Heaton Lodge Junction

[HeatonLodge40]

3 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Pah, call yourself a modeller?!!

 

Mike.

I guarantee if I put tax discs in the window someone would moan that the cars tyres aren’t at the correct pressure or something Mike 

[37260xbhrIS]

3 hours ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

I guarantee if I put tax discs in the window someone would moan that the cars tyres aren’t at the correct pressure or something Mike 

We know the tyres aren't the correct pressure as they all flat at the bottom..... you admitted filling them!

[HeatonLodge40]

Yes that was an Allan Downes trick filing the bottom of the tyres! 

[rob D2]

2 minutes ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

Yes that was an Allan Downes trick filing the bottom of the tyres! 

awromodellers used to heat the bottom of the plastic tyres to make them flat 

[HeatonLodge40]

In other news I’ve been working on getting the Red Bank running reliably. It never appeared at Wakefield as because of the sheer weight of 20 Full Brakes & GUV’s - the coupling kept snapping.

So over a few evening last year I fitted Kadees.
However I made a hash of these as even on sweeping corners they seemed to be causing buffer lock and kept hitting the tops of the bogies.

So off these came last week, beefed up standard coupling re-fitted & after oiling axles (and butchering anything that looked like it would cause friction) the whole rake now runs beautifully. 
40179 & 40199 are synchronised together & allocated for this diagram 

[Enterprisingwestern]

Re the couplings issue, is there not a 7mm version of the, for example, Stevenson Coaches cast brass connecting unit, it should be fairly unbreakable I would have thought?

 

Mike.

[ferret1956]

1 hour ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

In other news I’ve been working on getting the Red Bank running reliably. 

4.30pm past Mirfield! We used to run up to Ravensthorpe and Thornhill after school to see it.The "half four dub", .. Then trudge home disappointed as it was "Bihar & Orissa" and a Brit.. Again! 

[HeatonLodge40]

21 hours ago, ferret1956 said:

4.30pm past Mirfield! We used to run up to Ravensthorpe and Thornhill after school to see it.The "half four dub", .. Then trudge home disappointed as it was "Bihar & Orissa" and a Brit.. Again! 

Bihar & Orissa was a Farnley engine I think. It must have travelled through HLJ thousands of times. Sadly I don’t remember it 

[HeatonLodge40]

My evening look have looked like this for weeks. Cleaning/oiling coaches and adding corridor connections.

 

As I previously mentioned I’ve repainted a rake of TTA Shell liveried tanks into BP & ICI colours.

Didn't even bother masking them or even sand them down. Transfers and all they’ve had the Halfords Primer spray can treatment then straight into green and yellow. 
From a distance they look pretty good! 

[HeatonLodge40]

Love this BP green paint. Airbrush ready and made for rally car modellers it goes on really well 

[HeatonLodge40]

Painting the new siding & MPD today has been the main task.

I bought a litre of Precision Paints sleeper grime for this and use an airbrush to blast it on. 
I mask off just the frogs on the points but wipe off the wet paint from the rail heads as I go along

[ferret1956]

On 18/03/2022 at 20:57, HeatonLodge40 said:

Bihar & Orissa was a Farnley engine I think. It must have travelled through HLJ thousands of times. Sadly I don’t remember it 

It was "common as muck" to the Sands Lane spotter crew! Foind a nice photo on Flickr of B& O at HLJ. 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by ferret1956
Wrong linking

[HeatonLodge40]

47 minutes ago, ferret1956 said:

It was "common as muck" to the Sands Lane spotter crew! Foind a nice photo on Flickr of B& O at HLJ. 

 

 

Nice pic thanks 

You can see the bridge in the background taking the line from the dive under tunnels on a direct route to Leeds. All gone now of course and the first mile or so of that line realigned to form HLJ

[HeatonLodge40]

Today it’s been priming the big Heljan engine sheds amongst other stuff.

