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West Kirby Town: Parcels traffic has increased.


Dmudriver
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On 29/05/2021 at 19:42, aac said:

I like the refuel point. A guide to oil drum colour schemes would be useful please.

 

aac

 

Hi aac.

 

What a good question!!!!  To be honest, I just found photos of oil drums and copied them.  Whether or not the colour refers to the contents, I don't know.  I had always assumed the colours were relevant to the manufacturer.

 

I'm sure someone will point out the error - or at least the truth about oil drum colours.

 

 

Rod

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25 minutes ago, Dmudriver said:

 

Hi aac.

 

What a good question!!!!  To be honest, I just found photos of oil drums and copied them.  Whether or not the colour refers to the contents, I don't know.  I had always assumed the colours were relevant to the manufacturer.

 

I'm sure someone will point out the error - or at least the truth about oil drum colours.

 

 

Rod

Don't think there's any particular colour code ,it's down to the supplier. Morris's are green, whatever the contents.

 

atb

Phil

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I had a bit of a play a couple of days ago, but whether it was due to the heat or not, I found I was bored with the operation of the layout.  I've done every possible move I can think of, I know the route and signal settings pretty much off by heart now and I can't think of anything new.

 

So any suggestions will be gratefully considered.  But not even third rail would work as it would still just be multiple units in and out!!

 

To change things a bit, I've a pal coming over next week for an operating session and I've decided to relay the trailing crossover on the approach to the station - this one:

 

IMG_20210603_180933.jpg.9dc8fe3eb8c63e63805dc2b46a28fb3a.jpg

 

Partly because the ride over it is noisy and a bit rough due to 1) the gap in the frogs - as here:

 

IMG_20210603_175404.jpg.1a42ee6bf3acdc5d7d0eee8e73a897ba.jpg

 

and 2) a rather dodgy rail joint where C&L rail meets Peco on a curve - here:

 

IMG_20210603_175347.jpg.38ec1f26105aca2206546a6a7cdaa488.jpg

 

Try as I might I can't get a smooth joint: the right hand outer rail is just a bit offset from the left, the inner rail joint is not too bad at all.

 

I've already talked about it with Mike of Greenwood Model Products (no connection, etc)  so I've done a tracing for him - here:

 

IMG_20210603_174840.jpg.31188706a71b917c24888b4c3a7632a2.jpg

 

I'll get that off to him tomorrow and see what he can do with it.

 

I want to do this partly because it's part of a plan anyway, but also because I've enjoyed replacing the Peco points and you can specify Peco rail which makes joining up to existing track much smoother.

 

I've not done any new videos yet as I want to try and find some new viewpoints first, but watch this space!!

 

More soon.

 

 

Rod

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Thanks for the replies about oil drum colours. I also work on the basis of copying what is seen in photos as web searches don't seem to get me very far with regard to whether it is the manufacturer's colours or a code for the drums' contents. When you think how familiar we are these days with colour coding fuel nozzles at garages, it's interesting to imagine the potential problems with the various drums on the railways!

Cheers

aac   

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On 03/06/2021 at 20:50, Dmudriver said:

 

 

Partly because the ride over it is noisy and a bit rough due to 1) the gap in the frogs - as here:

 

IMG_20210603_175404.jpg.1a42ee6bf3acdc5d7d0eee8e73a897ba.jpg

 

and 2) a rather dodgy rail joint where C&L rail meets Peco on a curve - here:

 

IMG_20210603_175347.jpg.38ec1f26105aca2206546a6a7cdaa488.jpg

 

Try as I might I can't get a smooth joint: the right hand outer rail is just a bit offset from the left, the inner rail joint is not too bad at all.

 

 

Rod

 

Rod

 

Rail joints on a curve are always an issue, especially in 7mm scale owing to the strength of the rail. A while ago I sought advice from Len Newman (ex C&L and Exactoscale) over this issue. Len's advice was to pre-curve the rail, however the very ends of the rails are extremely difficult to curve. Len instructions was to have a piece of rail longer than required, curve it then cut off the un-curved ends, whilst slightly wasteful it works a treat. The GW small metal rollers have groves at one end for bending rail, but the old method of pulling the lengths though your fingers also works just as well

 

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Mornin' all!

 

Just a bit of an update.  My pal came over last week and we had a good operating session, during which I did a number of videos, featuring 2x visiting locos and a different DMU. I started making a longer video out of them but forgot to save my work and I've lost it!  Back to the start!

 

But that will be delayed as my computer is playing up - switched it on on Monday and couldn't get into it! Now looking for a local engineer. Fingers crossed I can get it fixed. 

 

On the pointwork front, Mike has got my tracing and has drawn out a replacement set-up.  He's sending me a plan so I can check it before he starts cutting anything. 

 

Hopefully I'll have better news next time. 

 

 

Rod

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On 17/06/2021 at 21:08, Dmudriver said:

God news - computer is fixed.  Collecting tomorrow pm.

Not quite such god news (or even good news!) at the time.  Picked up the computer, tried it at home, same problem.  Took it back to the shop: he showed me it working on his bench, so took it home again.

 

I eventually found that the batteries in my bluetooth keyboard were dead, so it's no surprise that it wasn't accepting my PIN, etc!!!   However, after the work he did, it's much faster.

 

I'll get the video done soon now.

 

More soon.

 

 

Rod

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On 19/06/2021 at 23:26, Dmudriver said:

Not quite such god news (or even good news!) at the time.  Picked up the computer, tried it at home, same problem.  Took it back to the shop: he showed me it working on his bench, so took it home again.

