Something from the Fairford Branch

[pirouets]

Wired the board last night and actually it was fairly OK to do. I am now left with the questions of

 

1. what to use to connect the board to the control panel? I am thinking of getting a 25 way RS-232 cable for the points, and a 9 way RS-232 for the track power. The question is will I be overloading the 25way sending current to change points?

 

2. What controller to use to provide the throttle and power. I have 2 possible gaugemaster controllers, but I am wondering whether to invest in a hand held controller and run off a transformer I have.

 

3. How I will power the fiddle yard boards when I build them?

 

I will crack on and wire the control board later in the week in readiness for getting some form of cable to connect the controller. I will also pre-test all the wiring to check all the points fire correctly.

 

I also mocked up a small hill made from card and covered in kitchen towel. I then used my puffer bottle to put the static grass straight on and it looks OK. There do seem to be a few slightly bare patches but I think when I come to do the layout itself, I think I will put a light sprinkling of general ground cover down first on a brown base, and then cover with the static grass.

 

Also, must have been a good evening as I intended to spend an hour in the shed, and spent nearly 2 out their.

[pirouets]

Not a huge amount of progress to report. I have finished the control panel and it is ready to be test wired to the layout.

 

 

I've also started on the platform surfaces. I have no cupcakes as used by eldavo so most of Berkshires PVA collection will suffice.

 

 

However a new challenge has presented it self. Just how the hell do I get to the shed?

 

 

The builders have moved in and as well as digging out the foundations, a new soakaway has had to go in, plus the connection for some new plumbing. Add this to the foundation trenches and I have no back garden and about a 95% chance of breaking a leg coming back to the house in the dark. I know the layout is only 5ft long but there is no space as the conservatory was packed up so it could be demolished and in 10 days time the kitchen has to be packed as well.

 

I am planning however to take a number of kits on Holiday with me to crack on with, so who knows if this will be done by mid october.

[pirouets]

No picture updates, but found this on the Scalescenes website and comparing it to the picture I have, its pretty damn close to the coal office. This will be one of my holiday projects in the evenings as we are off on Friday this week.

 

The other project is to adapt the free small goods store to make the goods lock up. Its the perfect shape and size, and just needs to be red brick on the outside, which should be fairly straight forward to do.

 

Tonights challenge though is one of the tasks that has waited, and that is wiring. I have a couple of cables to adapt to connect the control panel to the layout, and it will be interesting to see if I have any problems. My prediction is some where on the double slip there will be a problem.

[pirouets]

Well stuff all has happened for the last few weeks as with the builders in and not really having anywhere to put the layout. So tonight I decided I wanted 5 ft of space in the shed back for the layout and see if the wiring works. As posted in another thread the bulk of the shed looks like this

 

 

So having scrounged back the space I plugged up the control panel and YOU BEAUTY, most of it worked. There are a couple of wires that needed swapping, and I need to reverse the point motors as the switches are firing the wrong way, but every connection works, and I ran a pannier all over the layout, so the trains in motion element of the challenge is solved.

 

So with 8 weeks to go I also took a trip over to Alton Models and I am going to now crack on with the ballasting and ground cover.

 

I'll stick a picture of the squeezed in layout another day.

[pirouets]

I think it is time to call it a day on this for a number of reasons

 

1. Trying to get this done in time whilst doing major work on the house is not really possible. I still have new flooring to get down, and about 1/3 of the downstairs to re-decorate

2. My shed is now to cluttered with stuff as a result of this and is not a fun place to be at the moment

3. I would rather get cracking on Hemerdon Bank

4. I want more space so my kids can come play trains with me.

 

On the plus side I have

 

1. Build my first portable board and stand

2. managed to build a control panel that can be disconnected and stored

3. Wire my first double slip

4. Built a bridge from scratch

5. Tried a new ballasting method (Which is not for me I have to say)

6. Done research into an actual location. Would have been easier if I had pictures taken from both ends of the station.

 

To the rest of you, I look forward to seeing the results and voting as some of them look stunning.

[Dave777]

Great shame, I thought this was looking interesting.

 

What was the ballasting method you didn't like btw? Had a read through but couldn't see it mentioned or pictures.

 

Are you actually abandoning this completely or just postponing it?

 

 

[pirouets]

I'm not sure if this will be an abandonded layout. My main reason is work on the house with the extension being done and loads of decorating being needed. There was also the small matter of the pass I was given last weekend to go and play golf in Cornwall.

[SteveBedding]

I'm not sure if this will be an abandonded layout. My main reason is work on the house with the extension being done and loads of decorating being needed. There was also the small matter of the pass I was given last weekend to go and play golf in Cornwall.

 

Hi there,

 

It would be a shame if you did abandon the layout, it looks like it was coming on nicely - but given the other tasks that you're facing I guess keeping the management happy has got to be a significant priority .

 

If you were to change to a later iteration of the 'plan', from what you've put forward, you would have no problems with converting to 2mm finescale. Yes, you will have to re-wheel the rolling stock and build your own track, but with the new 'Easitrac' the latter is very straight forward, and the Association has a wheel turning service to change your RTR locos and there are replacement axels for the wagons coaches - bottom line is that it is relatively painless to make the change... ...once you have a working layout you can look at making your own stock, either kits or scratch built.

 

Whatever path you choose, the most important aspect is to enthuse the kids - teach them soldering and carpentry skills asap - no age is too young! (You never know when you'll want a layout to be built for you in later years.... ).