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Fen End Pit

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  1. Fen End Pit
    Any industrial site needs oil drums and up to now I'd just had the one shape, made out of 35mm film pots which are the right size for 16mm.
     

     
    I decided I fancied doing one of the more corrugated designs which would make an interesting bit of variety. I modeled the shape up in CAD (nice wiggly line rotated) and then printed the drum out on the Wanhao D7.
     

     
    A coat of red oxide and it looks the part.
     

     
    At the same time I printed two different models of crows off the Thingyverse. Scaled to 16mm these are pretty damn small. I tried them in a couple of orientations and need to be a bit more careful with the support structure because the I broke the feed off one when I tried to remove it. I suspect if I want the legs modeled then I would better off using some fine wire. Not planning a 'murder of crows' yet.
     

     
    David
  2. Fen End Pit
    I thought folks might like to see my 3D printed model of a GER yard crane based on drawings in the GERS journal a few years back. The crane was built by the Chatteris Engineer Co and there were examples in several GER goods sheds and in the goods yards of some of the Stour vally line stations including Clare.
     
    I modeled the parts up in CAD a few months back but knew that it would need something better than my original 3D printer to be able to actually make it. The resulting parts, particularly the jib, are very fine and beyond the capability of an FDM (Filament) printer. I wasn't sure that I would be able to make it even on my new printer but I am very pleased with the result.
     



     
    To give you an idea of size the brick base is 32mm in diameter.
     
    My thanks to the GERS for publishing the drawings and also to Allan Sibley for helping to explain how it was 'rigged'
     
    My painting of the brick base could do with improving, trying to paint individual bricks is never something I've been any good at (I don't have the patience of certain other modellers! I've still got to make a hook but I think I'll make that up in brass so it has some weight, even if it won't be able to keep the cable taut.
     
    David
  3. Fen End Pit
    Over the last few days I've been making progress with my new resin printer. It is quite a learning curve from the FDM (extruded filament of plastic) printers, getting to grips with 'Curing times' and other completely new variables. After several initial failures I'm beginning to get some useful parts printed. The quality over the filament based printers is remarkable. Certainly, if you are actually wanting to print small models they are worth considering. It is interesting to note that the Wanhao D7 DLP printer actually only cost ~£100 more than the Wanhao I3+ FDM printer I purchased back in February and although resin is more expensive than filament (~£50 litre compared with ~£20 for a Kg of filament) in the kinds of quantity used for model railway parts it isn't too mad.
     
    First up I tried to print the point lever I've previously printed on the FDM. I printed the parts for the lever, block and base separately and this version can by swung from one position to the other!
     

     
    Next up a trip to the thingiverse came up with a rather nice model of a jerry-can. I slightly modified this to make it hollow (saving resin) and then printed out a number to get strewn around the layout. These come out at ~25mm tall.
     

     
    As I indicated in my previous post I wanted to make a second drag-line bucket to have sitting around in the works yard. This was quite a fun shape to model up in CAD based on the drawings in my Ruston works manual.
     

     
    The result isn't too bad, the base is a bit rough because I hadn't quite got the cure times right for the initial few layers of print, but by the time it is painted up and sitting among various other bits of industrial detritus it should look fine.
     

     
    Last up a little teaser of what should be possible. I'm slowly getting the results better as I get the curing times right and this was the first thing I printed with a 35micron layer height. I have drawn up a 4mm yard crane based on some drawing in the Great Eastern Railway society journal a few years back. Again, there is a little bit more to do in terms of getting the print perfect and obviously this picture still has the support structure in place for the print but the details on this part are just so fine.
     

     
    One limiting factor at the moment which I need to resolve next week is that the parts really need some additional hardening by exposure to some more UV light. It appears that many people just leave the parts in the sun for a few hours but there isn't a great deal of UV getting through to Cambridgeshire this time of year! Plan is to buy some UV LED strip and then make a little light box of some sort.
     
    Happy New Year everyone..
     
    David
  4. Fen End Pit
    Back in the early 90's I drove up into the wilds of the Fens and found a few remnants of the Wissington Railway. The photos came to light again as I was sorting out my drawers so I thought I'd share them.
     

