Fishplate

One of the problems of laying track is there is nowhere to put all the construction 'stuff' that just gets put on the layout. So I'll start with a picture of a pretty much uncluttered East and West Yard. The loose-laid over-run to the Reception road has now been fixed down. It will also be the location for guards brakes to be dropped off from arriving goods trains, and to be picked up for attachment to future departures. First a platelayers eye view of the over-run from the Reception Road /West Yard with the mock-up of the Faversham Goods Yard Ground Frame box acting as the Reception Road and level crossing box. Some road vehicles are pretending to use the future level crossing in the distance. A general view from what will be the entrance to the East Yard: The final picture tonight is from the main lines. Last night was spent securing the wiring from some of the points in both yards, which will be continuing. . . .

Hi Adrian, many more pages of inspiration, thank you. Your video of the hut led to a previous film of yours uploading next on Youtube. Deserves another airing surely as dated 2015 . Some nice integrated public transport on it. Perhaps there is a journey from Westerham to the City in lying "in the can" on a shelf in the Shed Editing Suite . . . . . ?

Some of the gaps in the West Yard have been infilled with copper clad at the board joints during an evening last week. Yesterday saw continuation round to Yard 2, now renamed 'East Yard'. The Platelayers view of the formation from the double slip and some "before and afters" below. The East Yard formation from the south: ...and from the north: And after the permanent way has been laid. Buffer stops are on "temporary loan" from the West Yard. I'll need to find some similar when life returns to normal. The siding on the left will be for coal. There will be a yard building up against the descent. Access to the coal siding will be between the two turnouts in the picture below. The left and middle sidings will be for general goods. The one on the right will have an end loading dock. Access to the East Yard will be through a set of gates at the left hand end of the green cutting board seen in the distance. A road comes beneath the high level and over a level crossing at the bottom of the descent. I've then got a nice length to run up to the loading dock. I'm unsure whether to put the cattle dock on the same road, or have it adjacent to the siding closest to the edge of the board in the West Yard. I don't recall seeing a prototype example of a loading dock on the same road as a cattle dock. Maybe it was done somewhere? I'll be raiding the cornflake box cardboard stash and make some mock-ups to see what looks best. East Yard from the south. Road entrance will be at the bottom of the picture below. Next job is to lay the track at the over-run from the reception line (See the last picture in the Feb 12th 2019 post). That will be track laying finished in the Goods Yard area. Then lots of wiring up to be done/ completed and the control panels to be added for the Dock, the main lines and the Goods Yards. As I think I've mentioned in an earlier post, points are only fully operational (wired and moveable) in the Dock area. All wires come to a single point in a chocolate block at the moment to enable 'one engine in steam' shunting. The Up and Down line are similarly wired and temporarily rigged to enable trains to run on each line. None of the points on the main line are operational yet, only temporarily wired through to the live frog awaiting micro-switches and point rods. Track is only loose laid on the site of the Carriage sidings behind the station. This is just to store the various locos that are on them to give some running variety. And then there is the Cassette system to build on Boards 1 & 2. And the train storage to do. . . . . . . . Some way to go before I have a fully operational railway. Enjoy your modelling.

I sh ould have ended the last post with an overall picture, rather than two the same. Ooops . . . so here it is: Some of the gaps in the West Yard have been infilled with copper clad at the board joints during an evening last week. Progress has continued on the East Yard this weekend, but I'm having problems uploading this morning, so splitting into two posts to see if that works :-)

Thank you for your comment Neil

Apart from laying a yard of track to bring the runround loop next to Dock Junction and laying some underlay on Board 3 (see May 2018 post), not a lot has happened in the last 11 months for various reasons. I started off again a few weeks ago with an extension on Board 4 to acco mmodate the control panel. First photo shows the platelayers view from Dock Junction. Following a few evenings and working most of this weekend, below is the view this evening from the upper level looking across what is now the West Yard. The buffer stops are just balanced on the rails at the moment. Gaps at baseboard joints will be infilled with copper clad sleepers, as elsewhere. Some side views of the West Yard and the extended Control Panel board 4. The control panel area in the centre is blanked off for the controller and a mug at the moment.

