Bodmin General (1955)

Tell us about your layout, where you put it, how you built it, how you operate it.
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steve howe
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Re: Bodmin General (1955)

Postby steve howe » Fri Jan 17, 2020 11:44 am

The buildings look very nice Jeremy, any possibility of some close-ups and a comment on construction?
Steve

Jeremy Good
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Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:36 pm

Re: Bodmin General (1955)

Postby Jeremy Good » Fri Jan 17, 2020 12:33 pm

Steve

I was lucky enough to be able to acquire the buildings from DRAG when they decided that they weren't continuing with their version of the project. They were part of Mike Casey's original collection so although I can't tell you how they were built I can try and get some decent photos to post over the next few days.

The biggest problem I'm going to have with this project is making sure I can build the missing buildings to the same, extremely high standard - I do like a challenge!

Jeremy

Tony Wilkins
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Re: Bodmin General (1955)

Postby Tony Wilkins » Fri Jan 17, 2020 12:41 pm

Jeremy Good wrote:Oh dear, it's been another 15 months and progress is limited. I did set myself a target of getting the main running lines to the junction laid and wired by the end of 2019. I missed that but I have managed to get most of the trackwork built and ready to lay.


Hi Jeremy.
I had a similar target date for a wired circuit of track with my Brimsdown project, except that the year was 2018 and unsurprisingly, I didn't make it either.

I need to come up with a solution for the fiddle yard design so that I can get the fiddle-yard boards ordered from Tim. The challenge is to be able to swap loaded and unloaded rakes of clay wagons between the two routes so that they can head down to Boscarne Junction and Wenfordbridge empty and return full to head off to Bodmin Road and eventually Fowey. I suspect this will involve cassettes but I'm not sure I want to use cassettes for the normal service trains - one to ponder.

Jeremy


The project is progressing very nicely from the look of it. There is certainly something very familiar about it. Your curve through the cattle dock in the goods yard looks much better than ours, which was something we didn't get right.
With our fiddle yard, the china clay trains caused us some head scratching, partly because the two halves of the fiddle yard are on slightly different levels. The Boscarne route begins to descend almost immediately from the junction turnout. Our arrangement uses one clay siding on the Bodmin road exit and two sidings on the Boscarne junction side. The swap over is done via some hairy curved track and pointwork that still causes us problems to this day. Cassettes were not around back then, but if they had been, we would definitely have used them for this traffic.
Regards
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

Jeremy Good
Posts: 278
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:36 pm

Re: Bodmin General (1955)

Postby Jeremy Good » Mon Mar 16, 2020 6:47 pm

Tony,

Thanks for your observations on the layout and in particular the comments about the cattle dock siding which looked a bit too curved on the plan but seems to be ok once laid out in the flesh.

The fiddle yard design has progressed a little and at the moment I have used some boards from another project until I have actually got it worked out properly. The photos show the current working version which will use cassettes. The maximum length train will be loco plus 16 clays plus a brake van which works out at around 5ft 6ins and will, just about fit on the deck as built - it is 6ft long in total. The corner is missing from the board so I don't keep knocking the chair at my work bench (and my back) into the pointy bit of the board.

IMG_2128.jpg


I have decided to ignore the changes in level and am trying to minimise compromises on the scenic section but as can be seen from the second photo mocking up the track layout I'm going to ned to introduce a reverse curve on the Boscarne branch (the single track route) to try and avoid it going into the storage space in the roof void behind the layout. Hopefully I can do this after the bridge and leave the alignment under the bridge as it was in reality - we'll see.

IMG_2141.jpg


I'm now pretty much at the point where I can no longer put off the track laying stage which I've been avoiding for a while but without having to commute regularly and with weekends getting freed up I can hopefully begin to see some progress on this front.

Steve, I haven't forgotten about photographing the buildings but they have been packed away while I've been preparing the track bed. I'll try and get some photos done shortly.

Jeremy
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Jeremy Good
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Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:36 pm

Re: Bodmin General (1955)

Postby Jeremy Good » Tue Jul 14, 2020 6:24 pm

The last few months has seen some significant progress with Bodmin as the extra time freed up by not commuting has allowed me to get on with track laying and wiring.

