West Riding Terminus- Halifax Powell Street

[BurscoughCurves]

Laid down the first section of scenic track today. I exchanged the double slip for a single and added the extra point-work;

 

 

Spacing the sleepers out on the straight track is straight forward (excuse the pun!) but it is a little more tricky on curves. Thankfully most of the scenic area is straight. I think it's worth persevering though. The upper track below has been fixed in place with copydex;

 

 

So I think I've made a decision; the name is looking like 'Halifax Powell Street' AKA Halifax North-Western. 

 

 

[Chimer]

Thanks for all the comments gents, it's a great way to learn.

 

Chimer- speak now or forever hold your peace! Seriously though thanks.

 

Russ- that's a great offer which I'll no doubt take you up on. I must admit I have some research to do as I've never been to Halifax. I will try to get a flavour of the town but it will still be ficticious (the layout will be predominantly in a cutting).

 

Off to hattons after work tomorrow :-)

 

Nothing to say now - your last change was almost exactly (just slightly better) than what I was going to suggest 

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi Folks,

 

The going is slow unfortunately but I have made some progress. 

 

Before I forget- can you change the title of my layout topic at this stage?

 

So a little more track has been laid, and I can start to see the station area coming together. I have placed some stock on scene... I couldn't resist a preview!

 

 

Not all of the track has been stuck down, the goods head-shunt has yet to have its sleeper webs cut, but I just wanted it in place to visualise the spacing.

 

 

The latest acquisition to my fleet is a Bachmann Jubilee 'Falklands Islands' which I ran-in in DC and then installed the 21 pin decoder. I'll have to have a play with it's CV's as it accelerates like a rocket!

 

 

Another project will be to convert a wonderful Derby lightweight DMU kit built by Dave Shakespeare to DCC, and add the roof detail which looking back through Dave's posts is something he was going to do eventually. I am pleased to give it a home on my layout;

 

 

My next task is to drill the slots for the Kadee uncoupler magnets near the end of the terminating platforms and fix down the rest of the station trackwork. I'll then solder the droppers to the BUS rail and then start thinking about the main point-level frame. I'll hopefully be able to start test running soon... fingers crossed!

 

 

Happy modelling everyone.

[coachmann]

Before I forget- can you change the title of my layout topic at this stage?

 

Yes. Go back to your first post.

Click on Edit

Click Use Full Editor

Change name in Topic Title box

[Removed a/c]

Looks like this will be a tidy little layout. Love the engine shed !

 

 

 

 

Regards 

Scott 

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi folks,

 

Slow going on the layout unfortunately, but i'm really enjoying the whole project.

 

I have just finished a pair of dummy trap points on the carriage sidings, they were a little fiddly- I should have built them on my bench before I laid the track;

 

 

I've been running more stock around the station area, changing the point polarity manually for now which is a bit of a pain. The area laid works really well so far; i'm really happy with the kadee uncoupler magnets which add so much operational interest and i'm getting more used to my NCE Powercab. DCC has changed the hobby so much for the better in my eyes.

 

The station throat with some slaters plastikard temporarily in place to start to give an impression of the retaining walls;

 

 

 

Someone is taking a dip in the coaling stage water tank, camera in hand;

 

 

Both the signal box and coaling stage are Bachmann items; they will be painted and weathered for now and probably replaced for scratch-built items at some point in the future. I will definitely be replacing the steps and handrails on both; they look massively over-sized.

 

The area of the fiddle yard which is acting as the goods yard is complete, including the fiddle yard point control;

 

 

 

The point frame isn't the prettiest but works okay!

 

The fiddle yard is starting to fill with appropriate stock (note the silhouette of the Hornby A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley that started the obsession on my 7th birthday!);

 

 

 

I seem to have misplaced my collection of resistors, I was going to re-illuminate the shed but I could only find one appropriate value and so could only light the office area;

 

 

 

 

None of the detail above will actually be seen as the shed is orientated in a different direction than originally intended but never mind!

 

My first venture into 3D printing resulted in the smoke chute chimneys;

 

 

Cheers for the post Scott, hope to get a start on some scenic work soon.

 

Pete 

[BurscoughCurves]

So I have managed to cover everything in sight with RailMatch 'sleeper grime' paint; thankfully I covered my stock! Just need to clean the rail tops, but the plastic shine has disappeared from the sleepers.

