Haromthwaite 2: Baseboard Assembly

Ok, nearly 17 months have elapsed since the first installment, but in mitigation I have been busy out on the circuit with 'Niddbeck Bridge', the 2mm Roadshow, helping to organise Golden Jubilee events etc. The recent brilliant Oxford Expo has also given me a kick up the arse and got me all fired up again!

The board 'kits' were assembled using aliphatic resin wood glue (Deluxe Materials Super 'Phatic) and a couple of joiners try-squares.

Some chisel-work then ensued to mortice-in the 51 x 28mm brass cabinet butt hinges (satin chrome plated). The screws were very near the inside edges of the ply sides so small thickener pieces were glued in place first. The hinges were fitted with sufficient knuckle projection to allow 2mm thick ply or MDF facia and backscene to be fitted at a later stage and still allow 180 degrees of fold.

Opposite each hinge position is a simple 8mm turned steel furniture male/female dowel for board to board alignment. These were epoxied in place.

To hold the boards together in the open position cylinder mortice magnetic catches with 6kg of pull are used and epoxied into place. As the layout is designed to sit atop a trestle table on the front of the 2mm Roadshow it doesn't really need anything more secure. 6kg of pull is sufficient force to hold the boards together during operation and easy enough to break apart for folding at the end of the session. Magnets will probably be also used to hold the boards together in the closed position but these will be installed at the same time as the facia/backscene panels.

Next up will be the 'fiddle sector plates' at each end. I am also conscious that I need to give some background information on the prototypes that are the inspiration for this little demo piece, and a track plan.

Haromthwaite 1: Getting On The Case (or In It)

Welcome to a new Blog thread from me!

Since taking over as the Association's Publicity Officer in October 2007 I have gradually been refining the 2mm Publicity Stand with new display materials and features. I've had a lot of help from other members on the way of course and the '2mil Roadshow' is starting to get noticed and invited to more shows. I think Society stands are so much better if they have some sort of movement on them, whether it be a live modelling demo or trains running and being shunted etc. With this in mind I have determined to build a compact demonstration layout as an adjunct to the Publicity Stand. I have also decided to enter it into the GJLC to give me the incentive to hack it within 12 months or so.

What am I aiming to achieve with this new micro-layout?

a) It should be a long and thin layout that can sit on the front edge of a standard 6 foot trestle table and still allow plenty of room for the stand staff to model, hold court etc.

b) For ease of transport to and from exhibitions itt should pack away as small as possible in one hand-held carry case.

c) The track plan should be simple and yet prototypical.

d) It should showcase the latest Association products and techniques.

e) Simple shunting operations should be possible using electro-magnets and various delayed coupling systems. Reliable delayed action auto coupling systems always impress the punters!

f) Designed for both DCC and DC operation, according to the preferences and stock available of those manning the stand.

g) It should be modelled to a high standard in all respects but at the sime time appear as something achievable by a potential member viewing it.

At about this time I was having a clear-out at work and came across an old lock sample case that was fitted out with a custom cut foam interior. The foam was soon discarded leaving a sturdy case ideal for housing a small layout:



The interior dimensions are approx 20" x 15" x 4". I have been much impressed by Anthony Yeates' micro layout that folds in the middle and lives a box-file. It didn't take me long to work out that if I made a layout that folds in two places I could have three boards each 20"x5", giving a total size of 60" x 5", ideal for the front of a trestle table and have it fit snugly in a fairly decent case that had cost nowt (as we say in Yorkshire).

The three baseboards are to be made from 10mm birch ply and were very kindly donated to the project as a kit of ready-cut parts by friend and member Alan Smith. Through his business Alan has access to some high-tech CNC woodworking machinery and can knock out baseboard components very quickly - see the curved boards for Tony's 'Braffertion' project which are from the same source. I collected them from Alan at Ally Pally last weekend where he was demo-ing Easitrac turnouts to great acclaim.



The shot above shows the three track deck boards laid into the case and the shot below shows how the boards will fold sideways.



The shot below shows the kit of plywood parts for one board, which will be glued and screwed together. However before doing this the end pieces and intermediate cross members need hole-sawing to provide wiring ports. The intermediate cross members will only be added once turnout postions have been finalised. With each board only being 500 x 120mm I'm looking forward to being able to work on them at my normal workstation - they are really tiny compared to the one-piece 1500 x 500mm of Niddbeck Bridge and the 1200 x 600mm boards of Pool-In-Wharfedale.



In the next instalment I'll reveal the general layout design, it's track plan and the prototypes that inspired it .

Dark & Grey...

... an English Film, a Wednesday Play. 

How do you plan your layout? Track plans? Prototype research? Maps? Photographs?

