New Home
June saw the layout move from the Sheffield MRS clubroom to it's new location in the spare room of my new house. Work then paused for a month or so while I completed my University studies and got settled in at work. However I have now completed most of the scenic work and performed a complete electrical test.
Trackwork
Only thing of note is that the point motor on the central y-point has been replaced, with the MkII version of the ZTC DCC 302 point motor. This version is much easier to wire in than it's predessor, with a simpler layout which includes larger and more accessble soldering-pads. The faulty MkI has been consigned to the electronics box and at some point I'll contact ZTC about a possible replacement.
Ballasting
Ballasting is mostly complete with only the pointwork at the front of the layout requiring attention. The ballast has been weathered using an aerosol spray of Railmatch Frame Dirt, since ballast in the 1950s/60s was not the grey granite ballast used today.
Bridgework
This is scenically completed, including the addition of a blue-sky backscene to mask the fiddleyard beyond.
Platforms, Buildings and Platform Furniture
The footbridge (a modified Ratio kit) has been assembled and painted a in a drab and dirty colourscheme, not unusual to footbridges of this era. Scratchbuilding of the ex-GCR Type 5 signalbox has been postponed until after the October exhibition and instead will be using the Scalescenes Signalbox kit as a placeholder in the meantime. The station buildings have been detailed with period signs and posters. Gaslamps have been placed on the platforms too, though these are unpainted - being the Peco Modelscene type. Passengers have been placed strategically around the platforms and a Morris 1000 convetible (an Oxford Diecast product) is parked at the front of the layout with a workman attempting to look under the bonnet. A Hornby Skaledale Police Telephone Box ("Tardis") and public telephone box have also been placed on the layout.
Rolling Stock
I have recently purchased a second-hand Bachmann Ivatt Class 4MT 2-6-0 (for goods and passenger duties) and will shortly be acquiring a 2-car DMU to provide the main passenger service. This takes the current stable to two diesel locomotives, 2 steam locomotives and a DMU. All of which will in time be renumbered and/or weathered to represent locomotives familiar to the Sheffield area in the early 1960s.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Tasklist
Major Tasks (each require 2 hours or more to complete)
1. Install 3 remaining point motors and associated wiring
2. Complete control panel
3. Ballast those sections of track with point motors installed
4. Scrachbuild Signalbox
5. Install working semaphore signals
Minor Tasks (each require less than 2 hours to complete)
1. Resurface platforms
2. Add scenic ground cover
3. Construct and paint footbridge
4. Add remaining butresses to retaining wall
5. Paint retaining walls
6. Complete cosmetic additions to overbridge
7. Add scenic break (sky above bridge) to fiddleyard end
8. Add layout name totem to fiddleyard fascia
9. Install non-working signals
10. Add people and platform accessories.
1. Install 3 remaining point motors and associated wiring
2. Complete control panel
3. Ballast those sections of track with point motors installed
4. Scrachbuild Signalbox
5. Install working semaphore signals
Minor Tasks (each require less than 2 hours to complete)
1. Resurface platforms
2. Add scenic ground cover
3. Construct and paint footbridge
4. Add remaining butresses to retaining wall
5. Paint retaining walls
6. Complete cosmetic additions to overbridge
7. Add scenic break (sky above bridge) to fiddleyard end
8. Add layout name totem to fiddleyard fascia
9. Install non-working signals
10. Add people and platform accessories.
Friday, 9 May 2008
News
Point Control
There are 9 turnouts/points/switches on the scenic section of my layout. Those 4 towards the rear are controlled by wire-in-tube, however the 5 on the far side of the layout to the operator are/will be controlled via ZTC 206 DCC Point Motors. So far only two have been installed as ZTC have run out of stock but hopefully the remaining three will arrive soon.
These motors take their power directly from the track, with control being via the DCC handset. However the controller I am using (Bachmann EZ Command) does not have DCC accessory control capability. Fortunately these point motors allow for a manual overide to be installed, usually a push button, which causes the point blades to change position without the need of the dcc controller. On my layout these manual control takes the form of a Peco Passing Contact Switch, which when moved slowly provides a suitable overide control. This is mounted in the Peco leverframe which is mounted on my "control panel". More on that later.
Bridge Work
The bridge are largely complete now, with only the rear walls and coping stones to be added followed by suitable repaint for some of the plastic areas. The bridge was constructed from the following:
Buildings
There are currently three major structures on my layout. The first is the station building, the MS&LR pattern station as made by Metcalfe Models, which is a close enough representation of smaller stations in the Sheffield area. This was kindly built for me by Kieth, of the Sheffield MRS.
