Bakewell - Peak District Line BR - Layout Views

[Alister_G]

I used to be an EMT, but politics got too much for me.

I retired through ill health after 20 years, I'm glad I did now, hearing what they've done to the Ambulance Service since I left... Don't get me started on the NHS

[cbeagleowner]

Hey Al - on paterntiy leave so got a lottle more time this week.

 

Just thought I would give you that ist of books I promised...

 

Foxline #2 - Buxton - JM Bentley

Foxline #7 - The railways from Buxton - JM Bentley

Foxline 16a & b - Midland Route from Manchester vols 1 & 2 - EM Johnson

Foxline 32 - Railways of the high peak - Bentley and Fox (LNWR)

Foxline 39 - Heaton Mersey - Stokes

Foxline 44 - Rowsley - K Miles 

Foxline 50 a & b - Railway from Buxton (LNWR) Fox & Bentley (part 1 just fox)

British railways operating history - peak district - C Bentley

Midland Railway Soc. - Hassop

Rowsley association - Hassop 150 (both these 2 can be found at Hassop station bookshop)

North Midland and Peak District RAilways vol 1 & vol @ - Lowlander - AR Kaye (there is also a diesels one)

Bradford Barton's LM steam in the Peak district

BR past and present Notts and Derbyshire - Banks

BR past and present Derbyshire - Hillmer

Operation Midland - Xpress publishing

District controllers view - Peak District - Xpress publishing

Through Limestone Hill - Bill Hudson

MIdland through the peak - Radford

 

there are soome good colour shots in Ian Allan

Midland Lines in colour - Chris Gamill (which includes a shot of the Bakewell Up distant :-)

Midland Lines - Huntriss

 

Other stuff I've found interesting on the area are the 3 north midland

 books on Derby to Leeds by Bob Pinxton

The midland line in Sheffield by platform 5

Steam Memories - Sheffield

Rail Centres Sheffiled

Foxline railways in and around manchester suburbs.

 

Hope that helps - if you want any info, do ask!

[Alister_G]

Thanks cbeagleowner, I can see I need to buy a new bookcase!

 

Right then, on with the show.

 

Although far too polite to say directly, Robert (LNER4479) hinted about something which is obvious: In the view taken towards the station, the straight turnout and straight single-slip on the curve of the track stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

 

So with a bit of encouragement from Robert, and with a knife in my hand and my heart in my throat, I set about butchering modifying the point and slip. I tackled the turnout first, as it's a lot less expensive!

 

 

As you can see I have cut away the webbing between the sleepers in various places along the length of the turnout.

 

I then took hold of the turnout firmly at both ends, and gently bent it in the direction I wanted. I was really, really unsure about doing this, but in fact, without any fuss or drama, the turnout gradually took up the curve I wanted.

 

Here it is, a very gentle curve is all I required, so it's quite hard to distinguish without a straight edge alongside.

 

 

Feeling braver, I then tackled the single-slip. For some reason I failed to photograph the underneath, but, essentially, I did the same as before, and as is illustrated on Robert's thread here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58826-grantham-the-streamliner-years/page-7 in post 175, cutting away the webbing at the two ends of the slip, but not touching the centre area where the moving parts are. I then took hold of it at the ends, and gradually added a curve. As Robert says, with the slip, you feel it "give" and then move. Here is the end result:

 

 

Again, a very subtle curve, hard to see, but it makes a big difference.

 

So, having completed the modifications, I returned the two turnouts to their place on the layout.

 

Here is the completed result. (Again, not fixed down or anything, yet).

If you compare this image with the one at the start of this post I hope you can see a difference, and hopefully a change for the better!

 

 

More soon, Thanks for looking.

 

Al

 

(PS Thanks to LNER4479 for prompting me to do this)

Edited March 14, 2013 by acg_mr

[Rowsley17D]

Must admit Al,it does look more flowing. Have you tried pushing some stock through the altered turnouts - just in case?

[Alister_G]

Hi Jonathan, thanks.

 

Yes, I've trundled a wagon through without any mishaps, so I'm happy.

 

Incidentally, forgot to say, I've upgraded and added to the lighting in the cellar, and as you can probably see, it's a lot better.

[LNER4479]

Although far too polite to say directly, Robert (LNER4479) hinted about something which is obvious: In the view taken towards the station, the straight turnout and straight single-slip on the curve of the track stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

view-before.jpg

 

So with a bit of encouragement from Robert, and with a knife in my hand and my heart in my throat, I set about butchering modifying the point and slip.

