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'Cambrian Street'


BobM
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Hi Bob,

 

Here's my paperclip idea - hopefully it's self-explanatory:

Clip1.jpg.310a724376880afc82c11b915f42af74.jpgClip2.jpeg.40f6082733dda47b52c6a43d05eacd55.jpegClip3.jpeg.68a6952ae524a1b9cc8d40f166594216.jpeg

 

The hook is formed using needle-nosed pliers. Obviously it will be a bit more difficult to insert the wire when the turnout is already fixed in place but I think it would still work. You'd need to watch out for shorting with Electrofrog turnouts.

 

Edited by Harlequin
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Hello Bob, I’ve been watching progress for some time and I agree with other replies that to waste all that work would be a great shame. I am sure that most people building a layout hit a flat spot at some time, problems can always be overcome, I have been puzzling over how to operate my signals for a couple of years now. 
 

As for your points, nothing wrong with ‘digital’ operation, it works in my fiddle yard. If some points are hard to reach have you investigated some of the small point motors that I have seen advertised?

 

Best wishes and don’t give up and certainly don’t do anything in haste that you will certainly regret later.

 

Brian.

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6 hours ago, Harlequin said:

Hi Bob,

 

Here's my paperclip idea - hopefully it's self-explanatory:

Clip1.jpg.310a724376880afc82c11b915f42af74.jpgClip2.jpeg.40f6082733dda47b52c6a43d05eacd55.jpegClip3.jpeg.68a6952ae524a1b9cc8d40f166594216.jpeg

 

The hook is formed using needle-nosed pliers. Obviously it will be a bit more difficult to insert the wire when the turnout is already fixed in place but I think it would still work. You'd need to watch out for shorting with Electrofrog turnouts.

 

 

That is brilliant,,,thank you....I have been pondering too, will post an idea I had, but compared to this ingenious method mine is 'Heath Robinson'

 

Regards always

Bob

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Hi Guys...

 

Here is my 'late night' idea.....

I took a small cable tie, inverted it, glued the head to the pip of a test point, allowed it to set and placed a wire through the cable. works but 'ugly'...!

 

IMG_0033.JPG.6512f579a64bcb7ffba605dea6190100.JPG

 

Regards always....

Bob

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Evening guys...

24hrs ago I could have smashed to the whole lot to pieces, at this moment I am attempting to refine perhaps the root I may try to continue with the wire in tube control using the 'strengthened' (with a coffee stier) cable tie method to hold the wire secure and firm...will let you know....

The image here shows the original just glued with plastic cement which seems to be holding (lower image) then the middle and upper having had a coffee stirrer attached, so that I can drill a hole for the wire into something firmer (cut to any length), as a test have used contact adhesive in the middle  on the pip, plastic cement on the upper, both having contact adhesive to the stirrer .

 

IMG_0034.JPG.217317d7a541e0fa3d5cb6319216d575.JPG

 

Will allow everything set and revisit when so, will update, use or 'dump' as required.

 

Regards always...

Bob

 

Edited by BobM
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Hi Guys....

Hope all are well.....?

I am thankfully in a better frame of mind now and I am so sorry to have 'gone off on one' recently...:sorry:

 

More contented now that one way or another I will continue with Cambrian Street however the points are controlled (although I have had some positive indications that using my cable tie / pip method has 'legs')...?

Will post as and when progress is made on that score.

 

Thinking further ahead but perhaps as the ballasting and station environs take shape, my thoughts are turning to the installation of signals......

Harlequin kindly produced the signal box diagram  here....

There may be some resultant 'tweaks' to the design of the bracket signals shown here however as sighting requirements may later the exact positionings especially at the platform ends due to loco fouling positions,

msg-32492-0-60186700-1533368776final.png.44a76cfa485632de6bc06f06c64bf59e.png

 

Given the 'troubles' I have had with point control due to lack of planning....I need pointers on how best to proceed vis-a -vis on control, do I just have manual operation 'finger of God', some sort of mechanical control (wire in tube) or indeed use electrical motor methods?

 

Any forums here on RMweb I could access you know of?

 

Regards always...

Bob

Edited by BobM
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Evening guys....

Hope all are well?

I have come up with this as an alternative to previous attempts to attach the control wire to the point pip -

 

Taking a small piece of brass I have drilled two holes one to slip over and accommodate the pip, another smaller hole houses the control wire which is bent back on itself and then soldered into place, seems to work a small blob of glue over the former may just stop it popping up perhaps?

 

Will let you know how it goes...

 

IMG_0140.JPG.a35416d9a2551c76e675eed43cbf57c4.JPG

 

Regards always,

Bob

 

Edited by BobM
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Hi Bob. Use a coller of electrical wire insulation to hold the connector to the "pip" on the tie bar. Fix it over the pip with a small blob of silicon sealant that way you can remove it later if you need to. If you use insulation from black or brown wire you don't even need to paint it other than normal track weathering. 

