[TidzaBoy]

Hi, just a couple of photo's of my layout I am building. The shed is 8' x 7'. I don't have a name for it as yet, but, living in the Peak District, it will be very Freight oriented. ( I don't own any coaches at all, only wagons & freight loco's!) I have been inspired by lots of other layouts I have viewed on this forum...... well done to all of you.

I will post more as I make progress.
Joe

 

[Brian Considine]

Nice progress - is that a lift out section by the door - looks like it will feature a bridge ?

Be sure to keep us posted on progress.

 

[Chinahand]

Hi Tidza boy and welcome to the MRF. Those look like nice sturdy baseboards and you seem to be making good track laying progress already. Keep up the good work and keep us posted with plenty of pics.

All-in-all it looks like another Tardis is being built. Watch out John at RJR !

 

[Kimbo]

Congratulations on this ground breaking

 

[7113]

Nice start - but those bikes are going to have to go!

Regards

 

[TidzaBoy]

Hi, the 'lowered section' of baseboard, is 'wedge' shaped and slides in/out as needed to gain access- as it is across the shed door entrance. It will (hopefully) contain two viaducts, at different levels.
The plan is to have a lower section with 1 circuit of track, with a hidden/off scene loop and a colliery wagon loading area/washerywith several sidings. ( I have a lot of Bachmann/Dapal P.O coal wagons). The upper section will be another circuit, with passing loop and a few sidings ( a couple to hold a freight loco's and a couple to hold wagoons/vans )
I think this will be more than enough track in this size of area( 8 x 7 ). I'm trying ( though fighting a losing battle at times! ) to restrain from putting too much track down. I used to work at a factory along side the old Cromford&High Peak Rly, and would like to try to create some of that desolate scenery that the single track line ran through.

 

[TidzaBoy]

Oh yes, forgot to mention the bikes!...... yes, it would be nice to remove them!! ......and the frame tent!....and the car roof box!.... and the mower! But we are stuck for storage at the moment.

There is a lot of moving things in/out to get access..... but its about -3deg outside today, so everything stays in for the time being! I have fitted a very small heater (from Farnell) controlled by a thermostat, in an attempt to keep it above freezing! The shed wall panels and roof panel are insulated, then covered with ply.

 

[Chinahand]

Hmmm. The walls may be fine but that door certainly looks a weak point for cold and damp to get in.

Maybe next year ?

Happy New Year and well done so far.

 

[TidzaBoy]

Thanks Expat,
I had totally forgotton about the door! A definite source of draughts and cold!
....... Must make the door a prority for the January.
A Happy New Year to you.

 

[John at RJR]

Cracking start looks very promising, fight that urge to lay too much track, you will be glad later on !

John
RJR

 

[TidzaBoy]

well, over the last few weeks I have had some time to progress a little further. The lift out section will have two viaducts crossing a valley. I still need to design a way to electrically interlock the rails on this section.... most important. The sides of the lift out section are not parallel, so as you pull the section back along its location runners, it also gives clearance to be able to lift it out cleanly, hopefully in the future, preventing damgae to rail ends and scenery. I know the 8F and P.O wagons are probably not correct, but I love freight loco's and have lots of P.O wagons for the N.Derbyshire/ Notts/ S.Yorks areas.

next round will be a small 2 road loco area, I hope to make a water tank similar to Middleton Top on the C&HP Railway, so I can keep my J94 and Cl 0s here.

the next section is a passing loop / run round for the sidings. The picture shows my Blue Pullman, but at a full 6 cars long, is going to be far too long for this layout! Will have to have special runs for it though, all the same.. The lever frame in the foreground, works all the points on this upper section. Each point has its own mini CDU, the levers have been totally rewired, with no common feed.

Finally in the far corner, will be( when finished), a half relief shed for loading the Blue Circle vans, next to various Cement buildings etc.

A long way to go...... but starting to see a bit of progress.
Joe

 

[frame69]

Good stuff

 

[Alan D]

Excellent work and don't worry about the 8F - run what you like - it's your railway!

It's amazing what you can fit in a garden shed, innit?

 

[madon37s]

Hi Joe

You really have made a great start. And yes don't worry about what you are running! You run what you like, When you like and with whatever you like!!!

By the way I love your blue Pullman, I am very jealous

Kind regards

Paul

 

[TidzaBoy]

Thanks for the positive comments! I enjoy the construction / electrical side of the modelling most, but scenery is my weak point.... so it will be a challenge to get the 'High Peak' feel to the model. The stock I have, will be fine, but its the look of a desolate line in the countryside that I may struggle with..... still.. here goes!
Having a tinker with some 'Memory Wire' at the moment, as I really want to have electrically operated semaphore signals.... I hope, with a bit of luck, to link them to aux. contacts on the the points. The signals will indicate the route only, my plan, is to have a relay, that is controlled by the direction selected on the controller, to give a feed to the signals that are 'facing' the train, those in the opposite direction being 'Off'. Then, when the train direction is reversed, the relay reverses, and those signals now facing the train become 'active' and vice versa.
I have got the realy side working, but now am looking at ways of operating the Semaphores.......

