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

[Annie]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Cost more than that here!

 

"Anyone lighting the fuse on illegal fireworks faces a fine of almost $40,000 and one year in prison, the NSW government has warned, as it promised a tough "zero tolerance" approach this New Year's Eve."

Sounds sensible to me.  Both the hospitals and the fire brigade here in NZ are heartily fed up with idiots hurting themselves and others with fireworks.

[Annie]

And back to the train set.  I know that No. 9017 didn't carry that nameplate when it was under GWR ownership, but I don't care too much about that.  Perhaps in my timeline the Earl of Berkeley didn't much fancy having his name on a Castle and chose a Dukedog instead.

 

 

New Year's cheer up present.  A GWR 4200 class tank engine! 

To tell the complete truth I've got three of them, - but this is the shirtbutton one, - No. 4247. Edit:  From lot 203 built 1916-17.

Just the thing for shifting coal about in South Wales.

 

 

The 56xx's are getting on with it as well.  For older models they are nice runners.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2 by Annie
more to say

[Annie]

A test run with my new class 4200 tank engine.  No.4247 had outside steam pipes which meant that it was a 5200 conversion, - and that was a bit late for what I wanted.   So I had to choose No.4270 from the magic interactive scripting thing in order to have a 'shirtbutton' 4200 class that had its steam passages secretly hidden away like a modest engine should.  That makes it one of the 24 from lot 213 built in 1919-1920. 

No.4270 never got converted to outside steam pipes and is a Barry scrapyard survivor.

 

 

[Annie]

I hate our Summer.  It was a real struggle to wake up this morning and to stay awake.  Fortunately the afternoon was cooler for a change and i was able to get some work done on my latest project in 'Tristyn in Winter'.

 

This is Secombe station. It's a double island platform station and the platform on the right hand side (3 & 4) was almost completed when I took this snap.  The other platform (1& 2) is in its original state.

 

 

Another snap of the nearly completed platform 3 & 4.  The GWR island platform canopy, the brick and timber built buildings (and the Smiths kiosk) are older models from Trainz TS2004, but despite that they still look the part.  Platform 1 & 2 will be following the same format more or less.

After I took these snaps I installed a footbridge between the platforms and across to the town.  Previously passengers had to risk their lives crossing the tracks and clamber over a concrete wall in order to get home. 

 

 

I became so absorbed in what I was doing I forgot to make myself a cup of tea (shock horror!) and get myself something to eat.  Trainz is very much my happy place when I'm not feeling well and rebuilding Secombe station into something more appropriately Great Western like certainly made me happy this afternoon.

(The town has been getting a wee bit of rebuilding too)

Edited January 3 by Annie
can't spell for toffee

[Annie]

Secombe is pretty much done and dusted I think.  You should be able to see the new goods shed in the distance.  It's not quite ready yet to have pictures taken of it.  'Tristyn in Winter' in its original form with only two stations having sorting yards and no goods shed at all was fairly depressing for someone like me who likes shunting and trip working.  Hopefully I'll be able to fix that by continuing to work my way around the layout and putting things to rights.

 

 

The view from the other direction.

 

 

And one of several 14xx's on the layout.  In this snap you can see that the old Trainz TS2004 station buildings' textures are fairly low resolution when seen up close.  I'd like to see if I could revise and improve them some time when I feel like doing some texture work again.

 

 

 

[Schooner]

Fighting the urge to post this

in the narrow gauge forum...so thought I'd post it here instead1

[Annie]

7 hours ago, Schooner said:

Fighting the urge to post this

in the narrow gauge forum...so thought I'd post it here instead1

Brilliant! - what a great cheer up picture, - thank you.  Photos of GWR timber stations with an over roof are so rare.  And look at that baulk road track, - absolutely wonderful.

 

One or two other stations on 'Tristyn in Winter' might end up with a timber over roof the same as what Branwyn now has.

[Annie]

Another of Steve Flanders excellent GWR goods sheds.  This one is based on the shed at Risca.

 

I tried doing cart tracks in the snow, but it looked like nothing on earth and a right mess, - so I worked the area over with various dirty snow textures instead.

