Deneside - BR North Eastern Region

[Brian D]

Brian,

goes really well with the backscene.

 

Possible pub names:

The Locomotive

The North Eastern

The Station Hotel

 

Regards,

Tom

 

Thanks, Tom.

Over the last half hour or so I have been trying to find decent brewery signage circa 1960 on google.  This led me to read the unhappy story behind the demise of Vaux, a sorry tale of a thriving business closed down and it seems asset striped by "The City".  The site has lain empty for 16 years or more for goodness sake - travesty.

[Two_sugars]

The Stapleton Arms?

 

 

 

John

 

It's the pub in Hawthorn Village. . . Been there for years.

 

 

 

John

[Brian D]

It's the pub in Hawthorn Village. . . Been there for years.

 

 

 

John

 

Oh, John - I should have known that.  My parents moved down to Essex from Hawthorn when I was three and later on in my childhood we would go back up for holidays and stay with my Aunt in Easington Colliery - I used to sleep on a mattress on the floor! Anyway, my dad would drive to that pub for a pint and I would accompany him sitting outside in the car drinking a Nimmos cola (didn't taste like any other sort of cola) and reading my comic.  Happy days oh so long ago.

Regards,

Brian.

[tom shaw]

Oh, John - I should have known that.  My parents moved down to Essex from Hawthorn when I was three and later on in my childhood we would go back up for holidays and stay with my Aunt in Easington Colliery - I used to sleep on a mattress on the floor! Anyway, my dad would drive to that pub for a pint and I would accompany him sitting outside in the car drinking a Nimmos cola (didn't taste like any other sort of cola) and reading my comic.  Happy days oh so long ago.

Regards,

Brian.

 

Beano, Dandy or other ? (Beano man myself)

 

Tom

[Brian D]

Beano, Dandy or other ? (Beano man myself)

 

Tom

The Eagle but Beano and Dandy as well.

[Brian D]

Following a week away in Dorset where we had amazing weather for the time of year, we have returned just over a week ago to some definitely seasonal weather!  Anyway, following a big tidy up in the shed and a visit to a well known diy shed, more baseboard construction has taken place in between the wet weather to complete the U shape.  Photos follow, firstly "before"...

 

 

(the brown tops are old bedroom chests of draws which I use for storage)

 

 

..and secondly "after".

 

 

 

This new board is at the same level as the (single line) branch station.  The fiddle yard, approached over the twin track mainline viaduct, needs to be about 75 mm (3 inches) above this level so there is more work to be done before I can run trains in and out of the fiddle yard.  The latest track plan below should help visualise what I'm trying to explain.

 

 

The next steps will be to clear the cr*p area under the bottom of the U so I can get underneath to fit point motors to the three points there.  This will enable tracklaying to continue over the main viaduct into the fiddle yard once I have figured out exactly how I am going to build the (traversing, albeit only by +/- 2 inches) fiddle yard.  I have no suitable timber left so I'm thinking about using a couple of (1.8 metre) lengths of Conti-board (reasonably cost effective), cut to length and width separated by draw runners as the main fiddle yard structure.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

As I have done before, I thought I would print that part of the track plan for the fiddle yard area full size on to numerous A4 sheets, stick them together and see how they look on the new boards - see below.

 

 

 

The grey area will actually be raised up about three inches.

 

The layout of the fiddle yard has been designed so that all six storage roads can access both the up and down main lines by traversing plus or minus two inches (the dual track spacing).  The extent of sideways movement is shown by the two items of stock posed in these two pictures.

 

 

 

As the sideways movement of the traverser is so small, I'm wondering whether I can get away with using fixed castors under the board rather than draw runners - this will make it easier to fix the fiddle yard point motors under the board.  It's "old g*ts day" at the diy shed tomorrow so I'll have a look at the castors while I'm picking up the Conti-board.

 

Regards,

Brian

[Andrew P]

Hi Brian, just catching up after my Holiday, it's looking really good mate, very nice fiddle yard.

[Ray H]

A couple of thoughts Brian.

 

Have you thought of using (square) "U" section on its side that's fixed at each end of the traverser and in which the traverser bed slides. I tried this with some success on a previous layout. You could also add a couple of strips of aluminium that are the same thickness as the "U" channel's material to the underside of the board and use Teflon sheet to run them over.

 

Did you investigate using a sector plate instead of a traverser? You'd need to flare the ends of either the table or the fixed track but you might find that you could then lengthen the siding against the window wall. Another possibility might be to have a sector plate within the traverser bed so you only have to align one siding at a time.

