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The Waverley Route revisited!


bigwordsmith
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Don't know what's going on with RMWeb but I haven't had an update form any of the subjects I've been following for ages, and I know I haven't unsubscribed - I'll check my settings just in case it's me.

 

In the meantime, odd jobs around the railway have been suspended due to wiring - I hate wiring - but I've finally managed to get everything that is laid, running and responding to the correct switches, apart from a few dodgy point motors which are being steadily replaced.

 

As part of the electrical works I visited our local KEW Electrical Wholesalers and picked up some 5metre long LED strip kits at £ 33 each- They have transformed the room.

 

I've stuck them to the ceiling, which is an an angle being a loft, and they really throw a lot of light into the place. I've also daisy chained all the mains wiring for layout power, lighting, sound system etc. off a single mains point at the top of the stairs. This means I now have a single switch to throw that will turn everything on or off at the beginning/end of a session - much easier and safer.

 

Anyway  no real visual progress, but I've popped this pic up just to show how effective the new lighting is!

 

Heigh ho, now off to check my settings

 

post-10395-0-58418200-1454231470.jpg

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Don't know what's going on with RMWeb but I haven't had an update form any of the subjects I've been following for ages, and I know I haven't unsubscribed - I'll check my settings just in case it's me.

 

 

That happened to me a few weeks ago Peter, no email notifications coming to my inbox for nearly a week, although they were showing on the Content You Follow page.  It just righted itself in the end so put it down to a glitch on RMweb.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Compromised !!! AAARGH I've been Compromised!!!! ( to be spoken in a Kenneth Williams voice)

 

So with this quarter turning into the busiest one I've ever had, time in the loft has been a bit scarce. When i have gone up there the focus has been on identifying dodgy point motors ( I have many) and trying to work out which ones to replace/ rewire. It's when this kind of issue comes up and you realise the the switches are 20' away from the point you begin to wonder if a big layout is such a good idea.

 

Anyway  I've done some clearing out, including getting rid of al the excess timber, which has allowed me to start laying out the lines of the fiddle yard - otherwise known as the station approach to Waverley East. I also did a carriage audit and it comes to over 200 so have been disposing of a few excesses on Ebay  sad thought - I've sold 12 carriages and achieved an average of £ 6.00 each, and only because a DMU went for £ 44.00

 

I also went to a local Modellers fair and picked up a bunch of Bachmann Mk. 1s at two for a tenner and some Hornby Mk 1s similarly priced - they were in a strange 'Pullman' like livery but do sit rather well behind this unusual interloper...

 

post-10395-0-52298400-1456395022.jpg

 

It's a Dapol/Kernow special - very well weathered and of course wholly wrong for both the region and time period, but thank heavens for Footex's

 

I took this pic  after starting to lay out the station approach - I found I can get 10 storage loops in, six of which will hold 10 coaches plus loco and the others will take six bogie plus loco or a DMU, so will be good for storing locals.

 

post-10395-0-04041700-1456395329.jpg

 

I also realised that I don't have anything like enough points, so placed an order on TrackShack which arrived today - they are roughly £1 a point cheaper than Hattons, who are 20% cheaper than my local dealer who would only offer me a max of 10% discount - Sorry Brian, but I've spent over £ 1,000 on track on this project and surely you would have been better to make 10% on £1k rather than 30% on nothing? Especially when you consider the other items the have arrived here from Hattons, Rails et al.

 

As a marketer and businessman, I just don't understand why someone would turn down business that involves no real hassle just because they feel they shouldn't sink to the level od the online suppliers - who incidentally are cleaning up!

 

Anyway back to the trains... here's the Footex coming 'Up' from Waverley - hopefully the Plymouth Wanderers Fans felt it was worth the trip!

 

It does look quite good on the Viaduct though- I suspect the signalman who took this shot couldn't believe what was heading towards his box!

 

post-10395-0-07465400-1456395369.jpg

 

Another interloper that has snuck into Waverley Shed is this chap, copped under the coaling stage  - clearly someone decided it would be a good exercise for the cleaners as he's in remarkably clean condition!

 

post-10395-0-98318800-1456395474.jpg

 

Right - back to work!

Edited by bigwordsmith
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  • 4 weeks later...

SO having been deeply impressed with Mr. Duck's videography I decided to try out my new toy - a 2ndhand Canon EOS 550D - sadly it does;t autofocus in video mode so I have to do it manually, but it does show what a long goods train looks like wending it's way up the  1:110 to the summit of the line...

 

 

And finally just to bore the pants off you all, here she is breasting the summit... just  love the Hornby 8F it really crawls brilliantly with 14 bolsters astern!

