A layout in progress, slow progress...

Hi Keith

Thanks for the feedback. I hadnt appreciated that the split took place at Shrewsbury……….I guess I need to consider running less carriages on those routes.

I can see from the Timetable there are regular stopping trains to Manchester that pass through Chester. Some start there but others come from Oswestry or Barmouth

I see that will have to spend a lot more time trying to distill all this information into a manageable format

I suspect I may have more queries……hope its ok to keep pestering you :lol:

Best wishes

 

Hi Keith.  I have just been looking at the tunnel construction, and I never thought that it would be as dark as that.I had imagined that you would have employed a cardboard tube painted black, with my planks I cannot follow your example which doesn’t fix the problem of daylight. But I will keep at it. Best wishes Kevin

[user=1801]Passed Driver[/user] wrote:

Hi Keith.  I have just been looking at the tunnel construction, and I never thought that it would be as dark as that.I had imagined that you would have employed a cardboard tube painted black, with my planks I cannot follow your example which doesn’t fix the problem of daylight. But I will keep at it. Best wishes Kevin

 

That's the trouble with them tunnels, just like the underground, it's dark inside!

Just change it for a bridge Kevin with a road running over it, like Terry's at Farleigh.

http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=15905&forum_id=181&page=17 post 335, second photo.

Bill

Appologies to Keith for  :off topic post.

Hi Keith.  Thank you for your reply. What you are saying is true, but Terry’s Farleigh  is a bridge, I wish that I had thought of that. But my single plank evolved into two planks clamped together with a tunnel or bridge.Best wishes Kevin 

First I was Nigel, now I'm Keith!

 I need to lie down with a split personality. Is there a doctor in the house?

Confused of La Loire

How are you these days Nikeith. Hope the voices have stopped.  ;-)

[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:

How are you these days Nikeith. Hope the voices have stopped.  ;-)

Most unusually for me, must be the cold weather and/or after effects of the Covid jab, I have actually had a major tidy-up of the floor following the 3-aspect signals exercise. It took a while, but the loft looks a lot better now, but of course I’ll not be able to find anything for weeks. Just have to get out the track cleaners now, then the trains can start running again, and then possibly I’ll tidy my ‘work bench’…. but first the correspondence…..

Keith

S’mae John

Pester on John – nothing I like more than rambling on about timetables!

Trains from Barmouth and Oswestry of course join the main line north of Shrewsbury, so would then go via Chester. By ’61 there were no through services to Manchester from Oswestry/Barmouth, only connecting services. Travelled the line from Barmouth across to the main line in my trainspotting days, one of my favourite trips…. happy days. Since moving to Wales we have walked sections of the line between Penmaenpool  and Morfa Mawddach.

Incidentally there is a picture in the Gallery of the milk train en route to the processing plant, held at the Hooton down starter while the fat controller sorted out which loop under Woodside it should use.

Keith

S’mae Kevin

I always put tunnels on a section of curved track – mainly because the low level tracks have to be lit so I can see what’s going on. The curve helps reduce any light from the lower level.  You’ll sort it eventually - that’s what I keep telling myself every time I hit a problem, and so the list of unsolved problems grows…..

Keith

S’mae Bill

I’d prefer Confused of Walton, I know where that is….. apologies unnecessary.

Keith

Hi Keith.  I have everything in boxes, tool box, and one for Bachmann, one for Hornby, one for All sorts? But I keep loosing things or I forget to put them away. I am still awaiting an appointment for my Covid-19 jab.You mentioned your 3 aspect signal, are they controlled, semi, or auto. Best wishes Kevin 

You should know me by now Kevin - just simple switches, the only control is by my finger!  Keith

[user=1798]Woodside[/user] wrote:

S’mae Bill

I’d prefer Confused of Walton, I know where that is….. apologies unnecessary.

