UppyDownyRoundyRoundyRailway

[Montfort]

After a couple of days I had a thought ( yup, it usually takes me that long to have a thought

Don't worry. Me too !

[NedFlanders]

So there I was - at a loose end, so I ambled through Wordsworth Model Railway ( of this parish) and decided I needed some storage for important commodities....



It came together nicely - thank you Mike!

I then turned my attention back to the upper station that doesn't exist yet. After the Inclines from Woodland Scenics arrived I checked and yes - despite measuring repeatedly, human error rules ok!... Why exactly did i think I needed two thicknesses of Cork in the vertical height? It seemed like a good idea at the time....

anyhow - out came the table saw - 14 X 3mm slices later I started assembly


Checked the clearances before putting on the tops




and in place.


Not sure yet on how to locate them in the same spot each time but the current leader is more of those DCC concepts or patternmaker dowels mounted in the centre of the boards to locate them positively. also I now need to cut out the access holes on the bottom baseboards to rescue derailments......

[Bufferstop]

Locating lift off bits, try a scaled up version of the way I locate goods and loco sheds. I glue sections of bamboo skewers in the corners so that there's about 2cm or so sticking out at each corner. I put a blob of white paint on the end of each one and lower the building into position so it's sitting on the skewers, lift it off and drill holes through the white spots. Then I can put the building back in the same spot each time. You could scale it up using 4mm dowels, make them long enough that there's enough gap for your fingers and to see the holes for lining it up.

[NedFlanders]

So there I was - laid up. I had to get a bit of structural upgrading myself...... So I didn't get to much after the last update.

Anyhowdy I endeavored to have a bit of extra fun for the Small Controller in place for Christmas so while I was half laid up I managed to lay the Inclines temporarily on doublesided tape and compare performance, before and after Powerbase.

Before powerbase - Ketly Hall could barely pull up one carriage.

Afterwards - No problem with its standard 4 carriages and I think I tried 6 with no real impact on performance - so if steep inclines are a necessary evil - Powerbase is a winner!

The powerbase was simply laid under the track loosely and I screwed the magnets to the bottom of the locos using the powerbase magnet mountings.

I knocked together a very quick track base for over the lower station ( no way it could be called a bridge). and for Christmas we definitely had the UppyDownyRoundyRoundy Railway in operation!



You can see the powerbase on the left of the photo, at best the track is held in place with temporary pins - mostly they are sitting there by the power of positive thinking. You can see on the right where one section is actually supported by nothing apart from hope!

On the lower right you can see where the inner outer loop ( confusing- isn't it?) incline ends early. this also means it is higher than the inner loop at this point so in order for the lines to look less silly I will need to stretch out the one that ends early so that they keep to the same height. I intend to truncate the inclines at the point where they begin to cross the lower loop and then to build the upper bridge deck from there. The upper bridge deck will follow roughly the angle of the tracks as they are laid so that they are not parallel to the baseboard edges.

For Christmas I had an Island Platform at the upper station and just placed the Turntable at the upper left for a test fitting.

Thereafter full lay up came into force so we are only getting back to it now. ( even my phone gave up just as the inclines were fitted so I couldn't upload any photos)

Now that I can see any of the problems with the inclines I will strip them out gradually and then fit them in permanently with the lessons learnt here.

I must also complete the "dismantleability" of the hypotenuse so that the middle of the floor can be reclaimed under normal circumstances - I'm sure that will turn out as easy as I expect.....

Cheerio,

Ned.

[Hymirl]

Good old magnahesion technology! Seems a useful upgrade. Your lift out section aapears concerningly large, and heavy but without it would be quite a crawl to get to the operating well.

Good luck!

[TimberSurf]

Good old magnahesion technology! Seems a useful upgrade. Your lift out section aapears concerningly large, and heavy but without it would be quite a crawl to get to the operating well.Good luck!

