GWR/LMS OO Gauge DCC RR&Co

Look forward to seeing the Colletts again with their new roof colour. I can't recall, are you intending to change the livery on them too? Both are on my to-do list as well.

Hi Jon

You will see I also replied on your thread.

Over the years I have drawn up some rather loose parameters regarding livery……I try and have the appropriate loco livery for my 1948 time period…….predominately 1942-8 : GWR/G XX W but with a few shirt buttons and a couple of Great Westerns on some grubby 2-8-0s….I even have one or two interim British Railways.

I am far more flexible with carriages….I have to be running Hawksworths including the fictional Chocolate and Cream Brake Van!:oops:

I asked the question on RMWeb how long the Collet 1927 livery would have lasted and the expert opinion was that it would almost certainly not have been around after the war………to be accurate I should replace the current GWR with either a shirt button or Great XX Western and possibly adjust the lining:shock:  Not sure I have the skill levels to do that so I am invoking the flexible rule……but I will paint the rooves

I will be interested to hear what you plan to do

Kind Regards

Hi John,

I noticed an announcement that the new Collets were available, but didn't consider looking any closer at them until your thread and Jon's highlighted how good they are, being a big step up from the old Mainline/Bachmann Sunshine's we all know so well. I then discovered they are now sold out, but managed to secure a rake of three from a splendid modeller on ebay, who over ordered and was selling off his surplus at less than Hattons prices.

Sometimes it pays to sit and wait, ha!

They should look even better with grey roofs and careful hand painting will be fine.

Good luck,

Bill

Congratulations Bill……they are superb coaches, I am sure you will get a lot of use from them…..I know that I will!

Cheers

So back to the dairy.

All the wall components have now been glued together

This is the rail side frontage



Churns with fresh milk from the farms are on the receiving bay……..a guy moving them is just being painted.

Very little of the despatch area to the right will be visible because it will be screened off…….but 3 plastic wine corks sprayed silver will hopefully suggest whats going on




The reverse side……….the cut line ( mis-measurement:oops:] will be hidden by a drain pipe.

I find its quite tricky getting sharp corners using Slaters plasticard . I did think of using Wills ingenious corner quoins but felt that they wouldnt suit the character of the building. My solution is to mount the plastic flush on the backing card on one wall and leave it a few mm proud on the other……..once the building is set up I carve the surplus off with a scalpel blade and then paint out the raw edges…….these shots show unfinished corners:lol:


Here is the gable end



At first sight McPeters may sound an unlikely name for a dairy in North Wales but research has shown that the McPeters are a much travelled clan. With a farming background in Yorkshire, and apparently a branch in France, its hardly surprising to find a member of the family running a successful creamery in the Vale of Clwyd.

Any resemblance between the fictional owner of this dairy and a member (or heaven forbid…..a moderator :shock:) of this forum is entirely coincidental.:cool:





To be serious….for a moment …….I would really appreciate advice/comment on the font I am using for the dairy signs.  The signs have yet to be weathered. The intent is to have them look as though they were installed no later then the mid thirties and have not yet been repainted.

I originally looked at more elaborate fonts like Century but when I googled "Nineteen Thirties Fonts" the fonts displayed were far more simplified……..the intro credits to Poirot or the GWR shirt button are good examples.  So I selected HP simplified from Office Libre.

Seeing it on the building I am not entirely convinced, so any comments/suggestions will be most appreciated


Now moving on to railway operations. The last post had the two milk tankers from the dairy arriving at Granby to await the arrival of the daily 2.30pm milk train from Shrewsbury


Here we see the train hauled by 6818 Hardwick Grange approaching Granby Junction.





My Milk train routine will not be a roundy roundy. The down train, seen above, will stop at Granby and two filled tankers added to the head of the train. It will then proceed  to Birkehead ( the storage sidings )  where a loco exchange will take place. Thus a different loco will take the empty up train back in the reverse direction. The two empty tankers from the dairy will now be in the rear of the train and easily dropped off into a trailing siding at Granby.

Fortunatey it was common practice for the Brake Van not to be situated at the very end of the train. Automatically changing the loco in the storage siding is tricky enough ……changing the location of the Brake Van would be too much!





I do have a problem however with the brakevan that I use and again suggestions comments would be very much appreciated.

There are no GWR RTR brake vans available other than the fictional Hawaksworth which somehow doesnt look right anyway.