Regards Lez.  

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7 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Hi Bob. Use a coller of electrical wire insulation to hold the connector to the "pip" on the tie bar. Fix it over the pip with a small blob of silicon sealant that way you can remove it later if you need to. If you use insulation from black or brown wire you don't even need to paint it other than normal track weathering. 

Regards Lez.  

 

Thanks as always, sorry for being thick, just trying to get the simplicity of this in my head?

Imagining slipping over a sheath of cable covering over the entire soldered plate with the (pre glued) pip not peeping through the sheath, almost as if I'd wrapped the plate in insulation tape, the tie bar within the covering ?

 

:unsure:

 

Bob

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Evening my dear friends, hope all are well and safe during this spell of very disturbed weather?

 

Although not directly affected by the flooding, I have witnessed the Severns flooding impact on the locality around Arley and Bewdley, two areas of which I am greatly fond and it is so worrying to see places so badly damaged,,,?

Here is Arey this morning....

 

IMG_0155.JPG.c8e5f4f242651f934215c9719454d264.JPG IMG_0154.JPG.f9bbe73e204470548181bae55699b448.JPG IMG_0156.JPG.8047d2d1be7855c36f01c643d5e49e30.JPG

IMG_0163.JPG.493247e2d61e6d28d45f7b59d4b4e7b5.JPG IMG_0170.JPG.605a0ac4ecfd04899000d9822d5610c4.JPG IMG_0172.JPG.ee936b079ebfa09732529e66c4569304.JPG IMG_0160.JPG.0deca2b793990963ecbae14b0f744500.JPG IMG_0161.JPG.f78a4ddac1cdf7c70de36a73d3c5f032.JPG

 

Thankfully the river had dropped a bit this evening but remains frighteningly high, and due to rise again over the coming weekend given further forecast stormy weather,,,!

 

Back to 'happier' quarters regarding Cambrian Street and with all the minor 'troubles' given the correcting reality balance of the above images they certainly are minor in comparison...I have some success that I am happy with and will continue to use as a method to control the remaining points.

 

I have a number of 'spare' crank bases (excess due to ruining the cranks during installation) , these I have found to be ideal to slip over the 'pip' of a Peco point and the hole that you would usually use to pin down the base into position is the correct diameter to accommodate the piano wire control...!

 

With a blob of glue to secure both (and painted) these are not too obtrusive either and more importantly provides the added confidence I require to move on with the layout as I can live with this method of control.

 

IMG_0184.JPG.30e7a2db54822b5f2bdb41c1a039268a.JPG IMG_0185.JPG.3e054956db9e5463f070fd9bbff13e24.JPG IMG_0186.JPG.a8a484f76eda2ea5eb1d687a2e66de13.JPG

 

Comments appreciated as always....

Regards always too...

Bob

 

 

 

Edited by BobM
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39 minutes ago, BobM said:

 

Comments appreciated as always....

 

Evening Bob, 

 

I don't comment often around RMWeb but I came across your work to make your points operable, and found it quite useful in planning similarly for my own layout. 

 

May I ask a question?  The wire and tube that you are using - what exactly is it constructed of, and where did you get it from?

 

I've been trying to source a decent supply, and am having trouble doing so.

 

Cheers,

Will

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2 minutes ago, AireValley1962 said:

 

Evening Bob, 

 

I don't comment often around RMWeb but I came across your work to make your points operable, and found it quite useful in planning similarly for my own layout. 

 

May I ask a question?  The wire and tube that you are using - what exactly is it constructed of, and where did you get it from?

 

I've been trying to source a decent supply, and am having trouble doing so.

 

Cheers,

Will

Someone asked a similar question on the Leeds City thread and they got Wire in tube is from MSE - Wizard Models, sold in 5M lengths.

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26 minutes ago, AireValley1962 said:

 

Evening Bob, 

 

I don't comment often around RMWeb but I came across your work to make your points operable, and found it quite useful in planning similarly for my own layout. 

 

May I ask a question?  The wire and tube that you are using - what exactly is it constructed of, and where did you get it from?

 

I've been trying to source a decent supply, and am having trouble doing so.

 

Cheers,

Will

 

Hi Will

Yes indeed I obtain the cranks from Wizard Models, whom I have found extremely helpful and a speedy service, ordered Monday morning, delivered next day!

The wire I have obtained from various sources either a local model shop that specialises in controlled aircraft and supplies, or Eileen's Emporium supplies tube and piano wire as a standard, probably the cranks too.

