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Showing results for 'Templot' in blog entries.
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I originally wanted to build a photo/shunting plank, if you've seen "Jinty's" YouTube video (such as the 08 sound decoder demo) you'll have seen how fantastic a straight piece of track can look with sympathetic scenery. Well, I thought I'd better put a couple of points on the track so at least the trains can shunt about a bit. Something like this: But then I thought if I'm going to bother doing that, if I put two more points in, I get an actual "station" with run round loop and two sidings. So I came up with a layout that would fit the baseboards, with about 3 wagons on the left hand siding, four on the right, and a loop that can fit 4 and a brake van. The first thing I did after the delivery of the baseboards was to lay out some Peco track on the templot track plan and some stock to see how it looks. The first thing I didn't like was the siding in front of the run round loop release on the far right. I don't know why, but when the loco was behind the stock, it just looked wrong. So I think I'll change the crossover direction so the loco release is towards the front, and the siding is behind. Not really typical, but not really a howler either. This also means I can extend the left hand siding. (I won't keep the end dock from that picture as that's not really how they would work).
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Templot Time
RedgateModels posted a blog entry in Rhywbeth Fel Pwll Glo or Something Like a Colliery
So after some playing around with flexitrack and standard turnouts I have come to the conclusion that fully handbuilt is the way to go at least for the points! It's been a while to say the least since I used Templot, but managed a first go at roughing out a plan last night. As you can see all I've done is overlay some OO track over the N (for 00-9) so far. need some help I think from @martin_wynne to create some turnout templates with a small enough radius and large enough crossing angle for my purposes. That will come later. The section of dual gauge is far too tight, I'll need to break it up into sections so I can ease that curve. Will mean that the rest of the loop will be tighter but the NG stock can take it!. Next steps? I want a stub siding where the "a" is on the plan, will be fun fitting that in but I need somewhere to park a standard gauge loco for shunting purposes. -
Wednesday 18 January became the official start date of Horsham MRC's Chesworth project. That night there was a presentation - a complete Powerpoint jobbie beamed onto the wall with one of those computer driven projectors - to the whole club membership, and the following Wednesday work started in earnest. (Horsham club meet on what are called "short Wednesdays" and "long Wednesdays" in St Leonard's Church Hall in Horsham. Short Wednesday meetings are from 7pm to 10pm (clear up starts around 9.30) but on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays the meeting starts at 2.30pm and it at these "long Wednesday" meetings that most layout work is done.) The first long Wednesday projects on Chesworth concentrate on stock-building. Chesworth is intended to be set in the period from 1925-30, chosen as being a century before when the layout is aimed at being on the exhibition circuit, so rolling stock needs to be suitable for that period. It is amazing how much "steam era" freight stock available as RTR is therefore unsuitable. About half the kits available as PECO Parkside or from other kit-makers are from the post-1930s period too. However the first batch of wagon kits have been sourced and constructions started. The keenest constructors are the club's youngest members, which is heartening to say the least. Warhammer seems to be providing the early learning experience in the same way as Airfix did for the retirement generation. Photos of the results will appear in a later posting. Trackplans and Baseboard Design Your blog-writer has got to grips with Templot. The result has been to turn the outline Anyrail plan shown in the introductory blog into a working document that can be printed actual size. Templot also breaks the link to commercially available geometry which may or may not be a good idea. The purpose of the initial proof of concept layout is to test whether British Finescale's Finetrax kits can be used simply as crossings and switches. Elsewhere on rmweb there are postings from people who have done that but we need to try that for ourselves before over-committing to that approach. Currently the Templot plan looks like this: Turnouts are either A5 or B7 and there are no complexities such slips or diamonds. To begin with though only one of each will be required and the A5 in the yard of the small passing station has been deliberately kept as a divergence from a straight track as a familiarity test before attempting to put a curve through the neighbouring B7. Your blogger has worked with Wayne Kinney on developing the Finetrax range for 3mm finescale so there is a high degree of confidence in that product. The plan is also to use open frame baseboard construction. The scenic treatment requires some streams and rivers so although there will be no gradient changes other than the one required for gravity shunting, the ground to the side of the tracks will have to go both down and up. A flat baseboard is therefore unsuitable. A design has been drawn up for the framing of the first two boards. Next stop the timber yard Buildings For the proof of concept layout we will require three buildings. The station building will be based on Bodiam (K&ESR). This has the advantage that it is still standing and is accessible thanks the the K&ESR heritage line. It is also an easily recognisable Stephens design. Outside the station, and forming a place for the eye to rest and stop continuing into the fiddleyard will be a country pub. The plan is to recreate the Dog and Bacon which is on the edge of the last little handkerchief sized bit of Horsham Common, and close to the junction with the real Wimblehurst Road which will be the station name on the layout. The difference is that our pub will not be the Edwardian pebble-dashed pub of today but the row of three wooden cottages that held the pub in earlier years. A Wealden hall house style farmhouse is also desired, but at the moment no suitable candidate has been settled on. Work on Bodiam has already started, and drawings for the Dog and Bacon are being prepared. Lastly An idle conversation led to the suggestion that a coal merchants steam lorry might look good in the goods yard next to some guys bagging up a heap of coal dumped from a wagon. By coincidence a member saw an unbuilt Keil-Kraft kit at a swap-meet a weekend or two later, parted with a couple of coins and then put it together. That prompted another member to recall his grandfather had actually driven one of these in the 1920s for a local coal merchant. So all is looking good.
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Well the Chesworth team took their place in the hall at the Horsham club's Open Day and despite it being April 1st did not make fools of themselves. The Wednesday before there had barely been any track laid, but after an extra "long Wednesday" (March 29, being the fifth Wednesday of the month, was supposed to be just an evening session) all the rail was down on the two baseboards so far constructed. This meant we had something to show for our work since January even if we couldn't actually run anything yet. Just before the doors open at the Horsham MRC Open Day Despite not running trains we still had a day's worth of visitors to talk to, and none of us had much of a voice by 4 pm. We had a rolling Powerpoint show on a TV next to the layout (well actually Libre Office, your blog author is a Linux fan) which gave a hook onto which we could attach what we were trying to do and we found we had two different audiences. The model railway enthusiasts, including our neighbours from Dorking who had brought along a layout, were more interested in the track (PECO Code 75 bullhead), the points (British Finescale kits) and the method of baseboard construction. The other halves and curious locals were far more interested in the local history aspects we aim to bring to this layout. The above picture is shown because it shows something that immediately grated with us. On the previous Wednesday we were laying track at a pace brisker than the number of weights available and glue drying time allowed, so improvisation was required. The result was that we failed to see a bit of a kink in the through line. Not bad enough to cause running problems but irritating none the less. That will be fixed in April. Meanwhile at the Open Day we had the opportunity to populate things a bit and happily it looks like we have the proportions right for a Colonel Stephens style wayside station. The trackplan is that of the K&ESR's Frittenden Road with just a little bit of shortening so it would have been disappointing if that wasn't the case. The coal wagons, steam lorry and Bodiam station building are all the work of club member, Malcolm Covey. The building is work in progress, as is the Stephens railbus set in the other pictures. The reason for choosing British Finescale point kits over PECO's completed offerings is that points can be bent to fit the location. The whole trackplan, including the future plans, has been drawn up in Templot and using Templot print-outs the BF point bases can be made to fit by cutting through some of the webbing holding the sleepers. The result is that nice flowing curves through a turnout without introducing a straight section are achievable, and it doesn't have to fit PECO's geometry The April Open Day provided an early target for this project, one that meant we had to roll up sleeves and get on with it. Yesterday provided us with another target in the form of an invitation to the Dorking show in late September. The team is increasing in size so that is an achievable target. What it means is that the sort of light railway trains we envisage will have to run through something passing resemblance to the Sussex countryside of 100 years ago and not over bare boards. It's doable, and it does focus our April efforts onto wiring, point control and filling the gaps on the framework. Tune in next month for how well we've done.