 

I have started to mock up the retaining wall which i'm looking forward to getting stuck into. I love the look of the 7mm Slaters dressed stone on Tetleys Mills and Eastwood Town. They are both excellent and have set the bar very high! Speaking of Tetleys Mills; the carriage cleaning staff have a mess hut courtesy of this iconic layout:

 

 

Finally found some resistors so managed to illuminate the shed:

 

 

 

 

On with that retaining wall...

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi Folks,

 

I hate it when work gets in the way of modelling, but i'm afraid that's definitely whats been happening recently!

 

Instead of forging ahead with scenic work I made the decision to run the area already laid as much as possible to iron out any issues. This has meant that the retaining wall has taken a back seat, apart from a rough hardboard template;

 

 

The station area is going to have an access bridge to the off-scene goods area. I'm hoping this will help to break up the layout and mean I can include a few road vehicles! Again, I have plonked some off-cuts in place to see how it looks;

 

 

A very rough view below but it starts to point towards the look i'm after;

 

 

One thing I was disappointed with was the difference in close coupling between Bachmann mk1's and ex LMS porthole stock- there is a huge gap between the latter coaches. Has anyone rectified this at all? The terminus end;

 

 

So to enable ease of running I started on the main point control panel, and wired in the frogs of the station area and goods headshunt. I need to add in route setting controls for the single and double slips. I have ordered some double pole rotary switches to do this, hopefully they will arrive tomorrow. The wire-in-tubes will be added next.

 

 

 

I have recently enjoyed 'slimming down' the hand rails on resin signal box and coaling stage, and started to detail them. I am about to add lighting to both also. The ratio signal box interior kit has added a nice touch of detail;

 

 

 

 

 

Can anyone tell me when water tanks were covered, and whether it was found on LNWR structures? For some reason I decided to cover mine, I had a pile of coffee stirrers I 'acquired' and thought I'd see how it looked. Any thoughts so far?

 

 

Thanks,

 

Pete

[AireValley1962]

Good to see some more work on this.  I really like the layout.

 

I think the water tower looks good with the top covered - a little paint would complete it.

 

Cheers,

 

William

[BurscoughCurves]

Thanks William, really appreciate your encouragement.

 

I'll give the water cover a coat of paint and a dose of weathering powder and see how it looks...

 

P

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi everyone,

 

Just a few photos and a quick update of some recent progress. I have fitted the wire-in-tube controls for the main (none MPD) point controls. For the double and single slips I have used rotary switches for route selection. This simple relationship works okay, I like having to reference a diagram to select the route. 

 

I have tried to keep the radii as large as possible for wires:

 

 

Half of the panel is complete, the slots on the left are for the MPD. I'll add annotations and point numbers eventually.

 

 

I have started ballasting and have done one siding... and i'm sick of it!! After reading through Jason T's Bacup thread, which reads like a 'how to build a model railway the proper way!' I decided to follow his example and paint dilute copydex between and outside of the sleepers. I have only done 2 layers of Carrs ash ballast (ash for the sidings & MPD) about a meter in length and it's taken a bl**dy age! Although it is tedious, I don't want to cover the sleepers in dilute PVA after painting them. The rail sides in the carriage siding have been painted but it is very subtle, although I don't want them to look too rusty;

 

 

I appreciate that everyone has seen ballasted track a thousand times but it's fairly new to me! I need to have a tidy up of the sleeper tops, don't judge me too harshly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also been thinking about the more intricate areas of the stonework and have had a play around with making a mold to imprint DAS using some Slaters 7mm stone sheet and silicone molding putty. I'm hoping to make the retaining wall 'uprights' using this method. It seems quite promising. I painted the first test piece and the piece of plasticard used to make it and I think they will blend together ok. Humbrol mid-stone followed by weathered black and dark weathering powders finished off the test pieces;

 

 

 

 

My plan is to fix the plasticard sheet in place and blend the DAS areas before they harden. I will then paint the lot with fingers crossed!

 

Thanks for your time,

 

Pete

[Jason T]

Hi Pete,

 

I wouldn't call Bacup made the proper way, I was experimenting as I went along so a lot of it was building it and hoping for the best.

