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LAYOUT WORK: Building 'Bournemouth West for the S&DJR'


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1 September 2014

And so it begins...

This thread continues from the Layout Planning section which can be accessed via the 'Layout Work' link at the top of the page.

After a year and-a-half of plotting, planning, and fine-tuning, construction work on the layout finally began a couple of Saturdays ago. It took this long to get the main baseboard up (literally) and running (on wheels, no less), with pesky work getting in the way, but this is what I have so far.

The first photo shows the main board, which is 2540mm x 800mm (that's around 8ft 4" x 2ft 7" for you old blokes who can't cope with the modern world!). The framing is solid enough to ensure no warping, hopefully, and the removable backscene boards are propped in place by the vertical posts.

The second photo shows the layout with the main board in place.

I also managed to translate the track plan from paper onto the baseboard, and couldn't help playing trains with a display shot of a full length 'Pines Express' at Evercreech (albeit in late 1930s mode). That's in the third photo.

Frame

Frame

Track

The next step is to mark the cut-outs for the incline and the access points towards the back of the baseboard, where the upper level will be sited. A quiet afternoon and a bit of dry weather will be needed for that.

7 September 2014

Not too much to report since last time. During the week I was able to find the odd hour or so to be able to do the cutting-out. The large open areas will be where the upper level will sit, so I'll need to be able to access the underside of this for installations and repairs. The upper level will be removable for major work, but removing it could be a little complicated, so I don't think I'll be doing it every day.

Also cut out was the first - and biggest - part of the incline to the upper level.

Track

Track

The oval of track was a temporary test loop for warming up locos and cleaning wheels for the Yeovil NGF meet yesterday. It has gone now (for the time being, at least!).

9 September 2014

A bit more progress... Cork has been laid (under just about all railway-related books, several planks, three 5L tins of unused paint, and the timber for the fiddle yard traverser to weigh it down), and the first shot shows the semi-fitted first part of the backscene, which simply slots into place.

Baseboard

Baseboard

The cut-out areas of baseboard have been cut out of the cork, as has the scenic area in the middle. Actually, there's a lot more scenic area than expected. Hopefully the upper level will eat up some of it. The rest will be formed of the yard next to Branskome MPD and the street that ran alongside Bournemouth West Station.

Today, from Poundland, I bought some cheap double-sided sticky tape (the expensive stuff is just too sticky) for sticking down the track prior to ballasting, and some fine-tipped marker pens for marking out where the track will go. Almost there with some permanent, live track...

12 September 2014

Slowly (oh so slowly) getting there... A simple retaining tool for a removable protective barrier:

Baseboard

Providing that protective barrier for the hidden back straight to avoid locos and trains plunging to a fiery death in the gaping chasm below:

Baseboard

The finished backscene. Don't worry about the corner gaps as they'll be hidden by the upper level. To be honest, Flexi-MDF is a nightmare to work with. You'd be better off going for something much thinner, lighter, less flexi, and just add your curved corners with a flat piece of (diagonal) board or a thick card insert:

Baseboard

The gap at the far end is for the final piece of backscene which will fill the span between there and the start of the fiddle yard (still to be built):

Baseboard

Now onto trying to secure the first pieces of track (a minefield for the nervous beginner in itself!). I have Copydex and I also have double-sided sticky tape. The latter has been advised because it makes it easy to reposition the track, but I've also been warned against it because it will degrade and jeopardise future track stability. I've also been advised about hot glue (a tube of Bostick left in the sun for too long?), but I'm guessing that my best option is probably the Copydex.

Also, where exactly would you drill a hole next to a set of points for a Seep point rod. Does anyone have any diagrams or photos for an idiot? How do you mark out where the hole goes for the power feed for Electrofrog points (the extra silver wires that are attached to slips and 3-ways) while the point itself is sitting over the potential hole? All these questions and more will never be answered unless you dive in and sound off.

