SRman's Current Layout - Newton Broadway

[Gwiwer]

We're overseas this weekend (well Tassie counts as over seas doesn't it?) so I'll be missing Caulfield. 

[Jaz]

Is it too late to throw something into the melting pot? Considering you are SRman, how about

Swanne (olde version of Swan still a bird) Reservoir / Road / Rise / Riding. A play on your name might be amusing. 

If not SR heres a historic use of Swan Hill (Northwest  Victoria) formerly Matakupaat = place of the platypus. It has an English ring especially with the olde wolrde spelling. You might add an Ye Olde White Swanne pub (There is one in Louth Lincolnshire)

[SRman]

For a little bit of fun I assembled the 1910 train with the Bachmann SECR 'C' class and the still unfinished LCDR brake van with its couplings fitted, using the Parkside NEM pocket mounts packed with some 60 thou plasticard to get the correct height. I then videoed it using my HTC phone, and edited it with Pinnacle Studio 12. The first vid is the 'modern' full-colour version, the second has been aged to try to emulate an early bit of film that has been 'recovered' from an attic somewhere!

The train also includes my very recently built Cambrian kits LSWR and LBSCR open wagons (see my workbench blog for more detail on their construction and finishing).

[Londontram]

Great thread this, always been a London transport fan and have enjoyed watching this develope.

[SRman]

While I haven't done all that much to the layout itself recently, I have (mostly!) decided on the name of Newton Broadway, following several helpful suggestions from members of RM web and elsewhere. I showed off the LT roundel station signs I printed a few posts back but here they are installed on the station itself.

 

[Gwiwer]

Looks very good with the roundel sign and CP stock Jeff.  

[SRman]

Latest arrival at Newton Broadway: a Kernow Models weathered Dapol Western diesel-hydraulic D1037 Western Musketeer, straight out of its box. Well, almost, anyway. I test ran it on DC analogue power then fitted a TCS EU621 decoder, followed by a running-in session. It is still a little growly at the moment but it is improving with running. The running qualities are good, though and it creeps very slowly on speed step 1.

 

I found that running in one direction only, it was derailing at a particular place on the outer radius inside the tunnels. Running in the same direction but turned 180 degrees it was fine! A slight tweak to the track at that particular location fixed the problem - it merely needed the inside rail lifted very slightly.

 

I have not fitted headcodes or any other detail bits myself, yet. One advantage of the Kernow specials is that they pre-fit those fiddly little lifting eyes on the roof, as well as the name and number plates. I'll fit the headcodes from inside the apertures when I'm ready, like I did with their class  22.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2013 by SRman

[Gwiwer]

Nice.  They're lovely locos and happy crawling at walking pace through a yard or hauling 16 bogies on a summer Saturday holiday train.  Being fine-tolerance models they sometimes object to tiny track defects though mine also showed up minor moulding issues as well.  All have settled down happily to a hopefully long and busy life.

 

Watch the nameplate doesn't fly off Jeff - yours shows the same as mine (which did come adrift) namely one end standing just away from the body as they're only glued nearer the middle.  

[SRman]

Thanks for that warning Rick. I'll keep a close eye on them. It may be worth putting a little thinned matt varnish around the edges to stick the plates a little more firmly.

I remember you describing a few problems with the running on uneven track and, sure enough, it was just the slightest dip in the inner rail that was causing my problem. What was really odd was that it only occurred one way. Maybe there is a small burr of plastic on one of the bogie spring units or something like that.

[Gwiwer]

Another minor issue I had was minute moulding flash on the springs causing derailments by restricting bogie swing. Cured with one or two passes of a fine file

[SRman]

For comparison, here is my Heljan Western, D1007 Western Talisman side by side with the newer Dapol version. I modified the Heljan cab roof profile a few years ago with nothing more than a file and it is pleasing to see that the end result came out looking very close to the correct profile as modelled by Dapol.

 

The Heljan one has lost a windscreen wiper for which I haven't found a replacement yet. I also added the etched plates to it as an improvement over the original printed versions. I must add a little more weathering, particularly along the skirts.

 

Rick: I'll check my Dapol one for any flash or moulding pips around the bogie rubbing points.

[Gwiwer]

A good comparison Jeff and one which shows the competency of your modification to the Heljan loco.  It also shows - to my mind - the rather better rendering of glossy maroon on the loco compared with the Dapol offering though I find that is perfectly acceptable if considered weathered or faded livery.  It does however stand out to the eye against a rake of Bachmann coaching stock even when all vehicles carry different degrees of weathering.

[SRman]

While not contributing to the layout development itself, I added some of the detail bits to the Dapol/Kernow Western last night. I haven't added every available part but the brake rigging, cab steps and speedometer drives were done (although I managed to break one of those in the process!).

Edited November 22, 2013 by SRman

[SRman]

A while back I ordered a few of the budget Train Tech colour light signals to try out. They look to be quite decent kits and the prices are right. I got around to constructing one of the 2-aspect versions today, to replace one of the 'place-holder' Australian signals currently on the layout.

Construction was pretty straightforward, although I found the ladder and safety fences rather delicate when cutting them off the sprue. The circuit board that forms the backbone of the signal seems robust and very simple to wire. I haven't. as yet. wired up any of the signals on the layout, although I have tested them briefly to make sure each o them works.

Here are a couple of photos to show the new addition in place. I will certainly be adding more of these signals from Train Tech in the future, replacing  hotch-potch of signals from different sources.