The second structure is the signal box. This is currently a Scalescenes kit, which came free with an early issue of Hornby Magazine. I enjoyed building this kit, of a fairly generic brickbased 'box and this is currently acting as a "placeholder" on the layout. In time I plan to replace this with a scratchbuilt model of a small GCR Type 5 signal box that is more typical of the South Yorkshire Joint Railway. Many thanks to the members of the Great Central Railway Society email group for assisting me with plans for both the signal box and other equipment.
The final structure is a small workshop/store, represented by the Skaledale Gasworks boilerhouse, produced by Hornby. I purchased this secondhand for £4.99 from a local model shop and I think it fits this role perfectly.
The next structure I plan to add is a footbridge. I have determined that the R076 Footbridge produced by Hornby, suitably repainted and modified will be suitable to fulfil both this role, and as an access point to the station from the road level of the retaining wall.
Platforms
These are built from Metcalfe Brickplatform kits. I have just finished building the central platforms and will in time resurface of the platforms with either textured paint or wetdry paper to give a more realistic effect than the printed tarmac effect card provided in the kit.
Ballasting
I have started the process of ballasting on the largest of the two scenery boards (the small end section being complete) but have so far only ballasted between the tracks, but not between the rails. This is so I can still lift the points and track sections if necessary when I fit the three remaining point motors.
Of course not all sections are requiring point motors (as most of the points are wire-in-tube operated) so these will be fully ballasted soon.
I discovered this method of ballasting at http://www.scenicmodelrailways.com/modellingtips.html
Other Scenery
In addition to ballast I have been busy deploying dark brown scatter material to act as a soil base layer, with varying shades of green scatter on top to represent undergrowth. This will be completed once the rest of the ballasting in finished.
Fascia
I have painted the fascia of the fiddleyard and the scenic area of the layout a nice shade of Navy Blue gloss, which is a reasonable approximation in my view to "Easter Region blue". This makes the layout look overall less tatty and more "complete".
I have plenty of pictures of the layout still to upload so be sure to check back soon!
There are 9 turnouts/points/switches on the scenic section of my layout. Those 4 towards the rear are controlled by wire-in-tube, however the 5 on the far side of the layout to the operator are/will be controlled via ZTC 206 DCC Point Motors. So far only two have been installed as ZTC have run out of stock but hopefully the remaining three will arrive soon.
These motors take their power directly from the track, with control being via the DCC handset. However the controller I am using (Bachmann EZ Command) does not have DCC accessory control capability. Fortunately these point motors allow for a manual overide to be installed, usually a push button, which causes the point blades to change position without the need of the dcc controller. On my layout these manual control takes the form of a Peco Passing Contact Switch, which when moved slowly provides a suitable overide control. This is mounted in the Peco leverframe which is mounted on my "control panel". More on that later.
Bridge Work
The bridge are largely complete now, with only the rear walls and coping stones to be added followed by suitable repaint for some of the plastic areas. The bridge was constructed from the following:
- Wills Single-Track Road-Overbridge (salvaged from previous layout)
- Peco Plate Girder Sides
- Hardboard, with pine pse offcuts for supports
- Scalescenes Bridge Abutments Kit (dark brown brick variant)
- Scrap pieces of brick-card from the Metcalfe plaform kit to make up the walls at the top fo the bridge.
Buildings
There are currently three major structures on my layout. The first is the station building, the MS&LR pattern station as made by Metcalfe Models, which is a close enough representation of smaller stations in the Sheffield area. This was kindly built for me by Kieth, of the Sheffield MRS.
The second structure is the signal box. This is currently a Scalescenes kit, which came free with an early issue of Hornby Magazine. I enjoyed building this kit, of a fairly generic brickbased 'box and this is currently acting as a "placeholder" on the layout. In time I plan to replace this with a scratchbuilt model of a small GCR Type 5 signal box that is more typical of the South Yorkshire Joint Railway. Many thanks to the members of the Great Central Railway Society email group for assisting me with plans for both the signal box and other equipment.
The final structure is a small workshop/store, represented by the Skaledale Gasworks boilerhouse, produced by Hornby. I purchased this secondhand for £4.99 from a local model shop and I think it fits this role perfectly.
The next structure I plan to add is a footbridge. I have determined that the R076 Footbridge produced by Hornby, suitably repainted and modified will be suitable to fulfil both this role, and as an access point to the station from the road level of the retaining wall.
Platforms
These are built from Metcalfe Brickplatform kits. I have just finished building the central platforms and will in time resurface of the platforms with either textured paint or wetdry paper to give a more realistic effect than the printed tarmac effect card provided in the kit.
Ballasting
I have started the process of ballasting on the largest of the two scenery boards (the small end section being complete) but have so far only ballasted between the tracks, but not between the rails. This is so I can still lift the points and track sections if necessary when I fit the three remaining point motors.
Of course not all sections are requiring point motors (as most of the points are wire-in-tube operated) so these will be fully ballasted soon.
