Guest 40-something Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Thank you for visiting this new thread on the construction of my first 7mm layout, which will periodically be updated For the past few years I have increasingly admired 7mm models and layouts, and with more and more ready to run items appearing on the market, the admiration was becoming fascination. Being a regular operator on Mike Bisset's St Marnock Engine Shed hasn't help either! With this new layout, I plan to learn from the shortcomings that I encountered with my previous layout, Rockvilla Goods, mainly moving the control panel from a fixed location at the rear to a portable unit. This will allow me to actually see the layout properly when Im operating it! Building a new layout is also an excuse to try out new techniques and skills, and one of these is building track. I plan to build the pointwork myself using C&L components, but still using Peco flexi for the plain trackwork, I did investigate using C&L parts to build the plain trackwork, but the costs involved have ruled this out. Cold Blow Lane will be around 16ft in length, 2 ft wide and the trackwork will be atop brick retaining arches, a feature very common in South London. This opens up scope to model small businesses operating out of the arches, such as a car garage, used furniture dealer etc etc. In keeping with my preference for urban grot, the whole layout will be finished in a rather unkempt and run down appearance. Essentially the layout plan consists of a couple of goods sidings, a couple of parcels sidings, a couple of headshunts and a run-round loop. Giving a little background, in 1865, the East London Railway Company took ownership of the Brunel's pedestrian Thames Tunnel from Wapping to Rotherhithe and over the next few years laid rails to ultimately connect Shoreditch to New Cross via Surrey Docks, with branches linking to Whitechapel and Old Kent Road completed by 1884. The East London Railway Company owned the infrastructure but it was operated by its controlling railways (GER, LB&SCR, LCDR, SER, the Metropolitan Railway and the District Railway). Trains were initially operated by the GER, LB&SCR and the SER. In 1913, the ELR line was electrified, the controlling railways funding the upgrade and the Metropolitan Railway providing the rolling stock. After the grouping, the LNER ran the goods trains on the ELR, the Metropolitan (latterly part of the London Underground) continued to run the passenger services. Goods services over the ELR were withdrawn in 1962. These days the line is part of the London Overground network. However, I have imagined that as part of the branch extension to Old Kent Road, it is assumed the ELR built a small yard crossing Cold Blow Lane, acting as an overflow for the Bricklayers Arms complex, and as such the BR services over the line were spared the chop and still ran post 1966. Stock wise I'll be running vehicles that would have been seen in SE London in the period modelled, such as the ubiquitous Sulzer Type 3's, Derby Type 2's etc etc along with 4-wheel merchandise stock and 4-wheel and bogie parcels vehicles. The majority of stock will be kit built, Parkside and Slaters are top of the list due to mainly plastic components as are JLTRT with their resin kits. So far I have built the main board frames, 2 are shown in the picture above (the plywood is just laid on and wont be fixed in place until the raised subframe is built). Today I fitted the removable legs and checked all frames for squareness and matching height, Im hoping by the end of the week I'll have started on the raised subframes and fine tuning the track plan - which I'll upload here when done! Thanks for reading my drivel and if you are a glutton for punishment, tune in for more updates! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Nice into and start to the layout Joe, you are further on than me !! I like the SE London area, it is interesting, and nice to see some grit and grot being modelled .... makes a change from the idillic summers day in the countryside. This will be one follower on your "follower list" Good luck Joe. Craig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
81A Oldoak Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 C&L makes ready-made plain track, which I prefer to PECO for the scenic areas. Here are a couple of photos of my Cwm Bach layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railwayrod Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Hello Joe. I like your idea and will follow your thread with interest. Do keep us all updated. Rod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 40-something Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 C&L makes ready-made plain track, which I prefer to PECO for the scenic areas. Here are a couple of photos of my Cwm Bach layout. Hi Chris I decided against C&L plain track as I heard reports of the plastic sleepering shrinking, affecting the gauging. I know of one exhibition layout which had to have sections replaced with Peco track, so decided to go with the Peco option, plus its cheaper! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Hi Chris I decided against C&L plain track as I heard reports of the plastic sleepering shrinking, affecting the gauging. I know of one exhibition layout which had to have sections replaced with Peco track, so decided to go with the Peco option, plus its cheaper! Interseting...... I'm just about to lay with some C&L track - how wide-spread is this? Most stock will tolerate 31mm gauge before it becomes a problem... It would be good to know hoe much of an issue this is! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ressaldar Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Hi 40-something, it was my mother taking me down to Cold Blow Lane when I was all of about 4years old (1948) that sowed the seed that started my interest in railways. When I started work, it was with Sir Richard Costain Ltd who had a plant yard in the 'Lane' opposite Millwall's 'Den' football ground which seemed to be surrounded by railway lines. Happy memories. Good luck with the layout, I shall follow it's construction with interest. cheers Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
