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Dave Holt

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  1. Dave Holt
    By moving some of the furniture, I was able to assemble all four scenic boards for the first time, today. Still on the floor, naturally, as the support structure is not yet built.
    The occasion for this event was a visit by Tim Venton (Tim V), of Clutton fame, following his visit to the Midland Model Engineering Show nearby. Tim kindly helped with the removals work and assembly of the layout.
    Attached photos show the results - looks impressively long for a single line branch terminus.
     
    Two overall views, first from the station end and then from the fiddle yard end:
     

     

     
    This closer shot of the station shows the approximate location for the control panel - right at one end so the operator doesn't block the view!
     

     
    Dave.
  2. Dave Holt
    The 12 v DC power supply units for the two signal servo control boards were collected today and then fitted under the boards. There's one power supply unit for each of the control units and these are now all wired up. Another step towards completion of the wiring arrangements.
     

     
    This one supplies the starter and ground signals;
     

     
    and this one the bracket signal.
     
    Next task is to add the bell code dinger unit to the control panel.
  3. Dave Holt
    The signals made for me by Steve Hewitt (of Liverpool Lime Street fame) were collected last week and have been trial fitted to the layout and the operating mechanisms and contol units fitted and wired. Steve has made a wonderful job, as seen in his semaphore signals thread in the forum section of this site.
    The following photos show the signals in situ and the operating bits fitted. The signals have since been removed and refitted into their carrying frames for safety during further layout construction.
     
    First, we see the signals in their layout locations, starting (appropriately) with the starter signal.
     

     
    Next the miniature semaphore ground signal controling the exit from the loop& yard into the running line.
     

     
    Coming in the other direction, we have the home signal. This is a two doll bracket controling entry into the platform road or into the loop/yard. This signal is seen from both sides.
     

     

     
    Now some shots of the under-board operating mechanisms and control units. The operating mechanisms are servo motors and the contol boards are made by GF Controls. I believe they are based on those developed for Lime Street and they each control two servos and incorporate a switchable bounce facility and simple adjustment of the on and off arm positions. The bracket signal unit incorporates two servos to operate the two arms. The others have one each.
    Here's the arrangement for the bracket signal.
     

     
    As I explained previously, space for the yard ground signal mechanism is very tight and I had to re-route a wiring bundle to make room for it. This shot shows just how tight it is. The original route for the wiring was straight through the two redundant wiring clips (fixtures visible either side of the mechanism, as is the re-routed wiring).
     

     
    In contrast, the started signal servo has loads of room!
     

     
    Finally, heres the control board for the starter and yard exit signals. Both controllers have been located so the arm postion adjuster pots can be reached easily from the base-board edge - a very sound suggestion from Steve.
     

  4. Dave Holt
    Complete, that is, except for the signal control units and their local 12v DC power supply units, which I haven't got, yet.
     
    After months of putting it off, I finally knuckled down to wiring up the station throat board with its numerous turnouts and diamond crossing - by far the most complex in terms of electrics. Photos below show the under board wiring on this board.
     

     

     
    However, methodical work and constant continuity testing seems to have paid off as only very minor re-work was required. One heart stopping moment occurred when, having more-or-less finished, I realised I'd run a great bundle of wires right over the space reserved for a signal sevo motor, despite having remembered to keep the area free from electrical track droppers. Fortunately, I was able to divert the offending wires by cutting a slot in part of the base-board support rib, as shown below. It looks a bit odd, but the prospect of having to modify the whole bundle of wires was just over facing! Originally, the wires just ran along the bottom of the member with the lightening holes.
     

     
    Once completed, I checked track feed continuity with a small meter and then conected the power feed from the control panel. In order to do this, all the boards have to be connected as the panel feeds into the station end board and the track power is passed alonf the boards to the oposite end where it connects to the track. Initial power up showed that some of the point position LED's and several point motors needed their polarity swapping - a simple job. Otherwise, my methodical approach seems to have paid off as everything works as intended. This was confirmed by running locos over all tracks on the throad board in both DC and DCC modes from both the main panel and yard controller sockets. I did find that on DC, the loco ran the opposite direction to the switch on y hand-held Pentroller, so the track feeds from the panel and facia sockets have been reversed.
     
