Wordsworth - 00 Loft Layout

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Belt and braces is the best approach. Always assume that the drive with your operating system on it will fail, it's not a possibility, it's a certainty, so the first thing I do is install a second drive on which I put my files. That will fail one day too, but perhaps not as soon as the boot drive will.
That's the belt so this is where the braces come in. Get yourself a NAS drive (Network Attached Storage), One with a couple of 2 terrabyte drives in it, it'll back up your PC's laptops, tablets, and can even be used as an audio and video juke box for all your MP3s and videos. They can be configured as a mirrored pair of drives, automatically saving anything sent on both drives, and able to carry on if one drive fails. It doesn't stop the annoyance of drive failures, (they are mechanical with bits whizzing about so fast only dogs and bats can hear them) but it does save you losing the contents. If one of the drives fail, you replace it, start the thing up again and it promptly rebuilds the contents of the failed disk.

[mikem64]

Hi Gents,

Still on the wife's iPad..... Does sound like a drive issue, odd this one has started to play up only a month or so since the secondary drive failed, knew that one had gone as PC stuck in the DOS loading mode prior to Windows booting. Removed this drive & PC booted up ok, put drive back into sata port & PC stuck in DOS screen again.

When the primary drive got its first corrupted file I did what you said, killed the disc completely, took out the partitions & carried out a full format. For a little while it looked as if that worked but when the PC corrupted that second kit I knew it was time to move on before I lost everything.

I've ordered myself a WD MyCloud, it's NAS with DNLA so I can stream stuff round the house network. The WD MyBook which backed up my PC files I will now use as storage on the laptop & have that backed up onto the MyCloud drive.

You are all correct when you can't stress enough about back up data. Things do go wrong & im so glad I had my back data to fall back against, for the kits & website at least, not so for the mp3's.

Goods news the MyCloud is large enough to do automatic backups for the wife's iPad, both our smart phones so data wise I believe we'll be good, plus I can access all my train videos on the big telly...... wife will love it.

As soon as I have movement on the layout, like Arnie said " I'll be back ".......LOL

Once again cheers gents for pulling me through a rough patch
Mike

[mikem64]

Hi Gents,

Well I found two photos I've not posted, it shows some scenic work I'd been working on around the pond in the church yard. I've just got a few more bits to do around this section before I can move back round to the diesel & steam shed area.


Here we can see the footpath round the pond with shrubbery springing up giving a nice soft feel


View looking down from the pond towards the engine shed area of the layout.

I've also got some photo's to share showing my weathering skills using my airbrush on my goods shed at Wordsworth Station.


I might have gone too far with the weathering but for my first attempt it's not bad.


I still have the interior to weather & given this is lighter in colour I'll tone my efforts down.


I think once I get the road surface down it will look great.

So that's all I have & we are all up to date where I am with the layout. I certainly have plans to move things along over these darker months as the nights get longer.

Cheers
Mike.

[NakatsuHime]

From my experience of railway buildings (in fact, anything railway), one cannot go too far with weathering.

[mikem64]

Hi Gents,

Time for a show & tell update, except this time not much of the show. As you are aware I'm removing all the DCC Cobalts from the layout & reverting back to old faithful the standard seep point motor. The reason for this move is all to do with one model that once set running tells all the point motors to start moving, can't resolve the issue so their off the layout.

Over the last week I've been busy on the PC, or should I say laptop now working away in Corel Draw making up two new mimic panels & a load or wiring labels for under the layout.

Friday & Saturday I spent under the layout fitting all the seep motors to the points, no wiring yet just the fitting. I've four left to fit today & I can then start the connections to the new mimic boards.

The old mimic boards I had were the traditional style, example they matched the track plan, it worked well but I do like to try new things with this new layout so I've opted for a more formal approach which I do like.

When it comes to the wiring of the seep motors I'm so glad I didn't get round to ripping out all the old wiring, this should make things a little simpler today once I start connecting back up as most of the cabling is pre run. The only thing I will need to do is identify which pair is which at the switch board end & under the layout, my multi meter will help me here & once identified my new label system will be applied & the connections made.

Once I get the points all connected I can then turn my focus to the signals on the layout, once again this is still under the layout with not much to show on top, but as we are all aware it's something that just has to be done.

The signal setup are some static versions, they are pretty much plant & done with, but I've got 3 working Dapol semiphore signals & 4 working red/amber/green signals which all need wiring. The Dapols are easy as they just need connecting to the switches I've installed on one of the mimic boards, the coloured light signals will be controlled via some electronic boards I purchased of eBay, they will run through the system when the sensor under the track detects movement above it, should add a nice touch.

Once I've finished under the layout I'll move back on top to the work I really want to be on with, scenic building, new kits.

So there you have it, loads of time & effort on the layout but with very little to show.


Here is my special template tool for mounting the seep motors, works everytime without fail.


