LMS14B

Good afternoon Harlequin In the words of younger people WOW, that's awesome. To be honest I am feeling quite emotional. I need a couple of hours to claim down and then look at how it works operationally. Thank you. Dougie

Good evening Robin. you raised a valid point and I was happy to answer. I see the point you were making now. it will only be me operating the model. i am hoping it will work like this. The shed area will be filled with locomotive's a computer program will randomly choose a locomotive to leave the shed at a set time. I will need to locate the locomotive then move any others that are in the way.so that the correct locomotive leaves the shed at the correct time as it would have done back in the day. This then would be repeated several times. the locomotives that have been sent off shed would be hidden behind the back scene and turned before being returned to the shed later in the day. they will need be coaled and turned ready for the next shift. the next time the computer will choses a different set of locomotives. this will mean there will be something going on the all the time but with a purpose its a little bit like a shunting puzzle. regards Dougie

Good afternoon Robin Thank you for your post. I have been thinking about access to the board which is large. The actual steam shed is 18 inches by 48 inches if we keep 8 roads. my plan is to have a lift out section say 15 inches by 36 inches that I could stand up in. this would give me access to all areas. hopefully I can use stay alive DCC which would help with the small gap in the track were the lift out section sits. the lift out section would of course be wired to the bus. Hornsey could have up to 80 locomotives on shed. so to make the model look realistic I will need quite a few locomotives. Now, my collection of steam models will probably stay in there display case. The newer ones, say the last 5 years should be ok to fit DCC inside. The point you raise about cost is valid. over the last few years leading up to my retirement I have manged to save some money for this project. Providing I don't go made it should be ok even if it takes me longer then the two years I believe it will take to complete. Regards Dougie

Good morning Harlequin The Track you have highlighted in red just seemed to far away. The tower is a major feature in this model due to the fact it was designed to look like a house. The belief was it would blend in better in a residential area. from the edge of the board 3 foot is maximum I can reach. if I cut out the inspection hole were the shed sits that would give me a 3 foot radius. regards Dougie

Good morning Flying Pig that picture brought back some happy memories. I stood at that very spot hundreds of times the foot bridge offered a perfect view. the interesting thing is that the express locomotives would often over fill there tenders with coal. this would fall off as they left the shed. regards Dougie

Good morning Harlequin. you have captured Hornsey shed perfectly something I have been unable to do. Regarding the depth of the model my plan was to make part/all the shed lift out including the baseboard and track. This would then give me access to the rear parts. hopefully by using stay alive DCC the small joints in the track would not be a problem. The shed roof was damaged during the war so there was a period of time the roof was partly open until a brand new roof was fitted, I only mention this because I had considered modelling the shed without a roof. The door to the garage opens out so I could extended the first part of the baseboard to 5 Foot without a problem. one thing that is strange the cenotaph coaler should, I believe, have a road next to it for the coal trucks to deliver the coal. But this is not shown on the original drawing. Thank you. regards Dougie

Good evening Harlequin. Thank you so much for taking an interest in my project and I would appreciate your help. On reading your last post a few times, I believe you understand what my aim is with Hornsey. So let me answer the points you raised. I have collected between 50 to 60 locomotives over the years, mostly Hornby, that sit in a show case or boxed up in the wardrobe. Not certain how many I can covert to DCC. My aim is to run a timetable system which would be computer generated. Hopefully, it will work like this. The computer will generate a random locomotive number with a departure time from the shed. I will then locate the locomotive, move other locomotives away from that road and send it off scene. The process will continue until the shed is almost empty. When the locomotives return, they will need to coaled and turned ready for the next shift just as you say. You are completely correct I do not have any coaches at present but a shed full of coal wagons. Yes, I would be happy to reduce the shed down to 6 roads if this would give a more pleasing and interesting model. Like most of the railway it was for ever changing and Hornsey was remodelled several times mainly due to expansion but also to repair damage caused during the war. So, feel free to move things around. Thank you again. Dougie

Good afternoon Harlequin Yes I can confirm the internal space I have in the main room 18x8. The door is 4 foot wide. Regarding the fiddle yard in the next garage my plan was to cover this with CCTV. But its not ideal. Regards Dougie

please find plan of garage as requested.

Good morning Flying Pig Thank you for your post. I have no idea what a Barry Slip is. but I am curious so I will look it up. Regards Dougie

Good morning Harlequin. Thank you for your post. interestingly in Mays addition of Hornby magazine page i24 it show the area you have circled in red. The picture was taken from the footbridge and shows the carriage sidings. The baseboard sits on three outside walls. the right hand side there is a bit more flexibility you will see from the diagram the track curves to the right. this leads to a space 42x 48 inches which I planed to use for my fiddle yard covered with a back scene. Now, I have the possibility to use a little bit of space from the second garage so the fiddle yard could be extended by 8 feet but only 2 feet wide. You raise the point about running tracks and the benefits and this makes perfect sense. there is the opportunity to run a couple of loops at a lower level. This would give a viewing length of about 8 feet with the rest hidden under the steam shed area. I have shown this on the diagram with a couple of lengths of straight track. Hope this makes sense, thank you again its much appreciated. Regards Dougie

Good evening ITG sorry for not responding to your earlier post. I've been concentrating on trying to get a track plan that works, and not paying enough attention to the basic things. since deciding not to replicate Hornsey track by track, I've have been liberated to an extent. Harlequin wanted to make sure That I had enough distance between the tracks in the shed so that it looked correct. i just assumed that I did. Too be honest I do need a bit of hand holding so thank you for your post every bit of information is greatly received. regards Dougie

Good afternoon Harlequin. Thank you for your guidance regarding the posting of drawings. there is a further 3 foot of board depth but another 8 feet of board width. I intended for this to be a fiddle yard hidden by a back screen. regards Dougie

ok, hope this is better to view. I have made a small adjustment.

