2mm Let's build a Layout - The Midland somewhere in the Peak District, 1915-ish.

[simond]

I don’t know, I’ve never tried….

Mine has had its belt on the fastest setting since the day it arrived. I purchased the chuck with it, that goes up to 6.5mm. (I drilled a hole in the belt cover, into which the chuck key fits, that saves all sorts of bad language because I don’t have to clear the whole workbench to find it…) I’ve had it a fair old time now, maybe 20 years.

Presuming it’s mild steel, I’d guess with it on the slowest pulleys, a drop of oil and a sharp drill, it would follow a pilot hole if you go gently.

 

[WM183]

Thanks much!

 

[WM183]

We decided to just get a "real" drill press (looking at a few benchtop sorts, 300-500 watt motor, 500-2500 RPM) and be done with it. They come with a much more useful range of speeds and stuff for us anyway.

 

[WM183]

We got the above mentioned drill press. I then drilled and tapped the backplate. We FINALLY have a collet chuck for the Unimat! Safe turning with gravers, milling, and more, here we come!

 

[WM183]

Well!

It's been a moment, but summer with all its heat and rain and foliage has kept me uncomfortably busy around the house. However, we here at the Mini Midland have not been idle! Some turnouts have been built as practice, and a couple even work! I need to find a good method to operate them - for now, I want to keep them manual, so may go to some sort of "wire in a tube" method. Anyone have any ideas?

Also, we're going to start on a second engine. I am debating on either a Class 1 0-6-0 tank, or a class 2 4-4-0 tender engine. An 0-4-4t sounds a bit too complicated for me to want to attempt just now...! I am leaning towards the 4-4-0. I'd like to try my hand at an engine with a bogie.

I want to build a handful of wagons too, so I can have something to shunt about. Dave Eveleigh's recent article in the 2mm journal about lettering PO wagons has given me a taste for some private owner wagons that might be found about the Peak District. Perhaps something based on or around Rowsley Sidings...

 

[WM183]

The next locomotive is in the works. I hope.

I want to build one of the M&GN's little 0-6-0T shunting tanks. These are TINY engines; they are only about 28' long over the buffers, so perhaps 25' long over the footplate. That works out to 2 inches in 2mm scale. As a tank engine, I must mount motor, gears, and all in the loco itself.

Any ideas or advice? They're adorable engines!!

Amanda

 

[Osgood]

If you mean the CMR rebuilds (although that is taking the concept of rebuild to the extreme!) that became LNER Class J93, there are some delightful views of them here which I have not seen elsewhere:

LOCOMOTIVES OF THE MIDLAND & GREAT NORTHERN JOINT RAILWAY - Paul Johnson

M&GN - 95 - Marriott LNER Class J93 0-6-0T - built 12/1899 by Melton Constable Works as M&GN No.95 - 05/37 to LNER No.095, 08/46 to LNER No.8485 - 12/47 withdrawn from South Lynn - seen here at Yarmouth Beach.

transportsofdelight.smugmug.com

 

[WM183]

Those are the exact adorable little shunters. I wonder if they're TOO small to replicate in 2mm. I imagine not, but I don't know.

 

[timbowales]

There's brave If you are planning to do this in 2mm

 

[WM183]

I may well cast my eyes back to the Peak District. Having received news of the 2mm Scale Association's "Platinum Jubilee New Layouts Push" that will be in 2030, that gives me a definite timeline I'd like to have a layout completed by. As the layout must be at least 1,152 square inches - 1x8 feet, 2x4, anything between - that makes me wonder if we can model Buxton station in the space? I suspect the biggest challenge would be completing enough stock to be able to run it. Perhaps the midland half, with an eye to expansion "Someday"? What do folks think?

Amanda

 

[WM183]

So, I got a copy of "Pictorial Record of Midland Railway Architecture" and found this!

Evidently this was Frocester, formerly a Brunel build broad gauge stretch; It LOOKS like a model railway. Road overbridge, with a goods shed (and a cattle dock!) all served by a wagon turntable, the signal box, and then the station building all within... what, a couple hundred feet?