[Zomboid]

It's the whole fan of points and grey shaded area that moves?

That's pretty clever actually.

[danstercivicman]

Very clever traverser! Have you considered cassettes? I use them to maximise the Number of coaches?

[Brian D]

Hi Brian, just catching up after my Holiday, it's looking really good mate, very nice fiddle yard.

 

Thanks Andy - I hope you enjoyed your break.

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

A couple of thoughts Brian.

 

Have you thought of using (square) "U" section on its side that's fixed at each end of the traverser and in which the traverser bed slides. I tried this with some success on a previous layout. You could also add a couple of strips of aluminium that are the same thickness as the "U" channel's material to the underside of the board and use Teflon sheet to run them over.

 

Did you investigate using a sector plate instead of a traverser? You'd need to flare the ends of either the table or the fixed track but you might find that you could then lengthen the siding against the window wall. Another possibility might be to have a sector plate within the traverser bed so you only have to align one siding at a time.

Hi Ray,

I must admit I hadn't thought of using slides as you suggest.  Following today's shopping trip I have come home with a 1830 x 305 lump of 15 mm thick Conti board which, cut to length, will do for the traverser deck.  I have also gone off the idea of using fixed castors (too much side play between the wheel and the axle).  I did however buy a pair of ball bearing drawer runners - really smooth and well engineered so I'll probably use these but because of the length of the deck (5 foot 4 inches), I'll probably need another pair.

 

I did briefly consider a sector plate but because I've got two entry tracks I couldn't get my head round the track gemetry at the exit to the main lines or see how splaying the tracks would work unless I singled the approach which I have not got room to do.

 

Thanks again for your comments though Ray..

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

It's the whole fan of points and grey shaded area that moves?

That's pretty clever actually.

 

If I can get it to work I'll be quite pleased because all storage roads will be available for both departures and arrivals.

[Brian D]

Very clever traverser! Have you considered cassettes? I use them to maximise the Number of coaches?

 

Yes but dismissed them for several reasons. I have a twin track exit from the fiddle yard and wanted the flexibility to dispatch and receive trains simultaneously which would probably mean 64 inch long dual cassettes which would be too unweildy and difficult to rotate in the confines of my shed.  I also have limited room for stacking the cassettes.  Hence the traverser idea, if I can get it to work

Regards,

Brian.

[jukebox]

Hi Ray,

I must admit I hadn't thought of using slides as you suggest.  Following today's shopping trip I have come home with a 1830 x 305 lump of 15 mm thick Conti board which, cut to length, will do for the traverser deck.  I have also gone off the idea of using fixed castors (too much side play between the wheel and the axle).  I did however buy a pair of ball bearing drawer runners - really smooth and well engineered so I'll probably use these but because of the length of the deck (5 foot 4 inches), I'll probably need another pair.

 

I did briefly consider a sector plate but because I've got two entry tracks I couldn't get my head round the track gemetry at the exit to the main lines or see how splaying the tracks would work unless I singled the approach which I have not got room to do.

 

Thanks again for your comments though Ray..

Regards,

Brian.

 

Brian - see how you go with the drawer runners, but if they have too much play, I think Ray's teflon idea has merit.  Take a look at some food chopping boards - some are made of the waxy stuff that would do the trick.  I'm probably telling grandma how to suck eggs, but you want to have movement in one plane only: across the tracks. That will keep things perpendicular.  A slightly stiff movement will ensure that when you align the track, it then doesn't wander under a train moving off.  I'm sure you'll have it sorted. :-)

 

Scott

Edited November 17, 2016 by jukebox

[Brian D]

Brian - see how you go with the drawer runners, but if they have too much play, I think Ray's teflon idea has merit.  Take a look at some food chopping boards - some are made of the waxy stuff that would do the trick.  I'm probably telling grandma how to suck eggs, but you want to have movement in one plane only: across the tracks. That will keep things perpendicular.  A slightly stiff movement will ensure that when you align the track, it then doesn't wander under a train moving off.  I'm sure you'll have it sorted. :-)

 

Scott

Thanks for that Scott.  The draw runners I bought yesterday are actually too long, I have discovered today - they are 350mm (14 inches) long and I only need 100mm ish (4 inches) maximum extension, making them 450 mm or 18 inches maximum length which means they would poke out too much from under the 305 mm (12 inch) deck.  So they are going back tomorrow.  I have identified another source that can supply 250 mm long ball bearing runners so I'll get a couple of pairs tomorrow and if they are engineered as well as the ones going back they should be fine with zero sloppiness in them.  The problem with fitting these is that they must be exactly parallel and this is the challenge I face in fitting them.