Good afternoon Nick. Thank you for your post. I would like to keep the 8 roads into the shed. But I have reduced the length of the shed to 3 foot as you suggested. Harlequin and yourself both suggest a more simplified approach to the shed. I would be grateful for any suggestions on how I may achieve this. Regards Dougie

Good afternoon Harlequin. Thank you for your post. I must confess you have caught me out. I do not know the centre-to-centre track spacing in the shed. The gradient to the coaling stage, sorry not a clue. That is why the forum is so important to beginners like me. Now, I have modified the track plan to include a longer gradient. I will relook at the entrance to the shed. By using the set track, I assumed that this would give me the correct distance between tracks. Lesson learnt. Latter I will publish an updated version. You will see that Nick Holliday is suggesting a more simplified approach to the shed as well. But he as not given any detail how he believes this can be achieved. Thank you for help. Regards Dougie

Good afternoon Robin. Yes, I have become addicted to Anyrail Thank you for your suggestion, I have modified the track plane which now shows a straight road to the turntable. This doses look a lot better and I am pleased with the result. There is a further 8 feet to use as a fiddle yard behind the scenic break. Hopefully, I will publish the amended track plan a bit later. Regards Dougie

This is the first draft and it needs more work on the roads leading to the coaling tower. Advice Please

Good afternoon Robin. Yes, you are correct Hornsey was always busy, you never new what you would see in the repair shop. There was always 9Fs and A3s in for service. Flying pig is right towards the end of steam it was manly. J52s J50s and N2s in fact almost any 0-6-0 tank could be seen on occasions. They were used manly for moving carriages from Ferme Park to the cross but also were still used on some suburban routes. Hornsey had a turntable, and this was used by most of the express locomotives to turn and run tender first back to the cross ready for their next journey. In fact, the Flying Scotsman was based there when Mr Pegler became the new owner. So, it was always busy and that was a problem along with Kentish town 14B and Camden 1B. Smoke pollution was becoming an issue around North London steam sheds. Dieselisation was just around the corner which would solve the problem. Regards Dougie

Good evening ITG, Harlequin, Robin, Flying pig and Peter. Thank you all for your posts and basically you are all making the same point. I have dreamt about building a model of Hornsey for several years. Now I am in the position to give it ago, but I have no idea how good my modelling skill are. You are correct, if you asked me to draw the track plan from memory, I would not have a clue. So, what is it that I remember apart from the locomotives? Well of course the coaling tower was big and noisy, the turntable plodding around in the corner. The site was covered in smoke, dirt and general grime so much so that my Mother would clip me around the ear for coming home so dirty. But what you have made me understand is that several elements make up a model. With this in mind I feel a lot happier seeing the bigger picture and not trying to get every detail 100% correct. Hopefully, I should be able to post my track plan over this weekend and look forward to your input. Thank you again for pointing me in the right direction. Regards Dougie

Good evening Robin I will have a look at the MTB-1 point motors they sound more flexible with regards to fitting. Now, the track plan is more challenging than I thought it would be. I have been trying to copy exactly the track plan as it was in the late fifties. Peco 100 was my track of choice due to its large range of products. I now realise, it is impossible to follow the original track plan exactly without building my own track. This would be so far outside my ability; it is a nonstarter. So, the question I am asking myself, is how far can I go away from the original track plan? Surly if I deviate too much, I lose the point of recreating a real location. Regards Dougie

Hi ITG Yes, I become a you tube fan its fascinating. The funny thing is, I have found answers to some of the questions but then it raises others. I believe the only way forward is to use DCC this should make moving stock in and around the steam shed easy. It would be good if I can achieve that slow moving blade action with a bit of bounce on the signal. At the moment I am still trying to get the track plan to work. My evenings are sitting in front of a laptop with a mug of tea and Anyrail 6. Regards Dougie

Good evening Nick Thank you for your post. You are right of course; it will be impossible to reach over a 4-foot board. I have a plan to resolve this problem but its untested and is still on the drawing board. So, I intend to make part of the shed lift out to give me access to the rear, fingers crossed. In the long run I my need to modify the track plane so it looks right. (but hope not) It seems at the moment; I am suffering from ambition over ability. Just to make it clear it is the engine shed I want to lift out and not the shed it sits in. LOL Regards Dougie

Good evening Rivercider. Thank you for sending the link for Feltham road. I must agree it captures that feeling that’s difficult to describe, but you know it’s just right. I hope I can achieve some of that atmosphere with Hornsey. Now, at the moment I am still working on the track plan, it’s harder than I thought. Regards Dougie