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richbrummitt

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Blog Entries posted by richbrummitt

  1. richbrummitt
    It's been six months again. Much to deal with in the real world has meant not much time for modelling, coupled with the fact that this project has really done my swede in. This weekend my mojo must have connected with my body because I've finished off adding the 400+ individually cut 1mm wide timbers to create the load. I shall not be doing a load like this again for a little while. The time investment to add each piece individually cannot be underestimated!
     
    This Macaw B is of Graham Farish origin. The model matches pretty well to dia J21 and the picture on the front of Russel Freight Wagons and Loads... is the inspiration that resulted in my loss of sanity.
     

     
    It has been re-bogied on 2mmSA items. The body had the livery removed with a fibreglass pencil and re-applied by hand to backdate it and better match in with my other stock. The securing rings in the positions that have been utilised were pared back with a knife and new loops added so that they looked right. The hooks and screw links are from an N Brass Locos fret and the chain is Fleetline fine chain. I gave up with the N Brass Loco screw link coupling kits. These are for someone who has more screws loose than me! The one piece examples look absolutely fine once painted in my opinion.
     
    I was having such a good day that I started to make a photo plank. At the moment it is some wood with sleepers (as will be evident from the photo), but in addition to providing a length of track for photographs to post here it will also serve as a display piece for when I find myself on demos at exhibitions and to test out track painting and scenic techniques for the layout.
  2. richbrummitt

    Back from the Dead

    By richbrummitt,

    It's been a while, 6 months I see from the last entry, but like buses three come along at once. Various real life (what model trains are not real life?) issues prevented much (any) progress with things for a long time. A couple of exhibition visits of late have really got me motivated again and after I treated myself to a frankly ridiculous desk light that Precision Paints had on offer at the Watford show I had to have a test.
     
    I've been working on the trio of Bachman Macaw Bs that were acquired last year. So far they have been treated to scale bogies, which dramaticaly reduces the width below the solebars. They are attached around the moulded pivots and retained with the original plastic pins. All the lettering has been removed and will be done by hand to match in with my existing stock. I have started the weathering and re-painting already, but have not yet got very far.
     

     
    Apologies for the quality of the lighting in the photo. The rest of the room seems almost like darkness compared to my desk now!
     
    Two of the three are going to be permanently joined to carry a 90' load of timber. I have to either find some 4mm square strip wood or wait until I can get in the garden to reduce some of the 8mm square that I have. An 8mm square 180mm long piece of wood is loaded in the photo so you can get an idea of the size of the load. I am planning to load the other wagon in a similar manner to that on the cover of Russel: Freight Wagons and Loads in Service on the GWR. I have some thin wood that will do nicely, however I calculate that I need to cut at least 400 pieces of wood 1.1mm width and around 40mm length for this one and that will take up a few evenings alone.
  3. richbrummitt
    Quite a bit has happened in the last two weeks whilst rmweb has been on it's travels. The weather to go outside and finish the legs, extensions and bracing on the boards has still not been forthcoming. I booked a couple of days off work to get extra daylight and the heavens sent rain (and snow). So instead I've been building brake vans and getting a sore throat. More on them another time.
     
    I figured that to make the short diamond a jig was in order so I figured out a way to make it on my little lathe.
     

     
    I broke a lot of these
     

     
    The rails were fixed to angled sole plates, in turn fixed to the 24"x7" longitudinal timbers. These were cut in one shot from 4 thicknesses of 20 thou nickel silver and attached whilst the rails were in the jig.
     

     
    The whole lot was turned out from the jig without problem (yet!)
     

     
    I then cut for electrical breaks (and gauge in one direction because of my Heath Robinson approach to jig manufacture in this case). A rail broke away and the more I tried to fix the more parts fell off. I composed myself and accepted that I had to rebuild half the crossing again. I did this free hand with judicious use of blu-tac and a highly calibrated Mk1 eyeball or two.
     
