Focalplane

Western Thunderer
My guess on this is that YouTube want you to use their app so they can advertise. It’s a good reason for using Vimeo in my opinion. No connection, just a happy amateur cinematographer.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Good to see the Large Prairie in operation, but don't forget to set the chuff rate. One thing I found over the years is that some makes of sound decoder keep the chuff rate pretty accurate over a wider range of speeds than do others. It was one reason why I ran my locos relatively slowly seeing as I prefer YouChoos sound tracks.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Larry, you are right about the chuff rate. One of those tedious jobs getting it just right at slow and reasonably fast speeds. When the model is complete even the expresses will not be rushing around as they are either slowing down into Snow Hill Tunnel or speeding up from a standing start at the other end of the tunnel.

Incidentally, there is a BFI hosted film by the British Transport Commission in 1962 called Let's Go to Birmingham. I can't watch it overseas but search for BFI Let's Go To Birmingham. It may also be available on YouTube but I expect the definition is better on the BFI web site. The train enters Snow Hill after a brief signal stop while approaching Moor Street. It happens rather quickly. Chiltern Railways re-enacted the journey in 2011 and that film is on YouTube. One has good music, the other doesn't!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
A quiet day today, a bit of exhaustion setting in I think. And I really don't enjoy track wiring but feel that every yard of track needs to be soldered in to the system for the sake of reliability. So I did some soldering but a lot more sitting around thinking.

The only track left to lay of the perimeter boards are the "hoist roads" sidings and the double slip leading into the station platforms. One arm of the double slip will feed the service area cum engine shed area. I set out some available points for the hoist roads:

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This arrangement allows for the three hoist roads plus, on the left a coach storage siding as noted in a previous post. The road nearest the edge of the baseboard will have a 20 ton wagon hoist shown here. I plan to make this a working model, lowering individual vans and wagons below ground level, removing loads from wagons or sending back up a different van.

There was also a small wagon traverser in this yard. The mechanism for this may be a bit difficult to match but we'll see. The photos also show the various blue brick retainer walls.

And, Amazon came up with a second hand book of Birmingham Moor Street Station by Baxter and Harper and this is winging its way to France.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I backed off from model railways this morning and did some housework, but this afternoon I got to thinking about my idea of using Penmaenpool's engine shed. The idea is dead in the water, I think. It just isn't going to look right. The area will, instead, hold two coach sidings, each capable of holding around 4 coaches. I might put a servicing stage between them. In the old days they probably went to Tyseley's coach sidings.

In doing this I may only need three sidings in the wagon hoist area (though a fourth would always be useful). There is a certain irony about the location being very tight and yet I feel that some open space would set off the scene better than trying to cram everything in. There's a saying "you can't see the wood for all the trees" and this may hold true in the long run. Of course I could always add another siding in the future.

Two Gauge O Guild members have been most helpful today. First I have 11 more photos to work with, taken after the terminal roads were decommissioned and showing the state of the station building before renovation. Second, I have an offer of help in driving the wagon hoist and the two traversers using technology I am determined to understand. Arduinos, anyone? Step motors? Linear Motion Actuators? It's a new world but it seems it will really make the three bits of moving scenery work.

When I looked at the photos I felt a panic coming on. Would there be enough room for the station building? Would I have to foreshorten the space? Well, it was suggested I look at some old maps and measure off the footprint. Something clicked and I remember I had Google Earth from my working days. This software includes scans of old air photos, etc. and there is one of Moor Street in 1999. The measuring tool says the old building was 30 meters along the frontage and 20 meters from the frontage to the buffer stops. I have just enough room to fit the building in.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I have been messing around with rectangles of cardboard this evening. The footprint of the station building and concourse has been cut to 7mm scale and I have also cut rectangles representing the two traverser "plates" and also the wagon hoist "floor".

