Going large - building large layouts

Post

Posted
Rating:
#265926
Avatar
Full Member


Latest offering from my friend Guy - late evening working heads South behind a Class 25.

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#265944
Avatar
Full Member


I have spent the day finishing the platforms at Trinity Square and adding Slaters 0414 paving slabs to the concourse area.  When its dry, I will need to use some modelling filler to smooth the joints.  The paving extends up the left hand side to the start of Platform 1, in front of the offices.



Believing that its better to mock up rather than muck up, I have produced a simple card wall with gates to frame the right hand side of the station concourse.  This will give access to the parcels office by road if required.  The entrance to the parcels office is under the canopy to the right.



Not sure about the scale of the canopy or the height but it's a start.  It might look better once the door is added.  I have found a number of pictures of this type of entrance and they are all different so I will probably do what I like best.

The main station building will be where the camera is sitting for the final picture.  It will be about 2 inches deep and be backless showing the interior ofices, booking office, canteen etc.  I have found some 1/76 table and chairs from a 3D printer on eBay for the canteen.  My book North Eastern Record gives pictures of the interior of booking offices - pleanty of wood panelling to copy!!

The overall roof mock up for the concourse area left me in two minds whether I like it.  The jury remains out.

Bashing on………

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#266003
Avatar
Full Member


This is something that has been bothering me and drawing comments from others - the rather messy wiring that accompanies the point motor, relay and lighting cascade for the storage sidings.  There are 4 sets of these - one for each entrance and exit on Up and Down lines.  There are also reliability issues creeping in with some lights and relays not firing when they should.



As may be evident here, the incoming and outgoing wires terminate on the tag board.  The point motor and relay are then also wired to the tag board.  That makes for a lot of bits of wire and soldered joints.  At the time, it made for easy construction but I am paying for the price of that now.



With wires re-soldered directly to the point motor or relay, the tag boards have been removed and this is the result.  Only the point motor common return remains on a tag.  The cable ties have been used to make it look pretty and to keep wiring clear of the trains.  This improvement is repeated at the exit end of these (Down) sidings.



This is about 1/3rd of what came out!  I have not done the Up sidings because they remain very reliable.  I wired them first and can only assume that I got tired/bored with the ones at the front, hence the sloppy joints etc.

I have identified one issue doing all this - one or two of the relays haven't taken too kindly to being soldered multiple times and that has, undoubtedly led to some of the reliability issues.  I have a couple of spares and will swap them out if trouble continues.  In the meantime, I am happy with the overall result of a days work.

To the far right of the first picture, you can just see the surface-mounted point motors for the loco storage area in the fiddle yard and this wiring is just as bad.  I will get out to the shed before New Year and have a go at these 6 or 8 motors, shortening wires and re-routing some to avoid a messy look.  I also have an annoying problem here - some of the sidings do not isolate the stored engine although, despite many checks, I cannot find out why.  Hopefully when I re-wire this section, that problem will go away.

Bashing on……….

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#266004
Avatar
Full Member
Hi Barry,

I can see you're using PL13 Frog switching on your solenoids. John Dew (and others) had been convincing me of reliability issues with these, problems with the polarity switch sticking after some use.

I do not need these to do my Frog Switching on Upper Hembury (done by the CDU switching) but I did use them to help lock my switch blades in position and soften the throw because I'm using kit turnouts.

Hence I looked into this reliability issue and was told by a highly experienced modeller who has run a huge layout on the show circuit ("Shap" and Hills of the North") that his PL13 have given long and reliable service but he pops them open from time to time to keep contacts clean. In my variant of this I cleaned the sliding contacts then puffed in some graphite powder around after the cover plate had been prised off. This seems to work a treat in keeping the mechanism freely moving.
 
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#266005
Full Member
That's what I did until I got fed up with climbing under the board to do loads of them. Went to tortoise and never looked back.

Cheers Pete.
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#266006
Avatar
Full Member
Hi Colin and Peter

The PL-13 is the weakest link in this chain, which is why I use SEEP motors everywhere else on the layout.  I only use the PL-13 on surface mount motors because thats the only place you can get at them when they start playing up.  Yes, Colin, a quick clean-up from time to time does them good.

However, having said that, they only need a clean every 6 months or so - about 100 operations or so I reckon - and even then, some have not been touched since they went in on the first Yarslow 12 years ago!!!