 

 

 

 

Something that did annoy me with this layout was that were there were sidings there wasn't any headshunt track so that in most cases the only way to shunt the sidings was to use the running lines as a headshunt.  Apart from that should a wagon roll away there was nothing to stop it from ending up on the running lines.

So that's been another job for me to do, but at least I'm ending up with a layout where it's possible for me to indulge in a nice trip working session.

 

 

[Tom Burnham]

As I understand it, headshunts weren't an absolute requirement, and there were plenty of places where you had to use the main running line(s) for shunting. Sidcup on the South Eastern Railway Dartford Loop line only acquired a headshunt in the 1930s (a few years after electrification) when housebuilding took off in the area. But clearly it would be better to avoid shunting on the main line if it was busy, both for safety and avoiding delays to through trains.

[Annie]

1 hour ago, Tom Burnham said:

As I understand it, headshunts weren't an absolute requirement, and there were plenty of places where you had to use the main running line(s) for shunting. Sidcup on the South Eastern Railway Dartford Loop line only acquired a headshunt in the 1930s (a few years after electrification) when housebuilding took off in the area. But clearly it would be better to avoid shunting on the main line if it was busy, both for safety and avoiding delays to through trains.

I agree that it wasn't any kind of hard and fast rule to have a headshunt Tom.  My own Norfolk light railways and tramways are wonderfully innocent of headshunts, - but then they are often working with one engine in steam, - or perhaps two at the most, - and speeds are usually no more than 20 mph if that.

While Tristyn does have one or two sleepy branchlines and a secondary line that's single track in parts and meanders all over the landscape in a most unhurried manner, - the same can't be said for the mainline.  That has the potential to be very busy and speeds are a lot higher.  I don't much fancy trying to shunt a goods yard that uses the running line as a headshunt when I can hear the sound of a Star or a Saint approaching at speed in the distance.

And then as you say there's the delays to traffic and making sure that for my part a goods train is ready and able to take its open spot in the timetable when it should.

[Annie]

The next station on my list that i wanted to tidy up was Saint Elain.  There really was a Saint Elain by the way, - a Welsh saint who founded a church in North Wales circa 450.  So I'd best mind my 'P's' and 'Q's' and make a proper job of this station.

 

I intended to use a Brunel timber over roof  anyway but while rummaging around I found the old Frome station model that I retextured and tidied up some time ago.  I'd made use of it for an 1880's Cornwall project so for the present time it might confuse the locals somewhat until I can redo the sign.

 

Otherwise I think it all went together very well and I've even given the village a little tidy up as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Annie]

51xx Large Prairie 5181 at Gwladys Ddu MPD.   I never got to use my Large Prairies on my Cornwall lines since they weren't really ever seen much in Cornwall.  They are doing good work on the main line on 'Tristyn in Winter', but aren't very happy if they have to work over the layout's more 'interesting' trackwork around the colliery lines or in Branwyn yard.

 

 

Fireman's side cab view on 56xx 0-6-2T No. 5665 while on a trip run to Valleyfields.  I can vary the weather conditions to fine weather, light snow, medium snow and heavy snow.  This is the light snow setting.  I've tried driving in medium snow, which has a lot less visibility as you might expect, - and with heavy snow it gets so I wish that Trainz had working fogmen on the job.

I particularly wanted my 56xx's for 'Tristyn in Winter' with them being Welsh engines and well suited to working over the layout's 'interesting' trackwork, - only I have a strange problem with them.  No. 5665 works perfectly, but 5640 and 5667 have a weird fault with either not wanting to run at all or else not moving while the wheels are still rotating.  5667 seemed to be running Ok at first, but then seemed to 'forget' its magic incantations that make it function and derailed itself by crashing into some wagons it was supposed to be shunting.

Both are in the naughty corner in the back of the engine shed at the moment until I can figure out what's wrong with them.

 

[Annie]

Valleyfields station and township were next on my list.   Fixing the town wasn't too bad.  It was mostly about sorting out a haphazard collection of plonk down buildings and making them look more like a town instead of a child's discarded toys.