As of last Sunday evening the layout is wired and working with the exception of the loco shed siding. At the moment we are still operating with a temporary fiddleyard but the design has been finalised and plans are with Tim Horn for cutting the boards. The fiddleyard will be a mix of traditional sidings with cassettes being used to allow exchange of the loaded/empty clay wagons. There have also been thoughts about an alternative "scenic fiddleyard" adopting a representation of Boscarne Sidings on the opposite side of the loft to represent the Southern lines towards Wadebridge and the North Cornwall Coast.

The photos show the views looking in both directions from the mid-point of the layout. The track is all thick ply sleepers, Exactoscale chairs and steel rail with the exception of the baseboard joints where I have used copper clad and brass sleepers for an element of strengthening. The majority runs reasonably well which, for my first P4 layout, is something I am pleased with but I have a little remedial work to do on a couple of joints and two of the turnouts.

IMG_2366.jpg


IMG_2365.jpg


The turnouts are operated by Tortoise point motors and use Masokits tiebars with the drive being delivered using the method shown by Bob How for his King's Cross model in MRJ 216. A number of turnout motor positions clashed with under board framework (poor planning on my part) but I have used some of the Exactoscale bases in those locations. I did find that the standard operating wire in the Tortoises was too flexible to allow the proper, reliable throw of the switches but replacing this wire with a thicker one has solved that problem.

Testing and remedial work will now take priority over the next couple of weeks along with the construction and installation of the last section of track, complete with ash pits and buffer stops. Once I am reasonably happy with this I'll begin adding some landscape contours and the platform surface which will hopefully make it look a bit more like a station.

The photos again prove that the lighting in the loft is inadequate and I need to improve that so that I can get some better photographs of the overall layout. Further updates soon.
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steve howe
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Re: Bodmin General (1955)

Postby steve howe » Wed Jul 15, 2020 9:50 am

Steve, I haven't forgotten about photographing the buildings but they have been packed away while I've been preparing the track bed. I'll try and get some photos done shortly.

Jeremy
T


No worries, just interested in the construction methods. If you need details I can always nip up the road and take some shots of the real thing!

Steve

Jeremy Good
Posts: 278
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 10:36 pm

Re: Bodmin General (1955)

Postby Jeremy Good » Tue Sep 29, 2020 4:27 pm

Little progress to report over the summer but hoping to see some layout rather than stock progress in the next few weeks.

Test running has shown up one for two areas where the trackwork needs remedial action. The geometry of the yard entry track and pointwork is all wrong leading to some interesting derailments This was caused by us trying to follow an odd reverse curve through the prototype trackwork here but it just doesn't want to work in P4. I have also found that I am tight to gauge on one of the loco release turnouts so further remedial work needed.

The branch to Boscarne Junction is another area where I don't think the compromise I adopted works. I have tried to keep the reasonably tight curve of the prototype as far as the overbridge but as it headed under the bridge and off-scene it curves back the other way to straighten the line out into the fiddle yard. It looks wrong so I'm going to re-do that section and although I can't continue the line of the curve as per the prototype without heading into the under eaves storage(!), I think just straightening this line out will improve the look of this area. It might mean a tighter curve on entry to the fiddle yard but that will still be at least 1.2m radius.

I've also had a failure on one of the Masokits tiebars which needs investigation - whether this is down to poor manufacture (probably) or another cause hasn't yet been determined.

Hopefully, now that the loft room has cooled a bit and I've regained some motivation post-Scaleforum, I'll have more progress on the layout to report soon.

Jeremy

Terry Bendall
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Re: Bodmin General (1955)

Postby Terry Bendall » Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:23 am

Jeremy Good wrote:I've also had a failure on one of the Masokits tiebars which needs investigation - whether this is down to poor manufacture (probably) or another cause hasn't yet been determined


I have used the Masokits tiebars generally successfully but I find they area bit fiddly to put together and occasionally one gets so messed up that the only solution is to throw it in the bin and start again. :(

Terry Bendall


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