Speech End

[ParkeNd]

This is my next building started whilst I’m waiting for more red, and black wire to arrive. It’s going to cover the Cobalt SS Controller and points motor just outside the goods shed. It is based on a building in Mitchel Troy goods yard - now demolished. I haven’t a clue what it is - but this is my start of the project and it’s the right shape for the job. A picture of a layout at the Monmouth Model Railway Exhibition shows it was a stone building, brick wall, and had a door at the other end. 

[ParkeNd]

Starting to look a bit more like a building now. You can see the build technique - Daler picture board surfaced with various types of ambossed Slaters   This makes strong buildings and I can just work out the assembly sequence and method as I go along. The outriggers will be curved to match the track and cover cables and the point motor. Lots more to do yet, although the extra wire and scotchloks have arrived so I can get back to the track on the L shape. 

[ParkeNd]

The building to hide the Cobalt SS controller, point motor, and surface cables in the middle of the layout is progressing. The two windows have black plastic behind them to prevent light leakage from the three blue LEDs, and the two decks, one at each end, have been shaped to avoid even a CCT van passing - a lot like the white building at Whitecroft that was a shop for decades until recently. It’s in undercoat prior to roofing, detailing, and dry brushing. Later when rail sides have been painted with sleeper grime, and ballasting is done, the decks will be melded into the landscape which is going to be contoured over its entire area. The L shape at the end of the layout, seen upside down in the picture, is ready to receive its rails (2 points and 4 lengths of flexi) when more red and black wire arrives from Railway Scenics in Gillingham. Don’t know if anyone reading this has tried them, but they are very serious suppliers of wire, connectors, switches and electronics that make some of the more mainstream stuff look toylike and expensive 

[ParkeNd]

The stonework has been drybrushed, the roof is on and tiled, the gutters and downpipes made, and all the roofline boarding is painted ready for fitting. I’ve run out of Evergreen Angle of the right size for the ridge tiles and it doesn’t look right without them so I’ve sent for Hattons last packet - it’s made in USA. I’ve noticed that quite a lot of small items like this are going into zero stock. I’ll post a next photo when the building is finished which should be in a couple of days. 

[corneliuslundie]

Next time try Eileen's Emporium. I always get excellent service and they have a very wide range of stuff.

https://www.eileensemporium.com/materials-for-modellers/category/evergreen-plastic-l-section-angle

No connection except as a satisfied customer (though I do know the previous owner, does that count?
 

Jonathan

[ParkeNd]

Thanks for the suggestion of Eileen’s Emporium. I can’t see where it says items are in stock but will give it a go. Laid the last two points on the L section at the end of the layout (5 soldered wires on each - 2 power + 3 for frog polarity change) and 4 pieces of flexi each with 2 droppers brought up from underneath the board. That’s a total of 18 soldered wires for someone who hates soldering. I’m still waiting the Evergreen angle so will move on to connect the feeds to the DCC bus - no soldering thank heavens. Then one Cobalt SS controller and two point motors. 

[ParkeNd]

Time to move on to the last two point motors and their common Cobalt SS Controller. All other electric are finished having connected all the droppers to the DCC bus. I lost control of the number of times I banged my head because I had to work under the board. I've also had to add an additional brace across the join between the L shape and the main board where track crosses it. However, the small scratch built hut to cover the Cobalt Controller in the middle of the layout is finally finished. I loosely copied one in Monmouth Mitchell Troy Goods Yard because it would do the job. Don't know what it was for, maybe something not 2021 PC like slaughtering animals that had been walked to the station for onward delivery to butchers. The "new" use of the hut is a typical Heritage Railway use - a place to put things that don't belong anywhere but can't be thrown away. The man with the wheelbarrow is either part of the cleanup gang, or he's a guilty party - you decide based on how you feel on the day.

[corneliuslundie]

Very nice. I see the FoD sheep are acting normally.

Jonathan

[ParkeNd]

3 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

Very nice. I see the FoD sheep are acting normally.

Jonathan

Wouldn’t be DFR without them Jonathan. 

[Ian Smeeton]

On 31/01/2021 at 15:14, ParkeNd said:

Time to move on to the last two point motors and their common Cobalt SS Controller. All other electric are finished having connected all the droppers to the DCC bus. I lost control of the number of times I banged my head because I had to work under the board. I've also had to add an additional brace across the join between the L shape and the main board where track crosses it. However, the small scratch built hut to cover the Cobalt Controller in the middle of the layout is finally finished. I loosely copied one in Monmouth Mitchell Troy Goods Yard because it would do the job. Don't know what it was for, maybe something not 2021 PC like slaughtering animals that had been walked to the station for onward delivery to butchers. The "new" use of the hut is a typical Heritage Railway use - a place to put things that don't belong anywhere but can't be thrown away. The man with the wheelbarrow is either part of the cleanup gang, or he's a guilty party - you decide based on how you feel on the day.