    Chairs were added and the whole glued to the timber base. It just so happens that two Easitrac timbers laid side by side are the right width, and I doubt anyone will see a join between the running rail and check after ballast and paint.
     

     

     

     
    I am considering rebuilding the whole because although it appears to function well enough with stock running through I think it could look better?
  4. richbrummitt
    I finally unfolded the layout on Sunday night after it's trip out the previous weekend. I haven't tested it yet, but I believe that it will work again now that it is in more comfortable climes (even if the room does get hot in the evenings, having a west facing).
     
    Something that I became aware of is how much more stock I need to build for the layout and in the meantime I have started to chip away at the shelf of unfinished models (that have spread to the desk behind my window workbench). I purchased an LNWR diagram 88 box van when they were advertised cheaply to clear some stock and have had it built for some time now - it just needed a paint job. The base coat and lettering are all there now but I'm not sure that it is right. Here's a photograph of such a vehicle and livery details that I used to determine the livery. The grey is what emerged from half black and half white with some extra black because I thought it looked too white. What I'm not sure about is the solebar. Should it be grey with only the remainder of the under frame and fittings where they attach picked out black?
     


     
    I want to make a decision before I finish the weathering. Opinions below. (I don't know if you can have a poll on a blog entry?)
  5. richbrummitt
    I had an enjoyable but tiring weekend. I was surprised by the quantity of layouts in attendance, including some that I had not seen before (even excepting the challenge layouts). The layout was transported and erected without problems and ran pretty well too. I had problems all day Saturday transferring from the layout into the cassettes with almost everything derailing, but the so far not very scenic section only has a few niggles. The problem with the cassettes is with the haste of construction and lack of care in ensuring the gauge was not too large. Inserting some plasticard strips just less than the back to back in the centre helped enormously and made Sundays timetable more enjoyable.
     
    Also on Saturday, just as the exhibition was opening ten minutes early I found that my second choice goods loco (1425) was short circuit on the track at some places and had to have the brakes removed for a cure. The reserve pannier tank was found to be permanent short circuit on the body so I was hoping for reliable service from the recently completed etched chassis replacement. Then the worm came off! The worm was specially bushed to suit the motor shaft and after finding the worm I tried to refix it with disasterous results
     

     
    What you see is a coreless motor with the can separated from the rear cap. I really needed reliable service from the rather lightweight 1425 now. Fortuantely she performed pretty well the whole weekend. Large amounts of wheelslip were reduced by running bunker first with a train and limiting the number of wagons handled. This was not difficult given that I had spent last week fitting three link couplings to as many wagons as possible and managing about ten. A few others that are still without hooks spent the weekend stranded in the goods yard looking pretty.
     
    On Saturday evening I solved the short circuit on the body of the reserve pannier tank and even got the coreless motor back together and kind of working. Not well enough to provide a locomotive for Sundays timetable. With two working locomotives and some loan wagons from Andy Hanson I operated a second goods train on Sunday. My something like 15 year old Farish railcar providing the passenger services with little compaint throughout the weekend.
     
    I got to to have a better look around when everything stopped at about half past two on Sunday afternoon. Something got too hot, possibly in the controller. I fitted an AC fan on the power supply box and that seemed to work really well. I had a couple of problems with the security of my leads, but that was not the problem this time. The controller would flash output, and then load, followed by overload and then there was nothing. After a time it would repeat this action. I gave up and took some pictures:
     

     
    This would be the approximate view from the house adjacent to the line on the north side of the line, with the diesel railcar paused where the station building will be one day.
     
     

     
    Another view, this time looking towards Oxford, showing the near empty yard. All the photographs show a yard brimming with wagons so I have some more work to do completing what is in my stock pile. I got some extruded polystyrene offcuts shaped into the rough shape of the landscape. There is a bit more work to do on them before they can be fixed and blended in but it has given me an idea of how it can shape up. For the moment the facia has just been cut to match and requires some smoothing when the final contour is produced.
     

