Wright writes.....

[Stubby47]

There is a tunnel on the Southern somewhere, with a cottage right above the tunnel mouth. It featured on one of the Portillo shows a while back. Can't recall the actual location, though.

 

Clayton Tunnel : http://www.semgonline.com/structures/struct_71.html

[Tiptonian]

Tunnels with buildings directly above them; where do the footings go?  I did once see a church in this position on a layout, complete with graveyard...  

Looking north from Whatstandwell station, the short tunnel under the B5035 has a house on top of it. Scroll to near the bottom of this page:-

 

http://www.crichparish.co.uk/webpages/whatstandwellstationhistory.html

[Bernard Lamb]

Regarding the recent comments on spelling and typos in general.

For those not aware the creature to blame for these goes under the name of Tutivillus. 

Take heart, there is nothing you can do about it when this mischievous devil strikes.

The more people worry and comment the keener he gets to wreck havoc.

Bernard

[JeremyC]

Tunnels with buildings directly above them; where do the footings go? I did once see a church in this position on a layout, complete with graveyard...

How about the National Art Gallery above the Mound Tunnel in Edinburgh?

https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=54281

 

For a shallow tunnel how about this one in Aberdeen? [sorry about the focus, taken some years ago with a camera phone]

Edited February 3, 2017 by JeremyC

[benachie]

How about the National Art Gallery above the Mound Tunnel in Edinburgh?

https://www.railscot.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=54281

 

For a shallow tunnel how about this one in Aberdeen? [sorry about the focus, taken some years ago with a camera phone]

DSC00019.JPG

Jeremy's "shallow" tunnel takes the main line north out of Aberdeen.   Originally GNSR and double track, it goes under the old Woolmanhill Hospital in the distance.

Alan

[Clive Mortimore]

My list of things that turn me off of layouts nearly included a station where the track burrows into a hill through a tunnel (with houses on top) that appear from nowhere when the rest of the land is flat. Then I remembered Ipswich.

[Buhar]

Tutivillus and Petomane wouldn't seem out of place as names on 4-6-2s romping through Little Blytham.  That said, the LNWR scored very highly indeed on obscure names too.

 

Thanks for widening my collection of interesting trivia.

[grahame]

 

Forgauges. . .llow tunnel how about this one in Aberdeen? [sorry about the focus, taken some years ago with a camera phone]

DSC00019.JPG

 

Oddly enough that track looks very OO narrow gauge . . . .

;-)

 

G.

[St Enodoc]

It looks like we're (note apostrophe) all going to have to be extra careful now with regard to whatever we write. No slips of the 'pen' tolerated!

 

Seriously, typos are the bane of anything I've written or write. No matter how hard I concentrate (and that faculty is diminishing), some always slip through (though those in the MRJ were not mine). 

 

I suppose if it's just a post on a thread, does it matter? After all, it can be corrected through the edit function. That said, it does to me; or at least inasmuch as I can forgive typos, but I cringe at some of the appalling ignorance of the tenets of grammar/spelling/context, etc, revealed by some posters (not many on this thread, I'm glad to say). But then, I kind of live in the past, and it's all been mentioned before. 

"I kind of live" - I'm sure you put that in deliberately to stir the pot!

[The Johnster]

Thanks for all the examples of buildings on top of tunnel entrances, but they are all several feet above the tunnel roof and there is room for footings without breaking through the tunnel roof.  The Clayton example is a long way above the actual tunnel roof which is not to the same profile as the decorative arch entrance.  I mean layouts where there is no room at all; the building sits directly on top of the tunnel.

 

Another one, similar in principle to the lorry parked in a space it could not possibly have got into and will never be able to get out of, is the harbour or dock behind a railway bridge which contains vessels with masts and funnels, and even set sails, that could never have got under the bridge no matter how far the tide went out!  How did they get there?  

[The Johnster]

"I kind of live" - I'm sure you put that in deliberately to stir the pot!

Could of been, couldn't it?

