scottystitch

The following was posted by KRM on the N Gauge Forum: "We have finally got the CAD drawings completed for the King class model. Only with your support can we bring this long overdue model to you. We are looking at putting at least two sets of etched plates per model so that you can have different names and numbers. It is the version 6002 - 6019." So it appears the version being produced has been narrowed down, but presumably there were differences over time... Best Scott.

That’s a good shout, Colin, and I hate to say not one I’d thought of. best scott

No-one?...

Possibly, but I would surmise that a fair proportion would have taken at least a couple, since it's one of the few brakes where you might expect more than one in a consist. (on eat each end of an engineers' train). That was my thought process, certainly, and I know others are that way inclined as well. Best Scott.

As the title suggests, am I close with the signalling for the attached track plan? Set in the mid 1960s. Passenger traffic is 2 or three coaches and a small steam locomotive or a type 2 diesel, or a 2-/3-car DMU. There would maybe be 4 or 5 passenger departures per day. Goods traffic would be probably one mixed goods per day plus one or two mine related trains per day. It is not based on any particular region's operations, it is intended to be largely generic, but it needs to be plausible and the signals will be operating (where possible). The layout is N Gauge. The station and goods yard area is based on St Cyrus, albeit in terminus form. The line to/from the clay/coal mine is a dead end, so loaded wagons come out and empties go in. If it is coal (still undecided) maybe 5 or 6 wagons once or twice a day. The mine branch is worked by railway locomotives, rather than private/industrial. I've split the illustrations into inbound signals....: Would the home from the junction be a single arm or would there be a second arm for signalling into the goods yard? Or would that be handled by ground signals instead? If so/not would the same then apply for the home from the mine? ...and outbound signals: Again, would the platform starter be a junction signal, or would the advance starters preclude that? Based on the idea that the branch line is single line, and not on e engine in steam, is it safe to assume that in general terms the line would be worked with tokens? I would say that I have consulted a number of texts in my book collection, and whilst I think I grasp the very basic fundamentals of signalling, the details for any particular given situation elude me... any help would therefore be greatly appreciated. Best Scott.

Ah, now I think a penny has just dropped. Was the layout at Model Rail Scotland a couple of years ago? The individual "booths" for signaller and driver is ringing a bell with me now, and the layout was familiar when I first so it... Best Scott.

What an absolutely wonderful thing to have discovered. Best Scott.

Having largely sorted the intermediate station, still with no name, I decided to give it a while before ordering the turnouts. This would be where the first spike would be driven so I wanted to be reasonably sure I was happy with it. Almost immediately a sense of, I don't know, not so much doom but something that made me feel a bit uneasy. Long story short, it became increasingly clear that what had started out as an exercise in creating a layout with a decent scenic area for trains to run through, had grown arms and legs until it was effectively two decent sized stations taking up two sides of the room and the anxiety of a) building it, and b) operating it started to build again, which was the main driver for abandoning the previous project and going down this road the first place. Whilst the vast majority of the layout was on show, as was the intention, I'd suffered from mission creep. The largish terminus is fine, but what started out as a small intermediate station now took up a disproportionate size of the other long wall, not to mention what would be required to work it. A rethink was in order. The result is attached. A long sweeping single track run from the fiddle yard, along the long wall across the doorway and into a hidden section a little longer than maximum train length. I was struggling with what to do with that left wall. Access is required for the gas boiler, so the curve had to be as compact as possible leading into St Catherine's Bay, which means the approach to St Catherine's Bay is by necessity quite short. By blocking off that section of the left wall, a train can depart SCB, and if desired be held out of sight, to give the feeling of time passing, before entering the scenic run and off scene;p all this whilst shunting elsewhere on the layout or assembling a train in the fiddle yard. The same would apply for trains heading to SCB. I think it's a decent trade off to have that short section of track hidden and to have the rest of the layout opened up to have a nice sweeping run through the landscape. The small branch terminus has now been moved from in front of the fiddle yard to in front of the mainline, and 3.75" below, a scale 46ft. I still need to come up with a plausible explanation as to why the BLT is there with a mainline thundering past it without serving it. The obvious answer may be that the main line was built some time after the branch. I also need to work out what the geology and contour lines would look like The layout of the BLT remains similar to the original copy of St Cyrus with the addition of a short siding next to the loco release in the goods yard. The two sidings on the left, one for Milk Loading and one for the goods shed, is inspired loosely by CDGFife of this parish Cadhay Sidings. This new arrangement feels so much better already, but I will get into the train room and mock things up, and sleep on it over the weekend to make sure. There comes a point where we have to put the track planning tools down and start to build something...