 

\not pinching wheelbarrows is he?

 

Regards

Ian

[ParkeNd]

I’d hoped to be clear after today from track wiring by having the last two points installed and working plus running a loco on the new bits. However, the main line failed my test using the Peco CCT Van which has no weight - rolling it down a rerailer it repeatedly derailed after the point. So I took out the track pins on the L section and the 90 degree curve and let it move a cm or so to a natural shape. It worked so I’ve installed the two point motors and routed all 8 wires ready to connect to the Cobalt SS Controller tomorrow. Then I can give the two points addresses, adjust the throw, test run the Flying Banana and reverse the frog polarity leads if it stops at the point. 

[ParkeNd]

Just now, Ian Smeeton said:

 

\not pinching wheelbarrows is he?

 

Regards

Ian

Quite possibly - it is empty. 

[ParkeNd]

My last two sentences above appeared to make today easy - it wasn’t. To start with neither point motor would operate. The Prodigy manual says refer to the DCC manual, and the DCC manual says refer to the Prodigy manual when setting addresses of points. Neither says you actually have to press 1 for On, and 2 for Off as part of the Set function. However I accidentally stumbled on the solution and one point worked - but the other didn’t. By swopping out Controller, then motor, then trying it without the extended motor lead (to get it under the tracks to the Controller) I found that one of the extended leads was DOA. This sounds cool and calculated but that’s not how it felt. I feel that standard motor leads should be 250mm and not 150mm. Anyway, the Flying Banana ran perfectly everywhere so no reversing of frog power leads required. Now to ballast without messing up the free movement of the point blade. Because I shall ballast 6” of track per day I shall build a goods yard coal office concurrently. 

[ParkeNd]

With the cork underlay given its final trim this morning I’m ready to start ballasting and rail sides painting. As outlined above I’ve started the final building to cover a Cobalt SS Controller - the others are going under contoured ground. So photographed is the site of the building, and the start of the home of heritage merchant  “Authentic Smokey Fuels” - a coal merchant boasting “Your neighbours complain or your money back” - my only bit of levity on the layout. The last photo is a shot of the layout in position. Yes - I could have done with another 6 metres or so in this scale, rather than my mere 3 metre run. And an observation- it is much harder to model an imaginary layout than a real location - but not necessarily a real location at precisely  3.32 pm on 20th August 1961 for instance. 

[96701]

Have now caught up on your build, and am very impressed by your fortitude in solving your short circuit problems. The only issue  would take is that DCC wiring can be simpler than DC wiring if you rely on rail joiners and point blades for continuity. What you have done with your wiring is for reliable running by connecting every rail to a feed, bonding point blades electrically, and therefore having to switch  the frog. 

 

If you disconnected the Prodigy from the layout and connected the DC controller to it, you would still have the most reliable running than any previous layout. 

[ParkeNd]

Thanks for taking the time to comment Phil. I agree with what you have said of course. Needing something more to fill my time after my wife died in 2017, and having had my only previous layout Parkend in N Gauge feature over 6 pages in Railway Modeller whilst my wife was still alive, I wanted to set myself a challenge. So a change of gauge in the same space, DCC which I knew nothing about, and to both vastly improve running across points and to operate them without separate passing contact switches. So I deliberately set myself a challenge. Not every rail has a dropper, but every point and every section of track before and after each point has a dropper. I couldn’t have solved the short circuit problem without the help of three folk in particular on another board in this forum. Picking DCC Cobalt SS for point’s control was a lucky accident - being able to control much more than points on and off is a real plus later like LED lights on a panel and crossovers. The bugbear of my first layout was relying on blade contact - they were a nightmare to use and the twin track DC controller made everything jerky - it eventually negated the use of points altogether. The GWR Streamlined Railcar I’m using as my test vehicle goes through the points like they are just a curve in a single piece of flexi - could hardly believe it when I first saw it. Going back to me deliberately choosing a challenge - my biggest block in understanding the wiring connections on the layout was DCC’s choice of green wire in their instruction leaflet for the frog wire. I saw this as meaning EARTH and I just couldn’t get it. Luckily I stumbled on an online article referring to the terminal it connected to on the Cobalt SS Controller as COMMON and only then did I understand it. 

