Audley Road Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 In the beginning Having come almost to a finish with Saffron Green, Saffron Walden Model Railway Club's O Gauge exhibition layout, a new project is required. Over the last four years our members have learnt many things about building an exhibition layout and the many traps and pitfals that await the unwary on their journey. The O Gauge project was conceived by our then chairman, the late (but certainly great) Jack Turnbull. Jack was a well liked and respected modeller for many years, and regularly attended Missenden Abbey modelling weekends. At the time of its conception, we had just finished ripping out one end of our headquarters, a BR Mark One TSO carriage, to give us a 26' x 8.5' area to work with. Previously an extensive 00 continuous run with terminus layout was permanantly in residence, and we opened our doors on Summer Sundays and Bank Holidays for the princely sum of 30p and 20p for adults and children respectively. This was most definitely last century in many areas, and with membership dwindling, and enthusiasm waning the decision was made to remove it once and for all. What we wanted was to be a model railway club, not a toy train club, and so build a layout was what we did. In the last year or so we have started to draw up some ideas for what we would like to build next. As we had just built at 7mm to the foot, we decided that 4mm was the next plan, and this enables us to (just, only just) build a continuous run layout that could be erected within the confines of the carriage. After much gnashing of teeth and slaving over a hot PC, cursing the vagaries of XTrkCAD we've alighted on the following plan. In the next installment I will describe the plan, its inspiration, and how we start the move from dream to reality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audley Road Posted September 8, 2010 Author Share Posted September 8, 2010 Research and Planning The plan shown above is intended to portray todays railway in the East Anglian region, based loosely on the Ely - Ipswich section of the area. We have chosen to model this line and its traffic because of the amount of freight that has and indeed continues, to pound the rails. Admittedly the freight is mainly freightliner/intermodal trains, but the location is near enough for us to observe the scene and do our research. It also has the advantage of not being under the wires - catenary being a challenge we are shirking. As well as container trains, there are regular aggregate workings to a number of terminals in the area. With a little bit of modellers license we are able to presume a facility like Ely Potter Group also exists at our fictional location. Thus we have a distribution terminal, and an aggregates terminal accessed by a freight loop off the main line. To keep the passenger train fans happy, a small station has been included. This has been based on Kennett near Newmarket, which with its short staggered platforms adds interest without dominating the layout. Passenger services will include 153 and 156 units running between Ipswich and Cambridge, together with the through services between Peterborough and Ipswich/Liverpool Street. Those familiar with Kennett will no doubt be aware that the signal box is still operational and semaphore signals still control trains. On careful thought however, we have decided to base the signalling on the Cambridge Power Signal Box scheme, with 3-aspect colour light heads reflecting the secondary nature of this line before Felixstowe Docks grew larger. We hope that although a complete work of fiction, the model will reflect this area as it stands today. More to follow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted September 8, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 8, 2010 I'm guessing the carriage is no longer in working order, or else this could be a different slant on a portable layout - take the club house too ! Sounds a good project. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger440 Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 Would i be correct in assuming the top of the plan is a hidden yard? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audley Road Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 I'm guessing the carriage is no longer in working order, or else this could be a different slant on a portable layout - take the club house too ! Yes you've got that right, I'm not sure the carriage would turn a wheel without falling to pieces, as it has stood in its current position for nearly 30 years. Would i be correct in assuming the top of the plan is a hidden yard? Indeed you are. The scenic break on the main lines at the left hand side will occur just as the curve starts to sharpen, however the sidings in the yard will obviously remain on the scenic side. The right hand side main lines will be visible right round the corner. More to follow... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audley Road Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Some buildings based on those remaining at Kennett have been constructed from plasticard. They are now in the process of being fully painted and detailed. There used to be a much larger station building here, and the building in the final image is all that remains of it unfortunately. The platform buildings are all boarded up and this has been modelled. The facilities now consist of two bus shelter type things which is probably the next project. I'm not altogether happy with the rendering of the reddish bricks around the corners of the first building, although now the building is weathered they dont stand out so much. I'll add some pictures of the finished article when I've taken them! More on baseboards and track in the next installment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audley Road Posted October 5, 2010 Author Share Posted October 5, 2010 Some thoughts on baseboards and trackwork We are thinking of going down the ply sandwich route with the baseboards for Audley Road, primarily for lightness. We have a steep tight staircase and narrow doors on the carriage, so moving the layout needs to be easy not a chore. We have produced a trial girder to assess the weight and the sturdiness of this method and it looks quite good so far, although wer used thicker ply than we think is necessary. Need to decide on the width of ply - we were thinking of 3.6mm hardboard faced, sandwiching blocks of 125mm x 19mm redwood PAR with 9mm ply for the trackbed. This means we can have solid or open frame depending on the scenic demands of each board. It would be nice to have one board with a small road/track and stream passing under the railway lines. Its looking like about £280 to build the entire baseboards (14 of them) out of these materials. Then there are legs to consider - any suggestions as to the best method here from seasoned exhibitors?? With regards to trackwork it looks like we will go for a mixture of exactoscale fast track concrete sleeper base and flat bottom rail on the main lines and loop, with PECO flexitrack in the yard where it can be hidden under gunk and weeds. The points on the main lines and loop (i.e. all the ones that would be Network Rail operated) are to be handbuilt to represent the clamp lock type. I think I am correct in saying that Colin Craig produces the necessary bits and templates to make these?? Can anyone confirm that? One of our members has volunteered already for point construction so that is half the battle...! The rest of the points in the yard will be modified PECO. All the off stage trackwork is going to be PECO too. It looks like the trackwork will cost the best part of £700 so the treasurer better get his books out and see how much funding is available. (That's me unfortunately and its time to balance the books at the end of the financial year for us! [Groans]) I've got a feeling it could be a busy night of discussion at the club this evening.....! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audley Road Posted October 6, 2010 Author Share Posted October 6, 2010 Some more shots of the buildings. The first one is nearly complete. Just needs a litter bin adding. The prototype is incredibly overgrown at the back and on the roof, but I have scaled back on this as I don't want to hide too much of it under ivy and other detritus. The second building is still awaiting another mortar wash, and painting of the felt roof. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audley Road Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Thinking about operation of the layout The last few months have been taken up with trying to signal our layout plan. We had some help from a Network Rail employee one of our members was working with on a scheme in North London. From that, and discussion in this forum we have arrived at the signalling plan shown below: Beast66606 (Dave) is using it for the basis of his tutorial on how to use Railroad and Co TrainController to simulate an Entry Exit (NX) type panel control for British colour light signals. See this thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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