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Forgive me if I'm missing something/ being dense, but how does the coaling stage operate as a road from the turntable?  Essentially, if wagons go in there, how are they positioned and retrieved?

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11 minutes ago, 'CHARD said:

Forgive me if I'm missing something/ being dense, but how does the coaling stage operate as a road from the turntable?  Essentially, if wagons go in there, how are they positioned and retrieved?

 

Hi chard, 

               A single wagon plus loco would be go on the turntable together, the wagon would then be shunted next to the coaling stage and unloaded. Once this is done it would be removed again leaving the coaling road/ash pit to be used by a loco. 

 

That's how I'd  operate it in my mind anyways. As I don't have the space to put the lines where there would have been on the real thing I think this is the best compromise I can come up with unless you have any suggestions ? 

 

This is what the actual set up would have been:

 

ilfracombe(9_1950)old8.jpg.2546fdf348b5db4682d3270d7d422c3b.jpg

 

 

Thanks

 

Pete 

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Right, I'm with you!  There's plenty of space in the goods yard for the coal wagon(s) to be put back pending collection or swap.  My assumption then, is that the coal is tripped in from Barnstaple a couple of times or maybe once a week, and the trip engine is small enough to place the loco coal wagons.  Sounds good to me!

 

PS: I too fell in love with Ilfracombe as soon as I became aware of the terminus, a good few years ago now!

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Tonight I started on laying down the cork base. I ordered a couple of packs of 4mm cork floor tiles from the site that delivers next day and they seem to look like fairly decent quality cork. Before I was able to start laying the tiles down, I had to mark out where the turntable would go and then remove the print outs of the track plan.

 

Next I drilled a hole into the board and then used a jigsaw to go around the guide that I had previously drawn.  With a little bit of adjustment and filing the turntable slotted in nice and snug into the baseboard. I will leave it as a snug fit for the time being and possibly for the long run as it would allow me to do maintenance if needed. On the first baseboard I had account for the fact that the turntable would be in the way of the cross braces, I therefore built this board slightly differently to account for this. I'm pleased to report that even with the hole there is no flex with in the 9mm ply (something that I had come across when cutting holes into my old 6mm ply baseboards.)

 

The turntable itself came from my childhood model railway and had been battered about when removed and in storage. I had previously emailed PECO asking if they had any spares and they graciously sent me some new wheels leaving me just to fashion some new axles.  I did this by finding a nail the same size as the steel rods that came with the kit and then cutting them down with a Carborundum slitting disc.  Fingers crossed everything holds up without too much further modification. I plan on using a Locomotech drive mechanism to power the table and will order that in due course.  

 

And this is how it looks:  

 

IMG_20190207_212617.jpg.d3571279e53762ee29e11c8ee1dc571a.jpg

 

In time I may add some further details to the turntable to change it from the generic design that many people have. Ilfracombe turntable was considered by many drivers as the "The Best in the West" and was known for being well balanced.  By modifying the PECO kit I hope to have a more unique looking turntable. 

 

turntable-ilfracombe-engine-shed-1950s-14616789.jpg.6e3f167429e616469e40c5da1f709ec7.jpg

 

Next I started to lay the cork flooring tiles down cutting them to size to get around the turntable and around where the baseboards drop down for the embankment. I completed the first two baseboards but ran out of heavy objects so thought it best to leave it there for the day and to let everything dry thoroughly. 

 

IMG_20190207_212605.jpg.b64f51b822b58d7bddf854bccc9ade08.jpg

 

Thanks for reading 

 

Pete 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

Looks really good. Looks like you have some really good proto pics as well.

Don't forget that Packets did not get to Ilfracombe.

Looking forward to keeping up with your progress.  :snooks:

Phil

Cheers Phil, 

                     I live in Hampshire and have found that Winchester library has a massive railways collection and that its hardly used. Its really handy for finding many different books that have become hard to get hold of. A lot of the pictures are out of these books as well as a facebook group that I joined on which tends to have a lot of peoples personal colour photos which is really handy.

 

Rule 1 might have to apply for some of my locos ;) lets just imagine the bridge at Barnstaple was reinforced and some of the bigger locos could carry on from Exeter..... 