The station itself wasn't too bad either and it was mostly about rearranging things a little better.  The platform fences were changed for a better model, generic benches for changed for GWR  monogram ones; - platform 1 got gifted a small parcels office and platform 2 got given a GWR iron pagoda.  And lucky last the very old generic footbridge from Trainz Unlimited days was exchanged for one made from Steve Flanders kit of part.

Edit:  I forgot to mention that the engine shed was replaced as well and given the basic means for locomotive servicing.

 

The major fly in the ointment though was what was intended to be a large sawmill assembled from a collection of industrial buildings.   The only problem was it didn't look like a sawmill at all and it covered a lot of ground with an amazing assortment of clutter.  There were two interactive loading and unloading tracks of a diabolical design that I've never been able to get to work properly, - and one was intended to accept logs and the other to produce sawn timber of various kinds.

As I still wanted to have a sawmill at Valleyfields, my solution was to download a large well made model of a sawmill with two interactive tracks preset to do the same job and use that instead.  The interactive loading tracks more or less lined up with what was already there, - and with the added advantage that I now had space for a goods shed and a cattle dock without having to rearrange the station.

 

 

The goods shed is a timber built shed based on the one at Bourton on the Water.  The cattle dock is just one that I happen to like and tend to use because it has the right look to it.

 

 

Various snaps taken of the station.  Something I suppose you are all wondering about is why all the various buildings' roofs on the layout have not a trace of snow.  I did start to change some buildings to their snowy roofed version, but the problem was that if I changed one building I would have had to do every single building on the layout or else it would have looked downright strange.  And since not every building for Trainz has a snowy roofed version I didn't really want to make snowy roofed versions of dozens of buildings that didn't have one.  Sooooo I decided to leave well alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 5 by Annie
added a picture, wrote more words

[Annie]

No. 5665 seen at Valleyfields.  Its unfortunate brake van is suffering from Arial Fonts disease.

 

[Edwardian]

I did wonder about show on the roofs, but this is non-essential and consistency is best.

 

As this layout makes me cold just looking at it, I think we can say it works!

[Compound2632]

On 04/01/2024 at 01:39, Annie said:

 

That's a very nice signalbox...

[Annie]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

That's a very nice signalbox...

The original layout builder has used that particular Midland signal box just about everywhere. 

The problem being that Trainz has a huge selection of different Midland signal boxes thanks to the S&C project, - a slightly less extensive collection of N.E.R. signal boxes due to another project where almost every type of northern area N.E.R. signal box was commissioned, -  but very few GWR signal boxes.

 

Most of the GWR signal boxes available are larger post grouping types and those smaller types that are available have been modelled from very specific locations that couldn't in any way be called typical.

Faced with that the original layout builder chose to use a Midland signal box and i can't really blame him for doing that  I do have a similar sized signal box, - only it's an ex-B&ER signal box so not exactly useful for GWR line somewhere in Wales.

 

If I can find a suitable drawing I might be able to make something that will do as a replacement.

 

Edit:  A signal box by Saxby & Farmer or McKenzie & Holland would be ideal.  There is a model for Trainz of the well known Saxby & Farmer signal box at Tenterden on the K&ESR which is suitable if a little small for some locations.  BUT the poor old thing has been used soooo often on Uk Trainz layouts it's become an 'Oh no not that signal box again' eye roll event.

Edited January 5 by Annie
Can't spell for toffee and needed to say more.

[Annie]

12 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I did wonder about snow on the roofs, but this is non-essential and consistency is best.

I found some terrace houses on the layout today that had snowy roofs.  They were in amongst other houses with no snow on their roofs and they looked completely strange and out of place.

I'm going to change them out for some no-snow houses because as you say consistency is the best approach when it comes to scenery.

 

 

An old stager from my collection.  A 43xx Mogul from the 1913 batch that would be at severe danger of being broken up to make a Grange at the post grouping time period of this layout session.  It's an old Paulz Trainz model from Trainz TS2004 days and it could do with a jolly good tidy up and sort out.  Its original tender was fairly dire so it's now got a narrow body 3000 gallon tender off something else in my digital scrapbox.  Possibly a Dean Goods, - not too sure now, - can't remember.

 

That said though it runs really well and is nice to drive.  It certainly would be useful enough on this imaginary Welsh layout of mine as like the real world location some of the trackwork on 'Tristyn in Winter' is tightly curved in places and a bit 'interesting'.

