The Diddington project

[tigerburnie]

Late finding this excellent layout, enjoyed JC's jaunts around an area I fished later in the 60's/70's/80's. For me the addition of steam is a most welcome reminder of my "yoof"

[wiggoforgold]

Tigerburnie

JC isn't my creation. You may already have seen his earlier outings at 46444's "Juniper Hill", but if you haven't, here's a link.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70516-juniper-hill/

 

David - the bridge is moddelled on the one between Godmanchester and Huntingdon. I've rowed under it, and fished from it, and always wanted to make a model of it. I had to make my own plans, and worked from photographs I found in the library at Cambridge many years ago. The dimensions were worked out from a 25" to the mile OS map, and I knew we used to take a coxed four through the archway and had to partially ship the oars on one side to get through. The span of the arch was therefore worked out rom the span of the oars for the four, less about 10 feet! My model is still a couple of spans short though.

I used to fish in the river at Hemingford too. You weren't really supposed to fish from the boathouse though. I used to go and have tea in the upstairs cafe after fishing sometimes.

[wiggoforgold]

And so it begins....

[Tony Davis]

And so it begins....Parts for new board 5.11.17.jpg

That's Upwell isn't it? I put together a rough mock-up of that building but progress ground to a halt for various reasons. I'll be very interested in this, especially given the quality of the previous builds on this layout.

 

Tony

[wiggoforgold]

That's Upwell isn't it? I put together a rough mock-up of that building but progress ground to a halt for various reasons. I'll be very interested in this, especially given the quality of the previous builds on this layout.

 

Tony

It is indeed Upwell, which rather indicates my thoughts as to what the finished layout will look like. It's not a straight copy of Upwell though - think Upwell meets Iain Rice and you will get an idea of what I am up to.

The building is an interesting project, that I am looking forward to. I've found some useful pictures on the net, and am currently counting bricks, so I'd be interested in any dimensions you came up with when working on your mock up.

[Tony Davis]

Sorry, I took a scan from the White Swan book (I think) and, using 6' as a basis for the height of the door,scaled the print accordingly, which I then printed out and stuck to some card.  I have visited the site, or the housing estate that now occupies it, and I am fairly sure the foreman's cottage seen in some of the photo's is still there, albeit slightly changed.

Edited November 5, 2017 by anthony07

[wiggoforgold]

That's OK Anthony, and thanks. I will be doing the same thing! The good news is, with no drawings around, there's nobody to say we are wrong!

[mullie]

Weren't there drawings of one of the W & U depot's in the Modeller a few months ago? I think it might have been an article by Ian Futers?

 

Martyn

[Tony Davis]

Yes, but the photo is of the waiting room at Upwell.

[Windjabbers]

The building at Outwell Village is still standing. Although is is now surrounded by houses which have been built on the depot site.

 

Their is a picture here:-http://https://howlingpixel.com/wiki/Wisbech_and_Upwell_Tramway

 

With the forthcomming J70 from Model Rail I think there will be an upsurge in the number of tramway layouts!

 

Best Wishes

 

David

[wiggoforgold]

Now you mention it, I think I recall the Modeller article. Anyone got a reference? There are two buildings on the planned layout, the station at Upwell, and the office from Outwell. I haven't started counting bricks on that one, so a plan would be good.

[Tony Davis]

December 2016

[jrg1]

I assume that you know about the Wild Swan book-I will follow this with interest.  The possible variety of motive power makes this an ideal model project.

[DLT]

Lovely stuff Wiggers, and that river is some of the best modelled water I've seen.

All the best, Dave.

[wiggoforgold]

Construction of the new station has started. Progress has been steady this week. The boards are being built from various thicknesses of plywood, and I found I had the bulk of what I needed in stock - left over from other DIY projects or recycled from earlier layout construction. I went to see a friend with a saw table on Monday, and cut the wood into the strips I needed. Before I cut anything I spent some time drawing plans of the construction and thinking through things I needed to incorporate in the build, such as ensuring bracing struts were no under the moving parts of point work and allowing for clearance for point motors and my hand to get in to do the wiring. The basic frames are strips of 9mm ply. They will be topped with a sheet of 5mm ply, and together these will form an "L" girder. The ends are from some 12mm ply, which was last used as part of the framework for the Diddington fiddle yard.

There are two boards, each just over 3' long. They will be hinged in the middle to allow folding for transport (more about the hinges later). The boards will be aligned with DCC concepts baseboard alignment dowels, and bolted together with M6 bolts. The end pieces were made as a pair, with the holes for the dowels and bolts being drilled before they were separated.

Here are some pictures of progress so far:

 

The next steps are to build the legs, and make the hinges for the centre joint.

 

.

[wiggoforgold]

I’ve now completed the legs for both new boards, and pictures are attached of the work to date.

