Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, eheaps said:

Apparently the condensing/compound combination worked pretty well for reducing steam in the tunnels.

 

A compound anyway has a softer exhaust than a simple, as, having extracted more energy from the steam, the exhaust pressure is lower.

[Annie]

35 minutes ago, eheaps said:

Apparently the condensing/compound combination worked pretty well for reducing steam in the tunnels.

Now that is interesting.  With historical railway modelling you learn something new every day.

[Annie]

Tonight I put my brave girl Tee shirt on and fitted the missing crossover into place on my TMR format 3 rail 'O' Gauge version of Minories.  The offending section was made up of six non working scenic 3 rail points which are tied together with a specially designed invisible track so that the points appear to be functional.  I made it extra difficult by having a conductor rail which needs to be individually threaded into place to make the wooden sleepered track look something like hand laid 3 rail track.

I have put together a fully assembled variety of semi plausible 3 rail track, but it's still being something of a problem child so I decided not to use it.

 

 

At first trying to adjust the existing track formation to fit in the new crossover rewarded me with a complete unholy mess, but I persisted with it and kept on with making adjustments one step at a time until the non functional pointwork was properly aligned.  Once that was done I adjusted the invisible track until it lined up neatly onto the centre contact rail.  It took awhile before I was happy with it and once it was done I locked the non functional pointwork layer and firmly clicked SAVE.

 

Working on it...

 

 

The only suitable 3 doll signal that I had was this GWR one, but think it will do just fine.

 

 

All of the Minories sessions seemed to be fine when I loaded them into the simulator.  I haven't done any test shunting yet, - and if there is anything wrong with the trackwork that will find it pretty quickly.

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Annie
More words needed.

[Annie]

One of the problems I have with 'O' Gauge Minories is that the curve under the street at the end of the layout was copied faithfully from C.J.F's original layout plan.  This is shockingly tight which means that engines and carriages have to be carefully selected in order for them to get around the curve without looking seriously untidy.  Unlike a model railway rolling stock won't derail on a tight curve in Trainz since it's following a single invisible thread built into the trackwork, but if the curve is too tight the wheels will give up all pretense of seeming to be running on the rails.

I've modified my generic teak 6 wheel coaches to mimic them having a Cleminson 6 wheel underframe and they only just squeak around the curve, but when it comes to bogie coaches the only ones that will get around the curve are my older set of shortie MET coaches based on the ones preserved on the Bluebell Railway.  Ed Heaps's lovely MET 'Dreadnoughts' wouldn't have a hope of making it around the curve unfortunately.

 

 

 

[Annie]

After digging around in my Trainz archives I found this.  It's the trackplan I used to create the Basemap from which I then constructed my version of 'Minories'.  I'm not sure where it came from, but my money is on one of the Minories threads here on RMWeb that suffered the gentle attentions of the picture eating monster.

I followed this plan fairly closely apart from somehow omitting one of the crossovers, - and I also added a turntable and extra sidings in the empty space in the middle of the loop.  It looks like the the plan was created around some variety of set track and it definitely would have been a right old flange squealer just like my one is.

 

[eheaps]

If you're still looking for Cut and cover tunnel pieces, check out the WL series from Mick_Berg

[Annie]

1 hour ago, eheaps said:

If you're still looking for Cut and cover tunnel pieces, check out the WL series from Mick_Berg

Thank you very much Ed, - I'll have a look at those now.

 

Edit: I found the Widened Lines thread in Freeware Announcements, but Mick's website is no longer active and there's nothing on the DLS.

Edited April 1, 2023 by Annie
More information

[eheaps]

Also just found a series by James73, just search "Cut & Cover"

[Annie]

3 hours ago, eheaps said:

Also just found a series by James73, just search "Cut & Cover"

I thought his tunnels might be suitable, but they are all featureless matt black boxes.  Thanks for pointing them out though as I found some other things he'd made that could be useful.

 

This photo taken inside the now derelict 1908 Wood Lane station shows the kind of construction I'm looking for.  More than likely the best way to do this kind of thing would be to fabricate it and then cover it over.

 

[Annie]

It's difficult to describe just how beautiful these models are.

 

[Annie]

No.1 is a wee bit far from home since it's usually found doing trip working along the Windweather Loop Line on my Norfolk layout.  Being a steady runner that's used to fiercely curved trackwork makes No.1 a good test engine for making sure I didn't make any mistakes with installing the new crossover.

I am relieved to report that various goods wagons were shunted about without anything alarming happening as I definitely didn't want to have to pull it all apart again.

 

[Annie]

A lovely birthday present from my son.  I have a secret liking for Vauclain Compounds.  This is an Australian one, but we had them here in New Zealand too.

 

 

N Class Baldwin steam locomotive NZR 27 after conversion to a Vauclain compound in 1895

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Annie
added a picture and more words needed

[Annie]

The birthday engine seen in its natural setting at Lilydale in 1910.  Not quite accurate since in 1910 Victorian Railways engines were painted Canadian Red not green.

