East Lancashire Railway in N-Gauge.

[lilchris]

This is my new layout which I started building at the end of June,I am using my old fiddle yard with some modifications from my old layout. It is a similar build but I have learned from my mistakes and made the modules more manageable. The layout is 9’ wide but is only 20” deep from the fiddle yard board, the two end scenic  boards are “L” shaped so the two centre scenic boards fit between. The two centre scenic boards are not straight though, I have made them with a slight curve and I have made them open frame from 9mm ply. The track bed itself is 9mm ply, the rear track starts at high level on the right side and decreases in height to the left side then connects to the centre of the fiddle yard. The low level track which goes across the front has a sweeping curve across the front then joins the fiddle yard high level across the back. Effectively the layout is a folded over figure eight again like my old layout, you get two runs of the trains before returning to a given place.

The idea of this layout is scenes from the book “Scenes from the past:33, East Lancashire Lines, Bury to Heywood & Rawtenstall” by J Wells & E F Bentley. It is a fictional layout but with scenes from the real locations…I hope…lol.

Update: I have built all the boards and laid the code 55 track, I have just finished adding the 16/02 dropper wires, I am a believer in a feed wire to every piece of track. With this layout I have changed my control system, I have sold my NCE Powercab system and I have bought a Z21, which I have not had chance to try yet, getting there should be running trains soon. I will post some pictures later when I remember how to do it and I am on my computer not this I pad. Chris

Edited August 19, 2022 by lilchris

[lilchris]

Here I am again, to try and post some pics showing my build so far. The third pic shows a rough outline of the plan for the layout.

[lilchris]

Here is todays latest pics, all droppers fitted on scenic section, still need to fit point motors and new droppers on the fiddle yard where I extended it. On the right you may see a extension to the right front board this will allow me to have a couple of sidings and perhaps a small goods shed for operational interest.  Note how the layout curves in in the centre, this was intentional, I can reach the fiddle yard easily without having to crawl round the back anymore. Chris.

Edited August 17, 2022 by lilchris
extra text

[lilchris]

Well things are coming along on the layout since I last posted. I have started the wiring of the layout, I am planning on having the minimum electronics on the boards themselves apart from the fiddle yard boards which have two PSX circuit breakers for up and down lines, mounted underneath. On the scenic section the plan is having the two circuit breakers for up and down lines respectively mounted on the centre support frame. I will mount the Z21 and router on the shelf on the support frame, I have sorted out all the wiring. I have made it so I can plug in direct to sections if I want to bypass the circuit breakers for testing. Behind the Z21 will be a 3 way connector which will supply feeds to the right centre board and the fiddle yard boards. The right centre board is the most complicated with three points and motors. The bus wires will then feed either side to the other three scenic boards. I have today completed the right centre board with bus and feed wires and Cobalt motors wired up and frogs checked for polarity through one of the switches on the motor. I have a separate pair of bus wires for the Cobalts, they are not through the circuit breakers, I keep the up and down lines on a different bus. With some luck I will complete the wiring today, I had a slight hiccup one of the unifrog points. One of the switch rails came loose and being a bit hamfisted I broke the tie bar. I thought I was going to have to buy a new point but I have managed to fix it by using another tie bar off a old damaged point, phew. The strange thing is I had not removed the spring from this point for use with the Cobalts, you have to take care with lining up the motors that you do not put side pressure against the tie bar, that can cause the very same problem. I am hoping to be doing some track testing soon.  Chris.

[lilchris]

Well I have finished wiring the scenic part of my layout, I still have some to do where I extended my fiddle yard.

But I did some testing last night with my meter and everything seemed ok. Today I connected my brand new Z21 and connected first to just one board and eventually to the rest of the layout. I had a bit of a hiccup I had a blue light on the Z21 and I had entered two locos on to the rosta but no sound but the would not move or anything. I put a Youtube video on to see if I had gone wrong and spotted that I should have blue icon on the top right of the app, mine was out. The Lenovo android pad bought just for the Z21 had connected itself back to my internet, I made it forget the connection and I am now up and running. Here are a couple of pics showing some wiring on the layout, I have copied some ideas off Charlie on Chadwick Model Railway, it works for me, less soldering this time.  The first pic shows the most complicated board where everything connects to the centre circuit breakers etc. The last pic is the right end board and I have extended the bus ready for a good yard, top of board, when I get round to laying the track for it, so no droppers yet.

 

[lilchris]

Update: I have finished the wiring and have also re wired the fiddle yard. I had one hiccup with the fiddleyard I was showing a short on the up lines, I eventually found out I had missed a insulated joiner on a frog rail, easy to do when using a mixture of old points and the new unifrog points which do not need insulated joiners. I have done some testing and run a couple of trains on the scenic section, but I still need to do a track diagram on my Z21 app and set the 3 points up. I am leaving my fiddle yard ladder points control on my Cobalt Alpha for now.  Soon be running trains and then ballasting……lol but then the scenics which I love. Chris.