The legs fit in to slots under the boards, and the bottom edge of the layout rests on the top cross brace. Study of the photographs may reveal the source of the wood! There are adjustable feet on the bottom of the legs to provide fine adjustment. There are diagonal braces from the bottom of the legs to the centre of the boars, held in place by split hinges. In addition, there are more adjustable feet on the inside faces of the sides of board one, by the centre joint. This is because when in home use there will be a chest of drawers under the layout, which will not permit the diagonal braces to be fitted, so the feet will give some support to the centre joint, by resting on the top of the chest of drawers.

Next up is to fit the removable hinge blocks for the centre joint, cut the base board tops to shape, and fit the mountings for the electrical equipment (Transformer, power supply for lights) underneath board 1.

 

[robert17649]

Now you mention it, I think I recall the Modeller article. Anyone got a reference? There are two buildings on the planned layout, the station at Upwell, and the office from Outwell. I haven't started counting bricks on that one, so a plan would be good.

 Hi Alex

 

I've got several W&U references on my bookshelf give me a ring or pm you are welcome to browse them

 

best wishes

rob

[Tony Davis]

Not sure if you've seen this site, Alex, but it contains quite a few photo's of Wisbech goods yard and Wisbech East station.

 

http://www.bramleyline.org.uk/photo_page14.htm

 

HTH,

 

Tony

[wiggoforgold]

The baseboards themselves are now virtually complete. The baseboard tops from 5mm ply were fitted in place. They have been glued and pinned to the frames, effectively forming the top part of an “L” girder, and making sure the frames were square. This revealed that one of the longitudinal beams was slightly over length, pulling the end out of square. Remedial action was taken by sawing the longitudinal in half adjacent to one of the cross braces. The width of the saw cut was sufficient reduction in length, and the two halves were glued back together, the joint being reinforced by pinning the top in place. All was now square.

With the tops in place, attention turned to the arrangements for folding the board in half for transportation. Those familiar with the idea of a folding baseboard, such as the Elan plan I am using, will know that the plan uses a structure such as abridge pier, or a scenic feature such as the side of a cutting or a building to hide the hinge posts when the layout is erected. All very good for layouts set in hilly parts, but I am trying to capture the open, flat fens, which doesn’t give much scope for scenic features rising a scale 30 feet above the surrounding countryside. I wanted a folding layout, so I had to come up with a way of fitting the hinges. I thought of fitting the hinge blocks to the outside of the boards, so they would be hidden by the backscene. This wouldn’t work at the front of course, and I wanted to keep the width down and avoid projecting features for transportation, so this idea was shelved. I then came up with the idea of removable hinge blocks. They sit in a hole in the baseboard top, which is filled with a removeable “jigsaw” piece when the layout is erected. The hinge blocks bolt in place, allowing the layout to be folded for transportation. On this layout there is only one hinge. I realised when planning the track layout, that the place for the hinge would be covered by pointwork. A single hinge allows the layout to be folded for transportation, and a removable board will be bolted to the end to provide rigidity when the layout is being transported.

The hinge posts are made of square section soft wood, with a front and top from 11mm ply to match the thickness of the ends and to provide a mounting for the hinge to be screwed to. The are held in place by 6mm bolts’ which fit from the outside of the baseboard frames into tee nuts in the hinge blocks.

The next stage in the construction will be the proscenium and wings. I find I need a bit more wood........

[wiggoforgold]

Mark (46444) came round today to see progress on Diddington. He brought some of his latest models with him, including his 02 and recently released gate stock. We set them up on Diddington to take some photographs of the event. At this stage I could concoct some story about how in 1948 the newly formed British Rail decided to trial an 02 on the Diddington branch, but the truth is we were playing and enjoying ourselves.

No doubt Mark will carry out some improvements on the gate stock which he will report in due course, but first impressions are that the paint finish of the sides might get a little T cut treatment, to give it a slight sheen, and I think the photograph taken from overhead rather shows the thickness of the glazing, though this isn’t so apparent from a normal viewing angle.

I also took some pictures of it shunting in the yard. I know the wagon is slightly out of period, but I think the scene is rather reminiscent of Callington. The model is of a Plymouth loco, so Callington would be a plausible working I think.

I also took some pictures of a more eastern region nature, of which more later.

[wiggoforgold]

After Sunday's Southern interlude, it's back to the Eastern region theme at Diddington. Back in the 1950's J15s would have formed a staple of the motive power, so here are a few pictures of J15s in action. First, here is 65461 on a local passenger crossing the river.

 

Next, a close up of 65461

 

and finally, 65461 and 65356 in the shed road.

 

Also photographed at Diddington is Ivatt class 2 46466, in large totem, unlined black livery.

 

 

 

Work on the new extension progresses. I'm currently working on the proscenium and wings. Some pictures of progress will follow, hopefully by the weekend.

