Somewhere very small in Devon

[David41283]

Third time lucky....

 

Since coming back into modelling 18 months ago, I am already on my third attempt at a layout.

 

#1 was Falstow - a folding layout, which I started very quickly and soon wanted to start again as my knowledge and skills developed. However this proved a great learning experience!

 

#2 was Falstow Quay - far, far, far too ambitions. Three baseboards, 14' long. Completely filled the spare room making it impossible to leave up, but again new skills were developed and lessons learnt.

 

so now for #3. (hopefully the one which 'sticks'!)

 

Rules for this layout.

 

1. This must be small, one baseboard, and portable, but at the same time be realistic and have enough room for scenics and a decent back-scene.

2. Having got far too carried away in the last 18 months, I have spent far too much to ditch everything and start again. This new layout must re-cycle as much as possible and use up as many of the un-built kits and spares I've already accumulated.

3. Having built and operated two layouts, this must work 100% of the time!! Ideally I want hands-free operation, not constantly uncoupling or push locos over mis-firing points.

4. I am keen to try DCC and kadee couplings - a small layout would be an ideal opportunity to try this out.

 

So having considered all of this, I went to my local cabinet makers and ordered 9mm ply to build a single box baseboard to the design in the August 2012 RM. The article can be read online for free here: http://www.exacteditions.com/read/railwaymodeller/august-2012-32571/87/3?dps=

 

I altered the dimensions to build a single board 170cm x 45cm (approx 5'7" x 18" in old money). The only changes to the design were that I used exclusively 9mm ply, and used further strips of 9mm ply instead of the stripwood for the bracing. 

 

[David41283]

So here is the track plan, by accident I've sort of built a double-back-to-back-inglenook. The blue shaded area is the fiddle yard. I think this is interesting enough in such a small space. It can just about handle two coach trains, but the plan is to use a single brake-compo with a couple of vans for most trains. With two lines disappearing under the bridge I can pretend the run-round loop is further up the line!

 

 

Wherever possible I have tried to avoid tracks parallel to the baseboards by setting the main two lines diagonally into the station, and further tried to brake up the box by setting the bridge at a slight angle in the opposite direction. 

 

The plan is loosely in the Devon area, it will hopefully have a distinct ex LSWR feel with concrete platform edging, a Tavistock stone station and a dilapidated concrete provender store in the remains of the goods yard.

 

My stock is all steam/diesel transition era, but I hope that I could also use this layout as early 80's blue diesels to a run down Devon goods yard when I get bored. 

[David41283]

Sorry for the flurry of posts - I've had these in my head for 2 months now....

 

After a great debate over on the DCC pages, I opted for NCE Powercab as my control system. I recycled all of the points (now on their third layout and subject to much abuse) and all of the point motors (2nd layout). Droppers were soldered to each length of track - easier in such as small layout as each siding is only ever one piece of flex-track!

 

Here is the underneath (I always find these behind the scenes pictures really helpful, so I hope these are some use to someone.)

 

 

This shows the whole layout, including the built-in light in the pelmet. The white box is a Lenz LS150 accessory decoder which changes the points via the blue and yellow wires along the bottom of the board. The green circuit-board is a Hex Frog Juicer which automatically changes the frog-polarity. I found that (probably due to my recycled points) I just couldn't get the SEEP micro-switches to work 100%. With only 5 points on the layout I only need 1 accessory decoder and 1 frog juicer.

The DCC bus is mains standard solid copper wire which I had left over from a domestic re-wiring job.

 

 

Close up of the frog juicer and bus.

 

So far this has given faultless slow running. I have always tested track with my Bachmann 03, with it's short wheelbase and small wheels it is sure to find any faults!

 

David 

 

[Andrew P]

Hi Plymouth Modeller, as a Plymouth man (now living in deepest Derbyshire) I cant fault the plan. Having all the track on one board is a bonus and as for DCC and Kadee I can strongly recommend both, but with the Kadee I would suggest you go for the large square ones that sit under the sleepers and are hidden by the ballast as the ones I have used so far have been the ones between the rails and are unsightly.

