JSRR : Juwair Sajour Rail Road

A short 2 minute video of where I'm up to on the JSRR...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKc32tUF67Y



Cheers, Gary.

 

Yes Dave, I'm getting my 7.5 - 8 hours in !

You could say I'm making hay whilst the sun shines or I'm just taking advantage of the long weekend !

Cheers, Gary.

 

Absolutely right Chris. When I install the extra point (set track curved point), it will give me more operating potential to switch cars around the mill. Essentially, the plan will give me two inglenooks.



On the plan above, the two inglenooks are the yellow and red lines. Even though they share one siding on the right, it will still make shunting much more desirable.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Thanks Gormo.

I had a marathon session a few weeks back when I couldn't sleep ! I have my boys this weekend so I don't think a lot will progress. May get some more done through next week before I go on leave. Then again, if we (the boys and I) decide to go gallivanting for a few days around NSW, not a lot will get done then either.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Wow, it's has 3 months to the day since I posted on this thread ! Most of you must have thought that Mr Beeching had entered the train room...

I just needed a break away from my other layouts so the other night I cleaned up the tracks on the JSRR and ran a train or two, no three, ok four then. I wasn't to happy with the way the new end of the layout operate so I had an Ianvolvo46 moment and decided to pull up Anyrail and have a play. I must say I do like Anyrail and this afternoon, I came up with an adequate plan, one that will involve a lot of shunting and spotting of wagons.

The overall design is reminiscent of a Timesaver track plan which includes a loop, a short siding, extra head shunt space and more. There is enough sidings on this design to allow for 4 individual industries to be served by rail.

So, this is what I had originally designed...



The track plan from the left hand side junction to the trans shipment shed, freight loading ramp and mill I was not happy with.

This is what I have changed and personally, I think it flows better...



I have redesigned the end of the baseboard to be more of a pennisula, allowing for an extra 6" of base board. This track plan will allow for a lot more variation in the switching, err, shunting of wagons about. I have elected to remove the double slip that I originally had for ease of operation.

Now, to get some track down and have a run, just to prove to myself that this actually works as intended !

Cheers, Gary.

 

On Thursday night I decided lift the track and put it back down again following the new track plan. I think the new track plan makes better use of the available space, including the small extension to the end of the base board.

This is where I got up to on Thursday night. I substituted a left hand curved point, above and right of the three way, just to see how the track looks. This point was subsequently replaced with a medium left straight point. The plan shows a right hand medium, but the variation in the track with the left hand point just looks good as it creates a nice curve to the headshunt below (alongside the ruler).



Today I set about making the extension to the baseboard. I have a lot of 9mm MDF off cuts lying around and I found a suitable piece. This was measured up and a 300mm wide and a curve was drawn onto it, some 75mm from the straight adjoining edge. This gave me an extension of 195mm to the tip of the semi circle. A piece of 50mm insulation foam was traced on and cut out to match the extended base board. Cutting this with a jig saw made for a nicer finish to the side.



Underneath the extension showing how I added this to the existing base board.



The newly cut piece of insulation foam was glued into place with PVA and allowed to cure for an hour before extending the track onto it.



The track has been laid onto the foam. Some of the dropper wires have been fed through the foam/baseboard. there are plenty more to do...



Although the layout was tested (without connecting dropper wire to the bus), the only siding that didn't have power was the one on the right (leading up to the pliers), as the feed for the point had not been connected. The curve end still gives ample room to walk around the peninsula.

Tonights job if I'm up to it, is to solder on the new droppers (seen protruding, above) and getting the right hand side siding electrically connected.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Will do Pete. Just got to keep moving on the two layouts for the exhibition...

I just needed a break from those two and it was like I was going through withdrawal symptons, so I had to have a play and run some trains !

Cheers, Gary.

 

Wow, I haven't visited here for some time... It has been well over 8 months...

Having watched several North American you tube clips on short haul rail roads, not to forget the few videos I have also purchased and the fact that I joined a facebook group dedicated to small and micro layouts, I have come to the conclusion that I'm not totally happy with the track plan that I changed back in April !

So, it will be pulled up and restarted. Maybe this could get into the current competition running, than again I am also building an O gauge layout for an exhibition

I'm not going to rush into it straight away, but I have come up with another, yes another track plan. This track plan allows more operation, as per the North American way of shunting short lines (branch lines). Very few branch lines have run rounds (passing sidings) and all the shunting is done with a local locomotive, which is housed in its own small engine shed and facility. This should make for much more exciting, yet sometimes complicated shunting (switching if you are reading from the US !) duties.

This plan may face a few changes as to the alignment of the tracks or the sidings, but it is pretty much what I'm aiming for. Gone is the incline to the lumber/wood chip sidings, to be replaced with newer sidings with a couple of more industries on the layout. As I mentioned in the Christmas Wants thread, I received a Walthers Grain Elevator and I also purchased a Timber (Lumber) Yard kit. Along with two of the other kits that I have already purchased, this will allow for 4 or more industries altogether.

So, here is the track plan...

...and the new buildings to go onto the layout...

I have already started on the grain elevator as I need to know the actual foot print of it ! Also it gives me something to do between paint drying on other models (the O gauge stuff...)

Well, now I have to decide if I want to start a new thread or just continue on, showing the warts and all on designing a railway that I want !

Cheers, Gary.

 

Please note that this has been copied from my other thread on Jay Dubyew North Yard and transferred to here, where it should be !

A few weeks back I redesigned the track plan for this layout, I think this is the forth incarnation of the layout ! Whilst I couldn't sit down too long over the weekend due to my back flaring up again, I decided to tackle this layout.

This is what I have planned...

So, out with a spatula to remove the upper layer of insulation foam.

