Banbury in N scale - A great time at the Abingdon in March 2024

[roundhouse]

A couple more photos from the weekend.

 

Both my 68s had a run. Unfortunately I didnt take any video or stills of the sound fitted DRS 68 but here is one of the Chiltern one. I have Electragraphics sides for the plug door mk3  conversions but yet to do them so its on the earlier non plug door rake.

 

My 66522 Shanks liveried 66 had been out of use for a few years due to blown motor and circuit board but it has been used in the past year or so. However despite cleaning before the show it wouldn't move at first but once warmed up it ran OK. It has also had the roof re-weathered but further weathering will be carried out on this and the rest of the fleet in due course.

 

Another Farish EWS loco that failed at the last show has now had a new motor fitted today and is working well on the test track. Just two Dapol 66's to try and get working again but may require new motors.

Edited October 18, 2018 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

Just finished repairing two Dapol class 66's. Both had failed prior to last weekends show, one nothing and the other momentary movement but both had working lights so pick ups were fine as were the 6 pin decoders when plugged into a decoder tester.

 

So out came the motor / weight assembly and the motor wire on one was looking like a dry joint. I also removed the brush screws and springs, gave them a clean as they were caked in the gunk used to seal the soldered wires to the decoder socket and then reassembled.

 

Both have been running on the newly laid N gauge oval test track and have now just had their roofs sprayed with matt varnish to seal the recently weathered roofs.

 

So at the moment as far as I am aware , this is the first time that all locos used on Banbury are working. We shall find out for sure at the next show which is Taunton in a few weeks time.

Edited October 9, 2018 by roundhouse

[GWRPhil]

Does train need to have anything special for the block detection to work or does it come down to dcc address and the preprogramming of the length of the train?

[roundhouse]

Phil

 

Nothing at all fitted ot the locos apart from a standard type decoder. It just picks up a current between the rails. However I am fitting 10k ohm resistors to the axles of wagons and inside the Dapol mk3's using the bogie pick ups ofr the interior lighting so that they will be seen in the block detection otherwise it just sees the locos. Its going ot take some time to get it all working fully but will be good  for this and future layouts.

[GWRPhil]

So therefore. If to use an example I fitted pickups to the mk1 I’ve got that has flashing tail light unit and powered tail light by pickup rather than battery the block detection would detect front and back of the train?

[roundhouse]

So therefore. If to use an example I fitted pickups to the mk1 I’ve got that has flashing tail light unit and powered tail light by pickup rather than battery the block detection would detect front and back of the train?

Yes it would.

 

I have 200 resistors in the post to me along with wire glue to stick these to the wheels and axles. A bit laborious but very cheap way to retrofit stock.

 

One issue we have had with the block detection is that any Frog juicer in the block shows that block as occupied even if nothing is on the relevant track, so to avoid this I will re route the frog juicers track power to just before the connections to the block detection unit.

 

I hope to set the layout up again prior to Taunton to check that this resolves the issue.

Edited October 10, 2018 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

After a weekend helping at the Furness show its back to working on the layout and rolling stock for the next outing in just over a weeks time to Taunton Railex.

 

At present I am fitting 10k ohm resistors to various items of rolling stock. This involves cleaning the inside of the wheels and axle then fixing tiny resistors using wire glue. Once dry the wheels are tested to make sure there is no short and also that there is a 10K ohm resistance using a meter. Its fiddley but very cheap to do as 100 resistors are only a couple of quid on Ebay and the glue will do many 100's

 

Once checked the joints are then coated in superglue to strengthen the fixing.

 

So far every fourth coal hopper in each 21 wagon train has been treated aswell as the rear end one. Other wagons such as the VGA's, OCA's and the two new SPA four wheel wagons have been worked on plus a number of Dapol mk3's whihc were easier as a larger resistor has been soldered to the pickups inside the coaches.

 

 

Two more block detection units should arrive today which may well allow all of the layout to have working block detection in time for the show and possibly some of the signals linked to the block detection.

