High Peak Junction

[TT100 Diesels]

Hi, 

High Peak Junction is my home layout. It was started in late 2015 and was "essentially" completed by mid 2019. The main things outstanding are signalling, which is now started, and the general clutter, station name boards etc. Trouble is, I am not a very quick modeller.

 

Its a freelance layout, very loosely based on an altered history of the actual Cromford Wharfe / High Peak Junction area. Think Sheep Pasture incline abandoned much earlier and a normal adhesion worked route up the Griffe Grange valley to connect somewhere in the Friden area with existing route, which was straightened out much like occurred on the northern section, where the inclines were abandoned and the adhesion worked route still open today to Buxton replaced it.

 

Back to my end of the line, fast forward to late 70s / early 80s and its a run down freight centre serving the quarries in the area, plus the Matlock branch diverted through in a loop to allow the closure of Lea Wood tunnel and the two river bridges (a bit of geography tweaking).

 

I have tried to show a "flavour" of the area, some buildings and structures are copies, well to my standards anyway, so anyone who knows the area would at least get a familiar feel.

 

I have taken quite some liberties though, and due to size, cramped fiddle yard etc, am not running massive block stone trains, its impossible to do so. I simply ignore them and run odds and ends to the local small quarries and sometimes stuff from Derby RTC turns up as well. Plus the odd Matlock branch DMU, but these days most of the traffic for the station are train crew on the cushions working to or from a local quarry trip working.

 

A few pics here to give a flavour and in time will dig out more operating and build pics and try to focus on elements of construction, a sort of layout build in reverse.

 

I hope this is of interest

 

 

25071 stands in the yard

 

25125 is stabled on shed while 20154 and 20175 have just arrived in the reception road with a train of mineral empties for the quarries.

 

DPU M55995 waits patiently in the bay platform for its path back to Buxton while D5901 shunts the RTC Test Train in the yard headshunt. 

 

Late in the day, D5901 propels the test train back towards Derby while MetCamm power / trailer twin set is in the bay platform on a Buxton service.

 

Sulzer power on shed. 25071 is stabled on a turn table dead end road while classmate 25125 is fuelled.

 

More Sulzer power on show, with the Tribometer Test Train as back drop.

Edited July 13, 2023 by TT100 Diesels
Adding photo captions

[PjKing1]

Looks great 😊 

 

Paul

[TT100 Diesels]

Thanks for your kind words Paul, I had a quick look at Edge Lane jn, wow, modelling way above my pay grade! Seriously good.

 

Got hold of a few more pics to add, hopefully of interest

 

 

20154 and 20175 weave across the pointwork off the single line into the yard reception road on empty minerals. 20s are Lincoln Locos 3D print bodies, the powered one 20154 has 2 3d print motor bogies and chassis. 20175 has same body but is a dummy loco, my chassis, battery box module, white metal bogie side frames on dummy bogies. The flush glazing is my own hand cut home brew stuff.

 

All moulded handrails stripped off and 0.3mm n/s rod used, plus a fair bit of body shell fettling as well to improve the overall "look".

 

 

After arrival in the reception road, the locos await shunt releases. Its the only rake of completed wagons so far, triang TT3 16T minerals, re wheeled with pin point 9mm metal wheels, repainted and weathered. Still got all the other rakes to do, and been waiting 4 years since I did these. 

 

The water tower is scratch built from plasticard and micro strip (tank) and the support structure is mainly match sticks and coffee stirrers, dead useful both of them! I tried to copy the disused one that still exists at High Peak Jn visitor centre.

 

The half relief building in front of the locos is my take on the outer end of the workshop buildings at HPJ, but altered a lot to fit in to my requirements, but it is a 'nod' to the real place. Again, scratch built from card, coffee stirrers, match sticks and faced with Slaters plastic embossed stone and Wills plastic roof tiles (4mm scale stuff so a compromise - but that is the name of the game in 3mm).

 

Trackwork is 100% Peco HOm 12mm gauge flexi lengths and medium radius turn outs.

 

 

 

Winding the clock back to 75, the tech centre baby deltic D5901 has worked in on the Tribometer test train and the crew are having a brew while the tecchies are busy checking the calibration of the instrumentation before another run up to Parsley Hay (apparently). 

