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Resurrection

D869

Entry posted by D869

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My workbench sits in a bay window that gets the full sun in the afternoon. I had a bit of modelling time on Friday but it was just too hot to be spending time sat at the workbench. Sometimes I set up in the back garden with something fairly self contained like assembling some bogie kits, but I already have several bogies assembled and waiting for coaches to make use of them.

 

I've been buying and building a lot of coaches recently to run on St Ruth. I've enjoyed doing this but it's always a bit disappointing that I can't run them except when we have St Ruth fully set up - South Yard can't hold more than a couple of Mark 1s - hardly an impressive train and even then they can't go anywhere.

 

I had a bit of an idea. About twenty years ago when we lived in our old house I started a branch terminus layout called 'Taw Bridge' based on the track plan of Swanage. It was 8 feet by one foot and used to live on top of some long bookshelves. We moved to our current house 16 years ago but Taw Bridge has no suitable home and has been languishing unfinished in the garage and gathering dust ever since. The temperature in the garage on Friday was pretty bearable so I thought I would see if Taw Bridge still worked.

 

Having scraped the worst of the dust off the first question was whether I could get the points to move. These are operated from a Gem lever frame connected via a mechanical locking tray to wire in tube under the baseboard. Initially just one point lever would move (surprisingly it was part of the double slip). The locking tray seemed OK but most of the steel wires had seized in the copper (Mercontrol) tubes. A bit of oil and some persistent wiggling managed to free up three of the point levers. The only one that remained stuck was the release crossover but this had other issues anyway - one of the tiebars was missing.

 

Next step was to arrange some juice. I still use the original transformer box on South Yard, so that wasn't a problem. Before plugging it in I checked for shorts in the panel with a multimeter - no problem. Plugging in the power didn't blow any fuses and I was able to trace the 16V AC feed through the panel - result! On to hooking up a controller... This was a bit trickier because I've changed to mini-DIN connectors since abandoning Taw Bridge. I had to make up an adapter. I made this up to the pin wiring suggested by the Abingdon MRC because this is the standard that we now use on St Ruth. Unfortunately Taw Bridge was wired with a different arrangement (from Helsby, Tumill and Haddon if anyone remembers that) so I also had to re-wire the socket on the panel.

 

Having completed the wiring changes, I hooked up a controller and the lights came on. I then plugged the control panel into the centre board, cleaned some track in the goods yard, plonked a loco on it, turned the section switches on... turned the controller knob... nothing.

 

I then tried the platform road and this time... success! Taw Bridge was up and running for the first time in 16 years. After some more track cleaning I was able to run the loco on the run round loop and even drive in some directions through the double slip. One of the tiebars had detached so it wasn't all working. I also found that the loco stalled on the other side of the slip and vaguely remembered that this was a deliberate safety feature - a module needed to be plugged in to the fiddle yard before this track became live. That reminded me about the way that the goods yard wiring worked. It has a kick-back siding and the section switch only does anything when the siding points are reversed. I reversed these points and the goods yard started working too.

 

At this point time was up but I was pretty pleased that Taw Bridge still worked - the wiring had survived 16 years of disuse without a problem. The (soldered PCB) track was still capable of running trains. Even the points and double slip were mostly working - with the exception of a few where the tiebars had come adrift.

 

So I put Taw Bridge away again slightly more carefully. Next time I shall fix up the tiebars on the double slip and eventually repair the release crossover and its operating linkage. The basic homelessness problem remains, as do some issues with the baseboard joints and all of the other mistakes that I made when designing and building it so I don't see any prospect of it acquiring any scenery or any more buildings in the forseeable future but at least it will see some occasional use even if only as a test track.

 

Finally a picture of Taw Bridge in all its unfinished glory lit by the sun streaming through the garage windows.

 

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  • RMweb Gold
bcnPete
  • RMweb Gold

Andy, hi

 

That was an enjoyable read...but now you have dangled the carrot...we need to know more!

 

Please don't wait another 16 years to tell us though.

 

It really looks an interesting project, and am guessing that other short board seen vertically hooks onto the right hand end?

 

Would be great to hear a bit more about it...and hey...what's wrong with having multiple layout projects?...:D

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D869

Sounds like a fun way to spend the day. Finish it, you know you want to.....

I wouldn't rule it out one day but the first step is to fix up some of the problems caused by the ravages of time so that the thing is actually usable other than as a dust collector. There isn't much point adding scenery until the layout finds a proper home because it will get wrecked in the garage. Finishing it would also mean addressing some of those boring 'infrastructure' issues that came from my bad planning and construction - dodgy baseboard joints, unsuitable supports and no provision for lighting.

 

Please don't wait another 16 years to tell us though.

Ah well... if RMWeb had been around 16 years ago...

 

It really looks an interesting project, and am guessing that other short board seen vertically hooks onto the right hand end?

 

Yes - the centre board is 4 feet long. You can see the other 2 foot 'scenic' board with the release crossover. There is another 2 foot board with a flat top for shuffling fiddle yard cassettes around. Very traditional in concept - the only concessions to modern thought being the use of a cassette fiddle yard and the truncation of the track plan at the (non existent) bridge so that one crossover is omitted.

 

Would be great to hear a bit more about it...and hey...what's wrong with having multiple layout projects?... :D

 

Nothing wrong with that but I have some way to go before I catch up with you.

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  • RMweb Gold
bcnPete
  • RMweb Gold

dodgy baseboard joints, unsuitable supports and no provision for lighting.

 

But all my layouts have those as a prerequisite :laugh:

 

Seriously though Andy...South Yard can be stored on a shelf so freeing up a bit of wall in your garage space to make them readily accessible and before you know it, we will see a blog running on the progress...(he says rather cheekily)

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D869

But all my layouts have those as a prerequisite :laugh:

 

Seriously though Andy...South Yard can be stored on a shelf so freeing up a bit of wall in your garage space to make them readily accessible and before you know it, we will see a blog running on the progress...(he says rather cheekily)

 

Ah... I didn't mention that the shelf in the garage is about 6 feet off the floor did I? Fine for storage but useless for playing trains. It is also a lot less than 8 feet long so Taw Bridge needs to be stacked when it is put away. For now it will need to sit on the floor when it comes out to play. I might think about buying or building some decent trestles in future.

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