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Ian J.

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  1. Ian J.

    Some Assembly Required

    By Ian J.,

    The build begins. I've cut 'bolster' pieces of 2x1 for screwing the curved sections to, together with cutting a fair few (but not yet enough) stanchion pieces. The first board is now at the end of its initial build stage. There's crossbeams and diagonal strengtheners to go in to stop the board being able to twist (which it is doing ever so slightly), but it's pretty flat considering. There's also a bit of tidy up work on one corner where the outer curve is a couple millimetres too long. Otherwise, looking good
     
    Underside showing stanchions and bolsters:

     
    Topside:

     
    Topside with template:

     

     
  2. Ian J.

    Snag Butter...

    By Ian J.,


    General
    ...or, in layman's terms, bu**er.
     
    I had been planning to try and get tracklaying complete during this week, as it's my annual kind-of week off. However, before beginning, last week I had a chat with model railway friends, and they informed me I was right of something I had been concerned about. I have been using cork to boost the height of the copper clad strip up to the underside of the rails for the board ends, but I felt it was really too soft for the job. My friends agreed. I was able to get hold of brass bar of the right size amazingly quickly, delivered on Friday. But on trying to put things in place, it became all too quickly apparent that my efforts to get board ends flat and level with each other weren't good enough. Even small imperfections were being shown up alarmingly by using the brass. So, I've had to take several steps backwards to examine just how off my dowel alignments are, and try and correct them. This has been disheartening, and has meant I haven't wanted to deal with the layout this week. The dowel positioning has been the most tricky part of this whole build, and I really didn't want to have to revisit it. I have started, but I think work on fixing them will be slow.
     
    A couple of pictures showing the brass bar arrangments on two of the narrow sections:
     

     

     
    😔
  5. Ian J.

    Finally...

    By Ian J.,


    General
    ...the 7mm copperclad for securing of rail at the board ends has arrived! Yay!
     
    Unfortunately the railway room is in a mess, as I had decided to try and sort out what boxes of stuff I have and try and get everything grouped more suitably in my various boxes. So the floor is not exactly clear. Being a hot weekend and all, I think I won't be fixing any track down just yet. Not so yay.
  6. Ian J.
    Currently still waiting on production and delivery of suitable copperclad to allow track laying to commence.
     
    I went to the Bristol show at the weekend and was able to buy a Dapol Class 22 in BSYP, something I'd missed out on for a long time due to money being tight and then there being none to buy. It got me to thinking about headcodes for the S&P.
     
    I've read up a bit on how such four character train reporting numbers work, and realised that though the basic arrangement itself works, what the first number means would need to be different for S&P. In conventional usage, it seems the first number is an amalgam of priority and train type. For the real railway, that works out most of the time. However, in the S&P case, having 'express passenger' tied to the number '1' makes no sense, as such. That, of course, then affects how all the rest of the numbers are understood.
     
    So for the S&P I've come up with the following. But first, note that the main change regarding the first character is that I saw that 'priority' of train needed to be divorced from 'type' of train to properly understand how then to interpret 'type' into the number:
     
    1. Commercial high prority train (freight or passenger)
    2. Commercial lower priority train (freight or passenger)
    3. Commercial lowest prority train (freight or passenger), and empty stock movements related to commercial activity
    4. Reduced stopping heritage train (passenger only) (e.g., dining specials, etc)
    5. Stopping heritage train (passenger only)
    6. Empty stock movements related to heritage activity (passenger only)
    7. Reduced stopping demonstration freight train
    8. Stopping demonstration freight train, and empty stock movements related to demonstration freight activity
    9. Special trains
    0. Light engine movements
     
    I hope this works out in practice. It will have an effect on headcodes I put on trains for S&P running, though whether any given locomotive will actually have a correct headcode on any given train is less easy to predict as it's not at all easy to implement changeable headcodes on models.
     
    -----
     
    As for the second character letter, I've yet to decide on the exact list but it would be simple destinations, something like:
     
    Main route:
     
    A. Sayersbridge
    B. Cold Holt
    C. Bere Dene
    D. Arnford
    E. Dunstow
    F. West Frith
    G. Weytonwell
    H. Weytonwell Junction
    J. Stokestone
    K. Stokeholme
    L. Sto Sands
    M. Tynworth
    N. Penmouth Waterside
    P. Penmouth Harbour
     
    Branch route:
     
    Q. Grange Knowle
    R. Steepleham
    S. Knightonmore
     
    Off line:
     
    O. National Network (that is, not necessarily stopping at Sayersbridge)
     
    Non-passenger or commercial:
     
    X. Weytonwell Quarry and S&P Stock Sidings
    Y. Penmouth Port
    Z. Arnbrook Oil Depot
     
    -----
     
    As far as how disc arrangements would be used, either on steam or diesel, that is yet to be researched.
  7. Ian J.