 

Cheers

 

Pete 

 

 

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58 minutes ago, PeteN92 said:

Cheers Phil, 

                     I live in Hampshire and have found that Winchester library has a massive railways collection and that its hardly used. Its really handy for finding many different books that have become hard to get hold of. A lot of the pictures are out of these books as well as a facebook group that I joined on which tends to have a lot of peoples personal colour photos which is really handy.

 

Rule 1 might have to apply for some of my locos ;) lets just imagine the bridge at Barnstaple was reinforced and some of the bigger locos could carry on from Exeter..... 

 

Cheers

 

Pete 

 

 

Packets are very welcome...…………..well done that bridge Engineer; must have had foresight:pleasantry:

Cheeky request, if you know of any really useful info in that Library (you are lucky to still have one) that gives info about Seaton Junction and environs then please let me know. Our Library (yes, we till have one....just) can arrange for transfer if I can let them have details.

Phil

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41 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

Packets are very welcome...…………..well done that bridge Engineer; must have had foresight:pleasantry:

Cheeky request, if you know of any really useful info in that Library (you are lucky to still have one) that gives info about Seaton Junction and environs then please let me know. Our Library (yes, we till have one....just) can arrange for transfer if I can let them have details.

Phil

Having a quick search by typing Seaton into the libarary search its coming up with:

A dvd called  British railways: Volume 8 - English branch lines and byways

The Seaton branch and Seaton tramway / byColin G.Maggs

Branch Lines to Seaton and Sidmouth  by Mitchell, Vic , middletone press

 

A lot of the time I just order it off the web into my local library but from time to time I actually go to Winchester to have a nose around.  I think on more than one occasion I have managed to find a book they didn't even realise they had !!

 

Pete

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1 minute ago, PeteN92 said:

Having a quick search by typing Seaton into the libarary search its coming up with:

A dvd called  British railways: Volume 8 - English branch lines and byways

The Seaton branch and Seaton tramway / byColin G.Maggs

Branch Lines to Seaton and Sidmouth  by Mitchell, Vic , middletone press

 

A lot of the time I just order it off the web into my local library but from time to time I actually go to Winchester to have a nose around.  I think on more than one occasion I have managed to find a book they didn't even realise they had !!

 

Pete

I didn't know you could search Library stocks? Thanks P, I have the DVDs....easy watching but not so easy listening as some of the commentary comments are not very good or accurate!

ATB

P

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Auto-uncoupling

 

After laying down the rest of the cork tiles on the final board I thought I would keep myself occupied while they were drying. I had read up and watched a couple of videos on Youtube about how to make auto-uncouplers by modifying tension lock couplings and using neodymium magnets. 

 

I ordered a few magnets on Ebay to have a play around and attached a magnet beneath the rails. I put the screw into the block of wood so that I didn't have to glue the magnet down on this test piece. 

 

IMG_20190213_165137_opt.jpg.566be389a3a24542cfdf736ccfddfaf8.jpg

 

I took some small staples that I had lying about the house cut one end off then bent one end to 45 degrees. By bending the staple in this way it forces the magnet magnet to drag the hook upwards when the staple is attracted to it. Once the staple is bent i removed the coupling hook from each of my wagons and superglued the staple on flush with the bottom of the hook. 

 

IMG_20190213_165315_opt.jpg.2ca4dccae1038c77da7e8733e8739c75.jpg                                                           IMG_20190213_165011_opt.jpg.ca13e4cf728a215458c08fa4e4d3d3e1.jpg

 

After leaving this to dry I attached the couplings back on and tested over the magnet to ensure it moved on its own and then uncoupled with another wagon. Where I have a couple of different couplings from different manufacturers I found that certain staples needed adjustment to ensure that they were close enough to the magnet to make sure that it fully lifted.

 

IMG_20190213_165023_opt.jpg.0bc7cab0d6751cba5c597cb6b3c60c94.jpg                                                           IMG_20190213_165052_opt.jpg.a796478181167c6397a077fd0838aca2.jpg

 

In the space of an evening I managed to fit all of my wagons with this modification and I hope to do the same to the ends of my coach sets. I will also need to remove the hooks from my locos as it will make uncoupling more efficient and with a maximum train length of four coaches on my layout there should be more than enough tension to keep everything coupled up. It is also worth noting that unless you are driving at a very slow speed or have stopped over the magnet they will not uncouple. When I fit the magnets to the track I may in some places add more than one magnet in an "uncoupling section" you can increase the size simply by adding more magnets next to each other. 

