Deneside - BR North Eastern Region

[Brian D]

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

 

Your work is looking superb mate, really really good.

 Thanks, Andy.  Hope you are OK and out of the Dumps.

Best Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

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!

 

Actually Ray, they are not truly vertical but close enough for me.  I'll follow up with the tools I use in a later post.

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

While the little one was asleep for an hour today I managed to get the abutment covered in texture sheet - see below.

 

 

Also in the picture are the tools I use to model in card.  The knife was originally from Asda and has snap off blades.  I bought a pack of ten refill blades quite cheeply on Ebay which gave me something like 100 fresh blades.  I have given up on Swann Morten - too expensive - you need fresh blades all the time especially when cutting the texture sheets (I use just A4 copy paper to print the Scalescenes downloads).  I also use the Expo scale as the cutting guide.  It has a nice square edge which encourages you to keep the knife vertical for a reasonably square cut.  Glue sticks are from The Works, a pack of different sizes for £1 - see http://www.theworks.co.uk/p/glue-and-tape/4-assorted-glue-sticks/505208912

 

Regards,

Brian

[tom shaw]

Hi Brian,

Following the bridge making with interest, I have two to make myself. Your posts are always very informative and easy to follow, keep up the good work.

Tom

[Brian D]

Hi Brian,

Following the bridge making with interest, I have two to make myself. Your posts are always very informative and easy to follow, keep up the good work.

Tom

 

Thanks very much Tom.  The least satisfying part of this bridge build is the construction of the Wills varigirders.  Each panel is seperate - I had ten panels per girder side, that's 40 panels to cut from the sprue, each had to be sanded lightly to remove sprue remnants and glued together up against a straight edge.  The top and bottom flanges needed to be laminated together, as prototype, requiring careful removal of the moulded rivets on the upper side where it was required to laminate another top or bottom plate.  Quite a pain really and they still ended up looking gappy so some filling is necessary.  Also, because of the skew and the corresponding length, I had to buy two kits.

As I said - a pain.  Give me cardboard any day but I couldn't make these in card.

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

I've had a bit of peace and quiet today so I've managed to complete the abutments.  Here they are posed on the layout (but no bridge deck yet).

 

 

The left hand abutment will have a wing wall added which will point towards the camera phone position, acting as a retaining wall for the goods yard access road.  Here is another shot with B1 and train departing.

 

 

Another shot taken from above showing clearances being checked.

 

 

The next step will be to fabricate the bridge deck, pavements etc from 40 thou plasticard and weld (glue) the deck to the main parapet girders.  The plan is that the entire span will be able to lift off (only the abutments will be glued down to the baseboard) so that track cleaning/maintenance can be carried out more conveniently.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

Mrs D and I are back from our jollies so intermittent modelling and associated updates here will resume shortly.

 

In the meantime, I popped out into the shed earlier to make sure all was well after the holiday and spotted an interloper from over the Pennines on an excursion.

 

 

 

After it's train was taken out by the station pilot, the Black 5 (I think that's what they are called ), headed for the loco yard for turning, feeding and watering.

 

 

By this time, word had got round to the local loco spotters who gathered on the footbridge awaiting departure.

 

 

They didn't have to wait long.

 

 

Seriously, this is the Hornby Pete Waterman Collection version of the Black 5 which I was tempted to buy back in August 2011 from the usual Liverpool emporium.  The bill was in the box - £69 plus £4 postage - fantastic value and such a lovely smooth runner.  I subsequently bought some Dapol LMS coaches in BR crimson and cream to form a service from LMR territory.  I do remember spotting these locos at Euston before the end of steam.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

Today, the skew bridge deck was substantially completed.  The other day, after checking clearances by running trains, the bridge abutments were glued to the baseboard.  The bridge deck comprises a composite construction of 40 thou thick plasticard cemented between the parapet girders (the Wills Flexi-girders) with card road/footways.

