The tracklaying of the mainline is now complete. The first photograph shows the tracksetter being used to make sure that the straight track is trully straight.
The curved track is the same radius, curved using the same template as the other end of the fiddleyard. The curve from the goods yard entry point is a transition curve. This means that when lloking aong the track where towards the where the road overbridge bridge will be there is no abrupt change of curve radius.
The photogra
Not my birthday lads & lasses, but my 21st entry in the Clovelly Road blog. As you will see from the photograph below, the catch point has been attached to the goods yard entry point.
These new Peco points, with their shorter closure rails, often called point blades, look better, but it is much harder to provide a hard wired electrical connection to them, because of their short length.
I've also had problems, with the Cut & Shut chassis of the brake van, pictured below and I
Since the last entry I have laid the track base foam over the back of baseboard 1 and over the join onto baseboard 2, See photograph below.
To get the foam flat, over the join, was basically straight forward. Before laying the foam I planed the join area to get it completely flat. The final material removal was done using a scalpel as a plane to make the join area completely flat, allowing the top surface of the foam to be flat.
The curve of the track was was preformed using the pri
The brake van, photographed attempting to traverse the original fiddleyard curves was too long, Both to negotiate the curve without causing too much friction and too long when compared with the length of the prototype.
The length has been reduced by 10mm, that relates to 5'. It is still slightly too long, but it now looks the part. The planned curve has a radius of 125 mm radius which translates to 62' 6” radius. This although tight, was larger than the tightest radius on the Clovelly Tram
I find when building micro layouts and operating them at exhibitions one need to think carefully about their design to make them more interesting to watch and operate. On Clovelly Road I have decided that I'm going to have working catch points on the entrance to the goods yard.
On the prototype these were installed to prevent runaways. These were wagons who had not had their manual brakes properly applied running away down the gradient and causing problems further down the line. This was a s
I've been working on completing board 2. This involved two distinct parts the woodwork and the electrics, i.e. the input from the controller to the bus. The testing before assembly is very important because rectification is much simpler prior to assembly.
The electrics, the socket was pre wired and tested before being attached to the baseboard back. The complete assembly was then attached to the rest of baseboard 2 using glue and micro panel pins.
The corner was then reprofiled us
The previous curves was too tight. I have increased the baseboard width and now I am using AnyRail version 5 to check that the curve will work before laying the track.
The problem was the couplings where causing the wagon wheels to rub on the inside of the outer rail. This friction caused the running to be uneven.
I have not been working on the model recently, this is because I have found myself in a very difficult situation. I've been the victim of as assault, but the police have
During the last session working on Clovelly Road, I realised that the curves at the back of the layout were to sharp, for the trains to negotiate without problems. These were caused by the flanges rubbing against the inside of the curves outer rail.
To solve this problem it was necessary to increase the width of the baseboard. By examining the carrying case I found that this could be increased by 26mm. This has now been done.
Baseboard 2
Attached to the original baseboard
Both ba
I've attempted to get the trains running by fettling the track. I have got the locomotive running sweetly in both directions. But when I attached a couple of wagons, then the running problems returned with a vengeance. I think that I pushed my luck too far.
This is because the coupling swings to far out, causing the following wagons to derail. When the track was fettled, increasing the gauge, the wagons stayed on the track, but the rolling resistance was too great.
When working with 2mm
I have now installed a permanent wiring connection between the controller and the layout. This uses a 2.1 mm DC panel mounted socket and plug as shown below.
This arrangement allows the train to be run continuously. The train runs the complete circuit, but it slows down at several points, due to the sharp curvature.
The track gauge needs to be slightly widened at these points. This process is called fettling the track. Fettling is more necessary, on this layout, because I am pushi
Today I started to wire Clovelly Road. The Red wires is South and the Black is North.
The initial tests were carried out with a DC controller and an unclipped locomotive. The connection to the controller was achieved using a temporary connection. This will be replaced with a permanent connection later.
