Middlepeak

My, it's been some time hasn't it! Not a huge amount to report here, with work on both layouts somewhat hampered by continuing difficulties with my wife's health, which are not going to go away. The RGVJ directors have been assessing the rolling stock situation again, and progress is being made on the construction of the B&W boxcab diesel which has featured on these pages before. An order for further body parts is shortly to be placed with those excellent people at PPD, and some further progress is hoped for over the coming months. A rash purchase of a motorised inspection trolley from a railway in Austria will see the directors travelling the line in a bit more style shortly, with the vehicle currently in the paint shops. Pictures will be posted on completion. Next year will hopefully see more work on a couple of steam locos to complete the roster. In the very short term though, Obbekær will be hitting the road for an appearance at the Portsmouth show on Saturday. We hope to see some of you there.

The Obbekaer team look forward to a highly enjoyable event in Portsmouth this weekend - the furthest south we've ever been, but an excellent show in prospect. See you there!

Hi Richard, Totally by chance I was thumbing through a copy of the May 1965 Railway Magazine this morning and found the attached. It's credited to Gordon Biddle and dated May 1956. Track still visible in the setts, and I like the lamp fixed to the side of the building. Hope it's useful. My apologies for the poor quality, but the original magazine print was not brilliant. Regards, Geraint

Rich, I'd like to echo the congratulations. Thoroughly deserved. I could have spent ages on Saturday drinking in all the detail - lots of cameos within the cameo! Just goes to show that there's much to be gained from a small project done to a high standard, from the view of both the builder and the viewer. Also that you don't necessarily need action to grab the attention. Looking forward to more progress on Monks Gate. Best wishes, Geraint

Al, Can you do something to round off the corners of the backscene? I realise that the baseboards have a sharp angle here, but perhaps you could incorporate a curve, even a tight one, above the scenery, and hide the transition with a bush or two. I think it would really make a difference. For my Friden layout, which at least initially is going to be a permanent layout at home, I'm arranging for the baseboards to slide under a pre-formed backscene, with small variations in the height of scenery to cover the join. On my p87 Danish offering (Obbekaer) I built in a fillet of 1mm ply between the end and rear backscene boards, bent to a 25mm radius. It's quite unobtrusive, but it just helps to frame the scene much better. Regards, Geraint

Hi Tom, Congratulations on the healthy report. I had a similar result last year and felt tons better for it! Returning to the pre-IPA conversation for a minute, I've always used lighter fuel, applied with a cotton rag, for cleaning both track and rolling stock wheels. It comes in a small can for about £1.50 and lasts a long time. The trick these days is to find a convenient supplier, as the days of the corner shop tobacconist are gone! I also make a point of cleaning wagon wheels once in a while. Two reasons for this. Firstly they can spread the dirt around the layout, making track cleaning even more necessary. Secondly, the build up of a thick layer of 'crud' over time has an impact on running quality, especially in p4 or p87. Regards, Geraint

Paul, Go on, I dare you ….. set this up on your demo table at Scalefour North this weekend and prove that your locos will go round those curves! See you on Saturday, Geraint

Hi Tom, I think you're absolutely right about painted backscenes, and it's even better if you can get a proficient artist to do it for you. That way you can get the mood of the picture to match the mood you're trying to capture on the layout, which of course allows you to pick the season, prevailing weather, and even time of day, if you really want to. I wonder whether you're aware of this website, which allows you to download the actual panorama profile for a specified location and direction? http://www.udeuschle.selfhost.pro/panoramas/makepanoramas_en.htm Worth a play, if only as a check that you've got the main elements of the topography right! All the best, Geraint

Duncan, The packet says Loco Springs LS1. I've checked on the Wizard site and they're not listed. Maybe the Roxey version is the best bet. Geraint

Duncan, My (very ancient) packet says Comet on them, so try Wizard / 51L, who now hold the Comet range. Regards, Geraint