    Second Accident

    By Ian J.,


    General
    Second, because I'd dropped a board during build which dented a corner and bent one of the join clips.
     
    This time though the damage is a little more terminal to the recently attached barriers:
     

     

     
    Occurred during disassembly this morning when I wasn't being quite cautious enough to ensure that the board was properly supported during leg removal. Proves that the acrylic is pretty fragile, and acts as a reminder to me to be careful in all respects when assembling or disassembling the layout. I'll have to order replacements as repair would be impractical. I might make that a slight over order so as to have some spares in case of similar happening again.
     
  8. Ian J.

    Barriers to Exit

    By Ian J.,


    General
    Following on from the blog post from some while ago 'Barriers to Entry', I've now drilled and cut the derailment barriers for the 'test track arrangement'. This has been done to fill in time while still waiting for copperclad strips for board ends. I've also marked both outer rail and outside edge of cork underlay positions on these boards for eventually cork and track laying. I will be in need of some kind of 'clip' to hold the barrier ends together between boards, I've not yet researched what might be suitable:
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    🙂
  10. Ian J.
    The old boards (three 4' x 2') from an aborted previous build, and the six old 'test track' boards (four 4' x 1' and two 1' x 1') have now had all their components stripped, track removed and all but one sanded to clean off the top surface. The one not sanded was a scenic board that was going to be a station, and I'd glued down a layer of cork and surfaced it for a yard area. Unfortunately this wasn't easy to remove, so there are some gouges in the surface that will need filling. The board is still damp from water used to loosen the glue holding the cork in place so it will need to dry out first, then I can sand it to remove as many bumps as I can before filling the gouges. The appearance of the top surface of all these boards is not of concern as I'm intending to put a layer of cork down to lay the track on, not for sound proofing but to keep the fiddleyard track at the same height as the scenic boards when they have cork used for the ballast shoulder.
     
    Once that's done, the next job for the old boards is to strengthen their corners with 2"x1" softwood blocks that will also be the backing for each of the boards' alignment dowels, and fit said dowels. After that, it will finally be time to rearrange the room where all this is to go so that I can test the fit (there's a notional 1" of spare space in the room for the layout on its length!), before fitting the clasps that will hold the board joins together.
  11. Ian J.

    A Small Update

    By Ian J.,

    The left and right fiddle yard boards are now fully fitted with alignment dowels, and with only a couple of places where I've had to use some cereal packet card to even out the alignment:
     

     
    Now, a couple of coincidental observations with regards to measurements, if you're into this sort of thing: the width of the minimum arrangement (as above) is 7 feet and a quarter inch. The outer circumference length of each of the old test track curves is four feet, eight and a half inches
     

     

     
     
  12. Ian J.
    I have taken pics as I went through the next dowel fitting so that a more complete explanation exists. I can't vouch for this being the best way, it's just a way I've come up with. Nothing here is to be taken as absolutely the only way to do this.
     
    Marked out end board:

     
    Marked lines for marrying up to the next board:


     
    Beginning drilling the recess:

     
    Test locating the female dowel for depth:

     
    Checking where the recess surface still needs more material removing:

     
    Checking again, close but still need to remove a bit more:

     
    Now it's seated just below the surface of the plywood:

     
    Clearing the centre area which sometimes is a little raised as the Forstner bit doesn't quite touch that area:


     
    Clearing space for the male dowel peg to fit:

     
    As this is a primary board no glue is required, so the dowels are screwed in directly:

     
    Checking which screw to tighten first. If one or more screws are slightly off-centre from the dowel holes, the one which is closest is tightened first, followed by the next closest, etc, etc.


     
    Checking the screw hole positions are clear of any other screws in the boards:


     
    Checking that the recesses match up OK:


     
    They do:

     
    Putting old receipts in place between the dowel parts to prevent the boards gluing together:

     
    Epoxy glue added to receiving recesses:

     
    Boards on level-ish floor, and clamped to allow glue to harden:


     
    Holes drilled for screws in the glued dowel parts:



     
    The final assembly, all OK, though not entirely perfect.