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It's been a busy month for the still small team working on this layout. The first two baseboards have been built and the trackbeds cut out. As these tasks were done by two people and the pieces only came within touching distance on club nights, the process of fitting track bases to the open frames will happen in March. The construction of the baseboard frames using the sandwich technique has delivered light and strong baseboards. However some modification had to be made to the design to achieve the rounded corners desired. This shot is taken from what will be the viewing side. The fiddle yard will be to the right and the backscene will be given a curve on the grounds that the sky has no corners. A more detailed view shows the construction details better We've gone for DCC Concepts supplied baseboard aligners though stopped short of the super-deluxe version that also bridges the electrical track bus. The track beds were marked out by reversing the Templot design and printing it back to front. That meant the paper templates could be stuck to the underside of the ply leaving the working side pristine. Ballast and paint covers a multitude of sins, but the concern was more about difficult to remove glue splodges. Templot can print the lines for the edge of the ballast and the total width of the track bed including the cess. The decision has been made to model the cess as photographic evidence suggests that track work on the Colonel Stephens lines was still generally in good nick in our late twenties period. Ten years later things might be different, particularly on basket cases like the Selsey Tramway. The same technique will be used next month to cut the cork underlays representing the ballast and then track-laying will start. The kit building school One of the aims of this project is to create an opportunity for members to develop and hone new skills, and the most enthusiastic take up has been from our junior members. We bought a selection of Parkside (from Peco), Cambrian and Slaters wagon kits and three of our juniors have taken some and built them under supervision. Club rules require a responsible adult to attend alongside our juniors, and that adult has also been the one supervising when things like knives are used. We think that is probably better. These wagon kits are very good. The pieces fit together well, Parkside probably best of all, and some pleasing results are being obtained by these young and inexperienced builders. The first coat of paint was applied before the picture was taken. So from left to right, Midland Railway 8 ton van (Slaters), RCH 1923 seven plank (Parkside), LSWR 10 ton van (Cambrian) and GWR open (Parkside). And the average age of the builders is not even in double figures. Planning for scenery Some more detailed work has been done planning for the scenic treatment on the first three boards. The plan currently looks like this: Developments since last month are, firstly, that we have found a suitable prototype for the farm building. It's actually not far from the centre of Horsham and is today surrounded by the houses put up on what were the farm's fields in the 1960s. We found this atmospheric picture posted on the internet by our local newspaper The spire of St Mary's Church can be seen in the mist behind, so avid followers of our summer game will also know that Horsham's cricket ground where Sussex played at least one county game a season until a year or two ago, is also in that direction. The Historic England website has a picture from the 1920s of the farmhouse from the front which is viewable via this link: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/BL25327/004 The image on that website shows the farm with a clapboard front but today that has been removed and the original medieval framing with plaster infill has been restored. We in the club are not architectural experts but this farm does look to be a typical hall house found all across the Weald in Kent and Sussex. As such it fits our aims. One challenge it, and various other buildings planned, will give us is how to reproduce the local Horsham stone roofing. This is made up of sandstone slates 4 or 5 cm thick, so a bit over 0.5mm in 4mm scale. More on this next month. In our researches we found something else unusual which is now the subject of experiments in how to make a model. On the outskirts of Horsham, one road over from the real Wimblehurst Road, there was a "Wood Hoop and Broom Merchants" in the 1920s. The brooms were besom brooms, or witch's brooms to most of us, and they were made on site. The birch twigs for the sweeping bits were collected locally, presumably, in the form of coppiced branches some ten to twelve feet long, and were stored on stacks the size of haystacks. The completed brooms were bundled up in dozens or possibly double dozens. We have a photograph but unfortunately not in a form I can load up here. If we can solve the issues of how to represent this works in 00 scale then it will be a very unusual addition. Next month The club has an open day on April 1st (we've heard all the comments already, thanks) so March's two long Wednesdays will be dedicated to seeing if we can get a bit of track laid for then.
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Afternoon all, Following the recent post and demise of my Meeth 2mmFS DJLC entry I promised to share my alternative proposal. Part of the decline of Meeth was that it had no real layout future beyond the competition - more time should have been spent thinking this through long game One idea I have previously toyed with in BCN, even in 7mm scale was a model of Treviscoe clay dries. The thing that killed off the 7mm one was the thought that I would want to purchase a class 37....so 7mm toe dipping on a budget was never going to happen Despite my excursion into Scottish railways (which I have thoroughly enjoyed) my real interest has always been in China clay so this seemed the natural choice (admittedly Meeth was also a China clay proposal) I have always been taken by the John Vaughan image of a class 37 edging past a dries building so it was time to revisit this but in 2mmFS. I was aware of a rather nice 4mm layout on the forum loosely based on the Trethosa/Treviscoe dries area so it was natural that I first message Kevin to see if he had any objections to my project. I outlined to Kevin that whilst his layout was inspired by the area my would be an extract of the prototype as per my usual preference albeit condensed as required to try and capture the flavour - I sent my track plan and Kevin graciously replied that he had no issues with it especially as mine was based on the prototype and was a different scale - he has even offered some photographic research help - top bloke So the idea is to create an extract of the area between the two sheds which are connected by a high level conveyer of some sort. The 600mm x 234mm (approx.) 2020 DJLC competition area was overlaid on a google earth type snapshot and the area to be modelled was drawn over crudely in CAD - no Templot this end am afraid... Outline sketch...plan and very very very loose elevation (for Mikkel)... Crude CAD drawing...plan and elevation of fascia... Ditto but with overlay on google earth type image... This gave the following scenario which would have a FY each side. The idea is that trains can arrive, shunt wagons into the dries building and collect later on. Perhaps the odd passing freight too on the front line. The era would start early eighties so clay holds but could expand to include CDA’s and also Cargowagons (As found during Internet searches) I have a rake bought for a Moorswater and Mark (46444) weathered one superbly...and has offered to complete the rake. The next part of the process for me was to make a 1:1 mock up to test the idea with rolling stock. This would help gauge train lengths etc. The area was printed out at work full size and foamboard of varying thicknesses cut in preparation. This time I have decided to increase the front viewing window from my usual 200mm to 250mm...the jury is still out on this. The dries buildings have been guesstimated from pictures but I need to do more detailed drawings before they are built. The lighting has been integrated in the fascia with my usual methods and is a return to the IKEA strip lights I used in BCN. Am still pondering the Fiddle Yards but may use sliding perspex as per Kyle...how much of this will be on view is still being considered. Here is the mock up made last weekend and posed with various rolling stock to help me decide whether it’s worth pursuing. The main idea is to try and build it for May 2020 however (a) if it does not get finished it might be presented as a work in progress (b) it has a life beyond the competition in that it could be offered as an alternative to Kyle which will no doubt start to retract from exhibitions in the distant future. View from RH Fiddleyard... View from LH Fiddleyard... 37 arrives in loop on CDA’s... Front end view...not sure whether to reduce down viewing portal... Wagons left for loading and departing... 37 on Cargowaggons...this one was expertly weathered by Mark (46444)... Passing through with Cargowagons...that yellow is ouch! The two circular structures will be the China clay vats (name escapes me!) This link to the Flickr photo sums up the area to be modelled quite nicely...but modern day...(not sure if image shows as I just added the link to it...Mods - I can delete if it’s a problem?) That’s where I am at with it. I am quite happy to return to a China clay layout as I have most of the stock from my Coombe Junction - Moorswater layout. I am off work this week for 1/2 term so may look to make some initial progress. As always, comments welcome! Pete
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Although I already have Peco track for Shipston, I am slowly but surely moving toward a better looking OO-SF look and design. Several years ago I used Templot for a while, working under a PC emulator on my Mac (I have been a Mac user since 1992), but the emulator was expensive to upgrade and really didn't seem to be that reliable. Templot fascinated me in that it appears to have a steep learning curve for those of us who have done a lot of CAD and vector based drawing on computers. This is because it has what could be called artificial intelligence based on the inherent design of points and switches. It controls the mouse rather than the other way round, might be one explanation for what it does. The ability to plot out accurate templates for building custom track is the end product. Which means that Templot and self made track would be a very good option for Shipston. Back in the 1970s I made quite a lot of track using bullhead rail and PCB sleepers. So I asked a few questions on the track laying forum and got some strange answers. The reason for this was that I had asked the question of where I could source "PCB sleepers". The answer was that they are not called that, they are "copper clad sleepers". Well, so they may be today, but all those years ago they were made of printed circuit board, which, of course, happens to be copper clad fiberglass. The PCB term continues to be used in North America to this day. So, where do we go from here, you might ask? I have a Mac, so how can I use Templot? Happily Martin Wynne came up with a solution which did not involve either me buying a Windows machine or him porting Templot over to OSX! I had never heard of WINE, WINEBOTTLER or CrossOver, but these are the inexpensive solutions for running some (not all) Windows software on a UNIX based operating system (Linux or OSX). I have downloaded a 14 day free trial from CrossOver and also have the updated Templot2. So far, so good, Templot runs very nicely under WINE. All I have to do now is climb the relatively steep learning curve and design the track layout in Templot. Retirement is proving to be a very busy time!
