A layout in progress, slow progress...

Congratulations on pic of the week Keith. Well deserved!

Shaun.

Nice PotW. Bravo Keith.

  Many thanks for the posts, and apologies for the delay in replying – currently I’m only firing on one cylinder, and only occasionally at that, have been for the last five days – if things don’t improve soon I’ll have to call in the experts. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible, at least that’s the idea I’m working on.  Just seen Pic of the Week, somewhat staggered, but I guess I must be doing something right - a better pick-me-up than all pills and potions!
  I'd almost finished the goods shed outside lights, but major disaster with the Hooton up home signal during the final fitting, just as the lurgy was taking over. Currently on the workbench awaiting repair, as is the fat controller!

  Keith

Right, finally think I’m getting the better of whatever it was I had/probably still got – “there’s a lot of it about”, so I keep being told – so time to try to get back to the real world….

Thanks Shaun and Marty for the posts, it’s always a big surprise to me to see the layout on the home page, given the number of proper layouts on the forum.

Thanks Dave for the info on LED strips – I did check the web (never tried Ebay – you’re expecting a lot from a devout Luddite!) as you suggested and found several places flogging LED strips. I’m still not sure about how I can organise a switch in the system (it’s refreshing to see that I’m not the only one with no idea on this, there’s still hope for me!) – and with this birthday due next month I may well go mad and treat myself to four of the Traintech offerings, just to see what one Chester train looks like lit up. I notice that Hattons are selling them cheaper than Traintec…. If it doesn’t add much to a night shot, I may well just add this project to one of my lists for now. As to your suggestion that I might be running with DCC…. come on now, Dave…. me and DCC???!!!… my computing days belong to another era!

So for now the first job is to get the Hooton up home signal repaired and back in operation – that may take a few days/weeks. I have noticed of late that the link between my remaining grey cell and my fingers is not what it used to be, with my fingers not always understanding the commands from the grey cell, and as these Ratio signals are just a bit, actually quite a lot, on the fiddly side – weeks is not out of the question. I seem to remember when I first made this signal way back in 2013 it took me a couple of days just to get the link from the rocker arm lever to the small bracket arm right for smooth operation. I’ll need to pick the right time to get it back on the layout, fully operational!! I’ve stocked up on Ratio 476 (LMS Round Post) kits, some places aren’t selling them now, so that I’ve enough ready for the mammoth task of signalling Woodside Station… when I’ve got the odd six months free… Incidentally, the new kits have much posher instructions than the original ones –with actual photos and clearer diagrams…. but how you’re supposed to put a perfect U-bend at each end of the control wires, and then get it through the arm/lever without cracking said arm/lever is not explained. I make do with a simple 90 degree bend with some glue carefully applied to the end, works most of the time….

Before the break, I’d made up my standard lamps with the grain of rice bulbs ready to fit to the ends of the goods shed – definitely a lot better, size-wise, than the grain of wheat bulbs I’ve used before



… and while it was off the layout gave the goods shed the weathering treatment



…. looks better now, as I’ve mentioned before I hadn’t thought about weathering Metcalf kits when I first started this layout, the remainder of Hooton Station will eventually get the same treatment.
 

I’ve also found a couple of Eckon yard lamp kits in one of my many boxes, so I want to add one lamp in the yard at Hooton while I’m in lighting mode, so then that lamp and the new outside lamps can be on the same switch. Eventually there’ll be another lamp in the coal yard at the other end of the station. I do like these Eckon yard lamps – pity they don’t seem to be available these days….  Probably because of the way they are constructed wouldn’t work with LEDs, with the wide spacing between the wires, and not many folk haven’t swapped over to LEDs. I’ve also got a couple of the Train$ave lamps, which still use bulbs – found them in another box – they’re not bad, but the ladders need replacing with something a bit finer.

So, more soon-ish, very much depending on when I get this signal sorted.

Keith

Well, I did say it could be weeks… and sure enough it has taken me over two weeks to get the Hooton home back on the layout. Not going to report on all the ups and mostly downs, suffice to say that on several occasions the air was blue, as my fingers continued to misinterpret instructions from the grey cell – but, at last, it is back in working order. As with the Hooton bracket starter, a repaired signal doesn’t seem to operate as well as it did originally, so the home signal is fine…  if a little out of focus…



The shunt however is a bit, well quite a lot, limp to say the least, but given that on the current timetable it is only used eight times in the day – whereas the home is used nearly eighty times – my usual conclusion applies…. it’ll do.



