Author: Andy Carter

Langstead – Episode 14: Extensions

Andy Carter 3 Comments
The Mainline as of August 2013

The Mainline as of August 2013

I promised myself that once I moved into my new flat I would in someway look at expanding my layout, now known as ‘The Mainline’ for sake of giving it a fancy title for this new site.

Possible areas to expand into marked in yellow

Possible areas to expand into marked in yellow

Now, I’ve not got acres of extra space to work with: Either side on the left and right there is perhaps 10-12 inches of spare room between base board and wall. Nonetheless I think it’s just about enough to think about an expansion in some way.

Option 1: Split and Insert

Option 1: Split and Insert

First idea is to separate the two boards, move them both into the yellow zones and insert a new board in the middle where the red line is. You may remember that my original design factored in this potential method for expansion.

No major track work will need to be done, it’s just a case of adding another straight to each oval. It will be slightly fiddly to plug the scenic gap but nothing too difficult. The major problem with this plan is the two speaker stands at the back of the room. Currently the baseboard nestles snugly in between them both and are flush against the back wall maximising space. If I were to separate the two boards to add a new piece I’d either have to move the speaker stands completely, or, bring the entire layout forward (and off the back wall) to accommodate the expansion. I don’t like the sound of either of those two plans.

Option 2: Expand on the left hand side only.

Option 2: Expand on the left hand side only.

Second idea is to expand in one direction only. In this scenario a terminus station or yard could be considered for scenic and operational interest. I’ll be honest, this was my preferred idea for quite sometime… I’ve since discovered that I much prefer sitting back at my desk (where these pictures are all taken from) simply enjoying running various trains. I’ve found I’m much more likely to do this rather than sit at the layout itself and make lots of complex operational changes… after all, that’s what Salford Chapel is for… The Mainline has become much more an outlet for running trains whereas Salford Chapel is becoming the more detailed ‘model.’ Therefore, maximising the number of trains I can run would be priority in this expansion project. The station or yard option above would allow me to switch stock around however I’d definitely have to look at motorising points so I’m not constantly leaning over the entire layout all the time. (I’ll admit this gets a bit irritating).

Option 3: Elevated Line?

Option 3: Elevated Line?

Option 3 is a bit… out there… Build a completely new oval, elevating it above the rest of the layout. I really like the idea of adding height and it’ll mean I’ll be able to run a 3rd train at any one time, but logistically I really don’t know where to begin in making it a reality. Far too complicated.

Option 4: An outer oval.

Option 4: An outer oval.

Same as Option 3, but less wacky. There’s a relatively unused siding at the back of the layout. I could essentially develop this into another full outer oval, expanding in all directions but hopefully in such a way that I won’t have to move the speakers or take up too much room at the front of the layout. Now we’re talking!…

The Outer Oval

The Outer Oval

Ignore the fact there’s some track missing from the above layout on the inner ovals, this is because the free version of the AnyRail5 software I’ve used only allows 50 pieces at any one time. The green piece of track at the bottom will need to be lifted to make way for the outer oval curve. Overall the layout will expand only 3 inches at the sides and 3 inches at the front, but will allow the operation (and interest) of running a 3rd train.

Now I could add braces to the underside of the original baseboard to support a 3 inch strip of wood all the around the layout. However, I thought it would be far easier to buy completely new boards, slightly wider than the old ones, to accommodate both the new oval AND the old boards themselves…

Lifting Track

Lifting Track

First job was removing the redundant siding at the back of the layout. Old ballast was chiseled off and the section of track lifted. I’m not worried it left a bit of a mess, I’ll model over this in good time.

Deforestation...

Deforestation…

...Is required

…Is required

Corners of the board were sawn off to make way for the outer oval.

Changing Legs

Changing Legs

Legs and leg plates were removed from the old board and added to the new ones. See Episode 17 for this process!

Old on New

Old on New

The old boards were then laid on the new ones now clearly showing where the outer oval will eventually go. It’s worth noting that they are still in two parts – to enable dismantlability, and still leave room for the speakers to remain in place at the back of the room. There’s also a height difference between old and new which will add some much needed depth to the layout. Gentle gradients will rise and fall from the old siding at the back of the old boards to accommodate this.

Buildings reassembled!

Buildings reassembled!

I’ll be off to ebay now to get some more track! Stay tuned for results soon.

– Andy Carter

Side Tracked: Tasting the Tube

Andy Carter 1 Comment

Synaesthesia is a neurological condition that for want of a better phrase ‘mixes up the senses.’ Those with the condition often say they can see sounds as colours or taste words.

So what would the Underground look like if you could taste it?

Well a man called James Wannerton can map it out for you, based on what each station’s name ‘tastes’ like. Examples range from the absolutely delicious Lancaster Gate – Thin Crispy Bacon to the really quite bizarre Holloway Road – Fuzzy Felt. Some tastes actually reflect the real word: The ‘wood’ in South Woodford and Woodside Park conjure up flavours of Pine Nuts and Pine Cones respectively. Some words appear to add texture or temperature to a previous flavour. A trip to Leyton or, Lamb, would be quite appetising; whilst journeying one station further to Leytonstone would rather ruin the experience as the ‘stone’ turns the taste to Cold Lamb.

You can read James’ full story and see the complete map of flavours from The Telegraph here. Who has the tastiest station?

Side Tracked: Tube 270

Andy Carter 1 Comment

Here’s something that caught my eye recently… a fantastic photography project being developed by Instagram user @mike_n5 …

On his website mike_n5 discribes himself as “A Curator of London,” and what better way to showcase the capital than a comprehensive catalogue of images of all 270 London Underground stations.

