61656

That looks fantastic. What method do you use for ballasting? You’ve certainly created the feel of a long open mainline.

That’s sort of in my mind. Originally I wanted the station to look a little like Huddersfield, but I think I prefer a sort of Wolverhampton feel. The problem with either is that the mantle piece is a scale 60 feet in the air! I also need to think about the uncoupling of locos before I cover all the tracks.

After almost 2 years in storage it was time to unbox a lot more stock, and to take a couple of pictures whilst I was at it. The pictures highlight the need to paint some very shiny soldered joints and to get some backscenes in place. The latter is going to be quite tricky where the fireplace is as the mantel overhangs the ends of platforms 3 and 4. First photo shows the 03 shunting some coaches in platform 2, with the TPO set in platform 4. The 03 isn’t a great runner, so I quickly stripped it down to look at the pick ups. In line with a lot of new Bachmann stuff they are disappointing. I have managed to get them to make slightly better contact with the wheels, but I suspect they’ll need replacing. The next photo is of the shed area. If you like a Sulzer... I have quite a few Metcalfe kits to make up to create a brewery on the right hand side here. An overall view of the temporary fiddle yards. As I have already run out of space (how does this happen?), I’ll need to get the Crewe end done quickly. Finally, a couple of shots of the electric stabling, showing just how good the modern electrics are, at least in terms of looks (both only picked up on one bogie out of the box, which I suppose is at least consistent). A final shot with a quick mock up of the bridge at the Crewe end. This area will be quite built up and the railway contained within damp and grim retaining walls.

Pretty much a year to the day since I started building the layout properly and 45048 pulls the first passenger train out of Christleton destined for North Wales. Here it is making its way back from the very makeshift fiddle yard, with a 33 and celebrity class 40 on the fuel point. Much to the delight of the end of platform enthusiasts, the 40 has made its way to White Lane carriage sidings ready to set back on to the coaches. As the whistler disappears towards Chester, the peak follows the set down the platform to await the shunt signal to the loco holding line before moving back to Bluebeck shed. Something of a brave move as a 47 hauls a container train out of the yard towards Holyhead. The boxes aren’t fixed to the container flats yet! I’m not a fan of how bright the high intensity lights are. I may disconnect or maybe use a filter to tone it down. The freightliner heads West past the site of White Lane carriage sidings which can now be laid. A very satisfying end to the day! It should be quite quick now to provide some more makeshift sidings for the Warrington and Crewe directions and then some serious running can commence to really test the track laying. A good friend of mine accurately describes a part finished model railway as a millstone around your neck; this is the point that I put the millstone down. Let the good times commence!

And then there were 5! The fifth board was constructed this evening, a relatively complex shaped board that will have the carriage sidings and the pairs of northbound lines on them, including the transition to the Chester fiddle yard. I like to cut the top first to get the shape right and then build up a kit of parts so that I can put it together in one. The first photo shows all the parts laid out ready for assembly. Next up, the finished board seen from underneath. It’s ridiculously complicated for what is essentially a rectangular layout. If you find yourself building a baseboard of this shape, it’s probably time to ask yourself how your life got you to here. It’s undoubtedly the sign of something a lot more serious. Luckily there are any number of websites where you can share pictures and other apparently normal humans will make you feel like this is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Whatever you do, just don’t let your other half catch you taking a picture of it. It makes a lot more sense fitted alongside board 4. I opted against the gradient idea, as I worked out it would be at most 750mm losing as much as 7.5mm, so barely noticeable. I briefly thought about raising the height of the carriage sidings before I remembered that not all the coaches have handbrakes(!). It’s very tempting to lay some track so that I can run a short train in and out of the station, but I will wait and build the rest of the boards for this end first.

A couple of hours this weekend enabled me to build the Supporting frames for the Chester end fiddle yard and the through Warrington lines. If I get the pointwork right I should be able to have 6 roads; at least 2 will be long enough for a loco plus 7 and the rest a loco plus 6. The Warrington lines will cut in front of the Chester fiddle yard and over a lifting section before joining the Crewe end yard. There should be enough space for a little scenic section before the lifting part. I am toying with the idea of having the Chester lines climb a small gradient as they come up to the junction. I need to see if there’s enough space before the fiddle yard points to make it worthwhile. It would allow a heavy freight to apply some power once the junction signal clears. One of the best bits of a model railway is envisaging a loco you don’t own pulling trucks you haven’t got along a line you’ve not built! I think I’ll also need to take some precautions to stop the evening sun fading any stock stored in the yard. It doesn’t really come into the room too much, but probably not wise to leave things in the sun for too long.

