Hills of the North - The Last Great Project

[Sasquatch]

On 09/11/2023 at 23:12, Barry O said:

The Heljan turntables are very smooth.. and quiet. Big enough to get a Princess or Duchess turned easily.

Not cheap but.. easy to operate.

 

Baz

 

On 08/11/2023 at 14:13, Sasquatch said:

That's well smooth! 😁

 

I'm glad that it's not just me who doesn't pick up on the jokes, even if mine are really corny! 

 

Thanks for the heads too up BTW. I doubt a Duchess would fit on the Wathers job I installed on Exchange. (Nearly splashed out on one last week too!)  

 

Anyway, it's going to add so much operational value to HOTN.

 

Regards Shaun.

[LNER4479]

Layout set back up again (for now). Given cancellation of Newcastle show (Grantham was due to attend), could run a special train ...

 

Viewed from the opposite side to normal (due to the sun), a 9F hauled goods train steadily climbs Shap. Doesn't look that special, does it?

 

But this train now runs straight down the opposite descent towards Carlisle, slowing for Carlisle No.13 junctions ...

 

... where it makes its way across to access the Upperby goods reception line.

 

From there, it moves cautiously forward into the roads leading towards Crown St goods yard, but just far enough to clear the junctions at Upperby No.12 box.

 

The yard pilot then springs into life, transferring cuts of wagons at a time into the main Upperby yard.

 

The train thus stabled, the train loco is free to reverse out to the loco depot.

 

And obviously gets to use the turntable (!)

Edited November 11, 2023 by LNER4479

[gr.king]

 

2 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Layout set back again (for now). Given cancellation of Newcastle show (Grantham was due to attend), could run a special train ...

 

And there I was getting mildly excited at the prospect of a proper LNER train.

[LNER4479]

Well, some of the recent effort was geared up to a running session today, in honour of the man from upsidedown land. Photography never easy when trying to oversee the running of a layout so I just grabbed a few shots when I could.

 

John Nuttall aka St Enodoc, in the company of another long time Leeds MRS compatriot, Barry O.

 

Others joined in the fray.

 

Jonathan seemed to delight in emptying Dentonholme goods yard.

 

Stanier Pacific's as always well to the fore. Princess Royal 46206 heads out from Central on the Birmingham-Glasgow as Duchess 46252 arrives with the Midday Scot.

 

Here's the full roll call. I think(?) everyone enjoyed themselves, plenty of trains were run and lots of new things learnt.

 

Onwards and upwards.

[LNER4479]

To explain a bit further (?)

 

This was set up as a (very) temporary arrangement, so as we could turn trains round at Upperby. The curved board is actually a rough cut of the board that will eventually be there - this will be removable so as to be able to get at Upperby yard and MPD. The nearest board is simply a Shap fiddle yard board put to use. In the fullness of time, the curve will continue round and cross over the Bog Junc tracks to align itself for the approach to Citadel station.

 

Passenger and goods train can be accommodated - obviously, in the case of passenger trains, coming off the goods lines is a bit of a nonsense (for now); the goods train alongside however is prototypically waiting for the road at Carlisle No.13 junction.

 

Birmingham-Glasgow passes southbound fish train on Shap bank.

 

Three for the price of one! A goods trains departs from Central bars said fish train from entering the station, whilst an ordinary passenger train approaches Upperby.

 

Later, the goods train is captured steadily climbing Shap.

 

[jwealleans]

On 11/11/2023 at 20:16, gr.king said:

And there I was getting mildly excited at the prospect of a proper LNER train.

 

@gr.king There was at least one proper LNER train.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Who was tea monitor in the absence of CM?

 

Mike.

[Barry O]

23 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Who was tea monitor in the absence of CM?

 

Mike.

We all took turns .. as any good team does!

 

We had a very good selection of cakes, home made biscuits, mini doughnuts etc...

 

Baz

[Barry O]

And I forgot the bacon butties (hand crafted by Red Leader) we had for lunch..

 

Many thanks to all contributors to the food emporium!

 

Baz

[Jesse Sim]

Can I come next time? 🥺

[Jesse Sim]

16 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

 

 

John Nuttall aka St Enodoc, in the company of another long time Leeds MRS compatriot, Barry O.

.

Are you sure it was a good idea pairing them two together and so far out of smacking distance RL? 

[Barry O]

1 minute ago, Jesse Sim said:

Can I come next time? 🥺

Bring cake!!!

Edited November 16, 2023 by Barry O

[gr.king]

6 hours ago, jwealleans said:

 

@gr.king There was at least one proper LNER train.

Rightly so. 🙂

[John76]

On 05/11/2023 at 21:45, LNER4479 said:

The Upperby operator gets control of a train from a handover length of track just before Carlisle No.13. Here, the demonstration train turns off the mainline and accesses the down goods reception line (despite it being a rake of coaches in this instance!). Independent goods lines immediately behind the train.

Graham

 

Is it possible to handover from one controller to another without stopping the train? Is it as simple as connecting two different controllers to the same piece of track or is there a bit more too it?

 

John

[LNER4479]

Well, back down to earth, after the 'high' of a running session.

 

But here's a train running? Ah, yes, well ... there was a bit of stock movement and sorting out required. Most of those moves are 'in the can' for periodic posting whilst more mundane work continues. So this is presented as the 'last train' (for now). 70054 'Dornoch Firth' has charge of the 'Waverley' through Bog Junction, en route to temporary stabling out of the way at Garsdale.

 

No more than 10 minutes later, and the line is severed (for now!). This lift out piece has turned out not to be ideal so is to be re-worked into a more practical arrangement.

