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AJ427

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  1. AJ427
    Heathley Kirkgate is in a shed which also has to function as a shed and therefore has all those shed-type things in it such as gardening tools, bikes, lawn mower, etc. As a result the space beneath the baseboards is somewhat limited and this, along with cost, has dissuaded me from the point motor route. So way back at the Doncaster exhibition in February I purchased an assortment of Gem wire-in-tube parts to try out the system. With trackwork on the scenic area on hold awaiting parts I switched focus to the fiddle yard entrance pointwork. This is a matrix of turnouts allowing trains to utilise as many yard roads as possible in the limited space I have. The track here and in the rest of the fiddle yard is all Peco Code 100.
     

     
    The system comprises PTFE tubing and steel wire that fits snugly into the tube but can move freely. I started by marking out the positions of the tube runs before cutting troughs into the cork beneath the turnouts. The tubing was next cut to length followed by the wire (which I allowed a good inch extra for) which was then threaded into the tubes. One end of the wire was then bent through 90°. Next the turnouts where loosely fixed in place. Working from one end of the matrix to the other I laid the tube runs, hooking the bent end of the wire into the centre hole on the tie bar leaving around 6mm of bare wire before the tube (this was somewhat fiddly). You can curve the runs but it's recommended not to go below around 50mm radius. The runs were then temporarily fixed in place with drawing pins at regular intervals and tested. The action is somewhat stiff at this point as the drawing pins are pressing against the wire and restricting movement. Once I was happy, the turnouts were pinned properly and the tubes were glued in place. When the glue was dry, the drawing pins were removed and the action tested again. Without the pins the movement is nice and free.
    The final run to the curved turnout on the right was quite tight so I opted to use an angle crank on this one. These are just pinned into the baseboard and convert the movement through 90°.
     

     
    Next the control method needs to be set up. Gem do make a nice lever frame but I've opted to use slide switches. The turnouts here are all insulfrog but on the scenic section they will be electrofrog and I can also use the switches to change the frog polarity at the same time as moving the blades. The wires connect to your chosen control mechanism via a wire snap and an "omega wire". The wire snap is simply a grooved piece of cast metal which holds the wire (bent through 90°) at one end and the omega wire at the other. An etched brass top is then placed on and the rivets on the casting crushed to hold it in place. The omega wire is a looped piece of brass wire designed to take up any overthrow in the motion.
     

     
    With all this in place I set about constructing a housing for the switches. This was simply a length of 9mm ply fixed to the side of baseboard, a suitable spacer and then another length of ply. Next a small hole was drilled in the side of the plastic switch handles to hold the bent end of the omega wire. The switches drop between the two ply boards and are screwed into space. Finally the omega wire ends are pushed into the holes. I was expecting to need to glue them but they are a snug fit and don't seem to want to go anywhere.
    To my utter amazement and delight I found that everything worked perfectly without any need for further adjustment!
     

     
    Once all the control switches are in place I will make a blanking plate of some sort to cover the gaps.
  2. AJ427
    A recent article in the local newspaper led me to contact Bradford council as they’ve set up a new photo archive largely based around the commercial work of C H Wood who operated throughout much of the 20th Century. Sadly photographs of Great Horton station are thin on the ground and my morning at the archives at Bradford’s Industrial Museum proved no exception. However, I did manage to find and purchase a high resolution version of... more
  3. AJ427
    It's been a while since an update and things have moved on. This project is all about small targets and deadlines - sometimes moving if it helps with motivation! My last target was to have all of the trackwork complete by Christmas. This would mean building the five turnouts for the goods yard starting in October. Considering my limited modelling time, generally glacial workrate and the fact I've only previously built a couple of C&L turnouts, this would be no mean feat. Whilst, I'm happy to report that work is well underway with the first four complete, it looks like I'll miss this self imposed deadline as other non-modelling matters have colluded against me. Still I'm pleased with the work so far and as the image shows there is just one turnout to place along with a small section of plain track. All of these turnouts are slightly curved, following the track plan. The turnouts are just loosely placed the the moment awaiting final tweaking once the last one is ready. The pieces of scrap timber show roughly where the bridge and cutting will be at the Queensbury-end of the layout.
     