I hear what you are saying about teflon though and if all ends in tears I shall certainly investigate that option further.

Regards,

Brian.

[Brian D]

The ball bearing drawer runners were duly replaced - these are they http://www.screwfix.com/p/hafele-ball-bearing-drawer-runners-250mm/7855j

 

So I have cracked on with the fiddle yard construction.  Firstly the usual paper Peco templates were used to get the exact cut of the angle on the Conti-board thus.

 

 

The board was then cut and the runners placed roughly in position to gauge exactly where they needed to be placed to avoid point motors and the like.

 

 

The usual highly complicated engineering drawing was then produced.  The main purpose of this was to ensure the fiddle yard deck would be at the right level i.e. 75 mm above the base board as shown below.

 

 

One of the drawer runners was separated to begin the process of attaching each element to a 250 mm length of 44 x 18 timber thus.

 

 

Making sure that everything was level and parallel, the runner was assembled.  They are unstable and tend to fall over so I have propped the first one up roughly in position in the following pic.

 

 

Mass production then followed of the other two runners to complete the set of identical runners.

 

 

I now needed to set out the runners ensuring everything was parallel.  I knew I had one of these things somewhere...can't remember the last time I used it.

 

 

The first runner assembly was screwed carefully to the baseboard.

 

 

The other two soon followed and the fiddle yard deck has been placed in position.

 

 

It all moves sideways beautifully smoothly.  I now need to screw the deck to the three timber runners and check all levels and alignment.

 

Getting there.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[emt_911]

Nicely done

[AireValley1962]

Very nice work!

[danstercivicman]

Wow- that is very clever  

 

The construction looks well planned and I have to say that is well executed!  

[tom shaw]

Nice solid engineering, I like the idea of having the points on the table giving maximum flexibility

 

Tom

[Brian D]

Nicely done

 

 

Very nice work!

 

 

Wow- that is very clever

 

The construction looks well planned and I have to say that is well executed!  

 

 

Nice solid engineering, I like the idea of having the points on the table giving maximum flexibility

 

Tom

 

Many thanks for your comments chaps.

 

This afternoon I screwed the deck to the timber runner elements and Sod's Law kicked in - the end of the deck nearest the door was binding on the shed wall despite my best efforts to allow sufficient tolerances all round.  So, the deck screws were removed and about 3 or 4 mm was planed off the end of the deck.  The deck was rescrewed to the runners and all is now well - the fiddle yard traverses beautifully smoothly.

 

I need now to fill the track base gap between the fiddle yard and the end of the viaduct so trackwork can be laid over the viaduct and up to the FY.

 

Regards,

Brian.

[Andrew P]

Superb work Brian, as has been said, really well thought out mate, well done.

[Brian D]

Work continues slowly to extend the mainline to the fiddle yard.  I have had great fun with this tool and the left over (nominal) 25 mm thick polystyrene insulation I used to line the shed.

 

 

It is a battery powered hot wire cutter from Expo.  Unlike the hot glue gun it heats up instantly so it is great to just keep switching it off when not cutting the polystyrene - highly recommended.

 

Anyway, using the hot wire cutter I fabbed up part of the viaduct approach embankment and added a lean to span of off cut laminate flooring, this placed where the masonry underline bridge will be located thus.

 

 

 

The track bed was then given two layers of Modroc allowed to dry and then painted grey.

 

Some time ago I came to the conclusion that my method of spacing out the sleepers on the code 75 Peco track was getting somewhat tedious, especially on the curves.  So I bought some of this.

 

 

Two yard lengths were used, trimmed at one end, to lay over the viaduct to the fiddle yard in a question mark shape.  This would complete the down main in the sceniced area.  Wire droppers to all rail sections were added (I am not relying solely on "conductive" fish plates - belt and braces perhaps but I am looking for total electrical reliability in the track if at all possible).  I sprayed this length of track "sleeper grime" yesterday so today gauging trials using the BR Mk 1s were carried out over the viaduct.

 

 

All appeared well so the trackbed was PVA'd, the track lowered into position, the track and track bed doused in ballast and the usual motley collection of kentledge was applied to ensure everything is adequately stuck down.

 

 

Tomorrow, I'll hoover off the excess ballast and hopefully make a start on the up main over the same section.

 

I also had a bit more fun with the hot wire cutter and infilled some of the approach embankment.

 

 

That's all for now.

 

Regards,

Brian.