AireValley1962 Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 True - I hadn't realized that the other baseboards weren't built yet. Well, it should keep you busy . . . ;-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jukebox Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Hello Brian I have to apologise for not visiting your thread before now (and for the 20 or 30 likes I've just dropped in your notifications!). Great work you're doing here - the row of terrace houses caught my eye, and I had to work my way through to check how you did them; I have a similar look in mind for Stockrington above the MPD, and you've confirmed for me that Scalescenes are the way to go. Keep up the progress! Cheers Scott 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 Hi Scott, no problem mate - it is always reassuring to know that others take an interest in my ramblings and that I'm not "speaking to the wall" as it were. It is also good to see you making progress with Stockrington after all your troubles. Best regards, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 A quick update and some progress pics as work on the goods facilities continues. The goods arrival road (next to and parallel with platform 4) and goods shed road are laid and ballasted. The coal yard road is ready to go down today and the cattle dock road will be spray painted and droppers soldered today ready for laying tomorrow. Following this the head shunt (parallel to but inside the two main (curved) lines) will be laid, the goods yard point motors fitted and everything wired up. Regards, Brian. 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 No pictures today but confirmation that the coal yard road is complete and the cattle dock road has been laid. A yard of Mr Peco' finest was therefore bent road the curve and laid in position inside the main lines and various experiments were carried so that I could decide exactly how long to make this headshunt. More progress (and pics possibly) in the next few days. Regards, Brian. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 Hi Brian, the Pics above look very good, the extra bit of Timber makes all the difference and improves the look of the Shed front. More pics soon? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted March 25, 2016 Author Share Posted March 25, 2016 More pics soon? Indeed Andy, see next post. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted March 25, 2016 Author Share Posted March 25, 2016 Not a lot done today because the sun was shining in Thameside Essex so me and Mrs D popped "darn Sarf End" (aka Southend on Sea) for a stroll along the front from Leigh on Sea. It seems like thousands had the same idea and most of them brought dogs or packs of dogs with them. I think Cameron's best mate has missed a trick there - bring back the dog licence, say £25 a year. That would fund a few nurses, police, firefighters, battleships even, etc. But I digress. I had an hour or so in the shed late afternoon finalising the length of the head shunt - see below. The mess of wires you can see in these pics are the inside of the control panel which is in a temporary position fixed to the edge of the layout by a couple of hinges. The panel has been folded out in these two pictures. The following picture shows the control panel folded shut at which point it just fouls the stock on the head shunt. It will be moved outwards, away from the head shunt in the fullness of time. Anyway, the upshot of all these experiments is that I can accomodate 11 pieces of stock (vans, wagons, cattle trucks), a brake van and the station shunter in the head shunt leaving the station throat points clear. This is a cunning plan I can also accomodate the same number of vehicles including the brake van (but not the shunter) in the goods arrival/departure road. See below (1) and (2) (1) The three tracks extreme right are the three goods yard roads laid this week. (2) This shows the same goods vehicles but with the brake van returned to the bufferstop end so the train awaits its loco from the loco depot. The plan is that goods trains will arrive from the fiddle yard passing through the scenic part of the layout, around the U bend and will be directed into the goods arrival road. The station shunter will then detach the train, reverse into the head shunt releasing the train loco which will then back out of the goods arrival road and head for the loco depot to be fed and watered. The shunter will then start sorting the train out into one of the three goods roads - cattle, coal and goods shed. The goods shed is by far the longest and may well accomodate, in addition to the goods shed, a yard crane and possibly an end loading ramp but we will see how we go. However, none of this works yet! No juice to the goods yard so plenty of electrical work ahead. Regards, Brian. 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 Looks good mate, plenty of Stock, perfect Layout. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 Looks good mate, plenty of Stock, perfect Layout. Thanks Andy - stiil loads to do. I am a snail compared to you. regards, Brian. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AireValley1962 Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Very clever. Really enjoying this layout build. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted March 29, 2016 Author Share Posted March 29, 2016 By intermittent cranky back has kicked in so limbo dancing under the baseboards to fit point motors and wire up the goods yard and headshunt is on hold at the moment. Light duties are the order of the day. It was bright and sunny with some impressive cloud cover today so a trip to a nearby hill gave me some more pics to combine into a panarama and print this onto matt photo paper to go behind the church and cottages thus. I've also finally finished off the goods shed and given the goods yard baseboard extension a few coats of brown emulsion to temporarily tone down the untreated timber thus. I've also added some coal bins to the coal yard. The coal yard requires an office so another free Scalescenes hut kit (http://scalescenes.com/product/r024-weighbridge-or-coal-office/) has been printed and I'll hopefully get that finished tomorrow. Regards, Brian. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiket4 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Coming along nicely Brian. Regards Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted March 30, 2016 Author Share Posted March 30, 2016 Coal yard office duly completed today. The greater part of the curved head shunt has now been sleeper spaced, wire droppers added and spray painted. Hopefully I'll get it laid tomorrow. Regards, Brian. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) Coal yard office duly completed today. coalshed1.jpg coalshed2.jpg coalshed3.jpg The greater part of the curved head shunt has now been sleeper spaced, wire droppers added and spray painted. Hopefully I'll get it laid tomorrow. Regards, Brian. We all live in hopes, hahhaah Looking very good mate. Edited April 6, 2016 by Andrew P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 The headshunt was completed yesterday - sorry about the fuzzy pic that follows. For a while now I have been thinking about the cattle dock. Having checked the footprint of some of the commercially available kit options, it dawned on me a while back that I was going to have to make a bespoke structure. So, after a bit of measuring up, recourse was made to the trusty TurboCAD. This is the template which I use to glue to various thicknesses of card, 1mm thick for the top surface and 2mm thick for the walls and hidden supports. Scalescenes textures were used to cover the card - ashlar stone for the walls and concrete ground for the top surface. This of course is only the substructure - see below. And placed on the layout (test fit) All of the fencing and pens have yet to be fitted - a Ratio fence post kit is to hand but I suspect this will be a much longer and fiddly process to add. I also need to buy some cattle . Regards, Brian. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 The back is still giving me problems so light duties continue. The fencing to the cattle dock has commenced - see below. I am awaiting more 1 mm diam styrene so fencing is on hold. In the meantime I thought I would assemble the Wills Vari-girders which will form the main parapet beams of the station throat skew bridge. One of the girders was completed this afternoon... ..and posed on the layout to check the span was sufficient. Regards, Brian. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Now that's looking really good Brian, Excellent mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted April 7, 2016 Author Share Posted April 7, 2016 Now that's looking really good Brian, Excellent mate. Many thanks, Andy - I'm really pleased with any comments I receive from you. Best Regards, Brian. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les1952 Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 (edited) Looking very impressive. Just wish I had been able to get progress made. Just one "oh dear" point- the coal cells. You have fallen into the coal cell trap- placed in the wrong location on some early published trackplans and perpetuated as an error ever since. Possibly the fault of C.J.Freezer but he may just have continued an earlier mistake. These should not be placed with their back to the siding- several reasons. 1. They were erected by merchants rather than the railway company, and the merchants paid rental if they were on railway land. As a result they were invariably (or at least about 95% of them) at the edge of the goods yard facing the track. They were used for coal that needed to be stored if the capacity of an incoming wagon was such that its contents could not be bagged before the wagon incurred demurrage fees for being in the siding too long. Often they were used only for bagged coal. 2. The height of the back fence of the cells prevents wagon doors opening properly. If the wagon door could not be opened fully without being propped then the railway would not allow it to be opened for unloading. The arrangement you have requires all coal to be shovelled over the top of the wagon in the hope it will hit the cell beyond it, then shovelled and bagged again at ground level and lifted onto the merchant's truck. 