Andy Ross

The Layout went down well at York with some positive comments and a lot of general interest. When I brought the layout back to Leeds, instead of taking it home, it has gone to the Leeds MRS clubrooms. This is for two reasons, I need to take some photos for a magazine article and on the 18th May it is the open day at the club. I have spent the last two weekends setting it all up and doing a couple of repairs. During the York Show we found the crane at the boiler shop end started rocking diagonally as we got near the end of the track and stalling. On closer examination in the club I noticed that one of the special support columns must have come out a bit high - this was always a risk with a lot of etched layers. It would be impossible to reduce this so I have broken the joint on the opposite standard column and added two pieces of packing and soldered it all back up. The crane now runs to the end without issues. Something else I managed to get done just before York was the cab for the Scunthorpe Bo Bo. I was really pleased with this as it went together first time with the roof meeting the cab sides with no gaps. When you drop it on the loco frames it shows how impressive this loco will be in O Gauge. I also put the etched Snowdon cab together which also went together but it was far more fiddly. Since York I have also put the radiator casing together. This is also more complex than it looks. I am again pleased with how it all fits into the frame just like the real one. If you didn't get to York and you would like to see the layout, it will be fully operational on the open day on Saturday 18th May. See Details below. Andy

Based on the comments above I have cropped and adjusted the two images. They look quite convincing. Photo of real shop below.

Hi You are not Mistaken. It is 4083 which had collided with a bus on a level crossing. it was the first passenger vehicle we did any work on at Hunslet. It lead to a lot of similar work for London Underground and we also refurbished the two prototype Tyne and Wear units. Andy

Hunslet Works all set up at York Model Railway Show.. Come along and say hello.

I have to wait another two years for jab.

I was lucky as I did not get it on face. But 10 weeks in and nerve pain has not gone away.

Last push for York. So apart from crating up the main board and repacking all the loco parts etc. for an operating layout rather than a demonstration stand, we are all ready for York at the weekend. As seen in the previous post, Jill had made a name plate for the layout but were to put it? The simple solution was a plate stand and for it to sit on the fiddle yard. I also want to continue running the slide show - so were to put the screen? Again this can go on the fiddle yard, but the original support leg fowled the track - so this was shortened and I printed a support on the filament printer. The only other thing I wanted to do was mock up how the floor is going to work with the wood block and concrete floor. I had done the drawing for the parts last week. I had also engraved a sheet of 2mm ply with the block work. I then cut the parts for the walkways and under the benches from this sheet. To get to the 5mm track level there is 3mm foam board under the 2mm ply. At the moment this is all held in place with double sided tape This has come out far better than I expected. Obviously once it is in place for good it will all be weathered down. It will now be interesting to see how this will look with all the kit in the shop. As I have said before if you come to York, please say hello and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. Andy

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. There has been some activity but at a reduced rate due to ongoing issues recovering from Shingles. I took the test track board to Narrow Gauge North at the beginning of the month and this was well received. We are now on the last push to get the complete layout ready for York which is less than a week away. All the wiring is (I believe) complete and there will be a final test on Tuesday. One of the main jobs still to do was to get some sort of lighting into the Boiler shop roof. This also means I had to sort the removable section by cutting the longitudinal beams and finding a way to secure it in place. It's been a long time since I had this much access into the main shop. The roof lips under an angle on the wall side, and the solution on the other side is magnets. The magnets are mounted in some special sections I made on the filament printer. In the bottom edge of the roof panel is the opposite magnets but these are behind a 2mm layer of plywood to stop them locking too tightly together. The LED light strips are mounted on another 3d Printed section that positions them behind the top of the roof truss. From the viewing end these should not be too noticeable. The top section will be glazed. You will also notice the roof panels are all done with all the layers of ply for the inner structure. These take hours to cut. I have also been fitting chips into a couple of locos and I am still on with getting the MOD loco working but more on that later. We also realised we did not have any sort of name plate for the layout. I mention this to Jill and when I got home form work on Friday she had come up with a design based on the Hunslet works plates. I cut some ply to mount it on and Jill used the Cricut to do the rest. If you come to York over Easter please say hello. We will be on the first floor mezzanine with the demonstrators as we are still very much a work in progress. Hope to see you there. Andy

