St. Blazey's - My first layout - Stage 3 Building

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Hi all. St. Blazey's will be my first attempt at building a layout. I originally started a topic in the welcome forum which progressed into the planning stage and has now moved on so much so that it's time to carry on in the Building forum I feel.
Please have a look at the intial posts from the original 2 threads here :- Welcome - http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Fo ... 18&t=44775 - and here :- Planning http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Fo ... 44&t=44866 ,as there maybe some points that could be valid to other members or maybe some glaring mistakes I have made so far as a newb
Admin please Do Not consolidate my threads as I wish to keep them seperate for my own reference. Thank you
A brief description would be a sort of modernish terminus inculding GWR heritage line but with no exact period set around the south west region if anywhere, running smaller locos, DMU's, coaches and goods wagons. I'm not worried about being exact to any prototype.

The baseboard construction is nearly finished, with only the noggins across to be cut and fitted and the top has already been painted black.
Today I have started the control panel construction, a simple 5mm ply on 2x1. I have fitted all 11 point switches and wired them into the CDU and must say, it looks rather neat and tidy albeit only the red wires connected to the switches so far. Very pleased
I will have to move some of the LED's on the panel showing point postion as the switches were a little larger than I thought but I will move the LED's rather than the switches as I want the switches sitting directly on the track, on the track diagram, on the control panel. The LED's can go wherever as long as they are near the point they are attached to.
I think for the moment I have come to a stop. I need to re-read some of my posts and look through how I decided to connect the panel to the layout so I can then add the other 2 wires to all the switches and terminate the other end.
1:34 am...I'm shunting off to bed.
Thanks
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[carnehan]

I think there should be an NRM rule that if you haven't started laying down your first track by your 1000th post you should be removed from the forum immediately. Fortunately, you are just falling within this parameter.

Great to hear you are making progress and I look forward to the initial photos being uploaded - even if it is just to see some timber work.

Paul

[PinkNosedPenguin]

Glad to see you are finally making a start
I will be following with interest - and yes, please post pictures of progress . . .

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I think there should be an NRM rule that if you haven't started laying down your first track by your 1000th post you should be removed from the forum immediately. :lol:Paul

(I wonder how many posts are on the RL HST2 forum )

Thanks for the encouragment chaps, some pictures as promised....
The naked layout (Before the top was painted black), with track laid out so I can see where tha noggins will go so they will not clash with any point motors etc.

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The start on the control panel
Front

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Rear

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Thanks
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And the synopsis of the weekend is..............

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A completed baseboard with the DCC and lighting bus's added
Thanks
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[Notroh]

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Yeh!

So glad to see things move to construction mode, onward and upward (or downward usually in my case )

I will certainly be following this........

Happy days!

Peter

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Well planning almost went to plan. One of the noggins will need to be moved to fit a point motor but apart from that no other motors will clash.
I have run out of 7 / 2.0 wire which has been ordered today, but all track has been laid and all apart from a couple of droppers have been soldered to the track and attached to the bus. The problem I have now is I have a short circuit constantly. I'm really not sure what is causing it, but I have checked all the connecting blocks and all seems wired correctly. There is no isolation breaks, insulated fish plates, nor any DCC clips on the whole layout.
Before properly laying the track I temporarily laid it, securing the rear portion of the layout leaving the front portion loose and although there were some short circuits, changing a couple of points would stop the short circuit.
I'll will post pictures tomorrow of the laid track and the wiring.
Thanks
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Here are some photo's so far. One of the good things about St. Blazey's is I can flip it up on it's side to work on it
The top with most of the droppers in.

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2 views of the underside.

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I had an idea that, as I made a DCC ring main instead of just a straight run round the baseboard that could be the cause of the short circuit but I have just tried removing one end of the black and red wires from the final connecting block before the bus connects to the controller it and it is not. My next avenue of investigation is to check the connectors I have used, thinking that 1 in = 2 out, on the thinking that wherever in the triple connetor you put each cable they are all connected.
After that, if that is not the answer it will be a more rigourous investigation.
Thanks
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Strange connectors eliminated. Connecting the controller to a part of the DCC bus with only 1 pair of track droppers shows the command station still in a permanant state of short circuit. More investigation needed trackside to check any mis-dropped? droppers. There are still some to fit but those I made to be in the most uneffectable place electronically.

Im hoping that if any soloution, it will be as easy as DCC clips rather than taking up the track again (as I mislaid a point into one of the fishplates so had to take up quite a lot of track to lay it properly) to fit insulated fishplates.
Onwards
Thanks
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Today I have checked all the wiring and all the droppers and all is correct. No cross feeds and all red to red and black to black. Still I have a constant short circuit.
Would adding DCC clips solve the problem or is there something deeper someone could recommend?
They are not electrofrog points so that's what's leading me to think (and hope, because it is easy to do) that maybe the Hornby DCC clips will work as if I remember rightly no Hornby points are electrofrogs.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that even with all points thrown straight through as it were there is still a constant short circuit.
Thanks
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[mikem64]

Hi end2end,

Sorry to hear you're having some wiring issues. The hornby dcc clips won't cure your short circuit issue I'm afraid, still it might be something simple.

I read you have checked all the droppers, but just to be double sure are all the red wire droppers on the top rail & all the black wire on the bottom rail on each track length ?

If they are can you disconnect all the droppers from the main bus ? If so connect the dcc controller to the bus only, if you still have a short circuit its in the bus somewhere.

If the short circuit clears it the shows that the short is on one of the droppers, so it would be a case to add one set of droppers at a time until the short circuit appears, this then indicates the area to focus on.

Hope this helps,
Mike

[MrH]

Hi,
Typing on tablet so please forgive any odd words

Looking at picture 10 above I would split the curves that go across the middle and separate the DCC bus between the top and bottom sections then see which half is in short circuit.

This will help narrow down where it is and then close inspection. Remember tiny things like loose solder and track pins can create shorts

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Thanks for the replies members.

I read you have checked all the droppers, but just to be double sure are all the red wire droppers on the top rail & all the black wire on the bottom rail on each track length ?

Actually it is completely the other way round, black to top and red to bottom but as it all a set standard it shouldn't matter, but yes I will double check just to make sure. As previously mentioned there are some not connected yet but these are way out of the way so shouldn't be a worry.

If they are can you disconnect all the droppers from the main bus ? If so connect the dcc controller to the bus only, if you still have a short circuit its in the bus somewhere. If the short circuit clears it the shows that the short is on one of the droppers, so it would be a case to add one set of droppers at a time until the short circuit appears, this then indicates the area to focus on.Mike

Ahh excellent. thanks Mike that gives me a first easy avenue of investigation to pursue.

Looking at picture 10 above I would split the curves that go across the middle and separate the DCC bus between the top and bottom sections then see which half is in short circuit. This will help narrow down where it is and then close inspection. Remember tiny things like loose solder and track pins can create shorts

Thanks MrH. A more invasive soloution as half the layout will need to be lifted for this but I can split the bus between top and bottom at each end as they (top and bottom) are connected using connecting blocks.

I'll shall move on using the first soloution and report back
Thanks
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[Bufferstop]

What sort of connector blocks are you using? Are the black and red wires in close proximity? Look for the odd strands of wire that may have escaped. Has a cut off piece of wire lodged between the rails? Where they come close together in front of the frog is a favourite spot.

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Ahh an even easier first investigation. Thanks Bufferstop. I shall get the hoover out and then have a very close inspection to see for any stray bits all over.
I am using normal connecting blocks and some WAGO triple connectors with flip down locks.

Thanks
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