Titanius Anglesmith

Greetings all,

Can anyone point me towards prototype examples of goods warehouses directly besides a station please?  I'm not well-travelled so the only example I know of (right next to the station) is the one on Buckingham Great Central (as can be seen on the Highland Miscellany blog - https://highlandmiscellany.com/category/buckingham-central/).  Not exactly a prototype, I know.

I confess, I'm just looking for an excuse to put an additional goods siding in behind my station, separate from the main goods yard.  It could be railway- or privately-owned.  I haven't got room for a yard alongside the siding so I was going to build a few low-relief sheds or warehouses behind it instead.   I need some real-world inspiration, though.  Can anyone help please?  My layout is based near a river wharf so that may have some bearing on what the sheds are for.

Thanks in advance

5 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

You don't leave wagons in a run-round loop because you can only run round if the loop is clear! 

Different situation to the OP’s, but my local line had several “through” stations with additional terminating platforms, with their own run-round loops. I’ve seen numerous photos of those loops being used as wagon or carriage sidings instead. At those stations though there was probably a pilot on hand to release the incoming locos. 

3 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Wherever there's a level crossing, the box would ideally be next to that so the signalman can work it himself and they don't need to employ a crossing keeper, but that isn't possible given the location of the crossover as the rodding run would be too long.

In that case they might relocate the box next to the level crossing to get rid of the crossing keeper, and works the points from a ground frame instead. That’s exactly what happened at my local station, and several others on the line, when the Midland it over. 

Just now, St Enodoc said:

Or a fresh loco going on to the head of the train.

But why would it be coming from the incoming Main?

The calling-on arms on the Home would only be necessary if you expect to send more than one train into a single platform at any time. 

5 hours ago, Harlequin said:

A halt on a double track main line seems unlikely, but maybe someone will be able to cite a real example.

Not GWR, but the LT&SR had Gale Street Halt on the double track mainline. It was later redeveloped into Becontree Station. Purfleet Rifle Range, may also have been a halt, but I can’t remember

Edit: didn’t notice that the OP’s halt only has one platform

Thank you for tips. I have already bought some files from the GERS, but not the WTT. I don’t have Essery’s book on the LTSR, but I do have Peter Kay’s extensive series of books. 

14 hours ago, KingEdwardII said:

Interesting - the working timetable for the line should show how the freight workings were fitted in between the passenger traffic. Do you have access to any working timetables for the line?

 

Yours,  Mike.

2 hours ago, Nick Holliday said:

Which local line is that? It sounds unusual that there were no headshunts, if the line was that busy.

The LT&SR. I don’t have a WTT, but I do know that by the 1920s there were 25+ trains per day on each of the two main branches. There were something like 24 freight workings a day to various destinations (not including workings to “foreign” destinations). From what I can make out, most stations saw at least two freight trips a day. 

On 27/09/2021 at 08:01, KingEdwardII said:

Hmm, not sure I agree with that comment, based on the track plans I have access to.

 

For the East Somerset & Cheddar valley line, the majority of stations had the equivalent of a headshunt - notably only the smaller stations with very limited facilities did not have one.

it depends where you look. My local line was (and still is) a busy commuter line, yet the majority of its goods yards never had a headshunt. 

12 hours ago, Harlequin said:

 

What’s the relationship of the light industry to the railway? Why is it associated with the goods yard?

Not sure where you’re going with this, but I thought I’d point out the situation at my local station in case it is relevant. 
 

There was a brewery built alongside the goods yard that was entirely on private land, but the stores building was up against the boundary of the yard. A dedicated siding was then built in the goods yard alongside the stores building, but entirely on railway land. So it was a public siding in reality, but possibly worked a bit like a private siding. 

5 hours ago, Brian Indge said:

Before remodelling in the late 1950’s I am sure that Barking on the LTS line had large signal boxes at either end of the station.

It did, also Upminster and Grays. 

8 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

It probably was an Americanism but so was "turnout", which the PW tribe insist we should use instead of points

I find this one interesting. I’ve worked professionally in signalling for twenty years but I don’t recall hearing anyone ever calling it a turnout until I joined this forum. I’m not denying that turnout is the official term (at least as far as the Track department are concerned), but I’ve only ever heard them called “points”. Probably there are regional variations?

As suggested I have shortened the power wiring on the two main culprits as much as I dare and twisted the +5/ground lines together.  I've had a quick play functional test and so far no more issues.  Hopefully that will be the end of it.....

Thanks again for the suggestions

Thank you for the suggestions, I will have a play and see how it goes. 

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

Are the cable lengths as supplied with the servos or did you have to extend them?

 

 

 

Some are standard, some have been extended by 400mm, including the two that usually cause the problem. I think there’s two that have been extended further than that but those two are never a problem. 

3 hours ago, Nigelcliffe said:

regarding the internet drop out....   The connection from router to phone line:  is it into the master socket via a faceplate filter which isolates all the extensions from the broadband signal (good), or is it into a secondary socket, with or without a "dongle" filter ?  
There are a lot of houses with shonky internal phone extension wiring which makes them prone to all sorts of issues.   ( Usually seen with a broadband speed significantly below the calculated value for their house to exchange/cabinet distance).

