kirtleypete

The first job this morning was the finish off the entrance to the shed. 

Then I began work on the roof, with the central section which rests on the black girders. The twenty two spans were cut in 2mm acrylic by York Modelmaking.

I made up lengths of square section Plastruct to rest on the girders, concrete beams in the real shed, and the spans were attached to these with Superglue, an L shaped bracket on each side giving a locating position.

I decided to attach the narrower section of roof on the right to the main span rather than leaving it separate. The first thing was to glue a length of 'concrete' beam to the inside of the wall for it to rest on.

Then the framework on 'concrete' beams to built up from Plastruct. It will be spray painted in due course before the glazing is added.

With the roof this far on I can now complete the tops of the walls which will be the next job.

Peter

I have painted the two finished girders and stuck them in place, with the third half built. 

This has enabled me to stand the roof spans in place to see how they look,

For obvious reasons the roof will be made to lift off, in three sections.

Peter

One problem I have is that I can't put the loco shed in my workshop; if I did I wouldn't have room to do anything. Instead i have been assembling sections such as the inner wall and then gluing them in place as finished items. 

The wall was cut out of 40 thou/12mm plastic and the openings cut out, the idea being that this wall is part of the original shed that was incorporated in the 1958 rebuilding. 

Photo's suggest that the walls were painted white inside the shed so after painting the edges of the openings in grey I began adding printed papers representing the painted brick.

This is the finished wall ready to glue in place.

The various openings and the pipes add interest to what is basically just a blank rectangle. The concrete pillars correspond to the positions of the metal girders.

I have also tidied up the other side of the shed:

On the outside wall I have used different coloured brick to suggest the original and new structure.  The porch will be standing the right way up!

Yes, it is sitting on the kitchen table! 

Peter

My first job today was to paint the base after filling in the missing sections on the corners with plastic card. 

First I gave it two good coats of grey primer.

When that as dry I sprayed the pits black, and then misted on layers of light brown, black and grey to vary the surface. 

Finally the uprights were brush painted and the rails scraped and burnished. Despite being a loco shed I kept the colours fairly light.

With the base back indoors I was able to begin assembling the structure around it.

I can't make the third girder until more materials arrive. 

The internal walls will all match the one on the left for height etc. 

The gaps around the bases of the offices need filling in. It might have been better to keep these separate until the walls were in place.

The length of wood keeps the far wall rigid and will be covered in brick in due course.

It's quite a structure!

Peter

I've begin detailing the first wall; I'll do each one before assembling them around the base.

Peter

I've made a start on the shed walls; they may need to be higher, I'm not sure at the moment. The gap in the back wall is where the straight shed will be.

Peter

Make a great train for the layout, wouldn't it.

I've been putting together the long girders that span the shed and support the roof. The roof will sit on these but be removable to give access to the shed. 

The starting point was Plastruct girders.

I had three packs and will need three more to complete the shed.

Two more to make!

Peter

Next the boards either side were built, again removeable to allow access to the boards behind.  Altogether three more pieces in this giant jigsaw puzzle

The Leeman Road section, which lifts out easily, ties the shed to the coal yard.  The coal drops have glued in position, and rails fitted.

A few photos of my customers work on the permanent way that has progressed in parallel.   The loco yard is starting to take shape.

I'll be posting regularly again now that I'm working on the layout again.

Peter

I've just got back from 'York' with a large baseboard on which the roundhouse loco shed will be built over the next month or so. This is how my customer has brought it to the stage where I can begin work on it.

Thanks everyone for your interest, and your patience.

After nearly 4 months away we have planned the next phase, which is the North Shed and loco yard.    My customer has been busy designing a scheme that captures the spirit of the shed in the 1950’s but at a scale appropriate to the rest of the about and the space available.  

The base drawing was provided by York City Council planning department, and comes from a planning application in the early 1980’s to incorporate the diesel servicing depot into the National Railway Museum after purchasing from British Rail.    At this time, the structure of the building around and over the display area, which was originally Roundhouses 3 & 4, was built in 1958 when the shed was modernised using a BR standard ‘nave and aisle’ design, and so fits the period we have modelled.

We simply didn’t have room for both roundhouses, so we have opted just for No 4, with its 70’ turntable and 24 stable roads.  This allows more generous space for some of the roads than a pure scale model would allow, so that most roads can take the longest pacific locos, and the shortest ones a K1 or D20.

We didn’t have room for the diesel servicing depot, so have gone for a representation in the form of a short, 2 road straight shed.  

The planning application drawings include elevation drawings showing the form of the concrete beams running transverse to the two naves and aisles, and the massive longitudinal trusses.

The next few pictures show the sequence of construction for the 4’ x 3’ board on which the ADM turntable, stable roads and main shed building sit.   The baseboard itself, which sits on its own trolley, is removeable so as to give access to the boards behind.  

The shed floor and inspection pits are constructed from a 6mm ply base, 3mm mdf with laser cut inspection pits, 2mm mdf packing, 2mm laser cut wedges between the roads, topped with 1/8” ply laser cut wedges which sit in the web of the rails, leaving the rail head proud so that they can be cleaned easily.   Laser cut parts were used to achieve a precise alignment of the 24 roads around the clock, and to save a great deal of time cutting out the inspection pits.

At this point, my customer realised that the board would be too heavy to lift, and set about removing as much material as possible.  With 4 lightweight ply beams glued to the underside, the resulting structure is light, rigid, and lifts easily off its trolley to fit in my car.    The turntable can be removed from the underside by releasing 4 bolts.

The shed board was now ready.