Wantage Road 1880 4mm Broad Gauge

[lezz01]

No charge Charlie mate.

Regards Lez.

 

[Charlie586]

Trying to put the hawthorn body back together and fit on the chassis properly 

 

 

The motor is in the way a bit due to a small admin error 

 

 

Luckily the gear box pivots before the final stage (roadrunner +) , need to take out some of the lead beneath then reposition it properly. 

 

 

I've also been drilling holes through the pcb and baseboard. I got some brass pins cheaply from dunelm Mills, they were in the haberdashery bit, but there just not quite long enough which is a shame. So I'm going to solder scraps of brass pushed through as I did on the first board. I can wrap/squeeze the bottom end of these around wires underneath and put a dollop of solder on. Drilling took a while as did it by hand,  didn't want to risk breaking the pcb to cork join with the imitation dremel.

 

 

[Charlie586]

Felt really rough and headachey for last few days, but tested negative, so must just be some old fashioned bug/virus. 

 

Managed to do a bit of the wiring 

 

 

Droppers dropped through, then flipped board on its side/end

 

 

Most of it done,needs more feeds on far right and left in picture. The light switch is for changing polarity on the 2 frogs until I sort out a permanent way. I've sorted out the 2 holes for the top turnout switch to slide (on left hand side).

I've not put any isolating switches in  yet, but have tried to group the wires to make it easier when I get round tuit (famous last words)

 

 

I took a broken 4 way extension lead apart (as you do). I was surprised there was so much metal in I thought it would be wires. I'm not sure what metal it is, maybe an alloy or brass coated? Obviously it conducts really well so will come in handy. 

Anyway, I drilled a hole for the rod in picture to meet up with first switch holes that have pins dropped through. Hopefully I can get it moving to change the point temporarily with some combination of the bits above. 

Longer term I still want to use the signal box to change points, but realistically I could go off on a tangent for a year or so with that. Will hopefully do a bit more to track tomorrow. 

 

 

[Charlie586]

After the flurry of activity last week, things have slowed down a bit.

 

 

After wiring as much as I could, the board is the right way again and I'm doing top left corner. As usual, within minutes of the board being the right way up, stuff and junk started to accumulate on it.

 

 

The firebox sits properly now. The side panels look high, but aren't properly in place yet, holes need drilling in footplate for the pins to drop into (neither is the wonky boiler tube in its permanent position)

 

 

 

(Embedded pic from https://www.flickr.com/photos/124446949@N06/25588141017)

Although this isn't dewrance, its in a similar condition and the only photo I can embed in its cabless state. Anyway,  I thought the side panels were just lined, but I'm now thinking it's a raised moulding. I'll have a go at it ,I've got some scrap etch that's very narrow. Need to do the band on the firebox too. And everything else...

 

 

[Northroader]

Very doubtful it’s mouldings on the side panel,  just the “scarfing” on the lining out makes it look like that. I don’t want you overexerting yourself.

[Charlie586]

Thanks. I don't want to overexert myself either. It just looks like it has depth to it. Hopefully lining will give a similar effect.

[lezz01]

For molding solder thin 0.3/0.4mm brass wire then file it down until you have removed the curve from the top of the wire. Not an original idea I got it from Rice but it works.

Regards Lez.

[Charlie586]

Thanks Lez. That sounds like it would work better than just a strip of brass. I'll try it out sometime. 

[Charlie586]

My new printer arrived the other day

 

Photon mono x. The build plate is about twice the size of the old one which will come in handy for 40 foot carriages. I'm still playing around trying to find the best settings,mostly doing various parts from a v8 plv

 

I'll do a fuller post in next few days on the 3d stuff

 

But for now, I'm getting near the end of laying rails for this board 

 

 

so thinking about cracking on with the next board rather than ballasting etc

 

 

This is what passes for a track plan, it probably got lost on the thread when the photos went, so it doesn't hurt to repost. The boards so far have been 2ft 6 wide, going from left: board 1 the station, board 2 is the crossover before the goods shed. 

Next board will be longer to house the goods shed, another crossover and another turnout to go into the yard (downwards in pic)

There's a couple of tight spots (two red arrows on the left, where I might have over compressed the layout, plus I probably need more room for the yard turnout (right red arrow). I don't trust my scale plan, so I'm making a mock up of goods shed from a cornflake box and use the turnout templates to make a full scale plan (in 4mm obviously) that I can work out the board size from. What could go wrong?... 

[Charlie586]

 

Goods shed scale mock up. With the quite large broad gauge loading gauge, I checked it against the widest (or broadest) thing I've got

Inside, didn't really need the loading dock but I got carried away.