Tortoise is certainly a better option but when you need 121 of them………. :shock: :shock:

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#266115
Avatar
Full Member


Right - having got Xmas out of the way with trips all over the country and more than enough rain, its back to the shed.

The paving on the concourse at Trinity Square has been filled and I spent a happy hour removing filler from the paving gaps.  A rub all over with very fine Wet&Dry both removed the excess filler from the surface and gave the whole area an even tone ready for paint.

You will note that I have started the platform surfaces and, in fact, have now finished this completely.  I used 180 Grit paper this time.  The 250 Grit at Yarslow is a bit too fine - the 180 gives a more obvious "tarmac" surface and is substantially cheaper.

Not long after finishing this, I read the piece about paint and talc to make tarmac roads - Doh!

(Incidentally, the white thing on the platform is the alarm motion detector that I took down to change the battery and forgot to put back before taking the photo)



Continuing to focus on Trinity Square, I have also installed 2 Peco inspection pit kits to the running shed.  The picture above shows the first one in but unpainted and without the right hand one in place.  This is a really nice kit and includes the pit, steps and rails.  There are, however, a few snags

Retro-fitting it turned out to be a total pain.  Instructions like "cut a hole in your baseboard" may be simple to execute when you have a drawn line representing the intended track alignment, but when the track is already down, using power tools to cut a hole is a tricky operation.  Luckily though, the depth of the pit did not require any cuts into the support woodwork, only the 9mm top.

I used one whole kit per road and this needed 2 rail lengths (each is about 6 inches long) to provide the running track.  In the absence of the ability to put a rail joiner in between the 2 lengths, they recommend running a wire from a feed to both ends of the pit.  At Trinity Square, the track inside the shed can be isolated (don't forget I'm a DC dinosaur) and so I had to move the isolated joiner slightly to fit a metal rail joiner in to which a wire could be run to the end of the shed road to make a further feed.  You can see the resulting short track section in the picture above.

Once painted, the result will look good and I have ordered some 3D printed workbench accessories to have lying around.  As this is a running shed, only light work would be done here, sand topped up etc - no need for a pair of shear legs!

Bashing on….

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#266272
Avatar
Full Member
From time to time, I am sure that we all suffer from self-inflicted wounds and the plan below represents one such occasion.  My local railway club emerged from the pandemic as a flabby, non-active bunch of tea-drinkers and so a few of us launched into a OO9 layout based around the scottish (Isle of Skye) whisky distillers "Talisker" to kick-start activity.  We might still be flabby and still drink tea but at least we were modelling something!!

Unfortunately one of our number died recently and the project stalled but "v2" has emerged on a much smaller board (4ft x 2ft) using the following plan.  The distillery is on the left, the passenger station at the bottom and the wharf for loading the whisky at the top.  The local Laird has a private coach stored in the siding bottom left - also a possible extension jump-off point.  The castle has become a folly for reasons we can't remember.  Track is Peco OO9 setrack, analogue control and hand-operated points.



Here was progress about Xmas.  We have since added some central hills and platforms and completed the wiring.  Our late colleague built the drying house building seen top centre.  The baseboard is deliberately sized to fit a small car.  The "v1" of this layout was 10ft x 2ft and we had a devils own job to find someone with an estate car just to get it to our own exhibition in November!




Despite my ability to (usually) stay focussed on tasks in hand, I couldn't resist getting a few bits to run on the layout - below.



The loco runs (as do most OO9 kit locos these days) on a Kato 11-109 chassis and represents a Bagnall prototype.  The body is a 3-piece resin kit from Narrow Minded Works.  Kato chassis are smooth, beautiful runners (even on Setrack points) and, thus, perfect for this type of thing.  The green-painted coaches from the same manufacturer are simple kits running on a 3D printed chassis and come complete with the ubiquitous OO9 coupling.  The only addditions are the LNWR roof vents for the gas lights that came from old Ratio coach kits I must have bought 30 years ago.  The blue coach is my scratchbuilt "Laird's coach" - same chassis as the coaches and dimensionally copied from them.  30thou plasticard with Plastruct ribs.  It has since gained a roof, interior seating and a suitably attired "Laird".  The last wagon is a scratchbuilt freelance horse box based on Irish NG prototypes with heavy external bracing and room for 2 horses as well as the front platform for the "lad".

Unfortunately I have also acquired a tram loco and got sucked into a "Pug-bash" challenge - modifying an Airfix Pug body to fit onto a Kato 11-109 chassis.  Thus I have a fleet of 3 engines!  Not to be left out, our co-builder Colin - a die-hard N gauger with plenty of experience in the smaller scale - has bought a couple of Kato units himself and is looking for files for OO9 bodies to put through his 3D printer.  It must be infectious!!