 

I hope you people find this informative

 

Thanks Again 

 

Pete 

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  • 1 month later...

Apologies for the lack of updates there has been little progress since the cork went down as I have been waiting to order the pointwork for the layout and have spent some time building kits , painting and weathering some more rolling stock. 

 

My Locomotech turntable kit has arrive in the mean time and I have set about motorising the Peco turntable. I can remember trying to motorise this turntable in the past and that it  was a right pig which never really worked properly however I am very pleased with the ease at which this kit has gone together. 

 

I went for the deluxe gearing and indexing kit which allows the turntable to stop at pre determined points and also allows me to control at what speed the table rotates at. 

 

                                                                   IMG_20190325_163205.jpg.b64e4e9a2141086bea70e8bd4621cf30.jpg

The design relies on the weight of the motor hanging down to keep the torque arms in place. I was surprised to find that they did not need gluing into place when reading the instructions.  The circuit board allows you to adjust the settings of the table. You also have a switch that determines which direction the turntable spins and you have a push button to activate the motor, this can be held down if you want to skip an indexing position.  I've currently got it all hooked up to the accessory terminal of a gauge master controller just  for testing purposes. 

 

 

This is the result so far and I have also tested with the DCC power hooked up  going to the deck. It is here I have found a limitation with the current design as there are two points where the sound cuts out due to there being gaps in the power ring.  I have had a little look across RMweb for a solution and it seems people have adapted the wiring that peco suggests to keep the deck live at all times and to use a reverse loop module to get around the issue of the polarity not matching the entry and exit roads which without, would create a short. I will do this modification in time but for now will get on with laying track and accepting the limitations of the turntable in its current form. 

 

Thanks for reading

 

Pete 

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  • 2 months later...

Sleeper Spacing

 

Another gap in updates on here but lots of progress to report. 

I had decided to amend the sleeper spacing on the code 75 track, points were a little bit of a stretch so I left them.  Overall it was a time consuming task and very repetitive but I think it will be worth it once  everything is down. 

 

1.jpg.e9ef83f685bd2ba45b9068dd46294cbb.jpg    First I had to cut out the webbing between  all of the sleepers.

 

2.jpg.78c930dd7b499f2facc5bb1c2e085840.jpg Leaving you with this.....

 

 

I ordered a tool from a Dutch site that came up on the advertising bar here on RMweb called EnglishModelRailways.com. You get a number of different size blocks which allow you to create the correct spacing. You could glue them together into a rigid tool but then you would only be able to do straights so I left them as separate blocks and moved one to the front as I went making my way along the piece of track.

 

3.jpg.f32be98f55fd921d4e193a89034f80d0.jpgIts a little fiddly but you get into a swing of things.

4.jpg.3cf593933c8dff6808ac0f8eb18174b6.jpgAnd the finished article....

 

A lot of the full lengths I did when I had some spare time at work and spaced them entire lengths out. With shorter lengths or pieces that were going to be on a curve I ended up just cutting the webbing and then doing the spacing in situ as I laid the track onto the board.  My plan was to use copydex to secure the track down to the cork, this allows the sleepers to be secured down to the baseboards to an extent but there is still a bit of movement if the sleepers need adjusting.  When ballasting everything will be solid so no need to worry for now.

 

Cheers

 

Pete 

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Once I had amended the sleeper spacing I found it quite a quick process to lay down the track mainly on the straight sections. The curves took a little more time to do as by moving the sleeper spacing's it made it harder to make a smooth radius that would also fit in the space available. The only track that remains to be laid is the roads off of the turntable. I decided to wait to do these as I would need to cut slots for the pits and with my plans on modifying the turntable I wanted to allow myself some flexibility and not commit too soon. 

 

7.jpg.390025649478be8f873702493bce5797.jpg

 

I started on this section which is essentially a scissor crossover and worked my way outwards. Insulated rail joiners have been used on all of the V-ends of the points so that all the frogs are isolated. All points have also been modified so that they no longer rely on the point blades touching to move the polarity.

 

When it came to joins across baseboards I used copper clad PCB to solder the rails onto. On my previous layout I had soldered onto the tops of screw heads but had found that the ends of tracks would still get damaged from time to time so I thought I would give this method a go this time round. 

