Matloughe

The Bakerloo was actually the fifth Deep-Level line built (third to be started); it owes its existance to a rather colourful chap Whitaker White who with some 'creative accounting' fell foul of the authorities and resulted in a court case in which he had a cyanide capsule and a firearm with him in the courtroom! Needless to say it then lay moribund until Yerkes picked it up with the rest of the underground lines on the cheap - part of the Bakerloo's charm is because part of it was pre-existing it doesn't fit the 'standardisation' of the other tube lines. Famously Oxford Circus station had to be rebuilt before it even opened as the facilities were that poorly designed / constructed. I think they practice 'Stepping Back' at Elephant and Castle primarily due to the busy nature of the only original Zone 1 Terminus. Keeping the Minories theme, I passed Liverpool St (MET) recently and was very sad to see the majority of the open space being hemmed in and the bay road almost obliterated out of existance. I do wish sometimes I could go back and set the real life inspiration for some of our model railways. Kind Regards, Gary

Yes - its buried in the Minories thread but the link to the post is here: I did update the plan slightly to include a couple of short straights to fix the spacing issue between the topmost and middle platform roads - which aren't shown on that plan. Back to Victoria Park; I do like the idea of extending the kick-back siding as well. I have a set of 7' boards in the garage I have been refurbishing and am considering either a Minories, Victoria Park or other such plan on it. Equally I quite like the idea of working in the smaller space that the smaller boards would dictate as well so its six of one, half a dozen of the other. I did make a mock-up of Victoria Park with track on the actual space available - but as its placed on the printed Minories plan it looks a little 'hectic' but gives a good idea: Kind Regards, Gary

I've been dabbling with a straight throat approach to Minories, I've also looked at Crutched Friars and other plans like Victoria Park etc. I am an oddity I plan on using smaller 4-wheel coaches and short bogie stock but I cannot seem to get the Mark 1 as a standard length coach out of my head for planning purposes - just like my freight sidings are measured in their ability to hold x amount of 16t mineral wagons despite not using that type of wagon! I'm not wedded to Short Radius points exclusively, ideally aside from.cost I'd prefer to use Peco Medium Radius Bullhead throughout. I think I am trying to shoehorn too much into the available space. Essentially I am looking at a 7' length and the add on infrastructure infront of the FY tracks. I'll take a look at Tower Pier I remember seeing the glorious SR SUB in one of the photos. Kind Regards, Gary

Hello all, I've been dabbling in several terminus plans for a couple of different projects - one of them was a mini-Minories on two 80cm x 30cm boards, and although that particular plan isn't relevent here at the same time I worked on a Victoria Park plan within the same space constraints. Fiddleyard would be on the right-hand side of these two boards which were planned to be hinged on their centre collapsing down into an easily stored box - you can just make out the hinge line amidships. Its a very basic plan utilising Peco Small-Radius Streamline points (1x LH SL-92, 2x RH SL-91) All curves are Setrack (6x ST-238) there are two small straights from Setrack (ST-203) these are mostly for positional purposes and the rest of the track is flexi. The grey outline is a vague platform shape I was considering for a small 3-platform terminus, the small squares are 10cm x 10cm so all three platforms have approximately 70cm length of straight face - with extra curved face added on - the top platform is 80cm perfectly straight. Based on a Mark I coach being 26.8cm long this would give you a 2 to 3 coach length dependant on platform so ideal for short DMU/EMU's - there is also a 10cm concourse area behind the buffer stops to gain some extra platform length. I myself would be tempted to extend the top two platforms to the board edge and fit a station building on a bridge over the line to give the appearance of a 'through' line with a smaller bay road at the bottom. Realistically you're going to need to use cassettes of a similar length (80cm) to hold your trains, longer if you use a ladder FY board. I selected 80cm length as my current micro 'Rusper Road' the supplier made 80cm x 20cm two-piece boards, but has since now offers 80cm x 30cm single piece surface boards. In my preferred timeperiod I would be using small 4-wheel coaches and would most likely designate the bottom platform as arrivals, then using a pilot locomotive transfer the coaches to one of the other two platforms to release the train engine similar to Minories. However your preferred operations are your own choice. Kind Regards, Gary