As in clues to what is going to be manufactured after ballasters/ corrugated iron/ riveters etc. . . .☺

What treat have you instore for us now Adrian ? See you've given no clues . . . .

A lot has been happening recently, but not on Canterbury Road, so my attention has been elsewhere. Over the last few weeks I have only stuck underlay on Board 2. But today the descent to the Goods Yard has met up with the exit from the Dock. Mr Bullieds Q1 and Mr Wainwrights C Class locos pose at Dock Junction where the high level track has finally met that built on the low level. An aerial view below with a pair of buffer stops that indicate approximately where the sidings on Board 2 will finish. Sleepers left out at the board joint for copperclad to be installed either side, as elsewhere. the mock-up of the Faversham Goods Yard Signal Box just creeps into the top of the picture below. Then I loose laid a couple of lengths of track to get a feel for the sidings. . . . . . . . Then I got a bit carried away. I've been toying with this idea for a while for the layout. A few years ago I built a model of the Wagon Repair Shed at Faversham. This sits between the Up Ramsgate Line and where the turntable was in the old MPD. The building still exists today, although in an increasingly dilapidated state, as shown further below. I would like to build a model of Faversham, but it would be massive, so there is little chance of that occurring. So: Is it best to keep this model hidden in a box, or get it out and use it. . . . . . . ? Buildings built to scale are huge. So what to do. I will ponder on, as the building has a pit, which would involve some retrospective carpentry. As I think I've mentioned previously I want to use elements of Southern Railway/ SER/ LC&DR architecture. Having seen these pics on the computer the windows have 'buckled'. They were made from the plastic you get in the stiffening for shirt collars and were then scribed over a (hand-drawn) master. The internal structures for the office and mess are modelled. There are wheel stops, rather than a full buffer stop, at the Ramsgate end of the building (the end closest to the locos in the picture). There is still quite a lot to do to finish it (gutters, rainwater down pipes, finish painting, add details etc etc). Here is the original (just!) in August 2011. I also have the footprint of Faversham Goods Shed cut out. This would take up a fair part of Board 6. . . . . . The Goods Shed has been refurbished in the last few years and is now used as offices.

Descent to the Goods Yard I've been wiring up the first turnout and the plain line. Completed far enough for Q1 C21 to arrive at the railhead via permanent wiring. This extends back to the control panel location at the opposite end of the room. Pictures don't seem to show a lot of progress for several hours work over the weekend.

A bit of progress this week. Track has crossed onto Board 7, which seems to be made of rock rather than plywood. It is definitely a different composition to the other boards. Track pins don't like it at all, even with pre-drilled holes. Have had to resort to thicker (and shiny ) spikes. I think they are GEM spikes, so quite old. But they've done the trick. The Hob-Nob of the Track Fixing world, to borrow a quote from Peter Kay. Drilled the board for wires and point operation on the first turnout, which is loose laid at the moment. Hopefully a bit more progress over the weekend. Pics of progress of the railhead towards the Goods Yard attached. Had a Q1 on the downhill end of those 9 wagons. No problems in either direction, particularly propelling uphill. John

The Descent to the Goods Yard still continuing. . . . Some more progress made over the weekend. Pictures below. 1) Single switch Catch points made to protect the level crossing. The timber spacing needs correcting at the switch end, so a warts and all close up. Track loose laid at the moment round towards the level crossing site. 2) I've swapped the 'Y' point in the earlier post for a LH/ RH combination. This has better geometry into the Reception Road at the expense of having tracks running parallel to the edge of the board. All loose laid at the moment. Cheers John