Is there a track plan at all? It looks reasonably self-explanatory, I concede, but sometimes a 2d drawing does wonders. Best Scott.

A neat solution could be these: https://www.brimal.co.uk/power-distribution-board-18-way-screw-terminal-connection.html#product_tabs_applications Best Scott.

You'd have to have a lobby entitled "Players who are willing to follow and/or issue orders with discipline, even if it doesn't work first time, and I don't care about my personal record, I just want the fuzzy feeling f living and dying as a team" I'd be all over a lobby like that. Best Scott.

...and to reciprocate, ^this. best Scott.

A number of years ago, a forum member sent me a diagram of minories with add on modules. I'm not sure of the origin of said modules; was it Freezer's idea? Anyway, I had a go of drawing them out in N gauge. Track is Code 40 and most of the turnouts are B6, although there is a B7 and and a B8 in there as well. The crossing in the station is actually a number 6 double slip. The crossing at the Junction is a number 6 as well, but just a standard diamond. I've rationalised the Engine Servicing board down to a single road engine shed and a siding for a rake of 3 carriages. The shed for the station pilot (which would double as the goods yard shunter?), perhaps, and a turntable for incoming service train locomotives to turn and be fuelled/watered. I had pondered a canal basin in the dead ground between station and goods yard. The wharf might make for interesting operations. If it were to be exhibited, I'd imagine the operators would be on the inside of the curve, but I suppose you could have it vice versa as well. For a home setup you could utilise the curved modules to make the layout suit the room it was set up in. The engine shed board and the junction board could have their positions swapped. I suppose the canal basin would have to be either a seperate board or part of the goods yard board so it went wherever the goods yard went. Best Scott.

My goodness, how lovely is this? I can just hear the birds singing in the trees... Fantastic stuff, thanks for sharing. Another inspiration, regardless of scale. Best Scott.

Agreed. "Team" based multiplayer is usually nothing of the sort, a free for all which absolutely negates the team aspect. If I could find four wingmen who could discuss and formulate tactics and roles/responsibilities, I'd be all over this. Ditto FPS like CoD. What I would give to be part of a proper assault team attacking a position in a sensible, serious and well thought manner with leadership... But alas... Best Scott.

Wasn't the Isle of Wight a SG closed system? Best Scott.

I think the intermediate station is now getting closer. I'm now much happier after removing the dual main line past the goods yard. The goods area now feel sufficiently separate from the running line(s). Over the weekend, I started cutting/modifying baseboards, and after physically seeing the lack of separation between the hidden lower line (dashed on the illustration) and the line of the visible trackwork, I've realised that a viaduct is not viable, on the basis it will require low boards to accommodate it, which means I wouldn't get proper access to the hidden track in the event of a problem. Instead, I will make it an embankment with lower ground at the front. This also, happily, allows for a headshunt without having to worry about a double track viaduct. It also reduces complexity, removing the need for a single and a double slip, with just one double slip remaining. In addition, I think this track layout makes for interesting operations. With no direct access to the Goods Yard from the Down line (Down is right to left), an arriving goods train can either reverse into the Goods Yard from the single track section adjacent the headshunt, or it can enter the station "wrong line" and cross into the Goods Yard through the turnout and the diamond crossing. Finally, I believe this layout will make signalling simpler.