     
    I will only briefly summarise the build as there are already many good right-ups on RMWEB.
    The turnouts have been built to 00-SF standards using Brian Tulley guages. I've mainly used C&L components, augmented by copperclad with some etched brass chairs (sourced from Pete Harvey). Vees were created using the almost idiot proof Brian Harrap method and common crossings were built in-situ - I initially tried building them as a unit on the workbench but this didn't work well for me. My dropper system also doubles up as a support for the common crossing - a small hoop of brass wire with a tail at 90 degress is soldered onto the copperclad under the vee/wing rails with the tail dropping through the baseboard. Any excess solder is filed off and the vee/wing rails are then soldered to the resulting support platform. The same method is used to supply power to the stock and switch rails. The tie bars are made from a gapped copper clad sleeper cut in half so it ends up about 1mm wide. Onto this is soldered an 'L' bracket made from spare etch. The long horizontal of the bracket (about 4-5mm) is soldered onto the copper clad and sits under the switch blade and adjacent stock rail and the short upright is soldered to the inside of the blade. The smooth plates prevent the switches from rising up. A small loop of wire will be soldered in the centre to receive the actuating bar.
    I will take a small break from the layout build in order to complete my 3d printed N1 prototype.
  4. AJ427
    A busy time at work so little time to model and post any updates.
     
     
     
     
     
    Further filling and sanding of the 3d printed model has proved to me that a complete single part body is perhaps not the best way to go about it so I'm currently investigating a 'flat-pack' kit type of solution which I will reveal in the 3d printing and cad forum soon. The partially smoothed model is shown here.
     
     
     
     
     
     


     
    However, I still needed to prove the model will work on the Hornby chassis. Looking at the chassis we can see that the motor is screwed to the chassis and the weight sits around it. Taking the weight off reveals a small spring contact beneath to the wiper strip. Power is transfered through the weight to the contact at the top. The weight needs cutting as shown by the masking tape.
     


     
    The front part of the weight will also foul the base of the smokebox so it's easiest just to cut right through with a hack saw as shown and discard the front.
     

     
    Next the locating lugs need to be removed from the back and the back corners chamfered. Some material needs to be filed away between the pony truck and driving wheel as shown - this is to allow space for the tank connecting pipes. Next the front coupling is removed and the front of the chassis needs to be cut off immediately forward of the guard irons.
     


     
    Finally I needed to remove some material from the back face of the cab as the Hornby motor protrudes into this area. On the finished kit I will leave this as is to accommodate anyone who wishes to replace the Hornby motor with something smaller. With all this done the body could be placed on the chassis. My chassis is DCC fitted so the additional wiring to the chip (in the smokebox) meant that the body was sitting a touch too high.
     

     
    However, the chassis with body combo ran well with no issues and really looks the part. Some more material will need to be filed from the top of the weight or alternatively it may be better to discard the weight altogether and replace it with some liquid lead or similar. If so the contact will need soldering directly to the motor connection. The working model is shown here attached to some Gresley subs.
     

  5. AJ427
    Well, my i-materialise 3d-printed Ivatt N1 prototype arrived much sooner than I anticipated and so with some trepidation I opened the box and removed the rather extensive packaging. Phew! It's in one piece! and Wow! It looks like an N1! where the first thoughts to enter my head.
     
    The model is remarkably sturdy with a slight level of flexibility not dissimilar to a RTR body. The level of detail is quite impressive although a couple of the very small parts are a little vague and fuzzy. I knew I was pushing the limits of the prime grey resolution though so all in all I was quite pleased. Likewise the smooth finish is restricted to just the running plate, top of the boiler, tanks and the cab roof - everywhere else will require some sanding. Even so I am quite impressed with my first attempt. In hindsight it would have been better to have the model printed boiler up and even may be better to create a model with this material as a simple kit to increase the available surfaces for the smooth finish (which is the 'top' of the model).
     


     
    I decided to do a quick exploratory test fit on an old Mainline N2 chassis with the front cut off and the motor and weight removed. This required some further minor mods; the locating lugs on the chassis back had to be cut off and a slight chamfer scraped from the back edges and some material had to be removed from the area under the bunker where the water pipe is attached to the body. I appear to have put my screw mounting hole in the wrong place, slightly too far forward, but no biggie and otherwise it's a good fit.
     


     
    Next step - fill and clean the body up and fit it to the Hornby N2 chassis.
  6. AJ427
    A couple of weeks off from the layout building has meant relatively little progress on that front. The down fiddle yard is now complete and the main running lines now extend across both scenic boards.
     
