Hartley Hills, LNWR c1900 - buffer stops, how do you build yours?

Mike Sheardown

Western Thunderer
Given that I cannot see any battery boxes then the gauge is more likely to be pressure in a gas reservoir. However as I like my carriages to be in Lake or Blue then who am I to say?


Yes your right Graham, it's an 'oil gas' pressure gauge for the gas cylinders that supply the lighting
 

3 LINK

Western Thunderer
Dont do it !!!!!!

We've had quite a bit of trouble with foam under MDF on Crosscombe... Probably be okay in Finescale, but personally I'd say it wasn't advisable in S7..

JB.

Hi JB,

I have brought this post back up to the front as I am also intrigued as to what the problem is with the foam underlay, I am on the verge of buying some so hopefully you can explain in a bit more detail please.

Regards,

Martyn.
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Work is at a stop - literally and metaphorically. The PW Gang, under the direction of Harvie the Head Ganger, is down the end of the headshunt to the new refuge siding and some of the gang members are scratching the heads of other gang members. The source of the concern is a recent delivery from Crewe... a set of parts for a LNWR pattern buffer stop. Whilst there is nothing wrong with a delivery of a buffer stop kit the arrival is causing head scratching for several reasons:-

* no drawing or picture to depict the intended result.
* no special chairs for the pre-formed rails.
* no assembly instructions - although that omission is not serious given that most of the gang cannot read.

There is nothing to be gained from suggesting that the gang cross the main lines and look at the buffer stop on the end of the carriage siding... that stop block was smithereened last month when the station pilot put a four coach bogie set into a siding intended to hold four four-wheel coaches.

Not to be thwarted, Harvie produced a back-of-an-envelope sketch that he had received from a CME of the Croydon Tram and thereby saved the day for all of five minutes. So whilst the PW Gang now knew what was required the gang realised that the assembled buffer stop would be attached permanently to the rest of the Hartley Hill permanent way.

Back to the real world. The trackwork for Hartley Hill is being produced and laid in Hampshire whilst the future home of the layout is around 100 miles to the east - hence items which are proud of the baseboard top, such as buffer stops, ought to be removable. So, WTers, how would you arrange for a buffer stop built from rails, pcb bufferbeam and wood sleepers to be trial fitted now and then removed for transport?

thanks, Graham
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Forgive my ignorance graham but does it matter if it is fixed ;)
Maybe not... although I would be concerned if any of the buffer stops got damaged when moving from here to there.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Having seen a - okay, it was plastic, but - 4mm scale buffer stop completely demolished by a 3F at full tilt up a head shunt, I would say the Hartley Hill stops ought to be fixed. Perhaps they should be engineered to be removable until the layout has a more permanent home, and then fixed in as solidly as possible.
 

Osgood

Western Thunderer
What is the problem exactly? The buffer stop will only increase the height of the baseboard by around 40mm - hardly enough to excite the producers of MONSTER MOVES who would expect at least a height requiring removal of street furniture and raising of overhead power lines using insulated poles (always good for a scary moment on TV).

Unless of course you plan to stack boards on top of each other for transit, or lean them up against each other for storage - both of which would be a risk to even just plain track.

What about making up a simple temporary cover - being a couple of 50mm wide x (height of baseboard frames plus height of stop plus clearance)mm high side uprights screwed to the side frames with a decent 50mm wide cross member of sturdy ply, the whole thing attached to the board so as to neatly cover the stop? This should prevent accidental damage to, or removal of, the stop by skyhooks or other nasties.

In any event I would contemplate doubling up the boards for transit (by inverting one over the other so tracks are facing each other) by attaching end pieces using the existing baseboard joining holes / fasteners - if taking buffer stops into account there would just be a bit more separation.
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
What is the problem exactly?
At this time there are to be four baseboards and probably only two of similar dimensions so a piggy back arrangement is not going to work in all cases.

The thought which prompted the question is that the track is being built in Hampshire and the eventual home for the layout is Kent - so we shall have to transport the completed trackwork at some time. As my contribution is the permanent way then the boards are going to be transported before scenery is started - so buffer stops are going the be proud of the board surface unless each board has a cover for transport.

I am inclined to go with Heather's comment that each stop is constructed as a removable item, fitted temporarily here and then fitted permanently there.
 

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
Having seen a - okay, it was plastic, but - 4mm scale buffer stop completely demolished by a 3F at full tilt up a head shunt, I would say.......
I would say people liable to such bad operating shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the controls :) ...especially of an S7 layout ;)
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I would say people liable to such bad operating shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the controls :) ...especially of an S7 layout ;)

Very true, but this example was a relatively complex exhibition layout, dating from the early 1980s. There are four operators at one time, and this is well before DCC. A slight confusion over isolating an engine meant the 3F went off like a rocket while the engine the operator thought he was driving was apparently stalled. Accidents will happen. :eek:

As others have pointed out, there's little reason not to fix a buffer stop to the layout, and if it's intended to perform a function it may as well do it.
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Accidents do happen.

We have had one worth noting on Heyside that I can recall, when a very experienced, much published, but infrequent Heyside operator sent my L&Y tank at full tilt into the buffer stops at the engine refuge by the factory. The buffer stops were white metal and glued together as a unit with the track.

To my great surprise there was no damage to the buffer stops, and the only damage to the loco was a mangled Dingham coupling. No names, but both myself and Geoff Taylor were very relieved.

I'd attach the buffer stops firmly to the track and thence to the baseboard. I'm sure one careful journey could be managed.

Richard
 

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
.... The buffer stops were white metal and glued together as a unit with the track.
Glued..???!!?? :confused: Not soldered?? :eek: :( ahhh... all my idealistic visions about life at the Front of the Class have been cruelly dashed.... :oops: :)) ;)
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Glued..???!!?? :confused: Not soldered?? :eek: :( ahhh... all my idealistic visions about life at the Front of the Class have been cruelly dashed.... :oops: :)) ;)

Ah yes, but think about it...

The buffers essentially comprise 3 parts - 2 sides and a front. The sides have the running rails cast in, and since I was using plastic chairs and sleepers, there's no scope for soldering there. And I couldn't solder the front to the sides or I'd build in a short.

I rest my case m'lud.
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
My place at The Back is secure....
No, no, no.... NO!

Your place at the front is quite safe for if you wander down the memory lane which is the saga (topic) of Hartley Hill then you shall see that the buffer stops for the new refuge are made from pieces of rail... brass etches... and a wooden beam. So soldering of the rails to form the sides is good as is soldering of the etch plates to form the fixings for the beam - indeed the first and last chair on each side are likley to be brass and so solder once again.

Whilst you are up the front... coffee is served around eleven, tea and tiffin is about three.

regards, Graham
 

OzzyO

Western Thunderer
Back to the real world. The trackwork for Hartley Hill is being produced and laid in Hampshire whilst the future home of the layout is around 100 miles to the east - hence items which are proud of the baseboard top, such as buffer stops, ought to be removable. So, WTers, how would you arrange for a buffer stop built from rails, pcb bufferbeam and wood sleepers to be trial fitted now and then removed for transport?

thanks, Graham

Hello Graham all,
could you mount the buffer stops on a short length of ply that matches the thickness of the under lay and have say four 8BA bolts that run through the P.C.B. sleepers and the layout top face and bolt them up from underneath? If you jig build them all like this any one should then fit in any position. If you then apply a small amount of PVA between the two I don't think that they will move.

If the sleepers are wood PVA the sleeper to the ply base and mount the bolts between them, or soldered to the rails where the chairs will cover them.

OzzyO.
 
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