Stodden Hundred Light Railway

[irishmail]

Happy new year to you.

 

Looks like a good solid floor there Andrew.

 

Regards

 

John

[AJon30]

Thanks. Should see me out!

 

One job I have been completing, which is all woodworking, has been the additional legs for the Great Barford extension. One problem with having small sections of baseboard is that they require more legs. I took the opportunity to "re-engineer" the first batch of legs, as the construction was overly complicated and they were not as rigid as I would have liked. so a new design was fabricated and hopefully will be more stable. I took the opportunity as well to reduce the height of the legs by 1 inch, mainly so that they are easier to get into the car!

 

 

 

Rgds Andrew

[AJon30]

Well, while the rest of the guys were enjoying themselves at the Bristol GOG show, I have been slaving over hot baseboards!

 

As I mentioned earlier, I am using Fulgurex point motors for Great Barford, but have devised my own mounting arrangement, as I felt the suggested fitting was not suitable and did not allow easy set up or adjustment.

 

I have modified the mechanism with 2 bolts to the mounting plate and having the motor on a separate mounting plate. The single piece arrangement was a little too unwieldy to set up, and would not fit in some locations.

 

Single piece fitting

 

 

Various fittings, showing flexibility in motor positioning (to make up for my poor planning!)

 

 

 

 

One problem I found was trying to set the points up for a smooth operation. I am using Marcway points, but I have modified them with a switchable frog and bonded the switch blades to the stock rail for good electrical contact. The points are constructed so that the switch blade is isolated when not fully over by grooving the PCB sleeper, That leaves a slot that the switch blade can stick in. I have been replacing the sleepers and tie bar, where necessary, with new PCB sleepers which are just gapped at the center. My hint of the day is,to stop all the rails being soldered together, I wrap kitchen foil round the stock blade, then I can solder the switch blade to the tie bar without worry that it is all going to end up as one solid lump!

 

 

Rgds Andrew

 

 

[AJon30]

Hello all. Well the wiring is nearly complete (just takes an age) with only the control panels to add and 1 point motor to fit on top.

 

 

So at long last a little "above ground" action. The back-scene boards have been fitted, holes cut for the control panels and the support structure's are being glued together.

 

 

 

I separated the control panel (to try and cut down the number of wires crossing the baseboard joint) so there is a small panel for the Works and the larger panel for the main station.

 

 

 

The main station building and platform will cover one, while I am thinking of possibly a small garage or similar to cover the other.

 

Out at Newbury with the SHLR on Saturday, then Syston the weekend after (Sat & Sun) with Questa.

 

Regards Andrew

 

[AJon30]

A couple of photos from the Newbury show yesterday, to remind myself what its all about, while I go back to the never-ending wiring on Great Barford!

 

 

 

Rgds Andrew

 

 

[AJon30]

Well at last the wiring is complete enough to put power to the layout (at 0300 Monday morning!). A few tweaks here and there, a little bit of extra wiring and she does run!

 

Commissioning the Fulgurex points has been interesting. I have a variable DC supply in the power box and tried running the point motors at lower voltage to try and combat the noise. However all that happened was that there was a different noise that lasted longer and the action did not seem as positive. If anyone has any idea's on how to quieten these motors down I would be interested to hear.

 

Started putting a few of the mock-ups on the layout to see what needs to be done.

 

 

Cut out the basic platform shape from 4mm ply (thanks floor). I had planned to have a loading / possible cattle dock at the end of one siding, but when I came to measure the distance between the siding and the engine release road, it was obvious that the dock would be far too narrow. The only way to get a wider dock would have been to straighten the siding, but I did not want to have rows of parallel sidings, so that idea has been binned. However, never look a gift horse in the mouth, but with a gentle adjustment to the line of the engine release road, it potentially now could link up with track on another board. Oh I feel a pit of planning coming on!

 

The difference from the original is small but does allow more options

 

Before

 

 

Now

 

 

The engine shed was roughly based on Stamford but is probably a little big, the signal box is the Kimbolton mock up but that needs to be a little bigger for windows on 3 sides.

 

 

Still to come is the works/carriage shed and the garage(?) to cover the control panel.

 

Rgds Andrew

 

[Kenton]

 

If anyone has any idea's on how to quieten these motors down I would be interested to hear.

 

Replace them with Tortoise PM

 

Actually, all point motors produce some sound It all depends on how much you can put up with or convince yourself that it sounds like the prototype.

 

I have a bag of the Fulgurex that I purchased cheap on a certain auction site. I guess no one else wanted them. I have never quite got my head round their operation or committing them to a layout. Swearing by Tortoise and having quite a few spare is so much better than swearing at the rest.

[AJon30]

Thanks

 

Yes I did consider Tortoise (we are using them on the club layout which is under construction) but i was concerned at the depth of baseboard required if they are mounted vertically or the additional costs if they are mounted horizontally.. Like you I also acquired a box of Fulgurex motors cheap and thought I would give them a try. I did look at the Conrad motors but they look a little flimsy.

