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Ian J.

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  1. Ian J.

    I forgot I had a blog...

    By Ian J.,

    Wow, I forgot I had this blog, such is the kicking to my life I've had over the last half-decade.
     
    Well, since the last entry I've even managed to lose the independent roof over my head and I'm having to rent a piddling little room in a friend's home as a lodger while all my stuff sits languishing in a container at a storage site, so all modelling has come to a complete stop. It's not fun for so many reasons
     
    However, from time to time I still think about modelling and building a model railway, in the hope that one day I will have somewhere to do such. Consequently I've been thinking about something without any specific known history in order to just 'use what I have' rather than try to build to a known history or geography.
     
    I've come up with a reasonable length (20+ miles) fictional heritage line that would be somewhere on the 'Wessex' coast, but it wouldn't be in the specific geography that actually exists, though it would be inspired by that. This allows me the freedom to create locations as I see fit.
     
    As a heritage line I can get away with stations closed having been demolished. These could consequently have been replaced either with imported buildings from other parts of the country, or 'new builds'. It would also allow me to run what stock I want (it's not intended to entirely reflect any known heritage running practice). This will allow me to use buildings and other items 'willy nilly'. Perhaps that's not to many people's tastes, but it uses up existing resources rather than either leaving that stuff in boxes or selling it off at a loss.
     
    I do want to do something different though, which is to have some 'commercial' freight traffic on it. I don't know of any heritage line that was closed, reopened as private preservation, then added commercial operations (with the possible exception of the GCR that does some testing). There are lines that have been freight only but then added heritage operation, but that's not the same thing. For the 'Wessex' coast, I think stone (think Purbeck and Portland) and clay are most suited. Oil and/or gas (think Wytch Farm) was a thought, but I don't think a heritage operation with steam could ever combine with that safely, so I'm not putting that into the mix. I put a port at one end, so some kind of occasional import/export traffic could run too. The other end would connect to the national network, allowing some kind of non-heritage scene to be modelled as well. I don't have a specific time period for what that might be, but it could vary from 1980s blue/grey, through a bit of NSE and Regional Railways in the 90s, to early/mid 2000s.
     
    This is all high level thinking at the moment as I can't do much else, but at least it keeps my mind occupied with something other than the vicious circle of worry, depression and anxiety that otherwise dominate my current everyday life.
     
    Ian
  2. Ian J.
    A bit of progress to report. I'm currently waiting for a delivery of copperclad strips for board end track attachment and alignment, so in the meantime I've done some test setups of the boards; checked for alignments; put the templates on top; checked some track positioning issues; cut the cork underlay for turnouts and plain track; and started punching holes into the templates to allow marking of the board surfaces where the rails need to go:
     
    An initial set up of the ends and the primary centre board:

     

     
    A secondary set up of the ends only, templates positioned for effect:

     
    There is a minor issue with turnout position where, across board joins, I'm going to have to overlap them to get a clean cross board run:

     
    This causes a gap to be created earlier in the turnout run, and will need to be dealt with (probably by using a small cut of rail inserted into a rail joiner). This issue has been caused because the AnyRail software joins the tracks exactly, and doesn't take into account board joins:

     
    The 'test track' arrangement as it will be, where there are no intermediate staging or scenic boards. Templates and turnouts laid on for effect:

     
    Cork underlays cut for the four straight turnouts...:

     
    ...the left-hand curves...:

     
    ...the right hand curves...:

     
    ...and strips for the plain track:

     
    Punching holes in the templates to allow marking of the rail positions on the board tops...:

     
    ...done with this nifty little tool from Hobbycraft:

     
    🙂
  3. Ian J.

    A Beer In The Dean

    By Ian J.,


    General
    A quick knock up of Bere Dene's track plan:

    Again, signals are educated guesses, rather than final arrangements. This time the passing loop lines aren't bi-directional. It is my intention to model a section of line between Bere Dene and Arnford as a simple, single straight line through a forest, on a set of 1 foot wide boards I already have. Although I don't think I'd ever have space to put it with this vignette, I like the idea of it being possible to directly connect it to the left end of this plan.
  4. Ian J.
    The first board (numbered 5) is now assembled. The cutting of the holes was very 'splintery'. I need to come up with a way to reduce the sheer amount of splinters that come off the cut plywood (both for the holes and the edges). I'm wondering if varnishing now might not be a bad idea to help seal up the edges. Another idea is to put insulation tape on the straight edges. I don't know how I could do the sam with the hole edges though.
     

