Fen End Pit

Thanks for all the comments and ideas on this project both on and off this forum. I'm getting the ideas to jell now, trying to balance all the features I want with practical considerations such as size and construction effort. I was originally considering something which would give me a couple of options, on the left we had the inside of the shed/workshop and then on the right we had the outside of the building with the gable end. This idea would be about 3' x ~1'6". The Thelkeld shed has a door in the side as well as the end so one option would be a wagon turntable to give a route out through that door, optionally a second road in the shed could be used for locomotive repairs while the main road was used for running locomotives. I then went a bit wild and considered making the plank double-sided, adding a track down the outside of the shed. So one side would be open the other closed. In hindsight I think this is probably too big and not meet my design criteria of wanting something easy to move about. What I am considering now is actually to do the design in two halves, the inside of the shed and the out outside and half them join at the gabled wall. Some considerations I'd like your opinions on, I want the shed to be very much a workshop and not just a running shed, so I'm considering some of the following :- a forge - I'd expect a quarry workshop to be able to do some basic blacksmith work, a power hammer? a power hacksaw? Do I have a mill and/or lathe? If I have a lathe how big should it be? Should I put an inspection pit on the running road? Just for fun I found some 3d models on the thingyverse for some blacksmith tools and also drew up a few bits myself. I printed these out on the photon. They painted up quite nicely and I think look rather more 3 dimensional than some of the etched offerings available. I think I might get some wood and try and make up a work bench. As always, all ideas welcome. David

Another option would be the Middleton Towers sand quarries in Norfolk. There was a quite extensive two foot gauge system which fed into the sidings there. David

Thanks so much for those Rich, I really like the 3rd and 4th ones with the lathe. I think my floor might not be quite a clean though! David

I'm inclined to agree, I'm wondering if I can find a way to model the end wall and some of the 'outhouses' to give me two distinct 'photo locations' David

Thanks, I would most certainly be interested... I've already 3D printed a single cylinder horizontal diesel engine from the thingiverse which could be at one end of the shed powering the belt drive. David

So I've been thinking about a little 16mm project to keep up my narrow gauge interest while I can't take Fen End Pit out. I don't mean to distract too much from the construction of Clare but just have something extra to work on when I fancy a change. One of my favourite places to visit is the Thelkeld Quarry Museum and I have long thought that the engine shed is full of modelling potential but I've not been sure how I could use its inspiration. What I have been thinking about is building a 'photo plank' which captures some of the Thelkeld building but I'm wondering about turning things inside out, looking at the interior as a basis for a scene. I fancy trying to capture some of the atmosphere of the workshop and clutter. I don't think this is Thelkeld but it is the kind of thing I'm after. I also have a memory of the belt driven workshop at the back of the sheds at the Launceston steam railway. So at the moment I'm thinking about trying to build a 'box' which represents the inside of the shed, along the back I make a variety of workshop tools, ideally belt driven, and a work bench. In front of that I have a line of track set in concrete which goes out of the door. Even though this isn't a big building it will be probably be something like 2'x1'.. So I'm searching for additional inspiration.... Anyone got any nice photos of belt driven workshops or ideas about the best way to layout a belt drive workshop? Thanks David

I recently purchased a copy of Roy Link's new Crowsnest Chronicles book. An very good read full of inspirational modeling. This finally inspired me to get my, not quite completed, Slater's 16mm Simplex kit out of the cupboard where it has been languishing for a year or more. I'd been frustrated by not managing to get the cooling fan to work with the DCC decoder. The loco also had rather a lot of emotional baggage attached as I'd bought it as a present to me shortly after receiving a nasty shock a couple of years back. I had purchased a Nigel Lawton 12v motor to drive the fan and wanted to drive it from one of the function outputs from the DCC chip. Obviously if I just connected the motor between the common negative and the function output the motor would work but be much too fast. If I used the 'dimming' function of the chip it uses Pulse Wave Modulation which meant the motor went slower, heated up and made a heck of a noise. I tried just adding a resistor into the circuit, but if I used a value that made any difference to the speed there wasn't enough current to give the motor enough torque to turn the fan. This weekend I finally cracked it, using a lower value (100 Ohm) resistor in series with the motor and a 100nF capacitor in parallel with the motor. The capacitor smooths the pulses from the chip and I can now dim the output without the motor making a nasty humming noise and getting hot. I also upgraded the bearing in the fan to use a pair of tiny 2mm ID ball races, this greatly reduces the friction. I painted up a figure as a driver (still a work in progress) but I'm very much happier with the project than I was before. The loco is now flaunting itself on my desk rather than hiding in the cupboard. I'm mulling over a 16mm narrow gauge 'side project' to give some variety while working on the Stour Valley - more details soon..... There is a clip on Youtube in all its noisy glory. Enjoy with the sound turned up. David

