New layout

[aleopardstail]

hWould this speedlink rake be a bit too long or would it be somewhat accurate?

Class 90
X7 VIX ferry vans
X6 VDA vans
X5 VEA box vans
X1 zgv plank wagon
X2 OAA open wagons
X1 break van (I know they weren't used much at this point, just tagged it on the end)...

A modest load for a 5,000 horse traction unit, but freight traffic consists of the load offered, and is subject to route restrictions. And sometimes trains have to be short because that's all the destination will accomodate.

also in model form basically any freight rake thats a bit longer than passenger ones on the same layout works, not sure what that lot is like next to a full Class 225 IC rake but I think as freight rakes go for a mixed rake thats decent, really comes down to how it looks trundling round, if I was modelling that era I'd be delighted to run that

[Mountain]

Just a little alteration to add some realism. Hydraulic bufferstops were used at the end of passenger station platforms. Ordinary buffer stops were used in other areas. Hope this helps.

(I will add that Hornby hydraulic bufferstops are ideal for hidden sidings behind the scenes where one can't see how far to take trains and are concerned incase of damage if one hits them, as they have lovely working springs to dampen the effect if one hits one by accident).

I tended to use ordinary Hornby buffer stops in other areas as they were solid enough not to break if I hit one. One can buy very realistic buffer stop kits but I found myself completely demolishing them if a train hit them which I accidently did once on a club layout when my train took the wrong route which was embarissing! (Actually heardof this happening in real life and they were even more embarissed as I was!)

Love the progress you are making on your layout. You may find mixing the odd earlier livery wagon or van may add to the realistic feel to the layout as rarely were whole rakes of the same livery ever seen, even on coaching stock. The last time that was seen in reality was around 15 years into BR Blue/Grey era livery and just because that livery lasted so long.
One thing that few layouts would be without in that era would be a class 37 preferably in EWS livery? (EWS liveried class 37's seemed to travel fair diatances beyond their usual areas as those 37's were lightweight with large wheels so were one of the few locos that could be used on routes that had weight restrictions so would only normally be used with lightweight DMU's such as Pacers and Sprinters etc. EWS seemed to covef most if the weed killing trains round the country as far as I know, so though they may only be seen once a year, an EWS 37 (Even if one models in the years after EWS was no longer a company it was years before they we re-liveried) could be seen.
Also on diesel or steam special trains one could see a BR blue liveried 47 or even a 37 on occasions, not forgetting a large logo blue class 50 (I worked them with mk2 air conditioned coaches as I was a guard).

[Stokestation12]

Just a little alteration to add some realism. Hydraulic bufferstops were used at the end of passenger...

Love the progress you are making on your layout. You may find mixing the odd earlier livery wagon or van may add to the realistic feel to the layout as rarely were whole rakes of the same livery ever seen, even on coaching stock. The last time that was seen in reality was around 15 years into BR Blue/Grey era livery and just because that livery lasted so long.
One thing that few layouts would be without in that era would be a class 37 preferably in EWS livery? (EWS liveried class 37's seemed to travel fair diatances beyond their usual areas as those 37's were lightweight with large wheels so were one of the few locos that could be used on routes that had weight restrictions so would only normally be used with lightweight DMU's such as Pacers and Sprinters etc. EWS seemed to covef most if the weed killing trains round the country as far as I know, so though they may only be seen once a year, an EWS 37 (Even if one models in the years after EWS was no longer a company it was years before they we re-liveried) could be seen.
Also on diesel or steam special trains one could see a BR blue liveried 47 or even a 37 on occasions, not forgetting a large logo blue class 50 (I worked them with mk2 air conditioned coaches as I was a guard).

Funny you should mention that; I've got a rake of mk3 blue intercity coaches and a few mk2s. I was debating whether to use them on a heritage rake or integrate them somehow.

My era is 1991/1992 - I thought EWS didn't appear.until around 97?

