Theobald's Yard - 7mm 16.5/32mm guage layout of the ODMRS

[Greengiant]

This layout thread was first started on the old RMWEB, things have moved on a bit so it's about time it was updated.

Theobald's Yard is mainly narrow gauge with a standard gauge through line, some of which combines to become dual gauge. 
This is a layout of the Orpington and District Model Railway Club (ODMRC). 

All track is handbuilt, the cobbled area using copperclad built track buried in DAS modelling clay. 
There are over 50 copperclad points. 
The standard gauge, dual gauge and front narrow gauge is all hand spiked on wooden sleepers. 
Nearly all the buildings are scratch built. The rolling stock is kit built or kit bashed. 
The total scenic frontage of the layout was 23 feet in length, the plan below shows the three main scenic boards but not the turntable fiddle yards at each end. 
The layout was also designed to attach to the clubs 'Tewkesbury' standard gauge layout if need be, giving a total length of nearly 70 feet. 
I have uploaded rather a lot of photos, but they show the layout from the beginning of the build up to it's current state. 


 

In the beginning, there was track and more track . . . . . 

 

 

 

 

 

The moment of the last and 'Golden Spike', ok, it was brass, but looked like gold. 

 

The fiddle yard turntables during construction. 

 

 

Mocking up of the buildings has started. 

 

 

 

 

This is the method of point control for the back section of the layout. 

 

To be continued . . . . . .

greengiant .   Posts: 95 Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:34 pm Location: Swanley

 

[Greengiant]

Let the buildings commence . . . . 

You may well have noticed that the buildings are very different from the first mock ups. In fact, we spent a good few months with sheets of foam board and rolls of tape until we got it about right. 

 

You can just make out the canal basin in front of the MDF building. The dual gauge crosses the canal at the front and the narrow gauge crosses at the back across a brass bridge. Although you cannot see it, there is a narrow gauge line crossing inside the factory at the back as well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is how the layout used to look. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We still have a lot to do, with loads of industrial piping and clutter to be added. 

The layout needs, ideally, 7 operators to exhibit properly. 

So, if you are in the Orpington and district area and fancy helping with the layout, come and join us.

greengiant .   Posts: 95 Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:34 pm Location: Swanley

[Greengiant]

It wasn't long before thoughts of converting to a continuous run layout to open up operational possibilities were discussed.

The result is this:

 

 

To this end a new rear fiddle yard, which z-folds up into one compact unit was built.



This is a tank I made for the maintenance depot area using a Duncan Models leg support kit and a tank from an airfix kit which awaits corrugated roofing and pipe work. The wire at the bottoms of the legs are to locate into holes in the baseboard.



This shot shows the standard and narrow gauge side by side.

 

The cover for one of the fiddle yards needed some disguising, not enough time for a fully detailed bit of modelling, so an interim cover was made.



I was asked for a previous club exhibition to demo making card buildings, thought of the usual Metcalfe type kits, then discovered Scalescenes, what a gem they are. I downloaded a couple of 4mm kits and made them up over the course of the weekend. One of them I enlarged to 7mm and it came out very well.
On the site they do scratch builder files of brick wall, windows, lintels etc and even in 7mm. This would be ideal for the fiddle yard cover.
I downloaded the 7mm files and was disappointed to find the brick wall sheet was only A4 size, this would mean lots of joins for the area to be covered.
An email was sent to the owner of Scalescenes to see if he could supply and A3 version, within five minutes and A3 one was emailed back, great service.

They even come with handy templates as cutting guides for windows, these were lightly tacked in place with Sparaymount onto grey board.



Then cut out with a scalpel and the waste peeled off.



The printed brick sheet, printed on Epson photo paper with an Epson inkjet, was stuck using a heavier coat of Spray mount.
Apertures were cut out, leaving a 10mm border that could be wrapped around the board.



