Grimleygrid

Is there no end to your modelling talents Dave?!! Quality, cannot believe you didn't win! 37191 looks rather nice!

Thanks Mark, glad that you like the updates. I hope that it doesn’t disappoint you when finally finished! My plan is to get the depot building constructed (covered in the relevant plastic sheets), most of the depot interior constructed including the concrete flooring, inspection platforms and iron work and have the track down by the end of the year. This will then allow weathering and detailing next year. Whether that happens or not who knows but that is what I am aiming for. I am now at the position where further progress on the depot floor area cannot be made without the rest of the inspection pits so I am now saving up! As mentioned before the other area which is being researched is the iron work which Grimley senior is now working on. Last week I purchased some brass I and H sections which will be used to make up a frame that will sit inside the shed. My Father is currently building a wooden jig to help with production of the frames. Attention has now turned back to the depot shed. Yesterday I spent a few hours cutting wooden battens for the inside walls, these will be spaced out along the side of the building (sitting vertically) to give increased surface area for attaching the brick/lined plasticard. This will help to glue the plastic sheets on to the wooden frame. To add a little strength to the sides, aluminium strips were screwed and glued in place which meant that the wooden battens had to have channels cut out in order for them to sit properly. A couple of hours were spent using a router to cut out the channels on the 74 pieces of wood. A long job but one that will pay dividends when it comes to adding the plasticard as it will allow the brick and lined sheets to stick a lot better. Hopefully tonight I can get these glued in place.

Excellent photos of a really superb layout with great stock too. Agree with previous posts the commentary just finished it off nicely, I could have actually been there! 47711 looks quality!

Thanks Peter, yes it certainly is. I have to confess that the commute in to work gives me time to ponder these problems and often that is when I come up with ideas to try. Very sad I know! Funny as sometimes I come up several solutions which are quite involved but then suddenly whilst thinking a very simple idea comes to along. I was very pleased to come across those plastic sections as it is going to save a lot of work filling in the sides especially as all of the dead-end roads will need doing in one form or another. Five of them will nearly be the full length too! Peter, I have to confess that the extra blue disc 20 is my eldest son’s borrowed along with the metals Grid for the photos. We have four 20s, still a few short! I have not been out spending yet……did look on the internet the other day and there are a few Bachmann blue choppers which we can purchase. I almost bought one too! Difficult not to after seeing the four 20s inside the shed….. Can’t see funds becoming available for stock purchases for quite sometime! Hi SG, I have worked out that in total I need 44 of the Peco inspection pits and so far nine have been purchased already. These have been used to help cut out the channels ready for their arrival and also as mentioned yesterday for experimenting with filling in the sides. Good idea about buying in bulk, as you say it should work out cheaper and save me some money. Also as you mention they will all be here at the same time which is good too.

Now that the lower floor is in place my attention has turned to the inspection pits and in particular the cosmetic look of it. Some time was spent researching where the floor is lower and how this affects the inspection pits. I had originally thought that the Peco kits would need trimming but after looking at photos realised that the width was actually fine. I was quite relieved to find that out, the idea of cutting lots of inspection pits was not that appealing! I started to look at how the sides of the inspection pits would be filled in and whilst looking for some plasticard sheets found some plastic channels. These had been purchased for some other project, although I am not sure what it was! These were just the right height so I offered three of them up and to my surprise the channels were then flush with the top. Perfect. This method will mean a lot less filling than was previously thought. Here are some photos: An inspection pit section with the sides filled in: The floor will be raised a little as you can see here by some wooden battens: A chopper sitting on the inspection pit section: Sat on the lower floor of the depot; the area where the white plasticard is sitting, this will be raised so that the concrete area is level with the top of the rail. Although not much progress has been made, I am really pleased with what has been achieved as it means that I now know how I am going to model the inspection pit and concrete areas. On Saturday I purchased two more inspection pits and glued them together, as I have not taken any photos of our 80s stock since the channels have been cut out I could not resist taking a few photos! Now to figure out how to get some cash to purchase all the inspection pits that are required!

Hi Peter, would that be a Gateshead duff that I spot visiting Llanbourne? Really like the shot of the 101 leaving the station with the LL 47 in the background, superb!

I too was hoping that either Bachmann or Hornby would do a model of the new style TEAs but alas no! I see 040 returned to traffic yesterday.

I managed to get this shot of it in November 2008 working the 6D76 Redcar - Rylstone empties, sadly it was stored two weeks later!

Don't think so Jo, 007 is one of 15 members of the class in warm storage at Crewe.

MM, 059 is sitting in the sidings at Toton along with most of the fleet!

