Chawn Park

Close coupled old Graham Farish 158 DMUs A few photos of the Graham Farish 158 DMUs modified as per last posted information. Below the DMU departs platform 2 at Chawn Park Below further along the upper main track passing the first of the steelworks buildings.

Mind the Gap ! Close coupling old Graham Farish DMUs Trying to improve the appearance of some very old Graham Farish models I found the following simple solution after making a few experiments with different options. My N Scale Chawn Park layout has some very tight curves with radius of around only 229mm ( 9 inch ) but I wished to close the gap between the coaches to the minimum that would still allow reliable operation on such tight radius curves. Below photo shows one of the converted units standing at platform 4 on my layout. Below photos shows how the standard Rapido coupling system was modified. First remove the bogies from each car. Then cut off the Rapido coupling hook part from the coupling molding just leaving the main arm. See photos. On the reaming arm I drilled a small hole into which a fine wire can be inserted to form a link to the next coupling. The coupling link is simply a bent U shaped piece of wire. The gap between cars is determined by the size of the U shaped wire link. I experimented with different lengths / gaps between cars to find the minimum that would still allow reliable operation around my very tight curves and operate through crossings, meaning for example left and right hand points mounted back to back forming crossover between tracks. Remember when testing try both directions of travel, since I found a slight difference in results between pulling and pushing. With this system I found it best just to place a "pair of coupled bogies" on the track, then drop the car body onto the bogies, since handling a pre-coupled unit without damaging the fine wire link is not easy with a two car set and almost impossible with a 4 car or more unit. Below, a example of the adjusted gap between cars. Increasing the diameter of the main central bogie pivot hole just a small amount ensures free rotation of the bogies on curves and points and is recommended when running with just the body weight holding everything in place. Get everything correct and you can obtain reliable operation with reduced gaps between cars. For the powered car it is slightly different, since you cannot just drop the body onto a removed bogie. With the powered cars I cut away the Rapido hook and drilled hole in exact same way but the wire connecting hook needs to remain in place connected to the power car and is simply hooked into the corresponding loose bogie of the next car. On some Graham Farish bogies I added a small amount of tape ( I just used some black electrical insulation tape ) to cover any slots or holes into which the wire coupling arm may snag. Thin plastic card or other methods would also work, the trick is just to block any locations where the wire link may snag and jam. I made the cover wider than just the Farish moulding to ensure the coupling wire arm cannot snag when it swings wider than the base moulding and catch on the top edges. It has been a few years since I close coupled the first of these DMUs and I have been surprised the electric tape used has remained in place, I was expecting to need to glue a plastic cover strip into this location. Maybe the only negative with this simple solution is that a different method is used when handling trains on and off the track. In my case the stock is hardly ever removed from the layout, only for servicing or repairs thus I find this acceptable. The weight of each car has found to be sufficient to hold everything in place during operation.

