The Fatadder

A very frustrating evenings work, redoing the same section umpteen times. The plan hasn't been stuck down completely true at one side, mostly caused by the missing 10mm of printing. I should have tried harder to resolve the printing issue rather than just pressing on... In the process I have identified one point which needs moving about 40mm to the left (with w 40mm straight added in to the other side to maintain position of the goods shed point.) this reduced the gap between bay line and loop, while increasing the distance between the loop and shed. This is compounded by the change of curve needed to resolve the alignment issue. I haven't corrected the route cause (the Plymouth end slip is at a slight angle) as I prefer the new alignment, so instead have tweeked the radius of the loop etc. Checking the goods shed and the lower siding, the latter needs a slight adjustment to increace the angle and push it away from the shed. I also think I need to look again at my shed drawing and remove 1 window from the length. Having test fitted the smaller shed I made for Kites Croft (just happens to be about a window shorter) I think the clearances look a lot better than a scale building. So that's pretty much it for the moment, I have given thought to making a start on adding the earth works, but keep thinking getting some track in place and working first would be best (I dont want to get a lot of scenics glued down before finding out s fundamental flaw with the track. Just need to buy some hi nickel silver rail and a set of track gauges and get started. I'm getting very worried about the size of the flange way gaps in the slip and the very large radius points (not being used to OO.). So hopefully they all work ok (otherwise there are big problems!

There were plenty based at Laira and Newton Abbot....Although my particular choice (currently awaiting renumbering) was Bristol based. Based on the research I've done so far it looks like at least some of the Swindon rebuilds occurred right at the end of the GW as well...

After a trip to the village hardware store to buy some waterproof PVA, instead I've come home with a can of aerosol carpet glue instead. So this evening I have cracked on with gluing down the templates. There is some minor misalignment due to my rubbish 10 year old printer, but it's done the job. I have however changed the plan, and will now only lay plane track as the points are fitted rather than the initial plan of getting a running oval first. There is too much risk of these small missalignments combining into the two ends not matching up. So I guess it's about time I made a start on building some vees and switch rails to see how I get on, it's been a very long time since I made some rather than buying them in. But this time the cost saving of home building is just too much to resist. This photo showing the Plymouth end with templates glued down, shows one of the major changes to the prototype I have had to incorporate. The end of the loop is too far in the station direction, while the point to enter the yard is too far in the Plymouth direction. It makes a big impact on the bridge location (and the Avon bridge) but should still look like Brent...

Convert it into the 74xx that was sheded at NA and use on a freight?

Some laser cut glazing would be really handy for them....

Having set the plan to print before leaving for work this morning, I got home to realise that the printer has messed up and not printed the top 15mm of each page (meaning that certain templates do not align.). Completely ruining my plan to be gluing them down this evening. I also realised that I haven't got round to correcting the timber alignment on any of the points yet, meaning a fair bit more work is needed in templot! The plan is to use this purely as an outline, building all the points off layout then dropping them into place, so the timber issues are not major (will take the laptop to Sevilla this week and crack on with the adjustments in the lounge at Heathrow!) The dodgy printing is more of an issue, I'm hoping it's a simple solution and I can just reprint those templates impacted. The poor alignment of the garage walls is making for some difficulty in alignment (as the baseboards are equally crooked) so tomorrow's first task is to plot on a datum and mark out the templot grid from this. Then it will finally be time to start gluing down templates. I am a little concerned that the bay platform is too narrow, but I think this is significantly compounded due to templates in the wrong place due to the aforementioned issue with the missing printing meaning they are miss aligned. I couldn't resist posing a couple of buildings in position, along with a Plymouth Liverpool working to test platform lengths, (6 plus loco fits easily, 7 plus loco might just....)

They are both something like 2 mm too short in length, and the the windows on the third are the wrong height (but were the right height back in Mainline days). A real shame as lack of flush glazing aside, it is a nice bit of tooling.

More progress tonight, with the rest of the frame work finished off and the fiddleyard baseboards placed into position (the far board is screwed down while the rest have been left loose for the moment.) The main reason for this is that the sub frame is 1 inch too wide, I've worked to the outer edge but need to double check this works with the track plan before screwing the ply down. There is also a much bigger problem, the first points on the Paddington end of the fiddleyard have the switch blades overlapping the baseboard joint to the removeable section. As such it's going to need a major redesign. I'm thinking about trying a couple of the largest radius Peco curved points, or alternatively if that won't work the second option is trying 3 way curved points. I thing the best thing to do will be to stick down the track plan for the scenic section and take it from there. There are still two more boards to make, the far board (currently just a length of ply supported by two brackets), again this needs the plan gluing down in order to check alignments and positioning before marking out the bridge. At the other end of the layout, there is still a gap for the enterance to the centre of the layout. I still can't decide between a lift out section or a hinged flap. (And haven't really got a clue how I would make the latter)

Fingers crossed he finds a suitable purchaser soon (and they continue to trade from the very convenient Bristol shop!)

