Rowenwood

[glencairn]

I have always liked 'Minories' in both styles.

I shall follow with interest.

Glencairn

[dursleydog]

Track has arrived and laying starts next week! But before I cause a massive short circuit I thought it best to check I've got the right end of the stick given I've never actually wired for DCC before... All points are electrofrog and power connections will be connected to a standard DCC bus.

Thanks in advance for some much needed advice!

[minipix]

I think I'm right in saying that every single frog needs insulated rail joiners. And that probably means every piece of track after a frog will need its own power too. Not sure from your diagram whether there are pieces of track between any of those points, but you may find you'll need a few more connections...

[dursleydog]

I think I'm right in saying that every single frog needs insulated rail joiners. And that probably means every piece of track after a frog will need its own power too. Not sure from your diagram whether there are pieces of track between any of those points, but you may find you'll need a few more connections...

That’s what I was fearing it might be... I was hoping it was only frogs where there was power coming at it from both directions rather than just from the toe end.

There’s going to have to be about 30 power feeds in that case, not good... And as for the points in the station throat, no there isn't any track between them not sure how i'm going to wire this at all now. here's the track plan again for reference

[heda]

I'd suggest looking at this website, a lot of very useful information regarding DCC wiring.
https://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/

Dave

[dursleydog]

I'd suggest looking at this website, a lot of very useful information regarding DCC wiring.
https://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/

Dave

That’s a really helpful page actually. I’ve been trying to find a simple enough guide to DCC wiring for a while and some of it’s been a bit much! I’ve got no electrical background and the only railway I’ve done was a hornby 00 train set with plug in DC, so it’s a baptism of fire this.

I think I’ve sorted the plan now, all inside frog lines on points isolated and additional power feeds in place. Not looking forward to the testing phase once I get the track down...

Why can’t we just skip to the scenery in this hobby

[Bufferstop]

With DCC you can allow the point blades to switch the power to the frog, but not beyond, so fit two insulated joiners. The difference from DC is that a short circuit, will pull up to the output current of the power supply, which for DCC could be 5A or so, well in excess of what the point blades can safely handle. The tips of the blades would get hot enough to melt the sleepers.

[dursleydog]

With DCC you can allow the point blades to switch the power to the frog, but not beyond, so fit two insulated joiners. The difference from DC is that a short circuit, will pull up to the output current of the power supply, which for DCC could be 5A or so, well in excess of what the point blades can safely handle. The tips of the blades would get hot enough to melt the sleepers.

As I’m using a modular baseboard system, with track breaks, can I treat the breaks in the track as my insulation for the points?
Ie. In a few places on the layout I have a set of points, then a straight only about an inch or 2 long before it is cut off at the baseboard join. Rather than add another power feed and an IRJ on the frog track, will this be ok as is with just a slightly longer section of track before the insulation? If so, it would save me adding a fair few power feeds to power sections of track 3/4 cms long in some cases

[Bufferstop]

It's best to put your breaks at the toe end "V rails" of the point as everyone knows to expect them, you might want a loco to approach the points and wait for them to be changed for it. If wired by this method for DC the wiring won't need altering for DCC in the future. The trouble with inter baseboard gaps is they are difficult to stop them touching, if they are logically one length in the track diagram it's best to wire them that way. If you understand the implications you can decide for yourself which way to do it.

[glencairn]

Electrickery, very trickery. I shall catch up later. Carry on.

Glencairn

[dursleydog]

I decided to rely on the rail breaks for lengths of track under a couple of centimetres, but for everything else I’ve used IRJs and added in extra power feeds.
The track is almost all down now (just using double sided sticky tape for now until ballasting) and after my holiday next week I can finally begin testing to see if I’ve completely messed up the electronics or not.

[dursleydog]

Track is down and wired up, controller (and my 08 shunter) will be collected from my old place on the way back from my holiday and then it's testing time.

The station throat pointwork

Got to have some more rolling stock to test the layout of course, so I went and bought an icon of the end of steam, 'Evening Star' and 4 chocolate and cream mk1s.

'Evening Star' in what will become platform 4

Looking out of future platform 4

[dursleydog]

So an update, the layout works! Been having a proper play with it today, first time I’ve been able to play trains since I was a kid and boy does it feel great.

I also decided to dive into scratchbuilding a bridge to mask the fiddle yard entrance. I’ve never scratchbuilt before, so I kept it to a simple boxy design but I think it works pretty well. Definitely a few rough edges but nothing a few well placed weeds and shrubs down the line won’t hide

I’ll take some photos tomorrow, and start on the retaining walls (another simple scratchbuild). Then it’s time to dive into the Metcalfe kits and get my station built, exciting times!

[dursleydog]

Updates, built the bridge and half the retaining walls. Weathered the track ready for ballasting. Backscenes have been ordered. Built my metcalfe station building and awaiting delivery of the platform kit. Bought a loco shed (2nd hand lyddle end) and signal box (2nd hand scratchbuilt kit that I'm going to weather and detail a bit). It's all go now!

The 08 station pilot in front of the scratchbuilt bridge

A lyddle end engine shed I picked up 2nd hand at a bargain price in front of the scratchbuilt retaining wall. This will all receive a good weathering at some point!

[Dublo]

Hi dursleydog
It's amazing the effect a few structures make, they start to pull the layout together and help to create that 3rd dimension. Looking good.