Ian Smith

Mikkel,

What a lovely little van.  It looks quite at home at Farthing.  Reading this entry makes me feel like I ought to get out the plasticard and make the 1, 2, and 3 plankers that I intend to build for Modbury, however I really must resist that temptation for a few months until I get the track work completed and the wiring sorted (I want to utilise the signalling to provide power to only the sections that have been granted access to by the clearing of the relevant signals - a task that is sometimes making me wish that I was modelling a halt) :-)

Ian

Hi Andy it would be nice to be able to watch the activity inside the terminus at exhibitions a small camera and a laptop screen maybe Lovely photo John

John,

There's not really that much to see, just lots of banging doors and loads of little people getting on and off the trains.  They only seem to go into the restaurant room for a few minutes before getting on another train though as not very many of them ever seem to make it out into the sunshine of the station forecourt. :-)

Merry Christmas.

Ian

Mike,

I have modified my original diagram taking on board your comments, the revised diagram is shown below.  I've also put a Templot diagram of my whole layout so the you can better see the distances involved (each green square is 6" (~ 75'0" to scale).

I reckon your up home is too close to your station though - if that's the only home signal in that direction then I'd have thought it should be outside the loop point and FPL with some room for error if a train doesn't quite manage to come to a halt at the signal (AKA the clearing distance). The clearing distance also applies to the down home, but I guess you can claim 'not to scale' for your diagram there.

 

Regards, Andy

Andy,

Thank you.  Positioning of Up Home is erroneous, I should have been a little more diligent on it's placing.  My excuse is that the Up Starter, Loop entry turnout and it's associated FPL are all off scene as the bridge will be the scenic break.  I will however correct my drawing when I add the lever numbering.  It is my eventual intention to provide a lever frame for the layout, and although off scene, the levers for these items will be provided as I will be using the "virtual signal" to electrify the up loop (at least as far as the Up Starter).

I also see what you mean about the diagram showing turnouts in their "Normal" position, I will also correct that.

Pretty good and no really worrying errors which is a great start.  But it does possibly need some GWification (if layout space and 'roominess' allows) plus some notes on things relevant to teh period you are modelling.

 

 

1. It might just be a matter of the way it is drawn but the Up Home should be at the toe of the points or in rear of the facing point locking bar for those points.  Equally the Down Home needs to be similarly positioned in relation to its facing point and point locking bar.

 

2. I think to make the track layout a little more realistic it might be useful to turn the diamond into a single slip thus creating a crossover between the Up & Down loop lines - so you would need an extra ground signal to go with that alteration.

 

3. Depending on the distance between the connections I would also be inclined to provide an additional stop signal to protect the trailing connection in the lower loop - the GWR tended to be rather prolific with stop signals in that respect. 

 

4. Similarly I could see a situation where a further stop signal is provided on the Up loop to protect the connection from the sidings - however here again you need to think about avoiding a forest of signals so providing this one really depends on the lengths you have to play with for your loops.  Technically the absence of this signal makes the matter of block working acceptances potentially a little bit awkward but the Up Starter could double for it in that respect

 

5. Now the interesting question of of signaling the yard connections at the right hand end.  Firstly the exit signal from the yard would have been required to be a semaphore (complete with a  ring on the arm) and not a shunting signal at that time - it being slightly different from going the other way, however there were ground shunting signals used for such connections in contemporaneous installations and the choice is yours.  More interesting is shunting back in and here you need to apply a little bit of lateral thinking to understand how it would be signalled - the shunting would be carried out by a  train travelling from left to right, i.e an Up train, therefore the connection where the loops become the single line is bound to be set for the upper (Up) loop for the train to arrive ready to shunt and while it shunts - so no need for a ground shunting signal.  However the next point, which effectively is the connection from the Upt loop to the sidings would have a ground shunting signal because it s a trailing point in the Up loop - I hope that makes sense.

Mike,

Thank you (I was hoping that you would see this blog entry and comment upon it).  

  1)  See reply to Andy above re the Up Home.  

  2)  As I'm modelling Baulk Road I felt that the diamond was a better bet than a single slip (and would probably be a lot easier to build in 2mm!!)  I will have to have a trawl through my "library" to see if my decision is a justifiable one.

  3)  I'm not quite sure what you mean there.  Do you mean a stop signal immediately before the Down Platform by the signal box (before the crossover)?

