Long Marton, S&C

[artizen]

Are there any photos to see? I read the post about your hosting site being blocked because of malware but have you any you can upload directly onto RMweb?

[peach james]

Trout Beck Viaduct

Long Marton Station

Long Marton goods shed

full2012track

DSC_0030 by Peach James, on Flickr

[peach james]

It's ALIVE. Just like frankenstein, it came to life today again. 2 DMU's running, tail chasing each other. Relearned a few RR&Co lessons, and have some relabeling to do in the program. I had 1 derailment, a shockingly low number, at the transition on to Trout Beck, which has always been a problematic spot on the line. Last bit of work was figuring out how to get the DMU's to not come to an abrupt halt when they enter the successor schedule start section, that's done & better now. (done by putting the stop block indicator at the end of the block). Now: back to work ... and the garden needs more time, and I have to spend some quality time with the sledge hammer or splitting wedge, getting wood split...

 

BRMoV layout is partly dismantled, awaiting transport to David's for the next bit of work on the first 2 sections, requires wiring gubbins for the next section I have to complete. (5 isolation switches, 20-30 choco-blocks) We're still after any Victoria (BC, Canada) individuals who have an interest in UK models to come out to meetings. (to as far as Nanaimo or so...Vancouverites are welcome when we have meetings...)

 

James

 

(internal definitions)

section=detection section

block= group (at least one) section, inclusive of signaling/mock signaling

How to stop trains from stopping & restarting: Route must end in the same block as the successor. The block section at the enterance to the block should NOT be set to stop, but to either brake or nothing

[peach james]

So today: No progress on Long Marton, worked on the BRMoV layout wiring. Weaved a bit more spiderweb on one section, added a little bit of wood bracing, and a bunch of choco-blocks for terminating wiring. I need to put the last bits onto the current board, then move onto the next one for the BRMoV layout, which will entail a bit of woodworking to splice in some 13mm ply for the track bed under the castle hill, and the rather much simpler wiring for that section.

[peach james]

And tonight: Auto.

 

DMU's in the form of a 153 and the trusty 108 were out running past each other in Long Marton, with the distant signals controlling the speed and the home & starters doing nothing. The automatic plan to fill the storage yard works with the DMU, next I need to see if it will work with both a DMU and a goods train. Then, emptying it back to the staging, and adding more trains including passenger trains. I also have to add other train types (made 3 groups, goods, passenger & DMU), to the mix and see what happens.

 

I'm aware that I have at least a couple of sections that are not properly identified yet...I had to add a route section on Thursday, so I'm not feeling too bad at all.

 

Todays difficulty was electrical in nature, I had to change 3 blocks L/R for power, all on the hidden track & all fed off a reversing unit. Apparently, when I selected which belonged to which the last time, I managed to get at least one area backwards to its adjacent. Not a total shock, now dealt with. Unfortunately, it meant working into the middle of the lego spiral, which is SO easy to access.

 

DSC_0031 by Peach James, on Flickr

 

 

 

Still, I feel like I am getting somewhere with Long Marton. It will all go to bed for 6 weeks next sat, as I am going to Norfolk, VA, USA for a course.

 

James

[peach james]

And having had a few min to run trains today, the goods train portion needs more work, as well as the filling of the staging yard by DMU's. Bad news: Storage yard tracks are a lot shorter than the staging yard tracks. Good news: None, really.

 

James

[peach james]

 

 

100 HP industrial Sentinel by Peach James, on Flickr

 

That's what I am up to right now. I've only been building it since 98 or so. It is P4, and so not at all appropriate for Long Marton. (it may, at some point, suffer from a bout of regauging though...). I'm the far side of the country from home, so brought some things to keep me entertained.

 

James

[peach james]

OK, so I am now moving photos onto Flickr, from my PCI web page (the one with a mal-ware warning...the web site will be going away shortly anyway, because I am now with a different ISP)

 

Here are a bunch of photos, with comments. They are not in any particular date order...

 

 

Locos in a box. (mostly for proof of existance)

 

 

Trout Beck, taken in 2006. (before the tracklaying had been completed- see the loose track). Note, Caribou is on the shelf above the layout...which is a fun lift to manage !

 

 

Before buying the first sea-container, the layout room was a total disaster to work in. It was _full_ of stuff, as this photo shows. A lot of the kit in here moved out to the cans for storage, like the wood on the floor which went into some project around the house or another, possibly the shelving in the room.