Hello all! I've still been working on the Minories concept; I am planning a layout in the garage that is 10' 6" long and 1' deep spread over three equal boards of 3' 6". I have recently come up with the idea of the fiddleyard board to be split in the middle in depth, with some sort of freight facility obscuring the hidden sidings behind. The only downside is that because of the board construction originally it would have to be a 'mirror minories' (plan attached). The platforms come out as 990mm long, which is long enough for 3 Mark I's and a large locomotive. Pointwork is small radius, as I was influenced by Clive Bennett's Minories layout on YouTube. The freight facility isn't entirely complete - but in my mind I am thinking some sort of warehouse (like a mail order catalogue) with vans with goods in and goods out. I'm interested in any comments & criticism, money is tight so I only want to spend it once to sort the layout out. I can see why the Mirror Minories doesn't always work out - because the top road is only used to access the top platform and locomotive siding compared to the original where it is the exit road so all platforms use it. Equally due to the lack of depth (I remember the conversation on if I should have 18" depth boards at the design stage!) means that I would, ideally prefer the freight access to have another siding/road below the bottom-most platform so that the bottom platform can be used while shunting is being undertaken on the siding road below it. I think I am struggling to fit a quart into a pint pot! I think I need to either abandon the Minories concept; or consider punching a hole through the right-hand side of my boards for access from that side. Or return to something like Moor Street I mentioned earlier in the thread. Which is where some of this concept has come from. Thoughts anyone? I also ran out of free pieces to place in AnyRail! Kind Regards, Gary

Hello everyone, Its been one of those days at work! So before I head off on the school run, I popped to the Garage with tools and we have a new viewpoint not seen before please feel free to compare to yesterday: Its not particularly 'pretty' but I am impressed at the accuracy I have managed to achieve across the boards using little more than a handsaw, a chisel and hammer, some sandpaper and no measuring at all! I didn't have much more time available to tidy up, but I need to apply paint to the exposed woodwork, paint the fiddleyard board brown on the surface and black on the fascia as well as fill the gaps where old wiring was punched through the board with hot glue and smooth it over. I might also use some hot glue to fill a little bit of the gouge I made with the saw in the surface. Progress! Kind Regards, Gary

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is well; everything has been quiet on the modelling front I've started a second job and my partner has extended her working hours so time for hobbies has been somewhat limited between work and family life; however I have three weeks of enforced absence from the Model Railway club I attend due to a road closure so I am going to make the most of the time and attempt to create something using the old boards I have been refurbishing in the Garage: The boards were stripped last year, and have had fresh undercoat and some topcoat painted on. So as a refresher I have three boards, each one is a foot deep and they are approximately three feet six inches wide - I say approximately because I built two of them and the third one was built by my Grandfather to a similar design - but not identical. It is set up currently with two scenic boards and one fiddleyard board. So my plan currently is to layout some ground rules and just have fun building a terminus of sorts - I'm not going to stress over exact details and be aware a lot of proprietary items have been used in this planning phase so far. Ground Rules: 1) Trains must be capable of fitting into a 3' 6" Fiddleyard, this equates to my largest locomotive & 3 Mark I length carriages (helpfully). 2) Code 100 throughout; I have older items I'd like to use and its just easier even if a little out of scale. 3) Location flexible, but thinking of sticking with established Pre-Grouping theme but allowing 'outsiders' in terms of companies and timescale. 4) Some freight potential - thinking of a Mail Order Catalogue firm which would see lots of freight in, and lots of dispatches as well. 5) DC with easy swapover to DCC. 6) Reasonable size station with two or three platforms, urban / suburban setting. So taking a lot of these requirements in as well as some inspiration from older layouts such as 'Hawthorne Town' - (RM March 2007), 'Bridsea' - (RM Sept 2014), Templefield, @Nearholmer's Paltry Circus as well as this post from @Pacific231G showing a pre-war O Gauge Terminus by E.A. Beet which has really piqued my interest. To the point I drew my own scale plan in AnyRail: So some amusement was had, pulling some really old stock out of the box that never gets used or seen anymore - some of these items like the Weetabix van date from my first Hornby Trainset 'The Highlander' which apparently dates from 1988/1989! I have consulted a friend of mine and discussed this situation asking for some advice: This is the Fiddleyard board, what I have previously done is enlarge the hole in the board from a 4mm stock size hole to a 7mm stock sized hole - but what I am considering is cutting away both the two dividers betwen the Fiddleyard and Scenic Board and making it open plan. The idea of having a Catalogue warehouse and a couple of sidings at the front of this board - with a removeable retaining wall to obscure the fiddleyard tracks behind if taking some photos - this will give me an overall scenic length of 10' 6" the station on the right-hand side, warehouse on the left-hand side and the mainlines vanishing centre rear left. I'm thinking of a couple of scenic aspects - I'm not sure if I will have the platform road on the top of my plan or leave it as a carriage siding perhaps or omit it alltogether - I might replace one of the points with a three-way instead of a left & a right for the top most platforms. Masking the exit between the fiddleyard board and scenic boards will be a road overbridge with two portals - one for the mainline and one for the warehouse complex. Thanks to the bad influence of @BlueLightning dragging me back to modelling London Underground with some MET Bo-Bo's - I am tempted to electrify a platform track to introduce some Underground stock onto the layout, and will allow me to run some 3rd Rail Units if I go for a timeline excursion to Southern or BR(S) times. So not much progress at the moment but I am planning to take the saw and some sandpaper to the layout today and make it more 'open plan' if I tidy up I might also apply some of the black paint to the frames and brown to the top surface - or fill some of the drilled holes for the fomer level frame. Kind Regards, Gary

