Another One... updated with pics (2009-01-26)

[leopard]

development plan.

a short term plan has been devised to solve two problems with the station area. specifically the two bays which are little more than storage roads currently.

the way they are at prsent they are unsuable for anything except push-pull sets. since there is no run round (and non planned), and no where for a shunting engine to live.

so a small replan is under consideration, specicifally the current three way point that leads to the bays will be lifted, and replaced with a conventional single point, probably on a slight curve to ease the station approach slightly. this will lead to a second point, the other way as a crossover. the kick back to act as a head shunt for the bays. then a new point is placed for the split between the two bay roads.

thus now there is space for a shunting engine in the head shunt, which can pull a rake back from whatever pulls it in, and place the rake in the other bay road, ready for the engine to sit on the other end. not perfect, no ability to turn the engine round.

there will be another two turnouts as part of this, one that will eventually lead to a siding alongside the mainline and behind it. which will eventually sprout a warehouse, this will use the bay roads for arrival/departure and the station shunting engine. its essentially just somewhere to run goods wagons to and from.

the other point will not have anything on it as yet, but will eventually lead to a few storage sidings alongside the bays, which will share the headshunt. the exact number etc to be decided later.

so I have five points to build, and will gain a three way to use elsewhere.

planning a shopping trip tomorrow in support of this, to get some C100 FB rail, and fishplates. as well as some turnout PCB sleepers and three PM-4 motors (I already have two).

shouldn't be too expensive and will make this end of the layout actually functional. still have the issues of not too many engines and no way of turning a train to get it back in the bays short of running round in the main platform area but nothing is perfect

[leopard]

Ok shop trip completed. I managed to avoid the £55 hornby A1 flying fox... not easy

got two packs of IL-5 C100 rail, four packs of SMP turnout sleepering & an SMP 48" point kit, as much for the template and gauge as the sleepers. the rail, being finescale is in the spares box.

thats enough for the seven points required, also got five PM-4 motors, to add tot he two I bought a while back. so in theory they can all be powered.

finally got some ash ballast for the goods yard, and a pack of ground signals.

well managed to make one point, which amazed the hell out of me by working first time. also discovered the PM-4 is gutless when driven via a small hornby controller. can see a trip to maplin coming on to build a bank of toggle switch/CDU switchgear which should solve that problem. I have a 24V AC supply which can be rectified to drive them, its currently driving the layout lights, but not too bothered if they dim while the capacitors are charging.

tasks for this week, photocopy the turnout plan sheet a few times, and make a start on the actual turnouts for the layout (the first one was a test). can't do too much with track till then. so now its a case of adding more yard lamps, and getting the goods yard closer to completion.

but hopefully over the net few weeks the station will sprout a new throat area, a small industrial siding and three storage roads, all rigged for remote control.

[leopard]

started with the ash ballasting, also the yard has grown a rear wall bordering the platform. ignore the ground signals on the little platform they are there while the paint dries



also finally made a start on the station building area. the low building to the back is the goods yard amenities and admin block, in front of it is the start of a row of four houses.



new CCT in the back ground, now in service. though it hates R607 corners, specifically because of the end swing on the couplings which tends to derail whatever its coupled to.

[leopard]

station rebuild due to start this weekend. been waiting all week to get to the office to make myself a few more templates (my scanner/printer widget having run out of ink)

the test point has been ditched now, but will be starting properly either tomorrow night or Saturday.

first bit will be a single point for a small industrial siding, since its probably the only single point required so may as well start somewhere simple.

to be followed, hopefully also this weekend by a crossover to allow through running again.

tried my local maplin looking for bits for a couple of SPDT toggle control units. they have all of two diodes in stock so gave up on that, I do have a 24V AC supply so will be able to test points prior to installation of the final control units.

ho hum.

[leopard]

well the industrial siding point has been made, fitted the switch rails with fishplate "hinges" to make moving them easier. motor fixed directly to the point, tested fine on the bench.

now installed, the motor locks it fine, and the switching works. stock runs through in any direction at full speed fine. naturally the motor won't actually shift it now though. maybe the volt drop over the wires. needs a CDU fitting. such is life.

[leopard]

started work on the second turnout, got as far as the rails down (except the switch rails) just need to solder all the rest of the sleepers now. but so far it works. this one will allow the mainline at the station entrance to be redone (at last), though pending some more being assembled the bays are going to be orphaned for a while.

now been running my ageing HST round, still amazes me just how slow that thing is.

also no matter how long my Cl66 runs for its just fine, the HST gets its wheels cleaned, and can make at most one circuit before they need doing again, I know its a bit dusty up there but thats just plain silly. nothing else picks up dirt quite that fast.

almost thinking of trying to fit some wheel cleaning pads to it. ideas?

it will get some additional pickups at some point as well, as much as an experiment as anything else.

[Black-Marlin]

ideas?

How about adding Hornby's new HST to your list for Santa...?

[leopard]

back after a crimbo break with relatives.

now have the station throat basically remodelled, well the mainline no longer has a nasty S bend and a three way point, just a pair of 48" hand made ones, both of which seem to work just fine.

next up is a double slip and another point to reconnect the bay roads and provide the head shunt.

still I can now run at full speed into the station area, until slowing for the platform entrance curves.

Hope to visit Wakefield tomorrow to pick up a CDU and get the motors running on the points.

also hope to get the DCC kit ordered later this week, and installed at "some point".

picks tomorrow, hopefully with the slip in place.

