Something from the Fairford Branch

[pirouets]

Thanks Steve. I had a look but it was the 1975 copy which is a lot smaller.

 

I have had a Eureka moment. Whilst the site was down yesterday I read read some of the info I had and came across the following about the station building at Alvescot - "The station building was of a standard EGR design, although it differed from a all the others in being built of brick, rather than the local stone."

 

My problem is I cannot see 2 sides of it from the pictures I have BUT if I go and look at pictures of Lechlade, Brize Norton and Fairford I can use those pictures to get a very good feel for the building.

 

This now means I can place the weightbride hut which is visible, because that aligns with the end of the station building, which in turns means I can get the end of the siding that fed the yard area.

 

So what's next?

 

I'll get the plan onto the boards in the next couple of days and I can start looking at creating a drawing of the buildings with the exception of the shed by the goods loop which will take more time.

 

As far as the landscape area behind the goods siding, I think that piece even if I do not get a clear picture, I can create a representation of.

 

Track laying though will not start for a couple of weeks as I do noy have the money for the track and point motors at the moment.

[pirouets]

I had a succesful day finding pictures yesterday, including one of the entrance to the station building.

 

As mentioned in a previous post I did my first track plan, which I laid out on the board last night.

 

 

The problems with this are

 

1. The freight loop is really small

2. The siding starts to encroach to far into the station area

 

So, what to do if I want to stay with 1 board. I have done V2 with a double slip to replace 2 of the points which gives the plan a bit more space. (But I no longer have 5 points which was one of the 5's)

 

 

 

My other option would be to build a second 5 * 1 board. This would mean I had 6ft for the model and a 2ft traverser at each end.

 

Tracklaying is still 3 weeks away so I have time to work this out for now.

[pirouets]

For some reason I had this going through my head today, "Cecil was a caterpillar, Cecil was my friend...." and whilst this was bugging me I took another look on Google maps at Alevscot and realised that I can use this to get a load of the missing info I need about the site such as

 

How big is the mound that the Station Masters house sits on

What is the width of the site

What is the length of the site

Where are the tree's at the far end of what was the goods yards

 

I've pasted on the track plan, and will fix the back scene on in the next couple of days, but in the mean time a modern vesion of the above kids poem is:

 

"Google is a mapping tool, Google is my Friend..."

[pirouets]

The previous post I talked about Google being useful for a site survey so I though I would attach an the Station as it is today. This is 1 click from being fully zoomed in, but it has really helped me picture the site and how it blends in with the surroundings, plus I can back track in time in my head to work out how the trees at the goods yard end of the layout are likely to have been.

 

One question I am trying to work out is whether there was a house by the bridge over the end of the station as the pictures I have that look at the station building towards the entrance do not have another building poking out above them.

 

So did I get anything done during the down time. I think the answer is yes

 

After settling on the track plan, this has now been fixed to the board. A few PVA lumps but nothing that matters greatly as it wall all be covered.

 

The backscene has been added. The supports will get hidden as I plan to add a layer of card so the corners are curved. The supports will be used to hold a number of curved formers

 

A look down the proposed line

 

Finally I have made the fiddle yard frames. The plan is to use dra runners on these. Also as they fold under the board, I will add 10cm legs to them so that they keep the track off the floor, and should any damp build up in the shed, the fiddle yards are off the floor

 

I ran out of wood, but each fiddle yard will have a leg that can be fixed to it to hold it up.

 

I have to say when I started with a 5*1 board I though this won't be that big but actually its 9ft long with the fiddle yards. As result I will probably have to remove the "cumberland road" element of my shed layout as I think it is not totally practical to bring it in the house every time I want to do some modelling.

 

Over the next 10 days or so the plan is to mock up a few of the buildings and start working on the templates for the actual models.

[Jamie]

This looks very nice Steve, it's got that economy of trackplan and feeling of space about the model already.

Must add it to the 'watched threads' list.

[Neal Ball]

Quick progress on this, very impressed! Have found one page from the Middleton book about Alvescot. Not sure if you can get access to your messages! - I tried to send you another one, only it would not work. send me an email and I can send you the page. It's already scanned so easy to add as an attachment.

 

Regards,

Neal.

 

neal at neal ball dot co do uk - obviously no spaces!

[pirouets]

I have finally started getting on with this and the track is now laid, and ready to be wired up tonight. I am still looking at improving the way the track is held down as the pins are a nightmare to get in to MDF

 

I've also created a mock up drawing of the station building which I will do to see if I have the dimensions OK

 

My biggest challenge will be the ground levels as on the real thing the shed in the yard area is on the platform, and the ground comes up to the platform. If I do that on this model I will have a 10mm drop to the coal line on the other side which will look quite steep.

