Shepherdswell EKR - 1960’s , Fawley Hill enroute to Stow In The Wold showon Sunday

[roundhouse]

I was amazed that none of the turnout ground levers got broken at the first show as I managed to break a few of these plastic ones whilst building the layout. I also think that they look over scale, so when I found out about the more to scale Southwark Models brass ones sold by Roxley Mouldings I picked up a few packs at the Uckfield show last weekend.

 

They are fiddly to assemble but there is plenty of time before the layout is next out.

 

By early this morning four have been assembled using solder and superglue. I will require ten but as I have a few spare some will be piled on the old rail store as per photos.

Edited October 24, 2023 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

Ten of the new ground levers have now been constructed and swapped with the already fitted larger plastic ones. The missing catch point with the ground lever has also been added to the siding adjacent to the platform. Very few photos show the existence of this catch point so I wasn't sure if it had been removed at some point but eventually found a photo post war that you can just make out the lever, so this has now been added by filing a length of rail and soldering it to the plain track.

 

The first ground lever is shown before the adjacent larger plastic ones were removed. Looks so much better now and being brass these are much less likely to get broken. The differently coloured sleeper shows the position of the under board Kadee magnet when shunting from the viewing side. The rails are painted white on the operator side.

Edited April 6 by roundhouse

[Porkscratching]

Smashing layout !... Could you tell me what you used for your corrugated iron sheets please ? 

[roundhouse]

10 hours ago, Porkscratching said:

Smashing layout !... Could you tell me what you used for your corrugated iron sheets please ? 

Thanks

 

It is vacuum formed styrene corrugated sheeting that I picked up at Squires in Bognor Regis, mounted on plain styrene sheeting.

Edited November 1, 2023 by roundhouse

[Nick C]

Another EKR RTR loco...

[roundhouse]

On 10/11/2023 at 12:26, Nick C said:

Another EKR RTR loco...

I know, just after I completed building a Golden Arrow one. Oh well at least mine has been to a show and a BR liveried one will come in handy. That will probably be out before the layouts next show in 2025 May 2024.

Edited March 15 by roundhouse

[SteveyDee68]

10 hours ago, roundhouse said:

That will probably be out before the layouts next show in 2025 at present.

I think a write up in one of the model railway magazines might be in order before then - absolutely cracking layout, with a real sense of location. Hope you carry on posting about it on this thread.

 

Steve S

[roundhouse]

3 hours ago, SteveyDee68 said:

I think a write up in one of the model railway magazines might be in order before then - absolutely cracking layout, with a real sense of location. Hope you carry on posting about it on this thread.

 

Steve S

Thanks

 

I am sure that I will find plenty to work on the layout at some point.

[roundhouse]

Just a quick update. The layout now has three shows this year, he first one being in Stow On The Wold in May. Its a small show on a Sunday but in the past all the layouts have been very good and the venue is the town hall slap bang in the middle of the town.

 

The layout will also be at Stafford in September and then Tolworth in November.

 

A the last Warley show I picked up another Tilmanstone wagon off he Oxford Models stand. This one has been heavily weathered with bits of timber inside. This wagon will be fixed on the old direct line section that was at one time used to sore and break up rolling stock.

 

I may fit more sound decoders into some of the locos before May.

[PaulRhB]

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

may fit more sound decoders into some of the locos

😆 more in a loco, good grief what are you planning now?! 🤣

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, PaulRhB said:

😆 more in a loco, good grief what are you planning now?! 🤣

Not the best grammar in my post.

 

Mind you we do have some that have more than one sound decoder but then thats a multiple unit type of thing by Rapido.

[roundhouse]

A  recent purchase was a Bachmann 7 plank open wagon. This has now been weathered, fitted with Kadee couplers and had a coal load added using an old Airfix kit coal load with real coal on top. This helps stop the sides from bowing in , a common issue with RTR wagons. Is now ready to replace a Dapol RTR 16 t mineral wagon in the stock box.

 

The Oxford models Tilmanstone wagon is now ready to be fixed in position on the disused siding on the layout when I next unbox the boards.

 

Edited April 5 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

Yesterday I finally got around to fitting the Tilmanstone wagon onto the disused section of track. At privatisation quite a bit of the old EKR rolling stock was diamantled on this siding but on the layout this one was missed. its held on to the track using wire wrapped around each axle and passed into drilled holes in the ballast and stuck using canopy glue. A small amount has been applied to the track to hold the wheels in place for a bit of extra grip.

There isn't a spare slot in the stock boxes for this wagon hence fixing it in place.

 

The photo below whilst a little out of focus gives the presepective of the wagon on the layout from the viewing position.

 

[roundhouse]

With just a week to go before the Sunday only show in Stow In The Wold I decided that I had better get on with the new stock tray for carrying  wagons from one fiddleyard to the other as we swap loaded for unloaded wagons as the loads are fixed in one rake.