I had rather hoped to post a video of the first loco running across all 4 boards, however it’s too big to upload direct and I have managed to lock myself out of my Youtube account! So with rather less pomp than envisaged, I have completed the wiring on all 4 boards and it is now probably much more complete in terms of wiring than I got to with the previous version. A little frustrating not to be able to meaningfully run trains yet, but building fiddle yards seems a less daunting task than wiring the layout. I’ll probably start with the Chester yard as that will allow a lot of the layout to be run as a simple end to end. There will also be some photos to come as I start to get some more stock out - the boards shouldn’t need to come apart again, so no reason not to. In the meantime, here’s a shot of all 4 boards back together again. The 47 is in platform 3 and a 7 coach set in platform 4. I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit this length in the fiddle yard though.

I had rather hoped to post a video of the first loco running across all 4 boards, however it’s too big to upload direct and I have managed to lock myself out of my Youtube account! So with rather less pomp than envisaged, I have completed the wiring on all 4 boards and it is now probably much more complete in terms of wiring than I got to with the previous version. A little frustrating not to be able to meaningfully run trains yet, but building fiddle yards seems a less daunting task than wiring the layout. I’ll probably start with the Chester yard as that will allow a lot of the layout to be run as a simple end to end. There will also be some photos to come as I start to get some more stock out - the boards shouldn’t need to come apart again, so no reason not to. In the meantime, here’s a shot of all 4 boards back together again. The 47 is in platform 3 and a 7 coach set in platform 4. I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit this length in the fiddle yard though.

Another little milestone as a 47 becomes the first traction unit to run on board 4. Also the first time that the double junction has been operational - on the last layout it never got wired up. Quite a bit of testing and fettling to do on this board and then I can start on the comparatively easy board 1. There’s a real chance of there being a model railway here soon.

Here’s the first wires for two of the points on board 4. The normal and reverse of these points are different, hence the feeds to the coils are swapped relative to one another. Each motor is labelled on the board (and then covered with wires) and the feed wires have beads to identify them.

Sometimes you can’t see what’s right in front of you... To avoid issues with switch blades failing to make contact I wired all the sidings individually, which of course makes the issue at the crossing vee come about. Gapping the rails after the vee should sort that. As the 03 will have a match truck and the 08 will only circulate for running in, I’m wondering if I can live with dead frogs now the short circuit issue can be solved. Certainly the set track curved points give a lot more storage potential.

As I crack on with the wiring for board 4 in the deluded belief that this one will be much quicker, I’ve started to think a little bit about the fiddle yard. I’ve not given the yards much thought yet other than where they are going to be. On the last incarnation I never got further than a couple of temporary loops. They did help me learn a few useful things: 1. I run it much more often as an end to end layout, only occasionally making use of the continuous runs. The Chester yard will be 6 dead end sidings. The Crewe to Warrington will be a mix of through and terminal sidings. I can have about 12 lines in terms of width, but I think the length for points will be the limiting factor. 10 sidings of which 4 are through and 3 terminals for each way should be ok. 2. I didn’t like dead frog points. The 08 didn’t like them and occasionally a wheel would short out on where the live rails are too close. Unfortunately the access to the yards is too tight to use Peco’s code 75 live frog curved points, leaving the code 100 set track dead frog as the only real option. Hmmm. I guess I could build some... 3. Initially I thought I’d want to be hands-free, but you end up spending more time shunting the yard than running the layout, so I’m happy with hand shunting the locos from end to end.

I can’t work out why it looks better as it’s basically the same track. I think the boards being stiffer helps. Track painting will largely be undertaken by contractors Rattle and Can. It’s just the rails on the concrete sleepers that you’ll need to do.

They already are to an extent. Under the boards most wires are beaded to identify them. Every wire is identifiable by type due to the coloured sleeves, and the terminations at each end are labelled or indexed.

That’s the annoying attention to detail that means we will get on well. It’s tidy enough and more importantly feels like it is robust.

