Johndc120 Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 (edited) A small Diorama based layout loading coal wagons from a conveyor/hopper. As a bit of a break from the big layout we have looked at doing a breather layout. something small, not particularly based on anywhere but just typical of a small scale coal loading facility. we will be looking at running the last legs of industrial steam such as J94s pulling hop24 wagons and HAA wagons but also more modern HTAs with a class 08 as not much would be different from that 1980's to early 2000's built in EM gauge with hand built track, it comprises of an arrivals road, departure road, loading point and a single siding connected to a single headshunt. the train will never fully be on scene coming from under a bridge so even with a 3' F/Y you can keep adding wagons to the back as you load others and deposit them on the departure line, scale length trains on a 5' layout 🤔 We hoping this layout will be nice and easy to operate, will be easier to exhibit and provide a use for some of our redundant stock which has been sitting in boxes for a while now This is the track plan, the viewing side is from the top and the F/Y to the left Edited December 12, 2023 by Johndc120 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted December 12, 2023 Author Share Posted December 12, 2023 the biggest thing so far on the layout has been to convert all the wagons to EM gauge and fit them with kadees, all have gone over without much bother which is nice. The J94 and rapido hunslet are also now to EM gauge but not yet on dcc We have just picked up the timber so will start cutting wood within the next week. hopefully it won't take long to get a baseboard build ready o get some track on it 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted December 13, 2023 Author Share Posted December 13, 2023 Converting wagons. it’s the turn of 5 Bachmann HHA wagons to be converted to EM gauge. Despite what some people say it’s not always a drop in process and usually I end up cutting a bit off the break blocks to allow the wheels to fit The photo below shows the component parts of each bogie, most of the time this can be done without dismantling to this point but on these it’s easier With a sharp knife I have cut a 45 degree chamfer on the back of each brake block, this allows room for the EM gauge wheel to rotate freely The bogie can now be reassembled and put back onto the wagon, all that is left to do is wait for the EM gauge wheels from H&A models 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stivesnick Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 Hi When did shunting of power station coal trains end? I thought the idea of the "merry go round" coal train was that shunting at loading points was avoided. Coal traffic is now very much reduced, but would be surprised if bogie coal wagons were shunted. Happy to be proved wrong. Regards Nick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted December 13, 2023 Author Share Posted December 13, 2023 3 hours ago, stivesnick said: Hi When did shunting of power station coal trains end? I thought the idea of the "merry go round" coal train was that shunting at loading points was avoided. Coal traffic is now very much reduced, but would be surprised if bogie coal wagons were shunted. Happy to be proved wrong. Regards Nick It certainly was, however small scale operations still were shunted though not wagons individually like this. I got a few photos of J94s pulling 8 HAA wagons round to be filled ready to be remade into a block train 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted December 13, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2023 Now this looks like a bit of fun, John ! 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted December 13, 2023 Author Share Posted December 13, 2023 13 minutes ago, NHY 581 said: Now this looks like a bit of fun, John ! Hopefully a decent size, wonder what inspired us to do that I wonder! Seems more similar to the things you produce!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted December 13, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2023 1 minute ago, Johndc120 said: Hopefully a decent size, wonder what inspired us to do that I wonder! Seems more similar to the things you produce!! Ha ! No idea !!! This appears to have SWAG '25 written all over it.......... 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted December 16, 2023 Author Share Posted December 16, 2023 On 13/12/2023 at 13:37, NHY 581 said: Ha ! No idea !!! This appears to have SWAG '25 written all over it.......... Sounds like a good target to me!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted December 16, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 16, 2023 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Johndc120 said: Sounds like a good target to me!! Tidy. Pencilled in. Pre run at the Small Cardiff show '25 ? Edited December 16, 2023 by NHY 581 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
