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Ladmanlow Sidings and other C&HPR locations


Alister_G
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If I can add a little something to your thread which I love. Would a few of the stones benefit from going over with a brass wheel in a mini drill to take the edge some of them before sticking them together. I haven't tried this yet but it is something I have being thinking about for sometime.

I would try just a few to give a random feel to a small section to see how it looks.

Mike

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Hi Al, I wondered whether a hot old soldering iron tip might take off some of the sharp edges. Might smell a bit in your den though, probably best done outside on a fine day, but you'll have to wait a bit for one of those to come along.

 

 

If I can add a little something to your thread which I love. Would a few of the stones benefit from going over with a brass wheel in a mini drill to take the edge some of them before sticking them together. I haven't tried this yet but it is something I have being thinking about for sometime.

I would try just a few to give a random feel to a small section to see how it looks.

Mike

 

Hi Jonathan, Mike,

 

Thank you both for your suggestions. What I did on the stones so far was to take a coarse file to some of them before construction, which does take off the sharp edges. For the coping stones though, I stuck them on un-meddled with, and this is definitely something I need to revist, as they are too regular and sharp edged, even after subsequent filing. As Graham said earlier, they look like stacked up books, and that's not how the real thing looks at all.

 

Many thanks to both of you, and welcome to the thread Mike.

 

Al.

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So here's the results of the repaint.

 

post-17302-0-72912500-1546034587_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-69731300-1546034588_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-41606600-1546034589_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-06229900-1546034591_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-75172300-1546034591_thumb.jpg

 

I'm happier with this, although I may add a selective wash of a lighter grey to add some highlights, but the overall feel is much more what I wanted.

 

Al.

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In other news, whilst waiting for paint to dry, I've been making a start on fixing down the ground cover.

 

This is 3mm cork, cut to fit round each individual sleeper. It will be painted and then ash added over the top. in between the tracks, between the sleepers, will be short slivers of cork to fill up the gaps.

 

post-17302-0-66883100-1546035073_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-28465000-1546035074_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-81584400-1546035074_thumb.jpg

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

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So whilst RMWeb was having a little lie down yesterday, I got on with some modelling.

 

I continued to lay the cork sheet for the ground cover, cutting bits to size to fit between the rails, and then cutting out the edges to fit between the sleeper ends:

 

post-17302-0-16990200-1546165874_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-95005800-1546165874_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-67039500-1546165875_thumb.jpg

 

post-17302-0-49598400-1546165876_thumb.jpg

 

I also cut small sections of cork and started to infill between the sleepers:

 

post-17302-0-44416100-1546165877_thumb.jpg

 

 

I also made a start on the next section of wall:

 

post-17302-0-31598600-1546165878_thumb.jpg

 

This one is on a curve:

 

post-17302-0-03079200-1546165879_thumb.jpg

 

Taking note of opinions on the first section, I've tried to cut the stones to a more believable size.

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

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Hi Alister

I've been enjoying the progress you have been making. Don't mind me asking if this has been asked before, but who's plain track are you using, it looks good.

 

Happy New Year

Regards,

 

 

Hi Chris, not at all mate, the plain track is made by  C&L Finescale, 00 gauge code75. You can find it here:

 

http://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=346_375_377_379

 

Happy New Year to you.

 

Al.

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Just a quick update, I haven't given up and gone away.

 

I'm currently awaiting the delivery of some more cork sheet for the ground cover. I bought some before Christmas, which was ordered as 3mm thick, but what turned up was closer to 5mm thick (despite being labelled as 3mm on the packaging), and looks ridiculous when trying to infill between the sleepers, so I've ordered some 2mm thick in the hope that it might be closer to what I want.

 

I'm still slowly building the curved wall, but there's not really any point showing you the photos of that either until it's a bit further along.

 

I've had a problem with one of the turnouts, too. Despite the frog being switched from the point motor, and also despite thorough cleaning of the rails, all the locos I've tried come to a dead stop when they run onto the frog in one direction, although not in the other direction.

 

Checking with a meter shows the rail is powered correctly, and it isn't that the wheels are causing a short, as the controller (an NCE Powercab) would normally reset itself if there is a short on the track, and it doesn't.

