Author Archives: Steve Hales

(Nearly) Finished Tracklaying!

Work has continued on laying the track and switches this month (March) and the track in the staging yard is now complete to the end points of the curves. Richard and I (Steve) have done most of this and Dave has corrected some of my worse errors! This is as far as we can go until the new boards on the front are complete – which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks. The N&W caboose runs very happily through all the curves and switches although it will soon be recolored and decaled!

You can see that we have avoided using the double slips which proved a little problematic with some stock on the phase 2 staging yard boards.

We’ve now moved on to wiring.

Moving Home

This week the scenic boards and a few extras, such as lighting gantries originally built by Chris Bennett, and backscenes, were all moved. These were taken by hired van from the Merseyside clubrooms in Birkenhead to the Barrowmore clubrooms 30 miles away.

Photos show Derek Jones helping to load the van outside the Merseyside clubrooms, the van arriving at Barrowmore, and then the (temporary) pile housing the scenic boards in the Barrowmore clubrooms.

Rapid track laying

Since returning from Model Rail Scotland and as we go into March incredible progress has been made laying track in the new staging yard. Richard and Steve have forged ahead with this as the photos show. Each piece of track has a duplicate pair of droppers soldered under the rail and copper strip is used at baseboard edges to hold the track firm there. Track is then glued down at each end of every fourth tie using cheap superglue. All track is Peco streamline code 75 and switches are now also being laid, initially by Richard.

Oh dear – I’m repeating myself in the excitement!

A quiet month (for Mauch Chunk PA)!

February was quiet for Mauch Chunk PA because we (BMRG) were getting Mostyn ready for Model Rail Scotland on 24-26th February and there is only room for one large layout to be erected in the clubrooms. Good news in that Mauch Chunk has now also been invited to MR Scotland in 2019!

As soon as we returned, Mostyn and Johnstown Road (the club’s O-gauge layout) were carefully stored in a large, linear pile along the rear side of the clubrooms and the new Mauch Chunk staging yard boards were re-erected and levelled.

Track laying has now started – using Peco streamline code 75 track. The Barromore MRG approach is being followed with droppers under the track and track held down with superglue. It is also VERY, VERY straight! Photos show Richard laying track although Steve (me) and Dave Faulkner are also involved.

All put together

In January, Gavin finished the staging yard board joints using ‘EM joiners’ (see earlier posts).  All the boards could then be erected,  joined together and finally levelled and any small imperfection sanded off. It’s a monster!!

Following this the last few legs were painted and other painting was touched up. Lastly, Richard and others laid the cork, using variations of PVA and lots of weights. After sanding smooth, the cork was twice varnished with matt varnish to protect it. Gareth is lurking in one of the pictures.

Gavin’s work is not yet done however, as we intend to rebuild the two small scenic end boards from 18 inches and 30 inches respectively, to two 2 foot boards. The four large (4×4 foot) scenic boards will also receive legs – more details to come.

 

Rounding off the Baseboards

Moving towards Christmas, Gavin again had some free time and used it very productively on the ‘difficult’ corner baseboards with rounded sides. These had already been planned with some very involved angled bracing but with the appropriate tools, these all fell to his skill! Photos show the construction of the two rear corners and then the slightly larger front corner board. Legs were also constructured to fit each.

A good end to the year with lots of work to complete in 2017. Many thanks to Gavin, Richard and the rest of the Barromore team for all their help.

 

More legs, paint and baseboards

The rush was on to get as much done as possible before Johnstown Road, Barrowmore’s O-gauge layout, needed to occupy the space for preparations before going to Warley exhibition.

All the legs for the seven boards now constructed are finished and were undercoated by Steve and Dave. While this was going on, Gavin and Richard worked on the first, non-scenic corner board. This is huge (4ft x 4ft3in) but relatively simple being almost square.

Baseboards, paint and legs

In October, Gavin had forged ahead with the rectangular baseboards, finishing the set and adding the cross braces to stop them flexing. The photos include shots of him using Brownlow’s table saw. Steve has been painting the undercoat on and the legs have all now been built from 2″ by 1″ pine.

In November we will move on to the more difficult corner boards, finishing the painting and then installing the joiners and leg adjuster.

Phase 3 baseboards started!

We have finally started the new baseboards for the third phase staging yard. These will be of a higher standard than previously – being built by and in the Barrowmore MRG – and will use a trackplan custom designed to meet exhibition operating requirements. See the ‘Track Plan’ pages for more details.

Photos show Gavin building from three different thicknesses of ply. These have been cut on a professional table saw (with thanks to Brownlows Cabinet Makers, our neighbours here at Barrowmore) to a cutting list we generated. Any final cutting is done on Gavin’s sliding compound mitre saw which is very impressive – see the photo.

Sheets of ply are glued with urea-formaldehyde resing wood glue and then held with nails from a nail gun. Overall this is a very quick process although the complexity of design, with pockets to hold the legs and bracing, slows it down. Richard of course is seen giving expert direction!