Camden Shed

[1BCamden]

hi Iain,

Yep, that's the magazine that caused all the trouble!! Up until I picked up that copy in late 1994, I had been drifting through a number of layout possibilities, one even being a fictitious location north west of Sandy, on the LNER, but with LMS joint running lines, luckily I'd only bought one NE tank loco.

But by that Christmas, my fate was sealed, it was LMS or nothing, I later learned of the politics between the LMS and the MR, and swayed slightly to the LNWR, although I had by that time a large amount of Fowler, so I worked the layout date backward, just far enough to see Claughtons, Prince of Wales and George the Fifth still running to/from Bletchley, and Birmingham, without impacting on the larger Princess Class, Turbomotive and Patriots, (12/06/1936) who needs a Coronation anyway !!

The coaling plant, wow impressive, looks great, will yours have the chicken wire containment screens, it's such a dominate structure on such spindly legs !! Merry Christmas Iain, how's the golf and new home plans going ?

 

Best regards

Stanley

[92220]

Hi Stanley,

 

Who needs a Coronation? Can't believe you asked that!

 

A Merry Christmas and very best wishes to you too. I hope that all is well in South Australia. At this time of year it's an enticing thought.

 

Golf has been going OK thanks, if somewhat limited of late due to work, and the house plans are exciting if we can pull the project off as we would like. The loft space should be T shaped, which means that there is a good central section without too much intrusion from the slope of the roof. Roughly like the pic below, though that isn't to scale. In fact it's so wildly not to scale it's hardly worth posting, but you might get the idea nonetheless.

 

 

Plenty more to do yet, but if it does work out this way, the layout will be viewable from both sides of the scenic section. I suspect that it will be a completely new Camden Shed if so, although I've not decided for certain yet. But many of the structures can be reused, and I can hopefully complete things like the coaling plant and the water tower, plus build some of the turnouts etc from a new Templot plan. I'll update when we know a bit more, probably in February from what we are told.

 

With the coaling plant, I do plan to include the containment screens, though it may be that the frawework for these is all that I can manage, and that I leave the chicken wire or mesh itself to the imagination. The legs measured off the plans are about 2'4" square, so reasonably meaty reinforced concrete, but supporting a structure over 90' tall makes them seem spindly for sure.

 

I'm slightly relieved that there has been enough activity on this thread to move it onto another page before page 21 occupied an entire year, such has been my lack of progress!

 

Iain

[1BCamden]

Who needs a Coronation ?, I have to draw a line somewhere !! apologies ☺️

Wow both sides, now that will get the web buzzing !!

I know the work feeling, couple more days, and then a months leave, we are heading over to your side of the planet, Italy, France and Switzerland.

Interesting plan, roof space anyway, anything else going on other than the layout - haha !! just joking.

 

RMWEB is just the best site, along with YouTube,

Have you had a look at Rudy model railway, and train controller gold (fantastic)

 

Thanks for sharing 2015 with us all,

 

Best regards again for Christmas

Stanley

Edited December 16, 2015 by 1BCamden

[92220]

Hope you have a great trip Stanley. It's looking like I might be heading down your way in June next year too.

 

A little more building on the coaling plant. I've pictured it placed on the layout, where it looks even more massive than on the bench! The method of construction - build the box and add the legs around that - had its issues. I might have been better to build the legs and the cross bracing first and then add the box in and around that. Anyway, it's done now, and after a lot of painstaking effort, measuring the structure I don't think I could have ended up with it being more accurate or square, but I might have got there more quickly.

 

Two of the legs are below, cut from square section styrene to wrap around the existing structure.

 

 

I still have the jigger platforms to add on each end but the central section is basically done part from tidying up and adding plenty of detail.. It has been a bit of a mission to work out how to interpret all the differences between photos and drawings - obviously the photos give some important and clear information but there are many angles not covered. In some cases the drawings and the photos are also directly contradictory. I am still not 100% sure that I have the lifting gear house at the top absolutely right. But it is detachable at least at the moment, so I can change it if I find better info.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I took these earlier today, I have also added some of the strengthening sections which adorn the sides.

