High Peak Junction

[97406]

I reckon you should have a crack at a 40!

[TT100 Diesels]

5 hours ago, 97406 said:

That 45 looks smashing, possibly the best one yet. Really captures the look well.

 

That is very kind and generous of you to say so 97406. Certainly, my techniques have improved, and each loco I do is another learning experience, and the skills slowly build up.

 

Othe folks have also said they think it is my best effort so far, so I must be doing something right, which is nice to know.

 

Re your comment on class 40, yes, be nice but another "add to the collection" loco, rather than core fleet, but need to get the works que (stash of shame) done first (03, 26, 27, 31, 47).

 

And thanks for the continued feedback from everyone else.

 

Cheers all,

 

TT100 Diesels

 

[97406]

19 minutes ago, TT100 Diesels said:

 

That is very kind and generous of you to say so 97406. Certainly, my techniques have improved, and each loco I do is another learning experience, and the skills slowly build up.

 

Othe folks have also said they think it is my best effort so far, so I must be doing something right, which is nice to know.

 

Re your comment on class 40, yes, be nice but another "add to the collection" loco, rather than core fleet, but need to get the works que (stash of shame) done first (03, 26, 27, 31, 47).

 

And thanks for the continued feedback from everyone else.

 

Cheers all,

 

TT100 Diesels

 

 

They were very common in that area in the 70s and early 80s. Many of the trains also passed near my house not too far from Skelton Junction, Timperley, the Tunstead to Northwich ICI hoppers being an example which they shared with the 25s. My love of 40s and Rats comes from growing up there. The noise scared the bejesus out of me when I was 4 or 5 standing on Navigation Road station platform with my Mum. The whistle of the 40s seemed the most unlikely noise for a diesel to make at the time!

[TT100 Diesels]

 

On 18/04/2024 at 04:55, 97406 said:

I reckon you should have a crack at a 40!

 

Hi, as always, thanks for the interest, and as a rather belated answer to @97406, not a 40 but another EE nose job, I currently have a 37/4 in the oven rising nicely, there are some build pics on the 3mm scale workbench thread.

 

But I am turning tables on locos for this post, in fact its another occasional retrospective on the layout build, this time the turntable. 

 

When first on with the track laying back in late 2015 / early 2016, I had decided I just had to have a turntable, as they are a lovely operational feature, and I was going for a leftover steam infrastructure vibe.

 

So all well and good, but not much in the form of readily available turntables except the old Triang TT 3 job which is a bit too 'train set' for my needs and Peco do an HOm table, but its a bit short and very continental looking.

 

So, I figured that if I wanted one, I would just have to build it myself. So before that, it was a case of finding one to copy. 

 

 

So I went to look at the table at Barrow Hill round house, but did not like the look of it, so ended up selecting this one at Peak Rail at Rowsley South. The bridge is a renovated example that was originally from Mold Junction shed. 31270 looks on in the background. I took a whole set of photos, so I had something to work to.

 

 

So, had to start somewhere, so how about cutting a hole in he baseboard for a turntable pit. Another square piece of baseboard material was cut out and screwed in place. Having completed the turntable, I realised that this was a big mistake, it would have made the construction much more straightforward by constructing it as an off layout free standing module and integrating it into the baseboards when it was finished. Lesson learnt!

 

 

The entire build was pretty much trial and error, slowly feeling my way along. I had never attempted a scratch build of anything before, let alone something as ambitious as a turntable. 

 

The next step was to make an annular construction that needed to be 6mm deep to support the bridge rail. So decided to cut two rings from 3mm thick hardboard, with a compass cutter, that was jolly hard work! Once a decent groove was made, it was possible to get in with a stanley knife and follow the groove, a bit quicker than relying on the compass cutter alone.

 

 

This gives the bridge rail support structure in situ.

 

 

Bit more done, bridge rail in place, a length of code 75 FB rail soldered to cut down pcb sleepers. The hardboard rings had been bonded in place, and faced off with 0.6mm mounting card. Plastic embossed brick was then bonded to the lower face. 

 

The upper section was also a mount card / plastic embossed brick item, made to drop into the turntable pit above the bridge support rail, seen here ready to fit into the pit.

 

Note the maintenance access 'cut out', would never have thought to model that without having proto photos to refer to.

 

That's it for photo upload so call it a day for part 1.

 

To be continued......

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

 

[TT100 Diesels]

Into part 2 of the look back at the turntable build.