12 September 2014

This, adapted from a post on a forum, also sees to cover points motor installation in pretty good detail:

  1. Lay the track. Decide which side you want the point motor connected to

  2. Use a sharp pencil or pen, place it through the tie bar hole to draw where the arm will go. Do this for each of the tie bar's positions

  3. Remove the point, and join up the two little lines

  4. Use a 1.5mm or 2mm drill bit and drill out the entire length of the line. This leaves a slot under the tie bar

  5. Clean up the hole and offer up the point to it in order to make sure that it lines up

  6. Glue down the point (Copydex in my case)

  7. On the underside of the board, draw a long line extending out of the ends of the slot, along the middle, indicating the slot angle

  8. Once the glue has set, offer up the point motor, and mark off the length of the arm, and then cut it down

  9. Take three bits of cardboard (about 1.5mm thick) and wedge two of these on the outside of the point blades, in order to centre them. The third piece is cut to the gap in between the electromagnets on the motor. A slot is cut in the middle to again centre the point motor

  10. Insert the motor, and align the central rod with the line drawn earlier

  11. Screw it into place. Remove the bits of card, and most of your motors should be pretty well centralised

That seems to cover most of it, plus making sure you widen the tie-bar hole and mount the Seep on small blocks under the baseboard. I do think the cork underlay was a good idea. It does seem to do quite a bit of sound-deadening so far, and of course it gives you a bit of lee-way with errors in drilling.

20 September 2014

Things were going pretty slowly until Thursday's pinning down and bug-fixing day. If I had known just how difficult Code 55 flexitrack was going to be with anything other than straight sections then I might have been tempted to stick with Code 80. Never mind, it's getting there, and Code 55 does look better.

To start with, pinning down a tricky curve prior to dripping diluted PVA between the sleepers to hold it down (there was no way I was going to lift this to apply Copydex):

Baseboard

Complex height measurements for the incline supports and bridge:

Baseboard

The engineer's train, for testing purposes. A long-wheelbase loco like an 8F is ideal for testing curves. If that doesn't get stuck on a curve that's too tight, pretty much nothing else will:

Baseboard

Support pads to go onto the exposed battens under the incline so that the space can be brought up to surface level:

Baseboard

Another, even more tricky curve. This one proved to be such an unhelpful so-and-so that the junction has been nicknamed Unfriendly Junction:

Baseboard

One of eight support pads glued into place:

Baseboard

The view from the depths:

Baseboard

The incline support - essentially one single strip of wood for the most part, cut with a finely-measured slope to it, and then cut again into three or four pieces so that each piece will sit on a support pad and the next piece can start alongside it (this is so that it can cope with a snake-like curvy incline). The next job is to test these in position before gluing:

Baseboard

The incline has already been tested in rough terms. All sorts of tank engines made it up there with enthusiasm to spare and hauling three Farish suburban coaches - all except the infamous Dapol M7. That's going to need some extra weight added, although perhaps the incline will be a little more gentle once I have the proper supports in place.

20 September 2014

The continuous loop is close to being finished, but the curve coming out of Unfriendly Junction may need to be relaid first. Then there's just the station straight to connect and some jury-rigged electrical feeds to put in place to bypass the isolated sections, and the playing testing can begin.

27 September 2014

Progress report.

The incline support 'post' has been cut to shape and put in place, and a more serious test of locos was held. With three suburbans, the BachFar Jinty made it up okay but visibly eased off (realistically, of course). The Dapol Terrier motored up quite nicely at low speed. Best of all, the Dapol M7 cruised up, with a little bit of a slow-down where it crossed from the curve onto the straight (two different pieces of track). Still realistic, as far as I can see as the real thing was unlikely to hit a 1-in-63 slope without some slowing down. The point is that it didn't struggle and didn't sit on the spot, wheel-spinning. The incline works!

Incline

First part of incline support glued in place and weighted, and with a spirit level across it to ensure that it's entirely level. Plus the fiddle yard section has had its frame cut out, glued and screwed (it's upside down in this photo):

Fiddle yard

I've also started to complete the running loop with the last few sections of track on the northern side of EJ. Hopefully can complete that tomorrow.

28 September 2014

Today's work was all structural:

The ply for the fiddle yard base was cut out, given a coat of white ceiling paint on the underside, and glued and nailed into position (I've run out of small screws).

The ply for the upper level on the main board was cut out, and given a coat of white paint (and is now littering my hallway while it dries).

The rest of the backscene panels were given an undercoat (yep, you've guessed it - white).

The backing panel for the fiddle yard was cut out, along with three shelving strips for extra rolling stock, and two more pieces of support 'post' for the incline were glued into place.

Nothing much worth photographing, though, but it will help the general layout look better eventually.

 

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