First Crossing V

Just to while away a few moments, before going to a family event for the day, I've built my first crossing V from scratch for the final point on the layout. The previous two crossing Vs have been from the excellent P4 Track Company's kits. As this layout is just a test track I thought I'd have a go at scratch building the final point. For a first attempt, at creating a crossing V for some considerable time, I'm quite pleased with it.


Shame it's the wrong angle...... Somewhere in my head I had it that the last point was a B7 but when presenting this to the track plan, I said a non too polite word, and realised it's a B8 ......... It's a good job that practice makes perfect...... Hope to try again this evening ..............

Brake Van

While I was re-watching the Wenfordbridge DVD, looking for more information on the Dunmere buffer stop, I saw a running number of a LNER 'Toad E' brake van. The footage looks to be from the late 1950s of a regular goods train, being hauled by 30585 a Beattie Well Tank, running to Wenfordbridge. Apparently an LNER brake van was regularly used on the Wenfordbridge goods turns. For anyone who is interested the running number is E153583, the body has narrow vertical planking with a pressed steel ducket and it is sporting the grey livery. The Bachmann model (33-803 - 20 ton brake van BR grey unfitted) looks to be a good starting point for a model of this brake van......

Buffer Stops part 2

Some further thoughts about a buffer stop for Tredethy Wharf......... I have a Mikes Models kit for a LSWR buffer stop and was intending to put it to use on the layout. Photographs I have of Wenfordbridge, and the photograph below of Dunmere Wharf, seemed to indicate they were all of the standard LSWR design on this branch.


That was until, one day in September, while browsing through my collection of photographs, I saw in the corner of one particular photograph of Dunmere Crossing a three quarter side view of the buffer stop on the Wharf siding. Below is the relevant corner of this photograph.


Back in September, Clive kindly offered to to make a new rail bending jig to help create this buffer stop. His current jigs don't quite bend the rail correctly for style of buffer stop. Before he does this, he has asked for a scale drawing of the buffer stop. I thought it was about time I created this drawing so yesterday I started, but it's not going well.

My problem is with the uprights.... Looking at the first photograph, it looks like there is one upright and, I would guess, it would be a single section of rail. When I enlarge the second photograph it looks like the upright is made up of two vertical sections of steel, possibly rail, bolted together. The angled sections of rail coming from the running rail to the vertical uprights look as if they have been bent through 180 degrees around the verticals as one continuous piece of rail. If the vertical section is made up of two sections of rail I should see a joggle in the rail as it bends around the verticals. It's not obvious in the first nor the second photograph.....

The other problem I have with using this buffer stop on Tredethy Wharf is that the Dunmere Wharf siding was very short, which is probably why this style of buffer stop was used. Without the rear supports running from the verticals back down to the running rail, this style of buffer stop does save space. However, on my Tredethy Wharf layout the siding cannot be classed as short for a Wharf siding, so a standard LSWR buffer stop could have been used......

So where do I go from here? Sorry Clive but I'm thinking of reverting back to my original idea of using a standard LSWR buffer stop on Tredethy Wharf. I'll keep the Dunmere buffer stop on ice until I can confirm its correct structure. At some point in the future I'll probably need a buffer stop that does not take up much space. I'm thinking of two such plans where a Dunmere style of buffer stop could be used, my fictitious Polbrook Engine Shed and, more probably, on the fictitious Wharf siding at Boscarne Junction. Hopefully by the time I start to consider building another layout, I will have confirmed its structure. With all the photographs taken of the Wenfordbridge line there should be at least one other photograph out there somewhere that will help to confirm its structure. Does anyone know of one????

Point operation

In the build up to this layout, point operation was always going to be one of my first major hurdles. How to set the distance between the switch blades accurately was something I was struggling with especially when working to P4 standards. My previous attempts go back a number of years to copperclad points with a sleeper sized tiebars. I now wanted a more realistic solution. I understood that the switch blades would twist slightly when moving, this movement would, in time, break any solder joint on the blade unless there was some built in flexibility between the blades and the device used to move them. Even though I'd read many descriptions of different solutions, I still struggled with how best to go about it and which materials to use. It was not until I'd discussed my problem with two guys from the P4 group that I started see how to put a solution together. Also having access to layouts in the local area group has helped, I've been able to look, listen, and hopefully, learn.

My method is nothing ground breaking, all ideas have been borrowed from other modellers. I decided at an early stage to adopt Tortoise point motors and install all motors under the baseboard using Exactoscale's Tortoise Mounting Plates which gave me the horizontal motion. I just needed to decide on how to transfer this horizontal motion vertically through the baseboard to the switch blades.

Also a couple of guys stated that on their P4 layout they used 16.5mm as the distance between switch blades. This sounded too narrow to me but in checking dimensions it seemed OK for the centre to centre measurement between blades. My rough calculations are - P4 standards state a distance of 17.47mm between outer faces of the check rails - in reality on my points this has become 17.38mm - minus 0.9mm for width of rail gives a nominal 16.5mm. No doubt purists will put me right but at the moment it seems to work for me.

Hopefully the diagram below will help to explain the following verbal description.