[leopard]

slight rethink, double slip to be replaced by a pair of turnouts. the first of which is 95% complete (needs a switch rail and the isolation cuts), the second will be started once this is installed.

finally obtained & installed a CDU (gaugemaster) which I can recommend to anyone. not totally idiot proof but virtually so. I now have an industrial siding I can actually use

speaking of which, got hold of a Metcalfe brewery to sit alongside it.

as well as another pair of Dapol meat wagon kits to bring the rake of vans to five usable ones, planning these two to be in private owner colours, for a change.

finally a 21T loco coal wagon, basically the same as the Hornby Railroad ones partly to see whats different and partly to get the livery diagram & signage etc.

progress..

oh yes, and also run a few trains

[leopard]

well its happened. finally gone DCC.

lenz set 100 is now configured & working, one of the loco stabling roads is now a programming track, the rest is slowly being adjusted to handle the 'always live' DCC. though the current goods yard won't be altered

so down to two engines, since thats all thats chipped, the new lenz gold carrying Cl66 and the old hornby carrying A1 (soon to be refitted with a lenz gold)

seriously impressed, not cheap, but well worth it

[Dad-1]

DCC is the future !
Glad I went to a model club before I started as DC was the first idea - all those isolated sections - ouch ! Now I can run 3 loco's at once as I did today for a short while today and change my points through my Select unit (nice & cheap) with just one plug in flylead ..... And for those who doubt there were 5 live loco's on the layout.

Geoff T.

[leopard]

weeeeellll the wiring wasn't exactly complex before going DCC...

the huge loop, remember this is 23'x13', had ONE main power feed. there were two isolating sections (bay roads) on this with extra feeds to the isolated rail only. the goods yard initially was fed via this as well, it only gained its own when the loco shed kick back was added.

not exactly complex. if anything it has more feeds now (a third has been added and a pair of jumpers to keep both loop platform roads live), that and the goods yard entrance point is finally powered and working (since I hardly used the yard since it meant getting up, ducking under a joist etc to reach it.

the goal is to have any point not comfortable to reach powered, I've got seven PM-4 motors, three installed, two of which are wired (the other doesn't yet go anywhere so lacks the final connections).

I actually never minded the isolating sections etc, even had a loop with very crude block detection (using traction current via a relay) on a very old N gauge layout to allow three trains on the same loop with some basic signalling. crude but it worked, sort of.. no 'soft start or stop'

looking to order a few diodes of a suitable rating to have a go at making a stop module for the gold decoders via the ABC stuff they work with. the way the layout is wired they can't really be used in the platform roads without a fair bit of work though, but may try. more just to experiment with them.

other than that just been playing today, love the low speed shunting mode, though only the Cl66 has a gold decoder at present so its a 'big' shunter. will be converting the A1 to a gold decoder maybe this week, looking to add some lights to it, and hard wire the loco & tender to allow the decoder to live in the loco. & hopefully get a better connection from the loco pickups to the tender.

will be my first 'conversion' with the lights etc.

at some point my pug will become an LNER Y9, few body mods for that one...

Q: would a steam shunter have a red & white lamp at each end?

[leopard]

montage of recent pics.

station approach remodelling project

Before


After

new back walls added & painted (one coat only here), shows the new approach track & half the entrance crossover. A1 with four coaches posing while testing the new DCC controls.


Now with the other half of the crossover & the shunting neck in place, back wall now with two coats of paint


Higher view of the above, note the utterly naff lighting, more on this later


Now with the basic track painting done, red oxide primer, sleepers over painted with grey then oak. note finally added another light so can now actually see this area better. track ends where the next set of points needs to start.

Industrial Siding

as initially laid, follows on from the above sequence to the right, basically a siding to fill some space. custom point, 48" like the crossover.


track painted, ballasting started, hard to see but there is even a ground signal in place (non functional). two thirds of the Metcalfe brewery kit placed loosely. internal lights not yet wired up so building are dark.

Control Panel

new control panel, its changed slightly since this was taken, the crossover & head shunt have been added to the bottom. this panel handles the DCC functions, which is where there is bugger all on it.

Other Projects

Dapol meat van, now with transfers added, awaiting weathering. adjacent to one of my Hornby 'EWS' railroad open wagons, now repainted as an LNER 21T open. not a bad job given it was just a paint & transfer job. took ages to number it though.


overall tis progress, ironically now I have the DCC system installed and working I can't run much, since the rail head in the new bit is paint covered, and won't be cleaned will after the ballast is down & weathered. so I only have to clean them once...

loads still to do though, but def progress

[Class 66]

Must say. I think it looks very good. Shame your gonna have to rip it up when you move. Those back walls really make a difference. They seem a bit shiny though ?

Any chance of some pics of the Lenz System ? Odd request I know but still.

[leopard]

back walls are gloss, essentially since I had some so no cost.

yes it is a pity it will get ripped up, well actually the control gear will be removed the layout will be left (probably) since its code 100 which I won't be using again anyway so the current thinking is as long as its cheap I'm not too bothered.

as for the Lenz kit, yeah I can do a pic of that, its not actually part of the panel, since there was nowhere to put it. Lenz have (in my opinion) missed a trick in not giving the base station mounting screws. so its actually on my work bench with wires everywhere. but it works so not bothered.

not even planning the next one yet, other than it will have hand made points, using BH rail, and track to match, either C+L or SMP it looks a hell of a lot better.

using this one now to just try out ideas.