Tips for soldering common crossings

Here are a few tips for soldering common crossings (based on the standard procedure of soldering the vee and wing rails to thin brass strips):

- If making your own crossing vee, solder it together with a high-temperature solder
- Solder the rest of the crossing assembly together with a lower temperature solder
- Use a temperature controlled soldering iron and set the temperature of the iron for the type of solder used for each job to avoid desoldering the vee
- Cut the brass strips longer than they need to be and use heat-resistant tape to fix them to the template
- Use drawing pins to hold everything in place while soldering
- Slide an offcut of brass strip under the ends of the vee and wing rails to support them at the correct height while soldering
- Tin the top of the brass strips and undersides of the rails then sweat them together by applying the iron to rail and brass strip simultaneously close to the joint
- Ideally, solder the crossing vee to the brass strips first, then solder the wing rails, otherwise you won't be able to get the soldering iron close enough to the joint between the vee and brass strip and may end up with a weak joint
- Use a crossing flangeway gauge and check and re-check all the alignments after each joint is soldered.

Every complex project is really just a series of simple actions...

Browsing through the latest issue of MRJ I came across Chris Pendleton's article on modifying the Bachmann 'Deltic' into a fully sprung P4 model. My initial reaction, as is often the case with these sort of articles, was to just skip over it thinking "It all looks far too complicated for mere mortals!"

But as I was forming up the various bits of rail etc this morning ready to solder up some common crossings it occurred to me that actually even the most complex of modelling projects to the most exacting of standards is really only a series of relatively simple steps put together.

Of course, some things are more technically challenging than others to do and do require practise, skill and patience. I'm not denying the expertise of great modellers! On the other hand however, the majority of us probably need reminding not to give up on something just because it looks complicated.

The challenge has often more to do with figuring out the required steps and the order in which they go together than actually doing it. Therefore, careful planning, experimentation and practise, proper use of tools, care, patience and a systematic, methodical approach are all essential.

I guess the same principle could be applied in many more areas of life than railway modelling!

My Library

Although I imagine that for most people, reading through a list of someone else's book collection is only marginally more interesting than watching paint dry, I might hazard a guess that there are a few odd individuals out there who, like me, have a fascination with books, more specifically, books that link directly into my interest in railways, real and model, and in particular, old books - you know, the sort that you have to hunt through a cramped, untidy, overflowing second-hand bookshop (or eBay!) to find, that have that wonderful 'old book' smell, and that, generally speaking are so much more interesting, well designed and well bound than most modern books...

It might be worth pointing out that I've built this collection up in the time since I started writing this blog (about 3 years). The majority were purhcased second-hand, mainly from eBay and other online sources, and most are no longer in print. To those who may just be starting out in railway modelling, or who are taking it up again after a period of absence, I cannot recommend highly enough getting hold of and reading good books on high-quality modelling but especially on the prototype. Of course, my list is strongly biased towards my own particular areas of interest...

So here's my list:

Wild Swan Publications

• An Approach to Building Finescale Track in 4mm. Iain Rice. (1991)
• Great Western Branch Line Modelling Part 1 - Prototype Layouts, Track & Signalling. Stephen Williams. (1991)
• Great Western Branch Line Modelling Part 2 - Prototype Buildings, Fittings & Traffic Operation. Stephen Williams. (1991)
• Great Western Branch Line Modelling Part 2 - Creating a Model. Stephen Williams. (1993)
• Building a Model Railway - Designing a Layout. Barry Norman. (1997)
• The 4mm Wagon Part 2 - General Merchandise Vans, Special Purpose Vans and Tank Wagons. Geoff Kent. (1995)
• The 4mm Wagon Part 3 - Conflats & Containers, Wagons for long loads & steel, Brake Vans and Finishing Touches. Geoff Kent. (2004)
• An Approach to Model Railway Layout Design - Finescale in Small Spaces. Iain Rice. (1990)
• Landscape Modelling. Barry Norman. (1986)
• The Art of Weathering. Martyn Welch. (1993)
• Architectural Modelling in 4mm Scale. Dave Rowe. (1983)
• Cottage Modelling for Pendon. Chris Pilton. (1987)
• Model Railway Journal Compendium 1. (1988)
• Model Railway Journal Compendium 2. (1994)
• Model Railway Journal Compendium 3. (1997)
• The Golden Valley Railway. W.H.Smith. (1993)
• Country Branch Line - An Intimate Portrait of the Watlington Branch - Part 1. Paul Karau & Chris Turner. (1998)
• Country Branch Line - An Intimate Portrait of the Watlington Branch - Part 2. Paul Karau & Chris Turner. (1998)
• The Talyllyn Railway. J.I.C.Boyd. (1988)
• An Illustrated History of Great Western Railway Engine Sheds - London Division. Chris Hawkins & George Reeve. (1987)
• Atlas of the Great Western Railway as at 1947 - Revised Edition. R.A.Cooke. (1997)