 

With track (and some basic wiring) also now removed, the board is temporarily back in position to weigh up how best to re-work it. In the background the temporary tracks for the running session have been removed; you can see how the curve round from Upperby is heading towards the crossing of this board at the right end end.

 

No going back now - it's in two parts!

 

To be continued...

Edited November 18, 2023 by LNER4479

[LNER4479]

29 minutes ago, John76 said:

Graham

 

Is it possible to handover from one controller to another without stopping the train? Is it as simple as connecting two different controllers to the same piece of track or is there a bit more too it?

 

John

Thanks John.

 

The answer is 'Yes, but ...'

 

Much conversation on Wednesday over this. There's an instinctive urge to naturally want to keep the trains running but the whole idea is to hold them 'in section', to simulate them being en route (from one signalbox to another). As is being proved, the concept doesn't really work if you just run straight from one end to the other. Inevitably, one or more operator isn't ready so the train gets held anyway ... not always in the most practical place.

 

There are several places where trains go off-scene, underneath other boards. These are thus designated as holding points - in signalling terms, the 'block section'. As per prototype practice, the operator to whom the train is heading has responsibility for said section (as only they can say whether it is clear from the passage of the previous train). It WILL be possible to 'switch out' some of the these to enable continuous passage of trains when there are only a few operators (say) but otherwise, as described.

 

If there are plenty of trains out on the system then there's less trains clogging up 'the rest of the world' (ie Central station), enabling it to function more efficiently.

 

[jwealleans]

1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

If there are plenty of trains out on the system...

 

...  and then he wonders why I empty the yard.  

[Barry O]

9 hours ago, jwealleans said:

 

...  and then he wonders why I empty the yard.  

You need more shuntable trains...

 

Just saying ..

 

Baz

[ianathompson]

18 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

As is being proved, the concept doesn't really work if you just run straight from one end to the other. Inevitably, one or more operator isn't ready so the train gets held anyway ... not always in the most practical place.

 That makes sense.

It is how I operate my own (relatively large) layout.

Trains run onto an electrically switchable piece of track and wait for the next station to "catch up."

 

Ian T

[LNER4479]

So, here goes with the first batch 'from the can', whilst more mundane work proceeds. Took these using the 'proper' camera, as more of a milestone snapshot, if you like:

 

Here's how Upperby looked at the end of the running session. Goods yard with a nice selection of wagons to give a flavour of the future. Coaching stock only temporarily positioned to the left, as explained previously.

 

Anyhow, principle objective of the exercise was to remove stock from Upperby (for now) pending further development, so here's the first loco off shed(!) Hornby 'Hornby Dublo' die-cast 46252 (as originally subject to new product review by Tony Wright but now part of the HotN layout stud).

 

Backing down towards ... er ... temporarily positioned coaching stock(!) In years to come, this will of course be a common sight, backing down to Citadel to take over a southbound express.

 

The Midday Scot sets off southbound for London. Although here on the goods lines (out of temporarial necessity), this angle is pretty much how it'll be when properly on the main lines (in the foreground).

 

Now tackling the southbound climb to Shap, a gentler grade but a climb nonetheless. None of the trains appear to be having any problems whatsoever with this incline (@1-in-150). This will all get pretty-fied in due course although it doesn't depict any specific location.

 

And of course, you're all pretty familiar with this scene but always worth another camera frame.

 

Off to Warley this weekend, making a demonstration of myself on stand D29. Do say 'hi' if you're passing by.

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by LNER4479

[LNER4479]

Mini hiatus, due to Warley (nice to say 'hi' to a some followers of this thread🙂); however, there's been a bit of progress notwithstanding ...

 

From this ...

 

... to this. The fixed section of the removed board back in place. For keeps (legs affixed to the floor with rawl-plugged brackets). M&C and WCML bridge mock-ups temporarily plonked to show how this section of board is so key to the ongoing development of the 'Upperby onwards' phase of construction. The third bridge, taking the tracks into Crown Street goods depot will be immediately before the end of the board.

 

The other section is a simple removable flap, both as the last piece to be dropped in when removing the boards top left, and also to allow easy access into the Upperby area.

 

Talking of which ...

 

Removable flap propped up against legs bottom right.

This now allows space to begin setting out the all-important curve of the independent (avoiding) goods lines, linking the Upperby complex to Bog Junc.

In use here is my trusty 3 foot radius double track template. There's a lot to cogitate over so I left it like this overnight. There's gradients involved (fancy that!) but most mind-focussing of all is the fact that where I'm standing is where the tail lift of the Luton van goes when loading up for an exhibition!! Everything else works better the further towards me this curve is positioned.

 

No-one ever said this was gonna be easy ...

[30368]

 

Really lovely carpet but not as nice as the salmon pink with large quantities of copper wire etc etc scatter that I have. The cushions look good too, essential kit for that enjoyable "under board" wiring job. Brilliant work that is cajoling me into re-starting my "under board" tasks. I hate it!

 

PS I was going to say that the vacuum looked a bit forlorn but the carpet looks clean.....

 

Kind regards,

 

30368

[jwealleans]

1 hour ago, 30368 said:

the vacuum looked a bit forlorn

 

That vacuum is utterly indestructible.   It's the Tardigrade of domestic appliances.

[30368]

2 hours ago, jwealleans said:

It's the Tardigrade of domestic appliances.

 

So as supplied to Time Lords? No wonder it just goes on and on....

 

Kind regards,

 

30368

[jwealleans]