With a lot more work than was expected, the alcove was finally sorted and dry-lined. This meant I could crack on with the final bits of panel wiring. There was quite a bit of messing about getting all the final wires done and then I was ready for testing. I spent a couple of evenings bell testing every combination I could think of, which proved its worth in identifying a couple of errors, but nothing serious. I also did quite a bit of wire pulling to confirm soldered joints and screwed terminals were all firm. I then spent a further evening just with the point motor supply connected checking the throw of all the points and confirming that each frog switched polarity correctly. This led to a satisfying evening using the class 40 to test everything for real, with everything working at the first time of asking. Compared to the previous board there was a lot less fettling required with the file to sort out dodgy soldering. Possibly the first time in my career that a lesson has been learnt rather than merely repeated! The first photo show the connectors that my father found, which have proved to be a real time saver. They are labelled as WMRC but otherwise have no clues as to origin; I suspect a special item manufactured by a clever club member somewhere. It’s meant all the traditional white terminal blocks have been replaced. Next up is the panel during end to end testing. It was surprisingly quick and easy to give everything a test. Finally the two wired boards are connected together and the peak’s headlights confirm that the track is live. There’s a lot of work to paint the track to make it more visually appealing, but that’s low down the job list at the moment. Finally a close up shot; I’m quite happy with how the trackwork stands up to close inspection. More importantly the slips seem to allow smooth running, which is the ultimate aim of the exercise. There’s enough track now to run a few locos about, but it’s like a tantalising trailer for the full feature film that isn’t out yet. I need to knock up some legs for the panel which will free-up the work bench ready for the next board. Number 4 is up next, which has the second highest number of point ends (11, against 17 on board 3) and no double slips. I have even allowed myself to start thinking about building the next baseboards!

What you might called an evening of mixed fortunes! I’ve managed over the last week to steadily progress the panel wiring and tonight saw the last wires soldered up. Next stage is to give it a test to ensure that everything is configured correctly. It’s not quite as messy as I thought it was going to be! Now all that remains is to connect the terminal blocks to some d-type connectors. Luckily my father found he had 6 pairs of 25 way d-types with screw connectors and 6 x 3m cables - just the ticket and it should save a few hours of soldering. They are in the post so I should be able to get them connected next weekend. With a little time available at the end of the evening, I decided to pull the boards all out and give the inside of the alcove a coat of stain stop to neaten it all up. Luckily I took all the boards and few bits of stock to the other end of the room first. I’m normally quite fastidious about painting, but as this will hardly be seen I decided a quick wire brush would be more than enough. I’d just finished off and was about to open the paint, when I suspected I could see a slight bulge in the ceiling of the alcove. This is no surprise given how much water has been able to penetrate (the room above needs taking right back to brick work). So I gave it a little tap... The alcove ceiling is at most 600mm by 300mm, the floor above barely 100mm higher, so the debris must have been stored at 3 or 4 times atmospheric pressure to explain the volume that came down, including a former squirrels nest, a former mouses nest and 2 former mice. At this point I should have been grateful for being the anal sort of chap who has lids for all his storage crates; sadly I was regretting being the lazy kind of spoon that keeps the lids handily underneath the crates... Luckily a ceiling collapse is a clear contravention of rule 23.3b, meaning that beer was allowed to be opened to assist with the next hour of clearing up. It should be possible to fix it with some plasterboard quite easily, and compared to the alternative of it falling on the railway, probably a bit of a let off!

Great pictures. I love the Ivatt 4, a loco I have fired countless times. That roof between tender and loco looks just as lethal on your model as on the real thing! You do need a good dose of oil around the tender tank filler cap - no-one ever cleans there and it always catches you out (usually with a crowd on-looking). Hopefully we’ll catch up soon! Andy

I think I’ve seen pictures later than that, particularly for relief services. For regular services outside of Scotland that sounds about right. I’m trying to think if the class 40s still had boilers until withdrawal, which would have seen steam heat until Jan 85. My 1987 Platform 5 (which is theoretically correct for January 87, so a useful record for 1986) has about 20 locos still boiler fitted. All are 37s or 47s at Eastfield (Glasgow), plus 40122 and oddly the departmental class 24 - maybe for testing or just possibly for use with an inspection saloon? Certainly all the 45/0s had their boilers isolated before then.

A little more progress on the panel wiring. I was pretty pleased with the neat run of terminal blocks down the right hand side for the point drives, until I realised the massive flamingo-up*, resulting in the extra pair stuck out on their own. Oh well. I also remembered just in time that some points need some counter-conditional locking on them; both sets of 3 way points (to prevent the switch blades pushing against each other) and the pair for the double junction (to try to prevent short circuiting on the diamond crossing). I’ll probably do it for the sole trap point too (for reasons connected with questionable sanity). Essentially each point is driven by a DPDT switch that simply reverses the polarity, normal being +24V and reverse is -24V. For most points the lower connectors are normal (+-) and the top ones are reverse (-+). By feeding one set off the centre connectors of another point’s DPDT terminals you can prevent unwanted point combinations. I can sketch this out if anyone really wants to see how it works. I’ve actually taken the feed off the terminal blocks, which are easier to get 2 wires into than soldering 2 wires onto a switch’s terminal. This will need properly testing before connecting to the point motors (see earlier reference to flamingoes). I think that’s 84 of 216... * like a cock-up, only bigger.