    However, an ongoing project started in the days of Heathley Kirkgate Mk1 has been the creation of an Ivatt N1 0-6-2T. These hard working tank engines could be found all over the West Riding ex-GNR network and regular passenger services on the Queensbury Lines were almost exclusively in their hands. Originally I intended to do a cut-and-shut project on a Hornby N2 but after realising that there wouldn't be much left other than the chassis this later evolved into experimenting with 3d printing. Since I use AutoCAD in the day job this was my weapon of choice and involved a relatively small learning curve with some of the more advanced 3d solids routines introduced in the last couple of releases. AutoCAD is an all round CAD software and I wouldn't recommend it for someone starting out - there are cheaper, dedicated 3d modelling programmes out there - but it works for me.
    Armed with as many reference photos as I could find, an Isinglass drawing and relevant Yeadon's and RCTS LNER volumes I set about creating the model. It is designed for 00 and to fit on the Hornby N2 chassis (with some modifications) and so there are some compromises - a valuable insight into some of the design decisions manufacturers most have to go through when creating models for the 00 market, knowing that it's impossible to do it 100% correct and that someone will moan! When I started I designed for Shapeways FUD but reported quality problems with this and the price put me off and I re-designed for i-materialise Prime Grey after seeing some excellent models created with it on RMWeb. The detail and wall thickness of this material is not quite as fine as FUD but it's nearly half the cost.
    The chosen N1 is no 69474, a West Riding allocated loco all it's life and one that therefore never had condensing gear. Additional detail, such as handrails, pipework, steps and coupling hooks, will be added later and holes or slots have been created in the model to place and hold these items more easily. These CGI renders show the completed model that has now been sent to i-materialise for printing.
     

  7. AJ427
    It's been some time since my last blog and here's why: I'd been getting nowhere fast with this project and the usual sense of despondency and disillusionment had set in. The problem was that the scope was too large, the learning curve too steep and my free time (not to mention budget) too short. So last month I decided upon a change of direction to something smaller and more manageable that hopefully I can get some real progress with. So goodbye Heathley Kirkgate, hello Heathley Kirkgate Mk2 (I'll probably change the name but it's staying for now). The new layout will be designed and built to several criteria:
     
    1) Although the full space of the shed can be used (with difficulty), I'm restricting myself to just one side 15'6" long and up to 2'6" wide so a fiddle yard - fiddle yard arrangement will be the preferred arrangement.
    2) The layout must be reasonably portable so that I can work on it in the garden or in the house as well as the railway shed. I'm limiting the scenic section to around 8' (split in some way). This leaves space for 3'6" (or so) traversers at each end. Construction will be all ply - something along the lines of Penhydd.
    3) The track plan should be fairly simple without too many turnouts and ideally no slips or crossings as I will be building them myself. I've also decided to go for 00-SF standards and I've ordered some gauges from Brian Tulley.
    4) I want to set myself defined goals with reasonable time frames to keep the project moving (and not get distracted with other fun, but not immediately essential, modelling such as weathering). The first goal would be to have everything researched and planned and start building baseboards by the end of March.
     
    My core interests haven't changed so it will still be a West Riding suburban station set in the BR steam era, however the emphasis will be placed more on local services and goods rather than expresses passing through. For this reason I looked at the Bradford-Queensbury-Halifax lines for inspiration as I live just up the road. Ideally I needed a compact urban site with goods facilities set in an undulating landscape. Most of the stations on the Queensbury lines were semi-rural and quite sprawling in nature but one seemed to fit the bill nicely: Great Horton. An evening's planning session resulted in a suitable track plan. Inevitably a number of sidings as well as the coal depot have been omitted and the length compressed to around 75% of the actual size. However, I've managed to retain the goods shed and loading platform as well as the siding adjacent to the Bradford platform (I'm not sure what it was used for in reality but here it will become some coal drops). Due to space constraints the crossovers and head shunts at either end of the site will be off stage and handled by the fiddle yards. This leaves just five turnouts to build. Also I've changed the relative position of Old Corn Mill Lane bridge and the Estcourt Road and Farnham Road underbridges have been merged into one. So in essence it's more inspired by rather than an actual model of Great Horton.
     
