Connah's Quay: The Layout.

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jon price
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Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Tue Feb 19, 2019 3:20 pm

On the basis that if I have baseboards, (some) track, wiring, buildings and stock this must constitute a layout I hereby declare, after much prevarication, Connah's Quay open! Mrs Gladstone having cut the first sod, and Mr Gladstone having wheeled the first barrow some years ago. (Facilities under construction. May not match images in brochure)
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John Bateson
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby John Bateson » Tue Feb 19, 2019 6:41 pm

Would I be correct that the Buckley Colliery wagons have escaped to the LNWR lines for the picture. 8-)
Its slightly worrying that three schools in Buckley were built on top of old and very deep pits. Even more that the brand new surgery is built on top of the demolished school that was built on top of an old pit. :cry:
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jon price
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Tue Feb 19, 2019 7:45 pm

Yes John. The Buckley wagons shouldn't be there. If they did get onto LNWR metal it would have been via the exchange sidings behind the station off to the right of the photo, and as far as I can tell they could only have been picked up by a train heading West so wouldn't make it on to the line to Chester. Mind you if the Irish Mail is delayed because of these stray wagons I think there will be questions asked in the House.
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Knuckles
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby Knuckles » Wed Feb 20, 2019 5:50 am

Looks like the quey just off from Knapford Junction (fictional but mapped out.)
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jon price
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Fri Feb 22, 2019 1:56 pm

Bridge building now in full swing. Construction using Slaters plasticard sheets and rivets, and Evergreen plastic section. Archers resin rivets will be applied to the cover panel. The girder bridge at Connah's Quay is long gone, and I have located no photos of the outside, so I have used the bridge at Queensferry, the next station down the line, for which there is a photo, as a model. Adress ing John's concerns the LNWR line is here equipped with LNWR stock

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jon price
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Sun Nov 10, 2019 4:12 pm

A long pause brought on by non-railway issues has now ended, and bridge building is actually progressing
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Connah's Quay: building progress

Postby jon price » Mon Mar 30, 2020 4:54 pm

As a result of Lockdown (but not suitable for the challenge as I started these when we started our own lockdown in advance of the official one) The buildings on Dock Road are progressing rapidly. Here we have No.28 (occupied on the 1907 census, but I mislaid my notes), The Pilots Office, and Coppack Bros.& Co. chandlers wharehouse. Drains and gutters to be installed after I get hold of the materials. These builkdings are sadly lacking in documentation. There are several plans and maps, principally the GCR survey and the 25" OS, but the outlines of the buildings are slightly different on each one; and there are two photos with the roof line visible in the far distance across the dock. The warehouse went by 73, and the cottage and office soon after so no on-site survey possible. As a result I have made a speculative attempt. I started with a couple of Petite Properties, carried out major surgery, then clad the carcases in Slaters plasticard brick and stonework with York modelmaking tiles on the roof.

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steve howe
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby steve howe » Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:48 am

Any chance of a trackplan Jon?

Steve

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jon price
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Tue Mar 31, 2020 1:59 pm

Aah! A trackplan! The track started off as a plan prepared by the GCR prior to takeover. In practice the layout is (as usual) a slightly modified version of reality and the original trackplan was prepared using the TRAX software in a book about making track. Unfortunately I had to upgrade my computer and now cannot run it, though I had a number of full sized printouts of portions of it. As I started to play around with these it became clear I would have to change things, and with the excuse that the trackplan appears in a number of different forms accoprding to which original map or plan you look at, and after calling on the assistance of a couple of experts on this forum I have a including a couple of threeway turnout which will suit the character of the track at the Quay. So here is a (roughly to scale ) sketch. The parallel sidings on the original quay will be first to be laid, with the more complicated stuff to follow. The wagon turntable on the right moves the trader wagons of bricks onto a track parallel to the new quay. The track running along the new quayside is used by the steam cranes which lift narrow guage trucks full of bricks from the trader wagons into the ships, where they are unloaded, to return empty onto the trader wagons. The empties then use the turntable on the left to return to the sidings. The truncated sidings in the middle are the Connah's Quay domestic coal yard. Simples.

