Lincoln Central Station

[arff999]

Hi Ian (iploffy)

nice to see you lurking there

i have drawn out the wiring for the turn out on your layout and have not forgotten hope to get over again on need to sort out with mark

also heard i missed you at the poachers the other week

 

JOHN

 

 

 

[iploffy]

Yes I book marked the page when uncle marsa told me about it. I like the way you darkened the ballast as it was a bit on the multi coloured side before there were no chemical toilets in those days dont you know, looks superb maybe next time when I go to see Mark I could possibly nip to see it.

 

Any how Rob says he will finish the boards in the new year so there will be an oportunity to get over here and run a complete circuit all 50 yds (approx) of it with your 47.

 

Ian

[arff999]

Hi

About time i updated the post been awhile since the last one

been working a lot on the fiddle yard got the first two now complete and wired, laid the track on the next two just need some more brilliant baseboards to finish them off then i can complete the wireing

Started to construct the coal yard office to go on the station platform at the east end

Finally got round to getting the back scenes ordered great service they came within two days fitted a couple last week to 3 back boards look great well i think so.

My order of cast walls also arrived in the post last week so spent a couple of nights putting on the stain these have now been fitted to the back boards and a start has been made on platform 8`s canopy finished the main structure just need to add the final bits then need to paint them .

coal yard building just started needs a bit of work to finish

 

Thanks

JOHN

[arff999]

Update and a few pictures posted

JOHN

[Wherry Lines]

John, I am impressed with your progress on this excellent layout.

 

Irritatingly though, you've got me thinking about the plans I developed whilst studying there - producing an N gauge model based on the pre-remodelling operations with Central Trains & Northern Rail shunting between platforms, and freights running though.

[ozzyd9001]

hi john

 

nice progres

 

heres the link i promosed today

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GreatCentral/?yguid=174254738

 

i hope this helps you

 

yours

 

paul

[arff999]

Hi Simon

Thanks still a awfull lot to do, not yet got a full circle so can only run end to end

hoping to have this by the middle off the year had most off it together the other week wont now fit in workshop its 24` x 12` this is the finished size in 18 2` x 4` modules with 2 4` x 8 inch link modules

iI had a look at yours hows it comming on

 

JOHN

 

 

 

[Wherry Lines]

How's it coming along? HAHA. It isn't.

 

I'm still working on the 'diesel depot' layout, which I see a prequel to the main Lincoln inspired layout. Mostly using it to develop skill and so on. Despite being into model railways since being born, in those 24 years, I haven't built my own layout! My PGCE takes up most of my time at the moment, so progress is almost nil! We're getting there though.....

[arff999]

Hi

 

Still here but been very busy had few 7 mm coaches to build and a rake of 20 mineral wagons to weather nearlly finished them so back to work on the layout.

 

finally got round to collecting some more base boards last night now got enough to finish the track work areas will have to look at the scenic area later ( thanks to joseph for letting me have them)

Been busy makeing the mimic board for the layout too 1200 mm x 400mm rather large got all off the push button switches and all the led holdersmfitted with the help off mark too quite a while to drill all the hole making sure not to mes it up, been busy making up the leds for it too theres 160 of the bleeders spit ovet 3 mimic (96 on the main board) all bi colour red / green miles of wireing to complete the control box also houses the dcc system box 5 amp dcc transformer 2 x nce mini panels for the switching 3 x nce dcc short curcuit protection boards 4 x home made printed cucuit boards these hold the resistors and the connection points for the leds and the cable from the point motors.

 

Hoping to get the new base boards made up this week end and the tops fitted some off these are already layed with track so sould not be to bad fix them down and connect up track feeds.

 

I will takes a few pictures this week end and post them to see.

 

JOHN

[davidw]

Glad I found this topic!

[arff999]

Hi

Just got round to taking the pictures of the control panel for the layout

Myself and Mark have been busy over the week end making up the rest off the fiddle yard base boards fitting the tops, DCC busbars to the under sides and getting them ready for track wireing to take place

It is fully DCC controled with duel aspect coluored leds for point route indication all the control buttons activate a DCC signal to fire the point decoders

 

any questions please ask

 

JOHN

 

 

A few close ups showing a bit more detail

 

 

The next one shows the rear off the face showing switch and led cabling although not yet finished as there are about another 40 led to make up and then fit not bad but its 120 wires to conect

 

 

The next shows the NCE Mini panel switch interface panels these convert 30 push button,toggle switches or block detectors in to a DCC signal to allow switchin with out going in to the cab controller and dialing in the address we have fitted an extra 10 switches to the top left hand corner which will be used for route setting later on

 

 

To be able to connect up all the leds to the returns from the point motors i had to make up a few curcuit boards each on can take 13 switch inputs controlling 26 leds the led resistor is fitted on to this board to make conection more easierthese took a lot off time to make as the rear has 5 rows of links fitted to transfer the + and - allong the boards and also to make each one fire a red and green led at the same time for the route setting,

When finnished there will be 4 off these fitted i have only made 3 so far as the one that controls the 3way point is a little more complexed to make.

 

 

And finally for to day a over all picture off the whole control panel with the lid open.

 

 

Please feel free to ask any questions and i will try to answer you the best i can

thanks for looking

 

JOHN.

[artizen]

That's pretty serious! Hope it all works a treat when you fire it up in anger.

[arff999]

thanks should be all ok been testing it step by step so we know all the switches and leds work

 

JOHN

[JJT]

Hi, JJT here,

 

I live in Lincoln and visit the station regulaly, and it is so nice that someone is modelling the station. I was going to model the station a few years ago and... well space did not permit and a buget was absolutely tiny, and I was only 10, but I hope you can send me a few photo's on how it's doing.

