Brettell Road - Going over old ground

[jim s-w]

9 bells on the railcar
David

It's a bit of a quandary on what to do with head and tail lights on a layout where trains change direction isn't it?

[Phil O]

I wasn't sure if you were going to emulate Dave Rowe on his Spanish layout, where he went through a 24 hour period in a couple of hours. He had focused lights to alter the light and shade, dependant on where the sun was in the sky and twinkling stars at night.

Phil.

[jim s-w]

Well I've reached the end of adding green stuff to the layout with the slim strip of it at the front. There's only really the bridges, some more road vehicles and some industrial clutter still to do on the scenic side now.


This is the view of the Stourbridge end. there are 2 metal over bridges still to build for this end.


a view from inside the yard showing the new retaining wall on the left. <


The Dudley end. there are 3 under bridges to build for this end.


I decided to revisit an older picture i quite liked, well why not?

[jim s-w]

I've nearly finished of another batch of a dozen wagons. Some are repeats of types that have gone before, some are variations and some are typed I've not done before.


Below are the repeats

A LMS 5 plank open from the Cambrian kit. 2 shockvans and a 9 plank private open from Parkside kits.

A couple of standard 12t vans from Parkside kits. The plywood one (furthest) is built as per kit with my usual mods to detail the underframe a little. The nearer planked example with plywood doors runs on the Red Panda 10 ft clasp brake chassis.

This one is a mix of old and new Parkside. The body is one of their old kits mounted on their newer LMS clasp brake underframe to produce a diagram 1927 vac fitted 12 ton goods wagon.

Nearest is a diagram 1379 Southern railways 8 plank open from the Cambrian kit. Furthest a 6ton LMS fish van from Parkside.

2 palvans from the Parkside kit. Furthest as supplied and nearest converted to a clasp brake variant using parts from the red panda underframe. Not quite as simple as the 12 ton van shown earlier as I needed to retain the palvans slightly odd springing and solebars.

Finally a diagram 2111 LMS banana van. The body is from the ratio kit and the underframe is a little bit weird. It is basically the standard LMS clasp brake design but with a shorter 9 ft wheelbase rather than the usual 10 ft. I think it gives quite a nicely proportioned vehicle .

Above shows how I did it. I've been finishing the bodies first for a while now and adding the underframe later as, provided the underframe is supplied in black plastic, it saves some time painting, especially the visible bits on the insides. This one uses spare bits left over from other wagon kits. The solebar is from Cambrian and the handbrakes are from Parkside. W irons are Bill Bedford with Wizard models brakes and Rumney Models axleboxes and springs. Question is, will anyone ever notice?

[Noel]

Very nice, Jim, although perhaps some could be a lot more weathered; by circa 1960 wooden VB wagons generally were mostly pretty bad in that respect. I assume it was mostly down to chemical changes in the paint, since I have seen quite a lot of colour pictures with perfectly legible numbers, etc. on bodies which were clearly once bauxite and no longer are, so presumably the colour change is mostly not due to superficial dirt. Certainly grey wagons do not seem to have suffered in the same way, nor, oddly, do steel bodied bauxite vehicles.

So far as D2111 is concerned, it was built steam heated with a pipe casing up each end. The yellow spot indicates a 1958-onwards conversion to more insulation and no steam heat, which could have resulted in the removal of the casing, but I suspect [but do not know] that as a 9ft wb vehicle it may never have been converted. Photographs are hard to find, so I would be interested if you have knowledge of any that answer the question one way or the other... Certainly, it should officially not carry the XP code [restricted to 10ft wb and longer], but errors in that respect were not entirely unknown, albeit rare.

[jim s-w]

As always Noel, i just find pictures and copy what I see. I found a pic of the banana van without the steam heat pipes and no external ducting so I just copied it. I'll admit though the markings has pretty much disappeared. I'll delete the XP code just to be on the safe side

[Le Corbusier]

Loved the MRJ photos .... looking forward to Scaleforum

[jim s-w]

Thanks. I hope it lives up to your expectations!

[jim s-w]

Been a bit quiet around here recently as I've been busy on the run up to Scaleforum in 2 weeks time.

A few weeks ago Phil kindly let me set up the layout at his house for a pre-show shakedown. I have to be honest it all went very well indeed with some great feedback and suggestions from the guys who will be helping at scaleforum. The main thing I wanted to decide on, and the operators were pivotal to this decision was if the layout was going to have a roof or not. I think we all decided it should so a roof is currently under construction. Another thing changed for the show is the point motors. Although the ones I had didn't give any trouble I decided to switch them over to tortoises for reliability. There are an awful lot on Calcutta siding 2 (there was an awful lot on Calcutta sidings 1 as well!) and they have never given any trouble. I've also set up routes (no laptop required, you can do it with digitrax) so hopefully we will at least create the impression that we know what we are doing!

