Cawdor Quarry

[KNP]

Great progress and looking forward to following the build.

[westerhamstation]

Hi Al, looks a very interesting idea and lots of good modelling scope, glad to see that you have already involved the obligatory bananas  in the build. All the best from your local fruit shop.

[Alister_G]

4 hours ago, KNP said:

Great progress and looking forward to following the build.

 

Thanks Kevin,

 

2 hours ago, westerhamstation said:

Hi Al, looks a very interesting idea and lots of good modelling scope, glad to see that you have already involved the obligatory bananas  in the build. All the best from your local fruit shop.

 

Cheers Adrian, I've had to get some more bananas, I was running out.

 

Al.

[mullie]

Another follower, look forward to seeing this develop. Stone traffic is fascinating.

 

Living on Portland we have a stone mine under the cricket pitch over the road, are surrounded by quarries in various states of use, more than one that has been allowed to return to nature and one that is now a sculpture park. 

 

Martyn

Edited October 5, 2019 by mullie

[Alister_G]

Hi Martyn,

 

That sounds just like the Peak District, there are little abandoned quarries everywhere, as well as the big working ones like Tunstead, my parent's house has an old limestone quarry in their back field, and a fluorspar mine running under the garden, which I fell down when I was young!

 

The mini-industrial estate where I now work used to be a quarry in the 1700's, was abandoned and became the town refuse tip until the late 1970s and then was landscaped and built on in the 90s.

 

There is alledgedly the body of an elephant buried under there somewhere, which ran amok from a circus and was shot by the local Yeomanry in the early 1900s.

 

Al.

[mullie]

We have a small industrial estate that includes the local sorting office that likewise was a quarry and a refuse tip.  Portland stone is now so expensive it is mainly used to renovate old buildings such as St Paul's. 

 

Martyn

[Alister_G]

Today, I been mostly decorating.

 

So the front room looks like this:

 

 

Meanwhile, the kitchen looks like this:

 

 

This evening I've completed cutting and fitting the bracing and supports for the baseboard:

 

 

The added flat section is to ensure a firm and level surface for the main yard section, with a consistent edge for the retaining wall:

 

 

And here's the baseboard top, all screwed down and complete:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That should just about complete the carpentry aspect, which is good, 'cos it's not my favourite thing...

 

I can now move on to laying the track, and beginning the wiring, and then a bit of testing may be required...

 

Thanks for all your interest,

 

 

Al.

[Rowsley17D]

Hi Al, great to see another disappeared bit of my childhood reappearing in model form. Following with interest.

[NHY 581]

On Thursday, October 03, 2019 at 14:04, Alister_G said:

Thanks John,

 

I hope it will tempt a few Peckett watchers...

 

Al.

 

[Alister_G]

5 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

Blimey, the whole family!

 

Al

[Alister_G]

The next job is to lay the track, but before that I needed to carry out some surgery.

 

This is a Peco code75 short Y point:

 

 

At first glance there's nowt wrong with it, however if you look closer, you will see that there is no insulated section between the frog and the closure rails, as there is with other Peco electrofrog points.

 

 

Here's a view from underneath:

 

 

if you look at the strapping you can see that if you wire the frog to a feed from a switch or juicer to change the polarity, then you effectively change the polarity of the frog, both closure rails and both switch blades all together, and there's no facility to isolate the closure rails from the frog.

 

 

This isn't ideal, so here's where the surgery comes in. Using a slitting disk I cut both closure rails:

 

 

a bit wide, sadly, but it'll do. Then I added a wire strap from each stock rail to its corresponding closure rail:

 

 

 

 

This means that the closure rails and switch blades are always the right polarity, and we only switch the frog with the wire provided, as happens on other electrofrog points.

 

Now that's done I can get on with laying the track.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Stubby47]

Can I ask is there a need for the surgery?

 

From your first picture, all of the frog and both blades will have the polarity of the r/h rail (from the toe perspective). Only wheels passing between the open blade and the l/h rail are likely to short,  and only then if the back to back is incorrect. 

 

Whilst your changes do eliminate this, is it actually a problem?

[Alister_G]

Hi Stu,

 

It's more a question of trying to identify problems before they happen, really. Because nearly all the rolling stock and the locos on this layout will be short wheelbase, and the curves are tight, there's more of a chance of them shorting than would be the case for longer wheelbase locos. And I just don't like the idea that the "open" switch blade could possibly be the wrong polarity, I much prefer that the closure rails and switch blades stay the same as their adjacent stock rail.

 

So to answer the question, no, there probably isn't a need to do this, it just makes me happier.

 

Al.

[Stubby47]

Cheers Al, that makes sense.

 

I've not used a live frog short point ( so far), so hadn't realised the difference or potential for problems.

[sb67]

I don't think there's a need to do it but I had a set of points and they were really troublesome, caused by the blades not making good contact with the stock rails, carried out that modification and they worked fine. I also have experienced problems with shorting, took me ages to suss out the reason for the short at the time! 

Steve.

[Alister_G]

Last night after posting the above I went back to the Y point and added two tiny bits of plasticard to fill in the gap I'd cut, so there isn't a big bump when stock goes over the crossing:

 

 

They might need a bit of filing to smooth them down, but they're not far off.

 

Al.

[Andrew P]

I was going to suggest a bit of Plastic Putty or Milliput and then file down and paint.

[Alister_G]

Holey Baseboards, Batman!

 

 

 

 

It's time to start laying some track!

 

 

And sprouting wires!

 

 

Proof that I can drill a hole in the right place...

 

 

Sometimes...

 

 

Joined up thinking:

 

 

 

 

Aren't insulated rail joiners a b*stard to fit? Took bloody ages to get the rail to go in peacefully.

 

Still, finally got it straight:

 

 

 

 

That's all the turnouts in position, and with droppers and joiners fitted. I'll add the straight track, then it's time for testing 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[NHY 581]

Bloody good show! 

[Stubby47]

Chop the insulating fish plates down in length, much easier to fit them, and the track won't move once it's ballasted.

[Alister_G]

Wise words oh great one, it shall be as you say.

 

Why do I never think of these things?

 

Thanks Stu.

 

Al.

[Andrew P]

15 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Chop the insulating fish plates down in length, much easier to fit them, and the track won't move once it's ballasted.

 

13 minutes ago, Alister_G said:

Wise words oh great one, it shall be as you say.

 

Why do I never think of these things?

 

Thanks Stu.

 

Al.

Stu's spot on, I always trim them down especially if their being fitted to Points.

 

Still you gon and dun a crakin job Boy.

[Alister_G]

Cheers Andy,

 

I'm still learning you see, all these little tricks.

 

Going to unbox the Peckett and fit the DCC chip in a bit.

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Straight track all droppered up:

 

 

and joined up:

 

 

Al.

 

[Alister_G]

WARNING!

 

The following post may contain images which are of a sensitive nature.

 

Those of a nervous disposition are advised to look away now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Behold, a Peckett in all its naked glory!

 

 

As it comes, with a 4-pin blanking plug:

 

 

And a capacitor right where the decoder should sit... 

 

Silly Hornby!

 

Anyway, with a bit of gentle manipulation, the capacitor was persuaded to move out of the way.

 

Hornby suggest that you lovingly wrap the decoder in insulting tape, as the lugs that hold it in place are part of the metal chassis, and then it sits at the front of the motor-block like this:

 

 

It's OK people, Peckett is decent again:

 

 

It looks quite big from close too and low down...

 

 

And then you see it against a 16 tonner:

 

 

Poor little thing, it can barely see over the top!

 

I'll attach some temporary power to the track, and do some thorough testing now.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

 

Al