Botanic Gardens

Hull MRS Open Day 2010

2010-07-03T08:03:00.002+01:00

On Saturday we at Hull MRS held an open day at our clubrooms. Any layout within the club seemed to be on display! Botanic Gardens was there of course and we moved downstairs in order to put it all up! This meant we could give some of the stock a run too!

One item which really seemed to love its chance to stretch its legs was Chris' NER E1 which is based around a Bachmann body and a Bill Bedford chassis kit - fold up in P4! It proved to be a very smooth and controllable loco.

The items on display hinted at what will be coming up; Adrian Gilliand's first building was in place just started to help give the layout a sense of place.

Perhaps also worth mentioning that Chris' station building won its class in the club's competition! Deservedly so I think! Chris' hoppers also won their class! And finally my P1 won both Best Steam in entry and overall for painting and weathering! Good show I think!

Hull Daily Mail

2009-11-09T21:38:00.003Z

Just a very quick post this evening - we were featured in the Hull Daily Mail today! A great piece about the layout and what the project is all about! What makes it all the more pleasing is that the HDM's reporter, Katy Wood, was thorough in her research and has shown railway modellers in a very good light!

To read the online version of the article click here.

Botanic Gardens' Exhibtion Debut

2009-11-08T23:42:00.000Z

Last weekend Botanic Gardens made its exhibition debut!

The layout was for the first time assembled as a single entity and it all went together perfectly! Dave's work with the non-scenic boards was superb! Chris' work with the station area is also to a very high standard. This area is a focal point of the layout and an area which many people remember.

The layout's blog hasn't received many updates at all during the year but I hope that our appearance does show that we have made huge progress during the year.

With the layout being a local subject meant we had a really nice reaction to the project with a lot of people sharing memories and experiences of the station and the surrounding area.

This preview of what is to come not only showed club members and visitors where we have got to with the project but also for the first time showed the full scope of just what is involved. It was a very satisfying and enjoyable weekend and has certainly spurred us on even more! What out for updates on all sorts of things which we currently have planned!

And no, we didn't know how big the layout would look either!

Scalefour North

2009-04-03T06:42:00.001+01:00

Just a quick reminder of this weekend. The East Yorkshire Area Group will at Scalefour North this weekend presenting and we will be presenting a demonstration of 'Modelling a Prototype Location'.

We will have one of the boards from Botanic Gardens with us along with a selection of rolling stock and buildings. We will also show you some of the sources of information that have been used during the project. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what is involved to accurately model a prototype location.

If you have never been to the show before, it is worth the trip regardless of whether or not you model in P4. It has a lovely, relaxed atmosphere and is a real showcase with some wonderful modelling on show.

Scalefour North is at Wakefield College in Thornes Park, Wakefield. The map below shows Thornes Park and if you click on it it'll take you through to Google maps.

The Station Building and another Long Awaited Update

2008-12-19T23:00:00.003Z

It has been a while since we updated the blog. Well, a while since I have!

So what's been happening? Quite a lot really! First things first, we will be at Scalefour North in April demonstrating how to 'Model a Prototype Location' - click HERE for full details. We were supposed to have had the whole layout there as a 'work in progress' but the ongoing uncertainty with the Hull clubrooms meant we felt unable commit as our working area may have disappeared. But we will have a presence at the show! There seems to have been a lot of interest in the layout over the last year or so so it will be nice to meet those who have asked about our progress.

Since the last update a number of project have come on in leaps and bounds, and we've even finished the odd bit here and there! The large numbers of hoppers required ultimately are slowly appearing. I have a batch of seven in primer ready for painting and lettering. Chris managed obtain a bulk pack from the club stand at the Wakefield show - he paid about two pounds per wagon!

Dave is continuing with the wiring and baseboard covers - he is also in the process of building an extention to the boards at the west of the station so we can ease the curve. He's produced various template on Templot which enabled us to decided just how would be best to achieve the result we wanted.

Chris has finished the station building and the result is stunning. I will let the photos speak for themselves (though I don't think they do his work justice).

Also present the other night was one of Chris' coaches which was rather nice - though it did remind that we don't have any passenger locos to haul it yet!

It was useful to determine if the trail length of platform would be suitable - the answer to this was a resounding yes! Chris will now be tackling the platforms as a whole and this first piece was a very useful trial.