    I envisage that the layout will be operated in three distinct modes or eras:
     
    Era 1) Queensbury Lines - 1948-1955
    This will make use of the excellent Hornby Gresley suburbans as well as the forthcoming Thompsons for standard passenger services. These would generally be in 2-coach sets hauled by an Ivatt N1. Other standard motive power seen on the line at this time would be J6, J39, J50, B1s (which replaced B16s), Black Fives, Crabs and the occasional 8F. Obviously there will be some requirements for kits for the Great Northern contingent! Less usual motive power could be seen from time to time; in 1944 No.19 GWR railcar was trialed here (unsuccessfully) and in the early 50s 4Fs were used for a time on trials and I've even seen a picture of an O1 on a breakdown train in the very early BR period. Typical goods handled at Great Horton were coal, parcels and woolen bales. There was also a private siding for coke deliveries to an iron works. Through goods traffic to/from elsewhere on the line included timber, coal, livestock and livestock feed, maggots (yes, really), fireclay and stone and concrete. The line was also used for excursion traffic and football specials for Bradford Park Avenue.
     
    Era 2) Queensbury Lines - 1955-1965
    Passenger services ended in 1955 and with them went the N1s. However, 1956 saw the line used for driver training of the new Derby Lightweight DMUs (much to the chagrin of line closure protesters). The line was still used for goods and Great Horton was still a fully staffed and well used goods depot up until final closure in 1965. As the lines were severed and gradually cut back towards closure, other motive power appeared more regularly such as WDs, 8Fs and diesel shunters. Through traffic to Denholme (where there was a timber yard) continued until 1961 and continued to Thornton until 1965. The line was also used for a number of 'experiments' in this period which would see the use of English Electric Type 1s, an A3 pacific and a G5.
     
    Era 3) What-If/Freelance - In the early 50s the line was considered as a possible diversionary through route from the north so... what if this happened? Or...what if the line hadn't closed to passengers in 1955? Additionally I will run it as a generic West Riding suburban station circa 1957 where anything goes as long as it's West Riding!
     
    To make sure the concept was viable I printed out a series of turnout templates at 1:10 scale (that's 1:10 of actual model size!) and arranged them on my track plan - just a few tweaks were required.
     


     
    I then set about making a rough 1:10 model of the layout to get a feeling of the landscape.
     



     
    Well satisfied with this, I set myself on a crash course in Templot!
     
    to be continued...
  8. AJ427
    With most of the underlay now complete I was hoping to actually lay some track this week. However, my conviction that the horizontally placed drawer runners on the fiddle yard wouldn't be a problem proved to be misplaced. My idea of a guide worked only up to a point and was proving problematic. Undeterred I quickly redesigned them and modified the down yard to a traditional vertical placement. With the benefit of hindsight, I don't know why I didn't just do it like this in the first place as alignment was OK.
     
    All of this took time so a lot less tracklaying resulted. The first section of track is now placed in the down yard. To save money (but not time) this is constructed with copper clad and alternate C&L plastic sleepers from some scrap track that had been lifted.
     

     

     
    Work will now continue on the track for the two fiddle yards - hopefully the weather will stay pleasant (fat chance with a bank holiday) and I can work on the patio rather than in the shed.
     
    Having used cork underlay for flooring that's quite thick, thoughts turned to how to create the ballast shoulder shape. Some household DIY this weekend provided inspiration in the form of decorators caulk. A bead was applied to several areas and then moistened and scraped with an edge of card. Once dry it retains a slight flexibility. It's designed to be painted over so I don't see a problem with paint/glue sticking to it. However, it's easy stuff to remove if it doesn't work too well. The first attempts are shown here - it's shrunk slightly as it dried so another application may be required.
     

     

  9. AJ427
    The baseboards are now complete, jointed and sealed with varnish and work will soon commence on the fiddle yards which I hope to have done in a couple of weeks.
     
    During the periods of inactivity whilst waiting for the glue and then varnish to dry on the baseboards I've been busy creating this 'inspiration wall'. Basically it's a series of A3 sheets with annotated photographs, maps or plans of the infrastructure in and around Great Horton station (the core inspiration for this project), as well as other inspirational buildings and features to be found elsewhere on the Queensbury Lines and further afield on the GNR West Riding network. Each board has a specific theme such as station buildings, the signal box, goods facilities, civil engineering, the surrounding townscape, etc. As most of this is long gone it's mainly archive photographs but where possible contemporary images have been used. I made a photographic survey of the nearby houses that still exist and what little of the railway infrastructure remains (some bridge parapets and abutments) and augmented this with Google Streetview references. The idea is that it will keep me focused and be a constant reminder of what I'm trying to achieve. It will also serve as a quick guide to stop me making stupid mistakes or save having to traipse back into the house for this or that reference book. As new info is discovered, sheets can be added. One area that I am seriously short of images/info for are the station buildings - there are images of the platform side around the canopy but I have none of the streetside aspect or the larger building at the back. So if anyone has any pointers, please let me know.
  10. AJ427
    Well I picked up Templot surprisingly quickly, more by trial and error than actually sitting down and learning the thing! After a few days I managed to come up with this track plan.
     