That's a really good idea 💡 If the boards lined up at the front edge, I could cut a hole in the back corner and use my existing Fiddlestick behind Rusper Road representing part of the real world feeding the newer station. As you suggested allows for some interchange with the Rusper Road branchline. I will have a think and doodle for sure. Kind Regards, Gary

Hello Everyone, I hope all is well? I have been fairly quiet recently; I have started a second job and its just been hectic while things settle down. Rusper Road moved from atop the Piano way back in June! And has been in storage in the garage. Yesterday an unexpected arrival prompted some tidying up and for the first time in three months Rusper Road was put back together! I always forget how dimunitive the layout is, because when I look back at photos the majority of them at taken at a scale 1/76 eye level or thereabouts and the sense of scale is missing due to the backscene and careful cropping of the photos! A delivery from 'up north' has arrived in the brand-new Rapido LNWR D.88 Van; quite fitting a Rapido wagon was the first item bought that kick-started the whole Rusper Road project and here again its taken price of place in the goods siding. I do still quite like the effect of the interior of the goods shed with the printed scene you can see the black glazed bricks and noticeboard through the window. Work hasn't entirely been stationary on Rusper Road; I have been considering building a companion layout to go with it. The baseboard kit supplier now offers a larger 80cm x 30cm one piece board, where as Rusper is only 20cm deep and two pieces and I have been considering building a different style of station - being inspired by the plan 'The Blackberry Line' in Railway Modeller November 2020 edition. I was thinking of a station without a run-around loop operating with a turnover locomotive: Just a vague mock-up at the moment of the sort of idea I am considering. The idea being the trains run from the Left-hand station to Rusper Road, get run-around and run back whereupon a different locomotive backs down and takes the train out again. I will refine the idea further but is just something I am considering if I were to build another micro layout, I might build a part-station with a more urban theme perhaps. Until next time, stay safe everyone and keep modelling! Mines a BLT! Kind Regards, Gary

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well? I just wanted to share an update from Ilfracombe Model Railway Society since my last update about the show. The show went well we had a record number of visitors - we feel it would have been more if the heavens didn't open at 1pm and then didnt stop until half an hour before closing time but you cant have everything you want all the time! We've gained a number of new members; and as a consequence we've started to work on refurbishing some layouts or potentially a new-build. Chelfham Many years ago, we were gifted a model of Chelfham Viaduct and station - it had been stored until recently but a small group of enthusiastic new members have taken on the challenge to revive it and sympathetically restore it using as many traditional techniques as possible to blend it in with the existing scene. These photos were taken before the restoration had started - the layout has currently been moved and assembled into three temporary tables to see what we have to work with. There are three boards, the viaduct, the station to its right-hand side, and a small pair of hidden sidings on a board to the left of the viaduct. We've checked the wiring looms and we seem to have good continuity between various points such as track feeds, the point motors etc so when we can make up a control panel we can look at re-commisioning the wiring. Using a temporary supply and crocodile clips we've had some locomotives make the movement across the boards to the station and back again. Ilfracombe in N The star layout of the N Gauge section, Ilfracombe has attended a second show hosted by Coombe Rail - a group dedicated to the re-opening of rail links between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe as you can see it is scenically looking good, it works electrically as well with trains able to traverse the complex pointwork without stalling (mostly) they continue to work on it. This is a photo from before the show, one of our members Richard has custom built this turn table and mechanism under the board to make it turn - the photo shows its first test fitment it has since been painted and the distinctive handrails added - I'll try to remember to get a photo of a West Country on this turntable next time its running to share. Barnstaple Town The biggest change is we have put Staverton away for the moment and tidied up our storage area above the stairs pulling down Barnstaple Town - no-one is quite sure how long it has been up there for, there is an exhibition plaque on it saying 2007 but thats the most recent date we could find. The layout is in need of a good dust and cleanup - however it does work, we bypassed the control panel and fed power directly to the sections and managed to get the GWR Pannier to move using the external controller we haven't looked at powering up the existing control panel: It looks like the electrics are fairly robust - however under the board has been described as having more wires than a telephone exchange! There is some discussion if Barnstaple Town should be refurbished in its existing form or altered to be more ficticious such as a second platform - and additional running lines etc so time will tell. If any of this sounds interesting please let me know, we meet on Friday nights at 8pm til 10pm. We have a room above the Undertakers on Wilder Road in Ilfracombe, the post code is EX34 8BL and there is a car park on the opposite side of the road to the club room and currently parking there is free after 6pm (but please check the sign yourself for confirmation). We also have a break for tea/coffee & biscuits/cake mid-way through the night. There is also an extensive library of books as well as space to work on club projects or bring your own project along for some help & advice. Feel free to drop me a message if you like - we can sort something out so its not intimidating walking into a new club alone. Kind Regards, Gary

