Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.

[sir douglas]

a while back i suggested that we get to work on the WCML bridge end of the layout as that is now the last bit of bare board left, last night Jamie brought the WCML bridge an we set up the board with greyhound bridge, i got to work cutting up a block of foam to form a bank in front of the bridge

 

before I started

24-2-2017 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

 

cut to size

24-2-2017 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

 

and the angles and curves cut out. because the river bank would be just off to the side, the left and side below will just have ground cover

24-2-2017 (3) by Sam, on Flickr

24-2-2017 (4) by Sam, on Flickr

 

4th layer of varnish applied to the river and continued with building up the foam board for the mud bank, this will be sanded down to a slope and hydrcaled over. two views here of the same bank from either side of the bridge

24-2-2017 (5) by Sam, on Flickr

24-2-2017 (6) by Sam, on Flickr

 

I dont have photos of it but Jamie has been slating the loco shed roof with york model making roofing and Mark is making great progress with the sides of the bridge and the wall leading up to it around the cattledock field

Edited February 25, 2017 by sir douglas

[jamie92208]

That bridge that carries the WCML is modelled on the real bridge that still carries the line over what has now become a cycle path.  there is still a footbridge that runs from the road to the north then up onto the side of Carlisle Bridge and across the Lune.  As this bridge had to be modified when the electrification took place I actually have accurate plans of the bridge and the foot bridge.  In the fullness of time the footbridge will me added, disappearing off into space as it meets the left hand backscene.  

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

A good evening was had at the club last night.   Sam continued with the area round the WCML bridge and also worked on replanting the damaged overhead structure as well as putting yet another coat of varnish on the river and doing some ballasting.    Luke, a new recruit, spent the evening fettling window opening on one side of the locoshed ready for the windows to be installed.  I spent the evening putting slates on another large area of the locoshed roof.   In the afternoon I had finished painting most of the smoke chimneys.  I also put a base coat of white paint on the shed window frames.  BarryO gave me some advice on weathering the frames, thanks, and I had a go last night once the white paint was dry.  I didn't have any back ink but Colron wood dye, which was to hand, seemed to work well.  I now need to get the remainder done and then glaze them prior to fitting.

 

Jamie

[sir douglas]

heres the windows that luke fettled

27-2-2017 (4) by Sam, on Flickr

 

the ballasting i was able to do, the pva-water mix is still yet though

27-2-2017 (3) by Sam, on Flickr

 

the walls on the south bank of the river are now glued in, shown here with metal blocks holding in place

27-2-2017 (1) by Sam, on Flickr

27-2-2017 (2) by Sam, on Flickr

[jamie92208]

A while since the last update but plenty has been achieved. Mark has worked hard on the plastic stonework on the side walls of Skerton Bridge and it's approaches. Here's a bit of the approach on Board B8

The stones still need some picking out in other colours and some weathering but they look better than bare plywood.

 

Sam has done a lot of work on the river and it's all had it's six coats of varnish. He's also created some scenic work on the approach to the LNWR over bridge. Last night I Hydrocaled the river banks at either end of Greyhound Bridge.

The mix looked just like chocolate mousse.

 

Meanwhile much work had been going on with the Loco shed. Sam has spent many hours scribing stonework ready for panting. I've continued to add more slates and lead flashing. That's crated using plastic rod and silver foil. Mark then paints the foil to look like lead.

 

The smoke chimneys will be added when the roof is finished.

 

Tonight I finally managed to get 14 of the shed windows glazed. The while idea was that the sash would be open and the light would reflect differently to show it open. This photo attempts to show the effect,

Not very good but the open sash does reflect at a different angle to the rest.

 

I've also done the bits of fencing for the down platform, hopefully these will be glued in next week,

 

Jamie

Edited July 26, 2022 by jamie92208

[sir douglas]

On friday night i got most of the "other" side of the shed scribed, other being the side facing away from the viewer

10-3-2017 by Sam, on Flickr

 