    The test session is shown below. A general view of the boards connected together, two standing on edge and the station throat board flat so locos can be run and a shot of the control panel with the point LED's illuminated.
     

     

     
    These tests also confirmed that the sharply curved route into the mill siding can be negotiated by a variety of locos, without any shorting. My Stanier 2-6-4 tank and WD 2-8-0 are seen on the board. The WD is on the curved siding link.
     

     

     
    Not everything was perfect and a few minor (I hope) issues need to be resolved.
    1) Both my Ivatt and BR Cl 2 2-6-2 tanks derailed their rear trucks on the point blades when reversing out of the mill siding. With the cross-over reversed, the trucks went up the head shunt whilst the driving wheels took the correct route over the cross-over. Might havr too strong side control springs on the trucks.
    2)Neither end of the double slip is thowing over properly. The springy operating wire on the Tortoise motors isn't stiff enough to move two sets of blades with the required travel. Hopefully, this can be solved with some thicker steel wire. I believe that 7 mm modellers do this with Tortoises, so if anyone knows the details. I'd be very pleased to receive advice.
  5. Dave Holt
    The part finished ex-LMS D2008 vestibule brake 3rd has been completed to partner the D1916 version already done. As before, the bulk of the work was done by Coachman, leaving me to make the interior and finish off. The D2008 is a bit unusual because it has only 51/2 seating bays but an even smaller brake compartment than the D1916, which has 6 bays. This must have resulted in very generous leg room for excursion passengerd who chose to sit in this type of coach.
    Here's a shot of the complete coach and also a closer view showing the brake compartment and half seating bay.
     

     

     
    Here the two coaches are seen together for comparison.
     

     
    Dave.
  6. Dave Holt
    Slow progress (all my progress seems to be slow!!) has been made with the control panel. The mimic diagram is complete, including lettering using Letraset transfers (applied by good friend, sign-writer, Phil Taylor - his work is much neater than I could achieve). The diagram was drawn using coloured permanent marker pens.
    Wiring of the lower part of the panel containing the various tag strips and a small circuit board with a couple of relays (extra switches for the diamond crossing polarity and some signal interlocking), diodes to generate half wave rectified supply to the Tortoise point motors and bridge rectifiers to provide nominally 12 v DC to power the relay change-overs and the panel LED's, is almost complete.
     
    A couple of photos show the current state of play.
     

     
    An overall view of the control panel with the completed mimic diagram. The lever-frame amd track section switches previously shown have been removed from the lower section to facilitate application of the Letraset lettering.
     

     
    A view of the lower panel compartment showing the wiring - mainly on tag strips. Feeds to the layout are via multi-pin D plugs on the right hand side. Coming in on the left are 16 v AC (power to vitually everything!) and 18 v DC (for AJ uncoupling magnets) feeds and connectors for either DC or DCC controllers and the conection to the DCC power unit. Going off shot at the bottom is the bundle of wires which will conect to the switches and LED's on the panel facia.
    The coil of white wires are for the bell code ringer circuit.
    Top centre is one of a pair of 3 amp thermal trips in the feeds to the track sections (but not yet conected - hence the coils of blue wire adjacent). I've heard tales of major problems resulting from track short circuits recking controllers, melting loco wheels, etc., especially with DCC giving up to 10 amps, so hopefully these trips will help avoid that.
  7. Dave Holt
    Well, as best I can tell prior to functional testing, the wiring is complete. I've tried to be methodical and careful, but even so, I had to undo various cable ties and the spiral sheaving a couple of times to add extra wires which I'd missed first time. Testing under power will start shortly - probably next week, after a two day visit to the Wells show over the week-end. I just hope it all functions as intended as I don't really fancy fault finding or any re-wiring!
     
    Here are some photos of the completed panel:
     
    First, the external view showing the finished mimic panel, lever frame switches and DC track selection switches.
     

     
    Second, a view of the panel base unit and the inside of the two sections of the front panel, showing the wiring arrangements.
     

     
    Finally, here's the power supply unit which supplies 16 v AC to the panel, and then to the base-boards. Inside are two Guagemaster transformers wired in parallel. Both the mains side and output side of each transformer is protected by fuses. The track power feed from the panel are each providied with a thermal trip in case of a short circuit across the track going un-noticed.
     

