Paul4256

Thanks everyone. Plenty to ponder on.

To start with, I apologise if this has been answered before but so much has been written about using curved points that at my age, I may not be around long enough to read it all! On my layout, I have a double main line heading out of the station, curing to the left. I want to include a cross-over at this point (mainly because that's how the real station was!) but am struggling to figure out if I can do this easily. The curve is made from 3rd & 4th radius curves. The curved points I have seen look much more of a gentle curve that this. Anyone know if I can do this? The image below show the real railway back in the 60's, you can just see the cross-over on the right hand edge. .

The new rail bus service between Tavistock & Okehampton station is routed via Brentor & Lydford (station road - opposite the gorge). Scheduled to meet each train. https://dartmoorline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Timetable-Leaflet-Service-118-from-Dec-2021.pdf

I know, but I don't get out much!

OK, think the new CDU may be faulty or simply not up to the job. Got a multimeter and checked everything and all seems OK. Replaced with a new Gaugemaster unit and all seems well. Having lots of fun now testing & sorting my pile of resistors!

Thanks everyone.. I'll get one!

Hi Folks, Got a problem with my point motors that I'm puzzling over. My DC layout has approx 22 point motors (though never more than 2 used together) with a mix of Peco & Seep motors and 2 * PPI4 from Block signalling. Up until recently, all has worked fine using a Gaugemaster CDU. I noticed that after first switching on the power, it was taking longer for the points to be usable and eventually those furthest from the CDU didn't switch at all. Assuming a duff CDU, I bought a replacement single capacitor one from Block signalling. On the bench, it worked fine switching one motor running off the 15v AC from a very old Hornby controller. Connecting it to the layout using 16v AC from my Gaugemaster dual controller, nothing worked. Swapped the old Hornby controller in, and CDU got hot and began smoking. I have tested every switch on my control panel and the wiring if working as it should. Strangely, removing the CDU and connecting to the 12v DC on the Hornby and cerefully trying each point, they all work perfectly (naturally those in pairs took two flicks of the switch to move both motors). Now wondering if the old CDU was OK and it's the 16v AC output on the controller at fault. Bit if a loss to know where to look next to resolve the problem. If anyone has an idea, it would be welcomed. I don't have a multimeter.

Just dropping some number into the debate (source: DCC 2033 population projections - does not include unitary authorites of Plymouth & Torbay) A little over 38% of the Devon population lives outside the districts of South Hams, Teignbridge, East Devon & Exeter and are poorly (if at all) served by public transport. The biggest population centres, Plymouth, Torbay & Exeter would also be served by the inland route. East Devon already has two routes to London (GWR & SR). If we take these areas out, in effect the whole argument about serving the population of Devon is really focussed on South Hams & Teignbridge, less than 43% of the actual population we should be considering when planning public transport for the future. Not forgetting the whole of Cornwall (half a million+) who suffer when the current line is impacted by weather events. Yes, I agree most freight moves by road now, but we should be planning for a future without internal combustion vehicles and I don't see viable electric trucks yet that can work outside urban areas. As for viability of an inland route, it is well documented in many publications how passenger numbers were 'manipulated' prior to the closure of most of the SR route, but that's a different debate for elsewhere. I have just returned from Europe, travelling on their railways which seem to be regarded as a public service, rather than (as we seem to) simply a profit centre. Whether governments like it or not, there are some things that provide a national infrastructure for the benefit of as many as possible - never an issue with roads but railways, rural bus routes, broadband and dare I say it, the mobile phone network get the 'spreadsheet' treatment. As many have said before, sea level rise and servere weather events are continuing to grow in the UK. Every time the weather is bad, or the wind is on the wrong direction, we get a reduced service on the Exeter - Plymouth line. To quote the head of the Environment Agency who recently said “The coastline has never stayed in the same place and there have always been floods, but climate change is increasing and accelerating these threats. We can’t win a war against water by building away climate change with infinitely high flood defences."