81A Oldoak Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Hi Chris I decided against C&L plain track as I heard reports of the plastic sleepering shrinking, affecting the gauging. I know of one exhibition layout which had to have sections replaced with Peco track, so decided to go with the Peco option, plus its cheaper! This is the first time I've heard of this alleged problem and I've got some quite old C&L that is in good order. My layouts live in my garage, which is prone to wide fluctuations in temperature, but that has not caused any problems. BTW the C&L advertisement in the March 2015 edition of the Railway modeller is advertising new C&L plain track at a 25% discount. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railwayrod Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I too have never heard of this and I would have used C & L on Ramchester but funds did not permit so I ended up with PECO which I am glad to say has not caused any problems. The PECO points were modified somewhat to improve their appearance. This involved cutting off the ridiculous angled sleeper at the frog end of the point, straightening the ends of the wing and check rails to make them more realistic and adding some thin strips of plastic in the gap between to frog and the wing rails to reduce the "bounce" as wagon wheels traversed the area giving much smoother running. Hope this is useful to you Joe. Chris. Your pictures look superb - wish mine looked as good. Rod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 40-something Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Hi 40-something, it was my mother taking me down to Cold Blow Lane when I was all of about 4years old (1948) that sowed the seed that started my interest in railways. When I started work, it was with Sir Richard Costain Ltd who had a plant yard in the 'Lane' opposite Millwall's 'Den' football ground which seemed to be surrounded by railway lines. Happy memories. Good luck with the layout, I shall follow it's construction with interest. cheers Mike Hi MIke I hope I can invoke some good memories for you with my attempt a recreating South East London! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 40-something Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 This is the first time I've heard of this alleged problem and I've got some quite old C&L that is in good order. My layouts live in my garage, which is prone to wide fluctuations in temperature, but that has not caused any problems. BTW the C&L advertisement in the March 2015 edition of the Railway modeller is advertising new C&L plain track at a 25% discount. Hi Chris The track on the layout that was affected was only a year or so old, not sure hold old the track was for the other folk. I did hum and haw but went for Peco on that back of that, though with the 25% discount it would have worked out around the same price! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 40-something Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I too have never heard of this and I would have used C & L on Ramchester but funds did not permit so I ended up with PECO which I am glad to say has not caused any problems. The PECO points were modified somewhat to improve their appearance. This involved cutting off the ridiculous angled sleeper at the frog end of the point, straightening the ends of the wing and check rails to make them more realistic and adding some thin strips of plastic in the gap between to frog and the wing rails to reduce the "bounce" as wagon wheels traversed the area giving much smoother running. Hope this is useful to you Joe. Chris. Your pictures look superb - wish mine looked as good. Rod Hi Rod I'm using C&L components for the pointwork, that has worked out substantially cheaper than buying Peco points - almost half the price and its only 6 points! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Storey Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Thank you for visiting this new thread on the construction of my first 7mm layout, which will periodically be updated The majority of stock will be kid built, Most excellent idea, in the style of Primark. I shall follow with interest. Where do you find these children? Seriously, great idea for a layout and good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 40-something Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Most excellent idea, in the style of Primark. I shall follow with interest. Where do you find these children? Seriously, great idea for a layout and good luck! Now updated to save any accusations of child-slavery!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 link Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Hi Chris I decided against C&L plain track as I heard reports of the plastic sleepering shrinking, affecting the gauging. I know of one exhibition layout which had to have sections replaced with Peco track, so decided to go with the Peco option, plus its cheaper! Hmmm, I have never had a problem with C&L track, my first layout dating from the early 90's was still running up until 2012. And being housed in a unheated garage with varying temperatures if there was a problem I think it would of surfaced by then. Martyn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 40-something Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 Hi Folks Unfortunately I'm not going to continue with this project due to unforseen circumstances Many thanks for your comments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.