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Winander
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby Winander » Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:13 pm

Hello Jon,

Are you able to build off those templates shown in the photograph of the post from 30th March? Some appear to be pre-printed templates, but I assume the others are from TRAX.
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jon price
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:55 pm

Re: building off the templates. The printed one are from the Exactoscale kits, so fairly straightforward. The general lie of the land sidings can be done by eye (this is the Buckley Railway we are building, not the Premier Line) For the curving line out from the bridge I'm intending to make a cardboard template. The template for the threeway is a Templot printout (courtesy of Martin Wynne and Paul Willis) So (fingers crossed) it should all work. Back from the turnout under the bridge the rest of the Buckley main line will be represented by cassettes, as will the lines off to the left (one cassette access point for all this) leading to the coal sidings, the (should be closed but isn't on my layout, having been taken over by the enterprising Mrs Wilkinson) chemical factory,, the link to the LNWR Connah's Quay down side sidings, and the link to the main WMCQR line.
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Winander
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby Winander » Tue Mar 31, 2020 5:40 pm

Jon,

Sounds like you are all set to host the next CRAG meeting :thumb when the government let us out of our houses.

Keep us posted with progress won't you.
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Paul Willis
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Mar 31, 2020 5:46 pm

From the utterly invaluable National Library of Scotland georeferenced maps:

Connahs Quay.JPG


Jon's trackplan looks like turning into a wonderfully faithful representation :-)

Cheers
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jon price
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:15 pm

To Flymo: wonderfully faithful, for a given definition of faithful
To Richard: the layout is currently up a ladder, through a narrow hatch with low roof clearance, and in the attic. I fear many CRAGGIES would find it a hard visit. The good news is that I am attempting to make it as transportable as possible. Providing always my measurements of the hatch and the necessary angles of approach are accurate. We did put our house on the market just after the New Year, and were eyeing up properties with nice big railway rooms, but I think that this is not likely for the forseeable future.

The good news is that next I will be finishing some rolling stock that has been half built for too long.
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Martin Wynne
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby Martin Wynne » Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:17 am

jon price wrote:the original trackplan was prepared using the TRAX software in a book about making track. Unfortunately I had to upgrade my computer and now cannot run it

Hi Jon,

TRAX will run fine on Windows8-10, I'm running it on a fully updated Windows10 as we speak.

The problem is with the installer program rather than the TRAX program itself.

The solution is to install it on an older Windows7 computer and then copy the entire TRAX installation folder to your Windows10 computer. If you no longer have a Windows7 computer, you may have a friend who does.

cheers,

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Martin Wynne
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby Martin Wynne » Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:26 am

Flymo748 wrote:From the utterly invaluable National Library of Scotland georeferenced maps:

Indeed so, and just a reminder that Templot can capture the map from the internet for you, and automatically display it as a background guide to track planning at the correct scale for P4:

maps.png

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jon price
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:48 am

Thanks for all the input, and in other circumstances I might follow the advice BUT there is so little left at Connah's Quay (One building you can look at, one I didn't risk asking for access to, an embankment wall, a stretch of wall deliniating one side of the railway for ashort distance, and the walls of the first dock and quay) and quite a limited range of photographs (of which only two seem to match my chosen date) that I am treating this as a an artistic endeavour. The railway gubbins is P4 and the approach is finescale, inasfar as achieving a working layout in a reasonable timespan makes that feasible. Consequently however I accept that the whole project lies firmly within the realm of impressionist artistic interpretation.
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby Paul Willis » Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:27 pm

jon price wrote: Consequently however I accept that the whole project lies firmly within the realm of impressionist artistic interpretation.


