Tube Line Work Trains

We live next to a tube line, Hammersmith & City, where trains passing late at night by out flat keeping us awake, which is not terribly romantic.  Still, it means we get to see work trains that are usually in tunnels when doing their stuff.  Our disturbed sleep being your gain.

Would make a nice vignette on any layout.

Heritage Steam Day

It has been a while since I last posted, but today the London Transport Museum were running a heritage train on the Hammersmith & City line, which I live next too.  This is one of those events that makes up for all the times one has been woken at 04.30 when the trains start running past the flat.

The train had a steam engine at one end, and yes it did run through the tunnels between Moorgate and Hammersmith.

And an electric Bo-Bo, Sarah Siddons, at the other.  This train was a class act, and the we could see from our window the photographers crowding on the platform at Goldhawk Road taking pictures of the event.  At one point it looked like they would miss the train as modern stock was in the platform blocking their view, but the train cleared in time for all to see the heritage special go by.

 

Final run of the day caught the new stock passing the other way to the old timers.  London Underground put on a good show today.

One Year Older

  
Actually one year and two days older from when I first posted on this blog. I seem to have missed my first anniversary through becoming distracted by other stuff. Other stuff being trying to either set up my own business, or find another job with a suitable employer. As luck would have it the job search came up with a job on Monday that I had to complete the application form for yesterday. I was a little distracted by filling in the multi-sectioned online application form, which ran to many pages.

I've been laid off now for two months. Three months if you count the last month of work when I was using up all my annual leave entitlement. One would think therefore that I have been busy building lots of model railway models and the like. Not so much.

I have been practising with my static grass applicator on odd bits of board, as I was not completely happy with the first attempts. It's not that there is anything wrong with what I did the first time around, but I wanted to see if I could improve the look of the grass by adding more layers, which is what I have been doing over the last week.

Today I was applying varnish over the tops of said static grass to see how this works as a sealant, as I find a lot of the grass tends to lift off over time? I'm probably handling the grassed areas too much, as I suspect that this method is best for looking at, and not robust enough to be handled as such. I've actually been painting the static grass to add shading to the finished product. I know that one can mix different shades of static grass material, but to my eye it all looks a little flat. Unfortunately, painting the static grass tends to lift it off, and if you over do it, tends to make the grass clog up. I'm going to experiment with some spray dies next.

Other than that I am trying to get on with getting the Hex Frog Juicers actually fitted. Trouble is that the layout has become a temporary storage area for other projects, like the grass boards I've been working on. That as they say is the trouble of living in a small flat with limited space.

Dynamic Mass Control System (DMCS)

This is a description of what is needed to control our freight cars in way that more accurately reflects real world factors that influence performance. It's obviously not for everyone as certain aspects of the system will only appeal to people who can appreciate the cost/benefit analysis of more realistic model response patterns and operational enhancements which come as an extra to DMCS.

The heart of the system revolves around the use of established ideas, but taking the concept to the maximum limits of the technology. There are four parts to this system.

1. A digital processor control system. Your home computer will suffice with the right software and interface module.

2. A controllable master unit for each train. A suitably equipped locomotive of choice will be ideal.

3. An intelligent linking system for the train. This can be carried in the freight cars.

Implementation

Each freight car will need three components to work with DMCS:

- The first is a way of adding momentum effects to the car itself.
- The second is a control system which can respond to commands.
- The third is a link to the master unit.

1. A motorized axle on each truck, using coreless stepping motors, will power the freight car and provide dynamic braking. The other axle will support the linking system.

2. A infra-red transceiver module will fit on the outward facing axles to provide a continuous link through the train. These will use a slow IRDA protocol at approximately 256kbits per second.

3. A custom active digital control chip which will receive commands from the master unit and apply appropriate modulation of the current to the coreless motors.

The result is the first step towards a distributed intelligent control system. Now briefly as the rest of this is off topic as it deals with parts of model railroading that is not directly related to freight cars.

The controllable master system is a chip in our locomotives (which now have infra-red IRDA transceivers), when it couples up to a train, takes control of all the freight car mounted chips.

As a bonus it is possible to add to the locomotive a method of detecting grades, thereby through a time code cause the freight cars at the end of the train not to respond to the grade change until they reach it. So for example when going uphill the rear of the train doesn't respond to the gradient until all the train is on it. Secondly when cresting the summit different portions of the train will respond in a realistic manner.

Additionally the digital processor can can be encoded so that realistic applications of the trains brakes can be applied. Of course since this is a digital control system all the other benefits of such a system can be employed to enhance the railroad simulation. For instance why only have sound in the locomotives. Since each freight car has a chip it too could produce sound effects, like the squealing of brakes and even the sound of the knuckles as the couple/uncouple.

Advance User Functions for DMCS

Since each chip in each freight car is inherently programmable by the user the following functions cascade from the application of DMCS.