I’m not the worlds best building kits as I never read the instructions, so I should have left out the glazing instead of masking it.

These sheds are based on Shirebrook I believe and will form the basis of a much larger fictional depot in this area of the layout 

[37114]

Really looking forward to seeing HLJ this weekend, hope the setup is goes ok Simon.

[PaulRhB]

Well enjoyed the show this weekend, purely from a work aspect is it possible to stop trains closer to the signals though? I was there and chatting to an assortment of drivers I’ve worked with who drove in the period plus one who worked the area and the thing that stood out was drivers are always wanting the shortest possible walk to the signal if it doesn’t come off after three minutes

Before GSMR you could always hear the loco in the background when they called you up on the spt and I guess the computer control sections dictate some margin of error but everything seemed to stop 4-5ft short which is 170+ feet away   Just something to tweak and push it a bit closer to reality when time allows. 
 

Backscene works very well 

 

 

Additionally the fitted stuff needs to be at the front on some trains and the unfitted stuff followed by a van  I know it’s still under development but something to throw into the plan. 

One of our shunter members here may be able to assist better than I can on formations of various braked stock. 

 

 

 

This sounded great!

 

 

 

Certainly a festival of blue we enjoyed and the supporting layouts were top class too. Well worth a twelve quid on the door or a tenner advance ticket if you’re in the locality. 

[Simond]

Was keen to go, but the planets didn’t align.  Next time!

[PaulRhB]

 

[Dunsignalling]

A couple of my better stills from yesterday. More like photographing the real thing than the usual approach with models. The sheer extent of the thing is staggering, with quite long trains coming "on stage" at one end being barely noticed from the other.

 

The layout lighting was good enough to get shots of moving trains with the ISO cranked up only to 1600, though the Class 40 is stationary in this instance. The 56 was clipping along at a scale 50mph or so.

 

Both shots Lumix G9 with 42.5mm f/1.7 lens.

 

Absolutely no chance of getting full-length views (as posted earlier by Paul) while I was there. The whole frontage was fully populated at times!

 

John

Edited April 9, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[Bill Eaton]

I much enjoyed a day there on Friday. HLJ is every bit as impressive as I had expected, not only the sheer size but also the very high quality of the modelling. I spent two long periods moving slowly round, stopping to watch the trains go by from a number of different vantage points. All very absorbing. It was busy in the morning, but not so busy as to prevent me getting a very good view, and in the afternoon there was more space to view. I will definitely go to see it again in the future, in particular when the marshalling yard and station projects are further advanced.

It adds a lot to the experience that perhaps about half of the trains make a signal stop then restart, but I too was puzzled by the way that trains always stopped some considerable distance from the signals, and overheard comments about this from others.  As far as I could see, no trains ran on the dive under on Friday, was there a technical problem? One odd point (maybe it's just me) but the level of the track on the dive under where it enters the tunnel appears to be very much the same as the level of the road under the upper tracks just to the west!

Having several other quality layouts there was a valuable bonus, as was the presence of some traders. I had a very interesting conversation with one trader which has led to a subsequent order, and my debit card saw some action with two others on the day! Overall it was a great day out and good value for money.

[HeatonLodge40]

On 09/04/2022 at 20:12, PaulRhB said:

Well enjoyed the show this weekend, purely from a work aspect is it possible to stop trains closer to the signals though? I was there and chatting to an assortment of drivers I’ve worked with who drove in the period plus one who worked the area and the thing that stood out was drivers are always wanting the shortest possible walk to the signal if it doesn’t come off after three minutes

Before GSMR you could always hear the loco in the background when they called you up on the spt and I guess the computer control sections dictate some margin of error but everything seemed to stop 4-5ft short which is 170+ feet away   Just something to tweak and push it a bit closer to reality when time allows. 
 

Backscene works very well 

 

 

Additionally the fitted stuff needs to be at the front on some trains and the unfitted stuff followed by a van  I know it’s still under development but something to throw into the plan. 

