Dewchurch 3

[MrWolf]

That's a nice big open space to run trains through.  As for the drop board, I found that putting in a couple of small bridges and a short embankment has made my layout look a lot bigger than the three feet all that occupies.

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by MrWolf
Picture no load!

[Gopher]

Bit more progress.  Must get around to track laying, and sorting the canal(before I lay track over it) 

 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Gopher

[Graham T]

Moving fast

[Gopher]

13 hours ago, Graham T said:

Moving fast

Thanks  - one advantage of salvaging bits from my last layout - in a  "here's one I made earlier" sort of way.  I thank Blue Peter.  Plus I now have more time with out work getting in the way.   If I'm not careful this might be the first model railway layout with out any track , which is a bit of a sod if I want to run trains   

Edited December 18, 2021 by Gopher

[Gopher]

On 14/12/2021 at 17:49, MrWolf said:

That's a nice big open space to run trains through.  As for the drop board, I found that putting in a couple of small bridges and a short embankment has made my layout look a lot bigger than the three feet all that occupies.

 

 

 

Rob  - quick question.  I recall from your thread that you used clear polyurethane varnish for your river.  Is this so - and was it Rustins you used ? 

 

 I am looking for something for my canal.  I painted the canal bed, and will lay clear plasticard  about an inch above the bed.  I'm not sure whether to put a few coats of varnish on the plasticard or use one of the  off the shelf water effect products.   With the last layout I used a Woodland Scenics product - which was o.k. but hard to control as it flowed onto the floor (skirting board and just about everywhere else).  I am after a mucky still water look.  Thanks      

[MrWolf]

Yes, I know it's a bit old school, but I went with three coats of varnish.

I used Rustin's clear gloss polyurethane because it's a good quality product that will stand being laid on quite thickly without cracking or taking forever to dry and self levels once applied.

[Gopher]

Merry Xmas all from an aching Gopher who has spent far too much time  laying  (and subsequently relaying) track, not forgetting the under baseboards experience  of wiring in track feeds and fitting, and (refitting, and refitting again )  Tortoise point motors.  Have a good day.    

[Graham T]

Merry Christmas!

[Fishplate]

Great to see Dewchurch back on the topic listing. Added to follow list. I look forward to seeing the new layout emerge.

 

[Gopher]

On 28/12/2021 at 18:58, Fishplate said:

Great to see Dewchurch back on the topic listing. Added to follow list. I look forward to seeing the new layout emerge.

 

Thanks John - at the moment I seem to be taking one step forward and two steps back with my track laying.  I'll post some photos of current state of play in a few days.  I am definitely a bit rusty at layout building.  I have pretty much exhausted my vocabulary of expletives.  Much of the SMP track I bought a few months ago had several kinks in it - looks like some kind of manufacturing fault, and impossible to totally straighten out.  Locos ran O.K. on it, but it looked a bit crap when viewed at eye level.  So up it came, and re-laid with the non faulty pieces of track.   I hope I have enough good track to finish the layout.  I have some DCC Concepts legacy track as a reserve  - but it is stainless steel, and a bit of a bitch to solder track feeds to.   

 

Much time also spent on trying to wire a three way point, plus once it was installed and wired correctly - there was an occasional short occurring on one of the frogs -so took a while to identify and fix it. 

 

Should not really be this difficult -  the last layout had three such points,  so you'd think I would know what I'm doing, (but apparently not). 

 

I tend to test the track and points as I lay them by running various locos.  The ultimate test is the 9F test (closely followed by a Princess Coronation class).  I use Tracksetta templates to lay the track and try not to drop below a 24 inch radii on the curvy parts of the layout  - which I think equates to 4th radius in set track.  Most of the time I aim for 30 inch or 36 inch radii.    The 9F is very fussy about well laid track, and any slight imperfection will send it off the rails. 

 

 So some time spent rectifying the bits the 9F objects to. 

 

Who said railway modelling was a relaxing hobby.               

[Graham T]

It will be time well spent!  I should have taken more time over the track on Chuffnell Regis.

[MrWolf]

Despite the simplicity of the track plan, I pulled up most of my layout more than once and spent lots of time checking continuity, removing burrs, making sure that the transition curve off the bridge was millimetre perfect (there's virtually no room for swing on the bridge) then had the fun and games of replacing a point which is hemmed in by two more. I think it took about a month before I was happy with the tràck.

You definitely don't want to have everything else built and then start demolition of the track. You don't need me to tell you that time spent on the track now is well spent.

[Gopher]

10 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Despite the simplicity of the track plan, I pulled up most of my layout more than once and spent lots of time checking continuity, removing burrs, making sure that the transition curve off the bridge was millimetre perfect (there's virtually no room for swing on the bridge) then had the fun and games of replacing a point which is hemmed in by two more. I think it took about a month before I was happy with the tràck.

You definitely don't want to have everything else built and then start demolition of the track. You don't need me to tell you that time spent on the track now is well spent.

Yes I think snagging is inevitable, and it is so important to get things right before the scenery starts.  My problem is I enjoy the scenic element of  railway modelling, so I'm always in a rush to start it. 

 

I  replaced a point on my last layout (of course once I had finished it and ballasted it, added scenery etc), to rectify a running issue.  A real pain to replace, and the the new point was still  troublesome.  So this time I intend to lay all the track, wire it, and then run a combination of trains on it to make sure it all works.   I'm even using strict colour coding for my wring and labelling things.  Quite unlike me.   

 

I should tape myself when I'm working on the layout,  As well as expletives -  I am consistently telling myself what a stupid b****** I am with some of the school boy errors I make.  Well that and where did I put that bloody (screw driver/drill/ wire strippers/pliers/cutters etc)  - and on one occasion a big roll of black wire.    (I think I discovered the latter when I tripped over it)    

[Graham T]

Not sure whether to give that post a "supportive" or a "funny"!  It all sounds very familiar though.

