UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

Post pictures and information about your own personal model railway layout that is under construction. Keep members up-to-date with what you are doing and discuss problems that you are having.
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NedFlanders
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Joined: Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:56 pm

Starting to lay some cork

Post by NedFlanders »

I picked up a packet of Self-adhesive 3mm cork tiles and laid a line of them temporarily under the storage loops and put the track back down and ran a test train over it. The reduction it made to the Rumble/sounding box effect was impressive so I decided to go along with laying it under all the track – anecdotally I understood that laying it on Cork would dampen some of the noise but not all that you expect – that was proved to be correct. Once I had laid it permanently under the storage loops the noise reduction was less than when the cork tiles weren’t stuck to the board and the rails weren’t stuck to the cork. It was still better than none, just not as good as the unglued test. I would still do it again.

Knowing that once stuck down the noise reduction would be lessened, I decided to use Copydex for sticking down the track as it doesn't set as hard as PVA – so far so good. After about two weeks of intensive running the track is staying put. The cork tiles are stuck down by peeling off the adhesive backing and then applying a small amount of pressure once laid down. I decided against leaving weights on it to try and mitigate the reduction in sound deadening by seeing if it might “float” slightly. However, when I laid the track with copydex/temporary pins, I suspect this then compacted the glue under the tiles and negated any effect to have the tiles “lightly” stuck down. ☹

Anyhow.
Tiles cut to the width of the three loops and laid down, track beginning to be stuck down. Gentle pressure applied by convenient box of batteries and a box of screws. Drawing pins used (not through the sleepers so no need to drill holes in the sleepers) to hold the track in place until the copydex sets.

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At the baseboard joint I noted where the rails would cross the joint and drilled some pilot holes for brass screws and started screwing them in.

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I checked the rail height by removing 4-5 sleepers in the middle of a length of track and kept offering it up to the screws until they were the correct height for the rails to just rest on top of them. See the track closest to the edge of the board for how I did this.

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Then I glued the track in place and left the drawing pins in place until after Soldered the rails to the screw heads and cut the rails at the baseboard joint. I soldered the track to the rails on the outside of the rail head – see the line closest to the edge below. I had to turn the soldering iron up to 400C for this – normally I have it at 350C for soldering the electrical connections.

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Once the first line was in place I cut the rails across the baseboard joint – intending to use this as the guide for the cuts to the rest of the rails. I was assisted both by the length of timber with grooves cut in it ( see the previous photo for the grooves in the timber), which helped keep the saw in line with the baseboard joint and by the “Fluffy” Engineer. As I laid each of the subsequent lines the first cut kept the saw aligned correctly after that.

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Once I had the three loops laid I started around the corner. I cut strips of the tile to the width of the track and then split them down the middle and laid them to the lines drawn on the baseboard from the tracks themselves. The adhesive on the tiles was tacky enough that if misaligned it could be easily lifted again – so long as I hadn’t sat on it with something heavy. You can see an example of the split cork strips below. The first strip I had cut into three but found that it wasn’t necessary and splitting it in half was fine.

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I haven't been brave enough yet to grind off the excess screw heads yet - I will chance that when I am laying the cosmetic sleepers are the baseboard joints......

Ned.
Getting back into railways, one step at a time.
Ned's Workbench - https://tinyurl.com/y4jby73c
The UppydownyRoundyRoundyRailway - https://tinyurl.com/y6stelsr
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NedFlanders
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Some Clearance Testing

Post by NedFlanders »

As I was finishing up the cork laying on the diagonal board my thoughts turned to clearances for the upper stations baseboard framework.
My thinking is to use the same basic structure as for the lower level boards – with a lot of cut out in the framework to accommodate the running lines.

Looking around for something to mock the corner joint up with, I made use of some of the Fluffy engineer’s discards and put together a basic representation of a plate girder bridge with the left abutment being 35mm wide and the clearance above the tracks being 60mm as per the guide below (that I picked up about 30 years ago), I think the copyright date in it is 1968!

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The Eurostar set we picked up at the weekend had plenty of overhangs at the front and rear and the carriages are even longer than the HST from what I can see so it was a serendipitous purchase. The initial clearances on the width were not enough so extending it either side by 5mm gave me a 30mm bridge abutment which I think will be fine for a baseboard frame corner (Fingers Crossed). The mockup of the bridge was then applied to the box for the entertainment of the Small engineer – which went down well.

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Iarnród Éireann 201 Class leader Abhainn na Sionnainne (River Shannon) also performing clearance tests!