 

 

 

The Original (V1.0) of Long Marton, set up at 53B London Cr, Elliot Lake. Only did this for one weekend, so that I could verify that it was transportable, and that it worked when I moved it. It did, and then went from there to GBTS 1996. On completion, it ended up being taken apart and mostly burned-track was salvaged, but the rest went away in 1997. I had no way to move it ~2500 miles to the west coast.

 

 

The staging yard as it started being built. Not a lot of change since then, except that it is finished

 

 

Another view of the staging under construction

 

 

Trusty Antax and 12v regulated power supply, working on track laying

 

 

Alberta with 12 on, in the staging yard.

 

The staging yard, much nearer competion. The two red buttons were the switches for the DCC and for lighting under the staging. The DCC switch has since been moved, but the light switch one is still there.

 

 

Under one of the 15:4 boards, there are a lot of point motors crammed into the space. They also contain typically, a pair of DS64's and a DS44, and a BDL 168 or DB4's. The boards with DS 64's have a stop switch fitted, to be pushed in emergency. I think the connection for the throttle has since been mounted into the wood, rather than being glued below it.

 

 

One of the 3 15 track straight boards, with a BDL 168 mounted on it, along with a 120v lightbulb for illuminating the lego below. Copper bus wire across entire board is the return wire, with each track wired to it, then the wires off the BDL go straight to each section.

 

 

Trout Beck, looking North.

 

 

Goods yard, with very temporary Superquick goods shed (it belongs to the Thomas the Tank engine layout) in place

 

 

Ark Royal on a passenger train, near the goods shed.

 

 

One of the older versions of the RR&Co plan of Long Marton.

 

 

Under the Bridge 253 board, is this setup. I'm using Torti to move turnouts that are up to 4" above the torti, so the wire ends up being used as rotary motion through a brass tube, then Tamya 3mm strips used to make operators between the Torti and the wire. It works fairly well, and provides lots of room for adjustment.

 

 

Quite similarly, this is how I am using Torti to drive Ratio signals on the ends where I could easily cut a hole to fit from above. Long Marton itself is a different kettle, and has been done quite differently. (and not reliably!)

 

 

Night Photograhy, taken with the Nikon & the light from the DCC concepts lights. Yes, the platform was unpainted plywood at this point ! (at least it is grey now...)

 

 

One of the 2 instrument cases, designed for use as signalbox instrument cases, they hold enough gubbins to make the top (lego) lever go to 3 positions, and the bottom one has 3 microswitches, then a bell is located within the case. These are designed to be attached to the signal box lever frame box. (which I think I will have to find photos for !)

 

 

The other side of the box (well, the inside !)

 

 

The other side of the box (well, the inside !)

 

 

Inside the lever frame (as built)

 

 

Inside the lever frame (as built)

 

 

the Lever Frame. It's from SigScribe, and provides working mechanical locking.

 

 

the Lever Frame. It's from SigScribe, and provides working mechanical locking.

 

Long Marton Signal Box by Peach James, on Flickr

 

The frame box contains 3x DS64's (now), a BDL 168, 1x RX4 (not used), and a smoggle of wiring to connect it all. It provides the power for the 5 boards of Long Marton, so there is a bunch of other interconnections fed through the box. (AC, DCC bus & DCC segments, plus 8 outputs are used from the frame box...there is ~600 ft of wire that has to be wrapped around the box when I move it around, and it has quite a sizable amount of weight)

 

Anyway, I hope the photos provide some entertainment. I can't nip downstairs to take any more right now because I'm not there !

 

James

[witherbrow]

epic stuff + lego = amazing

[peach james]

Oh, the fun of coming back home from being away again...

 

Taw Valley Solenoid controllers were here when I got home. Now, 4 LM signals have bounce in their step

 

(and it is much easier to fit than the previous Torti drive method, as well as freeing up torti and a DS44)

 

The next fun bit has been tracking down several interesting gremlins in section identification, and power. I know why I have a small section missing power, now I have to remove the baseboard to get at it and fix it. I don't remember how I wired it, so out it comes.

 

James

[peach james]

Todays fun:

 

 

Remove 2 sections of the storage yard, and fix wiring on one, then plant the last turnout on the other. Also, make another DB 150/Power supply/Relay board, to install at the far end for power supply. (actually, the DCS 100, so that I can have up to 120 "loco" loads running at once...not quite overkill, as I have about 60 "loco" decoders between the two layouts, and I have come close to the 20 limit of the DB 150's at times)

 

James

[peach james]

Progress this week (or so) has consisted of:

1. Build DCS 100 board (relay,DCS 100, 12VDC power supply on a hunk of plywood with choco blocks to connect them

2. Getting all the engines to have theshold and profiles in RR&Co 5.0

3. Cleaning a few sidings that have never seen use before in the staging yard

4. A little programming

5. getting the last few track detection sections ID'd into the file

 

And, I am now to the point where the storage yard just filled itself using Auto, up and down both work, and I need to fix 2 microswitches in the lever frame to make contacts work reliably...