 

Here is the completed result. (Again, not fixed down or anything, yet).

If you compare this image with the one at the start of this post I hope you can see a difference, and hopefully a change for the better!

 

view-after.jpg

 

More soon, Thanks for looking.

 

Al

 

(PS Thanks to LNER4479 for prompting me to do this)

Nice going Al - looks great

 

It'll make all the difference when you have your expresses running through at speed. So long as the curve introduced is only slight (which yours is) there should be no problems with running.

Edited March 14, 2013 by LNER4479

[cbeagleowner]

Great job Al. Really looks the part

[Alister_G]

Due to financial cutbacks, I've had to scale back the layout, so here's what's left:

 

 

No, only joking...

 

I've never done any ballasting, ever, so I thought I'd have a little bit of track to practice on.

 

I took a Peco SetTrack point, a double straight and some flexitrack offcuts, and laid them out as a single line and siding.

 

I've used a mixture of Woodland Scenics Medium ballast in Grey, and Light Grey for the "main" line, and a fine granite ballast (unknown make off Ebay) for the "siding" and the rest.

 

On the proper layout, I'm going to have cork underlay under the main running lines, and so to represent this I've used an offcut of cardboard on the practice piece.

 

I've used a method many people have on this forum, which is to glue the track down with PVA, and then sprinkle the ballast on whilst the PVA is still wet, the darker granite first, and then once that's dry, add more PVA and do the lighter stuff on top.

 

I painted the rails and sleepers with Artist's Watercolour "Burnt Umber" which is a very good approximation to rail and sleeper grime.

 

I had some photos of the process, but they're in my brother's camera, and I can't get to them at the moment, so here is the finished article:

 

 

Having done this, I thought it would be fun to use it to play with posing some diorama type images, so I chopped the top off a photo taken locally:

 

 

...and blew it up really large, and then printed it out on 3 sheets of A4 paper, to make a backscene.

 

I then assembled some stock, and experimented with various camera settings.

 

Here's an 8F on a coal train,

 

 

And here's the original shot before the photoshoppery

 

 

And now here's a Jubilee on an express, original first:

 

 

and after the tweakage:

 

 

All a bit of fun on a snowy weekend.

 

Back to the serious stuff soon.

 

EDIT:

 

Here's another shot of the 8F which shows the ballast and track colours better:

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2013 by acg_mr

[class"66"]

Coming along great i see!! nice photo"s...

[Alister_G]

Such a shame, an underseved and unfitting end to half a life's work. When I read the issue of Peak Express concerning the donation of this model I thought that it was going to the right place, I was, it seems, quite wrong, Was no attempt made to suitably relocate this well researched and carefully created period piece with someone who did have somewhere to put it?   

 

As I understand it, Peak Rail had every intention of exhibiting Stan's layout, but when it came to it, they just didn't have room to do it justice. They then tried to find a home for it, but could find no-one who could take it on. They kept it in storage for a number of years, as they moved from site to site, but eventually it had to go. It is, indeed, a great shame.

[Alister_G]

Ok, another non-layout post, I'm afraid, but I promise to show some progress soon.

 

I have an old Airfix 4F which has been heavily weathered. It is, obviously, DC, but I though I'd record how I converted it to DCC, for anybody who might want to do something similar.

 

Here's the victim loco:

 

 

And, after removing the tender body, and tender weight, here is the original wiring.

 

 

The pickups are all on the loco wheels, and the tender wheels are plastic and fitted with traction tyres(yuck!). However this does mean that it pulls like a train (pun intended).

 

First thing to do is desolder the wires from the pickups and the capacitor from the motor.

 

 

Then, with a multimeter, test that there is no short circuit between the motor and chassis, and the wheels and loco chassis, which might cause any issues.

 

 

If this is all ok, lets get a chip. Here's a Lenz Standard, (other makes are available). The chip comes with an 8-pin plug attached. We want to remove that, as we only want 4 wires.

 

 

The wiring is as follows:

 

Red Wire:  Power from Track

Black Wire:  Power from Track

 

Orange Wire: Motor contact

Grey Wire:  Motor contact

 

Other wires on the chip, not required.

 

An easy rhyme to remember it is: Red and Black, to the Track, Orange and Grey, the other Way.

 

Here's the chip with the wires cut and paired up:

 

 

So, now we solder the wires, orange and grey on to the motor contacts:

 

 

and the red and black to the wires from the wheel pickups.