 

Having worked out a mounting strategy, they do seem to be performing OK, but the built-in switches seem a little fragile with the curved bits of spring steel easily lost. I am thinking about getting some cheap micro-switches and fitting them as "belt & braces".

 

Anyway, an improvement on the H & M's I am currently using which have a tendency to destroy tie bars on copper clad points, and the throw can be a bit marginal for O gauge points.

 

Rgds Andrew

[Donw]

Years ago after fiddling with mechanical linkage which sem to lose too much throw for reliable operation. I purchase some Tortoise motors (fairly new to the UK at the time) I centre the turnout drill and the tortoise roughly adjusted the fulcrum having replaced the linkage with some slightly heavier wire and then pushed the tortoise into place and put some screws in. That was it they worked no tweaking the adjustment. What's more they never had any problems with changes of temparture or humidity at exhibitions. It was a real revelation.

 

I agree that they require some depth but I have mounted them on their side. feeding the operating arm through a piece of tube soldered across a push rod attached to the tiebar. I found plastruct tube protected the push rod. I have bought some Cobalts which I will try having been advised that using only 9v should avoid the failures which have been reported.

 

Regarding the noise you are getting from the Fulgurex. I find most noise problems become very minor in the typical nose level at an exhibition, at home you could put on a bit of rock music.

Don

[AJon30]

Good show at Syston with QUESTA at the weekend.

 

The last few evenings I have been preparing some mock-ups for the works complex (!) at Great Barford.

 

There is the old contractors wooden engine shed which, after being rebuilt a couple of times because it kept burning down, is now the carriage & wagon shed. Some brick workshops have been built on one side and a wooden extension to cover the carriages (as per Bishops Castle) has been built.

 

The main engine shed was based very loosely on Saffron Walden shed (one of my all time favorites) but very compressed.

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to get a variety of roof profiles but without being too "messy"

 

 

One thing reason I have built the mock-ups is to ensure that the scenery sections "interlock" as there is not a lot of clearance when the sections are crated up.

 

 

All that is missing now is a set of sheerlegs over the end of the siding.

 

 

Rgds Andrew

[AJon30]

Thanks to Dave Coasby, who lent me his model of the shear (sic) legs from Ryde St Johns I was able to see what they looked like on the layout.

 

 

 

My initial reaction is that they are too big for the location. I will have to reduce the size of the workshops on the back building anyway but think they are just too big.

 

I think something much simpler is called for. Picture from the Bowes Railway

 

 

(I hope they don't mind me using their photo)

 

Rgds Andrew

 

[AJon30]

Moving onto the next baseboard, we have (at the back) the Old Forge Garage, which will have a brick/stone main building (the brown bit) with probably some form of chimney, and the garage extension (the white bit) in wood planking with corrugated iron roof. The boundary fence (old sleepers) will run tight behind the building as there is not a lot of clearance there.

 

 

At the front are some small buildings - a small paint / oil store, a building for the PW department and a building which covers the point motor (the only one that I could not get fitted underneath - good planning NOT) which I am a little uncertain of its function, it may well be outside the railway boundary, maybe a meeting room for the local Temperance Society - it doesn't have to be big as they don't have many members around here!

 

 

The signal box is from Kimbolton, I've taken it off the other board for the moment so that I can remember how I built it (!) so that I can do the Great Barford one in the same style - this will be slightly bigger with windows on the rear face as well.

 

Rgds Andrew

Edited February 27, 2015 by AJon30

[AJon30]

The final lot of mock-ups have just been completed - the platform and station building at Great Barford and a small coal office.

 

 

The station building is based closely on the ex GER station at Rayne, which is still used as a cafe on the a walking route. The GER society published dimensioned drawings of the station building and its ancillary structures. The main building is limited because it has to fit over the control panel cut out.

 

 

Initial reactions are that the out-buildings perhaps need to be reduced in size. These are standard GER structures and other stations have different layouts.

 

 

Out with the SHLR at the March show this weekend

 

Rgds Andrew

[Donw]

It looks like quite an interesting set of buildings. There are stations with a motley set of buildings something you rarely see modelled. At Dolgelley there was on old Signalbox on the up platform which was retained for other uses when a  new one was built.

Don

[AJon30]

Hello Don. Yes they are interesting, the slope roofed building should have a chimney attached and I suppose the open area at the end was some form of coal yard? Unfortunately, while the main station building has survived, and looks little changed from its railway days, the ancillary buildings were all demolished.

 

I can recommend the Booking Hall cafe as they did some super bacon butties when I went exploring. Needed a walk after finishing them off!

 

 

Shame about all the cars

 

Rgds Andrew

Edited March 3, 2015 by AJon30

[Donw]

Thanks I shall bear that in mind if we are over that way. The dogs need lots of walks.

Don

[AJon30]

One job that, although essential, can be very time consuming is painting track, especially rusty rails. One of my pet hates (amongst many!) is otherwise nicely sceniced layouts with bright & shiny track.