     

     

     

  5. Ian J.
    The first full assembly. With the living room floor cleared, I have been able to do a test assembly of the left and right throat boards, to check their overall alignment in combination with the old curves from a previous test layout build. It was very nearly spot on. Unfortunately the natural variability of a less skilled hand made build has meant that there's a slight gap between the two fill-out boards added to the curves. I'd already added 9mm ply ends to them as I knew they'd come out short, but even that was not enough. I am going to have to add two 6mm ply boards to them to fill the gap. Otherwise, it's not far off.
     
    I thought I'd let my recently won Dean Goods do the honours of being the first loco to sit on the assembly, with the templates in place, and the first of the code 83 turnouts in possible places too.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
     
     
  6. Ian J.

    Penmouth Harbour Diagram

    By Ian J.,


    General
    I've knocked this up today. Took a while to get that subtle curve in, AnyRail doesn't provide any tools for quickly doing curved shapes so shape control points have to be added and aligned by hand:

     
     
    Note that, in the fiction, the 'goods yard' is a late addition to allow reworking the demonstration freights away from the main station of Tynworth. In the fiction's original idea there would have been no freight sidings for the railway as the station was for boat trains only, and the port handled all the freight. However, with the 'rebuild' of the port to use its western entrance for bigger ships, and all but close the eastern entrance (where this station is), this land was used for general storage of port equipment. The land was returned to railway use when the heritage line was able to afford the re-opening, and there was seen to be a significant tourist revenue to be had for people visiting The Pen (the large island of rock at the harbour's mouth).
     
    Note that I've attempted to add appropriate signalling, but I'm in no way sure it's right.
  7. Ian J.
    Well, I've decided to start a new blog for my model railway interests. It won't be regularly updated and the content will be varied, ranging from occasional model building stuff to ideas and dreams for the future. Apart from this very sentence, it will avoid covering any issues in my life re unemployment trials and tribulations, writing and publishing etc. It will just be for model (and occasionally real) railway stuff.
     
    To start with, I'm thinking at the moment of what I can do with a number of model railway items that I've collected over the years that haven't otherwise been used. They include buildings, details, cars, lineside items, etc. I will put together a list of them and then see what I can come up with.
     
    In the meantime, I will need some simple but flexible track planning software to be able to visualize a layout with said items on it. I'll use Templot for the final track design work, but I want something quick and straightforward and preferably free, if possible with a basic 3D viewing capability. If anyone's got any recommendations for such software, please leave a comment to let me know about it.
     

  8. Ian J.
    The six main boards and the four add-ons/expanders are now structually complete. There's a bit of a bigger gap between number 5 and number 1 than I would like (approx 1mm more than I'd like) but I don't think I can lessen the gap within the boards. The thought has occurred to me to pad the gap, so that is probably what I will do when the time comes.
     

     
    The next job is fitting the pattern maker alignment dowels, which I'm not looking forward to despite having the necessary tools for the job (forstner bits and a powerful mains powered electric drill with variable speed)
     
    Then I have to work out how to set up legs for them to stand on...
  9. Ian J.
    I've been working on reworking some javascript code I found online to produce a gradient profile using the Canvas element from HTML5. This is my initial gradient profile for the S&PR:
     

     
    Any feedback gratefully accepted. I would prefer to make corrections and modifications to the gradients sooner rather than later to save hassle, even though the generator can handle the data independently of the drawing better than the original code could
     
    Edit: profile replaced with an updated one with the incorrect level at Arneford fixed.
  10. Ian J.

    Planks for the Memory

    By Ian J.,

    The strips of plywood have been cut to length for all the outer frame parts of the boards. There's some additional cutting to do for reinforcing the board ends so they can take alignment dowels. The ply is only 6mm thick, so not deep enough to drill for the dowel parts and still have something to put screws into. Also, cross members still need to be added, but I'm waiting till the outer frames are in place before sizing up and cutting those.
     

