Stockrington - Mojo ignited. Thanks, Heljan!

[jukebox]

As the trackbed for the storage sidings nears completion (just two short lengths to fill in), I have a to-do list in my head, and the project manager in me knows there's something called a "critical path" - the set of activities that will govern how it takes to get a train doing a lap of the room. 

 

I had thought it was the painting of the bridge section - about 60% complete today - but there are many, many items I have not yet even started: I still have the cutting and laying of the Depron foam to do, soldering droppers to the flex, and finishing DCC-readying the 16 turnouts that make up this phase of the layout. The there's running the DCC bus and the 12v accessory bus, fitting out the DCC booster and PSX's, as well as fashioning a couple of turnout control panels...  and all that just gets me a single loop around the room. 

 

Luckily I'm not tempted to cut formers and build myself scenery!!!

 

So, it being Friday night, and what is the man-about-town doing? Sitting at home, prepping droppers, of course!

 

Tools for the job:  Red and Black for DCC feed; Green for Cobalt-to-frog switched connection

 

I figured with around 50 droppers just for the turnouts, plus another hundred or more for the flex in Stage 1, it would be prudent to make a start on the more mind numbing of activities - cutting droppers and stripping the ends ready to solder onto the bus.  This is the sort of task that the right tool for the job makes the job a little more bearable.  I've got a double action wire stripper - I bought mine from DCC Concepts after Richard showed me that the one he sells can strip a bus wire mid-span, so no need to cut and solder to attach droppers - use this tool to part the insulation and solder away.  The other benefit - and the one I made the most of tonight - is that they can be set up to nip insulation off the ends of wire consistantly. I don't know how many wires I stripped tonight, but I do know they are all pretty consistant, thanks to this tool.  A few years ago I would have fannied around with the old fashioned friction type strippers - or even a set of side cuttters - and when my grip fatigued, at around wire number 87, I would have started nipping ends off, or missed ends, or cut them short or long, and got utterly fed up.  Tonight, the job is done, and no tears were shed.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[Physicsman]

Welcome to the "dropper club", Scott!!

 

I'm still finding the odd pair of droppers, 3 months after (supposedly) completing the wiring. I gave up counting when the dropper count reached 200, so I sympathise with the task you have in store.

 

Btw, that's a lovely colour of blue - or is it green - or is it aquamarine? I can tell which is red and black!

 

Coming along very nicely.

 

Jeff

[jukebox]

Jeff - yes, it is a task that you do not realise how large it is actually going to be until you start to do the maths.  At least I'm not doubling feeders up like you did, so it's not too bad - just one pair per rail for me.  I'm thinking of printing a diagram with a thick red and black line on it and the heading "Red towards the MIDDLE" and tacking it to the wall, until I have the feed convention etched in my brain!

 

The wires are from a shop in Kowloon - I must be the only traveller to bring back 10kg in rolls of duty free cable from Hong Kong!  I've also got rolls of blue and white for my DC feeds, and a nice roll of "speaker cable" for my 12V bus.   But I couldn't get any other colours at the shops I visited, so had to buy the green locally (J-Car, for those who need to know - Dick Smith and Tandy no longer sell wires and electrical bits and bobs here in Oz...) but as that's just got to go from each Cobalt to the local frog, there's not a huge need for it - around 200mm per turnout.

 

As for the shade - tis' neither Doncaster nor Darlington. I'd hazard a guess it's almost Malachite.  On a NE layout?  Blasphamy!

 

***

 

Trackbed was completed today, so I'm concentrating on getting the bridge painted, and will start laying down foam next week.  I even cracked opened a box of Peco Code 70 to celebrate!

 

***

 

I've been able to get a wriggle on with things since Easter, as I was unfortunately made redundant literally the week before.  It was expected, as the consultants I worked for had not won any major work in over a year.  Things got embarassingly quiet at the start of this year, and they have been shedding staff for over 12 months.  I was told late Feb things were grim and could expect the tap on the shoulder, so it wasn't unexpected.  However, the good news is that I've sorted out a new role that starts in a few weeks, so things are at least not going backwards.  Luckily I'd spent a lot of the big dollars last year, thinking I would be building the layout from August - so there's not been any huge outlays.  Anyway, that's history now - I can get on with building, knowing I'm not putting the family's next meal at risk!