     
    Turning off the A10 north of Southery and you could still find the remains of rails in some of the concreted field entrances.
     

     
    In other places you just had to imagine where the railway once went along the size of the drain.
     

     
    Here the railway once ran between the concreted road and the trees.
     

     
    Some of the concrete sleeps have found a new use in a farm yard.
     

     
    This bridge was at Little Ouse I believe (just up the road from Shippea Hill) and now beyond the security gates installed by the farmer giant agri-business.
     

     
    This wonderful old feedmill is on the road from Prickwillow to Shippea Hill. It was an essay in corrugated asbestos which has now been rebuilt beyond all recognition into a house.
     
    It would be incredible difficult to model the Wissington lines. Rails almost completely hidden by vegetation, ridiculously tight curves and the problem of needing to a baseboard about 200 metres square before you could find anything to use as a scenic break.
     
    Go on someone, prove me wrong.
     
    David
  5. Fen End Pit
    Progress continues on the new engine shed for Fen End Pit. Lots of sheets of corrugated iron have been coming off the 3-D printer. I have printed a number of different sizes and shapes to save wastage from printing large sheets and cutting them down. The roof has a single large sheet printed which curves over the top of the roof and then there are two shorted lengths of curved sheet on each side.
     

     
    I decided to use dress makers pins to form the fastenings and this mean drilling a hole through the corrugated iron and then through the timber (6mm ply) frame. I've tried a small patch with a (hopefully suitable) green colour.
     

     
    The fastenings obviously need to be on the 'peaks' of the iron, but the drill has a tendency slide into the valley. In order to get around this I designed and printed a small drilling jig. This consists of a piece of plastic printed with the same shape as the corrugations. There is a hole, lined with a bit of brass tube which holds the drill in line with the peak of the sheet.
     

     
    Printing the iron isn't fast, the large curved sheets take about 90 minutes, most of the rest nearer an hour. I think I'm currently roughly about 1/2 way through.
     
    A couple of questions....
    What do you think about doors? I'm wondering about having a pair, each one would be scale 7'6 high by 6'6 wide. Maybe more corrugated iron or even just timber?
    How about a roof vent or two?
    something like this could be fun!

     
    David
  6. Fen End Pit
    Thanks to various comments on and offline the curvy roofed option won!
     
    I drew up the timber frame in TurboCAD and cut it out in 6mm ply on the laser-cutter this lunchtime. The resulting structure is 'quite large'.
     

     
    One of the reasons I opted for the curved roof was that I'd solved the problem of how to make curved corrugated iron. With any products available as sheets, either corrugated copper from Ambis or plasticard it is almost impossible to bend in circumstances where you want to, such as for a curved roof. However I tried to produce some wiggly-tin on my 3D printer and amazingly it worked! The curves of the corrugations are such that the model prints without support and each scale 8x3 sheet takes about an hour print.
     

     
    After a coat of primer and a little finishing the resulting surface is pretty smooth and I think works for my requirements in 16mm scale.
     

     
    Because I've managed to CAD model and print my own I found it was easy to make the corrugated 2D sketch extrude to follow the line of a radius in the other direction. So I was able to print the curved section of iron for the roof of the building at the correct radius to make it fit. So I have viable way to make what I hope will be a suitably agricultural fenland shed.
     

     
    Looks like the 3d printer will be working overtime.
     
    David
  7. Fen End Pit
    Progress continues on the works end of Fen End Pit and I've started thinking about the design of the two road shed. The size is fixed by the site, 330mm x 220mm and the height which needs about 9 scale feet. I want something suitably agricultural and given the Fens the construction material of choice would seem to be corrugated iron. (homage to Dennis from Grunty Fen)
     
    I have a few pictures of the rather nice barn behind the Prickwillow Drainage Engine Museum. This barn actually has two different parts of different designs, at one end there is a pitched roof section while at the other there is a curved section.
     

     

     
    I particularly like the curved timber trusses used on the curved section.
     

