Skaleby West

[Andrew P]

Looking good Andy, which Sow are you booked for?

 

That's a pig of a question, Andy. ;-)

 

Is your show on this year Andyram?

I need to report a missing ''H'', if anyone finds it, please pop it back in the Sow.       hahhah  

[andyram]

I need to report a missing ''H'', if anyone finds it, please pop it back in the Sow.       hahhah  

Perhaps the cat took it at the same time as he knocked the bench off.

[andyram]

Another rearrangement of the spare room has seen Skaleby West disconnected from Skaleby Quay and rotated to allow work to be carried out more easily. Today has seen the original side panel refitted so that the layout has regressed to original form. Some scenic repair work and some track alterations will be needed to prepare the layout for its next outing. I also have tentative plans to fit its own lighting - but that will have to wait until the summer. In the meantime here is a picture from today.

[andyram]

Regular readers of this thread may remember that sometime ago I started building a Dapol suburban coach kit for use on the layout. Things stalled for quite a while but this week I returned to the project by adding passengers to the interior and fitting it and the glazing sections to the carriage body. Just the roof to tackle now.

[andyram]

A train has finally arrived at Skaleby West again with a works train hauled by my trusty Railroad Jinty number 24.

[andyram]

A summer's day at Skaleby West. The birds are singing in the trees. The branches are being disturbed by a gentle breeze that is doing little to lessen the effects of the temperature. On the hill the beekeeper is sweltering in his protective gear as he tends to the hive. The stationmaster tries to cool off in a small patch of shade in front of the gents toilet block. The station cat has hidden away in the undergrowth in search of shelter. The heat haze rising from the track is disturbed by this strange Southern interloper. Trip to the seaside anyone? Next stop Lyme Regis.

Edited June 18, 2017 by andyram

[andyram]

The temperature is cooling a little and a few more clouds are appearing in the sky. The stationmaster checks his watch and a couple of passengers rest on the bench after a long day on the coast. The Adams Radial tank prepares to depart for the final time today.

[andyram]

The Adams Radial Tank has been spotted on the Skaleby West services again today. Here it is seen shunting a single van in the goods yard. Freight traffic seems very sparse at present.

[Andrew P]

Good choice of Loco Andy, very nice mate.

[andyram]

Good choice of Loco Andy, very nice mate.

Bargain buy from the GC show.

[andyram]

Another sunny Sunday at Skaleby West. Three service trains today with late morning and then early and late afternoon departures. The line seems to be making good use of the Adams Radial tank because it has appeared again. Here it is seen in the cutting preparing to run around the first train of the day.

[andyram]

Confirmation letter received.

 

Skaleby West's next exhibition outing will be at The Sheffield Model Railway Society's 2017 exhibition.

 

This takes place on Saturday 7th October (10am - 4pm) at Davy Social Club, Prince of Wales Road, Sheffield, S9 4ER.

 

Admission: Adults £4.00, Children (5-16) £2, Under 5's FREE.

 

Skaleby West will be one of ten layouts in different scales. There is also trade support. There will also be refreshments, bar and lounge.

Skaleby West will be operating in original form with single scenic board and fiddle yard.

Edited August 22, 2017 by andyram

[andyram]

Layout list for the Sheffield Model Railway Society exhibition.

 

Saturday 7th October. One of the layouts in the list sounds familiar!

 

https://www.facebook.com/SheffieldModelRailwaySociety/

[andyram]

 The preparation for Skaleby West's outing at the Sheffield Exhibition next weekend has begun this weekend. Today some of the repair work has been carried out with the missing platform lamp and bench refitted. The track has had a clean and some of the litter has been removed. A few of the trees have lost some of their leaves and the fallen foliage has been removed from the track bed. One of the trees above the tunnel is now looking very bare. I am not sure I have time this week to replace it, but it has been added to the jobs to do list.

 

 Some test running was undertaken with the Standard 4 tank. The goods yard continues to cause some problems - the siding leading to the goods shed suffers from inconsistent running because the point blade no longer seems to be making good contact. This has also been added to the "to do" list.

 

 

 During the exhibition, I plan to experiment with a card system for the goods trains. I have created some wagon cards on the computer. They have been based on the design featured in one of the summer editions of "Model Rail". More on these in a later update.

 

 

[andyram]

 Today Skaleby West made its first exhibition outing of 2017, appearing at the Sheffield Model Railway show at the Davy's Sports Centre. Preparations for the day did not progress as well as I had hoped due to a very busy week at work. There was no time to deal with the troublesome goods yard point or add any last minute scenic items. 