I'll have a look into the buffer stops as I have a few standard ones ready to go



Edit:

So from some Google searching, the 90s timeliness are:



Intercity swallow livery until 1997 (possibly some into 98 before they could repaint)

Intercity blue livery until 89 with some lasting until 1990.

Speedlink until 1991, speedlink/railfreight red/grey livery until 1992 with some going into 93


EWS created 1995, early operations in 1996 and commonplace by 97.

Virgin trains 1997 onwards




Based on the above, may layout would likely be 1992 into 1993 ad the remnants of speedlink livery wagons got replaced, Intercity Swallow was dominant and EWS/Virgin were in the horizon.

I'm definitely not selling all of my speedlink livery items as I don't want to go through the hassle and I've grown attached to them as I've been collecting them in preparation for this layout for over 15 years!

[Mountain]

Ah. Ok... You may actually see the odd 37 in B.R. blue small logo livery passing through then. We actually saw a mix of liveries right until EWS days as EWS were good and keen on adding their livery, but even then some locos had the sub sector livery with EWS logos if I recall coreectly, until they could repaint them.
There was a difference between past repaints and modern repaints in that many modern repaints ended up being wraps rather than repaints though wraps were more used on sprinters and things like that. In the past paints were usually applied by roller or brush depending where in the same way busses were repainted.

In the 1990's you still saw use of 08's and things like that fetching coaches along with Royal Mail parcels trains in and out of principle stations. They were used for station shunting. Also used in freight yards etc. Wherever shunting was needed they would be an 08. They kinda started to dissapear after the Royal Mail trains were no longer used so there was less and less need for shunting. Today one will only see them in preserved lines or at the odd diesel depot where

[Stokestation12]

With you mentioning 37's, I do have x2 Lima Class 37s; one in Intercity Swallow and the other in coal sector livery.
I as going to double head them on the rake of HAAgr hoppers. I need to re solder the pickup wires on one of them before I can test them as a double.

I've sold my class 08 due to the livery being out of era so will be on the lookout for a suitable replacement in the near future.

I have also dusted off a Lima Class 26; runs really well and is in very good condition. That's going to be my next piece of research homework as I'm not very clued up on 26!

[Stokestation12]

Not made a lot of progress in the last week or so but did manage to get another board up.

I'm now 1 board short on the fiddle yard side. I got 2 boards from wickes yesterday; one will be the remaining fiddle yard board and the other will connect the two sides together at the hatch end. Once they are up (possibly tomorrow) I will be able to finish the track and have the 2 loops running!

After that, will just need to get a few sets of points to finish off the fiddle yard.

The fiddle yard can now accommodate the MGR rake of 33 HAA hoppers, or Class 90, x9 mk4s and dvt or the full speedlink rake (these will be the longest rakes).

[aleopardstail]

amazes me they will pull such rakes, last time I had the space (about 15 years ago) to hook up such delights, and then only coaches, I had an A1 with an eight coach rake that would make it round the curves so long as it had a good run up, and a Hornby class 66 that often needed rescuing after stalling with a dozen or so wagons.

and seriously needed rescue when the traction tyres finally let go, this being the other end of the loft I set out a 0-4-0T to go and drag the poor thing back as its wheels span unable to even shift itself never mind wagons

[Stokestation12]

https://youtu.be/Dmx0dhF0MUk?feature=shared

I finally have the baseboards done and a running loop!

I've had a few issues with the class 90s struggling with the mk4s on the 4th radius bends.
I'll be trying to add some weight over the motor bogies to give them a bit more traction/weight. The other thing I've noticed is the lima first class mk4s seem heavier and the wheels don't roll as freely, so will be looking at either replacement metal wheels or possibly replacing them with hornby.
It seems that the first class Lima coaches are the issue; I suspect due to being at the back of the rake and heavier, making it more difficult to pull.

Earlier I ran the class 58 with a rake of 20 HEA hoppers with no issue on the bends.

[aleopardstail]

https://youtu.be/Dmx0dhF0MUk?feature=shared

I finally have the baseboards done and a running loop!