 

Targetted "first train" ceremony... May as well stake a date to work towards, eh? We shall call it the 4th of August. 

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[Physicsman]

Jeff - yes, it is a task that you do not realise how large it is actually going to be until you start to do the maths.  At least I'm not doubling feeders up like you did, so it's not too bad - just one pair per rail for me.  I'm thinking of printing a diagram with a thick red and black line on it and the heading "Red towards the MIDDLE" and tacking it to the wall, until I have the feed convention etched in my brain!

 

The wires are from a shop in Kowloon - I must be the only traveller to bring back 10kg in rolls of duty free cable from Hong Kong!  I've also got rolls of blue and white for my DC feeds, and a nice roll of "speaker cable" for my 12V bus.   But I couldn't get any other colours at the shops I visited, so had to buy the green locally (J-Car, for those who need to know - Dick Smith and Tandy no longer sell wires and electrical bits and bobs here in Oz...) but as that's just got to go from each Cobalt to the local frog, there's not a huge need for it - around 200mm per turnout.

 

As for the shade - tis' neither Doncaster nor Darlington. I'd hazard a guess it's almost Malachite.  On a NE layout?  Blasphamy!

 

***

 

Trackbed was completed today, so I'm concentrating on getting the bridge painted, and will start laying down foam next week.  I even cracked opened a box of Peco Code 70 to celebrate!

 

***

 

I've been able to get a wriggle on with things since Easter, as I was unfortunately made redundant literally the week before.  It was expected, as the consultants I worked for had not won any major work in over a year.  Things got embarassingly quiet at the start of this year, and they have been shedding staff for over 12 months.  I was told late Feb things were grim and could expect the tap on the shoulder, so it wasn't unexpected.  However, the good news is that I've sorted out a new role that starts in a few weeks, so things are at least not going backwards.  Luckily I'd spent a lot of the big dollars last year, thinking I would be building the layout from August - so there's not been any huge outlays.  Anyway, that's history now - I can get on with building, knowing I'm not putting the family's next meal at risk!

 

Targetted "first train" ceremony... May as well stake a date to work towards, eh? We shall call it the 4th of August. 

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

Glad to see you've got something in the pipeline, workwise. I'd have thought a good Civil Engineer would never be out of a job. Having said that, in the UK - with austerity measures - I wonder if anything worthwhile is being built!

 

4th of August - we will hold you to that!!

 

Droppers - with hindsight I could have got by with one per rail. When I ran the first loco down the fiddle yard a single dropper pair worked well with over 10 metres of track. But better safe than sorry!

 

Jeff

[jukebox]

Well, that trackbed gap is getting smaller and smaller.  I spent the weekend plugging up the last few short areas so the whole loop is 6-ply.   I also got stuck into finishing the support for the swing hinge.  The plan looked like this:

 

The end result like this:

 

I do need to file down/cut off those projecting screws!

 

And while there are still some touch-ups to be done - and I won't screw the hinges down until they are sorted and the paint well dried - when you open the door to the room to visit Stockrington, this is what you will see:

 

Is anyone seriously going to walk into that?

 

I figured that wasp strips on the inside would just come back to haunt me in every 2nd photo I try and take, so the rest of the lift section is satin black:

 

 

I've got a couple of lift handles to add on each side, and once I am happy that it is all behaving itself, I'll fit the alignment dowels to the free end.  I am not expecting any issues - I can almost swing off the support myself and there is no movement, so it should be a formality to finish it off.

 

So, 1200mm left before I have a loop of trackbed!

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

 

 

 

[David Todd]

[jukebox]

Pretty much progress as advertised this week.  The swing up section is now in place, and I've fitted a set of alignment dowels. All seems to be well - I'll be more convinced of that when I have track across the span and can judge the size of any errors. 

 

***

 

As I was finishing off the benchwork, I was also sticking down the 3mm Depron (in lieu of cork).  I used PVA diluted 50:50 with water and it seems to have worked fine - looked rather unimpressive as I painted it on, but seems to have gripped the foam well enough:

 

Looking down the Eastern-most storage track bed - c/w high tech Mk.1 eyeball alignment assistance device...

 

Laying the Depron - dilute PVA, ponding on the inside? Must have the superelevation right on that part then!

