Deliberately Old-Fashioned 0-Gauge, Chapter 2

[F-UnitMad]

15 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Shouldn't he be clutching a pipe, closely observing a key part of the layout?

 

 

No no no, the pipe should be clenched between grinning - or is it gritted? - teeth whilst he points to a train with his extra finger (ooh, er, Mrs!!).......

 

[GRASinBothell]

Presumably showing all six fingers on the hand clutching the pipe...

 

Oops! You beat me to it!

 

Gordon

Edited June 10, 2023 by GRASinBothell
Posted at the same time

[Donw]

Working things out to make setting up and breaking down quick and easy and the transport of the layout are probably more important than the layout design.  It makes sense to make it less hassle to go to an exhibition. I learnt quite a bit from helping others ( both what to do and not to do) and a lot more from exhibiting my own layout.  Robust electrics are another must. Well unless you think People are happy having paid to see you underneath a layout with a soldering iron possibly extending their vocabulary

 

Don

[Metropolitan H]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Er ……. I’m sure there’s an RMWeb rule that forbids people being pictured in their own threads, especially when they have a look of tired concentration on their face.

 

Still, we had a good day thanks to MetH (operator and provider of a fleet of Met trains), and my son, Ollie (lugging heavy baseboards, boxes, etc.). Definitely could not have done that without them both!

 

Only two hiccups: an insulating gap that wasn’t because of track expansion in the warm hall overnight (razor sawing by MetH to restore the gap), and my supposedly universal transport packing blocks, which turned out not to be universal, having misaligned bolt-holes (I’m still scratching my head about how I messed that up).

 

Generated a good bit of interest, some favourable comments, and the show was surprisingly (to me, who thought it wouldn’t be on a hot and sunny day) busy.

 

A view that isn’t obtainable at home:

 

 

Exhibiting is a tiring old game though!

 

It was a very good day indeed and I was proud to have played a part in the Enterprise - although we were all electric and no steam was raised!

 

Neither of the issues mentioned were really significant and both were overcome without fuss or the need for rude words. What really did impress me was the interest of the younger exhibition visitors and our leader's abilities to engage those young persons in real conversation regarding their experiences.

 

Despite mutterings regarding - "No more than once a year"! - i was a good experience. However, I did succumb to celebrating "World Gin Day" on my return home and not going out to see Flying Scotsman return from its day out to Chester - but I did see it on the way north this morning:

 

 

All in all a very good day.

 

Regards

Chris H

[Nearholmer]

 

I’ve been so busy since the exhibition in early June that Paltry Town has been in deep slumber. Until today.

 

One day of complete calm after the last lot of busyness before going to North Wales for a week, so I decided to play trains to test a thought that’s been whirring away at the back of my mind since the exhibition.

 

As it stands, the layout is actually a bit annoying to operate, being as incredibly restrictive as you might expect from something so small, so I’m considering replacing Paltry Junction, which is nothing more than an island platform so far, so not much to replace, with a fiddle-yard, thus:

 

(excuse the poor quality sketch on the back of a final demand for something).

 

I had a go at running a ‘from FY’ operating sequence using the track as it stands now, which involved a few compromises, but: it is a lot more satisfying (less annoying) to operate. It allows me to run a “BLT sequence” using three trains, one starting from PT, and crucially it makes goods train operation feel right, which is important to my inner shunter. The goods comes from the FY, shunts the goods siding on the way to PT, runs round, shunts PT, where the end and side loading provision is, then shunts the coal siding on the way back to the FY. Maximum train length is three coaches and mogul, or goods equivalent, which is what I’d always intended. 
 

Overall, I think CJF would have approved, so current thinking is that once the long hot days of summer are over (assuming they ever start), alterations as described shall be undertaken. This will also give me a chance to splodge some badly painted trees onto a bit of hardboard as a back scene, to thinly disguise the FY, which is a fun activity.

 

Thoughts or suggestions before I set to?