 Last night I tried to print off the cards I had designed for the freight operation, only for the printer ink to fail meaning these could not be completed either. However this morning I managed to produce some temporary cards so that I could experiment with this system after all.

 

 Due to the exhibition requirements - Skaleby West regressed to its 2012 form with a single scenic board and one fiddle yard. The card system helped to make things more interesting instead of just shuffling trains on and off scene from the fiddle yard. The freight trains ran using the system and acted as a shunting puzzle. At the start of the movement five cards were drawn to depict the wagons for the train with a brake van attached to the rear. The cards also dictated which loco worked the service.  

 The train then ran into the loop. At this point the wagon cards were added to those representing the wagons already in the yard. The pack was shuffled and 3, 4 or 5 cards were selected and laid in two lines to represent the two sidings. The wagons then had to be shunted to the correct locations in the yard. The remaining wagons were shunted into the loop in any order to form the returning freight. The loco would then run round, shunt the brake van to the rear of the train before attaching to the front of the train ready to depart after the arrival of the next passenger train. The passenger and freight trains alternated in this way throughout the day.

 

 I have to say the card system provided a enjoyable way of operating the layout. Some of the shunting puzzles proved to be fairly easy and were completed quickly and in very few moves. Others were slightly more challenging. One in particular - using the Ivatt 2 and a need to shunt 5 wagons into the yard -  had me battling away for almost an hour! But I completed it!

 

 Overall I was very pleased with the way the show went. The layout ran well with the point only causing problems in the last hour. One or two items of stock caused problems and these will be attended to in due course - particularly the stiff running Ivatt tank which had to be taken out of service. 

 The show seemed to attract a decent crowd and it was nice to see one or two RMWeb members. Skaleby West attracted some very positive comments with the photo back scene again proving popular. Top comment was how well the scenery was blended to match the colours on the back scene. That makes me feel quite proud.

 

  The show was enjoyable and a big thank you to the organisers for the invite and for the help with carrying things from the car in the morning. They seemed a friendly and helpful bunch. The only negative was the attitude of the centre's catering staff. Being a sole operator I was not able to leave the layout for any length of time, and I certainly could not leave the layout unattended whilst waiting for my dinner to be cooked! It would have been nice if they could have delivered the food to the layout, instead of leaving it to congeal on the side for quarter of an hour. The woman in the kitchen was very rude at the time. Thankfully this grumpy individual did not spoil what was an enjoyable day.

 

Here are some pictures from the event.

Jinty 47279 shunts the yard.

 

Ivatt 2 number 46521 runs around its freight after completing the marathon shunting puzzle.

 

The Jinty is glimpsed through the fiddle yard entrance as it prepares to depart the loop with another completed freight.

 

Ivatt tank 41250 did not run well and was taken out of service in the afternoon. Here it runs around its freight train.

 

The afternoon passenger trains were handled by Standard 4 80120.

 

At the end of a busy day - peace returns to Skaleby West. It is due to be out again at its spiritual home when it visits Weston on Trent again next month.

 

[andyram]

So Skaleby West is safely back in the spare bedroom, but with a second show outing very much on the horizon. It is just over a month until it returns to the Weston on Trent show (Saturday 11th November). That means the layout will not get stored away and forgotten about. The usual list of post show repairs will need to be carried out sooner rather than later. Thankfully there are not too many this time around. In fact the only thing that "fell off" the layout was the station master figure. He will be repositioned in due course. The horse riders, that reside above the tunnel, fell off following last year's Weston show and have not be put back in place. I am not sure whether I will bother - they never seem to stay in their spot very long.

 The dead tree above the tunnel also needs attention. It does stand out somewhat. I could replace it, however I have wondered about creating a little cameo scene with a woodcutter preparing to chop it down. I wonder if I can source an appropriate figure / figures.

 

 In the meantime - here are a couple of pictures of the traditional post show works train. The wagon, hauled by 68080, is full of the items that need to be put back on the layout - a perfect way of storing them until the time comes.

 

[PeterBB]

"Skaleby West attracted some very positive comments with the photo back scene again proving popular. Top comment was how well the scenery was blended to match the colours on the back scene'.

 

I totally agree with this statement as I worked through your pictures.  Looking forward to seeing it 'in the flesh' at Weston ... 

 

Cheers, Peter

[andyram]

"Skaleby West attracted some very positive comments with the photo back scene again proving popular. Top comment was how well the scenery was blended to match the colours on the back scene'.