     
    Happy with it, baseboards were planned out and I went off to buy some plywood. At this point I was three weeks into the project so my initial target to start building boards by the end of March had been met.
     
    The scenic area will be split into two baseboards. Board 1 will be 5' 8" and contains the more open area to the left and board 2 is 2'6" and has the two bridges and cutting to the right. I'm going for a light weight design so 6mm ply will be used to build both the frame and top. The frame will be between 75mm and 150mm deep depending on the terrain. The cutting to the right of the model will be formed later using foam insulation or similar, building up from track level.
     
    First up was the smaller board 2. I'd got the ply sheet cut into 150mm wide strips and these were cut down as required. Circular holes were cut into the cross members and diagonals to keep the structure light and allow easy cable access. 38x38mm softwood battens were screwed and glued to each end of the cross members and the assembled cross members were then glued and screwed to the sides before the diagonals were glued in place ready for the tops. Even before I'd fixed the top, the structure is square and very rigid so I'm happy with my chosen design and ready to move on to the larger board 1.
    This board features an embankment, underbridge and coal drops to the left so the sides and cross members had to be cut to suit. Mistake number one - I'd gone gung ho with my circular holes and on the last board found that I'd created the hole through the cross section of the embankment - not the end of the world but annoying nonetheless.
     

     
    Progress for board 1 was slower than I would have liked due to family commitments and only being able to work within the limited confines of the shed due to the generally pretty awful weather we've had. However, the board was eventually assembled and the tops glued and screwed in place. Some baseboard alignment dowels arrived from C&L and the two boards have been successfully aligned and joined with bolts. We are now up to date with proceedings. The next job will be to seal the boards with varnish.
     

  11. AJ427

    Heathley Kirkgate Part 3

    By AJ427,

    I've put turnout building on hold whilst I await some more supplies so work at the weekend involved finishing the Jinty (screw link couplings and crew painted and added), weathering another ex-PO wagon and making a start on renumbering and weathering a Fairburn tank. Pics of all these to be posted at some point. In the meantime back to the final part of the pseudo-historical mumbo-jumbo with a look at traffic, stock and a track plan.
     
    The supposed era for Heathley Kirkgate will be around 1957 with the line in decline but still seeing good use, especially of freight traffic and through passenger services.
     
    Passenger Traffic
    Typical West Riding expresses to London comprised a number of small portions drawn from various locations, coming together at Leeds Central or Wakefield Westgate. The size of the town would be such that it would have it’s own London portions and the position and alternative Leeds to Bradford routing would potentially mean some Leeds to London and Bradford to London portions would run via Heathley. In BR days these portions varied in size; most likely these would be a handful of coaches hauled by an ex-LMS 2-6-4 tank or a B1 but it would not be unusual to have a larger portion hauled by a Pacific.
    Stopping trains and cross-country services could be handled by a variety of motive power including ex-LMS 2-6-4 tanks, B1s and larger ex-LMS types such as Black 5s or Jubilees.
    Local services would be handled by Ivatt N1s, giving way to early DMUs up to closure.
     
    Freight Traffic
    Heathley Kirkgate’s goods yard includes coal drops for the local coal merchant and the goods shed handles a variety of traffic. A private siding opposite services a warehouse. I've not yet decided on what this will be but I'm leaning towards a wool warehouse. Through traffic includes coal and fireclay en-route to Adwalton Brickworks, parcel traffic and wool products. Motive power varied considerably including J50, J39, J6, B1, O4, 3F, Black 5s, Ivatt 4MTs, WDs, 8Fs and 9Fs.
     
    Larger trains will sometimes require banking assistance between Heathley Kirkgate up the bank to Gildersome. This will be handled by a J50 or an Ivatt 4MT.
     

     
    The plan is finalised now and was discussed here:
    http://www.rmweb.co....__fromsearch__1
     
    This sketch gives an idea of how things will look, albeit based on an earlier discarded plan.
     

     
    That's all for now folks!
  12. AJ427
    A brief interlude to the pseudo-historical mumbo-jumbo - some actual modelling!
     
