Atlantic's works: Portable layout update

[Dave]

Of course, I had forgotten about 3 of them on one train and the alternate reality in Grimsberg. I can't wait to see a picture of them working your iron ore trains and the Grimsberg Flyer for discerning gentle folk.

[jwealleans]

I have read an article (possibly either in Forward or Vintage LNER, but I suspect by Owen Russell either way) suggesting that the original intention for the Garratt was working coal trains from Immingham and it was only after Robinson retired and Gresley became involved that the design was revised and the decision taken to send it to Worsborough.

[JASd17]

Jonathan you are correct.

The Great Central in LNER Days Volume One. David Jackson and Owen Russell. Ian Allan 1983.

This volume has a chapter on the U1.

Vintage LNER No.46 has more thoughts from Owen Russell on this topic.

John

[drmditch]

The Great Central in LNER Days Volume One. David Jackson and Owen Russell. Ian Allan 1983.

This volume has a chapter on the U1.

John

Thank you. I know I had read something about the original intentions for a large Garret.
It starts on Page 95 in the chapter entitled 'Garratt'.

[Atlantic 3279]

I now seem to be having to log-in again every time I wish to post on the forum, although I've elected to be "remembered" as usual. Is anybody else finding the same or is it just me? Just wondering whether I should mention to our webmaster.

I fear I've been neglecting to bore people with updates on the layout construction. With various other things attracting my attention too, I thought it better to concentrate on making progress rather than pausing to describe it all. A few things have happened. In early December I had managed to build a reasonable approximation to the (transit?) shed that stood on the eastern end of the platform of the location that is inspiring my modelling. Un- painted and incomplete at that stage, but note the platform paving in that area now dark blue-grey following receipt of useful colour photographs from two kind acquaintances.

Shortly after that, following further thought about likely materials/colours, debate with others, and trial of various substances, other parts of the platform surfaces were dressed with finely sieved sand, after covering the previously applied dark grey emulsion paint with some very pale brown paper to kill off the dark undertone which otherwise showed through the glued sand rather badly. The attempt was to represent a pale buff / orange fine gravel, also typical at one time of some of the older road surfaces in the locality.

The paintbrush has been at work on the tunnel portals too, creating a blue-grey "engineering brick" base coat ready for weathering / distressing as and when time permits.

Working from a variety of photographs that just happened to include glimpses in the grainy backgrounds, in some cases extremely grainy, four structures have been scratch built for the goods yard. The small (sleeper built?) open topped rectangular timber structure was possible the easy one. It has been suggested on the basis of an example elsewhere that this was a GNR lamp store. The cattle dock, with ramp surface still not dressed, certainly had brick sides in the form modelled, the shed at one end is genuine, and the fences/gates are the best interpretation I could come up with of a jumble of indistinct posts and rails in photos "looking through" the dock from some distance away. The coal cells are fewer in number than I believe were probably present in reality, simply so that they will fit the compressed model, but the actual number, the style of construction, and even perhaps their location can only be conjectured from the vaguest hints in a two images that I have. That end-loading ramp has gained brick sides and end since the picture of the model was taken, plus some "steel" fold-over wheel flaps on top. I thought I'd built it correctly, representing something made entirely out of old sleepers, until I realised that an image I had viewed several times for other reasons showed the brickwork and the pivots for the loading flaps!

The signalman now has the benefit of some staging for access from the bank top to his stairs, also staging for access to the locking room door for him and the S&T men, plus post and housing for an oil lamp so that they can all have some chance of not breaking limbs or necks even when it's dark!

Station platform seats have now been produced (each one two Peco items joined, with improved legs, because I had some), running in boards produced (plasticard, printed names in a slightly modified version of a standard font found in MS Paint, and you can ignore the name as the layout will actually appear under a different one hidden on the reverse at present), the shed on the platform has been painted (more to follow) and six lamps made from scratch as I couldn't see anything to my liking that was now available at an acceptable price and of known quality. The posts are 1/16" brass tube and some strips of paper wrapped around, the lamp house on each is folded up from a Maltese cross shape cut from old clear packaging material, and the tops (in truth too ornate) are sneaky resin copies of something long discontinued.

[Atlantic 3279]

I forgot to mention that the now "creosoted" platform rear fence in that penultimate image was a bit of a nuisance too. I'd hoped to just manipulate, cut and re-join the moulded plastic pieces that I'd saved from an old layout, but they would not take on the necessary sheared shape to suit the sloping part of the fence, so a matching portion had to be made up from many pieces of micro-strip.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Very neat and tidy.

manna

[nzpaul]

I fear I've been neglecting to bore people with updates on the layout construction. With various other things attracting my attention too, I thought it better to concentrate on making progress rather than pausing to describe it all.

It's not just you Graeme, in fact the whole forum has been a little quiet of late. It does have to compete with Wright Writes to a degree I suppose, which requires daily reading if one is to keep up.
Like yourself, I have things on the go that I've not yet made the time to write about. For now the writing up of work done is in the "Roundtuit" pile.