I discovered this method of ballasting at http://www.scenicmodelrailways.com/modellingtips.html
Other Scenery
In addition to ballast I have been busy deploying dark brown scatter material to act as a soil base layer, with varying shades of green scatter on top to represent undergrowth. This will be completed once the rest of the ballasting in finished.
Fascia
I have painted the fascia of the fiddleyard and the scenic area of the layout a nice shade of Navy Blue gloss, which is a reasonable approximation in my view to "Easter Region blue". This makes the layout look overall less tatty and more "complete".
I have plenty of pictures of the layout still to upload so be sure to check back soon!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Point Control
Best laid plans of mice and men...
When I initially planned the layout it was envisioned that it would spend most of its life at home, stood against a helpful wall, controlled from the front and with all points controlled by hand (pointwork consists of Peco Setrack Code 100). Therefore when the baseboards were designed and built and track laid no account was made for possible installation of pointwork controls of either a wire-in-tube or motorised nature.
...do often go awry.
As it turned out a couple of months later (October 2007) I was asked by the Chairman of my local model railway society if I could get the layout completed in time to appear at the next club exhibition (i.e. by August 2008). So then the ideas had to be revised a little: The layout would be controlled from the rear and some form of control system would be required in order to come to some semblance of exhibition standard. I decided therefore, after some research here and there, to install wire-in-tube control to the rear-most set of points (all installed now) and a more elaborate design involving controlling the points using stifwire connecting the tiebars of the pointwork and a stiffpiece of rod via an electrical slide switch (see First Steps in Railway Modelling, C.J. Freezer) for those points in the middle and far side of the layout. In fact last Thursday saw me trying to install the first of these with some difficulty...
Going Digital?
However at the 2008 Nottingham East Midlands Model Raiway Exhibition last weekend I stumbled across the ZTC Controls stand and saw a demonstration of a DCC Point Motor (ZTC 302 Point Motor). This is essentially a solenoid pointmotor with a built-in DCC accessory decoder and which takes power and commands directly from the track. Once you've attached it to the base of your points and soldered the little tabs to the side of the rails no more wiring is necessary unless you have Electrofrog points which requires a single extra wire from the motor to the track to change the frog polarity when needed. If like me however your current DCC controller lacks the ability to control accessories you can wire in a simple push-button manual overide to control the settings. At £12.95 these come a couple of pounds cheaper than getting separate point motors and decoders. After consulting with a fellow club member who was also at the show and who is my go-to-guy for DCC tips (He said that as I was building a DCC layout it would be a waste of potential to use just wire-in-tube control) I went to purchase one or two for my trial on my layout only to discover that the guy had sold out of the units that morning as soon as he opened. Apparently some guy came up and bought 20(!) of the 25 he had brought with him.
Not to worry though. When my next student loan arrives I think I'll set asside £30 to buy them online and have them posted to me.
When I initially planned the layout it was envisioned that it would spend most of its life at home, stood against a helpful wall, controlled from the front and with all points controlled by hand (pointwork consists of Peco Setrack Code 100). Therefore when the baseboards were designed and built and track laid no account was made for possible installation of pointwork controls of either a wire-in-tube or motorised nature.
...do often go awry.
As it turned out a couple of months later (October 2007) I was asked by the Chairman of my local model railway society if I could get the layout completed in time to appear at the next club exhibition (i.e. by August 2008). So then the ideas had to be revised a little: The layout would be controlled from the rear and some form of control system would be required in order to come to some semblance of exhibition standard. I decided therefore, after some research here and there, to install wire-in-tube control to the rear-most set of points (all installed now) and a more elaborate design involving controlling the points using stifwire connecting the tiebars of the pointwork and a stiffpiece of rod via an electrical slide switch (see First Steps in Railway Modelling, C.J. Freezer) for those points in the middle and far side of the layout. In fact last Thursday saw me trying to install the first of these with some difficulty...
Going Digital?
However at the 2008 Nottingham East Midlands Model Raiway Exhibition last weekend I stumbled across the ZTC Controls stand and saw a demonstration of a DCC Point Motor (ZTC 302 Point Motor). This is essentially a solenoid pointmotor with a built-in DCC accessory decoder and which takes power and commands directly from the track. Once you've attached it to the base of your points and soldered the little tabs to the side of the rails no more wiring is necessary unless you have Electrofrog points which requires a single extra wire from the motor to the track to change the frog polarity when needed. If like me however your current DCC controller lacks the ability to control accessories you can wire in a simple push-button manual overide to control the settings. At £12.95 these come a couple of pounds cheaper than getting separate point motors and decoders. After consulting with a fellow club member who was also at the show and who is my go-to-guy for DCC tips (He said that as I was building a DCC layout it would be a waste of potential to use just wire-in-tube control) I went to purchase one or two for my trial on my layout only to discover that the guy had sold out of the units that morning as soon as he opened. Apparently some guy came up and bought 20(!) of the 25 he had brought with him.
