Andy Y Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 There was a small outbreak of progress last night at wagonbasher's. Two of the boards are there to enable progress on structural stuff like the viaduct. A similar angle on the model to the prototype inspiration: A race between the failing light and getting cork down on the mainline and the snaking branch took place; it was declared a draw. Next time we'll club together to get wagonbasher a 60W bulb. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Bus Driver Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 At last the magical smell of cut wood. Don't you just love it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 9, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 9, 2012 Fantastic, starting to look the part, just needs a Spam with the ACE to complete the picture. I'm hoping to bring you all some progress photos of my own too shortly - the other three scenic boards are undergoing an initial transformation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TheSignalEngineer Posted August 10, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 10, 2012 Now this one has character in every plank and a great 'family' connection to RMweb. Not sure what the BCB team thinks but I'm thinking it would be suitable for either something in the exchange yard or the hut near the industrial road crossing... The crossing box at Bedlam Gates on the Coventry - Nuneaton line was similar in size to the Curzon St cabin, but the panelling was much more plain, so a crossing keeper's hut would be an ideal use for it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Popular Post 2ManySpams Posted August 12, 2012 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2012 Morning all I was talking to John (Old Gringo) on the phone the other day about BCB and the dates the various features would have appeared if real. This helps us understand the order the features would have appeared, the land use and how / when the various structures would have been built / amended. The outcome was that John produced a very tongue-in-cheek timeline for the layout..... Now prepare for a spot of time travel and imagine you've a birds-eye view from the front of the layout. 1750 River in centre of scene, with poorly surfaced road alongside and turnpiked road over on far right higher ground. Coal discovered somewhere nearby. Charcoal smelting of local iron. Hoss tied to post by river. 1790 Canal built along river valley at 310 foot contour. (John Wilkinson brings smelting with coke technology from Broseley to Bilston and sets up iron works). Hoss found a job pulling canal boat. 1800 Canal branch added with two "standard" locks; the roving bridge and cottages built. Turnpike has a bridge over canal. 1805 Industry grows following introduction of canals and defeat of Napoleon's navy at Trafalgar. New ironworks opened near Nelson Pit. 1837 Grand Junction Railway opened across our landscape; tunnel, private road bridge to ironmaster's residence, 5-arch viaduct, skew-bridge over main canal and finally turnpike bridge (plus rebuild of turnpike over canal bridge to match slope required by railway overbridge, which was demanded by turnpike trust rather than level crossing). 1875/1880 Industrial branch and sidings built to connect Trafalgar ironworks to railway; requires viaduct over river and minor road, plus skew bridge over railway. Residential development begins close to canal/railway (Trafalgar Sidings) junction and smaller canal-based industries. 1897 Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Britain's railways at their best. Lots of smoke and bunting floating over the Black Country! Hoss has polished brasses on collar - superb! 1914/1918 First World War; Industry turned to war production, railways ripped off - Lots more smoke, but no bunting. Regional shortage of Desperate Dan Cow Pie. Hoss stars on Western Front. 1926/1929 General Strike and Wall Street Crash - Black Country not affected ("It ay nowt to do wiv mekkin nails!"), but Hoss only narrowly escapes glue factory. 1939/1945 World War Two; Industry working flat out again making guns, bombs, bikes and bullets. Railways shifting loads of stuff, canals allowed to deteriorate. Bananas rationed and Chippy bombed twice. Hoss is a hero once again, pulling fire engine! 1955/1960 - All begins to go really pear-shaped and lots of bikes and prams end up in canal. The steelworks is still doing well but heavier axle-loads require the original 1880 structures over the mainline and river to be strengthened or replaced. 1962 Beeching appointed Chairman of BRB, reduces trains to one per day! Weeds grow everywhere and fishing in canal becomes difficult. Hoss has nervous breakdown, unable to find nosebag. 1979 Thatcher becomes PM and finishes the work Hitler and Beeching started - decides to close West Midlands and tells Aynuk and Ayli to "get on their bikes" (which is going to be difficult as they're somewhere in the canal). Hoss requisitioned by Gipsies* to pull new age caravan. 1997 Tony Blair rediscovers Black Country, reinvigorates canals as part of new leisure industry, but bans production of black puddings as being non-pc. Bike fished out of canal and sold on e-bay for two million quid. Hoss released by Animal Rights Group and put out to grass, tied back to post by river. Steven Speilberg decides to make a film about a bike found in a canal. 2012 Seven nutters decide that building a big layout representing the 'best' of the Black Country in much less than a year is a great idea. Hoss comes out of retirement, wins a medal walking sideways slowly... How's that for BCB history? Fantastic! So you've all now got an insight to the workings of John's mind... I'm working on a series of storyboard sketches to make the above more understandable. *That's what they were referred to then, obviously this would be 'Travelers' in 2012.... 20 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted August 12, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 12, 2012 2012 Seven nutters decide that building a big layout representing the 'best' of the Black Country in much less than a year is a great idea. Hoss wins a medal walking sideways slowly. Great story! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 12, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 12, 2012 Love the addition Paul.