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Midland Railway in EM gauge


Mrkirtley800
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Oi!! gerroff 'me' cake and flapjack.

 

I think we should get back to matters railway, and leave cake for the needy (that's me if your asking).

Just a few more piccies of the workings into Kirkby Malham, with the class M bringing in empty cattle wagons from Skipton, ready for the dale head market the next day.  One of the shots is of it being turned.

Meanwhile, the last passenger train of the day, the 7.15pm ex Bradford (Market Street) behind one of Mr Deeley's new 0-6-4 tank engines.

I am waiting for some electro magnets to be delivered, then work will start on installing them plus the signal levers.

This will entail having to take the layout apart once more, so that I can work on each board balance on my bench.   There are quite a number of signals to go on the line, so it might take me some time.

In the meantime, the train services will be suspended but a horse bus will operate between Kirkby Malham station and Skipton High Street.

Derek

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice chair! - all you need are some castors on the bottom of it now. I have had a thought about the controller - I will contact you over the weekend as I have found a 0.5W 10k Pot, which is twice the rating of the 0.25W pots that you can get these days - I think that is the problem. I have been quite busy yesterday and today, but will be free from tomorrow.

 

Best Wishes

 

Kevin.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I know that he's quite small but is that him inside and operating R2D2 ?

 

Andy

Shhh!

If he hears you saying stuff like that, he'll get a tiny bit paranoid and get his little team of lawyers on you!!!!

 

His favourite biscuits are short-breads btw, should you wish to send him a gift to give him a lift :jester: :jester: :jester:

 

(Sorry Derek, I love the little guy, really!)

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Derek, just been reading all of this thread. Absolutely wonderful. Cheered me up no end as amongst other stuff I had a heart bypass last year and I get cheesed off occasionally.

 

Serendipity must have struck - I went to the Derby show on Saturday, which inspired me to examine the contents of a large box from the loft. I found 2 Midland locos in it which I didn't know I had - a Ratio Johnson 2-4-0 and a K's 2F. Both half assembled, some painting done. Plus a double frame 0-6-0 which is in a bit of a state after 40 odd years. Even a Ratio clerestory and some Kitmaster coaches. Couple this with the recent purchase of an NRM Compound (new, £30 off!) and I think the good Lord is telling me something (apart from "don't start all that again, especially with K's kits!").

 

Thanks again for the thread and especially the wonderful photos which are extremely inspirational.

Edited by Edthefolkie
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Thank you for your nice comments Edthefolkie. Railway modelling has been a real life saver over the last six years or so. Without it I would probably be a gibbering idiot now. Come to think of it, on occasions, the family think that anyway.

Progress has been a bit slow of late, for no reason at all, but as I have already said, I have dismantled the layout so that I can work, sitting down, with the boards propped up on my bench.

I have received some more electro magnets -- for uncoupling purposes and am busy getting the signals to work. When I have something to show I will put some more piccies on the thread.

Derek

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Shhh!

If he hears you saying stuff like that, he'll get a tiny bit paranoid and get his little team of lawyers on you!!!!

 

His favourite biscuits are short-breads btw, should you wish to send him a gift to give him a lift :jester: :jester: :jester:

 

(Sorry Derek, I love the little guy, really!)

 

Be very careful what you say, the heavy mob look in on this thread (and they know where you live!)  Below is a pic of some of them.  They go onto Kirkby Malham station to exercise by lifting a full milk churn in each hand and bringing them level with their shoulders, arms outstretched.. 

In the pic the one on the right is a Desperate Dan look-a-like, whilst the lady, a tough Victorian girl, was a school teacher in the navvy camps on the Settle Carlisle workings.  Now she is leader of the mob and goes under the name of ---Mad Mary, the Middleham Mauler.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Derek

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Back to building Kirkby Malham.  The layout is still in pieces, cluttering the place up, but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

I sent for some electro magnate, and found some lever frames, which I have had in my 'bits box' for years, and began the installation.

Firstly, the electro magnets were put in place and wired up.  One of the advantages of the Alex Jackson coupling system is that you only need one uncoupling magnet at the throat of a fan of sidings.

This is OK if that is all you have, but for realistic operation with a reasonably complex station layout, it is useful to place them at strategic positions., and this is what I have done.

Then came the job of working signals, and this job is not yet completed.

My original intention was to have minimal electrical wiring under the boards, which is why the points are all operated by slide switches and rodding.  This idea fell at the first hurdle, when I began work on board 5, the one containing the road overbridge, and the exit from the yard at the southern end of the station.  There are two signals on this board, one controlling the exit on to the up main line, the other, the approach to the station on the down line.  I tried to install Bowden cables, but the 'lash' in the cables and the stiffness proved to be the stumbling block.  So I took the cowards way out and put in slow action point motors.  These motors were controlled by the lever frame attached to miniature change over slide switches.  Since the uncoupling magnets require a 12 volt DC supply, I tapped into it to drive the motors.

Board 3 just requires one signal, to control the exit from the loco yard on to the down main line.  This was easily done with rodding from the lever frame.

Board 2 required three signals.  The starter on the departure line (the up line) was already in place, but I needed to make a signal for the arrival line.  This signal controlled the shunting of carriages over the crossover from the arrivals to departure platform, and the access to the loco yard and turntable.  So building this signal has occupied some time this week.

It is a bracket signal, with the main doll carrying the arm for the down main.  The other doll carries a 'calling on' arm to allow engines to run in to the yard to be turned whilst the main arm is 'on'.  If all that makes sense.

The basic signal was made for my Grassington layout, back in 1980 -ish, and would have been used for a similar purpose as now, so pre dates Canal Road.  However, I scrapped Gassington before I completed the signal.  Goes to show, never throw anything away.

The signals on this board will be worked by slow action point motors, since the underside of the board is cluttered with rodding to the various point work.

Here are a few pics of the electro magnets and lever frames, and the signal. Note the Midland roundels on the arms.  About this period the roundels were being gradually replaced with the conventional stripes, although some remained until the 1980's.  One example being a signal on the Leeds to Morecambe line, somewhere around Wennington Junction.  Of course, I, stupidly, never photographed it.

I will put some more piccies on as work progresses.

Derek

 

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I remember that level frame well on that grassington layout and it got alot of use!!!! Did we have working signals on the exhibition layout....I can't remember??

Edited by v8cpt
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Yes Chris, we had the signals working from a lever frame on the both Grassington and the exhibition layout. The two on the exhibition layout were really good ones, all brass and very solid. They went when I sold the layout. Pity really.

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