Deneside - BR North Eastern Region

[Brian D]

Work continues on fixing point motors (2 out of 4 done) and generally wiring up the headshunt (done) and the 4 goods roads (in progress).  None of this is particularly photogenic (you should see the state of my wiring!) but there are a couple of other matters to report on which warrant a picture.

 

Firstly, the drill set has arrived (thank you Expo Tools, great service) so some more work was done opening up the holes in the Ratio "concrete" posts to accomodate the 1mm diameter rod to form the cattle dock fencing.  The main external fencing is now complete including gates to the railway side but internal partitioning fences are still to be done, this because (maddeningly) there are insufficient pairs (by one pair) of gates in the Ratio kit to accomodate my plan so I'll have to make some.  Anyway, this is the latest position (posed on the layout).

 

 

From time to time I visit a well known auction site.  A few days ago I could not resist bidding for another Hornby RailRoad D49.  I know there is plenty wrong with the model (there's a reason its in the RailRoad range) but the mechanism is silky smooth with tender pick up and its a good basis for detailing.  I butchered modified my earlier D49, removing the outside steam pipes and adding other bits to convert a "Hunt" to a "Shire".  This one will remain a "Hunt" so I will have to fab up some of the Lenz mechanism.  A quick perusal of my Yeadons book has identified "The Goathland" as a potential identity for the new D49 as it is shown with the same tender as the model (D49 tenders are a complete nightmare area - I managed to get my first D49 conversion completely wrong so some rework is required there!).

 

My bid was successful and the D49 arrived in this morning's post.  A quick test run on the layout confirmed its excellent running so the chunky couplings were removed, a slim fit Bachmann coupling put in the tender and some practice departures enacted thus.

 

 

Alas the LNER green will go as part of the conversion being replaced by BR mixed traffic black livery - bit of a shame but there you go.

 

Regards,

Brian.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Brian D

[Brian D]

The latest update follows.

After much faffing about, finding unexpected and unwelcome shorting, limbo dancing, sorting out sticky or unresponsive point motors and yet more limbo dancing under the baseboards the goods facilities are now fully wired up and responsive to both controllers.  Whoopie!  I can now use the headshunt and shunt stuff out of "goods arrival" into either the goods shed, coal yard or cattle dock roads.

I am now determined to finish off the remaining electrics on the boards so far constructed.  This comprises the two loco storage/servicing sidings that run "south" out of the turntable.  These two lengths of track have had their sleepers respaced, wire droppers soldered on and spray painted ready for track laying tomorrow (hopefully).

Last weekend I purchased the latest (May) Hornby Magazine wherein there is an interesting article about milk train formations which set me thinking as I fancy running a milk train on the layout.  So two weathered Dapol milk tank wagons were duly ordered from my favourite Liverpool establishment and these arrived this morning.  A bit of milk train re-enactment duly followed thus.

 

 

 

Apologies again for the poor phone pics.

 

Regards,

Brian.

 

[Les1952]

Hello again.

 

Coming along nicely but those coal cells are still irritating me.  There is no way any wagon behind them can be unloaded as the doors can't be opened.  Might I suggest reversing them in the space - putting them with their backs to the cattle dock siding and building up the ground level in front of them to give coal lorries the ability to reverse alongside the coal wagons.  A little more cramped than usually found (though coal cells in themselves were actually comparatively rare), but at least the wagon doors can be dropped and the wagon unloaded, and they then look as if they can be worked prototypically.  

 

Just a thought.

Les

(who misspent too much of his youth watching coal being handled....)

Edited April 23, 2016 by Les1952

[Brian D]

Hello again.

 

Coming along nicely but those coal cells are still irritating me.  There is no way any wagon behind them can be unloaded as the doors can't be opened.  Might I suggest reversing them in the space - putting them with their backs to the cattle dock siding and building up the ground level in front of them to give coal lorries the ability to reverse alongside the coal wagons.  A little more cramped than usually found (though coal cells in themselves were actually comparatively rare), but at least the wagon doors can be dropped and the wagon unloaded, and they then look as if they can be worked prototypically.  

 

Just a thought.

Les

(who misspent too much of his youth watching coal being handled....)

Thanks for that Les.  None of the goods facilities have been glued down yet so I still have the flexibility to do as you suggest (and I'm slowly warming to the idea).  Being on the NER they should really be coal drops but again space has dictated otherwise.

Thanks again for taking an interest in my ramblings.

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

Yesterday afternoon and today I have finished the two loco sidings running "south" from the Turntable including the electrics.  The following photo shows the location and also the difference between a (factory) weathered loco and a so called pristine version.

 

 

This completes (bar the branch line point) all of the track laying and electrics on the baseboards completed to date - these are shaded grey on the layout plan beneath.

 

 

This plan also shows my latest thinking regarding the fiddle yard.  I had thought to incorporate a vertical stacking fiddleyard but couldn't get my head around how to accomodate a double track main line without singling it down to enter the fiddle yard which I really do not want to do.  So I have increased the length to accomodate the ladder of points and it will have to be a traverser, albeit only traversing 2 inches in either direction.