I laid the first three on the floor in their rough relative positions:

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Moor Street ran along the top of the large cardboard "footprint". The two traversers were offest and are shown with the centre roads in the Platform 2 and 3 positions. Maybe I need to annotate this. The traversers are 60 scale feet long so can take any Great Western locomotive and most others.

The size of the wagon hoist has been estimated and I cut a card 16 x 10 cm. The first photo shows it with a standard goods van on it.

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It might benefit from an extra cm or two in length but the width appears to be about right by comparison with a photograph:

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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I need to design the station throat in order to decide what extra pointwork to order. In doing so I realized one shortcoming for the Goods Station side of operations - no loop run round. In reality it is quite likely that no run rounds were done as Bordesley Yard is only a mile away and there was a fifth Goods Road alongside the Relief Roads. Shunting in the hoist roads was done using electric capstans, something which will have to be replaced by the hand of god (or magnets???). But the wagons and vans need to be readied for departure. So I have sketched a loop. Here is a first pass (actually it's the first pass I am showing, there have been quite a few others):

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It looks like one left hand point and one double slip are needed next. I can work on the goods loop and one hoist road while waiting for them to arrive. Extra points for the platform roads will be decided on later after I have built the diagonal baseboard.

A few things to check. First the radii of the coach sidings, I can't have buffer lock (Edit: no reverse curves, should be OK). Second, the goods loop can probably have tighter radii as only shunting locos and vans/wagons will use it. Third, the coach sidings are about 170 cm long which is not quite enough for four coaches; I might have to shorten the turntable road that gets in the way. The curved point has to be where it is, but there may be another solution.

I hope this isn't getting too boring. . . .
 
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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
More thoughts on motorizing the traversers and wagon hoist. Although the traversers are quite large, the lateral movement required is actually only about 10 cms max, whereas the vertical movement of the wagon hoist will be greater. Opposite to what common sense would suggest! Also, the hoist superstructure need not be involved, all the moving parts can be hidden below the surface.

On the station throat (previous post) I have ordered the necessary points needed and have laid quite a lot of the other trackwork, piece by piece. I was supposed to be taking a break but "did a bit" to keep the project going. Now I really am taking a break for two or three days. TTFN.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Back from a couple of days in Montpellier. On the way there I stopped at FBSystems in Bessan and had the usual chat about US railroads and bought 6 Tortoise connectors for the Tortoises that are located on the far side of the baseboards. A sign of age, I am afraid, I am not as athletic as I used to be.

I had done some on line research about sourcing electronic components and found a company in Montpellier called Toute l'Electronique, so I set the sat nav to their address; but it took me three blocks away and after much inquiry I did find the shop in a side street. Then the insult to injury, they had a sign in the door saying they would be exceptionally closed for three days as Wednesday is May Day. Fortunately this was not my primary reason for being in the city. No wonder on-line shopping is booming in France.

Now back in the railway room I found two parcels waiting for me, the Moor Street Century book and one I had forgotten I had ordered, Robert Hendry's "Goods Wagons in colour". Both will be very useful additions to my library.

Next to arrive will be the double slip and this will allow me to complete the station throat. However, I have new priorities being set that are not railway related, so posts may be slower coming in the weeks ahead. I'll do my best!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I have been spending some time reading the Baxter/Harper book on Birmingham Moor Street Station and have found a number of interesting photos and diagrams. A useful original floorplan and a front elevation are included but no scale bar so some detective work was needed to confirm that the previous footprint dimensions are almost spot on. The plan also shows the position of the tracks relative to the building and that they were slightly skewed. I may not bother with this skew though I may introduce it inadvertently anyway!

Another chapter has recollections from former staff, including drivers and firemen from Tyseley on how things were done. Moor Street was very different at night when fruit, vegetables, flowers and fish arrived from various locations, the closest being Worcester for the Vale of Evesham. Goods traffic was brought in to the release road adjacent to Platform 3 so that the shunting engine could run round. Parcels trains did the reverse, being unloaded at Platform 3, the engine running round on the release road. A hive of activity to insure that the famous nearby markets would have fresh food delivered by 5 a.m. Then the atmosphere changed as the commuters came in from both Leamington and Stratford. Midday was probably the quietest time for the staff.