Keith

 

I can also do that as well Keith and can stll remember the area with great affection. Is Walton Hospital still there?  :)

Best,

Bill

Hi Keith.   Thank you for your reply. There was something else that I forgot, it is about track cleaning, what do you use and how do your tracks stay clean? As your layout looks like it would take a lot of cleaning. Best wishes Kevin 

S’mae Bill

You have set me off on a nostalgia trip…..checking the Interweb, yes, Walton Hospital is still there as a major neurology hospital. In my neck of the woods, Broadgreen is now a teaching hospital, Alder Hey continues as the childrens hospital, but Sefton General which I used to pass as I cycled down to Hattons shop is no more. I well remember Mr Hatton always chastising me for leaning my bike handlebars against his plate glass window!….. memories… memories…

Cofion

Keith

S’mae Kevin

I’m a big fan of the Dapol track cleaner – in vacuum cleaner mode rather than the track cleaning discs, as they tend to catch on some of the springs in code 75 points and the fixed felt pad alone does a decent job of cleaning the track. As mentioned already I’m now trying the Gaugemaster/Pico version. Latest thinking is to run around first with the Gaugemaster, followed by the Dapol in vacuum cleaner mode. About 140 yards of track on the layout, but all train movements are short with no use of the available continuous loop, so the track gets dusty rather than dirty – which is where the Dapol is most useful.

Cofion

Keith

Hi Keith. Thank you for your reply. Even though my planks are only four foot long, I fancied an extra freight wagon in the guise of a “ knock off “ oil tanker cleaner, I did import a brake van kit from Scotland, with a roller and kitchen towel which I had to rebuild as a nondescript open wagon after it fell off the baseboard and smashed to smithereens. Best wishes Kevin 

  Kevin, apologies for the delay, to date I’ve only had one incident of a fall from the layout – the English Electric type 1, plus associated wagons, after a derailment on the back line of the fiddle yard. Fortunately the piles of ‘stuff’ under the layout broke the fall, so just very minor scratches. Sometimes being totally disorganised has hidden advantages – that said, one of the wagons which followed the type 1 to the floor was only found a few months later when I was sorting through the boxes looking for something…..


  Keith

Right, it has taken rather longer than I had hoped, but all track on the layout has now been cleaned thoroughly – first time for at least a couple of years, probably longer. On almost the whole layout there was space to move stock as each section of track was cleaned – apart from the North side of the fiddle yard, with only a relatively short head shunt, I had to remove the stock from the first three roads, after cleaning they could be used to hold stock from one of the three longer roads, once all three were cleaned the stock was returned to the first three roads.

I did try the two cleaners together with an engine each end, but still not that successful on the steeper gradients – and so ended up taking the Gaugemaster around all the important (regularly used) trackwork first, to give that a really good clean. That worked well, but still the occasional problem at a couple of points, where the end of the spring caught on the pad – eventually the pad assembly came adrift. Not a problem, as it is only glued onto the base. With that finished, time to ‘hoover’ all track with the Dapol unit, keeping the track cleaning fluid topped up in the reservoir, so now all the track has had a good clean and polish. Amazing how much fluff, loose ballast and the odd corpse it collected:



… this was from Woodside station, and the main line down to Hooton Station and sidings, the loops under Woodside and on down to, but not including, the fiddle yard.  With the Dapol cleaned, it then tackled the fiddle yard, Woodside marshalling yard, goods depot and engine shed. Another impressive collection of rubbish, I’m beginning to think that the last clean was rather more than two years ago….

Finally, after sorting out the status of all trains on the layout, the first train, since last September, the 3.53pm all stations from Helsby behind a Fowler tank, pulled into platform 1….



…. and so the trains are running. I fancy it may be a month or so now before I start on the next ‘job’ – there are plenty to choose from! There again it would be nice to finish off the ’61 run and then get back to ’55 – ’56, West Kirby branch open….. 1400 tank, just to see how the layout, particularly Hooton station, copes with the additional traffic. The green bits may yet have to wait a little longer.

Keith