2mm Greenacres Pass

[RobA2345]

I've started a new 2mm finescale project I'm going to call Greenacres Pass. The name, like the layout is completely freelance. Greenacres being the residential area of Oldham where I grew up and Pass because, well, its just a double track mainline passing a private siding leading to an industry.

I need to place the layout in Diesel era with plausible short-ish trains handling low volume traffic. This doesn't leave a lot of options in terms of time period or industry type so will likely be the 'Speedlink' era 1980 to at the latest 1992. This is not 100% decided yet because this layouts absolute top priority is a simple one...it MUST work. This is my 3rd finescale layout, my previous 2 (one in 2mm the other in EM) have suffered imperfections in track geometry that have ultimately lead to them being scrapped at significant cost. I'm impatient and can't wait to get on with scenery etc but I'm determined not to fall into that trap here. The track plan is ambitious boasting both a single and double slip, neither of which I have built before but so long as time and care is taken I'm confident of achieving the goal.



The trackplan above is spread over 3 baseboards with dimensions of 2250mm x 340mm comprised of a scenic board sandwiched between 2 fiddle yard boards (plan on fiddle yards to be decided).

A goal for the boards is to be lightweight. The layout is situated on the top floor of a town house and carting it down to the garage for the messy parts of the build I will make as painless as I can. I've gone for open plan on the scenic board and a foam filled structure for the fiddle yard boards.

 

[RobA2345]

In terms of look and feel I’m taking inspiration from Peak Forest, it will be a railway through a cutting and will add some visual elements from this scene albeit heavily compressed. Image credit to Gordon Edgar’s Flickr feed which is amazing by the way.

 

[RobA2345]

Now I know this looks like scenery, and I guess it is but not really. I've heard very credible modellers go on about "a railway in a landscape" enough that now I find myself preaching it, despite not really being sure if I'm doing it right. The goal here is to get it to a point that it doesn't look like plywood junction. I have seen this approach before and I've not yet thought of a downside. Lets see how it goes.

 

[john lewsey]

Looking good to me

 

[RobA2345]

One side of the layout will use the obligatory bridge as a scenic break. I would like to scratch build one in the future but in the meantime, I need a kit. I've got for this one on eBay for now. Not too expensive and is in a similar style. I think maybe the stones are a little bit overscale but it might look ok once painted up.

 

[RobA2345]

A layer of scultamould added to give a shell and smooth out the terrain.



Full size plans from Templot and all the track will be laid in situ. It will be a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to track. I will use flat bottom rail for the main lines with the sidings being bullhead rail using the associations Easitrac range. The pointwork will be PCB sleepers using the Verasline chairplate system. I don't have the jigs and tools to make flat bottom points I'm afraid so these will be bullhead rail. In this scale it will almost be unnoticeable to the untrained eye so its a compromise I can live with.



I’ve also added a facia board with some inexpensive mdf cut to size. This will be painted a suitable colour and I've started to add an undercoat to the terrain.

 

[RobA2345]

I’ve spray painted the fascia board a first green colour and added a few coats of Matt varnish to protect it.

The terrain has been coated in brown grout but then I’ve gone over it with Tamiya Flat Earth diluted with IPA to give it a suitable colour. The scenery will remain like this now until the track work has been completed.

The track bed is 0.8mm balsa wood shaped to size, secured with wood glue and then the templot templates secured with the same glue and now it’s time to start building track.

 

[Blueeighties]

Excellent progress so far. Nice flowing track plan.

 

[RobA2345]

Excellent progress so far. Nice flowing track plan.

Thanks. I've had help with the track plan I'm a bit clueless when it comes to the prototype. Someone had to explain at least 3 times that trains rarely run towards facing turnouts before it finally clicked. The flow is helped enormously by the scale.

 

[RobA2345]

Okay here we go with the turnout building, Each chair plate will have to be placed manually. I do have the association jig for soldering the plates to the sleepers but to be honest I find it quite hard to use as by design the slots for the sleeper strips are very tight so it can be a challenge to set the jig up. I also find a lot of the time the chair plates will slip when you go to apply the rails anyway. I think I can get it neat enough to pass examination.