Lights are now fitted at the ends of the goods shed…



… but I thought the obvious hole for the wires looked a bit iffy, and so I’ve added a cover – to give the impression of a ‘light fitting’… I think it looks better



So now I’m making up one of the Eckon  yard lamps and then I can get the goods shed back on the layout…. taking care to keep well clear of that signal… get all the lighting reconnected, and get this job finished.

While the Beast from the East was in control of our weather my latest order from Hattons spent an extra week in the post as we were beyond the reach of the postman – but now I have my Traintech light units, so once I’ve finished the goods shed lighting I may try them. Also in the order, the l/r terraces for Hooton which need to be built. There again they are all now in a box under the layout….  along with all those other boxes…. including the one with an 0-4-2 tank in it (sooner or more than likely, later)…. also if you compare these recent photos of the Hooton home signal with the one at Hooton after the Derby Lightweights arrived, you’ll see that nothing has moved for two and a half months…. so there’s also the small matter of getting the trains running again – which is what I’m supposed to be doing!

Unfortunately with Spring just around the corner the outside jobs list (which I'm supposed to get done before the summer, apparently) is starting to grow…. I'm hoping that the bad weather promised at the end of the week lasts until April, at least….

More soon

Keith

Crikey Keith,
Sounds like you've had a rough time of the lurge! Hope you are getting your strength back. You'll need it to tackle the spring "list". 

I agree with using the cover plate on the shed wall to hide the hole. It looks spot on.

I'm installing 1:1 ballastrading into the approach steps to a new hotel here in Perth at the moment and we use a cover plate to hide the hole bored into the stone steps for the uprights.

The weathering looks good and I'm looking forward to some more night photos with your new lights..

Steady as she goes cobber.

Marty

Hi Keith.     Blurry pictures aside? With the “Home Signal “  in clear which platform would the Driver be expected to proceed into? I admit that I have been faffing.about, and I haven’t considered any signals( apart from the fact that I have invisible  shunters running about on my Puzzle Plank ).  Best wishes. Kevin

  S’mae Marty

  Thanks fot the comments – yes, after a couple of false starts, definitely on the mend now (he said with fingers firmly crossed).  At least the yard lamp is now in place…


  
  So now it’s just a simple matter of connecting everything to a power supply. Not quite that simple, nothing ever is with me, spent most of yesterday afternoon sorting out which supply drives which lights on the layout – I’ll use the same supply already used for the rest of Hooton. Of course, if I’d kept a record of which supply drives which lights it would have been easy…… but that’s too much to hope for with yours truly. Completely out of character, I may go mad and stick some labels on the various transformers, before it all becomes a blur again.

  I’m not too sure that you’re quite on my side with this Spring “list”…. I was hoping for something more like “stay indoors Keith until you’re absolutely sure you’re fit enough”… that would allow me to get these lights finished. There again, freezing temperatures and possibly more snow this weekend – oh goody!

  Must admit when I first read your post I thought… Perth…. mmm…. don’t remember that station on the Newcastle Emlyn…. then the penny dropped…. See, I’m not fit enough yet!

  Night photos soon.

Keith

  

  S’mae Kevin

  I’m no expert on signalling…. In fact I’m no expert, full stop.

  When the home signal is off trains head for platform 2, the up main line. When the shunt bracket is off, it is platform 3. Platform 3 at Hooton (my version of Hooton) is virtually a bay platform. There is only one passenger train which uses 3, and then heads South, that’s a Hooton train in the evening, which waits at Hooton for twenty odd minutes before continuing on to Helsby. Other passenger trains in 3 are just two more Hooton relief trains from Woodside/Rock Ferry which return back North. Platform 3 is most used by the Local Parcels – which unloads there, and for shunting freight into the coal yard/goods depot. When I first started on this signalling, the Ratio kit referred to this signal as “Home with running line to loop signal”….which sums up exactly how I use it. I note that in the new kits it is now referred to “Home with shunt on bracket signal”…. which is sort of the same.

  When I go back to 1956, the Hooton – West Kirby line was still open to passenger traffic….and I finally get my 0-4-2T and Autocoach onto the layout, I fancy that platform 3 will see more action.

  Nothing wrong with faffing about – I do it all the time!

  Keith

Hi Keith.   Thank you. But that is me a complete “ fusspot “, I am certain that as soon as the sun is shining and you get out from under the clouds, you will be 100% .   Best wishes.  Kevin

Goods shed lighting finished, so soon I’ll be running trains again, at last. Just before I finished, I looked at the floor…



…. so tidy and organised, just like my so-called workbench, it is amazing that anything ever works. Still some of those boxes came in handy as a temporary workbench.  On the right, note that I did at one time label the boxes with the contents detailed, worked fine until the post-it notes fell off.. and I’m not too sure if they ever went back on the correct boxes.