[jrg1]

Thanks for all the examples of buildings on top of tunnel entrances, but they are all several feet above the tunnel roof and there is room for footings without breaking through the tunnel roof.  The Clayton example is a long way above the actual tunnel roof which is not to the same profile as the decorative arch entrance.  I mean layouts where there is no room at all; the building sits directly on top of the tunnel.

 

Another one, similar in principle to the lorry parked in a space it could not possibly have got into and will never be able to get out of, is the harbour or dock behind a railway bridge which contains vessels with masts and funnels, and even set sails, that could never have got under the bridge no matter how far the tide went out!  How did they get there?  

Bridges eg Airfix Girder that would never take the weight of a lorry, let alone a train.  Extended kits with sides just glued together with redundant reinforcing-Airfix engine shed.  Footbridges extended over multiple tracks so that pedestrians face something akin to hills and valleys-Airfix yet again.  Running pre-nationalisation private owner wagons behind diesels.  My favourite was plastic kits smashed up with a hammer and placed in a corner of the layout, denoting scrapyard.

[New Haven Neil]

Snip<.  My favourite was plastic kits smashed up with a hammer and placed in a corner of the layout, denoting scrapyard.

 

Together with a pair of Tri-ang Princess driving wheels. De rigueur.

[Re6/6]

Together with a pair of Tri-ang Princess driving wheels. De rigueur.

Or burnt out coaches with a sagging roof from a flame...or a burnt out Airfix brake van come to that.....A burnt out anything takes a lot of hard work to be convincing!

 

l've seen a couple on here over time that have been superbly modelled with great attention to detail and realism. Not like some of the damaged dross that is offered for sale/auction.

[APOLLO]

I read somewhere that the navvies constructing the Great Central Thurland St tunnel just south of Nottingham Victoria broke through into a pub cellar - a happy time was had by all till the boss found out !!!!

 

Layout no-no;s for me are lines disappearing blatantly into a hole in the sky backscene board - if you can't disguise it with a tunnel or bridge use trees. The other (and I an guilty of this at one or two layout locations) are girder bridges where the girders just but up to the pier and not onto it therefore are unsupported. At least I have "hidden" my mistakes with trees / foliage growing out of the brickwork - just like the real thing unfortunately. Mine are on my (long) rectification to do list.

 

Girders that join in mid span with no supports is another no-no also - usually the excellent (though short) Peco girder. Make your own bridge girders - dead easy with card. Model railway bridge work is an important subject which seems rarely covered in my view.

 

Brit15

[Re6/6]

............Layout no-no;s for me are lines disappearing blatantly into a hole in the sky backscene board - if you can't disguise it with a tunnel or bridge use trees......... 

 

I couldn't agree more! Trees can make an effective view blocking method as can a strategically placed building of sufficient size even when the viewer is looking from an oblique angle if it's well engineered. 

 

All our layouts disappear 'off scene' in some way or other and we are trying create the illusion of trains 'from somewhere' All good stuff!

[t-b-g]

I couldn't agree more! Trees can make an effective view blocking method as can a strategically placed building of sufficient size even when the viewer is looking from an oblique angle if it's well engineered. 

 

All our layouts disappear 'off scene' in some way or other and we are trying create the illusion of trains 'from somewhere' All good stuff!

 

That works fine until you are building an accurate model of a real place and it doesn't have a suitable bridge/feature.

 

Which is one of the reasons why I prefer models either based on real places but with a bit of artistic licence or entirely fictional, where the picture can be composed as an artist would compose a picture. In my view, there are very few real places which have the right mix of interesting appearance, interesting mix of locos and stock, interesting operationally and able to fit into the spaces that most of us have.

 

I work on the principle that you can build a superb model of a dull real place and it will often end up a dull model. Bringing interesting features from several real places together can result in a believable and interesting layout, which can also be great fun to operate.

 

I can understand why people want to build accurate models of real places but I have never yet seen a real place that I could have the space or the inspiration to build.

[Memphis32]

I'm somewhere in between those. I came back to trains after almost 20 years away, when I realised I could try to fit something in the shed (12'x8'). I went through many iterations of roundy roundy - the one with the mainline station, the branch station, the MPD and two industries, to one station, one industry and the MPD, to just one industry and the MPD, before realising that it was still completely toy-like.

