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Author Topic: Designing and maybe making a portable model railway.  (Read 1808 times)

Tony Bird

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Re: Designing and maybe making a portable model railway.
« Reply #60 on: December 31, 2019, 11:40:05 am »
Hi,

With luck in a few weeks I can start thinking about track plans though given two tracks for continuous running there isn’t a lot of choice.  Anyway, to give me some ideas to ponder I managed to find the track plans of our first layout and the existing layout.  The first, ‘Rhydypenau Light Railway’ was enlarged after about eight years as 16 mm Scale became more popular it was getting a little crowded inside.  The present layout is modular and can be erected in about nine different sizes some examples and photographs attached.  The new layout will not be modular as it took a lot of construction time to make Rhydypenderyn so and in all its exhibitions it has been only a few times it has been used other than at full size.  It is my turn to cook this evening so I will post today's efforts tomorrow.

Rhydypenau as built.

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Rhydypenau as modified.

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Rhydypenderyn some of the possibilities.

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Rhydypenderyn photographs.

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Have a Happy and a Healthy New Year.

Tony.



Tony Bird

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Hi,

Happy New Year!

Yesterday the legs were completed on the free-standing base board and I am quite happy with the results, it is quite ridged when erected.  Next, the long haul of making another one and six with a pair of legs these at least will be quicker to build.  Getting low on nuts and bolts etc so it looks like a visit to Screwfix tomorrow will be required

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Regards

Tony.

Tony Bird

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Hi,

Spent most of the time in the shed making the aluminium angle brackets and other fittings for the remaining base boards.  I did manage to fit one of the base boards for the curved track to the 4-legged base board just finished, these two boards will make up the left-hand side of the front of the layout as viewed from the inside.  Note: I must get a wider shed!

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The completed boards now have an identity for where they will fit in the layout.

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Regards

Tony.



Tony Bird

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Hi,

Well all the wood has been cut for the remaining seven boards.  All the fittings have been made so; it is assembly time after the fittings for legs have been attached.  As the legs for the four-leg board are slightly different from the others they have already had their fittings attached to them.  The remaining legs will be done tomorrow then the base boards themselves can be made.

The cut wood for the base boards.
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The legs fittings and dowel.
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The legs with their fitting for the four leg board.
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Any one have a use for a dozen 50 mm lengths of aluminium angle?  Have cut and machined the angle for the fittings I found these that my youg friend Gordon had made for me on his last visit!
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Regards Tony.



Tony Bird

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Hi,

Yesterday, young Gordon visited and we made good progress; the remaining six base boards were partially finished and were left over night for the glue to dry.

Regards

Tony.

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Tony Bird

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Hi,

The woodwork of the eight wide straight boards that will make up the front and the back of the layout is finished.  Some of the fittings have been attached to the legs when finished they will be fitted to the base boards.

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Regards

Tony.



Tony Bird

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Hi,

Today the first of the large base boards received its pair of legs.  A drilling jig has been made to fit this base board to the base board with four legs.  It now remains for me to fit legs to the remaining six base boards; this will take some days.  With luck a complete circle of base boards will be finished before we go away at the end of the month.

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Regards

Tony.




St Paul Steam

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Its coming along nicely & looking very good , well done Tony 👍
Bruce, St. Paul Indiana, USA
"Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind."
  Nikola Tesla

Tony Bird

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Hi,

This morning I was looking at the base boards that make up the ends of the layout and realised that the entrance to the layout though very compact didn’t make as good a use of the space in the trailer as it could.  So, entrance plan ‘B’, Gordons machining of the aluminium angle came in useful as locating pieces so that the entrance could be attached for transport to the board that balances it at the other end of the layout creating a more compact unit.  This means that both of the curved ends of the layout and their legs can be stacked in the trailer one on top of another and still be a few centimetres lower than the side of the trailer.  Will I need the four remaining pieces of Gordons angle?  Only time will tell!

Another base board has been fitted with a pair of legs, one more and all the four base boards that will make up the front of the layout will be finished.

Original idea for the entrances transport mode.

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Regards Tony.

