Bit of a red letter day really as I put up the layout properly for the very first time, having finished off the sub frame this morning.

 

 

 

Its amazingly rigid albeit being relatively lightweight. At the moment its no adjustable feet on it so a bit of packing was required under leg C to ensure all was level.

 

Next was to put the boards on for the first time and bolt them together. The system works well even with just myself putting them on – Board one sits between the locating pegs and on the stretcher bar.  Board two then sits on the second stretcher and is gently slid along until the metal engineers dowels engage. Two six mil bolts secure the deal.

I was pleased just how solid it all was, there’s no lateral give in any direction. Im not saying its bomb proof but it cant be far off.

I suspect the next job will be to paint the boards – White underneath to assist working underneath it at shows, and the backscene boars will get a coat of a sky blue, with a gloss coat on the viewable woodwork. And then let the track laying and wiring commence – yes it is going to be DCC.

One of the biggest bugbears setting up a layout at a show is that moment one of the operating team says to the layout owner “Where does this go?” and the layout owner looks back blankly because for the life of them they cant remember themselves.

Thing is, back at home its likely you are putting up the subframe yourself, you built it, you know the logic and build sequence, so its easy. But when someone else is doing bits for you, and you’ve been involved sorting out some other aspect of arriving at a show, and the question comes… well let say it can take time to work through the process of setting up.

Years ago I, like may others, started labeling  the legs and subframe to try and avoid those awkward moments. Of course your labeling logic has to be such that others understand it as well!

This time round I’m doing it as I build – all the legs were built yesterday and the subframe stretchers completed this morning. These are bolted to the legs and run the length of the board allowing the baseboard edges to sit on them.  The two by one glued and screwed to the stretcher is where the angle pieces to attach to the lower legs to stabilise the frames go. Or at least that was the plan until late this afternoon when I found my only 6mm drill bit wouldn’t cut into butter. That’s another trip to the hardware store then.

 

 

The second board of Greenbooth was constructed today.

 

Although the boards cannot be physically connected at the moment it gave a chance to have a see what the layout will look like track wise. Already Ive deduced that there will have to be a scenic compromise made from the original idea of having a river at the front – just not enough room to do what I wanted to!

Next job, make the legs and sub frame – let the perennial debate about baseboard viewing height commence!

Back in March I aired plans for a new layout, Greenbooth, based very – very – loosely on part of the Yates Duxbury Industrial lines at Heap Bridge between Bury and Heywood. Since then time has moved on, and a track plan was drawn using Templot, which was played with for a while before settling on a final track plan.

Where next?

Its a layout of two halves, at the front an industrial sorting yard, which is a direct crib of Yates Duxbury’s, with a line off to Ding Quarry in the North and another two the South serving Greenbooth bleaching and dyeing (ample scope for the import of toxic material there). At the back is a small station, I must have been thinking of this whilst on ELR duty because I’ve subconsciously almost replicated Rawtenstall’s track plan as it is now.

I was going to start joinery work myself as usual, but having chatted to a few people decided to get some boards from Tim Horn as he could laser burn the track plan into the baseboard which would make building some of the complicated pointwork a sight easier. The boards arrived a couple of weeks ago but as Ive been a tad busy with CAMRA and ELR work, as well as building a new aircraft for North Ballachulish, today is the first chance Ive had of starting work on them.

 

I must say I’m pleased the way they have gone together, its taken me 3 very easy hours (even allowing for waiting for glue to dry) to get the first (obtusely board 2) board together.

 

There’s still the strengthening cross pieces to put on when Ive worked out the point drive clearances, but tomorrow should see work commence on the next board.

 

 

Now North Ballachulish is finished other than routine maintenance, and the new layout Greenbooth is still in baseboard design (I’m contemplating getting some Tim Horn Laser cut boards), I thought I’d get on with some outstanding projects from New Hey days. Not least of these is A2 Pacific 605326.

Eastern Region aficionados of course will identify this loco as “Trimbush”, hence the post title, and it was purchased a couple of years ago at a show at a very knock down price, to haul the Blackpool excursion train on Ian Worthington’s “Glaisden” layout. Seeing as inevitably invalidate the manufacturers warranty as soon as I open the box by taking the thing apart to convert to EM gauge, as far as I’m concerned the cheaper the better, if it needs fettling as an out of the box model, it gets fettled. I win, and the trader gets rid of some remaindered stock, win / win.

Of course you can’t win em all, some are beyond redemption, the DJM J94 being a good case in point, a mechanical dogs breakfast. I did buy one in Hattons bargain sale last year for a very cheap price, but its going to have to be re-chassied, new motor / gearbox and wheels to make it an acceptable runner on the new layout. More of which at a later date. I’m not a person to wish ill will on anyone but in the case of DJM I’ll make an exception, whilst I’m sorry for those who lost money “investing” lol,  I was actually glad to see DJM go bust. I can only see it as good for the hobby in the medium / long term.