I must pay tribute to the plywood engineering that's gone into progress thus far. Also the recuperative value of what David has achieved in the relatively short time since his dispiriting prognosis this time last year. Having witnessed a couple of trains completing a full circuit yesterday evening, there is one major logistical problem to overcome. The last baseboard across the room door means that access in and out of the room is impossible whilst trains are running - and also prevents deliveries of tea to parched operators! An urgent problem to resolve David, but congratulations on what you've achieved to date! Geraint

Hi Al, Struggling to keep up with the pace of posts on here! Old photos of the yard at Ladmanlow show that there was a long loading bank, as well as a goods shed / store and a water tank for locos. Will post something later when I get home. As far as traffic is concerned, don't forget that the siding to Grin Quarry left the main line just the other side of the level crossing, so stone wagons would be worked into the yard before the train was reversed for departure to Harpur Hill and Buxton. Grin also had its own locomotive, which would add some interest to operations. Regards, Geraint

Time for another somewhat overdue update on progress at Skibbroen. The main activity has been to finish off the two initial jigsaw pieces that carry the main track layout for the station. The basic structures were laser cut some time ago and have now been finished off with a coat of Danish Oil (what else!) as a preservative. The cork sub base for the track has also been cut out and stuck down with Copydex adhesive, so with the two boards joined, it's possible to get a better impression of the extent of the station and the benefits of having the track templates laser etched onto the surface of the cork. The first picture shows the two boards mounted temporarily on a pair of Screwfix adjustable trestles - a bit precarious at this stage, but ultimately, once the underframe is constructed, the structure will be much more rigid. I am however very happy with the structural integrity of the individual jigsaw pieces. They are very light and do not twist in any way. The second picture shows a close-up of the east end of the station, where some additional profiling with balsa wood has been necessary in order to raise the main line on a 1 in 45 gradient from the station throat up to the level crossing. This has involved a lot of headscratching and calculation, not because it's a difficult task in itself, but because I wanted to get the levels right in relation to the water level in the harbour. The road over the level crossing also goes across a bridge over the river, and in order to give the correct headroom, the track has to rise. The road at the back also has a gradient at this point, complicated slightly by the need to service the end loading dock on the rear siding. Hopefully I've got it right! The third picture shows the opposite end of the station, where the turntable pit has now been completed (apart from weathering) and the surrounds built up. This shows the value of the 15mm thick cork, as the pit is just screwed down to the baseboard top and the track base built up around it. No excuses now - the next job is to start track laying! However, there are still one or two rolling stock projects to complete before Obbekaer's next exhibition outing in 2019, and I have also convinced myself that a small P4 layout will be installed in the workshop to give me somewhere to 'play trains' - something I've never had at home before. Look out for a separate thread on that project elsewhere, but with some similar ideas on construction! Regards, Geraint

Dave, Look forward to another viewing at Railex! Geraint

Dave, I'm pleased to hear that the good burghers of Sherton Abbas are pleased with the latest addition to their station - and so they should be! I was looking forward to seeing the layout in the flesh at the recent Portsmouth show, and my expectations were fully met. It's a wonderful scene, with lots of cameos to explore while you're waiting for the next train. There's obviously a great deal of research and observation gone into it, and the standard of modelling and presentation really does you credit. As someone who normally likes his trains smaller and "from a bit further north or east", I was really captivated by it and spent a good deal of my time at the show just soaking in the atmosphere you have created. Congratulations! Do you have any more shows planned in the near future? Regards, Geraint

Nice sturdy boxes - worth their weight in ply, as I have proved through various outings with Obbekær. Next you'll be telling me you've gone a step further and designed as laser cut vehicle to transport them all in! Keep up the good work. See you soon. G

Further to Peter's post of a couple of days ago, I thought I would attach a couple of pictures of the two boats that have already been completed for the harbour at Ribe Skibbroen. Both are Artitec kits, largely resin but with a few home produced additions in brass. Rigging in both cases is EZ-line. First off is a tjalk, which is possibly a little bit 'off patch' in Denmark, but there is potential to convert this to the local variant of flat-bottom hulled vessel, an 'evert'. The second is more typical of Denmark, a small herring boat, finished off in the typical light blue colour scheme of many of the West Jutland boats, this one based at Hvide Sande just up the coast. Both of these were completed some years ago, and they will probably be in the dry dock for some time yet, until there is a proper quayside at Skibbroen to moor them against!

