Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

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Journeyman
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

Hey keep the ideas coming Buffer you are a mine of information:).

Couple of things I need to ask, one is track and points.
Was thinking of using flexitrack and insulfrog points rather than set track what do you think?

Also with the reversing loops am I right in thinking I need to insulate the track just before the points. And the order would be to drive on to that section stop, insulate it, then swap the points, reverse the direction on the controller and then continue?

Dave.
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Bufferstop
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Bufferstop »

Dave, it's worth the effort of modifying links and fitting a polarity switch to use electrofrog. No matter how careful you are you will always end up with one 0-4-0, (or 0-6-0 with traction tyres) that gets trapped by insulfrog points in a crossover unless taken at an unrealistic speed. It's not just wheels sat on the plastic which are the problem, small diameter wheels can drop in the gap when taking points slowly, lifting the diagonally opposite wheel off the rail, at least with electrofrog there's a chance of keeping moving long enough to re-establish contact.
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Journeyman
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

Bufferstop wrote:Dave, it's worth the effort of modifying links and fitting a polarity switch to use electrofrog.
OK thanks will look into polarity switching, need to find a good tutorial on wiring up a layout.

Dave.
heda
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by heda »

You'll find the answer to most electrical questions here
Dave

https://www.brian-lambert.co.uk/Electrical_Page_1.html
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Journeyman
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

That’s a great link Dave, thanks, will have a good look through that.

Dave,
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

So with the lifting of the lock-down in Wales I’ve been able to go down and work on my boat again, consequently the modelling has been relegated to the evenings.
So far I’ve emptied the spare room to make enough room for the layout this was a big job moving two beds upstairs along with the matrasses and finding new homes for all the accumulated gear collected over many years.
Railway 006.jpg
Then I dug out some timber for the framework another big job as it was well buried.
This is all joinery timber left over from various jobs most of it will come out of a 9"x1 1/4"x16' board that was left over from a staircase.
Railway 005.jpg
While digging the wood out I came across some house wiring which I’ll use for the layout.
Railway 003.jpg
I’ve also got dibbs on a large box of track, no idea what is in it the box but hopefully I can use it for a design that is close to what I’ve drawn. Will be looking at that box next week, what should I be looking for, how compatible are different makes of track?

Dave.
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

A lovely dry evening so out with the folding horses and ripped up most of the timber for the base.
Railway 009.jpg
Back on the bench the “L” beams are screwed and glued.
Railway 010.jpg
Legs are likewise screwed and glued with blocking to take the Casters.
Railway 011.jpg
Then all the cross spalls cut to lengh.
Railway 012.jpg
Next thing mark it all out on the bench then assemble in the spare room.

What do you guys call the room with the railway in?

Dave.
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Ironduke
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Ironduke »

Journeyman wrote:Back on the bench the “L” beams are screwed and glued.
Wow, those could carry a real train!
Journeyman wrote:What do you guys call the room with the railway in?
Well mine's in the "home-office". If it didn't have an office in it I'd probably call it "the train room", although that is still a bit long.. What about "Barry"?

Mrs: "Where are you?"
Me: "Barry!"

Perfect.
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Rob
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

[quote=Rob]Wow, those could carry a real train![/quote]
Yes Rob or should that be Barry, it’s what I had leftover from a job, was going to be a stringer for a staircase.
Here it is set up, though it’s hard to get far enough back to get a good photo I’m pleased with the casters, will make it very easy to work around it.
Railway 014.jpg
Railway 016.jpg
Dave.
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Journeyman wrote:Here it is set up, though it’s hard to get far enough back to get a good photo I’m pleased with the casters, will make it very easy to work around it...
Hi Dave.
Let me see if I am following all this correctly:-
First: you hide the fact that I should have hired you as the master-carpenter for my recent renovations.
Second: you fail to mention that your rock-quarry sidings are housed in a house with rock-quarry siding on the walls.

What's your next revelation? (grin)
Cheers
Chris
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

ChrisGreaves wrote: Let me see if I am following all this correctly:-
First: you hide the fact that I should have hired you as the master-carpenter for my recent renovations.
Second: you fail to mention that your rock-quarry sidings are housed in a house with rock-quarry siding on the walls.

What's your next revelation? (grin)
Cheers
Chris
That’s easy Chris, The room is a quarry workers cottage built in 1840 for the Gilfach.
The Gilfach is famous or infamous for suppling the slate for the roof of the Palace of Westminster! Though when they needed new slates a few years ago the only surviving quarryman said no way was he coming out of retainment at 85 to put a roof over Maggie’s head!!
The quarry I have in mind will be a Freestone quarry cutting lime stone blocks and crushing the waste from that for gravel. That sort of stone was in the south of the county where I grew up and the slate was in the north where I now live.

Wave, Dave.
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

Bit of a hiatus on the railway but did manage to pick up the box of track.
Massive amount of all sorts!
Here they are spread out on some old boards.
Railway 026.jpg
Railway 024.jpg
Railway 022.jpg
Some not magnetic but most is, mixture of Hornby, Peco and unbranded .
There is some Triang with a higher profile very chunky and robust it’s the same gauge but would need some sort of transition area to join up to the Hornby and Peco.
Lots of points, crossings, decoupling and strange things which I don’t know the purpose of!
Will sort it in to brands and then in to Curves, 1st 2nd and 3rd and Straits lots of deferent lengths, most of it is Set-track with just a few pieces of flex.
Have made up three emery boards, corse, medium and fine to clean the track so that will be an entertainment for a few evenings!

Dave.
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Journeyman »

Some progress with the railway, since the last post Hamdden Railway has been floated on the stock exchange. £50 pound shares issued and 50,000 sold.
That’s the good news, the bad news is I had to take on 18 directors, 6 of whom are from the GWR and an engineer who has just finished some railways in Island!

First thing was to work out the run to take the track to a lower level, the slope will have to be 1in20. Made a declivity board and used it to set the test tack at the required incline.
Railway 113.jpg
Was pleased to find that all my engines managed to work the grade easily.
Railway 114.jpg
Next layed all the track using some gauges to keep things parallel and used a trammel bar to find the centres of the radii. Then I can draw in the circumferences to lay the cork.
Railway 116.jpg
Have been advised to take on the policemen now to prevent pilfering though how the pirates will appropriate track and ballast I’m not sure, looks like jobs for the boys to me!

Dave.
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Bigmet »

Journeyman wrote:...Some not magnetic but most is, mixture of Hornby, Peco and unbranded ...
Use the 'non-magnetic' track where it will be most difficult to reach as the layout becomes more complete. Which is another way of saying that unless your layout room is dryer than the Kalahari, most of the plated steel rail track will need regular polishing to remove rust, until you get fed up and replace it.
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Bufferstop
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Re: Hamdden Railway Co. 00 7'x6'

Post by Bufferstop »

The magnetic track is galvanised steel rail. Every time you clean it a bit more of the galvanising wares away, leading to it needing cleaning again even sooner. When Peco settrack came on the scene, it was available in nickel silver as well. Then they dropped the galvanised steel and only did nickel silver, but Hornby went on churning out the steel. I think it came to a bit of a crisis when the techies won over the bean counters and they switched to nickel silver. They were in a bit of a dilemma, as many of their models made a feature of "Magnadehsion", to improve traction and it only worked on steel track.
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