    The first turnout (a B6) has been built (apart from the stretcher bars) and temporarily placed in place.
    This is my first attempt at a C&L turnout and whilst it took a while to build and I'm not 100% happy with it I can see where I can improve and I'm certainly encouraged that this is
    the way forward for me. This has been built to BRMSB (DOGA Intermediate) standards for several reasons: I already had a set of gauges, I didn't want to use the DOGA Fine standards as this would involve changing all back-to-backs and, although I was drawn to it, going to OO-SF would require investing and learning Templot as there are no templates.
     
    Anyway, stock runs through it rather smoothly. Which is nice
     

     

  13. AJ427
    A bit of spare time last week meant I was finally able to make a start on track laying for my 1950s West Riding layout (name tbc). At some point soon I'll have to publish a bit more info about it as well as a track plan but briefly it will be a ficticious suburban station situated on a secondary mainline somewhere near Leeds/Bradford. Anyway, the first section of cork underlay and C&L track has been laid in the station area. Not a lot to see yet!
     

     
    I picked up a PO wagon from the Hartlepool show last week - brand new but nearly half price due to lack of a box. I've been itching to have a go at transforming one of these into BR days. Firstly, the sides were attacked with a glass fibre brush to remove most of the lettering, leaving enough to suggest the origin. Next, BR transfers were applied and the diagonal strapping painted white to denote the opening end before I set to work weathering. I wanted this wagon to look fairly decrepit and patched up so some of the planks were repainted as if replaced. The frame was painted in dark browns with rust detail picked out and dry brushed with goauche. The body was washed several times with dark mucky browns, most of which is wiped off with cotton buds. The metal parts of the body were painted in very dark rusty shades that received further lighter washes to pick out detail. Next some rusty water streaking was applied with goache and finally weathering powders were applied to the frame to give that gunged up dirt look.
     


  14. AJ427

    Weathering Addiction

    By AJ427,

    Weathering is just too additictive. A large chunk of last weekend was spent renumbering and weathering my Jinty. A project started to kill time whilst some glue was drying quickly got out of hand and took over proceedings. Other, arguably more important jobs, such as further tracklaying and wiring have been largely sidelined. As a result progress on the layout side of things has been slow but steady with just the track laid for most of the station area and the headshunt. The Jinty has been renumbered to a local Farnley Junction loco and heavily weathered. I tried out some streaking techniques with acrylic thinners and Tensocrom and I'm quite pleased with the results - just smokebox number plate, crew and couplings to add now.
     

     

  15. AJ427

    One step forward...

    By AJ427,

    My initial euphoria at finally getting some track down and running some trains soon turned to despair when I quickly discovered that the boards built last year were badly warped. These had got wet when the shed leaked but I thought I'd managed to save them. The problem is that they are now covered in very small micro-hillocks - almost impossible to notice until you lay track on them. Okay, so this is a cruel close-up and exaggerates the problem but nevertheless, this just won't do. Oh no.
     

     
    So, back to the drawing board. I took the opportunity to review the track plan and signalling requirements past the gurus on RMweb and a couple of minor tweaks resulted which were committed to paper. I initially wanted to have the boards potentially relocatable but since this is now only a remotely possible requirement I whipped the lot out and replaced them with an L-beam structure covered in chipboard - for time, strength and cost. The boards have been sealed with a mixture of PVA and wood stain. Track laying has started again and I have now begun the dropped landscape area at the front of the layout. Built from cut-up parts of the scrapped boards (waste not, want not) this will become a coal yard with coal drops at one end, with a road rising up the side of an embankment to the goods yard at the other end.
     




  16. AJ427

    Off to Hartlepool

    By AJ427,

    Not much modelling for a while now due SWMBO allotment clearance and a subsequent elbow injury. A lot of stock has been purchased recently so hopefully I might get the chance of a bit more weathering next week. Off to Hartlepool this weekend to visit the folks and take my dad to Hornby Magazine Live. Hopefully it will provide a pleasant distraction.
  17. AJ427
    I've returned to the hobby after a 20 year absence and after a lot of planning, false starts and mistakes I built some baseboards in the sizeable garden shed in 2009 ready for track laying for a fictional OO layout that would be set in 1950s Yorkshire. However, last year disaster struck and a number of leaks in the shed ruined the boards. So start again, have a rethink. Now I've finally just about got the garden shed cleaned out, weather proofed, insulated and boarded out and most of the baseboards are re-built and ready. So now it's time for some proper modelling; to re-learn what I'd forgotten as a teenager and learn what I never knew and apply new techniques that I've since learned in other hobbies.
     