     

     
    There's a slight ledge between the two curved 'extensions', but since no track will cross that it's not an issue.

     
    The end joins are near perfect. There's a little bit of height difference, but nothing a sander can't correct and if the track still is a little out of alignment height-wise, then I'll use thin paper built up to even up the rail tops.
     
    I won't post any more on dowels now, I'll just get on with fitting them. It'll take a while as I'm only up to 8 of 22 so far.
     

     
  13. Ian J.

    A quick update

    By Ian J.,

    Boards numbered 5, 8, 1 and 4 are now structurally 'complete'. 1 really didn't want to go together properly, it just had loads of little issues that needed correcting. 4 has a significant amount of twist on initial screwing together. I'm hoping that having dissassembled for gluing and reassembling, then putting a fair amount of heavy weight on its corners and edges, it will set in place with less or no twisting apparent.
     
    No pics, I'm too tired now, but once all the fiddleyards boards are structurally put together, I'll post pics of them. There are two more main boards, then four smaller add-in/spacer boards.
  14. Ian J.

    Bits & Pieces

    By Ian J.,

    OK, I've done a bit of an inventory of the non-rolling stock scenic stuff I have sat in boxes, and this is a summary:
     
    Landscape etc:

    Canalside x1 Countryside x4 Goods Yard x3 Industrial x8 Loco Shed x12 Non Specific x2 Residential x6 Station x8 Town x2 Trackside x19 Village x4
    Vehicles:

    Buses x12 Cars x68 Coaches x3 Emergency Car x6 Lorry (Articulated) x9 Lorry (Rigid) x7 Taxi x24 Van (Large) x6 Van (Small) x10
    Now, these summaries don't show enough detail to really back up what I have in mind, but to have put in the entire list for each would be too big. Suffice it to say, from my knowledge of what I have I'm thinking of a layout based on a large-ish town in the south of England, notionally on the Devon/Dorset border, but not any actual town. It will be at the end of a 'stub' of a branch/secondary line that used to carry on down to a small port (and no, it's not Lyme Regis!). The port is being rejuvenated with some ferry traffic and also some bulk cargo both imports and exports. The closed part of the line is now a heritage railway, with the interchange with National Rail at the large-ish town. There are several small stations serving villages between the town and the port, suggesting the line is ten or more miles in length. The rejuvenation of the port has meant that Network Rail and a couple of private freight TOCs have taken an interest in 'leasing' running slots on the heritage railway for freight purposes. This means the heritage line gets some of its infrastructure upgraded (hence the relatively good condition of its operating elements like signals etc).
     
    Certain things in my collection of items above pointed to this scenario. Such things as several Coastguard vehicles and the nine articulated lorries suggested somewhere near the sea and some kind of port. The somewhat 'obscene' number of taxis suggested the large-ish nature of the town. I already have some layout boards constructed which have the loco shed, and these can be adapted to have a small industrial estate. Next to this could be a truck stop of some kind, used as overspill because notionally there's not much space in the small port for many trucks to rest up.
     
    I have enough plywood cut to construct quite a few extra boards, and what I'm thinking is that there could be a kind of shallow flood plain next to the large-ish town with a navigable river (the canal bit comes in there) and also allows me to make use of some bridge bits. It also allows me to get away with keeping the name of the project to Sayersbridge, which has been the name for the previous projects I've tried. This would be Sayersbridge, Mark III
  15. Ian J.

    Grooving the Route

    By Ian J.,

    The outer frame lengths have now had their grooves cut, completed without so much pain in my hands trying to use a saw, thanks to a routing attachment for my Dremel
     
    They are now easier to bend, but they'll still need some kind of supports inside the boards they attach to to hold the curves in place. So that's my next job, cutting a number of short lengths of 2x1 timber for those supports.
     

  16. Ian J.

    A Logo for the S&P

    By Ian J.,

    A bit of playing around in MS Word 2010 for a modern style logo. Imperfect, but then so is MS Word:
     

     
    I need to come up with a more traditional one, but they're somewhat complex to design so that might be a while, if ever.
     
