Johndc120

3 hours ago, stivesnick said:

Hi 

 

When did shunting of power station coal trains end? I thought the idea of the "merry go round" coal train was that shunting at loading points was avoided. Coal traffic is now very much reduced, but would be surprised if bogie coal wagons were shunted. Happy to be proved wrong.

 

Regards 

 

Nick 

It certainly was, however small scale operations still were shunted though not wagons individually like this. I got a few photos of J94s pulling 8 HAA wagons round to be filled ready to be remade into a block train

Converting wagons.

it’s the turn of 5 Bachmann HHA wagons to be converted to EM gauge. Despite what some people say it’s not always a drop in process and usually I end up cutting a bit off the break blocks to allow the wheels to fit

The photo below shows the component parts of each bogie, most of the time this can be done without dismantling to this point but on these it’s easier

With a sharp knife I have cut a 45 degree chamfer on the back of each brake block, this allows room for the EM gauge wheel to rotate freely

The bogie can now be reassembled and put back onto the wagon, all that is left to do is wait for the EM gauge wheels from H&A models

the biggest thing so far on the layout has been to convert all the wagons to EM gauge and fit them with kadees, all have gone over without much bother which is nice. The J94 and rapido hunslet are also now to EM gauge but not yet on dcc

We have just picked up the timber so will start cutting wood within the next week. hopefully it won't take long to get a baseboard build ready o get some track on it

A small Diorama based layout loading coal wagons from a conveyor/hopper.

As a bit of a break from the big layout we have looked at doing a breather layout. something small, not particularly based on anywhere but just typical of a small scale coal loading facility. we will be looking at running the last legs of industrial steam such as J94s pulling hop24 wagons and HAA wagons but also more modern HTAs with a class 08 as not much would be different from that 1980's to early 2000's

built in EM gauge with hand built track, it comprises of an arrivals road, departure road, loading point and a single siding connected to a single headshunt. the train will never fully be on scene coming from under a bridge so even with a 3' F/Y you can keep adding wagons to the back as you load others and deposit them on the departure line, scale length trains on a 5' layout 🤔

We hoping this layout will be nice and easy to operate, will be easier to exhibit and provide a use for some of our redundant stock which has been sitting in boxes for a while now

This is the track plan, the viewing side is from the top and the F/Y to the left

Sutton Locomotive works Class 25 D7552 on the sand run to Shwt this afternoon
 

8 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

Hi Nick, 

 

And indeed lovely to see you. Glad you enjoyed the mayhem ! 

 

I did indeed make it back in time for the rugger and jolly damn good it was, accompanied by a couple of beers and a chinese rake away.

 

Sheep one was unloaded this morning so all is sorted. 

 

It was indeed a really good weekend away. Due to the early start, I missed the disruption on the M5 that befell a number of the exhibitors later on Friday afternoon. 

 

Over both days,  Bleat was host to a number of Rmwebbers. Too many to name but it was lovely to meet you all and your attendance enriched the weekend most considerably. 

 

Bleat behaved itself and any hiccups were down to the owner. Jay steadied the ship on Sunday and the word of the day was 'switch'. Again, I'm indebted to him for his help. 

 

Locos ran mainly well enough. Grahame's Pannier was impeccable and both the 4F and 3F went well. The 1P could have probably done with more running in and it was lovely to chat on Saturday with Wurzel who did the original weathering job. 

 

This is a really good show. Good spread of  layouts and some new to me traders. I have no hesitation in recommebding this show held in an excelkent venue. Plenty of space to mingle and no issue in seeing the layouts or getting to the traders. 

Frankly....forget Warley. Maybe not as many traders but for layouts, Stafford is just as good with over 50 to see. Now that's half as many as Warley but without the drama of trying to see them. 

 

If not invited back for next year, I'll be going as a visitor and for someone who doesn't do big shows that's quite something. 

 

I'll leave with a shot of Jay and Tortters..  

 

 

Rob

If not invited back next year we may well call on your services for operating and assisting with Shwt!

we had a fantastic weekend and as always good to see you! 
 

John

On 19/09/2023 at 07:06, NHY 581 said:

Indeed it should. I'm taking my time trundling over so an earlyish start on the Friday..........coming back will be a different kettle of fish !! 

 

Rob. 

I think we’ll be doing the same, slowly make our way over once the Newport traffic has calmed down. Grab lunch somewhere and not be in a rush

19 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

 

See you there ! 

 

Rob

 

 

Should be a good weekend!