 

This fault wasn't present when I first laid the track, so all in all I'm a bit puzzled by it.

 

Cheers for now,

 

Al.

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Hi Gordon,

 

Thanks very much.

 

It is when locos are approaching from the V of the crossing that the problem occurs, if they run from the toe they are fine. This is with the turnout reversed. With the turnout normal, the locos run fine either way.

 

Also, it's only when they approach from the diverging route that the problem occurs.

 

I've checked the V (frog) has power with a meter, and it's fine, and switches properly to the correct polarity when the point is changed, so it's not primarily an electrical problem, I don't think.

 

I'm inclined to go with either Stubby's or Seahorse's ideas, but haven't had time to check yet.

 

The only thing to note so far is that although I've tried different locos, they've all been J94s up to now, two Dapol and one DJH, so I was going to dig out a Bachmann Jinty and see if that does the same.

 

It would be strange if both the Dapol and DJH's back-to-backs were out, causing the problem, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

 

Thanks for posting,

 

Al.

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Right then, let's be seeing to this dratted turnout, shall we?

 

Here's the offending article... the one left middle of the image:

 

post-17302-0-79143300-1546634129_thumb.jpg

 

and it only ever causes problems with traffic travelling in the direction of the arrow.

 

As soon as the back wheel of a loco passes over the joint between the top turnout, and the one outlined in blue, the locos grind to a halt.

 

Coming the other way, it doesn't seem to bother them, and running either way on the straight-on position of the turnout is fine.

 

post-17302-0-49165300-1546634130_thumb.jpg

 

So this evening, I checked that the turnout was flat, and checked the back-to-backs of the locos, and looked to see if there was a bump or if the wheels caught the crossing.

 

Nothing.

 

So I dug out a Bachmann Jinty, and tried that.

 

And guess what... it ran fine over the crossing without any issue...

 

:banghead:

 

:help:

 

:scratchhead:

 

So I went back to looking at the electrics, and got my trusty old meter on the job.

 

post-17302-0-07195700-1546634131_thumb.jpg

 

Finally, I discovered the problem. Although I haven't identified the root cause.

 

With rigorous testing, I discovered that the "frog" was being switched fine - that is, all the sections of rail marked in green below. However, the tail of the point on the diverging route (marked in red)  was dead, no matter which way the point was thrown...

 

post-17302-0-83798000-1546634131_thumb.jpg

 

Now this isn't how things are supposed to work, there is supposed to be a connection to all of that area. I took another turnout that I had and did continuity tests between all the sections of rail, and they all should be connected together. Obviously then, this turnout has developed a fault.

 

However, now the problem was identified, a solution was relatively simple, I soldered an extra dropper to that rail:

 

post-17302-0-57861400-1546634132_thumb.jpg

 

and fed it from the same switch as the main frog:

 

post-17302-0-15168000-1546634133_thumb.jpg

 

With the layout right way up again, all the locos happily chug through the turnout with no fuss at all.

 

:locomotive: :senile:

 

Thinking about it, the J94 wheelbase is just short enough that when the loco's back wheel crossed the rail joint onto the dead rail, the contact patch of the front wheel was in mid air between the end of that rail, and the start of the common crossing, so there was no connection and everything ground to a halt. The Jinty, with a slightly longer wheelbase, managed to maintain a connection with the crossing before the rear wheel hit the dead rail, which is why it managed to keep going.

 

So there you are, normal running restored, but what a pig of a fault to identify!

 

Thanks for all your suggestions and ideas, and thanks for looking,

 

Al.

Edited by Alister_G
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And now...

 

The next problem.

 

As I said earlier, the cork sheet which I had ordered to create the ground cover claimed to be 3mm thick, and was marked as such on the packaging.

 

However, when I started to use it to fill in between the sleepers, it became obvious that it was nearer to 5mm in thickness, and therefore, as I'm sure you'll agree, it looks very wrong...

 

post-17302-0-04188500-1546636211_thumb.jpg

 

The sleepers look like they've sunk into the ground.

 

However, I'm happy to report that my replacement cork sheet is really, actually only 2mm thick, and will look much more believable.

 

So I just have to dig out all the old stuff, and replace it, now....

 

Al.

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