greglikestrains Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Hi, I'm new to this forum and have been starting a small layout since New Year. (My first) I have created my baseboard and pinned my track and now gong on to detailing, the era is unclear but ranges from the 60's to 90's. It's situated between two bridges in a town or small industrial estate and receives commuter trains and small freight/engineers trains. Here is my progress so far: Rolling stock wishlist for layout: Class 37 Class 33 (maybe) Class 108 2 car EMU (maybe) RES Carriage Civil engineers wagons Currently have a Class 03 (Excuse the photos they were taken on my phone, better ones to come just the only one I had of the start) Earlier plans: (How do you fix that track gap?) Final Plan: Signal box lighting with Arduino! I will post soon with high detailed photos and progress which hasn't been shown yet. Including a Youtube channel yet to be made to show progress through there and tutorials for Arduino related layout control/lighting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 This looks a promising plan. The Hornby express points would narrow the gap between the tracks. I will follow with interest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesg Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Hi Greg, Welcome to the forum. Good to see another shunting layout here. I've been looking at some old Hornby points I had lying around. The distance between parallel lines of a crossover can be reduced by cutting up to about 10mm of rail from the diverging line of each point and building up the check rail to make it effective. Having tested this, I can say it limits the rolling stock that will run through the crossover without derailing. Slightly flexible couplings, like the NEM pocket type couplings, run through fine. Larger Tri-ang/Hornby couplings, or a mix of couplings, will cause stock to derail. I'd be surprised if there isn't a topic on the forum somewhere discussing it. Using the Hornby express points, or Peco large radius points, will reduce the distance between the parallel lines without causing stock to derail so readily, but they are a lot longer than the short Hornby type. I like the lighting in the signal box - I hope this will be repeated for other buildings. Are you going to have the Arduino turn the lights on and off to make a transition between day and night? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLOSS Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Interesting layout, be great to see some updates soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greglikestrains Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 This looks a promising plan. The Hornby express points would narrow the gap between the tracks. I will follow with interest. Hi Greg, Welcome to the forum. Good to see another shunting layout here. I've been looking at some old Hornby points I had lying around. The distance between parallel lines of a crossover can be reduced by cutting up to about 10mm of rail from the diverging line of each point and building up the check rail to make it effective. Having tested this, I can say it limits the rolling stock that will run through the crossover without derailing. Slightly flexible couplings, like the NEM pocket type couplings, run through fine. Larger Tri-ang/Hornby couplings, or a mix of couplings, will cause stock to derail. I'd be surprised if there isn't a topic on the forum somewhere discussing it. Using the Hornby express points, or Peco large radius points, will reduce the distance between the parallel lines without causing stock to derail so readily, but they are a lot longer than the short Hornby type. I like the lighting in the signal box - I hope this will be repeated for other buildings. Are you going to have the Arduino turn the lights on and off to make a transition between day and night? Hi thanks for the support! I have chosen to use Hornby points because its the only track geometry i'm experienced but will be using Peco or Hornby points in the future but makes the best use of space being shorter. I understand the widths and radius is unrealistic and designed for the clearance on tight corners but it was the only track I had. I would really like to fix that track geometry, I was going to trim down a piece of track to fit but ended up destroying a spare piece to practise on due to having the wrong tools . I will be running narrower couplings because most of my rolling stock will be primarily Bachmann and my shunter (class 03) use to derail the wagons with large couplings. I will be lighting everything with my Arduino and have it control signals automatically If I get an EMU possibly a flash in a tunnel. I primarily went for the arduino as it was the only device which could act as a power supply but do functions for the cheap. I haven't thought of a day night control, but has got me thinking! I have an LDR so I could match real lighting conditions. I'm planning to get the arduino to run point motors if I install them and make LED's flicker. Expect some photos and progress on the weekend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greglikestrains Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 Hi, some changes have happened since my last post. Cable management and lighting. The begging of ballasting. This is my first time ballasting, i'm pretty pleased with how its come. I'm planning to weather the ballast soon. I will start working on realistic lighting effects (flickering, fade, ect) and buffer lights. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 Looking good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry1975 Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Looks good, will follow with intrest. Jerry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
greglikestrains Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 Expect an update and video soon I've done a lot of small jobs lately including a platform and buffers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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