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Quick update on templot progress
Vistisen posted a blog entry in Chard Junction and Hatch (trial and error)
We are getting there. A quick concentrated burst of energy and the Easyrail design is now Templotized: Major differences between the Anyrail version and the Templot one is that the track centres are reduced fra the Tillig standard (59mm) to 50 mm. The whole of the main line section is now on a gentle curve of about 43' in radius :-) Which is still sharper than in reality. The main line curve was 70 chains, Which by my reckoning is about 60' in 4mm to a foot. The whole of the branch station is pushed back a bit as it was in reality compared to the original Anyrail version. Update I wasn't finished anyway. After playing with the dummy vehicles that Martin told me about, a bit I decided that 50mm was too close on the sharper curves. I might want to use rule one and run HST's with mark3 coaches. and they did not fit 80cm curves at 50mm distance. but they do now that I have stretched the curves to 59mm This plan is very simple with nothing other than turnouts and crossovers. so I know that I am only scratching the surface on Templot. Every time I want to do something new I find that there is always a way, it’s not just always, well to be honest its NEVER the way you’d think. But then I think of the age of the software. If it was written in the late 70’s, then it predates the IBM PC. What hardware was it written to run on? I would love to have seen in then It must have been cutting edge in its time. I suspect that the maths involved are still cutting edge. But the GUI… -
Inevitable Irrational Rationale For Highly Improbable Scenario
Miserable posted a blog entry in Soddingham-under-Piddle
The era wasn't going to be an issue : BR blue is the best train livery ever (there, I said it), not least because that was the colour when I worked on the Railway. It is going to be set in Somerset. Or Wiltshire. Or, for technical reasons, Aberdeen. Plan A was a simple wagon repair facility but... Technology Ramble Alert ... I had bit more room than it looked, about 14ft x 3ft, with a 4ft wide bit for the last 3ft. So, out with Templot and... well, I admit it, building one set of points was great, but I know I'd never actually do it again thus leading to Soddingham 3.0 (4.0 if you count the never-really-intended P4 edition) never actually happening. So, Peco. I thought about Marcway, but not for me, I like 'proper' chairs etc. Templot is a superb tool if are designing a layout where you intend to make everything, but it's way over the top if your are using ready-rolled points (and the Peco geometry makes template creation very long winded), so, as Martin (Mr. Templot) advises, I tried Anyrail. It won't run under Wine on my Linux laptop, but happily is ok on my Linux desktop, and it is rather better than I expected. In fact does exactly what I wanted. Enter the baseboard size, load the Peco O templates and join the gaps with flexi track. It really is that easy! One of my issues with ready rolled model railway track, well the points at least, is that, after working with the real thing and playing for hours with Templot, the 'flow' of the track is all wrong, your eye derails. So, what to do? After a spot of infinite monkeying with Anyrail a solution sort of presented itself: by sticking to curved and Y points (and a double sip, because that's the law) it turns out the rafter jutting itself in the way provided the solution by making me 'sweep' a bit. Using curved points not only avoids horrible-looking sharp curves but saves a lot of space too - assuming you've ruled out 'medium' radius straight ones on the grounds of looking way too sharp. I'll still have those dreadful bent sleepers Peco insist on using (yeah, there's probably a production reason or something) and the blips on the tie bars, but it's not so bad in O (I could cut them off, but taking a saw to a £100 piece of track makes the old ring twitter a bit) and I can live with it. The main thing is I think the layout has a flow to it, and that's what I wanted. Result. As I slipped in there, like Topsy, it just grewed. A bit. And gained a two(ish) coach platform. And the ability run-round a 4ft or so train, though passenger stock would have to be shunted from the platform to reception road to do it - not that it would fit anyaway. No Mk 1s are on the shopping list, they just take up too much room in general - as would a DMU. And DMUs don't actually do a whole lot really. It also turns out that the goods shed road has ended up about 3m long! This good news came about because I thought about how I'll actually be using the layout, which is basically a bit of shunting puzzle playing and a lot of scenery making - in between bouts, or indeed R&R from, musicing. Just me, a gronk and whatever wagons come up on eBay at the right price. I thought about a 'proper' fiddle yard, but I just know I'm not going get up and wonder down there, ducking under the aforementioned rafter, just to run-round when the point of the thing is a chill. So basically the 08 hauled train disappears into a tunnel after inordinate amounts of shunting, waits until I fancy another go. The final design - Plan Z-143.23/98. To me, by making everything a bit curved, this captures the spirit of the real thing. The result looks far more like it was designed on Templot rather than Anyrail. Back To What I Was On About... Unless Amazon make a spectacularly favourable mis-delivery, there will be no passenger service to Soddingham, at least that we ever see, despite the platform. Somehow the place has retained a fair amount of wagon-load traffic, some coal, stuff that goes in goods shed, and whatever goes in whatever wagons I manage to pick up. Wagons also come and go without stopping for tea, part of the Westbury/Frome/Cranmore/Radstock trip working (which was actually a Class 47 turn, the one time we did it with an 08 it took all week just to get there). For whatever mystical reason the gronk lives at Soddingham in it's own little siding - a shed would be pushing it a bit. Another bit of luck from having the somewhat transparent passenger service is that Soddingham has retained it's signal box with an implausible number of dummies (ground signals) - a relic, I'm assured, of the GWRs 1930s habit of signalling nearly every possible move. While Soddingham is a bit of a sleepy backwater in many ways, there is evidence of better days ahead. This is evidenced by the brand new points and concrete sleepered, branch line track laid in preparation for new the quarry line. Well, I had to use them! This all sounds like a done deal, but I spent and long time agonising over whether to go ahead - it might not be the worlds biggest layout, but the basics, track, point motors, an engine and a few wagons soon mounts up, especially when you are looking at RTR/built kits to buy. Cue Rails Of Sheffield. While investigating prices of stuff I wondered found a (brand new) double slip at a very good price indeed - way cheaper than eBay or anywhere else. Cool. Now I have a thing about 08s, in blue obviously, but in a lot more years than I care to remember of playing trains I'd never actually owned one - I guess when you are younger it's all about the expresses or somethng. I wonder... Yep. They had a Dapol one in, in blue with TOPS number. And, again, the cheapest in town. At 3.00am out came the card - Soddingham is on. View the full article -
Could I use some Phosphor Bronze Rail?