Edited February 7, 2021 by ParkeNd
Added reference to instruction leaflet

[ParkeNd]

Basic box structures for “Authentic Smokey Fuels” coal merchants building proceeding in tandem with track ballasting as planned. GWR chocolate doors ready to add to building next - my plan is for its architectural adornments to be in keeping with the goods shed office. Track ballasting proceeding at about “one 12” section per day”. I’m ballasting the point blade sections of points in 3 separate  longitudinal slivers (edge, middle, and other edge) over 3 days to minimise the amount of dilute Evostik wood glue in the area at any one time. After 5 days I reckon 25% of the track is ballasted but no rail sides painted. Long job. I have heard people say they’ve ballasted a bigger layout than this in a morning pushing one of those plastic spreaders along the track and then waving an aerosol spray can of magic glue around. But getting up close with points blades, inside edges of rails etc convinced me that even in OO there are too many nooks, crannies, and moving bits to gum up. 

[birch1]

Like the platform surfaces, very convincing

[ParkeNd]

Track ballasting continuing by dint of forcing myself to do some every day. I think if I had only done it when I was really in the mood it might last all lockdown. About 2/3 done now and more ballast on order. To combat it looking too uniform I’m going to introduce some mix of weathered brown and weathered grey in the goods yard. Hope it isn’t a risk too far. The small building now has its two boxes joined and the brickwork dry brushed and needs roof and all detailing added next. I’m also, at the end of each ballasting session, going back to the other end of the board and painting the sides of the rails and chairs with Railmatch Sleeper Grime at the rate of about “as much as I can do before my back aches intolerably”. This process makes my fingertips indelibly stained because they are proving to be the most precise way to remove occasional overpaints on the top of the rails. Will post a couple of photos soon.  Just added. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by ParkeNd
Added photos

[ParkeNd]

The stone building with the sheep is today facing an uncertain future. With the tracks either side of it ballasted it will not go back into position without fouling my CCT Van test vehicle no matter what I do. So after much pondering and trying various “fixes” I’m moving the Cobalt SS Controller for Point 3 to where it should have been in the first place - outside the tracks next to the two controllers for Points 1 and 2 using the last remaining point motor extension lead in up and over mode.  The building won’t be required to hide it - undulating ground can so will it survive in modified form or somewhere else - not sure yet but it would be a pity to waste it. 

Edited February 18, 2021 by ParkeNd
Removed an unnecessary “to”

[ParkeNd]

The plug and play nature of the Cobalt SS Controller made it easy to move. I know I could have used the second port on Point 2 Controller but I would have had to reprogamme the accessory and reset its travel and direction - the three frog leads would have to have been extended too. So I took the easy way and it worked first time. I did however daisy chain the power in. The building has been saved - I reduced its height by 10mm by literally cutting some off - the inherent strength of the building construction method made it easy. 

[ParkeNd]

Three jobs running simultaneously because they can all be done a little at a time. The coal office roof is on, as is its chimney stack, so tiling proceeding at 4 rows per day each side   The ballasting of the main board is done apart from the two 90 deg curves at the far end. For the goods yard I mixed 50/50 clean brown ballast and weathered grey ballast. It looked terrific when mixed dry and scary when wet but I’m getting used to it as the dilute wood glue drys more and more. I’ll post some photos to show what I’m on about but it seems to me most logical to start the ground profiling in the middle and work out to the corners - I have no real location to copy bit by bit so I’m letting it flow from the area of greatest need not to be flat. I’m using paper patterns made by pressing it into the edges of the ballast and cutting around it - then pasting onto Daler Board and cutting out proformas of areas to be covered - two so far. I’ll build up the contours on these with terraced balsa sanded to shape. Well I know what I mean. Photos soon. 

[ParkeNd]

A couple of photos as mentioned above. The builders are still in on Authentic Smokey Fuels - loads to do. 

[ParkeNd]

The little coal office is nearly finished but not ready to photograph yet. The undulating ground to hide the surface mounted points motors, and avoid that billiard table look, is now underway - starting from the middle of the layout. The base balsa work is done and the sanding to profile has yet to start - I shall have to do it in the garage because it's going to make a mess. A couple of pictures attached. More soon.

[corneliuslundie]

I like your way of creating the contours. Am very tempted to try it myself on the two boards where I haven't done any scenic work yet.

And your rate of progress makes me look like a sloth/sluggard/asleep. I am finding it rather hard to get motivated at the moment, and also have all sorts of unfinished projects, some 20 years old, which I have decided I MUST finish.

Jonathan