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SKEW BRIDGE - Attic Layout


mick
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I took a few quick videos this evening intending using 60087 to haul the log train but as it's not yet fitted with sound I thought I'd exchange the body with 60070 just for the video. It all seemd fine until I coupled the loco onto the wagons and found the couplings just wouldn't stay together. 60070 still has the standard Hornby coupling which I have yet to modify and so 60087 was able to do just a single slow pass before it became uncoupled.

Anyway just to show that a Bachmann class 66 and Hornby class 60 are more than capable of hauling the logs they both took turns this evening.

 

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Now that I've just about completed the log wagons I really need to look at adding at least another 2 storage roads to save me from having to keep removing them from the layout. In an ideal world I think I would need possibly an additional 8 roads in order to keep all Skew Bridge stock out on the layout but I just don't see any way that would be possible.

Due to the length of trains I use on the layout there's no point even thinking about any kind of elevated sidings or helix so it has to be on the straight and 'narrow' as possible. All I can see is to take a spur off the existing storage roads where I could possibly add 3 additional dead-end roads to the inner 'down' line which, though not ideal, would at least allow me to leave stock on the layout and not be continually handling them. Three would just about allow me sufficient room to be able to reach across the entire width of the storage roads should it become necessary to do so and there's no doubt that as soon as I add the roads there'll be a reason to have to.

Again, due to the length of trains I'm not sure a form of cassette storage would work? Perhaps if I spilt trains? I just need to be able to add and remove quickly without all the hassle of storage boxes and the likes.

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How long are the longest and shortest rakes without locomotive?

The one thing I think with all of us, to quote a Bond film, never say never again. So the posisbility of more rakes appearing in the future shouldn't be ruled out.
3 extra roads doesn't solve your problem, just alleviate it a little bit. I suppose how much of a bother is taking them off and on. Putting them away in stock boxes is probably the most awkward bit.

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7 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

How long are the longest and shortest rakes without locomotive?...

I don't know exactly but almost all wagons on the layout are in full sets, the shortest probably being the 30-odd Cawood containers or the 30-odd HEA's. I don't really have any short sets. FEA bogies are fewest in number but awkward to keep adding and removing when coupled in pairs and difficult to store safely without taking them apart. The Intermodal set is the longest followed by the log carriers. 

7 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

....the posisbility of more rakes appearing in the future shouldn't be ruled out.

Other than the Coronation coaches I'm not planning on there being any more complete sets. I don't think there's anything else from the period I remember that I could possibly need.

If my rakes were short sets then it wouldn't be too much trouble putting them on and off but 30-odd wagons off to put probably another 30-odd wagons on isn't something I'd look forward to on a frequent basis. I agree, 3 extra roads would just alleviate the problem a bit but better a bit than nothing at all and it would mean that the log carriers could stay out as well as the container traffic. 

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Well, if 36 MGR hoppers are (11.8cmx36) 4.25m and the intermodals are longer then it would be difficult to create a cassette that long. My method of using 25x25mm L section aluminium screwed to 12mm birch ply in 10cm wide strip is strong but the materials come in 2.4m lengths so that is only 1/2 a rake.

I doubt at those train lengths, any helix would be within the capability of even double headed co-cos.

A near 5m train seems to be nearly the entire length of the straight section, there is hardly space for an incline to another level. I'd have said if it is just for storage on the off-scene section then gradient and loco traction aren't really issues as you can hand-of-god them in and out. But your trains are so long I'd think there would be issues with the weight of the trains on the couplings with any severe gradient.

I can't see other options working so probably best with your 3 extra tracks.

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The 3 extra tracks is as much as I can hope for! I'd completely ruled out anything containing a gradient from the very outset.

It's a pity I can't get round to the rear of the storage road and extend the number of roads on the up side too but that would entail working on the opposite side of the roof trusses and that's a non-starter as well. So three roads max it will have to be.

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Here's a colour version of an image I posted in the Gallery yesterday depicting 58048 hauling the loaded HEA hoppers.

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I've always though the Bachmann HEA's were quite nice models from a distant viewpoint but it isn't until you look closely at them that some of their shortcoming become very apparent. Just look at those handbrake brackets below and how far they protrude from the sides of the chassis! The 3rd vehicle from the loco doesn't look quite so bad as the others.