[Gopher]

After about two weeks of track laying I've finally managed to install the more complex pointwork at the station throat - a curved cross over, feeding a three way point feeding two double slips, one of which connects to the the goods head shunt.  Finally got it all working .  Few short circuits to sort out, and quite a bit of time trying to solve a recurring point motor problem.  I decided to wire the Tortoise motors as Bi polar DC with SPDT switches (as opposed to my usual DC with cross wired DPDT switches).  Main reason to cut down on the number of wires feeding into my point control panel. 

 

Anyway it all worked - then stopped working after a day or so.  Managed to get it working again, only to fail again about a day later.  After much head scratching, swearing, fault finding - I came to the conclusion I either had a dodgy transformer or my wiring of the common bus wire was crook.  So rewired the bus wire, used another twin transformer - and it worked - hopefully for longer than a day this time.

 

I finished the surface of the canal - numerous coats of varnish  - some tinted with Woodland Scenics water tints - and finally I have the mucky water look I was after.  Of course most of it will be covered by a couple of bridges, and a canal barge

 

Next up  - complete the walls and tow paths for the canal and then install the bridges - ready to lay track into the station area

 

Few photos showing current state of play.                

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Gopher

[Graham T]

All looking very good so far, and speedy progress too.

[Gopher]

18 minutes ago, Graham T said:

All looking very good so far, and speedy progress too.

Thanks Graham - must admit is does not feel that speedy at times.  I've lost count of the times I've had to rework what I've just done.  Hopefully the more I do the better I'll get, and not have to keep re- laying and rewiring things.   I'm beginning to feel quite at home under the baseboards - well maybe not.       

[Gopher]

First bit of landscaping on the new layout.  Canal completed ready for bridges to be installed.  Then back to tracklaying/wiring over the coming days 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Gopher

[MrWolf]

That's a very nice mucky canal colour.

[Gopher]

30 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

That's a very nice mucky canal colour.

Thanks - I was never totally happy with the canal on Dewchurch 2   - used an off the shelf water product, and probably put it on too thickly initially .  This one is several coats of good old gloss varnish with some water tints added, painted on clear plasticard.  I liked the way you modelled the river on Aston using varnish - so thought that's what I'll do.

 

I'm very happy with the results, and think it is an improvement over Dewchurch 2.   It looks suitably still and mucky.  I also put a bit more thought into the tow paths, and used a few offcuts of Redutex stone setts - and Tamiya weathering powders.    Then static grass and  Woodland Scenics coarse turf to hide some gaps and hopefully give a bit of a lived in look.   

 

In reality the canal and tow paths are probably  too narrow - but they add a bit of variety to the scene.

 

All makes a nice change from laying bloody track. 

Edited January 4, 2022 by Gopher

[Gopher]

Plodding on with track laying/wiring. 

 

Crossed the canal and started laying track on the station base board.  The track plan is evolving slightly - mainly because of the geometry of the layout.  In particular the position of the complex point work at the station throat.  To cut a long story short - this point work is slightly further back from the front baseboard edge than on Dewchurch 2.  This is a consequence of  trying to avoid sharp curves leading into this pointwork.  Anyway this means the trackwork in the station area has also shifted (again trying to avoid sharp curves), which in turn means I'll have to construct new platforms - as the ones salvaged from Dewchurch 2 will not fit.  At least I'll be able to install a more substantial parcels platform (planned for the left hand sidings in the second photo, and end loading dock).  Should also mean I have more room for the goods yard  - which will be to the right hand of the second photo. 

 

All track laid so far works, and I'm getting into the groove installing Tortoise point motors - 13 done to date.   I tend to go over the top with track feeds - every point and section of track has individual track feeds wired to one of the five distribution boards.  I never rely on track joiners to conduct power, and use the micro switches on the Tortoise to change frog polarity on the points.

 

Having said that I've just purchased some Gaugemaster DCC autofrog units - I want to try them on one of the three way points to see if they will work.  I'm really not sure  as there are three frogs - which suggests the use of three autofrog units - but two of the frogs are normally wired to the same point motor micro switch.  I guess if I totally isolate each frog with gaps in the rails - then the autofrog units may work.                                 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Gopher

[5BarVT]

5 minutes ago, Gopher said:

which suggests the use of three autofrog units

No only two - going straight you have two frogs at opposite polarities so two auto frogs required.  Going right or left both frogs traversed are same polarity.  So only two autofrogs required.

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, 5BarVT said:

No only two - going straight you have two frogs at opposite polarities so two auto frogs required.  Going right or left both frogs traversed are same polarity.  So only two autofrogs required.

Paul.

Exactly the same as if it were DC. You only need two changeovers, just as you only need two point motors.

[MrWolf]

I had similar problems (No, not problems, opportunities to refine the design and actually improve the final outcome.) when laying out the station throat for Aston. 

It did, as in the case of Dewchurch 3, mean that I ended up with a better version of the admittedly modest facilities, which will make it more enjoyable to operate.

I wouldn't worry too much about not being able to reuse certain parts salvaged from the old layout.

It means that the previous layout isn't dictating the shape of the new one and compromising the improvements that you have decided to make when you decided to demolish Dewchurch 2.

 

Enjoying seeing this layout come to life.

 

Rob

[Gopher]

12 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

No only two - going straight you have two frogs at opposite polarities so two auto frogs required.  Going right or left both frogs traversed are same polarity.  So only two autofrogs required.

Paul.

 

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Exactly the same as if it were DC. You only need two changeovers, just as you only need two point motors.

Thanks both - of course why would it be different to installing two micro switches.