HGS12063

Friday night was spent securing the point motor I clearly didn’t secure well enough, as it fell off whilst I was programming them!! Now fully secure, I took the opportunity to run some trains! Last night, also proved expensive... well... money was spent! More baseboards have been purchased. Once restrictions are lifted on travel, they will be collected and put to use. Track plan currently being worked on. Attached are pictures looking towards the station end.

Showing the current 2 boards of the layout set up this evening.

Another day, another update! Well today was spent on a number of tasks. Union conference, rail recovery conference and once finished with both, I sat down and got on with the layout. Today’s tasks included wiring in the remaining lights - although I will likely add some more into buildings. I’ve purchased some cheaper lamps for the pres line side, and I will add some colour to the lamps to tone them down. I’ve rejoined the boards together, and used my Hornby 466 as a guide to show the lighting at work. The 466 has been modified with added interior lights and BIL lights. Pictures to follow!

Today was spent on more wiring... a mixed day! Pros - DCC concepts ground signal wired Absolute Aspects signal all wired - apart from feather / route indicator Control panel built and nearly completed Cons - feather / route indicator works but is intermittent. I dropped the soldering iron on my foot... whilst on! Progress on the small board is shown below. Once the route indicator is sorted, I’ll move on to the station board and begin the wiring saga on that!

The last few days has been a rather tough learning curve. As previously noted, all auxiliary power for lighting and signals if remaining DC. I successfully wired in all streetlights, and tested them with a square battery. I then proceed to connect them to the mains via a 12v supply. I unfortunately forgot to add the all important resistor! As expected, they all died within a fraction of a second, and I wrote off many hours of work, as well as a fair amount of equipment! I walked away for a few days, and today I received a delivery of new lights, resistors and a few other bits. Picture shown below of today’s progress. Next item to tackle will be replacing and requiring the lights on the other board. Also, I’m trying to design a third board, which I plan to order from Tim Horn in the near future.

This afternoon was spent wiring signals... The majority of the lights and all signals are DC powered / controlled. Today I managed to wire the two semaphore platform starters and one of the 3 aspect led signals. Wiring in the switches is proving to be a learning curve, but I’m slowly getting there. Hopefully more progress on Sunday!

Question - an recommendations to improve the paint on my backscene before I permanently glue the bridge into place? Thanks in advance

As promised, here is a picture of the working lights on the bridge. Unfortunately, the glue on on street lamps hasn’t full dried and I got impatient to take a photo, hence the wonky angle of the street lights and one of the double yellow lines. I’ve not yet figured out a power supply for auxiliary lights and signals, so it’s currently wired to a square battery! Any suggestions for a cheapish permanent solution?

I know that problem... I can read music, play the bagpipes, speak Latin.... but could never understand a word of French! Just sat trying to re solder a wire my fat fingers snapped earlier... painful!

Wiring.... well today is day 3 of winter annual leave. And it’s taken me about 4 hours to wire 3 street lamps and one set of traffic lights on the road bridge. I feel slightly ashamed to admit that! However, I will openly admit that wiring is by no means my strong point - it’s something that I actively avoid where possible. I understand the theory... I just simply cannot solder! An update will follow later to show the bridge in place with the completed wiring, and was the mess I made with the soldering!

I’ve found whilst trying to wire my Cobalt IP digital point motors over the weekend that 3 of them don’t wish to work. After speaking to DCC concepts, I’ve stuck them in the post, and hopefully will get them repaired or replaced soon. Just before I removed them, I took this picture of the whole layout - it’ll hopefully give you a better picture of the floor plan.

February 2021 - up to date and current now! Recent progress includes: A lot more detail added to the road bridge. The picture was taken just before I added the lower beam. Next item will be to wire up the street lamps and traffic light. Detailing outside the flats has been completed for now. Figures to be added soon.

January 2021 - Progress on hillside and bridge towards the country end. Still work to complete on the bridge, but it’s coming together now nicely. Trees have been added on the hillside, further weathering, and detailing has appeared on the bridge. The hillside has stabilisation works in progress, along with the appropriate blue fencing.

December 2020 - Layout progress stalled for the first 3 weeks of December due covid nearly killing me off... unsuccessfully! Once out of hospital, I got a further 2 weeks off work, and managed to crack on with the following: All Third rail completed Weathering started more details for the station area Begun wiring lights More figures added Locos tested Scenery progressing on hillside

Late November 2020 - Signal box area improved with new scaffolding. Still more to add, just awaiting supplies. Also, an overhead view of the station board progress.