On and off for a few weeks, ive been hand painting one of Jamie's wagons as R. Carder, a coal merchant in Lancaster. Although it was registered with the LNWR and probably wouldnt have run through Green Ayre but the opportunity to model a local wagon couldnt be missed, its started when i came across a photo of a model wagon in here

http://www.robbiesrollingstock.co.uk/Lancs_&_Yorks.htm

if you click on the names in red it'll show you a model wagon in that livery, here is the Carder photo, although it looks like a photo of a plain black wagon and the livery has been added to the photo on the computer

http://www.robbiesrollingstock.co.uk/images/Lancs_Yorks/Carder.jpg

 

i printed out the wagon side to 7mm to use it as a stencil for the large lettering, a pencil is run around the inside of the cut outs to give outlines of the letters, the stencil removed and i freehand painted inside the lines, diagonal lies were measured and drawn on and painted over and the rest of the lettering was freehand written with pencil and painted over

wagon Carder (5) by Sam, on Flickr

 

the coal load is a polystyrene block covered in pva and coal dust, i decided that i was going to leave posting about it until it was finished so here it is.

wagon carder (6) by Sam, on Flickr

Edited March 12, 2017 by sir douglas

[jamie92208]

Some real progress over the last two days. Yesterday afternoon I got4' of platform fencing glued in place then had a good evening at the club. Sam finished scribing the stonework on the shed and then did a good job of fettling the window openings to the correct size. I cut some ply for a carrying case for the removable viaduct and even managed this photo of the shed as it stood.

Finally I got a coat of paint onto the front and end walls.

Tonight Sam and I had another good work night. Sam got some paint on the mudbanks that we created last week and I finished putting slates on the shed roof. I then worked on the final length of lead flashing that shows up in the above photo as white mounting card. Meanwhile Sam got some more paint on the front wall and then when it had dried fitted the windows.

 

I did the etches for these at least 4 years ago and it's great to finally see them in place.

 

Jamie

Edited July 26, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Various jobs have been done over the last few days and the shed is coming on nicely.  It will still need gutters and downpipes and door hinges but should look reasonable.  I've even got the basecoat on all the DAS now.   I've also managed to scribe the water tower and the building that goes between the shed and the Stationmasters House. The other thing I haven't had time for is to put ridge tiles on.

 

This week is mainly taken up with getting the layout into the side room at the church. I took advantage of the good weather today and have now got 8 of the `14 main crates up to church. I've also got most of the buildings, the backscene and the lighting rig. Tomorrow I plan to do some minor repairs and also fit the smoke chimneys on the shed and a few other minor tasks. The stock will get packed and then I'll move the remaining boards on Thursday morning. Even though getting everything together I the best part of a weeks work it makes loading the lorry on Friday a lot easier.

 

Jamie

[Arun Sharma]

Jamie et al - Very impressed by what I saw of Lancaster Green Ayre today at Alexandra Palace. Do you have plans to put some early EMUs on the Heysham shuttle?

[jamie92208]

Jamie et al - Very impressed by what I saw of Lancaster Green Ayre today at Alexandra Palace. Do you have plans to put some early EMUs on the Heysham shuttle?

Yes Ted they are in production but I haven't got them finished. I actually put the part built coaches out by the locos shed later this afternoon. I plan to build 2 of the 60' motor cars, one Westinghouse and 1 Seimens along with three of the 45' trailers and I've got a modified Slater's kit as the workman's coach. Thanks very much for the comments. Hopefully they will be running by the next outing to the Warley show in November.

 

 

Jamie

[emt_911]

Jamie. A stunning layout and far more imposing than the photos suggest. I also found some details that I seem to have missed just looking at the photos.

 

It's certainly given me a few ideas.

 

Keep up the great work and I hope that tomorrow is a better day.

[sir douglas]

some pics of our weekend

Although we were in the West Hall i would like to include the window in the main hall

Green Ayre at Alexandra Palace (6) by Sam, on Flickr

 

Green Ayre at Alexandra Palace (3) by Sam, on Flickr

 

and this was the first time we were able to see all the river sections together as one

Green Ayre at Alexandra Palace (9) by Sam, on Flickr

[jamie92208]

I didn't get the chance to take many photos but by chance got one that showed a scene that I had shot at Wakefield in 2015. 18 months makes a big difference.

Then as it looked yesterday.

Finally how to interest junior modellers. Josh Abbie and their Mum (shared with permission.) The smile on Abbies face says it all.

 

Jamie

Edited July 26, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Can anyone help with a bit of advice.