Phil, Good to hear from you. I know there is an appreciative audience out there, as we have met them at some of the shows we have done - Railex, Scaleforum, Rail Wells, Uckfield and Wycrail immediately come to mind. However for a lot of people, if they don't recognise what it is, they're not interested, so presumably a lot of exhibition managers reflect this in their choice of layouts. I've never chased invitations before, because I think it's a bit pretentious, but maybe I need to this time. The fact that I have had to withdraw from a couple of shows because of my wife's serious illness might not have helped, but there are still a couple of major shows where tentative invites have yet to be confirmed for 2019, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. As for MRJ, excellent as it is, the magazine doesn't have a track record on foreign topics - I think 2 layouts and one constructional article in 260+ issues. I suppose the trick these days is to get friendly with a guest editor! Having done the full layout description for Continental Modeller and had good coverage from the press in Holland, Denmark and Norway, I would need a new angle to explore for a fresh article. Thanks for your encouraging comments though. They are much appreciated, and I hope to catch up with you again soon. Geraint

Peter, Glad you enjoyed the drone footage. The main factory there is a former iron foundry, which now makes (amongst other things) central heating radiators. Already started on the boats - a herring boat and a tjalk, both from Artitec. I know the latter is Dutch, but it's actually quite reminiscent of the local 'everten' that has been restored and is permanently moored down by the quayside. Geraint

Hello All, Firstly, thanks to Paul for his understanding and kind comments. I know what you're saying, but it's still a bit galling when you try your best to provide something a bit different for the exhibition circuit and the response doesn't come, especially after the considerable effort that you've put into it. Anyway, to the last of these three posts. You will recall that after Scaleforum last year, I was raving about the advice and support I had received from Paul Bambrick on the subject of 3D backdrops. As a result of that, I resolved to search out some more evidence material that would help me to model the roofscape behind the front row of Skibbroen buildings, which are all being modelled at "layout scale". At the time I made a flippant remark about finding someone with a drone, who could take photographs at the right elevation above ground level. Well, purely by accident, I have found such a person! Whilst in Denmark for one of our regular visits over Easter, I chanced upon a website I hadn't seen before at www.ribe.nu. This seems to be a local repository for all sorts of articles about Ribe, whether up to date news or historical facts, and there are regular contributors to this site, one of which is Jens Jorgensen, who owns one of the camera shops in the town, a stone's throw away from Skibbroen. One of his postings included a couple of films taken from a drone flying over parts of the town. I'm not sure as to whether the Danish regulations about flight over properties are as stringent as ours, but there is one particular film of a flight over Skibbroen, which can be found at http://ribe.nu/?p=15747 The first 15 seconds or so give you a panned sequence along the length of the quayside, after which the drone slowly rises to a higher elevation. During this latter sequence, I was able to do a number of different screen dumps at various elevations and print them out as photos. I then set up the model buildings on the workbench with the camera located at the appropriate distance and elevation for normal viewing and the proposed layout height. Again, these photos were printed off and the two sets juxtapositioned to determine which of the drone video screen dumps was the best fit with the model. Attached is the photo of the model houses and the chosen screen dump, which gives you a good idea of how the roofscape needs to be presented on the model. The next stage is to build a 'model of a model' to assess how the various layers of the 3D backscene will be built up. A big step forward, but still a long way to go! If you have the time, do have a look at the film using the link above, and I hope you'll be as inspired of the subject as I was initially. Regards, Geraint