 

I have already sprayed all the track with sleeper grime to get a coordinated finish across the plastic and copper clad sleepers. Now with the application of masking tape it is ready for rail painting. I use masking tape 25mm wide which exactly fits between the chairs in the middle of the track. I place additional pieces of tape over the moving parts of points

 

 

Now taking your favourite (damn US spell check!) rust colour (again!) - I use Rain Match Dark Rust or Halfords Red Oxide primer as the mood takes me, spray away

 

 

When finished remove the masking tape, and voi la - painted track and sanity intact.

 

 

Any under or overspray can be touched up when you go round to complete the paint work round the points.

 

I have tried removing the web between the sleepers on the viewing side to tray and get "air" between the bottom on the rail and ballast. With the web in-place when you pack ballast in it tends to be very close to the underneath of the rail and you loose some of the visual effect.

 

Rgds Andrew

Edited March 5, 2015 by AJon30

[Mick Boyd]

Andrew, Ah! Looks like you were inspired by Bob Dylan-Blood on the tracks...

 

Cheers, Mick.

[Donw]

I hadn't thought of that good idea.

Don

[AJon30]

As a diversion from baseboards, building, track etc I made a small purchase on Ebay for a dedicated loco for the brickworks. A whitemetal Springside kit of a Neilson Coffee Pot, finished in a garish scheme and with sundry bits knocked off courtesy of Royal Mail has been "through the shops" and is now Brickworks No.1 "Queen Mary"

 

 

The name is thought to be a reference to the a previous brickworks owners wife, who had airs and graces "above her station". Irony was also not her strong point so she was very pleased when they named the locomotive after her.

 

These Coffee Pots were bought by the GER as their class 209 in 1874, believed to be no. 210 that is erroneously shown as being scrapped in 1914 when in fact it was sold to the brickworks as their No.1, as the brickworks were fed up waiting for the SHLR to provide a locomotive to shunt their yard and decided to get their own loco.

 

As it sits outside all day long (in fact it hides under the road bridge - shades of the Edge Hill Light Railway) it is much too clean and shiny - but a job for another day.

 

 

See you at March tomorrow, where (hopefully) this and the 0-6-0ST which has had a re-work to fit plunger pick-ups all round should be working

 

Rgds Andrew 

Edited March 6, 2015 by AJon30

[Donw]

Two nice locos there Andrew. Yes they are a little clean but they must have been cleaned sometime.

 

Don

[south_tyne]

Hello Andrew,

 

Just come across your thread (I don't know how I have missed it!) but it is a lovely little layout and all of the details very nicely modelled. I love the eclectic range of stock too, I have always been a fan of light railways and their individuality. 

 

I am particularly struck by the little scene which hides the sector plate at end of Pertenhall & Swineshead - the brickworks and coal siding - it is a lovely little cameo, something about it just grabs me and it just has bags of atmosphere! If you don't mind, can I ask how long this last board is - your description seems to suggest 3 feet long but I just wanted to check? 

 

Many thanks,

David

[AJon30]

Hello David and thanks for your kind comment.

 

The brickworks & coal yard is on a board that is 3 feet long. The main board, which includes all the point work is 5 feet long and the original station building end was 1 foot, making a total length of 9 feet. There was a spacer board of 1 foot to enable the whole lot to be crated. The station board & spacer is replaced with a 2 foot board when the layout is shown in its longer version with Kimbolton Town.

 

I decided to finish this board to a high level of detail so that I could show what could be done while I work on the rest of the layout. It does attract a lot of attention, with many nice comments, including, at the March show today, from someone who seemed to be very knowable about brickworks and he seemed to think it really captured the feel of a small brickworks, with the horse drawn train, piles of finished pipes & bricks etc.

 

Regards Andrew

[south_tyne]

Hello David and thanks for your kind comment.

 

The brickworks & coal yard is on a board that is 3 feet long. The main board, which includes all the point work is 5 feet long and the original station building end was 1 foot, making a total length of 9 feet. There was a spacer board of 1 foot to enable the whole lot to be crated. The station board & spacer is replaced with a 2 foot board when the layout is shown in its longer version with Kimbolton Town.

 

I decided to finish this board to a high level of detail so that I could show what could be done while I work on the rest of the layout. It does attract a lot of attention, with many nice comments, including, at the March show today, from someone who seemed to be very knowable about brickworks and he seemed to think it really captured the feel of a small brickworks, with the horse drawn train, piles of finished pipes & bricks etc.

 

Regards Andrew

 

 

Hi Andrew,

 

Thanks very much for your quick and informative reply. Yes I think you have, that scene in particular just oozes atmosphere in such a small space. It sets off some ideas for a tiny micro layout/diorama as well!! I will look forward to following the progress on the layout.

 

David 

[AJon30]

Thanks. I did start off with this being something simple & small that I can show to people who say "Oh I would love to model in O but don't have the space".

 

However as this layout seems to have developed a live of its own and has expanded from 9 feet to 34 feet and shows no sign of stopping, I'm sure I'm going to be at this for a while yet!

 

On a another front "Queen Mary" performed very well today on her first outing, the 0-6-0ST runs better but still needs the gear meshing to be looked at and longer Dinghams fitted. A good day at the March show.

 

Rgds Andrew

 

PS Was there an Ixion announcement at Kettering?