with a pelmet acroos the top front, behind which are the lights.

However if using 3 links and or will be exhibeted at a lower level then alternative method of lighting needs to be considered.

Very few exhibition venues are well lit so I would say your own lighting is a must.

 

Looking forward to seeing the layout on the circuit.

 

Gordon A

Bristol

[Grasslands]

As promised here are some more shots of the static boiler...

 

The idea for an unsheltered boiler was from Brewery Railways of Burton on Trent by Cliff Shepherd. In Shepherd's book are pictures of two Lancashire-type boilers (which are much larger than this one); both appear to be powering the keg washing facility.

 

I have added a small sliver of plasticard underneath the firebox (as it was not quite level).

 

IMG_7151 (lowres).jpg

 

IMG_7149 (lowres).jpg

 

IMG_7148 (lowres).jpg

 

Tom

 

I thought I'd give a special shout out to the guy that visited Burton Model Railex this weekend to see Brewery Pit and has been waiting for an update on my progress with the static boiler since 2012 (only to find it in exactly the same state as in the picture above).

 

Sorry my friend, I'll try to remember to keep this feed updated. Brewery Pit is looking quite different these days...