     
    Trying to turn these ideas into model form and I've drawn up a couple of models. I'd like your views on which you think would work.
     

     

     
    There isn't a great deal of width available so the opening in the shed has to be pretty much the full width of the building to give space for the two roads and room for a driver to get out of the locomotives. The intention is that the rear end of the shed has a hidden sliding section to allow the discrete removal of a locomotive for servicing. I might even try to make some doors that open and close.
     
    thanks
     
    David
  8. Fen End Pit
    When I first build the 10RB dragline back in 2000 the tracks were made by heating plasticard under the grill and using a simple press tool to form each of the track plates. The result didn't look too bad but 17 years of service they had got pretty worn out. The plasticard was only 20 thou so the pressings didn't really capture the nature of the solid castings used for the tracks.
     

     
    Ruston Bucyrus produced a number of different widths of track which would have been chosen depending on the type of surface the drag-line was to work on. I'd originally modeled the 14" wide tracks which I'd thought in retrospect would probably have been more suitable for solid ground than work in a boggy fenland sand pit. One of the things I wanted to change with the rebuild of Fen End Pit was to make better tracks that looked more like castings and to try and model the wider 20" track plates. I drew a track plate up in Onshape which were designed to be 3d printed and then connected together with short lengths of .45mm wire.
     

     
    This evening was spent threading the new tracks around the existing mechanism. The tracks fitted together quite well. I also printed a drive gear and chain, the chain is over scale but I think looks the part and will look even better once painted black with oil.
     

     

     
    I couldn't resist getting the body of the drag-line out of the box and putting it on top to see how it looks.
     

     
    I've still got quite a lot to do to install the new top carrying rollers (which were a different size and position on the wider tracked versions) and obviously a bit of tidying up and weathering.
     
    I hope the you think the change was worthwhile.
     
    David
  9. Fen End Pit
    While on holiday in Cornwall over Easter I visited the bookshop of the Launceston Steam Railway and purchased a copy of the Robert Hudson Light Railway catalogue from 1915 as reprinted by the Narrow Gauge Railway Society. I decided I'd try to draw up and print a U skip more as a scenic feature than as a working piece of rolling stock. I trust one small picture is allowed under 'fair use' rules and I'd strongly recommend the book.
     

     
    The 3D model took me a few hours to put together, modeling the skip body, chassis, wheels, bearing carriers and end supports. I'm getting better at this 3D modelling lark, I've decided the vital piece of equipment is a pencil and paper to work out the order I'm going to draw things. I know it sounds mad but thinking about which surfaces you are going to draw and then how you are going to extrude or otherwise manipulate them before diving into CAD saves an awful lot of time.
     

     
    The resulting models were printed out on my Wanhao, the process wasn't fast, the skip body taking about 6 hours to print! The wall thickness is only .8mm but it is surprisingly strong. There was a fair bit of surface finishing to do in order to get rid of some of the banding associated with the layers of printing. A bit of filing, filling and a couple of coats of primer have covered most of the them and by the time I've applied 2-part rust compound I think it'll look pretty good.
     

     
    Every item in the catalogue has a telegraphic codeword so, if you want to buy one all you need is a TARDIS and send the word 'Porfidos' to 'Foundry, Gildersome'
     
    David
  10. Fen End Pit
    Yes, I did get my spelling right and mean braking not breaking.
     
    The Binnie Engineering Hudson Tipper wagon is a staple of 16mm narrow gauge model railways. Understandably Fen End Pit has quite a few and one of them was converted many years ago to have brake standard to give a little variation. I'd often thought about converting a couple more to give one braked wagon per train of skips but never got around to it.
     

     
    I decided that this might be a good challenge for my new 3D printer so I drew up the components which I'd need in Onshape. I 'modeled' 3 components, the skip extension, the brake wheel support and the hand wheel itself.
     

     

     

     
    Finally, more for my own amusement and experience than for any real purpose I tried the assembly functions and put the virtual pieces together.
     

