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Jon Fitness

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Blog Entries posted by Jon Fitness

  1. Jon Fitness
    As suggested, a new little station has appeared by the loco shed along with a signal that has mysteriously sprung up . Must be the time of year. . As Steve has named the GW high level station Upper Mill, me and Kenny reckon the new station is called Lower Mill.
    I think Steve will get back to me on that one...
     

     
    A nice Marcway curved point has also appeared near the junction. I think it was one of those "I've got one of these going spare/free if you can make any use of it Steve" things.
    Rude not to really
     

     
    Once the ballast is tidied up it will be toned down to match.
  2. Jon Fitness
    Decided to stick at 5 trusses, which I think gives a full enough look without being too crowded.

    I've included an internal picture of Waverton goods shed (LNW wooden built, near Chester) as a comparison.

    I think Steve likes a few lights in the buildings so some level of internal details is necessary.
    Hopefully it's now time to start the "pretty" bits. Slaters stone walling and embossed slates.
    I'll probably need some detaily bits from Invertrain(windows, doors, chimneys gutters etc., Duncan Models (wall mounted crane, people etc.) and 10 Commandments (sacks boxes pallets etc)to finish it off.
    I'll be taking it round to the layout to see if it fits where it's meant to so watch out for more pics soon.
  3. Jon Fitness
    Well, here we go. It’s been ages since the last update, and quite frankly I’ve lost track of what’s been done since the last one. I’ve attached a little gallery as a bit of a “catch-upâ€
    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/gallery/album/7179/1299-saltney-railway-catch-up/
    but far more pics are available at
     
    http://thesaltneyrailway.fotopic.net/
     
    Things we’ve done that come to mind (not necessarily in date order!) are..
     
    1. New roof on the loco shed. It dated from Talacre days and was a bit …flat. Smoke hoods will be fitted once a simple way of making so many of them has been found.
     
    2. The L&Y signal cabin has been installed at Astley Bridge.
     
    3. Extra lead off the turntable. Needed more space for Steve’s expanding loco collection…
     
    4. Saltney Ferry station has a covered footbridge. Sort of LNW style, fitted with lights and a nice little feature entrance.
     
    5. LNW style coal hole on the loco shed head-shunt. A large cast concrete buffer stop by it is a test piece for Steve’s (pat pending) method of representing a weathered concrete surface.
     
    6. 80% of signals are now servo operated, all new ones fitted will be servo’d.
     
    7. All of Astley Bridge’s track is now ballasted.
     
    8. Major backscene project is now underway up at Upper Mill station and the approaches to it.
     
    9. An ex Talacre signalbox is now on a gantry over the tracks at Upper Mill
     
    10. In build at the moment is an L&Y style canopy and wooden platform buildings for Astley Bridge (no pics yet, sorry).
     
    We’ve also gained a few locos and had lots of visiting ones out to stretch their wheels.
     
     
    I was thinking of stopping the blog and going over to a thread as I found the format very clunky and awkward to use, and a bit weird to view as well. Since the format has been tidied up and is now in a list form, I’ll carry on a bit longer and give it a chance.
  4. Jon Fitness

    Gradients and curves

    By Jon Fitness,

    Seeing the first train run gave us a bit of a boost and once the hidden loops were in it was time to start adding the upper station area. This will eventually be the WR station and will be the larger of the 2.

    The large board will be hinged for access until the lower area is proven to be ok then it will be fastened down with a removable front retaining wall for access.

    The turntable was rescued from Talacre and tried here but proved to be a little out of reach (more of which later!!)

    The LM station area was originally going to cross over the top of the main lines but this would have been a duck under too many.. the end of the station now ends abuptly on an overbridge but a feature will be made of this, combined with a ramp up from the road to the goods yard.Lots of Slaters embossed stone plasticard has been ordered!!

    The ramp up to the upper level proved to be a little steep and took some jiggling round to get the best alignment. As it's double track, it was found necessary to split it and "ease" the upward track to allow locos to actually pull something whilst climbing!
    Maybe in our haste to get something running, we'd lost a little foresight in the planning department.

