A layout in progress, slow progress...

Hi Barry.  I hope that I am not jumping into someone else’s thread unwontedly ( is that a word?) well I’m certain you know what I mean. Green Bits if I ever get any green bits on Inglenook Junction I will be surprised, as I have never had any before, I just like playing trains. So far I have only got the minimum of Ballasting. Although I have seen a lot of Railway videos with just plain woodwork, probably waiting for their viewing figures to climb to hundreds of thousands and receive more contacts on their channel.    Hi Keith you have enough Green Bits which is very good indeed, but, it is a pity that you cannot show it, as you would be very popular and have a strong following of fans. Best wishes to everybody. Kevin

S’mae Kevin

Usual apologies for the slow response –are you sure you’re thinking about Woodside? – yes, there are green bits on Woodside, but just that….  green painted plaster with a few iffy early attempts at trees, and random bits of lichen, hardly what I’d consider as scenery in any sense of the word. On the layout all the green bits are around Hooton station and the main lines to the fiddle yard and Birkenhead, which is as it should be….back in the day I don’t think I saw anything green when visiting 6C shed on a Sunday other than the Corporation bus which took me down to Liverpool Central (Low Level). Hooton, on the other hand – that was out in the country – fields and all. I took this a couple of weeks back when trying to get a general view of some of the layout green bits, with some background, and no bare baseboard showing, just to imagine how the finished article might look.



That is this long distance milk train (Shrewsbury via Granby Junction to Birkenhead) behind a Hall, waiting in the goods loop on the approach to Birkenhead for access to the yard. Made me think I really should get on with the scenery, regrettably that lasted for all of ten minutes – and then I got back to the serious business of running the timetable.

Keith

Hi Keith.  Apart from the distant background, my Inglenook is plain, you don’t get trees or shrubs and not much grass growing in the middle of a Railway yard . Which means that I have got to deal with the foreground, but, I don’t know what buildings, apart from a signal cabin, a PW hut, lamp mans hut even a coal yard which would mean a level crossing, and now it’s getting silly. Best wishes Kevin 

  S'mae Kevin – Apologies for the usual delay… not much grass growing in a Railway yard? Rather depends on the era that you are modelling. Back in my trainspotting days (late 50’s) I seem to recall the buffers at the end of any siding were usually surrounded with lots of greenery including ryegrass, thistles and a forest of Rosebay Willowherb, which was slowly advancing up the track, and seeding just about everywhere else.

  Keith

  Another one of those days in the loft at the start of the week… while shunting the stock for the 4.24pm all stations to Woodside from Chester, a Stanier tank derailed in the least accessible section of the fiddle yard, the track and double slip immediately behind the turntable, I tried to move it, but with limited ‘handroom’ that wasn’t easy. The air had a distinct blue hue by the time I finally managed to remove the tank and two coaches, only to find that the tank was now minus a front coupling. Had to find it, as it could be on the track/wedged in a point or even worse the double slip, so after much muttering decided I’d have to remove the top board – first time in ages – to give me better ‘sight’ of the affected track. That was not easy with a malfunctioning right arm, but eventually the top board was off, and after a good half hour or so with torch and mirror I’d checked all the track – no sign of the coupling. I did however find a sand box and attached pipe which is now looking for a home.

   As for the coupling, the current theory is that it must have still been attached to the loco as it was removed, but fell off and landed amongst all those boxes and stuff – so as good as lost. A replacement coupling was now required…  I have a couple of packets of the Bachmann variety (straight and cranked), but none of Hornby equivalent – checked the web, only what appeared  to be older style larger couplings – so then tried the Hornby site which listed what looked like the same thing, but out of stock anyway. Anyone out there with the latest Hornby pack of couplings, are they the older, noticeably bigger, type? Back to the Bachman version, slightly shorter in overall length, but it would have to do, well not quite, as the triangular end appears to be ever so slightly larger than the Hornby equivalent. So I very carefully trimmed the end, taking care not to break the links to the body of the coupling, and at the second attempt produced a coupling which was a good tight fit for the Stanier. Satisfied that all was now well and after something of a struggle I eventually managed to get the top board back in place, and normal service resumed. A perfect end to a not so perfect day…. is it just me? - or does everybody have days like this?