     
    Finally a view capturing the whole layout within the exhibition.
  6. richbrummitt
    The aim was to have a portable layout that wasn't a micro shunting plank that would fit in to our (rather small) car. There's nothing wrong with shunting planks but I wanted the whole station, preferably uncompressed. I drive a Citroen C2, and there's not much room in the back. Unfortunately hobbies that require large objects to be moved don't fit in well with a love of small French hatches.
     
    Initially I thought the layout could fit behind the rear seats, but this is a daft shaped space that tapers in from every direction. The plan fitted in here once folded, but I later discovered that it wouldn't go, not with height considered. It would also be impossible to manouvre it into the space through the rear hatch. By this stage I had started construction thinking that the layout would fit lengthwise with the seats down. Wrong again! The car inside is wider than it is long behind the rear seats. Some more measuring revealed that the backscene height would be dictated by the 26" height of the tailgate opening. Unfortunately not high enough to have the lighting pelmet permanently attached, and I am still deciding exactly how best to attach and transport this.
     
    So my measuring did work out, but I could have planned better. The layout (without lighting) still all folds up with legs in one piece and currently tips the scales at 14kg. This makes it really easy to lift and load...
     
    ...once these are out (7 bolts).
     

     
    Lift up...
     

     
    ...and into the car
     

     
    I probably need something to make sure that it stays in place during transit. The castors aren't great on the lumpy bumpy outdoor surfaces due to their small size. Hopefully they'll make things really easy once inside most venues and I'll have a quick and easy set up and take down.
  7. richbrummitt
    My internet is broken somewhat broken, hence the lack of pictures. I am down to 18kB/s on up to 4Mb broadband! On top of that the Sky+ box died overnight, refusing to come off stand by. That said there is very little to see with the layout.
     
    I booked the week off work to do finish the to-do list so that the layout can travel, and would work. I even wrote the to-do list. This went something like:
     
    Finish power supply enclosure
    Build some cassettes
    Fit adaptors for the cassettes to fit to on the baseboards
    Fit stock with couplings
    Get a fuse and test the uncoupling magnets
    Attach rear fascias (back scene)
    Cut and make fit central transport panel
     
    It continued with a bunch of other items that I would like to get on to including the groundwork (which requires the completion of the road over bridge), track painting and ballasting.
     
    In my head this seemed like a reasonable list and I would then spend the final week of evenings before Expo finishing off some items of stock and doing other little bits. So far I have successfully managed one item in the three days: The power supply enclosure has the fan fitted and the lid on, meaning no more exposed mains. The cassettes are built, but are not consistently the same width, and the adaptors are only okay at the Oxford end of the layout.
     
    The problem is that I'm not good at finishing things. I have a shelf full of part finished stock and I like to pick at things as they take my fancy. This has resulted in the 295ft platform face having been pieced together from Peco parts, and the cutting of some pink foam for the near side of the layout, amongst other things. I've also been progressing a set of Worsley works four wheeled coaches too even though there is little chance they will be in a presentable state for the beginning of July.
     
    This afternoon I have made a start fitting the rear fascia panels to the layout. I could have done this outside but decided that if I slid the layout across the room there would be space to get behind it to put the clamps on. I worked out towards the door, out of the door, and now am stuck outside of the spare room due to the clamps. I am now stuck for something to do having cut most of the various bits of wood that needed cutting (but not the central transport panel) and having ground the jaws of a set of pliers for coiling couplings. I am just waiting for the glue to dry before I can remove the clamps with no TV and limited internet.
  8. richbrummitt

    Double Heading

    By richbrummitt,

    I'm still working on having things moving on the layout at Expo with under three weeks remaining.
     
    Several weeks ago a pleasant suprise landed in my inbox, an opportunity to test build two new locomotive chassis kits. A short exchange of emails later and a subsequent jiffy packet arriving through the letter box and we were away.
     
