Boscarne Junction

[Winander]

Ian,

Have you seen this method used on the Ouse Viaduct viewtopic.php?f=9&t=790&start=25#p4743 also inspired by Gordon Gravett and appears to be less work than your proposal?

[ClikC]

I built three foam baseboards a couple of weekends ago, as trail to check out materials.

1200mm x 450mm, 125mm deep. Using 50mm foil coated polyurethane foam insulation board, 5mm plywood sides and 9mm plywood ends, stuck together with Grip Fill and left clamped overnight to set. The boards are incredibly stiff and lightweight, and I didn't even add cross bracing, but that may change when (if) i remove the foil from both sides (I have heard tail of the foam wrapping if only removed on one side).

Regards

[ginger_giant]

That is a fascinating method of construction, I hadn't realised Arun Quay was built that way, I'll be interested to see how you get on with it. Ive thought of using extruded aluminium for my next projects, mainly because I'll have plenty of off cuts after using it for remodelling a garage and workbenches and in my land rover, but it looks like it'll mean thinner baseboards can be made with even more rigidity. a combination of all methods could work quite well I think. Either way good luck, the baseboard sizes certainly look manageable! and I do like the trestle, girder, baseboard way of doing things... notes duly taken

I'm still chewing the fat over the idea of the storage carcase under Baseboard Five. It might be a good idea for secure transportation of the angled boards, also give a very solid support. On the other hand, it might be too bulky, and when I assemble the layout at home, I will fill the empty shelves with items.

[ginger_giant]

Ian,

Have you seen this method used on the Ouse Viaduct viewtopic.php?f=9&t=790&start=25#p4743 also inspired by Gordon Gravett and appears to be less work than your proposal?

I've not picked up on that so will give it a read.

[ginger_giant]

I built three foam baseboards a couple of weekends ago, as trail to check out materials.

1200mm x 450mm, 125mm deep. Using 50mm foil coated polyurethane foam insulation board, 5mm plywood sides and 9mm plywood ends, stuck together with Grip Fill and left clamped overnight to set. The boards are incredibly stiff and lightweight, and I didn't even add cross bracing, but that may change when (if) i remove the foil from both sides (I have heard tail of the foam wrapping if only removed on one side).

Thanks for mentioning your trialing this style of baseboard construction and you must keep us all informed on your progress.

[CDGFife]

Been watching this fascinating thread for a while, but just catching up after a weekend at Perth.

Baseboard boxing: on Cadhay I built end boards that bolt on to each end of the baseboard immediately on separation to protect the track ends. These support a lid which also doubles as the lighting rig. Thus the only left over pieces of packing are the flat baseboard ends which stack neatly under the layout. In my case the lids are supported by aluminium but any method would work and since your comment about lighting also included the bit about excluding outside lighting to be in control of your environment (which since they're solid these do for exactly that reason) I thought I'd pitch it in.

This pic (from Perth) shows how it works - each lid is (obviously) the size of the baseboard below it so on unpacking they're just lifted up onto the supports and on breaking down they are lifted down after the baseboard has been split and drop straight onto the end boards.

023.jpg

The first four were made from Aluminium frame with plywood infill, but at the top of the pic you can see the start of one of the latest two which are made from 4mm laser ply in a 25mm deep box that weighs around 500g!

Lever Frame orientation: Using Merg's CBus we can plug the Cadhay Sidings signal box in at the front or the back. We have found that orientating the lever frame perpendicular to the layout means that the lever numbering logic does not seem to cause an issue for the operators in either situation. You can see how we orientate it on this pic where Ian is operating the block instruments in the box (with the late running 0615 southbound freight!!!) - the lever frame is below the Block Shelf in the same plane perpendicular to the layout and the Signal Diagram is out of shot above the block Instruments.

024.jpg

Very interesting thread.

Chris

[ginger_giant]

Baseboard boxing: on Cadhay I built end boards that bolt on to each end of the baseboard immediately on separation to protect the track ends. These support a lid which also doubles as the lighting rig. Thus the only left over pieces of packing are the flat baseboard ends which stack neatly under the layout. In my case the lids are supported by aluminium but any method would work and since your comment about lighting also included the bit about excluding outside lighting to be in control of your environment (which since they're solid these do for exactly that reason) I thought I'd pitch it in.