     
    The resulting models were then downloaded from Onshape as .STL files which are them imported into Cura, the slicing software for my 3D printer. I positioned the parts on the bed of the printer, rotating the parts to give the best orientation for printing, in this case lying the brake support down rather than trying to print it vertically. I've chosen to print this with the finest settings and as you can see from the time estimate on the screenshot it ain't quick.
     

     
    The output from the printer was pretty good given the relative cheapness of the printer. Unfortunately being black they were very difficult to get a decent photograph of. You can see the 'Raft' which the printer put underneath the parts in the printing process and the support structure added by the slicer to support the top of the brake end extension.
     

     
    I've modified the Binnie chassis to remove some parts from one end to clear the new brake platform. This took just a few minutes with a piecing saw and scalpel.
     

     
    The new brake platform, support and wheel fit on quite nicely. I'll need a little bit of filler to smooth down the joint but I'm rather pleased with result.
     

     
    I'll post some more once it is assembled and painted.
     
    David
  11. Fen End Pit
    I applied Deluxe Materials Scenic Rust to the skip, this pack contains a bottle of very fine 'Rust powder' and a binder which feels like a very dilute PVA. These are mixed together and applied to the model. Once dried a 'Rust developer' is applied which makes the layer of material actually produce real rust.
     

     
    After about 8 hours the rust is fully developed and you end up with a very rusty skip.
     

     
    It works rather well on corrugated cardboard to make rusty corrugated iron.
     
    David
  12. Fen End Pit
    A little bit of cleaning up last night and I assembled the extended skip chassis. I need to add a tiny bit of filler at the joint between the original Binnie chassis and the extra parts but hardly any. I put a coat of Humbrol matt 113 on with a brush and this had the effect of really showing up the detail and just how good the printed parts had come out.
     

     

     
    I hardly did any work on top surface of the extension and I'm really chuffed with the smoothness which the printer achieved.
     
    The next step will be to apply a two-part rust solution to give a really rusty skip.
     
    David
  13. Fen End Pit
    As luck would have it my maintenance men at work finally got around to installing a pair of glass 'white-boards' which we'd ordered in September. This was perfect timing as each board was packed with some 1/2 inch expanded polystyrene ideal for my landscaping. The job of cutting out the pieces to fill the pit was a little messy, put in the end I got a reasonable shape and managed to smooth it all down to avoid a terracing effect only suitable for tea plantations.
     


     
    Another few hours and I had a cover of plaster bandage (modrock equivalent) and a coat of sandy coloured poster paint.
     

     
    So now, dear reader, I have a question for you. The extra space behind the shed, half way down the layout is ~150mm wide, say a little over 9 scale feet. By my reckoning you could drive a small tractor down there, I think a small Fordson or Ferguson is only about 6 feet wide. What do you think about making a little farm track that goes behind the shed, over the track and up the bank at the back. I'm thinking nothing more than a couple of tracks where the tractor wheels would go?
     

     
    Nice feature, or trying to squeeze to much in?
     
    Your thoughts please.
     
    David
  14. Fen End Pit
    As I've mentioned the revisions to Fen End Pit have meant the insertion of extra sections of baseboard between the original boards. Over the last week I've been adding camping mat and starting to lay some track.
     

     
    The shed was actually the original view block block before the layout was originally extended to include the works end. This was half way along the layout in its previous configuration but now has an additional 15cm of board next to it.
     

     
    The section near the pit has grown and here I've got as far as completing the track in the loop and putting some polystyrene and modroc along the back.
     

     
    The base is now in for the new pond, this time set about 25mm lower than before. The plan is to cut some acrylic to form the water surface and position is with a few mm above the base.
     

     
    Most work though is needed on the new works end where I've got to relay all new track. The conveyor belt and revolving screen get reinstalled and I plan to build a 2 road workshop.
     
    Onwards and upwards.
     
    David
  15. Fen End Pit
    I usually only blog about model railway stuff but I hope you'll excuse this little ramble because it does include some pictures of trains! After a significant number of years and now the kids are both big enough to look after themselves my good lady wife and I had our first foreign trip. The boss wanted to 'do' some Christmas markets and we settled on Berlin. We'd never been and as she had spent 5 months behind the Iron Curtain in Moscow just after we started going out it seemed an interesting destination.
     
