Martin S-C

I have not found a signal diagram or clear track diagram of Hunstanton in steam days. Do you know of one? I have tidied up the mimic diagram by shortening it overall, better aligning the main line and branch curves at the east end and adding dummy catch points to the egress from loco shed and carriage sidings. I now need to study again the very helpful lever frame numbering list that @Nick C supplied to me last year and with the model track now laid full size I can get a better grasp of train movements and the most convenient numbering of levers. A couple of questions regarding (dummy) ground signals. I plan to model these using early rotating GW style so they need to be positioned correctly even though they'll have no associated levers. I take it that locos being released from Plats 3 & 4 and running to the loco shed would obey the platform end starting signals for such moves and would not have ground signals, or else they'd be passing a signal at danger. Likewise light engines leaving Plats 1 & 2, though these two platform moves will need a reversal into platform 3 or 4 (most probably 4). Thus I'd need a ground signal placed somewhere near the green dot to control this reversal. Is that correct? Or would there be a full sized arm somewhere further back where the yellow dot is to control such moves? Or would locomotives travel out along the main line beyond the home signals and the reversal be controlled by those? (the home signals bracket will be where it says "main" at extreme right). Do I need ground signals to control every possible shunt move? For example if a loco is propelling a tail traffic van along the goods reception/departure loop and across the crossover between the parcels dock and platform 1 to leave it against platform 1's stop block. Or would such a shunt be made down platform 1? Is a full sized signal required at the east end of the goods departure line (red dot) to control goods trains leaving for the mainline or branch? I assume yes, so a bracket signal will be needed here I am thinking. Finally I assume an advanced starter would be located on the station side of the outer home. Is that correct? And an advanced starter would define the shunting limit - yes?

Yes, my arrangement is quite different. Its possible the real station had access to the carriage sidings and loco shed via a non-running line. Mr Wolf - I'll have to dig the model out and take a look to refresh my memory. IIRC though it only took a little bit of fettling to get it to fit. I think the photo above shows that the van body is about 3mm longer than the 2-plank as there are small gaps in the solebar at each end. I seem to recall I filled these with fillets of scrap plastic and hid any joins with some filler. The van body comes with headstocks moulded on so I discarded the kit ones.

Thanks for that. I went back to my collection of photographs of Hunstanton which is the inspiration for the terminus and there does not appear to have been a catch point on the spur between platforms 2 and 3. I have a photograph of the loco shed and carriage sidings which in reality were on the same side of the line and I cannot see a catch point there either, though this photograph is less clear. It may have been because they didn't directly connect to a running line. I can easily put dummy ones in.

I have begun working on the lever frame diagram that will sit behind the levers of the control panel. I've used the artwork and style I did previously and it needs a good deal of tidying up but here's a first draft plus the cleaned up diagram from Anyrail I worked from, after chopping down the sidings to stubs. I'm unhappy with the track spacings at the right hand end but then again I probably don't need to replicate the relationships of the actual station trackage this closely. I am going to have a separate lever frame to work the hand-operated points of the goods yard, loco shed and carriage sidings. Comments welcome, particularly if you think I have the normal points positions wrong. I think I'm okay but there may be a mistake or three I haven't thought through for long enough to spot. The intention is to be able to run a branch train direct to/from platform 3 while a main line service arrives or departs from platform 1. With the reversing of just 4 levers (2 points and 2 signals) these moves can be made into/out of platforms 4 and 2 as well but I thought having the normal routes access 3 and 1 works better.

Ah, now this is quality railway modelling. A whole character backstory to explain a wonky bit of gluing. I suggest the name of the sign-fixer who is getting a telling-off is Jeremiah Thribb and the station master should be Archibald Basket-Case Esq. I could write you a script if you need.

You could just say that Aston on Clun is a set for a Will Hay film and leave it as it is.

I must have missed something here. Was there a modelling meme I missed?

Thanks to @Nick C over on @chuffinghell's Warren Branch thread: I am now the proud owner of one of these. Now wonky handrails will be forever banished. Yay! ...which reminds me I have a few kits and kitbashing things that need ... bashing. I need to remember where I stored them all away last time I had an interest in working on them. I know there's a set of Victorian coaches, a set of Oldbury 4-wheeler 3D prints and several other wagon projects in various states of progress. Now that I've almost reached as far as I can get until my friendly electrical wiring chappie can be here I ought to see what I can crack on with in the rolling stock department. There's also the lever frame mimic diagram artwork to design.

Or a pair of them.

I have now fixed down all the track in the station area except those roads leading off the turntable. There is also one turnout and some track to be laid for the start of the branch but the gradient needs to be arranged before I place that. I'm hoping the remaining baseboard frames and tops will be delivered by Neil early in July. Please forgive the BR period coaches, they are the longest vehicles I have and I've been using them to check clearances.

There is also this option, a side loading dock with a vehicle ramp and end loading facility. I like this arrangement but can't help thinking its in the wrong place in the yard and really ought to be with the goods shed.

Thank you very much for all the help - Schooner those are tremendously helpful images. So about 16 feet wide by 100 feet long appears to have been a "standard" of sorts, making 64mm x 400mm which is clearly far too big in the space I have. I think I can get 60mm wide in there but no more than 100mm to 150mm long. I think I will have access to the cattle dock from the row of cottages street scene but not connect that area to the main yard for vehicular access, just a gate for people. Then I can do away with that cart crossing I have sketched in at the right hand end of the cattle dock and use more of the space for the end loading structure.

