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Ravensclyffe


Dagworth
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Right, enough dallying with bits on the side http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/94290-a-bit-on-the-side-sometimes-a-quicky-satisfies/and time to get back to where my heart really is...

 

I haven't really touched Ravens since RICOH, the run into Christmas is stupidly busy workwise for me and I didn't stop from when we got home from Coventry right up until the Sunday before the holiday. January is the exact opposite, I simply don't have any work so it's time for a lot of rest and a bit of modelling. Trouble is that Ravens is out on the garage and it's blooming cold, and certainly not the kind of weather to be getting tents out etc. hence building the quicky to give me an option to play trains indoors. Anyway, the desire to play trains has been sated for the present so it's time to get back to work on the overhead. It's very obvious from Shane's video that there is a huge gap of two boards of the yard area that has no overhead at all, that section is going to feature an overlap on the main-line just to be awkward, this entails a pair of even bigger portals than the usual "heavy" portals as N-brass call them, these are entirely scratchbuilt from brass section and need to span six tracks. Fortunately not all tracks need the overlap, only the two through main line roads. so they only need two weight stacks each. A friend took some detail photos of a set of overlap portals in Stafford for me and these have formed the basis of the structures. Next step now is to build the weight stacks themselves. These won't actually work on these portals, the wire routing from stack to catenary is simply too complex to make work so they will be dummy items, this does at least mean that I don't have to make all the pullies rotate.

 

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Also shown here are the remaining normal type heavy portals, I think I've now finally built all the big portals that I need :)

 

Andi

Go on Andi make them work it is only 24 pullies for each mast. :no: :no: :no:

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  • 9 months later...
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As I mentioned in my last post (I know, it was a long time ago... ) I needed to build the weight stacks, these really are not easy, they are made up of oddly shaped steel 'bricks' and did not lend themselves to being made from plasticard as I originally planned. Eventually I came to the conclusion that they only way I was going to get them right was laser cutting. This gives a good idea of how awkward the shape is to create, the bricks are all the same shape but stacked alternate ways round on a rod through the entire stack.

post-6674-0-28347900-1446670415.jpg

 

Taigatrommel had been working on laser cutting for his own layout so he and I drew up the artwork for the weight stacks and last month the weight stacks became a reality. The stacks are made up of four layers, a front and back that are shaped and have the individual bricks etched in to the face and two filler pieces to make the stack wide enough to slide between the poles of the structure.

post-6674-0-44099000-1446670666_thumb.jpg

 

The weights and a series of exhibitions have really helped me to find some mojo again and now the portals are very close to being ready to plant. This board has very little of interest scenically on it so the overlap and its associated gear is the interesting part of the board. There are two of the heavy portals with the weight stacks and then two portals between with the double sets of equipment. This is the first of the weight stack portals painted and sat in place.

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And a close-up of the weight stack in model form

post-6674-0-40763400-1446671057.jpg

 

Andi

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Hi Badge me old matey,

 

Have you read   http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106133-165mm-traditional-oo-gauge-classic-steam-era-pointwork/?p=2148034  I think I need to redo all the OLE drawings and you need to change all the mast on Ravensclyffe :O :o :O :o  We got it all wrong :rtfm:  How can it be right you are building a 4 ft and a fraction railway so if the track is wrong then the OLE must be even wronger.  :no2: 

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Hi Badge me old matey,

 

Have you read   http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106133-165mm-traditional-oo-gauge-classic-steam-era-pointwork/?p=2148034  I think I need to redo all the OLE drawings and you need to change all the mast on Ravensclyffe :O :o :O :o  We got it all wrong :rtfm:  How can it be right you are building a 4 ft and a fraction railway so if the track is wrong then the OLE must be even wronger.  :no2:

It's alright mate, I've given up with overhead, got distracted with third rail instead...

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/94290-a-bit-on-the-side-now-with-a-name/

 

Andi

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It's alright mate, I've given up with overhead, got distracted with third rail instead...

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/94290-a-bit-on-the-side-now-with-a-name/

 

Andi

Hi Andi

 

Ah! We are talking Bow Locks. Glad to see you have laid the passenger running line so EM modellers can run their stock on there as well. :nono: :nono:

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  • 9 months later...
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Totally and utterly stunning Andi.  How i've missed this in the past I don't know - but wonder!  The dual-level WCML works really well and breaks the layout up somewhat.