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 There was a slight delay starting work on the boards. The garage floor was still bare concrete and brushing the inevitable scenic work mess up would generate a lot of concrete dust. I also thought that a lot of the work would be done at night after work. The bare plaster walls and blockwork walls made the room very dark despite 3 big strip lights. i therefore had a few more trips to the tip (sorry recycling center) and cleared out all the dross. The floor got two coats of watered down PVA to seal it, the walls a ceiling got painted white (I had 15L left over from the house rebuild) and, because I was on a roll, the floor got two coats of terracotta floor paint. Bikes got hung on the wall and, at last, I had a nice clear and clean space to mess up. So this is how 3 of the 5 scenic boards looked when first put up: This is the lead in from the viaduct, with the branch starting to peal off from the LHS. Viewable side is on the RHS, backscene will be LHS. Ground will be rising from front to rear of the shot. Mr York's shot below shows how the viaduct board flows into the 3 I have. Canal junction and lock location scribbled on the board. The current difference in the higher (for the track) and lower (for the scenics) levels is 140mm. At it's lowest level of the canal will be 90mm below the rail level (50mm above the scenic base) First lock will rise a scale 8' with higher land to the RHS of the photo. After the lock the water will now be around 65mm below track level (75mm above the scenic base) The second lock will rise another scale 8' with higher land again to the RHS of the photo. After the lock the water will now be around 40mm below track level (100mm above the scenic base) Thankfully I have good stocks of celotex etc left over from the house re-build which just happen to be 50mm, 75mm and 100mm thick.... We've now stepped around the righthand fiddleyard and we're looking down the rear of the layout in this and the following shot. Land falls from LHS down to RHS of the photos. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 (edited) Surely it's time to donate the 250+ year old Hoss to the Natural History Museum in Kensington as a live exhibit. It must be the first 'oss that old not to have been turned into pet food and therefore graced our park at some point. SS Edited August 13, 2012 by Siberian Snooper 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 I'll be adding shots showing prototype inspiration and some of the coarse poly work tonight. (Oh and the garage isn't that tidy anymore!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 Surely it's time to donate the 250+ year old Hoss to the Natural History Museum in Kensington as a live exhibit. It must be the first 'oss that old not to have been turned into pet food and therefore graced our park at some point. SS Hosses were tough in those days.... ;-p Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 Hosses were tough in those days.... ;-p Doesn't hail from Yorkshire does it. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Did a car really fit in there in the first place, Chris? Ah, PVA adhesive - so useful.......... Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 There has never been a car in there but it is 2.5m x 6.0m, so it shouldn't be a problem. But, as we all know, garages are for trains not cars! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 A couple of shots showing the scale drawing of our single width lock with single gates each end and side, bypass channel. Overall each lock works out to be 150mm (6") wide (slightly compressed) and 600mm (24") long over the tapers. That's somewhat larger than the RTP versions, which shows how much these things are scaled down and how big the real world is! We're having two of these substantial bits of engineering on the layout. A few photos now of some early marking and measuring: 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 And just to give regular readers an added bonus, some polystyrene: Photos do not yet tally with progress but can you tell what it is yet? 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 13, 2012 Bottom lock sounds like a flight. Tardebigge is a bit off your territory, though. Anyway, I have a clear recollection that when BCB was declared the proposal most suitable for this exploit, you made a strategic withdrawal from the team on the grounds of other commitments. Can we assume those issues have now been overcome? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium wagonbasher Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 I welcome withdrawals like this..... Chris can 'not' work on my layouts as often as he likes !!! A 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium wagonbasher Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 Chris I have the Gringos drawings of the canal bridge that passes under the sidings. Is anyone going East on Wednesday night. I don't think I can. I could post it, drop it off at Damians, leave it at your folkes or just keep it. The package also includes a drawing of the tunnel. A Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 13, 2012 The package also includes a drawing of the tunnel. Oh! What a giveaway! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 13, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 13, 2012 I welcome withdrawals like this..... Chris can 'not' work on my layouts as often as he likes !!! A I think you'll find that I'm a figment of your imaginations. Nothing to see, move on now. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted August 14, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 14, 2012 Chris I have the Gringos drawings of the canal bridge that passes under the sidings. Is anyone going East on Wednesday night. I don't think I can. I could post it, drop it off at Damians, leave it at your folkes or just keep it. The package also includes a drawing of the tunnel. A I don't think anyone is going east or West this Wednesday, so I'll just bash ahead in my own style! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Dread Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Who's driving the cortina ??? Never mind that, the question should be, "Who's on first base?". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indomitable026 Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 I don't think anyone is going east or West this Wednesday, so I'll just bash ahead in my own style! Too right. I ignored most of the info I was sent while building the boards. and BTW do you mind not drawing on my nice boards, i've already had to paint out some of old gringo's scribblings 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Cook Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Too right. I ignored most of the info I was sent while building the boards. and BTW do you mind not drawing on my nice boards, i've already had to paint out some of old gringo's scribblings Yes I know Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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