 

 

Once the pit sides were completed, I painted and weathered it all, it was trickey enough doing it in situ without having to contend with a turntable bridge in place.

 

 

Moving onto the bridge, the basic structural item was a piece of wood, shaped to fit. The runner wheelsets were simply wheelsets and axleboxes chopped out of a donor Triang TT wagon chassis. The flanges were removed from the plastic wheels and pins used as axles. The wheelset units were super glued in place.

 

Once I was happy with the turntable centre point, a hole was drilled through to fit a bridge drive tube bearing, from brass tube. The turntable drive tube, also from brass tube fitted in and had a slot in the top to locate into a  bridge drive key.

 

 

The basis for the cosmetic deck plate was shaped plasticard, with reference to the prototype photos. A length of Peco HOm track was bonded in place. Most sleepers were cut out, retaining one in five to try to replicate the bridge deck "look". Its a bit representational, not a perfect copy mind.

 

Rail power supply wires were soldered in at the centre and fed through the drive tube to under the baseboard.

 

 

The bridge deck detailing comes on with plasticard sheet embossed with wooden planking used on the top, and plate girder construction on the bridge sides fashioned from Evergreen plastic  'L' section, again trying to follow the photos but again, simplified a bit to suit my skill level.

 

 

The trickey bit was the hand rails. The stanchions were more 'L' section with a piece of  0.3mm rod bonded to the bottom, locating each into a pre drilled hole in the deck. Each stanchion had a 0.4mm hole drilled in two positions to allow 0.3mm rod to be threaded through to represent the handrails. 

 

An interesting shot, just shows how much the traction has come on since then, with the obligatory Triang TT Brush Type 2 engaged in running tests of the structure.

 

That's it for downloads, to be continued,

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

[TT100 Diesels]

Thanks for all the interest, on to the third and final part of the turntable build look back.

 

The big question was operation, both motorisation and polarity switching. I spent a lot of time looking into electronic control, stepper motors and sliding pickups to auto change polarity of the bridge rails when indexing through 180 degrees.

 

In the end, it was a case of going old school (relative) simplicity. Bridge rail polarity switching was through a double pole two way switch, so it was a simple flick of the switch when turning a loco. It had a centre off feature so also able to isolate and stable a loco on the bridge as well.

 

 

Motorisation was a bit more trickey. The picture above is the third iteration of a trial and error methodology of proving the drive and refining it. Control wise, a 12v dc motor is supplied off the track power controller via a two way two pole switch.

 

The motor drives a gearbox with an output drive ratio of 5,103 : 1. So it has variable speed control right down to an imperceptible crawl, making lining tracks up by eye very easy. The output gear is bonded to the turntable bridge drive tube, and the gearbox is effectively 'axle hung' off this drive tube. Brackets at each end fit it to the baseboard and stabilise it.

 

So the whole control philosophy is simple and effective, and fun to drive it.

 

 

In this picture of the painted but unweathered bridge, it can be seen that the pit floor weathering had been done radially into the centre to represent a slightly concave pit floor, as on the real thing with a centre drain. The model pit floor is dead flat, hence the 'smoke and mirrors'.

 

 

And in final form, with the bridge weathered and additional weathering / scenics to blend the pit floor and outer edge into the overall layout scenics.

 

I hope that this little series my turntable build notes has been of interest. Certainly, for me, this is a lovely feature of the layout, and although it was a journey of discovery actually making it from scratch, it was very enjoyable and ultimately very rewarding.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

 

 

 

[TT100 Diesels]

Hi folks, this post has some symmetry with the turntable builds above in that its a couple of shots of the turntable in action with a sneek peek at my not quite off the workbench yet latest addition that is having a quick stretch of its legs.

 

 

Somehow, 37403 "Isle of Mull" made it to High Peak Junction. I think it must have gone to Crewe Works for some rectification work, but ended up at Toton, as its close to Brush, and Brush Traction supplied a lot of the kit for the HGR work so warranty work I expect. No doubt a test run ex Toton, before release back to Eastfield.

 

 

Well out of era, by the time 37403 got this dirty, 25125 in the background had been withdrawn and scrapped about 5 years previously!

 

 

And away back to Toton.

 

Anyway, its my first 'namer' on the layout. Still requires matt spray varnish then my home brew flush glazing. Loco is a Lincoln Locos 3d print 'ready to roll' job, mini snowploughs were scratch built by me. The motorised chassis runs like a dream.