 

Turntable is scratch built, based on photos of the real on at Peak Rail Rowsley South. The BD is a Lincoln Locos resin shell, 3d print class 20 power bogies, my chassis and underframe module and a fair bit of my tweaking and detailing, wire handrails etc plus my own hand cut flush glazing.

 

Lab 11 and the Auto Trailer are both converted from Kitmaster half brakes, using photos of the real vehicles, the COV-AB is a 3mm society kit, with my extra detailing based on photos of the real vehicle. I also have built the same vehicle again in red on blue livery when my red on blue 1980 spec 97201 is used to haul it.

 

Thanks for everyone's interest ( likes etc), I am new to this posting business and a bit clunky so trying to not press too many wrong buttons ! But I appreciate the interest.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by TT100 Diesels
Sorting photos

[PjKing1]

Cheers mate but don’t be to critical of yourself this is some seriously good modelling, love the photo with the 20’s keep the pics coming!!

 

Thanks again

 

Paul 

Edited June 19, 2023 by PjKing1

[TT100 Diesels]

Thank you Paul.

 

Just a couple more for now then.....

 

 

A new arrival, a fork lift truck. Those 45 gallon drums were too heavy for the fitters, so mechanical help was required. It came in the shape of a TT120 3d print from West Hill Wagon Works. Another scale compromise, but alright I think for 3mm scale. Painting it was a challenge, was down to my smallest 10 / 0 brushes. But its the latest addition to the layout and is starting to add that much needed clutter. 

 

The shed is scratch built, with a lot of use of plastic embossed brick and stone, and wills roofing sheets (more 4mm stuff compromise, but I think it is ok). The roofs lift off to reveal an interior. The idea was it was the remaining single road steam shed, refurbished into a diesel fuelling point with a new brick built workshop and stores extension. The open end is extremely very loosely based on the few pics of that elevation of the real single road shed at HPJ, but the rest of it is my imagination, I have never seen any pics of any of the real shed bar the front elevation.

 

 

Down at the other end of the layout, its a DMU takeover bid!

 

Next to the scratch build signal box based on Parsley Hay is a Triang TT 3 car Class 104, which I reworked with flush fronts, added scratch build interiors, repainted to blue, added a few extra details, junked the worn out dud Triang motor bogie and replaced it with a Bull Ant.

Next is a Class 101 2 car power trailer set, Lincoln Locos 3 d print body shells, power bogie, trailer bogie side frames, enginr and undergrame raft on the DMS, my scratch build chassis, interiors, and a candy stripe refurbished DMU livery.

 

Finally, a Class 128 DPU. This was originally scratch built by Adrian Westbury, who sadly passed away earlier this year. It was in green and as built condition with gangways. He cut and shut two Triang 104 body shells and cut and shut a Tillig loco chassis into scratch build chassis. I purchased it off him last year. By them it unfortunately had seen better days, so I completely stripped it down, needed to do some chassis repairs, added some detail to chassis and body, converted to skinned over gangways, blue livery and my home brew flush glazing and weathered it. I was able to show him my take on his original skillful scratch build and was thrilled that he approved of my update and rework.

 

I hope this is of interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by TT100 Diesels
Sorting photos

[TT100 Diesels]

Thank you to folk showing an interest.

 

This post deals with a typical loco build, shown in the following pictures. Nowadays, Lincoln Locos do all 3d print ready to roll, so if you are happy with moulded hand rails ets just need to paint and glaze. Most of my stuff are earlier iterations, with some pure resin bodies, some early 3d print iterations and early chassis, requiring more modelling input. Some locos robbed Triang TT 31 bogies as well.

 

25071. This was my 5th loco build.

 

3d print chassis with centre motor, whitemetal cosmetic side frames, some plasticard extra detail added plus a D loop Triang toy coupler.

 

Single piece resin from 3d print master bodyshell. Nose door detail flushed of, new wire handrails, buffer beam detail added, boiler room grilles plated over, bodyside steps plated over, battery box hatch added, centre of body, underframe transom ends extended, brass rod added to repair a damaged resin warning horn.

 

 

 

Scratched up underframe module. Fuel and boiler water tanks and battery boxes. I cut down the central whitemetal underframe weight to make room to be able to make tis to fit round it.