 

Edited by bigwordsmith
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Quick update folks - I've been laying the fiddle yard tracks and taken a photographic record - as you can see long trains are the order of the day - this shot has a 10=car pullman and a 14-bolster goods train accommodated comfortably!

 

The downside is that in order to get the ladder in - about which more shortly... I've had to bring the throat into what was going to be the throat of Waverley Station 

 

post-10395-0-24654800-1458496189.jpg

 

This means that my plans for a faithful reproduction of the track layout heading into Calton Tunnel is going to take a nosedive as I won't be able to get all the tracks in  - TBH it was an ambitious idea in the first place so I am having a major rethink about this end of the railway altogether - It may end up as a nice through maInline station ( Galashiels or Hawick possibly) with a couple of extra platforms and a decent amount of goods space - same outcome as before in that I can run long trains and make it look realistic, but less complex track work and more chance of a realistic look.

 

Anyway this shows the other half of the yard - I have eight roads on one side of the room and six on the other giving me a total 10 loops that I can park trains in.

 

Of these, eight of the loops can hold a long train, the others are limited to five bogies + loco - or a long DMU

 

post-10395-0-45679600-1458496386.jpg

 

The throat between the two loops is quite complex - it lets me run the loops down down to the up and down main and either use the second set of loops or pass through depending on the operator's whim!

 

post-10395-0-91491000-1458496441.jpg

 

There are 16 individual points controlling this lot, and each loop is fully isolated. I'm hatching up a plan that allows me to hook up multiple point motors to fire together - it may not work - but the idea is by setting '1' it sets all the points and a relay to give power to loop '1' and so on. That could mean firing up to six motors simultaneously which Gaugemaster tell me their CDU will handle, but we shall see...

 

Alternatively Ill wire up the motors so that the points at each end will set together so just two get fired which it seems to be OK with

 

Finally while faffing around with video yesterday I also took a couple of shots of the 8F hauling 14 bolsters - clanking along at a scale 20mph it looks pretty realistic!

 

post-10395-0-58085800-1458496630.jpg

 

Heigh ho back to work!

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Aha - maybe I should use the iPhone not a flashy camera!

 

Tx Phil ) PS who is CCE?)

Graham of Grantham (Sheriff of Nottingham's henchman I'm told).

I like 8Fs, pity there won't be one through SOSJ (well not officially). 

Phil

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Thanks Scott - the room is 35' x 11' with a kink around 2/3 of the way down.

 

It was designed to be a bedroom and study - there is provision for an ensuite shower room at the far end of the railway, but there was never going to be much doubt about its true purpose! 

 

We went to Ontario a few years back- My wife's father was Canadian and we had a great tour starting in Toronto, going down to Niagara and the wine country, looping up to Chateau Montebello then over to Deerhurst before coming back to Toronto. I was writing an article about Visiting Ontario in the Fall for the Jaguar owner magazine and we had a truly amazing trip doing just about everything you can over there, even visiting a First Nations chief - mind blowing. It was shorts and sunshine at Niagara, followed by snow sports at Deerhurst 10 days later - four seasons in two weeks!

 

We have said for years we should have taken advantage of her father's citizenship and moved out there - with all the c**p of the EU going on we feel that now more than ever!

 

Thanks for your support, hope you continue to enjoy the thread

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Thanks for the info, 

 

I am originally from Leeds, been here since October of 1990. I right down the bottom of Ontario, we share the river with Detroit and their Skyline can bee seen from my home. The weather here is a funny old thing !! Beautiful country with wonderful people. 

 

 

Looking forward to seeing the development of the layout. I have a similar space to work with 25 x 14. not sure if it is too much space though, this will be my first layout and I don't want to get in over my head. 

 

 

Regards 
Scott 

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So after a long spell of writing  to earn some money this morning I popped up to the loft as SWMBO is off shed again and decided to rationalise my points.

 

Actually that's not strictly true - I found when sorting out the fiddle yard that the double tunnel mouth arrangement at Edinburgh won't lend itself to my board - at least not if I want to get (a) anything broadly realistic or (b) retain fiddle yard roads that can handle 10 coach trains.

 

So the decision was made to relocate the terminus, and a wee while was spent perusing track plans of Galashiels, Hawick and other Waverley Route stations to no good result. YEs they would all make good layouts, but none of them would give me the operational  capabilities I want.

 

So as ever the preferred method of finding out how to proceed came down to laying out track not he board  to see what will fit!

 

post-10395-0-69852900-1458753013.jpg

 

This is looking form the East (London) End and gives me 7 platforms that sort of replicate the Waverley feel, in that I have two through roads, four bays - each of which can handle a 10-bogie train - plus a bay that can handle six bogies, and a couple of roads for vans. 