One of our shunter members here may be able to assist better than I can on formations of various braked stock. 

 

 

 

This sounded great!

 

 

 

Certainly a festival of blue we enjoyed and the supporting layouts were top class too. Well worth a twelve quid on the door or a tenner advance ticket if you’re in the locality. 

Thanks for the comments all of which I’m very aware of, but what you don’t factor in is the constant changing of stock that has to be made when issues occur with rolling stock running constantly for days at a time.

 

I and others have worked tirelessly for months on this sort of thing, so when I get comments from BR ex drivers (as on Saturday) with absolutely nothing positive to say apart from tail lamps missing (for the same reasons as above) it’s pretty demoralising.
 

On a general note I understand the show went down well, but given the rocketing cost of fuel and other rising costs I very much doubt HLJ will be out again so I hope it was enjoyed by those who saw it. 
 

Simon 
 

[Simond]

Well, Simon,

 

it’s a shame that one of two unthinking comments spoil the show.  It’s dead easy to be critical, it’s a lot more effort to be creative.

 

if HLJ doesn’t come out again, it’ll be a great shame for those of us who didn’t get to see it, but I’ve followed this thread since Allan started it, and it’s been brilliant.

 

hope things work out

Simon

[Dunsignalling]

I'm sorry to hear that, though perhaps not surprised, knowing the (past) transport/crewing costs of a layout that fitted (but only just) into a 3-ton Luton.

 

Until Friday, I had considered that to be a "large" exhibition layout, and had run trains via various (un-signalled) routes at its Warley debut while our tame (but increasingly becoming less so) electrician laboured beneath.

 

I therefore fully appreciate that corners sometimes have to be cut to avoid entering diorama mode!

 

Thanks for the experience, Simon, and here's hoping we shall see the completed item out and about if/when economic sanity is restored.

 

Regards

 

John

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[Gilbert]

1 hour ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

I and others have worked tirelessly for months on this sort of thing, so when I get comments from BR ex drivers (as on Saturday) with absolutely nothing positive to say apart from tail lamps missing (for the same reasons as above) it’s pretty demoralising

I don't suppose he had any pictures or video of his layout for you to comment on?

Your achievement is staggering but I understand so well that the one negative comment can hurt when you have put your heart, soul and resources into a project - and were clearly knackered.

I had a cracking few  hours at your show and it exceeded my expectations in almost every dimension..my only disappointment is I've just watched a SDJR7F88's you tube of the exhibition and spotted a layout I missed in the flesh !

Chris Hopper

Edited April 11, 2022 by Gilbert

[PaulRhB]

1 hour ago, HeatonLodge40 said:

Thanks for the comments all of which I’m very aware of, but what you don’t factor in is the constant changing of stock that has to be made when issues occur with rolling stock running constantly for days at a time.

 

I and others have worked tirelessly for months on this sort of thing, so when I get comments from BR ex drivers (as on Saturday) with absolutely nothing positive to say apart from tail lamps missing (for the same reasons as above) it’s pretty demoralising.
 

On a general note I understand the show went down well, but given the rocketing cost of fuel and other rising costs I very much doubt HLJ will be out again so I hope it was enjoyed by those who saw it. 
 

Simon 
 

Simon, I tried to phrase it in a constructive way because we guessed it was a work in progress and things that might be missed in the huge list of jobs to do   The comment about drivers not walking very far is an in joke because sometimes they parked so close they couldn’t hear you on the phone because of the loco!

As I said it was well worth the trip, I actually was there Friday and Saturday paying for a £10 ticket both days and encouraged others in my post so it wasn’t negative. Yes those of us who work on the railway noticed a few things but look at it more as those are the details to ice the cake. 
 

On 09/04/2022 at 20:12, PaulRhB said:

Certainly a festival of blue we enjoyed and the supporting layouts were top class too. Well worth a twelve quid on the door or a tenner advance ticket if you’re in the locality.