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I am leaning towards Seep PM1s for my next purchase of point motors for the diagonal boards – I don’t like the way that the Peco motors are held in by twisting the legs into the mount – also the PM1s give you the polarity switch by default without having to stick the additional switch on as you do with the Peco motors – has anyone gone this way with this line of reason - thoughts/results please?
Getting back into railways, one step at a time.
Ned's Workbench - https://tinyurl.com/y4jby73c
The UppydownyRoundyRoundyRailway - https://tinyurl.com/y6stelsr
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End2end
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Location: At the end....... and sometimes at the other end

Re: Some Clearance Testing

Post by End2end »

NedFlanders wrote:has anyone gone this way with this line of reason - thoughts/results please?
I will be using Seep PM1's. I want to use the polarity switch for all sorts of things including powering a gate to open and close and control panel LED's amonst other things.
Thanks
End2end
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Chops
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Re: UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

Post by Chops »

Remarkable: from a track mat to this. Wish I had your carpentry skills. How are you at kitchen cabinets? :D

Lovely Siamese, BTW. Those clearances are enough to give any train man a case of hives, but it does add a most dramatic effect.

In Maine, upon the narrow gauge Wiscasset and Quebec (one of the few extant steam tourist lines in the US, and it never made anywhere near Quebec, that was mere optomism) the railroad ran open tourist coaches in the summer prior to WWI. No doubt a lovely way to escape the summer doldrums. However, some young men decided to add some dash and verve to there journey and hung themselves to the outside of the carriages- until they went over a bridge crossing an estuary, and that was the end of that, as the clearance from a leading curve was a bit tight. I believe the open coaches were converted not long after to closed affairs.
Nessie rocks!
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NedFlanders
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Autumnal developments

Post by NedFlanders »

The Contractors seem to have found it difficult to concentrate on any job for any length of time….

The curved point and medium point at the TV end have been replaced by a three-way point for test comparison with the Door end which still has the curved point and medium point in situ.
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More Cork laying, dropper wiring and baseboard joints have been laid
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The power station received an upgrade (Wifi box not pictured but is there - so I can control from phone, Laptop, Tablet, etc... as well as the physical controller) Flying Scotsman felt the need to photobomb!
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And the locomotive department have been testing some stay alive/chip/locomotive combinations.
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Results here viewtopic.php?f=27&t=53546

Where to next?....
Getting back into railways, one step at a time.
Ned's Workbench - https://tinyurl.com/y4jby73c
The UppydownyRoundyRoundyRailway - https://tinyurl.com/y6stelsr
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NedFlanders
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Groundworks to go!

Post by NedFlanders »

The Contractors felt the need to get out their heavy machinery next.
The Site extremities were checked first and found to be in order (these boards were cut back in March/April and left flat under a couch….. Still flat now!).
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Measurements were taken and checked (but were still wrong, more on that at a later date) and construction began. The fluffy engineer was present at all times but felt the staff could be left with just the occasional supportive comment ( I think she must be deaf now if she wasn’t before, I don’t know how she could sleep through that!) The workshed is a bit narrow so negotiations allowed for the temporary relocation of the heavy machinery for clearance purposes……
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The Horizontal and Longitudinal boards were all cut at the same time so that they were all the same height and then they were offered up to the track to confirm where the cut-outs should be.
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The table saw then was used to do the vertical cuts
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And a Jigsaw to do the horizontal cuts
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Offered back up to the track
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Followed by test fitting of the upper deck under the watchful eyes of the Fluffy engineer
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The Loco Maintenance Department then ran Scotsman without any … well anything really!
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Nothing is fixed in place yet as the contractors want to run a number of further clearance tests before final assembly……. And it is all designed to be removable and there will be suitable access cut in the lower boards – more of this anon.

Ned.
Getting back into railways, one step at a time.
Ned's Workbench - https://tinyurl.com/y4jby73c
The UppydownyRoundyRoundyRailway - https://tinyurl.com/y6stelsr
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NedFlanders
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Some Track testing...

Post by NedFlanders »

A quick youtube playlist showing some track testing being performed by :

Hornby Class 40 TTS
Hornby Ketly Hall TTS
Hornby EuroStar - LaisDCC chip with Stayalive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVudqJM ... hHkJrNNCST
( apologies for the quality - Not only is it a test of the track, its also a test of the lighting and the camera neither of which proved to be good. hopefully better the next time)
Getting back into railways, one step at a time.
Ned's Workbench - https://tinyurl.com/y4jby73c
The UppydownyRoundyRoundyRailway - https://tinyurl.com/y6stelsr
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Montfort
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Re: UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

Post by Montfort »

Well done. You have a very good helper. :D

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Back on the track !
Chris
BuffyMcBuffer
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Re: UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

Post by BuffyMcBuffer »

I’m surprised your cat stuck about as they aren’t the quietest of machines nor are they the tidiest must have been some mess in the house! Hope you cleaned up to keep the other half happy

