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Ian J.

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  1. Ian J.

    Barriers to Entry

    By Ian J.,


    General
    As per a post on in the main forum, I've now started to sort out derailment barriers for the boards. I found a supplier, bought two test pieces and have been able to make choices as per what to get.
     
    The curved boards will be getting 2mm thick clear acrylic, and the straight boards 3mm acrylic. Holes have already been drilled to take bolts to mount the barriers in place.
     
    I've placed an order for enough strips to do the ends and up to four 4'x2' boards on both the scenic and fiddleyard sides.
     
    As far as the boards are concerned, I think the next jobs will be to fix any remaining structural issues (one or two frame elements are still loose and a couple of the top boards need regluing to the frames where they haven't sat in place properly), then to clean them up by sanding down the splintering edges, and then paint them to hopefully seal them up. I've decided against varnishing as they have too many construction marks on them. It's going to be white underside, a dark grey-blue for the sides, and cream for the tops.
     
    Some pics of the fitting of the two clear acrylic test pieces:
     

     

     

     

     
     
     
     
  2. 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.
     

  3. 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.
  4. 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!
     

  5. 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):

     

     
  6. 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.
  7. 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).
  8. 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.
  10. 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...
  11. 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:

     

     

  12. 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.
  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.

    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.
  15. 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:
     

     

     
    😔
  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 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
  18. 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:
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    🙂
  21. 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.
     

  22. 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.
  23. 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
     

     

     

     

     

     
     
     
     
     
  24. 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.
     
    😊
  25. 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:

     

     
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