Over the last few weeks there has been various activities across the layout, see below. I have been drawing parts to help fill different areas of the layout. Most of which have already been produced with the 3d printer. 1. Wheel sets for the wheel shop . These are for the big Scunthorpe Bo Bo. What I am particularly please with is that I have cracked drawing gears. 2. Fiji Loco frame This will fill a corner in the boiler shop. 3. 300hp Mines bogie frame These will go in the erecting shop. 4. Blocks, angle frames and bed plates. These are needed for the boiler shop and will be used to position fabrications. I have also been working on motorising one of the MOD locos so it can be lifted onto the test track and run up the yard on test. The motor will fit up int the fuel tank. I have had to be a bit brutal with one of the ballast weights in the frame. Still a bit more to do but I am getting there. I have also made a start on the wiring. Compared with some layouts there is not a lot to do and at the moment I still have to finalise control panels. I need to operate all the layout to understand what needs to be on each panel or if we can do it all on one. Some can be done properly now such as under the layout. I have also worked out how to switch the rails to the power on the test track. This now has a rotary switch. Position 0 - Turns all the Test track off Position 1 - Standard gauge and 5'6" gauge Position 2 - 2' gauge Position 3 - 2'6' and 3' gauge This will be mounted for York in a temporary enclosure. I have also been looking at the boiler shop roof and I think I have a plan to get some lighting added to this area. More updates over the next few weeks. Don't forget the test track board will be at Narrow Gauge North at Pudsey Civic Hall on the 9th March. The complete display will be at York over Easter. Andy

And a coach for it to push.

Slow progress over the last two weeks in garage due still not being 100% well. But I have managed to solder the rails in place, and today I found and fitted the strip for the check rail across the joint. I also took the opportunity to Ballast this short section. God knows how long it is going to take the glue to dry with the cold weather. In parallel with this I have been busy doing drawings to send for etching to help add to the variety of parts in the boiler and erecting shop. One etch is just general parts for the structure etc, but the second is far more interesting with cabs and casing parts for two very different locos - can you work out what they are? If you want to see the layout in various stages there are a couple of outings coming up. Narrow Gauge North is on the 9th of March at Pudsey Civic hall, Leeds. I will be putting on a demonstration stand which will be based around the narrow test track board. I will not be taking the main board with the cranes etc. but there will still be plenty to see. Easter at York will see the first show for the complete layout, all be it as a work in progress. On saying that it will all be operational. This will be a major milestone in the development of the layout. Andy

Just before Christmas I picked up the fiddle yard base board from my good friend Peter Kirmond. The intention was to get this up and fitted over the holidays and get the track laid. I thought I had the rail and sleepers to do this, but this was not the case so this was put on hold while I ordered the parts. These took longer to arrive than I hoped and in the meantime I was taken ill which stopped almost everything for a couple of weeks and to be fair I am still not 100%. Despite this, today with Jills help, we managed to put the board up and later in the day I glued all the sleepers down. If its not too cold tomorrow I will fit the rails. This board is 1m long making the total layout length 4m which almost fills the garage. I had also decided that as this is only to run locos and the odd wagon on and off scene, most of which will be rigid six or four wheelers, there was no point messing with sector plates or point-work, as we can just lift the stock on and off as and when we need them. This will also be left open to view so the different loco types can be seen when they are not on the test track or in the erecting shop. The screen for the slide show will also be mounted on this board. Andy

So I have finished making all the Hat Structures for all the North lights section of the roof during the week. Each one has a LED strip fitted and there are small plugs and sockets between each one. The little plugs were a pain to connect but it was really the only way to do it. When everything is painted and these go on for good the plug should tuck away behind the purling out of site. This has worked out really well, even when I turned all the garage lights off, you can see how well that end of the layouts illuminated. I also believe we can do something similar in the boiler shop roof but that might need to wait for now. I am really pleased with this, especially y with the colour of the light. its not too white and gives the look of the sodium lights we had in the real shop. There is one issue we have found, all this continues damp weather has not been kind to the layout. The garage has proven this winter to be far more damper than previous years and this has caused a lot of the Nickel Silver structure to go black and patchy, it is particularly bad on the doors. I am sure it will be ok but it has emphasised the need to get everything painted this summer. I will have a go at cleaning this all up before Easter. Once everything is painted I am sure it will be ok. Next job all being well is to get the new fiddle yard up and sort the last bit of track out when the bits arrive from C & L. I then need to sort some permanent wiring out as it is all a bit temporary at the moment. Andy