 

I totally agree with this statement as I worked through your pictures.  Looking forward to seeing it 'in the flesh' at Weston ... 

 

Cheers, Peter

 

 

Thanks Peter. The blend between the scenery and the backscene is something that I am particularly pleased with. It does seem to regularly attract positive comments so I must have done something right. I do need to look at a way of protecting the back scene however. The top of the picture is starting to peel slightly from where I have caught it as I lean over when operating the layout.

[andyram]

 A little bit of time to play / test the layout again ahead of the Weston show in three weeks time. Shades of the High Peak branch here as the J94 hauls a short freight, made up of a Buxton liveried wagon.

[andyram]

Skaleby West is due to make its second exhibition appearance of the year at the Weston on Trent show this coming Saturday. There is a long list of jobs to do to prepare the layout for its next outing. Tomorrow could be a busy day as the "jobs to do" list has grown in recent weeks. The signal box needs to be glued back onto the board after being knocked loose by a nosy cat. The same feline friend has knocked off a station lamp. These will all need sorting, along with the station master figure, before Saturday.

 Having completed the floor plan, it seems that I have room for the layout to be displayed with the river bridge extension. If this is to happen I will need to remove the side screen again. This was screwed back in place for the Sheffield show last month. A late night beckons tomorrow.

[BlackRat]

Don't forget......if the track is now glued down.........you can remove the track pins.

[andyram]

Don't forget......if the track is now glued down.........you can remove the track pins.

That may be a job for another time.

[andyram]

Today I had an enjoyable day operating Skaleby West at the Weston on Trent show. The night before was spent on the repairs that were needed after the Sheffield show. The signal box was reattached as was the station master figure. The station lamp held firm despite it taking several attempts to put back in place. During last night's repairs the platform bench and figures all came loose. This proved to be a pig to repair and, in the end, only the bench and one figure was replaced with the "romantic" couple refusing to be stuck back down. So, for today, they have disappeared for a liaison elsewhere!

 

 After a bout of track cleaning this morning, the layout ran very well although the goods yard point started causing problems later in the day. Once again the layout was run using the card system, and it proved to be very enjoyable with some of the shunting puzzles proving to be a real challenge. The son of a friend from church came and worked the layout for a while and the shunting puzzles became quite competitive at times.

 

 The layout received some positive comments - with the blend between the scenery and back scene again the main area for praise. There were plenty of positive comments about the scenics in general. Some people felt that the layout packed plenty of operation into a small space - with the card system getting some interest. At the end of the day, the layout even received a few "Best in Show" votes, but was someway behind the worthy winner.

 

 Here are some pictures from the day.

A newly purchased Standard 4 runs round a late afternoon passenger train.

 

Jinty 47279 pauses after arriving with a passenger.

 

The Jinty stands by the station building.

 

The Midland 3F shunts the goods yard.

 

The Ivatt tank crosses the river bridge with a freight.

 

A Small Prairie tank made a cameo appearance at the end of the show and is seen crossing the river bridge.

 

The newly purchased Standard 4 exits the tunnel on the final approach to Skaleby West.

[andyram]

 Visitors to yesterday's Weston on Trent show may have noticed an additional vehicle sat on the layout. The Barton's bus may not have really suited the dirt track by the goods yard, but its presence was quite poignant. The bus was a gift from the parents at the school when I left in the summer. It was customised to carry a "Weston on Trent" destination and my class' name on the sides. I simply had to display it at the show.

 

 The layout is now back in store in the spare room. The side screen has been replaced on the goods shed side because the river extension has been stored away elsewhere. In terms of damage the layout got away fairly lightly. Only the grounded wagon body has worked loose. This will be an easy fix and will be tackled in due course. 

 Unfortunately there has been some other damage from the show - this time part of the loco fleet suffered some damage. My Bachmann V1 / 3 has travelled to many exhibition, but has never made it from the reserve list until yesterday. Initially it ran well, but suffered a derailment late on. This was either caused by, or resulted in, the middle driving wheels spreading on the axle so that the motion catches on the body work. I have tried to push the wheels together, but so far have not managed to solve the issue. It looks like this will not be an easy fix. The loco is seen stabled in the goods yard today - note the middle driving wheels are not on the rails (they are on the other side of the loco).

 

 

[andyram]

Skaleby West remains stored away at present after a relatively busy year of two exhibition outings. There are no bookings for 2018 as yet and attention is currently taken up with my Gairloch layout. However, I would like to rake this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.