Flashback Friday! Evening all, I hope you're all well. I've been doing a little work using as much free stuff as I had to hand to prepare the baseboards for the new layout. I decided to take this photo this evening highlighting the base coat that is down for the flat surface of the board - its come out really well actually and I am pleased with the coverage from a single application of acrylic paint unlike the black paint!! We have here the comparison between 8th of May 2013, and 9th of August 2024 the same boards, the same locomotive, with everything now finally being used for its intended original purpose. I'm getting there, slowly! Kind Regards, Gary

Hello all, Long-time no posts I know, to be honest with you the mojo just hasnt been there and its been one of those weeks this week - the car needs two tyres, the tumble dryer belt snapped, Sonic Rail bringing out an LBSCR K Class... I'm swamped! I've recently applied for and am awaiting to start a new (second) job; the plan is to work two jobs side-by-side and use the second income to paydown some of the bills that are outstanding and get on a much more even keel for the New Year. So to try and drum up some interest - I pulled out my LBSCR Maroon paint and started painting. However as you can see when I painted my undercoat several months ago I avoided the metalwork holding the legs in and in my naivety I thought I could paint over it but you can clearly see the difference in undercoat. I was expressedly not spending any money and I had found some acrylic Black paint - it had bought it from B&M a year or so ago and it was complete rubbish! I've never encountered such a thin pigment of black, it took three coats of paint to obtain an even good looking coat. As you can see the LBSCR Maroon has now been confined to the small central panel on this board - this will have the layout name in laser cut letters and I will try and make it look like the signage from Sheffield Park station on the Bluebell Railway. My trusty Peco GWR 4-Plank wagon was being 'really useful' by containing the metalwork removed from the legs and clasp while I was painting the Maroon & Black paint. After the third coat of paint I replaced the bolts of the legs back in but haven't done them up tight so the paint has a chance to harden off. I might coat the paint in PVA Glue as a 'gloss coat'. As the boards were previously used for a 00 Gauge layout the wiring and point motor holes were filled with hot-glue from a glue gun and when I am next out there I will begin coating the surface of the boards in Brown Paint - sadly again from B&M so will most likely be the same thin pigments. If I can free up some funds I might splash out and buy some paint from The Works or some testers from B&Q. Overall its taken two(!) hours from having these two fascia plates in grey undercoat into painted into colours we see here now - I'm not sure why it took so long for such a small space of painting I was trying to be careful but it still seemed to take forever; I wont be buying paint from B&M in future thats for sure! I did manage in the Garage something unexpected: I believe I bought these for an abortive O Gauge project several years ago and have been stored ever since. Although I am not directly planning anything I am tempted to see if I can find the missing front plinth and glue and paint these up for another project... O-16.5 perhaps as I have some of that stock available, such as this body kit I built a while ago: Tempting for sure! Kind Regards, Gary