North Lights, mark two. After the first attempt to light the erecting shop from under the roof, I was not 100% happy. But I felt I was on the right track. I had already decided that two strips of lights was two bright and if I went to one I could lift the bottom one up a bit further which would move it out of the field of view. I was also concerned that it was also still a bit too white. So I had look on Amazon and came across a version that provided on continuous light and was slightly yellow. They also came with a dimmer control. The light in the shop were sodium and these were a more yellow/orange light. I have built up one of the assemblies. This gives off a far better colour of light. What I need to do is build some more assemblies to see how bright it will be with more than one. So Back to the laser cutter tomorrow. The boiler shop end will still need some thought but as I have said before, one problem at once. Andy

I have also done some more digging and found Amazon do a strip which is a continuous light and you can dim. So I have ordered a set which should also come tomorrow.

I have ordered some diffuser sheet used by photographers which should be here tomorrow - we will see what that looks like. I am sure there will be several tweaks before we get the final solution. I am going to reposition the strip today to find the optimum position.

The run up to Christmas has not seen much activity on the layout. Well in Leeds anyway. Pete Kirmond has been busy down in Gloucestershire making the fiddle yard board and sorting out the creating for the narrow board. This had gone through several design reviews but in the end we reverted to a very simple solution. The fiddle yard board only needs to be 1 metre long so a 1/2 metre section is added to allow for creating. This may be used as a set up board for the dcc with all the different gauges on it. I collect these just before Christmas and in the next few days they will be put up in the garage so I can lay the track across the board and start on the wiring. Back in Leeds there has also been some activity. As the layout is starting to receive invites to Shows, all be it as a work in progress, I have been asked if I have any lighting, as some the halls have poor lighting for models. This has led to several interesting discussions, especially with Peter. With the buildings being so high and the layout being set at eye level how do you try and light it without a huge lighting structure. The conclusion at the moment is that we don't. The majority of the activity is inside the building, so what we need to do is light the interior. The other issue with lights outside would be that there is no guarantee how much would get in through the windows. As we add more roof details, the worse this will get. For the North light I had thought abut making the external structure as separate units, like a hat for each one. So how do I get the lights inside. I wondered if I could get some LED's on the window face to simulate light coming in through the windows. To accommodate the LED strip I made the window face 3mm deep. This has pinched a bit of the gutter but it will not be too noticeable. As you can see I used 2 rows of LED's. I also put all the inner roof details on the tiled face as I needed to check it sat down right on the structure. When I put the test assembly on with two rows of lights it is way too bright, especially with another in the next bay. So I disconnected the top row and there was still more than enough light. This will also mean I can move the strip a bit further up so you cannot see them from most angles. I might also fit a thin diffuser, but I am not sure what difference this will make so close to the light. I am not sure if this will work in the long run and the boiler shop section with the pitched roof is going to need another idea. There is also the issue of the narrow board / test rack area to consider, but one step at a time. I have also noticed some areas in the size of the end panels but this will not take long to correct. The next thing to do is make a couple more and see how they all sit together. Andy

Several weeks have passed since I last posted anything and its fair to say not a lot has been done until this weekend. When we got back from Swindon it was a case of unpacking the car and within 24hrs were loading it again for a two week long waited holiday. The photo below should give you a clue on where we went. Since we got back it has been very difficult to get motivated again especially now the Leeds Exhibition has had to be cancelled due to building work at the venue. I know that I need to get on with more design work for the building from roof panels to sorting out the floor panels and control panels etc. Despite this I have decided the best way to get going again is to solder up some more parts to fill the shop. So I have started with some trestles and progressed on to some locomotive parts. The trestles are quite fiddle and until you solder the legs up, very fragile and easy to bend out of shape, but once they are done they are very strong. It might be easier to 3d print these but they would be far too brittle and would need building up which will not look as good as the etched ones. I also decided to build some parts up for a Bord na Móna loco that would help fill up the boiler shop. I am not sure how I bent the cab up last time but this time I used the Tamiya bending fixture. This was OK, but to get al the bends I had to modify it by cutting some of the legs off. Its quite a complex fabrication with a false floor and built in sandboxes etc. I am quit please with progress and there are few more different bits I need to do including more trestles and a lot of benches. All being well this will motivate me to get on with the design work for the layout in the next few weeks. Andy

As for the model Mike is correct. The one on the layout is for British Coal. However there were two specials made with extended cabs for TML (Channel Tunnel) for rescue trains. Along with two special ambulance cars based on GMT running gear. As for the wheeling going well. It always worked in real life as there was a team of men guiding it on and in the pit holding axle boxes. The model success rate is not too bad but every now and then I have lift back up and start again.