    We had a brilliant time, even though to be honest most of the Christmas markets sold the same tat you could buy in the UK probably made in the same Chinese factory. However being Germany there was much Germanic style and plenty of Glue-wine. We were both really impressed by how welcoming everyone was and I'd really recommend the city to anyone. It was fascinating walking along the route of the wall and across places like Checkpoint Charlie.
     
    We had a hotel near Alexanderplatz and could see the railway curving around between Hackescher Markt and Alexanderplatz stations with a constant parade of Markin locomotives and stock.
     
    Here is something red and electric pulling something double-decker over the Spree new Museum Island.
     

     
    And a couple of trams pass each other on Spandauer Strasse.
     

     
    As I said, most of the Christmas Markets sold the same stuff, with many wooden toys featuring turbines to make them go around with the heat rising from candles.
     

     
    However, being Germany, they of course had to have the full-size version too, featuring a bar (naturally) and fully featured Nativity scene.
     

     
    It is (almost) enough to make you feel festive.
     
    David
  16. Fen End Pit
    Sometimes I suspect people only blog when they have got something that works, that demonstrates the best of their modelling, the kind of blog posts that get answered with lots of 'Superbs' and craftsman/clever likes. I guess this might be natural but possibly a little off putting sometimes.
     
    So, Friday evening and the F4 chassis made it into wheel shop. We had the tools, we had the company, we had the coffee. The GW wheel press was prepared, I even had a brand new magnifying lamp from Hobbystore, the Right Honorable member for Sawston assisted making some axles which would be the right length (the Gibson ones being about .8m too short). I assembled all the parts in the jig, even managed to getting the bearings round the right way and pressed.The result, a wheel completely on the dink as I'd not quite chamfered the ends of the axle enough and just got the initial push on the jig off. The axle took a tiny bit of material off the inside of the wheel and despite the best attempts to rectify by taking the wheel off and putting it back on again and trying to twist it slightly eventually we had to decide that the wheel set was screwed up beyond repair.
     
    As the member of Littleport so succinctly put it, 'Isn't it great that this hobby is just so relaxing?'
     

     
    So, we had three axles on nice and square, and the quartering was spot on, but there is nothing for it but to order a replacement wheel set from Alan Gibson tomorrow. Next time I will also put the jig into a large vice where I can control the speed at which it presses the wheels on better than just apply hand pressure.
     

     
    Even with the wheel on the dink it was worth threading through the CSB wire which provides the springing. The result was that I had a rolling chassis, even if it was rocking as well as rolling. The 'phoney-trucks' which simulate the radial axleboxes seem to work nicely.
     

     
    So, there you have it, my embarrassing tale from a Friday evening of modelling. Still if the only casualty is one pair of wheels and a damaged ego, we live and learn.
     
    David
  17. Fen End Pit
    The turnout leading into the yard got laid today, this leads off from the loop back into the double-slip in the yard. Once again I've been able to reclaim the V, switch-blades and tie-bars from the previous layout. The point was built on a copy of the Templot template off the baseboard and then stuck in position on the marks I had previously cut into the cork.
     

     
    You'll see various tools sprinkled around the layout. The original box of 'Brook-Smith' gauges, the 10BA bolts which I'm using to solder the rail ends to at the baseboard edges and just showing your truly, a little mirror I use when aligning track. This is a really useful tool when laying track as it allows you to see along the line.
     
    The view from the yard shows quite a pleasing line (along with the end of Fen End Pit!)
     

     
    Progress on the layout is great, but it isn't the kind of thing you can take out on a Friday evening to work on around a kitchen table. I'd followed Marcus' EHertsGER blog and was most impressed with the chassis he was building for his F4 tank. I'd build one of these in about 1985 (gulp) and had several goes at the chassis, none of which I'd been particularly happy with. The original Gibson sprung hornblocks and absence of any 'turn' on the carrying wheels meant that it was a very poor runner and just couldn't get around curves. I'd rebuilt it firstly with a flexichas beam system, one beam at the front and a pair at the rear. I'd also toyed with attempts to make radial axleboxes before finally settling on a 'phony-truck' as Marcus has done (though I never thought up the name, he should patent that). This version using CSB (Continuous Springy Beam) to provide springing so I will be interested to see how it goes. The quality of the etchings (produced and sold by Rumney Models) is superb.
     