 

I then spent over a year poring over MPD layouts from all regions except the southern to find something that would fit in ~12x2.5, but found there was nothing that would go that had the features and likely locos that would interest me.

 

The plan at the mo is prototype-based but heavily compressed, and I think I can live with that. There's no fiddle yard, but I hope to get a garage sometime soon to give a bit more room at each end. And to cover the hole in the sky, I've moved a signal box from one end to the other - the prototype has the 'box right next to a bridge. What were they thinking!!

[Memphis32]

And to add to that, to fit within the more usual context of the thread, I open boxes. I haven't even fit detailing to the contents of the boxes yet. I've had baseboards built for over two years and still no track laid, so there's no way I can spend time attempting to make locos that wouldn't be up to my expectations!!

[Clive Mortimore]

I also hate the hole in the sky and find the bus on the bridge or tunnel is so boring. We all know the train doesn't go anywhere but the fiddle yard so why not just let the scenery peter out as it reaches the fiddle yard?

 

Backscenes can be off putting when viewing a layout. As they are two dimensional and butt on to a three dimensional layout the two perspectives never seem to line up, unless you are at the correct angle. A plain sky coloured board at the back works best. And not too high, I can recall seeing a layout where the backscene was quite tall, a train derailed and the poor operator wasn't and he had difficulty reaching over the top to re-rail his train. Again we all know it is a model and ends a few feet from us, not some horizon many miles away.

[Daddyman]

Well done for spotting that the wheels are not Romford. They're from Alan Gibson (obtained when Alan was the proprietor). Though very nice-looking, none is true-round (including the bogie wheels) and she nods a little bit as she runs. Not only that, I've had to re-glue the tyres back on more than once. I'm afraid I'm far too prejudiced against friction-fit wheels to ever use them in the future, preferring performance over appearance in this case. 

 

The loco I'm most proud of? Though I no longer own it, the scratch-built A1/1 I made in 1976. We were on our way for a week's holiday in France and on the way (by train/ferry/train) I popped into Kings Cross Models and bought all the bits I needed - brass/nickel silver stock/sheet/wire, a drawing, chimney, dome, smokebox door, safety valves, cylinders, valve gear, buffers, handrail pillars, wheels, motor and couplings. The lot went to Paris, and I made it when I came back. Can anyone go into a 'model shop' today and do such a thing? I doubt it, but that was 'proper' modelling all those years ago, or at least it was to me. 

That's a nice anecdote, Tony, thank you. Thanks, too, for more photos of the B12. 

 

Re Gibsons, I'm hoping to solve at least one of the problems associated with them - that of the builder having a limited number of times that he/she can pull them off the axle to fit and refit them to the frames during building. That number does vary - on my D20 I must have had them off 30 times and they're just starting to become loose; with other locos I've been less lucky. I have had to buy new drivers for the D20, but only one set as I can glue one of the old wheels on one side of the axle. Here's the D20, by the way - a lot of small fittings missing as I didn't want to damage them if I had to use the fibre glass brush after the primer. You'll notice the inside motion and motion support bracket - even though this is 00. I know mickb has also done inside motion on his Bradwell J27. 

 

Anyway, re Gibsons, my plan for all future chassis is to use Comet LS55 hornblocks (unsprung, as I'm still 00 for now) loose in the frames so that they can be dropped out during building and possibly for servicing; they'll be held in with a keeper plate that I have yet to concoct. I'm sure someone else has thought of the same thing. I was inspired by something Dave Bradwell said to me at Scaleforum about 00 folks not being able to drop wheels out. True this method adds £8 to each chassis, but then Gibsons are I believe cheaper than Romfords. Also, I have to do this on my J36 and J37 as the holes have been etched too large for universal bearings! The sequence below shows a Comet 2mt chassis. This will be the BR version - a signature type on the Berwick, Kelso and St Boswell's - using Mike Edge's cab etch. 