 

Opposite side of the loco, underframe module fitted, loco on its bogies.

 

 

 

The core build is nearly finished. Note the recessed cab doors. This was an earlier moulding with 24 style flush doors, a carry over from the 24. I had to scrape off the moulded handrails, cut out the doors, fabricate new doors, inset them then add the recessed correct wire handrails. Note, this was fed back to LL and late iterations have been corrected I believe.

 

I will leave it here for the moment.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by TT100 Diesels
Removed text no longer relevant

[TT100 Diesels]

I will endeavour to tell the rest of the story of 25071s build.

 

 

Livery elements getting built up, Humbrol warning yellow acrylic, about 8 thinned down coats over the grey primer. Plus roof transparent grp area in a mix of light stone and white, I think, but it was a couple of years ago so cant be exact. Flat matt black underfame, white handrails and lamp irons plus yellow axleboxes because it had been on royal train duties.

 

 

 

 

That is the blue livery element on. I generally hand paint thin washes of precision rail blue, Approx 6 coats,  plus tamiya masking tape. As usual, there is always a lot of touch in rework with paint bleed under and other defects, I keep going round and round the loop till I am happy. Mind you, its still a country mile from a rtr loco.

 

 

 

Decaled up! Headcode are fox 4mm class 50 as they are smaller so nearer for 3mm, double arrows are 4mm nairnshire model supplies but their smaller version so not too bad, ole flashes and individual loco numbers are fox 3mm through the 3mm society, blue stars and data panel are fox 4mm, but I use the early version with less lines of data, so it looks a bit closer to 3mm. 

 

 

Weathered up and my home brew flush glazing. After weathering and before glazing, my stock gets two coats of rattle can matt varnish, to hide the decal fix stains, hide the gloss varnish over the decals to protect them from aggressive enamel weathering washes and mainly to tone it all down and blend it all in. I dont think that gloss scales well, so I am a fan of toning down, I know its not everyones cup of tea, but it suits me. But compare this pic with the ex works pics above, to my eyes the ex works locos dont seem quite right somehow.

 

 

My picture from1980, 25071 leads 25051 into Nottingham. I tried very hard to copy this loco in this livery and weathering configuration. See the faded white front end lamp irons and hand rails, and ghost of white buffers just round the edge and the bird strike on the second mans side buffer, I tried to copy all that. Compare with pic above. However, I am no Geoff Haynes or Tim Shackleton, or a lot of brilliant weathering jobs on the weathering and painting thread, but I try to improve with each loco or stock item I do. Most of my finished stuff is all hand painted and weathered. Generally its just rattle can spray varnish to finish. 

 

All my locos, DMUs, and test train stuff are copies of actual real prototypes as far as is possible.

 

Hope this is of interest.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by TT100 Diesels
Removed text no longer relevant

[TT100 Diesels]

 

Time to bring the layout more up to date to show the progress on the signalling. Currently, all the main aspect semaphores are in place, as all of the ground discs.

 

Signals are Triang TT ones that have been fully repainted. They have been removed from the bases and filed to slot into and glued in place into a small brass tube. The tube is soldered into a larger brass tube which pushes into a hole drilled into the baseboard.

 

There is sufficient clearance to feed in a 2mm o/d brass tube into the gap, this is bent in a swan neck configuration to allow a 0.4mm n/s rod to turn through 90 degrees to allow a Peco point solenoid to drive the semaphore arm. The solenoid is mounted on bespoke scratchbuilt plasticard base with fixing screw slots to allow some adjustment.

 

The baseboards are shallow hence needing a 90 degree drive system otherwise I would have kept a vertical arrangement. This configuration repeated for all signals (2 done, 4 to do). Once they are all locally tested and working ok, I will be tidying up around each base and fitting signal post ladders.

 

The big job will be adding all the wiring back to the control panel and trying to find some room for the control switches (spring centre off type) on the mimic panel, which is already crowded. 

 

Ground signals are all from West Hill Wagon Works, 3 d print non working TT120 scale items, but they look a good compromise. I modified some into doubles where needed. 

 

 

 

Signal posts and ground discs in place. Improves the look even though the semaphores dont electrically work quite yet.

