Brian D

Thanks, Andy. Trying to keep it as neat as possible hahaha. Regards, Brian.

Thanks Duncan, Yes I have seen Andy's posts and have PMd him about. Regards, Brian.

I took a couple of before and after pics with my phone just now which shows the additional acrylic glazing in place (but without the protective film removed yet. Aided by the new strip lights I think the photos are adequate to show what I've done. Before.... ....and after Basically the new glazing sheet is just larger than the existing glass by the width (times 2) of the strip softwood in both directions (height and width). Regards, Brian.

I am now making progress on the double glazing! Yesterday I bought a couple of sheets of acrylic sheet (see this link - http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/diy/roofing-sheets/liteglaze-acrylic-sheet---120-x-60cm-284506)and some small screws and strip wood. After a bit of a learning curve (the sheet is very brittle and doesn't take drill bits particular well) I have now double glazed 2 of the 4 windows. The sheet is well protected by peel off film both sides, one of which has a grid to aid square cutting and instructions as to how to cut and drill. I followed the drilling instructions to the letter but found that because I was drilling close to the edge it inevitably cracked twice to the edge leaving a bite sized chunk missing. Because I am using 3 and 4 mm screws, I found that forming a hole in the acrylic using a bradle strangely works best causing no cracking at all. I also left the film on throughout the cutting, hole forming and fitting over the existing window - only removing the film once all fitting operations were complete. I am quite pleased with the outcome - the acrylic sheet is optically flat so doesn't distort the view out of the window which was a concern I had. I'll post some pictures on here later in the week. Regards, Brian.

Andy, I got one of those from Maplin a couple of months back - still haven't used it. Let me know how you get on. Best Regards, Brian

Seems to be, although I popped out an hour later and the temperature indicated by my mini weather station ("the device on the wall") had dropped from 19 to 16 degrees C. The shed has had no heat put into it since it was put up after the August Bank Holiday and, whilst moderately well insulated, I think the shed structure mass needs a bit of thermal input so I'll keep warming it up and monitoring whats going on with the "device on the wall". Thanks for popping in, Andy. I'm now just off to your Bitton thread. Regards, Brian.

Thanks, Duncan. I'll do the best I can. Regards, Brian.

Here is the latest progress report. After nearly two days work by Roger the electrician and his apprentice, I now have light and power in the shed. I must say they made a very thorough and professional job of it. All checked over and after the elimination of a tricky to track down fault in the original supply to the garage (intermittent earthing), it now passes muster and certifiably safe. It is so good to have light especially in the shed (two in line strip "battens" at the ceiling ridge) and sufficient power capacity to get an effective heater going. I just left our little fan heater going in there for half an hour which raised the temperature from 10 degrees C to a positively balmy 19 degrees. I then turned it off, exited the shed and returned half an hour later to see that my mini weather station was still showing 19 degrees C which is pleasing and indicative that the insulation is doing its job. I need to crack on now and finish lining and insulating the door, double glaze the windows, fit blinds over the windows, fit the stainless steel high security pad lock and hasp and lay the (ex bedroom) carpet and underlay. I can then install my current layout and see how that runs in its new environment. Regards, Brian

I only have the one. "Andrew K McCosh" purchased I think in 2007 new from Rails of Sheffield without a box (split from a Hornby train pack) - I think I paid the princely sum of £75 or so - could not resist. Poor quality pic attached below. It has the drop in electrical contacts tender coupling and runs like a dream. Regards, Brian.

Hi Jock. I hope you are well today. Great news the other day for you! Thanks very much for the time you have taken to look over my ramblings. It is greatly appreciated. Re traversers - I trust you will read my response to Ray above which explains my predicament. In addition I would add that I've put the biggest shed I could (get away with) in my small postage stamp garden which leaves me with about 10.5 x 6.5 ft for the railway which limits my options space wise but is still great to have my own railway room, albeit not as big as big as some - I just love Tony Wright's "shed" showing an actual location on the East Coast Main Line. The space I have does not let me model an actual location, or at least not one that would interest me. Yes, I'm aware of Shaun's thread and I think it is probably Whitby Abbey ruin he has modeled I'll have another look there. Once the shed building work is completed (electrics, work to the door, other home comforts like putting a small 19 inch (erstwhile kitchen) TV/DVD in there and some superseded stereo equipment (to complete the "Man Cave" elements of the project - house full of women this end!), I'll set up my existing layout in there for a while (my 4 year old grandson can't wait) while planning out the carpentry involved in the new layout build. I would love to mate the existing layout scenic section to the lhs curve and fiddle yard of the new one temorarily to keep trains running as long as possible but I'm not sure whether this is feasible at present. All the best to you Jock. Thanks again for your interest. Kind Regards. Brian.