Yan posted a blog entry in Rospeath Lane - BR(WR) Engine Shed
A couple of days ago I tweaked my back which has hampered progress on baseboard construction. To keep a modicum of momentum going on this project I looked around for some light duties. I’d been kindly given some used Phosphor Bronze track, unfortunately as it’s mainly in short lengths I’ll not be able to use it for standard 60ft sections of track. It would be a shame to discard them so I started to mull over how to justify their use. I vaguely remembered reading something about the GWR using shorter sections of track prior to standardising on 60ft sections. Then found, in Stephen Williams’s book Great Western Branch Line Modelling - Part One, that after 1929 the GWR started to use 60ft rail sections on the main lines replacing the previous shorter 44ft 6in sections. After a little further research on the internet I discovered a good article by Stuart Hince on the Templot site http://templot.com/martweb/pdf_files/gwr_track_panels.pdf which confirmed this and also describing how to create these 44ft 6in sections in Templot. So how could I justify 44ft 6in sections of track on my model? My thinking is, in my fictitious twist on history, when this area was being redeveloped in the 1930s any reclaimed 44ft 6in rail was reused by the thrifty GWR in the construction of the sidings. After all, these sidings might not have seen much traffic so would be on the rusty side which phosphor Bronze track can depict. The thought then was, do I have enough rail? This prompted me to open Templot and use Stuart Hince’s article to redraw the three sidings at the front of the layout with 44ft 6in sections and 18 sleepers in each. The track bases were of thin plastic with 3 bolt chairs and not in the best of condition. Also as my preference is to use 1.5mm thick plywood sleepers I stripped all the rails off the bases. The rails were then laid on the revised plan of the sidings matching each 44ft 6in section. . It looks like there are enough, especially as I found another short section of track when emptying the turntable storage box. Next task will be to clean all the rails as they have been heavily weathered. Excellent, this might not be prototypical for 1959 but it might have been possible… -
Track planning (with Templot), DCC and baseboards
Kelly posted a blog entry in Woolwich Dockyard - Working Title
I've been trying to get my head around using the various software available for planning and controlling layouts, namely Templot and JMRI. I've mostly figured out Templot now I think. A rough plan has been drawn as below: I've been trying to figure out making it a bit more condensed (due to space restrictions) by using a crossing/slip, but haven't quite gotten it as one bit is misaligned. Being full of cold I'm not able to concentrate now to fix it,but I'm getting there at least! I'm not 100% sure which works best at present though. Seeing as I'm going with EM Gauge, I wish to keep the number of points as low as possible as I've yet to attempt to build any, so the double slip/crossing might be more complex than i can manage to build. We'll see though. I have been looking into affordable ways to go DCC and have found the possibility of a SPROG 3 + Raspberry Pi + JMRI. I already have a spare Raspberry Pi left over from when I upgraded to a Pi 2 for my media centre, and JMRI is free. So only the SPROG 3 (and possibly a wifi dongle and power booster) to buy at around £60, which is about affordable if I scrimp for a couple of weeks. The SPROG will also be useful as a programmer at a later date when I hope to get an NCE PowerCab. Figuring out JMRI will take a bit more time I think, but I think I've partly gotten the hang of how bits of it work, but until I have some kind of controller to go with it I can't make much more progress. Finally I've made the decision that getting the boards laser cut by Tim Horn feels the best bet as I'm not really that confident of my woodworking skills, and haven't really the space for that sort of working to some extend. The prices Tim's quoted are affordable if I spread a module out over a few months or so at least, so I can get one board started then order another later, knowing they'll interlink. The plan is still to keep the boards plain with all buildings and signals etc removable for safer storage. I'm thinking of getting the boards double depth to allow storage when in use for setting up items for the fiddle yard. The plan is to use cassettes rather than have a dedicated fiddle yard board made up, thus saving cost of some track. UPDATE: It seems that a new Rapsberry Pi Model B 3 has been released, featuring same chip and graphics as the Pi 2, but with built in wifi n and bluetooth 4.0. That could well be just the ticket with JMRI and mean no need for a seperate dongle for the wifi. A bargain at £35 too! UPDATE 2: there is now a layout thread for this layout here. There is also a thread for what I'm working on atm here. -
Inevitable Irrational Rationale For Highly Improbable Scenario
Miserable posted a blog entry in Soddingham-under-Piddle
The era wasn't going to be an issue : BR blue is the best train livery ever (there, I said it), not least because that was the colour when I worked on the Railway. It is going to be set in Somerset. Or Wiltshire. Or, for technical reasons, Aberdeen. Plan A was a simple wagon repair facility but... Technology Ramble Alert ... I had bit more room than it looked, about 14ft x 3ft, with a 4ft wide bit for the last 3ft. So, out with Templot and... well, I admit it, building one set of points was great, but I know I'd never actually do it again thus leading to Soddingham 3.0 (4.0 if you count the never-really-intended P4 edition) never actually happening. So, Peco. I thought about Marcway, but not for me, I like 'proper' chairs etc. Templot is a superb tool if are designing a layout where you intend to make everything, but it's way over the top if your are using ready-rolled points (and the Peco geometry makes template creation very long winded), so, as Martin (Mr. Templot) advises, I tried Anyrail. It won't run under Wine on my Linux laptop, but happily is ok on my Linux desktop, and it is rather better than I expected. In fact does exactly what I wanted. Enter the baseboard size, load the Peco O templates and join the gaps with flexi track. It really is that easy! One of my issues with ready rolled model railway track, well the points at least, is that, after working with the real thing and playing for hours with Templot, the 'flow' of the track is all wrong, your eye derails. So, what to do? After a spot of infinite monkeying with Anyrail a solution sort of presented itself: by sticking to curved and Y points (and a double sip, because that's the law) it turns out the rafter jutting itself in the way provided the solution by making me 'sweep' a bit. Using curved points not only avoids horrible-looking sharp curves but saves a lot of space too - assuming you've ruled out 'medium' radius straight ones on the grounds of looking way too sharp. I'll still have those dreadful bent sleepers Peco insist on using (yeah, there's probably a production reason or something) and the blips on the tie bars, but it's not so bad in O (I could cut them off, but taking a saw to a £100 piece of track makes the old ring twitter a bit) and I can live with it. The main thing is I think the layout has a flow to it, and that's what I wanted. Result. As I slipped in there, like Topsy, it just grewed. A bit. And gained a two(ish) coach platform. And the ability run-round a 4ft or so train, though passenger stock would have to be shunted from the platform to reception road to do it - not that it would fit anyaway. No Mk 1s are on the shopping list, they just take up too much room in general - as would a DMU. And DMUs don't actually do a whole lot really. It also turns out that the goods shed road has ended up about 3m long! This good news came about because I thought about how I'll actually be using the layout, which is basically a bit of shunting puzzle playing and a lot of scenery making - in between bouts, or indeed R&R from, musicing. Just me, a gronk and whatever wagons come up on eBay at the right price. I thought about a 'proper' fiddle yard, but I just know I'm not going get up and wonder down there, ducking under the aforementioned rafter, just to run-round when the point of the thing is a chill. So basically the 08 hauled train disappears into a tunnel after inordinate amounts of shunting, waits until I fancy another go. The final design - Plan Z-143.23/98. To me, by making everything a bit curved, this captures the spirit of the real thing. The result looks far more like it was designed on Templot rather than Anyrail. Back To What I Was On About... Unless Amazon make a spectacularly favourable mis-delivery, there will be no passenger service to Soddingham, at least that we ever see, despite the platform. Somehow the place has retained a fair amount of wagon-load traffic, some coal, stuff that goes in goods shed, and whatever goes in whatever wagons I manage to pick up. Wagons also come and go without stopping for tea, part of the Westbury/Frome/Cranmore/Radstock trip working (which was actually a Class 47 turn, the one time we did it with an 08 it took all week just to get there). For whatever mystical reason the gronk lives at Soddingham in it's own little siding - a shed would be pushing it a bit. Another bit of luck from having the somewhat transparent passenger service is that Soddingham has retained it's signal box with an implausible number of dummies (ground signals) - a relic, I'm assured, of the GWRs 1930s habit of signalling nearly every possible move. While Soddingham is a bit of a sleepy backwater in many ways, there is evidence of better days ahead. This is evidenced by the brand new points and concrete sleepered, branch line track laid in preparation for new the quarry line. Well, I had to use them! This all sounds like a done deal, but I spent and long time agonising over whether to go ahead - it might not be the worlds biggest layout, but the basics, track, point motors, an engine and a few wagons soon mounts up, especially when you are looking at RTR/built kits to buy. Cue Rails Of Sheffield. While investigating prices of stuff I wondered found a (brand new) double slip at a very good price indeed - way cheaper than eBay or anywhere else. Cool. Now I have a thing about 08s, in blue obviously, but in a lot more years than I care to remember of playing trains I'd never actually owned one - I guess when you are younger it's all about the expresses or somethng. I wonder... Yep. They had a Dapol one in, in blue with TOPS number. And, again, the cheapest in town. At 3.00am out came the card - Soddingham is on. View the full article -
A little bit of Suffolk or learning to love Templot
Fen End Pit posted a blog entry in Fen End Pit's Blog