The Descent To The Goods Yard continues. . . . I spent (some of) yesterday laying track on the Descent to the Goods Yard. Photos below. This includes the Peco transition piece SL113 between Code 100 and Code 75 (reasons for two types of rail in an earlier post). Having used this, I can't see the benefit of having a very short length of thick rail on thin sleepers and the same very short length of thinner rail on top of thicker sleepers. You still need to raise the Code 75 beyond that up to avoid a slope down onto the smaller construction depth of the Code 75. So lesson for next time. . . . . . use copper clad sleepers and packing. On the very small plus side, it was useful to be able to snap the wires off underneath to create a section break. But it is an expensive way to create an insulated joint. Having got most of the way round track laying on the descent, I thought I'd do a load test with a Terrier starting on the sharpest curve with 9 wagons on. I was going to upload a video, but it exceeds the 10MB limit allowed on RMWeb and i don't know how to make the video less than that. However, from a standing start on the 20" radius, shown on the first picture below, it sailed up the 1 in 60 with no problems . First experiments with 1 in 60 were just by inclining a length of wood with a yard of straight track on, which led to what has been built. Will gradually test everything to see how larger locos cope. Some stills from the video below (The letters in the first wagon spell out 'Southern' and will be fixed to the edge of the Board facing the door into the railway room. Eventually). So a new platelayers view of the descent. The gap in the sleepers on the straight is for the copper clad sleepers at the board join. So then there is the next corner and the run across Board 7 to join up with the branch to the Dock. A bit of loosely laid out track was put down to get a feel for the run across that board. First a picture showing boards 6 and 7 and the end of the track on the descent to the left and the end of the loosely positioned track on Board 7 on the right. The turnout to the reception line is just laid on top of the plain track across Board 7. This is matched with a turnout that will run up to a buffer, preventing a run through of the level crossing gates on departure from the yard. This is an equal split (Y) point which matches the 24" radius of the medium radius turnouts . This geometry allows the run-round loop to start curving towards the turnout that will give access to the dock. It also pulls the buffer stop away from the main line. This also gives a track layout that isn't just parallel to the edge of the board. My only reservation is that this is a very short turnout. Will ponder on this. Aerial view: A quick picture of how the track will swing back round onto Board 2 to join up with the track coming in from the Dock beneath the high level lines. As mentioned in a previous post, the underlay on the low level board is in the wrong position. I got carried away earlier in the build before I had built the high level lines. Hopefully it gives a general idea where the track is going. Having laid out the track, it seemed to be right to get a feel for what the level crossing area might look like with a signal cabin (see earlier post re the one borrowed from the Dock), and a road under the high level lines. So a bit of hunting around in my cupboard found the 4mm scale model of my first car, that little mini estate in that yucky green colour, and a royal mail van. The East Kent bus has nipped round from the station forecourt to bring up the rear. The plate girder was an internet find and matches perfectly one of the rail underbridges in Faversham. The girder is just balanced on the high level main lines to give a feel. Hope this is of interest. John

Thank you for your feedback Mike, and the other RMWeb members who have added their support to the my last post. John

Wide to Gauge Trap Points Some close up photos of the trap points at the end of construction, fixed in position, and compared to the photo in post#20. The traps are laid on 0.020 black plasticard to compensate for the difference between the Peco and copper clad sleeper/ timber depths. I've also replaced the white plasticard on the "outer" main line with black plasticard. I've soldered those sleepers in place either side of the board joint. The "inner" main line was previously soldered up, so remains with white plasticard until painting/ ballasting time. Drawings on the south eastern division generally have London on the left. So standing in the operating well, trains travel towards the right on the the "outer" track, so this is the Down line. The "inner" track is the Up line. Track laying to do on the descent to the Goods Yard now. Having provided trap points at the top of the incline, I guess I now need to provide catch points at the bottom of the descent to protect the level crossing gates at the bottom from any unfitted wagons that might run away. . . . . Hope this is of interest. John

Wide to Gauge Trap Points Continuing construction in the last few days. Photo of left hand stock rail below with test fitting of left hand switch blade. I'll post some more pictures of the installed Trap points later.