     
    First up is this small scenic sampler. I built this embankment section to try out ballasting and scenery techniques and if all went well to use as a photo stage for stock. It's built from scrap foam board retrieved from work, covered with thin card and papier mache before painting with kid's poster paint.
    Next was the track. I've used C&L flexi for this with fine ballast. I really struggled with the brush on and shape before wetting method with this track - the sleepers are quite thin and I couldn't seem to get it to sit right. I also found the webbing quite obvious so I cut it out. The track was painted with brown emulsion before acrylic paint rust washes and weathering where applied to the rails and sleepers. Ballast was eventually applied by painting neat PVA with a brush before covering with ballast and vacuuming the excess once dry. I think more experimenting is in order with this.
    For the foliage I initially used Wilkos hanging basket liner ripped apart and stuck on with PVA. It was OK but looked a bit overscale so I added some ground cover foam material over the top. For the grass I wanted to try static grass so I built a generator from an electric fly swat and a metal tea strainer. Brilliant - this cost less than a tenner and actually works. I'm quite pleased with the result and will definately be using this from now on. The whole scene was then airbrushed with watered down poster paints before weathering powders were applied to tone it all together.
    Finally a quick backscene was cobbled together just to see how it looked and to take a few photos.
     

  18. AJ427
    Work this weekend started with the laying of the interface track from the fiddle yard to the goods loop/yard. This short section is parallel to the main running lines and whilst it aligns perfectly with the fiddle yard tracks it can only be used when the mainlines are out of alignment.
     
    With this completed, focus now shifted to the main running lines across board 2. Firstly another layer of caulk was added to the ballast shoulder area before the Templot track layout was glued in place. The track is C&L bullhead with the webbing cut out prior to laying. Previously I've then used a homemade spacer to align the sleepers as the track is glued but on this occasion I slid them into place roughly from the Templot track plan before glueing and then re-adjusting any sleepers that had moved. Once dry cosmetic fishplates were applied with superglue at plain track intervals (as set on the track plan). Later I will cut a small notch in the rail head at these points. These were quite fiddly and as such will be applied as track is laid rather than leaving a large monotonous task later on. I did find that the fishplates fouled the wheel flanges, even on modern stock and so a few strokes with a file was required to prevent this.
     
     
     

     

  19. AJ427
    Work continues slowly but steadily on the down fiddle yard. This weekend I've constructed the alignment mechanisms for the traverser. With the first two roads in place running onto the main lines I soldered 2mm Ø brass tubes to the side of each track. Originally I was going to use larger tubes but there were fouling issues with some of the stock. Once soldered in place the tubes and rails were cut and I moved onto the adjacent roads. 1.5mm Ø brass rod bent into an 'L' provides the alignment bolts. Everything was wired up temporarily to test and no problems were found. With 6 of the planned 8 roads complete I've now run out of copperclad so this element of the project will be on hold until more arrives.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     

  20. AJ427
    Where does all the time go? I'm now six months into this project and I'd have to say the summer has not been as productive as I'd have liked. Still, progress, whilst not being spectacular, has at least been steady and fairly continuous.
    First off, I'd always intended to change the name and I felt it was about time to come up with something more in keeping with the Great Horton/Queensbury Lines concept. I didn't want to just use Great Horton as it's not a slavish recreation and to my mind there are too many compromises and alterations from reality to call it that. So from now on the project will be known as GREAT HOTTON - it sounds like Great Horton and it's also a little nod to the ficticious town in Emmerdale (spelt differently). So with the new name in place and marked by some tongue-in-cheek photo editing, it's time for a brief update:
     
    Track: Most of the plain track is now laid including the goods loop and the sidings. Magnets have been embedded at appropriate points to facilitate delayed uncoupling - I will be using the spratt & winkle type as I find them easy to assemble and to adjust and they look reasonably unobtrusive. Cosmetic fish plates have been added at plain track panel intervals. Ballast shoulders have been formed with decorators caulk. One area that I've not looked at yet is the siding at the front. This will be a coal drops and still needs some thought.
    Electrics: All track laid so far has droppers and is wired to the main bus and fully tested. The main bus is connected between board 1 and 2 by means of a couple of phono plugs and sockets. This system will be extended to provide several points along the front of the layout where the controller can be plugged in.
    Much of the above work has taken place outside and it's given me a chance to see how things look from the other side. Actually it's quite interesting and will show off some detail that would otherwise have been wasted such as the station front. Thought will be given to a double backscene approach so that the layout can be worked from either side (not at the same time obviously).
    Fiddle Yards: Although work has continued on these I remain unconvinced as to the long term reliability and alignment of the traversers that I've built. I've decided that ultimately I will replace them with a cassette system which I hope will be simple and robust. The cassettes will be constructed from 6mm MDF and will be trapezoidal 2-road units that will simply sit on a frame at the correct height. I'm not yet sure which method I'll use to connect power and hold them in place but I'll probably stay with the brass tube & bolt system that I've already done for the traverser. Each cassette will be around 1100mm long. There will be 5 at each end which are mirrors of each other. In due course I'll construct a couple of longer ones that will enable longer trains to be run when the layout is set up outside in good weather.
    The image below shows progress so far. The J39 hauled freight is just about the longest train that can fit in the fiddle yard. More would have been nicer but it's not too untypical of the sort of train lengths to be found on the branch in it's later days.
     