One more view of the platform and you should be just able to make out the stepped brickwork just below the coping stones.

Finally my own little effort, a newly completed NER P1 - something to haul the first batch of hoppers!

Wires and Chairs

2008-08-12T10:00:00.003+01:00

Work continues with the layout's track and electrics.

Dave is continuing his sterling work with the electrics, and the jumper cable in particular. We decided that we would have sockets at each end of the boards and a jumper cable to join them, rather than have a jumper attached permanently to the board at one end and a socket at the other. We felt that this hanging cable would be vulnerable during set up and knock down - plus with a clumsy person like me, the separate jumpers are much safer! We will have spares to account for any failures we may experience at shows. The law according to Sod says that with spares to hand we are unlikely to have problems, but if we have no spares available... well you know the rest!

Adding the droppers is often best accomplished as a pair, so as Chris was away sunning himself on a barge somewhere in East Anglia, I worked on a slightly different task.

Adding the half chairs can be a laborious job, but it can be quite relaxing - in the right frame of mind, I find it a rather relaxing task! So I made a start adding half chairs to the three way turnout following the completion of the electrical work.

It's very satisfying to see the difference that this process makes, even if it is on only a small part of the yard. Just after finishing this, I went off to work to play with the big train set!

There should be another update very soon.

Nearly there...

2008-08-08T07:30:00.004+01:00

I won't apologise for this post being mostly pictures!

The station building is very nearly there now! Chris has just about finished the works now - the flashing can be seen in its raw state and the NER timetables and selection of enamel signs.

The brickwork has been toned down now and looks spot on to me - Hull still has a number of buildings in this type of brick which have provided an ideal reference for this final work.

And one final view of Chris' work - I'm sure you'll agree it'll make a marvelous focal point for the layout!

More Wiring!

2008-08-05T07:49:00.000+01:00

Following the successful testing of the previous board, we moved straight on to the next board! The wiring on this one is very simple compared with the last one. Our first task was the removal of the old DC wiring, which we felt wasn't up to the job now the layout is DCC - the dropper wires were very thin indeed.

We installed new droppers for the two mainlines. We took the chairs off in strategic locations and drilled beneath the rail so the new droppers would be entirely hidden once the chairs have been reinstated. This has worked very well previously. We use an inverted 'L' to maximise the contact between dropper and the rail.

Dave is currently working on the jumper cables between the boards and our continued electrical work is progressing in unison so each will be able to back the other when it comes to testing.

Elsewhere work continues on the station building and various items of rolling stock all of which are progressing very well!

Station Update

2008-07-28T23:05:00.002+01:00

Tonight we have another update on the station building!

The roof and chimneys are now fixed in place and Chris has started to add the posters which are all made using genuine North Eastern Railway posters edited in Photoshop. They really have breathed life into the building! The building will be one of the focal points of the layout and Chris has done a superb job with the building.

We had a very productive night tonight; the main 'yard' board has been thoroughly tested and it all works! We're very pleased and we can now move on and wire up the other boards which are plain line so should progress quite quickly.

The Station Building

2008-07-22T08:00:00.005+01:00

The last two weeks have seen a good rate of progress - we've even had things running on part of the layout! Though a Class 60 isn't quite the correct period! It highlighted a couple of problems, including a dropper which had come loose, but nothing serious.

Chris has been working on the station building; since we last saw it it now has a full compliment of drain pipes and is starting to acquire the various enamel signs which once adorned the building. The major change has been the colour of the brickwork.

Mick Nicholson, who is the expert when it comes to the railways in Hull, advised us that the bricks were too yellow. He suggested sites and buildings in Hull which have very similar brick colouring to the station building at Botanic. One location was the Criterion on Hessle Road.

The result, as I think you'll agree, is much better. It is very hard trying to gauge things like this - colour photographs of the building tend to be at the end of the line's existence and its appearance by then is much dirtier and decayed, especially once passenger workings had ceased.

The building should provide a delightful centrepiece for the layout - we just need to keep up with this standard!

The Long Awaited Update!

2008-07-08T08:00:00.005+01:00

This blog has been a little quiet of late; not that we haven't been doing anything, far from it, but we all seem to have been rather busy recently! A huge amount of planning has taken place - the idea being to maximise our efforts and have a clear and shared idea of our intended outcomes and deadlines.