 

Tomorrow, I will see if the "empty" mode works for the yard, followed by some train running. (hopefully).

 

On the lego front, the logging truck is now finished, with a stupid number of pnumatic cylinders in it. (10 cylinders, divided into 6 functions- 3 gearshifts, the grab arm, auto pressure control, stabilizers for the crane). I am awaiting some more motors to finish motorizing the crane functions, they are here in Victoria, but I haven't gotten them yet.

 

My oldest son's "new" bedroom is also progressing- it needs trim before he can move into it, Andrea, my wife is painting road signs in it for him as well. Hopefully soon he will be moving bedrooms, then we can finish the other one and then be back to our own bedroom w/o any children in it. (this all feels a bit like we have been playing one of the 9 space/8 piece picture games...lots of moving of stuff over a longish time to get to where we are now).

 

On Friday, I went and saw the Kinsol trestle, which is the largest/highest still standing wooden trestle in the commonwealth. (177 ft high, or so the facts sheet says). Quite the impressive feat of engineering.

 

James

[Physicsman]

This should be quite a layout when it's all up-and-running, James!

 

You really do like your Lego, don't you?

 

Btw, am I mistaken - do you live in Canada. I apologise if I'm a few thousand miles out!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[peach james]

The whole layout does run, right now. With the exception of the signal box, which is presently in pieces, with a file (riffing file) to adjust some of the clearances. I haven't tried running trains on the OO for the last week or so, as I have been busy getting Lego trains running. My lego club (VICLUG) is coming out here in 3 weeks, and I'd like it if all the track is runable for it. It's meant a lot of cleaning with IPA to remove the grub off the lego track.

 

There's a bit more than 200 m of lego train track in the Lego layout. (think a large O gauge layout...)

 

Yes, I live in Victoria, BC, Canada. Fortunately, with the support available from Britannia Models, and The British Connection & Model Railway Imports, I've been modeling UK trains for 25 years now. (I'm 36 years old).

 

I've been to see Long Marton twice, in 1996 and 2006. (but I'm yet to visit Pendon...we were supposed to go in 96, but my grandmum broke her hip on Carlisle station platform...instead, I went to Ravenglass and rode Ratty for a day)

[Physicsman]

Cheers James. Even if you have the space, that's one hell of a run of Lego track. I hope you have a few helpers when you clean it!

 

Ravenglass - that brings back memories. I used to go there when I was a kid. Travel on the Ratty up to Boot and do some walking in the Wastwater area. Haven't been up for years, even though my dad lives within 20 miles of the place.

 

Good luck with the Lego club!

 

Best wishes,

 

Jeff

[peach james]

OK, some more photos taken ~ a year ago, finally put them up on Flickr:

 

We are starting at the Appleby end Y, with

 

 

Next, is the track behind the chimney

 

 

The other way, coming out of the Appleby Y, leading onto Trout Beck Viaduct via a ~36" curve.

 

 

Crossing Trout Beck. No-where near as nice as Jeff's viaducts...

 

 

Bridge 253 & the start of Long Marton station. Track layout is as without the mine, when the mine was operating there was an additional siding in the goods yard. (I may add it at some time

 

 

I have 3 DCC'd Thomas locos...this is one of them. (along with 2 non DCC'd Thomas fans in the house...the 6 year old, and the 2 year old who loves choo's)

 

 

(& if you can't take a joke, you should NEVER have joined!)

 

The other end of the goods yard. The signal has been moved to as close to the baseboard end as I could since this photo was taken, as it was too close to the fouling point before. (based on the OS servey info I had, vs the info in Stations & Structures)

 

 

Long Marton Station. Yes, one of the platforms was askew when I took this- they are still just sitting on the scenery.

 

The New Biggin end of Long Marton. The chassis in the upper right is a Class 28, the one without the smoke units fitted. (that one got completely trashed in order to fit a pair of smoke units into it, which it still doesn`t have both of them...and the one in it needs replacing as it is a 16-18V job, and I run closer to 12V...

 

 

We`ve turned the corner, past the start of New Biggin Y, and are looking at the storage yard before it was finished. I`ve painted a lot of the pink Styrofoam with poster paint since this was taken. The pink is a bit startling !

 

 

Another view of the New Biggin Y

 

 

That`s it for now...I should get busy and take some videos, I suppose.