Oxford Publishing Company (OPC)

• An Historical Survey of Selected Great Western Stations - Layouts and Ilustrations. R.H.Clarke. (1976)
• An Historical Survey of Selected Great Western Stations - Layouts and Ilustrations, Volume 2. R.H.Clarke. (1979
• An Historical Survey of Selected Great Western Stations - Layouts and Ilustrations, Volume 3. R.H.Clarke. (1981)
• A Pictorial Record of Great Western Architecture. Adrian Vaughan. (1977)
  
• An Historical Survey of Selected Southern Stations - Track Layouts and Illustrations. G.A.Pryer & G.J.Bowring. (1980)
  
• A Pictorial Record of Great Western Engines - Combined Edition. J.H.Russell. (1975/78)
• A Pictorial Record of Great Western Absorbed Engines. J.H.Russell. (1978)
• British Railways Steam Locomotives 1948-1968. Hugh Longworth. (2005)
• A Pictorial Record of Great Western Wagons. J.H.Russell. (1971)
• Freight Wagons and Loads in Service on the Great Western Railway and British Rail, Western Region. J.H.Russell. (1981
• Great Western Branch Line Termini - Combined Edition. Paul Karau. (1977/99)
  
• Great Western Branch Lines 1955-1965. C.J.Gammell. (1975)
  
• Scottish Branch Lines 1955-1965. C.J.Gammell. (1978)
  
• The Thaxted Branch. Peter Paye (1984)
• Branches & Byways - Sussex and Hampshire. John Vaughan. (2004)
• The Somerset and Dorset - An English Cross Country Railway. Ivo Peters. (1974)
• An Historical Survey of the Somerset & Dorset Railway - Track Layouts and Illustrations. C.W.Judge & C.R.Potts (1979)
  

David & Charles (D&C)

• Great Western Coaches - 1890-1954. Michael Harris. (1966)
• The GWR Stars, Castles & Kings - Part 1: 1906-1930. O.S.Nock (1967)
• The GWR Stars, Castles & Kings - Part 2: 1930-1965. O.S.Nock. (1970)
• Yesterday's Railways. Peter Herring. (2002)

Silver Link Publishing (SLP)

• The Heart of the Great Western. Adrian Vaughan. (1994)
• Signalman's Reflections - A personal celebration of semaphore signalling. Adrian Vaughan. (1990)
  
• Station Master's Reflections - Images of Railway Life, 1954-64. David Holmes. (1992)

Other publishers

• GWR Switch and Crossing Practise. David J. Smith. (Great Western Study Group, 2000)
• Passenger Train Operation for the Railway Modeller. Bob Essery. (Ian Allan, 2005)
• Branch Lines to Horsham. Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith (Middleton Press, 1982)
• Burnham to Evercreech Junction. Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith (Middleton Press, 1989)
• Railway Adventure. L.T.C.Rolt. (The Country Book Club, 1962)
• Flexichas - A Way to Build Compensated Model Locomotive Chassis. Mike Sharman. (Oakwood Press, 1982)
  

Magazines (varying sized collections)

• Model Railway Journal (Wild Swan)
  
• Great Western Railway Journal (Wild Swan)
  
• Scalefour News (Scalefour Society)
  
• Backtrack (Pendragon Publications)
  
• Steam Days (Redgauntlet Publications)
  
• Steam World (Steam World Publishing)
  
• British Railways Illustrated (Irwell Press)
  
• Railway Bylines (Irwell Press)
  
• British Railway Modelling (Warners Group Publications)
  

Society Manuals

• EM Gauge Society Manual (EM Gauge Society)
• Scalefour Digest (Scalefour Society)

Now, I'd better be going as it's been at least half and hour since I checked on eBay.....!