 

All the best with it this time around.

 

Andy

[David41283]

So here are a couple of shots from a few weeks ago, much more scenic work has since been completed. I will post a further update soon.

 

So far this is achieving my goals set out in the first post. The Kadees and DCC are genuinely giving hands-free operation and the layout is interesting to play with yet it is only 5'7" x 18" which means it can be left out and/or moved with no fuss.

 

Overview of the whole layout.

 

The station looking towards the scenic break. The bridge has since been finished and painted and rolling Devon countryside has filled the brown spaces! At this stage the track had simply been sprayed a rusty/dirty brown and the first stage of ballasting had been completed. This has now been thoroughly drybrushed and rapidly over-grown with foliage!

 

The small kick-back goods yard, this will have a loading dock and a provender store soon.

 

I will post a much more photogenic update showing recent progress in the next few days.

 

David

 

 

[David41283]

Southern Region Buffers

 

Now using DCC I am keen to experiment with some lighting.

 

On the SEMG website the following notes on ex SR buffers are available

 

 

There is a photo of something similar at Bude on the same website here http://www.semgonline.com/location/bude_05.html

 

So I thought I'd have a go - here is a very poor (Blackberry, poor light) photo of my effort.

 

 

1. I soldered a Maplins standard 3mm red LED to a 470R resistor.

2. Using a standard home or office hole-punch I cut a circle of scrap plasticard. I then made this into a "polo mint" to fit around the LED with a needle file, which was fixed with impact adhesive.

3. The LED and 'target' assembly was then glued to a matchstick and the tails run down either side and then bent out at right angles at the bottom for soldering to the track to supply the current to light the LED.

4. This post/lamp/target assembly was then stuck to the back of a Gaugemaster buffer.

 

I will post a better picture of the completed assembly in place, weathered and lit-up shortly. 

 

[mudmagnet]

Good looking layout. I thought that your plan looked a little cramped, but much better on the boards!

[David41283]

Photo update..... still lots to do, but I am really pleased with how this is progressing in such a small space. Buildings have been 'plonked' on for photos, but I'm still not sure as to their final positions for now. Some tools have crept into the edges of photos, and there are some patches of still-wet white glue, but you get the idea......

 

General overview of the whole layout. Scenery has been built up using expanded polystyrene insulation tiles covered in modroc, the scattered using a combination of a puffer bottle and my own home-made Maplins fly-swat static grass machine, both of which are really good! The bridge is scratchbuilt using a frame of wood off-cuts and foamboard, with Wills varigirders and Coarse Stone sheets.

Looking from the headshunt towards the fiddle yard, the screwdriver is holding up a tree while the glue dries! The ratio SR rail signal doesn't work, but I plan to replace it with a Dapol motorised starter for both the main platform and the bay when one is available. Part of the 'shunting challenge' of the layout is to be that the headshunt won't be signalled for departing trains, so all trains will need to be made up in the platform or bay in order to leave.

Goods yard area. Not sure about the placement of the provender store at the moment.

Grounded van body - an ancient Triang wagon, I picked up for small change with a plan to do something with! Simply had the doors cut off and re-fixed open. The supporting planks are simply matches and the extra roof vents were left over from the provender store kit.

Sticking to my principle of using what I'd already bought, this station uses two Peco and two wills kits, plus a few spares for embellishments. It needs glazing and posters/signs adding, but it looks the part of LSWR Devon to me. Still debating whether to fit a canopy or not.

My southern region locos are in bits awaiting DCC chips, and my western region coaches are in bits being re-painted, so this hybrid rake will have to do for now!

 

Thanks so much for the positive comments and the 'likes'

 

David

[Hesperus]

It's looking great, everything is blended together so well with a level of tidyness I'd love to be able to do.  The Triang wagon body looks very good despite it's age but shouldn't it's doors open outwards?

[hoover50008]

Keeping an eye on this one, it's progressing well.