Thanks for your detailed comments Ray. I hear what you are saying but I just don't have the room for a ladder of points without resorting to short radius fiddle yard points (trying to avoid 24 inch radius if possible because some of my existing stock is close coupled) and extremely short train lengths (I'm already looking at say a Gresley pacific with 4 mk1s or a Britannia with 5 short Gresley corridor coaches as my through express - these trains measure about 54 inches, according to my ready reckoner, and the traverser, according to AnyRail, turns out at 58 inches). I want the traverser roads to act as pairs and part of the main line so that, if the mood takes me or for running in purposes, two trains can circulate, 1 up and 1 down, at the same time. But generally, I will try and operate some sort of semi-prototypical time table or sequence, setting points and signals as required (I am not going DCC with this layout - too many loco chips required and quite a few not-ready locos). I enjoy the operational side of things as you may have guessed perhaps more than any other aspect of modelling. The operating space is quite narrow so an easy swing from the main control panel back to the traverser. Thanks again for the time you have taken to look over my ramblings - much appreciated. Kind Regards, Brian.

Hi Matt, Thanks for your comments. I too have thought that branch line trains could arrive clockwise into the station, run around, and depart anti-clockwise back to the branch line off scene. This prompted me to check the length of track between the cross-overs which come out at 30 inches according to AnyRail. My train length "ready reckoner" attached in an earlier post tells me that 3 short gresleys is a tad over 26 inches so OK for a branch line train, at least for me in this instance. But thanks for that which made me double check everything. I really couldn't get my head around moving the left hand crossover further left without all sorts of unwanted side effects so I;m pleased that I don't have to do that. Thanks again for your interest. Kind Regards, Brian.

So, while I'm waiting for things electrical to happen, I have printed the oval plan off and sketched on some buildings, roads and landscape including the viaduct and bridges I mentioned in an earlier post. Here it is. You will notice an empty space in the left hand top corner. I thought of perhaps calling the station "Hawthorn Abbey" (a totally fictitious location) and placing a church or ruined church there. This is a hark back to my love of Durham (city not county) and the juxtaposition of the east coast main line viaduct over the town and the fantastically located cathedral. What do you think? Any alternative suggestions are welcome and will be given serious consideration. Regards, Brian.

That is really cheap Andy. I won't tell you have much I'm paying. Needless to say it is quite a bit more than you based as I am in Essex, not a stone's throw from London. Tradesmen ain't cheap down here I can tell you. Still when its done the whole link out to the garage and shed will be certificated. I hope you enjoyed your break. Best regards, Brian.

Hi Neal, It took me a couple of months, on and off with two weeks in Crete thrown in, to fully insulate and line the shed, although the door is still not done. Don't delay, start today Regards, Brian

Thanks for the advice Les. I'll see how I go. I can always add more if needed. Regards, Brian.

Dear Jock, Great news. Keep fighting that awful bl**dy disease. More power to you and your team. Taunton is not a million miles away from Bishops Lydiard, the eastern end of the West Somerset Railway. If you have not had a trip (but no doubt you may already have), please do it. I'm more LNER than GWR but I loved it when me and my wife visited a couple of years back. The ex-Somerset & Dorset 7F hauled us to Minehead and we sat behind the DMU driver on the way back. I took video both ways - if you want a copy pm me. All the best Jock. Onwards and upwards!!

Well, the quotes for the electrical work are in and the chap I have selected to do the work is coming next Thursday. I've gone for two strip lights (or battens as they are called these days), one either side of the central steel roof support, and 4 double socket outlets (one in each corner). Thanks again emt_911, the chap I chose is one of your suggestions. To facilitate connecting the two battens together, I have drilled an 8 mm hole (well, eventually - it started with a 2 mm pilot hole and went up in steps) through the steel roof support so a connecting cable can pass through. When the electrics are done, I need to do some more work on the shed door (insulation and lining as the rest of the shed and add some draft proofing), lay the carpet and underlay (former bedroom carpet replaced a couple of months back currently rolled up in the garage) and buy a small heater. Then, my current layout will be set up in the shed for a while to test out the shed environment and experience I doubt whether I will start on the new layout until the new year. Regards, Brian.

