Scratch built HO models for model train project in Sri Lanka

[Siberian Snooper]

Any more updates please, Ron.

[Ron Heggs]

Any more updates please, Ron.

 

Have had a request to stop posting updates on this project for the time being. Will re-commence with many more pictures when advised by Christo. Hopefully in the New Year when the project has the models in place on the layout

 

Ron

[Wigan Wallgate OO Gauge]

Brilliant work so far!

[Ron Heggs]

Back with a few more structures

 

Demodara Station and the associated Goods Sheds are now in place on the layout

 

The tunnel under the station has been provided with the necessary stone built openings -

 

 

 

Four small buildings close to the station have been built with LED lighting, and installed on the layout -

 

 

 

 

 

[Ron Heggs]

Close to Demodara Station is Southam Tea Factory

 

Copyright - Christo Perara

 

Copyright - Christo Perara

 

The challenge was to produce a single structure with LED lighting to each floor and the attached low-level structures

 

The LEDs had to be fitted in such a way to enable easy future replacement, if found necessary, without removing any of the floors or roof

 

The main tea factory building model is 861mm in length and 131mm in width, and comprises five floors with a shallow single apex roof. The overall height is 224mm

 

The model is built from Styrene sheets with Acrylic sheets used for glazing. The building is provided with warm white internal lighting

 

The main structure core is constructed using 2mm thick Acrylic sheets with internal vertical divisions dividing the length into five separate sections. These internal partitions will be edge lit by SMD Leds

 

Horizontal floors are provided four upper levels and the ground level are made from 1mm thick Styrene sheet

 

These vertical and horizontal divisions provide structural strengthening as well control the lighting to each section of each floor level

 

The external walls are made from three additional laminations to the outer face of the 2mm Acrylic glazing. The first lamination is produced from 10 thou thick styrene with all the individual windows cut into it. The second lamination provides the outer window framing using 20 thou thick styrene. The two laminations are painted on the internal face with a dark grey paint to reduce light bleeding through the walls from the inside. The outer face is painted light green to match the existing building window frames. The final outer lamination employs30 thou corrugated styrene sheets for all the external wall surfaces. The roof is also finished with 30 thou corrugated styrene

 

Approximately 140 individual windows are fixed in the open position, as per the present original building

 

The lighting which is provide by SMD LEDs fixed on sealed tapes, are fed up the building at both ends of each of the four dividing acrylic partions, and provide edge lighting to each floor level

 

These are designed for a 12volt DC regulated power supply. An adjustable 3v-12v potentiometer is provided to allow the appropriate level of lighting to be set when installed on the layout

 

At the junction between the internal partitions and the outer walls a vertical channel 12mm wide, 7mm deep and 270mm high was made from 40 thou white styrene. This allows a strip of 12 smd LEDs to be fed up from the base and light the vertical edges of the partition walls. The light feeds through the walls to illuminate the each floor level throughout the building

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, all the external walls and roofs are clad with Slaters Corrugated Styrene

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single window frames have been attached to the open windows, and Fire Escape structures fitted at the corners of the main building

 

The whole of external faces and roofs have been weathered with a dirty/grey wash

 

Three external storage buildings, two bungalows and six open sided storage structures have also been constructed -

 

 

 

No pictures have been taken of the six open sided structures, but following picture shows the actual storage buildings located between the two bungalows -

 

Copyright - Christo Perara

 

All the above buildings are now crated and await shipping instructions

 

[Ron Heggs]

A number of structures have been constructed which due to time constraints pictures of the finished items were not taken

 

2 Arch, 3 Arch and 4 Arch Viaducts -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ella Station -

 

Main Station building is very similar to Demodara with an extensive steel supported canopy the complete length of the main building and beyond with a total length of approx 700mm 

 

 

 

 

All these completed models are now in Sri Lanka, and await fitting to the layout as progress allows

 

Pictures will be available when they are in place on the layout

 

 

[Horsetan]

Close to Demodara Station is Southam Tea Factory

 

DTF022_e.jpg

Copyright - Christo Perara

 

Screenshot 2017-03-07 05.09.50.png

Copyright - Christo Perara

 

The challenge was to produce a single structure with LED lighting to each floor and the attached low-level structures

 

The LEDs had to be fitted in such a way to enable easy future replacement, if found necessary, without removing any of the floors or roof

 

The main tea factory building model is 861mm in length and 131mm in width, and comprises five floors with a shallow single apex roof. The overall height is 224mm

 

The model is built from Styrene sheets with Acrylic sheets used for glazing. The building is provided with warm white internal lighting

 

The main structure core is constructed using 2mm thick Acrylic sheets with internal vertical divisions dividing the length into five separate sections. These internal partitions will be edge lit by SMD Leds

 

Horizontal floors are provided four upper levels and the ground level are made from 1mm thick Styrene sheet

 

These vertical and horizontal divisions provide structural strengthening as well control the lighting to each section of each floor level