 

I have taken the advice from other members on here to use DCC concepts cobalt points motors.  With  the complex point work it will make all the polarity switching easy and I may even be able to create some interlocking to avoid calling conflicting routes.  It also makes sense money wise as by the time I buy frog juicers and the extra points motors you get to about the same price as the multipack for the cobalt's.  

 

6.jpg.07a8ae844e95f5a76fcf47552e8cda78.jpg

 

 

The station end of the layout now complete and with some rolling stock to get a feel of what it will look like. You can see the carriage sidings at the back, one of the roads will be isolated so that when the Devon Belle is put into the siding I can turn the lights off. 

Other features include the run around loop and platforms 1 & 2. The box vans in the middle show the rough location of the goods shed and my research suggests that the siding closest to the board was used for loading and unloading various things from mineral wagons to even the local circus vans that came to Ilfracombe. 

 

 

5.jpg.6a588394eb7884f9fd9df87a98232def.jpg

 

This photo shows the curve on the entrance from the fiddle yard, the head shunt, and the loco depot as well as the yard.  Tangmere sits roughly where the signal box will eventually be located. 

 

Next up will be my least favourite part of the hobby WIRING :angry: This will take some time due to the complexity of the layout plus I have had to learn how to wire Cobalt motors. I have therefore had a little play around with a test rig before committing to the actual boards. 

 

Wish me luck......

 

Cheers

 

Pete 

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This is coming on lovely Pete, getting an itch to get mine underway looking at your progress.

Enjoying the journey with you. Some complicated track there! At least I won’t have that at Barnstaple Town!

You maybe interested in my saved collection of Ilfracombe photos Link I dare say you have them all but you never know.

keep up the good work.

 Cheers 

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Cheers chaps, slow progress but its certainly coming together. I'm looking forward to running some trains,

7 hours ago, AdeMoore said:

This is coming on lovely Pete, getting an itch to get mine underway looking at your progress.

Enjoying the journey with you. Some complicated track there! At least I won’t have that at Barnstaple Town!

You maybe interested in my saved collection of Ilfracombe photos Link I dare say you have them all but you never know.

keep up the good work.

 Cheers 

Cheers for the link Ade there does seem to be a couple of photos there I haven't come across yet Fantastic !!! every photo helps . I'm looking forward to seeing more progress on your own layout so hope you getting your modelling juices going. 

 

More updates to follow shortly

 

Cheers

 

Pete 

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  • 3 months later...

Points motors, power completed

 

After spending a lot of time wiring up all the droppers for track power and then all the points motors I can finally report that I have made progress. 

 

When ordering the points motors for the layout I decided that I would only bother with the Cobalt IP analog motors as although the layout is DCC I still wanted to control the turnouts via a control panel or mini lever frame. I therefore went ahead and ordered said motors only for me end up with a pack of 12 Cobalt IP Digital motors and a 12 pack of analogue. Instead of sending them back I decided to come up with some creative wiring to ensure that I could use both types but have the option to upgrade the analogue motors in the future to digital control if I wanted.  After consulting with the guys at Dcc Concepts who were very helpful I went ahead with wiring up all the points. 

 

IMG_20190913_120730-min.jpg.50354b8a1786a8d024425feffbb12a36.jpg

The end board will connect to the control box as seen by the tag strips at the top.  

 

The layout has two separate power buses currently. One for the track power and another for the points motors and turntable. This allows me to move the points even if I set a wrong route and short out the running line. I've taken some tricks learnt from experience with wiring up our new club layout Hazelbury Junction and applied them to my own, such as using tag strips to run everything to. If I need to fault find in the future this should make it easier to find problems. I am currently in the process of wiring up 25 pin D plugs and sockets which will attach to these tag strips.  Each board will then be interconnected with scotch block plugs for the main and accessory bus wires and 25 pin D cables for the other wires.  

 

IMG_20190913_120740-min.jpg.22a9ccc931b5d464144897a45a0f4e4f.jpg

The middle board is the most congested as it has a lot of points including multiple double slips and the diamond crossing. I've tried my best to keep my wiring tidy and to colour code wires so that I know what each of them do and where they go.  