I've spent this afternoon trying to draw up a plan for the new layout. I'm waiting for PPD to come back with an etch for the narrow gauge Ruston and felt like an afternoon in front of the PC. Having received the structural engineers report which means that hopefully we should soon get a quote from the builder I hope this isn't tempting fate. I started off taking a scan of the OS map into Templot and then trying to draw track over it. This is an interesting task as I'm sure that what you think must be the positions of railway features, particularly things like the ends of points aren't always easy (or possible) to spot. It seemed a much better plan to generate the overall lines of the track and then try to fill them in getting Templot to sort of the geometry. The result is a track plan, over a map with some kind of theoretical baseboard edge around it. I've curved the line so that it will go around the room, planning to use the over-bridge as a scenic break on the right hand side. At the left hand end the line curves over the bridge and then I intend to put a level crossing in. There was one just off the map which made for some interesting signalling as the gates had a lever frame which slotted the distance signal and the starter at that end of the station. I've also made a few bits of 'selective compression', I've twisted the goods yard slightly and also pulled the little stream on the right hand side a little closer to the station to try and keep it relative to where it crossed the tracks. I'm also trying to work out how to get a little siding down to a fictitious mill. The plan being that it will give me a 'flight of fancy' whereas the rest of the layout can be firmly based on Clare. I had a question for the prototype experts on the Stour valley line. Clare had a coal siding (originally a couple with more than one merchant). How was coal dealt with? I've not seen any pictures of mineral trains on the line so was the coal just brought in and shunted with the pickup goods? (talking early 50's) Finally - in other shocking news I had fun putting together a Rumney models underframe. This is the clasp brake version which I thought would go nicely under a Parkside shocvan. Trouble was that all the photographs I could find on Paul Barlett's site showed that the clasp brake versions were all on BR Plywood bodied vans, while the Parkside model is a planked version. Cue lots of fun with filler, scrapers and fibre-glass brushes. The chassis is so nice that I'm not quite convinced the body does it justice. Still I'll try adding rain-strips and transfers and see how the body looks when it is suitably weathered. One thing I did notice from the photographs was that the vertical stripes indicating the shock absorbing were rarely anything other than hand painted. David -
A First Attempt at Templot for Shipston Station
Focalplane posted a blog entry in Shipston-on-Stour Branch
Now, I am sure there are lots of improvements to be made and I think there may also be a few hidden errors, but I am beginning to understand Templot and have drawn up my initial interpretation of the branch line terminus layout. The branch line enters the station at upper left (the lower track is a headshunt) with the single station platform top right. The release loop has an end loading dock at the right hand end. The third track down passes through the goods shed and also serves the cattle loading dock. The bottom siding serves the coal merchants and gas company. The short spur to the left was to the small engine shed. The layout is 9ft by 2ft in three 3ft by 2ft boards. Plus a fiddle yard. As drawn there is not enough space for both cattle loading dock and goods shed, but there could be if the two turnouts circled in red were to be collapsed into a double slip. I know that double slips are not a feature of small, insignificant branch lines, but this has to be the one major concession I need to make. The problem is, I have yet to work out how to make a double slip in Templot! For some photos of the prototype: http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrss539.htm http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrss538.htm http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrss1002.htm http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrss950a.htm And an old survey map: http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrssmap.htm -
A few weeks ago I received the second phase of Templot from my good friend Morgan consisting of the south exit including a single slip, Lawrence Hill Junction and some modified trackwork that goes behind the junction signal box to the shed. In the prototype the double track lines, from the Junction, that run behind the junction signal box operated as two single lines, one to St.Philips Station and the other to the Carriage Sidings, St Philips Goods Yard and the Cattle Dock, however for the model the trackwork has been modified to give me an additional exit track out of the roundhouse whilst roads to the carriage sidings [ they will not be modelled ] are represented going off layout. Having laid the new Templot I made the short sections of trackwork into the front of the roundhouse followed by the completion of the two coal sidings with their buffer stops. Following this I had a surge of enthusiasum and started on the turnout by the office and then the tandem three way to the carriage sidings the latter shown on the assembly board..............
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Time to Start Track Building
RedgateModels posted a blog entry in Rhywbeth Fel Pwll Glo or Something Like a Colliery
Well after a quite a while getting back to grips with Templot and a LOT of help from @martin_wynne I have a track plan finalised. There will be some changes in levels, as the exit road(s) will have a small incline through a rocky cutting and the siding leading off the Y will be for side tippers unloading into to conveyor that takes spoil over the loop track onto the raised hillside at the back. It really got complex at the front of the layout, with all that mixed gauge trackwork and even a couple of "half K" arrangements so that it is impossible to set a road that causes derailments - also meant that the narrow gauge exit from the dual gauge does not need any moving switch blades The half K on the right is wrong I know, I might have yet another go before I start building, but the roller gauges will help me position it better anyway. Oh and it's OO-SF, I'm hoping that the 1mm flangeways will not lead to too much wheel drop of the OO-9 stock. I might be able to tweak some of them to 0.75mm depending on back to backs etc, we shall see. -
I have now completed most of the trackwork on the existing boards with only the South Exit turnout to finish the second phase of templot. The latest build consists of 8 turnouts, a Double Slip, 3 Way turnout and a catch point. Phase 3 will be the 2 new boards - to be constructed - one at each end of the layout which will form the scenic breaks. One will be Lawrence Hill Junction itself, with the road overbridge and the other Days Road Bridge at the rear of the shed. Lawrence Hill Junction signal box is now positioned on the layout - it is still removable - and I have constructed a model of the timber framed earth bank which protects the rear of the signal box - the surface has yet to be detailed. Here are a few photos:-
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Episode 7 – Looking to the future
DutyDruid commented on DutyDruid's blog entry in A different approach to model railway operation?
Hi Dave. This google search shows a number of pictures of Barry Slips, both real and model. With the exception of the photo of someone whose name happens to be Barry Slip, most of them are either here on RM Web or on Martyn Wynn's Templot site. I have been on the Missenden Modellers Weekends for both Track Building and Templot and I have produced a template for one of these formations in both Templot and Trax. All I need now is for the rest of my life to subside so I can sit down and make one up... Cheers Elliott -
When in danger or in doubt... Progress on the fourth bite
Mikkel posted a blog entry in The Farthing layouts
When in danger or in doubt, get the model railway out. The fourth layout in the Farthing series is taking shape, a welcome relief from the lockdown blues. Above is a reminder of the trackplan. So complicated that it broke Templot. Only very advanced modellers can do that. A test piece to see what the new Peco Bullhead track is all about. I decided to give Peco a go as a change from handbuilt track. The chairs are wrong for GWR, will be interesting to see how much I notice it. One advantage of the new Peco track is that it’s voice controlled. You simply tell it where to go and it will lay itself. The layout will be operated as a micro on a daily basis, but I may add a further module for extended operation, or even a direct link to my "Old Yard" layout. The rear siding therefore extends to the baseboard edge, and is protected by a removeable buffer stop, knocked together from balsa in the stopgap style of the old N&SJR. The other stops are standard GWR, built from the Lanarkshire Models kit. In order to fit them on the Peco track, I had to carve off most of the chairs. Have others found a better solution? For replacement, I dug into my stash of C+L GWR chairs. Ironic, as I now have proper GWR chairs next to the Peco ones. Maybe I should slice up some Peco chairs and fit them instead. What a cruel close-up by the way, I need to get out the filler. I wanted some sort of 'inset' track for the front siding. Photos suggest that while proper inset track was certainly used in some GWR yards, more pragmatic solutions were preferred when feasible. This includes leaving the four foot unpaved, as seen in the bottom three photos here (all heavily cropped). That seems to have been a favoured solution where cartage vehicles needed firm ground to off-load or pass alongside the rails, but didn’t have to cross them. I haven’t seen this modelled much, so gave it a go. The outer sections of the sleepers were cut off to avoid the chairs fouling the paving. At this point I was seriously wondering why I hadn’t just made my own track! Here, DAS is being applied to the four foot. The rail was raised slightly above the edging stones to allow for track cleaning. Partly modeller's license, but also in compliance with one or two prototype photos. While not as elegant as proper inset track, I like how it creates a visual break in the setts. The setts were made using old paintbrush heads, fashioned to shape. The material is Forex, a.k.a. ’foamed PVC’ but apparently now without the PVC. The technique also works in DAS clay. The photo is a bit misleading as I used a ruler while pressing the setts, in order to ensure straight lines. A scriber was used to individualise a few setts and sort out mistakes. The material can be curved slightly if necessary. The method has pros and cons. You tend to get a fairly uniform look and it’s hard to avoid the