  Keith

Oh yes mate… you are not alone. 
I'm sure I've told the story of having my brand new Grange fall off the layout. The cab separated from the rest of the loco and shot off under the gap between the skirting and floorboards never to be seen again! Tears, man… there were tears.

Well done for persevering. 

Back into running the timetable… you'll feel better 

You have my sympathy Keith…….I thought that sort of thing only happened to me! Just last week I was attempting an almost identical exercise n thousand miles away in my version of Woodside, attempting a loco exchange with two large prairies. The relieving loco lost its kadee coupling mount……took forever to find and remount. This hobby is undoubtedly great for character building!

Best wishes

S’mae Marty and John

This unseasonable settled spell of weather we’re having over here has meant more time spent outdoors than I would like…. finally decided I must get on with the correspondence, and then our fibre failed – no phone, no broadband! …at least it was back within the day.

Marty, you’re quite right, felt a whole lot better getting the trains running again, particularly with the rush hour now in full swing with no less than fourteen active train formations at various locations around the layout – that’s what the layout is all about. When I was fitting out the loft I made sure there were no holes at floor level, if something drops from the layout it must be on the floor somewhere. That said, a while back, when a freight derailed in the far road of the fiddle yard and all wagons fell to the floor (covered in boxes and all sorts of the usual stuff) I thought I’d collected all of them, but a couple of years later when looking for something I did find one more wagon amongst the boxes.

John, perhaps it is something to do with the location – ‘Woodside’ might be jinxed ….but we won’t let it beat us, will we?!

While I’m on, given that freight continued on the West Kirby branch until 62, I think when the milk empties return through Hooton on the way to Granby and Shrewsbury, I’ll detach a couple for West Kirby branch to be attached to a pickup freight to run later on or first thing the following morning.

Keith

Fibre! You've got fibre! Aye we can only dream of fibre while we sit at 'ome in pot 'ole in't middle of road. Seriously though, our fearless leaders called it a broadband roll out when we got fibre to the node and then got copper from there to the house, result? no change whatsoever, still as slow as ever.

Hi jack of thread finished and my apologies.  :)

S’mae Pete

No apology necessary, I know exactly how you feel having suffered with relatively expensive 10-ish meg via satellite for a number of years. Then, about four years ago BT (helped by some WG finance) installed 52meg fibre to premises in some rural areas, including Pennant. Upgraded a couple of years back to up to 300meg, we chose 150meg…. now 900meg is on offer…. no point in that for us, our grey cells can only just about keep up with what we’ve got.

The recent long spell of settled weather here has not helped with progressing the timetable, much more of this outdoor activity and I will have forgotten how I access the loft. At least those missing April showers have finally made a somewhat brief appearance today, so things could be looking up!

Keith
 

Looks like you'll have to a rain dance to get more modelling time.  ;-)

Hi Bill.  My original idea was a Portable Inglenook Shunting Puzzle, but then I had to support the lid, I purchased some supports but didn’t have enough space for them to work. And that is the only reason for a scenic break. And that is when I got the idea of clamping the second plank to it, of course a bridge is a good idea and I am working on that one. Which would be straight forward if I only had one tunnel portal. Best wishes Kevin

Hi Keith.  I have just gone over the bit about catching the springs of the Peco points. To avoid the “ sharp snap “ that one gets when the points throw, I have been removing the springs.  Best wishes Kevin 

Hi Keith.  I have never made a secret of my working life, on London Underground as a driver, train not tube which all changed , I had my first epileptic fit at forty years of age. No more worrying about running to time, no more timetable. But I do like seeing a model Railway with purpose following a schedule. And working signals   Best wishes Kevin 

  S’mae Pete

   â€¦.if you had seen my dancing you would know that that is not a good idea…..  Thankfully it was seriously wet here on Monday, showers yesterday and to a lesser extent today…. so a big improvement!