  11. Ian J.

    A Run Along the Line

    By Ian J.,

    From the large market town of Sayersbridge, the line diverges from the national network southwards, keeping to the level of the plain and with a straight run through the town's suburbs. Once through Steepleham station we leave the town behind us and the line drops lazily down along the West side of the Arne Valley, past the old hill farming area of Dunstow before emerging at the base of Knowle Hill and the station for the Grange. It crosses the Arne here to the East side and parts with the Arne Valley to take a route along the Vale of Bere. The small hamlet of Bere Dene follows, then the line passes the wood of Cold Holt before cutting through the private estate of Knightonmore and alongside the old hunting forest of East Frith. With the forest behind it the line curves back to return to following the the River Arne and reaches the town of Arneford, the only intermediate town on the route. We then snake through the now shallow valley, crossing it three times before reaching Weytonwell, and on past the quarry, the rock from which is known for its luscious sandy stone that is used in buildings the world over. We can now smell the sea as we emerge onto the Arne River's short flood plain and begin the curve to the right for the coast. Stokeholme is passed on the curve and then we're running by the English Channel between sandy beaches to our left and Jurassic cliffs to our right. We pass the halt at Sto Sands where the cliffs dip down as we push through the coastal suburbs to the terminus at Tyneworth. While we as passengers stop here, the line carries on past to Penmouth for the export and import of freight at the port, overlooked by the headland of The Pen.
  12. Ian J.
    As some here will have noticed, I'm having a cull of my stock collection. What's going out are almost all items that don't fit within two themes. In order to help me with making sure I don't sell something relevant to the themes and to help focus future purchases, I thought I'd ask here for input on what stock (locos, carriages, wagons and departmentals) was known to run within them. The two themes are related as they are the same geographically, but differ in period. Note that I'm not planning a model of the entire geographic area! It's just a way of defining my stock list.
     
    The area and time periods are pretty much absolute, the intention being to restrict stock and not to find excuses to include stock! There are, however, a few items in my collection that don't fit, but they will stay for sentimental reasons.
     
    The two periods are 1961 and 1985, and cover a specific area of the Southern Region.
    1961 has a leeway of a couple of years either way, so from 1959 to 1963. This allows some examples of locos and stock that would otherwise have disappeared by 1961.
    1985 has more leeway earlier than after, so from 1983 to 1986, but not including the advent of Network SouthEast. Also, the geography differs in that lines that were closed by that time obviously have no prototype to work to.

    The geographic extent is centered around the Poole - Bournemouth corridor, with the following extents:
    To the West, just short of Dorchester Junction on the Southampton & Dorchester line, so that the GWR main line from Weymouth to Castle Cary and all the Western Region stock associated with it is avoided.
    To the East, up to and including Brockenhurst, but not as such beyond.
    To the North, just short of Alderbury Junction on the Salisbury & Dorset Junction line. This avoids the stock from the Southampton - Salisbury line, and from the Waterloo - Exeter main line, even though I have a liking for the class 50s!
    Additionally, anything that ran on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway proper is also in scope. However the junctions at Bath, Highbridge, Radstock, Templecombe, etc are not included, but the Southern end at Broadstone and to Bournemouth West is.

    I already know a fair amount of the stock, so I've made a list of what I already know below. Some of it may be inaccurate as I could be including things that didn't appear within those time frames (particularly the 1985 one as my memories are strong for the late 80s and early 90s). I suppose what I'm trying to find are the less obvious locos and rolling stock items that made occasional visits, and also a few of the one off appearances that may not have been covered in general information in books and the like about the area.
     
    I'll be doing my own research and will add to the blog as and when, I'm not expecting others to go off and actively research for me. I'm also not expecting anyone to reply quickly, this is really intended as a slow running posting to help build up the list as and when other members here remember.
     
    1985:
    Locos:
    08
    09
    20 (20 901 and 20 904, weedkilling train)
    33/0
    33/1
    33/2
    47/0
    47/3
    47/4
    47/8
    73/0
    73/1
    73/2

    Carriages (predominantly on the Inter-Regional services from Poole to the North):
    Mk 1
    Mk 2 a/b/c/d/e/f
    Mk 3a Sleepers? (can't remember when these services started)

    Units:
    4REP
    4TC
    4VEP

    Wagons:
    100T Bogie Oil Tanks
    4 Wheel LPG Tanks

    1961:
     