Many of the images on Tube 270 feature the platforms we are familiar with (Epping (above), a personal favourite), but others exhibit some of the archeticture we may miss day to day. From the sweeping Moscow inspired roof of Gants Hill (below) to escelators, walkways and stair hand rails.

In 2012 Tim McCready undertook a similar project being photographed next to each of the 270 station roundels as featured on the TfL and Evening Standard websites. Tim published his work set to music…

You can eagerly await your local station or catch up with Tube 270 by visiting @tube270 on Instagram.

Check out mike_n5’s website for more Alternative London articles including a review of London Launderettes and a Love Story of Handrails.

Pictures by @mike_n5 (@tube270)
Video by Tim McCready

Side Tracked: When Beeching took to the High Street.

Andy Carter Leave a comment

Warning: This blog is likely to meander off track a few times…

How sick are you of the phrases ‘credit crunch,’ ‘this tough economic times,’ and ‘austerity climate.’ Well chances are I’m going to be using them a lot in the coming paragraphs.
Last year HMV went into administration. This followed on from a loss of ‘high street names’ such as Woolworths, Jessops and Boarders burning up in this bleak, credit crunchy, austere economic climate (there I used them all in one go).
Frankly, I didn’t care. HMV for the majority of my student years had served me well. Providing cheap CD’s and DVD’s you wanted to buy in an easy to browse environment in most major towns. They even provided me with a generous student discount to keep my custom loyal and media consumption legal. Something of which the also now defunct Virgin Megastores (later Zavvi) failed to provide with the same quality and dedication.
Then this promptly changed.
“I’m sorry we don’t do student discount anymore but would you like to join our points scheme?”
I should have said no. Put down AC DC’s Greatest Hits and never looked back.
Unfortunately, my naive 19 year old self, mindlessly said “yeh OK” and spent the next 18 months eagerly hoovering up HMV points by buying full price CD’s and DVD’s. I even wasn’t too deterred when they said that Tech wasn’t included in the points scheme when purchasing my PS3.
Excited I logged onto HMV points scheme to see what I could buy…
Some badges. Or a picture of Olly Murs. What. The. F*ck.
Matters were made worse when I learned some of the points I had gathered had expired many moons ago, and that in fact my frantic gathering of points over the last 18 months had been an entirely POINTless (whey!) exercise.
It was at this very time that I gave HMV one last chance to redeem itself. I was a loyal chump after all… And on a cold and wintery excursion into Manchester I entered the large store on Market Street to be met with a wall of T-Shirts, sh*tty Beats headphones and Jay-Zed branded iPod docks. Where are the DVD’s and CD’s are wondered? They were there, all be it shoved at the back all stacked on their side so I couldn’t really browse for eye catching album/film artwork.
This was the end of my loyalty to HMV.
Now you may, ask what has a long overdue rant about a failing media store got to do with model railwaying? Good question. Well a few weeks ago, and rather quietly, Modelzone – a national chain of model shops – went into administration.
Now, this is really rather sad. For me, the demise of HMV and Virgin Megastores was well deserved. They royally shafted their customers by ditching a successful model, replacing it with badly laid out stores favouring technology no one buys and t-shirts no one wants. Now, there really is no substitute for visiting your local modelshop, you know, not a chain one. And I will get to that shortly, but there’s a lot Modelzone got absolutely spot on.
The trouble with independent model shops is they are few and far between. And I really do mean few and far. My favourite is in Chelmsford, Essex (John Dutfield if you want to know). Quite a drive from where I live in London. You may be thinking – London would surely will host a couple of properly decent modelshops. No. This great capital has merely 3 independent model shops to speak of, Janes Trains in Tooting which is more of a ball ache for me to get to than Chelmsford; The Engine Shed in Leytonstone which although is on my door step really didn’t have a great supply of stock nor friendly staff when I last visited; and finally Wheels of Steel which can be described as a glorified market stool in a tucked away Antiques Centre off Bond Street. That is literally it, and I’ve spent the last week trying to find others…. there really isn’t.
Modelzone plugged that gap of being somewhere to ‘pop down to’ if you wanted the odd tree or piece of track. And they’d actually have it in stock. What’s more they were well located in places like Wesfield, Romford and Holborn. Prices were not unreasonable, they have a plentiful stock of models on display (not always done in the independents) and the staff albeit less knowledgeable than in John Dutfield were always friendly and helpful. It was a great stop gap to scratch the itch of buying something for my hobby without having to do a 50 mile round trip. And what’s more they were actually getting better. The one in Westfield started out quite disappointing but after prevailing a few times I found their stock was diversifying and model railway department growing. I saw this diversifying of stock as a good thing. If the range of railway products was only getting greater that must mean they have faith in it right? Opening new stores in expensive new shopping malls?… Maybe HMV felt the same way about t-shirts and headphones but maybe like HMV it was a last ditched attempt to bring in a greater range custom?
I suppose in that sense the failure of Modelzone and HMV are exactly the same. Thinking they can buy their way out of the problem with more stores and more stock. Victim of the internet world, and another high street casualty. Austerity. Blah. Crunch. Waffle.
Except they are not the same. HMV still exists on the high street. Still selling t-shirts. Still selling 50-Centphones. Still not offering student discount, and now that their online effort has been ditched – not offering points. Modelzone on the other hand have not been able to find buyers and have started systematically shutting stores.
It’s a shame I can’t swap HMV for Modelzone… But the one crumb of comfort here is that for once the independents have outlived the chain. And for that reason you should continue to support, visit and buy from them… And whilst you’re there, persuade them to move to London.