 

Superb modelling - hope there's more to come!

 

Rich

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  • 8 months later...
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Another of my very occasional updates...

 

I know. Almost two years since a proper post about the layout but I have been working on it!

I had a huge problem that I had been trying to work out how to solve, the end of the layout that had no electrification had no room for the electrification, so the only answer was drastic surgery and the purchase of a jigsaw. I had to move the two tracks on the inside of the mainline toward the backscene by about 10mm each, sounds easy enough except that both those tracks are on different levels separated by retaining walls. Both tracks had to be lifted, then the trackbed cut back, hence the need for the jigsaw.

 

Here is the least scenically treated board as it was before I started this bit

post-6674-0-13371600-1499727163_thumb.jpg

 

Here is one of the boards in the process of surgery, this was at New Year 2017

post-6674-0-51382200-1499726544_thumb.jpg

 

I also had to move out some of the bridge on the outside of the tracks in the cutting, again not enough clearance had been left. I had added the outer girder ages ago but never built the inner one and when I came to do so there wasn't room for it.

 

This is as it was at Ricoh

post-6674-0-61708100-1499726780_thumb.jpg

 

The original bridge got ripped out, the track bed moved out and a complete new structure put in its place

 

post-6674-0-56576300-1499727065_thumb.jpg

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That was part one of the work...

 

Edit: Apologies for the iPhone photos that don't want to be the right way up...

 

Andi

Edited by Dagworth
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Having sorted out the problem of space on the inside I decided that I really wasn't happy with the viaduct either...

More drastic action in that pretty much the whole thing got rebuilt so that it was all the same - originally I had built it in two stages without looking at the first part when I did the second so of course they didn't match.

Also as part of this I needed to deal with ends of boards that weren't square vertically so that there were gaps between the boards at the higher levels, plasticard fillers have dealt with this problem so hopefully now alignment will be much more accurate

 

Here's two boards together to have the ends sorted, not that the board with the bridge rebuild in the previous post has now gained all its overhead portals  :yes:

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this also shows the original condition of this part of the viaduct.

 

This is the problem I was having with the board ends!

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And the solution had to be brutal

post-6674-0-89958100-1499728215_thumb.jpg

 

The viaduct went much the same way as the other bridge, rip all the piers out and start again

post-6674-0-80304500-1499728210_thumb.jpg

 

Having finally finished the viaduct I then decided that I wanted some more interesting bits of electrification, so I added a neutral section and it's associated building, more chopping lumps out of the scenery to create space for the building.

 

post-6674-0-16639500-1499728489_thumb.jpg

 

Building temporarily placed. Note the new piers of the viaduct too.

post-6674-0-81155600-1499728491_thumb.jpg

 

The next thing was adding ballast, grass (hanging basket liner) OLE portals, painting the canal, a huge effort to find out the correct colour of the building (of which the prototype would seem to have had all its brickwork painted (?) ) then Rich said that I had left out the towpath on the canal..

That brings us to where I am at today, building planted, towpath added, portals in place, progress

post-6674-0-92969600-1499728881_thumb.jpg

 

Andi

 

 

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Hi Andi,

Wow - nothing like advance planning is there :). Great to see your making progress with the layout, and hope the updates continue.  The changes definitely look good so far!

 

Rich

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I don't mean to be picky but shouldn't where the puddle is be the highest part of the roof? Surely you need it to drain away from the middle?

All the WCML OLE feeder stations seem to have a dip in the middle of the lower flat roof and all seem to have a puddle as Andi has modelled.

 

 

Oh and a Janus seems to have snuck in too :)

 

Andi

How long has the Janus been out? And more to the point is the PLA version available?

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The Janus arrived at CMC on Friday, as soon as they put an ad for it on Faceache I made a quick trip into town... they only had the NCB version.

 

Andi

Edited by Dagworth
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APC magnets for the neutral section seem to be mounted on wooden sleepers, hence ripping out the concrete sleepers and replacing them. I still need to do the ones the other side of the neutral and then I can start adding the actual OHLE.

 

post-6674-0-77765600-1500290671_thumb.jpg

 

Andi

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