Not to worry though. When my next student loan arrives I think I'll set asside £30 to buy them online and have them posted to me.
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the following people, groups and organisations for their assistance with both the background research, provision of supplies, teaching of skills and other contributions to my layout building efforts.
- The Sheffield Model Railway Society, of which I have been a member since September 2007.
- The Leicester Model Railway Society, of which I was briefly a member before moving to Sheffield.
- John of ACME Model Railways, Sileby.
- The staff of TAGS Modelshop, Sheffield.
- The members of the Great Central Historical Society and Great Central Railway email groups.
- My loving fiance and my understanding housemates for tolerating my railway modelling clutter.
Building The Signalbox
I intend to scratchbuild a Great Central Railway Type 5 signalbox, of the smaller 16 feet wide by 12 feet deep design. This is the type of 'box widely used on the South Yorkshire Joint line as the GCR provided the signalling equipment when the line was built in the mid-1900's. Even when the LNER opened the line to Firbeck and Haworth colliery in 1929 they decided to use this design. This makes a box of this style far more plausible to use on the layout than any of the kits available on the market currently.
This section will be expanded when construction on the box begins and I will provide an illustrated guide to it's construction.
1. Design Drawings
I am indebted to Shaun Sanders of the GCR Signalling and Telegraph department for providing drawings of the larger Type 5 'box as at Ollerton Colliery (22feet x 12feet) and the smaller Type 5 that I am using for Wickersley. Sadly I cannot republish them here as they are currently not in the public domain.
2. Card Mock-Up
The drawings were however not to 4mm:1ft scale (or 1/76th full size) so after a quick bit of math and the use of Paint.NET imaging software I managed to resize the image and printed off two copies (the drawing I was using had only the front and left elevations). I then affixed the drawings to some card and cut out the elevations carefully with a craft knife. I stuck the sides together with masking tape and I was left with a reasonable approximation to how the signalbox would look. When I placed it on the layout during the last building session it confirmed my idea that it was just the right size.
3. Materials & Planning
The next stage of course is to figure out how I will build the 'box and the materials required. I'm currently expecting a copy of the January 2008 Railway Modeller which featured an article about scratchbuilding a GCR box, although one of a pre-1900 design (So it should really be a MS&LR box) that was almost certainly not used on the line I want to depict.
This post will be updated with pictures and a step-by-step guide as to how I built the signalbox.
This section will be expanded when construction on the box begins and I will provide an illustrated guide to it's construction.
1. Design Drawings
I am indebted to Shaun Sanders of the GCR Signalling and Telegraph department for providing drawings of the larger Type 5 'box as at Ollerton Colliery (22feet x 12feet) and the smaller Type 5 that I am using for Wickersley. Sadly I cannot republish them here as they are currently not in the public domain.
2. Card Mock-Up
The drawings were however not to 4mm:1ft scale (or 1/76th full size) so after a quick bit of math and the use of Paint.NET imaging software I managed to resize the image and printed off two copies (the drawing I was using had only the front and left elevations). I then affixed the drawings to some card and cut out the elevations carefully with a craft knife. I stuck the sides together with masking tape and I was left with a reasonable approximation to how the signalbox would look. When I placed it on the layout during the last building session it confirmed my idea that it was just the right size.
3. Materials & Planning
The next stage of course is to figure out how I will build the 'box and the materials required. I'm currently expecting a copy of the January 2008 Railway Modeller which featured an article about scratchbuilding a GCR box, although one of a pre-1900 design (So it should really be a MS&LR box) that was almost certainly not used on the line I want to depict.
This post will be updated with pictures and a step-by-step guide as to how I built the signalbox.
Friday, 29 February 2008
The Thursday Update
Hello. Tonight I've finished building the base-structure of the bridge, made from hardboard and offcuts of softwood and have also completed the fascia of the central board. The main structure of the layout is now largely complete, with only a small patch of hardboard needing to be added to the far left of the layout to complete the fascia.
Next week I plan to use expanded polystyrene offcuts to fill any gaps in the bridge structure and also add the front-edge wire terminals. Since these are relatively minor tasks I plan to spend the rest of the night having a running session. Once everything has been tested, only the rest of the point controls need to be added before the scenic work can begin in earnest. Next Thursday can't come soon enough!
Next week I plan to use expanded polystyrene offcuts to fill any gaps in the bridge structure and also add the front-edge wire terminals. Since these are relatively minor tasks I plan to spend the rest of the night having a running session. Once everything has been tested, only the rest of the point controls need to be added before the scenic work can begin in earnest. Next Thursday can't come soon enough!
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