This evening finally I found time to get on with some construction of baseboards, with the main scenic section now about two thirds complete. The construction method has worked well (as I expected it would) but has taken a lot of time. Hopefully I will manage to get the rest built through the week and actually get some track down at the weekend... I need to get myself some OO gauges and make a decision as to whether I will file my own vees and switch blades (seeing that C&Ls double slip is something like £100 I think I will probably have a crack with the file first.....) Finally back to the goods shed. Having now got the other two books on the kingsbridge branch, I've another change to make to the drawing based on the photo showing the interior. The brickwork needs another raised section to the right side of the Plymouth end door...

I thought the whole purpose of that recess was to ensure the plates are always straight, yet here we are with wonky plates still.... Fingers crossed Hattons see sense and get rid of it on the King!

Really good photo,Makes you wonder what other odd angles are available hidden away on the Internet...

Wonder if there was any sausage traffic to the south west... Some roof boards showing to work between Harris Calne and Plymouth, along with the signs on the sides would be nice.

Annoyingly don't have my personal laptop with me for this weeks trip, as I didn't think I had any layout design to do... But I've just found another photo (eBay) in BR times which shows (in shadow) the inside of the station side of the shed, from this you can make out that the brickwork matches the outside in having raised sections. Glad I picked it up now! As for the layout its self, the weekend saw no where near the progress I had planned. After buying a saw on Saturday morning, the weather was awful for the rest of the weekend and there isn't space to set the workmate up inside the garage. Hopefully this weekend will prove better.... I have however managed to plan out the location of all the support ribs, the ideal being a rib on each end (shared with the next board) and 2 intermediates at a 300mm spacing. However because of the fixed length of timber and fixed track plan there are some points on a board joint. So in these cases I have angled the rib to clear the tortoise motor and added a plywood buttstrap between the the boards for the rest of the final part of the plan is a trip to C&L on Friday to buy enough track bases to lay the mainline. The plan being to remove sections of this track at a later stage once the points are built and ready to lay. Given that there are 5 points each to build for the up and down main alone, I'd like to at least get the majority working before I get started then add them in one at a time. Once the main is fully working work will start on adding the yard loops (again one loop at a time) and finally the branch and fiddleyard

Funny you mention that, was reading one of the kingsbridge branch books last night which has a note on the bottom of the timetable mentioning that cattle wagons are permitted tail traffic Interesting to see a photo of the actual operation!

So this evening should have seen the scenic baseboards built, unfortunately I ran into a slight issue in that while finishing off the framework while I was away in the week my father broke my saw (and forgot to tell me), so I wasn't able to cut any wood. Will need to go back to B&Q tomorrow and buy a new one, annoying when I was there yesterday buying the wood. When getting B&Q to cut the ply they made a mistake on the 610mm width pieces, cutting them 710 wide. a polite question asking what would happen to the scrap saw two placed on my trolley free of charge. Both are perfect for the two end boards that I planned on buying later once the sides were done. I couldn't remember the length of the short board, so left it 1220mm long. A good job in this case as upon test fitting in the garage the door still works fine with the longer board. As such the frame will be modified accordingly! This gives another 7 inches or so of length, allowing for more detail on the cutting at the Exeter end and the whole layout to be shifted to the right by one inch to get a better clearance at the Plymouth end. I couldn't resist placing everything in place along with a length of track to get a feeling of spacing, hopefully after getting the saw tomorrow things should progress quickly and I will soon have a completed baseboard surface. Then it's time to pop over to C&L and start buying track... I assume no one does OO track bases with GWR chairs?

One final post on the goods shed for now (unless any further information is discovered) I have redesigned the roof, slightly increasing the height and sorting out the window design. I have also added some brackets on the canopy, still no evidence either way, but looking at photos of other goods sheds on the Kingsbridge Branch they appear to be present.

I am now starting to get a little confused about those stone blocks... I have been looking at other GWR brick built goods sheds of a similar design, in particular that at Tetbury. It again has the rectangular stone blocks but there doesn't appear to be anything attached to them, making me think its either decorative or attached to something internal. No sign of the confusing square block though. I think for the moment I will add them to the drawing (and the model when its made) and worry about adding the canopy later once better information comes to light. (hopefully with Mr Geen publishing his book...)

That sounds very sensible, and must be the purpose of the two identically sized stones. I will do some digging and see if I can find a photo. Still have no idea what the large square stone is for which is only on the left hand side. I need to contact Dave Geen for a couple of kit bits anyway, so will ask about this at the same time

PM sent, One final post for the moment, The current status of the garage after my father popped round while I was away. The whole layout is now ready for the baseboard surface to be fitted into place, So as soon as the little one is asleep tomorrow I am going to be in the garage fitting plywood!!!

Thank you that is incredibly useful. You have actually got a really good view there of one angle which I have not seen before showing the underside of the roof at the Exeter end. A couple of changes needed, along with a much more complex drawing of the roof. It also highlights that the beam above the end doors is in the wrong place (and needs to be lowered by 2ft or so), so will have to get on with some more CAD changes... Do you have a higher resolution copy that I might have a look at please?