occasional gap between the grooves when pressing down the brush heads. But with practice I found it speedy and tidy, and I like that it can be done away from the layout – especially as I have to work in our living room. Drainage channels were made by drawing a screwdriver tip along a ruler… …then pressing in setts as appropriate. This drainage channel was done differently, by simply pressing the setts deeper than the surrounding ones. The ground in front of standard GWR stable blocks was often paved with either cement or bricks. I went for red bricks, forgetting that one drawing I have says blue engineering bricks (better quality). I may repaint them, but then again I may not. For the entry to the goods depot, I used a Green Scene roller on blue foam as described in my workbench thread. The arched setts are a nod to the yard at Birmingham Moor Street. The Pooley & Sons weighbridge is a Scalelink etch. The weighbridge office is a temporary mock-up. The flagstone pavement was done using the same Forex material as the setts, with the kerbs and flagstones lined out in pencil and then scribed. My original plan was that the road the front would be laid with setts, but after encountering this thread I began to examine photos and realized that 1900s urban roads were very often laid with various forms of non-tarred macadam or similar. Here is Worthing South Street, captioned ca. 1900-1920. Even some parts of central London had streets like this. Sometimes such roads had gutters paved with stone, at other times setts were used or there was no gutter at all. Copyright Getty Images, embedding permitted. Call me a romantic but I like the dry, light and almost ethereal appearance that such roads exhibit in certain summertime photos of the period. I used sanding paper, painted with Vallejo light sand and ivory. It still needs some weathering and a good smattering of horse dung! For the GWR spearhead fencing, the initial plan was to use an old Scalelink etch - but it's rather fragile for a position at the front of the layout. So I used the Ratio GWR fencing. Photos suggest that the verticals should extend to the ground, beneath the lower horizontal bar. Never mind. The fencing sometimes had supports, may add those in due course. I wanted the fencing to be detachable, to allow for close-up photos and easy replacement if I break something. So far it rests in a groove lined with blue tack. If that proves a botch too far, I could try micro magnets. Some stations - e.g. Minehead – had a lovely display of enamel signs mounted on the spearhead fencing. I used those from Tiny Signs, cut with a scalpel, varnished twice and edged with a brown marker (in that order, otherwise the marker may discolour the sign). The signs act as view blocks, and also help draw in the eye to what will become a staff entrance. Here’s Charlie the horse admiring the adverts. He looks a bit out of focus. It must be the provender. In his opinion, the GWR always did mix in too much bran. Work to be done includes a scratchbuild of a GWR weighbridge office (the mock-up seen here is the old Smiths kit), and one or two other structures. The elevated rear section of the layout is a whole little project in itself, I'm hoping it will add further depth to the scene. Lastly, an overview shot. It’s all wired up, but I can’t operate it without a traverser. So that’s next.- 48 comments
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After using Xtrkcad and other layout design software I've downloaded Templot to try. I'm still getting my head round it at the moment but have made a start on this..... The above is a screen shot of my attempt to draw some track work for Penmaenpool MPD. Not bad for about 30mins work, I still have a lot to learn about this software though, I'll have to keep looking at the tutorial videos! All I really want to do is produce some templates for the turn outs, I'm not too bothered about doing the complete layout. So, it's back to the drawing board (or in this case keyboard, screen and mouse!) for some more practice. Thanks though to Martin Wynn for making his software available. cheers! Frank
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With another international move under my belt, this time back to the UK (at least for a third of the time, Outer Mongolia for the remainder) I’ve been left with much less space than I had available in Utah, with very little chance of this materially increasing in the near future. This coupled to the fact that I’d not progressed my plans of Lydford Junction in the last two years have led me over the last couple of months; OK Years again, to evaluate the different plans that I’d had. Lydford Junction’s temporary home. After several false starts, reading quite a few books and reading RMWeb quite a lot more than I should, I looked again at the part’s I liked from Lydford Junction, and came up with a new concept keeping them. The result is Lydford Town, a smash up of the layout of Bridestowe station on the western slopes of Dartmoor, placed where the line comes closest to the village of Lydford, just to the North of the viaduct, borrowing the attractive PDSWJR station building at Brentor. This should still capture running through the landscape feel I think suits 2mm so well, utilising Dartmoor as a backdrop, albeit not on the scale of messers Greenwood and Jones’ empire’s 3D Design for the revised Lydford Town. Only +20 coaches to build before then! Despite Lydford Town’s much smaller scope compared to Lydford Junction, I still have a mountain of stock to build and convert to run anything like a representative schedule, realistically making this a long term prospect. After more deliberating, procrastinating and contemplation, I decided that it would be a good plan to enter the Diamond Jubilee Layout Challenge for the shindig in 2020 as well. A couple of Idea’s bounced around for the DJLC included: · A scenic section of the Princetown branch, which might be a bit boring to operate, and suffered from a lack of points, without an improbable quarry siding shoehorned in. · A section of the old layout of Meldon Quarry, which the viewpoints & Scenic blocks wouldn’t really have worked for, and · A section of the end of Newham goods station in Truro, which again, would be pretty uninspiring to operate. It was at this point that I remembered the old baseboards that I’d put together for the semi-theoretical extension of the Callington Branch in East Cornwall, called Congdon’s Shop, with the aim of fitting this into a boxfile coming in at 714x 233mm. These are not dissimilar to the DJLC dimensions being 600x 239mm, or 240mm depending on how accurate your tape measure converts 9.42”. This has got a far as laying track, and installing TOU’s, but for one reason or the other, has failed to get beyond. A rubbish photo, almost showing the length of the layout. Rather than trying to modify a set of boards already built, it seems to make sense to me to recycle the concept (and correspondingly all the research, stock collated and idea’s) onto a new set of boards built to the right challenge dimensions. Fortunately the amount of tools and information available to layout planners has increased dramatically since 2012, with Templot and NLS maps freely available, coupled with the learnings from my own previous failings and successes. One of the main dissatisfactions with the original plan was that “714mm is just too small a length of track to be interesting.” This statement, on the face of it, is a problem. The DJLC length is specified as 114mm smaller than this. But templot and inkscape to the rescue: Layout plan on Scale map of Callington, showing the DJLC Dimension area and the extra extension after this. Actually, the prototype trackplan is quite a lot shorter than I’d originally guesstimated, and the more important, interesting bits of the station will reasonably fit into a 300ft scale length. This, to me, still feels stiflingly cramped having three entry points to the layout from the fiddleyard. So, I’ve planned the layout to actually be 900mm in length so that following the challenge in 2020, I can replace the backscene side to the full intended dimensions. This allows me to include the yard entry point and thus reducing the fiddleyard entry’s down to two and I feel gives a more open feel. The irony isn’t lost on me that the layout might only be ready for 2050 or the ninetieth anniversary, (a more realistic projected completion date?!?) I wasn’t particularly happy with the straight-curve-straight portion of the platform road on the initial rendition, the old trackplan solely using straight Easitrack B6 turnouts. This time I’ve planned to use B8 curved turnouts soldered up from templot printout’s. Curve radii were specified to be greater than 450mm which has, mostly, been adhered to. The soldered turnout construction will give me more strength, and greater opportunity to adjust and correct when I construct it out of gauge. I am keen to try to use a sector plate type arrangement with this layout to ease the amount of handling stock needs and the faff that this involves. I envisage that cassettes will still have a role to play, acting as the headshunt off the end of the traintable and potentially to load stock onto the layout from extra storage cases. To also assist with this, the straight portions of the table are planned to be made from brass strips, as anyone who’s tried to load up the traverser on St Ruth, this is a difficult task to do this on plain rail with fat fingers. Only three roads are anticipated to be required on the traintable, up to two for passenger and one for goods stock, the vacant road being able to act as the run-around road. A 70mm thrust bearing is used as the pivot, whilst alignment and power should come through cabinet barrel bolts, until I can think of a more unnecessarily complicated way to do it. Fiddleyard and lighting rig plan, along with check for strengthening ribs above things like tie-bars The 3mm ply construction of the baseboards has proved to be remarkably robust, to be honest they have now survived a couple of trips in the hold of a 737 so there can’t be much fundamentally wrong with this for the small size of board required. I plan to use 6mm stripwood rather than cut plywood strips this time though. Life’s just too short, trying to get straight flat edges from a sheet material. So there you have it, the grand sum of what 6 years of paper planning gets you… Nothing to show, a pile of materials, but at least a vague idea about how they ‘should,’ all fit together. -
Refined the plan a little, with some assistance from Anyrail to get a quick sketchup of the platforms, signal box and a few trees Excuse the scaled up Skaledale platforms! and there will be an overbridge on the extreme right which will form the scenic break Still refining the point template to better match the Waverley kit template, I will scan the actual template in and then bring that into Templot to match up as best I can.