I've used 0.5mm brass wire for the wire droppers soldered to the blades. Both wire droppers are bent slightly so that they are vertical to the centre of the blade when they pass though the baseboard. I then drilled the motion arm from the Tortoise mounting plate with two 1.5mm holes at 16.5mm centres. The hole was drilled to pass though the arm. Into each hole I then glued a 13mm length of 1.5mm brass tube. An 18mm length of 1.0mm brass tube, with an internal dimension of 0.5mm, was then soldered into the 1.5mm tube (18mm being the distance from the base of the motion arm to the top of the balsa wood track base). When installed, this will leave just the 0.5mm brass wire passing though the ballast layer. To help with installation when threading the motion arm onto the wire droppers under the baseboard, I cut the wire droppers to different lengths, 24mm and 22mm. When fitted, the wire droppers will protrude through the motion arm which means that the motor cannot be directly under the point but will be offset to one side of the point under the baseboard.

Elements described above ready for installation.

It is all very simple really..........that is, once you know what to do, what to use and how to use it.

A barren few weeks

I recently had a gentle reminder that I haven't posted an entry for a while but the title of this post says it all really. To progress the layout I needed a few items from Squires and Exactoscale. There was some confusion with the Squires order, all down to me I hasten to add, which delayed me finding the items by a couple of weeks. Then I posted the Exactoscale order which took a respectable fortnight to arrive.

While waiting for the above orders to arrive a WWII war game was arranged. This awoke some interest in looking though my mass of unpainted lead and I was side tracked a little by a couple of gaming projects. First a building that had been languishing in a box for many a year. I slapped a little paint on it and after gaining a feeling of achievement, I then picked up a second building to complete. One thing led to another and before I knew it I'd also started and finished a German artillery unit. Wargaming has definitely taken a back seat during this last year and I was gradually loosing interest in picking anything up to paint or finish off. So it was good to get stuck into some old projects that had been hanging around for far too long. I think it has also helped to clear and refocus my mind on the railway project. As they say 'a change is as good as a rest'.

With a little bit of luck I'm back on track (pun intended). I'm definitely not on schedule as I had hoped to have finished laying the track during Christmas with wiring completed and something running. I have made a start on finishing the switch blades for the second point, and now the extra bits from Exactoscale have arrived, I can start on the final point. A little progress has also been made on the 7 plank wagon but not enough to shout about. I've also been looking at some Bill Bedford W irons to see where I've gone wrong in folding them, more of which later........

May I thank all who have read this blog during the last year and for the encouragement and comments left. I truly hope you all have a happy and memorable Christmas.

Track at Baseboard Joints (part 2)

A further report on method 3 from my previous posting......

Not sure if this has been done before but it is only a twist on the plywood and rivet method. At the baseboard edge, holes have been drilled through the plywood sleepers, and through the balsa underlay into the plywood track base. Then 20mm long panel pins have then been pushed and lightly tapped into place.

Panel pins in place

Pin heads were cleaned with a light rubbing of a file and then tinned with a little solder. The underneath of the rail was also cleaned with a file and tinned before soldering the two together. I still need to apply cosmetic chairs to cover the joints. My soldering technique has been a little dodgy of late but after a little demonstration the other evening from a P4 area group member (Gordon), I'm hopeful that these joints will hold.

The start of the next point with chairs and rail in place.

As can be seen from the above photo, I'm going to trial plastic chairs glued directly to plywood sleepers on the opposite side of the baseboard joint to this point. If these fail I can always revert to another method..............

Track at baseboard joints

On arriving home yesterday evening I had the surprise of finding a nice bulky envelope containing two Ultrascale wheel conversion packs. One for another Bachmann 8750 Pannier (to be 4694) and other for a Bachmann Class 08 Shunter. Better get my next order placed......... AND place my order for some 08 cranks that are being etched by my local P4 area group (Hi guys... could I have three sets please?).

As for progress on the layout............. my evening modelling time has again been difficult to find recently but track laying is progressing on the plank, all be it very slowly. One thing I've been struggling with is how to secure track at baseboard joints. I've been mulling over options and it looks like I'm going to trial at least three different methods.....

Method 1) At the joint at one end of the layout I'm trying C&L's Baseboard End Track Protectors. They look like they will work well but I'm a little concerned about the width of these protectors and the difficulty in disguising them. At the end I've chosen they are the perfect width for soldering the running rail and check rail to. This end they will also vanish under a covering of hard standing. I may be able to disguise them at the opposite end of the layout but at the middle joint I'm not sure how I can without extending the hard standing area across the baseboard joint.

C & L Baseboard end track Protectors (C1012)

Method 2) One suggestion that has been made by a member of my local P4 group is copperclad sleepers and brass chairs. At the moment I'm not that keen as, so far, no matter how hard I've tried I have not yet been able to paint a copperclad sleeper to match the wooden ones. I'm still going to give this method a trial on the layout though.

Brass chairs and copperclad sleeper

Method 3) I'm also thinking about hammering some panel pins into the plywood track sub-base through pre-drill wooden sleepers. Rail can then be soldered to the head of the pin and cosmetic chairs applied.

Pin and rail test solder

I'm now going to set myself up to be shot down in flames by all those who have much more experience than me. So here goes............

Method 4) With all the above said I still have a thought about using plastic chairs glued to wooden sleepers at baseboard joints. My theory is.....as the glue joint between chair and sleeper will be a weak point any damage should at least leave the sleeper and ballast intact. The above three methods would possibly stand rougher handling but any damage might be drastic. Not only would there be damage to rail and chairs but there might also be damage to sleepers, ballast and possibly the balsa underlay. With plastic chairs any damage should only require the rail and any damaged chairs removed then new rail and chairs installed. Hmmmm..... not sure if I'm brave enough to give this a try though................ I'll wait for the sound of those guns being fired..........

Hopefully with the longer evenings setting in I'll manage a few more hours each week and a few photos of my meagre progress.