     
    The High Level gearbox went together beautifully and the chassis folded up very nicely. In place are the axle jigs, designed to allow the coupling rods to set the position of the hornblock guides.
     
    If that wasn't enough I've been drawing up baseboards for the rebuilding of Fen End Pit.
     
    David
  18. Fen End Pit
    Given that I have now got trains moving I thought I'd put up a bit of video to show it.
     
    I've also managed to fit the first uncoupling magnet so I can play about with Alex Jackson couplings. While most of my old stock has them fitted some need a bit of adjustment and some need the magnetic droppers replacing as they aren't the right length. Still I can shunt a train up and down and break it where I want so I'm happy.
     
    Hope you like it
     

     
    David
  19. Fen End Pit
    Back from an unnaturally dry week in North Wales and I was able to start laying some track. I had salvaged as much as I could from the previous layout (with the price of components following the practices of all the prototype railway company and retrieving components from closed lines makes good financial sense!). This did mean that I already had assembled switch blades and rail with chairs fitted that I could reuse. I printed the Templot template for the B6 point which is in the yard and stuck it down onto a separate piece of MDF for the assembly. Once completed I eased the point off the board and then stuck down on the cork of the baseboard.
     

     
    Given that all the components have been reused I don't think the result looks too bad when you look close up. Once painted and ballasted I don't think you will be able to tell that the components weren't new.
     

     
    Now a couple of pictures from the Cambrian Railway society at Oswestry. They currently have about 1 mile of track running from the station down past the back of various shops! Just next the the end of the platform is this partial double-slip. I took some pictures as I have one to build in the yard. I was particularly interested in the wear on the check railway on the far common crossing, what would have caused this or was it deliberate grinding to make some clearance?
     

     
    A Barclay 0-4-0 was hauling a ballast wagon and brakevan up and down with passenger numbers totaling 5 on my trip.
     

     
    One item of stock that I don't intend to scratch build (I leave it for the next RMWeb 'wish list') was this rather interesting 'device'.
     

     
    Also from this summer's holidays I should put in a good word for The Locoshed in Manchester. I'd headed to the building site which is central Manchester to take my Son to Comicon (What is Northern Rail's policy on large rubber weapons?) and then went and played on the East Lancs. This meant a tram ride out to Bury and searching on Google brought up a reference to this model shop. Stopping at Besses o'th'barn tram stop and crossing the M60 (on a bridge I hasten to add) I walked up Bury Old Road.
     
    What a welcome, 'Hello lads, what kind of modelling do you do? would you like a cup of tea, let me introduce the team'. It was lovely to find a welcoming model shop, Any model shop is good in this day and age but some do just seem to want to be an active part of the hobby.
     
    I'll go back there...
     
    My eldest Son was particularly amused by picking up a copy of BRM on the 2nd hand pile at Bury Bolton Road for 25p. It was the issue which had my article on Fen End Pit. This particular copy had been quite extensively annotated by the previous owner, correcting some of my drivel and high-lighting a couple of comments I'd made.
     

    David
  20. Fen End Pit
    Yesterday I popped into Makespace and cut some test sleepers. I wanted to make sure I'd got the right allowance for the laser width in my drawing. I also cut a test part in the .8mm sheet of ply I'd bought from City Cycles in Ely on Saturday (we are very lucky to have a shop that sells model and craft items in Ely!, too much of this country is a model shop desert). The laser cutter is worked by controlling the speed and power of the laser to get the right level of cut so you can see from this test piece that speed 64 - power 30 cuts the ply while lowering the power at the same speed just makes a mark on the surface. You can also see how lowering speed increases the level of charring and at speed 2- power 100 gets pretty close to starting a small fire!
     

