HS II - Shunting with Kadees

[Dad-1]

A busy day yesterday on HSII.
First I added the brass brakes to all my wagons, I'll wait for Derek to agree before I drill and fix into
the bottom of his wagons.
Then I printed letters and then cut out and laminated into visiting card size pockets, each to represent
an individual wagon. To get the required order one just picks out 5 cards. One card is a 'Joker' as this
is the loaded coal wagon that must be placed over to coal drop by the bufferstop.



After that I had a while trying it out. I found that with 10 wagons in a space that accepts a maximum
of 11,I just couldn't finish the listed arrangement. Back to the originally planned 9 wagons it could be
achieved quite easily.

A view showing our two vehicles that amount to our point activating levers. It works very well and to
me is so much better than any other method bar DCC operated, no obvious levers, no switches.



Photos may be late due to PB playing up again.

Geoff T

[Dad-1]

Well HSII will have to go back to Derek's !!
We have started redecorating the lounge. This means emptying loads of cupboards,
moving furniture around and we have simply run out of space. The next couple of jobs
are for Derek anyway so when he gets back from Switzerland HSII will be moving.

In the meantime I've been making up a timber infill for the yard occupational crossing.
PB permitting here it is in a raw and non-fixed condition. Just the right width for wagons
(tested) and Locomotive wheels (untested). One of my much used materials, matchsticks,
looks like a timber infill as that's just what it is !!



Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Time to start adding background scenery.



Progress will be slow though.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

I said progress will be slow ....... and will continue that way,
We just might have it near enough completed by the end of July,
that's a sort of target.
Here we, well Derek, has cut and added the backscenes as well
as making the factory goods shed. Must be time for me to do
something again.





We have the LED lights and switchable PSU, adding lighting not
far away.
Hey this is just to shunt on ..........

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

My mate Derek says he's not a good modeller .... Understatement or what ??
HSII has been at his place for a few weeks as I was first busy decorating, then
preparing for running Castell Mawr at West Bay tomorrow at the clubs 'Open
Day'
So what has he been up to ? Cutting and trimming with overlaps some back
scenes as well as making the northern lights factory end building, plus making
the yard depot building and adding back scenes behind the bridge.

First the factory end



Then the bridge into the yard



And finally a close up of wagons in the yard.



So now I'll have to do some work and match what he's achieved !!
He really has been putting me to shame with the quality and speed. At least
we agree this is a low cost project ...... when you exclude the DCC controller,
locomotive and 9 wagons !!

All in 1250 mm for a shunting puzzle.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Back at my place for a while .........
Currently ballasting the yard with a 'home' mix consisting of
Woodland scenics fine medium grey, fine black cinders, fine
brown with some West Bay sand and a very small amount of
W.S. medium buff !!



It'll still need a wash of matt black paint close to the rails.
Supposed to look like ash, clinker and bits of anything else
going spare ....

The Dapol un-painted wagon looks fine now it's painted, just
a shame those roof ridges shouldn't be there. Still never
intended to be a super accurate scale replica.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Somewhere in the Midlands a small yard surrounded by
Metal Bashers, working mainly with brass.
Nettlefolds wanted some of their own wagons and obtained
a few gunpowder vans onto which they added their company
name and slogan.

The slogan came from my warped mind as Derek had bought
a load of small brass screws that turned out to be too long for
fixing the piano hinges along the enclosing box folds. He then
had to buy even more and quite honestly it ended up being more
expensive than all the hinges & wood we used !!
I thought he'd been screwed financially and so came the slogan
we added "We screw the world" There was of course a time when
we did supply screws for so much of the world it has a serious
plus personal secret meaning. We love a little humour !!



They're still drying out, so while waiting before I can start on the
other side I took the photo ..... Not the best quality print, but I
can't justify an expensive printer for a few odd decals !! They will
be better when dry and sealed in with varnish.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Our latest addition to the yard shunting fleet.