Track had been pulled up earlier to allow me to start relaying from the peninsula end and work my way around the layout towards the bridge. Some of you may have noticed in my last post in my O gauge layout thread that I had purchased another left hand curved point. This is where it will be used.

This new design allows me to operate the layout with different industries. I will still include the saw mill/saw dust processing mill, a grain elevator, a fuel siding and two, maybe three other industries.

Cheers, Gary.

 

I worked on the bridge section last night. The bridges were brought in closer together on the side that meets Jay Dub Nth Yard as I picked up an Atlas Wye point. The Atlas wye has a larger V angle suited the layout and bridge area better compared to the Peco wye. Previously I had installed a point on Jay Dub to allow the tracks to run to different locations, but I had to reinstate the straight section when I exhibited the layout earlier this year. This time round I decided to place the wye on the new section of the layout.

How the end of the layout looked back when Jay Dubyew was first built...

This is the point I installed some time back..., to which never did get ballasted back in...

...and the current end of the Jay Dubyew...

So, it was out with the bridges, out with a tape measure and a knife. Some judicial cutting was involved which also included reducing the length of one of the girder bridges by approximately 2".

What the bridge section looks like now...

The rear bridge was on a 3% incline that fed the line to the upper section where the wood chip mill was located. This incline has also been removed and the bridge abutments adjusted to suit a level bridge crossing.

So, I just need to retrofit a spring from a Peco point onto the Atlas wye as there is no way of locking the switch blades into position without the need of a motor or a slide switch.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Tonight I managed to glue in some timber block sections that sit on the individual baseboard edges where the baseboards meet and the track will traverse. Each block, seven all up is made from two pieces of timber, as I could not purchase 50mm thick timber and I had to glue some 20mm x 8mm timber to 42mm x 18mm pine, to get the correct height.

The timbers were glued with PVA and the whole lot glued into the cu-outs with Gorilla Glue.

The peninsula board and left hand side board has two tracks crossing the join.

Further around the single line crosses from the left hand side board to the back wall board.

Again a single line bridges the back wall and the bridge board (right hand side).

And finally the bridge board joining to the Jay Dubyew board.

Hopefully tomorrow this will be set hard as a rock and I can progress with the track laying.

Cheers, Gary.

 

So, 95% track has been relayed over the last couple of nights and the wiring almost 100% complete. I do have to finish the siding to the wood chip mill and all is finished as to track laying.

This video shows what has been completed and what is due as of tonight.



Cheers, Gary.

 

Due to the length of this layout and the location of the Power Cab panel on the Jay Dubyew section of the layout, today I purchased a few items that will allow for better operation or be that of two person operation...

Two cables, the lower cable in the pic for this layout and the top cable for River Dee Meats. The Cab06 can be used on both this layout, River Dee Meats and eventually on Industry Lane/Waspen Street. I will need to purchase another UTP (Universal Throttle Panel) for River Dee Meats.

River Dee Meats : https://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/index.php?threads/river-dee-meats-my-first-foray-into-o-gauge.3143/
Industry Lane : https://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/index.php?threads/industry-lane.66/
Waspen Street : https://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/index.php?threads/waspen-street-revisited.2997/

Cheers, Gary.

 

As I have spent the last few weekends away and having a problem tooth (or three) removed, I have now had time to focus back on this layout.

Over the last few weeks, I have been slowly been putting together the Walthers Red Wing Mill Kit, although not as the box displays.

My layout only being 12" wide would not suit the rather large boxy building and I had to accommodate it somewhere, afterall, I do have a grain silos (elevator) on the layout.

With the new track plan, (one that I haven't decided to pull up and relay !), I have a simple siding for the grain hoppers and a great place for a low relief model, well built on a slight angle anyway. I decided to lengthen the building by joining both the front and the back walls together. This meant that I had to remove one butress section of the building so that the windows were equally apart and the whole building had consistant flow.

Of course joining these two halves always means some filling in with a suitable putty. I tried that Tamiya putty, the one that hardens when light is shone upon it. Not the best in my books, considering you need to work in very low light conditions. The back of the two halves were strengthened with some scrap styrene. The base plate for this model also had to be cut and trimmed to suit the new building.

I decided to paint the ground level (?) doors and windows in Tamiya Buff (no.XF57), to make them stand out from the rest. The rest of the windows and doorswere also painted Mr Hobby Dark Green (no.36). The kit comes with precoloured moulded parts but the green on these windows looked very plastic-ee.

The building was also airbrushed, starting with a Mr Hobby Dark Grey (no.82) and following over with quick passes of Mr Hobby IJN Grey (no.61), mostly on the raised sections of the facade.

Still a lot more to add to the building, ie dust collectors, canopy roofs, landings, ladders, hand rails and loading platforms and they all need to be constructed and pre-painted before adding.

Cheers, Gary.

 

These are some of the detail items that come with the kit. You can identify dust collectors, canopy roofs, landings, ladder and one of the loading platforms. All of these items were painted and weathered before gluing them to the main structure. It was a good day in Sydney so the paint didn't take too long to dry. Most parts were then sprayed with a clear matt sealer before weathering powders were applied with isopropyl alcohol.

Once everything was ready to go on, it didn't take too long to apply them. The long narrow roof shown above (with ladder) had to be cut down in width to allow a box car to sit at the loading dock. Doing this also meant that the canopy supports (hangers) had to be cut down and re-bent into shape.

This is how the mill looks today, with the exception of glazing. The glazing will be added latter tonight.

Wagons at the loading bays/platforms. On the left is product out and the right hand side is product in.

This pic shows the canopy that was reduced in width. There is still marginal fall on the canopy roof and still allows ease of access for the box cars.

I'll also cut up some 3mm foam core tonight to make the back wall and roof. I'm still undecided about adding the roof top building, but I shall add ventilators and such.

Cheers, Gary.