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Alcaster signalling and Operator


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Hi

I am modelling a layout based on Alcaster but just the GWR bits.  I’m now fitting the uncoupler magnets and would very much like to know how the prototype would be operated.  Would a goods train pull into the platform then run round just like a passenger train or would it pull into the engine release loop and the engine run round on the platform road.

 

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Any other help and advice would be gratefully received particularly regarding shunting moves a driver would or couldn’t make   Does anyone know if a signalling diagram is available.

I have already fitted pertinent magnets to the goods shed , cattle dock end of platform etc. 

 

Many thanks

Phil

 

Edited by O-Gauge-Phil
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Just guessing, but.....if the train is stopping at the station in order to shunt the sidings, then I see little point in putting it into the loop first unless a second train is expected. Otherwise, once the engine has run-round, the train has to be shunted back to the main line anyway in order to access the sidings.

 

If the disc signals 3 and 7 are intended to control moves out of the sidings then they are in the wrong place, as they need to be on the siding adjacent to the toe of points 4 and 6A respectively. And why are 2 and 4 on separate levers please? Also, I see no reason for 13 or 15 (and perhaps 14) to be worked from the SB anyway. Whether or not you want to include the missing FPLs on your diagram is up to you :-)

Edited by RailWest
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  • RMweb Gold

With the layout turned into a terminus I don't se that you have much choice - an arriving freight train will arrive on the main line at the platform (which also offers the longest length for a runround).  And in fact if the train arrives at the platform and the engine runs round it is then at the right end to shunt most of the various freight sidings although the coal siding is gong to become a headshunt

 

As far as points are concerned 2/4 would be worked by one lever as a crossover as would 10/11 - 13, 14, and 15 would all be worked by hand levers.

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  • RMweb Gold

With regard to Alcester, the layout just about permits goods trains to be shunted from either direction, but with some movement of wagons in the goods yard being by horse or pinchbar (neither are easy to model even in 0). Whether an up or down train, most wagons would be left on the running lines during the shunting.

 

As a terminus, I would expect the whole layout to be rather simpler, if only to avoid so many facing points (and point locks). Goods trains would be run round at the platform. Depending on any gradients, the goods yard access could be in either direction but probably not both.

Edited by Joseph_Pestell
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Cheers, absolutely brilliant, I really can't thank you enough.  I can press on now without worrying if I'm going to have to rip it all up. I'm afraid to say I am a complete novice when it comes to operation etc, as you can see.  Every thing I do I learn from.  If I started again... learning by doing.   The scenery is based on Abbotsbury and If there were funds would have been a through station.  My thinking was If I based it on something real it's got to be better than something I dreamt up.

 

Thanks for that about the positioning of the ground signals, I am hoping to make them operate.  Sorry - what does FPL stand for? 

I'm using two MSE seven way lever frames, with a dummy lever in the middle.  I have placed the hand operated points at one end - 14, 15, 16.  Had originally used two levers for 2 and 4 because they were on different boards but now know how to do this with a DCC encoder. 

 

The yellow dots are permanent magnets.  I'm  using Dingham couplings, they tend to stay coupled when being pulled but when pushed trucks stay uncoupled until you stop.  I'm planning to use three electro-magnets - Blue, Green and Red , related to the pushbuttons.  I do have another if required - I wonder if I should have one below the '9'?  Would welcome any advice.

 

 

675072842_dilmouth_Sig_Magb.jpg.a19fbd153077e24780578c89a0ea6581.jpg

 

517145299_AlcasterGoods.jpg.cd4627abf4f8f0179864b5142e3b21e8.jpg

 

1329071716_ControlPanel.jpg.c6e45ae004d70bdae10ff9d194e73d2a.jpg

 

I know, I know - the 'deliberate mistake' - goodness knows how this happened, I must have been concentrating so much on the handwriting that number ten is missing!  Another job to do. :(

 

Thanks once again, great team work you three.  Phil.

 

dilmouth_Sig_Mag b.jpg

Edited by O-Gauge-Phil
"2 and 4 " added
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Err....your Down Home and Up Advanced Starting signals seem to have disappeared! You might argue perhaps that the UAS is 'off scene', but I doubt that you can apply that to the DH.

 

I would suggest that disc 3 should be at , or close to, the foot of the Up Starting. You might also want a disc at the toe of 10A to read to the loop, tho' if you're going to put the SB out by the station throat then it might be more likely that the points 10 were on a local GF released from the box.

 

A more tricky issue is whether there ought to be a disc at the toe of 5A and then a discussion about whether that ought to be a running shunt - one for the Stationmaster again methinks :-)

 

I'm still trying to puzzle out the relevance of your profile image of Abbotsbury........:huh:

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The Down Home and the Up Starter were there for signalling to the fiddle yard operator.  I intended to have a servo and arm on the back of the back-scene.

 

 50CF3118-D785-4595-B0E3-4B099D3D2CAE.jpeg.62b52be2694b58d08ee9154ac4f4d531.jpeg

 

but I can always shout or put a button on the panel. Only got the fourteen arms.:dance_mini:

 

As to the starter I’ve already asked the Station Master ( but I may not have asked the right question! )

 

1DFF5B65-FBCD-47BD-98BD-C614CC9A5CDB.jpeg.48666de7179bd1f89c0afda521f726e1.jpeg

 

The signal on 10, I have made provisions for:-

 

image.jpg.ffa9e2d349661fb3c5d069d1699a90e1.jpg

 

The long sleeper was going to hold it (bet it’s in the wrong place).  Got a point lever for the catch?

 

 The layout track is based on Alcaster but it’s a Midland Station.   Abbotsbury has a nice Station but boring track, so Alcaster track, Abbotsbury scenery. There’s a link below, have a quick shifty.

 

Dinner on table now, better go before I upset the boss.

 

Thanks. Phillip 

 

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