 

Firstly, I temporarily filled the gap between the abutments to support a piece of paper and replaced the parapet beams so that I could accurately mark and measure the exact distance between the abutment walls and the parapet beams thus.

 

 

A piece of 40 thou plastcard was then cut to fit between the abutments, laid in position and pencil marks added marking the inner edges of the parapet beams (these being in line with the inner faces of the abutment piers) to complete the lozenge shape required as shown below.

 

 

The lozenge shape piece of plasticard was then positioned between the parapet girders, everything squared up, then solvent was brushed between the join to cement the plasticard firmly to the girders as shown below.

 

 

The deck assembly was then removed, checked and remedied for any glue gaps, taken outside and spray painted with grey car primer.  Here it is shown back in position.

 

 

Now thoughts turned to the roadway and footpaths.  Here are the constituent parts...

 

 

...namely 1 mm and 2 mm thick greyboard and some Scalescenes textures.  The footways are 2 mm thick x 16 mm wide wrapped in Scalescenes paving.  These are glued to the 1 mm thick card covered in black top texture as shown (glue stick used for these operations).

 

 

This assembly was in turn glued to the plasticard/parapet assembly with Bostik all purpose adhesive as shown below.

 

 

I am very pleased with the outcome - see below back in position on the layout, with my one and only road vehicle (a poorly made Cooper Craft kit) and an interested passer by.

 

 

 

 

Obviously the approaches are incomplete and the girders lack loco smoke stains and a bit of weathering but it's coming on.

 

Regards,

Brian.

 

EDIT PS - It's crying out for a bus on the bridge really

Edited May 25, 2016 by Brian D

[Brian D]

A visit to the DIY emporium took place this morning resulting in sufficient timber being procured to make a start on the rest of the layout (the other half of the U shape).  But before construction can commence, my old layout "Hawthorn Town" needs to be taken down because it is occupying the other half of the shed at the moment.  Some minor jobs were carried out in preparation for said taking down this afternoon along with some photographic records being made with the "big camera" (99% of the photos posted here so far have been camera phone pics).  Before packing the DSLR away I thought I would take a couple of the new layout showing overall progress so far, see below.

 

 

 

I'm hoping to get the old layout packed away over the weekend and, if it stays dry, make a start on the new baseboards.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

While it's not been a baking hot Bank Holiday weekend at least it has stayed dry so carpentry has commenced on the next set of base boards to complete the U curve and take me completely round the bend

 

This is the part of the track plan that this new board will support and is set lower to accomodate the viaducts.

 

 

The usual detailed drawings were prepared thus.

 

 

The main rectangular frame was completed yesterday afternoon.  The splay adjacent to the existing board was added this morning...

 

 

...as were the legs.

 

 

The framework will be topped off with 12mm exterior grade sheet plywood but I have erected this board in its position in the shed and loosely laid a sheet of ply over it and added the viaduct skeleton to check levels and see how it looked - see below.

 

 

I will print that part of the track plan shown above full size on A4 sheets, glue these together and lay them on this board as a double check that all is well.

Work continues.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

Yesterday I managed to print and glue together the full size A4 sheets of the AnyRail track plan and placed them on the newly constructed but unfinished corner board to check track alignment and levels as shown below.

 

 

 

All appears well so I couldn't resist temporarily cladding a couple of the viaduct spans to see how it looked.

 

 

The weather here has been truly dreadful this morning - rain at times that I can only describe as biblical.  However, it dried up a bit this afternoon and I managed to get the corner board frame work out of the shed and finished it off by covering the board with 12 mm ply and adding the hard board back scene boards as shown below.

 

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Andrew P]

Looking very good Brian, great progress, I bet you cant wait to see a Train passing over that soon.

[Brian D]

Looking very good Brian, great progress, I bet you cant wait to see a Train passing over that soon.

 

Yes indeed, Andy, but it won't be for a good while yet.  Still lots to be done.

Regards,

Brian.