 

So I have a lap around the room of Depron, ready for track.  It looks like a miniature bike path set on an old railway track - Sustrans would be proud of me.

 

Whilst I will lay most of the ten turnouts at the storage yard throat, I'm only going to put down two tracks in the yard to start with - there will be a lot of testing to do, and a lot of issues to explore, and I think it would be foolhardy to go straight in and lay and wire up 40m of storage tracks, only to find I have major operational issues with turnouts on inclines, or the grades going down and up.  So I'll start with the minimum, and just make active the turnouts I need to prove the concept, and spend a few weeks thoroughly testing that before I rush into the rest of the storage area.

 

***

 

With the sigs and comms crew due to start before the perway goes down, I've also made some headway on the control front, setting up a sliding draw that will hold the transformer, DCC booster and PSX circuit breakers.  That will sit in the space under the MPD for now, but I have designed it in such a way that it won't take too much to shift it elsewhere if that proves incovenient.

 

I've got quite a bit of rather uninteresting workbench based tasks ahead of me to complete now - soldering droppers, pre-wiring turnouts, and testing Cobalts...  so I'm sorry but it looks like there will be a shortage of visually interesting updates till I start plonking track down, I guess.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[jukebox]

I have to take a short sabattical from Stockrington for a couple of weeks, so in the spirit that a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a few images from the room now that I have tidied up somewhat, to tide you over and whet your collective appetites (appeti?)

 

Before I stuck down the foam that sits under the siding fan turnouts, I needed to mark their exact location... so that meant cutting some track and getting the alignment finalized.

 

Helicopter view above the swing section - the single track drops away to the storage - the main line swings off to the left and then parallel again, via a trailing express turnout.  In my keen-ness to get underway, I forgot I needed to allow for two right hand turnouts here, so have temporarily screwed some dummy trackbed to the right of the storage track path - this will support the turnout legs going into Northmoor MPD and the coaling stage, and protect them from damage until I complete this area.

 

 

The brains and muscle of Stockrington.  That's a DCCconcepts PS-5 power supply, NCE SB3A 5 amp smart booster for their Powercab, and a PSX-3 three section circuit breaker.  No rocket science here - the power supply links into the booster, the booster daisy chains the breakers, which daisy chain one another on the near side, and have track outputs on the back.  The sockets on the front of the booster will take phone cable style leads to additional sockets placed around the layout.

 

Wasp stripes in action.  You can see I have not taken the Depron all the way to the edge of the gaps here - I saw how quickly a screw offcut melted a 10mm hole in the stuff, and as I'm planning to use brass screws to solder the rail ends to hold alignment here, figured I need to keep the foam away from any heat source.  The gaps on the bridge section foam are because I wanted to keep access to the screws that hold that section of trackbed in place - in case I need to rip it out or adjust it at some point.  I will get around to painting these patches of timber grey, so they are less attention getting, at some point.

 

View from the inside. Seems I managed to find a new area for tools and material - the upper level alignment, that will be free for a little while longer...

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

edited to correct uploader formatting issues

Edited April 29, 2013 by jukebox

[Jack P]

Great Scott! It looks great Scott! Not sure how I missed this. I like those warning stripes very much!

[jukebox]

Welcome to Stockrington, Jack, and thanks for the kind words - I hope the journey will be interesting.

 

****

  Non-modelling content follows (!)  Look away now if you're not inclined.

 

 

 

****

 

As I mentioned at the end of last month, I have had to take an enforced sabbatical from Stockrington: last October my wife managed to win a "In 25 words of less...." contest, first prize being a family holiday to New York for a week. Yep, I was a sceptic of those things until then, but it turned out to be legitimate, and so we flew out at the start of May (I extended the trip by a week ~ it was insane to fly that far for just six nights).

 

While the prize was flights & accomodation in NYC, I wanted to show the family some of the country, so we headed to Washington DC and rented a car for a week.  I lived in New Jersey for five years in the 1980's, but this trip was good as I managed to get to a few sights I had wanted to see but never got around to back then:

 

The Udvar-Hazy annex of the Smithsonian Museum is a huge hanger at Washington Airport that hold exhibits too large for the main museum on The Mall in the city:

 

SR-71 Blackbird

 

Space Shuttle Orbiter "Discovery"

 

B-29 "Enola Gay"

 

*

 

We drove down to the Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina, to see where the Wright Brothers first flew:

 

 

*

 

And then across to Roanoke, Virginia, where there was the choice of either the Transportation Museum, or a museum dedicated to O Winston Link, the renowned railroad photographer. I chose the latter, and even Mrs Jukebox enjoyed looking the images there:

 

 

I understand that many non US modellers may not be overly interested in US railroading, but I have to say that seeing these photos on display is amazing.  Obviously his night shots are his trademark, but it's clear Link had an eye for his subect, and the detail and composition of his images is amazing.  There's more information about him if you follow this link. 