That is a good point. I can extend it as there is plenty of space there. I only have a couple of open carriage trucks and an LNWR motor car van of wheelbase no longer than the 6-wheeled brake van in these pictures plus one low truck to carry farm machinery which is also of a similar length. I will grab that from its box and check. [A few mins later] Yes you are right. The low truck is on the curve. I have slid a knife blade under the sleepers and eased them unglued and then turned the track outwards away from the cattle dock road. This puts its end parallel to that track which is more sensible/realistic anyway. I can extend it as well if needed. The outline of the ELD on the plan was far too small as well so I've cut a cork outline which is 50mm x 125mm and that begs the next question - what are the minimum safe/practical dimensions for such a structure? My cart access road from the railwaymen's cottages past the cattle dock will now need to be shifted to the right but that's not a problem. Question - I presume there would only ever be one entry gate to a railway goods yard of this size where a weighbridge would be located. Is it unrealistic for my model to have a second access by the cattle dock to allow animals to be herded in that way? It seems unreasonable to ask a farmer to herd his livestock all the way down past the coal yard and goods shed so this second access seems logical from that POV, but is it realistic? Have I put the cattle dock in a non-realistic location?

All the passenger tracks are now glued down and I've begun work on the loco shed and goods yards. I'm short of a couple of points to complete the station area so I've ordered these and I should be able to resume work in a day or two. I've moved the coal siding inboard a little so that wagons are at less risk of being "elbowed off" and the plan is to have a 3mm ply fascia to the framework here that will be 1" proud of the surface and then modelled to appear as a brick wall.

OMG! This is the key to life! I had no idea such nectar of the Gods existed. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Today I completed the laying of the platform tracks. Nos. 3 & 4 and the central (branch train set) siding are not fixed down yet. I'm going to leave them loose a day or so and have a think about them. Next job is to get the turntable well cut and the mechanism for it mounted. Once I've got all the track work down I can doodle in 1:1 scale on the plan to arrange the signals and point levers and their numbers within the frame. In the past I've been fortunate enough to receive some helpful advice on this but having the plan full size will let me more clearly consider the various train moves.

Due to other calls on my time I'm not a quick worker but here's the progress after a couple of days. All the main station throat pointwork is laid as is the fan of points to the goods yard. Platforms 1 & 2 track and their loco release loops laid as well and now working on platforms 3 & 4. On the downside although I've found some crocodile clips and wired them up to my basic Bachmann controller I have not yet found among the mountain of boxes any six-coupled engines that are yet to be DCC fitted, so it looks like until I can get my DCC power unit out of wherever it is stored and wired up I can't test the goods yard mini-incline. However I'm not worried since the point at the lower end is "floating" and not glued down so I can ease the transition with a sliver of plastic card if I need to.

I have two of those that I purchased already built and painted on e-Bay. One has been liveried as the S&DJR's No.9.

Yes you can now see all the little quirks of the scratch build. I think the open wagon is a kit as the planking is perfect but the skrawker lines of the van body planking are less perfect. The signwriting is exquisite but the grey base paint is a bit rushed I fear! I just noticed a brake shoe is missing as well.

This reminds me I promised Annie some square on photos of that open-converted-to-a-van. Are these of any use?

There's a fair bit of slop on most 0-6-0 chassis. I'll bulldog clip some power to what I've laid so far and test an 0-6-0 along it.

That piece of track is 90mm long and descends 3mm so a 1 in 30. I've rolled several wagons over it coupled together and they seem happy enough.

Progress of a sort. Although you would be forgiven for thinking it was an explosion in the permanent way stores. Oh, and some soup tins. The red box indicates where I've shifted a crossover 90mm towards the stop blocks so I can have a 1 in 30 drop from the running line to the goods yard. The goods loop capacity test of a couple of days ago indicated I could lose a wagon length here without adverse impact. I'll add another of these 90mm drops at the entrance to the carriage sidings. I had quite forgotten how therapeutic track laying is. The hours simply fly by. I regret more than ever now sitting on my rear end for a year and pontificating over making a start on this.

Red cat at dawn, mousey be warned. Looking good for his age. Today's progress so far. 3mm cork sheet laid under the platform tracks and I am now switching to DCC Concepts 3mm foam sheet for the station throat. Good heavens this stuff is a delight to work with - so much easier to cut than cork. However I have a question to ask for those who've attempted this before. I don't want to have any sheeting under the goods yard, the carriage sidings or the loco shed area so that these tracks will be a scale 9" below the running lines and platform roads. The loco shed kickback is approached by a longish road so that is easy to support down the short grade. The issue is having the turnouts that give access to the goods yard and carriage sidings on an incline which is obviously not ideal. Would you recommend sloping a turnout (even though its only 3mm over its length of 8 3/4" - so 1 in 74) or do you recommend keeping the turnouts at the level of the main line and only dropping the sidings themselves. In the final picture I've outlined in red the area where the dropped tracks are. I could also drop the point on the left where the yellow arrow is so that only 2 points are on a gradient - the single lead into the goods yard and the one into the carriage sidings.

Don't I know it! I am officially the carer for Sheila but these two are almost as much work. Little monkeys.