Nightlife, around Chawn Park station A few different photos today, away from the trains, a look around the area close to the main station building. First photo is a view along high street. On the right hand side are the buildings forming Chawn Park station. Outside a couple of travellers wait near the bus stop. The traffic in the background and complex arrangement of buildings all combine to build the scene representing a typical large town center. All buildings are illuminated and the interior detail of the station self service cafe can be seen through the windows on the right hand side of this image. The use of yellow LEDs to light the station cafe help create the night time atmosphere. Outside the station building the road sign is illuminated with SMD LEDS, the two posts supporting the sign are made from thin copper wire thus also provide needed connections and avoid need for separate wires. The ambulance on the left is a standard Oxford Diecast model but is fitted with working flashing blue lights. On my long list of ideas to further develop the model is the task of adding working head / tail lights to the cars, at least to the ones that are not parked. Below another view along the front of the station buildings. The postal sorting building is at the far end of this complex, with van loading bays in the yard behind adjoining the railway. The same travellers are still waiting by the bus stops, looks like the bus service is not that frequent since they have been standing here for a few years now ! The next photo is a view of the pedestrian crossing directly outside the main station entrance. More of the illuminated shop windows can be seen in the background of this photo. The shop window displays are on different circuits to lights in rooms on upper floors, thus the lighting effect can be changed to suit different times during the day. Most of the street signs are just short lengths of copper wire fitted with signs simply cut from photo prints. These may not be the best models of street furniture but I find it is more important that the scene looks complete. The clock in the middle of the crossing needs a resistor adding into its circuit to reduce the brightness. Directly opposite the pedestrian crossing I have modelled a branch of Woolworths, every town center seemed to have a branch of Woolworths during the period modelled. Next a close up photo showing the side elevation of Woolworths. The side street has a slope which makes model building construction more difficult but I think the final result is better than a flat baseboard. This section of buildings lifts up to allow access to the tracks below. A small gap can sometimes be seen between the street level and pavement due to bending of the models baseplate which has occurred over time. Note the detailed Woolworths shop windows ( which are fitted with working LED lights ) these window displays are just parts cut from photos and a few figures added representing a clothing display, so quite quick to model. The wall lights each side the main entrance door work, plus I have a working flashing red light on the very small alarm box. This is simply a small fiber optic cable bringing light from a red LED hidden in the building. Outside on the pavement the post box is a white-metal casting, painted and detailed. Below. I added a pound coin in this photo to confirm small size. Maybe this represents a later time period when Poundland started to move into some of the old Woolworths buildings on the typical high street ! Another view showing the Woolworths building. The gap between pavement needs attention, this is due to the buildings base not being totally flat but I cannot glue the assembly in place since I remove this set of building to access tracks below. I need to invent a better hold system for this group of buildings, maybe use of magnets? For now the parked cars help to hind the gap. A slightly different view of the main street with more of the illuminated shop fronts forming the background. Below photo. From the opposite side of high street looking back towards the station entrance. The moped rider needs to take care when the van turns right. Road works in the left hand hand land are resulting in some traffic flow issues. Below photo Same area as previous photo from a higher viewpoint, the lights in Woolworths are now off so the store is closed, but rooms in the upper floors are illuminated. Over the crossing the station entrance is illuminated. A view inside the station self service cafe, as seen from the outside on the first photo. This is simply modelled from a few scraps of card. It is 25 years since this model station was build so I assume the food must be past the sell by dates ! Below photo. On the other side of the main station building, stairways leading down to the platform buildings on the lower level, these are illuminated and have been shown in previous photos I have posted. However note how the platforms continue under the main building allowing long trains to be accommodated. These sections of platform under the main building are normally illuminated at all times the layout is operated. Remember this is N Scale so most of the defects seen in the photos are hardly noticeable to me when I am operating the layout, I am still adding to the layout and most important enjoying it. Anyway I hope this little look at another part of my layout may be of interest. Vic

A few more photos Vic

Rain during most of today here in the Midlands resulted in the opportunity to spend some time running Chawn Park. Disappointing start to todays operations, one of the automatic fiddle yards was not reliable in operation, after investigation a dry joint was found on a point motor connection. Re-soldering the joint quickly solved the issue. The point motor in question was installed over 25 years ago, I think the original solder flux used may have resulted in long slow corrosion of the connection. Credit to these simple Peco point motors, they are reliable in operation when correctly installed and adjusted. In all these years I have not needed to replace a point motor and only one Peco point has failed over the many years this layout as existed. After sorting the point motor, I left the layout running in automatic mode for several hours. No derailments, no failed locos all worked well. So I am very pleased the layout and stock can be reliable in automatic mode. Leaving the layout running in automatic mode allows me to enjoy the layout whilst progressing other work on the layout. A few photos attached, enjoy. Vic

Freight on Chawn Park Below a few photos of a selection of freight train movements. The ARC Amey Roadstone train was placed in the loop to allow another service to pass. Here is the train which passed, following this movement the stone train held in the loop regained access the main line. On the higher level train of cargo twins rolls through Chawn Park station. Back on the lower level, the main line is clear again allowing an 08 shunter to run around a train of tube wagons which it just moved into the loop alongside the main line. Finally a pair of 08 shunters leave, back to refuelling point in next town.

New retaining walls and cutting. Another photo of the layout section with the recently fitted retaining walls. This part of the layout is still work in progress. It is not often I take photos from the back of the layout, maybe I need to obtain a background print to use when taking such photos. Finally in this quick post, photo of pair of 08`s passing through the area shown in first photo.

N Scale Ballasting. Thanks for the comment about ballasting, according to my records the track was ballasted over 25 years ago! I found I still have some spare bags, see photo below. Ballast is by Green Scene, 2mm ballast, code GS1 408 Light grey. According to a quick internet search this product is still available. Ballast was laid dry, spread with care between sleepers, light misted with water a few times until it became quite wet. If you do not take care at this stage, building up the misting in steps the ballast will move resulting in more work to clean it up later. When quite wet then a PVA water mix was added and allowed to dry. After this I added another PVA water mix to ensure ballast is really solid. Even after extreme care with pre-misting and light application of PVA / Water mix, some of the ballast always seems to move, thus a lot of time was spent scraping and cleaning. Largest error I made was not to spray the Peco track sleepers before ballasting, but being my first ever model railway I made many errors, thus I have long list of things I would do differently "next time". The sleepers look very plastic so weathering the track is on the to do list. I found a couple of photos showing the track just after ballasting and before I cleaned and smoothed it. Quality of my camera was not so good all those years ago, but the old photos do show some details of the baseboard construction which is mainly using birch plywood. I remember construction was delayed since the Peco code 55 track which I have used was available quite some time before the points, so I waited a long time before trackwork could be finished.