[pirouets]

I've been thinking about this layout in the context of my shed layout as well. One of the challenges will be to get this completed if we have some building work done which will mean that where I do everything currently will nt be available. Ideally I do not want to have to trudge it in and out of the shed every time, and the current layout set-up means it cannot fit.

 

Given some of the design issues I have with my Wycliffe layout, I am pondering whether to start to dismantle Wycliffe in its current form so I an insert Alvescot as part of the main layout as shown here

 

 

The idea this then gave me is that I could actually have modules that insert in front of the fiddle yard, whilst being removable when I need to fix things in the fiddle yard. (Also, I do love a good set of bare boards)

 

I'm not going to rush into this but I do have an idea of do a freelance version of Yarnton Junction. I'll mock up a few ideas and post via the other thread.

[Simon Moore]

I will be watching this one i remember stumbleing accross the fairford branch website & i really enjoyed reading about it. It looked a lovely little line & it's something i always thought of modelling. Their are some lovely trackplans & buildings along that line & it would be intresting to see modelled. I belive someone has built fairford i think if memory serves its on the gwr website.

 

Simon.

[pirouets]

Nothing worth posting pictures of but over the last few weeks I have fixed the track down. Given I did not want to use pins in the long term, i have dibble super glue in every so often, and the track is firmly in place now.

 

Wiring is underway and this morning I connected up all the main feeds. I don't have a control panel yet but I can now do a test of each section. I am also starting on wiring the double slip and installed the point motors, though I may have one of them slightly out of alignment.

 

On the other had, I have found a copy of "The Fairford Branch" by Stanley Jenkins for a mere £12. Until recently this book was on the web for in excess of £40, but an of the chance search found a seller, and it has 2 key pieces in it

 

1. Drawings of the station building

2. A picture looking down Alvescot that I have not seen before that shows the mound between the platform and the road out of the station yard, so I have a much better view of how that will look.

[pirouets]

Had a good flick through the book last night and found loads of info that I was not aware of including

 

1. I now know the dimensions of the station building and the platforms. With the platform being 250ft I think by sheer fluke I have got the platform size marked up just about correctly.

2. I need to model a cattle dock which is next to the lock up shed in the yard. The pictures I found had not showed this at all.

3. Class 57's were a staple loco on the line in the 50's, and class 45's and 14xx made the odd appearence so I have the core loco's I need. I will get some pictures of a class 74xx as they seemed to be the other staple loco.

4. Time wise I will set this around 1951 as the skim through the book shows that is the post war peak where as by the eraly 60's there was only 1 freight train a day beyond Witney.

[pirouets]

Its so simple, thats why I have not thought of it before. I don't need to rip any of my existing layout apart to make it easier to put Alvescot up. Instead I can buy some of the adjustable shelving you get from B&Q and simply sit the layout above Cumberland road. When I am not working on the layout it can just go back into storage underneath.

 

I'll pop into a DIY shop on the way home and should be able to do this tonight. It also gives me a way of putting up the fiddle yards as well in the shed.

 

I don't think the stuff is that expensive so hopefully SWMBO won't mind when I turn up with these bits and bobs when I get home.

 

I should be able to post a picture of it later as I can knock this up in about 20 mins.

[pirouets]

And here it is, fitted in the shed. Took a whole 8 mins to fit. I think this will help get the layout done as I won;t have to bring it into the house each time.

 

 

[Mikkel]

That's a very neat solution Steve, I just might steal the idea - thanks!

 

Looking through your older posts I was fascinated to see the site as it looks now in Google. A pity the Google Street View car didn't take a turn down the access road, it clearly passed very close by!

[pirouets]

This post is purely to give you a laugh because I CAN'T COUNT.

 

For some reason that I am still trying to figure out, when I change 2 of the points to a double slip to save space, in my head I decided I needed one less point motor. Since that point U have laid the track and drilled all the holes for the motors, but only last night as I was working on the wiring did I realise I am stupid.

 

At about 9:45pm I turned in to Homer Simpson and cried DOH as I realised I was a point motor short. What a wombat.

 

At least it gives me an excuse to pop out at Lunch time.

[pirouets]

No picture updates, but a key 1st test tonight. All the track except through the double slip was checked and found to be working OK. I need to work on the point motor wiring over the next week or so, after which I can hopefully add the double slip and run trains where ever I want.

 

My biggest problem is resisting the issue to start on building any scenery on here at the moment. I'm not going to do that until the track is OK, point motors working and ballasting done for the main line. Then and only then will I start on the ground levels.