Back to the saga, first job was to get the goods shed back in position, and connect the wires. In order to protect the signal from another disaster I’d extended the wires so this time connections were made below the baseboard – why I didn’t do that first time around remains a mystery. The outside lights and the yard lamp are on a separate switch. Then it was time to try it, this is the view from the north end of Hooton station.



.. definitely enough light now for night operations, although I may need to dim down the inside lights in the goods shed a touch – it’ll do for now. A couple of close-up views of the goods shed, with one of the Drewry shunters acting as station/yard pilot.



… and the same shot with just the outside lights/yard lamp lit – still plenty of light.



6C didn’t get any Drewry shunters until ’63 as the steam shunters were withdrawn, but they did have all ten of the heavier Hudswell-Clarke version from ’59 or earlier – but with no model available, I make do with the Bachmann model.

More in the gallery, I’m not sure if all the effort (plus that signal) has been worthwhile – it’ll probably grow on me, I hope you think it has been worth the wait Marty. Now, time to get the trains running…. keep thinking though, would those photos would look better with some lit coaches passing through? May have to get those light units fitted soon… and there’s those Metcalfe kits for Hooton….  that 0-4-2T and autocoach…. the boundary fence for the marshalling yard and lots of other jobs…. including that list of outside jobs which somebody keeps mentioning. Perhaps it’ll be just a quick running session…

The above was written a couple of days ago, been busy clearing up the mess and track cleaning again since, neighbour Paul was here last night – so the trains did start running, however the fat controller missed an instruction in his neatly written (not) script, which meant a halt to proceedings as one train was out of place…. It is 08.10 on the layout, and after returning everything to the original position and restarting again this morning, and the fat controller paying closer attention to his script, there are now no less than eight trains (seven passenger and the local parcels) in the loops under Woodside… now in the correct running order, and ready to go again…. for me, this is what the layout is all about! There’s some not very good attempts to record the scene in the Gallery.

I suspect these light units will soon take over, “outside jobs” permitting…. I note on the Bachmann Mk 1 coaches there is a screw in the centre of the base – I assume this allows removal of the body – but nothing showing on the Hornby Hawksworth coaches, so I’ve no idea how to remove the roof/body – any info/advice please? I fancy trying the lights in the Hawsworth coaches purely because of the curtains, may look better?

Keith

Hi Keith.  Your control panel really looks the part, highly detailed indeed . I am not certain what happened with the“Saga of the Goods shed” and how it prevented trains running .and the Bachmann MK 1 coaches and crew comment??? With me not “ having me head screwed on properly “ l misread a description and have recently landed m’self with a GWR saddle tank 0-6-0 ( in BR Black Livery) but I have decided to keep it rather than upset the apple cart. I shall have to think about a former GWR Goods yard/ dock setting setting for one of the planks. Which may become another pipe dream?     Best wishes. Kevin

S’mae Kevin

Apologies for the delay, you should be getting used to it by now…. I’ve been working outside, in the hope of earning some useful brownie points, on pergola renovation. At the moment, so I’m told, the plants are supporting the pergola – apparently the opposite should be the case.

Close-ups of the control panels, that’s only the marshalling yard panel in the photo, feature early in this thread – not so sure about looking the part, on one of my lists from years back is making the panels more presentable. As to the saga – it’s impossible for me to run trains and do other jobs (like the goods shed lights) simultaneously. Whatever job it is, any flat surfaces on the layout become an extension of my “workspace” – as you can see in recent jobs….. the l/r terrace fronts for behind the marshalling yard spent a lot of time outside Hooton (gave me the idea of more terraces at Hooton), the backs were across Woodside…. the goods shed, with outside lights fitted also ended up across the tracks at Woodside. Tools, in particular, always end up all over the layout. Trains can only run when everything is back in place – and not before!

I’m seeking advice on removing the roof of a Mk1 Bachmann coach, so I can fit the Traintech light units – not sure if your “crew” is a misread, or a misspelling. I’ve had a look at Utube, there are a couple of videos on fitting the Traintech units, both attack the coach body direct and just “unclip” the body from the chassis, looks a bit brutal – and I’m sure I may well do more harm than good, so perhaps the screw underneath isn’t the answer.  Both methods point out the necessity to cut back the compartment dividers so the light is more uniform throughout the coach. It’s beginning to look a bit more complicated than I first anticipated, and I would definitely appreciate hearing from anyone who has already used the Traintech units.

