Hills of the North - The Last Great Project

[03060]

23 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Overrun, pah, I give you;

 

 

Mike.

Blooming Americans ... always have to outdo us  ... what was wrong with leaving it at :

 

"Hold on a minute Lads, I've got a plan ... err ... err !"

 

[Dragonboy]

7 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Well, if we're going to play that game ...

 

(before someone else posts it)

 

 

I have to wonder what they hope to achieve with a man on a ladder and if the crowd standing in the background are drawing straws to see who gets the job of going up the ladder.

 

Brian

[BWsTrains]

22 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Do you think that the train crew got fired?

 

One thing you can be sure of, the loco didn't.

[LNER4479]

And now to get it all working again!

 

This is the hitherto blank roundhouse turntable panel. The template I'd made was used to drill the pilot holes for the pushbuttons.

 

And, a few evenings later (I actually had to order some more push buttons as I didn't realise I was running low on them). To the left, is the Heljan control box, which is a snug fit in its rectangular hole in the panel and with a retaining strip of ply to hold it in place. Everything else pre-wired to minimise awkward wiring once installed for keeps.

 

And, from the other side ... 24 roads, including the two entrance / exit roads. You might be wondering about the numbering. That's largely due to positions 1 and 2 being factory preset on the Heljan control box. Had I positioned the turntable to line up with '1', that would have resulted in the roads perdendicular to that coinciding with the table 'dead spot', ie where the turntable deck tracks change polarity - there's an approx 10 degree section which you can't use so, for a true roundhouse like this one, you have to position the table to avoid it (or have a gap or a dead road for display only).

The key point is that the road numbers tally with what the display says. The second golden rule is that you then ONLY press one of the two buttons that corresponds with the display. Otherwise, it's loco in pit time!

If I was REALLY clever, I'd have got inside the control box and broken into the internal electronix in an attempt to link with the power to the roads. But I'm not that clever.

The centre button is latched and gives power to the table and the road (stall) buttons.

 

Anyhow, hours of endless fun ahead notwithstanding ... THIS is the picture I've wanted to show for a while now. The complete Upperby panel as it's turned out. Complete with the ongoing detritus of wiring up.

 

Sorry this is a bit fuzzy. Couldn't seem to get a clear photo. What it's attempting to show is that the master turntable button is illuminated when in the latched position as a reminder to the operator. When extinguished, no harm can come(!) so it's a sort of 'red for danger' principle. As shown, you would only press one of the '5' push buttons, depending which of the (potentially) two locos facing the table you wanted to move - or which if the two stalls you want the loco on the turntable to go on to. If the wrong loco moves, no great harm is done - provided Golden Rule No.1 has been followed!

 

Play time potentially beckons?

 

 

Edited September 10 by LNER4479

[92220]

I’m sure we can fill that roundhouse in no time, Graham.  🤔
 

Very nice.  Look forward to seeing it develop.

 

Best wishes,

 

Iain

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

That will get DC only tea boys head spinning!

 

Mike.

[Tony Teague]

47 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

That will get DC only tea boys head spinning!

 

I thought it was DC only?

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Play time potentially beckons?

I should jolly well hope so!

[LNER4479]

13 hours ago, 92220 said:

I’m sure we can fill that roundhouse in no time, Graham.  🤔
 

No trouble with filling the roundhouse, Iain.

 

OK, not exactly full just yet. However, this pic is by way of indication that all 24 roads are now 'live'. Some smaller locos were used to test and check the shorter roads. Note that the roads over the far side, backing straight onto the wall, nonetheless have stops on them. This is to keep couplings and tender backs in line, ie prevent any derailments, particularly where the road is at a significant angle to the wall.

 

In conjunction with the above, I have also livened up the remainder of the tracks immediately outside the roundhouse - all locos shown moved to their positions under the control of the points and switches.

 

Time to find some more locos, perchance ... ?

Edited September 11 by LNER4479

[92220]

Yes, I didn’t think you’d actually need any help to fill it!  
Although I’m happy to bring some likely candidates one day.

Good to see Princesses used to check max length roads.  I am glad I used a modified Peco table for Camden because if I’d managed to make a scale one, parking a Princess on it would have been a challenge. 

 

Lovely.  If I hadn’t been so interested in Camden, I think Upperby might well have suited too.  
 

Not sure if I would ever have managed to build the whole of the NW of England as well though.  
 

Iain

Edited September 11 by 92220

[Barry O]

Well, as it happens their are another 2 Princesses (ok one is the Turbomotive), and a Duchess in the stock boxes for Shap under the layout.. 

 

Just saying...

 

Baz

Edited September 13 by Barry O
Poor grammar

[LNER4479]

Bit more work on the roundhouse.