During the 1950's a grain loader was built on loading dock. Lorries (or tractors and trailers) were reversed down the dock and the grain tipped into the shed through the large doors. A vertical auger lifted the grain up to slide down the chute into the waiting wagon. It looks to me that the construction was of corrugated asbestos with a box section rather than corrugated iron, the section looks too big for that. I tried drawing up a template to try and judge the size. Then, unusually for me I did some 'conventional' modelling making the shed in plasticard. OK, I'll admit it, I did 3D print the strange 'top knot'. The chute is a length of square brass tube, the sacking is masking tape. I'm not sure about the colour yet, I think It is a bit too yellow. Obviously it still needs bedding in and a load of weathering. Before anyone asks - No it isn't going to work! David

or start a blog? I find it a really useful way to record what I've done David

thanks, that is what I thought. David

One of my main motivations for being interested in this technology is to get away from track power. I want to model dodgy narrow gauge systems where the rail head is definitely not a shiny metal surface suitable for conducting electricity and possibly where the rails are knee high in grass! As far as battery life goes I don't see the requirement (for me) of all day running. I'd quite like a situation where a loco has to return to the shed to charge on a regular basis to be swapped with a different locomotive. One of my concerns is the size of the batteries because even in 16mm my engines aren't that large. On the plus side I'm presuming I can loose the existing 'keep-alive' capacitors on the DCC chip. thanks David

thanks Simon Been having a good read of the Digitrains website. The Tam Valley website not the clearest in terms of examples. Am I right that in order to try this I'd need.. DTX022 DRS1 MKIII TRANSMITTER 868MHZ for £45 DRX022 DRS1 MKIII RECEIVER 869MHZ for £45 (per loco) What is your recommendation for a source of batteries? And I also need a charger? I was also a bit confused by the text about switches on the Tam Valley site. David

Thanks, that is the first time I've heard about being able to use two Deltang controllers - I'll investigate this more. I like the idea of the Tam Valley system, for me being able to reuse the existing sound chips is a big plus. Are there any resellers or users of it in the UK? David

That is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. With a layout several metres long it would just spoil the flow of operations. David

As someone who operates a DCC controlled exhibition layout with multiple operators I have some questions about moving to a RC option. What RC options are there that allow multiple operators to control multiple locomotives? Are there ways for several operators to swap control of a locomotive in the way you would with DCC? Are there any issues with RC control of layouts working in an exhibition environment with other RC controlled layouts? any advice would be much appreciated. David

I would agree. Just divide the amount of money the government is announcing as available by the number of projects seeking funding and the average cost of the projects. Governments of all political colour will always quote what sounds like a very large numbers and keep very quiet about how that number is only a tiny fraction of what is actually needed. I'm afraid this one is extremely unlikely. David

Who? Me? It was great fun to build and is good fun to exhibit (when able) David

I had a chance to spray a coat of paint of the fencing and I think it pulls it all together nicely.

Possibly, best raise it with the G.E.R. ! David

This little pair of gates for my cattle dock was pushing the Anycubic photon but I thought it was worth a punt even though I thought it unlikely that it would come out. I'm rather happy with the result, particularly as I needed 3 pairs which were identical. I wasn't exactly looking forward to having to make 3 out of scrap etch and wire and that would definitely have taken more than the hour these took to print. In place they look like they would have kept the cows in. I had the fact that there was a water trough in the corner pointed out to me on the Scalefour forum so I need to build one of those now. David

I've been musing over the cattle pens for a few weeks now. The pen was at the end of the loading dock and, by the late 1950's was out of use and blocked by the construction of a grain loading facility. The posts of the pen appeared to be disused rail so I opted the 3D print the posts. This was a lot easier than the prospect of breaking multiple drill bits trying to drill eight holes in 20 posts. Each of the posts is 19mm tall. Cutting, bending and threading the wire of the rails was 'entertaining' but I'm pretty happy with the result. Once all in place the fragile posts make into quite a strong fence. I've now got to make the gates and I've drawn these up ready to try and 3D print them in one go. It will be interesting to see if I can get them to come out. While I was in 3D printing mode I did a couple of jobs for friends. First up was a level crossing gate for a 4mm Irish narrow gauge layout. This was quite challenging as I had to thread the wire rails through the resin before curing in the UV tank, it was much easier to do before the resin was fully hardened. The second project was a signal finial for the same Irish layout, the originally being Saxby and Farmer I believe. That the flutes in this came out is impressive bearing in mind the base is only 4mm square! David

I made a brief video of the layout showing a few trains running. David

sounds like your slicer isn't set to have the right size of printer. Your preinstalled test will have been sliced using different settings. looks like you need to check the profile of the printer in your slicer. David

Over the last couple of weeks I have managed to get the valve gear completed and also add some cosmetic pieces like the drain cocks and drain cock linkage and the balance weights on the wheels. I also managed to complete the tender chassis thanks to an order for the wheels from Alan Gibson (thanks Colin for the excellent service). The loco has done a few miles on my DCC Concepts rolling road (to which I added a 3D printed block to support the bogie, looks better than a pile of plywood!) There is a little clip on Youtube of it all running Given I'd never made Walschaerts valve gear before I'm pretty happy with how this has gone. The kit from Dave Bradwell has been great fun to put together, I've had a few problems (mostly of my own making) along the way and Dave has been incredibly patient and helpful via E-mail and the Scalefour forum. I've got some cosmetic pieces to do on the locomotive, the kit includes replacement brass footsteps and, of course, I have to take the whole lot apart again to paint... Many more hours of play-value. David

You are not alone, I found exactly the same thing with Ballast Magic, reverted to using Ballast Bond instead. David