Some plasticard I cut to size to be used as my new point motor mimic boards


My mimic board info panels designed in Corel Draw


Both new panels ready to be drilled for the switches, info panel secured to the plassticard & several layers of acrylic varnish sprayed to seal.


First mimic board completed & ready for wiring into the layout, the second one done minus 5 switches, more points on this new layout so ran out of switches which will be here Monday.


Here are some of my labels which will help me tidy & identify the wiring under the baseboards.

So until my next update, keep smiling.
Mike.

[Ex-Pat]

First mimic board completed & ready for wiring into the layout, the second one done minus 5 switches, more points on this new layout so ran out of switches which will be here Monday.

Mike.

Very impressive - what a lovely neat job.

[End2end]

The control panel looks superb!
One question though.... When will the "NEVER FAIL" Seep point motor fitting templates be available? I haven't found the gumption to install any of my point motors yet. I need one desperatly!!
Thanks
End2end

[Admin4]

Another vote for the template! it looks like it could be invaluable

fantastic post as well, really interesting and informative - i have control panels on my todo list so particularly useful, thanks for taking the time to post

[mikem64]

Hi Gents,

Things seem to be progressing as normal here at Wordsworth, by that I mean one step forward & two back. I really am having the most awful luck with everything I do or touch.

I was up in the loft over the weekend & my nice new mimic boards started to come apart, the labels which I had sealed with approx 12 coats of acrylic varnish started to curl at the edges. I had to do some emergency repairs which involved removing all the switches, glue the label back down then use some tacky clear plastic to cover the full board.

This was an option I first thought about using but I really thought the acrylic varnish seal would have been enough, if anyone copies this idea go for the tacky back plastic covering option, it's 100% fool proof. I then had to connect & install all the switches again, have one board fully operational, will do the other panel later as I run the new cables to each point.

I also did a spot of scenic work around North Junction 2, really need new name plates as it's actually East cross over 2, but that's just cosmetic. I used some of my own design concrete paper for the signal box, then once this was fixed in place with PVA I did a small spot of scatter, really makes a big difference from seeing bare baseboards.

I had some issues with the Bachmann water tower, stupid thing kept falling over before the glue could take hold, I came up with the idea of fitting a small dowel to the base which would then go into a hole drilled into the baseboard. Great idea apart from one thing, I broke off one water filling pipe, the ladder & one of the filler pull chains.......super

After making repairs I glued the water tower in place, thankfully you can't see my repairs. So it's now time for a few photo's.


A quick view showing first section of the retaining wall, along with a few loco's parked up.


Nice view of a waiting DMU at the signals waiting to enter the station


Here we have the signal box in situ & a little bit of scatter completing the last little bare sections.


Sir Charles Newton stands taking on water at the fully repaired water tower.


Nice overview of how busy this junction is with many lines converging.

Hope you all enjoy.
Mike.

[Dad-1]

Always amazing what some ballast and vegetation scatters can do to a scene.
Too late to help now, but where things tend to fall over I either use dressmaking
pins for lightweight structures, or cut-off panel pins superglued into suitable holes
drilled in the base of said structures and then plug into a baseboard hole that's as
near to an interference fit as possible.

Geoff T.

[mikem64]

Hi Geoff,

Fair point about supporting structures whilst glue dries, unless using instant grab stuff.

Well I've been taking time out doing a spot of YouTube browsing watching general layout updates & some tutorials on weathering, it's the weathering tutorials that got me fired up yesterday & I had to give it a whirl, I'll update a link to the video I was watching that spurred me on as it's truely amazing.

For my first wagon test it was going to be an oil tanker just like in the video but they are all boxed away, however I spotted a Dapol / Mainline coal hopper sitting on my coal drop point which was just screaming out to be tested upon.

The technique is simple enough, spray the piece with matt varnish, then using weathering powders applied to the model in layers you then fix each layer by spraying IPA via the airbrush, this fixes the weathering powder to the matt varnish so it doesn't come off in your hands.

Well after a few hours yesterday evening I can now show off my first weathered wagon.


Here is my starting point, lovely nice & shiny wagon.


Now as it looks after my weathering work........


Here it's being shunted up the coaling ramp to the drop point.


Final touch will be to add some realistic coal to finish the model off.

So armed with my new skills I said this version of Wordsworth would be a dirtier place.....LOL

Hope you enjoy the photo's as much as I do the model.

Cheers Mike.

[Dad-1]

Very Nice Mike,

Sadly I gave up on airbrushes about 20 years ago.

Geoff T.

[Boïschaut]

Wonderful layout !

[carnehan]

The results, such as yours Mike, make an airbrush a very tempting proposition. What puts me off is the learning curve once I had one in hand. Can I be bothered learning a new trick?

Paul

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It's nice to see Wordsworth arising again from the debris of its former existence. Also nice to see you have gained the confidence to bring a touch of weathering to it. I always think of Wordsworth as existing in that imagined period when everything was supposed to be clean and polished, but we all know if you looked on the back roads of the goods yard you'd find grubby and faded wagons that no one loved.