SRman's Current Layout - Newton Broadway

[SRman]

A little revision to the track in the previous photos: I have now put a medium radius point in and adjusted the alignment, although I can see it still needs some tweaking. The points positioned in the foreground are testing the feasibility of putting a crossover just there.

[SRman]

And some further work done this morning, through to the early part of this afternoon, after which my back gave out (I have been suffering chronic back pain for over a year, and the reason was only recently revealed ... arthritis - Oh well, I'm sure a good many of you reading this also have the same problems).

I have realigned both tracks since yesterday's photo, and added the crossover. I'm not entirely happy with the crossover's reverse curve, but all other trial positions with straight and/or curved points just didn't work within the limits of my 2' radius outer curves - the Peco curved points are really nice but the outer radius is 5' and that just doesn't work here, except at the transitions into straights as I have done in this instance.

All three points on the main lines in these photos have now been dealt with to allow frog polarity switching to occur automatically with some Gaugemaster modules.

I have made up a card template to space the tracks on the curves , now, so there will be a little less trial and error for the remaining double track curves, as at the end of the layout (the next bit to be done!).






I have bought some code 75 points for the loco shed and yard area inside the end curves, and also a couple of lengths of bullhead track, so that area will appear much more lightly laid than the main lines. That's still a little way off, though.

Overall, I am pleased with my progress here. I have also been giving thought to how the next bit of wiring is going to be done, because I want to insert a couple of circuit breakers into the line before the wires reach any tracks.

[SRman]

Not very well earlier today, but I did extend the curve at the end by one more yard of double track. I am so close to having a complete circuit of double track! It won't be in a runnable state for a while longer, though; I still have several points to lift and convert properly for "DCC-friendliness" and auto-polarity switching.

Still feeling pleased with myself now, though.

[SRman]

2nd post: These two photos illustrate why I dislike reverse curves.  The end throws on the coaches, especially longer ones, are shown up in the second pic, while the first shows how it should ideally look all the way through the crossover (in this case - reverse curves on plain track can also show exactly the same traits). The difference? A few inches of movement of the coaches through the crossover.

[John Tomlinson]

Looking at the pictures, could you not put the crossover in the straight tracks after the curve, the ones that run along the wall at the back?

 

John.

[SRman]

There is a crossover going in at the end of that curve as well, but that won't have a reverse curve because it is going from the inner to the outer track - curved point on the inner track leading into the curved road on the straight point on the outer. These two crossovers serve different purposes, with the one in the photos (so far) serving the loco sheds and storage, so, for the most part, light engines will be the main users. If there is room, I may add a carriage shed, but I'm fairly sure that will only be able to cope with two or three car units.
 

The crossover on the other side will be to allow whole trains to be reversed from the fiddle yard loops. Trains on the outer track will run 'wrong road' for a short stretch, before gaining the inner rails. there is also a crossover at the other end of the fiddle yard that will allow limited swaps in the other direction ... the limit being the trains have to be on the centre lines (the loop nearest the centre of the eight lines)

Edited February 25, 2018 by SRman

[SRman]

I now have a continuous double tracked circuit! It isn't runnable - several points to be rejigged for DCC and no wiring, yet. However, one train has run under its own power on DC with some jumper leads from my programming/test track; that's how I got the class 166 around to the back crossover to illustrate how I think a crossover should appear (as mentioned earlier, I really try to avoid reverse curves if at all possible).

Anyway, here are a few more photos of my progress, with the last couple showing that back crossover.

The engine shed has been posed in the later shots in approximately the position I can see it in in my mind's eye. This may well change!












While I was doing all this, my other half was busy sewing, with some "help" from Hattie. Hattie wants to come into the train room, and will shoot in at any opportunity - I left the door open very briefly while disposing of some of the rubbish and leftover bits, and she jumped straight off the table and through the door before I could get back.

[SRman]

I have cleared some of the 'junk' off the layout now, and have been experimenting with ideas for the shed area. I did try the turntable in a position next to the running lines, with the shed further back towards the back of the layout, but I didn't like that, so have tried the arrangement in the next two photos. The tracks are overlapped to suggest points, whether they exist or not at this stage. The two tracks to the right (in the 2nd photo) of the turntable could house a couple of short EMUs or DEMUs.






I also took a couple of late night photos from the other end of the layout to show an overall view (or as near as I can get to that).

[P.C.M]

Hi Jeff, You seem to be getting a bit done at the moment. Will the top level be running by the time you have your meeting next month.

 

Cheers Peter.

[SRman]

Hi Jeff, You seem to be getting a bit done at the moment. Will the top level be running by the time you have your meeting next month.

 

Cheers Peter.

 

I'm not sure, Peter. I may have partial power to it, but I don't know if I'll be able to get the lot running - it's only a few weeks away. 

[DougN]

SRman I have a sneaky suspicion that you will be able to get some of the upper level running for the meeting. A lot of it will be dependent on what you have planned in the way of wiring.

[John Tomlinson]

I can only look in awe at the speed of your progress!

 

Just a thought, the turntable rather hides behind the Shed building, any merit in putting these the other way round, so that the turntable is at the front?

 

John.

[St Enodoc]

I have cleared some of the 'junk' off the layout now, and have been experimenting with ideas for the shed area. I did try the turntable in a position next to the running lines, with the shed further back towards the back of the layout, but I didn't like that, so have tried the arrangement in the next two photos. The tracks are overlapped to suggest points, whether they exist or not at this stage. The two tracks to the right (in the 2nd photo) of the turntable could house a couple of short EMUs or DEMUs.