A lot of the work we have undertaken over the last couple of months has concerned the electrics; as you can't see this most of the time, those who see the layout on a regular basis could be forgiven for thinking all progress had ceased! However, this work is at the heart of a succesful, working layout so we have taken great care with this. Other 'behind the scenes' work has seen great progress made with the baseboard covers - these are essential for a number of reasons now.

Part of the electrical work is to allow, should the need arise, the quick replacement of the Tortoise point motors - it may be a sod's law situation here. If they were hard wired in and were going to be awkward to replace following a failure at a show, this need would no doubt arise! We strongly believe that getting the fundamentals right at this stage will repaid hugely later on.

One rather exciting development is the station building. Although it has been substantially complete for a while recent activity has seen come on in leaps and bounds. As more photographs have been 'discovered' a few extra items have been added. These along with addition of guttering and the valances have transformed the building. Chris has also repainted the brick in a slightly different shade and the result is very pleasing, as I am sure the photographs will show you.

Elsewhere we have made progress on the stock front. The Class Y is progressing well and should form a rather nice 'signature' piece within the fleet. The type had a lifelong association with Hull. There is detailed coverage of this particular project here http://eastmoor.blogspot.com. Later in the year we will have a special where we will give a much more in depth look at rolling stock for the project!

So, that brings us right up to date. We won't have such a long break between updates next time!

Hopper Progress

2008-04-13T16:00:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update on some Botanic Gardens progress...

It's one of Chris' recently completed hopper wagons. Chris built, painted and lettered it and I have been weathering it. Once I've worked out the best way to get the effects we desire, I should be able to put up a more in depth guide to how it's done.

Wire and Covers

2008-03-04T08:25:00.002Z

Current Progress has been rather good. The first baseboard cover is complete and seems to offer the protection exactly how we wanted it. It's a fairly tight fit on the board so needs to be lined up carefully to slide it down!

Elsewhere wiring work is advancing on board with the yard pointwork. We found the odd dry joint but nothing major. We have joined up various section which were intended to be separate, but as we're DCC this isn't a need any more. It does simplify things significantly, though it's a long way from the 'two wire' concept which is so often promoted in certain parts of the model railway press! Various parts of the turnouts have been joined up using brass fishplates. We have found that this should give a very reliable join and reduce the number of droppers required dramatically. This also means there are fewer droppers which could be damaged - the deep baseboard frames make damage less likely too.

So, we are making progress at a good rate now, but much is 'under the surface' so isn't obvious, but we are getting there now!

More Hoppers

2008-02-19T08:25:00.002Z

The prototype baseboard cover is just about complete, requiring only painting/varnishing and seems to be a very good result! The cover is a snug fit on the board and is quite easy to handle. We just need to make the rest for the remaining scenic boards!

Away from the layout itself more progress has been made with rolling stock. Two of Chris' hoppers are pictured below -

Sadly my camera's batteries gave up after just the one photo. The wagons are very nice indeed and are part of the growing fleet which we have.

Interestingly, and perhaps surprisingly, much of the coal traffic through Botanic Gardens won't be in North Eastern hoppers, but in private owner coal wagons. The North Eastern were known for using their own wagons for coal, but in our case where coal goes direct from colliery to the port it would be carried in the collieries’ own wagons. You will be able to see these as they develop on here.

Lids

2008-02-04T22:30:00.006Z

On the face of it, today's work might not appear to be much but is a key part of proceedings. This was the first baseboard cover - these will be essential to protect the layout during tranist and storage. One issue is that the scenic boards don't all have square corners! This allows a gentle curve for the scenic section, but means care is need for the construction of the covers.

By the time the evening had finished, the first cover was just about complete, requiring only the top to be added. Subsequent covers shouldn't take as long, and will become essential as we move boards around as the layout progresses.

Hoppers

2008-01-28T22:30:00.000Z

One wagon which says 'North Eastern' has to be the 20T wooden hopper. It's one wagon which is key to Botanic Gardens, and it won't just be for coal traffic, but also chalk traffic from Hessle to Wilmington. There will be loaded and empty trains of both materials.

We are all building a number of these wagons, we're going to need quite a few of them! They will all be to a similar specification - Slaters kit as a base with Bill Bedford sprung 'W-irons' with the C&L etch to replicate the double axle guard pattern appropriate for out chosen era.