    Locos:
    Southern:
    700
    B4
    E1 4-4-0 (mentioned in 'Rails to Poole Harbour' working out of Salisbury in 1959)
    G6
    H15
    L (Wainwright SECR)?
    LN Lord Nelson
    M7
    MN Merchant Navy (Rebuilt)
    N
    N15 King Arthur
    O2 (only to 1956 at Bournemouth, but I like them and Kernow are doing them so worth having )
    Q
    Q1
    S15
    T9
    U
    V Schools
    WC/BB West Country/Battle of Britain (both original and rebuilt)

    Western (both on and from the S&DJR, and from Dorchester and Basingstoke to Bournemouth):
    2251 0-6-0
    43xx Mogul
    57xx Pannier Tank
    8750 Pannier Tank?
    Hall
    Modified Hall
    Grange (6815 in 1965, not sure if they appeared before that)

    Midland:
    2MT Prairie Tank (Ivatt)
    2P 4-4-0
    3MT Prairie (Stanier) (mentioned in 'Rails to Poole Harbour' off the S&DJR in 1960)
    3F Jinty
    3F 0-6-0
    4F 0-6-0
    4MT Mogul (Ivatt) (Not sure these ran during the '59 - '63 period)
    5MT 4-6-0 (LMS)
    7F 2-8-0 (S&DJR)
    8F 2-8-0 (Stanier)
    L&Y Pug
    Sentinels (47190 and 47191, at Radstock)
    S&D 0-4-4T (58086 lasted to 1959)

    Eastern:
    A3 (60112 St Simon, on a railtour in 1963)

    BR Standards:
    2MT Prairie Tank
    3MT Prairie Tank
    3MT Mogul (too late?)
    4MT Tank
    4MT Mogul
    4MT 4-6-0
    5MT 4-6-0
    9F 2-10-0

    Diesels (using TOPS classifications):
    04
    33/0
    47/0
    73/0

    Other:
    Peckett 0-4-0 ('George Jennings', Parkstone)
    RS&H 0-4-0 ('Bonnie Prince Charlie' and 'Western Pride', Poole Docks)

    Carriages:
     
    Pretty much any of the following:
    Mk 1s
    Bulleids
    Maunsells

    plus:
    Gresleys (an Articulated Twin noted in particular)
    Thompsons
    Staniers

    Wagons:
     
    Too many to mention!
     
    Books checked:
    Branch Lines Around Wimborne (Middleton Press)
    Southern Steam in the South and West (OPC)
    Celebration of Steam - Hampshire & Dorset (Ian Allan)
    The Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway (Kestrel Railway Books)
    The Changing Railway Scene - Southern Region (Ian Allan)
    Rails to Poole Harbour (Oakwood Press)
    Steam Around The Hampshire & Dorset Coast (Ian Allan)
    The Last Days of Steam in Dorset and Bournemouth (Alan Sutton Publishing)
    Glory Days: Steam in Dorset (Ian Allan)
    Dorset Steam (Capital Transport)
    British Railways Past and Present: Dorset (Gough & Mitchell)
    Steam Days in Dorset (Waterfront)
    More Southern Steam - South and West (Bradford Barton)
    Southern Railways in the Latter Days of Steam (Book Law)
    Southampton to Bournemouth (Middleton Press)
    Bournemouth to Weymouth (Middleton Press)
    Bournemouth to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Burnham to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Bath to Evercreech Junction (Middleton Press)
    Somerset & Dorset Steam Finale (Runpast Publishing)
    The Somerset & Dorset Line (Ian Allan)
    The Somerset & Dorset Remembered Part 2 - Highbridge to Bournemouth (Book Law)
    The Somerset & Dorset Remembered Part 1 - Bath to Evercreech Junction (Book Law)
    The Somerset & Dorset in Colour (OPC)

  13. Ian J.
    In amongst the cull of my model railway stock (now slowly coming to its end) I've been thinking about suitable stations to model within my two core areas of interest. A recap, they are both geographically the same, based around the Bournemouth area and its lines, but two distinct periods, 1961-ish, and 1985-ish.
     
    For small, simpler layouts, the best candidates seem to be the likes of Parkstone for 1961 and Moreton and Holton Heath for 1985.
     
    Parkstone is very short, even today not even capable of holding an entire 8TC, perhaps holding six Mk1s and a loco at best (I forget the actual length of the platforms). In 1961 there was a reasonable goods yard for a station of that size, not least due to the presence of an industrial potteries line to Parkstone Bay. That particularly adds colour for what is otherwise a simple through station. If designed carefully, the Parkstone Bank sections before and after could be extensions for a somewhat long and probably quite impressive layout for the exhibition circuit, but the main station is less that twelve feet!
     
