Farther on down the road

Tell us about your layout, where you put it, how you built it, how you operate it.
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Jol Wilkinson
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Farther on down the road

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Sun Dec 02, 2012 1:24 pm

- or news of the extension to London Road

After restoring London Road and taking it to several shows including S4North, I decided that the frustrations of operating it justified turning it from a terminus into a through station. No more shunting rakes of carriages with the possibility of derailments, the opportunity to run some goods trains through the station and the chance to enjoy the stress and frustration of building what is effectively a new layout.

After setting up the extended layout in the local village hall last weekend, with the help of Mike Gipson of the NEEAG, I decided to provide an update for those interested, together with some photos. Unfortunately in the flurry of activity I had the wrong setting on the camera so that the photos are all of the smallest size. The first photo shows the extended layout, seen from the original fiddle yard/traverser end. Now a total of 34' long, the original terminus platform base board has been replaced by a new through platforms section, followed by a new 2' wide station approach section and a further traverser fiddle yard, modelled on the original. The original layout was 22' long with 18"wide baseboards. The original terminus baseboard and control panel have been retained so that the layout can be used in either its original or new format.

London Road seen from original FY end.JPG

I can only work on one baseboard at a time in the workshop, so this was a rare opportunity to see if it all fitted. Apart from the c*ck up with the lighting gantry owing to an error when calculating the length of one of the new sections, nearly every thing fitted properly and worked. Saturday was spent erecting, cleaning and checking, while Sunday became a bit of a test running session. Operation is DC, the new control panel being designed to mimic the original, but now including route indicator lamps for the hard of hearing. The old section turnout motors are KM solenoids, with GPO relays operating the signals, so each side of the panel has a different approach to wiring the switches, etc. Each fiddle yard traverser has it's own control panel, following the same approach.

London Road new station approach and platforms.JPG


The new station approach features London Road No. 2 signal cabin, built from two LRM kits by Peter Sapte. John Redrup is building the PW gang's shed/workshop and signal cabin coal and ash store.
The two tracks on the left are the carriage storage and cleaning sidings. The two lines approaching the camera lead into the off stage engine shed (in the fiddle yard). The trackwork was laid out using Templot and built with C&L and Exactoscale parts on wood sleepers. The 60' LNWR plain track panels were assembled using a laser cut jig made for me by Brain Lewis just before he retired from C&L. Turnouts are operated by Cobalt point motors.

The track plan was partly defined by the rest of the original layout and also to provide the idea that some up trains approaching form the new end could terminate and return or be stored. Down trains from the old end will only stop and continue. That's a bit like Tring, a LNWR station I always wanted to model but haven't got the time, space or capital. This picture shows the new section. The foreshortening of the photo rather shows up the trackwork alignment (the distance from the camera to the overbridge is about eleven feet).

London Road new station approach and overbridge (1).JPG


The signals were built from MSE parts with tapered brass posts. They are driven by servos and MERG Servo4 controllers. The signal layout was produced for me by Richard Foster of the LNWR Society and "refined/simplified" by Derek Smith. The tall one on the left is a co-acting one, both arms moving together. It is on the through line and can be seen from the distance over the station building canopy as well as from the loco when stopped at the end of the platform.
The strange red engine (on an LNWR layout, at least) belongs to Andy Walker (Ealing of this parish) who along with John Redrup and Tony Osmond (who also built the just visible ground signals), brought some stock for testing on the Sunday.

Signals and SB No. 2.JPG


There is still some way to go, more retaining walls to be built, LNWR station buildings and canopies and covered footbridge, etc. (any volunteers?). However, it was good to see it all set up and appreciate the progress made so far.
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Mike Garwood
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby Mike Garwood » Sun Dec 02, 2012 4:52 pm

Jol
That looks wonderful! Many congratulations! When is the layout booked for a first appearance in this new form?

Mike

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Jol Wilkinson
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Sun Dec 02, 2012 6:59 pm

Thanks Mike,

no shows booked yet. I've spoken to a few show managers, but haven't been pushing it too hard.

I'm happy to show London Road in a partly finished state if I get an invite. I'm not rushing to complete it as I want to finish as well as I can.

We have also got to work out how to operate it to provide a good show as well as maintain the operators interest. As the operating team lives as far afield as Stafford, Basildon, Watford, Ealing and Woodbridge (me) plus various stops in between, that's a bit of a challenge.

Jol

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jim s-w
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby jim s-w » Sun Dec 02, 2012 7:17 pm

Hi Jol

Will it be roundy roundy?

Cheers

Jim
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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Jol Wilkinson
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Sun Dec 02, 2012 7:33 pm

No, it's still end to end with a traverser/fiddle yard at each end.

At one time I did own the circular P4 test track that John Redrup commissioned from Red Dog and which is now in the hands of the NLG. The intention was to use it for the ends of a roundy round based upon Tring, but it never happened. C'est la vie.

Test track 1.JPG
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jim s-w
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby jim s-w » Sun Dec 02, 2012 7:49 pm

Ironically Tring is one of the 3 layouts that will use our universal fiddleyards. I dunno if yr2000 overhead electrics is what you had in mind though. ;)

Cheers

Jim
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

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Jol Wilkinson
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:22 pm

Er, no Jim.

The locos and stock in the picture of the test track would be more appropriate in my view. Although I do think that the early blue electrics were rather nice looking, I can't say I feel the same about the more recent stuff.

If we had modelled Tring in the early 1900s, then we could ban Ealing's red engines. As London Road is now set somewhere between Watford - the original fiddle yard - and Preston - the new FY, then we can suspend disbelief and allow the occassional interloper. At least that's my excuse for having an NER G1 4-4-0 kit in the to do pile (one I designed for LRM) and asking Richard McLachan to build me a set of NER clerestory carriages.

Jol

Terry Bendall
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby Terry Bendall » Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:55 am

Mike Garwood wrote:When is the layout booked for a first appearance in this new form?


Jol Wilkinson wrote:no shows booked yet.


But Jol and I have been in contact with a view to the extended London Road coming to Scaleforum in 2013, depending on progress.


Terry Bendall

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Andy W
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby Andy W » Mon Dec 03, 2012 3:39 pm

The layout looks good in the pics - but even better in real life. Well done Jol.

Not sure about you getting rid of the red engines. Like vermin behind the skirting board they were breeding in your fiddle yard.

Image

One even pulled a train while you weren't looking.

Image

And a baby one was running around in the station.

Image
Make Worcestershire great again.
Build a wall along the Herefordshire border and make them pay for it.

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Jol Wilkinson
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Re: Farther on down the road

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Tue Nov 12, 2019 5:54 pm

It's a long time since I started this thread and it has been dormant for a long time, despite London Road's extension having been completed and appearing at a number of shows. The first was at Scaleforum in 2013 when it was far from finished and the last at Scaleforum 2019 when it was pretty much complete.

London Road.jpg


London Road was also one of the layouts at the Warley NEC exhibition in 2016 as part of the Society's 40th anniversary presentation.

Warley 2016.jpg


I have decided to retire from exhibiting London Road and a planned house move will give me the opportunity to create a new permanent layout based around the two new "extension" baseboards. The original terminus layout can therefore be reinstated (the end board with the terminal building was on display at the Society's AGM in June at Woodbridge) and hopefully will find a new home.
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