1. Integrated waybill attachment and re-billing of cars. The system can have a map of the layout and know where every freight car and locomotive is. A hidden bonus here is the quirky fun stuff like bad order bills. A freight car can actually cause operational difficulties by random actuation of its coreless motors.

2. Load simulation. Here you can automatically have the operational characteristics of the freight car changed to represent a loaded or empty car. In addition it's possible to simulate liquid loads sloshing around in tank cars. Again done by varying the braking effects upon the individual freight car through the coreless motors.

3. Automatic layout re-staging. By fully integrating the turnout control to the digital processor control system. This is a "Tower of Hanoi" problem in a sparse network environment. However, since the waybill generators can already be controlled by the computer software this should just be a matter of a database look-up function. Since all the units within the system are controllable, one can envisage an automatic shuffling of them on the layout.

Commercial Development

The commercial possibilities for DMCS are promising, as there are several bonus control spin-offs. Manufacturers of toy trains can exploit this to good effect. For instance the "Thomas The Tank Engine" Line could have models where the faces of the characters could be animated using pizzo electric actuation. They could be made to smile, move their eyes and talk using the sound capabilities of the chips. In addition, since the trucks have coreless motors capabilities, they can be real troublesome trucks and actually run away from Thomas when being shunted. Or bang against each other recklessly.
   

Seven Pillars of Model Rail Wisdom

On the Model Railroader forums there was a post about the three pillars of model railways. I thought to myself, surely you must mean seven, as I immediately thought of T. S. Lawrence, whose book, part autobiography, and part novel sprang to mind?

So what do I think the seven pillars are?

First a desire to build a layout I guess, because without that you wouldn't get anything done.

Second the money to spend, as no hobby is without cost, and it seems to me that desire and money make for a potent combination.

Third would be time, because without time nothing will get done.

Fourthly space to build, or set up your layout, which should be easy enough if you have enough money, but harder if you don't.

Fifth a plan, as it is always good to have a plan, and it is always good when a plan comes together.

Sixth, patience, as without this one is going to become frustrated by the time it takes to achieve your goal, because even with more money it still takes time to have things built for you.

The seventh pillar would be the ability to learn from your mistakes, because you will make them. They will cost you time, money, involve changing your plans, finding that you need more space, which will sorely try your patience and test your desire.

No wonder so few layouts actually get built.

The Maturing Cupboard

   
Bill Bedford visited me on Wednesday afternoon, as he wanted a favour, and as usual we hanged out and chatted about this and that. One of the perennial favourite subjects that comes up is why oh why don't people just build the models that they buy, rather than sitting on them? It seems that after model railway kits have been bought they then have to go through a maturing process before they can be built. 

1. Acquisition

This is the ooh shiny I must buy it when I see right now phase that is common to all railway enthusiasts. Triggered by seeing something new, generally in a shiny metallic material that grabs one's attention. For me this has been some American traction models that I saw on eBay. I just had to have them.

2. The Maturing Box

Once one has acquired the shiny new toys then I usually put them in a suitable place for making and painting later. This is usually some sort of shoe box equivalent, but it can be a cupboard. I don't consider either location to have any greater merit over the other, it is just a matter of space. Cupboards have more space and are therefore good, because more stuff can be maturing at the same time.

3. Inspiration

Once one has bought the new and shiny things for painting one can become inspired to dream about when one is going to make or paint the model? Choosing the right livery is important, especially as some livery variants are just plain more attractive than others. I also call this the Daydreaming Phase, and much time can be "usefully" spent here while the shiny toys mature awaiting for their time on the workbench.

4. The Planning Phase

After daydreaming, sorry I mean spending time being inspired, one then moves on to the Planning Phase where one finds that one needs to find out more about the subject and how to paint the shiny toys. This is not a do-one-thing then do-the-next-thing exercise, as one can then interrupt the cycle to go back to the Acquisition Phase, so as to get the necessary extra shiny toys to meet the requirements defined from the Planning Phase. This can result in the whole project entering the Maturing Box for another round of inspirational daydreaming.

5. The Modelling Phase

Shiny toy miniatures are now prepared for working on by being placed on the work bench. Depending on the demands on the railway owner's spare time, this phase can stretch out and lead to more planning. This is especially true if a new railway project is started, which can result in another round of going through the Acquisition Phase.

6. The Layout

Once the shiny toys have been painted and varnished they can then be lovingly placed onto the track where in all likelihood it will immediately derail. This will cause you to reassess the whole project and perhaps a change to a different scale, or easier subject?

The West London Joint Railway

Teasing Torments  

My first introduction to this line came from reading the section on the West London Railway in the book “London's Disused Stations Volume 5: The London & South Western Railway” by J. E. Connor, published by Connor & Butler Ltd.