 

One of the Australian signals is visible in the background in that first shot.

Edited December 8, 2013 by SRman

[Gwiwer]

Jeff are these dummy or functional?  They look good and I don't really have much need for MAS but as a good representation of a basic 2-aspect signal they're worth bearing in mind.

[SRman]

Hi Rick. Currently they are non-functional but they come with the LEDs already soldered to the circuit board stem at exactly the right spacing. The stem extends through a hole in the baseboard (enlarged slightly from the previous hole for the wires from the old signal) and has three well-spaced solder pads at the bottom to allow wires for the common return, green and red aspects. I will get around to soldering wires to these and to the point motors in the near future as I have the school holidays coming up soon - I changed my employment contract recently so I now get all the holidays, albeit at a slightly reduced salary, but it means I will have a little more modelling time available.  

Being the London Transport lines, these only require 2-aspect signals, but I intend using a mix of  working semaphore and 3-aspect signals for the main lines.

Edited December 8, 2013 by SRman

[David Todd]

Thanks for your update J. alway's good to see you posting, again..........as it is winter here.........

[Gwiwer]

Thanks Jeff.  Good to hear you have a a better split between earning and spending time now as well as being able to re-signal as you wish.  

[DougN]

SRman is there a way to have almost a rolling signals in a automated way. The LT lines we should be able to figure out how to do it. Using something along the line of reed switches and magnets?

[Oldddudders]

Don't forget the fog repeaters on LT surface lines.

[SRman]

Hi Doug. That's pretty much what I had in mind, although to allow for fully automated running, I may have to reconfigure the section breaks so that there would be four sections for each track rather than the current three per track. Four sections would allow for two trains per track actually running, with the necessary signal overlap.

Signalling for the plain sections of track will be easy; it's the station loops and reversing crossovers that are taxing my mind, working out how those signals will interact with the others on each side as well as with the point settings.

 

I have approximately 100 reed switches available, bought for the old layout but never used. I have around 40 very small rare earth magnets suitable for mounting under trains, and the ability to easily purchase more from the same supplier on eBay, so all of that is easily possible. I won't even have to bury the reed switches in the ballast in the tunnel sections!

[SRman]

Don't forget the fog repeaters on LT surface lines.

 

They may have to wait a bit longer before I model them.

 

Another thing I want to model but haven't worked out any easy way to achieve is the cable arches that LT use rather a lot on the underground.

Edited December 8, 2013 by SRman

[SRman]

I have now wired up three signals (actually, four as one of them is a twin-headed junction signal). These are on simple Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) on-on switches for the time being, until I decide how to automate the aspects in synchronisation with point settings and whether there is another train ahead.

 

There were a few trials and tribulations on what should have been a simple wiring job. I wired them according to the diagram, using the supplied resistors on the negative common return legs. Each resistor was then joined to a common return negative wire to a 12 volt DC transformer.

 

The wires to each positive terminal (one red, one green, for each signal) were run to two SPDT on-on switches, with the red wire going to one terminal and the green to the other on each switch, then the centre terminals on the switches were run to the positive output on the transformer.

 

All well and good so far. This should have given me independent control of each signal aspect, with each individual signal only being able to show red or green, not both.

 

What actually happened was this:

 

Selecting green on both switches illuminated both green lights. So far, so good! Selecting red on both switches illuminated both red lights. Again, good! With both signals at green, selecting red on the near signal knocked out the far one altogether. Not so good! With both on red, selecting green on the near signal knocked out the near signal and switched the far one to green.

 

The problem, in the end was due to my working under the layout with a blue-white light source, which meant I couldn't tell red and orange wires apart!! Once I fixed that up, the result is that both signals are working as they should.

 

Being a glutton for punishment, I started on the twin-headed junction signal today.  This time I was very careful to keep track of the wire colours and where they went. This signal uses a common negative return for all four lights so required four resistors in the four positive lines (one each), where the other two single signals could use one resistor in the negative common.

 

Anyway, I wired it all up and tested ... the left-hand red refused to illuminate. I checked and double-checked the wiring and could find nothing wrong. 

 

After much head scratching, I shorted a screw driver across the relevant terminals on the SPDT switch and lo and behold, the red lit up! So, it was a faulty switch this time. I swapped it for a good one and all is now well with that signal.

 

Overall, I think the Train Tech signals work well and are easy to put together, with the proviso that one has to be extremely careful cutting the very delicate safety railings and hoops from the sprues. While they aren't entirely accurate representations of LT signals, they look good anyway and I will be purchasing a few more, releasing the hotch-potch of signals already on the layout as place-holders to be used on the main lines, where there tended to be much more of a mixture of types and styles.

[Gwiwer]

Looking good Jeff and worth the trial-and-fault-finding approach to get them so.

 

As a complete aside I've found time to fit the details packs to my Westerns which now have cab steps and speedo cables applied and which still go around the layout without a problem.  The clearances are minuscule which lends even more credibility to Dave Jones' development work on the models.

[SRman]

Hi Rick. Thanks for the compliment.

 

I too fitted the steps and speedo drives (broke one of those, though!) with no problems for clearances. I will eventually swap the fully detailed end for a coupling to be fitted through the cowl/skirt with the slot.

Inspired by the way the Dapol Western looks with the partial skirt at the front, I cut and filed the front fittings for the Heljan Western and the Bachmann Warship, improving both their appearances considerably (IMHO), while still being practical.