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The discovery of a packet of Springside BR electric tail lamps that I thought had gone missing led me to begin adding a few more finishing touches to some wagon rakes and then onto adding bufferbeam detail to 60087 which is currently running on the chassis from 60070. The bufferbeam details make a big difference to the front of the loco but I still need to start putting some driver figures in the cabs. With the detailing added it was time for some photos.

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I've added a different sky for the following photo.

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Taking a series of photos while altering the focus point and then blending them together really does pay off even though it's quite time consuming but it makes such a difference when you have the whole train length in focus.

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3 hours ago, ba14eagle said:

The 4th HEA looks like its off the road or has a collapsed axle 😮

I haven't noticed anything amiss with it Iain but I'll take a closer look when I go up there tomorrow.  It does look a bit odd but it was definitiely on the road when the photo was taken as I'd been running the train round.

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I've managed to get a number of little jobs done today such as renumbering 2 locos, adding the 'Maltby Raider' nameplates to 66552, and adding some smallish 'chinese' driver figures to two class 60 loco's. I know there are better figures available for putting in the front of your loco's but it's really just for effect and something costing a couple of pence is sufficient in my view, especially on locos where they're not so prominent.

60048 now has a driver along with a trainman for company.

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I don't think there's a lot wrong with them for what they cost.

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Loadhaul liveried 56003 has now been renumbered 56006 to go with the Ferybridge Power Station nameplates I attached previously, while my duplicate Loadhaul 60007 has now become 60008 to go with the Gypsum Queen II nameplates previously attached. The renumbering isn't brilliant but with a bit of weathering I think they'll blend in okay. I still have the tiny numerals to add to the front of the loco on these two but it is just a single digit for both.

Oh and the spare 56127 loco body has now become 56079 as I had that complete number available and photos show it in coal sector livery at one point in time. It should be okay.

 

 

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Some days I go up into the attic with the intention of catching up with the many jobs I've still to complete but then end up getting trains running round and forget all about it. These past couple of days I've not had the urge to run anything and have slowly gone about working my way through some of those tasks.

Today I've been preparing 56084 for 'service' on Skew Bridge. It's got a standard decoder but other than that it's pretty much as purchased and at least it's one Hornby class 56 that works straight from the box - i.e. no seized worm/gears or squealing. I've removed the coupling mechanism entirely from the trailing end and replaced it with my own adaptation to fix the coupling to the loco body as with my previous class 56 modification. I fitted a driver, another chinese one, managing to do so (just) without having to remove the cab from the body. I then placed some offcuts of electrical tape over the light contacts at the rear so that the tail lights remain off. I'd sooner have them off all the time than on when the loco is hauling a train. Some light weathering was next using brush and enamel paints and I'll complete that when I get round to spraying the chassis with the airbrush. Finally the front end details and pipework was added though I wish the pipes were a bit more flexible so that they could be tucked up a bit.

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I've decided to add a sound decoder to 56084 so that I can then use the 8-pin chassis to swap loco bodies at regular intervals to save on having to fit every remaining class 56 with sound. I'm never going to be able to use them all at once so there's little point in doing so. 

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It's nice to see BR blue 56's on MGR's again, the majority of mine are anything but blue.

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Back up in the attic today and I decided it was time to sort out some Hornby West Coast Railway Pullman coaches, though in reality they're just some Hornby Mk2's dressed up in their interpretation of West Coast Railway livery. The coaches were available as a train pack including a Black 5 steam loco and 3 coaches and an additional coach pack of 3 coaches and I believe they were released in 2011.

Being the old style models the coaches were all fitted as standard with those large tension lock couplings so I quickly chopped them all off and added some Kadee mountings and couplings fashioned together in my own style with an application of superglue. Their resale value has probably just plummeted!

I've coupled the 6 coaches together along with a couple of Bachmann WCR Pullman coaches and given them a run round this evening behind 50037. I haven't yet decided what the full consist will be but I'll probably add another few coaches depending on what I can find that's appropriate.

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Passenger workings are pretty rare on Skew Bridge but I've got plenty of coaches so it's time I got some of them out working.

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I find it's almost impossible to go up to the layout with plans for some kind of running session and just be able to get on with it without some kind of problem rearing its head. As usual today it was all about couplings again.