    I've marked out the frames for the fiddleyard boards on a set of plywood strips that I had cut may years ago. I hope to cut them to their lengthwise sizes tomorrow.
  17. Ian J.
    I've cleaned up and checked alignment (by eye) the six main boards for the fiddle yard throats left and right. The images here show them on the largest flattest area I have at the moment, my kitchen floor. The room where they will eventually be set up is a bit clogged with detritus at the moment:
     

     
    There is a little bit of warping visible in the left lower centre board, but that will be flattened out once the framing is done:

     
    There is the odd gap that looks worse in the images than in actual reality:

     

     

     
    The more noticeable gaps between upper and lower curves are not critical as no track will be running over them, and they're close enough to my eye to be OK:

     

     
    Again, the slight warping is visible here, but will go once framed:

     
    Overall I'm reasonably pleased at how they have turned out.
     

     
    Next I have to tidy up the four small spacer boards, then get everything framed up.
     
  18. Ian J.
    Today I have been mostly jigsawing - with the grateful help from a friend for somewhere to work where noise and mess aren't an issue, the six primary throat boards and the four small ancilliary boards for the fiddleyard have been cut. They need some cleaning up due to splintering and a not entirely accurate cut line, but that shouldn't be too difficult with my electric hand sander here at home. It'll still be noisy but nowhere near as much as using the jigsaw
  19. Ian J.
    Due to changes in the way I've interpreted landscape and geology, I've modified the line's route, so below is the new Run Along The Line:

    "From the large market town of Sayersbridge situated on the north-east bank of the River Stur, the main line to Exeter crosses the river by a low embankment to reach the south-west side where the line to Penmouth diverges to the south. It passes through the wooded area of Cold Holt before emerging onto low rolling arable farming land. Further south it reaches the shallow valley of Bere Dene and its halt, where the Arn Stream tributary starts its descent towards the coast. The line crosses by a small bridge to get to the east side of the vale, which it follows until reaching the station for the two villages of Arnford (East and West on either side of the stream). Afterwards the land starts becoming more hilly as we see the Step Ridge in the distance. The station at Dunstow follows, then the line runs through the old hunting forest of Frith before reaching West Frith Station. Shortly after, the branch to Knightonmore splits away to the east at Frith Junction, while the primary line continues south to Ceorfan, the gap in the Step Ridge where the Arn Stream joins the Freme River for its journey to the English Channel. Weytonwell Village follows on the south side of the Ridge, and then passes the quarry where Weyton Stone is extracted. The line descends the steep bank down to the Freme Inlet and Estuary, passing Stokestone station midway. A mile after the bottom of the bank is Stokeholme Halt where the old pottery wharf has become a yacht marina. The line then curves west over the stone sea wall across the inlet mouth, slowing for the swing bridge in the middle. Onwards the line runs along the Jurassic coastline to the west until it reaches the coastal halt of Sto Sands, situated between the beach and the cliffs, with the small village of Sto in the chine behind. Further west still and we reach the outskirts of the large town of Tynworth as the inland cliffs gently descend to sea level and to the centre of Tynworth. Here the passenger journey used to end and only freight continued, but now passengers can continue west to go past the sizable port of Penmouth, and afterwards reach the terminating halt for the popular tourist destination of the outcrop of land known as 'The Pen', accessed by an artifical causeway on foot.
     
    The Branch leaves the primary line at Frith Junction and passes to the north of Step Ridge, the chalk feature that splits the inland fertile land from the rocky coast to its south, first reaching Grange Knowle. Then it carries on to Steepleham Station, the town for which is situated on the Ridge above the line. It then meanders on eastwards to Knightonmore Station where the passenger services terminate. A more recent extension of the line carries on to Arnbrook to provide rail access to the recently established oil well site."
     
    The history has been tweaked as well, but is substantially the same as previously:
     
    "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 Tynworth 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 route was in 1863, with opening on Monday, 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 Tynworth flourished once the railway was running, and became quite significant both for trade and population. Most of the route served small village and farming populations, and private landowners, with the only intermediate settlement of any size between Sayersbridge and Tynworth being the split town of East and West Arnford.
     
    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. In 1974 the line was closed, despite an inevitable 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 Tynworth 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 was still single track but it became feasible to put in a second line if traffic levels demanded it. After privatisation of the national network in the early 1990s and the reconnection with the national network in 1996, the prospect of commercial freight using the line raised its head. One of the first private freight arrangements was an extension of the branch line to Arnbrook for rail access to the oil well there. 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 when non-heritage services are running. The heritage services use stock not now considered safe enough for such speed, so they are still restricted to the 25 mph limit. A commercial passenger service for commuting has been proposed that will use modern stock and only run in the mornings and evenings, but this would mean the heritage services would have to be stopped slightly earlier on such days. 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.
     