     
    Having adjusted the drawing last night I went back today and cut 200 plain sleepers and some point timbering in various lengths. The cut is just right as the ply holds together just to the point where you bend it and the sleep breaks off. The widths comes out at between 3.32 and 3.36mm width (should be 3.33333mm) and 34.2mm long (should be 34mm). This counts as close enough for P4 in my book! Total time on the cutter was about 3 minutes.
     
    So the ply cost £12 for a piece 4' x 1', that will make several thousand sleepers, a little better than paying £5 per 100 from certain other sources.
     

     
    Time to get some glue out!
     
    David
  21. Fen End Pit
    With the majority of the baseboard work completed on my first two board these were moved up to the railway room from the garage. The 'works' end of Fen End Pit got boxed up and space made to put the new boards in position. I couldn't resist positioning a couple of items of stock on the boards just for fun.
     

     

     
    An order to Amazon last week resulted in 4 sheets of 6mm cork 2' x 3' being delivered. I'd deliberately order some quite thick cork available as flat sheets rather than rolls. Some of these made it onto the laser cutter and I was able to mark out the track work, this time including the sleeper positions, from the Templot drawing. There was a little charring on the cuts, I went a little bit too high on the power with the laser. Next time I think I'll just mark the cut lines and finish off with a scalpel. I've mitred the edges slightly to make the cess and stuck down with a thin layer of PVA. I think being 6mm I'll still going to get a bit of sound deadening even with the 'hardness' of PVA holding it down.
     

     

     
    You'll see that the last 6mm of cork at the baseboard edges has been replaced by 6mm hardwood. The intention being to give a solid edge at the vulnerable baseboard end. You can also see how I've already cut the slots for the operating mechanism which will drive the switch-blades.
     

     
    I've also bought some .8mm ply so next step is some sleeper making.
     
    David
  22. Fen End Pit
    I managed to get my second 'kit of parts' assembled into a baseboard this weekend. I'll be honest and admit that I'd made a few errors in the drawing on this one, some of which resulted in a bit of 'fettling' being required. I'd missed out one set of slots and got a tab 6mm out of place. When you try to cut rectangular holes in 6mm ply the traditional way, with a drill and a piecing saw and file, you realise how much you get spoiled by a laser cutter.
     

     
    I've still got to fit base-board dowels, captive 'T' nuts etc
     
    As I suggested in my previous entry I added some diagonal bracing to the first board. It is amazing the impact this has had changing the board for 'a little bit to flexible' to 'damn rigid'. Now if you put the board on a flat surface and lift one corner the whole side immediately lifts up.
     

     
    Fortunately I was able to locate the diagonals without hitting any of the fixed locations under the board where turnout operating mechanisms or uncoupling magnets need to go. I've now drawn out bracing for the second board and will hopefully get back on the cutter to make these during the week.
     
    I'm planning to order some 6mm cork this week in flat sheets so I can get the next step underway.
     
    David
  23. Fen End Pit
    Back in the day new railways were always started with great ceremony. Contemporary reports always describe how the town band would play 'suitable tunes' (what would be considered an 'unsuitable tune' in 1850-60 I wonder?) and the shareholders would be treated to a meal befitting the occasion.
     
    So yesterday was spent in Makespace cutting 6mm ply with a lasercutter and this afternoon spent assembling the resulting kit of parts. As is usually there were a few places where 40 watts didn't quite go through the ply (you sometimes get a dense spot in one of the middle layers of the ply which you can't see) but it wasn't too hard to sort out. I marked out the track position from templot on the top surface, more for encouragement than practical purpose at this point, a centre-line would have been just as good. I found a couple of mistakes where I had positioned a tab 6mm out but this could also be dealt with without having to resort to re-cutting.
     
    The first board of my 'Stour Valley' layout to be assembled is the goods yard board, the main line can be seen just cutting the right-hand corned of the board. There is a piece to add to the corner of this board so that the track will actually cross the baseboard joint in the foreground at right-angles to the edge of the board. The goods shed will straddle the baseboard joint on the back line.
     