 

Two axles being fitted with the resistors using microstip as a spacer next to the insulated wheel

 

A SPA wagon with the modified axle fitted. The white paint line is for easy recognition of a resistor fitted item of stock.

 

A Dapol mk3 with a 10k ohm resistor soldered to the pick up pads inside the coach - only a couple are required in the FGW HST set and one in the middle of the blue grey 'Banbury' set

Edited October 18, 2018 by roundhouse

[Revolution Mike B]

When I'm not crashing trains on Oak Road at Taunton Ian I'll have to pop over so you can explain the block detection to me 

[roundhouse]

When I'm not crashing trains on Oak Road at Taunton Ian I'll have to pop over so you can explain the block detection to me 

By all means although I am no expert on it yet but can tell you what I know and you are welcome to have a look how it works on the two touch screens.

 

The two Digikeijs units arrived by the front door. Oddly I didn't hear the door bell despite being near it but at least the Amazon app told me they were delivered and sure enough they were by the door.

 

Around 40axles have now had the resistors added. The Dapol plastic axles have had the wire glue applied and resistor added in the middle. Testing indicates they are all OK but the real test will come next week when I set the layout up again.

 

In the meantime a few beers this evening and a beer festival tomorrow will mean not much happening on the layout.

[roundhouse]

Its been a busy few days working on the rolling stock. I have nearly finished adding the resistors to the key vehicles. All stock will eventually be fitted but as long as at least one vehicle is in the block section(s) the train is in then it should work for now.

 

This afternoon the penultimate detection unit was wired in only to find that it was creating a short. On closer inspection this unit is a 3 rail version despite checking that I did order 2 rail ones. Luckily the other unit is the correct type so it was easy to swap over and a replacement ordered and should arrive tomorrow. The incorrect one will be going back for a refund. So, hopefuly all should be on course for completion by the time the layout is loaded into the car Thursday night.

 

All frog juicers have now been rewired so that they do not cause the block section to show as occupied when no train is in that block.

 

The photo shows the current state of the wiring and electronics under the first fiddleyard board with three frog juicers, a Digitrax PM42 and the Digikeijs unit. The SEEP solenoids are now over 9 years old. Accessory decoders are mounted on top of these boards

 

 

[roundhouse]

Now that I have a few locos to power the Chiltern set I have Finally got round to fitting a NEM pocket to the Farish bogie and an Easi Shunt coupler fitted to it. Only requires one end of one coach to be converted for now.

 

Virtually all loose stock and ends of raked now have these couplers with very few locos left with the Rapido type couplers.

 

I am also slowly fitting the brake discs to these coaches when I find spare Dapol etches off their mk 3's.

[roundhouse]

Another good day working on setting up the block detection. Had a few faults but they were fixed fairly quickly. Then it was playing trains with a few rakes of wagons to tweak the detection. Not all wagons have a resistance axle yet so sometimes an axle may lose contact with the rails momentarily which then shows the block clear and signals revert back to green so I have added a delay time to the crucial blocks to overcome this situation. The mainline and good loop signals are now working linked into the detection but further signals will be added in time. Of course ther is nothing like a show to fully test the layout so fingers crossed all will work as well at the weekend as it did today.

 

The layout is now loaded ready for an early set off for Taunton in the morning.

Edited October 25, 2018 by roundhouse

[bigP]

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Edited January 31, 2021 by bigP
Deleted

[Robert Shrives]

Now you know how signalling engineers feel when a blockage is given up and despite all the testing there is always a little fear in the air - it all goes well enough and nobody knows or really cares of the heart ache and nail bitting...

 

Have a great weekend , I will watching the 1:1 version at work.