Tony Bird

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Hi,

With the legs fitted the centre brace of the base boards could be fitted.  This finishes all of the wood work required on the large base boards.

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Regards Tony.

Tony Bird

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Hi,

Today the last of the larger base boards that will make up the front of the layout had its legs fitted; with the help of my wife a trial assemble was made that included one of the boards for the curved track.  I am quite pleased with the results, the boards went together fairly well, not a disaster but a bit of a set back some of the aluminium stays bent when moving the joined boards.  Rhydypenderyn uses the same system for staying the legs however these stays are steel; the layout often has to be moved when part assembled to line up the front and back of it.  This is mostly done on smooth floors not carpet as in our house however, moving the layout is a fairly frequent occurrence so, a change to steel would be sensible. Getting small quantise of steel (about 10 metres) at a reasonable price can be difficult, the present layouts was left over from making some welded steel track at the club, I will have to check to see if there is any more left.  Changing the stays won’t hold up the construction of the layout as it could be done at any time.  So, only four more boards to have their legs fitted and I can start to think about making and laying track!

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Regards Tony.

txlabman

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Excellent progress Tony

You have kicked off the new decade with a lot of great work.

Looking forward to seeing the track layout.

Tony Bird

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Hi,

Before fitting legs to the remaining four large base boards it was decided to make a cradle for them that fitted into the trailer.  A very straight forward construction compared with the cradle for the boards for the curved track.  To balance the load in the trailer the cradle for the curved track will be positioned in front of the axle and the cradle for the larger boards behind it.

The lips on the base boards was planed to a uniform height and rubbing blocks for when the boards are stored vertically fitted.  Storage boxes will take up the remaining spaces.

Young Gordon is threatening to visit tomorrow so we might get on with the remaining boards. 

The problem of the stays has been resolved; we visit our son this weekend to celebrate my wife’s birthday and he has ordered some black mild steel for me.

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Regards

Tony.




Tony Bird

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Hi,

I was hoping that my next post would be to say that all the base boards have been completed; alas there are still four boards to finish.  Two problems arose!  The layout is a very tight fit in the trailer as it was intended to be; this was the reduce the amount the layout would move around during transport as it was difficult to fit securing points.  I had done the sums many times so I was reasonably sure they were correct and indeed they were.  The first problem was caused because I had forgotten to incorporate the board’s securing straps there are four of them 1.5 mm thick giving a total of 6mm.  I didn’t have 6 mm and really 10 mm would be needed to give wiggle room! The cradles were a good fit in the trailer they virtually couldn’t move and the boards in them had only about 6 mm wiggle room which they needed.

The solution was simple but took a long time. Plane 1mm off the raised edges of the boards; with sixteen boards this saved 16 mm more than enough! The cradles were taken apart and their width reduced by 8 mm each.  The results allowed as can be seen in the photograph more than enough gaps between the cradles and the cradles and the side of the trailer for the straps.

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The second problem was quicker to fix but took a lot of thinking about and it is fortunate that I am small, slim, young, fit and agile!  I will cover it in my next post.


Regards

Tony.

Tony Bird

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Hi,

The second problem was quicker to fix but took a lot of thinking about and it is fortunate that I am slim, young, fit and agile.  The descriptive statement might be considered a little fanciful but I am short which did help.

The problem should have been anticipated but wasn’t; when the trailer lid was closed one of the gas jack brackets fouled the top of the base board closest to the trailer side.  It only just touched so, first the bracket was made as small as possible and it then cleared the base board!  However not when the baseboard was in its cradle.  There appeared to be only one option; a corner needed to be cut off one of the boards.  To do this the trailer side needed to be marked with the position of the gas jack bracket when the lid was down.  This is where being short came in handy, get into the trailer with a head light while the wife closed the lid of the trailer to mark the side of the trailer.  This done it was easy to mark out the cutting line for the base board.  Suitably cut the bracket cleared the base board by a good margin.  Before getting around to finishing the four remaining boards wooden batons s will be screwed to the bottom of the trailer as location points for the cradles and storage boxes.

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Regards Tony.