 

Many of the baseboards are covered with thin foam that then has hydrocal and scenic material on top of it in a relatively thin layer to keep weight down. Some of the boards, particularly in the shed area, are starting to show damage where little flakes of the plaster get broken off during the transport and storage. It would be very difficult to put a thin layer of plywood on every edge. I was wondering if matt varnish would strengthen the edges. Does anyone else have any ideas.

 

Jamie

[Anthony566]

Can anyone help with a bit of advice.

 

Many of the baseboards are covered with thin foam that then has hydrocal and scenic material on top of it in a relatively thin layer to keep weight down. Some of the boards, particularly in the shed area, are starting to show damage where little flakes of the plaster get broken off during the transport and storage. It would be very difficult to put a thin layer of plywood on every edge. I was wondering if matt varnish would strengthen the edges. Does anyone else have any ideas.

 

Jamie

 

Jamie I'm not sure Matt Varnish would be good enough but PVA dries clear and is quite strong once set ?? 

 

Maybe try a very small section to see how it looks ??

Edited March 28, 2017 by Anthony566

[jamie92208]

Jamie I'm not sure Matt Varnish would be good enough but PVA dries clear and is quite strong once set ?? 

 

Maybe try a very small section to see how it looks ??

Thanks for that Anthony We're putting the shed area boards up later this week to work on some electrical gremlins so can try a test section at the same time.

 

Jamie

[roundhouse]

I have also used PVA to strengthen edges of scenery. It's not foolproof but does certainly reduce the number of broken edges

[jamie92208]

A week ago we were on our quite steep learning curve at Ally Pally.  Since then, most of the layout has been put away and I've just got the stock boxes to shift today.  

 

Mel and I put up one end of the fiddle yard on Thursday and did some testing and track fettling.  Rather annoyingly the fault that took out most of the up yard  appeared to have cured itself. However with time and quiet we tested and re-tested with a 4-4-0 and an 0-6-0 and at one point the fault surfaced again for a couple of minutes then went away again.  I suspect a dry joint in one specific area and will look at that another day.  We did move a couple of check rails and solved a problem with one of the points.

 

I've now got the loco shed and Castle Branch down at the club rooms.   Sam tidied the work room and we got two boards up and cabled everything up ready for testing, then found that I'd left the power lead with the fiddle yard back in the chicken shed.   However more work will be done this coming week.

 

I've had some good discussions with Bill Bishop about train plans and the first batch of new relay bases have arrived from Rapid.    I made a start on the batch for the Fiddle Yard Panel last night.  

 

Jamie

[enginelane]

Can anyone help with a bit of advice.Many of the baseboards are covered with thin foam that then has hydrocal and scenic material on top of it in a relatively thin layer to keep weight down. Some of the boards, particularly in the shed area, are starting to show damage where little flakes of the plaster get broken off during the transport and storage. It would be very difficult to put a thin layer of plywood on every edge. I was wondering if matt varnish would strengthen the edges. Does anyone else have any ideas.Jamie

There is a product called Jesomite that is used in the theatre for making scenery and props. It is supposed to hard wearing and can be put on in thin layers

[jamie92208]

Evening all from a village near Ikea.    Work has progressed over the past few days.  I've had some deliveries of parts from various suppliers and so have made a start on the relay bases.   The block of 18 for the Fiddle yard panel, that control all the interchanges between the main line and the Fiddle yard as well as the Cassettes for the trip workings, is the one that I've made most progress on.

 

I screwed Din rail to a piece of white plastic and some 9mm ply and then mounted the bases on the Din Rail.   I'd only got 17 of the 18 (waiting on back order for the rest) but made a serious start today.

This is the progress as of tonight.

15 bases have been wired and tested.   The feed wires have all been labelled and tied into bundles

.

The relays are in sets of 3 and each set controls one interchange.  I did toy with the idea of wiring it all in situ in the panel but it's very restricted so I've done it this way. Hopefully it will look rather tidier when the relays are all in place and keep the link wires in place between them.

 

Jamie

Edited July 26, 2022 by jamie92208

[45156]

And there was me thinking that model railway wiring was complicated

[jamie92208]

More progress has been made over the last couple of weeks.   At the clubrooms some test running of the loco shed area has been done and a relay was found to be cross wired and locos can now access the main line again.   The board edges that proved vulnerable are being remade with harder foam to support the black carp.