3. the siding would always be laid out so the merchant's lorry could back right up to the wagon and the wagon door dropped onto the lorry tailgate, allowing shovelling and bagging to take place all on one level. Looking at your layout the best "prototypical" arrangement in the space you have would just be to omit the cells completely and place the lorry alongside the track with some empty bags on it ready to have a wagon door dropped onto it. Hope this helps. Les Edited April 8, 2016 by Les1952 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 Looking very impressive. Just wish I had been able to get progress made. Just one "oh dear" point- the coal cells. You have fallen into the coal cell trap- placed in the wrong location on some early published trackplans and perpetuated as an error ever since. Possibly the fault of C.J.Freezer but he may just have continued an earlier mistake. These should not be placed with their back to the siding- several reasons. 1. They were erected by merchants rather than the railway company, and the merchants paid rental if they were on railway land. As a result they were invariably (or at least about 95% of them) at the edge of the goods yard facing the track. They were used for coal that needed to be stored if the capacity of an incoming wagon was such that its contents could not be bagged before the wagon incurred demurrage fees for being in the siding too long. Often they were used only for bagged coal. 2. The height of the back fence of the cells prevents wagon doors opening properly. If the wagon door could not be opened fully without being propped then the railway would not allow it to be opened for unloading. The arrangement you have requires all coal to be shovelled over the top of the wagon in the hope it will hit the cell beyond it, then shovelled and bagged again at ground level and lifted onto the merchant's truck. 3. the siding would always be laid out so the merchant's lorry could back right up to the wagon and the wagon door dropped onto the lorry tailgate, allowing shovelling and bagging to take place all on one level. Looking at your layout the best "prototypical" arrangement in the space you have would just be to omit the cells completely and place the lorry alongside the track with some empty bags on it ready to have a wagon door dropped onto it. Hope this helps. Les Thanks for that Les - yes I have been aware of the infamous coal cells controversy for some time and indeed there is, I believe, documentary evidence that CJ Freezer might have got it right, but only in a very small majority of cases, but generally they were the other way round as you have stated. Anyway, in this case "Rule 1" applies. The layout is a Quart in a Pint Pot compromise and the goods facilities have been squeezed accordingly. I could however turn the coal cells around so that they back onto the cattledock road but we will see how we go. To my mind this actually means double handling of the coal (1. out of the wagon onto the ground or vehicle 2. into the coal cell). CJF's design only involves one man (person?) handling process - out of the wagon straight into the coal cell. I really need to be a time traveller and go back to the 1950s to see how it was really done. Thanks for looking in Les. Food for thought. Best Regards, Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 Well the Evergreen "1 mm diameter" styrene rod arrived yesterday so work resumed on the cattledock railings. However, I had huge problems accommodating the new rods into the holes in the Ratio concrete posts. I was already having to use a pin drill and a 1 mm drill bit to open out the holes in the Ratio posts, a slow job. The new rod, it transpired once I got the micrometer out, was 1.1 mm diameter and, whilst I could wiggle the 1 mm drill bit around in the Ratio posts to get the new rod to fit, a very slow job turned into a very tedious extremely slow job. The next smallest drill bit in my kit is 1.5 mm which is too big for the Ratio posts. So work on the cattledock has ceased awaiting a set of drill bits from Expo Tools which I should have acquired years ago. This is the current situation... The back is slowly returning to "normal" so preliminary work on the goods yard/headshunt electrics was carried out this afternoon in the form of fitting some switches into the control panel. Meanwhile, the bridge girder has been shunted into position close to the bridge. This is of course a (joke) on several counts (S&T wagon, load not secured in accordance with the regulations, no match trucks under the over hang, etc). Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone wanted to write in and complain :jester: Regards, Brian. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed a/c Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Cattle dock is really taking shape nicely !! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Yes I have to agree, that Cattle dock is a work of Art, also good to read Les's bit about Coaling Cells before I MADE THAT MISTAKE. Thanks Les. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emt_911 Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 Excellent work on the cattle dock. The extra time you've taken to re-drill the posts is certainly worth it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now