Great Southern Railway (Fictitious) - Signalling the changes...

[Penrhos1920]

On 25/03/2024 at 16:46, Skinnylinny said:

. They've enough to deal with now that I'm getting back into organ practice too (well, as best I can with a MIDI keyboard, and an old church organ pedalboard that I've managed to acquire and am planning to MIDI-ify...) but at least that I can do on headphones!

Hauptwerk or Grandorgue?

[Skinnylinny]

  

15 hours ago, Dana Ashdown said:

A real wooden case would be even better!

It would, although I lack the required woodworking skills, and no longer have access to the laser cutter since moving to Glasgow-ish. 
 

13 hours ago, Penrhos1920 said:

Hauptwerk or Grandorgue?

GrandOrgue at the moment, as I don't have the cash to drop on a copy of GrandOrgue, and I'm sort of cautiously dipping my toe back in for as little spend as possible. The 61-key MIDI keyboard cost me £60, while the pedalboard has cost me the grand total of £1.04 on eBay and the price of a decent takeout dinner for a friend to drive it up to me! It will require a bank of microswitches, and the use of an Arduino which I already have, to MIDI-ify it.

[Skinnylinny]

The frame now has lever numbers (Also 3d printed), and work has started on printing the block instrument. All the circuitry fits inside, although I've had to temporarily substitute momentary toggle switches while I await the push-buttons arriving. I've also set up a temporary trackplan board to make testing easier. 



Now to decide what type of wood veneer to use - mahogany or cherry. Or possibly walnut. All three are rather nice!

I ought to start thinking about signals, I suppose...

[Skinnylinny]

Yes, I ought to start thinking about signals... As I've mentioned before, the history of Linton Town includes the company contracting out the supply of signalling equipment to Messrs. Saxby & Farmer. As such, I'd rather like to have split-post signals, although I'd prefer to have the spectacles mounted on the same spindles as the arms (similar to the NER designs), rather than lower down the post, which was S&F's more common modus operandi at the time. I've been having trouble getting any useful drawings of similar signals, too. I suspect that I may have to "bash" mine together from a mixture of MSE parts intended for S&F and NER signals, and Ian MacCormac's parts.

What I'll need on the visible part of the layout will be something like this: 



I'm not going to lie, I'm rather nervous about the bracket for numbers 16-19! While I'm a big fan of 3D printing in various situations, I think that metal kits will likely be rather more able to stand up to the rigours of operation. I have previously made some laser-cut signals out of MDF, card, and acetate, but I can't decide whether they look too chunky or not.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the layout boards are packed up, so I don't have any brilliant photos of them, but these are what I do have!