Part 2 of this short series of posts. Although the initial jigsaw pieces for the trackwork sections of Ribe Skibbroen have been completed for some time, I've made no real progress with getting any track down. As a result, I've had nowhere to run anything, as Obbekaer is too big to be permanently erected anywhere in the house. With no further exhibition appearances confirmed (we were due to appear at Larkrail in July, but sadly this has been cancelled), I desperately need somewhere to be able to run a train up and down - for the sheer therapeutic value if nothing else! I've therefore taken the first step towards track laying. I mentioned before that I planned to try another idea for quieter running, having experienced a fair amount of 'drumming' through the Obbekaer baseboards over time. Whilst this isn't a problem at exhibitions, it's a real distraction at home. I've therefore come up with the idea of going back to cork underlay, as opposed to the foam used previously, but this time to go for a really thick layer (15mm) in the hope that most of the sound will be lost within the thickness of the cork. I'll also be using a more rubberised adhesive to stick the cork down, again to avoid the solidity and noise transmission that's inherent with PVA. There's an ulterior motive for the choice of 15mm. This is the depth of the turntable pit, so the pit base is the top of the plywood and I don't have to bother with a separate base. I pondered for a while how I might transfer the detailed track plan to the cork, bearing in mind that the baseboards already have holes cut for turnout operating units and uncoupling magnets, which require some precision in location. Then I hit on the idea of getting the track templates laser etched onto the surface of the cork. 44 minutes of fun and frolic on the Fen End Pit laser cutter on Monday afternoon (thanks David) has produced an accurately marked out sheet of cork. I stopped short at using the laser cutter to cut out the individual pieces, as getting through a 15mm thickness would involve time, excessive debris and lots of smell of burnt cork! Photo of the etched sheet is attached. Next stage is to wield a sharp Stanley knife to good effect and start to stick things to the jigsaw, before sorting out the sleepering. Hopefully the first train will run in a couple of months! Just returning to the subject of Obbekaer for a moment, it's been rather disappointing that the layout has generated so little interest from exhibition invitations. I can't really explain this, but in the absence of any feasible future home for permanent erection, it will continue to live in its storage crates until something materialises. Sadly we don't have the room here for the 'big shed' that would be required to erect both layouts together. Skibbroen will be a very long term project, so Obbekaer will continue to be available for shows as long as people want it! More on Skibbroen in the final post of this mini-series. Regards, Geraint

Hello All, A short series of posts coming up to explain progress on the RGVJ since my last offering in March. I say progress, but inevitably this has been a mix of productive effort and less productive thought, which I suppose is inevitable. At least those thoughts have been predominantly about how to do things, and the basic commitment to press on with the project is still there. So first off, some of that productive effort. A new building for the station is nearing completion, namely the pakhus (goods shed). Located at the end of the platform, and with loading doors facing both the railway and the adjoining street, this model is based on the shed at Lund station on the Horsens Vestbaner. However, given that the smaller private railways such as this often tended to have a basic style of architecture running through all their construction, the design of the model has been 'tweaked' to mirror some of the architectural features of the other two buildings at the station. This actually started around 15 years ago with the purchase of a small building for the ticket office, actually a resin kit from Dutch firm Artitec. German in origin, and I think intended as a crossing keeper's hut, I thought it would be very suitable for the Skibbroen office, and once constructed I mounted it on a small display base along with two running in boards carrying the station name. It stayed that way for the best part of 10 years, at which point I judged that it needed a smaller toilet block alongside. This was designed using the CAD package, and following my then adopted practice of a plasticard shell and attached strips of Evergreen strip to represent the brick courses. The style of plinths, quoins, doors, windows and roof was copied from the ticket office and the two looked well together, as the attached photos show. The pakhus therefore follows the same principles, although it is much the largest building of the three. The photos show the early stages of the basic structure and its current state with all brickwork, roof and rainwater goods added. The railings caused some concern, until my good friend Alex Duckworth suggested that I explore some of the model boat suppliers for suitable turned posts. A quick internet search turned up several possible examples from Cornwall Model Boats, which have been turned down a little and fitted with brass wire rails - thank you Alex! Next stage will be to apply a quick coat of Humbrol no.1 primer, which I use for the mortar colour, and then the arduous process of painting the brickwork in acrylics. The doors will be painted separately and the windows will have to wait until the next lot of etching that I need. More pictures when it's finished, but another fairly major project progressing well. Next post will follow shortly. Geraint