[Ighten]

Noticed a great bargain book the other day whilst in Rawtenstall. Some great pics and ideas for scenery and rakes and how it's changed over time.

 

[lilchris]

Well after a lot of wiring work I have finally run some trains. It was easier than I thought setting up the three Cobalt motors with the Z21 on the scenic section. I am leaving the fiddle yard under control of my Cobalt Alpha for now, maybe I may change my mind later. I had a slight problem with one of the unifrog points, my class 40 kept jumping the frog but only when running in one direction. Turning the loco around solved the problem, they have very small wheels at the front of the bogies that seem a very loose fit, but both bogies seem the same, so why one fouls and the other does not needs further investigation. Running my 8f 48773 and there was no problem at all, the gradient across the front seems fine but I do need to run something with a few coaches so more testing required before I start ballasting.

[lilchris]

Update: I have done the ballasting using Woodland Scenics brown ballast on the high level track, then Dcc Concepts grey ballast on the low level track, I bought it so I thought I will use it. I used Ballast Magic with the ballast and I used a strong mix so I do not know why it does not set in places. I have ended up going over it with more glue so it kind of defeats the purpose of using it.

I have also started on designing the road bridge at Ringley rd station. I intend to place it over the board joint so it needs to be removable, so I plant to make it out of styrene covered with brick paper/card. I bought some Faller brick card but quickly realised it is over scale, probably 1/160. So I have ordered some Redutex to use instead from Rails of Sheffield, I will make a mock up of the bridge out of card first. I am not very good with working out measurements for buildings etc, that is why I tend to kit bash has opposed to scratch building. I have found out from research if you measure the brick work then divide by 148 you get the correct size. Has long as the bridge looks something like I will be happy with it, not expecting it to be totally accurate. Chris

[lilchris]

Well after the annoyance of the ballasting I have made a start building the bridge at Ringley rd station. The distance between the bridge and the station will be reduced in my model to fit my board but it should still be good. I made a mock up first out of card then when I was happy with it I made a copy with 60 thou styrene, the second copy was easier than the first. I decide on the width of the road over the bridge, then I made pieces to fit and glued it all together, I am happy with the result. After building this I realised that I needed higher boards at the front at the location of the bridge. So I have made pieces to fit to make the boards a bit higher, I have glued them in place they now need filling and painting. I will post some pictures later when I am on my computer. Chris.

Edited September 20, 2022 by lilchris
Spelling correction

[lilchris]

Here is the pic I promised earlier. I have also now fitted two pieces of dowel inside the bridge pillars with two matching hole in the baseboard. This locates the bridge in the correct position, so I can remove it if needed.

 

[lilchris]

Well I have made some progress with the bridge, I have started covering the upper part with Redutex. I have also fixed some styrene strip to represent the stone work and painted it stone grey. I am having trouble with my ballasting, it has been a nightmare, parts have not set and when I have tried to tidy it up it just crumbled. So a lot of it I have pulled up, I now intend to re lay parts of it, it is not between the sleepers fortunately. I am getting low on the Dcc Concepts light grey ballast so to avoid buying any more I am mixing some of the darker colour in with it. It is mostly on the section of track near the siding so it should look ok. Chris.

[lilchris]

I have done more work on the ballasting, I have used the mix has described previously but this time I have secured it with Woodland Scenics Scenic glue sprayed directly onto the ballast. I have also tidied up around the left board join adding a couple of sleepers, which I have glued on position. I have now made a start on the second bridge over the low level which will be a double plate girder bridge similar to the ones at Burrs on the East Lancashire preservation railway. I am a bit disappointed with my Ringley bridge, I tried to keep to the dimensions of the original bridge but because of the width of the arch I could not get it quite right. I have learned a lot from making it, it is the biggest thing I have scratch built. There is nothing to stop me rebuilding it at some time in the future because I have made it removable. Chris

[lilchris]

I have been working on the lower part of the bridge which goes over the lower tracks. This is going to be a double plate girder bridge based on the designs on the East Lancashire preservation railway at Burrs Bury. I have covered the styrene with a blue engineering coloured Metcalfe brick sheets.  I have made the four girder plates from styrene, I have added rivet details using decals from Archers. I painted them using Badger grey primer using my Neo airbrush. I have then given them a final coat of Vallejo brown paint. I have now fixed the lower girders in position and fitted pieces of styrene under them to simulate support girders. I am now working on fitting the upper girders followed by fitting small pieces of styrene between the two girders. I also need to finish the brickwork around the girders at the top, I will post some pics later. 
I have decided to use a Metcalfe viaduct kit for the next bridge on the high level. This will need to be modified because the track bed is 9mm ply, lucky for me the viaduct structure just fits under the track bed. Because of the thickness of the track bed I will need to make the side walls higher. Unfortunately this Metcalfe kit does not come with a spare sheet of the stonework like most of the kits do. I have two Metcalfe builders kits but neither of them have any matching stonework in them which seems odd. The viaduct kit does 8 arches single track or 4 arches double so there might be enough of the walling left to double up has my viaduct will only be three and a half arches.