 

I'm trying to work out now how the rails/guides for the wagon cradle look. It is one area where I have absolutely no photos and the drawings don't help beyond the basic arrangement.

 

Here are a few more useful references, from which I've drawn all sorts of useful help.

 

 

 

Iain

[cornish trains jez]

Hi,

 

That's coming along really nicely. This photo popped on on Flickr recently and I meant to post it earlier. You may have already seen it but hopefully it will help with the model a little.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-diesels/23432138126/in/photolist-4GD143-axJXTb-BGBQiu-iu7CMf-megUk8-fANYYK-d1UGfQ-fqVegM-bTML9a-ec4hfd-inqGvT-fnUHjW-gUgCQC-fMhoRE-fzE6A9-bntfSu-ftfXM3-eTA4jG-pziZTv-e4SsKc-gZ3yXw-fcZrYX-fgKFWP-bkiibB-bkii52-j5PJcC-bq5yTa-cmDUJu-ecvJuN-e4SsEt-hvsB1m-eduJFB-hvtsja-egH2gw-cXGC8w-cXGCiq-evqufx-d9PucD-bnHwWb-h1BCJE

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

[92220]

Thanks Jeremy, much appreciated.

I hadn't seen that exact one before now, though I do have some similar views. This is great.

Best wishes,

Iain

[LNER4479]

Wow, Iain - that looks fab!

 

One of these days, you must get out what locos you have and arrange them around that end of the depot to give some idea of the overall scene. I'm sure it'll look mighty impressive already. May be also a useful (poignant?) record if you do end up creating Camden Mk2.

 

Go on, just for us ... it is Christmas, you know ...

[Froxfield2012]

I'm trying to work out now how the rails/guides for the wagon cradle look. It is one area where I have absolutely no photos and the drawings don't help beyond the basic arrangement.

 

Here are a few more useful references, from which I've drawn all sorts of useful help.

 

 

Iain

Iain

 

I have had a look through everything I have on Camden and drawn something of a blank on those rails/guides.  You have already seen the best I can offer, except I am attaching a crop of the full resolution scan of that area.  Actually it seems that it would be really difficult to get a clear shot of that area as the top of the run is within corrugated iron and quite a lot of the rest is covered in wire mesh!  I have stared at the pictures for some time and the only thing I think I can make out is that the rails seem to be of a T section with a narrower piece of metal running down the centre of the wider main strut.  That doesn't seem very clear now I read it back.  But one can almost make out a darker line in the middle of the side view of the rail in the shots from this angle.  But it could all be an optical illusion. 

 

[92220]

Thanks Richard, as always, for yet another helpful photo. I am enormously grateful to you and your father for the remarkable quality of photographs that you have provided. I've been scouring some of my other books to try to find detailed pictures of the guide rails on other coaling plants, with limited success. I think I have a little more detail but I'm not yet confident enough to start constructing anything.

 

Thanks Graham. I'll see what I can do with a few locos around the north end of the shed and turntable before Friday. The more I think about it, the more likely it is that I will try to build Camden mk.2 in the new house. There are a few things about this one that I'm not entirely happy with:

 

The mainline spacing is wrong - the two slow (electric) lines in the middle should have a 6ft, so it goes 10ft - 6ft - 10ft not, as I have done it, 6-10-6.

Those slow lines should have 3rd and 4th rail

They should also begin the descent into the out-of-view dive under as they approach the bridge.

There are no crossovers, nor is there the double scissors off the down fast to the shed road

 

Plus some aspects of the track work aren't reliable enough - it is after all my first effort at building track I suppose - and I would like this to be a properly operational layout not just a large diorama with a bit of movement.

 

I guess this is because I started with the idea of basing my layout on Camden, simply to provide a credible track plan of a busy main line passing a motive power depot that serviced express locomotives. The more I got into it, the more I tried to make it a model OF Camden not just based on it.

 

The track plan should be

 

 

I've taken photos of this from LMS Engine Sheds vol. 1 and stuck them together. Hopefully, that is OK, but I will gladly remove it if not.

