Canonbury Goods Yard c.1903 in P4

[garethashenden]

This is the start of my new P4 layout. A change of gauge (EM to P4 in this case) is a rather major undertaking, but my move back to America from London in October seemed like a good time to make the switch. P4 is essentially Proto:76, to use the NMRA nomenclature. 1:76 scale models running on 18.83mm gauge track with prototypical flanges etc.

This layout will depict a small fictional goods yard on the North London Railway, somewhere between Highbury & Islington and Dalston Junction. Canonbury/Mildmay Park or something like that. The layout itself is a standard 5/3/3 Inglenook set in the railway cutting. Putting the goods yard in the cutting probably isn't prototypical, but it is the atmosphere I wanted to depict. One of both of the three wagon tracks will be for domestic coal, while the 5 wagon siding will be for general goods, probably with a loading dock of some sort. There is an bridge over the entrance track, a pub on the corner and the backs of terraced houses for a background.

I spent the afternoon making a 1/4 scale (1mm/ft) model. The main purpose of this was to check that what I had in my head would actually look good. I'm quite happy with it and plan to start work soon.

It's about 45"x12"

[Philip H]

Interesting scale and gauge choice. What are the back drops outlines of?

[garethashenden]

Interesting scale and gauge choice. What are the back drops outlines of?

They are terraced houses. Going for something like one half of this scene:

[garethashenden]

I've made some progress finally.

I got the baseboard made:



Then I got to work on the track. Glued the sleepers down and added the ballast while the glue was wet. I didn't use enough glue on the first section, so I'll need to fill it in later.




Once all the sleepers are down I'll start adding the rails.

[garethashenden]

Well it's certainly been a while since I've updated this thread. Since last updated lots has been done, unfortunately I rather forgot about this thread and haven't been updating it. Here is an overview in pictures of the progress so far.

I have laid the track. Most of it was laid over the summer but I procrastinated on the switch blades for far too long. They were finally installed a couple of weeks ago, followed by finishing off the wiring.



The North London Railway seems to have preferred bufferstops built from wood, rather the the more common rail-built bufferstops found around the country.



On the left hand end I have started the overbridge to hide the end of the layout. I've also started work on the ramp from the road down to the goods yard.


Finally, I have started to lay the setts between the tracks.

[garethashenden]

I decided after a lot of thought that I wasn't happy with the plastic setts. They look fine on straight track, but they don't go around curves convincingly. Instead I am going to be modelling them in DAS clay and using a former paintbrush as a tool. I made a 6" sample track to experiment with and here are the results. I'm quite pleased with them.
The 5p coin is almost exactly the size of a dime.





And here is the tool:

[peteski]

That looks great, but it seems a lot of tedious work.  Have you considered using  the FUD-printed rollers from RAIL N SCALE (they have couple of threads in the Products Discussion section) instead of the stamping tool you use?

[garethashenden]

That looks great, but it seems a lot of tedious work.  Have you considered using  the FUD-printed rollers from RAIL N SCALE (they have couple of threads in the Products Discussion section) instead of the stamping tool you use?

Yeah it will be tedious, but it can be done in smallish areas slowly, there's no need to do the whole layout at once. I had considered those, but I think they would have problems with curves as well. It seems to me that they would slip as it turns. Besides, they offer them in N and HO and this is neither.

[Leggy]

Since when were cobblestones ever all the same anyway?

Looks great so far.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You're a braver man than I.

What about making a tool that has a couple punches on it at once, so you can do the larger areas quicker?

[garethashenden]

You're a braver man than I.

What about making a tool that has a couple punches on it at once, so you can do the larger areas quicker?

I started out using plastic sheet with the stones already formed. They look fine except they don't curve to follow the track. I could make a tool to do multiple stones at once, but it would have the same problem.
It's not that slow actually, less than 5 minutes for what is in the pictures.

[jpec]

Very cool...well done! Locally, we still have tracks in the cobblestone streets in the Fells Point area of Baltimore. Alas, they are no longer connected to a rail line but it is fabulous to have a piece of living history.
Jeff

I started out using plastic sheet with the stones already formed. They look fine except they don't curve to follow the track. I could make a tool to do multiple stones at once, but it would have the same problem.
It's not that slow actually, less than 5 minutes for what is in the pictures.

[Ken Ford]

I started out using plastic sheet with the stones already formed. They look fine except they don't curve to follow the track. I could make a tool to do multiple stones at once, but it would have the same problem.
It's not that slow actually, less than 5 minutes for what is in the pictures.

I'm going to steal your technique, I think - I have a little 7mm shunting plank that I've been working on for a few years as the muse strikes me, it's a residential coal yard so I plan to cobble it.

[svedblen]

Very nice. I'll love to follow along!

[garethashenden]

I got the sample painted. It's a little browner than I had hoped, but that can be corrected. This is why it's a practice piece.