 

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Northroader]

The key basis of your scheme goes right back with early layout plans, and should work well. Perhaps have the fiddle yard terminating in short cassettes, so you can do run rounds, turn locos, substitute locos, and store locos without any picking up and handling them?

Hope the Wales trip is enjoyable.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Northroader

[Metropolitan H]

I do like the picture and I think you layout change proposal should work well - there is almost a nod to the Maurice Dean / Ffarquhar Branch design.

 

I do however, think that yo need to find room to squeeze in a loco spur / lay-over siding off the throat of Paltry Town and off the entrance to the FY. That will save a lot of loco handling and find work for more of your plethora of small to middling-large tank locos.

 

I shall look forward to further development.

 

Regards

Chris H

[Nearholmer]

The “top right hand corner” in the sketch needs a bit of thought, because at home it’s in the corner of the room, so quite a stretch for uncoupling and lifting locos. It might be that I don’t do that, but at the end of a “shift” declare a “scene change”, where I back trains out for reconfiguration, I need to experiment a bit more.

 

Yes, a loco spur, ideally a loco shed, is very desirable, but it is exceedingly difficult to achieve (if it was easy, there’d be one already), the problem being that my points don’t match the radius of my curves. I have two cunning plans, either of which might achieve that, but equally might not, so it’s another thing that needs a bit more thought and experiment.

 

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Nearholmer

[GRASinBothell]

I rather wonder if you're going to want different arrangements for "home" and "away" operation. Having the fiddle yard on the outside makes sense at home when it's against the wall. But do you want it there at exhibitions, where the visitors get to see more of it than you do?

Gordon

[Donw]

The plans seem ok. I presume at a show the public would be on the opposite side to the FY. Regarding the backscene. to hide the FY paint the tree trunks and branches on the backscene. Then stick Woodlands scenic foliage mat over them to suitably represent the trees you want. Hey presto low relief trees  a bit of green paint behind the mat may suit some trees.

 

Don

[Nearholmer]

The way the layout was at the exhibition, Paltry town was “the front”, and I imagine that’s the way it would be at any future exhibition, possibly with one edge ‘public’ too if sited on the corner of an aisle. That being the case, the FY as envisaged would be invisible (behind its screen of painted trees) to the public.

[Hroth]

Slightly (well, rather well) off topic, but I was at Chester Cathedral yesterday to view Pete Watermans latest mega OO gauge railway. As well as the modelled scenic section of Milton Keynes Central, the fiddle yard on the opposite side is completely on view to the public and attracted as many viewers as the station, to see the vast array of static trains awaiting their turn. 

 

Might it be an idea to make the fiddle yard as much a viewing attraction as the rest of the layout?

 

[GRASinBothell]

I guess that's another difference between train shows on opposite sides of the pond. At least here in the US Pacific Northwest, the layouts all seem to be accessible to the public on all sides, so there's nowhere to hide!

Gordon

[F-UnitMad]

3 hours ago, GRASinBothell said:

I guess that's another difference between train shows on opposite sides of the pond. At least here in the US Pacific Northwest, the layouts all seem to be accessible to the public on all sides, so there's nowhere to hide!

Gordon

I don't know - the trend I see in the UK is towards more 'open' staging on a lot of exhibition layouts; as has been said, they can be as fascinating as the scenic section.

My own main home layout (American O Scale) doesn't have any hidden staging - or even open staging - at all. I didn't see the point; it would limit the amount of scenic areas, and as sole operator/viewer I'm fully aware of what the next train is & where it has actually come from, hidden or not, as opposed to where it has supposedly come from, in the imagination.

[Artless Bodger]

On 27/05/2023 at 19:03, RateTheFreight said:

Today’s tinplate purchase. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Murgatroyd wagon as it was somewhat of a favourite of my Dad’s (albeit in OO scale). Darstaed tinplate seems to get a mixed reception (more so the locos) however the wagons have always seemed acceptable. I’d been on the lookout for one for a while & this one was a decent price. 
 

Does anyone know whether this wagon was based on an actual prototype? 
 