 

Mel and I have had a couple of testing session in the chicken shed working on one end of the fiddle yard. All the east end tracks have now been tested and one or two minor problems rectified. We've now changed the boards round to test the centre part.

 

At home I finished the new relay board for the Fiddle yard panel and it is now installed and partially tested. In a week's time I'll be able to couple it up to the Main panel and the fiddle yard and test the rest of it.

 

I'm now starting to build the new relay bases for the Castle Branch fiddle yard and that is coming along nicely/

 

And yesterday a miracle occurred. I had been struggling to get the Totem man to complete new vinyl signs to go on the fascia board. I ordered them at the St Neots show, they were supposed to be ready at Ally Pally but weren't. However I took the three fascia boards to York with me and he produced and fitted them yesterday morning. I'll post some photos in due course.

 

Jamie

[ColinK]

Nice to see it progressing well.

[jamie92208]

Afternoon all, time for a progress report.   Some work has been ongoing despite a 5 day trip to France last week for the centenary of my uncle's death in the battle of Arras. 

 

At the clubrooms some work has been going on to try and reinforce the edges if the shed board B2 where the Hydrocal has started cracking off in places.  The main problem appeared to be that I had used some very soft foam to bring the level up to what I wanted without adding too much weight to the boards.  This is fine in the centre of a board but left the edges vulnerable.   Sam and I have experimented with cutting an inch of soft foam off along one edge and replacing it with some thin rigid insulation foam.   This has now been covered with Hydrocal and plenty of PVA.  Thus has now dried out and will just need the ground cover reinstating.  I'll then paint it all with more PVA and see how it goes.

 

Meantime I've been working on the relay board that's attached to the Castle Branch Fiddle yard, board D1.  

 

This is what is used to look like.

Unfortunately all the soldered connections to the relay bases were underneath and a bit vulnerable. This was them before the leads were all connected up to the chocolate bocks.

The relays were always vulnerable in transit and dry joints were a regular hazard.   As well as replacing the relay bases in the main fiddle yard panel I decided to do the same on D1.   Several evenings of preparatory work at home and then over the past four days some evening sessions at the clubroom have paid off and this is what they now look like.

 

There are several advantages, better reliability, no dry joints and ease of testing via the securing screws.   I've also taken the opportunity to fully document all the connections in a table.   I've also re-discovered the logic of how I'd wired the Castle Branch back in 2012.   That ha also been documented and will make operating a lot easier.   All in all I'm very happy with it.  It's taken some time and expense but I feel that it's worth it.   I've tested the relays as I wired each set of three and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to put the shed and Castle Branch area up and get it all re tested.  I'll also take the opportunity to upgrade the way that the removable viaduct section is fitted to improve the running on the branch.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Last night after getting permission from the Chairman we managed to put up the Castle Branch and shed yard in the clubrooms.  This has two purposes:-

a) to fully test the relay matrix as I need to connect up all three control panels and need those four boards to do that.

b) To work out a better way of securing the removable viaduct on the Castle Branch in position so that trains will always run at shows over the upper joint in particular.  

 

This is the set up.

 

And this is the offending joint.

 

The main problem is the fact that the joint is on a thin part of the arch.   There were some discussions by phone yesterday afternoon and Dave Tanner suggested using on of the surplus loose pin hinge that used to secure the legs on Long Preston. 

T

We had a brains trust last night and worked out how to get the hinge secured and this morning I bought some M5 by 20mm bolts and managed to drill the holes in the right position.  After a couple of pieces of packing were inserted under the pier at the upper end the rail ends lined up nicely and the hinge pin fits easily.

 

This shows it in position.

 

It can't be seen from the viewing side due to the goods shed extension being on the other side of the arch and is will be impossible t see from the river side once the backscene is installed.  I'll probably paint the steelwork matt black anyway.

 

The rail ends need a little tickle with the soldering iron to align them and then 'Jamie' the little green engine that my late friend Tony produced, did several test runs up and down without any problem.

.

I now need to re-ballast the joint area and also try and blend in the paint schemes of the viaduct parts.

 

After that I did some testing of the relays.  One needed it's firing circuit sorting out but everything else worked perfectly.  Most of the signalling system LED's worked bit I've got about 4 LED's to change.  Not a bad days work.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by jamie92208