 

 

 

The under baseboard drive gubbins for the signals in the above pic.

 

 

Looking in the opposite direction towards the station. A modified set up to give a double ground disc installation.

 

The point rodding is 0.5mm square plastic rod which is scale 2" square rod. Actually something that is correct to 3mm scale for once. I measured some at Peak Rail, and it was 2" square, although actually inverted square U section.

 

Hope this is of interest, thanks for all the likes.

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by TT100 Diesels
Removed text no longer relevant

[TT100 Diesels]

Thank you to the folk who are liking etc, and hope its interesting for anyone who pops in for a look to see what can be done in a niche scale.

 

The picture below is a nice shot of the buildings at the yard end of the layout.

To the left, we have the retaining wall and steep rough ground (another nod to the real location) leading to the copy of the disused water tower at the foot of Sheep Pasture incline. The two sidings in front of it are the truncated remains of the lines that lead to the foot of the incline, abandoned a lot earlier in my altered history layout back story.

 

The old goods shed on the layout is my nod to the workshop buildings opposite the real water tower.

 

Next, the engine shed front elevation is losely based on the few pics I have seen of it, the shed is demolished now. As stated up thread, the engine shed itself has had to be just made up! As for the turntable, never one in real life, but I really wanted to have one, so I figured that in steam days bigger engines could come down my altered history line via the Griffe Grange valley (via Gellia) and so a table was justified and the LNWR had enough to pay for it.

 

In reality, the Cromford canal should be just to the right of the engine shed, but again I had to tweak the geography a tad ! I do have a canal but it runs on an aqueduct over the station at the other end of the layout, part of the fiddle yard entrance view blocker, that will have to be the focus of a future post.

 

Loco wise, 25071 (dealt with in detail up thread) is moving onto the turntable after a quick fuel stop. 47205 is on the reception road and its wagons have been shunted clear for loco release. The 47 was only my second loco build and was really difficult and lots of lessons were learnt. It started life as a resin 56 body, kitbashed to a 47, mounted on my scratch build chassis, with Triang 31 bogies ground flush and scratch build side frames and battery boxes (done before Lincoln Locos started doing white metal bogie side frames). I will do a more focussed write up on the 47 build in due course. And rather annoyingly, a few years after my 47, a limited run of rtr 47s was produced by the 3mm society as a society "cottage industry" collaboration with Lincoln Locos. 

 

As I said in the first post, I am no way trying to pass this off as a copy of Cromford Wharf, its my take on a very altered history and a nod to the general area.

 

Hope this continues to be of interest.

 

 

[Waverley West]

Just to back up what others have said, this is excellent modelling and a very atmospheric layout. I particularly like the overall colouring. It all seems to blend together so well.

 

Looking forward to more piccies when you get chance.

 

Cheers

Dave

[TT100 Diesels]

Thank you for you kind words waverley west, a quick few loco pics added below following your request. My layout is a world away from the busy end of Edinburgh Waverley which I had a look at and find very inspiring.  But I do need to dig out some layout build pics as well to add from time to time to show its build development.

 

Its a Sunday afternoon and HPJ is a sleepy hollow in the summer sun. The regular type 1 and 2 traction are stabled up, just the sound of the birds singing and the occasional splutter from an air system auto drain valve blowing off........

 

 

25071 is joined by 25125, and a toton pair, 20175 and 20154 join them.

 

 

Earlier in the day, there were a few light engine moves and the peace was broken with the sound of 6LDAs clattering away......20175 peeks through the gap.

 

25125 build followed straight on from 25071, 125 is a late body 25/2. Very similar build as 071. 125s last works overhaul in 77 was at Glasgow, hence the ScR style body side numbers, while its Toton class mate has the English style cab side numbers. Derby Sulzers web site has been invaluable for type 2 research. It is a fantastic resource.

 

Thanks for the interest.

 

[TT100 Diesels]

As promised, we go back in time to the early construction. There are a few pics which show the overall track layout, its the easiest way of describing the track plan.

 

The baseboard area is 9' long by 3'3" wide. There are two boards, one 4' and the other 5' long.

 

The overall track plan is basically an elongated compressed oval with a single track running line forming the core of the layout. Train set style 16" rad curves feed the fiddle yard. So in its completed form, it is basically a reasonably scenic train set to be honest.