New section about construction of Chawn Park layout just posted in the Chawn Park Building's section informing about the new retaining walls and tunnel entrance at right hand end of the layout. See below for location of post. Click on top right hand arrow below to follow link to the information posted.

RETAINING WALLS. New constructions on Chawn Park N Scale model railway. Development of Chawn Park model railway continues, the right hand end of layout is not often shown in photographs posted on this site due to need to finish construction. After long delay I am able to report some further progress. To hide the exit of the tracks at the right hand end of the layout and place the very tight 180 deg curves out of normal viewing, both pairs of main lines enter tunnels. Along the approach to these tunnels surrounding ground level rises thus a tapered retaining wall is needed. Below photo shows the area being developed. To speed up the construction I selected items from the Metcalfe Models card kit range. Tunnel entrance and retaining walls are constructed from standard Metcalfe parts, these have been simply adapted to fit the space. Below the start of the process, assembly of the Metcalfe wall away from the layout. A template with the profile of the retaining wall was marked out on thin cardboard, this template will also act as a backing plate to join the various Metcalfe sections into a single structure. I needed more height than the standard parts in the kit, thus the wall will be extended according to the design sketched in pencil using scraps from unused kit parts. Below after adding the extra height and some weathering. All edges of the cardboard parts have been painted to hind the white edges. Next step before installing the wall was to construct a drainage culvert for the tunnel and cutting. It is not easy to even see the bottom of the cutting, but I still thought it would add to the model since I make every effort to avoid the flat baseboard effect. Below photo shows the culvert which runs alongside the tracks, the tall retaining wall shown above will be fitted later on the right hand side. The low wall is being held in place by the two temporary card spacers allowing glue to dry. Water was added later after these photos using two part epoxy resin. Below a photo after installing the wall. Sorry I did not get the lighting correct when I took this photo but it shows the arrangement of all the walls, the different ground levels and the location of the culvert in base of cutting. Still more details need to be added but this part of the layout now looks much more acceptable than the open wooden baseboards. To finish this post, a view from front of layout ( Sorry just noticed foreground is out of focus ). This view through the trees with the top of the retaining wall forming the boundary of the railway shows how many different levels exist in this area. In the background my model of the steelworks buildings. A am sure more photos will follow as layout development continues. Enjoy Vic

Steelworks traffic. N Scale Also a few photos of some freight train movements featuring the same pair of class 37 shown in other recent posts. With every photo I see need to improve the details, but that is the fun of developing a layout. Vic

NSE in N Scale. Running night on Chawn Park with NSE stock. A selection of photos taken at various locations around my layout. Enjoy Vic

Photo showing two old Graham Farish class 47 locos. These have been running on my Chawn Park model railway for many years, several gears failed and needed replacement, but after replacement of broken gears these old locos still run fine even at very low speeds. No working lights on these old models, no DCC control or sound, but I still operate them. They have just received a quick wheel and pick-ups clean and have been running today. It is only when they are placed next to more recent GF models then they show how the quality of ready to run models have advanced over the years that I have been developing and enjoying my layout. Well done and thank you to the team at Graham Farish. Vic

A few new photos, tonight the track gang are out working on the exchange sidings

Model Trees Found a new supplier for model trees at the Warley National show this weekend, Primo Models https://primomodels.co.uk/ It was nice to meet a new supplier, they were very helpful and I wish them success. The trees are very nicely made and individually packed in nice cardboard boxes which give good protection to all the fragile branches and foliage. I have just been experimenting placing a nice pine tree amongst some of my existing trees. A few photos are attached. The tall pine between the two main lines is the new addition. I also placed one along the front of the layout, I am not yet totally sure where I fill finally plant it, I will wait and test a few more ideas to fine tune what works best before final planting ( glue to baseboard ) This new pine tree is is quite tall but correct size for N gauge, using good section of tree height gives a greater impression of depth and distance. I have noted a lot of layouts with very small trees but I think getting the height of trees at realistic levels helps the overall image of a layout. I understand they do block the view of trains but are also useful for blocking parts of a layout you wish to hide. I have several other which I purchased which will be planted soon ! Enjoy Vic