    In 1985, Moreton was (and I believe still is) again a somewhat short station with little of interest. The main buildings were out of use at that point, so it was basically a halt. The simplicity appeals as the only trains running through would be 33/1s and 4 or 8TC formations and the odd summer Saturday inter-regional from Weymouth.
     
    Holton Heath is long enough for an 8TC, very straight if my memory serves me right. While again like Moreton there was little variety in the traffic through it, some details in the scenery are more of interest as it was the station for the Cordite factory nearby and in 1985 there was still a military facility there.
     
    For longer more elaborate layouts, I'd pick the likes of Poole and Bournemouth Central for 1985, as they had the most operational interest at that time. For 1961, there can really be only one choice, Bournemouth West to Branksome, including the triangle out to Gasworks Junction. But such a long layout would only be possible in the most well heeled of times, which most certainly is not now.
     
    Bearing in mind I have virtually no space to do any significant construction or modelling, these are just pipe dreams at the moment.
  14. Ian J.

    A Potted History (Fictional)

    By Ian J.,

    In 1860, the port of Penmouth was a smallish port on the Wessex coast, with only turnpikes to get goods in from and out to the country. The port commissioners, seeing the 'success' of the London and South Western Railway's routes to the West Country, consulted with the town council of Tyneworth and other nearby local landowners on the building of a railway to connect with the nearest main line. The route decided on a connection at Sayersbridge, and construction commenced in 1861. Completion of the twenty-nine mile route was in 1863, with opening on Monday the 4th of May that year. The line was owned independently by the Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway Company Limited (the S&PR for short, but known as 'the Sap' colloquially) but was operated by the London & South Western Railway until 1868, when the financial troubles of 1866 finally caught up with the owners and they sold out to the L&SWR.
     
    The port of Penmouth and its town of Tyneworth flourished once the railway was running, and became quite significant both for trade and population. Most of the route served small rural village and farming populations, and private landowners, with the only intermediate settlement of any size between Sayersbridge and Tyneworth being the town of Arneford.
     
    The earthworks of the line were for most of its length built with double track in mind, but as a cost saving measure many of the bridges were single track only, and of somewhat light construction. The plan had been to replace these once the prominence of the port increased, but with the 1866 financial crisis and the ensuing buyout by the L&SWR in 1868 and an insufficient improvement in traffic, these were never upgraded to double and the line has stayed single for its entire life. It was always mainly a freight line, but its passenger service was adequate to the modest local needs. No direct trains to London were ever run regularly, although occasionally attempts were made to do so, particularly in the 1950s when post-war holidays could be taken and visits to Sto Sands were popular. The line survived the Beeching cuts of 1963/4 due to its freight usage, but with the construction of a dual carriageway direct to Penmouth in the late 60s, the freight disappeared from the line and the remaining passenger usage was simply not enough to keep it running. So in 1974 the line was closed, despite a campaign to retain it.
     
    The campaign to keep it open morphed into a preservation movement, and enough support was gained to prevent the wholesale selling off of the trackbed. From that point on the S&PR Preservation Society managed to slowly reopen the line, with the only track formation obstacles being a few private residence ingresses and the removal of a number of the lightweight bridges. These had been in a poor state and had been dismantled for safety. The opportunity was taken to replace them with double track bridges as each one was arrived at during the 22 years it took to get from Tyneworth to Sayersbridge. This meant that by 1996 the line's infrastructure was finally capable of double track throughout, something the line had never achieved while in national ownership! The line is currently still single track but it is now feasible to put in a second if traffic levels demand it. After privatisation of the national network in the early '90s and the reconnection with the national network in '96, the prospect of commercial freight using the line raised its head. An arrangement for regular stone traffic from Weytonwell Quarry was started in 2000, to be followed by some occasional traffic of exports and imports of bulk freight to and from the port. This has allowed the line to improve its infrastructure to allow running speeds of 50 mph. Not all stock is considered suitable for that so some services are still restricted to the 25 mph limit. With the freight traffic, consideration for doubling the line has been given, but the freight movements as at time of writing are not thought sufficient to do so and there is no benefit to the heritage operation to implement a second track throughout. There are plans to put in double track in a [couple of places] to ease operation in the Summer when both the freight and heritage operations are running simultaneously.
     