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Once I'd took the decision that I wanted to handbuild all the track a Templot license was bought. Here's my first effort at a track plan I'm sure I can add more detail etc later, once the learning curve drops of the vertical Scalescenes signal box is about done, needs a chimney and lever frame adding etc Now, I must get up to Marcway for some more copperclad and code 124 bullhead rail
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West Mersea - progress to July 2009
Buckjumper posted a blog entry in The West Mersea Branch - Essex, June 1946.
The West Mersea Branch - 1946 Essex in ScaleSeven by buckjumper original page on Old RMweb __________________________________________ ??? posted on Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:59 pm Good to see I've drawn you out of the woodwork. I'd missed your earlier post until now - thanks to the link to your site, I'll keep an eye on it. Dave R wrote: Not sure if we could get away with one partly buried in the embankment allotments as the kit is only 1:48 scale; and the 830kg Amolite warhead caused a 600yd diameter blast zone in Lewisham which would wipe out most of the West Mersea station area! Perhaps we should exact that kind of damage on West Mersea - the track could then be relaid after running the plan through Templot.... __________________________________________ Comment posted by Pint of Adnams on Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:30 pm OgaugeJB wrote: Is Pint of Adnams on the regulars list yet ? JB. Hi Jonathan, As you can see the internet broadband pipe is now up and (mainly) running, and I'm getting back into the swing of things. I hope to make the November monthly meeting, all things being equal. BTW On reading your thread, I'm dismayed to note that you haven't built another 10 kits though - one for each week I've been in limbo . __________________________________________ Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:34 pm Sorry to have let you down there pint, but I've had to do some real work for a bit. I'm trying to progress as far as possible with the K2 before the next meeting. It's going to start getting tricky soon! JB. __________________________________________ Comment posted by Dave R on Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:53 pm buckjumper wrote: Dave R wrote: Not sure if we could get away with one partly buried in the embankment allotments as the kit is only 1:48 scale (not quite ScaleSeven); and the 830kg Amolite warhead caused a 600yd diameter blast zone in Lewisham which would wipe out most of the West Mersea station area! Perhaps we should exact that kind of damage on West Mersea - the track could then be relaid after running the plan through Templot.... But I've just spent 6 weeks drawing what's already there in preparation for the point rodding design... From my survey last September it was drawn in Templot; redrawn after October's meeting and seeing some of your photos above. The idea was to get the stretcher bar positions and enough track to indicate where the rodding runs could go; not to get a proper plan of the layout. Apart from the turnouts leading to the end loading docks on the West side I'm now fairly happy with the arrangement although there will be a few more measurements needed in November. Then a lever-numbering scheme had to be devised; this drawing was finished late last Sunday evening. Now all that's needed is to export the Templot plan into AutoCad and get the rodding runs positioned with equal push and pull; and then count up the bits required to give us a shopping list. My 3-lever ground frame on Lumpy Sidings took me 2 months to "rod up"; I'll leave it to the reader to calculate how long the 60 lever frame of West Mersea will take... If I can get some time at my PC at home tonight I'll get the files printed to a PDF and try to get it published here; but don't hold your collective breaths, SWMBO has got me lined up for a decorating project scheduled for completion before Xmas __________________________________________ Comment posted by martin_wynne on Tue Nov 04, 2008 5:09 pm Dave R wrote: Now all that's needed is to export the Templot plan into AutoCad and get the rodding runs positioned with equal push and pull Hi Dave, You could do the rodding directly in Templot using dummy "centre-line only" templates (geometry > track centre-lines only). This makes it much easier to create the rodding runs parallel to the tracks, especially if they are gently curved. You can still export to CAD to add the compensator and crank detail. regards, Martin. __________________________________________ Comment posted by Dave R on Tue Nov 04, 2008 7:01 pm martin_wynne wrote: Dave R wrote: Now all that's needed is to export the Templot plan into AutoCad and get the rodding runs positioned with equal push and pull You could do the rodding directly in Templot using dummy "centre-line only" templates (geometry > track centre-lines only). This makes it much easier to create the rodding runs parallel to the tracks, especially if they are gently curved. You can still export to CAD to add the compensator and crank detail. And I might be tempted to go that way if Templot's dxf export exported curves as curves rather than thousands of very short straights. Now, if I've got this forum thingy sussed, there should be a PDF file attached: West Mersea Signal Diagram pdf Page 1 assumes that only passenger lines had facing point locks and that the GER were fairly mean with their ground signals (I am assuming that you've read the previous 100+ posts and have studied Ade's photos meticulously so that you know where everything is or, more to the point, isn't because it hasn't been built yet!). Page 2 is a tabular description of of page 1 and will be expanded with the "shopping list" as the rodding design progresses. Page 3 is my survey (blue diamonds with a central cross show measured positions of stretcher bars) overlaid with a Templot approximation of the track -- it's an approximation because for this task that's all that was needed. Note that the numbering on this page is still v3 whereas the previous 2 are v4 so you'll have to use the {curly numbers} to cross-refer. Any queries I'll try and answer at lunchtimes from work; I've now got the hall, stairs and landing to rub down and paint before the new carpet is delivered... __________________________________________ Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:31 pm The plan looks so much simpler when it is on paper compared to seeing it in the flesh as it were.. Good work there Dave, that's one heel of a job you were delegated JB. __________________________________________ Comment posted by Dave R on Thu Nov 06, 2008 2:08 pm OgaugeJB wrote: The plan looks so much simpler when it is on paper compared to seeing it in the flesh as it were. It all depends on your point of view (literally). Next time you're there duck-under to the far side of the layout and climb up onto the "plank and milk crate" working platform. The layout appears to be totally different from the increased height; the sort of view that a V1 might have had as it plummeted into the embankment? OgaugeJB wrote: Good work there Dave, that's one heel of a job you were delegated Peter doesn't delegate jobs; he volunteers people. So far (and I've only attended 6 meetings) I've been volunteered for (1) wagon building (he eventually wants 1500 of them to populate the full project; but only 150 in the short term); (2) point rodding design; and (3) producing casting patterns for crossing nose A chairs. I must learn how to say "no" to him; how do the rest of you manage? __________________________________________ Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:12 pm I hide behind the sandwiches and cups of tea... Oh and pretend to be making loco kits too JB. _______________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Nov 06, 2008 4:40 pm Dave R wrote: I must learn how to say "no" to him; how do the rest of you manage? Oh I waffle on about some obscure but mildly interesting nugget of information pertaining to GER practice then turn turn the conversation around to "Chuffs" which sends Pete off on one of his funny stories about Iain Rice when he worked in Pete's shop as a yoof. Thanks for the pdfs - very interesting. _____________________________________ Comment posted by Dave R on Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:09 pm buckjumper wrote: Dave R wrote: I must learn how to say "no" to him; how do the rest of you manage? Oh I waffle on about some obscure but mildly interesting nugget of information pertaining to GER practice.. But I don't even need to be in Sudbury to get volunteered! A letter was attached to the last newsletter asking if I could Templot WM goods yard, loco shed, carriage sidings, junction, East Mersea, and all the intermediate stations along the branch up to and including Marks Tey. So please waffle away on the intricacies and history of GER track design as I don't actually have much clue as to what they did. For example: - Did the GER use CCL and CCR chairs on their check rails? Photos seem to show a short sharp curve at the check rail ends which might have been achieved between adjacent chairs; but does anybody have some clear evidence one way or the other? - When did interlaced turnouts get phased out? Do we need to include a few somewhere in the project? - Likewise wider timbers at rail joints and larger joint chairs? - Rail lengths? Sleeper spacings? - Rail weights? Does Peter need to get some 85 lb/yd rail drawn, and plastic mouldings for 85lb chairs (probably worn 85 lb/yd rail for the sidings etc, or even lighter rail depending on the history of the line). - One Templot .box file for the whole project (9?? miles to Marks Tey; that's over 350 metres of model) or one file per station? Peter will, of course, want it overlaid on an aerial photograph which has been distorted onto a 3D contour map like what Time Team do... __________________________________________ ??? posted on Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:28 pm Dave R wrote: But I don't even need to be in Sudbury to get volunteered! A letter was attached to the last newsletter asking if I could Templot WM goods yard, loco shed, carriage sidings, junction, East Mersea, and all the intermediate stations along the branch up to and including Marks Tey. So please waffle away on the intricacies and history of GER track design as I don't actually have much clue as to what they did. For example: - Did the GER use CCL and CCR chairs on their check rails? Photos seem to show a short sharp curve at the check rail ends which might have been achieved between adjacent chairs; but does anybody have some clear evidence one way or the other? Dunno; I shall enquire. - When did interlaced turnouts get phased out? Do we need to include a few somewhere in the project? I don't know if the GE used them post-War, if so it would have been the LNER which phased them out during the 20s. I don't remember having seen any, even in remote Company sidings post-1930s. However, I wonder if, for example, the gasworks had paid the GE to relay it's private sidings in the early 1900s, interlaced turnouts could remain in situ in that location. I'll dig a little to see if the GE was up for that sort of thing. Likewise wider timbers at rail joints and larger joint chairs? Yes, 12" instead of 10" timbers and special joint chairs were employed. These next questions have lots of answers, period and place dependent. Branch lines appear to have received second-hand rail, chairs and sleepers, taken from the main lines in the District. Rail lengths? In 1946 you would find only 45' and 60' sections on the running lines - the rail would be up in the 90lbs series. 90, 93 and 95lbs according to records of rail recovered from branch lines. Sleeper spacings? I've only got the GER 30' panel sleeper spacings which you can use in some of the less frequented sidings such as those in green in your pdf above, or possibly the carriage/cattle/end dock sidings: 13", 22", 26", 29", 6x30", 29", 26", 22", 13" Peter ought to have the info for the LNER 45' and 60' panels. Rail weights? Does Peter need to get some 85 lb/yd rail drawn, and plastic mouldings for 85lb chairs (probably worn 85 lb/yd rail for the sidings etc, or even lighter rail depending on the history of the line) Just for context, the Buntingford branch (not in any way comparable to WM) was found to have examples of 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 89, 90, 92 and 93lb rail at close of play in 1965. I know it had also been laid with 30' 87lb rail sections at the turn of the century. It may have missed out on hand-me-downGE mainline 95lb rail due to the War, but some 95lb was laid in 1939. BTW the 89, 92 and 93lbs rail above was BS laid post-1950, so out of period. I've got a GE 2-bolt chair from 1879 here that keeps my workshop door open in summer. IIRC that's for 85lb rail... One Templot .box file for the whole project (9??????‚?? miles to Marks Tey; that's over 350 metres of model) or one file per station? Peter will, of course, want it overlaid on an aerial photograph which has been distorted onto a 3D contour map like what Time Team do... ...and printed off and pasted on the hoardings across the road in time for the christmas party __________________________________________ Comment posted by glo41f on Wed Nov 19, 2008 7:51 pm Hi Adrian I live not a million miles from Sudbury, though not a S7 type we do have some in our local O scal group. I am about to embark on my own large (ish) 7mm line and have taken great interest in what you are doing with Peter. I have a small layout called West Mersea too which is postulated on an extension from Colchester Hythe (renamed Barrack Street) via Hythe Quay, Rowhedge, Abberton over the Strood on a junction split to East and West Mersea. We have an Act of Parliament too! The layouts were seen at Guildex some years ago. I would love the chance to see progress so far. Would this be possible please? Regards Martin Long __________________________________________ Comment posted by Dave R on Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:00 pm buckjumper wrote: Dave R wrote: One Templot .box file for the whole project (9?? miles to Marks Tey; that's over 350 metres of model) or one file per station? Peter will, of course, want it overlaid on an aerial photograph which has been distorted onto a 3D contour map like what Time Team do... ...and printed off and pasted on the hoardings across the road in time for the christmas party But not this year as I'm still on decorating duties until the carpet gets installed on 6th December which only leaves me a week or so thereafter during which I'm planning to sort out a rodding run or two. The weekend after next's meeting will have to do with prints of the PDFs which were attached above. As for the track; the required approach seems to be to write a history for each and every siding, turnout, length of rail, fishplate bolt etc (but only up until 1946, so it shouldn't be too onerous a task for you Ade ) so that the correct info can be entered into the Templot file for subsequent manufacture by John and Colin. I have investigated the "Time Team" virtual model idea previously. But as the highest points on Mersea Island are only 21m above sea level there aren't very many 10m contour lines available to describe the 3D shape. Even adding in the spot heights marked on the OS map doesn't help much. Anybody know a surveyor with a GPS system who fancies spending an afternoon walking around West Mersea for us? __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:33 pm Hi Martin glo41f wrote: I would love the chance to see progress so far. Would this be possible please? Peter would be delighted to see you. Shall contact you off forum. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Thu Nov 20, 2008 3:41 pm Dave R wrote: As for the track; the required approach seems to be to write a history for each and every siding, turnout, length of rail, fishplate bolt etc (but only up until 1946, so it shouldn't be too onerous a task for you Ade ) Arf, arf! That's the Christmas Party taken up then. __________________________________________ Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:15 am A few videos were taken from today's meeting of Peter's J69, Colin's J68, and my newly built K2. A very enjoyable day had by all I think, except I think I ate far too many sausages.. http://uk.youtube.co...stMerseaRailway Regards, JB. __________________________________________ ??? posted on Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:54 pm Sausages - ah - I missed those. Had half a cup of coffee and a scone though The K2/2 performed beautifully - I think everyone was quite rightly impressed __________________________________________ Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:01 pm Cheers Adrian...! You never know, I might have 3 painted engines by next month... what are the chances eh ?? JB. __________________________________________ Comment posted by OgaugeJB on Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:34 pm Hello all, just thought I would update this thread a little as it hasn't had any postings for a while.. I popped down to WMHQ for one of the mid-month wednesday meets yesterday which turned out to be quite a good day. One of the other members was there doing a little work on the Pway, and my engines were used to check running through some of the turnouts, and the single slip which has apparently caused a few tears in the past, but now seems to be working pretty much perfectly... which is nice.. Whilst I was there Peter Hunt mentioned his woes of lacking a brake van for the goods workings, so I bought the slaters 20T LNER brake van kit, which seems to be very high quality with plenty of very nice cast handrails and footboard brackets. I also got the Slaters sprung 'W' irons, and the S7 wheels to suit. I could pop up a few pictures of the build if you would like...? Just a few shots of the engines... and a few videos.... (note the working reversing gear, and the westo pump errrrr, pumping, on Peter's J67 in the background) (this video didn't work as planned unfortunately..) Regards, JB. __________________________________________ -
Hand built track options?
Traintresta posted a blog entry in Cowcross Street - City Widened Lines, sort of...
I have purchased two sets of the C&L Finescale point kits, the 'just the plastic bits' versions. I think I need to get in touch with Phil at C&L as I couldn't see any slide chairs nor were there any instructions (which I was expecting) before I really get cracking, but tonight I set about making a point using a template printed from templot. I must admit, I have never done this before and my immediate response to not seeing some of what I expected was to flee back to the idea of making trackwork using copper-clad construction, but I really would like to have a go at this type of construction so that I can take advantage of the look of bullhead trackwork. This layout is really taking a long time to come together, I started the benchwork nearly 15 months ago and still have some bits to finish up before track can really go down, but I was hoping that making a point would spur me on to do that. I have some pretty specific ideas about things I want to do with this layout after several false starts on other layout projects so I feel pretty frustrated at present, because bullhead track was one of my 'must-haves'. Had Peco introduced a comprehensive range of bullhead points (specifically curves) and were they not priced so highly, I might have just bought what I wanted from them, but my budget and the lack of a complete bullhead range of points, and my desire to model OO-Sf lead me to point construction. Further complicating things, I need to travel into nearby Sheffield tomorrow so the temptation to pop by and by some copper clad sleepers from Marcway is right at the forefront of my mind but I am trying to remain patient, not something I consider myself good at being.