 

The external walls are made from three additional laminations to the outer face of the 2mm Acrylic glazing. The first lamination is produced from 10 thou thick styrene with all the individual windows cut into it. The second lamination provides the outer window framing using 20 thou thick styrene. The two laminations are painted on the internal face with a dark grey paint to reduce light bleeding through the walls from the inside. The outer face is painted light green to match the existing building window frames. The final outer lamination employs30 thou corrugated styrene sheets for all the external wall surfaces. The roof is also finished with 30 thou corrugated styrene

 

Approximately 140 individual windows are fixed in the open position, as per the present original building

 

The lighting which is provide by SMD LEDs fixed on sealed tapes, are fed up the building at both ends of each of the four dividing acrylic partions, and provide edge lighting to each floor level

 

These are designed for a 12volt DC regulated power supply. An adjustable 3v-12v potentiometer is provided to allow the appropriate level of lighting to be set when installed on the layout

 

At the junction between the internal partitions and the outer walls a vertical channel 12mm wide, 7mm deep and 270mm high was made from 40 thou white styrene. This allows a strip of 12 smd LEDs to be fed up from the base and light the vertical edges of the partition walls. The light feeds through the walls to illuminate the each floor level throughout the building

 

PICT0001.JPG

 

PICT0002.JPG

 

PICT0003 (2).JPG

 

PICT0003.JPG

 

PICT0004.JPG

 

PICT0005.JPG

 

PICT0007.JPG

 

Finally, all the external walls and roofs are clad with Slaters Corrugated Styrene

 

PICT0011.JPG

 

PICT0016.JPG

 

PICT0017.JPG

 

PICT0018.JPG

 

PICT0022.JPG

 

PICT0023.JPG

 

PICT0026x.jpg

 

PICT0028x.jpg

 

PICT0031.JPG

 

Single window frames have been attached to the open windows, and Fire Escape structures fitted at the corners of the main building

 

The whole of external faces and roofs have been weathered with a dirty/grey wash

 

Three external storage buildings, two bungalows and six open sided storage structures have also been constructed -

 

PICT0034.JPG

 

PICT0035.JPG

 

No pictures have been taken of the six open sided structures, but following picture shows the actual storage buildings located between the two bungalows -

 

Screenshot 2017-03-07 05.10.35xx.png

Copyright - Christo Perara

 

All the above buildings are now crated and await shipping instructions

 

Wow.

 

Just....wow 

[Ron Heggs]

... and for something completely different -

 

Lattice post Semaphore signals - still the main method of railway signalling on this part of Sri Lanka's Railway System

 

Scratchbuilt from photographs of actual signals in Sri Lanka. Brass etchings produced by PPD from my original DXF drawings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These first two of an initial ten signals have been finished with appropriate LED suitable masked, and coloured filters in the spectacles

 

I understand the first signal is fixed on the layout

 

Christo Perara will no doubt post any additional photographs he feels appropriate

 

[Siberian Snooper]

Ron, you have been a very busy boy, during your sabbatical, from Manchester Central. Some very impressive modelling I must say.

 

Are there any more Sri Lankan modelling projects in the pipeline? or will normal Manchester Central service return shortly?

[Ron Heggs]

For those of you who are on Facebook, Chrissleisure's FB page is https://www.facebook.com/modeltrainvillage/, the first pictures of the start of the layout are shown

 

The initial module is intended to show the stretch of railway between Ella and Demodara

 

If you have any comments and 'likes' on the layout, please leave them on FB

 

There will be more models to follow

 

Ron

[hayfield]

Ron

 

Just Stunning !!!!!!

[hmrspaul]

I hadn't noticed this topic before. Amazing.

 

I've been one of those tourists crammed onto a train from Ambewela to Bandara wara and managed to take some photos. http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/srilankarailway

 

Beautiful country and very interesting railway with a lot of British influenced infrastructure still around And some of the stock had a distinctly British look.

 

Paul

[Christo Perera]

It's been a tremendous experience working with you Ron. Your work is just fantastic.its brought model railroading in Sri Lanka to another level.

[Ron Heggs]

It's been a tremendous experience working with you Ron. Your work is just fantastic.its brought model railroading in Sri Lanka to another level.

 

I am enjoying every moment creating these models reflecting the unique character of Sri Lanka and its railways, and working with such an enthusiastic team

[Horsetan]

...It's brought model railroading in Sri Lanka to another level.

We don't hear much about railway modelling in Sri Lanka so what was the level of it before Ron got involved?

[Christo Perera]

Well hitherto most of the models that have come out lacked detail. I am not taking away anything from those who have done layouts, because I am sure everyone of them have had to work hard to get a layout completed, but for me realism and detail are pretty much important.Ron has shown the way with his work.

[Christo Perera]

Hi to all,

 

I thought of sharing some images of my layout, now in its first stage, covering a hill station called Demodera. It's 900m above sea level and I am sure some of you who have been to Sri Lanka and taken a train ride up country, would have surely gone there.