 

If things work to the current plan, I should be able comfortably to fit about a 20' scenic section, with access and viewing from both sides. That is only slightly compressed from the scale length of 25'4", whereas I currently have 12'.

 

It would make the whole scene fit together a lot better if I could widen the current board by a foot and include maybe 3 roads of the goods yard. I could build this initially to be static, and possibly make it operational in the future if I get the urge. On the other side, the rear of the Gloucester Road houses, plus the fish smoking factory building and the engineering building will also add a lot to the view of a railway in an urban landscape.

 

I can reuse all the structures that I have built so far I think - the goods depot building may need altering a little as the side wall is accurate but the front and back are not quite there - but the signal boxes, bridges, ash and coal plants, water tower, turntable deck (and perhaps the well), station building and buffer stops are all transferable.

 

In the meantime, I've done a load of jobs, it's cloudless, mild and relatively calm outside, so there is only one place I'm going to be for the next 3 hours. And it's not shopping!

 

Iain

[92220]

Too many things to do before Friday so I didn't manage to get any shots in the north end of the yard, but here are a few, belatedly. A fairly motley collection both in terms of motive power and also photographic quality, but please may I take this opportunity to wish all you kind, friendly, knowledgeable and helpful people on RMWeb the happiest of fortune in 2016. Hopefully I can provide you with some entertainment at some point.

 

Best wishes,

 

Iain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Gringo]

Super stuff, Iain,

 

Thanks for posting the photos.

 

All the very best for 2016,

John.

[cornish trains jez]

Lovely photos.

 

All the best for 2016 and look forward to more pictures!

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

[LNER4479]

Fantastic!

 

I particularly like the depth of the pictures looking across towards the mainlines - the backscene effect is very effective. Something I'm grappling with at the moment.

 

All the best for 2016.

[92220]

Thanks very much for the kind wishes everyone.

 

I've made a little more progress on the coaling plant today. It doesn't photograph all that well yet as it is all white still, but it is taking shape and looking suitably imposing.

 

Both jigger platforms completed and fixed to a temporary base so as to maintain squareness. I've also done one jigger feed and half done the other.

 

 

 

 

 

Iain

[Tangoman69]

Superb Iain!!

You are doing what I could only dream about.

The WCML and the Stanier Pacifics were what drew me to modelling many moons ago.

[92220]

Even more excitingly, I just made this:

 

 

This is a first dry run without any fettling at all, so hopefully there is a sweet running chassis in there somewhere. Thanks to the Poppy's Loco Builder box, which was an excellent recommendation from Tony Wright on the Wright writes thread, I've managed to build both a new Comet Jinty chassis, and to rebuild the one I built like a banana last year. The new one is very obviously square, though I have got one of the end spacers a bit wonky on the rebuilt one, it does appear to be square in all the important dimensions.

 

 

 

I do agree with Tony's thoughts about the pleasure obtained from making things. There is something so satisfying about building something and then seeing it work, especially when it's something you've struggled with in the past.

 

Plenty more to do before it is completely sorted, and the big battle for me will be to make some working pickups.

 

Iain

[Barry O]

Iain

 

yep the Poppy boxes are the solution to getting chassis (and particularly the older thinner brass Comet ones) square. Once I get some more axle bearings there are two Scots and an A4 chassis to weld together.

 

Baz

[92220]

A little more done today in between other jobs.

 

I've laminated the coupling rods, done all the brake gear and painted the Jinty chassis - hopefully I will be able to make a video of it running on the layout tomorrow.

 

Ive done the doors, windows, roof, some of the staircases, and the girders for what I assume is a winching mechanism to get spare parts up to, or failed parts down from, the lifting gear at the top. There are very fuzzy pics of this bit, and even from the limited info I have, I know this isn't quite right, but it's as close as I can get it while still keeping it sturdy enough not to buckle or collapse.

 

 

Windows are bowpen lined directly onto the clear plastic, and the outer frames 10 thou grey plastic rod.