I'll echo Manna's comments, your layout is looking very good.

Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

Thank for those comments.

[Chas Levin]

As others have said, very nice looking work Graeme. The blue/grey paving is very elegant and the sand dressing-for-gravel idea is an excellent one that I may have to copy at some point...

[Atlantic 3279]

I can't claim the credit for the sand idea Chas. Impressed by its natural colour in the dry state, I'd originally thought that I'd use some of the Lincolnshire "iron bearing limestone" that I have, the stuff that is supposed to be Highdyke ironstone, suitably finely crushed first, but it darkens too much when scattered on wet PVA or varnish and does not lighten again on drying. A friend said he had used sand for something similar, and when I'd finished banging my head against the wall seeking other solutions, I followed the course of least resistance! My sieve was a wire-mesh type tea strainer. Something finer still would have been even better, but the rules of the game for this layout are that I use what I already have as far as possible.
I also tried some fine brown ballast, from the Greenscene range I believe, thinking it looked fine enough in the bag, but it was too coarse on trial application and resistant to further crushing even with a big hammer on a steel tray supported on concrete. A coffee grinder, not used for coffee, wouldn't touch it either.
For the transit shed and the lamp store I found I'd been given, long ago, some handy pieces of profiled thin wooden sheet, one of which represented 1/8" wide planking with capped joints, just about ideal for representing old sleepers with capped joints. Coffee stirrers and lolly sticks also featured. Waste not...

[Mercator II]

I'm lead to believe that this makes great ballast for 00 and a very reasonable charge

Not tried it myself yet, but Richard of LNER New Junction layout recommends it

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005OCXN1M? ... FM7DRVQZ_1

[Atlantic 3279]

Handy if the grain size of that sand is small enough and consistent Brian, but would need to be finer than typical "fine" ballast as sold for N-Gauge in order to look like gravel rather than rubble on a 4mm scale platform surface. My sand was simply a handful from a bucket that still contains the remnants from the kids' sandpit, 25+ yrs ago, and sieved as best I could.

On another tack now. I was greatly surprised and relieved when my first ever test assembly of some MSE (ex Derek Mundy type, not the old D&S version) somersault signal parts on a piece of hardboard actually appeared to work freely, and the arm pulled off to about 80 degrees!

Just seven of them to build in full now, on proper posts with lamps, glazed spectacles, finials, ladders, balanced levers at the post bases and detachable links to an operating gadget below the baseboard. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty, I'm sure! At least only one of them needs to be on a lattice post, which I shall have to build, with a custom shorter bracket as that one requires only a small shunt arm. The other six posts can be "wood", or rather wire-reinforced cast resin, as I've made myself one long tapered master and a silicone rubber mould to save having to taper-file every post, or buy white metal ones.

[Atlantic 3279]

Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be trickier to assemble a working, non-wobbling, non-sticking somersault signal without the benefit of a handy flat surface behind all of the components and all of the pins held firmly in 3 or 4mm of hardboard. Nonetheless, with trial and error, avoiding irreversible cutting, trimming, gluing or soldering as far as possible (with the notable exception of soldering pins into the arm and the spectacle as well as soldering various washers in place to space the components) I have arrived at as full a working mock up of a signal as I can achieve at this stage. Prompt delivery of some ladders and post fittings from Wizard Models today helped a great deal, as did a conversation with Mr 4479 who has built plenty of these signals. The post is a first attempt at a reinforced resin one. The pivot pins are so far retained only by pushing some wire insulation over their un-trimmed ends to the rear. The base lever ought to be a bit higher up, and I can't fit the backlight blinder until I'm sure that I don't want to take things apart again - which in this case I definitely do!
At least six parts plus the pin for each base lever seems a little excessive, but I can see the reasons for the design and for the fiddly soldering that it requires.
I'm happy to have howling errors pointed out by those who know better...

[Woodcock29]

Hi Graeme
How do you propose to operate them - electrically or mechanically?

I set up the ones I built to operate mechanically by simply setting up a small homemade brass crank under the baseboard to convert the movement from vertical to horizontal and then connected the crank with a piano wire to a slide switch at the edge of the baseboard. Of course there is no interlocking of any form but then the Spirsby layout I built the signals for didn't provide for that anyway. But it did have a narrow shelf along the edge which provided a base for the slide switches used to change the points so I just copied that for the signals.

The first one I installed was a test case and installed on my own layout and worked perfectly first time! Pure fluke as all the ones I installed on Spirsby had to be adjusted a few times to get them to work well.

The biggest mistake I made was running 2 wires from the large bracket signal down a vertical tube together.

The signals I built are:

They're all built from MSE components some of which are the old D&S components. I've more recently completed a timber bracket using wood for both the main post and the dolls - something similar to one of the brackets on the Skeggie line coming into Firsby, heading north. That will be used as a starter for the mainline and a bay on one of my stations. Haven't got a photo of this one - its been installed in position but not actually connected up yet.
Andrew