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More pictures of the fiddle yard

Fen End Pit

Entry posted by Fen End Pit

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I'm not sure how much more by way of constructional details I can give but here goes.

 

I started off by making the back of the fiddle yard from 6mm MDF. Two computer rack mount brackets were screwed to the wall. These were originally from Dell PowerEdge servers. If you find a friendly IT department they will probably have some spare as each server comes with new brackets but if you are replacing a server in a 19" rack the chances are there is a set in there already. You will probably find the same thing in the guts of an old filing cabinet.

 

The MDF back was bolted to the sliding brackets and then the first shelf was stuck at the bottom, strengthened with right angle metal brackets. Foam was glued to the shelf except at the ends where the level was made up with more MDF and a piece of copper clad paxolin. Along one of end of the back a piece of aluminium angle was screwed into which holes were drilled for the bolt.

 

There are 2 bolts made from K&S tube on each level and these carry the current to each level when selected.

 

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The second to top level is selected, you can see the supporting bolt and the two bolts carrying the power to the track and aligning the rails. The board attached to the fiddle yard is actually removable and sits on a home made right angle bracket screwed to the wall. This board is removed when the layout is not operational to give easier access through the door. The black box with LED is the distance signal for Empire Basin box.

 

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This shows the top of the rack mount bracket and the pulley arrangement for the counter-weight. A pulley wheel attached to the back of the fiddle yard, together with the pulley on the wall, results in the counter-weight moving twice the distance as the fiddle yard and applying twice the weight. The result is that the fiddle yard is still relatively easy to move even when full of stock.

 

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Here you can see the yard aligned to the bottom level. The layers were build one at a time aligning the levels from the adjoining baseboards as I went.

 

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With the 1st floor level aligned the N7 departs the year with a rack of 3 mk-I coaches. (must get around to fitting the sprung buffers)

 

The current plan is that the top level will be in the form of 2 Y points joined switch ends together. This will allow me to use the top to reverse a train from UP to Down line and move locomotives around on the fiddleyard.

 

Having got this far I wish I had been able to make it a little longer, it would have been nice to run longer trains. Even so I can split a train into two halves and use more than one level of the fiddleyard. I think ulitmately I will have some coaches which sit on the top level and join a train in alternate directions. The other intention for the layout is that a pick-up goods will arrive and be shunted into the loop before wagons are tripped down to the quayside basin for unloading. This way I get the combined enjoyment of watching the trains go by and a hidious shunting puzzle.

 

Thanks for all the nice comments.

 

David

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Wizard of the Moor

Thanks for this detailed explanation. I hope that I've understood it now.

 

I take it that the computer rack mounts are something like big drawer runners? What is the maximum travel that they have?

 

The idea of a vertically traversing fiddleyard has occupied a lot of the meetings of TOERAG lately. Perhaps your design will finally convince us to build something...

 

Cheers,

 

James

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  • RMweb Gold
Fen End Pit
  • RMweb Gold
Thanks for this detailed explanation. I hope that I've understood it now.

 

I take it that the computer rack mounts are something like big drawer runners? What is the maximum travel that they have?

 

The idea of a vertically traversing fiddleyard has occupied a lot of the meetings of TOERAG lately. Perhaps your design will finally convince us to build something...

 

Cheers,

 

James

 

Yes, the rack mounts are just like the kind of runners you get for a filing cabinet drawer. I guess the travel is about 80cm.

 

David

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Jaggzuk

Thanks David for the additional details and photos, very much appreciated. This is only the 2nd vertical traverser fiddle yard I have seen. The other one was very much on the huge scale and was motorised too. But I have to say on the size side and also the simplicity front I really like yours!

 

It has certainly inspired me to consider this solution and so enabling me to go for a round-e-round layout now. I even like the idea that with a cover to the front, rolling could be stored and protected in the traverser rack.

 

Paul

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  • RMweb Gold
Fen End Pit
  • RMweb Gold
Thanks David for the additional details and photos, very much appreciated. This is only the 2nd vertical traverser fiddle yard I have seen. The other one was very much on the huge scale and was motorised too. But I have to say on the size side and also the simplicity front I really like yours!

 

It has certainly inspired me to consider this solution and so enabling me to go for a round-e-round layout now. I even like the idea that with a cover to the front, rolling could be stored and protected in the traverser rack.

 

Paul

 

I certainly plan to tidy up the yard to make it a bit more like a display case, possibly putting a perspex front on it, maybe some nice veneer to make it look a bit smarter. The dust prevention issue would certainly be a big advantage. For my situation I wouldn't have been able to fit a continuous run in anywhere near as well if I had needed to provide a fiddle yard horizontally. Tempting though motorised control is I suspect it would be an unnecessary complication for most situations. Obviously very few people bother to motorise a horizontal yard. The important thing is to try and get the counter balance right so that you don't need to go on a body building course before you can move the yard.

 

David

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