Edited October 13, 2022 by lilchris
Spelling

[lilchris]

Well progress has been made, I have nearly finished the plate girder bridge which is attached to the brick over bridge, It lifts off has one piece. I have still been doing work on ballasting, I found some more loose ballast so I went over it with Woodland Scenics  Scenic cement. I am now working on the lower viaduct which I am making from a modified Metcalfe kit. I have a slight curve in it and it just fits under the wood track bed, I have glued the lower part in position and will now complete the rest of the work in situ. I was wrong about the kit not including some spare stonework, there is some supplied between the arch roofs for the single track and the double track ones, I did not notice them there. Chris

[lilchris]

Here is another picture of the bridges from track level.

[lilchris]

I have now built a viaduct using the Metcalfe kit, modified to fit under the 9mm ply track bed. I fitted the lower part under the track bed then extended the walls to fit, it also has a slight curve. I have now made a river bed banks out of foam board, I have not extended the river to the front because I intend building another viaduct on the front, based on Outwood Viaduct on the old East lancs line, and I do not yet know where the pillars will be.

Edited April 9, 2023 by lilchris
Corrected name of viaduct

[lilchris]

More work on this viaduct plus work on the banking before the bridge and the station side. I have also competed the platform on the down side, the only station building was on the downside with a path leading down from the road. Mine looks a little steep but with the station being compacted a bit compromises have have to be made to fit the board.

[lilchris]

Time I did a Update on the layout. I have progressed quite well, finished the basics of the station area on the high level including platforms and trees etc, plus  work between the tracks. I have also made a hill on the far left with the two tunnels to hide the curve has usual. I have made two station buildings, the main one is based on the old Helmshore building, it is a kit bashed Ratio kit, the other one is a wood station building also kit bashed using a old station building I had lying around. I am working on the front Outwood viaduct at the moment which I am scratch building out of styrene sheet and strip. more on the in a later update.

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by lilchris
pic upside down

[lilchris]

I will post more pics when I am on my main computer.

Edited April 8, 2023 by lilchris

[lilchris]

Hi everyone, here are a few more pics to show the progress I have made. For Ringley station area I have made two buildings, the real one only had a building on the down platform but I have decided to put a small wooden building based on the ones on the real East Lancashire railway, the big one was at Helmshore. I have heavily modified a Ratio kit for that one. The wooden one was made from a old ratio station building which I have again modified to look wooden.

Edited April 12, 2023 by lilchris

[lilchris]

Here are a few more pics showing the station etc plus a few of the station and walls.c.

[lilchris]

My present project is making the viaduct for the front tracks just before the tunnels. That is based on Outwood Viaduct in Radcliffe. The viaduct is still there it is now part of the Outwood Trail/Sculpture trail and has been renovated a few years ago. It has five spans, unfortunately I can only fit three spans on my layout. I have been working on the girder lattice work, I am making mine out of styrene sheet and T strip, and H strip for the main girder, it is hard work and very fiddly in N scale. I have made wooden jigs to help make the girder frames, I curved the H girders in boiling water then place them in the jig while I fit the cut styrene sheet to them using Mek Pak.

[lilchris]

I tried to glue the H girder strip to the bottom of the shaped styrene at first it was not a very good join, to small a contact area. So I changed to cutting away the top part of the H strip on one side then sliding the shaped styrene sheet onto it, then use the Mek Pak. The hard bit was cutting the T strip to form the cross shapes, at first I made them out of three pieces but then modified my technique to only using two, cutting them with a model knife so one could fit over the other to form the shape. I also changed the size of the T strip to a smaller size ( 1/16" 1.6mm) after experiments and trial runs, it looks more to scale. The inner frames, there are four on the real thing, I will make out of plain styrene cut to shape. Here are a couple of pics I have taken of the real Outwood Viaduct. Chris H.

[lilchris]

By the way, a thank you to the owner of the factory yard who let me take a couple of pics of the viaduct last year from his property. It is hard to get any pictures from a distance, the river bank is either overgrown, Knott weed etc or extremely muddy. There are pictures of the viaduct in Jeffrey Wells book about East Lancashire Railways around Bury. You will note the frames are higher than on the real bridge. This is because I used 9mm ply for the track bed, I should have used thinner ply for where the bridges are located, I am guilty of not planning ahead properly. Chris H.

Edited April 12, 2023 by lilchris
correction