Welcome ebbwjunc

G'day Chris, seems that you have spent time in the same places I have visited
Norm.

 

I thought it was about time that I made my presence felt again. Apart from Chris it has been remarkably silent on my "where is it" photo so I assume, bad move, that no one else knows. The station is Millthorpe situated on the line going west from Bathurst and Blayney in N.S.W. and practically the entire village is heritage listed as is all the stations along the line making for some wonderful photos. The biggest disappointment is that very few trains use the line and those that do are non stopping at most stations only at the main ones which I find sad. It is a tourist attraction waiting to happen.Now being very restricted in what I am allowed or able to do I have been searching my photo albums and have found some interesting ones that I will post very soon and maybe that will stir some movement out there.

 

yes Chris the station seems to be a popular place for photos and the approach is long and wide enough to get it all in unlike some of the others in the area which on my last visit all seemed to be in fine order, just no staff or trains. I am also surprised that no one has attempted to model it as it would all fit in nicely in a relatively small space without too much compromise. Being too deeply into "God's Wonderful Railway" and it's near neighbour the western reaches of the Southern Railway I don't think I have enough time left on this globe to attempt it.

 

thanks for the encouragement to build an alternate GWR but no thanks. Gormo I'll drink to that http://www.click As I said I have been going through old photos and I haven't really scratched the surface with the printed ones so I have to make a starting point somewhere. The ones I have on the computer start around 2000, seems like only yesterday. At that time I was still with my friends Dave and Gill exhibiting Blagdon and Chris with his American "backswoods" layout was about to come on the scene. Dave had been talking of retiring Blagdon so I thought it was time that I stepped up so started researching and decided on an actual location in Somerset UK. a little place called "Milverton". It was a through station on the Taunton to Barnstable line and where the double track ended and became single on towards Barnstable. A little know fact is that Tauton to Milverton was classified double red so in theory King class locos could work that far. The other main factor was that it was on a large curve and the baseboards I had laser cut formed a large "egg" shape the idea being if you stood at one end you could not see the other so you had to walk along to see it all. There are six boards which were to go together in pairs making three boxes to carry. When the lines went off scene at the back they formed two fiddle yards side by side with a connecting line between the two to facilitate running in or testing locos. This was all supported on a set of square section steel legs that went into pockets in the baseboard ends. You started with the centre scenic board where two sets of legs went in and then piggy backed the others around until they met at the fiddleyard at the back. To cart all this and the crew I went out and bought an ex Post Office Transit van, had a rear seat for three put in that could be folded up and had all the rear carpeted in black including up the sides to the roof. Then came the first obstacle. One, my mobility problem started showing signs and the van developed a problem with the auto transmission. Now the Transit vans purchased by Australia post did not come through local Ford dealers but direct from Europe and had Swedish Volvo derived transmissions which to get fixed would have cost me the same as what I payed for the van in the first place so it had to go and the little Diahatsu wagon that replaced it was too small but my wife loved it so Milverton was stillborn but I still have everything so it could be resurrected at short notice if I so decided.
The exercise did make me realize that I was not getting any younger physically so after contemplating where to next I started looking more closely at how other groups and individuals approached their layouts especially with regard to transporting and setting up and taking down. I also studied baseboard construction to enable them to be made lighter without sacrificing strength and this is where I come to the first photos. The first shows the basic construction all from 3mm ply with the board ends strengthened by a piece of 12mm for the bolts to pass through. These ends are all drilled from a template to ensure that they are all exactly the same. The second pic shows the two end scenic boards together. There are three scenic ones in total but they could be increased in number to make the layout bigger if so desired. The end ones fold together to form a box for transportation. The middle scenic board goes with the two fiddleyard boards from each end to form a second box. The front and end panels from the fiddle yards can be removed to sit flat between them thus taking up less space.The third pic shows the two end scenic boards with all the parts for the centre board ready for assembly.The last pic shows the centre board put together and waiting for the adhesive to thoroughly dry. Note my high tech tools.

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Second pic

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Third pic

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Final pic with high tech bits.

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Gormo, thanks for your very kind remarks. To put everything into perspective I started this project mid 2009 but was interrupted due to me getting too involved in other projects usually other peoples. In mid 2012 it stopped altogether as Dave was diagnosed with a cancer in June and we lost him in the October. Early in 2013 my wife was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and after dealing with that a second one was found within weeks so another major operation. She had to undergo numerous minor operations by a plastic surgeon and eye surgeon until they decided to put further ones on hold due to the high amount of anasthetics so February last year I underwent surgery on my right leg and hope to undergo the same next month although we are having a little hiccup at present which should be resolved next week, hopefully.Getting back to the subject, internal strengtheners will be put in place after the track location has been determined. In the past they have caused problems so do the top first then adapt underneath. The intergrated backboards and ends give a lot of rigidity and as the boards are only 900mm long by 600mm wide so the overall area is small. I intend to cover the entire top of the boards with the foam sheeting used underneath wood panelled floors to combat noise and glue the track to it thus still keeping weight down to a minimum. All the edges of the backboards and end panels have been covered with painted plastic strips found cheaply in hardware stores. finishes it off nicely and adds a little to the rigidity.That's about it for now but next I'll describe how I approached the stands for ease of setup and transportation.
http://www.click I think I need a cold one just now.

 

To continue my ongoing saga we now come to the part of what do you support the baseboards with. Having studied a lot of ways that others have used I tried to pick out the best bits and adapt them all together. Blagdon had legs that folded up out of the way but needed bracing struts and the layout had to be laid on it's back to put the first pair down then piggyback the remainder. Easy to do when you are younger but bloody harder as you get older. The other criteria was transportation as I needed to keep it all manageable and compact without incurring weight penalties. I have come up with a stand that can be erected separately and the height adjusted with a large shelf below for all the mains equipment and you put the layout boards on their backs on top, bolt them all together and then lift it up and turn right way and lower on to set of eight uprights that fit into the sides and carry on from there. No bending or crawling underneath to locate bolts, simple! I have made a simple frame and the four legs sit on it and form a box about the same size as the two layout ones. All the leads and electrics plus curtains all fit in nicely and therefore minimum room needed. The two long rails on the top foldup and with the shelf that gives the rigidity needed to start erecting that is it for transportation, just a couple of stock boxes and you're away.Photo 1 shows first two legs assembled with height adjusters fitted on the bottom.

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Photo 2 shows the frame assembled with four of the boards on top of frame. The shelf is not mounted but you can see the rails with hinges for folding and how the tops of the legs fit into the side frames of the boards when the rear backboard is fitted. You can also see on the right hand side front away from you the plastic edging strip to give a finished top to the layout.

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Photo 3 Another view of all the boards bar the centre scenic board in place, no shelf as I hadn't made up my mind wether to bolt it or secure it another way, I used dowel pins in the end as no bending to secure bolts. You can also see the start of installing the plastic edging. The bolts showing on the end allows the front and end panels to be removed and placed flat on the fiddle yard area for transporting. The photo shows a fiddle area and one end of the scenic boards from the rear with same at other end.

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Photo 4 This is what is ready to travel, the four legs forming the box in the frame, two folded rails and the shelf which is the longest part to transport.

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