 

Walls! A Duchess (what else?) tries one of the exit roads for size. Looks convincing for clearance to me? Yes, it's not central to the panel; that's a consequence of the asymmetric shape of the building.

 

These are actually just plonked in place for this pic; I've since reinforced and temporarily fixed in place (for now, pending detailing). These are cut from 3.6mm ply. Although they're all different lengths, I mapped out the windows so they are evenly spaced; that should help to disguise the asymmetry.

 

That Duchess takes up position on a piece of plonked (for now) track outside.

 

First attempt at the 'classic' Upperby Duchess portrait. I hope to return to this spot on a regular basis. The new (1958-ish) enginemen's lodging building is an essential background addition.

 

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Walls! A Duchess (what else?) tries one of the exit roads for size. Looks convincing for clearance to me? Yes, it's not central to the panel; that's a consequence of the asymmetric shape of the building.

30mm from track centreline would give standard clearance. Anything less and you'd need those red-and-white chequered "Limited Clearance" signs - did the real thing have those?

[LNER4479]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

30mm from track centreline would give standard clearance. Anything less and you'd need those red-and-white chequered "Limited Clearance" signs - did the real thing have those?

The opening is indeed 60mm wide, so exactly meets your criterion.

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Excellent correct use of the English language!!

 

Mike.

[Clive Mortimore]

12 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Bit more work on the roundhouse.

 

Walls! A Duchess (what else?) tries one of the exit roads for size. Looks convincing for clearance to me? Yes, it's not central to the panel; that's a consequence of the asymmetric shape of the building.

 

These are actually just plonked in place for this pic; I've since reinforced and temporarily fixed in place (for now, pending detailing). These are cut from 3.6mm ply. Although they're all different lengths, I mapped out the windows so they are evenly spaced; that should help to disguise the asymmetry.

 

That Duchess takes up position on a piece of plonked (for now) track outside.

 

First attempt at the 'classic' Upperby Duchess portrait. I hope to return to this spot on a regular basis. The new (1958-ish) enginemen's lodging building is an essential background addition.

 

Hi Graham

 

Do you have Anderson and Fox's LMS Architecture book? Also Hawkins, Hopper, and Reeve's British Railways Engine Sheds, London Midland Matters? Both contain drawings of Leicester roundhouse which was the same as Upperby just in a different place.

[Michael Edge]

That's what I did my drawing of Upperby roundhouse from, that's the one you've got.

[LNER4479]

8 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Graham

 

Do you have Anderson and Fox's LMS Architecture book? Also Hawkins, Hopper, and Reeve's British Railways Engine Sheds, London Midland Matters? Both contain drawings of Leicester roundhouse which was the same as Upperby just in a different place.

 

6 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

That's what I did my drawing of Upperby roundhouse from, that's the one you've got.

Yes, thanks to Mike for making his files available.

 

In practice, in as well as being asymmetric, my version is not to scale anyway - real thing had 32 roads; mine has 24 (etc). So, at best, it will be an approximation / interpretation. And I'm not sure as to the level of detailing I'd go to anyway. We'll see.

My immediate priority is to get a the roof on (!) (it will be removable). I can then leave a load of locos stabled there and move on to other areas of the layout. For now.

Edited Wednesday at 17:40 by LNER4479

[Keith Turbutt]

21 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

 

 

The new (1958-ish) enginemen's lodging building is an essential background addition.

 

Would that be the building with a very odd roof. I found this photo on the RAILSCOT website and will delete if requested.

Many other photos of Upperby on there as well, but I expect you will already know that.

Edited Wednesday at 17:52 by Keith Turbutt
Mentioned other photos

[LNER4479]

I think that's the sand drier, Keith?

The lodging building is behind (can be seen at the left and right hand ends of that photo). No room on my version for the sand drier (if that's what it is)

 

[5BarVT]

4 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

My immediate priority is to get a the roof on (!) (it will be removable). I can then leave a load of locos stabled there and move on to other areas of the layout.

As a dust cover? Or protection from flying (dropped) objects?

Paul.

[5BarVT]

26 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

The lodging building

Known as a hostel on WR.  Reading and OOC still in use in 1980 (just), Didcot and Banbury still extant then.

Paul.

[LNER4479]

2 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

As a dust cover? Or protection from flying (dropped) objects?

Paul.

In truth - both!

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

My immediate priority is to get a the roof on

How will you know what's inside - hang a tag on the push button?

[Barry O]

4 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

How will you know what's inside - hang a tag on the push button?

He can see .. as observed by me yesterday you will be able to see into the shed. 

 

Using dc not dcc in this instance helps. You can get the type of locomotivevyou want by looking into the shed (the roof won't cover all of the shed.

And, the turntable and power on system works well..

 

Baz