Descent to the Goods Yard A bit more progress. A platelayers eye view of the bottom of the descent ready for track and ballast: Setting out lines for the track at Goods Line Junction at the top of the descent: Roughly positioned track on setting out lines: Wide to Gauge Trap Points Spent an hour or so on these tonight, roughly shaping the first switch rail to match the Peco code 100 turnout:

Descent to the Goods Yard and Dock Developments Descent Boards 2, 3 and 4 completed 😀 . All underlay glued down on the full length of boards 3, 4 and 5. The bottom of the descent on board 6 has had some additional strengthening added beneath the board where this was cut. Small embankment sides have been added to the point where a retaining wall (and then arches) will start. The underlay has yet to be glued down in this area waiting for the embankment filler to go off. Pictures below. Dock Developments 1) Thames Sailing Barge A Kentish Dock obviously needs a Thames Sailing Barge. Until I went to an exhibition earlier this year I was contemplating the (distant) possibility of scratch building one. There was a new kit with a 'first pass' assembled barge on display on the stand for http://www.vintageminiaturemodels.co.uk/home/4592511205. An order quickly followed on and the kit arrived today. First job was to take the two hull sections and place in the harbour. The height of the sails will also help to solve the scenic break issue discussed in Post #9. Pictures of the hull only in the harbour attached. For (future!) comparison here is a link to a picture of a Thames sailing barge at the quayside in Faversham: https://standardquay.com/history-2/#jp-carousel-319 2) 2D/ 3D On the subject of blending 2D and 3D buildings in Post #9, I had a subsequent email shortly after that post from a friend of mine with the link to this layout https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1846 . There is some brilliant modelling on this, including blending buildings into a backscene. There was also a French based narrow gauge model I have seen on the circuit that fools the eye, but unfortunately I can't remember its name......

The Descent to the Goods Yard ~ Operation and Trap Points Hoping to continue with fixing the blocks and track bed for the descent tomorrow. Track laying on the descent will hopefully start soon after. There are quite a few baseboard joints to cross, each of which will require the copper clad sleeper treatment, dropper wires and under baseboard connections to make any future house move simpler. Whilst it takes a lot of time now, hopefully that will pay dividends in the future by not having to take a hacksaw to the track . . . . In addition there will be the transition between Code 100 on the upper level and Code 75 rail in the Goods Yard area. This will probably take place a train length into the Goods Line, just prior to or shortly after the top of the descent on the constant gradient. This will enable turn back of older rolling stock with deeper flanges on Code 100 off the main lines. As this is a Goods Line meeting a Passenger line, I am also planning on following prototype practice and laying trap points on the approach to the main line connection. Normally trap points throw trains off the line that have passed a signal at danger. They are normally positioned to throw the train to the side away from the passenger line using a standard set of switches and an extended lead off rail closest to the protected track. This is so the set of wheels furthest from the passenger line drop off the track first, allowing the train to tilt away from the passenger line. However, in this case, the railway is on a viaduct, so throwing a train away from the passenger line will direct it towards the edge of the viaduct and the parapet wall. I’ve therefore decided to create a dummy set of ‘wide to gauge’ trap points on the straight between the turnout shown below and the join from Board 7 onto Board 2, shown by the white plasticard packing/ copper clad sleeper combination (currently loose on the LH track). 'Wide to gauge' trap points are designed to drop the wheel sets into the four foot with the train staying in ‘line ahead’. They work by a more complicated point operating mechanism, using switches from a left hand and right hand set. The switches move towards each other into the four foot causing the wheels to run behind the opposing switches, along stock rails that present a widening track gauge to the wheels. The wheels then lose support and drop into the space between the switch and stock rail. The wheels then make contact with the back of the switch rails, stopping the train by a combination of friction and bouncing over baseplates. This is best shown by a picture, below, of a set of this type of trap point. There were some associated with the famous Newcastle diamond crossings. They can be seen in the bottom left hand corner on what I expect is an Up Line on the photo of the diamonds on the link here: http://scotsward-road.blogspot.com/2013/05/. The overlap distance between the protecting signal and the diamonds at Newcastle is very short, but is an example of a restricted space where throwing a train right or left would not be the best solution to prevent an incident. I will use the Peco Code 100 rail and solder up from the template for a left and right hand switch. The plan is that the switches will be soldered to the stock rail to create the dummy traps.