[pirouets]

Does starting on the buildings count as scenery, in which case I have failed since my last post. The drawings in the fairford barnch book have a scale on them which means I have been able to make a template for the station building on the computer, which in turn I have now printed and stuck on to some card I have. (Back of an A4 pad)

 

 

On key thing is that for the first time I have attached a sub base under the building so I can bed it in to the scenery, rather than plonk it on. Apparently that's a good thing to do.

 

I am also looking at how to make the bridge and start putting that in place. My debate is whether to cut up a peco girder bridge side to the right size, or try and make the sides from card.

[pirouets]

Since getting this ready yesterday another question has been bugging me. How do I use scalescenes paper to cover this without having visible joins, so my theory is going to be this.

 

Cut out each piece and then cut wout the window holes

Cut out 1 long strip brick work

Fix the first piece in place and cut the holes in the brick paper for the windows.

Add windows to that piece

Fix that piece to a floor structure

Then move to the next peiece and repeat, and folding the brick paper round.

 

Ideally this means I should be able to do the side facing the front of the layout all the way round to the other side of the building with 1 piece of brick paper, and have the join to the next piece of paper at position where the drain pipe will come down, rather than at the edge of each piece of paper.

 

We shall see how this idea goes. I'm going to have to be patient in doing this building.

[Worsdell forever]

When making larger buildings that have to have joints, I always try to put the joint where a downpipe will go. I did this with the brick work on Pease Row on Felton Lane. (the joint is behind the downpipe left of centre)

[pirouets]

I found the following windows at Ally Pally and they are just about the right size.

 

 

So got started on the station building

 

 

The windows at alvescot are deeply set, rather than being close to the front of the brick work so I used some of the card off cuts to create the depth

 

 

And the windows in gives this look.

 

Oh, if you are wondering why the brickwork goes down so far, the building will be embedded in the scenary. The plan is to build the platform and land around the buildings.

 

Over easter my aim is

 

1. Get the main building shape finished

2. Get the lintels and window sills added.

3. get the double slip fired up

4. Get the card for the platform base

5. Start on the control panel and if possible have the wiring jerry rigged to test the track and point motors

 

Hmmmm, not to much to ask then

[Mikkel]

Hi Steve, that wall looks good (what a strange sentence ). The brickpaper from Scalescenes is very convincing. This is printed on a standard printer?

[pirouets]

Sorry for the slow reply. It was printed on a very old hp2110 colur printer. I've been quiet on the posting front lately as with the better weather, my golfing mojo has been re-loacted, but back over the easter weekend I said I was going to

 

1. Get the main building shape finished - Pass

 

2. Get the lintels and window sills added - Pass, and have got a bit further since

 

 

 

 

3. get the double slip fired up - FAILED

 

4. Get the card for the platform base - Failed

 

5. Start on the control panel and if possible have the wiring jerry rigged to test the track and point motors - 5/10

 

 

Part of the reason is that over easter, this got knowcked up

 

 

At some point I do need to start on the electrics, but for now I am going to carry on with the basic land form, and buildings. I just need to find another card board box that I can cut up for the gentle slope at the other end of the layout and the embankment by the track.

[pirouets]

I some how doubt this layout will get finished as I have spent the last weeks planning to let builders loose in the house. However I have finally got back to this and added the front bank to the layout

 

 

I found a small amount of mod roc as well so have started to form the slope, but need 2 more rolls to finish all the land form.

 

 

I am also going to redo the station building by bashing the peco kit. If I trim the ends to create the end roof slope the basic fabric of the kit it just about right. I have also bought the Farish pagodo as that is probably a building to far.

 

 

 

Well see how my modelling mojo gets on over the next few weeks. If I can get 3 things done by end of July I have a chance

 

1. Complete the basic land form

2. Wire the layout

3. Main station building

[Mikkel]

Hi Steve, good to see some progress. Looking forward to seeing the kit-bash of the Peco country station, I've always fancied having a go at the OO version myself.

[pirouets]

Had a few good evenings on this recently and tried out kitchen towel and PVA for the scenic base. So far so good I think. There are a few points where the slope is stepped on one area where it will matter, but on the embankment by the line I don't care as it will be covered. I also liked the fact that it was less mess than plaster bandage.

 

Work has started to cut some card for the platforms but I still need to create the slope to the right of the bridge

 

 

There is supposed to be a house between the bridge and the station entrance, but I am debating whether to leave that out as an item sacrificed by the compression.

 

 

Looking the other way it just looks white currently, so I think trip to B&Q for a couple of eaarthy coloured tester pots is comiing.

 

 

I've also started on the first tentative steps at bashing the peco station building. I have sliced of the top of either end and cobbled a toilet block together. My next job will be to play with the roofing

 

 

I still have to pick up the courage to wire this at some point. May be next week