I couldn't have said it differently!
Power base seems to work well for all!
How will you handle the lift out? it seems it will be very ungainly and the ends will need to clever idea to protect them while in storage!

[NedFlanders]

Your lift out section appears concerningly large, and heavy but without it would be quite a crawl to get to the operating well.

Aha.... The Lift out section is actualy in two pieces - as yet, all members of the household have no issues with crawling under it so while its up - no need for lift out. When it needs to be dismantled - each section is about four foot long.

[NedFlanders]

How will you handle the lift out? it seems it will be very ungainly and the ends will need to clever idea to protect them while in storage!

Underneath the upper station baseboard will be a void about 6ft in length, so the two halves of the diagonal will fit neatly - albeit that I haven't figured out the shelving/rack that I will need there to slide them in on - buts thats for another day - this weekend I will make a start on dismantling the temporary uppy downy section so that I can tidy up a few things on the baseboards and start knocking together the plywood facings at the ends of the diagonal boards.

[Mountain]

I like the layout. It is very ingenious. A lift out section which is not used is a good plan as while you are able to duck under you don't risk any track alignment or expansion issues as it an be built at first not to lift. Then if in future years you find that bending down is an issue, you can easily rebuild it to lift. That way you can have the best of both worlds to ensure the layout is to last.

[NedFlanders]

With one thing and another not much has happened since but some spare time has been released so I made a start on a couple of Jobs.

1. Replace 1 curved and 1 medium point with a three way point.

So at the top left here on the diagonal ( just to the left of the jam jar...)I still had a curved point and a medium point.





and occasionally I would have a derailment here so I got a new three way point ( three months ago) and finally got to replace it




2. Now that point was in I could finish the last rail cuts to be able to dismantle the diagonal - to those of you that were wondering about how this was split - here's a photo of the two diagonal boards sitting on top of the upper station board ( temporarily). Normally these will go underneath these boards on some sort of a rack, I've seen kayak storage racks that I think would do the business ( or I will blatantly copy them.)




3. this then allowed me to start on a job that had been annoying me for a while - tidying up the wiring underneath.

Before



And after ( I know its a different board and not quite finished yet but it looks a lot better)



4 Fitting point motors - Doh! one of the baseboard supports will foul these point motors. A spot of imaginative baseboard remodelling will be needed. Easy enough though - I think. a couple of extra screws from the other side, and then a big enough drill bit to eat out the bits where the motors will go methinks will do the job.



Preparing the wiring harness for the point motors is one of my personal exercises in patience. ( to rework a nautical phrase - Any Workbench in a storm!)



Question: What are the best screws for attaching these seep motors? My baseboards are 9mm so I think brass cheeseheads - 3mm diameter no more than 9mm in length - anyone found these anywhere online before or their equivalent?

Happy Modelling,

Ned.

[End2end]

Not that I've installed any yet but the screws I bought for my Seep's are from Brimal Componants. The thread is 8mm not including the head.
They are coded HW612 but I cannot find them on the site at time of posting
https://www.brimal.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=HW6
I also recently bought this tool to help me fit the Seep's - viewtopic.php?f=22&t=48176&start=735#p669871
Thanks
End2end

[NedFlanders]

Not that I've installed any yet but the screws I bought for my Seep's are from Brimal Componants. The thread is 8mm not including the head.
They are coded HW612 but I cannot find them on the site at time of posting
https://www.brimal.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=HW6
I also recently bought this tool to help me fit the Seep's - viewtopic.php?f=22&t=48176&start=735#p669871
Thanks
End2end

Cheers, that components site looks very interesting and I must check out that fitment tool.

Ned

[NedFlanders]

While not possessing the screws to mount the seep motors to the baseboards I wanted to keep moving so I had a thought that the double-sided tape that I used on the temporary inclines might work for me.

I set to wiring up the point motors



Removing the baseboard support that was in the way of one set of them.