 

Regards,

Brian

[Andrew P]

Great work Brian, TT looks so good.

[Brian D]

Following Les's suggestion, I have tried rearranged the coal yard reflecting his concerns thus.

 

 

 

Not sure about the hut/coal office position though.  I'll keep experimenting.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[AireValley1962]

Maybe cut out one coal cell, and move the hut to the end of the cattle dock?  That might make a difference....

[Les1952]

Looks much more prototypical, well done.

 

I'd go along with taking out one of the cells, or even two plus the wooden extension wall at the far end.  That would make the number of cells nearer correct for the size of the yard.  With only one merchant there would maybe only be one cell or at the most two in reality.  Losing the end wall and moving the cells down a bit would give room for the lorries to reach all four wagons in the siding.

 

Puttting the office by the end of the cattle dock isn't ideal, but it would create space for a lorry to reverse up to the wagon second from the buffer stops and be at right angles to it.  It wasn't unknown for a hut to be in the somewhat dangerous position of across the end of a siding just beyond the buffer stop.  Railway companies discouraged it but there sometimes wasn't enough space to put it anywhere else. 

 

Hope these help rather than confuse further....

 

All the very best

Les

[Brian D]

Maybe cut out one coal cell, and move the hut to the end of the cattle dock?  That might make a difference....

 

 

Looks much more prototypical, well done.

 

I'd go along with taking out one of the cells, or even two plus the wooden extension wall at the far end.  That would make the number of cells nearer correct for the size of the yard.  With only one merchant there would maybe only be one cell or at the most two in reality.  Losing the end wall and moving the cells down a bit would give room for the lorries to reach all four wagons in the siding.

 

Puttting the office by the end of the cattle dock isn't ideal, but it would create space for a lorry to reverse up to the wagon second from the buffer stops and be at right angles to it.  It wasn't unknown for a hut to be in the somewhat dangerous position of across the end of a siding just beyond the buffer stop.  Railway companies discouraged it but there sometimes wasn't enough space to put it anywhere else. 

 

Hope these help rather than confuse further....

 

All the very best

Les

 

Thank you both - food for thought.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

Not much progress to report but I have been giving some thought to the next phase of the build - namely the other curve leading to the fiddle yard.  What I will probably do is build the double track mainline only at first, this leading to the fiddle yard, and leave the single track branch for now.  Extending the curve of the U involves building a curved two track viaduct (30 & 28 inch radius tracks) on a 1 in 40 up slope.  Before I can build it I thought I better draw it so recourse was made to the trusty TurboCAD thus.

 

 

There was a lot of cutting and pasting to generate this image so please excuse the duplication.  I have also thought that I only have room for 5 arches, not six as here.  I have an idea how I'm going to build it though and this drawing will help no end with the build.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Les1952]

Rather you than me there- a curved viaduct is bad enough but on a gradient.  I can only admire people who can make such things work....

 

Les

[Brian D]

Rather you than me there- a curved viaduct is bad enough but on a gradient.  I can only admire people who can make such things work....

 

Les

 

It's early days on the viaduct but I have made a fair bit of progress on the "chassis" - all will be revealed in due course.

Regards,

Brian.

[emt_911]

Brian. I'm looking forward to how this turns out. Are you going to do a step by step guide for us?

[Brian D]

Brian. I'm looking forward to how this turns out. Are you going to do a step by step guide for us?

 

Is The Pope a catholic?

Yes indeed Duncan, once I've made a bit more progress I'll post some pics and describe the materials and method I've adopted.

Regards,

Brian.

[Andrew P]

Looking forward to seeing that then Brian.

[Brian D]

Looking forward to seeing that then Brian.

 

Dear Andy - thanks for dropping in.  I will do the best I can but you have to realise I'm not as quick as you      so you might have to wait a bit hahahaha!

Seriously, hopefully something more informative to post tomorrow. "Hopefully" - that word again

Regards,

Brian.

PS Apologies - it's past "Beer o'clock" this end.

[Brian D]

The viaduct "chassis" or skeleton might be a better word is now substantially complete.  This drawing will help explain what I'm doing.

 

 

When I was working on the shed and the revised fiddle yard for Hawthorn Town, I was looking for a timber type material which was smooth and flat.  While we were in Home Base my wife pointed out a pack of (damaged) reduced price laminate flooring which was duly purchased and taken home.  It is this stuff I thought would be good for the viaduct deck and skeleton so another pack of damaged boards purchased, these being 10 mm thick and about 190 mm wide.

The twin tracks curve at 28 and 30 inch radii, the same radii as already laid adjacent to the turntable so it was easy enough to place some mk1s on these curves to check the clearances required on the curved viaduct deck.  The following highly technical drawing was prepared.

