Progress (or otherwise) on Jeff's new layout

After a conversation with a friend, recently, I decided to experiment with a bridging section for the curved bit along the viaduct. I had originally envisioned it as being a solid embankment or wall section, but we talked about another lattice or girder bridge to leave the view more open.

With that in mind, I have used mostly recycled bits and pieces to create a deck with plate girder supports. I have used six plastic tube sections as supporting posts here but if I did build it properly, these would not be required, or possibly just the two centre ones if I want something different. The ends would be on buttress supports from the arches on either side. The deck would be wider on the "production" version too.

As a way to visualise the effect, it works quite well. I like it, but would welcome any comments too.

Certainly the ends of the truss bridge can be supported by brick/stone supports but the middle posts should be thicker.
It does open the viewing up nicely.

Thanks Ron. I do have some round wooden dowel that would be a better diameter for the supports. I do like the overall effect here but it does need refinement to make it look more convincing.

Hi Jeff

Knew I'd seen something similar many years ago with a bridge supported by large steel cylindrical pillars.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4626065,-0.1130291,3a,75y,307.38h,91.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smrV4M6yHcm0Kwxoe2rhM4w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

They weren't blue then just dirty grey and the walkway above the shops didn't exist I (if memory serves correctly), so the pillars were roughly in the middle of the span.


Ed

Thanks for that link, Ed. That does give an inspiration and shows that my thinking is not too far off being prototypical.

:cheers

Great idea !  Not sure the pillars are needed though ? We used to live very near a bridge like that over as river, It was supported at each end on stone supports but being over a river, nothing supporting the middle and it was a fair length bank to bank


Cheers

   Matt

No, I'm not too sure the pillars would be essential, but I like the idea of something breaking up the opening a little. The end pillars are purely for support of the temporary structure and almost certainly I wouldn't incorporate them into the final structure.

I had a running session on Saturday with just London Underground trains of various eras. The main aim was to show off the new S Stock train but also included the (also new) Heljan ex-Metropolitan Railway Bo-Bo electric locomotive No 8 Sherlock Holmes, hauling a couple of ancient Graham Farish coaches painted LT brown, and an earlier Bachmann model of an ex-GWR pannier tank, No L89 on a short engineers' train.

http://www.youtube.com/v/KWq3zlqCZuI?version=3

Some new arrivals on Newton Broadway: I have received two parcels this week just gone, one from Hattons and one from Rails.

One included two of Bachmann's new SR-style PMV vans, while the other contained a new Hornby BR (ex-SR) S15 4-6-0 locomotive.

The S15 has been run in on the rolling road on DC, then fitted with a Lenz Standard decoder. I have fitted the brake rodding, and fitted then removed the cylinder draincock pipes pending modifications to allow the bogie to swing further. The front steps will follow suit, with modifications if necessary.

It has only run a few circuits in 'revenue-earning' service, so far! Running with the BR blue vans is just possible as most of the S15s were withdrawn by 1966 while the BR blue was introduced just before that … whether any of the parcels vans had been painted blue before the S15s had gone is a little questionable, but it doesn't look wrong to me.






Also, I have been working on getting my London Transport 1920 F Stock train up and running (see my workbench thread for more details of the build to date). While the two trailer coaches have not yet been fully finished, requiring further painting and cleaning up of rough spots, and have no glazing in their windows, the four-car set has been able to run around the layout, and is seen here in Newton Broadway station.

The through the bridge shot of the four car unit is excellent ! Almost couldn't pick it out as a model shot , It looks like a warm sunny day on the station

                   :thumbs

Thanks Matt. I was quite pleased with that photo myself, although it will look so much more convincing once I can get some backscenes up (the curtains are a bit of a give away at the moment!). Unfortunately, that will have to wait until I have finished tracklaying and wiring along that back wall, for reasons of accessibility.

Encouraged by the success of that under-bridge photo of the F stock (but with anachronisms!), I have attempted to redo the shots with contemporary stock in each photo. 

First off is the F Stock again, with CO/CP Stock in the platform behind.






Now, the S Stock with a few non-Underground types in the background, including SouthWest Trains class 450 units, a First Great Western class 143, and an EWS class 66.

Here's a pair that could never have been seen together in this form in real life!

Both are models I have been working on recently (see more in my workbench thread), with a little more work still being required on both. The Maunsell diesel-electric shunter, 15203, still needs the four lifting loops on the top engine cover, plus a little more work on the rear cab stripes and a few more spots to fill and file. I did sit the body down on the chassis more, but it shifted slightly before the photos. Once the work is finished on it, I will do something about fixing the body and chassis more securely.

The 08, D3272, was a complete repaint and had sound fitted, plus some replacement bits and now merely requires a handrail to be fixed up and a couple of very minor paint retouches, before some weathering can be applied. I know I didn't quite get the numbers straight on one side of this locomotive, and while this did happen in real life, it doesn't look quite right on my model. I was more careful with the Maunsell numbering and used some masking tape to set a level under the transfers.

The two types did work together during the 1950s and early 1960s, but as the three Maunsell shunters were all withdrawn from service in 1964, they would not have been seen with BR blue class 08s - the blue came in at the earliest in 1966.

My Kernow Mdoel Railways O2 0-4-4T, 30182, has arrived and been run in on the rolling road on DC power, and ran perfectly on that. I fitted TCS EUN651 6-pin decoder with no problems - pin 1 is clearly marked on the socket, and the TCS diagram leaves no doubt as to which way the decoder is oriented.