 

Regards,

 

JJT

[marsa69]

Ahhhhh, that's where our handy work got to

[arff999]

Hi JJT

 

Nice to hear from you, glad you like the layout did you look at the post from the start as theres a lot off picture off the model so far

 

Have to joined the local railway club?

John

[arff999]

Hi

Finally got round to updating this topic after a very busy year working all hours under the sun and trying to complete my 7mm coaches

but finally got round to it

we had a few busy weeks finishing off the base boards we had a managed to get fitting tops to them and aslo side to stop unwanted stock falling to the floor

we have also finished off the rest of the fiddle yard track laying installed all the turnouts these will be manually switched for the time being due to cost of a large amount of dcc decoders and tortoise motors 16 at each end

the last of the two scenic boards for the front these being pelham bridge end are now made and have had the track layed just need the wiring to be finished this i hope to have done over the next month this now means we have a complete curcuit of both lines around the layout a major milestone after nearlly 2 years of this 5 year project

were heading towards having it all wired and running by mid Jan so we can take it to the Lincoln Model Railway clubs exibition

We have not started on the main station building just yet lots of balasting and other thing first but we have still work to complete the bridges ther made just need paintint to finnish them off

The cattle dock has been built but not yet fitted this will i hope be done later next month if time allows.

A few pictures now just so you can see the progress so far

 

John

[arff999]

A few more

JOHN

 

 

And finnally a pic of the cattle dock

 

 

[marsa69]

Did you not get a pic of the finished cattledock trackwork? And learn to use the rotate function as well, I've got a stiff neck now

 

Mark

[arff999]

No but just for you i will do

[big T]

Hi gents, This layout is shaping up really well!

 

The wiring and your panel are superb, and frightening at the same time! As someone has said before fingers crossed it works when its all powered up!!

 

Will you be modelling a specific period, or will you be flexible?

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Trev

Edited September 23, 2011 by big T

[arff999]

Hi Trev

Glad you like it

The track plan is 1956 onwards but was still in use as far as i can find out till about 1968 ish then a few bits were removed like the fish dock to the signal box end and platform 8 was left but the track removed also the cattle siddings were also removed so im going to run a small amount of steam and a bit off early deisel stock.

But then again i have some modern stuff that might just get a run out if youy know what i mean.

 

we have the very last pieces of track to lay this week end (a couple of dmu sidings to the fiddle yard at one end and a link to platform 1)

Then we just have to start on the last bis of track wiring then on to hours off playin (oups i mean testing)

I need to layout for a new DCC contol system also as the one we have wont run the whole layout but is fine for testing oppted to go for the NCE procab 5a system with 3 extra handsets

Any other questions just post ill do my best to answer them

 

JOHN

[arff999]

Hi

At last the final piece of track and point work is laid just the wiring to do on the last 6 base boards then testing pics to follow tomorrow when i can down load them

 

JOHN

[marsa69]

Time for another update but from Johns trusted sidekick and not the main man himself. All boards (those requiring trackwork) are now complete and all track-laying has now been finished. This has been a major milestone because at times we thought it would never get done. The major problem we found was that the idea to go with setrack layed onto a scale plan caused no end of scratched heads when trying to make everything fit, especially at the eastern end (Pelham Bridge) part of the layout. The access to the cattle dock and bay platforms 1-4 being especially challenging. Some creative infrastructure solutions were required to make the turnouts and slips all join up without looking too out of place. As you can see in the following pictures, we feel that apart from one or two pinch points, that might not bear too close a scrutiny, the feel and overall dimensions of a somewhat complex arrangement of tracks have been achieved and maintained.

 

Approaching the station from what will be Pelham Bridge. Cattle dock to the left, bay platforms to the right.

 

 

Looking back to Pelham Bridge from the station

 

 

Again looking towards Pelham Bridge but this time from the bay platforms

 

 

And finally a view of the Pelham Bridge entrance to the fiddle yard. Notice the DMU stabling sidings made to fit the available space and the DCC programming siding in the top left

 

 

The last two nights has seen us crack on with the labourious task of wiring everything up on the new sections. We had originally planned on going for a test assembly of the boards in mid-December before our booked appearance at the Lincoln Show in January. However, our rapid progress in the last few weeks means that we may be able to do this in October and November to give us more time in ironing out a few bugs. The layout itself won't be complete in time but as a WiP it will be much more advanced than last years showing,

 

regards

Edited September 30, 2011 by marsa69

[arff999]

Hi

The last 6 weeks or so have been pretty busy, getting all the little anoying things finished off.

All track work now complete and wired, just the last board to be fitted with point motors when we get them

the links for the back indication from turnouts now installed and tested (were i found out i had not read the minipanel instuctions properly) more on that later

these are done by cat 5 cables via outlets on the rear of the boards inturn connected to the volt free contcts on the motors this whole system runs at 5 volts

We also have our new control ststem fittind in the mimic board this is a NCE Pro Cab 5a system with 4 hand held controlers and 3 minipanels conected to the cab bus .

The fiddle yard has been fully tested and connected to the main layout temparly all seams ok were looking to have he whole layout together for testing some time in december if all goes to plan.

Due to my mess up with the minipanel conections i have had to change all the push buttons on the mimic for centre off 2 way sping return switches thus enabling me to have 2 seperate inputs to the minipanel to change point direction(should have read the manual properly)

picture of the completed yard looking full length

looking from the other end

this one shows the whole thing 24 feet long set up on its stands 5 off these are need to suport it

 

Testing times ahead will be nice to finally be able to run around the whole layout in one still lots to do, more pics of the latest mimic panel to follow.

 

JOHN.