 

I found that there is not room in the tender for the chip to sit either on top of the motor, or in front or behind it on top of the weight. There's a couple of options, you could cut down the weight at the back of the tender, or, as I did, cut away the weight at the side of the motor:

 

 

 

Tender top back on:

 

 

(yes, I know it's not seated properly, but trust me, it does.)

 

So, there we are, a 20+ year old model now ready to run on my DCC layout.

 

It's actually quite smooth, even at low speed, although noisy as hell

 

Thanks for reading.

[Alister_G]

As promised, a bit of a layout update.

 

I ought to call this post chicken-run, as the layout has been overrun by chicken-wire

 

I've started to add the basics of the scenery.

 

 

Here's my willing helper, getting stuck in (literally) with the papier-maché.

 

 

I know it's a very old fashioned way of doing scenery, but It's a darn site cheaper than most alternatives. I already had the chicken wire, and the newspaper, so all I had to buy was £2.00 worth of wallpaper paste, and I could probably have got away without that, but I wasn't convinced that "flour and water" would work.

 

Here's a view towards the station:

 

 

and here's a view from the station towards the goods shed.

 

 

The reason it's black and white, is that if you will, I'd like you to compare it with the shot here by David Ibbotson

 

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bakewell/index112.shtml

 

Now I'm biased, but I reckon that looks quite good. I hope you do too.

 

Thanks for looking

 

[Jinty2012]

This is looking great! Doing a really good job. Looks just like the prototype.

 

Looks a much more lenient household than mine.... I'd get hung for using the mixing bowl!

[Alister_G]

This is looking great! Doing a really good job. Looks just like the prototype.

 

Looks a much more lenient household than mine.... I'd get hung for using the mixing bowl!

 

Thank you! It's really great that you think it looks right, that's what I was hoping, but you get so wrapped up in it that it's nice to get a second opinion.

 

Ah, the mixing bowl, yes, the deal was I wash it very, very well...

[Andrew P]

Hi Nothing wrong with the OLD METHODS,

 

Andy

[Alister_G]

Hi Nothing wrong with the OLD METHODS,

 

Andy

 

Cheers Andy, as befits my advancing years...

 

We are, after all, modelling STEAM, you don't get much more of an old method.

[Alister_G]

However I wish you every success in your portrayal of Bakewell, I will be watching at this just as I did the earlier version all those years ago in the Railway Modeller.   

 

Thank you David, I hope I live up to your expectations.

[Leander]

As I understand it, Peak Rail had every intention of exhibiting Stan's layout, but when it came to it, they just didn't have room to do it justice. They then tried to find a home for it, but could find no-one who could take it on. They kept it in storage for a number of years, as they moved from site to site, but eventually it had to go. It is, indeed, a great shame.

 

Peak Rail, I understand have disposed of the late Stan Robert's layout, without the OO gauge stock.

 

However, it has been transported to a new location and my understanding is that the purchaser(s) intend to build a new version of Bakewell, to EM gauge, and are highly likely to utilise Mr Roberts's buildings on that new-build layout.

[Alister_G]

Peak Rail, I understand have disposed of the late Stan Robert's layout, without the OO gauge stock.

 

However, it has been transported to a new location and my understanding is that the purchaser(s) intend to build a new version of Bakewell, to EM gauge, and are highly likely to utilise Mr Roberts's buildings on that new-build layout.

 

If that's the case, then that's great news, thanks. The stock (in my view) is a lot easier to replace (and would probably be much improved), but the buildings that Stan took so much time and effort to produce were the heart and soul of the layout.

[cbeagleowner]

Great stuff Al - your little plank idea inspiried me to do one of my own...and I'm glad I'm not the only one using child labour :-)

[Alister_G]

Great stuff Al - your little plank idea inspiried me to do one of my own...and I'm glad I'm not the only one using child labour :-)

 

Thanks cbeagleowner, I'm glad you think it's a good idea. Yes, child labour, she's good at fixing Land Rovers as well!!

[Alister_G]

Another day, another hillside.

 

Today we finished off the other major lump of scenery on the layout, which helps to provide the scenic break at the left end.

 

I made some supports using offcuts of ply from the platform bases, and screwed them down to the baseboard:

 

 

and then added the chicken wire over the top, held in place temporarily with pan-head screws:

 

 

Here's the slave-labour willing helper trimming back the chicken wire under the other hillside:

 

 

And, just to prove I did do some work myself:

 

 

Finally, with the papering finished, here's a foretaste of what I think will be a great photo opportunity, once the landscaping is complete:

 

 

As you can see, there is no physical scenic break like the bridge at the other end, instead the line will simply disappear round the corner.