Rather than windows I opted for brick infills simulating removed windows. Lintels were made by sticking the sheet onto 2mm card and the cut edges finished with watercolour pencils. Cills are just printed sheet stuck straight onto the brick paper.



These are now roughly clamped in position awaiting some more brick beams to be made to disguise some of the joints. Then they will all be stuck onto the fiddle yard cover with double sided tape.





The other end of the layout now has a gasometer built by one of our team, in 7mm these are a fair old size! 
Although it does not look it in the photo, but the top is domed and made from aluminium.
It was found that a Volvo truck fuel tank end had just the right shape and it just so happened we had four lying around. If you do see one, I would ask the truck owner first before cutting your own top!
To give some idea of size, the track in the foreground is 16.5mm gauge.
The houses that will be near it are being built off site at the moment.

 

To be continued . , , 

[Greengiant]

A few months on from the previous posts.

 

Martin

[Greengiant]

Originally the layout was wired for DC, late last year we made the decision to go DCC.

So we made a start on converting this lot to DCC.

 

 

Conversion to DCC moved on a pace, rationalising the wiring has cleaned things up a bit under the baseboard (WIP).

 

 

A member of our group who is well into the DCC side of things took on the daunting project, this released us to do the above baseboard bits which is what I prefer. He has been installing CANBUS, CBUS, JMRI and all that malarky, oh, and a few frog juicers, whatever that are, all I know is it will mean a lot less wires . . .

 

. . . or so we thought!

 

 

 

Martin

[Greengiant]

Bringing this right up to date . . .

 

The prototype control panel is coming on nicely. The panel controls the continuous circuit and the fiddle yard, although there are also route setting switches on the fiddle yard itself.

The dark blue lines are narrow gauge track, the light blue indicates the standard gauge route including the dual gauge section.

The three yellow push buttons are route settings, one sets all the points to run standard from one end to the other, while the other two set the narrow gauge right through using one set of loops or the other. All of these are also available for setting individually.

The three straight lines at the bottom with the red buttons are for setting the fiddle yard roads. All point directions are indicated on the panel by LEDs. We will also be able to display and operate the layout from a touch screen panel monitor, currently we are developing the software for our club's new OO layout which is using the same basic system, once proved we can roll it out on Theobald's Yard.

 

 

No idea what this is but our sparks use it to check the system.

 

 

Believe or not, in this picture the layout is in the storage racks, connected to the control magic box and is fully operational apart from the locos would fall off the end of the boards!

 

 

While all this is going on, scenery, stock building and lighting are moving on apace.

 

Martin

[Greengiant]

Recently we put all the boards together and test ran the layout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still a lot to do, but we are getting there.

 

Martin

[Jaz]

I have no idea why you don't have fans swarming all over this. You have done some seriously nice work. Excellent scratch building, wonderful colouring. 

Perhaps if you do pictures of your builds, where people might hope to emulate you?

Regarldess some seriously beautiful work. And usually I do not see 0 gauge going to such a level. Hope I see it for real some time. We do go to the odd show.

 

 

edit =ah LOL you first post today.....well I expect others to be seriously impressed....I will probably get trampled as you get momentum 

Edited May 27, 2014 by Jaz

[Greengiant]

I have no idea why you don't have fans swarming all over this. You have done some seriously nice work. Excellent scratch building, wonderful colouring. 

Perhaps if you do pictures of your builds, where people might hope to emulate you?

Regarldess some seriously beautiful work. And usually I do not see 0 gauge going to such a level. Hope I see it for real some time. We do go to the odd show.

 

 

edit =ah LOL you first post today.....well I expect others to be seriously impressed....I will probably get trampled as you get momentum 

 

Thanks Jaz, I will keep it updated with progress.

 

Martin

[ThePurplePrimer]

Amazing work

[Greengiant]

Bridge that gap

There is canal that passes through Theobald's Yard, the dual gauge track at the front is supported by a substantial plate steel bridge, whereas the rearmost narrow gauge track is supported by a much more slender affair.