 

Must say, I am super pleased with how it's turned out. Its my paint job. Decals and '3d' nameplates by Railtec Transfers.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

Edited May 11 by TT100 Diesels
Spelling

[TT100 Diesels]

More progress with the 37/4 build. It's had its rattle can matt varnish now, but as it dried off, I was not too happy with some issues on one side of the loco, so its had some base livery re work together with re weathering the grilles and some re blending of the dirty patina in other areas. 

 

One step forward, two back, and then another forward again 🤔.

 

 

The reworked side of the loco. Happy with it now, so next job is some flush glazing.

 

Looks like it's escaped the workbench to work some air braked vans.

 

 

But, overall, I am very pleased how it is turning out, it's come a long way from this, the base one piece bodyshell 'kit' and ready to roll motorised chassis.

 

Dunno about High Peak Junction, I need to build a West Highland Line layout now 😉.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

[bradfordbuffer]

58 minutes ago, TT100 Diesels said:

More progress with the 37/4 build. It's had its rattle can matt varnish now, but as it dried off, I was not too happy with some issues on one side of the loco, so its had some base livery re work together with re weathering the grilles and some re blending of the dirty patina in other areas. 

 

One step forward, two back, and then another forward again 🤔.

 

 

The reworked side of the loco. Happy with it now, so next job is some flush glazing.

 

Looks like it's escaped the workbench to work some air braked vans.

 

 

But, overall, I am very pleased how it is turning out, it's come a long way from this, the base one piece bodyshell 'kit' and ready to roll motorised chassis.

 

Dunno about High Peak Junction, I need to build a West Highland Line layout now 😉.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

Oh yes....and exhibited please

[BoD]

1 hour ago, TT100 Diesels said:

I need to build a West Highland Line layout now 😉.

There are worse things that you could do.

[03060]

12 minutes ago, BoD said:

There are worse things that you could do.

... and you've already got the 20s and 25s Dave ... just need a 27 now ! (Nudge, nudge ... wink, wink !!) 

[TT100 Diesels]

Thanks all for the positive reactions and comments, just to really put the cat amongst the pigeons, in my works que stash of bodyshell kits, chassis, whitemetal bogie side frames etc, is sufficient 'kit' to outshop a Class 26, 27 and another 47.

 

One of my armchair modelling thought processes is keeping the mid 80's theme (due to 37403), so 26 as railfreight red strip large logo, 27 blue (one that was still hanging around by then) and the other 47 emerging as a one of the big Eastfield /4's, in LL blue, 593 "Galloway Princess" takes my fancy.

 

Already got sufficient plausible locos in banger blue for the supporting cast if I don't get too precious about depot allocations (actually there is no danger of that happening...😁). 

 

Only thing is, all these other loco parts are an earlier generation so will no doubt require more mods and fettling compared with the recent 45/1 and this 37/4, so it's not going to be a quick fix!

 

Cheers

 

D.

[Ravenser]

That's an extremely impressive 37  . Superb weathering

[TT100 Diesels]

28 minutes ago, Ravenser said:

That's an extremely impressive 37  . Superb weathering

 

Hi Ravenser,

 

I would have given you a 'thanks' reaction, but since its not available, I will say it, thanks for your kind words.

 

I think that the large logo livery generally, and specifically 37's lends itself to getting very dirty quite quickly, and showing it too! So a really interesting subject to weather, and great fun doing it.

 

Cheers

 

D.

[woodenhead]

@TT100 Diesels do you not have that reaction available to you?

[AY Mod]

It's because Ravenser's posts get held in a moderation queue - usually for fact-checking.

[TT100 Diesels]

9 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

@TT100 Diesels do you not have that reaction available to you?

 

 

2 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

It's because Ravenser's posts get held in a moderation queue - usually for fact-checking.

 

Thank you for the clarification Andy,

 

Cheers

Dave.

[TT100 Diesels]

Had a very pleasant surprise when I bought the June 2024 issue of BRM to find one of my pictures off the 'show us your realistic thread' appeared in the 'community' section. Well, thrilled really, thank you to the RMweb / BRM team.

 

The picture was also posted up thread on HPJ. Another copy shown below:-

 

 

I don't post very much at all on the realistic modelling thread, so was really surprised to see this in the magazine.

 

Thanks again,

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

[TT100 Diesels]

Thanks everyone for the recent interest in the thread. 

