Waddlemarsh - somewhere southwest of London sometime before today

[tender]

Hi Rick, can I ask what make are your conductor pots and what size conductor rail do they fit?

This is something i need to do to my southern electric layout but i've been putting it off for years (along with all the other jobs that need doing).

Ray.

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, tender said:

Hi Rick, can I ask what make are your conductor pots and what size conductor rail do they fit?

This is something i need to do to my southern electric layout but i've been putting it off for years (along with all the other jobs that need doing).

Ray.

No problem.  The "pots" are a standard Peco product catalogue number IL-120 and are supplied on square plastic panels.  As sprues go those might appear excessive but a use can often be found for what might otherwise be scrap.  They are designed to fit onto Code 60 rail also from Peco and I gather then can be persuaded onto Code 75 also.  I use Code 75 for the running rails so the conductor rails, which are smaller in real life, are Code 60.  Rails can be bought in packs without the sleeper base under the "Individulay" brand product code IL-1.  

 

I found no difficulty at all in getting the Code 60 rail to accept curvature.  Once a pot slides on it generally stays on; very few of mine have popped off again afterwards.  I read a few comments around the internet which suggested 0.8mm holes were required in the sleepers to accept the spigot beneath the pot but I found 0.9mm worked better.  A droplet of superglue once everything is located will keep it there - don't glue-as-you-go or pre-glue in case things don't locate as readily as you hope.  A pin-vice and a couple of 0.9mm bits will be your friends here.  Peco sleepers accept drilling quite readily even at the very ends.  Which is where you need the holes to be for correct conductor rail positioning. 

 

The pots also come with small rings on the sprues.  These are not required when Code 75 running rail is in use but if Code 100 is used then the pots might sit a fraction too low.  In this case slip the ring over the locating spigot so that it rests on the sleeper and beneath the pot itself to elevate the conductor rail that extra little bit.  It's not essential unless you are planning to run "live juice" through the conductor rails - if not it's more of an optional extra.  

 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, 37Oban said:

Following on from my previous post I've had a thought!  A very dangerous thing to have on a Sunday!  Anyway, my idea is this; treat the brick, stone or whatever papers in a similar way to homemade waterslide transfers.  I would use the fixative then, when dry, give a coat of matt or satin varnish.  You'd probably need to experiment a bit, and it may turn out that you need to use gloss varnish, or spray the reverse as well, to make them fully waterproof, and if glossed then a spray of matt on top would help.  

 

I don't know if this would work, but it could be worth a go!

 

Roja

There is an even better solution.  Checking through my supplies I found an offcut from a sheet of Faller textured brick-print card.  I tend to keep such things - even the little bits - in case they might be useful one day.  This would date from building a viaduct 10 or more years ago when these sheets were used for the arch inverts.  I have just enough to make up four square support posts.  It isn't an ideal colour being a vermillion rather than the preferred darker red but I can adjust that with some careful weathering.  

 

Scalescenes products are fine and some are very good but one limitation is the need to print them at home and the risk that at some point that ink will run, fade or both.  

[37Oban]

Hi Gwiwer,

 

I've just had a wee look at different pastel fixatives, I sometimes use pastels and colour pencils in projects, and apparently Daler Rowney Prefix fixative is water resistant and easily available, but it didn't say if it's uv resistant which my inkjet fixative is.  Maybe worth a try before going for the waterslide transfer option.  Oh, and apparently it has an odour but this disappears after a few minutes.  I may have to buy some and give it a go when I build the station on my St Mungo's layout.

 

Roja

 

[Gwiwer]

A new arrival in today’s mail is this latest iteration of Kernow MRCs D6xx “Warship” class.  
 

Despite already having six models for a class of only five prototypes I choose to support Kernow MRC with these lovos which are among my favourites of anywhere and all time. 
 

D601 “Ark Royal”, with factory weathering applied, awaits the road into Waddlemarsh yard with a parcels working.   
 

Two other (pristine) versions of these locos have also just been released. 
 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Work on the “tin” waiting hut is nearly complete. It has gained door and window frames, several coats of paint, a “target” name sign and some rust. 
 

The platform side will normally face away from the viewer. The image looking across the tracks is taken from the far side towards the viewer / operator using the phone’s “selfie” camera. 

The base is not its permanent one; brick supports will go under each corner in due course. 
 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Baby steps. 
 

A small piece of ground cover has been added. The wooden supports for buildings and footbridge landings have been covered with printed card better resembling floor boards than the Bachmann “walkways”.  That then gained some weathering powder brushed across to dull the print and give a more “used” look. 
 

The wooden areas and small buildings have then been glued into their final positions. 

Before and after placing the footbridge in position. 
 

 

[Gwiwer]

Waddlemarsh Halt slowly but surely looks more like an SR halt. The tin shelter rests on its brick supports and has gained notice boards (though not posters - yet) and boards across the window space. 
 

The station footbridge rests upon its brick-and-concrete supports and with the steps correctly aligned to the platforms. 
 

Still gaps in the fences to fill and bits of detailing to be done to blend it all in but it’s coming along. 
 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

An exhibition plaque has been awarded for Waddlemarsh despite it having not left my room

 

The halt continues to grow in often time-consuming small steps. It is harder now to fall off the unguarded parts of the platforms as a handful of fence panels has been fitted. 
 

Handrails have been painted and refitted to the footbridge though I need to deal with the glue spots. 
 