Address 182 was allocated and CV3 set to 25 and CV4 to 20, which gives nice inertia and momentum effects.

I tested the loco around the layout light engine, through the crossovers and around the inner circuit in both forwards and reverse directions. No obvious binding was evident and it had no difficulties with my third and fourth rail. All good so far, apart from one minor glitch down to my own carelessness/stupidity (delete whichever is least appropriate!) - I fitted the front tension lock coupling upside down! Note to self: put reading glasses on when fitting small parts to locomotives.

Having fixed the coupling correctly, I then placed 30182 on the short parcels train the S15 had been hauling - 5 four-wheel vans and a BR mark 1 BG. It was a little hesitant setting off with smokebox leading and eventually came to a halt in the tunnel on a curve. In reverse it had no problems at all bringing the same train out of the tunnel. I tried it bunker first and it romped away with the train. I had something of the same problem with one of my Bachmann E4 0-6-2 tanks not being able to pull the proverbial skin off a rice pudding on the default settings of its CT Elektronik decoder. It looks like I'll have to do a few tweaks to CVs, particularly with reference to BEMF settings (the coreless motor may even benefit from these being turned off completely) and also the pulse width. Methinks a session on Decoder Pro may assist with this,as I'll be able to save settings that work and recall them if necessary.




More on this later, after I have had time to tinker.

I have just tinkered a little more with my O2, concentrating on weight distribution. Incidentally, what I thought were springs on the rear bogie were, in fact, the electrical pickups.

I decided to add spacer for the bogie pivot, using a section of brass handrail wire. This gives a small amount of springiness, and if wound tightly around the chassis pivot, won't be in danger of shorting out the pickups on both sides. I experimented with a double wound spacer but that lifted too much weight off the rear driver, so a single circlet of brass is proving sufficient.

At the other end, I added a small rectangular section of lead, wrapped in insulation tape and glued lightly to the bottom of the smokebox interior.

Finally, I cleaned the wheels to ensure that any dirt built up from the imbalance was eliminated.

I reduced the test parcels train by one van (a Parkside kit) and sent it around. There was a small amount of wheel slip in both forwards and reverse orientations, so I seem to have cured the problem at the expense of slightly reduced hauling power in reverse, but stronger performance facing forwards. The parcels train is not exactly lightweight and has two Bachmann PMVs, a Hornby Van C (certainly not a free roller), a Bachmann/Invicta BR CCT, and a Bachmann Mark 1 BG.

It will certainly now cope with two or three free-rolling coaches.

Here's the O2, 30182, on a suitable Maunsell Pull-Push train Hornby coaches) with PMV (Bachmann) inserted in the set. The O2 had no problems with this light load and romped around the layout. The pics are chosen to illustrate various parts of the journey under its own power.

And one more of the O2, this time with the front coupler and pocket removed, and all the brake pipes and dummy screw coupling fitted. There was some digging through online photos to find out what pipes to fit and where they went, and a considerable amount of swearing, retrieving dropped pipes, pulling them off the forceps when they glued to those instead of the buffer beam, etc., etc.!
I intend this locomotive to be mainly for Pull-Push working, so thought it worthwhile to detail up the front as much as possible, something I also did to a Hornby BR M7 0-4-4T 30108 a while back, for the same reasons.

It is not practical to add all the buffer beam pipework to the rear of the loco as they would interfere with the bogie swing.




Next up will be to weather the pipework on the whole locomotive, and later on, weather more of the loco itself. Beautiful as those brass/copper pipes are, they are too clean and obvious for what I want on what is to represent a hard-worked example of the class.

I thought I had posted a few photos of the O2 tank locomotive with more weathering, but apparently not here. I haven't finished the job yet but it looks quite presentable and well-used so far.




And a sepia toned version that gives a more 'period' look to the photo:




The S15 has also progressed, and I put some finishing touches to it and the Sturgeon A Engineers' Department wagon, so both are in serviceable conditions fit for photographic purposes on the layout. I made a rail load for the Sturgeon A as well. 








Details and blow by blow accounts of all of these projects as they progressed are in my workbench thread.

Look what has also appeared at Newton Broadway: the new Rail Exclusive/Suttons Locomotive Works Derby type 2 (later class 24), D5000, with sound was delivered yesterday. I ordered jointly with through a friend, and both turned up on his doorstep just before Christmas. He delivered it to me personally as he also wanted to pick my brains regarding converting part of his layout initially to DCC, while keeping it safe from his split potential analogue system on his main lines.

Back to the bridge: I have now added an I-beam from Plastruct to one side, under the plate girder. In fact, I filed off the back of the I-beam, making it more of a shallow U-beam, or even a low-relief I-beam ! I like the effect overall, but I will have to do something about the exposed end of the beam nearest the camera.




An unaltered I-beam sits in the foreground.




As I said, I like the effect, perhaps with some vertical ribs added  out of plasticard strip. What do others think?

[user=321]SRman[/user] wrote:

…..As I said, I like the effect, perhaps with some vertical ribs added  out of plasticard strip. What do others think?

Looks good, I always find that theses plate girders need something more.
Defiantly some stiffeners/ribs would look right, especially at the ends and at the 'bend' points, they could also be added along the beams where secondary beams going across the under side of the bridge would meet this beam.

I was just about to post 'not really sure' Jeff, and the Aaron posted the above which seems to make perfect sense :thumbs


Ed