[wiggoforgold]

I’ve now built the proscenium and wings for the new boards, and I have found myself musing on the importance of this part of the structure. I like it, and find the prosecenium and wings define the edges of the layout, and direct the viewer to look at the layout by cutting off unwanted and distracting lines of sight. It also provides a home for discrete yet effective illumination. As a taller modeller, I find this method of presentation more comfortable, and easier on the eye, yet I am surprised how often these methods of presentation are disregarded. I was rather surprised at some of the reaction to the cameo competition, that seemed to be along the lines of “layouts are already properly displayed” and “we don’t need to know that”. I’m afraid my recent experiences of shows have left me surprised how few layouts have adopted what I consider to be self-evident methods of presentation. Anyway, that’s my view. I like the idea of the model railway as a piece of theatre, and try to present my models in such a fashion.

The proscenium on the new layout is built from ply, glued and pinned together. The main proscenium is in two sections, with an “L” shaped joiner in the middle, which is held together by 6mm bolts to form a single piece. The wings are built up from more ply, and slot in to place at the ends of the layout. The proscenium arch sits on top, with the from edge being some 3” in advance of the edge of the baseboard, the intention being that this will allow the lighting to properly illuminate the front part of the layout.

Here are some pictures of the proscenium under construction and finished.

 

 

The next stage is to make up the supports for the back scene, and then there’s a bit of finishing to do, before moving on to painting.

 

The new station will be called "Upwell Drove". Bits of it will be modelled on Upwell, but it isn't a model of Upwell, in particular the track plan is totally different, being conceived to suit the way I wanted to build the layout, rather than to follow a prototype.

[westerner]

I’ve now built the proscenium and wings for the new boards, and I have found myself musing on the importance of this part of the structure. I like it, and find the prosecenium and wings define the edges of the layout, and direct the viewer to look at the layout by cutting off unwanted and distracting lines of sight. It also provides a home for discrete yet effective illumination. As a taller modeller, I find this method of presentation more comfortable, and easier on the eye, yet I am surprised how often these methods of presentation are disregarded. I was rather surprised at some of the reaction to the cameo competition, that seemed to be along the lines of “layouts are already properly displayed” and “we don’t need to know that”. I’m afraid my recent experiences of shows have left me surprised how few layouts have adopted what I consider to be self-evident methods of presentation. Anyway, that’s my view. I like the idea of the model railway as a piece of theatre, and try to present my models in such a fashion.The proscenium on the new layout is built from ply, glued and pinned together. The main proscenium is in two sections, with an “L” shaped joiner in the middle, which is held together by 6mm bolts to form a single piece. The wings are built up from more ply, and slot in to place at the ends of the layout. The proscenium arch sits on top, with the from edge being some 3” in advance of the edge of the baseboard, the intention being that this will allow the lighting to properly illuminate the front part of the layout.

 

 

This could have been written by Mr. I Rice himself.

[Windjabbers]

I couldn’t agree more.  Given its about 25 years since Iain Rice first started to talk about this, it’s really surprising it’s not been more widely taken up.

 

I go to about 6 -8 show a year and one thing I am always sure off is that at least two to three layouts will be let down by their presentation.

 

Whatever your standard of modelling, it will always be improved by presenting you layout well!

 

Best Wishes

 

David

[wiggoforgold]

Over the Christmas period, I built the back drop supports for Upwell Drove and generally finished the wood work.

 

 

Because the layout is intended to be operated from the front or end, the back drop can be full height, rather than needing to be low enough to permit access from the rear. The top edge of the back drop is set at a height so that it is hidden from view by the proscenium arch at normal viewing distance. This makes the view of the layout entirely self contained, and free from distracting non layout views behind the layout. The back drop itself will be of fabric, such as dress stiffener or roller blind fabric, which can be rolled up when not in use. The back drop supports are made from 30mm x 10mm planed timber strip from B&Q. There are four uprights at the rear of the layout, supporting a longitudinal beam which will hold the back drop. The support beam is jointed so it can be dismantled for transportation, as it would be too long as a single piece.

 

The beam also holds the support for an LED strip, which will be positioned to throw light on the back drop and the rear half of the layout. This lighting strip is in the form of an “L” of 6mm ply, which is glued and pinned to the support beam to form a “U” section. The beam is made into an “L” shape by the addition of strips from the beam forward to the wings. These sections provide additional rigidity to the back drop support assembly. The ends of the backdrop curve forward to the front of the layout. The curves are made from strips of 2mm MDF, glued in place to the back drop support. They were curved round a paint can supported over the sink while boiling water was poured over the MDF. This allowed the wood to be curved without cracking.

 

The supports for the beam are made from more 30X10 strip, bolted to the rear of the layout, and kept square by dowels which pass through the uprights and into the back of the baseboard.

I’ve standardised on M6 bolts for this layout, as I want to keep assembly straight forward, and easy for helpers who are unfamiliar with the layout. Where ever possible, the bolts screw into “T” nuts fitted to one half of the part being assembled, so there are no separate nuts to get lost.

The wood work is now complete. The next stage is painting, following which I would like to get the lights installed, following which track laying can start.