clecklewyke

Lovely work, Jonathan. I can’t recall a description of your turntable. Could you possibly point me to a description of how you made it? Thanks, Ian

It certainly has. Many thanks, Ian

Let’s get back to the original question, please, which was about 00 gauge turntables, I.e.1:76 scale, 16.5mmgauge, not H0, narrow gauge etc. Nor do I want to work through long posts about how to conduct research. I’m nearly blind, quite old and cannot waste time struggling through reams of irrelevant opinions and suggestions. Many thanks who addressed my questio, from which I deduce that Hornby is not in the running. One further question please. What is the length of each turntable bridge? I have not found this in the manufacturers’ documentation. I guess it will be long enough for the largest express locos, i.e. longer than most prototypes? i have posted elsewhere about my Last Great Project - Clecklewyke and the Bradford North Western Branch I hope you find it interesting. Ian

I am wanting to instal a turntable. I would welcome the advice and experiene of rmweb users of the rival Peco and Hornby models. TIA Ian see

Here are some more photographs of an alternative arrangement for Clecklewyke. i’m happy with the station arrangements and just have the canopies and footsteps to the overhead building to build.(at a later stage I will build some cottages et cetera as a back scene.) However the MPD creates problems. There are four potential elements to include, the engine sheds, cooling stage, turntable and point work for the entrance to the engine sheds. I simply don’t think I have room for all these elements without it looking extremely cramped. So I think one must go and the least important element is the point work leading to the open doors of the sheds. Moreover these require 4 feet of length to fit in. So if I reverse the engine shows we can imply that the pipework is offstage I and concentrate on the most visually interesting bit of the engine sheds, the offices and chimney for the sand drying furnace. To make it lol work the two tracks feeding stage will be “disappeared” behind a view blocker on to cassettes in a small non-scenic fiddle yard. This will include a racks with shelves on which to store locos? I’m not yet certain whether the turntable can fit but I’ve tried to send here it is.

Hi Tom, I’ve just found this topic and it’s absolutely marvellous. Wonderful little models. I speak as one whose best friend was one David Farquhar, who learned most of railway basics from Rev Awdry, who has just re-read Railway Adventure for the umpteenth time and who worked as a deviationist on th Festiniog Railway for many years. I’m glad to see you are being so creative and hope things are o.k. for you in this mad time. Best wishes, Ian

I’ve been cutting quite a lot of plastic sheeting recently and have either devised or re-discovered a very useful tool for this purpose.As can be seen it is essentially a cutting board to which is attached a steel rule and a guide set at right angles to the rule. I have assembled it with a hot glue gun. And this is it in action. it gives a right angle cut every time with no fumbling to get a ruler in place and mark out a right angle. The version shown was intended to be a test of the concept, shence the use of scrap material and the crudity of constructtion. But it works perfectly well and I will continue to use it until it falls apart, when I might think of doing something a bit more sophisticated. It took 10 minutes to make and most of that time was spent finding its components. It will save hours of modelling time. Ian

Hi Jonathan. Thanks for your advice. I’m afraid I’m too impatient to wait for the updated version. In any case what’s good enough for you and Derwent Spa… i’m sorry I can’t help with pictures of the platform side of Buxton Midland buildings: I presume the Midland had house styles for windows and doors (in fact I seem to recall that there were several house styles at different periods of the Midland’s life). Your approach of combining elements of related stations is good. That’s what David Jenkinson did when he designed Kendal Castle station.I don’t envy you the task of replicating the lacy filigree that the Midlands used for its canopy is et cetera. One of the reasons I chose the LNWR was that it’ avoided such luxuries!However I guess somewhere there will be brass etchings appropriate to your need. Thanks again, Ian

(Accidental double posting deleted)

Hi, Jonathan, as it happens I am in the process of building a platform for Clecklewyke and anticipate covering it with scale scenes building papers, like you have. I’m struggling with the Scale scenes website and I wonder whether you are using this kit: https://scalescenes.com/product/r008-station-platform/ ? If not can you please give me a link to what you are using. Also I wonder whether you will be representing the beautiful stone screen with the arched window at the platform ends. Quite a challenge! Many thanks. Ian

Looking good. I love the quirkiness of the station layout- we all know that having a single line between two platform places is “wrong” but the Midland knew better. And those wagons are superb. Ian