Looks eminently modelable. I wonder how to make a motorized 2mm scale horse...

 

[Tim Watson]

So, I got a copy of "Pictorial Record of Midland Railway Architecture" and found this!

Evidently this was Frocester, formerly a Brunel build broad gauge stretch; It LOOKS like a model railway. Road overbridge, with a goods shed (and a cattle dock!) all served by a wagon turntable, the signal box, and then the station building all within... what, a couple hundred feet?
View attachment 248373
Looks eminently modelable. I wonder how to make a motorized 2mm scale horse...

It is very compact. I looked at that as a project many years ago, but another one got in the way. My brother in law’s family were farmers in the area who used that station. A pretty part of the world.

Tim

 

[WM183]

Ive ordered the aforementioned Midland in Gloucester book, as it contains more info on this and similar locales. This may be an outstanding cameo layout in 4mm a la Iain Rice...

 

[Simon H]

Ive ordered the aforementioned Midland in Gloucester book, as it contains more info on this and similar locales. This may be an outstanding cameo layout in 4mm a la Iain Rice...

I bought a copy of this book a couple of weeks ago, largely to help me understand the rather complex railway system in and around Gloucester, much of which seems to have vanished leaving, to my untutored eye, very little trace. It really is well worth having...and I haven't even got to the branch lines yet!
Simon.

 

[WM183]

I received my copy of "A Historical Survey of the Midland Railway in Gloucestershire" today. What a book! Full of plans, signal diagrams, plans of buildings.... just what I needed.

 

[WM183]

It's been a minute! School and school (I am a teacher, and am also working on a 2nd degree) have kept me way busier than I wish. However, the summer is a-comin' and I have just placed an order for some turnout jigs from the Association shop, to use to build a smallish Midland / LMS terminus "Somewhere 'long the way in Derbyshire" sort of layout. My little 0-6-0 on the goods, a local passenger service drawn by a small tank, and so on, but the layout's primary purpose is to let me actually build a layout, and gain experience with terrain, etc,.

Smaller than Buxton, but a layout I hope to complete in a summer (or at least get to a point where I can say "Ok, I learned a lot") sort of project. A couple of questions...

Do I use cork or something under my track? I will be using an Ikea "Lack" shelf as a baseboard with a layer of foamboard on top, so I can add relief.

How does one actuate turnouts? Is there a "wire in tube/over center lever" sort of thing I can do?

 

[Dog Star]

Please consider using closed cell polyurethane sheet as a basis for track work. Stick with a latex glue.

Reason? Stops transmission of noise from running into the baseboards.

 

[WM183]

Thank you! I will do.

Those hollow Ikea shelves would be quite the amplifier.

 

[WM183]

The bits have arrived, and I have constructed a turnout, a B6. The jigs do make it relatively easy! A wagon rolls through both routes without a click or picking the frog, even if i try to "twist" it a bit. Now to actually figure out how to actuate it and switch the polarity of the frog (I need to file the notches in the sleepers yet, and gap the rails in front of and behind the frog, but that's easy now that it's built. Filing the tapers on the point rails is definitely the trickiest bit, as I do NOT have that jig yet.

This soldered track is quite strong! I want to build a little layout inspired by some of the stations in Gloucestershire, mostly for practice with tracklaying/making buildings/etc. Time to fire up ye olde Templot and plan it out, I suppose (I have a place for the turnout).

 

[WM183]

Finished off the 2nd turnout, and this time I joggled the rails where the points meet the stock rails. Nicer result, I think. I bought some of the little etched chairs too, hoping to have my turnouts match the easitrack and NOT cost 25 quid each, but they're just too fiddly for me. I suppose I may just use all soldered track construction for the whole layout - durability certainly wouldn't be a concern!

I need to figure out what to do for a throwbar. A "moving sleeper" works, but doesn't look very good IMO. I need to determine if I want to control them with DCC or just a switch panel - probably the latter, I think, even if the engines themselves run on DCC. The frog will be live, and will switch polarity - I cannot imagine trying to run tiny 2mm engines with an electrically dead frog. A tiny tank engine might have a wheelbase shorter than the insulated length of the switch!

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