  Keith

  S’mae Kevin

  Post May 2……Methinks a case of crossed threads/posts here …. isn’t this one for my fellow Scouser Bill’s thread?
=======
Post 1 today
  Not sure removing springs is a good idea in all cases – at Woodside, I was having the odd problem of poor electrical contact with a couple of points with weak springs, the w-i-t system helps ‘hold’ the point in position.
=======
  Post 2 today
  For me a model railway needs a timetable – raison dêtre, if you like – but I totally understand that it’s not for everybody. Each to his own has always been my mantra!

  Keith

Right, with the aforementioned rain, a chance to get the 2P moving with the 5.00 stations to Rock Ferry, departing from Platform 3.



Always been a fan of the LMS 2P, a real looker in my books, sadly not really reflected in the ‘current’ model.  I remember back in the earlyish ’60s, following an article, in RM I think, to convert my Triang L1 (with ’Magnadesion’ if my memory serves me correctly) into a 2P. This was my first real project which remarkably turned out quite well.

On my return to the hobby I bought a new 2P, which turned out to be tender drive and then later the current model when they put the motor back in the right place, but sadly did nothing to improve the look of it. With the traction tyres it is difficult to get a smooth start, but once on the move it looks well. As for a 2P in Birkenhead, I know I really am stretching things beyond breaking point, but in my defence Llandudno Junction and Patricroft sheds had 2Ps almost to the end in ’62 – so there is just the chance one of those managed to end up on 6C, and was then called in to cover for local failed engine, and 6C forgot to give it back for a few days…… a vivid imagination, that’s all you need!

It will be easier when I start the ’56 timetable, back then Chester shed had no less than four 2Ps on their books… may even get the tender drive out for a run…. double headed 2P on a London train, now there’s a thought!

Keith

Hi Keith. Thank you for your reply. I had either read about it, or seen it online? I only tried it when one of my wire in tube points which was sluggish.  On the subject of “Cross Threads” ? I was answering your comment, maybe in the wrong place?  Best wishes Kevin

S’mae Kevin

On the subject of point springs, I’ve never be keen on removing them. I did get some spares from Bachmann many moons ago with a view to replacing a couple of sluggish examples…they’re still in the box.

Keith

Now, what follows this should have been posted last weekend….. but things didn’t quite go according to plan. Last Sunday our usual walk around the forest was in the final mile…. when I made an unintentional sudden directional change from forward to down, landing face down on a particularly stony section of the path. Lots of the red stuff, according to Margaret, which she removed while I stood there slightly disconnected from the real world. I have no recollection of events other than a close-up view of the ground just before I made contact, and thinking that this was not good. My specs, with new lenses just a fortnight earlier, now have a crack right across one lens. The following day, sporting the best black eye I’ve ever seen and assorted cuts and bruises I was checked over by the doc at the surgery – he reckoned I’d live, but the concussion could last for up to ten days.  Six days on, and still somewhat detached, I'm finally getting around to that post….

Apologies, but I’m on again about the timetable…. I intended to add this to the last post, but needed to check the times first.

Before the 2P left Hooton I had already assembled three trains queuing on the down line, all due to call at Hooton. First in the queue, and currently waiting beyond the three aspect at the tunnel before the junction is the 4.50 from Helsby to Rock Ferry due Hooton at 5.15/5.16.  During the rush hour a few trains terminate at Rock Ferry – no doubt because of the limited space at what was a relatively cramped Woodside Station site. Next in line is the 5.08 semi-fast from Chester to Woodside, due Hooton at 5.23/5.24, the tops of the coaches can be seen in the cutting in the photo of the 2P departing Hooton, and behind that in the tunnel up from the fiddle yard is the 5.10 from Stanlow and Thornton to Rock Ferry, due Hooton  5.25/5.28. I assume this last train is for the end of shift at the refinery at Stanlow. So on departure the 2P jumps the queue and heads straight for the loops under Woodside. The three on the down line will then take their turn. Whenever there is a queuing situation like this I always try to make sure only one train is ‘in view’ on the layout – wouldn’t look right to have trains queueing down the line. The 2P actually enters the loops behind the afternoon parcels from the Midlands which will soon be heading for Woodside, the 2P can then move up to the head of the loop and the 4.50 from Helsby can draw up behind. And so the timetable progresses.

Keith