     
    Dave.
  8. Dave Holt
    One of the problems I've created for myself is that the layout is being/has been wired in a way that means nothing can really be tested without the control panel being connected and so far I had not made any progress with this item. I've now made a start sing a panel case bought from Squires.
    I must say, it has a sort of 1950's Sci-Fi film laboratory (think Quatermass or Blob from Outer Space type of thing) look to it in my view. However, since the layout is set in the '50's, that might be quite appropriate.
    Progress to date has mainly been marking and drilling for the various switches and LED's and fitting the plug & socket (2 x 25) for the connections to the layout and 2 x 5 pin DIN sockets for the main DC and DCC controllers. The two large rotary switches select the main or yard controllers or DCC for the two track sections (main/platform line and loop/yard).
    The point and signal switches are set out like a signal box lever frame and have appropriately coloured levers.
    Still lots to do, but at least work is under way.
     

     
    Here's the panel with the lever frame and section selector switches fitted and holes drilled in the mimic diagram panel for an isolation switch and various LED indicators.
    Here are skectes of the two panels.
     

     

     
    Dave.
  9. Dave Holt
    Following on from my last entry, I've started work on the over-bridge which forms part of the scenic break between the station and the fiddle yard.
    The bridge is based on Bridge No. 4 which was (is) actually located in Dobcross, a mile or so along the branch from Delph, but which, together with the nearby group of cottages, forms an effective scenic break. A photo of the real thing appears on page 23 of Larry Goddard's excellent Delph book. The bridge - at about 81 feet long, more a short tunnel - carries Mount Lane over the railway. Mount Lane actually leads off Wall Hill Lane, but in my version it connects directly to Delph (Holt) New Road, which runs along the front of the layout past the coal drops and up to the station.
    I had formed the base for Mount Lane as part of the base-board structure but found that I hadn't made it high enough to cross the railway with sufficient clearance, so additional packing pieces have been added and similar levels incorporated into the bridge structure. This latter is made from plastic sheet, with a basic core clad in embossed sheet to represent the different types of stone used in the bridge wing walls and parapet.
    The photos show work in progress. I'm currently waiting for further supplies of plastic card and some additional tools to help finish the bridge.
    The final road surface will be 2 mm higher than the supports, but as yet, I haven't decided on the best material for this or for the ground in-fill between the (quite narrow) road and the widely spaced parapets.
     
    First a view through the bridge, looking towards the station:
     

     
    Now a view from roughly the same view-point as the photo in Larry's book:
     

     
    Finally, the station side of the bridge. Judging by photos I took some years ago, the stonework of the wing walls on this side of the bridge is quite different from the random style used on the other side. Strictly, none of the embossed card is exactly right, but these are somewhere near. The proper way would be individually engraved stones cut into plain card - as per Geoff Kent's lovely bridges recently illustrated in his MRJ article - but perhaps I'm not that dedicated!:
     

  10. Dave Holt
    The plastic structure of the bridge is now complete - parapets clad, capping stones added, etc and I've sprayed it with Halfords grey plastic primer in preparation for painting the stone surfaces.
    Whilst most of the local buildings, including the station and coal drops are millstone grit, my colour photos of the actual bridge show it to be made of a grey coloured stone. I'm not sure whether to try to replicate this or adopt a similar colour to the other stone-work, for a more consistent appearance, especially as I've moved the bridge much nearer to the station features than the real thing.
     
    Two shots from the Greenfield side.....
     

     

     
    ...and one from the station side. The short extension at ground level is a small retaining wall at the bottom of the cutting.
     

     
    Next job is to paint and ballast the track through the bridge, which has already been primed, so it can be permanently fixed to the base-board.
  11. Dave Holt
    As far as I know, no DMU ever visited the real Delph, but in my model version (Holt), a Cravens power twin unit is being trialed as a potential replacement for the steam powered ex-LNWR push-pull trains.....a trail doomed to fail I predict!
    Anyway, a converted Bachmann set is seen arriving past the head-shunt buffer stops. Behind the unit is a template for the extended over-bridge I have relocated from Dobcross. Also seen is a photo of the actual bridge (with my late wife, Sue, acting as a 5' - 2" tape measure!).
    The final shot shows the space for a group of cottages from Dobcross which will form part of the scenic break to the fiddle yard and the steep lane rising to cross the aforementioned bridge. You can just make out a photo of the real location in the copy of Larry Goddard's Delph book, open in front.
     