    The chassis are to fit the GF 57xx body and the Dapol 0-4-2T
     

     
    Also included was a jig for assembling the frames
     

     
    First the frames are bushed before inserting into the jig, which is easily folded up sqaure using the tabs and markers provided.
     

     

     
    It is best to open up the bearing holes first and use 1.6mm drills to locate in the jig. I found this out afterwards. Phosphor bronze and even PCB frames are much stiffer than etched under the pillar drill!
     
    Next up the pick up springs were added and the motor mount attached...
     

     
    ...followed by gears and wheels. I quarter wheels by hand/eye.
     

     
    Next up was the brake assembly.
     

     
    I wanted to make these removable so set about insulating them from the frames to allow a complete cross piece from 0.3mm n/s wire through the bottom. Short pins of microrod were added at the top of the brake arms to locate into the holes in the frames. Once painted they are insulated.
     
    Here the locomotives are pictured working and near complete. Both have 8mm coreless motors. The bodies have had no detailing, but there is some minor interior modification to allow fitment of extra weight.
     

     
    This is especially true of the Dapol body. I mounted the motor the easy way (into the cab) and have virtually run out of space for lead to move the balance forward to gain better electrical pick up and adhesion.
     

  9. richbrummitt
    I fixed the last of the wires yesterday evening. The layout has been electrically finished, but untested, for about a week. I just had to finish boxing up the controls and transformer. The controller is a Malcolm's Miniatures Pictroller housed in a Maplins box of appropriate size. This is the closest thing I could find to a Pentroller without the uncertainty of supply. The only major difference as a user is that the brake is not continuous - it has a pot to set and then the brake can be applied in three stages (roughly equated to some, more, and ooh eck!). The box is quite deep and suits my somewhat lengthy fingers quite nicely. The connection to the layout is from underneath.
     

     
    I had not used the controller prior to last night, and then only in direct control mode, so cannot really comment any further on it.
     
    The power supply is by a gaugemaster transformer that I have had in the draw for quite some time. Again housed in a Maplins project box. I have used one of the 16V~ outputs solely for the controller with a 1A self resetting trip and the other will provide the oomph for the uncoupling magnets and lighting (when I get that far)
     

     
    At the moment the lid remains off because I reckon it would get sweaty in there if used for very long. I'm going to find a small AC fan to put in the lid to keep things cool and power this directly from the second winding with the magnets and lighting.
     
    Aside from a few PW issues that I am already aware of, and some others that I am sure to be lurking still, I can play trains
     
    Here are a couple of (poor quality) videos of the trains so far:
     
    http://www.flickr.co...57594126202068/
     
    http://www.flickr.co...57594126202068/
  10. richbrummitt
    I've lost count of how much I've spent on wire, and yes it looks almost exactly like last time you saw it. It is however fully wired up. Unanswered questions still include: Why does it all take so long; and is it possible to make it neat? Here's a gratuitous picture from the other end of the layout.
     

     
    I have used 3PDT switches (a 4PDT in one case) to allow the track to be double isolated unless the correct route is set. This should, in theory anyway, work just like insulated turnouts - only better. When I built a previous layout with live crossings using just a SPDT switch for the polarity I regularly ran into a short circuit. The idea for the arrangement as described is to remove this as a possibility! The catch points are operated by a SPDT switch which knocks the feed out to one rail so you have to change these too.
     
    The cross baseboard connection is permanent (the boards are permanently connected. I made four four core cables up with lengths of heatshrink. Two for these and one each for the PSU and controller connections. The latter are plugged into DIN sockets on the underside of the small central piece with the middle legs on. Hopefully it will still fold up correctly!?
     
    I haven't tried it out yet, but am looking forward to playing trains on my own layout. Then it will be back into the garden for further woodwork, basic landscaping and some initial colouring.
  11. richbrummitt

    Ready to Run?