Our next outing!! Looking forward to it although we’d better get the layout out and give it a test! 

Tonight’s work has been to copy (with some modeller’s licences) a drainage channel which takes water from a small drain above which will run alongside the farm lane into an underground culvert.

The real this is on a disused section of the Penarth to Cadoxton line and it collects water from a low point in the fields above and directs it into the drainage cess on the south side

This certainly inspired us to think about drainage more seriously on the layout as it’s not often modelled

Last night we made good progress with the ballasting, we managed to get the ballast in and tamped down on the platform line and also the first section of the concrete pot sleepers

They make for an interesting track design and I’m glad we included them, once the ballast is glued we’ll add the tie bars which will hopefully make them look more like a track system rather than just 2 rails

I know the previous photos have disappeared so here’s the process of building the catch pit (seen in previous post) and our inspiration for doing it this way.

this is the prototype I found, I’ve since forgotten where it actually was but it shows a fairly flat brick built design with drainage channels built into it and longitudinal sleepers fitted into it for attaching the chairs

I started out making the overall shape using white plasticard, slots were then put in for the timbers which I just used the same turnout timbers left over from building the points

on top of the plain plasticard I then attached a sheet of brick to give the detail to the gully ways

Once this way stuck solid I could then build up the other areas with an extra layer of brick and this gave the illusion of gully’s or drainage channels

The sleepers could then be glued in situ and the chairs attached to this to complete it.

being a large flat structure it started to curve up quite quickly so this was one of the first bits to be glued onto the cork with evo stick 

More ballasting tonight, this time at the platform end and around the drainage pit for the cattle dock. It looks quite different now the ballast has come up to be level with it
 

Continuation of track ballasting last week. The point rodding looks a bit better now it’s ballasted in correctly along with the track
 

On 13/06/2023 at 20:54, lezz01 said:

What did you use for the rods themselves? Are they square or round? Soz my mince pies ain't what they used to be.

Regards Lez.

I’ve used round as that is what would have been correct for GWR rodding. The U shaped square channel appeared much later on the western

On 13/06/2023 at 20:04, Tortuga said:

Your comparison shot of Wills vs Modelu rodding earlier in the build convinced me to use the Modelu products for Alsop. Have you used their other rodding bits and pieces on Elmore or 3D printed your own?

 

Also, would it be really cheeky to ask you to check my rodding diagram for Alsop?

Not Cheeky at all, of course I don’t mind 👍🏼

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

That photo is a very convincing argument for not using Wills rodding on my next layout!

 

don’t get me wrong the Wills stuff is good and a great starting point for anyone who is new to it but it also creates more problems along the way. You try squeezing 3 rods of wills down this bridge which in is relatively easy to do on the prototype!

you’ll run into the same problem going inside a platform face too. But for a single rod somewhere or a twin and you’re not constrained by space it’s a good representation 

2 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

As a former member and having had the privilege of working on same for about a month in Exeter way back in 1980 I want to comment on just how excellent a job John has done.  I never knew him professionally (although ‘I know a man who does’) and the first time I saw one of his location case 3D prints it was clear that he had excellent (inside) knowledge of the subject.

Well done.

Paul.

Thank you Paul, although I’m hastened to mention it’s not just me building the layout, it is a collaborative effort from 4 of us. However being the S&T man I did want to get this layout right, I have previously built layouts and always been let down by this side of the hobbies as there’s not a lot on the market.

Then modelu started producing their rodding stools and just took things to a new level! The last layout I did was done with Wills point rodding kits, this photo shows the scale difference between them (which is obviously a manufacturing restriction on the Wills side)

This is just 3 rods, just imagine what the difference would be if you were 6, 8 or 10 rods wide! 
 

After going down this route the next obvious step was to produce the cranks taken straight from the BR mechanical drawings. Following this the whole thing has spiralled to the point I now have produced FPL locks, point machines, concrete legs, an array of Western region location cases and much much more!

John

2 minutes ago, Nick C said:

That's always a problem! While I'm not a professional, I've found that ever since I became a heritage railway signalman I've been very much aware of layouts with wrong/no signalling... Once you know, it always stands out!

To me a layout with no signalling or point rodding looks bare, that said as long as someone has a go with point rodding I’m not about to say ‘that wouldn’t go there or that’s not correct as it needs to be a few yards that way or this way!’ An attempt at it is very much appreciated and that’s good enough for people’s layouts. However I wanted mine to be as close as I can get it!!