It does look as though my terminus trains will be restricted to 4 coaches though 5 might be accommodated at a pinch. We'll see. I don't want to sacrifice the station building and concourse to get an extra coach on the platforms. And it looks as though the coach sidings will not hold 5 anyway. On the other hand the hidden centre loop could probably take a 10 coach train though two smaller trains would give more operational interest.

Well, let's add a photo. This is to 7mm scale, derived from the station plan in the book, also including the rough positions of the two traversers:

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I have had to lay it out on the floor because the baseboard section for the terminal platforms has yet to be constructed. However, this photo does suggest that the baseboard will be around 80cm wide, and have four tracks and three platforms like the prototype. The traverser mechanisms will be under the baseboard.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
The station throat is starting to take shape:

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The Ivatt 2MT is on the UP main with a transfer freight to Bordesley Yard. Nothing on the DOWN main at the moment. Then a few wagons are sitting in the goods loop which has just been glued into position. The Large Prairie is sitting in the main "branch" leading to the station platforms as well as the surface hoist roads (on the left). I am waiting for the double slip which will go bottom centre, this will feed two points which will provide for the four platform tracks once I add the diagonal base framework. One branch of the double slip feeds two coach sidings, only one of which has been partly laid so far.

Another view shows where the second coach siding will go, giving a total of 6 tracks at this location. A few more than Penmaenpool!

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I expect that, once all the track is laid, I will create a track plan of the entire layout!

Incidentally I have a photo of an Ivatt 2MT at the Goods Station though it post dates my period, being when Saltley had taken over. Still, a nice excuse to run Saltley locos once in a while (My 4F has a 21A shed plate). No DMUs though!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Just back from Leroy Merlin with timber for the station platform area and a new roll of cork for track beds. Just the points needed now to complete the track laying.

However I am way behind on wiring and Tortoise fixing. More point levers are back ordered for completing that job. I am being assisted by the weather with rain and wind today forcing us to stay away from the beach. Tough life. . . .
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Major progress this evening on the L Girder frame for the platform roads:

It's nicely locked in to the rest of the structure and is rigid, though I have yet to add braces to the three pairs of legs. Then it will be more so. I have to cut the plywood sheets to fit and then fix them to uprights to match the rest of the layout.

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Track laying can then continue.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I have started to cut and fit the plywood sheets on the new platform framework. My ideas are not quite working out though and it looks as though the longest Moor Street trains will be four coaches long, not five. Well, I'll save some money I suppose, and many workings were composed of two B Sets of 2 coaches. It will also give me an excuse to run shorter trains, such as the 14XX auto train with a coach before and aft, like the Snow Hill - Dudley "Dodger" trains. Well, I only have one auto coach so there wouldn't be any savings doing that, but they did look good.

I want to keep the traverser at 60ft long because then tender engines will be able to run round trains. It is tempting to make it shorter but there wouldn't be much gain, certainly not enough for 5 coaches. It will be possible, though, to use the traverser to hold an extra coach for one of the departing long distance trains. Main line trains will not be affected as the storage loop is much longer.

I have also been looking at some of the goods services in more detail and it would appear that I need some Fruit D vans and similar. These were often brought in to Platform 3 at night and early morning during the summer fruit season. Banana traffic was year round, so a few of the new Dapol banana vans would be a good asset, particularly as they were unloaded via the Hoist Roads.

Still some work to do this weekend before any photos, but progress has been good.
 

Brian T

Western Thunderer
Still some work to do this weekend before any photos, but progress has been good.

Paul

I think that is an understatment!.

Since your decision to scrap Penmaenpool and build Moor St. your progress has been 'blistering'.Seem`s there`s nothing like a new project to give you a shot in the arm!.

Brian.
 
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