Back to the well kept topiary however, for the record I’ve used Gibson wheels. The Bachmann tender had stub axles so I used flangeless top hat bearings before fitting the wheels to stop them flopping about.  The main wheels were quartered using a GW wheel press and quartering jig. A brilliant tool, it ensures the wheels are both properly quartered, and go on straight and perpendicular.  There’s still work to do of course, the connecting rods need bushing before being put back on, and the crankpins tided up and filed back, before the final denouement of soldering the return crank back in position. Weathering then beckons so its already to go before Wigan show in October.

 

We are off out on the road again this weekend, to exhibit North Ballachulish at the showcase Expo EM Spring in Bracknell, centre of the known concrete architecture universe and generally a soulless dump. This annual show however makes putting up with the place for a weekend worthwhile.  http://www.emgs.org/events/exhibitions/?event_id1=56

This has meant a bout of wheel cleaning this morning in preparation for the show, nothing facilitates good running on a layout than clean loco wheels and clean track, both wheels and track get a good clean each day before running, and if the hall is particularly dirty, sometimes in between as well. It pays dividends.

For those not familiar, the EM Gauge Society, ( http://www.emgs.org/ )  of which I’m a member, holds two exhibitions each year, they used to be known as Expo South and Expo North until it was decided to rename them Spring and Autumn as it was felt the connotations with the term “t’North” put people off going. Its bloody grim up here dont’y just know 🙂

Its a good opportunity to come along and see what the Society is about – with the advent of ready to run EM track from PECO, on show this weekend, and some manufacturers making noises about supplying RTR locos, and one actually doing so in EM, now’s a good time to be coming over to the finer side.

 

Pleased to see the layout featured in Model Rail’s special edition this month. To say I’m more than pleased with the results of Chris Nevard’s photos is an understatement 😉 I’d written this around a year ago so to read it again was a bit of a “Did I really write that”but I hope it explains some of the ethos of building something which was for me very different from my previous layouts.

I’m now going to have to get some extra copies to laminate the pages to put on the BS boards at front of the layout now though!

 

 

 

I’ve said it before but always worth repeating, York show has always been one of my favourite shows to attend as an exhibitor. https://yorkshow.org.uk/

I’m taking North Ballachulish this year and really looking forward to it, not only is it one of the friendliest of the big shows to do, its also a good chance to catch up with old friends, exchange some banter and have a few beers with them in what has to be the real ale capital – well at least of Yorkshire 😉

Its a bit extra special this year as the Rochdale Group has two other layouts on show – Tony Bucknell’s “Harkness”  and Karl Crowther’s “Hebble Vale Goods”. Three EM gauge layouts all from the same group, got to be a first!

 

As North Ballchulish is now finished (barring a decision after Preston to put another 2 or 3 small trees at the back to break up the long open stretch), thoughts have now turned to what next, or more pertinently where.

Whatever it was it was going to be a lot smaller, 1 car and two operators small to be precise, and for the last year or so have been toying with the idea of a Spotland Bridge Mk2, ie a branch with an industrial line, having a growing collection of industrial locos both steam and diesel.  last year I picked up a superb book of Bill Hudson Transport Books https://www.billhudsontransportbooks.co.uk/ Industrial Locomotives and Railways in The North West by Gordon Edgar.

The front cover picture is of Yates Duxbury Paper Mills at Heap Bridge, (or Ape Bridge if you are a local) about 3 miles away from home and contained some quite inspirational pictures of said complex that Id not seen before. The line was reached via a branch off the Bury Knowsley St – Castleton line (Now part of the ELR, and the trackbed is still visible as you come across the motorway bridge) Now I didn’t want a straight copy, Ive had my fill of prototype modelling with New Hey, but I did like some of the track layout.

Around the same time our local free advertising magazine  had an article in it about a proposal to build a line off the Bacup branch up to Norden where I live, so it wasn’t hard to put 2 and 2 together and come up with the idea of Greenbooth, the next village up the line which had among other things a textile works as well as a quarrying industry at Ding. The village doesn’t exist any longer, it was all demolished in the 60s to make way for Greenbooth Reservoir, the site is now under a hundred feet of water!

The basic idea therefore is a small branch line termini with a line leading off into the industrial site. Fiddleyard at one end only although there will be a single line run through at the other end ostensibly to another part of the works and Ding Quarries. Station building will be that at Stacksteads to continue the East Lancs theme and the various industrial building will be taken from those at Yates Duxbury as well as some based on the very few photographs of Greenbooth itself. A few point templates have been printed off Templot and put in situ on 2 x 4 by 2 foot 9mm ply boards to see how it all fits before getting it all down on Templot.  Watch this space 😉

The first show of 2019 beckons for North Ballachulish this weekend at Preston.

It also marks the great unveiling – the plain sky blue backscene has now gone. Whilst the layout has been stored in the garage at home since Manchester show, the back boards took a little trip to South Manchester, where the superb artistic work of Mike Raithby took place. To say I’m pleased with the result is the understatement of the year, they really have caught the atmosphere of the West Highlands brilliantly.  It was tempting to display the finished result  on here first but I really want to see it actually on the layout before I do any photographs of it. In the meantime here they are in their protective “Stiffy Bags” ready to load onto the van tomorrow.