    First the DMU with the bridge portal behind:

     

     
    Now with the photo of the actual bridge - the tack-bed at this point is now a footpath:

     
    And finally, the cottage/lane feature:

     
    Regular readers might note that for a change, the base-board is not on the lounge floor! No - I haven't finally got round to assembling part of the support structure - in this case, it's carefully balanced on the backs of two dining chairs!!!
  12. Dave Holt

    Delph max

    By Dave Holt,

    As a follow-up to my entry the other day, I've added the next board along - with the coal drops. This is the maximum length of the layout I can erect on the floor without moving furniture around, so the station platform board is not attached. I haven't started the fiddle yard.
    In use, the layout is high enough (1400 mm to rail level - quite high) to go over the furniture, but I haven't made a start on the support structure so far.
    Having these boards connected allows the point rodding runs and crank, compensator and stool positions to be determined.
     
    Similar shots as last time, but with the extra board - beginning to give a sense of the overall size and space.
     

     

     
    Dave.
  13. Dave Holt
    I recently retrieved the final scenic base-board from my friend's workshop, primarily to check the space for the home/loop bracket signal and if there were any under board obstructions which might get in the way of the operating mechanism. Actually, there's loads of space, unlike some of the other signal locations on the next (station throat) board.
    I've taken the opportunity of having the board at home to lay the first section of the single track approach to the station. I'm happy with the alignment across the base-board joint and smooth curve achieved. Here's a couple of photos of the track in situ, one in each direction.
     
    First, looking towards the station throat point-work
     

     
    Then looking towards the rest of the world (or Greefield, at least)!
     

     
    The strange sloping structures are the foundations for a sloping lane which climbs up and crosses the track (actually located in Dobcross) and a connecting foot-path. The space between these features is filled with an interesting group of stone-built cottages. This arrangement is meant to hide the exit into the fiddle yard.
     
    Dave.
  14. Dave Holt
    I've finally painted all the bogies and re-assembled all 6 coaches which make up the train. Weathering can wait till a later date. Here are some further views of the train posed on the station throat section of the layout - track yet to be wired & painted.
    For those who haven't followed earlier entries, Delph wasn't built on a continuous viaduct (!), the arch shaped openings are the tops of lightening holes in the stiffening ribs. These will be hidden behind an embankment and stone retaining wall, eventually.
     
    First, the final pair of coaches to have the bogies painted.
     

     

     
    Now the assembled train, starting with a couple of views from the buffer stop end of the station area.
     

     

     
    A couple of shots looking towards the station.
     

     

     
    Dave.
  15. Dave Holt
    Four of the coaches making up the set have now had their bogies painted, as illustrated below. Two more to go!
    At some future stage, I'm going to have to pluck up the courage to carry out some weathering on the superb paint finish Coachman achieves. Probably not much on the sides, but roofs, ends and under-frames got fairly grubby in steam days and were never cleaned between shoppings.
     