 

I eventually found that the batteries in my bluetooth keyboard were dead, so it's no surprise that it wasn't accepting my PIN, etc!!!   However, after the work he did, it's much faster.

 

I'll get the video done soon now.

 

More soon.

 

 

Rod

Never trust battery devices! I always keep a USB keyboard and mouse around, just in case... Glad to hear you've got it sorted, onwards and upwards, eh?

:good:

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Time for another update, but this one with a bit of an apology!!  In my last post I said I'd get the video done soon.  Well, I started it and did about half of it, trimming clips, adding text and joining them together.  Then saved it and went to bed.  Or, ..... I thought I had saved it!!  Came back to it the next night and there was nothing!!  Obviously I'd not done the save process properly.  Cue robust industrial language and I'm afraid I lost my mojo a bit!!  I'll start again soon, though.

 

However, things have been moving on .......  When Dave was here for the operating session we noticed that the lights on unpowered DMU cars that just had function-only decoders were going out on the dead frogs on the new points in the stabling point.  So, on Dave's suggestion, I've got one of these:

 

IMG_20210701_181300.jpg.ba2d283a753ef04d69f2f09e619ae79d.jpg

 

I've heard of them before - and Dave has used them on his new layout and is well impressed! - but didn't understand how they worked.  I've now read up on them and thought "what a great idea!".  So it's now awaiting fitting to the layout.

 

Also, when Dave was here, we discussed my 2-car 108 which I've had for over 20 years.  It's got a very early ABC DMU motor bogie in it but over the last few years it's not been running right - too slowly.  Using it in multiple with the 3-car 108 it was more sluggish, in spite of the fact they've both got ABC gears of the same ratio and the same motor, the same chip and the same sound file.  I've improved the multiple running by adjusting the CVs but without sound, the 2-car has also started whining when running.  Dave has previously stripped one of those early motor bogies down and restored it to decent condition again, so he offered to do the same for mine.

 

To cut a long story short, he found that one of the axles had slightly smaller wheels than the other!!  One of the gear wheels has slightly stripped but not significantly enough to now affect running.  He's taken a pair of wheels off the trailing bogie and swopped that with the slightly smaller diameter ones.  He says the bogie now runs much sweeter and you can't tell the difference on the trailing bogie.  Who'da thought it!!  It wasn't obvious on a rolling road and even running on the track the fact that the wheels were rotating at slightly different speeds wasn't obvious either!!

 

And finally, Mike at Greenwood Model Products has done the Templot plan for the replacement curved trailing crossover.  It took me ages to work out how to print it off, but I've now done it and here's how it looks, roughly laid out on my dining area floor:

 

IMG_20210701_195522.jpg.d41755f96ca915adb6601ec72336072b.jpg

 

I've now got to cut it out, align the sheets up and tape them together, then check that it will properly replace what I've got now.  It looks good, though.

 

Plenty to be going on with now!!  More soon.

 

 

Rod

 

 

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Hey Rod,

 

May I ask you to go back to page one?   About your lever frame.   And forgive my ignorance.

 

What is the convention on colouring turnout and signal levers?    I understand it to be black for turnouts and red for signals, with a few other colours for point locks and what have you.

 

The thing is, I'm starting Hanford, my LNWR branch terminus.    I have some wonderful wafer switches with levers.    I'll have a nice lever frame when I set it up.     I'll colour the levers with heat shrink tubing.

 

Really like what you are up to.

 

Kevin

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Black for points,

red for stop signals

Yellow for distants

blue for facing point locks.

 

there are also white - spares & I can’t recall what colour detonator placers are.

 

and some levers have stripes, but I’m struggling to remember why.

 

I guess someone might be along in a minute to confirm or to correct me!

 

atb

simon 

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1 hour ago, Simond said:

Black for points,

red for stop signals

Yellow for distants

blue for facing point locks.

 

there are also white - spares & I can’t recall what colour detonator placers are.

 

and some levers have stripes, but I’m struggling to remember why.

 

I guess someone might be along in a minute to confirm or to correct me!

 

atb

simon 

All O.K. so far.

Brown for gates, Green for (I think) gongs.

Then it gets more complicated as colours get mixed . . .

White strip on a red lever when it’s released by another box e.g. Line Clear or token out.

Red above yellow for (usually) an intermediate block signal (as it clears stop signal then distant)

Blue above black for power points

Blue above brown for GF releases (and interlocking levers?)

Detonators are black and white arrow stripes pointing up for Up line, down for Down line or stripes for single line.

Red above brown releases a signal at another box e.g. direction levers.


Then some companies adopted Red above black to signify relief or goods line signals.

 

I’ll stop there.

 

Paul.

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15 hours ago, bluestag said:

The thing is, I'm starting Hanford, my LNWR branch terminus.

Find as similar a track layout on the LNWR as you can, and follow that.

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1 hour ago, Regularity said:

Find as similar a track layout on the LNWR as you can, and follow that.

Too late.   I laid track today, including installing Tortoise motors.     Boy, did I learn the hard way: don't lift the points after cutting the music wire.    You'll be forever getting it lined up.   And never if it is far from the baseboard edge.

 

I'll print a copy of the track diagram.   I'm sure it looks nothing like a LNWR terminus, but it suits me.   I think there will be plenty of operation going on; shunting wagons and vans and such.

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Thanks for the replies on lever colours.    I knew many of them, but clearly there are lots of variants.

 

I won't be modeling point locks, or detonators.   My signalling, if I live long enough to model it, will be cursory at best.  

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