    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 'borrowed' from the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. 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 will likely run a scheduled service between Tynworth and Sayersbridge using a couple of leased 'modern' units for commuters."
     
    Next I'm going to work out what would be the best places for the 'vignettes' that could be constructed to show different aspects of the line. There are of course the stations:
     
    Primary Line: Sayersbridge, Cold Holt, Bere Dene, Arnford, Dunstow, West Frith, Weytonwell, Stokestone, Stokeholme, Sto Sands, Tynworth, Penmouth (for The Pen)
    Branch: Grange Knowle, Steepleham, Knightonmore
     
    Apart from the stations themselves, I have some ideas for others already:
     
    Sayersbridge Embankment
    Frith Junction
    Arnbrook Oil Depot
    Arnbrook Clay Pit
    Ceorfan Viaduct
    Weytonwell Quarry
    Stoke Sea Wall Swing Bridge
     
    I'm thinking of having MoD land somewhere, but I don't know which station would be its railhead as I haven't planned that far ahead yet.
     
  20. Ian J.
    A little update. I've tweaked the plan for the fiddleyard to get it to work with the 15 feet 4 inches room it could be set up in, such that I can work on 8 foot vignettes. Previously it had been measuring 15 feet 7 inches in length and that of course wasn't going to fit. The tweaks on the throats have brought it to 15 feet 2.5 inches, allowing a little bit of leeway:
     

     
    I've printed out the throat boards, sellotaped them together and cut them out so I have full size templates. Those have been outlined onto existing plywood boards I have ready for cutting whenever I can find a suitable place/time to do so.
     
    I've also ordered the first few of the turnouts so that I can check them against the templates before any cutting takes place, and also to check that trains can run through them smoothly. I've read that with so many facing points in a line that might cause issues, so I want to be reasonably sure they are suitable.
  21. Ian J.
    Hi all,
     
    So, after some help here with arranging the throat parts of a fiddleyard, below is a picture (from Anyrail) of the arrangement I'm likely to settle on for the common fiddleyard parts that I hope to use for various 'vignettes' of the S&P's line. It's designed on the principle of 'adaptable modularity', so that different lengths and widths of arrangement, and different track exit positions on the scenic sections, can be made and the fiddleyard parts should always be able to be connected to them.
     

     
    I have used Peco Code 83 for the side 'throat' and curve sections. I have a fair bit of old Peco Code 75 that I intend to use for the straight yard boards. For the scenic sections (in mauve) my intention is to use something like C&L or Exactoscale components. The wiring will be DCC only, with multiple buses (track power+signal; 12v acc power; 16v acc power; lighting power) using circuit breakers for each point board and/or related boards so that wrong running into points set against won't stop being able to change the point's position.
     
    I'm hoping to be able to build my own MERG point accessory decoders to power already acquired Tortoises, Fulgurex and Peco Solenoid motors.
     
    The curve boards already exist from part of an old test track layout from where I used to live in London. Minimum curve is therefore approx 32in/812mm. Stock will have back to backs adjusted to improved running, and check rails on the Code 83 pointwork may need adjusting, but as they are metal, I'm hoping that won't be too much of a problem.
     
    I've learnt a bit more about how to align the boards using pattern makers alignment dowels, particularly how to retrofit them to my existing boards of my own construction. I'm hoping that means I can reuse them rather than dismantle and discard (for recycling, if I have to).
     
    As I work through ideas in my head, Sayersbridge (the S in S&P) is turning out to be something of an analogue for Salisbury. However, it's very important to realize it isn't Salisbury as in my fictional geography it sits somewhere between Salisbury and Exeter. As such it's taking on a significant flavour of Salisbury, but with more than a dash of Templecombe and Yeovil thrown in, together with some unique elements. There are a number of differences to how it would look (nothing like Salisbury from a buildings point of view), and a few differences as to what would be running through it and terminating at it. I hope that goes some way to explaining some of my question threads regarding what services ran on the Waterloo - Exeter services.
     
    Sayersbridge, however, is too big for me to tackle at the moment. So my focus will be on the 'vignettes' of sections and stations on the S&P line proper. I think that's more manageable for now.
     
     
  22. Ian J.

    Further Thought

    By Ian J.,

    Recently I've been thinking through the geography for the line, and I believe I've come up with a slightly tighter version than that in the last posting.
     
    The town of Sayersbridge is on the North East bank of a wide-ish river flood plain, flowing from the North West to the South East. The main Southern Region station in Sayersbridge is situated towards the South East edge of the town, and the main line through it travels East North East to West South West. This means the flood plain embankment is of double track width construction with two tracks in place for the main line, and not one for the Penmouth branch as I originally had in mind.
     