I took this snap while I was using No. 4334 to test out the newly repaired interactive log loader in the forest as well as the other interactive bits and pieces at the new saw mill.; - Valleyfields Steam Saw Mills.

 

 

 

[Annie]

I was out trip working again yesterday afternoon with faithful old 5665.  I've always said that doing trip working is the best way to discover if a layout is working properly or not and I have to say that I've discovered a fair old collection of faults that needed fixing.  Most have had to do with signals, - and since the signals actually work in Trainz if they aren't clearing when they should it indicates that something is wrong.

Something Trainz uses is direction markers, - or 'don't go that way you stupid idiot' markers.  The AI controls in Trainz aren't very bright and there are some legacy glitches that nobody at N3V seems to want to fix.  Direction markers can help  with keeping scheduling on track so trains go where they should, but when wrongly placed they can prevent a signal from clearing. 

I did eventually find the direction marker that was causing the problem, but along the way the signals got a good tidy up as well.

 

 

 

14xx and autocoaches lurking at St Elain.  I've been sorting out the basic passenger schedule for the Melangell branch.  It's all fairly simple with passenger trips from Branwyn to a small BLT out on the coast.  Melangell station will only need a small tidy up and I'll be installing a goods shed as usual since it hasn't got one.

 

[Annie]

On 06/01/2024 at 06:37, Annie said:

Edit:  A signal box by Saxby & Farmer or McKenzie & Holland would be ideal.  There is a model for Trainz of the well known Saxby & Farmer signal box at Tenterden on the K&ESR which is suitable if a little small for some locations.  BUT the poor old thing has been used soooo often on Uk Trainz layouts it's become an 'Oh no not that signal box again' eye roll event.

Saxby & Farmer signal box for Tenterden on the right;  WCR Helston signal box modded by me to be a timber built signal box (I also have the original brick based model); And the Midland signal box presently doing duty on the layout.

 

 

Saxby & Farmer platform signal box on the left;  An attempt I made at re-texturing it on the right.

 

Both the S&F Tenterden signal box and the S&F platform signal box are old models from the earliest days of Trainz.  I made an attempt to re-texture the Tenterden signal box some time ago, only for some reason the windows became coloured in as well and were no longer transparent.

 

[Tom Burnham]

The Tenterden Town signal box was originally at Chilham (South Eastern Railway). It's interesting that it was actually a fairly generic design.

[Annie]

5 minutes ago, Tom Burnham said:

The Tenterden Town signal box was originally at Chilham (South Eastern Railway). It's interesting that it was actually a fairly generic design.

Both Saxby & Farmer signal boxes and McKenzie and Holland signal boxes were used on the GWR and constituent companies due to railway expansion in the last decades of the 19th century being more than their own works could cope with.  Both types certainly got around all over the map.

 

https://old.signalbox.org/gallery/mckh.htm

 

https://old.signalbox.org/gallery/sf.htm

[Annie]

These two, - the 56xx's in the naughty corner for having failed when they were last rostered on ran perfectly when I tested them this morning.  I don't know what it was that caused the failures unless they managed to get their scripting jumbled and it sorted itself out the next time I started up Trainz.

 

 

This is what happens when the camera woman isn't paying attention and almost got herself skittled.  Got a reasonable picture out of it though.

Particularly pleasing too as on arrival I was able to shunt the vans for Valleyfields into the goods shed without anything failing or going wrong.

 

 

[Annie]

Saxby & Farmer signal box with a snowy roof being tried for size on the Melangell branch.

 

 

A closer look at the Saxby & Farmer ex-B&ER signal box.

 

 

A wonderful find, - an older Trainz model of the Saxby & Farmer signal box from Crowcombe Heathfield.  Some designs for the B&ER were exclusive to them though and weren't found anywhere else.

 

 

 

 

 

[Annie]

Presently teaching 14xx's to behave.  Coming in hot to a station stop and hitting the brakes hard so that your passengers all end up rolled up in a ball at the front of the carriage is not how it should be done.

'Interesting' trackwork and small lively engines that like to go fast are not a good mix.