I've had a few issues with the class 90s struggling with the mk4s on the 4th radius bends.
I'll be trying to add some weight over the motor bogies to give them a bit more traction/weight. The other thing I've noticed is the lima first class mk4s seem heavier and the wheels don't roll as freely, so will be looking at either replacement metal wheels or possibly replacing them with hornby.
It seems that the first class Lima coaches are the issue; I suspect due to being at the back of the rake and heavier, making it more difficult to pull.

Earlier I ran the class 58 with a rake of 20 HEA hoppers with no issue on the bends.

before you mess with the loco try adding a drop of a suitable lubricating oil (plastic safe!) to the coach bearings, may not make much of a difference but over a rake it will add up. metal wheels do help as well, again lubricate the bearing tips slightly

and congrats on the loop!

[Mountain]

Traction tyres get slippery as they age.Changing to new traction tyres brings their pulling power back to life. It can be the difference between a loco pulling four coaches and one able to pull ten coaches.
On no account get oil on the rails if one has locos that have traction tyres! Oil is fine on bearings on coaches but oil sparingly so it does not go on the track. coaches

I found top hat brass bearings also brings an improvement but one does need to drill out axleboxes and fill the visible outer sides to fit them. They do lower wheel resistance though.

[Bigmet]

The matter of obtaining free-rolling is very much neglected. The first mrc I joined had a rule: must roll away from rest on a 1 in 100 if it is to go on an exhibition layout.

All hard metal wheels, coned tyre profile, metal pinpoint axles and bearings, stable construction, suitable lubrication, are key. Happily we can now buy RTR OO that fulfills the first four; and very much superior lubrication options are now cheaply available. Of this last, I have been happily using GT85 for the purpose for getting on for thirty years, and it enables metal wheel and pinpoint axle wheelsets in RTR product plastic locations to easily meet the performance standard, with no evidence to date of any degradation to model construction plastics.

I have stuck with 'the rule' ever since, and it makes a huge difference to operational capability and reliability. The best of RTR OO now rolls away on an estimated 1 in 200 (it starts to get difficult achieving reliable accuracy on such shallow gradients, my location shifts around due to slight seasonal ground movements). What's yet better is that if a vehicle in a train formation develops a problem that reduces its rollability, it is rapidly obvious in its effect on performance, and systematically halving the train quickly finds where the dragginess is located for rapid correction. Insect intrusion is the most common cause.

[Stokestation12]

Thank you all for your tips and suggestions.

One thing that I will be looking at hopefully in the near future will be the 5th radius curves. Now that my baseboards are all up, I can focus on getting the outer loop finished. It will be interesting to see how much difference a greater radius will make on the mk4s.

The Hornby Class 90 does pull the full rake of mk4s on straights but even so, you can tell that it's struggling a little as there's a little wheel slippage.
I'd thought about adding another loco in front of the class 90 as a "rescue loco", as if the class 90 had broken down and was being pulled by something else, but I don't know if it would be enough.

More testing in the morning hopefully!

[Mountain]

Wonder if you could fit two motor bogies into the class 90? . One would ideally need a couple of them bought at budget prices to experiment on.

[Stokestation12]

Wonder if you could fit two motor bogies into the class 90? . One would ideally need a couple of them bought at budget prices to experiment on.

It's certainly something to consider.

I tried the class 90 today with a rake of 7 mk3s and dvt and it pulled them with no issue.
I do think that it's the Lima first class coaches that's causing the drag.

[Bigmet]

Wonder if you could fit two motor bogies into the class 90? ...

Far more effective than a pair of locos each with the same motor bogie, typically three times the traction of one of the bogies alone in the loco: with the proviso that the motors need to be well matched.

But to cut to the chase, the best of all are the centre motor with shaft drive to both bogies designs. A large can motor, plenty of mass for adhesion and a matched drive to both bogies is the runaway winner. I started adapting these from North American HO mechanisms for use in UK subject bodyshells back in the early 1970s, and frankly once tried, nothing else will do...