I have also received this evening a video taken by Thomas Haynes of the wheeling sequence which you might like to see. Its fair to say it does not always go this well. Andy

Thank you to everyone who said hello at Swindon exhibition over the weekend. I took this video and from this angle watching the loco go up the yard, it was like I was back there in the early 80’s. Next confirmed outing will be York next Easter we’re there will hopefully more to see including a small fiddle yard and more Woking locos on different gauges. Andy

Another first tonight. When we decided to take the small board to Swindon it was meant to be a static display. However I had an opportunity tonight to install some temporary wiring and I will be able to drive standard gauge locos up and down the yard. The link below is the first loco to go from the workshop up the yard. Between now and Easter we will have time to fit chips into rest of the locos. (some with sound). That's it now before Swindon - tomorrow I start packing it all up for the weekend. Andy

After a view false start I have managed to put together the second bridge structure. Originally this was to cover the crane tracks that ran from the machine shop to the boiler shop. By my time this was still in use but only to bring items out of the machine shop. The doors into the boiler shop had been bricked up and some building as added. all that is left is the upper lifting door but this was locked in place and built up to as can be seen in the photo below. I have included photos of the buildings before the bridge section was added. The upper doorway was fragile and I broke the first one so when cut is has a sacrificial support frame which will be removed to add the door frame. I am not sure how much will be visible at exhibitions under the roof so at the moment there is a representation of the frame work and trusses all laser cut. There is some overlays and a couple of steel columns to add that go down to the floor which I will probably get etched. The rest of the phots are just general views. This is as far as I am going before the Swindon show next weekend. If you would like to see the progress in the flesh, then please come along to the Swindon Railway Festival at the steam museum on the 9th and 10th September. Andy

More progress so far this weekend. During the week while I have been away for my day job I managed to get the drawings done for the tower. I cut the parts out last night when I got home and assembled it this morning. I will admit that I managed to get some of the slots out of place and completely missed some. So there was a bit of recutting this morning. This has to to be removable for transporting so the assembly slots into the back of the bridge section. It was a bit tight but with a but of sanding it now drops in nice a snuggle. I have scored some lines on this to act as a guide for when I add the corrugated sheets. I have also today been looking at the main doors. I have not been happy with these as they have been very noisy and a little slow to operate. The original design was to use the small motor gearboxes that a lot of us have found all kind of uses for - I use them to drive the cranes. But for some reason no matter what I did they were very noisy when working. I had recently found an all enclosed unit on eBay and today I fitted one to see how we got on. It is a lot better and with it being a bit bigger the gearbox fits right up onto the baseboard and at the moment it is held in place with some double sided tape. See video below. I had bought two gearboxes but the other one is faulty so I have found the same thing on Amazon and hopefully this will arrive tomorrow. Tomorrow I need to service the cranes ready for Swindon as this is only a couple of weeks away. I have also arranged with the organiser to now take both boards to the show. Andy

Following on from the previous post I needed to get on with the bridge section on the narrow board as this will determine the position etc fro the similar section on the main board. Again this was to be constructed from laser cut parts. There was a lot of drawing needed for this and I had to ensure it could extend over the track without a supporting leg on the outside edge of the baseboard. I started cutting parts on the Thursday evening and finished on Friday. There were some modifications and improvements I identified as I went along and these will be explained below. Three main sub assemblies were created first. There were a lot of tabs and slots designed in and amazingly they all lined up. The section with the recesses is the wall under the bridge. The original plan was to produced this by layering up the same profile but was missing brick detail and I did not got it all quite in line. The redraw did take quite a while but the end result is much better. The main assembly went easier than expected with just a couple of small adjustments to allow for a build up of tolerances and a couple of packers that were needed to fill in a gap created by the redesign of the wall. I have dropped it on the layout and I am really pleased with it. I am also pleased with the wall with the cable ducts. I also had to take a few shots with locos to get a real feel for it. The bridge has came out about 10mm in from the edge of the baseboard - I don't think anyone will notice at exhibitions and to be fair I think it is better as it will not be so vulnerable to being knocked. The next job is the other bridge section on the main baseboard. With all this progress we are looking to take the test track board to Swindon on the 9th and 10th September as well as the main board if I can get it in the car without a proper crate for it. Andy