I have tried Sunshine and Celestory Brake thirds but again wasnt too happy

Currently I am using a Ratio 4 wheel coach with Shirescenes sides




It runs well but somehow it seems a little flimsy with a rake of up to 10 x 6 wheel tankers.

I have LMS Stanier brakes and a 6 wheel stove pipe. The Shrewsbury-Birkenhead line is wholly or alt least in part a joint GWR LMS line……would it be wholly out of the question to have a GWR loco and an LMS Brake Van?

While I wait patiently for Hornby to produce a Collet Bow End full brake………what is the least unlikely van I can use in the meantime?




Best wishes from a very sunny Vancouver

Your photos and storylines are always a great delight, to say nothing of being inspirational,  John but this latest just seems a bit extra special - I can't think why …………..:roll::roll::roll:

I love the grubby looking appearance of the wall around the steps to the office door. :thumbs

Are royalites involved in milk production I wonder ………………….:hmm

Regarding the logo, I seem to recall Yorkshire's "Northern Dairies" was blue on white but have no idea of the actual font used.  Your white on blue is therefore, very acceptable - and the name, even more so. :cheers

Are all the train formations made up automatically via RR & Co  ? 

………………"Stop at Granby and two filled tankers added to the head of the train. It  will then proceed  to Birkehead ( the storage sidings )  where a loco  exchange will take place. Thus a different loco will take the empty up  train back in the reverse direction. The two empty tankers from the  dairy will now be in the rear of the train and easily dropped off into a  trailing siding at Granby" …………….seems like magic if it's all done at the press of a button. :shock:

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

Your photos and storylines are always a great delight, to say nothing of being inspirational,  John but this latest just seems a bit extra special - I can't think why …………..:roll::roll::roll:

I love the grubby looking appearance of the wall around the steps to the office door. :thumbs

Are royalites involved in milk production I wonder ………………….:hmm

Regarding the logo, I seem to recall Yorkshire's "Northern Dairies" was blue on white but have no idea of the actual font used.  Your white on blue is therefore, very acceptable - and the name, even more so. :cheers

I am so glad that you approve of the name Peter.  :Happy

I have always rather liked being reminded of friends and family as I potter about the layout but after I posted I did think it might have been courteous to have checked with you first :oops:. Mind you there is a precedent…..I never asked Max if I could call a soap factory after him:lol:

Are all the train formations made up automatically via RR & Co  ?     ………………"Stop at Granby and two filled tankers added to the head of the train. It will then proceed  to Birkehead ( the storage sidings )  where a loco exchange will take place. Thus a different loco will take the empty up train back in the reverse direction. The two empty tankers from the dairy will now be in the rear of the train and easily dropped off into a trailing siding at Granby" …………….seems like magic if it's all done at the press of a button. :shock:  

It will all be done by RR&Co…….it will, when finished:roll: be one of ny more complicated routines but like all routines it is just a collection of individual one way journeys linked together.

At the conclusion of each journey (RR&Co calls them schedules) you can enter a series of commands…..the Kadee uncoupling shuffle, throw a turnout, start the next schedule……..you can add various conditions and you can use alternatives ……if the Milk Vans are in the Bay then do this……if not do this.

The locos and rolling stock have to be 100% reliable of course….with the exception of the Turntable (which is another story:twisted:) the biggest uncertainty is uncoupling……..90% success sounds good but you have to see the mayhem the 10% can cause! My solution tends to be to have dedicated locos for specific schedules and that seems to be working.

When the moment comes you will really enjoy RR&Co……….it controls roundy roundys with consummate ease and simplicity……I keep meaning to do a video:oops:

Best wishes

the dairy is coming on good style,very realistic,keep em coming
:thumbs;-):cool:
Owen

Thanks Owen……I will try and do that!:thumbs

:cheers:cheers

Hi John

I've come to your thread to reply to your post on Bill's thread… you can see it's getting too complicated for my little grey cell.  I fear if I start a chat on someone else's thread I'll forget where I live, if you see what I mean…..  Many thanks for the explanation - I understand what CV is now, and I can see how it could improve slow running, particularly if the total speed range is reduced, that all makes sense. But as you say I don't think DCC could do anything for my rough Bachmann Crab, that I fear is a lost cause.