[peach james]

Cheers James. Even if you have the space, that's one hell of a run of Lego track. I hope you have a few helpers when you clean it!

(snip)

 

Best wishes,

 

Jeff

 

I have a video of my helper with the cleaning:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47105471@N05/7666194912/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47105471@N05/7666178940/

 

James

Edited September 19, 2012 by peach james

[Physicsman]

Hi James,

 

As with the Lego, you have a very long circuit of track there! Is it Peco, or Canadian equivalent (Atlas HO?). I'd guess you plan to add further scenics, though your young family might have other ideas!!

 

Good to see it's operational. Thanks for the viaduct mention!!

 

Btw, did I deduce you have military involvement - you mentioned pitch black skies in the mid-Pacific. Sounds glorious.

 

Keep the pictures coming.

 

Jeff

Edited September 19, 2012 by Physicsman

[peach james]

Hi James,

 

As with the Lego, you have a very long circuit of track there! Is it Peco, or Canadian equivalent (Atlas HO?). I'd guess you plan to add further scenics, though your young family might have other ideas!!

 

Good to see it's operational. Thanks for the viaduct mention!!

 

Btw, did I deduce you have military involvement - you mentioned pitch black skies in the mid-Pacific. Sounds glorious.

 

Keep the pictures coming.

 

Jeff

 

The OO is all Peco, code 100. (I know...it would have been 75, but that came out after I had started version 1, and I wasn't replacing double slips on my then income). There's about 6 boxes of track (150 yards) in total, the scenic section is 36' including the 2 curves at the ends (30' scenic, or just under 1/2 mile). The staging yard is ~24 ft long, with ~15 ft of that being 15 track wide, the remainder being the turnouts in/out to single track. The storage yard is ~16 ft long, 5 track (including part of one wye).

 

As with the lego, it tends to fill the available space- the deal with my wife was when we bought a house, she got land & a barn (she has a mini horse, and used to drive draft horses downtown Victoria), and a fireplace...and I got the basement. I only lost the area which is the laundry room & bathroom (12x8 or so) out of 36x24, so I did fairly well on that deal . (both of us did, I think...)

 

Trout Beck really needs more work put into it- now that I am to a point where the trains run reliably (ish), I should spend more time on the scenics. But, as I have 2 autistic sons, it can be a challenge to get time on that side of the wall- the lego is easier for now, as it isn't quite as fragile. Daniel, who appears in the video (I'll go make them links...I guess RMweb doesn't like the way flickr does videos) LOVES the signalbox, and Allen (2.5 year old) loves Choo Choo. (which is good, it's one of about 25 words he speaks...)

 

I'm a PO2 in the Royal Canadian Navy, with just over 16 years in. I hold a Cert 3A for HMCS Protecteur, as an Engineering Officer of the Watch. Currently, I am teaching at HMCS Galiano (*), the west coast damage control school. I'm at the flood cell, teaching how to keep bad water off your perfectly good boat...I expect to go back to PRO in the late fall, as there are a noticeable shortage of 3A and 2A tickets (Steam turbine, engine room/boiler room), and I am the senior controls tech for her.

 

As regards plans for expansion, there are no real future plans to expand the OO at this time, because I don't have a lot of room more to take up. I also store the Gangers (Victoria, BC)'s portable layout here, and have enough room to "just" set it up in the addition to our house. (24x8). It doesn't live put together, but it makes it far more convienent that someone can put it together and leave it up for more than at a show. (and once again, if anyone is in the Victoria BC area, feel free to drop me a line...) If I was going to build something else, I'm not sure what it would be-there are a couple of things I'd love to do, but money or time both play against them.

 

James

 

 

(*) http://www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/ships/galiano.html (I had an extra L in there...). Only RCN World War 1 loss...

Edited September 20, 2012 by peach james

[Physicsman]

Cheers James - now everything makes sense! The job sounds interesting and the space you have has tons of potential. Your deal with your wife sounds very amicable!

 

I wish you all the best keeping the kids engaged and involved with the model railway. Excellent stuff.

 

Jeff

[peach james]

So, after finishing painting some stuff upstairs, I went and started up Long Marton last night. Lots of track is fairly dirty, which didn't come as a big shock to me. The dirty track makes for some interesting performances from the computer controlled prospective- I have ideas how to make it work a bit more reliably, but that requires some more work on the RR&Co front. (mostly to do with passing off trains at the start, where I want to randomize which train starts, and that then forces a transition between two schedules, when if the train starts moving enough to get into the next block, but then stalls, it gets "lost" when I go and give it a push...). Also, the empty feature for the storage yard doesn't work right- especially with 3 vs 2 "DMU's" on the layout. (one is a Class 4 tank, one is a 108, one is a 153). But, it wouldn't work at all right, not to my shock because that was the first time I've tried it. (I have ideas, but I'm not sure yet...)