Inspired by this bridge in Tewkesbury, I created a drawing with Adobe Illustrator, printed this out and used it to make a jig from MDF and timber offcuts.

 

 

Despite a number of searches I failed to find tubing the exact size that I could slice to make the various sized circles that made up the bridge sides, so the only option was to make my own using various tubes and bar, wrapping them in paper to get the right diameter, rolling brass wire around them, clamping in place, fixing with a spot of solder before cutting to make the rings.

 

 

 

Along with some angle and flat strip, these were soldered up on the jig.

 

 

Short lengths of channel and some brass bar finished the sides off.

 

 

 

To add a bit of interest a walkway and handrails were constructed, first suitable holes for the supporting rods were drilled through the side beams using a pillar drill.

 

 

Vertical handrails were cut to length using a pin vice to hold the brass rod at the correct length, this also provided a suitable fence for the piercing saw blade to rest against whilst cutting.

 

 

The same method was used to cut the cross beams to length

 

 

The pin vice was used as a depth stop so the beams could be soldered in exactly the right position on the bridge.

 

 

Resulting in this.

 

 

Brass angle was soldered to the end of the beams.

 

 

Finally the handrails and uprights were soldered in place. PCB strip was stuck to the long beams and rails soldered on top to match the height of the track on the boards.

 

 

An initial coat of paint and trial running of the bridge take place. The wooden walkway boards are yet to be made.

 

 

Martin

[Greengiant]

We had a test session yesterday, running the whole layout and seeing how much stock we need to run a comprehensive display.

 

Here is the fiddle yard with the newly installed Tortoise motors which worked perfectly.

Not only can the route be set on the control panel, it can also be set by the three push button switches in the fiddle yard throat.

We added back scene panels with cut outs for the manual point control in the main factory areas, there are also peep holes for viewing stock as it passes through hidden sections in the factories.

 

 

Standard meets narrow gauge. We have some tight curves on the standard gauge, fine for 0-4-0s but Pannier tank 0-6-0s won't pass through. I am pleased to say a class 03 and a P class will 

 

 

Something we have been developing on Theobald's Yard is the ability to operate the layout via iPad, iPod, iPhone, Android tablets and phones, basically anything that can run a browser. The layout has been created in HTML as an exact copy of the main control panel, it worked a treat. At one time we had an iPhone, iPad, two Android tablets an Android phone, plus a wired handheld controller all running the layout, each having feedback of all point status and loco throttle status in real time. The three straight bars at the top of the screen show the status of the fiddle yard, in this instance both ends are set for the middle road.

Here you can see the left side of the control panel plus three throttles on an iPad. We are now working on a separate window just containing throttles, this will enable us to have all locos showing on one screen should we ever require that.

 

 

Martin

[Giles]

Absolutely love this - stunning modelling going on - on a grand scale - but I love that little bridge....!

 

Your ipad/iPhone stuff is beyond me - how on earth you can do that - makes my head spin (so what's new....)

 

I see you've tramway'd over some of your narrow gauge track ready for Ken to make some road deliveries..... :-)

[Greengiant]

Absolutely love this - stunning modelling going on - on a grand scale - but I love that little bridge....!

Your ipad/iPhone stuff is beyond me - how on earth you can do that - makes my head spin (so what's new....)

I see you've tramway'd over some of your narrow gauge track ready for Ken to make some road deliveries..... :-)

Thanks Giles.

We have room for a couple of your lorries and your new gantry crane

 

Martin

[Giles]

Gerroff you b*****r........ Mind you, the lorries can visit.........

[Darentman]

Giles,

 

If you just happen to visit ExpoNG and happen to have a radio-controlled lorry or two about your person, I am sure Theobald's Yard could accommodate them at a push.

 

Ken.

[paulr1949]

That wouldn't be for you to play with Ken, by any chance, would it?

[Greengiant]

Works continues on Theobald's Yard.

 

Hand scribing of the brick setts is best done in small bursts to retain sanity!

