Jump to content
 

To’N’bridge West Yard


carlw
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 2 months later...

Hi all,

 

Been ages again since I have last posted on here, that’s not to say that work hasn’t been progressing.

 

Construction work with micro strip has been completed on the bridge and tonight I have given all of one side a coat of paint. I will add a photo of this once all paint work is complete.

 

I have also been painting some of the building previously shown in past pages.

 

A new item for the yard is the Cowan’s shilden hand crane that never left its position in the C&W siding. Please excuse the section of 3rd rail that I have just noticed that the glue has popped off in the cold we have had.

 

post-7442-0-11751600-1525024933_thumb.jpeg

 

I have also started work on the A frame hand crane that was used for changing wheel sets. This started life as a White metal kit but I have had to add some Plastruct to extend its length as it has to cover a width of 3 tracks.

 

post-7442-0-23266900-1525025039_thumb.jpg

 

Most of the rest of the work I have been doing is rolling stock, which I will post updates on my Hither Green thread.

 

Cheers

 

Carl

  • Like 9
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Hi All,

 

A big update for this layout.

 

Several months ago a friend spoke to me about the layout and sowed a seed that has germinated and grown and after a enjoyable weekend away at Lydd Rail. The decision has been made.

 

When I started this project all I wanted was a layout I could construct and operate at home by myself. Since then I have met and made several friends who have helped and encouraged me and long may this continue. But it has really opened my eyes to one big mistake I have made with the layout, which is that the layout is not portable and i would not be able to move it if I have to or not be able to exhibit it and at this point in time to rectify this with what I have would prove impossible. So this layout is going to be deconstructed.

 

Now where does this leave me and what is the plan going forward?

 

Well I still really want to model TWY so that stays. I have done several measurements of the loft and the loft hatch, this has left me with an area of 19’x10’ with a loft hatch access that is 32” square.

 

This weekend I sat down with Michel,Andy and Steve and we made a plan in Anyrail for the layout. It will use six 4’ x 2’6” boards to construct a L shape layout that is 18”6’ x 8’. When Michel gets home he is going to forward me copies of the plan and I will upload a copy of the trackplan for you all.

 

Cheers

 

Carl

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

In the loft hatch?

It does seem like quite a generous sized hatch. The one in the house where I built Hedges Hill Cutting was just 22" square (IIRC). The layout had to fit through the loft as, my wife at the time, wouldn't allow it to be stored in the house (except the loft). The previous two layouts, one a coffee table type, were dismantled and burnt in the garden.

 

G

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi all,

 

As promised Michel has sent me the Anyrail file of the new layout plan.

 

post-7442-0-48133900-1532779033_thumb.jpeg

 

When designing this several factors were discussed and incorporated or omitted from the final plan.

 

The biggest defining factors are the space available and the size of the loft hatch. Both of which I mention in the previous post.

 

As the end goal now is to have a layout that is exhibitalble I wanted to make it significantly different from Paul’s version.

 

So here is some of the things we discussed.

 

Turning the yard around so that it is viewed from the north side as such putting the main running tracks to the rear of the layout. This will cause me some minor issues as some of the building I built will need to be redone as the were built to be viewed the other way round and I cheated on them.

 

Back dating the trackplan to pre 93 when the modernisation work was done and the Redhill line was electrified. This means that all passenger services on the mains will be either Dmu or Demu.

 

Adding in the junction from the yard to the mains and the DMU stabling track at the Tonbridge end of the yard, both of these will add a significant amount of operational interest.

 

A lot of the talk has been around how to do the fiddle yard. The first option was to have a normal roundy roundy but the problem with this is that the operating well would have been to small. So we settled on a pair of dumbbells with associated fans of sidings.

 

Hope that covers most of the plans, if anyone has any questions or comment please feel free.

 

Cheers

 

Carl

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

Good and bad news.

 

Most of the plain track that was ballasted isn’t coming up.

 

Good news though is that all the unballasted track and all of the points (even those that were ballasted) have come up ok.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Good and bad news.

 

Most of the plain track that was ballasted isn’t coming up.