  4)  The distance between the diamond and the goods loop turnout at the up end of the Up Loop is unfortunately not as long as I would have ideally liked, although it will be about 20" or so minimum (250 scale feet), so I will have a look to see whether I could fit a further stop signal at that point.  Out of interest would such a signal be sited between the Up Loop and the Goods Loop?

  5)  I had assumed that the exit from the yard/Goods Loop would be controlled by the catch point (or is it a trap?) and it's associated point disc (I was going to provide one of the old rotating point discs showing green circle or red square here).  Your description of the shunting movement makes perfect sense (as does the need for a ground signal at the Up Loop/Goods Loop turnout.  I would assume this ground signal would be positioned outside the turnout (rather than within the loop if you see what I mean) as a reversing train would hide it if it were between the Up and Down loop tracks, is this assumption correct?

Mike's response is comprehensive as usual. One thing I would query is whether there would be a shunt signal to allow the train to draw forward of the advanced starter to shunt into the back siding. The siding turnout is quite close to the end of the loop. In many case there would be more room between that turnout and the end of the loop to allow the siding to be shunted without passing the advanced starter.

 

Don

Don,

I have drawn a shunt ahead arm on the Advanced Starter signal post to allow such a shunting movement (although at the resolution of the image you may have missed it).  It may be necessary to move the Advanced Starter further along the track (there is about 1 foot of plain track before the scenic break).

I will re-draw my diagram taking on board all of your comments and re-post again.

Ian

It's the one that isn't quite typical for a layout set in Cornwall in the mid 1960s....

 

No, wait...

 

I just transpose the "6" and the "0" when I'm operating :-)

Oh no!!  :-(

Which one's the Hymek? :-) - they don't have a pipe coming out the top for the smoke and shiny brass bits adorning their upper works so they all look the same to me :-)

Ian

Top work Andy, if I can escape Highbury i'll stop by at Warley for a look!

 

Tom, 

Tom,

You won't have to wander very far, we are next door to Highbury (barring the 2mm Association Stand and a pillar which separate the 2 layouts).

Ian

Mikkel,

Absolutely fantastic!!!  I will have to bookmark this blog entry, the wealth of detail here is admirable.  I had started to look at different items to put inside my own goods shed (so far it has a few crates and sacks), and also for the goods yard on the Midland Area Group's St Ruth (although that is 1950/60's period) again a few crates and sacks.  

I love the Colmans Mustard boxes (and I noticed some Nestles ones too), and the painting of your items really does breathe atmosphere.

I think I need to do a bit of digging to see what I can find that is suitable for 2mm scale!

Ian

Very nice signals Dave.  I will be interested to hear how you get on with the GF Controls board, on St Ruth (2mm Association Midland Area Group's layout) we have used the MERG board, and we do suffer with "servo glitching" - Andy (D869 of this parish) and John have been trying to minimise if not eradicate the problem without a huge amount of success.

Ian

PS I hope the operation is successful and that you are soon on the road to full recovery.

Real craftsmanship Ian, and it already oozes character too, even before being painting.

 

I can't remember if you've turned up the polished dome and safety valve cover yourself? 

Mikkel,

Thank you.  Yes, the dome, safety valve (and chimney which was turned up in phosphor bronze so that I automatically have a copper coloured cap) are all my own work.  If I'm honest I'm not 100% satisfied with the dome or safety valve cover as I don't think that I've got the flare right where they sit on top of the boiler, the flares down the sides as they sit around the boiler are OK though :-(  I may re-make those if I have time before the Warley exhibition.

Ian

 

That's looking fabulous Ian, all the small details have really brought the model to life!  I think you've excelled yourself with that smokebox socket lamp iron / front handrail knob:-)  I'm not sure I can shed much light on the cab floor issue, but here's a picture of my 7mm versions cab as built from the Roxey kit.

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing your loco finished, I hope it's going to have Indian Red frames :-)

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

 

Dave,

Thank you.  And also thanks for posting a photo of your cab interior.  I'll redo the cab splashers that I'd turned and fitted, and replace them with some boxed in assemblies instead.  It's also interesting to see how the tanks encroach into the cabs, and also that the tanks don't come all the way back to the cab handrails - Too late for my model, I'll leave mine as it is now!