Progress looks good, looking forward to seeing that take on some shape
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NedFlanders
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Cardboard mock-ups and a discovery

Post by NedFlanders »

There would have to be cut-outs in the side members of the upper baseboards to allow for the trains to run under them, so I began trying to figure that one out by cutting some flaps off a couple of boxes and offering them up to the Track/upper baseboard and I marked the rails on the cardboard.
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I measured the side celarances that I had found worked on the original mock-up ( sitting on the upper baseboard)
And then began cutting them out and checking the clearances and potential designs of overbridges/tunnel mouths.
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One discovery that I wasn’t expecting was that I had managed to forget to subtract the 9mm of the baseboard top from the height of the framework, or just plain got it wrong – so the upper baseboard is now 9mm higher than expected! Doh!! You can see it appearing above the height of the carboard in its final trimmed state ( 4 inches or 101mm).
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I was about to line up the table saw again to sort that out and then had the thought – “Confucius say – 9mm too big today sometimes just right tomorrow” – or I’m sure he would have if he was a bodger like me….. I’ve decided to wait until I get the Woodland Scenics Inclines ( that I have on order) to see if their 101 mm is the same as mine. As the clearance under the upper boards is tight it might be no harm to hang onto that little bit extra.
Cheerio,
Ned.
Getting back into railways, one step at a time.
Ned's Workbench - https://tinyurl.com/y4jby73c
The UppydownyRoundyRoundyRailway - https://tinyurl.com/y6stelsr
BuffyMcBuffer
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Re: UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

Post by BuffyMcBuffer »

Don’t worry about that little mishap scenery will cover it up :P
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NedFlanders
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Platform Musings

Post by NedFlanders »

While waiting for the Inclines to arrive I turned my attention to the platforms on the lower station.

Following the time honoured tradition I attached a pen to the inside/outside of the overhangs on a eurostar. Oh bother!
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On the inside track the clearance line squeezes the width of the platform - something I hadn't figured upon. After a couple of days I had a thought ( yup, it usualy takes me that long to have a thought :D ) - what if I use a much wider radius first as a transition curve?

Yup, much better. You can see from the pic below, the black line cuts into the middle of where the platform should be whereas the red line shows the clearance for a radius 4 curve as a starting curve ( albeit starting earlier in the curve).
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This Shot shows the clearance lines with a Hornby platform on top. The black arrow shows where the original clearance line would hit the platform whereas the red arrow shows where the radius 4 final curve would bring it. It looks like I will have to cut the width of the platform slightly - but I can live with that.
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As an added bonus this will make the right most end to the platform wider which would allow me to have a bigger structure on the platform. This last shot shows where the new curve will intersect with the original track layout.Image

I think we have a plan...
Getting back into railways, one step at a time.
Ned's Workbench - https://tinyurl.com/y4jby73c
The UppydownyRoundyRoundyRailway - https://tinyurl.com/y6stelsr
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Bufferstop
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Re: UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

Post by Bufferstop »

You've got the problem of platforms and tight radius curves, if you put in enough clearance only the most athletic passengers will be able to jump the gap. If you have an end on view of the platform and train it looks faintly ridiculous. This will become a more common problem as modern trains with snouts similar to the Eurostar become more common. I was fortunate in that my only curved approach to a platform only involved the ramp where a bit of pairing back combined with the slope let's me get every bit of stock past it. I'm unlikely to want to run an ICE or even a class 158 so I think the ramp is safe from further hacking.
Growing old, can't avoid it. Growing up, forget it!
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NedFlanders
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Re: UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

Post by NedFlanders »

Bufferstop wrote:You've got the problem of platforms and tight radius curves,....
:D

Yes, Every now and then I catch myself thinking "I wouldn't like to be a passenger on that Pullman trying to have my five course meal...." as I see it taking the turns at speed, and then I remember, "Dad, Can we have bridges and tunnels? :shock: So, if it keeps the Small Controller happy, I'm willing to suspend my reality gene without a qualm. :D (Whilst adding a laugh or two at times)

I'm actually looking forward to the next engineering problem of taking those curves and adding a steep gradient to them. I was debating with myself, only earlier today, "hmmm will I do a short UppyDowny ( for testing purposes :lol: ) on the diagonal board before I get the inclines or will I hold off?" The innate "Tinkerer" in me can be hard to please at times.
Getting back into railways, one step at a time.
Ned's Workbench - https://tinyurl.com/y4jby73c
The UppydownyRoundyRoundyRailway - https://tinyurl.com/y6stelsr
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glencairn
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Re: UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

Post by glencairn »

It's all coming together. Well done.
(I hope the cat is well away from any soldering. :?: )

Glencairn
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