Descent Progress Bottom board cut and lifted to create bottom of gradient. Right hand side (Boards 5 and 6) all screwed and glued. Underlay cut for the whole descent (folded back out of the way bottom right of attached picture). Boards 2, 3 and 4 await 😀

Progress today. Bottom board on the right hand side needs to be cut and raised up 6mm where the yellow pencil is. The Descending board will then be trimmed back.

The Descent to the Goods Yard So, except for one day, I’ve finished work for the Christmas break. As the railway has developed, there have been a number of things that could be done next. Having been indecisive for long enough, and not spent any time on the railway for ages, I’ve started on the descent to the Goods Yard. Below is a "Before" picture with the proposed route. The length from the top of the gradient (see post #5, Board 2 description) to the bottom (post #5, Board 6 description) is 4000mm and the drop is 65mm. This gives a gradient of 1 in 60. Progress today shown below. The alignment boards and uprights have been cut for boards 3 and 4. As mentioned previously, if we move, this is all split so that the boards can be dismantled without too much difficulty. Hopefully more progress over the next few days.

Hi Simon. I read about Hobbiton End in the RM and have read your entire topic on here as a result over the last few weeks. What a brilliant layout. Thank you for sharing, especially for those of us outside your exhibiting radius who won't get to see it first hand. Definitely on my 'content I follow' list. John.

Goods Yard progress Posting has been a bit quiet since June as other things have needed doing. However, that hasn’t stopped attendance at some very good exhibitions over the last few months. I’d been pondering for a while the arrangements into Yard 1 and 2 and considering replacing the two turnouts shown in the sketch in post 4 with a double slip due to the space available. Revised sketch below: At one of the exhibitions I attended in August, there was a boxed unused Code 75 double slip on a trade stand at just about 50% below the new price. Having not done much more than ponder about this, I took the gamble and bought it. Then I was offered several unused turnouts in code 75 by a friend who had come to the exhibition with me (thank you David), if I could let him know what I needed. So I spent a very pleasant evening messing about with Peco templates. Below is the result of my efforts, which involve three LH SL-E187 curved turnouts and two RH SL-E186 curved turnouts. These and a medium radius turnout, shown on the left hand side of the sketch duly arrived in the post. Whilst the arrangement of curved turnouts over-runs the edge of board 4, I will be hanging the control panel off that, as described in #post 5. Yard 1 pointwork Yard 2 pointwork A panel in the centre and flat ends that the tracks can run over into the yards should work ok, with some minor adjustment to ensure point operation works. With the compression of the two turnouts into a double slip, I’ve also been able to flatten the radii into the yards. This needs a bit more refinement, with room left for the descent from the high level down to the Yards. The track underlay on the top of the slope down is on the middle left of the first picture, and the plastic curve to the left of the double slip in the second photo shows the approximate location of the descent at this point. The tightest radius into Yard 1 is 24". The two plastic railway curves off the back of the double slip are 24/25" in the first photo to indicate where the track will join up to the reception road, which can be seen on the board in the picture of Yard 1. A tighter bit of plain line (18") will get into Yard 2 off the bottom leg of the slip in photo 2. The top leg of the double slip on this side will be a short length of plain line to act as the headshunt for the Reception Road and Yard 2. This also follows prototype practice as a similar sort of diamond arrangement existed at Faversham, with one yard acting as the headshunt for the other. This can be seen on the top of the drawing here ~ https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/sre/R1748.htm

Hi Colin, Thank you for your interest and kind comments. I will put some details on of a building I have constructed in the near future. John