    By richbrummitt,

    Not yet but I did have a productive weekend wiring up track. All the dropper wires bar the vees and wing rails are now in place and soldered up. I used up some stranded wire that looked small enough without being silly with flexible insulation. The wire (pre-tinned) is passed through a hole drilled adjacent to the rail on the operator side. The wire is bent towards and then parallel with the rail, fluxed and then helod underneath the rail whilst the soldering iron (with a small pointy tip) is introduced to make the join. You don't have to be super quick, but prolonged heating will require a couple of localised fixes to the sleepering.
     

     

     
    Apologies for the latter photograph where the focus is beyond the intended subject matter. Once painted and ballasted I think these will go unnoticed.
     
    Work was also started on getting the switch blades operative. I really wish I'd made these another way using a jig, but I am where I have got to.
     
    A trip to the model shop for some telescoping brass sections turned up a Farish Macaw B. This is a model I have eyed for a little while, but had been told by the man on the Bachman stand at Ally Pally that there would be a delay in supply whilst they made some more . I only managed to source one, but it is a nice model that compares well with the kit built Macaw (from an earlier diagram) I have. A quick swap of the bogies to 2mm SA association ones is made easy because the bogie retaining pieces just pull off, although the holes need opening out in the etched bogie stretcher to fit the chuncks on the bottom of the Farish moulding.
     

     

     

     
    The pockets for the stanchions on the outside of the wagon are a little thick when compared directly, and the tie down rings are also different, but it is a very nice model. I intend to produce a load like that depicted early in Russels Freight Wagons and Loads... There was a timber yard/saw mill at Wheatley and I suppose that sawn timbers could have feasably been transported this way.
  12. richbrummitt
    I mentioned working on Masterclass brake vans in a much earlier post. The kits go together very well but then there are the handrails. I've been doing some other things to give me a break from bending and cutting wire before *ping* and it's out of the tweezers goodness knows where! I think you have become a seasoned model maker when you can make a valiant attempt to recover the small parts based on the sound of what they land on or against? I must have half a set of handrails in the carpet somewhere because it's often easier to start again. After about three evenings work the handrails are fitted to the first pair of vans. (It would have been much longer too if it were not for David Eveleigh's little wire bending etch and a couple of other 'jigs' that I knocked up along the way.) They are 20' variants and one has later style foot boards (from a refurbishment) The roofs are placed on for now because I still need to fit the brake standard and stove pipe. There are also many other details to add, but these aren't included on the etch so I can file the spares and scraps away and clear something else off the bench too. I have some later styles and also a 6 wheeler to do, at a later date. For now this pair allow me to finish of a couple of goods trains in a proper manner.
     

  13. richbrummitt

    Wagons Roll

    By richbrummitt,

    After a frustrating Easter weekend trying in vain to produce TOUs to any design that might have the necessary pre-requisites I eventually figured something out. This has allowed me to get on with track laying. I'm not convinced that Easitrac is any quicker than soldered construction. It is undoubtably easier if you are scared of a soldering iron and will probably have improved appearance compared with solder blob chairs. However I am in no doubt that Versaline is the current daddy where appearance is paramount.
     

     
    This insight into the hobby room shows the mess as it currently stands. The project has consumed a whole 10m coil of bullhead rail and you will see there are still some areas needing rail. (The sand siding on the near left hand side, and the remainder of the back siding onto the near board). The whole of the main line is laid so wagons can indeed roll. Wiring and a control panel are next on the agenda whilst I await a delivery of rail.
  14. richbrummitt
    I now have the legs complete with stays and locking pins and I've had a clearout to allow the 'layout' to be installed in it's displayed state within the hobby room for work on the track and scenics. All the legs have adjustable feet on now too to compensate for uneven floors and my inability to cut eight legs to precisely the same length!
     
    I fitted a lower brace to the outer legs, improving stability, that meant the cassette ends had to be shortened a little. This was carefully calculated though and will still allow for cassettes with trains (a bit) longer than the platform to be accomodated. The legs for the cassette ends have to hinge in their centre to allow them to pass through between the outer leg bracing. Pictures should make much more sense:
     

     
    I am pleased with how stable the leg stays have made the structure.
     