Well yes to all of those, but what about art? What about music? Literature? Nature? I find that all of these feed into the gestation of my modelling, especially layouts. The above line from a song, a piece of music by Sibelius, Dickens, photos and pictures (not necessarily railway related), winter walks. All currently informing and inspiring my modelling.

I am seeing Brafferton (which I have already decided to set in Autumn) being very muted in its colouring; almost monochrome. Not necessarily over-dark, but certainly not bright and colourful. We have a long way before we start worrying too much about colour though. I have been finishing up the plastering on board No. 1:

The left hand of the board has been demarked using card to enable the end of the platform to be let in. Having formed the basic shapes from insulation sheet, a base of pre-mixed filler was followed by a thinner mix which included emulsion paints to give a workable base:

The corner of the backscene will be infilled to provide a smooth curve between the back and the side. For those who are interested in backscene heights, and their relationship with board width etc., the backscene rises 6" above baseboard height and so only about 40-60% is visible on this board due to the hillside. The baseboard is 12" wide so that at its maximum the backscene will never be more than half as high as the board is wide. 

When dry, I will need to finish ballasting the trackwork. I will then probably finish the bridge by which time I ought to be in the mood to lay some more track!

For those who aren't on or don't read the VAG, this rather nice link was posted recently; some very atmospheric photos to inspire you, perhaps?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fray_bentos/

Brafferton Update - 3. Site Visit

"But you said you'd tell us about Easitrac!"

I know; I lied. As I haven't got the tracklaying photos sorted yet, I thought I'd tell you about my site visit. This sort of thing is a must if you're modelling a real place. I used to live just 10 minutes away from Brafferton, but it's a bit more remote now. So I made plans to call in whilst in the area.

I've always known that the most of the station was demolished post closure, but nothing can prepare you for what is total obliteration of the railway artifacts. The saving grace is that the road bridge and associated cutting survive. Other than that, I'll have to rely on the handful of old photos and the snippet of cine-film that I have.

This is where the platform and maybe the station building would have been. We are standing on what was the track-bed.

Looking down the cutting. Other than the bridge, it is the only evidence of a railway ever having been here.

The bridge is in fairly good condition and I have comprehensive photos to aid my model building.

Looking back down the cutting from the road. No, that's not a goods shed!

Brafferton Update - 2. Design Pt ii

So, with the kind help of Alan Smith, I had a nice set of baseboards; albeit in flatpack form. I'm sorry to say that despite having these for several months now, they have not been progressed:


With the change in the geometry of the baseboards, I decided to change the layout design. There would still be three fully scenic boards, but the staging would be on two only and therefore the layout would be more than 50% scenic. I could not now show all of the scenic boards and meet the Layout Challenge criteria. Nevertheless, I will proceed. If I need to designate a smaller area for Challenge purposes, I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Here is my first stab at the redesign:

However the longer track length on the new design got me thinking; could I revisit the actual station plan (ie OS map) and get the layout plan almost to scale length? Here is the 1909 OS extract with various jottings and computations:

Better than I thought! The length from the bridge to the end of the coal drops can be modelled without compression and gives, what I think is, a rather elegant plan:

Now to progress the baseboards. Trackbuilding has already commenced, courtesy of Easitrac, but more of that next time...

Brafferton Update - 1. Design Pt i

How are you doing with your Challenge Layout? Better than me, I hope. Now, no doubt some of you can knock a layout out in three months, but when you have to bring home the bacon, organise the troops (especially the junior section), and numerous other bits and bobs, then things start to slow down. Anyway, I have made some progress and over the next few posts, I'll bring you up to speed.

Firstly planning. The idea for Brafferton originally germinated several years ago and I've kicked ideas around for quite a while. Whilst the actual station was dead straight, I've always thought it would be fun to build a circular layout. Here is an early attempt to present Brafferton in that format (undated, but probably c.2000):




Much of my information came from the Allanwood Press publication "The Pilmoor, Boroughbridge and Knaresborough Railway" by Patrick Howat. Here is the 1902 Signal Plan fron that book:

If it wasn't for the Layout Challenge, I suspect that nothing further would have happened. With the advent of the Challenge, I set to revising my plans to a. fit in with the Challenge rules and b. to meet my own operational requirements as a portable, exhibitable layout:



I commissioned Alan Smith to laser cut some baseboard pieces for me. At this point he suggested a five piece circle, rather than the six I had envisaged, to add structural stability to the erected layout. Fair comment, but now I would have to rethink my design, and it would take the layout outside the Challenge rules in terms of the total area of layout. I gave the go-ahead to the boards and returned to the drawing-board...