Cromford Wharf Shunting layout - structures and scenery

[Bogie]

Not sure what it is but that ain't no cellar/workshop.

 

Good place to hide Easter eggs though.  Mind you it might be some years before they are found.

[2mmMark]

Such precision mate, that is so professional, and NOT a Hot Glue Gun or any 6 inch nails in sight.

 

Well done Al.

 

A previous layout of mine was assembled using "impact located steel percussion dowels".   2" & 3" ones. 

 

However, I agree, top quality woodwork for one of my favourite railway subjects.

Edited April 16, 2017 by 2mmMark

[Alister_G]

One thing I didn't do yesterday was attack the lateral members with a soffit cutter to further lighten the structure.

 

However, a quick half-an-hour this morning soon put that right.

 

I can see what EnterprisingWestern meant about aircraft construction, now...

 

 

 

The split end of the broken one has now been glued together with PVA, and a fierce bulldog is holding it together:

 

 

I have to go and cook Sunday dinner now, but I'll be putting the whole thing together this afternoon.

 

Al.

[Enterprisingwestern]

Well done Biggles .

 

Mike.

[westerhamstation]

Hi Chippendale, nice bit of joinery, you might want to get Rentokil in to sort out those big woodworm that have bored holes in your framework. All the best T.Imber.

[5BarVT]

I received an exasperated sigh, and a quelling look, which leads me to believe that further sanctions may be exercised in the future...

 

Al.

I can get those too!

Paul.

[Alister_G]

A previous layout of mine was assembled using "impact located steel percussion dowels".   2" & 3" ones. 

 

 

Nice! I like that one, I  may use it in future

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Due to the weather, and other distractions, I wasn't able to do quite what I wanted, today.

 

I did however manage to get the board framework screwed and glued together:

 

 

 

Hopefully tomorrow, I can fix down the trackbed, and lay some cork, and start laying track!

 

However, in the meantime I was curious to investigate the incline.

 

Sheep's Pasture Incline, which goes from the Cromford canal side, up the hill towards Middleton and the quarries above Wirksworth, was the steepest on the line, with a gradient of 1:8 to 1:9.

 

So I set up a 6 foot board, (180cm) with one end 22cm high, which is near enough 1:8.

 

 

For testing, I'm having to use a Bachmann Jinty, as my J94 isn't DCC chipped yet, so I thought I'd compare the relative weights:

 

The Jinty weighs 196g:

 

 

 

and the J94 weighs 200g:

 

 

 

So whatever the Jinty can do, the J94 should match, or surpass.

 

Sadly, things did not go well.

 

The loco on its own would happily storm up and down the incline, with one empty Hornby wagon it was still fine, but with two wagons it just span its wheels and even slipped back slightly!

 

 

However, all is not lost. This was with the locomotive starting on the incline. If starting on the flat, and given I'm only modelling about eight inches of the incline, it might still be possible for a loco to push a prototypical load up onto the level section off scene. We'll have to see.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Gordon A]

Why not equip your incline with a balanced motorised winch system with a runner truck for each track?

 

Gordon A

[Alister_G]

Why not equip your incline with a balanced motorised winch system with a runner truck for each track?

 

Gordon A

 

It does sound like a fun little project. If I model the incline as a separate module, I can complete the main board and then see what I can come up with to make a working incline.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[Andrew P]

Morning Al, Here's some pics from a similar sort of Layout I saw at the Wirksworth Show back in 2008, and that worked with 3 Wagons.

 

 

 

 

[Stubby47]

Just had a read through the thread, and this looks a great little project.

[Alister_G]

Morning Al, Here's some pics from a similar sort of Layout I saw at the Wirksworth Show back in 2008, and that worked with 3 Wagons.

DSCF1001.jpg

 

DSCF1012.jpg

 

DSCF1002.jpg

 

Thanks Bodge, that looks a great little layout, quite similar to the C&HPR in some ways.

 

Hope you have a good time at you club's open day today.

 

Al.

Edited April 17, 2017 by acg_mr

[Alister_G]

Just had a read through the thread, and this looks a great little project.

 

Thanks very much Stu, glad you like it.

 

I have to say that part of the inspiration for doing this came from following Tinner's Forge, it made me want to do an industrial type scene.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[Marcus 37]

Blimey Al, you have been busy. That's a cracking job you've made of the base boards. This really is coming along at a great rare of knots now. Shall look forward to seeing the track going down.

Cheers

Marcus

[Alister_G]

Cheers Marcus, your wish is my command!

 

I'm afraid the weather is being unkind, today, so after delicate negotiations (and only minor injuries)  I've co-opted the front room for a short while to set the board up and carry on.

 

I started by placing the plywood sheets which form the trackbed and banks of the canal on the frame:

 

 

 

I then screwed them down, and started laying out the turnouts, to make sure that none of the business ends lay over a crossmember.

 

 

However, I realised that I'm two points and a short crossing missing, which I ordered last week, but they didn't turn up on Saturday as I'd hoped, so I can't really start cutting the C & L flexi to length until I know for sure where everything goes. so that brought the track laying session to a quick close.

 

As a compromise, I did lay a roll of cork, and start cutting it to shape, so at least I've achieved something:

 

 

It's obviously one of those days when fate is trying to tell me not to do railway modelling, as when I was editing the pictures above, I realised I hadn't cut down the plywood at the front of the layout. This, which forms the eastern bank of the canal, should only be wide enough for a towpath, between the canal and the edge of the board. As it is at the moment, you could fit a motorway on there. 