 

Regards always

Bob

Edited by BobM
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12 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Someone asked a similar question on the Leeds City thread and they got Wire in tube is from MSE - Wizard Models, sold in 5M lengths.

 

Hello....Yep Wizard Models is my supplier and indeed they are 'all round Wizard guys too' !

 

Regards always

Bob

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3 hours ago, BobM said:

 

Hi Will

Yes indeed I obtain the cranks from Wizard Models, whom I have found extremely helpful and a speedy service, ordered Monday morning, delivered next day!

The wire I have obtained from various sources either a local model shop that specialises in controlled aircraft and supplies, or Eileen's Emporium supplies tube and piano wire as a standard, probably the cranks too.

 

Regards always

Bob

 

Cheers and thanks, Bob.

 

I shall look it up.

 

Will

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Afternoon my dear friends,

All well I trust...?

 

Here are a couple of views of the developing goods yard, to which a little further ballasting has taken place.....

also the coal merchants / private yard....

IMG_0188.JPG.a38d9b470eb0661effd125aa028d43f6.JPG IMG_0187.JPG.3a8aed7c8cf854f28b79cd9866f230c6.JPG

 

I have noticed that the right hand turnout that feeds into the said yard, appears to be not moving when I throw the lever that controls it for some reason, whether the crank that moves it is frozen or the wire is trapped requires investigation.....unfortunately this crank is buried in the foot of the scenic wall, which unless I remove this to access it, is not easily repaired?

 

Fortunately the the point is set into the shed yard is perhaps not too much to worry over....as it was the intention in any case to have this road / coal yard scenic (an non operational area for much of the time ) anyway, however I thought that as this turnout  may have 'failed', I could turn a ''disadvantage' into a 'positive' by acquiring various period workmen figures, set working as the Pway gang repairing the point (so does anyone know of Pway figures available for such a scene)

 

IMG_0189.JPG.baf3cfc91941e82b6aad4b97aced7444.JPG  IMG_0190.JPG.755d3b6cf20632a53cb7b55528d8b93f.JPG

 

Regards always,

Bob

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Evening guys....

Just to say that using the 'spent' crank bases as a method of securing the control wire to the pip of a peco point appears to be holding and indeed throwing the switch comfortably enough, so will employ this technique to further points within the station area, barring any hitches that may raise their head I will continue to work on this basis?

 

Have also spent an hour, ballasting up a further section of the goods yard and headshunts into it....?

 

All the best, regards always....

Bob

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Evening my dear friends.....

Hoping that all are safe and well....?

 

A message to say that I have completed the initial coupling up of the remaining 'pips' on the points within the station area to the control wire within the tubing available to hand.

Have, both for the sake of my sanity and continued confidence in moving forwards with Cambrian Street in the future, employed the method previously explained utsing the crank bases as a means of attaching the wires to the point.

 

Will let you know within the next couple of days how theses are fairing, save to say that the previously attached using the same method, remain firm and functional, given a preliminary coat of light grey paint you cannot easily distinguish them the ballast at this stage either?

 

Please take care guys, so much going on out in this oh so troubled world of ours at the moment isn't there, keep safe...

Regards always,

Bob

 

 

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Evening.....

Just checked on returning home on the status of last evenings work on the 'pip' control and on first inspection, all seems well thankfully, will let you know and update further when able.

 

Regards always, take care,

Bob

 

 

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Evening.....

Nothing too 'exciting' to report this evening, but have 'sleeper grimed' a section of track to while away and hour...!

Take care guys.

Regards always,

Bob

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Guys....

Hope all are well, safe and keeping it together.....Just wanted to message you all good guys as thing have stalled on Cambrian Street during the 'lockdown' due to a combination of factors.....although sadly many of my colleagues are on the govt furlough scheme, I am thankfully still in work at the nursery each day as along with a handful of fellow growers and workers, we have to keep everything alive, growing, propagated and available for our mail order service and the nursery operating, so after very busy days, feeling too tired out by the evening to model with confidence.

Days off which would ordinary have been spent at Arley at the SVR have been used at home to revamp an all too long neglected back garden, an absence for 15 years two days a week from home, spent at the SVR taking its toll on a once quite tidy garden, so taking advantage of the (current) splendid spring weather......and this has inspired me to plan for a possible garden layout, should my retirement plans have to be altered due to the economic consequences of the current problems and stay here rather than move to west Wales as planned?

........one thing I have done though which is 'railway orientated' is to try and bring my dear and much missed Arley 'to life in my head' and on paper, drawing up an image.....still a work in progress with further to do,  but along the right lines? 

Please, please do keep safe my dear friends.....

Regards always

Bob

IMG_0047.JPG.e50ee897c829b9c393a2b6a7d069b38d.JPG

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