    Additional to the loss of some of the bridges after closure, a number of the stations were demolished along with most of the original railway buildings such as goods sheds and signal boxes. These have been replaced either with imported non-S&P originals from various locations around the country, or new builds where no suitable pre-existing replacements could be sourced.
     
    The colours of the buildings of the original S&PR were dark blue and cream. The stock was the same, with locomotives in plain dark blue, but these were repainted in L&SWR colours after the sale to that company. In SR days the station colours changed to green and cream. The preservation movement became a limited company in the early 2000s, with a rebranding exercise giving the operation the name 'Wessex Rail'. Some of the locomotives and stock have been repainted in Prussian Blue with double gold lining, the livery having been 'lifted' from the S&DJR's colours. The buildings have taken the original S&P dark blue and cream.
     
    The line now flourishes in three ways: firstly, it's a heritage line running steam and diesel trains for visitors; secondly, it has commercial freight traffic adding a useful cashflow; thirdly, and not lastly, it now runs a scheduled service between Tyneworth and Sayersbridge using a couple of leased 'modern' units for commuter and shopping passengers.
  15. Ian J.

    En Route

    By Ian J.,


    General
    Here's a first version of the diagram for the S&P's line, distances not to scale:

     
     
    As part of understanding operation and signalling, I've indicated where the passing / run round loops are with green infills.
  16. Ian J.
    So the first dowel fitting didn't quite work well enough. I used small blobs of epoxy to try and hold the back sides of the dowel parts to the recess in the plywood end, but its hold on the metal is just to fragile. The parts moved and the end result is a 1mm error. I can use sheets of paper built up in layers to raise track on the 'lower' side for this join, but I need to have a different glue of some kind to hold the dowel parts properly for future joins. I'm now thinking of Original Gorilla Glue as that has a filling nature, though it needs moisture to activate. Alternatively, I'm wondering if 'No More Nails' could be put in and the dowel part pressed into it, filling the area around such that it stops any up/down/left/right movement, even if it doesn't grip the metal of the dowel properly. I will need to experiment.
     
    Forstner bit and drilled recesses in board 5:

     
    Dowel parts in board 9:

     
    Two boards together, held with clamp:

     
    'Top' of boards in position:

     
    Side of boards, showing alignment smooth with no error while exposy glue is hardening:

     
    Side of boards with dowels screwed into place, showing boards out of alignment (slight offset of camera):

     
    Side of boards with dowels screwed into place, showing boards out of alignment (camera exactly positioned for top surface):

     

     
  17. Ian J.

    Second Board Painted

    By Ian J.,


    General
    Second board is painted:

     

     
     
    Eight more to go. The next six boards are the ones for the fiddleyard throat, so smaller but more complex on the underside. I think only one of those needs remedial attention (for some delamination of the top surface of plywood). I'm going to leave that till last. The remaining two are the curves into the scenic section.
  18. Ian J.

    Third Board Painted

    By Ian J.,


    General
    The third board (the first of the fiddleyard throat boards) now painted. I've included a series of images as the painting progressed for this posting to see the 'effect' in action, so to speak. I won't bother with the later boards as it's just outright repetition really.
     
    First white undercoat, brush painted, underside:

     
    Second white undercoat, brush painted, underside:

     
    Topside, ply delamination repaired and abuttment screw dips filled (with wood filler):

     
    First white undercoat, roller painted, topside:

     
    Second cream glosscoat, roller painted, topside:

     
    First white glosscoat, brush painted (I thought it wouldn't be suitable for roller painting at this point), underside:

     
    Second white glosscoat, brush painted, underside:

     
    Third white glosscoat, roller painted, underside (I wasn't happy with the brush finish so decided to see how difficult to use a small roller on it, turns out not as awkward as I thought it would be):

     
    First grey undercoat, roller painted, sides:

     
    (no pic of second grey undercoat)
     
    First blue/grey glosscoat, roller painted, sides:

     
    Final appearance:
    Cream glosscoat, roller painted, topside; blue/grey glosscoat, roller painted, sides:

     
    White glosscoat, roller painted, underside; blue/grey glosscoat, roller painted, sides:

     

     

  20. Ian J.

    Down to the Wire

    By Ian J.,


    General
    How's this for a wiring diagram...

