Jump to content
 
  • entries
    40
  • comments
    201
  • views
    27,309

Tweedale Goes Modular


awoodford

858 views

Tweedale has acquired a temporary appendage. Ultimately it will form part of a small tabletop modular system seperate from the Tweedale theme, but for now it provides a run round loop for the layout, which allows operation with just one loco rather than the usual two. The plan below shows how it fits in with the rest of Tweedale...

 

blogentry-26120-0-51228700-1481107682.jpg

 

I've tried to keep the length of the run round loop as short as possible. With a capacity of 2 short-wheelbase wagons, a small turntable at one end and a wheel-screaming 6 inch radius point at the other, it just fits into 18 inches.

 

The photo below shows the standard end pieces that will be used for the modular system. The piece at the right is the master, on which a short length of track has been carefully centred. Other end pieces are then made up so they fit the master and their rails align. In theory they should all then line up with each other, and any number of modules could be plugged together in any configuration. One end piece has been glued to the new baseboard at the left, and the other one at the top has since been attached to the main layout board.

 

blogentry-26120-0-31340200-1481107697.jpg

 

I never fail to be amazed at what one can get away with in 00. The point is a case in point (so to speak), and breaks nearly all the rules of genteel point construction. Two parallel straight lines were drawn 16.5mm apart on a piece of paper. On another piece of paper the curved rails were drawn with a compass. The latter drawing was then glued on top of the former and the straight lines traced through onto the top sheet where covered. Sleeper spacing was marked every 10mm. That gave me the template for the point. With no transitions, a sharply curved point blade and a crossing angle of about 1 in 1.8, it sounds like a recipe for disaster, yet it actually works. A bit of tweeking of the check rails and the Bachmann 0-6-0 Drewry shunter lurches around it with no trouble at all. Those curves are no place to be pushing wagons though, so the loop will be purely for the loco to run around its train.

 

The point mechanism beneath the baseboard is shown below. The slide switch provides appropriate power to the point frog. A hole was drilled through the knob of the slide switch and a piece of brass rod glued in, and passed through a hole in the baseboard to the moving-sleeper tiebar on the point. There is enough springiness in the rod to cope with the difference in throws between the slide switch and the tiebar. Scraps of wood and bamboo skewers complete the mechanism. The point will be manually operated by a knob glued to the skewer at the right.

 

blogentry-26120-0-96473400-1481107715.jpg

 

Turntable in the next blog.
Cheers Alan.

  • Like 9

2 Comments


Recommended Comments

  • RMweb Gold

Great to see Tweedale is evolving! Have you any plans to 'scenicify' this section?

Link to comment
Thanks Corbs. The section will be scenified eventually, but I've not decided how yet. For now I'm more interested in trying out some ideas, getting the thing working and providing a bit of a change to Tweedale's operating patterns. 

Alan.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...