Waddlemarsh - somewhere southwest of London sometime before today

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I need to be certain that the 12V output is stepped down to 9V

I use these with success:

 

https://core-electronics.com.au/adjustable-switching-power-supply-module-in-4v-35v-out-1-5v-30v-lm2596s.html

 

I'm sure you can get them in the UK or from the Internet.

 

Thanks to @Barry O who tipped me off about these originally.

Edited July 25, 2021 by St Enodoc

[eastwestdivide]

13 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Finally the most head-scratching, befuddling and mystifying fault of all, the crossover motors, was traced to another defective switch.  I had rewired the original switch but with something amiss inside the housing that hadn't cleared the fault.  A new switch duly did so.

Was that a lightbulb moment? 
Out of interest, a lightbulb is a “pear” (Birne) in German, where a bulb that you plant is a Zwiebel, or onion, even if it’s not an onion. 

[Gwiwer]

13 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I use these with success:

 

https://core-electronics.com.au/adjustable-switching-power-supply-module-in-4v-35v-out-1-5v-30v-lm2596s.html

 

I'm sure you can get them in the UK or from the Internet.

 

Thanks to @Barry O who tipped me off about these originally.

 

This is the one I have coming.  Should do the job.  

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07HCW454P/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, eastwestdivide said:

Was that a lightbulb moment? 

Where IS that groan button?  Andy ..... ??? 

[Gwiwer]

A couple of accessories arrived in today’s mail

 

A BR pattern lever cloth as used by signalmen (ok, signallers for those in the 21st Century), and an Acme Thunderer whistle - on a buttonhole chain - inscribed BR(S). 
 

Both are of course 12”:1’ scale but both will find employment. The rag will be my lever rag (what else?) and the whistle will adorn my work uniform though cannot be used in anger until the pandemic has eased a bit more. 

 

Apologies if these show sideways. All the system upgrades have not yet resolved the issue of iPhone images refusing to rotate. 
 

 

 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

A couple of accessories arrived in today’s mail

 

A BR pattern lever cloth as used by signalmen (ok, signallers for those in the 21st Century), and an Acme Thunderer whistle - on a buttonhole chain - inscribed BR(S). 
 

Both are of course 12”:1’ scale but both will find employment. The rag will be my lever rag (what else?) and the whistle will adorn my work uniform though cannot be used in anger until the pandemic has eased a bit more. 

 

Apologies if these show sideways. All the system upgrades have not yet resolved the issue of iPhone images refusing to rotate. 
 

 

 

Very nice, Rick. May I ask where the cloth came from please?

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Very nice, Rick. May I ask where the cloth came from please?

Of course 

 

https://www.heritage-ops.org.uk/product_categories.php

 

[Gwiwer]

After an extended wait and three missed delivery dates my voltage step-down unit has finally arrived. Mysteriously on the very day when I could have claimed a refund had it not turned up. 

 

Now I can wire up the signals and lighting which should run better on 9V than 12V. 

 

Only £5 but an important little piece of the jigsaw. 
 

 

[Gwiwer]

The first signal is wired and working 

 

https://gwiwer.smugmug.com/ModelRailway-1/Waddlemarsh/n-w7M85z/i-3s6hSNp

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

 

After another session connecting tiny wires beneath baseboards all the signals currently instelled are now working. Maybe not as smoothly as I’d like just yet but that comes with a little learning on the panel. And as noisy as ever for the Dapol signals.  But they work despite all the clutter!!!  It will look better soon I promise 

https://gwiwer.smugmug.com/ModelRailway-1/Waddlemarsh/n-w7M85z/i-tKWSmWg

 

[Gwiwer]

Little bits of mindless fiddling don’t seem to achieve much but they add up. Recent fiddling has seen the girder bridge assembled into a single piece structure. The roadway is down and painted though not yet the footpath. A gap in the side girder will be closed; the piece is cut and ready but the paint is not yet dry so it will go in tomorrow  

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

And a start made on the lengthy and intricate task of weathering the rails. 
 

 

[Gwiwer]

Footpath going in. Metcalfe self-adhesive slabs which I find require a dab of glue to adhere. 
 

 

[Gwiwer]

Awaiting time …..

 

[Gwiwer]

My work here is done.  Probably.  

 

The girder bridge has been completed with the addition of white lines (Scale Model Scenery item RX-006 OO) and tiny gratings (a Jim Smith-Wright etch) then the whole job was lightly dusted with weathering powders.  

 

The next task will be to fit this into its final position followed by bringing the backscene around behind it thus separating display area from fiddle yard. 

 

 

 

 

 

[ian]

It's a good job those buses are only 7'6" wide - it'll be a tight fit in a few years time when they get wider.