The intermediate station, I think, needs the most work. Based on Kirkby Stephen, albeit on a single track line, it' s the single track part that is causing me deliberations. A milk loading siding has been added. Buildings will be Metcalfe S&C initially, pending an aspiration to design and build etched brass buildings in the future.: I'm unsure whether to put a facing crossover in where the red circle is to allow a goods train to be overtaken, for instance, or two allow a goods train being shunted to be left in the loop that the crossover would create. I'm also unsure about whether to elongate the stub at the blue circle, into a proper headshunt onto the viaduct. Otherwise shunting would require the train being shunted being brought out onto the main line. It's not that busy a line, but I'm not sure that wouldn't jar with me. Despite being single track, it's still a mainline, akin to the Highland line between Stanley Junction and Inverness. I've no idea, really, how to signal this station, so that's something I'll need to look into. The viaduct will most likely be built from ratio viaduct kits, and I had contemplated sawing the deck in half to make it single track, but I wouldn't need to do that if I lay a headshunt. I'd need to see if this type of track layout existed in the real world ( I can only think of Bewdley off the top of my head, but that twas double track rather than a single line and a headshunt.) Dark green is higher than light green, and I am inclined to make the light green moorland beneath the viaduct, but that poses a problem for the backscene, so it may just that the viaduct cuts across a steep hillside slope

Well, we'll perhaps reserve the applause for now, since I've only, so far, built one test turnout and a section of plain track... But I'm glad you approve! And thank you for your interest, it is appreciated. Best Scott.

I've been working on refining the track plan for the terminus station and I think I'm just about there (famous last words...) The terminus has also gained a name. And so, gentle reader, I give you St Catherine's Bay (pronounced Cathereen): Goods Shed Goods Yard Goods Yard Locomotive release runaround Passenger platform Passenger platform Locomotive release runaround/van storage Passenger platform Passenger platform Carriage siding Carriage siding & Motorail loading Fish loading shed Goods yard headshunt Milk loading shed Goods departure siding With no apologies, St Catherine's Bay is based on a shortened and single-line fed Bournemouth West. I love Bournemouth West and I'm delighted to be able to incorporate a station derived from it on one of my layouts. I'm hoping to emulate the colours of the area in the ballast, ground cover, platform canopies, etc. I've moved the locomotive shed on the other side of the approach line, to hopefully help give the impression that space is at a premium at the front of the layout, where the light green will be quite a steep slope. The terrain will rise quite steeply on the engine shed side as well, with the area carved out of the hillside for the locomotive facilities, the approach line being on a ledge. I tried having the arrangement flipped, with the turntable on the left of the formation, as per Kyle of Lochalsh, but the geometry wouldn't fit. Permanent Way will be British Finescale Code 40 Finetrax. Buildings initially at least will be refined Metcalfe Settle & Carlisle kits just to get something down, and then later I'd like to go back and design my own etched building kits a la Severn Models.

I just found this thread. Outstanding modelling. Thank you for sharing everything. A real inspriration regardless of scale/location/era. Best Scott.

Indeed, a fair point. But in any event why does the mob get to make that decision on behalf of the rest of us? It's hardly democratic. And like I said, where do you stop? Should we start tearing down buildings because they were built on the proceeds of unsavoury acts, policies and practices? Half of central Glasgow would be levelled in that case, as much of it was built on slavery, Tobacco or Cotton (with attendant slavery connotations) Surely a better way would be for the Mayor of Bristol to ask his subjects whether they wanted the statue to remain or not? Why can't we be more measured in our actions, instead of sucumbing to kneejerk violant solutions? Best Scott.

I think this is key. The first question is do we remove, move or revise a statue; the second is how one goes about it. I'd suggest a mob rule isn't necessarily the answer to the second question. And of course, when you start, where do you draw the line? With regards to street names like "pissing Lane", I'm quite happy with it being changed to reflect the increased sophistication of society, but I'd prefer if there was a plaque underneath the new name plate explaining what it used to be called and why. Best Scott.

Looks good, free downloads of existing add-ons purchased and an LU route to boot. Lovely. What I'd really like is for new routes to interlock with existing, such as The Brighton line, or West Coastway, for the existing East Coastway, for instance. That said, it's great we have such a thing on the PS4 at all, and to such a good standard. best Scott.

The West Coast Postal, Aberdeen-Carstairs (where it joined with a portion from Glasgow) for Englandshire, is listed in the carriage working document for 1964 as: POS POS POT POT BG. It ran like that from Perth to Carstairs, arriving in Perth from Aberdeen at the head of a passenger rake of 5-7 (depending on the day of the week) coaches, which followed on a few minutes later, I believe as a stopping service to Glasgow Buchanan Street. Best Scott