Inspiration from Inkerman Street

Just been reading the feature on 'Inkerman Street' in the second Model Railway Journal Compendium. Superb photography and an incredibly atmospheric layout. It has always ranked as one of my favourites from the photos I've seen. It just oozes atmosphere. You can almost smell the sun-baked tarmac on the road outside the harware shop, hear the tinkle of the bell over the door in the bakers, the whirring of crickets in the long grass at the back of the builders yard, and the faint strains of a wireless drifting through the open back door of one of the terraced houses. This is modelling at its absolute best - it transports you to another place and time, like a really great novel - the kind you don't want to end.

I think Bob Barlow sums up perfectly what it is that makes such a great model - it's about far more than "a collection of carefully disposed miniatures"; its about personal memories, recollections, experiences. "apparently trivial thing(s) which act... as a trigger for a great deal more". These things come together in the mind to create a vivid sense of the atmosphere one is trying to convey and from there it is just a case of transferring that atmosphere into the model itself.

Although I'd be delighted if my models could even begin to come up to these sorts of standards, I think the principle (if it can be called such) is something I can relate to very well. I like to allow time for an idea to grow and develop and take on a life of its own in my imagination before starting out on any actual modelling. Not until I can see what I want to create in perfect detail - as if I've actually been there 'in the flesh' so to speak - do I want to actually start building it. I think the same rule could be applied to most any art form, be it writing a novel, painting a picture... it needs to take on a life of its own before anything is actually created.

On another note, I wonder if Inkerman Street (the model!) still exists somewhere?

Quick sketch of layout

Just a quick sketch I did the other day to try to get a feel for what I have in mind. Certain areas are more definite in my mind's eye than others - the buildings themselves, apart from their general position and orientation, are less clear in my mind at the moment. The bridge (on the right) is not shown in this view, but that's one of the clearest features in my mind!

I've also not quite got the overall proportions quite right here - its wider than this in relation to the depth.

But nevertheless, it at least gives a rough idea of where I'm going.

I think I'll try to have the backscene curving round the corners rather than having sharp corners visible in the sky, although the left one could be tricky with the buildings. That chimney could help. I'll also need to do some clever stuff with the roofs to avoid the appearance of them just being chopped off where they meet the sky! Maybe there needs to be a taller building at the back - that way from normal viewing levels (by that I mean just above baseboard level) the roofs should be less of an issue?

Turnout timbering

Unless you're a stickler for detail like me, it might seem pretty insignificant, but for ages I'd been unsure as to how to approach the spacing of sleepers immediately beyond the heel of a turnout where the plain track commences.

If you commence normal sleepering immediately beyond the rail joints you end up having to try and interlace the ends of the sleepers of the two diverging running lines and this was proving rather a headache, allowing enough space for the fishplates at the rail joint on one line and not too large a space between the last timber and the first sleeper on the other line.

Well, David J. Smith's "GWR Switch and Crossing Practise" (Great Western Study Group, 2000) finally came to the rescue! Apparently the GWR practise was for through timbering to continue beyond the end of the turnout (beyond the rail joints) until there was a gap of at least 3 feet between the rail faces of the closest rails of the two running lines.

This makes life a whole lot simpler in the track-laying department, because unless you're dealing with particularly long, shallow-angled turnouts, the need for interlaced sleepers is eliminated.

Unfortunately, I only discovered this after having already laid the front turnout on the layout, so I'll just have to invent some 'prototype' reason for the anomoly (or make the grass particularly long just here)! With the other two, I'd already printed out and stuck down the Templot track templates but some quick work with a pen and ruler resolved the issue and all the sleepering and timbering is now complete.