    The Penmouth branch diverges after the main line reaches the South West bank of the flood plain. It travels up gently rising countryside scenery until it gets to a point where it begins a steep descent to a different river's coastal inlet that runs approximately North-South. Once down that incline it travels the Eastern bank of that inlet on the level for a couple of miles or so until it reaches the inlet mouth where it makes a fairly tight right curve to cross the inlet's mouth via a substantial breakwater construction. This is where the 'need' for a swing bridge came in so that boats have access to the inlet from the English Channel, and why I recently asked a question about moveable bridge speed limits here on RMweb. Once past the inlet's West edge corner with the coast, the line follows the coast for a few miles of sandy beaches until it reaches Tyneworth, and following that the port of Penmouth.
     
    One thing that has gone is the idea for a diversion earlier on in the line for a landowner's benefit. That's now a simple branch, with a connection in the direction of Penmouth somewhere before the descent down the bank to the inlet. That branch, in modern times, has a connection at the very end to an oil well head (not unlike Furzebrook, but terminating with no additional line like the Swanage branch has). So there is an idea for running oil trains out, but to be realistic these wouldn't run while steam is active on the 'preserved' line so would likely be night runners at the weekend, or be delayed for weekday running when steam isn't active (except in the Summer period).
     
    As before, my life is still 'in recovery', so everything is slow progress.
  23. Ian J.
    Finally, after struggling with living at a friend's in a tiny room and then ending up getting work, only to end up moving to a place on my own again in August 2018, my mind is slowly starting to get something of its previous self back together. I'm not 'all there yet', but I'm a few steps further down the road.
     
    One subject that is getting some 'neural energy' is my fictional railway line idea. I have been thinking about geography, geology, and the like, and have thought that my original line route was a little off. So I'm making some adjustments.
     
    The town of Sayersbridge will be on a flood plain, with the Penmouth line making its way southwards via an embankment across the plain and the river's channels, to meet the gently rising edge of the river valley. Then it will follow another, smaller river's route as it makes its way up and through the uphills that occur before the coast. To get back to sea level there will be a bank to travel down, then a 'sharp' right turn to align with the coast, before ending up at Penmouth.
     
    I will need to do a basic track route and gradient diagram to suit, so I can confirm that I'm happy with the idea.
     
    I've thought more of Sayersbridge itself, and that would be far to big a station to model in a modest space, so that will have to wait for another time. So I think my first actual 'layout' would be a very simple affair with two four foot by two foot boards, level, representing the flood plain south of Sayersbridge, with an embankment for the line. A few simple details like a bridge for the line over a river channel, a few anglers, a small boat or two, not much else, other than pasture land, reed embankments on the river channel, and the river channel water itself. Plenty to practice and learn in constructing. I have existing boards that will probably serve quite well, but they will need clearing of my last abortive attempt to make a layout first.
     
    There won't be much progress at first as I still need to clear space in the room where the build will occur and that's a more detailed and time consuming set of tasks than I thought they would be. But thoughts and ideas are heading in the right direction (touch wood that nothing comes up that scuppers everything, as has had a tendency to happen in the past).
  24. Ian J.

    Gradient Profile - v2.0

    By Ian J.,

    After doing a bit of sketching of possible geography and a rail route through such, I've revised the gradient profile to better reflect what I was intending when I wrote the posting for the run along the line. Attached is version 2 of the profile, now somewhat modified from version 1. I've put in marks on the profile itself for the mileposts, with their heights in brackets. The beauty of the way I've set up the code is that I can add and remove such markings for features just by modifying a variable!
     

  25. Ian J.

    The Project

    By Ian J.,

    The idea of the S&PR - The Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway - is for a series of related model railway boards that will utilize materials I already have but don't fit any particular prototype. As such, the model would represent a heritage line with some commercial freight operation on it. It is set in a fictional landscape and as such can't be directly linked to any existing lines or geography, but it gets pretty much all its ideas from the Hampshire - Dorset - Devon coastal area and as such is L&SWR / SR / BR(S) in operation, if not in construction.
     
    No actual modelling or construction work can happen at the moment due to life circumstances getting in the way. This blog is then a statement of intent, with a lot of high level thinking about what I hope to be able to do sometime in the future.
     
    The next posting will be a potted history of the line, followed by a summary of a run along it.
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