 

It is all 12mm gauge Peco HOm track.

 

Yard and shed end with the tight running line curve feeding the fiddle yard.

 

 

Panning left a bit, at the front is the loop, yard sidings and at the back, the fiddle yard. The coaling stage road is not yet in place in this shot, see the provision for it to the left of the turn table.

 

 

 

Continuing to pan left, the opposite end sharp running line curves into the opposite end of the fiddle yard. The bay platform road curves sharply right as does the yard headshunt road. The base board joint can clearly be seen.

 

 

 

A later view of the yard and shed end, the coal stage road is in place.

 

Hopefully these pics have saved a couple of thousand words!, and show the overall track plan.

 

I will look to post other construction progress pics from the past dealing with the principle aspects, but try not to bore folk with too much detail.

 

Thanks again for the continued interest.

 

[woodenhead]

Funny how the forced perspective of the scenic images make it look so much bigger.

[TT100 Diesels]

Thanks for all the interest and your comment there woodenhead. Its all smoke and mirrors, I am a great fan of the less is more mantra, and during construction spent ages and ages agonising about what to put here and there etc. I got through loads of cereal boxes and masking tape doing countless mock ups till I was happy.

 

The most significant trick I employed was to have all the big stuff at the end extremities of the layout, it makes the yard look much longer than it really is, especially when not much is in there. 

 

Imagine a station platform on the middle of the layout, even a tiny one like mine, it would totally dominate the scene and the layout would look the same as it really is, quite small in the grand scheme of things.

 

Of course, I also win a bit more space since I am modelling in 3mm rather than OO, but the downside is that it can be a bit "hair shirt" at times, well it was only a few years ago before Lincoln Locos revolutionised diesel and electric out line modelling. Honestly see the layout pics in the above post, Triang 31s, Jinties etc, just a few years ago I could never ever imagined I would have the proper core traction for the area, 2 x 25s and a pair of 20s. 

 

Also with such a terribly tight curved train set style platform I made a big effort to curve all the surroundings so it helps to trick the eye into thinking its actually alright, but it really is not, how about 2' scale stepping distances, long jump distances more like! Back to smoke and mirrors again. 

 

Oh dear, I think I have just spoilt it now, that's my trade secrets spilled out the bag!!!!! But joking apart, modelling (especially railway modelling) is nearly always a compromise, all I try to do is "manage" the compromise.

 

[woodenhead]

Ah space for OO.

 

I know that feeling, so my main railway is in N but I've still got some OO and I might want to create a loop around the office/layout room for OO.  I plotted it out last nignt in XTrackCAD - guess what all I got was something with less than second radius curves, the only sidings were in the fiddleyard rather than in the scenic area and I realised it has to be one gauge or the other, not both unless the OO is a cameo. 

 

So I ended up looking at my N being roundy roundy with the current baseboards turned into a scenic fiddleyard like James Street and I got a nice big double track loop, couple of junctions and space for two stations.

 

I might need to sell the OO GWR...

[Reorte]

I hadn't cottoned on to it being 3mm rather than OO (I'd just skimread the thread until now), makes it all the more impressive really.

 

The posts about space are spot on, I was very surprised when I saw your "under construction" pictures, all the others had given a very good impression indeed of a much larger layout with a great deal more space, some tight curves sure, but no sense of being either crammed in or a very simple layout. Nice work!

[TT100 Diesels]

Thinking about your comments Reorte and Woodenhead, for probably most of us the enemy is space, or rather, a lack of it, which leads to our old friend, compromise. 

 

On HPJ it was very tempting to keep cramming in more sidings, would have been more useful from a running perspective, but then the compromise would have been against achieving a more convincing overall "look". So, I opted for the less is more approach, which gave me more wriggle room to achieve what I hope is a more balanced "look".

 

But the thing is, what we want from a layout wil be different for all of us, so there is no right or wrong, so where space is the limiting factor we make the compromise which suits our own requirements.

 

 

[Red Devil]

Very interesting thread, especially as I've decided to dip a toe into 3mm scale with the order of a Lincoln Locos 24 bodyshell. Subscribed and watching with interest!