Ian (x2!). Excellent progress and it's so rewarding to hear someone say that this is their dream come true. It takes a lot of commitment to pull together a long term large project like this and you can't underestimate the contribution that friends can make to progress - even if it's just encouragement as opposed to practical help. I look forward to seeing more, and don't worry about the frequency of posts - it's the quality that counts! If I might reply to Ian Smith's comment about the lever frame, Howard Bolton has been working on the design for a new etched lever frame, complete with interlocking, which was released through the Scalefour Society Stores at the recent Scalefour North show. It looks an excellent product, and on the basis of Howard's acknowledged capabilities in design, it will work very well. I suggest it might be a candidate for Modbury. I can find out more if you would like to PM me, but it would probably easier if you have a Scalefour member within your local modelling contacts. Best wishes, Geraint

Apologies, I've only just picked up this thread, so I hope it's not too late to offer a few thoughts on the topic of incline operation. Paul is right in his assumption that I used fishing line for the incline on Middlepeak, and based on the success with that, Robin used it again on Sheep Pasture. This is a fine braided steel cable with a plastic coating, and looks just like the cables used on the High Peak. The problem however, which I explained in more detail in my article on the layout in MRJ (issue 110 if I remember correctly), is that the model cable just can't behave in the same way as the real thing because it's simply not heavy enough. Therefore it's bit limited as to its ability to go around tight curves, and it won't follow concave vertical curves such as those at the bottom of an incline. For the High Peak, where you're dealing with a single continuous cable and the basic need is to turn it round a pulley wheel of about 45mm diameter at the top and bottom, that's no problem. However, I suspect you may have difficulty using it on a winding drum as would be required for Clee Hill. Maybe in that situation, using some kind of thread that doesn't stretch is a preferable solution? Both of us also used N gauge wagon wheels for the standard pulleys, and these performed very well over many hundreds of hours at exhibitions. The incline on Middlepeak started out as hand wound, but I was never satisfied with the jerkiness of this type of operation. When the layout was extended to include the incline top, electric operation was introduced, resulting in a much smoother ride. A large Mashima can motor and home made gearbox was installed under the top pulley wheel, and the bottom pulley wheel was fitted on a sliding carriage running on a screw thread, which allowed us the fine adjustment to tension necessary with various temperatures of exhibition halls. You certainly have some different issues to face with a drum operated three rail incline, and I'll be interested to see how things progress. You've certainly made a great start! Regards, Geraint

Hi Antonio, I think our ideas are very similar. I have used an etched w-iron in 0.25mm brass. The basic unit folds up in the same way as yours, and there is a separate bearing carrier that runs between the wheel and the inside of the w-iron. This system is used widely by P4 and EM modellers, and the design follows closely the ideas in that system. The bearing carriers can take either a pinpoint bearing or a parallel bearing. The pinpoint bearing requires a new 2mm diameter axle with a length of 22.7mm over pinpoints. However, I have found these difficult to produce with any accuracy, and better results have been obtained with the parallel bearings. The main axle is 1.0mm in diameter and the wheels are mounted on muffs made from brass tube which has an internal diameter of 1.0mm and an external diameter of 2.00mm. The wheels can then be threaded onto the main axle as it is pushed through the bearings and the back to back measurement (15.5mm) set with a gauge. There is a steel wire spring that runs along the inside of the bearing carrier. I use a small piece of 1mm x 1mm Tsection brass soldered to the centre of the bearing carrier at the bottom, with a small notch cut into it to carry the spring wire. A combination of that and the fold-over tabs on the w-iron unit are sufficient to retain the bearing carrier and to allow a 1mm deflection of the spring. The important thing is to calibrate the notches on all four bearing carriers so the the wagon sits level, but once that's done you get a very smooth ride. This wagon has around 70g of weight inside the body to maintain the correct ride height and keep the wagon on the track. The system is much more simple than it is to describe! I hope that the attached pictures help you to understand how it works. Best wishes, Geraint