  5. Jon Fitness
    The goods shed at “Slugworth†(not convinced that name’ll stick) is now just about finished and in position.
     
    I’ve built an internal crane from wooden coffee stirrers and assorted bits of brass from the scrap box, fitted gutters & downpipes, LED lights and the windows in the office.
     

     
    The roof and canopy have been painted and weathered but there are still ridge tiles to fit and quite a bit more internal detail to add.
     

     
    Steve’s now added the island platform to the GW station. It’s a bit longer than the one at Slugworth, a point I’ll have to remember when making up passenger trains in the station!
     

     
    Steve’s latest building is Mousey’s garage , tucked down the side of “Rillington Place†and is ready to repair a now engineless F series Vauxhall Victor. The building is scratchbuilt and fitted with a vehicle lift and lights it really looks the part.
     

     
    Wonder if he does bodywork there? You know what those F series were like for rusting!!
     
     
  6. Jon Fitness

    From the ashes

    By Jon Fitness,

    When the old Talacre gauge 0 garden railway had to come down in October 2009, we were feeling a bit down. We had amassed quite a bit of stock and a lot of scenic work had been done in the sheds. We were left with a lot of very second hand track, a mixed bag of locos and stock,quite a few working signals and all the elctrics. We even salvaged most of the buildings. What we didn't have was somewhere to build a new layout.
    Steve found the answer on his doorstep. A secure lockup, 27 X 17. A bit tight for the curves but dry, warm and accessable. We were in business!
    We've gone from zero to running trains through a partly scenic landscape in 2 and a half months so technology and enthusiasm permitting I'll try to bring you up to date and keep it that way (if you're interested of course!)
    As soon as I get my head round this Blog thingy, I'll post a few pics.
  7. Jon Fitness
    Steve’s now done his Bedford TK coal lorry and added some rather nice little coal sacks. These are made from some old material, and filled with yer actual coal.
     
    Note the empty sacks folded and weighed down with a 5lb weight.
     
    I’ll do some transfers for the doors (T. Watkins I think) as soon as Steve gives me some details.
     

     
    As has been pointed out, our yard footbridge wasn’t quite right so Steve’s set to with fixing that. I think this arrangement should be ok once the rest of the bits and pieces are fitted. A support between the tracks will also be fitted just to make sure.
     

     
    Finally got round to photographing the compound today. It’s now 41166, one of Chester’s stud in the 1950’s.
     
    As per real thing, it’s a bit light on it’s feet and all available useable space inside has been filled with lead and any more will cause it to tip forwards!
     

     
    I asked Steve to draw it forwards a bit and the wheels just spun… cue fake speed photograph!
     

     
    Steve assures me that the front number will be replaced by an etched one eventually…
     

     

     

     
     
  8. Jon Fitness

    Early Daze

    By Jon Fitness,

    We moved into our lockup in October and started with this.

    After a week or so Steve had painted the floor and found a bit of carpet

    and the place seemed quite homely.
    As work beckoned, I missed the next 10 days or so but imagine my surprise when I came in to offer a bit of help and this lot had appeared.

    The track was only placed just to see what would fit where, but it gave us an idea of what we could do. All the planning in the world won't really tell you what looks right until you physically try it out. (Unless of course, you're a designer by profession which we aren't)
    We had a plan of sorts but it was just one that said "we'll have a train running by christmas"
    Steve being Steve, of course had other ideas....
  9. Jon Fitness

    Saltney, On Shed.

    By Jon Fitness,

    While I battled with the wiring, Steve next turned to adding more detail and atmosphere to the MPD, getting the turntable working well, making a control panel and wiring up some lights. More green lumpy stuff was applied and plenty of colour sprayed to blend it all in.

    To complete the scene, a Skytrex enginemans bothy was added and blended in after Steve worked his magic on it.

  10. Jon Fitness
    Some old friends have returned to the layout recently;
     
    My JLTRT 10001 has spent too long on the shelf at home and needed a run out and Steve’s Springside “Foxcote Manor†made a welcome return having been crocked for a while.
     