br2975 Posted December 16, 2023 Share Posted December 16, 2023 On 13/12/2023 at 09:14, stivesnick said: When did shunting of power station coal trains end? I thought the idea of the "merry go round" coal train was that shunting at loading points was avoided. Coal traffic is now very much reduced, but would be surprised if bogie coal wagons were shunted. Happy to be proved wrong. . It still goes on, at Ffos-y-fran / Cwmbargoed. . Although the opencast has ceased extracting coal at the end of November 2023, Britain's last domestic coal flow (using the stockpiled coal) to Tata, Margam needs to be shunted around at Cwmbargoed DP; albeit the train of HTA hoppers stays in one. . If you want to see the last train of British mined coal, it will be leaving Cwmbargoed in the next week or so. 2 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted December 17, 2023 Author Share Posted December 17, 2023 One of the big design challenges of the layout is some sort of conveyor system. the conveyor will connect a hopper on the the back of the layout to the loading hopper on the loading siding. Unlike the prototype we won’t store coal in the loading hopper but use the conveyor to feed into the hopper which effectively will be a funnel. these are our initial designs. The shafts at either end are 3/16 of an inch. Roller bearings each side will help reduce friction and it’ll be powered by an O gauge motor and gearbox. The bottom end is adjustable to alter the tension of the belt 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted December 19, 2023 Author Share Posted December 19, 2023 A couple of updates on the technical side of the layout The conveyor design was just too small!! Particularly around the bearings, I’ve now rebooked at it and increased the size which should allow for greater throughput of coal and also strength in the design For point motors we have found a small servo controller by Tam Valley depot which is an inbuilt DCC accessory decoder but also has local buttons and indicator LEDs for a panel. The nice feature on these is that LED change even when operated by the DCC instead of this little panel we will be fitting the LEDs into a track diagram 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted January 7 Author Share Posted January 7 Progress has started, the wood framing for the baseboards has been cut and assembled ready to be screwed together to form the baseboards! Nice to make some physical progress 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 A pair of Hornby sentinels on the rolling road, they are running in now that have been converted to EM gauge. Also 3 rail freight HEA wagons have arrived, I need 12 in total so lots more to get! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 2 baseboards now firmly under construction the far one is the layout which is 5’ x 18”. As you can see from the risers the majority of the baseboard is to the right leaving the front free for scenics the nearer baseboard is the F/Y is 3’ x 18” and will be full depth. There will only be 2 tracks coming into the F/Y but it will provide plenty of room for storing stock 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted January 29 Author Share Posted January 29 Good progress this evening. the boards are now finished with the boards now on top, this includes a cut out for where a stream cuts under the track. the template is on although it’s hard to see and it seems to work nicely we’ve also had a play with the conveyor, I could do with some suggestions for the belt as bike inner tube is just too thick otherwise it seems to work nicely 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 The layout now has Cork down ready for track laying later this week. Also the first of 2 coal sector class 37s is now converted to EM gauge, this was done with Romford coach wheels with the pin points removed. The gear and bearing taken from the old axles and 3D printed spacers to prevent side play on the outer axles of the bogies, the centre axle is allowed a reduced amount of sideplay 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted February 5 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 5 Tidy 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 Working on the design for the tightrope style bridge which fits over the gap shown in this picture It is spanning a concrete channel made for water coming down off the hillside into the stream in front. The bridge is made using 2 concrete beams topped with timber, L1 chairs can then be bolted to the timber and 3 tie rods put across to stop the beams spreading with the load. I’ve put small pips on to help locate the chairs correctly 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 Trial version in place, I love the look of it however it needs a bit of work to get something which will work 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 The tightrope bridge is now finished and track laid over it. I’m really happy with how it looks especially with the tie bars across it. I’ll try and keep it fairly open on the front of the layout however on the back it’ll need some sort of walkway to cross the culvert 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Another job ticked off is the loading railer for the F/Y. This allows us to just place the stock on the railer and push it towards the track it’s screwed down onto the layout and I’ve just laid the track up to it the screws need to just be countersunk a little bit more to get them flush 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johndc120 Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 Not the easiest of 3 way points, this one was really fiddly in places and some really short bits of rail but it’s done now and ticked off the list 2 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted February 14 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 14 (edited) That Tandem is very nice John. Is this your first layout to EM standards? If so welcome to the party. Regards Lez. Edited February 14 by lezz01 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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