     
    From the opposite end you can see the cut outs for the power and control bus sockets, there is a second lamination of 6mm ply to take the thickness of the ends up to 12mm. Holes have also been cut for baseboard joiner dowels and bolts. The laser cutter I have access to has a maximum size of 900x600mm so you can see that the board is actually made in two halves. The joint in the top surface coincides with one of the bracing pieces which ties the two parts together. The other odd holes are to support brackets for legs. I've also cut the elongated holes for the point blade operating mechanism.
     

     
    Underneath so far I have just fastened the cross-braces which tie into the surface of the board. Having assembled the first board I think that the 50mm depth of the frame, which fine for the 'gubbins' I want to hang underneath, is still leaving the board a little too flexible.
     

     
    I think I will cut some diagonals and fit them into the different sections, which I can fortunately manage without messing up any plans. I think I'll cut these slightly oversize on the cutter and then sand the ends off on the belt sander to make a tight fit.
     

     
    Just to give you an idea of the second board, this is part of the kit of parts. This board is ~4'3"x 2 to get the baseboard joints to sit nicely between the track work. In the foreground is the Ashen Road end of the loop and behind that the point into the yard and the double-slip. The two sidings on the right at the rear actually terminate at the baseboard edge, the near on being an end loading dock.
     

     

     
    I think the next step will be to get some cork underlay, ideally as a sheet rather than a roll, and use the laser to mark on it where the sleepers and rails will be. Having drawn nice flowing track in Templot I'm paranoid about messing it all up as I transfer the track on to the board. I usually build track 'off-board' but then fit there is always a little flex as you try to take the point off the bench and onto the layout. Perhaps even worse is trying to get the alignment on the board correct as I always seem to find that .5mm out of true at one end becomes 3" once you get the other end of the layout.
     
    So, finally a start has been made on actually doing some modelling again following a break of almost 12 months for a house extension. I'm planning to work on these two boards of the Scalefour empire while also working on the Fen End Pit rebuild. I should be able to keep both projects in the railway room at the same time.
     
    Hopefully Blog updates will be more frequent if I actually have some modelling to blog about.
     
    Now to press publish and see if the title falls victim to the 'Scunthorpe problem'
     

    David
  24. Fen End Pit
    While sorting out the new railway room I came across a packet of old photographs including several of my old 14mm narrow gauge layout called 'The Works'. This was a cement works that featured lots of skips, war department bogie wagons and even 3 feet of standard gauge with an Impetus models Hudswell Clark. I sold the layout about 10 years ago to a chap in Essex (Romford I think) and I was told by a couple of his friends at a show a few years back that he had sadly died so I have no idea if it is still in existence. I've still got quite a bit of 14mm gauge stock and may one day build something again in that scale, but for now I thought people might like to see some of the pictures.
     

     
    Having followed the 'Vespa Diaries' in Bylines I'd like to think that the author made it to 'The Works'.
     

     
    The Hudswell Clarke never really had far to travel, just shuffling up and down 3 foot of track. This is another typical example of the rule that whenever you build a locomotive, however obscure, someone in this case Ixion will produce one ready to run eventually though it did take them 20 years.
     

     
    At the back of the works an incline ran up the chalk face to reach a distant clay bit. In front of this, in part of the disused quarry, was the narrow gauge engine shed.
     

     
    At the bottom of the incline were a pair of sidings where the wagons which went up and down the incline could be assembled into rakes prior to a trip into the factory.
     

     
    This little Simplex was what started it all, Allan Sibley brought it, and a copy of issue 4 of 'Industrial and Narrow Gauge Railway Modelling Review' to a meeting of the Cambridge Area Group of the Scalefour society. I later bought it off him when his interests turned to 'more normal' railways, specifically things Great Northern.
     
    I hope you will forgive this flight of nostalgia.
     
    thanks
    David
  25. Fen End Pit
    Over the last week or so I've been inspired by an article in the MERG magazine to have a go with an Arduino. These little micro-controllers are ridiculously cheap and can be programmed to do all kinds of things. I've chosen to control a couple of stepper motors to make a pair of level crossing gates.
     

     
     
     
    David
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