Now that has got me thinking, thanks Chris... Could I combine the two ends of the box with a hinged front so that they would fold flat for storage at home and at an exhibition. My objective is to end up with a cameo/letterbox style presentation so could have the box top as part of the baseboard like Tim Horns boards. The problem I will have to think though is how to tackle the three boards that have curved backs, also in doing so how much weight it would add to the boards for moving along with whether the baseboards would become top heavy and unwieldy.

The Man Cave is now almost empty of furniture, but I doubt I'll be making a start on Boscarne before the Autumn. This is due to it being required as storage for the contents of an 18ft x 8ft garden shed. Along with other garden project I need to turn the shed though 90 degrees and reduce it's length by at least 4ft.

So plenty of time to mull over options and ideas.

[CDGFife]

Ian, if you go for the fixed top baseboard you describe then with a clever bit of design you could hinge the ends and front to fold over onto the top of the "lid" bit when using the layout. I think using laserply/poplar ply for these should mean with proper "lid" design, the weight would be ok, particularly if your presentation is a quite narrow letterbox slot with quite short ends and frontpiece.

CDG

[bécasse]

I am sorry that I have been silent for a fair while when I have a reasonable amount of useful information to impart which I will do over at least a couple of posts.

I will start with the subject of the conveyance of tank wagons by mixed train which has been touched on before. My (posted) initial assumption had been that this was quite a late practice, perhaps to convey heating oil as demand for it increased post-war, and partly driven by the apparent lack of a barrier wagon in the only train I could initially find a photo of.

I could hardly have been more wrong on all fronts, not least when perusal of aforesaid photo under magnification showed up a tiny corner of a van roof between the B-set and the tanks - so there was a barrier van as required by the rule book and the tanks could have been, and probably were, conveying class A petroleum products (typically "petrol").

Secondly detailed examination of the 1907 25"OS map for Bodmin, and of (rather distant) aerial photographs from 1932 in the English Heritage collection, demonstrated that Bodmin LSWR station was the site of a very early oil depot and research revealed that the Anglo American company (which later metamorphosed into Esso) was the owner/lessor. I was surprised, though, to find no reference to this depot, or the necessary tank wagon workings, in my 1934 SR Western Section SA. The only private siding listed at Bodmin SR is the gas company's (later board's) one but it seems that the oil depot was located on the kick-back neck of this siding, it is more than possible that the land was owned by the gas company/board and only leased by AAOC/Esso. I have attached below an excerpt from the 1907 OS map and blow-ups from the 1932 aerial photographs that show the depot (the area numbered 293 on the map) which, by the standards of the time of its erection, would have had corrugated iron buildings surrounded by corrugated iron fencing.

BodminLSWR25%22OSmap1907.png

BodminSRStation1932.jpg

BodminOilDepot1932.jpg

BodminJail1932.jpg

The mystery of the lack of references in the SA was solved when I rather surprisingly found a reference in the GA of the same date (below), seemingly between Bodmin and Wadebridge was the only part of the whole Southern Railway where it was permissible to convey tank wagons in mixed trains.

1934GAB&Wtankwagons.jog.jpg

Although by 1963 the tank wagons were only being conveyed by WR mixed trains from Bodmin Junction via Bodmin General to Wadebridge and back, being worked to and from Bodmin North by SR goods trains, they had earlier, at least into early BR days, also been worked to and from Bodmin North by SR mixed trains (the lunch-time Wadebridge-Bodmin service and its return) and I have appended a photo from Mike King's collection of such a working during the summer of 1949 or (more likely) 1950. Note again the barrier wagon van. The shunting at Bodmin North must have been "fun" which may be why they were worked by the goods trains in later years.

Boscarne1950tanks.jpg

Incidentally the photo in the Middleton book showing a Shell-BP wagon may be a red herring although I have been unable to find any photo clear enough to confirm that it was always Esso wagons that were conveyed. I suspect that the tanks were filled at Falmouth Docks and were worked back empty to there, but that is speculation.