Just caught up with this subject. It makes avbsolute sense to have an alternative to Dawlish in order to link Exeter & Plymouth/Cornwall. Luckily, the old SR route is mainly still there (much of it a cycle route) with only a few buildings on the trackbed. I have heard it said that the roue would cost too much to build to modern high speed standards (ignoring the Atlantic Coast Express which ran for years), but I think that misses the point completely. Having only a line around South Devon is very useful for those living & working down there, but there is much more to Devon than the South Coast. Having a viable railway at Okehampton would bring services within range of so many communities which have seen proportionately large increases in housing, either under way or planned with little employment in the surrounding areas and a poor road network. Re-opening the missing 19 miles of the old SR line (even if only single track) would provide ..... a) An alternative to Dawlish during harsh winter, and now just as likely Summer, storms. Just as it was in BR days when ex-GWR drivers regularly ran on the Southern route to maintian route knowledge for just this purpose. b) Ideal freight route getting slow traffic off the congested main line. c) Be a great summer attraction with the opportunity of running heritage trains. d) Provide the branch-off point for any future reinstatement of a line to Launceston (via Halwill). Remember, the line still exists as far as Bere Alston at one end, and Meldon at the other. Charter HST trains have recently run from Okehampton to London and sold out way before the trips happened. Sunday trains from Okehampton to Exeter are popular and cut out many car journeys. This line doesn't need to be high speed or twin trakc, it simply needs to exist. Interesting article: http://www.greengauge21.net/re-opening-tavistock-okehampton-why-when-and-how/

Hi, I am building a OO layout of Okehampton, Devon. The line was LSWR then SR and includes a concrete pre-cast building which I understand was originally to house a Wickham trolley or two plus workshops/stores (see photo) which then had the centre filled in to make a larger store . The building survives, but the line is still operational so I can't get near it to photograph/measure for scratch-building, so I was wondering if anyone knows of any plans/kits for this? I can't believe this is the only one in exisrtance, but have not found anything online as yet. Thanks

Hi folks, Thanks for yout thoughts... turns out it is a problem with the A0 pin. Moved to A5 and it now works correctly. Should have checked that, but in my defense (!) just about all the sample code I have seen available uses A0. Leasson learned!

Still playing with the L298 motor shield... came across this funny. If I test my potentiometer directly on the Uno just using +5v, GND & A0 for the reading, I get a lovely smooth progression from 0 to 1023 with 512 ish at the centre of rotation. If I now drop the motor shield on top, connect through to the same pins from the shield and rotate the knob it reads from 0 to around 260 at about 95% turn, then jumps to 700/800 then to 1023 at full turn. Most strange and I can't figure out what's going on. Makes no difference if the shield is powered or not. Code on the Uno is next to nothing.... int potPin = 0; // select the input pin for the potentiometer int val = 0; // variable to store the value coming from the sensor void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); } void loop() { val = analogRead(potPin); // read the value from the sensor Serial.println(val); }

Thanks for your thoughts.. the Infineon TLE 5206 sounds interesting and worth further investigation. Robin, any chance of a copy of some code to work with it? Thanks.

Arduino is a standard UNO R3, The motor driver is a Deek-Robot L298p off Ebay, can't see a datasheet.... https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=291942380591&view=all&tid=1696068034019 Code with previous library had same issues but also loud noise from the motor. Power is from old Hornby controller 12v/1Amp uncontrolled output, UNO powered from 9v battery. Snipped through the power feed from the L298 to Uno to ensure independance. Problem much less with a newer class 08 Hornby shunter than with the older S15 class so maybe I have issues with this loco? A capacitor across the track feed outputs has helped quite a lot. Library if from Github https://github.com/KensCode/TrainMotor

Hi everyone, I am playing around with a few Arduinos on my DC analogue OO gauge layout, mainly to operate points & decouplers (cheap servos) and home made signals so that the signals can react correctly to point settings and loco presence detection (using TCRT5000 sensors). I decided to see if I could control the trains from the Arduino code so that the software can know where trains are, their direction & speed to make other stuff on the layout happen, mainly sound files played via cheap MP3 players. All good fun. When first attempted I got a horrid whine from the loco motors, regardless of speed which stumped me.. until I found a super library & code by Ken Shores called "Trainmotor" on the web that totally eliminates the issue. Fantastic, and all worked perfectly on a test track. Transferring to my layout, however, causes all kinds of power fluctuation issues whenever a loco traverses some of my live frog points or an isolation section join. I guess it's mini 'shorts', but I can't think how to fix it. Has anyone else done this and found a solution (apart from tear up & re-lay all the track!!) ??