Thanks for your comments, guys. A common thread seems to be the question of a turntable. Well , turning locos is really the most important requirement at Gormley but I’m not sure how to achieve it. I honestly don’t think I have good enough eyesight to build a turntable. All the proprietary models and kits seem to be for very big turntables which would look silly at Gormley and would be extremely difficult to fit in. It’s a long shot but I don’t suppose anyone knows of a smaller (60ft?) turntable going spare? One temporary expedient would be to imagine the turntable and much of the MPD point work to be offstage and simply use a Peco local lift lift to turn the engines round - and use a lot of imaginationThe problem is that MPDs do take up an awful lot of space and there isn’t much of it going spare at Clecklewyke. We have a similar problem with block instruments as Clecklewyke will become a block post meaning we will need two more instruments (or possibly four instruments if I decide to dispose of the two rather large ones I built. Again, I don’t think my eyes are good enough for me to build any more black instruments so I will need someone to pbuild them for me. Step forward Hornby, DCC concepts or mega points, please. Then there is the question of signals. There will need to be starters in both directions and shunt signals at the entrance to the MPD. And then there is the question of turning the main line through 90° without it looking silly. Luckily Iin OO gauge should be able to employ 2 foot radius curves and hide these non-prototypical bits behind buildings, bridges etc. As Iain Rice points out one advantage of eyelevel layouts is that it is quite easy to hide things as one is not looking down on them. (Sadly we no longer have to worry about Chris King in this respect as he would certainly have been able to peer over the rooftops and discover my subterfuges!) So there we are. This started with me wanting to replace a bit of poor track work and has ended up with a pretty massive project! But it’s fun isn’t it… Ian

Well it’s like this. I didn’t intend to do any work on Clecklewyke until later in the layou’s development. Instead I had meant to finish off Bradford North Western- the buildings ,the roof, the signals, background buildings and general details. However with operations suspended by the Covid emergency (can’t get the staff don’t you know) I thought time was ripe to relay a section of the up line n the viaduct which had developed a nasty hump next to a faulty rail joint. So I started work on that and from there I rather lost the plot and one thing just led to another. I thought that while the track was lifted I may as well install the point work that was always planned to go there for the entrance to the engine sheds. And then things escalated. Clecklewyke has always been seen as a temporary scene, which would eventually be developed in both directions. I’ve done so in the up direction with the viaduct but the down direction trackwork was still temporary and hidden behind screens..Realising that I had all the buildings necessary for the extended scene I calculated that the main extra work, apart from the track and signals, was the extension of the retaining wall, which would be quite straightforward, using multiple sheets of Wills “course stone”. This would be fun, especially painting it, which is really quick and easy using dry brushing techniques on the Wills mouldings. I had made the station.buildings decades ago for my first, Minories-based, BNW but the excellent engine sheds are the work of someone in the Newport MRC and the coaling plant came from Don Rowlands’ origial Rhuddall Heath. The retaining wall is now painted and I’ll post more details when I get the chance but for the moment I want to build rather than write! ian

Maybe this photo, taken a few days later, will help to explain: Can you see the join? Then this, taken a bit further down the line, shows the rough positionS of the new MPD, Gormley Junction, with the main, over-tracks, building of Clecklewyke station behind:

Jings*, Ian. What’s happened to Clecklewyke? Well I just thought... Has there been an earthquake? * a mild Scottish expletive

Thank you, Wellyboots. They look just the job. Ian

I am about to mass produce come typical Victorian working class terraced housing for Clecklewyke and so will need lots of four-panelled doors and sash windows (traditionall wood, not PVC). Wills do these but with a variety of door types in each pack so I would have to buy lots of packs and discard most of the contents. Can anyone suggest an alternative source? Thanks Ian Ian

Only 2mm out - that’s precision modelling by my standards! Any progress to report, Kev? I’m going to need four block instruments. ian

I’m finding it impossible to fit Peco bullhead rail joiners (SL-114) to their bullhead points. What, if anything, am I doing wrong? Has anyone successfully used them and offer advice? Ian

Here is some useful information forwarded by Richard Hodgson: ,” Mike Norris said details of his and Steve Hall's were in MRJ 216, 219 (both 2012) and 220 (2013)” I hope you will find that useful. Ian

I’ve found my trumpet so I can blow it now. My article “block working with computers “is in issue 61 MRJ, 1993. Small beer by modern standards! Ian

Here is a link to some photos of the innards of some LNWR block instruments. I challenge anyone to recreate a wiring diagram from them... (Thanks to Richard Hodgson for the link.) https://www.flickr.com/photos/janfordsworld/sets/72157626781937903/ Ian

Preston number one box on Mike Norrises railway must have a dozen or so block instruments and he has arranged it so that a light remains lit on the instrument that is bein rung.. It works very well and I wonder whether it was used on the prototype? (I think Tony and Terry might be right. It’s about time I stopped discussing block instruments and finished off the track I’m supposed to be re-laying)

I too saw Kyle of Lochalsh at the Glasgow exhibition in the early 1970s. I went with my girlfriend, Katrine Lindsey, which was a big mistake. Not only was she bored by the whole thing but she was only about 5 foot if that. So Kyle of Lochalsh was a complete mystery to her. What a shame because it was a beautiful model but even I at 5‘6“ couldn’t see much of it. So, whenever I have exhibited Clecklewyke or Humber Dock, which are at eyelevel, I always provided stools or boxes for those who (in Iain Rice’s inimitable words) were unencumbered by excessive height. And a periscope for wheelchair users

It was Allendac and I was tremendously impressed by the viaduct and the fact that the track was at eyelev. Clecklewyke Viaduct was a pale imitation of this theme.