Porth Chwedl (Fable Port)

[David Hennessey]

It's been quite a long time since I took on the challenge of constructing my first 009 layout, which you all know as Fablewood. After 7 odd years since the former was completed, the time has come for me to produce a sequel. This thread will explain the construction process of my new creation, as and how it unfolds.

It all begins with a pile of thin 5ft x 1ft pieces of soft plywood (usually ideal for backscenes), kindly handed to me by a fellow member at Rainhill M.R.C. Having sat in the garage for some time, I felt that some of that plywood could come in handy as a challenge; to design and operate an end-to-end layout that would be ideal for table-top operation, and not take up so much space.

The premise is for a small harbour, being the terminal point of the Fablewood Railway. Shunting of wagons can be expected to happen, as well as regular passenger trains moving in and out. The era? Well, anything goes I suspect; from the 60's onwards, up to the present day (a bit like Fablewood, due to the mix of classic and nearly up to date vehicles).

Below is a rough idea knocked up in AnyRail5, as to how the plan looks (not to scale, and subject to alteration); any advice on power feeds, isolation points and other areas of wiring, would be appreciated.

A few points to be made.

A: The 'dotted' area is intended to be the fiddle yard, and a separate baseboard will be constructed for it.

B: The tracks with the Peco wagon turntables are intended to resemble a short quay.

C: The two sidings on the left of the plan, will be for goods wagons in the harbour. The ones on the right will be a storage siding, and engine shed.

And now, let the fun begin!




Here's the piece of wood, in question. This particular one is acting as the 'base', where the harbour area is intended to be, with a piece of 2400x34x18 mm white wood running across the top.




The 2400x34x18 mm white wood piece alongside the plywood, prior to measuring and cutting to fit.




After sawing to the required length, the soft white wood piece was glued to the plywood (wood glue being used, before screwed into place...




Like so.




A length-ways view of the white wood piece in place.





Next, the 'quay' area was marked out with two straight lines drawn in pen...




Before more of the white wood piece was cut to length, and glued into place.




A spare piece of the plywood was measured and cut to length accordingly...




Before being glued and nailed into position.




With the bottom half completed, another piece of 5ft by 1ft was glued, nailed and screwed on top, with supports underneath for stability (these you will see, in due course).









As I type, more of the white wood lengths are going underneath the bottom half of the baseboard, to provide stability. The top half will also get this treatment. Underneath, consideration has been given to leave deliberate gaps, in order to enable gradual wiring to be carried out.

More to follow, as progress unfolds. Comments welcome as always.

[JulienW]

Something to think about when it comes to the wagon turntables.

As these are moulded plastic they do not conduct electricity, so a loco can push a train across one but not run over the thing itself. Having one in the middle of the track running between the loco sheds and goods sidings is going to be problematic for the loco as you'll either need to cut the plastic turntable up to fit in and around the metal running rails or use something like conductive paint on the turntable's rails (just the ones the loco will be running over so as to avoid a short across the running rails) that will need redoing each time you clean the track.  The other suggestion would be to make your own turntable from a disc of copperclad circuit board and some rail from a length of Peco track - you only need the pair of rails the loco will run over as the rest (check rails, and all the rails that lead onto the pier) can be made from plastic strip superglued in place - unless you wanted to be clever and have the loco running onto the pier via the turntable too!

A final option is to have the rails on the pier being very rusty and out of use and the turn table accessing these has been removed.

Of course this becomes somewhat academic if your locos have on board batteries for Radio Control and don't need to take power from the rails as they should sail straight across the plastic bits...

[duttonbay]

In the real, 1ft:1ft world, were locos permitted to cross wagon turntables?

[Ian McAulay]

Rue d'Etropal aka Recreation21 have 3d printed wagon turntables available in various diameters. They take code 100 rail, so you can make them properly live.

https://www.rue-d-etropal.com/3D-printing/OO9-track/OO9_wagon_turntables.htm

I have one ready to plant on one of my layouts. I'm just going to have one through line powered, so I will lay rail straight through and just notch it to indicate the flangeways for the transverse line. Powering both will need to be treated much like a diamond crossing, but I've not gone there. The turntable takes code 100 rail, so you need to do something to adapt it to code 80 elsewhere. I'm using Atlas HO scale code 83 to code 100 stepped joiners.

Ian

[Robin Webster]

Has anyone made a turntable using a damaged or junked CD. I have thought of making one but have not progressed past the "Thought"

Robin.

[David Hennessey]

02/09/2023

While tweaking with the plan continues (more on that, in due course), work on the main baseboard keeps on progressing. The under-frame (which probably should have been done first) has been successfully fitted underneath the main baseboard, using 1800mm lengths of 18x34mm soft white wood. Below is a pictorial record of the pieces fitted, with the likelihood of more to follow, to enable extra stability and flatness of the top.

Some gaps below have been left deliberately, in order to enable wiring to be carried out at a later date.















For now, the main section of the layout is completed. A separate board to accommodate extra space and a fiddle yard, will follow soon.

Comments welcome as always.

[David Hennessey]

27/09/2023

While construction of the second section of my new layout is yet to proceed, the main baseboard has already seen the arrival of the first vessel to dock at my proposed harbour!



Introducing 'Odin'. Based on a Clyde 'Puffer' (or at least a loose resemblance), only registered in Caernarfon and carrying coal. Built by my uncle and kindly donated to the project, the 'Puffer' will no doubt be a very good centre-piece for my new layout. Slight trimming of the lower hull may be required to make it level with the dock-side, otherwise, 'Odin' looks the part. It is intended to not fix her into place permanently, but rather make her removable, for docking at either 'Port' or 'Starboard' (whichever way I feel inclined).