At the layouts first show we used a foldable deepish tray but the tendancy was to stack wagons in it. However this could damage the mostly kit built wagons so a cardboard tray has been made from an aircraft kit box with larger slots than the stock boxes have so as to enable quick loading and unloading of the tray . There is a foam mat in the bottom.

 

If this works well at the upcoming show then I may well build a second one.

 

The Rock island freight car is a partially completed weathering commision so wont be going to Stow🙂

Edited May 11 by roundhouse

[PaulRhB]

I’m sure there’s a good reason, but were you not tempted by a cassette to move them without any handling of the paint?

[roundhouse]

2 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

I’m sure there’s a good reason, but were you not tempted by a cassette to move them without any handling of the paint?

One end the fiddle yard track is curved

[roundhouse]

This morning I finally completed checking all 48 mineral wagons. Kadee adjust where required.

I still have over 15 more Airfix kits to build but will need to sell some first as no space left in the stock boxes.

 

Looking forward to the Stow In the Wold show.

[roundhouse]

The layout is loaded. I took this photo that I can recall how to load it next time.  A few other items still had to be loaded after taking the photo.

Edited Friday at 17:58 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

We had a great weekend, starting Saturday morning with a visit to the last public event at Fawley Hill, the transport festival. My first visit there and what a great day we had with three locos in steam along with the class 03 shunter  plus other events going on. 

With these shunting locos it was all quite fitting with the layout in the car along with the industrial locos in the stock boxes

 

From Fawley we drove to Faringdon for the night and plenty of ale was consumed but stopped at a suitable time so as to be OK to drive the 40 minutes to Stow the next morning.

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 13:15 by roundhouse

[PaulRhB]

Did they run the Aveling on the hill? I’d have loved to see that!

[roundhouse]

1 minute ago, PaulRhB said:

Did they run the Aveling on the hill? I’d have loved to see that!

We departed just after they swapped to the Hunslet 'King George' so don't know if they did or not later on in the day but yes that would have been interesting.

 

Plenty of road steam vehicles in the field next to Ironhenge.

[roundhouse]

Sunday morning we were out of the Travelodge in Faringdon before 8am and a very pleasant drive to Stow taking around 40 minutes. We managed to park right outside the historic town hall and carted all but the two blocks of boards up the stairs. The boards went in the lift. Its a small venue but wonderful inside.

 

We were set up and running just after 9.30am. However two industrial locos that ran fine at home and at the previous show, would take off on throttle setting 1. I then spent the next hour trying to get JMRI running on my old laptop as it takes a while to load. Once up and running its fine but had lost the com port settings so a few restarts later JMRI was up and running.

 

Both the errant locos have Dapol decoders and I could not get them to respond to start voltage or speed table CV values so they stayed off the layout this time. These maybe the next locos to be fitted with sound, one of them a Rapido Hunslet so its just a drop in next 18 as the speaker is already in the loco. The other Rapido Hunslet performed well all day.

 

Apart form a couple of handbuilt turnouts not throwing fully the layout worked very well. I had used second hand non latching SEEP solenoids, one having already been changed after it first show to a latching one, so the others will be changed before its next show which is Stafford in Septmeber.

 

Quite a bit of interest in the layout for a small show and quite a few pieces of cake consumed by closing, we were soon out of the venue and on our way home via various pleantly quiet roads to the M40 avoiding Oxford.

 

Anyway a few photos taken at the show.

 

The bachamnn C class has just arrived from the mainline on empties.

 

The Airfix pug has been detailed but not motorised as its a removeble loco undergoing overhaul

 

This PC Models coach isn't quite the correct type that the EKR had but its close enough for now.

 

The Golden Arrow O1 class loco on a Hornby Jinty chassis

Edited Tuesday at 11:33 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

After making use of the new tray for moving mineral wagons between the two fiddleyards at the Stow show, we had discussions amongst us about making some where to put the trays when loading or unloading the wagons.

 

So after some thought an area above the tracks was the best option but a flat area would just get used for putting cups or other stuff on, so an open frame that is only just a few mm's bigger than the tray would allow access to the tracks below and under it. The ply section gives the strength to support the frame without a corner support that would have got in the way. It appears to be strong enough as long as we don't use the frame to pick the board up or lean on it.

 

With one end fiddleyard now complete the other end will now be worked on.  The frames have been assembled with glue and screws but only screwed into the fiddleyard walls as there is an option to lengthen the fiddleyards with an add on one foot long board, so these frames could be relocated to the new boards.

 

The real test will be at the layouts next show which is Stafford in September. I haven't used other motors as my board construction isn't deep enough for Tortoise, Cobalts etc. SEEPS do tend to fail more often than more expensive motors but they are cheaper and easier to get hold of and generally I can repair them. The 9 pin D connector makes it easier to remove them from under the boards at shows.

 

A couple photos of the frames. Note that the SEEP solenoid is a spare. I tend to mount a spare into each of my layouts fiddleyards.