 

Step 1, build the frames as normal in a Poppy or similar with the bearings merely glued in to aid alignment: 

 

Step 2, solder a bar of 1mm brass to the inside of the frames as an upper "stop" for the Comet hornblocks. Don't get any solder where the bar crosses the removable hornpiece on the frames - so that that removable piece can be ... removed: 

 

Step 3, check that the hair-brained idea has worked: 

 

Step 4, fret about how to attach the crank thingy on the motion to the plastic-centred middle wheels. 

 

 

I hope I haven't made any mistakes with apostrophe's? 

[Willie Whizz]

I read somewhere that the navvies constructing the Great Central Thurland St tunnel just south of Nottingham Victoria broke through into a pub cellar - a happy time was had by all till the boss found out !!!!

 

 

 

That's right - the old Cross Keys in the Lace Market - still going strong and I've drunk in there many a time.

 

As a young man I worked at the big NatWest Bank on Thurland Street - wonderful Victorian Gothic building designed by the celebrated local architect Watson Fothergill.  The staff room was at the time in the cellars, and adjoined the stationery cupboard ... the outer wall of which, in turn, abutted the upper side of the GC's  'cut'n'cover' tunnel.  By this point the tunnel was only used briefly once or twice a day for dead-slow reversing of gypsum trains, but the Bank Messengers, who had been there many years, told me that back in the fifties before the run-down of the line you could clearly hear - and feel - the heavy express trains thundering through at close quarters, and the vibration would occasionally shake things off the shelves!

 

Regarding things that just look "wrong" on model railways, why do so few stations seem to have bus stops outside, let along taxi ranks and phone boxes?  How is the local population meant to get to and from the trains, unless they all live in easy walking distance?

Edited February 4, 2017 by Willie Whizz

[Headstock]

That's a nice anecdote, Tony, thank you. Thanks, too, for more photos of the B12. 

 

Re Gibsons, I'm hoping to solve at least one of the problems associated with them - that of the builder having a limited number of times that he/she can pull them off the axle to fit and refit them to the frames during building. That number does vary - on my D20 I must have had them off 30 times and they're just starting to become loose; with other locos I've been less lucky. I have had to buy new drivers for the D20, but only one set as I can glue one of the old wheels on one side of the axle. Here's the D20, by the way - a lot of small fittings missing as I didn't want to damage them if I had to use the fibre glass brush after the primer. You'll notice the inside motion and motion support bracket - even though this is 00. I know mickb has also done inside motion on his Bradwell J27. 

20161231_120931small.jpg

 

Anyway, re Gibsons, my plan for all future chassis is to use Comet LS55 hornblocks (unsprung, as I'm still 00 for now) loose in the frames so that they can be dropped out during building and possibly for servicing; they'll be held in with a keeper plate that I have yet to concoct. I'm sure someone else has thought of the same thing. I was inspired by something Dave Bradwell said to me at Scaleforum about 00 folks not being able to drop wheels out. True this method adds £8 to each chassis, but then Gibsons are I believe cheaper than Romfords. Also, I have to do this on my J36 and J37 as the holes have been etched too large for universal bearings! The sequence below shows a Comet 2mt chassis. This will be the BR version - a signature type on the Berwick, Kelso and St Boswell's - using Mike Edge's cab etch. 

 

Step 1, build the frames as normal in a Poppy or similar with the bearings merely glued in to aid alignment: 

20170122_173649small.jpg

 

Step 2, solder a bar of 1mm brass to the inside of the frames as an upper "stop" for the Comet hornblocks. Don't get any solder where the bar crosses the removable hornpiece on the frames - so that that removable piece can be ... removed: 

20170204_133551small.jpg

 

Step 3, check that the hair-brained idea has worked: 

20170122_182925small.jpg

 

Step 4, fret about how to attach the crank thingy on the motion to the plastic-centred middle wheels. 

 

 

I hope I haven't made any mistakes with apostrophe's? 

 

Nuts to the apostrophes. I would rather see quality modeling any day.

[coachmann]

That D20 in Daddymans post looks gorgeous...... A loco that always makes for a fine model IMV. 

[Enterprisingwestern]

Instead of using Gibsons with the inherent problem of looseness, why not build the chassis with Romfords and fit the Gibsons at the end? Whilst I only fiddle about with diesel shunters it works for me.

 

Mike.