  21. AJ427
    Despite being away on holiday for a week I've not been idle and I've now completed the traverser fiddle yards. Both yards comprise frames of 18x44 softwood with heavy duty drawer runners between. The runners are laid flat rather than the conventional side fitting. I've tried side fitting before which was a nighmare to get alignment right. The downside of laying them flat is a tendency to sag slightly. This was anticipated and I intend to overcome this by adding either a wooden guide or perhaps a small wheel to the end of the adjacent scenic board that the top frame can glide over when pulled out. A quick test by screwing in place a piece of scrap wood confirmed that this would work. I also think I may require some sort of counterweight for when they are pulled out to the maximum - the weight of the main boards will stop them from tilting, however, I do not like the idea of all that twisting force being transmitted through the joints.
     

     
    With the yards complete I laid out the track plan and placed some stock and had a play around. This gives a tremendous sense of everything coming together.
     


     
    Next the underlay was cut from cork floor tiles. This has been laid out and now most of it glued in place. Once this is complete the next task will be to start track laying, probably I'll start with the fiddle yards.
     

  22. AJ427

    Great Hotton is 1!

    By AJ427,

    Great Hotton is now officially 1 year old and to celebrate I’ve given it a new blog home here. I'll still be posting links to relevant updates and info on my 3d modelling on this blog.
  23. AJ427

    Legs Akimbo!

    By AJ427,

    Looking back it seemed a long, cold winter. Well, it was a long, cold winter. Despite the shed being insulated and lined it still gets pretty cold in there and during the recent snows of late March (ridiculous - someone should do something) I said farewell to the other half and made the long and lonely trek up the garden only to find I couldn't even open the shed door. This was doubly annoying as the snow clearing shovel was inside... So what was done on Great Hotton during that time? Well no where near as much as I'd have liked as it happens.
     
    I plodded on with turnout construction finally completing the last one only a few weeks ago. I plodded on with detail work on the N1 (see here) - something I'd vowed not to do. And I made some legs... more
  24. AJ427

    Power & Control

    By AJ427,

    With all pointwork and linking trackwork finally down it was time to install point motors. I'd pondered the best method for a turnout operating mechanism for some time before coming up with my chosen solution. Many use the tried and tested sliding copper clad sleeper method but I didn't really like the look of it, finding it rather clunky looking. Instead I managed to get some thin 0.8mm copper clad from ebay. This is cut into strips about 32mm long and 3mm wide and three holes drilled, the spacing pre-determined by the track gauge and desired clearances (in the case of 00-SF a 20p piece is the desired gap). The outside hole positions are not too critical as there is some adjustment in the design. A loop of brass wire is then fed through the central hole and soldered into place. This is for the turnout motor actuator. Next brass wire is fed through the side hole and wound round the strip tightly twice before ending in a tail on the outside...more on my blog here.
  25. AJ427

    Fiddle Me This

    By AJ427,

    So it’s been a good while since an update as I’ve actually been getting on with some modelling for once. Firstly it was time to test stock on the finished trackwork. This highlighted a few problems, most of which were found to be wheelsets with incorrectly set back-to-back measurements. The worst was my Hornby J94 which wouldn’t run over any pointwork at all. My back-to-back gauge wouldn’t even squeeze between the wheels, being a good millimetre too wide. Time will need to be set aside later to run through the fleet correcting these problems. All of my pacifics ran through without concern though (not that any of them will actually need to).
     
    Next was a job I’d been putting off – the revamped fiddle yard. Last year I’d built a traverser but it was less than reliable and too heavy when fully open. This was cut up and turned into shelves. It’s replacement is a kind of sliding cassette system (caverser? travette?).
     
    More on my external blog here.
     

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