 

Now 37403 is properly finished, it is getting to know its new home, High Peak Junction. It's a bit out if place and era though, so at the moment rule 1 has been invoked !

 

 

Well this view could pass as an out the way yard somewhere off the central belt.

 

 

I wonder if it worked the speedlink vans in from Mossend ?

 

 

It's happy now, its found a split box mate !

 

 

Two generations of 37's from Lincoln Loco's, 37099 is an early resin cast body from a scratch build master, while 37403 is all 3d print body and motorised chassis. There is a feature post on 37099 back on page 4. 

 

Anyway, looks like they have made friend's.

 

 

Cheers

 

D.

[TT100 Diesels]

Now both the Peak and 37/4 have been fitted with coupling loops at one end only, been able to get them to stretch their legs on the layout hauling some 'trucks'.  So, naturally a few photo opportunities come about.

 

 

The pilot, 08685 ticks over on the yard headshunt while 37403 coasts into the through platform on a speedlink service made up of VAA, VBA and VCA's.

 

 

And comes to a stand by the box so the driver and bobby can exchange tokens.

 

 

A quick dash over the other side of the line to grab this view.

 

 

Fortunate enough to be invited into the box so got this view out the window. In the background,  08685 seems to have moved further up the headshunt.

 

 

The ingey three has drawn forward into the loop as it's scheduled to recess here for a crew change. 

 

 

While the relief men are still having a last cuppa in the mess room, a class 9 mineral empties are booked a run through, with 45127 doing the honours. Plenty of brake force up front with the big Derby Sulzer.

 

That's the lot for now, hope this is of interest.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

Edited May 27 by TT100 Diesels
Spelling as usual

[Hunslet 102]

Great photos, the Class 37 looks really at home, even with its Scottie dog motif. Great modelling 

[rob D2]

That’s great .

must be really satisfying , basically, building your own traction 

[Robert Shrives]

Hi 

Glazing looks really good and hopefully you are pleased with result - I guess journey not an easy one if my poor efforts anything to go by! 

Thanks for showing, mind you surprised you got asked into the box given the crossing of the boards so close to moving train... or was it for a ticking off? which would have been my luck back in the day.

Robert 

[bradfordbuffer]

2 hours ago, Robert Shrives said:

Hi 

Glazing looks really good and hopefully you are pleased with result - I guess journey not an easy one if my poor efforts anything to go by! 

Thanks for showing, mind you surprised you got asked into the box given the crossing of the boards so close to moving train... or was it for a ticking off? which would have been my luck back in the day.

Robert 

There where more strange signal men to crazy drivers back in the day! The signaler at caterhouse on low level line to Warrington from Ditton use to hate you going to sign the signalbox to sign requester when detained at his home signal.....use to get halfway to the box and he would 'pull off signal' and even hearing the cables creak and grown I would just carry on to box to be meet by a red faced grumpy signaled....its off! Oh whilst I'm hear I'll just sign your requester any way cos section signal isn't off....it was the neatest signalbox register ever....and oops I Wright like a spider in a ink well😄

[TT100 Diesels]

Hi folks, today, we take a trip forward in time,  beyond blue diesels........ to the privatised railway. Good old High Peak Junction struggled on as a freight centre, while larger yards and facilities fell by the wayside. EWS took it on and now they have become just DB.

 

On thing though, just like at Ipswich refuelling and stabling point (Freightliner), the diesel oil comes in by rail tankers, TTA's to be precise, and green ones just like Ipswich!. And, unusually for one of the private freight companies, they still have a resident "jocko", its currently 08623.

 

 

The resplendent ex works DB liveried "jocko" is handling the new loco fuel delivery in the yard.

 

 

Closer view of the shunt proceedings. Must be fresh off overhaul TTA's, and down the fuel farm, they were very very careful not to spill even a drop down the sides......😉.

 

 

Its all about positioning the tankers around the turntable roads. The one on the old ash pit road gets connected to the fuel pumps and loco fuelling rig in the shed.

 

 

While the other two get stored, awaiting a shuffle onto the old ash pit road off the turntable.

 

 

08623 ticking over on the turntable bridge after positioning the tankers.

 

 

And moving off into the shed.

 

 

And off into the shed.

 

 

Time for a top up.

 

Clearly, all this new traction and rolling stock is in dire need of some proper weathering......

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels 🤔