    Anyway, here's the job so far - bogies painted, AJ couplings on the outer end coaches and also the brake 3rd (it will be an end coach in a different formation using some of the same coaches plus another (as yet not built) brake - a D1916/1946 open 3rd), corner steps added to the Period III's, Masokits couplings between coaches - and of course, Coach's superb build and paint quality.
     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  16. Dave Holt
    Gosh, nearly 6 months since the last entry!
    Not a great deal of progress with the layout - although I have applied a base coat of colour to the trackwork on two of the boards and started to contemplate wiring up on the third board, That's the one with the main station throat pointwork, so represents more of a challenge than the two dealt with so far. There's nothing like thinking about a job to avoid actually having to do it!!!
    Anyway, I have been doing some modelling over the intervening period - some of it "cheque-book" modelling and some physical modelling! Inspired by the photo of a Greenfield to Llandudno holiday train on page 101of Larry Goddard's Delph to Oldham book (Foxline), I wanted to represent it on Delph as if it had in fact started it's journey on the branch. Larry has produced a rake of 6 coaches, the first four of which are the same diagrams as visible in the photo and the last two types of his choice. I've built the bogies as larry doesn't work in P4 and as a result the whole thing is still work-in-progress. The bogies are a mix of Dave Bradwell sprung units, where AJ couplings are required, and the new Brassmaster/Jim Smith-Wright compensated units (very quick and easy to assemble, I must say) for the remainder. Cosmetic side-frames are 247 Developments for welded type and MJT/Dart Castings for the rivetted version. I haven't made and fitted the AJ's, yet but the coach to coach couplings are Masokits types, which allow coupling by just pushing the vehicles together and which are very easily adjusted for length so the (sprung) buffer heads just touch.
    Painting of bogies and weathering still to do.
    The photos below show the assembled train (in the correct sequence per the photos) with my partially completed Crab at the head - again, as per the photo. Sorry about the poor quality of the photos, but lighting conditions are not the best and the use of flash seems to make them to stark and too much contrast.
     
    First, the re-creation of the published photo
     

     
    More detailed views of the various coaches
     

     

     

     
    Finally, a view fron the rear as the train departs Delph on its way to the sea-side.
     

     
    Dave.
  17. Dave Holt
    Not much actual modelling progress to report, but it's been a while since the last layout update, so here's the latest.
     
    After spending what felt like weeks on my hands and knees - the major drawback with having the base-boards on the lounge floor! - grinding off rivet heads and applying cosmetic chairs to the ply sleepers at the base-board joint, I have painted the whole lot with grey primer, prior to applying the actual sleeper and rail colours.
    I got this idea from Iain Rice's book on fine-scale track.
    The problem is that the ply sleepers used at the joints and in the pointwork are different in both colour and texture from the moulded plastic sleepers in the plain track. The normal wood dye/staining method for ply sleepered track would be very difficult to match with the painted plastic track, so....everything is given a coat of aerosol grey primer to even it all up and then if can all be painted with the same range of colours and apart from very close inspection revealing the proper keys on the cosmetic chairs, it should all blend together. I think you'll agree with the effectiveness of this approach, as shown in the attached photos. It really is hard to see which are ply and which are plastic sleepers. I used Halfords grey plastic primer. It will be interesting to see how durable it is.
    The eagle eyed will spot that although I tried to be careful to mask of items not being painted, I have managed to get a bit of primer in several areas where it shouldn't be, although it's not much and should be easy to touch up.
     
    First a general view over the station and coal drop boards:

     
    And now a closer view at the base-board joint (staggered to fall between sleepers on the diverding tracks) and at one end of the platform release cross-over points:

     

     
    As you can see, I haven't made any attempt so far to represent the point blade tie bars. These will be non-functional and, bearing the shallow viewing angle which will result from the high track level on the completed model, I'm thinking along the lines of just dummy, fixed stretchers not actually attached to the blades at all.
     
    I also have to figure out the best colours of paint to use for the sleepers. These will have to be individually painted, I think, so another long laborious job in prospect. Well, it won't do it itself, so I'll just have to knuckle down....
     
    Dave.
  18. Dave Holt
    Not much visible progress with the layout recently, so in view of some recent interest in Caprotti fitted locos on RMweb, I thought I'd post a few photos of my effort - BR Standard 5, number 73129 - intended to work my Wakes special (for the North Wales coast). I think it's fair to say that Caprotti fitted locos were not well liked by footplate crews during the BR era, being regarded as weak on banks but fast on the level and good coasters. The super performances by Duke of Gloucester in preservation have disproved this view which was probably due to lack of familiarity and a sharper exhaust than normal locos leading to working at too short a cut off. Not that these issues apply to our models.
    Anyway, Patricroft shed ended up with all the English allocation of these locos and one of these was the last BR steam loco I saw in everyday service - the west end (Horse Dock?) pilot at Manchester Exchange in 1968. I spent a pleasant half hour on the footplate chatting to the fireman whist waiting for my (Peak hauled) Newcastle bound train.
    Possibly for this reason, I've always had a love of these locos.
     