 

I had meant to trim a strip off it, but forgot.

 

This means that the main trackbed is now fixed too far back on the frame, with not enough room for the hill, and road.

 

So I'm going to have to unscrew both pieces, trim the front one, and re-position the back one. Oh, and the lease of the front room has expired

 

Damn, and double-damn.

 

Al.

[Mikkel]

That's a shame Al, that sort of thing can be so annoying, especially when you are operating on limited time. But hopefully just a hiccup on what is clearly a very attractive project. It will be interesting to hear your further experiences with the incline, it always amazes me how just one single wagon can have so much effect!

[Alister_G]

That's a shame Al, that sort of thing can be so annoying, especially when you are operating on limited time. But hopefully just a hiccup on what is clearly a very attractive project. It will be interesting to hear your further experiences with the incline, it always amazes me how just one single wagon can have so much effect!

 

Thanks Mikkel.

 

I've redeemed my mojo a bit by going and doing some work on Grindleford, and I'll leave Cromford till the extra turnouts have turned up, and then I'll face it.

 

I was resistant to making a working incline at first, but actually it's just the sort of project I enjoy, and I've already got some ideas buzzing, although it will be a while before I get to that point.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[bescotbeast]

Thanks Mikkel.

 

I've redeemed my mojo a bit by going and doing some work on Grindleford, and I'll leave Cromford till the extra turnouts have turned up, and then I'll face it.

 

I was resistant to making a working incline at first, but actually it's just the sort of project I enjoy, and I've already got some ideas buzzing, although it will be a while before I get to that point.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

Lets face it Al, you love challenges and I'm looking forward to seeing what you devise for the incline.

[Alister_G]

Lets face it Al, you love challenges and I'm looking forward to seeing what you devise for the incline.

 

Curses, you've discovered my cunning plan!

 

Cheers Simon!,

 

Al.

[Enterprisingwestern]

I'm sorry, but I'm now thinking of Colditz, you haven't starched your pyjamas with porridge have you. Is it all a cunning plan to escape the authorities?!

 

MIke.

[Alister_G]

I'm sorry, but I'm now thinking of Colditz, you haven't starched your pyjamas with porridge have you. Is it all a cunning plan to escape the authorities?!

 

MIke.

 

If I starch my pyjamas with porridge (even if only by accidental spillage) I rather think the authorities would take punitive action, and take away my modelling rights for an extended period!

 

Al.

Edited April 17, 2017 by acg_mr

[Enterprisingwestern]

Are you aware of the Model Rail articles on Cromford Wharf, around issue 220 ISTR?

Apologies if this has been mentioned, CBA to trawl through the thread!

 

Mike.

[Alister_G]

Are you aware of the Model Rail articles on Cromford Wharf, around issue 220 ISTR?

Apologies if this has been mentioned, CBA to trawl through the thread!

 

Mike.

 

Thanks Mike, no I don't think they've been mentioned. I'll have to look them out.

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

This evening, I've been performing some delicate surgery.

 

Here's the victim patient: my Dapol J94, which is going to be converted to DCC.

 

 

So firstly, let's dismantle the loco. The body is held on by two screws under the bunker at the back (one each side of the footplate, not those on the chassis):

 

 

and a screw in the chimney at the front:

 

 

After undoing those, the body lifts off, although care needs to be taken as there are two clips at the front of the cab which locate in the running plate. Here's what comes off:

 

 

and here's what's left

 

 

 

Next, we need to remove the weight. Two more screws hold this to the chassis:

 

 

With the weight out of the way, we can see the top of the motor, and the only place we can put a DCC chip:

 

 

 

In this well at the front of the boiler.

 

The only problem is, the weight has a large lump on its underside which fills this at the moment:

 

 

 

 

This is the DCC Chip we'll be  using:

 

 

 

and here's proof it just fits in the chosen location:

 

 

 

But not until we've done something with the weight!

 

So here it is in a vice:

 

 

and with the lump sawn off:

 

 

and then filed flat:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, back to the loco. Here, I've removed the keeper plates and released and removed the motor, so we can see the wiring from the pickups:

 

 

On the chip, we've separated the wires out, and cut off short the ones we don't want. These will be insulated and taped under the chip out of the way.

 

We only need to keep the Red, Black, Orange and Grey wires.

 

 

Now we can unsolder the pickup wires from the motor:

 

 

We then solder the wires from the DCC chip to the motor. We want the Orange and Grey ones to the motor. You can see I've fed the orange wire through the motor keeper plate:

 

 

Then, we solder the pickup wires from the track to the Red and Black wires on the chip:

 

 

Then we insulate all the joints, and tuck it all away under the chip, and then the chip in the well:

 

 

 

Now we can put the modified weight back on the chassis, and check it all fits:

 

 

 

At this point I took the loco off to my test track, to make sure it ran OK on DCC, and happily it did.

 

Whilst I had the body off, I took the opportunity to add a crew. These are die-cast metal figures:

 

 

Then I re-attached the body, and here she is ready for work:

 

 

 

I was concerned that chopping a lump off the cast weight might have reduced the total weight of the loco, but in actual fact, with the addition of the chip, and the crew, it's now 1 gramme heavier than when we started!

 

 

So a successful evening's work, and a DCC chipped J94 for Cromford. I suppose I'd better build the layout, soon

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.