What about building bridges? Well that's what I have been doing. The bridges on the layout are perhaps the ultimate example of how far away from the original idea Brettell road has come. I could have just used a pile of wills verigirders and got on with it but I really wanted to get back to etching things after several years so I drew up 4 different designs.


Starting from the left hand end, this is going to be the road over bridge.

Next is the footbridge. These 2 bridges and their locations take inspiration (and measurements) from the bridges at Moor Street Sidings.

moving to the canal. this will be the bridge that carries the branchline over the canal. Its based on one close to home that's the other side of where the real Brettell Lane station used to be.

Finally the bridges for the sidings themselves. This is based on one at round oak.

[Colin Parks]

Hi Jim,

Those bridges look very well designed and made indeed. Good luck at Scaleforum!

Colin

[DougN]

Jim, looking quite brilliant.

Would love to see it all in the flesh at Scaleforum but it wont be this year....

I think I need to have more than 3 years between my visits so I can get through all the things I buy (let alone the long haul flight and the damage to the bank account )

[kelly]

Those bridges look rather good.

Looking forward to seeing brettel road at the weekend.

[jim s-w]

Quick thanks to all those who came to see the layout at scaleforum. For a first show I was very pleased with how it behaved (there is a list of improvements to be done naturally) and many had nice things to say. Some handy feedback too so hopefully onwards and upwards from here.

Thanks again

Jim

[Will L]

Certainly worth a good look Jim, and I've never had seats provided for the audience before.

Will

[Terry Bendall]

I've never had seats provided for the audience before.

These were provided at Jim's request to suit the height of the layout. I found a few minutes to sit and admire Jim's work and I hope that others who did the same managed to look under the canal bridge for the detail that was evident there and along the curved siding into the yard beyond. Jim noted that those who came and sat moved along the row of seats to gain different viewpoints. As others have said there was a great deal to admire in all of the layouts, and they were all very different. I was hard pressed to decide which one would take my vote for the Ken York trophy.

Terry Bendall

[kelly]

Sadly didn't get a chance to take a proper look at the layout due to be too busy with other things most of the show. What I did see looked good, the darkness approach seemed to work well though, even from afar.

[Phil O]

Unfortunately every time I went to have a look at the layout all the seats were taken, so I had to make do with a longer range look. What I could see the layout looked very good. I hope that I might get another chance to see the layout and hopefully get a closer look.

Phil.

[jim s-w]

Should do Phil

My 3 loyal operators said they would be happy to take it out again so...

[kelly]

Should do Phil

My 3 loyal operators said they would be happy to take it out again so...

I'll look forward to getting another chance to have a proper look at it then

[Phil O]

Thanks Jim, I will look forward to it and await further announcements.

Phil

[BrockleyAndrew]

I thought it was excellent. Have enjoyed this thread and would have liked more time to sit and watch the train movements but had a youngster to keep me moving on. I went to scaleforum to see this and Minories and Clutton, interest coming from reading threads on this forum. I suggested (not seriously) dry ice for a misty night feel for Brettel Road but, having only known Jim from his online postings and making comments without introduction or context, it may have come across as an unwanted idiotic suggestion!

I wanted to see it for the combination of night setting and dampness and was very impressed, really evocative and atmospheric.

Andrew

[Knuckles]

In some of my earlier videos I used a disco smoke machine bodged with aquarium pipes and holes drilled in the layout. Great for cylinder cock 'Wheeeeshing!' Works well.

I plan to do it again for future layouts although maybe some fine mesh to disguise the holes this time wouldn't go a miss. Also thinking of trying funnel smoke machines instead on a switch in strategic places.

[jim s-w]

I suggested (not seriously) dry ice for a misty night feel for Brettel Road but, having only known Jim from his online postings and making comments without introduction or context, it may have come across as an unwanted idiotic suggestion!

I wanted to see it for the combination of night setting and dampness and was very impressed, really evocative and atmospheric.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew.

It wasn't a daft idea at all. One of the senses I do want to involve more is smell. I've been searching for some while for a wet grass air freshener.

Cheers

Jim

[Knuckles]

Grass and water in a blender, slosh it up and put it in small containers concealed under the layout...maybe with mini fans??

I'm being serious.

[kelly]

Scratch and sniff cards on the layout for viewers to pick up?