 

Robert  

[roundhouse]

Yes we have one semaphore in tbe North end Bay that has a mind of its own. Luckily its not used much so might get temporarily disconnected

[GWRPhil]

Here’s a few pics of the layout taken yesterday. Videos to follow later

Here’s a few pics of the layout taken yesterday. Videos to follow later

[HSB]

It was nice to to be able to see it in the flesh on Saturday. 

[roundhouse]

Howard - glad you liked it.

 

It was good to have GWR Phil operating again after his move from Kent to West Devon a couple of years ago, we just need a few more shows in the West for him to be able to give us a hand in future.

 

I was pleased with the block detection over the weekend but it did need a tweek to the settings Sunday morning to reduce the amount of flasihg form the blocks being lit up on screen. JMRI call this 'debounce' and adding 400 milliseconds to all blocks in the sensors table has improved this. The task of adding resistors to all wagons and coaches in now in hand and sahould be largely completed by the next show in Portsmouth in  November. I am also hoping ot get the remaining signals working  soon.

 

Locos generally ran fine but we did have a Dapol class 56 derailing which it hasnt done before. Upon closer investigation I found one wheel has the flange formed very wrongly on the wheel and so far I have not found anyone with spares. The thought is to move the wheelset to the middle of the bogie and fiel the deective flange off altogether. The only other loco to fail was also Dapol, a 66 which had failed before but after resoldering the wires to the motor and cleaning the brush springs prior to the weekend, worked most of Sunday before failing again.

 

'City of Manchester' Pendolino worked fine all weekend being dragged by a Thunderbird althopugh occassionally they did separate form each other.

 

So our last show for Banbury this year will be Portsmouth in a few weeks time but we do have six for next year to keep us busy.

[GWRPhil]

Here is now the compilation of the videos I took on Saturday of Banbury at the Taunton 2018 show

 

[Timmy84]

Hi, I wondered where you got the flashing tail lamps for your freight trains from?

 

Tim.

[roundhouse]

Hi, I wondered where you got the flashing tail lamps for your freight trains from?

 

Tim.

Tim

 

These are battery operated nano LEDs with a small circuit purchased from A.G.L. Associates as per attached.

 

And here is a Farish mk 2 coach with one installed. Not one of mine but I am installing resistor on the axles for a fellow operator, so as to trigger the block detection so was handy as an example.

[roundhouse]

Deleted as something went wrong with this post

Edited November 8, 2018 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

A other few days of fitting resistors to each item of rolling stock. So far around 19 + vehicles fitted but still more to go.
One of the more challenging to fit were the small axles on these Dapol Megafrets. I decided to rile the plastic axle down till the metal spigots if each wheel where visible. Thus gave a good point to make electrical connection to each wheel using the wire glue and keeping the resistors below the wheel flange on the tiny diameter wheels. Once tested with a meter they were reinserted and now ready for a test on the layout this week prior to the Portsmouth show.

Edited November 13, 2018 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

Another task finally completed today.

 

Whilst standing at Banbury station last week I noticed that the DVT's dont have disc brakes on the sides of the wheels like the mk 3 coaches. For some unkown reason dspite looking at the DVT's many times since starting the layout, I hadnt realised this before so all the disc etches provided with the Dapol DVT's that I had applied, have now been removed and the plain wheels weathered. The removed discs have not gone ot waste as they have now been fitted to Farish EWS business train mk 3's plus other Dapol ones that I had not yet got round to fitting.

 

All the resistors I have are now fitted, thats 200 of them and awaiting another 200 to arrive in the post before the final few items of stock will be treated. In the meantime I have been cleaning up the hard drive of one of the touch screen PC's which hung a few times at Taunton. This will get a test once the layout is set up tomorrow evening for a few days prior ot dismantling and laoding back into the car Friday ready for our trip to Portsmouth at the weekend.

 

[roundhouse]

Today I finally found the missiing ER etched plate that flew off the etched sprue a week ago in amongst the modeling bits / plants in the conservatory but today I managed to find it so it was fixed in place before it went missing again. The loco requires a coat of varnish but for this weekend it will run as is.