 

 

[PeterBB]

Thoroughly deserved - also missed you on ER.

[brushman47544]

It’s looking very good Rick, but how do the punters get to/from the station with the large field behind?

[Mike Buckner]

they waddle across the marsh

[simontaylor484]

I will just echo Peters comment above hope everything is ok on the hill of strawberries 

Best wishes to you and Mrs Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

 

Progress of a sort. 

 

The crossover unit which was giving me endless electrical problems in its electrofrog form has been rebuilt with insulfrog points and crossings. A couple of touches with the soldering iron to power the double-slip and we’re in business. 

 

The temporary set-up of merging the tracks is gone and the intended configuration has returned.  And it works as intended.  One minor task remains namely to switch the power to the one siding leading straight off the slip. This powers up no matter which way the slip is set but a simple insulated joiner and a push-to-make switch will fix that. I could use an on-off switch but don’t have one handy. I do have a lot of push-to-makes in stock

 

The wiring will be hidden from view because with this piece of the jigsaw fitted I can now build the last piece of backscene which will obscure the view of the sidings from the camera - but not totally block the operator’s view. 

 

 

[ian]

Well done Rick, I'm glad that it is finally sorted out.

Edited January 27, 2021 by ian

[Gwiwer]

34 minutes ago, ian said:

Well done Rick, I'm glad that it is finally sorted out.

So am I!!!  Done the way I should perhaps have done it in the first place.  The electrofrog version was simply too complex a wiring job; no matter what I did I shorted something somewhere and / or had no-power spots.  Not any more.  Onwards and upwards.  

[mullie]

With your diesel loco pile in the fiddle yard are you trying to recreate Vic Berry's famous scrapyard?

 

https://derbysulzers.com/vicberry.html

 

Hat........coat .....gone

 

Layout looks great by the way.

 

Martyn

[Gwiwer]

A test run of the new Bournemouth line express stock as 4TC 416 passes Waddlemarsh Halt 

 

[Gwiwer]

Pushed by “bagpipe” D6511 

 

[tender]

I was tempted by one of the 4TC units but their just outside the top end of my era.

I might, if i can pick up a cheap set somewhere, spray it SR Green and apply rule 1. 

[Gwiwer]

Just now, tender said:

I was tempted by one of the 4TC units but their just outside the top end of my era.

I might, if i can pick up a cheap set somewhere, spray it SR Green and apply rule 1. 

This falls just within my timeframe as they were on test from 1965-6 and I run 1960-69.  I thought long and hard about two but I have nowhere to place an 8-car train and nowhere on this layout to have two 4-car units not directly relevant to the theme.  

 

I do however support both Southern electric modelling and the commissioning retailer, Kernow MRC, when ever I reasonably can.  I already have several 4-CEP units and may add a single green 4-BEP to that collection (which for now remains boxed and stored) and would add a 2-HAP if there was a green syp one with yellow first-class bands.  The all-green version released is too similar, visually, to the 2-EPB units I already run on the layout to justify the price.  

 

Guest appearances of the Hornby "Brighton Belle" unit cannot be ruled out.  Purely under Rule 1 of course as they very seldom strayed from the Brighton main line other than their occasional workings to Eastbourne or to Lancing Works.

[Gwiwer]

The panel has begun to look as though it might become a panel!!  

 

Soldering has to be done outside here (except where the location makes that impossible such as on already-fitted track) as there is a risk of damaging the carpet and of setting off the very sensitive smoke alarms fitted to our home.  

 

Despite being only 7C outside today it was just warm enough for fingers to work and the job to be tinned.  One batch of six switches was wired ready for use.  That was enough for now.  The angled panel has been drilled for the wires to go through and connect with the spaghetti beneath the boards thus allowing points to be power-worked.  

 

Six frames will be required in all; I have only been able to obtain four since the Peco shutdown and one is salvaged from the previous layout meaning the blue switches for the isolated track sections are still in need of their frame.  Four frames will manage the points, the fifth the lighting and the sixth is for track isolation.  The controller sits to the left of the switches and is prevented from sliding off by half-depth holes bored in the panel surface to locate its feet.  

 

The usual incompatibility between iPhone and Forum software has rendered these images sideways for which I can only apologise but I cannot get them corrected.  My usual "fix" of rotating and "saving as" has not worked this time.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

The good news : more Peco bits are being scavenged from the darker recesses of the internet meaning that by the middle of the week I should have almost enough to complete the panel build.  I remain one lever-frame short and several PL-11 surface point motors none of which is critical to panel construction for the moment.  

 

Meanwhile the E4 has shuffled down the yard slightly to allow the fireman to "put the bag in" and top up the tanks.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Spaghetti alert. 
 

The panel is slowly being wired up.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

The panel is slowly being wired up.

 

On 05/02/2021 at 15:35, Gwiwer said:

The panel has begun to look as though it might become a panel!!  

 

I was hoping to have all the point levers in black as would be correct in most signalboxes.  Peco's ongoing supply issues put paid to that and I have had to settle for twelve each in black and white.  As white means "Spare lever" to any signalman (signaller in 21st Century-speak) I shall paint those black in due course.  

 

I also have some blue switches which would be facing point locks in a real 'box but - as I don't fit FPLs in this scale - these are on-off switches for the isolated track sections.  

 

Stop signals will be correctly worked by red levers in the frame and while I don't have any distant signals on this layout I do have a yellow switch; this may remain in the "bits box" for now as surplus to immediate requirements.