 

 

 

 

I also took a couple of late night photos from the other end of the layout to show an overall view (or as near as I can get to that).

 

 

Now that I've seen those extra views, it occurs to me that if you put the front crossover the other side of the level crossing, nearer to the main part of the layout, you could avoid the reverse curves. Granted, you would need to swap a left hand point for a right hand one but it might be worth a try.

[SRman]

Now that I've seen those extra views, it occurs to me that if you put the front crossover the other side of the level crossing, nearer to the main part of the layout, you could avoid the reverse curves. Granted, you would need to swap a left hand point for a right hand one but it might be worth a try.

 

I did try that in a 'dry run', but the 5' radius of the curved point pushed the whole curve out too far. I wanted the two crossovers to be trailing as per older railway practice.

[SRman]

I can only look in awe at the speed of your progress!

 

Just a thought, the turntable rather hides behind the Shed building, any merit in putting these the other way round, so that the turntable is at the front?

 

John.

 

That was pretty well my thoughts on it, but when I placed the turntable to the front, with the shed behind, it just didn't work for me. The overall layout of the tracks became more contrived.

[SRman]

 

I'm not sure, Peter. I may have partial power to it, but I don't know if I'll be able to get the lot running - it's only a few weeks away. 

 

 

SRman I have a sneaky suspicion that you will be able to get some of the upper level running for the meeting. A lot of it will be dependent on what you have planned in the way of wiring.

I may get some power to it, and could run some shuttles, but I'm also a bit unsure of the viaducts as I still have 5 more double tracked arches to convert from the Vollmer single track viaduct kits.

 

You may notice, though, that the under-track plate girder bridge is taking shape, where I had a place holder before. It shows up with a bright white, unpainted plastic card deck in one of the overall pics.

[DougN]

Well I must apologise for stealing you away on Saturday afternoon.... 

 

Any how why don't we cut up some temporary timber support for the viaduct. It can be temporarily pined in place so you can see the effect of the trains running. All it will take is a couple of jumper wires and a single point of connection for the meeting in 2 weeks.... i didnt realise that came around so quickly! Sing out if you need some help with the wiring up. As you know I am pretty quick at it all! 

 

chat soon

[SRman]

Work has been progressing on wiring the new bits, albeit, slowly. I decided to experiment with 'suitcase' wiring connectors, also known as 'tap and run' connectors.

Initial tests proved a little hit and miss, using a pack of 10 that I had bought some years ago. The intended wire size was a little too large for the wire I am using, so the metal 'guillotine' in the connectors wasn't piercing the insulation reliably to contact the wire itself. Still, encouraged by the relative simplicity of wiring the droppers into the DCC bus wires, I persevered by buying a pack of 50 connectors intended for 3mm wire. However, while my bus wires are around that diameter, the droppers are a bit smaller again, and connections were still a bit unreliable.

I slept on the problem and had a brainwave overnight: if I doubled the smaller wire over, it would force at least one part of it far enough into the 'guillotine' to connect the wires. I tried it this morning and it was successful. It is a little more fiddly than before, but still eliminates a whole heap of soldering of connections. I still have to solder the droppers to the track, but there is now no soldering required beneath the baseboards.

I have also, for the first time, used some auto-frog juicers (or whatever they are called!), in this case, from Gaugemaster. The idea is simplicity itself, using further wires tapped from the bus wires to feed the two terminals on the corners of the boards, and a dropper wire soldered to the Peco frog wire on the point itself and to the 'F' terminal on the Gaugemaster board.

Aside from a few hiccups with dirty track and wheels, it all worked perfectly as expected, and I have been happily trundling trains back and forth from the overbridge to just short of the crossover at the back of the layout, and through the front crossover.

Who knows, with a four day weekend at the end of this week, I may yet have some trains running right round the upper level, ready for my BRMA meeting on the 17th March although only with manually thrown points at this stage.

[Peter Beckett]

Looking good for the Garratt 

 

Peter

[SRman]

Here are a few pics illustrating the description on my previous post. The wire loops can be clearly seen in the last couple.

[SRman]

And here's how it is all working so far. I am deliberately using short wheelbase locomotives to test the frog powering, and sound-fitted units to see if there are any interruptions or dead spots (sound is particularly sensitive to these hiccups).

In this short video, the Model Rail 0-6-0T USA Dock Tank can be seen using both crossovers as well as traversing the entire length of my electrified track on the upper level to date.

[John Tomlinson]

Great stuff with the running. Succesfully pushing a train through facing points on a curve is always a good way of separating the men from the boys when it comes to tracklaying!

 

John.

[SRman]

Thanks, John.

 

On the lower level, I propelled a 4-wheel ex-Southern CCT around at full speed to test the tracklaying. It behaved perfectly. I haven't done that on the upper level yet, because there isn't enough room at present for any overrun of the test train. Once I get the full circuit running, though ... watch this space!

[Gwiwer]

I am watching this space from the frozen north. Snowdrifts and floods have yet to keep me away from RMweb. The new work is looking good and I could wish that I was still an hour rather than a day away in order to drop in and see it first hand.

[SRman]

Thanks, Rick. I know you'll be here in spirit.