Hi Pete, not sure yet! At the moment it is ok as I am only working on board number one so it can stay set up in the garage. But when both boards are ready to be joined together that is another matter! Mrs. Grimley would like me to have one of those large sheds which is all insulated like a small building out in the garden. Problem is I might be out there most of the time, perhaps that is what she wants!!!! I have to be honest Pete, I got so carried away with the idea that I just put of answering the question of where it was to be kept. Thought I would cross that bridge when I came to it! Hi Keith, I think you might be right will certainly need a few and very soon too! Have to say that I have always liked the Peco shed, I used to have quite a few of them when I was much younger. They were the card ones back then! Well you could always have another layout with a different style of shed! Over the weekend I managed to get the lower floor finished. First of all I removed the wooden battens which needed cutting. The plywood which sits on the top of the board was then cut to allow the lower floor. Once the battens had been cut, these were then offered back up to see how they looked. The battens were then filed to try and get them as level as possible and once happy some strips of plywood added. I then cut out the final piece of plywood for the floor which was then pinned down. The rest of the top plywood was then also pinned down. Here is how it now looks: The inspection pits will sit on the plywood as in the photos above. Then using sheets of plasticard I will build up the floor to about 4mm from the top of the inspection pits as per inside the real shed. The sides of the inspection pit will also be trimmed and plasticard added to give the impression of the rail sitting on thick concrete walls.

Not sure about that! Mrs. Grimley still keeps asking where I am going to keep it!! The shed will look much better once covered in plasticard but I am still pleased with it so far. Graham, yes as you say it is a very useful site especially for depot pics. It is good that fotopic is now running properly and allowing searches again! My research into the inspection pit area has continued over the past few days and I think that I have now come up with a plan for the lower floor. Hopefully this weekend I can make the changes.

The last few days have been spent researching the inside of the depot, in particular the inspection pit and raised platform areas of roads 5 to 15 and the iron work which supports the roof. The through roads 1 to 4 have the concrete level with the top of the rail and this is the same for the dead-end roads except where the inspection platforms are present. Through roads http://david6769.fot.../p16671546.html Dead-end roads; here you can see the concrete slopes down by the yellow railings to allow depot personnel to walk under the platforms. http://david6769.fot.../p16920389.html This shot you can see that the floor is lower to the right of 60058: http://david6769.fot.../p16673395.html Again you can see the floor sloping down: (photo 1199-007.jpg) http://keithmiller.f...t/c1450908.html 1199-007.jpg Changes will now have to be made to accommodate the lower floor. Although I was aware of this I wanted to first of all get the channels for the inspection pits marked and cut out before coming up with the final plan. Some roads have inspection platforms which run the full length whereas others only just over a locos length. More on this later in the week. In the second link above you can see the vertical girders which support the roof and this iron work is what I have been looking into over the past few days. I have now come up with the dimensions for the I and H sections which will be used inside the depot. My plan is to build a frame using I and H sections joined together with strips all made out of brass which will not only be nice and stable but will also add support to the wooden structure. Yesterday I purchased some Plastruct I and H sections to get an idea of how this will look. This is the I section which sits between roads 12 and 13 where the higher part of the building starts: Here you can see the I section on the right and H section on the left: Finally a few in place to see how it will look although hopefully not as wonky when the real ones are in place!

Hi Jo, yes it is my shot on 60 gen, taken last October in the Peak District. As you say it seems odd to put 074 on the Theale when a shed could handle that and then double-head the Westerleigh. Still EWS/DB know what they are doing! Has 026 worked at all recently as I hear it has been moved into the yard? Would be nice to see a few more back in traffic but like you I think it is just wishful thinking.....

Thanks Graham glad that you like it so far. Thanks Pinkmouse I am going to need it! I plan to cover the plywood with plasticard as per the inside of Grimley depot: This time though I plan to first of all cover the plasticard in Plasti-Kote Suede Touch spray paint as per Jim S-W’s excellent concrete method and then weather it. Hi Dave, I have been looking forward to the lifting jacks for a while. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer although not sure why I say that as I am nowhere near ready for them! To be honest I haven’t given any thought to the overhead gantry cranes so as yet do not have any plans but will certainly let you know when I start researching. Thanks Dave will let you know, as I just mentioned my plan is to use plasticard but will see. At the moment I am going to concentrate on the building and in particular the inside so the concrete area will be a while off.

Nice shot of 74 Jo, that looks like a good location. Good to see 60s back on the Murcos. Margam have two down there now. After the past few months I bet they didn't think that would ever happen again!