Luckily, the New Year saw some sanity restored and I have started working on the Trinity Square loco area - but for a time there, I was gone, solid gone…………………….

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#266345
Avatar
Full Member
Right - back on it.

The platforms at Trinity Square are painted and I have made a start on the loco area.  Pics below.





The top photo also shows the mock-up of the station building which obviously needs windows and an interior.

The lower picture shows that both of the inspection pits are in and, since this picture was taken, the ballasting has been completed throughout the station and main line.

Next job is track weathering and setting out the back walls sloping up from platform level behind platform 1 to the road passing over the approach tracks about 10 feet away.

Bashing on……

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#286967
Avatar
Full Member
A quick update on progress with the backscene at Trinity Square

The overbridge progresses and there is now a wall running the full length of the station (about 14 feet!) made up of low level brickwork behind platform 1, 4 factory units, some houses and plain walling - there is a rising road from the end of platform 1 to the overbridge so everything has to be built on a slope!

Struggling to update a photo so you will have to imagine it until I suss it out!!

Instructions welcome…………..

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#286968
Avatar
Breaker of Things
breakage is in the usergroup ‘Administrators’
I'll add a post for this, but look for this icon

Screenshot 2023-03-29 195200.jpg

Signatures? Where we're going we don't need no stinking signatures!
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287001
Avatar
Full Member
Another attempt to add a photo

DSC05550 (1024x683).jpg
This shows the end of TSQ where the line appears.  Scratchbuilt girder bridge and the frontage built around the Wills arches kit.  

The 3D printed shop fronts suggest a secondary shopping area with flats or offices above to give it that 1950's look.  I have collected a number of pictures from Google Images as reference - probably a bookshop, cafe, model shop etc.  Above will be a solicitor and an Insurance office.

The Eckon 2-aspect colour signals are installed and I am modifying a Ratio Pratt Truss gantry kit to take 5 signals to control entry to platforms - just the Eckon heads without the posts etc.  All will be operated by Peco on-on switches to match the point levers but will not be interlocked in any way.  At least they'll work!!

DSC05546.JPG
Here is a wider shot showing the sloping wall down towards the platforms.  There are house-backs to go in and on the far left, 4 factory buildings copied from an article in Hornby magazine - only built on a slope.  Another factory/warehouse and some offices are under construction to go behind platform 1 and I am starting to cut out the 30-odd windows of the main station building that will sit across the end.

On the right here, buildings are starting to appear to cover the lever frame and switches.  The signalbox is only temporary unless I can't find something better.  [Note that the water tower should not be on the road!!]

Hopefully, by the end of April, the main construction work will be complete and I will be adding brick/stone embossed card, windows etc.  Thereafter, I will go back to the branch to do detailing, trees, bushes etc.

Exciting times

Finally, I must add a massive "congratulations" to the guys who have worked to get the forum to where it is now.  It looks great!!

B

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287243
Avatar
Full Member
The "Image" buttom is not appearing again but I have used the "attachments" option for this photo.

Contoured houses.jpg

These are houses that have been profiled by cutting out the windows and doors before setting the building onto 1mm card.  The door and windows are then added to another card layer on the back.  The roof is cut off and re-attached at an angle plus real downpipes have been added from plastic rod + 0.010" strip for brackets.

Station concourse 2.jpg

This is the embyonic station concourse at Trinity Square.  THe buildings on the left comprise store rooms, ticket office (protruding), main entrance, buffet (protruding) and staff offices.  Facing the camera are (l-r) the waiting rooms, news stand, more offices and (out of shot) Ladies & Gents.  The platform ends will have barriers and ticket collection huts.  The whole thing is 1mm picture framers card, Slaters Randon Stone plastic card, Wills window frames and strips of the random stone around the top.  The parcels office, out of shot to the right, is built in the same style with a decorative string course of tile around the upper parts, stone plinths and solid corners - based on Louth.

TSQ overbridge.jpg

At the overbridge end, these laser cut shopfronts have been added to some 3D printed ones.  The arches are from the Wills kit and the girders scratchbuilt.  The shops will have offices over (solicitors, dentists etc).

Still much to do but whilst the weather is wet and wild, plenty of time to do it in!!!