     
    They are retained by R clips. There is a second set inside the legs that the stays are pinned to when folded.
     

     
    This shows the folding of the cassette leg. It has a locking hinge where it joins the cassette end. These are neat but have some play and despite being stiff I wouldn't recommend them as the sole means of leg fixing/bracing for a whole layout. You can also get an idea of the quantity of door catches that have been used to pin everything together when folded.
     

     
    A hinge in the cassette end leg allows it to fit within the folded assembly. The hinge on the left has had the pin cut out and replaced by an R clip to lock the leg straight.
     
    There are still no parts that require removal for transport other than the R clips, which are re-used when folded.
     
    Electromagnets (seep) have been fitted to the track sub-bed being careful to ensure that if needed they can be replaced. The track sub-bed has in turn been fitted to the folding frame. Current efforts are focussed on switch operation so that track laying can commence. Getting this far seems like a major point has been reached, but it makes you realise how much further there is to get in the next three months.
  15. richbrummitt

    Slow Progress

    By richbrummitt,

    After a more off than on January I've finally got my backside into gear. I realised that I was getting behind (that's if I was ever up to date?) and have set myself goals on a monthly basis. The first of these is to have the track laid and operational at the end of February.
     
    So far all the rails are in the blocked crossing area that makes up the east end of the platform. I'm really impressed with how it has come out, and running stock through it appears I only have one tweak to make where the gauge is over on the entrance to the loop causing the wheels to bind back to back on the check and wing rails. I need to get it down on the board along with some of the surrounding track to test it more thoroughly.
     
    An overall view:
     

     
    The switches are all early type (the introduction of flexible switches by the GWR was later) using a check chair as a pivot. If these turn out to wear excessively or become unreliable I will have to uproot the switch and pin it through the track bed or perhaps substitute brass chairs. They seem like they may well be up to the job as they are. I made a little jig to prevent filing the foot of the rail when forming the taper on the running face. You may notice that all the stock rails are joggled. Although tiny on the prototype they are very distinctive so I wanted to include them. I made myself a jig to do this so the joggle is a consistent size and distanced correctly from the rail break beyond the switch toe.
     
    Some other detail views:
     

     

     
    Incidentally the van standing in the long siding is the LNWR dia 88 association kit.
     
    Now I have to get on with the two connections at the east end of the yard and the very short crossing adjacent to the wagon turntable.
  16. richbrummitt
    I planned to model a larger station on the line, but did not want to compress any of the track plan so settling for one of the smaller stations (although one with plenty of goods traffic) made for a much better option. The only wall longer than 10' in our house is in the living room and that is out of bounds for model trains. On top of this I have a small car, and if the layout was going to be portable then it had to be compact.
     
    I took the track plan from a map in a book and increased the size until the platform matched the length quoted in the text. I also checked that the station building was about the right size based on the elevation and plans available from the same source.
     
    I measured up the boot carpet from the car and worked out what would fit comparing to the plan. The prototype is on a curve and that has helped with fitting things in, but I still ended up with about 10% shrinkage from the prototype. I figured that this would go un-noticed.
     
    The baseboards are from ply of varying thickness. Most is either 3mm or 9mm with the track bed being 18mm (I think). The latter was cut from the reinforced parcel shelf that I built for my first car, aged 21, to house speakers. It has been knocking around for several years since and finally been put to good use. Shown below are the finished main boards with the track bed laid on.
     

     
    The idea is that the boards will not have any removable or detachable parts, travelling easily in one piece, without being to heavy and fold out transformer style. Two pictures below show the boards in their folded and unfolded state.
     

     

     
    The legs need some further bracing yet, and the catches and closures all need to be added. For the time being though attention has turned to other parts what with the reducing temperature and daylight.
  17. richbrummitt

    An introduction

    By richbrummitt,

    I thought best to introduce what is to follow.
     