The router is plugged into a secondary socket, via a plug-in filter supplied by the broadband provider. It is the only secondary socket in the house and the cable to the master is in a single length (no intermediate joins). The cable route is not exactly ideal as it passes close to the trunk of T&E cables where they head to the consumer unit. Plugging the router straight into the master socket would be awkward as there are no mains sockets nearby. 

Why do I feel like I am confessing my sins in public...? 

On an unrelated(?) note, I had a servo let out the magic smoke today. I’ve had servos die before but never in a pyrotechnical fashion. 

Greetings All,

I am having a problem with servo interference, but it's not the usual twitching that's been discussed on here at length....

On my layout I have nine servos used to operate signals.  The servos are mostly SG90s; some are branded TowerPro but as they came from ebay that's questionable.  I also have a few genuine(?) MG90s.  They are all powered from a regulated 5v DC supply.  The servos are all driven from an Arduino Mega, powered from the same supply as the servos.

Here's the problem...  every so often operating one of the servos causes my internet wifi hub router thingy to drop out the internet for around 30 seconds.  I'm assuming that the drop-out is actually only momentary, but it takes the router 30 seconds to get itself together again.  The router is physically about 2m from the layout and is plugged into the same mains circuit as the layout.  It's usually the same two signals that cause the problem, and when I changed the servos (unbranded SG90s replaced with the MG90s) the problem remained in the same place.

Has anyone had a problem like this before?  Thanks in advance.

20 hours ago, Nick C said:

Running signal levers are usually arranged in the order they're passed by a train, and as others have said, at the ends of the frame. Points in the middle, generally in roughly geographical order. 

If I may be so bold to add, sometimes the points associated with running moves were not numbered geographically, but grouped with their respective signals. For example at West Thurrock Junction-

https://signalbox.org/~SBdiagram.php?id= 1221

See how the junction points and the trailing crossover are all in the same place but are numbered 11, 8 and 22.  So the pulls for an up branch train would be

9 - single-line points

8 - junction points

7 - FPL

6 - branch starting

5 - junction home

4 - junction distant

Similarly the down main would be

22 - junction points

23 - starting

24 - main home 

25 - main distant

It must have save the signalman a bit of walking 

edit: missed out 9’s points

10 minutes ago, Max Legroom said:

The scenario is that the signal box has been demolished and the mainline is controlled remotely with colour light signals and point motors. The ground frame was installed just to control access to the sidings.

There's a similar situation at Upminster, where there's a ground frame giving access to sidings from the bay platform, despite Upminster IECC being literally a stone's throw away.

On 08/05/2021 at 11:20, phil-b259 said:

a S&T tech literally went and licked a piece of shiny looking ballast

I’ll have to remember that one. Or better yet, convince a colleague to do it instead......

59 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

How have you looked at that? If you can't hang it to open into the hall, might it work if you put the hinges on the other side but still open into the room?

Light switches are normally installed near the doorframe on the opposite side to where the door is hung. By rehanging the door on the opposite side it will probably obstruct access to the switch 

15 hours ago, caradoc said:

 

Interesting too that the headshunt is accessed by a facing point from a passenger line; I would have thought that was fairly unusual ? 

 

Completely different region, but Laindon on the LT&SR had facing access to the headshunt added in the 1930s. Prior to that the only access was a trailing point in the conventional fashion. Laindon was (still is) on a busy commuter route, so the facing point was probably added to enable goods trains to clear the main line more quickly. 

The LT&SR actually had a number of other sidings with facing access for various reasons. 

9 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

But the signalling will be extremely simple - the only semaphore signals would be a Home Signal and a platform Starting Signal

Assuming the frame was unlocked by the staff/token/etc, with everything lying normal in the frame, would both signals be normally off?

4 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Dan

 

Wood is a natural product it will expand and contract, bow and warp, and twist in all directions. This is due to the surrounding atmosphere's humidity and temperature. Varnishing and painting all surfaces before assembly is about the best you can do, to minimising the effect. After assembly there will be surfaces where moisture can get in.  The more components in a structure that can grow and shrink can multiply the problem as the all start to do their own thing.

Being pedantic, that's not entirely true.  Wood mainly exchanges moisture via the end grain, as mentioned by Nick C.  As moisture is gained or lost, wood generally only moves across the grain.  There should be negligible change end-to-end.

2 hours ago, Dan Griffin said:

One thing i will add is that the hinged end never has an issue, its the other end thats causes the problems. 

Perhaps a photo or diagram may help us to visualise where the problem lies?

Another thought, how new is the flap construction?  Softwood is actually quite stable but only once it's reached equilibrium with its surroundings.  As bought from the timber yard it's often still a bit wet so still has some unexpressed movement in it.  Is this the first season of warm weather since you built it?  If so, you might find it will settle down now, especially if it's an indoor layout (is it?)

Paint may help to restrict movement, but I wouldn’t count on it. 

On what axis is the movement occurring, ie up-down, front-back etc? If there are only one or two tracks crossing the boundary in, say, the middle of the board, then it would perhaps be best to mount the hinges close to that point. That way any contraction or expansion is pushed to the edges rather than the middle of the board moving.