May reorder my jobs list, and get those boundary fences done first – I think that’s a straightforward job…. I’m better at straightforward jobs…. just so long as they remain straightforward!

I’m sure the GWR tank will turn out to be a good acquisition.

Keith

Very moody lighting Keith. Excellent work - keep it up.

Dave

Hi Keith.  Thank you for your reply.  As far as “ any flat surface becomes an extension to you workbench “ goes, you and me both, my four units , which I built ( much too heavy) should by now be clamped together with the track laid, but have become benches. I read a thread about “ second hand “ MK 1’ s being rejuvenated , but i’m certain your ones would be new, you may find some useful tips. In a thread of mine “ me about being unable to stand up for too long at a time when soldering , a bedside table was suggested , what a twit I am, there is one in the bedroom , maybe one would be useful for your tools???  Best wishes. Kevin

S’mae Dave

Glad you approve of the lighting. I must admit that the goods shed lighting has grown on me somewhat since I finished it. Most of the lighting on the layout is now done – just the coal yard at Hooton, some extra yard lamps outside the main goods shed, some street lighting at Hooton, on the bridge over Woodside and the adjoining road, the coach sidings and the oil depot – perhaps “most” was the wrong word – as a few of these haven’t even made it onto one of my lists yet.
Things have come to a shuddering halt just now – on the way to check the PIR camera – our hogs are back – managed to miss the top path with my left foot and returned down the five concrete steps in what is best described as a-o-t, to land on the concrete floor. I can confirm that concrete is really quite hard, and the fat controller is now out of action for a while – at least that includes all gardening jobs too!

Keith

S’mae Kevin

  These coaches seem to be becoming something of a major job, having to attack the compartment dividers – especially at the battery end of the lighting strip. Most of the examples I’ve seen on the web suggest it’s not that easy to get all compartment adequately illuminated. I’ll be taking my time with this.

  A table? – good idea – except the area I’m looking at – between my 'workbench' and the loft access is just 5’ 6” long, 2’ 8” wide at the workbench end and just 1’ 6” wide at the loft access because of the main line section south from Birkenhead encroaching. I mentioned early on that that section can be removed for improved access to the loft, but then I’ve got to find somewhere to put it! So, no space for a table I’m afraid. Right at the start my main idea was to use as much of the loft as I could for the layout, never really thought about a workspace, that would have involved planning, and I don’t do planning….
   
  Keith
  

Hi Keith.  Thank you for your reply. The type of table that I meant, was a lightweight , with a detachable leg ( a tee shaped leg with three wheels) . Easy enough to get through a small hatch, with help from a neighbour ?? The design of the leg would allow it to be “ stowed away under your layout “ . Best wishes. Kevin

Hi Keith

Sorry to hear of your mishap and the confrontation with the concrete steps. I would advise a spell of recuperation in the "train room" while you gather your strength again in readiness for when the weather improves (will it ever?) and getting back into the garden. Personally, it's not my thing either, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do - provided the wife says it! Or at least, make an attempt!!

Cheers and here's to a speedy recovery….
Dave

Things have almost returned to normal after my little mishap, apart from the wrist which may need a trip to the GP to sort it. Appreciate what you’re saying Kevin – but as I say, space is the problem, and thanks Dave, but with a duff right hand I’m not trying anything too delicate in the loft just yet. You’re quite right of course – we have to do as we are told, well within limits…. However, I can open boxes with either hand, so a couple of days ago I decided to find the boxes which contained the 0-4-2T and the autocoach. With them located, I fired up the Tardis and headed back to the early 50s to catch a glimpse of a West Kirby train arrival/departure at Hooton. Three pics here, more in the gallery.

Having arrived in platform 1, the train crosses over to platform 3 for the return trip to West Kirby



Looks nice in the station



…and after a suitable wait heads off back to West Kirkby



It is a really good model this, engine (needs renumbering to one of the 6C engines, 1417/1457) and coach, will look even better with some crew and possibly some passengers… but all that is on a list, of course.

At the moment I’ve only got a ’56 timetable, the last year of passenger services to West Kirby, and by then there was only one service from Hooton to West Kirby, rostered for the 0-4-2T and autocoach, each day – all other services operated from either Woodside or Rock Ferry – so I presume the tank returned either light engine or on a pick-up freight, with the autocoach in tow. As the goods services continued up to’62, I’m sure the tank will appear on the odd pick-up freight, when I run the’58 timetable – they were transferred away in ’58.

The tank runs very well, I did oil it as suggested in the instructions, I have read of some folk having problems – but I think that was more to do with the dreaded computery stuff.

So possible trip the GP if the wrist continues as is, see what tomorrow brings!

Keith