 

E

[David Siddall]

 

My southern region locos are in bits awaiting DCC chips, and my western region coaches are in bits being re-painted, so this hybrid rake will have to do for now!

Plenty of evidence for GWR locos hauling Maunsell stock in north Cornwall – Wadebridge for example :-)

 

Nice balance between railway and scenic content – and all in 6' too – what an attractive and convincing little layout!

 

David

[David41283]

Thanks for all the comments and likes again.

 

Re the grounded van body - I probably should have thought it through a bit better, but my two main modelling handicaps - impatience and over-enthusiasm yet again caught me out!

 

I have now fixed the main buildings in situ, and added some goods yard junk.

[David41283]

 

Big news! We have a name! 

 

Bere Newton sounds ambiguously west country to me. Google seems to imply there is no such place. Around here we've got, Bere Alston and Bere Ferrers plus Netwon Ferrers and Newton Abbot and several other variations!

 

Sticking to my recycling theme, the name board is made from a Cooper Craft station name board kit (luckily I had enough vowels left!), the uprights are matchsticks and the details on the top were chopped off an old pair of Peco level crossing gates from the spares tin! I have tried my best to make it look like old Exmouth Junction concrete using textured paint and plenty of washes and dry-brushing.

 

The close-ups are extremely cruel - it looks much more square to the naked eye!!

 

David 

[David41283]

Again my enthusiasm and impatience got the better of me so I spent a fair while modifying this Wills kit, only simple changes - door open, window lowered etc, and added a chair and table and levers inside.

 

However there is nowhere on the very small layout it looks right. I considered various location, none of which were satisfactory, so the solution is pictured below:

The signal box has been consigned to the spares bin, and hand-levers added for the sidings. Point rodding for the one visible point now runs off under the bridge, to imply that the signal box is slightly further up the line. The point rodding and levers all need painting - hopefully tomorrow evening's job.

[David41283]

Anyway I've been playing with the fancy photo effects on my mac, so here is a trip back to approximately 1959ish....

 

Bere Newton is at the end of an ex-LSWR branch somewhere in Devon, the track is becoming overgrown, services are drying up and it is soon going to be top of Mr Beeching's hit list.

 

From the field opposite the railway, the station appears deserted, the lone member of staff's bike and the trolley of parcels are the only clue that anything is likely to happen soon. The ex-LSWR station is now used less and less, and in 10 years time will be a thriving B&B.

 

Moving across the field, towards the road bridge (which is just as deserted as the stations) we are in time to see WR 1444 arrive with a couple of milk tanks, once these have been shunted into the bay, the loco clanks under the bridge into the goods yard.

 

A few wagons still get brought down the branch each day, and the loco begins making up a short goods train, with the now empty vans.

 

A new shiny diesel breaks the silence of the sleepy Devon Countryside.

 

As we leave, we are able to get a last shot of the ex-GWR tank as it waits to leave the goods yard.

 

Anyway (back to reality) there are still loads of rough edges, and loads to do, but a project this small is immensely satisfying as you can make a big difference so quickly!

 

David

 

 

[sammyboy]

I like this, it has some real atmosphere of a small, rundown BLT in a even smaller space!

[cromptonnut]

Just a small correction, there is no such place as "Newton Abbott", it's "Noot Nabbat".

[RailWest]

What a difference some scenery and a few buildings make to the overall character!

 

A shame tho' to 'lose' the signal-box after making such a nice model. Could you perhaps not squeeze it in next to the middle bridge pier, tho' admittedly the visibility for the signalman up the line would then be pretty non-existant. Would not a small L&SWR example such as Ashbury or Dunsland Cross on the platform near the station building be worthwhile?

 

If you are going to replace the signal anyway, then I would suggest that the starter for the main line needs to be further back up the ramp. In its current location, any trains stood in the platform road at the signal would foul the connection into the yard.

[David41283]

What a difference some scenery and a few buildings make to the overall character!