The point is permanently wired, so that contact between the closure rails and the running rails is not critical.
Photograph of the overall wiring
Photograph of a track connection und
Back from exotic holiday location, Alderney, and rearing to go again, with my modelling projects.
Looking at the layout with fresh eyes, having not seen it for about 2 weeks, I noticed that there was a problem with sleeper spacing on the first section of track I layed.
The bottom of the track, with the glue scaped off.
There is rarely an unsolvable problems with models, they can be overcome by applying some ingenuity and a little skill. I carefully lifted the track using a scalpel scr
I will not be posting for a few days because I off on a foreign holiday, to Alderney. I have painted the bottom of the layout, so that I can now proceed with the electrical wiring.
Julie
Hiding the transition from the visual to the hidden part, usually called the fiddleyard is traditional done using a bridge or tunnel. The is what is going to be done at the end of the halt platform.
It was necessary to cut out a rectangle, of the track foam, to allow the bridge to be correctly placed. It will be held in position with two small screws, allowing it to be removed if required.
The bridge is constructed using a modified Peco single track bridge kit. The bridge opening has been
I made the track laid yesterday slightly too short. But this was solved by pre-curing a short piece of track to place the point in the correct position.
The stages are remove the rail from the sleeper, then bend to the required radius. It is difficult to bend the last 20mm or so of a rail length. Therefore I allowed 20mm extra on both ends, bent the rail and then trimmed the 20mm off each end.
It is essential with any track laying, that you don't trim the section to the exact length, un
I then glued foam onto the baseboard surface and then glued the track in place. The foam was then cut to approx size.
I then checked to see if two wagons, one a long wheelbase guards van, when coupled together would pass over the bridge without hitting the sides. They do, so I can continue with the track laying.
The photographs below, were taken indoors on my desk in the study. Therefor I was forced to use the flash.
The test wagon on the bridge.
The fiddle yard area.
Looking
The next task is to start the track laying. I am going to use a technique which I learned from a short video by Bob Felphs, Peco's track designer. It has unfortunately been removed recently from the website. He advocated the technique for the last 100 mm of track before a point or a track joint only. I have found that when building micro layouts, such as Clovelly Road it is advisable to pre-curve all of the track.
Essentially you cut the sleepers on the section to be pre-curved into sections
I have constructed the sheep creep, using a Peco single track bridge kit, as it basis. It will not be fixed into position until the track is laid, wired and tested. I have constructed it as narrow as I think I can get away with. This has the effect that hopefully it will not dominate the completed scene.
The shape of the back slot, in the top sheet, will be adjusted when I know the exact shape of the curved backscene.
Photograph of the sheep creep before insertion, into the bridge box.
It's so long since I had a whole day to myself! That I have forgotten how much modelling can be done in one. I have now cut out the areas of the bottom layer of the plywood, not required for strength. This reduces the weight, important if the layout is carried as hand luggage on public transport and allows space for the electrics.
The bottom layer has not been glued into position, this cannot happen until the sheep creep construction is complete.
Photograph showing the blocks that keep th
Construction of Clovelly Road continues. I decided that I wished to have a bridge, or sheep creep to use it's correct name, passing under the track. The baseboard is only 22mm deep from the top surface to the botton, thus between the two pieces od ply there is only 15mm to play with.
Shows the position of the sheep creep.
Shows the detail of how the bridge box is constructed.
Shows the extra block installed to make the layout surface firmer, i.e. flatter and less lickley to move.
Ju
The layout baseboard has now been cut to shape. The back, the straight side was found to be slightly warped. It was straighten using a longer piece of the wood from which the spacers are made and the a strengthening piece of plywood was added along this edge.
The whole layout baseboard.
Showing the spacers on the curved edge.
Showing the stiffener and strengthener along the back edge.
Julie
Clovelly Road is designed to be easily transportable, using public transport, but still present a modelling challenge.
The overall baseboard, before it has been but to final shape, as marked by pencil line.
A detail to show the basic construction method.
Julie