    The model is based on a DJH kit but using milled main frames from Alan Gibson. In fact, the only DJH bits on the whole chassis are the cylinder /steam pipe castings, the slide bars, brake hanger/brake block etches and the return crank gear box castings. The valve gear shafts, complete with representations of the universal joints were made from various diameters of brass rod and tube. The injector casting are Alan Gibson and the pipework, lubricator and valve gear support brackets, etc., all home made.
     
    The photos were taken by Barry Norman and i must apologise for the poor quality reproduction. This is due to way I've scanned them in and re-sized the files not any fault with the original photos.
     
    First some shots of the finished loco:
     

     

     

     
    Now some taken during construction:
    The front bogie frame, showing the hollow pivot tube which was later soldered into the chassis spacer between the cylinders. A pin passes down the pivot tube to transmit the weight from the bogie external compensating beams to the front compensating beam in the chassis. This arrangement allows full compensation of the front bogie wheels without the bogie frames moving vertically. The bogie slides sideways with rubbing pads on the bottom of the mainframes resting on the "ears" protruding either side of the bogie frames. Light springs resting on the bogie axles keep the frames pushed up onto the pads. Hairpin side control springs centralise the bogie on the pivot tube. A bit complicated, perhaps, but it works really well and is applied to all bogies on my locos.

     
    Now some shots showing how the cylinders and valve gear are made up from sub-assembles which are held together by small screws (14 BA, if I remember correctly).
    First the cylinders with slidebars and connecting rods:

     
    Next the main drive shafts. This unit fits on top of the cylinder unit. Part of the exhaust injector steam feed pipe is included - the "S" shaped piece of brass tube!:

     
    Then the reversing gearboxes and shafts. The long, separate shaft is from the cab to the valve gear:

     
    When it's all assembled to the top of the chassis, the valegear looks like this:

     

     
    At the rear end of the chassis, on the right hand side, there is the rather distinctive lubricator mounting and drive. The lubricator bracket is quite massive and has the steam feed from the blast pipe to the exhaust steam injector passing right through the bracket, or rather the lubricator bracket incorporates a tube which forms part of the exhaust steam supply pipe. On the model, sections of this pipe are attached to bits of the valve gear, as seen above, and some to the chassis mainframes. The injector castings are Alan Gibson. This shot has the brake gear removed. Also visible are the dummy springs, sand pipes/brackets, ash pan and hopper operating gear and the pick ups - all mounted to a removable keeper plate which retains the driving axles. The motor is a Portescap 1616 fitted with an MJT gearbox conversion. The electrical connection to the motor, via bits of gapped copper-clad sleeper strip glued to the gearbox side plates, has since been modified to include a DCC chip.

     

     
    The brake gear is made in two sections. The "herring bone" main section with the brake hangers, which clip onto the chassis mountings and is easily removeable to get the wheels out. The rear section with the operating lever is attached to the chassis by screws, below the cab:

     
    The complete chasis, unpainted, looks like this:
    From underneath

     
    and from above:

  19. Dave Holt
    Or, perhaps it should be "The buffers hit Delph"!
     
    Following my stint with the bulldozer and grader to change the height of the road, just beyond the station, I thought I'd better get on with more directly related railway matters. So, I've fixed two rail built buffer stops at the end of the platform and loop roads. Quite a few more to go but progress nonetheless.
    These stops are made from the Mainly Trains fine-scale cast brass kits, which match the Code 75 C&L plain track very well. You may notice that the stops are not quite complete as the very rearmost sleeper (located under the 3 rail wide section at the rear of the stop, are not yet in place. The buffers are connected to the running tracks using Exactoscale/P4 Track Co moulded plastic fish-plates. As a precaution against wheel rims shorting across the isolating gaps (the cast brass buffer beam offering a very attractive circuit path from one side to the other), an additional rail gap will be cut in one rail, after the adhesive has fully dried.
    I've only fitted cosmetic chairs on the visible side of the rails (same as the point-work). Mind you, I'm not sure why I've bothered at all. All the stops at Delph were surrounded by so much debris and long grass that the sleepers, chairs and rails were completely hidden from view. The platform road stop had a pile of what looks like spare cobble stones stacked in the 4 foot almost up to the buffer beam and the loop line 4 foot was filled with a pile of ballast or ash/gravel - at least in the period modelled - mid 1950's.
    Just visible in the 6 foot are the pads for the stools for the point rodding from the ground frame (located between the two buffer stops) and the run-round crossover points.
     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  20. Dave Holt
    Having been putting this off for some time, I finally knuckled down and have fixed the coal drop deck and sloping wing wall in position. Some minor adjustment to the end of the track on the adjacent board was required to align the rails, mainly to correct a slight difference in height. This was done by re-soldering the rail attachment at the end sleeper, where it is soldered to the head of brass nails which pass through the rivet holes in the ply sleeper. After a couple of goes, as satisfactory result was achieved, as checked by rolling a 13 ton steel open wagon (visible in the photos) over the joint. Actually, there wont be much stock movement over this section of track, but it's best to have the alignment to a good standard.
    Fixing the deck wasn't quite a straight forward as it might have been due to a slight degree of warping and bowing of the deck timbers. A general purpose glue (similar to UHU), a pile of weights at each end and a final dose of super runny cyno appear to have done the trick. Time will tell......
     
    Photos show the deck and wing wall in situ, after fixing. Also a more general view over the station area with the deck in place.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  21. Dave Holt
    All the rail-built buffers in the goods yard area are now in place and all sleepers and cosmetic chairs fitted. This leaves the timber buffer stop in the yard and the two head shunt (mill siding and run-round loop) rail-built units still to do. These last two are on the station throat board which I haven't progressed beyond the track laying stage, yet.
    I've scaled the timber stop from a photo of the back of it, drawn it out, selected suitable (plastic) material and am about to start construction. Drawing the thing full size lead me to conclude that the siding track stopped a bit short of where it should, so a short additional length of plain track has been added to bring it to about the right place. Hopefully, this won't be too visible once everything is painted and weathered.
     
    One of the goods yard stops, positioned in front of the goods shed, is on the station board, but the siding is entirely on the adjacent board, so it's been necessary to re-connect the two boards, temporarily, to locate the buffer.
     
    The photos below show the buffers in place.
     

     
    View from near the coal drops (with deck removed).
     

     
    View from beyond the end of the station platform (not in situ).
     
    Dave.
  22. Dave Holt
    Although the track and electrics are far from complete, and the control panel and fiddle yard not even started, I have been thinking about scenic aspects of the finished layout. Following on from the coal drop wing wall, my thoughts turned to the retaining wall alongside the road as it curves round and up to the road junction near the station entrance.
    Study of a photo taken before the road layout was changed, looking towards the station masters house and down the road to Dobcross and road elevations shown on a site plan have convinced me that I had made the road slope up too steeply so that the road level outside the afore-mentioned house was far too high. Over a period of a few weeks, this has been eating away at me until I have been driven to try to improve matters.
    It would have been an awful lot easier to get it right in the first place because chopping the finished boards about to lower the road surface has not been the easiest of jobs. It's still not absolutely correct, but a lot better than it was. Due to some interference of immovable bits under the road surface, in the end I was able to lower the extreme top end of the slope by about 20 mm and generally blend this in to the original slope over a length of about 350 mm. The new arrangement is shown in the photo below. Some idea of the lowered road surface can be gleaned from the edge of the strip of wood visible at the end of the goods yard area. Originally, the right hand end of this strip, now suspended in mid air, was fixed to the sloping road. Now there's a gap of about 10 mm.
     

     
    Having corrected this niggling problem, I can now make and fit the various buffer stops to the station board roads. Except for the track which goes through the goods shed, these are of the rail built, BR standard (ex-GWR) type, despite Delph being ex-LNWR. The goods shed road had a masive timber baulk stop which looks like it was some locally produced replacement, possibly for a damaged rail built version. Although this stop appears in the distance in several photos, the detail isn't really clear, so I'll just have to make a best guess. No doubt someone will know better after it's built!
     