And yes she will have Indian Red frames :-)

Really impressive Ian. Making those curved smokebox handrails consistent in 7mm is hard enough, so hats off to you for the neat result, and I agree with Dave above, the lamp socket/handrail post is excellent.

Thank you.

Ian

Looking really nice Mark, and quite unusual.  I'm all for impressionistic detail in 2mm :-)

Ian

I don't know what to say. Fantastic? Outstanding? Something like that.

Very impressive, your attention to detail is superb. Looking forward to seeing it all painted up.

Jez & Gareth,

Thank you both.

Very nice work Ian. A real sense of achievement hacking stuff like this out of the raw, isn't there?

Mark,

As a first ever complete scratch build in 2mm I'm really pleased with how it's come out.  I'm sure there are some mistakes and some items that could have been done better.  As a retired software engineer the one thing I used to enjoy about my job was the creation of something that worked and did the job it was meant for, part of the pleasure was in the "getting there" and all that encompassed (the errors encountered included).  Building a working model has really satisfied that engineer in me, and to know that the only bits bought in were the motor, wheels and gears really does give one a sense of achievement :-)

That's looking very good, Ian. Having made many of those small parts in 4mm scale, I'm really impressed with what you've done in half the size.

 

I was a little surprised by the sandbox lids set into the floor. Many of the photos and drawings I've looked at show sandboxes between 12" and 16" high sat on the floor immediately inside the cab entrance. You often see crew members standing on them in photos and they must have required climbing over to get in and out.

 

Nick

Nick,

Thank you.

Looks like I've made a boo boo then :-)  Because of the lack of photos that I have that actually show the cab interiors (none of the floor area), I have mistakenly thought that the cab floor was some 12" higher than the footplate this belief was supported by seeing crew standing at that height on the sandbox tops.  Unfortunately, the only official drawing I have is one in GWRJ No 4 (of a Large Metro - although I assume the cab design was similar if not the same), and it doesn't really indicate what height the cab floor is.  Never mind, it's a bit late to worry about it now!!  I've also made internal curved splashers inside the cab, although I suspect that the rear driving wheels may well have been boxed in as that would at least provide a "seat" within the cab.  If you (or anyone else) has a more definitive idea of what covered the rear drivers I would be grateful to hear it - I can either replace the existing splashers or box them in with milliput before I start the painting.

Ian

Very nice Dave.  I'm glad that experience has taught you to put the rodding in place before the ballasting :-)  Like you, been there and tried it the other way round!!

Ian

Really coming along now Ian! I'm very impressed by your lamp iron sockets, seriously fiddly but very effective!

 

Dave

Dave,

Thank you.  The lamp sockets are not as fiddly as you might imagine.  I simply file a 1mm brass rod square on the end by holding in a pin chuck and using the slots as guides to keep the flats I'm filing at roughly 90 degrees to each other.  The rod is then transferred to a mini drill (or lathe) and the rod filed down to leave a "cube on a stick".  They literally take a few minutes each.  The one on the top face of the smokebox will be a little more fiddly as that will incorporate the handrail knob behind the cube.  But as a little meerkat says "Simples" :-)

Hi Ian, very impressed with how smooth and crisp it all looks - as others have said above, it must be tempting to make "small-scale" compromises in 2mm but you certainly don't cut many corners.

 

I see your 1701 and 4-wheelers secured a couple of trophies at the 2mm AGM, congratulations! 

Thank you Mikkel.  Yes I was lucky enough to be awarded for my saddle tank (best converted RTR loco), and 2 trophies for my rake of 4 wheelers (one for best coaching stock and also the "members choice" trophy where the cup is awarded to the model which received the most attending members votes).  I feel particularly proud on all counts because there were some beautiful models on display and the judges decision must have been really difficult.

I don't think its as much about not cutting corners, as much as my philosophy in 2mm of only modelling those items that I think would be visible at a distance of a couple of hundred feet.  That's not to say that I want to skimp on detail so much as only needing to put on what I think would be noticeable by it's absence.  In the case of the coaches for example I feel that we generally look at our models from above (or at least from a higher vantage point than we would view the real thing), so for me a reasonable representation of the lamp tops and their feed pipes was paramount, whereas the gold lining around the side panels would be all but invisible from a hundred feet or so, so I feel I can legitimately leave that off (obviously I could never do it to scale anyway).