It’s been a while to say the least - I don’t think I’ve ever been as busy as during lockdown. A combination of work, home schooling and a crazy desire to get on with renovating the house has left me with very little time for the railway. At least one of the jobs I’ve managed to do on the house though is to sort the small roof leak (there’s no such thing as a small roof leak), which was managing to allow water two flights downstairs and several lateral metres to reveal itself. This means the growing brown stain in the alcove should hopefully have finished growing. Yesterday I managed to set aside most of the afternoon and evening to finish the wiring on board 3 and start the temporary control panel. Eventually (ha) I’ll have a nice NX style panel with full route setting, but I always intended something less ambitious to allow trains to run. The inability to go buy the parts I need actually ended up making the job even simpler, as I have just used an offcut of MDF, which happens to be in Eau de Nil. The switches are in, except one, I miss calculated the number I needed. They are all either 3PDT or 4PDT; effectively a DPDT to operate the point motor and then either an SPDT or DPDT to switch the frogs. It all looks quite neat until you work out it needs 216 wires soldering up. I always pre-tin the terminals with solder and I’m using the rubber sleeves again to ensure there are no stray strands to cause short circuits. The one switch I got wrong is for the double junction, I forgot that the diamond crossing also needs wiring. Luckily Farnell are still dispatching switches. The big earth blocks make really good busbars when you have 34 feeds off each one too. I’ve got 68 of the wires done and it’s not a complete rats’ nest yet! Roll on that no heat Peak.... (I think it would be no heat by 1986, I don’t know when steam boilers were isolated, but I think earlier than 86, at least south of the border).

I’ve managed to find a few hours recently to get on with the wiring for board 3, which is obviously the second board to be wired! I’m a big believer in learning from mistakes and if you read this thread there’s a lot to learn; indeed the net savings you’re making just by following along almost certainly justifies that loco purchase you’ve been mulling over. I decided that my revised point motor wiring would have sufficient oomph to move all 4 blades of a double slip with a single motor, but thought I best try it first. I should probably have tried it on a single end before fitting new single tie-bars to each slip. One failed trial later and I gained the opportunity to take out and refit double tie-bars at each end of 3 slips, 12 in total. That set back behind me though and the rest of the wiring has gone well so far. All 20 point ends (which make up 8 sets) on this board are now wired and tested. A few ends needed tweaking to get them to move nicely, but overall it was all straightforward. Next up is the frog wiring and then all the track feeds. This is far and away the most complex board, so I’ll be glad to see the back of it. I need to start thinking about a temporary panel to control the points as it will interface directly to this board, I think it will be a simple (i.e. unnecessarily complicated) mimic panel, with just point controls for the moment. It would be great to be sharing pictures of a no-heat peak on a coast-bound relief service formed of a scratch rake of mark 1’s, but you’ll just have to imagine that for yourself for now.

What a great layout - definitely inspirational and the weathering of the locos and stock is superb. I also take some solace from your timescales, it makes me feel so much better about my own progress! Looking forward to the next meeting now, although I guess work is out of the window.

Time for the first update of the year, prompted by Coronach's post.... Having been full of enthusiasm for modelling in what is now referred to as Twixtmas, I was fortunate to have a few days away with Mrs 61656 in Chester. We spent a very enjoyable day drinking our way around the city, managing to drop in to Chester Model Centre along the way before finding the just as excellent Cavern of the Curious Gnome. I recommend both and I'm still not entirely sure which one took more money off me. Suffice it to say I managed to acquire both the least and most powerful locos running on the network in 1986 (I think, although I now wonder if an APT power car had more horses). I'm sure you can work them out / prove me very wrong. When I returned home for a quick run on the 5 feet of available track, the wind was somewhat knocked out of my sails when both locos ran terribly. It was one of those moments of shear deflation. I had been slowly building myself up for a return to action, when unexpectedly in a work meeting this week I noticed the "gentleman" next to me (gentleman is a broad term and only loosely associated with signal engineers) was pursuing RMweb. We'd hardly started the tentative "you too?" discussion when before we knew it about 6 people were all confessing to be signed up members. The closet door was well and truly off its hinges! Suitably inspired by the ensuing conversation I had a great evening sorting both locos out and a handful of track issues with the end result that all works well and I'm ready to face up to putting off wiring the next board.

It's a handy trick, not least because the sleeves don't like sliding alongside each other, but also it will confirm beyond doubt that cheap washing up liquid is much lower quality.