Derek couldn't resist ....... But gave to me for fitting the decoder.
What a brute to get into, over tight screws, glued in hand rails and
all very tight. The decoder fitting was easy. I'm convinced the special
decoders are just the R8249 with a 4 pin attachment with very short
leads. I must try one in a non-DCC loco where 4 leads are all that's
needed.

Back to ballasting ........

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

It's good to see what a little sand can do



A few days off coming, will be away.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Well that points ballasted as well now.
So much damp & wet ballast I can't do any more until next week.



All good fun though !!

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

I wish I knew how it happened ..... but the spring in that point in my previous posting had
it's operating spring disengage and somehow get under the tie-bar.
Big problem because to replace the point would involve much dismantling of the layout. The
level crossing, point rodding, all ballast and simply fitting back in to my requirements would
need all the track back under the bridge removing.
So I decided to open up the small slit we had for our welding rod operating rod to get underneath
the point. Working down a deep hole was tough, but first I needed to be certain I knew exactly
how it worked. To this end I loosened the spring from a new point, then after much deliberation
got to work.





All back together, the snap is much reduced, but with the spring in it's correct location, at least
it can't jam. The reduced pressure makes electrical contact iffy with lightweight traction like
our Sentinel. As a result I'm currently working out how to attach a Peco polarity switch to our
welding rod. Probably a rocking lever with uneven length as I believe the polarity switch will be
more reliable with slightly more throw than a point needs.

Crumbs, it's not all just playing trains !!

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

No comments on my point problem .... perhaps I'm the only one
that has disasters ?
Anyway I've had a long think about what to do. The original spring is
back located correctly, but very much weaker. So weak that the Sentinel
had stalls on the point due to poor connectivity.
What I've done is make my own design of polarity switch that includes
very positive locking when used. All from stuff we have laying around
which to me is even better, combined with no need to lift or otherwise
disturb the point !!



The secret is using a Neo magnet securely glued to the backing of some
wide copper-clad we have. To have glued to the copper side risked making
the whole point mechanism live something I wanted to avoid.
It works on a simple pivot with uneven lengths to enable us to get more
separation from the contacts that are screws with the points ground down
slightly to keep the magnetic strength under control, too large an contact
would be too tight.
It works fine with a nice clack like a really good point spring, yet the sound
is from under the board.

I thought it was a clever idea that allows us to leave the small wire link in place
yet augment connectivity of switch rail contact with a powered frog. We can
even adjust the screw to magnet gap should that be needed. I think this should
be more reliable than the Peco sliding polarity switches.

Now after a few days 'break' I can get back to the scenic side.

Geoff T.

[dougalmac2]

Hi Geoff

That's a great idea. I've one or two points towards the rear of my layout that would benefit from your system. The advantage is that it can be sited close to the front of the board and be just as effective. I use rod operated points (some old steel rails supported on 'P' clips) so it will be ideal.

Mac

[Dad-1]

Hi dougalmac2,

I'll add some more later that my be of some help.

Anyway let's have some pictures of wagons & such.











I've been trying to use the Sentinel, but just a little too light to haul these wagons
with brakes. The Bachmann Midland 1F is brilliant though.
The Kadee operation is quite good now, still some slight roll on from the magnets,
but I dare not make the brakes tighter. The only function that I can't rely on is the
free shunt, not quite enough separation for the opposing U shapes to join
face to face, but perhaps as the couplings free up with more use it could get better.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Nothing exciting ...... Just scrap metal bins for brass (yellow) and Stainless
steel (White) .... still to be painted and weathered with rusty bash marks.
I think we'll need a much larger open bin for ferritic metals and a tank on a
low stand to store waste/used cutting oils.



I started a video, but it wasn't fair on Derek who although helping to make
this had never driven in anger before and it takes a little getting used to.
Mostly exactly where and how to break the train and then re-couple up, because
the magnets are subtly hidden for scenic reasons.

Geoff T.