    I intend to keep the thread up to date with what is happening across my workbench (wherever that is in house or garden) but the primary reason for getting on with it now was to allow others to see how my layout Littlemore* is progressing towards that ever closer date in June when the 2mm Scale Association is celebrating it's 50th Anniversary in Oxford with a 2 day expo.
     
    I have kept a record of my completed (or near completed) rolling stock on Flickr for some time. A word of warning: My interest is pre-grouping Great Western and I am modelling a branch line. If you find this clich?©d or plain sickening then look away indefinitely
     
    *Littlemore is the name of the real location, however the layout may yet have another name that I am toying with.
  18. richbrummitt

    Time Ticks By

    By richbrummitt,

    After more procrastination than really should have been necessary a somewhat productive afternoon finally occurred with the final pieces of the switch operating mechanism fabricated and fitted allowing the lever frame to operate the switches for the first time.
     
    I reused the telescoping square section motion limiters linked to the new TOUs and had the operating rods from the motors move these. The linkage between the motion limiters and the TOU is soldered directly to the TOU wire but some adjustment is possible by opening or closing the Z bend.
     
    After a false start (purchasing some substantial switches labelled as 'push to make' that turned out to be 'push on, push off') I have replaced the electromagnet operating switches that had been unreliable despite having had no use with momentary toggles. They are SPDT so they are fewer in number and will look neater within the fascia when I get that far.
     
    Apart from installing the signals, which are high up on the to-do list, and fitting them and their motors the wiring is now complete. I'm able to re-fit the pink hills and the layout is operational again and looking like it did three years ago (see previous entry).
     
    Onwards to the fun stuff... Maybe I can spend some time legitimately playing trains testing. I fear there are some outstanding rail issues to deal with when I do though.
  19. richbrummitt
    I visited Littlemore recently to take some photographs of the site as it is today and better understand the topography. Here are just some of the pictures I took to help with the layout, along with some explanation to help make sense of them.
     
    The site of the station itself is now occupied by a fabricators. Here is how the approach looks today from the road:
     

     
    and the approach itself:
     

     
    The station buildings are long gone. The road is carried on an overbridge, mostly built up over the line, hence the slope down behind the station buildings and into the narrow yard. The ground here is generally falling towards the south. There is a shallow cutting of about seven feet on the north side of the line.
     
    A very poor vantage point, but the best I could get of the bridge without trespassing on the railway.
     

     
    Looking east from the road overbridge the station platform was on the right with the buildings at the end of the platform about where the first brick building is in todays scene:
     

     
    It is not clear from early photographs published whether the platform continued under the bridge or not. Plans suggest that it stopped short. The goods yard was beyond and eventually consisted a loop and an additional single siding, plus a loading dock. There were two cranes but never a goods shed despite it being one of the busiest stations on the line excepting Thame. The line in this direction passes through to Princes Risborough.
     
    From the bridge looking west the line passes towards Kennington Jcn. and then on to Oxford.
     

     
    There was a siding running alongside the branch on the right hand side for the length of the platform, under the bridge and on the right of this picture about 500 yards in the distance would have been the sand quarry. This siding seems to have often been used for stabling additional traffic that could not fit into the yard at the time according to photographs around 1920, the time period I eventually intend to represent. The line here seems to exist only to serve as far as Morris Cowley, whether it still serves the motor works there I do not know.
     
    Viewing inside the curve, as I intend the layout to be exhibited, the backdrop is formed of the buildings of the asylum. These buildings have now been refurbished and added to, being turned into flats and other housing. The hospital having been re-established across the road in 1998.
     

     
    This is one of the main buildings. Another building that will feature is the engineers buildings, which were built into the wall surrounding the asylum grounds
     

     

     
    The wall bounds the railway on the south side and there are semi-detached houses on the north that the railway seems to have been fitted between. This makes it an excellent proposition for a model because the baseboards can be quite narrow and have a reasonable goods yard to operate. Unfortunately the wall is about as far back as I can depict in three dimensions and these buildings must necessarily be incorporated on the backscene.
     