Bashing on………

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287275
Avatar
Full Member
TSQ track weathered.JPG

Ah-ha!! I have now discovered how to add a picture without it being tiny.:party:  For those who, like me, don't get a button to add an image, add pictures as an attachment and uncheck the "thumb" box which appears before the picture is added.  If you all knew this and I am the last to know, I'll get my coat……..

Meanwhile I will bask in my new-found knowledge and post a picture of Trinity Square looking resplendant in its new coat of track grot.  Railmatch "Sleeper Grime" applied with the trusty airbrush, enhanced by "Weathered black" between the tracks and where locos stand to simulate the build up of oil.  This was especially concentrated in platform 2 where the DMU normally stands.


 

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287562
Avatar
Full Member
Bridge Road shops.jpg

Bridge Road, Trinity Square.  The shops are taking shape.  The older units are MDF laser-cut shops mounted on a plastic card (brick) backing which is mounted onto 1mm card.  The cills are Evergreen strip and headers will be added to the lower windows.  The top edge will have an Evergreen strip board added onto which will be mounted the guttering and the edge of the roof.  The end of the row will have brick slice to disguise the card end.

The more modern block is, again, 1mm card with a brick facing and 3D printed shop-fronts.  Again the cills are Evergreen strip but the lintels are "soldier" course brickwork I got on a sheet just after Noah started the Ark!!  The shop names are just a demo - nothing decided yet.

The final unit is meant to be the side of a building - the end of this road will be a T junction and further buildings will be facing the traffic - an easy way to lose the end of the road!  This building is an office of some kind in the Georgian style with big windows and fancy quoins on the corner.  Same construction as before.  This one will also have an edge to bring it forward by about 6mm giving a pleasing profile to the whole row.  There is nothing worse than a flat row of buildings.

Not quite visible to the left of this shot is the pub/hotel (nominally named "The Shovel") - the sort of dive you would not want to be in after about 6 o'clock on a Friday/Saturday night!  Its a big slab of a windowless building - again the side of it is portrayed.  Thereafter, going down the hill towards the station, I have 6 rows of terraced housing, 4 factory units, a Jail Museum, some shop backs, a small theatre, another set of shop backs and then the Peco backscene shown below.

Peco backscene TSQ.jpg

This has been extensively chopped up and layered onto 0.5mm card.  The house backs are on the front, the factories/shops on the second layer and the chimneys, church. roof detail are on a third layer which will be added once this has been stuck to the backscene.  The wall behind Platform 1 hides most of the lower edge so most of the people won't be seen.  Where I want to hide further people, I will use billboards - currently just oblongs of white card.  These will have wooden supports added and be mounted just the other side of the wall.  The final set of shop backs can just be seen far left leaning against the back.

These buildings have been a long old slog but I am delighted with the results and it means that I can nearly declare that Trinity Square "basics" are done.  The platform signals are in (and working) and I am half-way through adding 5 more Eckon 2-aspect signals to a Ratio Pratt Truss bridge kit that will protect the entrance to the station.  I need to wire these back to the power supply/switch levers and that's that!!

If people are interested in a more detail, The Yarslow Model Railway YouTube channel gets regular updates - one is due soon to celebrate the railway's 2nd birthday

Bashing on…………

Last edit: by breakage


Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287563
Avatar
Breaker of Things
breakage is in the usergroup ‘Administrators’
Sorry Barry I momentarily broke your post, all fixed now.

Signatures? Where we're going we don't need no stinking signatures!
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287564
Avatar
Full Member
No problem - I didnt notice!

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287793
Avatar
Full Member
In 2023, no other forum member has posted here

If its something I've said or done I apologise!

If there is no interest in Yarslow, I understand - its been a long and tedious road.

I would be interested, at least, to know if anyone can see this????

Shed dweller, Softie Southerner and Meglomaniac
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287794
Sol
Avatar
Site staff
Sol is in the usergroup ‘Super-moderators’
I am watching it all

Ron
NCE DCC ; 00 scale UK outline.
Online now: No Back to the top

Post

Posted
Rating:
#287795
Full Member
Hi Barry,
I don,t post a lot but do look a lot.

Cheer up mate, I have followed your every port and look forward to each bit of your progress.

There are lots of us watching who hardly every put fingers to keyboards but do get inspiration from just seeing what gems other people create.

I am one of the many modelers who just plod along with different projects but never seem to be able to realise the dream.

Don,t you dare stop posting your progress.

John.

John.
Online now: No Back to the top
1 guest and 0 members have just viewed this.