This is one of my hoppers -

Not in the best light, but the etched parts show up quite nicely. The next one is one of Chris' and is, I think, better than my first ones. The lead weights are certainly done with much greater care!

This last view shows how little room there is for the brake gear. We've found that gluing the brake gear to the sprung w-irons reinforces things nicely to allow for normal handling. Hopefully these wagons will mak up the first finished rake for the layout.

The Site Today

2008-01-28T07:40:00.000Z

Where Botanic Gardens station once stood, there is very little left to indicate there was ever a railway. Little things may still be seen if one knows where to look.

At first glance this appears to be nothing other than an urban car park -

Looking closer though reveals this -

This is the boundary wall from the one of the platforms. It can clearly be seen in photographs of the station which appear at the rather absorbing Disused Stations site. The line cut neatly through what was (and still is) a densely populated area. In places it passed remarkedly close to domestic buildings too. In quick succession there were three level crossings. Hull had many of these, and they were a problem for many years. The Hull and Barnsley was built on an embankment around the city to avoid the need for level crossings. Ironically, one of the level crossings on the route, Park Road, is now permanently against road traffic -

The route of the line can clearly be seen. It must have been quite something to see an A7 on the chalk working from Hessle to Wilmington!

More Droppers!

2008-01-21T22:30:00.000Z

Tonight the final droppers for the wiring were added on what is currently our 'main' board. This has been our main focus for the last few sessions. The other boards at the front shouldn't be too bad. Next week should see the board wired up and everything tested.

The pointwork stills impresses me - the ply sleepers do look right. The interlaced turnouts are a real feature of much NER pointwork. For some people this attention to trackwork won't seem so worthwhile, but it is satisfying being able to look at a layout with high quality and correct trackwork is very satisfying. The more I see of the real railway, the more I appreciate this kind of modelling.

When we do come to test the track and wiring, hopefully this will be 'available for traffic' -

The lining has started to appear; it looks a little heavy in these views, but I think the lighting really emphasised the red - in reality it looks nice and fine. The method, using HMRS transfers, certainly seems to be producing a result which we all have found very pleasing. Only problem is one of the boiler bands is in the wrong place, so I must do something to amend that!

I'm really looking forward to seeing this finished. The NER black is rather elegant livery, but I do fancy something green soon!

Botanic Gardens is now progressing rather well - each week takes us that little bit further, whether it's progress on the layout itself or progress with locomotives and rolling stock. 2008 should be a very good year for the project.

North Eastern P1

2008-01-17T17:00:00.000Z

Work has progressed on my first loco for Botanic Gardens - a North Eastern P1 (which became a class J25 under LNER ownership) London Road Models kit. It features Alan Gibson wheels and a Mashima motor with Ultrascale gears from Branchlines. The loco has three point compensation and the tender is set up so much of its weight bears down on the rear of the loco. The decoder is a Lenz Silver Mini which came from 53A Models of Hull.

The kit has been constructed very much as intended. The kit isn't perfect, but the instructions are up front about this! Not that any problems are hard to overcome. For the most part is straight forward and with care the results are extremely pleasing.

Once finished the loco will be numbered 2035 which was a Selby engine at the time the Botanic Gardens is set. Numbering isn't the most straight forward thing though - at this time the North Eastern Railway were using large cast brass numberplates. Only a limited range is available and most aren't suitable. We have been very lucky to be able to have 'plates etched to our specification! The results are superb, as can be seen below -

The numbers refer to the first three planned locos for the layout. We're hoping to have all the other loco numberplates produced in the same way.

The final tasks with the loco concern finishing the cab roof for fitting once all the cab details have been added; brake gear for loco and tender; full lining in NER black and then weathering. The last point seems to be something which is rarely tackled on pre-1923 models - a myth of the spotless railway in pre-grouping time seems to never cease. Whilst labour was cheap and the amount of filth present on locos was not like it was by the 'fifites and 'sixties, these were machines putting out smoke, soot and carrying coal so some dirt would be expected. However, the result needs to be subtle in order to convince the viewer. It's a task I'm looking forward! Just got to get the lining out of the way now - that's not something I can say I'm looking forward too!