Ian

Looking very nice indeed.

 

Regards Snitzl

Some very clever work there Ian. It would be tempting to cut coners on things like the fillers. The work involved is justified by the results. It is really looking the part now.

Don

I'm trying to decide whether to attempt to add the clasp handle on the fillers - I put one on the saddle tank but it didn't last very long!!  (there's not much land on either the handle or the upright to accept the solder)

Really nice Ian

Looking really good Ian.

 

Regards, Andy

Thank you all!!  And thank you to everyone who considers my efforts to be worthy of a "Craftsmanship/Clever" rating (it's also nice to get a "Like" too, so thank you all).

Ian

Andy,

They do look lovely.  The efforts you made in designing the etch, the 3D tanks and also the decal artwork, not to mention the actual build and finish are really worth the effort.  A well deserved trophy win.

Ian

John,

A lovely set of wagons.  I have 3 of the O3/O5 wagons pairs to make up, the 4 plankers are not a problem for my modelling period but the 5 plankers will need modifying to other diagrams that will be suitable for the c.1906 period.  Your comments about the diagonal braces and L section stanchions have reminded me that before I start on these that I MUST have a good look at the kit and compare it against the open wagons in the GWR Wagon bible.

Ian

Very nice!  If you get yourself some stripy material you could make those legs double as a deck chair too! :-)  Seriously though, I really like the facia/proscenium arch - it really frames what will be the model beautifully.

Ian

Thanks Ian! They look fantastic. Even with the largest version of the image everything is completely neat. I'm even more impressed after fooling around with some 2mm transfers yesterday - tricky stuff.

 

Is that a display plinth they are on, or part of the layout? 

Mikkel,

Thank you.  It's just a display plinth - I haven't got any ballasted track on my layout yet (I haven't got all of the track either !!)  :-)

Ian

I can't let that comment pass by: Any chance of some photos of the finished coaches on here? I've been stalking your earlier posts but don't think we've seen them with lettering yet? :-)

Mikkel,

Just for you :-)  ...  I've been trying to get the All 3rd S9 completed before I put any further pictures up (but now they're all done!!)

Coming along nicely Ian, but I think you're cutting it a bit fine for the AGM competitions

Andy,

Thank you.  There was never any intention of entering her for this years competitions.  My objective is to get her done for Warley, and I think that should be just about do-able.  It's the Dean coaches that will be entered in the Dreadnought category now that I've got them lettered up (thanks to Nigel Ashton & Nick Cleary for providing and obtaining (respectively) Modelmaster transfers on my behalf).

Of course he'll be bringing it to the AGM, its already finished in North Somerset Light livery!:-))

 

Beautiful work Ian .

 

Jerry

Jerry,

Thank you.  I'm pleased that you like her livery ;-)

The springs look to have turned out really well. I do hope you bring it to the AGM even if it has to wait another year before being ready for the competitions.

Don

Don,

Thankyou. I think she's starting to look a bit more Metro Tank-like now.  I do have every intention of bringing her along to the AGM (but as mentioned above not for any competition entry).  I was going to pop her on the table with a few photos of her innards to show the dog clutch arrangement therein.

Ian

Tom,

Fantastic !!!

It's only the little things (which you have to look really hard at) that give the game away and tell you that you are looking at a model!!  (I'm only talking about the check rail gap).  You have the colouring spot on, I love the subtle variations.  Your attention to detail can only be admired.

Ian

Mikkel,

Absolutely brilliant!!  Beautiful modelling and a wonderful tale to boot!  Once again I can see what people are raven about, it's really quite a carrion on.  I'm choughed to bits  :-)

Ok I'll get my coat and leave now :-)

Ian

That's a nice etch. And the plates maybe an indication of future locos! A 2mm Armstrong Goods, now that would be a rare sight.

Mikkel,

Hopefully, the plates do provide an indication of some future locos.  They will be some way off yet though :-)  I have started on the artwork for the Buffalo - it is my intention to make myself an etched kit for both the Buffalo and Armstrong Goods (lots of lovely rivet detail on the outside frames that will be difficult to do in 2mm otherwise, and will I think be obvious if missing if I don't include it).  Clearly that is going to take me quite some time, but then i'm not in a rush I've got plenty of other projects on the go!!

Regards,

Ian