Thanks SG, it has taken a lot of hard work and frustration to get the roof framework finished so thanks for the kind comments. Worth it in the end although at the time it did get me a little annoyed and made me wonder what on earth I was doing! Yes it will be expensive to get the stock required to model it like a real TMD of that size but luckily enough that is a few years away! Good idea, my plan is eventually to have a mainline running along the side of the depot but will have retired by then! Still at least then I could buy a property with the space to accommodate a layout of that size, an old farm house with a barn conversion may be. Not sure if Mrs. Grimley would be very pleased! Thanks Mudmagnet, that is what I thought. After a few months of hard graft it is good to get an idea of how it will look, albeit without all the inspection pits, walkways, girders etc. Hi Baggie, yes I am although it is on a slightly larger scale than Grimley! Roads 5 to 12 will have 1/1.5 tonne overhead cranes with a heavier one spanning roads 13 to 15. The latter three roads will also accommodate the lifting jacks. I thought Bachmann’s lifting jacks would have been out by now!

No problem Dave glad it has been of interest. Good luck with installing your inspection pits, I look forward to seeing the results. Quite a productive weekend, I managed to cut out the channels for the four through roads and also added the supporting battens underneath. Here you can see all the channels ready for the inspection pits: As mentioned in a previous post at present I just have two inspection pits, one example for each of the dead-end and through roads. The rest will be purchased once the bank loan has been approved! I took a few photos of some locos inside the building on the inspection pits: My plan now is to start work on the cosmetic look of the main building.

I managed to do a bit of work over the past few days starting on the inspection pits, although as yet I only have six of them to work with. My idea was to construct two inspection pits, one long one which will represent those from the four through roads (1 to 4) and a shorter version for the dead-end roads (5 to 15). These would then be used to help check the channels once the wood has been cut. Here are the inspection pits: Now that the basic shed frame has been built it was time to switch to board 1 which is the one where the depot will sit on. I then marked out in pencil where the inspection pits were to go ready for the channels to be cut. Yesterday afternoon/evening I cut out the channels for the dead-end roads: Hopefully at the weekend I can cut out the four through roads but first I am going to add some pieces of wood between the inspection pits for extra support.

YVM: Not sure I can afford enough locos to fill the depot and stabling sidings let alone all fitted with sound chips! Thanks Gareth, I agree! I will be in touch shortly about some Peco inspection pits! Hi Peter, it is very difficult especially now that the models are far superior to those that I had when modelling back in the mid to late 80s. Good idea although I am not sure how realistic it would look! Thanks Dave, it is coming on. To be honest I am not entirely sure that I have realised yet how big this is going to be! Glad you like it Shedmaster not quite in the same league as your buildings though! I know the feeling although I try to run away before Mrs. Grimley starts talking jobs! The other week whilst searching for something on fotopic came across this photo from Brian Daniels’ excellent site: http://briandaniels..../p25091348.html If I can recreate this sort of scene then I will be very happy!

Looking good Sir, excellent work as usual! I made the mistake of looking at the Rails of Sheffield website the other day, saw their limited edition 47461 and 47541. Two of my favourite Scottish 47s……I quickly closed the browser!

Thanks Mick, I had heard that the 60s performed better on the Llanwern ores. As you say the 60s certainly have not been given much TLC! I take it 60096 has gone down to Margam to work the Murco tanks, but what has happened to the 59 that was down there? Does anyone know? So 009, 011 and 074 have or are nearly ready to return.

Went to visit the in-laws at the weekend and got authorisation from HQ to go out Tug hunting, result! Managed to get a photo of 60071 working the 6E41 Westerleigh to Lindsey empty bogie tanks at Badgeworth. Cannot believe that this is my first photo of a 60 in 2010!

Thanks Mark, I need a bigger garage to allow both boards to be put together!! Not sure how it would sound with lots of sound fitted locos idling away, would like to try it though! 20s, 31s, 37s, 45s, 47s, 56s and 58s all running……Nice! After recently seeing members BR Blue and Railfreight locos on RMWeb it made me want to see how Boxenby would look back in time. As the original plan is to model the period between 1988 and 1992 I thought a couple of 20s and 37s would do the trick. So tonight out came the few locos that do I have for this period to see how it will look. A few photos: Problem is now I want to go on a spending spree! I must stay strong as any spare cash is needed for the layout……

I was just going to say that we all know which one has failed and it certainly wouldn't have 59 numbers on the side! Have heard of a couple of occasions where the 59 has struggled, seems a bit strange as they have superior pulling power? I did wonder if that was why 205 was as Crewe.