Here I discovered that the West London Extension Line was built with L&NWR buildings, GWR track and signaling, but that for some odd reason or another the Chelsea & Fulham station had a GWR signal box. The West London Extension Railway was formed to take the West London Railway across the Thames. It was financed by both the London & North Western, and the Great Western Railways, who had a one third share each, while the London & South Western and the London, Brighton & South Coast Railways each took a sixth of share each interest in the venture. After the Grouping in 1923, the Southern Railway inherited a one third share from its two precursors. After reading this I thought to myself that this would make an ideal line to model as it would have all the advantages of having three of the four Group railways running trains over any layout one built.

At this time I imagined it would be a little bit like the Holborn Viaduct branch. How wrong I was.

Further reading came from the reference in the first book I read to H. V. Borley & R. W. Kidner’s book, “The West London Railway and the WLER” published by The Oakwood Press. This book gives a brief overview of the history of the line and really left me wanting to know more after tantalizing me with little snippets like; the line was six miles long with 11 junctions.

I then bought a second hand copy of “The West London Joint Railways” by J. B. Atkinson, by Ian Allen Ltd., which was published in 1984. This book is the most substantial work about the West London Line, but it focuses pretty much on Addison Rd., and the services to Kensington Olympia. This means that there is little description of any of the other stations and their operational details. However, the WLJR had up to 184 train movements every day, with lots of transfer freights across the river, with through passenger trains and local traffic too.

It was at this point that I found a map of Chelsea Basin circa 1916 with six tracks in the book“West London Line: Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction” by V. Mitchell & K. Smith, published by the Middleton Press. The Mitchell & Smith book is a collection of captioned snapshots with some maps. The map of Chelsea Basin showed a reasonable size yard with two triple track sidings, which split to go either side of the canal basin. It even had some of those turntable things for wagons. Inspiration indeed.

However, being a Southern Railway and fan of all things Bulleid, I want to run my models of West Country, Battle of Britain and Merchant Navy class Pacific’s, which means I'm going to be modelling  the 1945/47 period (later revised to 1947/49 as this was a transitional period for liveries that would allow for the greatest number of choices for paint scheme variations). Unfortunately, I then found out that Chelsea Basin had by this time become a 23 track yard, which made it a rather impractical proposition to model.

Finally I found some really good photographs of trains on, or leaving the WLJR in “Southern Railway Reflections. The London Area’, by T. Gough published by Silver Link Publishing Ltd. This was useful for me as it gave me a very good idea of what the train consists looked like, and the typical locomotives that could be seen on the line.

It appeared that the LMS used a nice selection of 4Fs, Super Ds, Fowler 7Fs etc. Whereas the Southern, while Terrier tank locomotives were thin on the ground (I have a model of one I would like to run),  appears to have routinely run Bulleid Pacific’s along the line, along with Q1s, and class W 2-6-4Ts etc. However, it really amused me to find that the GWR was limited to running all its freight trains with Pannier tanks.

So, I was sold on the line as the basis for a layout I could build, even if my initial expectations of what this line was like turned out to be wrong and that in fact it really was a mainline route around the outskirts of London for all North to South traffic. One other very nice thing though is that I live close to the line and actually travel along it when I go and see friends in South London, and it is fascinating to see how the line has changed from the time of steam to the modern electric services that run today.

Welcome Manifesto

Welcome to my first post of my blog about my interest British railway and American railroad model making. The title comes from Dr. Robert Churchward the author of Those Beautiful Daylight 4-8-4's. In it he mentions that Lima Locomotive works described building railroad locomotives as "no two alike", which I thought was apt for a model maker as I know that I strive to make variants of the same piece of equipment, all be it a freight car/wagon, locomotive, railway carriage/passenger car.

See what I did there. Yep, I'm bi-lingual, and will no doubt freely mix my terminology depending on whether I'm writing about North American railroads, or British railways.  However, I reserve the right to make mistakes and live with them.

So this blog will have posts about the models I've made in the past, drawn from my old RMWeb forum posts and new stuff about what I'm doing now. I've not been that active for the last couple of years due to health problems, but things have settled down and my passion for the hobby has been renewed now that I don't feel as ill as I have all the time. So what to expect?

I have eclectic interests and tastes.

American railroad wise and I will be posting stuff about the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railway/Railroad that use to run in Northern California. I also have a passion for West Coast Southern Pacific Daylight locomotives, and I love the East Coast New York Central System Hudson, Mohawk and Niagara locomotives too. However, my current North America interest is centered around electric traction lines of the Chicago area. In particular the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee, the Chicago South Shore & South Bend and the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroads, which were all electric lines that were built up under the auspices of Samuel Insull.

British railways are dominated by my love for all thing Bulleid and his work on the Southern Railway especially his Pacific locomotives. However, saying that, I have found myself modelling a joint line that was owned by the London Midland & Scottish, Great Western and Southern Railways; the West London Line which was in two parts, the original West London Railway and then extended later with the building of the West London Extension Line. So I have had to bite the bullet and learn all about Great Western track for this project, which is on par with me as a New York Central fan having to run my locomotives over Pennsylvania Railroad track.

Anyway, enough of the manifesto, more modelling stuff to come.