     
     
    This is my first attempt, using LibreOffice Draw in this instance. It really doesn't like the complexity involved in the diagram, but it's what I had to hand for now.
  22. Ian J.

    Diagram Alley

    By Ian J.,


    General
    A couple of diagrams. First Cold Holt and then Penmouth Waterside. Both featured in a thread on RMweb for signalling advice. Apologies for image quality, the files get compressed by RMweb's upload process and there's nothing I can do about it (it seems to be something to do with their pixel width, not their actual file size).
     
    Cold Holt is an interchange station between the S&P and the National Network. None of it exists in model form at present so it would be entirely new.

     
     
    However, for Penmouth Waterside some of it exists already.
     
    In the fiction it's a station that didn't exist originally when it was the site of a two loco engine shed and turntable with no loop, and just a single line through.
     
    In heritage era a sizable expansion was undertaken onto empty adjacent port land. The turntable was moved and a decent sized engine shed put in, plus a locomotive works. The area immediately offstage below the bottom of the layout is supposed to be a service road and sea front so nothing practical can go there, which is why the signals are all 'inside' the layout. The two lines to the left are both bi-directional, and all three roads through are also bi-directional.
     
    From a model and running perspective, the two central boards already exist from a previous layout build attempt, and as I only have 8 feet of operational scenic space where I currently live they have to be viable on their own without the two outer boards. Some of the track layout of that previous build is in situ and can't be moved (mainly the turnouts across the central board join) but the tracks below the shed (station and extra road) will be newly arranged (although it's going to be fun trying to lift and relay the C&L turnouts).

    Note that some of the track (notably the shed access Y) is not joined up - this is because the available track objects in AnyRail don't fit with what's actually in place, which is hand-built C&L points with some subtle curves in them. There was no suitable Y so that's just a placeholder Peco Y.
     
     
  23. Ian J.

    An Update

    By Ian J.,


    General
    I completed the boards enough towards the end of last year to do a test assembly in the room where they will go. It does fit with about a quarter inch of space at either end, though the window sill at one end is very 'tight' to one of the angle struts for the legs. The 'scenic' section is an old beginnings of a shed. I hope to 'complete' that enough to represent the heritage shed that would be at Penmouth. I also have in mind an additional 4 foot board each at either end of the shed to open up the area the shed sits within, but that won't fit in the room available of course. It would be for future sets ups in other places where space would allow.
     
    No more progress since as there are boxes stacked up underneath it and piles of paperwork that need sorting out on top of it, and I hate doing paperwork sorting. It could be several months before I get much further.
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  24. Ian J.
    Fitting the dowels to board number 11 for connection to board 5 has worked much better. Firstly, I drilled the recesses to 28mm rather than 26, meaning I had more wriggle room in the alignment on board 11. I used more quick set epoxy this time, so that edges were filled as well as back surface. This seems to have gripped the dowel much better. I used a thin piece of paper (an old Tescos receipt) between the connection to prevent them gluing together while the two boards were clamped together upside down on a flat kitchen floor. Letting them set in this way has meant the top surfaces are about as level with each other as they could be. Board 11 is an old 3 foot outer radius curve from a build for a test track I did long ago. It's top surface at that end wasn't entirely flat, so that will need sanding down to bring it level with board 5's top surface. It needs sanding down anyway as it has detritus on it from the previous test track usage.
     
    Some pics below show the finished position, and how the intermediate expansion board 9 has to be able to fit reliably between 11 and 5. I've yet to do the dowels on 9's 'B' end for connection to 11's 'A' end. The trickiest part of the whole fitting is making sure the pilot holes for the dowel screws are exactly dead centre in the dowel holes. If they aren't exactly centred, they stand a chance of pulling the dowel part out of position, glue or no glue.
     
    Now that I know my retro fitting 'system' works, I feel more confident of applying it to the rest of the boards, new and old
     

     

     

     

     

     
     
     
     
     
  25. Ian J.

    Decadent Duey Decimals...

    By Ian J.,


    General
    ... as in ten boards, painted, looking 'decadent'... 😁
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    I'm now working to make space in the 'railway' room to do a first post-painting assembly to make sure all is still OK with alignments. Once done, I'll be temporarily sticking the templates to the tops to work out the precise track positions at the board ends and deal with any misalignments in the boards due to 'skew' where I hadn't been quite accurate enough in the dowel positions.
     
    As always, watch this space.
     
    😊
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