Well, not much is happening in the shed at the moment. I'm waiting for the quotes for the electrical work. In the meantime I've been thinking long and hard about the new layout plan. I've already posted a spiral layout and a U shape and thought that I better give consideration to a roundy-roundy type. I found an interesting layout in the August 2011 Railway Modeller which suggested a possible Settle & Carlisle proposal in a 10 ft x 5 ft space. I have turned it upside down and I have added a kick back siding to give me a bit more operational interest - this can be used to get slow goods trains out of the way of faster expresses or for parking up engineers or break down trains. I have also stretched it to fit in my space and extended the traverser fiddle yard to 6 roads, each nearly 6 ft long. I attach the plan below. The thick black line shows the operating well in the middle, the shed door on the right shown as a thin rectangle, needing a lift up section at this point. I have laid out the 6 traverser roads along with a further line showing the innermost travel of the traverser. I have added a curved kick back siding alongside the traverser in the fiddle yard to accommodate a 4 car DMU or 3 coach local stopping train but I will add other kick backs left and right as loco spurs, etc. This layout quite excites me giving me a good balance of near-prototypical features, acceptable curves, operational complexity and a reasonably challenging build (I still want to include a viaduct and both over and under-line bridges). Please let me know what you think. Regards, Brian.

Hi Les, In my spotting days at Easington when steam ruled (Q6s & J27s) coal and green DMUs almost everything else, I don't recall seeing any northbound empty coal trains working beyond Easington Colliery - all the empties terminated in the colliery sidings and returned full southbound to West Hartlepool. No coal trains either full or empty went "through" in either direction as I recall. I don't know what happened in early diesel days as my hormones kicked in and I lost interest in train spotting. Your "Northbound coal fulls, Blackhall or Horden to Sunderland docks or Tyneside power station, Class 24- may become Q6" sounds a bit hopeful to me unless this is what happened in diesel days which would rule out the Q6. What I do remember seeing is the countless Newcastle to Middlesborough and return green DMU workings (was it a half hour service via the Durham coast line at that time?). I think you could usefully include these workings in your schedule. Keep up the good work. Regards, Brian.

Fantastically atmospheric shots, Les. It takes me back to a time when the world was so different - no WWW, jihadists, mobile phones, etc. Is the world now a better place? I'm not at all sure. It would probably be around 10 years earlier when I would return to the North East with "me Mam" during school holidays. We'd walk down to the call box outside Easington colliery and Mam would make a reverse charge call to "me Da" back home in Essex, or there would be much pushing of Button A or Button B a midst the unique toilet smell of the GPO call box - happy days. Hawthorn Dene is looking really good now. I must try and get a bit further up country to see it at an exhibition. Best Regards, Brian.

Thanks wireman. We have used a chap locally but he ain't cheap. It seems what I could do myself electrically 20 or 30 years ago, I am no longer allowed to do under current H&S regimes - I fitted a new kitchen in our house including the electrics which included new socket outlets and under unit lighting. SHMBO wants it done "properly" though so I'll get some quotes and take it from there. Thanks again for you interest in my ramblings. Regards, Brian.

I also vote for a line side fire scene on Bitton if only to nudge the posts towards the magic ton before Mr P's return. To use one of his quotes if I may, "hahaha!"

I think I have achieved another landmark point today - the painting is finished, or at least I think it is. I am judging the paint in extremely poor light conditions today (not much sunshine and a lot of rain here today) - there is a possibility that another (third!) coat might be required of the blue. I'll be able to tell when I get some sunshine. Here are some dodgy phone pics which at least show the colour scheme. I now need to summon the courage to get an electrician to give me a quote for the electrics - I hate getting tradesmen in, they always prefer payment in cash and there is always that sense of being ripped off ("How much?"). But hey ho, onwards and upwards. In the meantime, due to the loss of some files when the laptop died, I'm back replanning the new layout. One of the documents I lost was a list of loco, stock and train lengths that I had prepared to help plan platform, run round loop and siding lengths so I spent a happy hour or two yesterday getting stuff out of boxes and coupling them up on the existing Hawthorn Town fiddle yard and passing the measure over them. I attach here the results of that exercise for anyone interested. Loco & Train Lengths.pdf The upshot of all this is that I'm tempted to move the layout into ex GE territory for the reason that 5 short Gresley bogie coaches can be accommodated instead of 4 mk1s giving a better impression of an express train in terms of length. Food for thought. Regards, Brian.

Speaking of TurboCad, here are a couple of drawings I prepared to help me plan out the town centre back and end scenes by taking sections through the station. The section above is transverse to the platforms and, using Scalescenes' building dimensions gives me options for the depth of scenery beyond the station fence so to speak (in this case a retaining wall) - platforms on the left and backscene on the right. This section is at the bufferstop end of the station. Again I have used Scalescenes' building dimensions, this time to try and help determine where the buffer stops might actually need to be placed. These two sections have helped me to determine the size of the big grey rectangles in the earlier post (#69) and thus where tracks can be laid in AnyRail. Regards, Brian. Edit: Just noticed that the second section has the Scalescenes' station incorrectly called up as the "medium station" when it is actually the "large station".