Botanic Gardens Progress

2008-01-15T12:30:00.000Z

Work continues with Botanic Gardens concentrating on the track and electrics on the board which features, so far, the most complicated part - however, this will soon change with future works! The main task has been installing droppers suitable for DCC. Previously the track had been laid with noraml DC in mind and the droppers are rather thin. Whilst we may get away with such an arrangement, while we still have the chance we are replacing these.

This work has allowed us to check all of the track bit by bit - the three way point was a good example of this. We found one rail to be slightly low this came out and a new rail went in its place and this allowed us to easily drill a hole for the new dropper under the rail's position in a very tight area.

The new section of rail, and its new chairs, should be easily spotted. What won't be seen will be the dropper we'd fitted. These are located centrally under the rail in certain sleepers. Once all the chairs are in place the effect will be invisible droppers! Quite neat really. All that remains are a couple of further bonds to be made and then the final chairs will be added before weathering. Though the natural appearance of the sides of the rails may be had to match! And impossible to achieve with plastic chairs!

And this is the state of play as we left it last night. With a couple of small things completed, testing can start!

A Good Start?

2007-12-02T18:21:00.000Z

Recently I have been working on a loco which will ultimately be in the Botanic Gardens fleet. It's an example of the North Eastern Railway's Class E, which later became J71 under the LNER, and was very similar to the Class E1, or J72 from grouping onwards. The similarity has not gone un-noticed, MRJ 12 featured an article by John Wright on converting the Mainline J72. More recently Mainly Trains have added to their own range, a chassis kit for the J72 and a chassis and conversion kit for a J71. The latter is what I have been using. I'll apologise for the quality of the photographs - it's been very dark in East Yorkshire today! Hopefully they'll still give you a good idea of what's going on with the loco! This would, I think, make an excellent start for someone who was thinking about P4.

The chassis itself is good, and makes provision for compensation. Included are 00 frame spacers and 'EM/P4' spacers, which I'm sure will be fine for EM, but are not really wide enough for P4. It would leave over a mil' between the wheels and frames and wouldn't look right. So I replaced these with something a little wider. My chassis is a 'bog standard' as P4 can be! Simple three point compensation with drive on a fixed rear axle. The motor is a Mashima 1224 flat can and it has a 53:1 Branchlines Multi-box. I have used Gibson wheels and crankpins. I know some people report problems with Gibson wheels, but I have never had any problems with them; I'm sure the GW Models quartering press I have helps in this respect. It puts the wheels on square and ready quartered and is something I couldn't do without now!

I have yet to fit the brake gear, or the pickups, but progress has been quite swift, mostly working in fits and starts. This really isn't the best way to work with projects like this. The short bursts can, I've found, lead to mistakes being made but many will know that work and other commitments mean that modelling can't always be the priority we would like it to be! It perhaps shows that the kit is well thought out that it has gone together so easily. It would make a relatively easy start for someone in P4 too.

This photo of the chassis was taken a few days ago, as the presence of the sun may suggest! One thing is does is show the rather satisfying relationship between the wheels and frame. The small gap between them does look rather nice in this view. Hopefully the simplicity of the chassis can be seen here. It's well within the capabilities of many modellers.

Towards the rear of the chassis you may notice the gap between the spacer and frames; this is due to incorporating of of the original spacers. The kit makes use of the original body-chassis securing arrangement, and I saw no reason to not use this either! So the kit spacer was solder to one of my own spacers to allow this. It shows some thought has gone into the design of the kit.

The body is where work on the E and the E1 differ. The kit for the former includes new front splashers to allow for the wheels being 6" larger in diameter. Also included is a fold up cab interior. Sadly I was unable to use this; it is, understandably, designed around the kit's frame spacings and since mine has wider spacing I can't use it. I made a replacement from black plastikard. No backhead is included in the kit, so I'll be using one from Alan Gibson's range (GE rather than NER, hopefully no one will be able to tell the difference!). I added a replacement chimney from an old K's J72 kit; the moudled chimney had a small crack in it. I only discovered this when I went to drill out the chimney! Oops! Thankfully it didn't take too much to sort my 'misfortune' out! Still to be added are other cab bits and pieces, handrails, lamp irons, brake gear, pick ups, whistle and clack valves. I have already modified the buffer beams to the plate variety, using the kit's etched overlays as a basis. The moulding allows for the beams which were of sandwich construction with oak planks between two plates.

I'm very happy with the way the model has come on, hopefully it won't be too long before this one is finished!