Obviously there's still a matter of water to be added (and that won't be for a while yet), but the boat sits just about perfectly in the space provided!

Any suggestions as to improving the vessel, would be greatly appreciated.









Comments welcome as always.

[Graeme Dunbar]

27/09/2023

While construction of the second section of my new layout is yet to proceed, the main baseboard has already seen the arrival of the first vessel to dock at my proposed harbour!

Introducing 'Odin'. Based on a Clyde 'Puffer' (or at least a loose resemblance), only registered in Caernarfon and carrying coal. Built by my uncle and kindly donated to the project, ...

What a magnificent boat! Hats off to your uncle.

It is so good too, to see a boat on a layout that really does show the contrast in size between commercial shipping and narrow gauge railways.

[Stan Williams]

David,
My first thought regarding the harbour wall, is that it is not deep enough
Because the Puffer is built as a full hull, it means it will have to sit on the sand with the tide out.
The ships deck would then be aligned with the top of the harbour wallfor loading/unloading.
Will see you at Rainford.
Stan.

[Graeme Dunbar]

I guess a hole could be cut in the low-level baseboard and the boat sit in a cradle or on a sub baseboard attached to the bottom of the baseboard frame perhaps?

[clayliner]

I was thinking the same thing - if you could cut out a 'waterline'-shaped hole in the 'water' the ship (very nice, by the way) could sit down into it. If the 'water board' simply rested on supports rather than being fixed down you could reverse it for both port and starboard configurations as required (obviously you couldn't do this with just the ship itself as it has blunt and pointy ends and so would not be neatly reversible in the hole).

David.

[David Hennessey]

27/09/2023

While construction of the second section of my new layout is yet to proceed, the main baseboard has already seen the arrival of the first vessel to dock at my proposed harbour!

Introducing 'Odin'. Based on a Clyde 'Puffer' (or at least a loose resemblance), only registered in Caernarfon and carrying coal. Built by my uncle and kindly donated to the project, ...

What a magnificent boat! Hats off to your uncle.

It is so good too, to see a boat on a layout that really does show the contrast in size between commercial shipping and narrow gauge railways.

Thank you, and I'm sure my uncle would very much appreciate the compliment too.

David,
My first thought regarding the harbour wall, is that it is not deep enough
Because the Puffer is built as a full hull, it means it will have to sit on the sand with the tide out.
The ships deck would then be aligned with the top of the harbour wallfor loading/unloading.
Will see you at Rainford.
Stan.

I guess a hole could be cut in the low-level baseboard and the boat sit in a cradle or on a sub baseboard attached to the bottom of the baseboard frame perhaps?

I was thinking the same thing - if you could cut out a 'waterline'-shaped hole in the 'water' the ship (very nice, by the way) could sit down into it. If the 'water board' simply rested on supports rather than being fixed down you could reverse it for both port and starboard configurations as required (obviously you couldn't do this with just the ship itself as it has blunt and pointy ends and so would not be neatly reversible in the hole).

David.

As it happens, this option is being considered as we speak...


06/10/23

In case you missed the last update, here is 'Odin' again...




Although the above shot shows Odin docked at 'Port', it has since been decided to turn her around, in the 'Starboard' position. With that settled, a way had to be found to make a 'cradle hole' in one of the harbour areas, to slot the vessel through rather than chop half of the keel plates away.

To do this, a makeshift 'stencil' had to be made. This was achieved with two pieces of A4 taped together, an outline carefully drawn around the hull/keel, cut out, and another outline drawn around the stencil. Like so:










One problem to get around, is how to cut out the 'marked' area of the hole. Any suggestions?

It is intended to thread some 'dowels' underneath to act as the cradle itself, enabling the boat to be inserted and removed after each use of the new layout.

The track plan has not been forgotten about; more on that, in due course.

Comments welcome as always.

[Graeme Dunbar]

Regarding what to use to cut out the hole, it is likely to be influenced by what tools you have access to.

An electric jigsaw is one possibility, but with the dockside in the way it could be difficult. A coping saw or fretsaw is another. Perhaps a low cost option would be a pad saw or keyhole saw blade for a Stanley knife.

[JulienW]

My suggestion would be to drill a series of holes just inside the line then link the holes with a keyhole saw (I've got one as a blade that fits into a Stanley knife handle).

The other thought if you have access to one is one of the oscillating cutting / sanding tools (mine is a Fein mulimaster).

[David Hennessey]

16/11/23

Before going further, the name for my new layout can now be revealed. Porth Chewdl (or Fable Port) is the confirmed title for Fablewood's sequel. I've tried to alter the threat title, but have had problems (if any admin knows how to do this, please get in touch). Anyway, moving on...

A separate, 2ft long section has been constructed, to enable space for a fiddle yard. This was achieved with strips of 18mm x 34mm timber (in lengths of 1800mm) for the framework and wall, and some spare pieces of 5ft by 1ft plywood cut to length.

The timber frame was the first thing to be put together:




At the same time, securing latches were installed:




The lower half of the second section was glued, and screwed into position, like so:




Leftover pieces of the timer for the framework, were used for the wall:




With the top half following suit.






Guiding dowels were also installed.




The completed second section.




A lover section of harbour wall (complete with a slipway), was put together in the bottom left corner.




The guide dowels and latches (bottom half being seen here), enabling a good fit.




And finally for now, the end result of combining the 2ft and 5ft sections together (bringing the layout to an overall 7ft by 1.5ft, making it 84" x 18").






The next task is to paint both sections with a primer undercoat, before a couple of layers of ordinary paint, to seal in the woodwork. This will be done over the next few days or so.

Comments welcome as always.