I am cheating a little bit too by using cast crossings from old Easitrac turnout kits that I have recycled. I have the jigs to build them and will have to as I work my way down the layout but why not use these where appropriate?

 

[LarryG]

Slips, which are heavy on maintenance, have tended to be replaced by ladders in more recent years. On the other hand, leading point are quite normal nowadays whereas in the past they were generally trailing. Trackwork is looking good.

As for Greenacres, I bought a house up there on Raper Street in 1961-65 while working on Oldham buz'es.... (they dont say bus up theer haha).

 

[RobA2345]

Slips, which are heavy on maintenance, have tended to be replaced by ladders in more recent years. On the other hand, leading point are quite normal nowadays whereas in the past they were generally trailing. Trackwork is looking good.

As for Greenacres, I bought a house up there on Raper Street in 1961-65 while working on Oldham buz'es.... (they dont say bus up theer haha).

I gathered that about slips from observing various prototype changes over the years, in the model I want more modern stock but this has to be counter balanced with many factors to give the layout at least some plausibility so having pushed the era back its not too much of a stretch to bring the era of slips forward.

There are challenges in the model that I can see I'll have to tackle in terms of operating the switch etc but I think it can be done.

With the points being trailing it does make the operation more interesting and challenging so track plan is a result of all those factors really. Certainly appreciate the feedback though.

I know Raper Street, I wasn't too far from there on Ash Square, probably a 5 minute walk.

 

[RobA2345]

I am drawing some inspiration if you like from this image as it pertains to the track plan. I think I read that this siding served a food manufacturer but I'm not 100% on that.

 

[RobA2345]

Well, I messed up here. The Easitrac sleepers come in a sprue of 6 and is hard to align them with the Templot plans so I thought it would be a good idea to remove the webbing and glue each sleeper down individually on the template. This would have the added bonus of making it slightly easier to manage adding droppers and ballast etc.

The problem was that even though they looked good to the eye it became apparent when I threaded the rail in that they were ever so slightly crooked in a few places so there were bends all along the track. Fixing the issue was not painless but once the bed was sanded down flat I was able to re-lay the track in sections checking the level and flow constantly and its now close to perfect so it was worth it.



So I after that correction I moved on to the single slip. I've build a crossover once but not a slip so should be interesting. Timbers have been laid, the chair plates applied and I've built one of the obtuse crossings. Here you can see the process of aligning the crossings.

 

[RobA2345]

Here is the result of the slips. They look good but I have a feeling the challenge is going to be getting them functional with the TOU. All track work is complete at this stage, minor tweaks aside that might come out of testing.

 

[Grahame Hedges]

Wow. Some rapid progress there. And very interesting.

 

[RobA2345]

Just a couple of shots to give some perspective on where it’s heading.

Next I’ll wire up some of the track and attempt to get some turnouts functional. I’m going to attempt some techniques I’ve not previously used and the 3D printer will be making an appearance.

 

[Joe's Garage]

Rob this is looking fantastic, has it really taken you only a few weeks to get to the last shot….wow.
Thanks for sharing
All the best
Julian

 

[RobA2345]

Rob this is looking fantastic, has it really taken you only a few weeks to get to the last shot….wow.
Thanks for sharing
All the best
Julian

Thanks, appreciate that. No not weeks although progress is often done in bursts I've been backdating the story a little but what you see now is pretty much where I'm at. The photo from the first post was 25th of June and I'd just replaced the track bed with birch ply as the cheaper exterior B&Q ply I had was very warped and although the cost of the birch ply was hard to take I'm pleased I made the investment.

I just wasn't sure I was going to document it on a blog or forum but I thought this might help someone as I try and figure it out.

 

[RobA2345]

'The Track Book' from the association gives some good options for tie bar operation and having used stetcher bars in EM I wanted to see if I could achieve similar in 2mm as opposed to moving sleeper that I have previously used. I picked up this Under Baseboard Tie-Bar when I attended the Jubilee event .



In terms of point motor I already had these Cobalt point motors and I decided to use them even though I'd have to figure out a way to use them with the tie bar. I designed this mount and printed it on a home resin 3D printer.