Then ( borrowing an idea from Everard Junction ) i cut a slot in a clothes peg and used it to center the point motor



I fitted a piece of wire ( the two short lengths of black wire) either side of the toe of the point to center it



Then I laid two strips of Double-sided tape where the motors would be,and corresponding strips of tape on the point motors themselves to aid adhesion.



Now they are held in position conveniently until the screws arrive.




Not only would this hold the motors in place until the screws arrive but they give the added bonus of allowing me to hold the motors in the correct position while attempting to drill holes for the screws and not letting them slip away when I fail to hold them in place properly....

Onwards and underwards!

Ned.

[NedFlanders]

Next step - wiring up the Frogs. another tip I picked up courtesy of Everard Junction was that one motor did the left frog and the the second did the other. A penny dropped from very high with that one! Now the wiring diagram actually made sense when I looked at the frogs.

I looked at the tiebars - worked out which point motor did which one and set to it.

Completed frog wiring


I flipped the board over and used one of Lidl's finest Dremel Look-a-like tools to cut off the point motor bar - much easier than trying to use the big wire cutter for me - just needed to be a bit careful not to hit the rails.



Then I used the Multimeter to "buzz" the rails to make sure the wiring was right - note the Multimeter is set the mark in the Ohms section with the Musical note symbol. I started at the toe, held one probe on the toe and worked my way along the rails with the other probe along the direction of travel making sure I got a beep at each step. One was fine - the other I had the red and green feeds wires the wrong way round - a quick swap and then rails buzzed correctly.



The second Fluffy Engineer approved the work thus far.



Cue Mallard performing a test run on the recently cut Baseboard Joints and newly wired Three way points.

https://youtu.be/msuv9NlFpcw

All good

[NedFlanders]

Its definitively a case of slow but steady now, after getting the use of the playroom back by virtue of finally cutting all the joint connections I have been able to work away on the multitude of jobs that need to be done. however there seems to be an element of swans here as I have been working away good-oh - with little to show for it and one of the last jobs I did over the weekend gave me an element of 2 steps forward, one step back!

And then there was one...


Jobs done.

Upper station board locators fitted - one to each opposite corner of each of the top boards - i.e. front right and back left for the left hand board and front left and back right for the righthand board.
Pins fitted


Locator holes in the upper boards ( 18mm ply fitted to the corners to give some backing to the locator holes.)




All boards now dismantled, turned upside down and the existing wiring tidied up, then reassembled
This:

Becomes this!


Peco point motors fitted to the three way point in the lower station - much huffing and puffing with this one.

Firstly, I managed to cross the feed wires so each rail was connected to each rail, etc etc. e.g. a short circuit.
Secondly I got the polarity of the frogs wrong so had to swap the the feed wires again.
Thirdly, one of the polarity switches on the peco motors was misbehaving and giving me intermittent connections and i thought it was my soldering.
and finally, the peco point motor bar that goes into the hole in the tiebar to operate it must be made of sterner stuff than the seep ones as when I was using the cutting disc in the multitool it took much longer ..... and then I discovered that because it had taken much longer, it had become much hotter and had melted the hole in the tie bar to make it three times as big, the rail had distorted ( with the pressure I was putting on the disc I think) and no longer moved correctly etc. etc. - many lessons learnt here. Oh Shasbat! was uttered many a time with this job! I think its ok after a spot of remedial work - Flying Scotsman and a couple of coaches were able to go though without issue.


After that painful job I then added insult to injury by doing a quick job to finish off the weekend - I had never glued the brass dowels that aligned the baseboards so some of the male ones had slipped in further which gave some play in the joints. I cut backing plates out of more 9mm ply, glued them in place, the glued the brass dowels back in. Only to discover that after i had glued them in place the rails were no longer lining up correctly vertically on some of the boards - turns out that I must have not have the boards correctly aligned when I drilled the original holes. Sigh.... Ah well, shouldn't be too difficult to remove the ones that are misaligned, reclamp the baseboards with the rails aligned and then drill new holes ( he types optimistically).

Cheerio,

Ned.