 

The structures are thanks to the model engineering skills of our good old friend in this forum, Ron Heggs.

 

I will share more images as we go along.

 

If any of you are keen to follow up on what we do pls check our FB page ChrissLeisure@modeltrainvillage

 

It's an interesting page with a fast growing fan base all over the world.

 

Would be nice to have modellers joining the page.

 

Cheers

Christo

[Siberian Snooper]

It's good to see some of Ron's excellent modelling put into the layout.

 

Thanks for the photos.

[sir douglas]

from what ive heard, because of exchange rates, import costs and low average wage, its ridiculously expensive to get anything for model railways over there

[SR DUNCAN]

I hope this helps with your good photos, a spin of 90°  .

 

 

 

 

 

Duncan

 

 

 

[Ron Heggs]

I hope this helps with your good photos, a spin of 90°  .

 

Duncan

 

Thanks. I must admit that this sometimes happens to my photos. They look alright in the folder, then when they are uploaded some of them spin 90^o

 

 

Have to then reload them into my photo app and just resave them, then all is well. Strange !!

 

Cheers

 

Ron

[Christo Perera]

Thanks for rotating the images.

 

Yes this is an extremely expensive subject and that's one of the reasons why it has not developed that much over here, but Sri Lanka has a great history with the railways, originally built by the British and you may probably notice from the image of the Demodera station that it's an old English style. That's how a majority of the stations in Sri Lanka are.Ideal for a model layout.

[Ron Heggs]

One of the models required for the Sri Lankan railway project is accurate HO scale road/rail vertical lift crossing barriers with electrical operation triggered by track sensors with fixed lever operation and adjustable operating time

 

Existing turnout/point motors could have been used with the required lever throw, but they do not have adjustable timing

 

The model barrier lever locus needed a 7mm vertical throw from horizontal closed position to fully open position, and a time of between 7 and 10 seconds

 

Power off should leave the barriers in the fully open position

 

In most cases the barriers are installed in pairs. There are exceptions where three barriers are required operating in sync

 

The crossings are provided in each case with roadside flashing lamp warning signs for each barrier. The three barrier set only has a single flashing warning sign

 

After much thought and research into the necessary operational design, it was decided that 12v DC 60 rpm motors with a 55mm long x M4 threaded linear screw would be used. A M4 brass screw would travel 0.7mm per second along the shaft. That would mean a 7mm travel would take 10 seconds

 

Limit switches would be needed to control the actual throw, and these would need to be operated via the 4mm brass nut. The nut is 2.9mm thick with the limit switches mounted on opposite sides of the nut. This would need the limit switches spacing a further 2.9mm apart to retain the same 10 second run-time

 

Electrically the limit switches isolate the motor supply at the end of each travel, which causes a problem when the motor is required to re-start and in the reverse direction. This meant that small DPDT relays were required to switch the supply to the motor, but there was still a requirement to circumvent the limit switch isolation. In the end the design was changed so that the limit switches don't isolate the supply, but switch one of the supply lines to both sides of the motor, effectively providing a zero voltage across the motor, and then the DPDT relay only needs to switch the opposite supply line to the correct motor terminal for it to start in reverse

 

The track sensor is used to switch the DPDT relay at the appropraite moment for the barriers to move up and down. In the fully up/open position the flashing warning signs switch off. The flashing LED used for the warning sign derives its supply via the motor control circuit and the upper limit switch via  second DPDT realy which switches the supply voltage to the LED to ensure it flashes continuously whilst the barrier is being operated and in the closed position

 

Only one barrier in a pair or trio, needs the motor/LED control board, as the other barrier/s in the set operate at the same time and only require slaving off the actual motor connections, and the LED supply connections

 

Wiring Diagram with supply connections for a full operation sequence -

 

 

PCB layout -

 

 

Temporary typical set-up -

 

 

The Red LEDs are SMD type with an integral on-chip flashing circuit which provides a one second flash rate. The warning sign is made from 1mm dia brass  tube drilled with a 0.5mm hole behind the LED location. The +ve LED supply using magnet wire is fed through the hole and down the tube. The tube is soldered to the LED -ve terminal, and acts as the conductor for -ve LED supply. Each LED is supplied with a 560 ohm resistor, so they can be driven from the 12v DC supply

 

These signs are still in the build stage, all the LED connections, etc. have been tested and are working correctly without any short circuits

[AMJ]

This is a very interesting project, thanks for the updates.

 

Those who are interested in the railway history should read "Railways of Sri Lanka" by David Hyatt.

 

I posted quite a few photos of my travels in the country on here whilst I was there. See the following link.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81152-ceylon-or-sri-lanka/

[AMJ]

The hand cranes located at each station in the goods yards seem to be prominent feature. Are they going to be modelled? See photos in the topic above.