Sounds exactly like my approach to modelling (and engineering) :-)

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Progress restarts

Postby jon price » Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:57 pm

The layout has moved from a confined space, up a ladder, with low roof beams and duckunders (resulting in a semi permanent concussion hazard and a lack of inclination to work on it) to a room with conventional height, and space to walk round the layout, so now work has restarted in earnest (for a given value of earnest of course). I'm about to start on the WM&CR Buckley branch track under the LNWR main line to Holyhead. Whilst summoning up the courage to begin the two first turnouts I'm working on the East end of Connah's Quay station and the LNWR mainline on its embankment. This may not look like progress, but it actually is! (Also the cat prefers it)
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby SteamAle » Tue Feb 01, 2022 10:19 pm

Does this mean CRAGIES could squeeze in?
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jon price
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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby jon price » Wed Feb 02, 2022 12:12 pm

Yes the CRAGies could squeeze in (there might have to be timed tickets, with only one door and no fire escape... :) ) but we should wait until I have some track down on the Quay,(the 300 foot of mainline across the back doesn't make for much running interest), so it looks like a layout not just bare boards, and at least one loco running (two awaiting chassis completion, rest still at the conceptual stage). It is slow, I know, but I now have workspace so progress is much accelerated,

A delay as far as track is concerned is deciding on how to manage the turnouts (TOU, control system) The locos will be DCC but I don't want to be faffing around punching in numbers so I need some kind of analog control, so probably not DCC for the turnouts. The tie bars should be rod, not flat, and although I'm inclined to the "twin rods from the ends of the blades into tube" type of TOU I could be persuaded by a single rod from the side. Tube in wire is a non starter for this.

As far as locos go I just need the courage to sort the hornblocks on the CSB loco, and a couple of pieces of brass tube bearing on the compensated one. I've probably mislaid the connecting rods in the move as well (too many boxes without labels). I do have a completely irrelevant GNR J13 Hornby body on a Mainly Trains chassis that was running, but seems to have smoked its decoder.

Meanwhile I'm diverted into scenery as the relatively easy thing I can pick up and put down in the middle of other stuff.
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stephenfreeman
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Re: Progress restarts

Postby stephenfreeman » Wed Feb 02, 2022 3:22 pm

jon price wrote:The layout has moved from a confined space, up a ladder, with low roof beams and duckunders (resulting in a semi permanent concussion hazard and a lack of inclination to work on it) to a room with conventional height, and space to walk round the layout, so now work has restarted in earnest (for a given value of earnest of course). I'm about to start on the WM&CR Buckley branch track under the LNWR main line to Holyhead. Whilst summoning up the courage to begin the two first turnouts I'm working on the East end of Connah's Quay station and the LNWR mainline on its embankment. This may not look like progress, but it actually is! (Also the cat prefers it)
P1260132.JPG
P1160124.JPG

I must say your cat looks remarkably well behaved.

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jon price
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Re: Progress restarts

Postby jon price » Wed Feb 02, 2022 5:48 pm

I must say your cat looks remarkably well behaved.


Insufficient small items to push off onto the floor yet.
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Craig Warton
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Re: Progress restarts

Postby Craig Warton » Wed Feb 02, 2022 9:55 pm

jon price wrote:
I must say your cat looks remarkably well behaved.


Insufficient small items to push off onto the floor yet.


I have 14 foster kittens at the moment. They have discovered things I did not know I had.

Layout is looking very promising!

Regards,

Craig Warton

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Re: Connah's Quay: The Layout.

Postby Enigma » Sun Feb 13, 2022 8:54 pm

Spurred on by your layout I've been reading my copy of The WM&CQ Railway by Boyd and rediscovered how fascinating a line it was, especially the Buckley Railway aspect with all the various industries feeding the line. Makes me wish that I had been a bit more attentive in my youth when I would have been easily able to go and see for myself in the late 50's/early 60's. I just hadn't realised then how much interesting railway there was in the Buckley area! Are you going to try and recreate the spectacular run-away crashes that occurred ;)


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