 

 

I then screwed one of the laminate flooring boards to a piece of 2 x 1 and banged in a nail into the 2 x 1 aprox 600/700 mm from the edge of the laminate floor board.  I intended to use a piece of string to draw the two necessary radii (787 & 683 mm) but I found too much stretch in the string so I used a piece of ally instead, drilling three holes - one for the nail and two 787 and 683 mm away to accomodate a black fine tip marker pen.  I am using Scalescenes viaduct geometry so the inner curve needed to be a minimum of 5 x 122mm long.  I added a bit extra at each end and used the ally still restrained by the nail to draw the straight radial ends of the deck.  This curved shape (a bit like a curved loco nameplate) was cut out using the jigsaw.  It was then screwed to another laminate flooring board.  I scribed round this shape and cut a second identical curved laminate board.  So I now had the top and bottom of the skeleton framework.

 

Knowing the required gradient and now knowing the length and maximum height of the viaduct, it was easy enough to calculate the lengths of the two end vertical spacers.  The I in 40 works out at a smigeon over 3 mm per 122 mm arch module.  A temporary centre support length was also calculated and fabbed up, this to aid assembly as did some off cuts of 2 x 1 for "squareness".  The following was the result at close of play yesterday.

 

 

This afternoon, the sun shone so work continued to insert the correct internal bracing at each pier centreline having first removed the temporary centralbrace. This was all done outside in the garden as shown below.

 

 

The completed structure looks like this.

 

 

 

This structure will be clad with either hardboard (which is just bendy enough to go round the minimum 683 mm radius curve) or 2 mm card and covered with Scalescenes ashlar texture sheets.  The piers will be trapezoidal(ish)  in plan i.e. wider at the back (on the 787mm radius curve) than at the front (683 mm radius curve) - this so that the curved arch remains a simple semi-cylindrical shape.  To give you an idea how it might look I pasted a cut out elevation to one end and took the following pic.

 

 

I probably will not do anything more to the viaduct at present until the supporting baseboard has been constructed (this so I dont damage it in storage).  I am minded to lay and wire the track on the deck first though so this might happen soon.

 

Clear as mud I hear you say but if you want any clarification please do not hesitate to ask.

 

Regards,

Brian.

 

[Brian D]

Further experimentation with Scalescenes textures has taken place as shown below.

 

 

 

I'm happy enough with the overall appearance.

Regards,

Brian.

[tom shaw]

The viaduct is looking great Brian. I really like the scalescenes stone.

Tom

[jukebox]

Nice work, Brian!

 

Your "engineering" sketches look a lot like mine!  I bring home doodles from my lunch hours at work, where I've been staring at parapets, working out relationships and ratios of stonework....

 

Glad you got the brickwork under the arches right (pretty sure you can't form an arch with a conical, rather than cylindrical, underside section - the change has to happen in the piers).

 

Looking forward to watching your progress.

 

Scott

[Brian D]

The viaduct is looking great Brian. I really like the scalescenes stone.

Tom

 

I think the Scalescenes' textures take a lot of beating Tom.  I use them a lot.

 

Nice work, Brian!

 

Your "engineering" sketches look a lot like mine!  I bring home doodles from my lunch hours at work, where I've been staring at parapets, working out relationships and ratios of stonework....

 

Glad you got the brickwork under the arches right (pretty sure you can't form an arch with a conical, rather than cylindrical, underside section - the change has to happen in the piers).

 

Looking forward to watching your progress.

 

Scott

 

Back of a fag packet as they say but it's been a long time since I gave up smoking    The arch geometry malarky had me scratching my head for a while until I realised as you correctly say, the piers have to accomodate the plan curvature of the viaduct and the arches must remain as semi-cyclinders.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

A holiday looms so I won't be building new baseboards anytime soon.  Instead, I have decided to concentrate on the skew bridge (just a reminder that the bridge in the pics is a mockup using corrugated card and my hot glue gun) now that the two Wills flexigirder parapet girders are complete-ish, they require a bit of filler here and there and painting of course.  This will be done once they are welded to the 40 thou plasticard deck plate.

 

So the mockup was removed and some intial work was carried out to check clearances.  Please note however that the house backs and blue brick retaining wall shown beyond the bridge in the following pics won't form part of the final infrastructure here.  This will be the site of a pub modelled in low relief - well I had to have a pub!

 

 

This resulted in the usual engineering drawing.

 

 

Using TurboCAD I prepared an A4 drawing including all of the elements I need to construct one abutment.

 

 

This was glued to 2 mm thick A4 greyboard and the various elements cut out and glued together to form a trapezoidal abutment with integral piers thus.

 

 

This structure will be "wrapped" in the stone texture sheet (shown underneath the abutment), a representation of a concrete bearing shelf added, probably in plastic strip, and card capping stones added to the piers.  A quick placement on the layout followed to ensure clearances were fine.

 

 

 

 

I probably won't get a lot done tomorrow (grandchild minding) so it will be Friday before any progress can be made and reported.

Regards,

Brian.

 

 

[Andrew P]

Just catching up Brian after a few down in the Dumps.

 

Your work is looking superb mate, really really good.

[Ray H]

I agree with you Andy.

 

I'd like to know how Brian seemingly manages to cut his card with vertical edges! I can just about manage straight (sometimes) but vertical, very unusual when the card is that thick and probably when its a lot thinner as well but that isn't so easily seen then!