 

 

 

 

 

I had bought the Plastruct HO stairs for the ashplant, as they are narrow and steep, but the pitch was much too shallow. I thought the same problem might afflict the coaling plant too, and they are marginally too shallow in pitch, but definitely close enough that filing each step gives a much better result than trying to make all these from scratch. This has the added bonus that you thin each step as you go, so getting closer in appearance to the steel treads that would have been on the real thing.

 

Iain

[cornish trains jez]

Superb modelling! It's going to make a cracking centre piece for your layout once finished.

Keep up the good work.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

[jrg1]

Have you got a description of 6256?  Very impressed!

[92220]

Thanks both.

 

jrg1 - 46256 is the first item in my thread on Motive Power for Camden Shed: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/65335-motive-power-for-camden-shed/

 

I didn't document building it as I did it before I joined RMWeb, but it is a fairly standard Comet conversion of a Hornby City of Carlisle (though there are plenty of other suitable donors). I'm still a little unhappy with the finish on it but so many people have said it's good that I've not pursued a repaint. More crucially, it will need a lot of weight adding and the front bogie fettling if it is to be capable of realistic hauling. Having tried the weight addition thing to 46248, and got it wrong so that the body and chassis won't fit together, I'm not rushing to do this job!

 

Iain

[92220]

Poor quality video for which my apologies, but here are the first couple of runs for the Jinty.

 

This is without any running in, fettling or lubrication, so I hope I can make it into a smooth slow runner in due course.

 

 

 

Pickups from phosphor bronze wire (0.33mm), so that particular hurdle overcome.

 

Iain

[1BCamden]

Happy New Year (nearly) Paris 16:40hrs,

What a great couple of posts to close out 2015, the coaling plant is stunning, and both clips are great the 0-6-0T looks the part, although a bit clean

The second run clip really does show off the layout well, the point work in the country end yard is very impressive in front of the turntable.

Your attention to detail on the coaling plant is above discussion, and as stated by Jeremy a great centre piece !!

You are spot on regarding the steel work, gantries for the winding motor change outs.

 

Best regards, thanks for the inspiration

Stanley

[Black5]

Hi Iain,

As usual from you, great model structures and great pictures. Your coal tower is certainly a big beast ( as most of them were ) and is a lot different in shape to mine. I built mine from a plan i found on the web and is similar to the one made by Bachman so i think is more a standard type around the thirties. This is why my layout is only loosely based on Camden rather than anything else. Too many things iv`e had to change due to available space

Nice to see the motive power on site, gives a great picture of what`s ahead when you progress further.

Hope 2016 is a good year for you in all your construction, modelling or the real thing.

All the best.

Jim.

[92220]

Thanks everyone for your kind wishes.

 

A bit of a diversion the last two weeks with a golf tournament (yes, in January!) and then a week back at work, but the snow on the ground this morning gave an unexpected bonus in the form of a few hours spare.

 

I built an approximation of the 2 jigger feed drives - these broadly match the drawings in both dimensions but whether they look like the real thing I have no clue as I can't find any details of these. Both will be quite hidden in the darkness under the coal hoppers, and will also be replaceable should I ever find more information that leads to a rebuild.

 

 

I'm stalling slightly on the detail of the wagon lifting runners/rails until I can

1. get a bit more detail of the profile of the runners/rails

2. build a jig to make them both the exact same shape by heating and cooling, much like I made the shape of the bridge all that time ago.

 

I think I am sure now how much of the containment screens were still there in my chosen period, as I have enough photographic evidence.

 

So I have also proceeded with building the water tower. I built the tank for this about 3 years ago and tried two methods of building the frame with little success. I have now made a better jig from mounting card, and I've built the first two of the 4 frame sections as below. They need a bit (a lot) of cleaning up and also some further detailing of rivetted joining plates which will cover up some of my untidy work, but they are square, very sturdy and pretty much identical, so I think I am onto the right way here.

 

This was the first one, picture with the card jig, before the spacers on the legs were relocated to where they ought to have been.

 

 

And here are the first two before any cleaning

 

 

Iain