[danstercivicman]

Looking great and good progress

[Brian D]

There hasn't been much to report lately as family matters have intervened.  However, I had a few hours spare this afternoon and managed to knock together the "skeleton" of the second viaduct.  This single track structure will hopefully have a passing resemblance to the former Sandsend Viaduct (long demolished) which was located on the coast line just north of Whitby.  It is built on the 1 in 40 down grade towards the branch line station.  Here are some pics.

 

 

The following picture shows clearly how the branch line descends on the front viaduct while the main line rises behind.

 

 

As before I have used reject laminate floor boards to form the "Skeleton".

 

 

The Sandsend viaduct features on the front cover of Gordon Suggett's "Lost Railways of North and East Yorkshire".  Many images can also be seen if you search google images "sandsend railway viaduct".  My model will not be an exact copy as it is built on a sharpish curve and will be more of a nod to the original.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[danstercivicman]

Looking excellent your wood work skills are very impressive

[Brian D]

Looking excellent your wood work skills are very impressive

 

Thanks but the camera pictures flatter my handywork I think.  The tricky part is yet to come - fitting the sloping "steel" tube supports at a uniform 5 degrees slope.  I have a method in mind involving the use of 12 mm timber dowel.  This is a proposed section through the viaduct at the supports.

 

 

If it looks too naff, I'll probably opt for a masonry viaduct as per the main line.

 

Thanks again for your interest.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Andrew P]

Excellent woodwork Brian, that look like it will be  mighty fine structure mate. well done.

[Brian D]

A Fathers' Day present has enabled me to incorporate a railway modelling cliche, namely the proverbial "bus on a bridge" as shown below.

 

 

 

I fondly remember this type of "United" single decker from my boyhood trips back to Durham late 50s/early 60s .  My limited researches about "United" bus routes leaves me to believe that they penetrated as far as Whitby on the Yorkshire coast whereabouts this layout will now be likely set firmly in the BR NE region with improbable links/services/excursions to and from the LM and E(former Great Eastern) regions   - I've just got to decide on a suitable name for both main and branch stations.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[danstercivicman]

Looking good the work on the viaduct is coming along well

[Les1952]

United Bristol LS types were allocated to Redcar, Loftus and Whitby depots.

 

I remember travelling in one of the XHN batch with coach seats from Scarborough back to Darlington in about 1967.

 

Al the very best

Les

 

[Brian D]

United Bristol LS types were allocated to Redcar, Loftus and Whitby depots.

 

I remember travelling in one of the XHN batch with coach seats from Scarborough back to Darlington in about 1967.

 

Al the very best

Les

 

Thanks for this Les.  Obviously my bus has the wrong route description - something else to put on the extremely long "to do" list.

Regards,

Brian.

[AireValley1962]

Just catching up on your work here, Brian.  I really like the skewed road bridge - it looks awesome.

 

Cheers,

William

[tom shaw]

Very nice, sets off the bridge perfectly

 

Tom

[Brian D]

I don't seem to be getting much time in the shed lately due to family commitments, only the odd hour here and there so progress has been incremental to say the least.  However the second viaduct "skeleton" has come on a bit since post #792 as shown below.

 

 

The sloping supports (12 mm dowels) have been added and the whole thing given a couple of coats of grey acrylic.

 

 

There are five spans on each viaduct.  Reading from the left hand end as viewed, span 1 will span over (down) sloping ground, span 2 - valley bottom, centre span 3 - small river, span 4 - a road running alongside the river and span 5 - (up) sloping ground.  Here is a fabbed up version of the road span.

 

 

 

Last weekend I picked up some SMP plain flex track which I am going to lay over the viaducts - the sleeper spacing technique that I have used elsewhere on the Peco Code 75 track is too much like hard work on these longish curves.  Both viaducts need a lot of work before fixing in position and building the approach track beds.  More family stuff is looming though so progress will be a bit sporadic over the next couple of months.

 

Regards,

Brian.