 

IMG_20190913_120755-min.jpg.85ad243b39aedddd9508141bf77b1e29.jpg

The turntable board has the least amount of wiring points wise but I did have to do a lot power droppers and run the turntable wiring through. 

 

IMG_20190913_120800-min.jpg.01207c825692023a823542d328b540d2.jpg

Sorry for the blurry image but you get the idea how the turntable wiring goes from the turntable to the end tag strips.  

 

As part of wiring up the turntable board I had to actually finish laying track. I had previously left off the roads from the turntable including the inspection pits for the shed and the ash pit/ coaling road.  I used a jigsaw to cut out a slot in the baseboard for each of the pits then ran rails between the turntable and up to the point where the end of the roads will be using the same spacing as I have throughout the layout.

 

IMG_20190913_120816-min.jpg.a013c0cb8883919e5928f9b33ea9a3d6.jpg

The pits are fitted and one of my ongoing projects is currently sat on the turntable(more about that later). 

 

Finally with all the hot weather we have had I decided to lug the boards down into the garden and with a can of Railmatch sleeper grime I gave all the track work a base coat. I will build up on this in time as I ballast and further weather the track but this is  a good start for now. As I said above next on my list to to wire up the plugs and sockets between each of the boards and then I will move onto the the control panel itself. I have all the components that are required for this now including a laser cut control panel box and a holder for my Gaugemaster Prodigy Advanced2 controller which will be fixed onto the end board.  Hopefully with the end of summer and the end of the hot weather I will soon be running trains.  

 

Many thanks 

 

Pete 

IMG_20190913_120826-min.jpg

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  • 6 months later...

So after another long gap in posting, funnily enough with the current situation I've got a lot of time on my hands. Between the last time I posted and now I also moved house. Unfortunately the railway had to stay at mum and dad's so mainly I've been playing trains and testing to make sure all the wiring is correct and things run as they should. 

 

I have had an ongoing saga with trying to get the turntable to work correctly which has led to me buying another one and then breaking it and ive now managed to get some more replacement parts so hopefully in the future that will be something I can get working perfectly. 

 

For now however I've decided to use my 3 months of shielding to work on some of the scenery on the layout. After explaining to mum and dad over video chat how to disassemble the boards the end station board and a couple of boxes of my tools paints and scenic materials arrived. I've set up in a designated corner of the living room and have promised SWMBO that I will be as tidy as possible. 

 

I've ordered a number of kits such as platforms, point rodding, ground frame, points levers, ground signals and will get them all planted before laying down the ground work. I've also marked where all the buildings will sit so I can get a better idea of where everthing will go. 

 

First up yesterday I decided that this end board had too many straight tracks and after consulting a map of the actual station layout I found that the siding at the back of the goods yard was indeed curved. I therefore set about carefully pulling up the siding and then sticking it back down with copydex. 

 

 

And voila the now curved siding which has allowed me to add the access road that came up the hill to the station.

 

IMG_20200403_210208.jpg.24ef0557c1e5d04034393d04eac1ae5a.jpg

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Next up was to paint and build the groundframe that was used for the run around points in the platform. I used a wills kit and found a spare figure which I botched to make him fit the correct pose. 

IMG_20200403_124621.jpg.0c01398e8ca59fa4127cb8a78f897c66.jpg

Here is the end result Frank has just pulled the point lever and is about to lock the points with the blue FPL. The purple line on the board shows where the point rodding will soon go to the other end of the crossover. 

 

IMG_20200403_210220.jpg.dca954e2766cbcdec0533a9b720b0f7a.jpg

Finally I measured out the Peco concrete platforms for one side of the platform. Having studied some pictures I've come to realise that the station forecourt side is actually part stone built. This would have been the original part of the station that was added to in the 30s when the whole station was enlarged and the track layout was changed. I might therefore hold off putting in this side of the platform so that I can add some non concrete platform prices that I have in store from my old layout. 

 

 

IMG_20200403_210230.jpg.7f6750c19e24c77027b6737ea2079422.jpg

This weekend is meant to be warmer so I plan on getting one side of the platform painted and put in place. I'm also waiting on a delivery of DAS clay and then I can start on the ground work using techniques that Chris Nevard has used and posted about on his blog. I may do some test pieces first on a scrap piece of wood but we shall see. 

 

Many thanks 

 

Pete

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