    Within the goods yard there was a turntable that allowed access through the walls for delivery of fuel into the asylum.
     

     
    I found the now bricked opening just along a footpath that seems to be in the direction of the technology park. There are a good number of things I learned from the visit, not limited to the wall changing to brick at this point, which I would not have otherwise realised.
  20. richbrummitt
    There haven't been any entries recently and this is not due to a lack of progress. My main focus is on getting the wiring complete. This always takes me far longer than I would like, looks disorganised, costs too much, and generally fails to work quite as well as I hoped - hence there are no images to accompany this entry.
     
    Perhaps tomorrow will be a fruitful day and the TOUs (revision - I've lost count) will be installed and working and attention can turn to a pair of locomotive chassis that need finishing. I can then reply to Nigel with a definite yes for Oxford in two months time knowing that something can run. Maybe the weather will be nice and I will go to Didcot for the end of the 175 celebrations. That said I could always hold out for the 200 celebrations when I'm 53?
  21. richbrummitt

    Wagons Also Spin

    By richbrummitt,

    Actually that's a lie because although last night saw the wagon turntable installed it is permanently fixed in line with the main siding.
     

     
    The outer slots are from when the turntable would have been broad gauge. Information that I have been able to locate suggests that the castings that formed the outer ring were hacked on site when the gauge conversion was made.
     

     
    The wood deck is removable for the moment to facilitate painting. It also requires the planking scribed in.
     
    The eagle eyed will notice that the crossing beyond has lost all it's rails. That is due to me deciding that they would not have been check rails in such a diamond and ripping them out. I need to re-fix just the running rails through in both directions.
     
    I'm still awaiting new raile supplies, but there are just the two sidings to finish laying now. I've sorted the wiring diagram (I think), and have started drilling for dropper wires.
  22. richbrummitt
    The weather eased for a few days at the same time as I had booked some leave. I had hoped that the two would coincide and must have got lucky. As a result a lot has happened to the baseboards, but nothing picture-worthy. What I have done is organised a lot of items for the layout. I have had a couple of orders of baseboard fittings arrive. These are all now fixed so the boards lock and peg together when folded. When unfolded the feet are adjustable in height. After a large amount of corrections and re-thinks to fit everything in the 150mm of space between the folded boards there are just a few of items to sort:
     
    1. Stays for the legs on the outer scenic boards;
    2. Pins for locking the additional hinge in the fiddle yard legs;
    3. Castors for ease of transportation, although these aren't urgent until things get heavier.
     
    As a result of the large amount of corrections to get to this stage has taken far longer than envisgaed and I still haven't got track to baseboard. This will happen soon. The turnout operating mechanisms and electromagnets need to fitted next, along with the switches to operate them all. I need about another half a day of decent weather to router the electromagnet locations in the underside of the trackbed before it can be fixed permanently. Track laying can then commence.
  23. richbrummitt

    Crossing work begins

    By richbrummitt,

    After reading several times through the GWSG publication on GWR switch and crossing practise I felt ready to begin creating timbering diagrams for construction. I used the A3 photocopy to scan into CAD and then stretch and scale to size then drew over the top. This took much longer than I thought, and it would probably be quicker to recommend that anyone else thinking of doing things this way stopped after the initial splines and then added all other detail afterwards.
     
    There were two main areas of crossing work at Littlemore. A pair of connections at the east end of the station with a catch in between and then three further crossings that require through timbers at the east end of the platform. There is also a further catch near this area.
     

     
    The above shows the two formations quite well. With the whole thing being curved every crossing is compound. The timbering that has been cut is from one pack of Easitrac sleepers. I also realised that I did not have enough check or slide chairs from the 14 sprues I had purchased, nor did I have enough turnout operating units because I forgot to count the catches. This has now been rectified by a quick order and even faster turnaround by the nice man in 2mm SA shop one (Thanks Owen) and hopefully much track will be completed throughout the festive period.
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