I must admit I hadn't appreciated just what is possible with DCC, so many thanks for that, I can see now that you can create routines of manoeuvres, as you mention for the milk train (Basically what I'll do on Woodside for the "off layout" dairy), but for me it feels like some of the enjoyment of operating the layout, perhaps doing something different - like one of the milk wagons has developed a fault and can't make the trip home, gets lost. I always throw in the odd spanner, once I've proved the timetable (this second run which I'm about to start should do that), just to add a bit more interest. After all, my main interest is the operation of the layout - "running" the railway, and so if I hand that over to a computer… I'm taking away, for me personally, the main purpose of the layout. Equally though I can see that's not going to be right for eveyone… each to his own…. thankfully there's room for everybody in this wonderful world of model railways!

Love your recent photos - really impressive. Some day I'll get to your standard, some day… no timescales!

Cofion

Keith

Hi Keith and John,

Just a quick one. DCC does not mean computer control. It simply makes it possible and while many use computer control, many do not and drive trains the same as with DC, but use DCC to improve the performance of locos over DC operation.

Cheers,

Bill  🚂
 

Thanks Keith….glad you like the photos.

Bill is absolutely correct…….DCC is a prerequisite component of computor control but not the same as

Most DCC owners use the system just to operate trains. Some use DCC to operate turnouts …..from there it is a small step to route setting

Before you can have full computor control, running a number of trains simultaneously, you have to add an occupancy detection system…….more expense!:roll:

As I constantly say……it's not for everyone. It just happens to suit me. I am lucky enough to have a reasonably large layout. As a single operator it's pretty difficult to control more than two locos at the same time. With RR&Co I can run a succession of roundy round trains on the up and down main lines along with a shuttle on the branch……while this is going on I can be manually shunting in the goods yard. Lots of opportunities for curved balls there:lol:

Kind regards

As you can see from the light on the photos below we have had gorgeous weather here the last two weeks so modeling progress has been somewhat glacial :lol:

A sub roof gives further rigidity and additional support gables have been added……..plus a couple of Monty's Models figures









This guy is of course intended to be a porter but I have changed the livery to make him look more like one of the lorry drivers




Now I want to make it clear that this rather portly gentleman is definitely not intended to represent Mr McPeter! Montys describe him as an Insurance agent……but to me he has the self satisfied look of  "the man from the ministry". :roll:

Now to the roof. I know there is a widely held convention that one shouldnt mix media. By and large I adhere to this, but not when it comes to roofing. Wills sheets are amazingly hard to join in a convincing manner and although I have used Slaters sheet tiling I dont think they are outstanding (rather more to the point I dont have any left!).

So its the tried and tested Scalescene routine:



A not unpleasant job on a hot and sunny day.

It takes a fair bit of time though. I could paste the sheet on direct but I prefer to cut each strip of tiling and blacken the cut edge with a felt tip

All the tools of the trade are set out below




I am going to insert some industrial chimneys/ventilators so I have precut apertures and added flashing.


Operationally I left you with the Milk Train from Shrewsbury approaching Granby over the viaduct. The train has now arrived on the principal Down platform

Here you can see the locomotive 6818 Hardwick Grange preparing to uncouple and draw clear so that the two loaded tankers from Cynwyd can be added to the train.

 I realise this is, perhaps, not very prototypical but, as I explained last post, this makes it far easier to drop the empty tankers from the tail on the return trip. I am still contemplating a loco xchange here which would then make a head of train attachment more credible




This is one of my photo stacking experiments…still on the free trial!…I still have a lot to learn but I am relatively pleased with all three of these loco shots. Comments are always welcome


Here is the Station Pilot with the two loaded tankers waiting in the main head shunt with the Goods Warehouse in the background




Finally a close up




I have always been fond of Collets……..I think they are perhaps the most elegant of the 0-6-0 work horses

Hi John,

The photo stacking is working, just a levels tweak though to brighten up. I also notice that your picture file size is quite low at around 800 pixels wide, better to have around 2500 for sharper pictures.

Phil

Hi Phil

The recommendation for photos by the forum guidelines is 800 x 600.

That's why John is choosing that number.

Cheers

what ever size they are good, and Igree with John about the collets lovely loco`s,
:thumbs;-):cool:
Owen

Hi Max…but that's as an attachment right?

Phil

I'd have to go back and check, but I understood it to be for the Gallery.

Alan might know off the top of his head, but I'll need to look for it.

All my pictures are around 2500 (Photobucket) much better that way and free up forum space!

Phil