 

Also, the "new" signals are not working right, these are servo activated signals. (they use 4 positions, so I suspect I have a couple of the positions going wrong in the software...not a big shock there either)

 

All in al though, I was quite happy, at one point the computer was running 3 trains around, avoiding each other. It's supprisingly loud when 2 of those trains are ~15 wagons, and one is ~35 wagons !

 

James

[peach james]

So, continued running today: results

 

1 rear end collision. 1 broken set of buffers (3 ft freefall of milk tanker...). Lots of frustration. Small modifications to the program, which seem to have cured some of the worst bits. It still won't empty the storage yard right, I will have to have another dig into how that is supposed to work. (If I remember to get the usb stick, perhaps tomorrow...).

 

I'm back to work tomorrow, after 2 days of being home on a sick chit. (I had my wisdom teeth removed on Tuesday, but hey/ho, that's the way things go). It took me about 30 min tonight to empty the storage yard, and I still think (based on what I've seen), that I have at least one segment there which is not correctly ID'd, and is causing confusion and delay (oh, bothersome buffers...). I'm also showing one of the staging tracks as being full when it clearly is not- again, I think I know the problem, but without fiddling around a fair amount, am not sure. (I think I have 2 segments mis identified, and the Hoover was holding a different siding than the one it was sitting in...good thing it's sitting on the "through" track which doesn't get used in the current program !).

 

Yay, this computer controlled stuff is SO easy. Better this than relays...

 

James

[Physicsman]

James, I just hope that by the time the computer control is running faultlessly you still have stock to run on the layout... rear end collisions!? Poor old Thomas and co.!!

 

Good luck with the project and best wishes for the wisdom teeth.

 

Jeff

[peach james]

So, todays fun:

 

Well, that easy fix, wasn't easy at all...

 

Some photos:

 

(this is the storage yard, 5 tracks, intended as 1 mixed, 1 passenger, 1 goods, through, and DMU/Local)

 

 

 

How we started the day, and ended it too...

 

 

The bit of track which is unballasted, was the last track I laid. There's not much to end up ballasting, and I should get on with ballasting it.

 

 

And the problem... where the brake van is sitting, the detection section wasn't working. I could see it working on the DB4, but the DS64 was NOT registering the change in state at all. First tried flashing the DS64, and that got me no-where. Then I tried to see if it was the DB4 or the DS64, but that didn't quite work out- I tried to prove the inputs on the DS64 by using the laptop and watching Loconet to see what happened. The DS 64 could see each input when it was used as a switch, but it is not seeing the 7th section. This is one of the cases where I am stuck, as I have used a total of 10 sections on this board...3 of them ported over from an adjacent board's BDL168.

 

So, we did this:

 

 

 

And, then after changing the DS 64, I put it back to

 

 

DSC_0033 by Peach James, on Flickr

 

It only took me most of the day to get it all apart, and put back together. I also went and helped my friend with building another bridge on his property next to mine- we cut down a piece of fir ex a warehouse in Victoria, into a 3x10 beam by 17 ft long. The bridge will end up being made up with 3 beams like that, then 5/4" wood for the deck. (& yes, that's how it would still be said, 5/4'ths, vs 1 1/4", because it is decking...)

 

Now, to go and try and get the yard to finish emptying itself- it filled OK, but I still had a unexpected visitor when I went to empty it. The long mineral came trundling though, and caused total caos !.

 

(fixed that though, now it won't try running when the storage yard is set to empty)

 

James

Edited September 23, 2012 by peach james

[peach james]

OK, Physicsman asked me about what was going on @ my home- where I've been building a new lego trestle bridge...(so LM is unuseable)...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSC_0020 by Peach James, on Flick

So, the whole purpose of to-nights fun was load testing the bridge. The total load is ~3 kg, spread over 8 lego container cars. This probably does not represent the worst case possible loading. I am debating rebuilding the bridge again...

 

 

 

(I thought I should add- this week is a bit busy for me, as a serving military member, I was at my son's school today, doing a very brief presentation as a serving member. There were no WW2 vet's there, just me, unfortunately. It is a great honour to be standing on the shoulders of giants like my relatives who served in various conflicts)(& the briefness is because the school is kindergarden-grade 5, so 5-10 year old children, it's much easier for all involved to be brief & then available than long & boring (zzzz!)

 

PO2 James Powell, CD, SWACM, RCN

Edited November 10, 2012 by peach james