 

Good news though is that all the unballasted track and all of the points (even those that were ballasted) have come up ok.

 

Carl,

Are you spraying the track & ballast with water? That usually breaks things up.

Cheers.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi all,

 

As promised Michel has sent me the Anyrail file of the new layout plan.

 

attachicon.gif067BF665-F388-4AD0-97A5-F4BB7C50BBFD.jpeg

 

 

Hope that covers most of the plans, if anyone has any questions or comment please feel free.

 

Cheers

 

Carl

Carl,

Have you thought how you will run trains? I am not sure the few loops at the Redhill end will form a big enough fiddle. You have a bigger fiddle at the Ashford end but  the less at the other end will mean trains will have to return quickly after arriving. In the prototype more trains go to and from Redhill than from the Ashford end. Balancing the fiddles in a "U" shape could improve operation. You might have space to continue the mainline up to the headshunts if you reshaped the fiddle too.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Carl,

Are you spraying the track & ballast with water? That usually breaks things up.

Cheers.

Yes I have sprayed several litres of water all over the ballast and trying to go careful with a mixture of tools.

 

Cheers

Link to post
Share on other sites

Carl,

Have you thought how you will run trains? I am not sure the few loops at the Redhill end will form a big enough fiddle. You have a bigger fiddle at the Ashford end but  the less at the other end will mean trains will have to return quickly after arriving. In the prototype more trains go to and from Redhill than from the Ashford end. Balancing the fiddles in a "U" shape could improve operation. You might have space to continue the mainline up to the headshunts if you reshaped the fiddle too.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers.

Paul,

 

One of the limiting factors has been the shape of the loft. At what would be the Redhill end the chimney breast sticks out 6’ so prevents that end of the loft being used to make a U shape.

 

The loops at the redhill end are the following lengths 96” , 88” and 79” and the 2 dead ends are 22” with this size the loops will be split into several sections probably 30” in length. That would mean I could have 7 or 8 trains that end and any one time.

 

I take on board what your saying and agree that in a perfect world a U shape would work better, but it’s a compromise that the loft shape is dictating. One option I could do is lay a point in the outer loop that could lead to an extra board that is only used while at shows.

 

The layout will be wired so that up to 4 operators can run it 2 in the yard and 1on each main. But it could also be run by just 2 at a show. With that in mind it could take a while for the 8 trains at the redhill end to cycle round.

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Carl

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Carl,

Have you thought how you will run trains? I am not sure the few loops at the Redhill end will form a big enough fiddle. You have a bigger fiddle at the Ashford end but  the less at the other end will mean trains will have to return quickly after arriving. In the prototype more trains go to and from Redhill than from the Ashford end. Balancing the fiddles in a "U" shape could improve operation. You might have space to continue the mainline up to the headshunts if you reshaped the fiddle too.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers.

 

We could have done with this advice when we were discussing your plans a couple of weeks back, Carl, although I'm not quite sure who this "Lyddrail" bloke is, nor his authority on matters regarding TWY.  Your plan looks sound - It must be, it's had the Farmer Seal of Approval! (Still think you should lay the junction for Sevenoaks though - "Track can be scenery too!"

 

Cheers, Andy.

Edited by theplasticbrummy
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

All

You need extra space at the station (Ashford) end as you’ll have units that go into the jubilee sidings and also the trains for the yard itself so these won’t go up to Redhill end. Granted trains entering the yard from the Redhill end May of already passed going the other way but you can’t have everything. Plus you’ve got to think the punters watching will move on after a bit anyway and come back later for another look. All looks good to me.

Steve

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Hi All,

 

So it’s been ages since I last made a post on here, but today the rebuild took a massive leap forward and all the boards and legs have been constructed. My father in law has been a great help today as his workshop is a treasure trove full of any tool you need.

 

We did have a problem with the pattern maker dowels even though we did it the correct way, it seemed that some of the males just wouldn’t line up with the females. But we got there in the end.

 

post-7442-0-22912500-1541875953_thumb.jpeg

 

post-7442-0-46064700-1541876248_thumb.jpeg

 

Cheers

 

Carl

  • Like 5
Link to post
Share on other sites

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...