[Gwiwer]

Tinkering around.  All yard track is now weathered though the final ground weathering is yet to go down.  Point levers placed but not fixed. Uncoupling ramps fitted which will become part of board walkways to partially disguise them. 
 

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Is it time to put the kettle on? 
 

[brianusa]

The old magic's still there, Rick!

     Brian.

[Gwiwer]

Not a lot to report as I have been unwell recently and am still not quite right. The good news is that all the tests, PCR and lateral flow, are negative so it’s not that.

 

I have however collected a four-coach rake of blood & custard Mk1 stock which is a livery not previously represented in my collection other than by a single coach bought a while back. 
 

Seen here berthed in the yard alongside the Standard 2-6-2T. Behind the carriages the chain-link fence is slowly going in of which more shortly. 
 

[Gwiwer]

About that fence. 
 

Ancorton security fence offers pre-cut matchwood posts including angled ends for the diagonal supports and holes to accept barbed wire. 
 

I found that the fence mesh is rather too dense but not unuseable. It will also accept weathering washes to remove the brand-new shiny look. The posts can splinter when cut from their sprue but almost all are useable. The pre-cut holes for the barbed wire are actually blind and require boring out. I tried a 0.5mm bit but found it too small. The 0.7mm is better. The wire is not soft enough to straighten nicely and threading it through the holes of the numerous posts required became very difficult. The second wire was harder still and the third really wouldn’t go through at all. 
 

If there was more wood on the posts I could open the holes a bit more maybe with a 0.8mm bit but as with cutting from the sprue they splinter. 
 

So I have abandoned the barbed wire toppers which were not universal in the 1950s and 1960s anyway. I have trimmed the angled tops from the posts and - for the most part - have cut the mesh in half lengthways to give a lower fence height. With correspondingly shorter posts.  

The posts are painted in “Railmatch” Concrete and still require a top coat

 

Not quite straight because the mesh stubbornly adopts a curve.  
 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

On 26/08/2021 at 21:54, ian said:

It's a good job those buses are only 7'6" wide - it'll be a tight fit in a few years time when they get wider.

By that time there will be traffic lights at each end of the bridge and constant delays.  The bridge will be scheduled for replacement by something wider and more ..... errrr ..... concrete but not until the 1970s.  If the line survives   

[brushman47544]

Looking better with every development. But are you going to put some buffer stops in to protect the houses behind from runaways?

[KeithHC]

Just caught up on this thread great layout. Now pedant mode on…………sorry………. Your RT needs some changes the grey band should be a cream band and the advert for Delta Airlines needs removing. These two items date the bus to the early 1980’s. Delta did not start operating to the UK until at least 1980. Pedant mode off………..sorry.

 

Keith

getting my hat and coat

[Gwiwer]

33 minutes ago, brushman47544 said:

Looking better with every development. But are you going to put some buffer stops in to protect the houses behind from runaways?

Thank you and yes.  They are already built and are in the final stages of decoration.  Mostly rail-type but a couple of sleeper-built blocks.  Watch this space.

 

21 minutes ago, KeithHC said:

pedant mode on…………sorry………. Your RT needs some changes the grey band should be a cream band and the advert for Delta Airlines needs removing

A limitation of modelling I'm afraid and whilst I agree with your "pedant mode" comments - and would add that the RT should also have hub covers over the rear wheels for the 1960s - I'm not at the state of repainting just yet.  Some of my buses carry light weathering which is as far as I go for now.  I do have a cream-band Routemaster or two which can be placed and will show how the lane width does not really support 8' 0" wide vehicles.  That again is a piece of modelling licence; the extra width would have caused problems siting the brick supports which fit around and hide various point motors and power supply gubbins.  Selective compression is fine just as it is on the footbridge at the opposite end.  

 

A number of girder bridges were rather narrow as built because they pre-dated current permitted vehicle widths.  I recall those around London's Royal Docks for example which caused bus routes to be restricted to 7' 6" wide types for years after they might otherwise have been replaced and in some cases there were traffic lights to control a one-way flow as well.  Poplar's "blue bridge" was the last to carry a vehicle type restriction forcing RTs to remain on the (then) 277A whilst the main 277 route was converted to the driver-only DMS type.  Connaught Road swing bridge over the Victoria Dock - Albert Dock link never had a regular bus route because it was single-lane for road traffic as built latterly controlled by traffic lights.  On occasions when Silvertown Way was closed the Canning Town - North Woolwich routes (40A, 58 and 69 at the time in question) did run this way on diversion.  The other half of that bridge was built for rail use by the former surface-level Custom House - Silvertown route.  As the gate was swung open often at the height of dock traffic trains were seriously delayed.  The double-track Connaught Tunnel was built beneath the docks which will re-open soon as part of the Crossrail "Elizabeth Line".