 

[fordy361]

Looks great, I have my railway in the shed you can make as much noise and mess as you like. Plus it an escape from the family. You might have trouble with the lift out section over time because of the shed timbers and layout timbers swelling and contracting during the year. I ditched the lift out section in the end and its now a U shaped layout. Keep the pics coming.

 

[TerryB]

QUOTE (TidzaBoy @ 14 Apr 2009, 21:12) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>..... I know the 8F and P.O wagons are probably not correct, but I love freight loco's and have lots of P.O wagons for the N.Derbyshire/ Notts/ S.Yorks areas.

Finally in the far corner, will be( when finished), a half relief shed for loading the Blue Circle vans, next to various Cement buildings etc.

A long way to go...... but starting to see a bit of progress.
Joe

Hi "Tidzaboy" .....8F's were commonplace on the metals of S.Yorks,N.Derbys & Notts.
They were allocated at most of the Sheffield area sheds [41A-41J] for working coal trains ....Around here,the PO wagons carried the names of Colliery's & Steelworks [ the "Parkgate Iron & Steel Co". and "Stubbin", "Silverwood" & "Denaby Main" being some that come to mind from where I used to go "spotting"]

Buxton [9L] had a few 8F's ....presumably for working the limestone trains to hope Valley [IIRC,9F's were the more common frieght loco in the Hope Valley though]

And they were the most common loco in the Notts coalfields .....my Fathers Uncle worked as a fireman at Kirkby [16E] sheds,and a glance in my old "spotters book" reveals that as a child in the 1950's ....I'd ticked off no less than 15 "footplate rides" on these magnificent engines.....[ I wonder what the H&S brigade would have say about that in todays "PC gone wrong" world]

Some nice ideas on your layout btw ....I like the viaduct [Monsal Dale by any chance?] and I'm looking forward to seeing the "Cement Works" ....I have a caravan near Blue Circle [in Bradwell].

best regards
T.[part time "Bradda-bloke"]

 

[Richard Johnson]

*** Some really nice baseboard work there, and its nice to see soft-ish curves and longer points on the main - with the good construction they will give you a nice running layout. As to the 8F etc they certainly hauled a lot of PO wagons in the pre-war days, during and for a while after, and the area you are modeling is pretty timeless scenery and infrastructure wise so just enjoy it...

I still think its worth focussing on a narrow-ish time span for the core of the infrastrucure and scenic work but in reality that just adds to the satisfaction / quality of the job and increases the overall credibility of the scenery - change around railways is usually slow and subtle so you can be accurate AND indulgent at the same time, as it does nothing to prevent you doing the odd time warp and zipping either a pre-grouping or 37 or any loco at all around any time you feel the need!

I modelled the S&C to have the same flexibility, and while my modeling period is generally Pre WW2, its a totally timeless area with the biggest overt change being the change in signals from lower to upper quadrant... which is rarely even noticed by most viewers!

....anyway, The look of a 9F with a long express freight or a whistler or similar with a rake of post war coaches crossing Ribblehead is just too tempting good to not make happen from time to time.

Keep the photos coming - I think its going to be a really nice layout.

regards

Richard

 

[dwb]

QUOTE my modeling period is generally Pre WW2, its a totally timeless area

In a recent photographic work I read (?) there was a pair of photos from before and after WW2 with a comment on how many trees had been cut down during the war....

David

 

[Richard Johnson]

*** it happenned three times really: When it was built, WW1 and WW2. In each case it was pretty well stripped of larger trees, but then so was much of UK.

The trap in that was that the same species did not necessarily replace those which were removed.... I did considerable research into that when planning the layout, and have gathered a wide range of photos for each period... not easy for the earlier ones... and nothing before the railways construction of course!

The timelessness I was referring to was really the more obvious infrastructure and lineside stuff, which is what sets the scene for "believability in context" - there were many other significant but ot obvious changes of course, the most "railway related" being the change from zero facing points on main lines / 100% back-in sidings to loops, which happened initially during WW2 to increase line capacity, as trains were stopped along the line when war related traffic was high.

None of these things really change the fact that a train on Ribblehead looks great... and substantially the same no matter "When" its modelled... until it was single-tracked of course.

(in fact the seasons seem to make more of a change - I was totally surprised seeing the area in summer, having mostly visitd during Dec/Jan/Feb for most of my photo research - many items were well and truly hidden in photos taken in late spring/early summer).

Richard