     
    Also, a couple of Ex Talacre signals have been planted and are awaiting their servos to operate them.
     

     

     
    A batch of Metcalfe stone card has been unearthed and pressed into service, on the long wall round the edge of the LM station. We’re not sure if this wall can be covered permanently as there are point motors behind it and we haven’t come up with a successful “access†solution for them yet. No sense using expensive embossed plasticard and going to the trouble of painting it if it all needs ripping out to access the PMs. The Metcalfe stuff will do for now and looks acceptable (to us anyway!)
     

     

     
    As Steve and Les got fed up of waiting for me to build something in the hole behind the loco siding, they did it themselves….
     

     

     
    Nice “lump†fellas! Serves me right I suppose….(Note to self….must work faster!)
     
     
  11. Jon Fitness
    Well not exactly all change, but Steve's Station (reputedly going to be called Upper Mill; doesn't sound very ex GW to me..) has already been changed before it's even reached the serious tracklaying stage.
     

     
    The original wide board which spanned all 4 storage roads and the hidden lines leading to the LM station is now only half it's original width and the retaining wall will be moved back to suit.
     

     
     
    This has now exposed the inbound and outbound lines to the LM station which run round the back of the loco shed. These have been moved apart wide enough for a small island platform to be installed, just below where the GW station will start to "fan out". Kenny is just suggesting he calls the station Lower Mill.......
     

     
    At least it's a change from painting stone walls...
  12. Jon Fitness
    When the track was layed into the LM station, we knew we were on the very limit of curvature for most of the locos (we reckoned some of the curves were 4' 6" radius) and this proved to be too much for some. A re-think was necessary which resulted in much alteration of the woodwork and a reduction in complexity of the trackwork. We had originally envisaged a double track into the station but this was reduced to single. Many attempts were made before a compromise was reached.

    As the corner by the door would be the first thing that people will see as they walk in, that area was chosen as the first to have a bit of scenic treatment so Steve and Les got busy while I got on with the wiring and point motors.

    As the track layout in that corner had just about been finalised, the structure for the ramps was boxed in and painted black to act as a scenic base for walling etc.

    The position of the turntable was by now ridiculously out of reach and as the LM station's layout had been changed, the plan to have kickback sidings feeding back round to below the site of the upper level was abandoned, freeing up space for a larger MPD area. Steve then added an extension board to accomodate the turntable and moved it down. Much better.

    Meanwhile, I got busy sorting out which of the point motors scavenged from Talacre were usable, cleaned them up and started to install them. The first 2 were installed at the LM jc and as well as firing the points over, also operate the microswitches for point polarity.

  13. Jon Fitness
    Ok here's a bit of an update. I can't currently include any pictures within the text due to what must be, to Andy and the dedicated admin team, frustating problems, but the link to the gallery should give you an idea of where we are now.
    Steve and Les are much faster and more regular workers on the layout and have for the most part, completed the major scenic work on the main lines and surrounding areas. I've plodded on with my little area by the LM station entrance when I can, but work and other commitments have kept me away a little.
    Hopefully in the next few weeks I can crack on with the rest of the stone walling while Steve and Les make a start on track laying on the upper (WR) level station.
    Now the ballasting is completed, I now have 3 or 4 signals waiting in the wings to be installed by the LM junction, including a sort of gantry on the approach to the Jc points. I say sort of, as it's design and construction would probably make a purist wince but it's a case of "waste not want not". Precious few of the signals from "talacre" can be re-used without modification and some may have to be sold on as not suitable for the track layout on the Saltney Railway. Shame.
     
    I think I'll leave any further updates until RMWeb is healthy and fully functioning again so...
    TTFN B)
  14. Jon Fitness
    After seeing nothing move for quite a while we decided to up the pace a little (which with hindsight was a little ill advised). Much sawing, drilling and er...screwing went on into the wee small hours and after a week or so we were fastening the last bits of the main line baseboards. You can see how strong the boards are as Steve had to clamber into the corner to add the last bits!

    Another few days of painting tidying and track laying and our first train was trundling round. The honours went to the Stanier mogul and a mixed freight. very satisfying!...

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