 

 

 

Adding full height back boards with cutouts for access to the manual point switches.

 

 

In this view of a back board the lower slots are for viewing stock that is running in the hidden parts inside the buildings.

 

 

MERG controller holders and sockets mounted at the back.

 

 

A finished back panel.

 

 

An added advantage of the panels is the protection they give the layout once it is back in the storage racks at the clubhouse.

 

 

We have a full test operating session booked for this Wednesday when we will also be testing the layout and our new route and sequence setting feature.

 

Martin

[peter220950]

Quick query, is your rail height above the level of the cobbles/setts?

 

I have a small amount of this to do but don't see an easy way of track cleaning if it's flush, but if it's below it must be a pain to get the right level.

[asa]

Just caught up with this guys and I have to say it's a stunning layout,superb.Well done.

[Greengiant]

Quick query, is your rail height above the level of the cobbles/setts?

 

I have a small amount of this to do but don't see an easy way of track cleaning if it's flush, but if it's below it must be a pain to get the right level.

It was level with rail height, but as you suspect, track cleaning was an issue. We originally were going to build a special track cleaner for the cobbled section, in the end we sanded the DAS to just below track level, which works fine, the downside is having to redo some of the cobbling. Track cleaning will be minimal because we use graphite on the track these days.

 

Martin

[Greengiant]

The other day we had a test operating session amongst other things with Theobald's Yard. The prime objective was to try out the newly devised operating sequence for the main fiddle yard, both in terms of practicality and operation. Glad to say, with a few tweaks it worked.

 

 

We now know we need nine trains to fulfil the sequence, three trains 50" long, three trains 34" long and three trains 22" long.

 

 

This is the set up being tested. You cannot see it that well in the photo, but an LED readout has been installed in the middle of the prototype control panel, either side of which is a push button switch, the green one advances the sequence number by one, the red one retards the sequence by one. In addition to changing the sequence number, at the same time the points will all be set for the route required, when all required points have fully thrown a further larger LED readout located in the centre of the layout indicates the sequence number and therefore the route is ready for the train to move. The laptop is only there for the initial setting up.

 

 

The small turntable fiddle yards now have their power switching and indicator lighting installed. When a turntable is set in the correct position, this is notified to the other turntable fiddle yard operator by the illumination of a green LED that it is okay to drive the train.

 

 

 

Our aim for all this control is to hopefully reduce the number of operators required to run a comprehensive service and design out possibility of errors when operating, only time will tell in a full on exhibition session if we got it right.

 

We started assembling the lighting pelmet and stands.

 

 

Some little people have also arrived.

 

 

Martin

[Greengiant]

Work continues in preparation for EXPONG in under two weeks time.

 

Facia artwork mock up being tried, this has since been cut in vinyl and applied to the panels.

 

 

Back panels, end panels, lighting and facia supports being fitted.

 

 

In an effort to simplify operation of the main running roads and fiddle yard, a six stage sequence has been devised which rotates through the stock in turn. A small control panel with a rotary switch has been made, an operator turns the switch to the next sequence, this sends a signal out to all the relevant points on the route and changes them to the correct position, once a point has thrown, it sends back a signal to say this has happened, when all the relevant points have reported back they are correctly set, then and only then will the move number be shown on the main display.

 

 

This display is double sided and mounted centrally on the layout.

 

 

When the operator(s) sees the move number, they look at the reference sheet and this shows in a simple to understand graphic format, what is to happen.

 

 

That's the theory anyway, so far it works in testing.

 

Martin

[Jaz]

Love the bridge, can't translate to OO gauge unfortunately(correction not by me anyway), but beautiful craftsman ship, and am liking the behind the scenes details....I don't normally see any of that so interesting. Hope EXPONG goes well

Edited October 14, 2014 by Jaz

[Greengiant]

Packing the layout up this afternoon ready for the journey to Swanley and EXPONG this Saturday.

 

Martin