G

The real thing in use. The drawing of the tank wagon in our technical dept at APM (supplied when our siding was relaid to accomodate the bogie tanks replacing the 4 wheel ones) was lettered for Murgatroyds. This is the last one on site about to be returned, BR stopped wagon load services on the North Kent line soon after, c. 1983/4. Hope this is of interest.

[Nearholmer]

Certainly interests me, I had no idea that these came to Kent.

 

I’m also intrigued by what chlorine might be used for in cement making. Paper making I could understand, but cement??

[F-UnitMad]

5 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Certainly interests me, I had no idea that these came to Kent.

 

I’m also intrigued by what chlorine might be used for in cement making. Paper making I could understand, but cement??

Quick google - https://glchloride.com/readymixaccelerator/#:~:text=Calcium Chloride is used in,of placement in cold weather.

Quite interesting!!

[Artless Bodger]

APM - Aylesford Paper Mills at New Hythe, part then of Reeds. We used chlorine for water treatment, the building you see the end of the roof is the Medway pump house, water was drawn off the river, pumped up, screened then flowed by gravity to the powerhouse turbine condensers, some of the return flow was directed into the 'ballast pit' reservoir which you could see from the passing train. Liquid chlorine was drawn off the siphon pipe in the tank wagon, mixed with water and dosed into the condenser feed, and process water feeds to kill off any microorganisms that might cause fouling of the pipes etc. We used about 1 ton a day in summer, 1/2 ton a day in winter when the microorganism level was lower.

[Nearholmer]

Ah, so it was paper!

 

I misread as APCM.

 

By which mistake I’ve learned something extra.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

34 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Ah, so it was paper!

 

I misread as APCM.

 

By which mistake I’ve learned something extra.

 

That one I got straightaway.  We don't usually need much chlorine though.

[Nearholmer]

A combination of the news, the weather, the fact that evening seemed to start at about three in the afternoon etc drove me to seek refuge in Paltry Town, where at least the weather looks better.

 

 

 

 

The train spotters among you (presumably everyone) may notice that, as part of a deeper-retrofication  programme, there are now two BL standard tanks. This works better than tender engines on such a small layout.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Nearholmer

[John R Smith]

 

Thanks very much for the photos. they really brightened my day! I do very much like your station platform canopies - they make me quite envious. The B-L 0-6-0 tanks are still a very popular workhorse, and I would quite like one but all the examples which have come up recently seem to be electric and I have not found a good one in clockwork. I see you have one of the Exley 6-wheel coaches, so do I and it is jolly handy on a very small layout. One has come up recently and the seller was asking £265, which I thought quite ridiculous - I paid £65 for mine and thought that was quite enough.

 

I liked the backscene, which is quite light and de-saturated (which is what we want) but what happened to it? It is there in picture number one, but not in picture two. Must be a sudden fog, I suppose . . .

[Artless Bodger]

41611 seems to have a very shapely, Maunsell inspired, chimney - off a D1 perhaps?

 

I like your approach to ballast.

[Nearholmer]

The Stove van is in fact a modern Darstaed one. If I could find an Exley, and it was affordable, I’d take it, but they seem to be incredibly rare.

 

I’m still a sucker for the operating cranes etc.

 

 

Ballast? I actually wish I’d used the spray-painted method to represent some, as I did on the photo plank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Artless Bodger]

That looks good, what paint did you use please? I'd like to try something similar on my new OO layout (currently thinking of using double sided tape and dyed sawdust / fine ballast as I did with N gauge nearly 40 years ago).

 

Your crane  - Dinky? I have had a 6 wheel lorry mounted Coles crane by Dinky since I was about 5 (was always mad on cranes), bought for me at the end of a week's holiday  in Broadstairs from a shop near the beach. M&D thought I had been pointing to a much smaller and cheaper model as we passed each day and promised I could have it at the end of the holiday. They did buy the expensive one after all, it must have been a great strain on their finances I later realised. You never think about the sacrifices your parents make when you are young.