The 1910 Healesville route for Trainz is a delightful classic created by some of the members of the  Australian N3V team and it's unusual in that the only available control option is the 'advanced' steam control set.  My first attempts at driving from the cab were interesting to say the least, but it didn't take me long to figure it out and now it's how I prefer to drive in Trainz.

 

[eheaps]

Latest A class is in Midland green livery. I'm sure @Compound2632 will have constructive feedback on my interpretation! I also have no idea what colour Midland carriages were in this period, so I went with red ones...

 

[Compound2632]

9 minutes ago, eheaps said:

Latest A class is in Midland green livery. I'm sure @Compound2632 will have constructive feedback on my interpretation! I also have no idea what colour Midland carriages were in this period, so I went with red ones...

 

This is said the be c. 1875, so probably Kirtley dark green - "Brunswick green" - Johnson's light green came in in 1876/7. The lining out (if you can see any in the photo) was black with fine white lines. (The same was used with the Johnson light green.)

 

 

[Embedded link to MRSC 66672.]

 

These are "after 1880" (Smith vacuum brake) so could be light green or red:

 

 

[Embedded link to MRSC 66670.]

 

 

[Embedded link to MRSC 66671.]

 

Summerson, Vol. 2, thinks No. 208 is red. On the version of this photo he reproduces, lining can clearly be seen on the boiler bands fore and aft of the dome, and a fine line (yellow if the engine is red) on the tank and bunker sides, inside the line of the rivets. So I think your version of the lining is pretty close, except that for a green engine it should be white. I think, though, that the front of the tank should be a green panel, wrapping round the corner, so that, again, the fine yellow/white line is just inside the rivets. 

 

In the red livery, the outside faces of inside frames were red; in Johnson's green livery, they were brown. Buffer beams carried M R in block letters.

 

This coloured Locomotive Publishing Co. postcard (this particular example is an Ian Allan reprint c. 1957) is generally thought to be an accurate representation of Johnson's green livery as applied to an engine of his design:

 

 

[Embedded link to MRSC 18257.]

 

Ref. G. Dow, Midland Style (HMRS, 1975).

[Compound2632]

51 minutes ago, eheaps said:

I also have no idea what colour Midland carriages were in this period, so I went with red ones...

 

Forgot to say, no change in Midland carriage livery (apart from some adjustment to placing of the MR and carriage number) from c. 1876 up to 1905, apart from an early simplification in the lining-out of the solebars from three round-end panels to one. 

 

Your carriages look to be a nice representation of the 27 ft 4-wheelers built for the Moorgate services. Some first class carriages in this style, with four compartments, were built in 1875 but the thirds and brake thirds, along with more firsts, came in 1884. These were formed in close-coupled sets BT/T/F/F/BT - ordinary coupling - BT/F/F/F/T/BT. Before this, Kirtley-period carriages were in use. 

 

Ref. Lacy & Dow, Midland Railway Carriages Vol. 2 (Wild Swan, 1986)

[eheaps]

Livery tweaked to be closer to that described above. The train is also reformed into the correct sets!

 

[Compound2632]

9 minutes ago, eheaps said:

Livery tweaked to be closer to that described above.

 

My description of the tank lining out wasn't clear enough. The vertical line of rivets at the front of the tank side should carry a black-edged-white line, likewise the vertical line of rivets just in front of the cab opening, so that the tank is divided into three green panels: the main tank side; the tank front and front corner; and the little bit that curves in at the cab opening.

  

9 minutes ago, eheaps said:

The train is also reformed into the correct sets!

 

Nice! And I like the correct headcoad board for Moorgate workings over the widened Lines.

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Compound2632

[eheaps]

Another livery tweak. Fortunately it can be changed much more easily on virtual model than a real one!

 

[Annie]

Sloane Square station at the end of the 19th century.

 

 

https://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/the-metropolitan-district-railway/3/

[Annie]

A useful discovery was this older LT&SR 5 plank wagon model from TS2004.  The textures hadn't been fitted properly to the wagon body mesh, but I was able to fix that fairly easily.

 

[Hroth]

7 hours ago, Annie said:

Sloane Square station at the end of the 19th century.

 

 

https://www.thehistoryoflondon.co.uk/the-metropolitan-district-railway/3/

Looks like we need to plaster the walls of our stations with a lot more posters!

 

[Annie]

41 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Looks like we need to plaster the walls of our stations with a lot more posters!

 

Yes we do!  I've been looking at old photos of London stations and the walls are covered in posters.

 

Fenchurch Street.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Annie
Um.........

[Compound2632]

St Pancras:

 

 

[Embedded link to catalogue thumbnail of MRSC 65121.]

[Annie]

10 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

St Pancras:

 

 

[Embedded link to catalogue thumbnail of MRSC 65121.]

Thanks for that Stephen.  I have no end of suitable posters I can use, but placing them on the station walls is going to be a right old nightmare.