I've refound all the pictures of the goods shed along with some scale drawings of very similar ones. The only thing I'm really lacking is the distance between the roof trusses, but I'm sure I'll come across that in the year or two before I need it.

 

 

Mock up of next baseboard (sorry about clutter / junk). It has another crossover them a turnout beneath heading left (south, towards the yard and Wantage).

The board needs to be about 6 inches longer at top so there's enough clearance on goods shed. Another  foot is needed at bottom for extra point plus a bit of room so the point doesn't end on the wood bracing. The board shown is 2ft 6 so I need 4ft, which I luckily already have in both 9mm and 12mm ply, but both are a foot wide like the others. 

The diverging road on the left has a cattle dock / bank on the left (according to maps) in 1880 before the shed, later moved not sure when. I did think about trying to squeeze in another point to start before the goods shed instead of just after (there's a template, but not that clear in photo) but it would be over a join so not a good idea.

 

Clearance is a bit tight on crossing road, but it will just all fit.

I've got 5 metres of rail left, but that's nowhere near enough as each line needs 3 bits of rail. Unfortunately the broad gauge society ran out of rail a while ago and the new rail is more expensive than it used to be as the old stock was bought decades ago. 

 

 

[Mikkel]

Good to see another structure on the way. The mocked-up shed looks almost like a shoebox - there's a challenge for you, make an entire layout from shoeboxes 🙂

 

I've been trying for 5 mintues to work out what that tube is for!

[Charlie586]

2 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Good to see another structure on the way. The mocked-up shed looks almost like a shoebox - there's a challenge for you, make an entire layout from shoeboxes 🙂

 

I've been trying for 5 mintues to work out what that tube is for!

Thanks. I think someone did make a shoebox layout in the micro layout subforum. Probably from a boot size box rather than shoes.

 

Is this the tube?

Just a little led light, I thought I needed more light for the photo but didn't in the end. 

[Mikkel]

Ah, there's always a logical explanation, thanks. :-)

[MrWolf]

7 hours ago, Charlie586 said:

Thanks. I think someone did make a shoebox layout in the micro layout subforum. Probably from a boot size box rather than shoes.

 

Is this the tube?

Just a little led light, I thought I needed more light for the photo but didn't in the end. 

 

My first thought was War of the world's from 1953...

 

 

[Charlie586]

There's a definite similarity in design. The light's not as powerful though. 

[Nick Gough]

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one:

 

[Charlie586]

Yet still they come ...

 

There were a few other marses 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GWR_broad_gauge_locomotives

 

2-2-2 class near top and priam class.

 

Gnat (metropolitan) has to be the worst name ever given to an engine.

[Nick Gough]

1 hour ago, Charlie586 said:

Yet still they come ...

 

There were a few other marses 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GWR_broad_gauge_locomotives

 

2-2-2 class near top and priam class.

 

Gnat (metropolitan) has to be the worst name ever given to an engine.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a photo of a broad gauge Mars!

[lezz01]

I have a drawing of Venus. Isn't it the same class as Mars?

Regards Lez.

[Charlie586]

8 hours ago, lezz01 said:

I have a drawing of Venus. Isn't it the same class as Mars?

Regards Lez.

I think it's the same class,  but I know more about the later period than the early days. The drawing is possibly also in the Sharman 7mm drawings book, I've not got it to hand though.

[The Stationmaster]

Mars 1841 - 1868 2-2-2 Firefly Class   I think it was one of those rebuilt with a smaller driving wheel (6ft instead of 7ft) as amember of the Priam class.

[lezz01]

12 hours ago, Charlie586 said:

I think it's the same class,  but I know more about the later period than the early days. The drawing is possibly also in the Sharman 7mm drawings book, I've not got it to hand though.

Yes mate that's the one I have.  If you want it I'll scan it and send it to you in a PM.

Regards Lez.

[Charlie586]

15 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

Yes mate that's the one I have.  If you want it I'll scan it and send it to you in a PM.

Regards Lez.

Thanks Lez

I've got the book it's just not where I am  this week.

Not many of the earlier ones were left by 1880. I have always fancied building, or trying to build, Thunderer one day.

Charlie 

[Charlie586]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Mars 1841 - 1868 2-2-2 Firefly Class   I think it was one of those rebuilt with a smaller driving wheel (6ft instead of 7ft) as amember of the Priam class.

Thank you.

I ought to treat myself to the broad gauge society engines books, they cover the early years and there's a lot of early information that I don't know. 

[Nick Gough]

1 hour ago, Charlie586 said:

I have always fancied building, or trying to build, Thunderer one day.

Charlie 

Good luck with that one!