 

I'm as yet a little undecided about a backscene, whether to just have a grey/blue representation of the sky, or include some actual photographic detail.

 

Thanks for looking.

[LNER4479]

Another 'thumbs up' for the willing helper   The cutting as the mainlines round the curve definitely has a Peak District look about it already.

[coronach]

Your going to have a great layout and it is really good to see that you are using Robert's technique to get a proper track alignment through your points.

 

Regarding ballasting, my method is to fix the track down first (either using glue or track pins) and make sure that you are completely happy with the alignment before ballasting. 

 

Next, I paint the track using track colour, allow it to dry and then paint the rails and chairs rust colour.  It sounds labourious but it isn't once you get started.

 

When the paint is dry, clean the top of the rails with a track rubber (leaving rust on check rails etc), vaccuum up the bits and then apply ballast.

 

I use woodlands scenic 'fine' ballast (mixture of brown and grey) and sprinkle it on dry, using a brush and fingers to pack it under the rails and fill in any gaps.  When you are satisfield with the way it looks when dry, next spray the lot with a mix of water and washing-up liquid using a handhaeld plant sprayer - holding it far enough away so that the jet doesnt dislodge the ballast.  When everything is wet, use a dropper to apply a diluted mix of 70% water / washing-up liquid, 30% PVA to the whole area.  The WUL breaks down the surface tension and stops the ballast from floating away.

 

Allow the whole lot to dry.  If the track wasn't glued down before, it certainly will be now!!.

 

When completely dry, use a knife blade to scrape away any ballast stuck to sleeper tops, rail sides and flangeways.  Vaccuum again and apply extra ballast where any bits have come away. 

 

Ladt of all, apply white spirit and add more track colour, rust and grime as necessary to achieve consistency of colour over the whole area.  I find that a stripe of 'roof dirt' along the track centre line adds to the overall effect.

 

It might seem like a lot of work but it is worth it because ballast is such a significant feature. 

 

My layout is Whinburgh and Slitrigg if you want to see my result.

 

Good luck

 

Coronach

Due to financial cutbacks, I've had to scale back the layout, so here's what's left:

 

baseboard.jpg

 

No, only joking...

 

I've never done any ballasting, ever, so I thought I'd have a little bit of track to practice on.

 

I took a Peco SetTrack point, a double straight and some flexitrack offcuts, and laid them out as a single line and siding.

 

I've used a mixture of Woodland Scenics Medium ballast in Grey, and Light Grey for the "main" line, and a fine granite ballast (unknown make off Ebay) for the "siding" and the rest.

 

On the proper layout, I'm going to have cork underlay under the main running lines, and so to represent this I've used an offcut of cardboard on the practice piece.

 

I've used a method many people have on this forum, which is to glue the track down with PVA, and then sprinkle the ballast on whilst the PVA is still wet, the darker granite first, and then once that's dry, add more PVA and do the lighter stuff on top.

 

I painted the rails and sleepers with Artist's Watercolour "Burnt Umber" which is a very good approximation to rail and sleeper grime.

 

I had some photos of the process, but they're in my brother's camera, and I can't get to them at the moment, so here is the finished article:

 

ballasted.jpg

 

Having done this, I thought it would be fun to use it to play with posing some diorama type images, so I chopped the top off a photo taken locally:

 

backdrop-sm.jpg

 

...and blew it up really large, and then printed it out on 3 sheets of A4 paper, to make a backscene.

 

I then assembled some stock, and experimented with various camera settings.

 

Here's an 8F on a coal train,

 

trackside-2.jpg

 

And here's the original shot before the photoshoppery

 

8f-orig.jpg

 

And now here's a Jubilee on an express, original first:

 

jubilee-orig.jpg

 

and after the tweakage:

 

trackside-1.jpg

 

All a bit of fun on a snowy weekend.

 

Back to the serious stuff soon.

 

EDIT:

 

Here's another shot of the 8F which shows the ballast and track colours better:

 

trackwork.jpg

[Alister_G]

Hi Coronach, thanks so much for your advice. I've just glanced through your thread and I'm going to take some time to go through it properly, but you trackwork and ballasting looks great, certainly something I would hope to come close to eventually. I need to start thinking about fixing track down now that I have the basic scenery in place. Next job is probably to lay the cork.