 

I've been keeping an eye on your progress and really like what you are doing and achieving here. The fact that it is Northern, steam and grotty obviously helps!

 

Keep up the good work,

 

Cheers,

 

Jason.

[BurscoughCurves]

Thanks for the post Jason.

 

Bacup is a great source of inspiration, and your experimentation has paid off very well. I have one major issue with your modelling; you make it look too bl**dy easy! 

 

I have just bought an Olfa cutter so will be playing around with cutting and bending of plasticard as soon as I get time, so if you see me camping in your thread you'll know why!

 

Thanks again,

 

Pete

[leopardml2341]

Hello Pete,

 

Nice weathering on the Fairburn.

 

Also good to see you have the obligatory bus on the (still under construction) bridge.

Edited April 17, 2015 by leopardml2341

[BurscoughCurves]

Hi Andy,

 

I have to find a stretch of road for a bus somewhere! My plan is to have the rear of low relief factory and business buildings above the retaining wall and over the exit tunnel a street with a row of terraces perhaps.

 

The fairburn is from the wonderful Tetleys Mills weathered by Dave Shakespeare. All I have done with it is converted it to dcc and add kadees, it is and will be my favourite loco!

 

Cheers,

 

Pete

[AireValley1962]

The fairburn is from the wonderful Tetleys Mills weathered by Dave Shakespeare. All I have done with it is converted it to dcc and add kadees, it is and will be my favourite loco!

 

Ah, Tetley's Mills.  I joined RM Web just after the sale and so wish I had been able to pick-up a few wagons . . . .

 

Nice to see Dave's things popping up all over the place.

 

Cheers,

William

[great northern]

Hi Andy,

 

I have to find a stretch of road for a bus somewhere! My plan is to have the rear of low relief factory and business buildings above the retaining wall and over the exit tunnel a street with a row of terraces perhaps.

 

The fairburn is from the wonderful Tetleys Mills weathered by Dave Shakespeare. All I have done with it is converted it to dcc and add kadees, it is and will be my favourite loco!

 

Cheers,

 

Pete

Hi Pete,

 

The layout is coming along really well, and it is great to see Dave's loco again. I'm so glad that it went to someone who will really appreciate it.

[pointstaken]

Like a lot of threads on this forum, this one reminds us that craftsmanship is still with us.

 

Dennis

[BurscoughCurves]

Very kind of you to say Dennis, thank you. There is so much knowledge on this site to draw from, it comes to a point where I just have to give it a go!

 

Thanks also Gilbert; 2094 is a cracker! Does your stock require must fettling regrading kadee coupling height?

 

Any thoughts on a suitable station pilot anyone?

 

Cheers,

 

Pete

[leopardml2341]

Very kind of you to say Dennis, thank you. There is so much knowledge on this site to draw from, it comes to a point where I just have to give it a go!

 

Thanks also Gilbert; 2094 is a cracker! Does your stock require must fettling regrading kadee coupling height?

 

Any thoughts on a suitable station pilot anyone?

 

Cheers,

 

Pete

L&Y 'A' Class (27) I'd say :-)

[BurscoughCurves]

I guess because my era is early-mid 1950's it wouldn't have to be a former LNWR engine?

[great northern]

I guess because my era is early-mid 1950's it wouldn't have to be a former LNWR engine?

A lot of station pilots were locos that were almost due for withdrawal, but had to be got to a certain mileage before the works would accept them. Some were most unlikely candidates fro the job, for example March used D16's in the mid to late 50's, and I can't think of many locos less suitable for the task than one with 7ft driving wheels. Not right for you, obviously, but it shows that you have plenty of choice. It certainly doesn't have to be a tank engine, though that might be operationally more sensible.

[BurscoughCurves]

I'm thinking about a Bachmann L&Y radial tank engine. Too obvious? I do like the look of those quirky looking engines!

[great northern]

I'm thinking about a Bachmann L&Y radial tank engine. Too obvious? I do like the look of those quirky looking engines!

Lovely little engine. Why not?  It is a very good candidate for the job.

[BurscoughCurves]

Thanks for the advice Gilbert, I know what my next loco purchase will be.

 

More ballasting and painting of rail sides- very tedious!! I've used a base of chocolate brown as opposed to rust red... I'll upload some photos when there is something more to show!

 

Pete