 

The sidings closest to camera are loco stabling points - I've also got two sidings for this at the far end, so I can run expresses in and despatch the engines to/from Waverley Shed

 

After all all that I'm a grand total of two points short!

 

However, the rationalisation revealed that I have no fewer than 21 surplus points - all new and unopened, as well as three full packs of Code 75 yard lengths of track.

 

Fortunately the good folks at Hattons have agreed to credit this lot back to my account ( credit note against future purchases) but quite how I'm going to get through £560 worth of stuff when I'm already at 2x the number of coaches and 3x the number of locos I need, heaven only knows!

 

I know altho as I seem to be getting a liking for goods trains someone is going to suggest a Heljan Tango, but I don't think they ever got that far North- in fairness a tango is far more likely to have ever got up there than a Western, but rule 1 is inflexible!

 

 

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Found myself browsing through a back issue of BRM and found a feature on Grantham - same issue as Peterborough.

 

Anyway Graham made a comment in his piece about 'selective compression', I think it was and it got me thinking

 

I also thought that looking at the Waverley layout I'd put on the board it was, well, a bit too simple for such a massively complex station. I know that KISS is the motto, but I couldn't help but wonder if a bit of 'selective compression' might not be a good idea.

 

So half an hour of fiddling around produced...

 

This!

 

post-10395-0-73383700-1458911826.jpg

 

SWMBO has gone off in a huff to see her mother, because I can;t yet walk around the shops - from an ultrasound last week it looks like I may have a cyst in one of my gluteal muscles, hence my leg locking up, 3 years of sciatica and other assorted leg pains.

 

They are going to do a CT scan then hopefully can fix it.

 

Anyway I've not 'gone upstairs to play trains' as I was advised to do as she left to see her mother ( no it's not that bad today is the anniversary of his passing away last year, so Mother in Law is very down and none to the rest of her children ( 4) can be arsed to go and see her).

 

Instead I've put up a couple of wall lights, sorted out the dishwasher, tidied up the house, which she has;t been able to do since her shoulder op, and now I'm off to cut the grass!

 

At least the weather is good.

Edited by bigwordsmith
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Sympathies re ailment. Congrats of rejig of track. Excellent ploy to do 'tasks' not in the loft.

I was going to paint the allotment shed but sadly the paint SWMBO was given by someone is bright orange and so I didn't proceed. I was sent home.

ATB and take it easy.

Phil

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So what I should have done yesterday when I went up the loft before SWMBO came home and we became friends again, was to wire up the storage/fiddle loops, but instead I decided to have a go at laying out the throat and went to bed reasonably pleased. 

 

However having woken up at 05.00 I got myself back off to sleep thinking about parcels traffic and loco stabling and came back yup to the loft with breakfast and set about redesigning the throat. 

 

As a result of the redesign I now have only about 1/4 of all the points to go back I'd previously found , and indeed am one large radius RH turnout short, otherwise I'm pretty pleased with the outcome

 

I also joined up the rails on platform 4 just to see what a long train would look like and dragged the Queen of Scots into the platform to see.

 

THis shows the line you'll see as a train runs into that platform - which will be the main "through" down platform. I always think a line of carriages give a better feel for a curve than just the track

post-10395-0-51472100-1458983114.jpg

 

This one shows the whole 10bogies Plus loco arrangement - space to spare!

 

post-10395-0-30795700-1458983126.jpg

 

SO I now have 7 platforms, plus a short bay and a 2-road parcels depot, plus about 7 loco stabling points around the  station.

 

Cooking Sunday lunch tomorrow so probably last bulletin for a while!

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I spy at least three Flash Gordons under that layout/on that control desk. How come you have some black switches then Smiffy? Also how on earth do you get something to run through like that  over unwired Slips and stuff? Nice EE4 by the way. If you need a sound one......just ask!

Phil

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Hi Phil

The black switches are the single pole on/off/on type that H&M also made- I use them to power up sections

 

You can use the double tag arrangements to choise which controller feeds the section, or you can use it to switch power to two adjacent lines where you would only want one live at a time

 

The class 40 is an early Bachmann, dragged through by the hand from heaven!

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Thanks Ben, much appreciated

 

I started laying it out properly last night and avery pleased with the diamond - especially as it's on a curve!

 

I'm also changing the arrangement for the parcels shed - THis involved eliminating the last siding - to the right of the class 40, and replacing a double slip and a point with a 3-way point - it will tidy up once it is inner down, but looks a lot more practical.

 

Wiring it all up is going to be fun - I now have 46 point motors to be hooked up, and a similar number of sections, as I want to be able to leave a loco dead at one end of each platform so another can come in and pickup the stock to go off in the opposite direction!

Edited by bigwordsmith
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