I added a couple of Bachmann Mk1 coaches to the WCR set I got out yesterday, adding a Kadee coupling to the outer ends of the pair so that they could be inserted into the WCR set but retaining the Hornby R8220 bar couplings I had previously fitted between them, saving on a couple of Kadee's. Having coupled up 50037 I was able to give it a few circuits without any noticeable problems.

I then decided to change locos and put D211 on the front. I attached the loco using the Kadee's and set it off and it immediately uncoupled. The Kadee on the Bachmann Mk1 was too high and the knuckle kept slipping up and over that of the loco.

I ended up cutting the front loop section off a standard tension lock coupling and discarding it, removing the fish tail from a Kadee, and supergluing the remaining part of the Kadee beneath the fish tail and remaining flat section of the tension lock so that it lowered the height of the Kadee by the thickness of the tension lock. At least it's now at more or less the correct height and will run nicely behind the loco. I intend inserting and gluing a track pin through the join to strengthen it.

56084 Sound Decoder

I went ahead and ordered a sound decoder for 56084 and chose the Biffo soundfile that I also have in 56049 as I think it's the most realistic option out there. I've coupled it with a megabass speaker, as recommended by 'Roads and Rails', but it sounds nowhere near as good as my 56049. I'm at max volume and I feel it still needs turning up! I'm going to have to try a different speaker and am looking at the Rails Exclusive ones that I've been really pleased with in some of my other models. I need to do something because I'm currently very disappointed with it.

Anyway, disappointments aside I've had fun with the camera again and managed to grab some photos of D211 once I'd sorted the couplings out and before it got too cold up there.

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I can't take credit for that Andrew, you just choose a sky and photoshop more or less does the rest for you. There's nothing really to master.

Have to admit that over the past few weeks I've enjoyed taking photos more than I've enjoyed running trains but now rather than just taking random photos of trains I find myself using the trains to create images. It's certainly encouraged me to make progress weathering and detailing some of the rolling stock.

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Today, once again, I go up into the attic, plonk a loco on track and attempt to couple it up to the coaches only to find this time that the pesky little spring has gone AWOL from the Kadee and it won't stay coupled! It took me several attempts and a number of replacement springs before I finally managed to get another spring fitted. Where some of the others flew off to during the process I really don't know. It's something I can normally manage to do much more easily that it proved to be today.

Oh yes, and on the second loco I picked up, a class 60, the rear deflector/plough fell off and even a spot of superglue has so far been insufficient to keep it in place. Another one of those days!

The loco with the spring missing from the Kadee was D9008 'The Green Howards' which I hoped to capture on video after I'd taken some footage of D211 from the previous day. I managed to capture both but when I look back over the clips I'm not so sure I can be bothered sorting through and putting them together into a video as it all seems just the same as what I've done before. The sound has also started to annoy me slightly so I'll just hang on to them for now and think again later.

I did spend some time taking a few photos of D9008 but I'll just post one out of those I took because again, it just seems to be much the same as before and people quickly tire of seeing the same things over and over. I've also prepared a couple of black and white images which I'll post in the Gallery to save overloading this thread.

D9008 'The Green Howards' in BR Green.

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I had Roads and Rails fit sound into my Dapol class 68 - despite being at full volume, you can hardly hear it - quite disappointing - and as I'm not capable (or willing to destroy an expensive speaker or chip) of changing the speaker, I will just have to live with it.

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3 hours ago, ba14eagle said:

I had Roads and Rails fit sound into my Dapol class 68 - despite being at full volume, you can hardly hear it - quite disappointing - ....

I think my own disappointment with the 56 is why I just didn't feel like doing anything yesterday, specifically with the video I managed to take. It just seems like you can start making progress and get yourself firmly rooted into the hobby again, have plans to improve things by adding another sound decoder, which then turns out to be not quite what you were hoping for and again it feels a bit like wasting more money.

If I can be perfectly honest, other than the decoder in 56049 which I purchased some years ago and sounds really nice, every single Biffo soundfile I've had since has been disappointing. I don't know why I keep ordering them. I contacted him about a class 47 some years ago that was just so quiet, 2 x class 33's that have an annoying background hiss - why oh why do I persist!

Currently I'm considering adding just background music and moving away from sound decoders because while they might not sound all that good on video, when you're actually trying to film them and running some particular shots over several times they are bloody annoying.

I am going to have to change the speaker on 56084 to see if that improves it. The recommended speaker is simply useless.

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