Hello All, I hope all is well - the mojo has vanished of late, however this week has seen about an hour & half in the garage working on the O Gauge Project split over three sessions. The main issue I wanted to resolve was to enlarge the holes between the scenic and fiddleyard boards from the size accepting 4mm scale stock to something more capable of accepting 7mm scale stock. So consulting the O Gauge Guild's technical specifications I selected the correct dimensions needed. Forgive my crudeness of finish at the moment - I don't have any power tools so to enlarge the hole I had to drill several holes in the board - then link them together with a hacksaw blade (as the hacksaw itself wouldn't fit) and then any longer cuts with a proper saw. As you can see - my tallest piece of stock a Stroudley Brake third fits without problem. Please ignore the floating track - the slepper webbing is getting caught on a tiny lip between the boards - eventually this area will be gapped because of the board join so there wont be an issue. At the front of the board to mask the fiddleyard exit we have a mock-up of a potential goods complex - a taller platform will be a must - this is just something from Rusper Road that was available to raise the building up a little. I am not sure if I want a goods facility or potentially a locomotive shed - I still need to ponder on this. Fenchurch is leading the first train from the fiddleyard across the pointwork leading to the station. The coal wagons in the background are sitting in what will be the bay road for the station platform - with the empty space beyond earmarked for a station building. For some further entertainment here is a short clip of Fenchurch with the first train from the fiddleyard. The station will be operated with a shunt-release with a second locomotive in the bay platform to pull off the coaches or guards van to the bay road and allow the train engine to shunt. I am very much inspired by Halstead and Winslade with this project. The platform and fiddleyard are capable of holding three Stroudley coaches plus a locomotive (or a single Mark I and locomotive) so I have the option of modelling this as a rural light-railway, or perhaps a small preserved line without changing too much of the infrastructure. Kind Regards, Gary

So I thought a small update would be helpful; today was the first time I have been able to spend some time in the Garage for quite a while - I was tidying up and putting bits away. Out of curiosity I decided to dust off and connect up Rusper Road for a test, the O Gauge items went away to make a nice flat surface: Recently I have purchased from eBay a LBSCR E5 kit, already built and in Southern Olive Green Livery - the idea to give it a repaint and change the couplings etc for some different motive power - I am not looking forwards to painting Improved Engine Green on it however! I took it to the club and stretched its legs it ran rather well considering it was of an unknown when I bought it - it has newer finer wheels than those originally on the Dublo chassis - there is some cosmetic damage such as the Westinghouse pump, some foot steps are bent or snapped off. But I think it'll be a nide project to work on - I do quite like the 'face' of it - its chimney is at a slight jaunty angle but you know what - I kind of dont mind it as much as I thought I would! She just needs some TLC to make her look loved again! A short video of her running on Rusper Road; I might be making a 'day at Rusper' video soon as I have been inspired! I have another E5, in a much cruder form - again an ebay purchase: She also had a run at the club, but is missing a buffer, the chassis seems much cruder by comparision - she really didn't like pointwork despite it being Code 100. But after a loop or two she at least stopped growling like a Class 20. And settled down a little. She seems to be coated in a thick gloss paint and has much less detail. Plenty to be getting on with! I have the money pur aside for one of the Rapido E1's I have on order, and the other one will have the money put aside for it over the coming months - to try and wean my modelling off of the credit card and saving up for items. Kind Regards, Gary

When it comes to turnaround of stock it depends entirely on its makeup. Suburban stock with a door to each compartment will load faster as you have a higher proportion of doors to seats 1 door to 10 seats, compared to 'mainline' stock which has 3 doors to 64 sets (1 door to 21.33333 seats). A double decker bus takes approximately 3-4 minutes to load full from empty which is around 60 seats + standees; admittedly this includes buying tickets but I would say thats are reasonable time to either empty or load a 'Mainline' Coach, and approximately 2 minutes to empty or load a suburban coach sounds like a reasonable time. Will any cleaners be litter picking during the turn around - or a pilot moving coaches from one platform to another or is it a case of 'turnover operation' where a new locomotive takes the train out and the original locomotive becomes the new 'turnover' locomotive. So a Suburban Train arrives and unloads (2 Mins), Cleaners hop on and work from coach to coach removing litter and sweeping out which adds another 4 minutes (1 min per coach), departure platform announced and train begins to load (2 Mins), turnover locomotive arrives, couples on, brake test (2 Mins), Guard and platform staff make sure doors are closed & give the signal (1-2 Mins) so from arriving to departing its taken approximately 12 minutes - being rather tight with timings, I'd probably say 15 minutes is the closest for a train to be turned around in - longer if mainline stock, and longer if its being shunted from platform to another. Multiple Units are easier as they're often gangwayed between coaches and the driver can just change ends. Also this doesn't factor in conflicting movements where your train is ready to leave but an incoming service is blocking its path, or in the case of turnover operation waiting for the locomotive to arrive as its blocked by other traffic. Coupling or Uncoupling all add time and this is assuming our model passengers and staff are on 'peak' game. Kind Regards, Gary