[TT100 Diesels]

Getting back to the layout build, we have now covered the base boards and track plan.

 

The layout was specifically designed to be removed from the room without trashing it. The baseboard joint was papered over to allow a thin laminate of scenics.

 

This also impacted on the electrical design. A separate free standing connection cubicle with built in mimic panel on the top. This sits under the layout, so it could be operated from the access well (fiddle yard access), or the front (yard shunting or watching the train go by).

 

It has 4 terminal bars inside, 2 for each baseboard. One for switched feeds to the track sections, the other for point solenoid control. The mimic panel wiring is connected to the respective chocolate block connectors on the terminal strips.

 

On the layout baseboards, all track power feeds, negs and positive switched section feeds and the point solenoids were wired into local terminal strips (chocolate blocks). 

 

So four sets of wiring looms then run from the respective connection cubicle terminal strips to their particular base board local connection blocks. This avoids any cross base board wiring.

 

Train control is dc analog. There is also provision for a second controller just for the yard by means of a two way two pole switch. Additionally, the turntable was designed to have a 12v drive motor, so traction power control can be diverted to drive the turntable bridge by a centre off two way switch. This allows for bridge rails polarity reversal when turning a loco through 180 degrees plus able to isolate the bridge as a section. Points are probe and mimic panel studs operation.

 

 

 

The under side of the mimic panel wiring connections.

 

 

 

The connection panel terminal bars and mimic panel in place. This was part way through the wiring up installation process.

 

So, should the need arise to move the layout, "all" that is needed is to disconnect the hundred odd wiring connections shown above, run a blade across the base board joint to cut the scenic laminate and unscrew the two separate baseboards.

 

Thanks for the continued interest, likes etc, I hope this remains interesting.

 

 

[TT100 Diesels]

Red devil, nice one mate, welcome to the 3milliverse. do you have a nice hairy shirt you can wear? 

 

Joking apart, that's great, can I just say, LL now do a full ready to roll 24, with 3d print power bogies and built in cosmetic side frames, chassis with centre motor drive and body. My 24 was much harder to cobble together in the pre LL dark ages.......

 

Also, if you are loking for track, Peco do two flavors of main line type track in 12mm, HOm and TT120. Take your pick really, its HOm on this layout, but I used TT120 on my Crate Lane display diorama, see the micro layout and diorama thread section. Then you can see for yourself what you like the look of best.

[TT100 Diesels]

Since Red Devil has got a LL 24, I feel it would be rude of me to not oblige with a pic of said locomotive.

 

Please bear in mind I chopped this one about a fair bit to loose the as built side skirts, plus added underframe transoms etc. This was the first loco with only one triang toy coupler. The other end has a fully populated buffer beam including a hellishly difficult to do screw shackle. The blue star and MR air pipes are there but got kind of lost in the weathering.........I will do a build feature on this one in due course.

[Red Devil]

Rather like the 24.... Apologies for the slight thread hi jack, I won't do it again, but whilst waiting on my 24 I decided to start knocking up the drive for it....I've been messing about with dead rail/radio control for a while so thought I'd try that in 3mm. This is one of the two bogies quickly lashed up to a battery and receiver to test, I'm happy enough with a single axle drive on each bogie as they're not going to have to haul that much, so motor is a 12v rated Nigel Lawton mini motor driving through a compact Romford 40:1 gear set. RC is from Micron Radio Control...Gauge on this one will be 14.2mm. Again apologies for the hijack, just thought it may be of interest.

 

[TT100 Diesels]

Thanks for the kind words Red Devil and to the folk who continue to take an interest.

 

Well, that is amazing Red Devil, radio control and 14.2, goodness you have stopped me in my tracks (excuse the pun). That now makes sense to me why you only went for the body only option, so finescale 3mm modelling, and a 14.2mm gauge radio control class 24! Take a bow sir!

[TT100 Diesels]

Just raided my layout photo archive, just another type 2 line up. Must be an open day at HPJ

 

 

Probably about it for the Derby Type 2s for the moment. I will have to get back to the layout description posts again for a while to keep it balanced.

 

Thanks all.

 

[PjKing1]

Just caught up I hadn’t realised it was 3mm either, very interesting.

 

Paul