    Dave.
  23. Dave Holt
    As part of the scenic work for the station board, the right-hand wing wall has been completed. I'd cut the stone facing pieces from Wills sheets some time ago but have now completed the wall by assembling the two pieces and adding the capping. The assembly has been painted using the sooted stone technique explained to me by Peter Leyland - paint the basic stone colour all over, when thoroughly dry, paint matt black and wipe off using kitchen roll with a vertical action.
    This new angled section of wall is on the station board whilst the remainder of the coal drops is on the adjacent coal-drop board. You can see the joint in one of the photos, just below the edge of the coal drop deck. Overall, I think I've managed to match the colouring across the joint and then gradually have less blackening progressively along the wing wall where less dirt and coal dust would have been flying about.
    Behind the wing wall and then along the front of the goods yard, there is an extended low retaining wall holding back an embankment. I'm debating the best way of producuing the retaining wall - which is curved in both plan and in the vertical plane along its length and has an appearance which is not replicated by any of the embossed/printed products I can find - and also the embankment itself. For this I'm hovering between some sort of closed foam material and wire mesh with plaster bandage construction. Any thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome for both the wall and the embankment.
     

     

     
    Cheers,
     
    Dave.
  24. Dave Holt
    After departure of the visiting West Country and its train of enthusiasts, it's back to the slow progress with layout construction. I must say, without the station and goods shed in place, it does look to have taken several steps backwards!
     
    Since my last post, back in December '10, I have been working on the station board. All the track is now wired (except final connections to the Tortoise moters and AJ uncoupling magnets), cosmetic chairs fitted to the points and cosmetic fishplates fitted to all the track. Next job is to make & fit the jumper cables which connect to the control panel, located at the end of the board near the buffer stops.
    This choice of location for the panel, at the opposite end of the layout to most of the point-work, means that many of the wires have to run the whole length of the layout - making the wiring look worse than it is!
     
    With regards to the cosmetic chairs and fishplates, after some deliberation, i decided to only fit them to the visible side of the rails - cheating, I know, but it saves quite a bit of work and the back side of the track will never be seen, even by the operator, so why bother?
     
    Here's a few photos to illustrate progress to date:
     
    First, a couple of views of the platform release cross-over, now with chairs and fishplates.
     

     

     
    Second, some views of the wiring underneath. In some of these, the board is connected to the adjacent board via the jumpers as it was easier to identify the connecting wires from the tag boards than by trying to identify the plug/socket pins.
     

     

     

     

     
    I've also been having some further thoughts about the rodding from the ground frame (near the buffers) to the cross-over. As far as I can see from photos, there were no compensators fitted to the real thing, which had me a bit puzzled. Closer examination of the photos shows that the rodding from the frame extended beyond the toes of the nearer point and the rodding crossed from the six foot to adjacent to the platform face under the switch blades, enabling approximately the same length of rodding pushing as pulling, thus avoiding the need for compensators. (Hope I've got this right!)
     
    There will be a lull in layout work now, as I need to check my locos over, ready for a run out on Dewsbury at Scalefour North (with a test session beforehand).
     
    Dave.
  25. Dave Holt
    Coachman's nightmare has come true - when a little known enthusiasts' special arrived at Delph (aka Holt) consisting of an 8 coach rake of southern region stock hauled by re-built West Country class, 34027, Taw Valley. Strangely, this rather unusual occasion was not well recorded at the time and no photos appeared in the railway press of the day. However, photos confirming the event have recently come to light and a selection is attached to this post.
     
    The arrival of this train also answered an outstanding question as to the length of the run-round loop at the station. On this occasion, 8 BR Mk1's were safely accommodated in the loop. Normally, the operating department limited holiday excursions to 6 coaches, generally of 57' ex-LMS stock, but made a special concession for this Southern train.
     

    The train has arrived and pulled up to the buffers to allow passengers to de-train from the 5 coaches which fit in the platform. Those in the rear 3 will have to walk forward to alight.
     

    Taw Valley simmers quietly in the platform.
     

    Having pushed back the stock, clear of the run-round points, Taw Valley has drawn forward again, ready to run round. The sun has come out to briefly bathe the loco in brightness.
     

    An overall view of the scene, taken from a hillside across the road and river.
     
    What did I say in the previous post about fantasy?......
     
    Dave.
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