 

A shame tho' to 'lose' the signal-box after making such a nice model. Could you perhaps not squeeze it in next to the middle bridge pier, tho' admittedly the visibility for the signalman up the line would then be pretty non-existant. Would not a small L&SWR example such as Ashbury or Dunsland Cross on the platform near the station building be worthwhile?

 

If you are going to replace the signal anyway, then I would suggest that the starter for the main line needs to be further back up the ramp. In its current location, any trains stood in the platform road at the signal would foul the connection into the yard.

Thanks Chris, my intention was to put the signal box in front of the middle pier, it fitted, but just looked too tight. I then considered embedding it into the platform ramp, but really the door was now on the wrong end to look right! if I had measured first, or even thought about the construction more I may have been able to fit it in - a perfect example of my impatience and over-enthusiasm!

[john flann]

Chris, as you say what a difference well done scenery makes.

 

But a question it appears to me the fiddle yard is boxed in, is that so, do you not have need to get at it or alt least see what's there?

[David41283]

Chris, as you say what a difference well done scenery makes.

 

But a question it appears to me the fiddle yard is boxed in, is that so, do you not have need to get at it or alt least see what's there?

 

Hi John,

 

As mentioned above, I got the wood cut to size by a local cabinet supply shop. I used the RM article design and parts list, and simply amended the dimension to my needs. This was a brilliant service, every part cut accurately to within 0.5mm of my list for a total price far cheaper than a single large sheet of inferior quality ply from a large DIY store.

 

I did make on alteration after getting the parts home - I cut a large window in the back of the fiddle yard area - I have designed this to be operated from the front or the back. It currently sits with it's back to the wall on a range of old cupboard units, and reaching over the top of the backscene isn't proving a problem, but as the photo below shows there is a large window to operate the layout from the back.

 

[David41283]

No real layout update (unless you count the 'planting' of a couple of trees!). I have got side tracked with weathering and kaydeeing (i may have just invented a word there) stock for the layout. Even the point rodding and levels have remained unpainted!

 

However I now have some more trains to play with, which has been great, for me and the kids this weekend.

 

The 4mt tank was a cheap, damaged e-bay purchase. The eagle eyed will note the many missing detail parts! I am really pleased with the weathering - just drybrushed acrylics. This was an absolute pig to fit kadees to - the front NEM is far too low, and the rear far too high. Much surgery was required to both NEM pockets to get the couplers to the right height. The Maunsell coach was damaged by my youngest having a sneaky go at playing trains - the subsequent reduction in it's monetary value made weathering the model somewhat less of a risk! It has had a simple dirty wash all over (using a Games Workshop flesh wash) and a drybrush of frame dirt below the sole bar and roof dirt at the top.

This luggage van has had the same treatment. Again I had to remove the NEM pocket to get the Kadees to the right height.

Dance hall brake van built recently - awaiting finishing.

Suitably grubby 22 on the morning vans. In hindsight I may remove some of the oil streaks, as I think I over-did them a bit on this side. They look a bit too 'painted-on' here.

Lima CCT - kaydee'd and weathered.

Lima Siphon on Bachmann bogies - a secondhand salvage job!

Vans arriving in the morning. This side of the 22 is much better!

 

Cheers

 

David

 

[David41283]

Just a couple of attempts at a realistic photo (I really must go to bed!)

 

A 4mt tank provides superpower for the short, lightly loaded branch train today

 

The morning mail and papers arrive from Exeter behind a spluttering NBL type II, which clearly, no-one has taken much care of recently.

[john flann]

One of the joys David of using Kadees are the different heights of placing the NEM boxes on stock from different makers.

 

Why there is no common standard in the UK as there is in the USA beats me.

 

Because of it I endeavour to standardize on Bachmann. But even there are annoying differences.

[David41283]

Just had a bit of a name change! I regretted 'Plymouthmodeller' - I felt it sounded a bit pretentious - like I thought I was the top modeler in Plymouth - I'm far from it!

 

Planning to add some livestock and more foliage this weekend!