 

One shot in particular really got to me - it's a "stiched panorama" of a locomotive at night.  Link took the original seven or eight images back in the 1950's, but as I understand it, it wasn't until the advent of digital photography that these were able to be "stitched" to get the effect he wanted to capture. 

 

If you ever find yourself in Roanoke, I can't urge you strongly enough to take a couple of hours to go and look at Link Museum.  World class stuff.

 

*

 

The next day was a travelling one, but we stopped at the New River Gorge Bridge, in West Virginia - these two photos are 3 minutes apart:

 

 

*

 

When we finally got to New York City, it co-incided with a display of Pullman carriages celebrating the Centenary of Grand Central Station:

 

There were 45,000 visitors to this display on each day of the weekend it was on (and 750,000 people pass through the terminal on a normal workday!).  I love Grand Central - the main concourse and it's "constellation" ceiling are breathtaking.  I had described my awe at seeing this as a young man to my sons a number of times, and was so glad to be able to take them there and show it to them myself.

 

*

 

And I even passed within 10km or so of London around lunchtime Thursday on my way back to Perth:

 

2012 Olympic Stadium from 37,000ft.

 

****

I visited both the hobby stores I was aware of in midtown Manhattan (Red Caboose and Gotham Hobbies) and was very underwhelmed - I was able to get some Woodland Scenics ballast but had no luck with Kadee magnets or wheelsets, or Dremel discs that I had on my shopping list of small-but-expensive-to-get-posted items I wanted to buy. 

 

****

 

So I arrived home yesterday afternoon, to the news that Perth had some quite bad storms while we were away, and yes, there had been water issues downstairs (as I suspected there would be),  So, the requisite emails to our builder were launched.  Luckily this does not impact upstairs where Stockrington is, so work can continue. 

 

Not sure how much I will get done this weekend - we are all still dealing with the 36 hours of door-to-door travel/24 hours of flying that getting from USA to Australia involves.  I do know it's good to be home.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

Edited May 18, 2013 by jukebox

[Andrew P]

Hi Scott, thanks for some really great pics, love it,

 

The baseboards look really good and I just wish I had the room to get started on something similar, maybe soon I hope.

Please keep the pics coming as it is an inspiration.

 

Andy.

[LNER4479]

I understand that many non US modellers may not be overly interested in US railroading...

 

Well don't include me in that list Scott! I've been lucky enough to visit North America and had several experiences of US railroading and I can't get enough of it.

 

Last trip (2009) was coast-to-coast by train (with a break in the journey to visit Silverton & Durango). We're planning next trip for 2014 (I'm 21 again - lol!!) and we're going on a Big Boy hunt! Seen one (4017) - only 7 more to go.

 

Hope the flooding's not too serious.

[Class 108]

Wow Scott, I admire your courage to take on a big layout. Lots of work in store for you to get it all together, especially with the droppers!

 

Very lucky to win the competition. The trip to the USA looks awesome, I would love to go to the Smithsonian.

 

Alan

[jukebox]

Hi Scott, thanks for some really great pics, love it,

 

The baseboards look really good and I just wish I had the room to get started on something similar, maybe soon I hope.

Please keep the pics coming as it is an inspiration.

 

Andy.

 

 

Well don't include me in that list Scott! I've been lucky enough to visit North America and had several experiences of US railroading and I can't get enough of it.

 

Last trip (2009) was coast-to-coast by train (with a break in the journey to visit Silverton & Durango). We're planning next trip for 2014 (I'm 21 again - lol!!) and we're going on a Big Boy hunt! Seen one (4017) - only 7 more to go.

 

Hope the flooding's not too serious.

 

 

Wow Scott, I admire your courage to take on a big layout. Lots of work in store for you to get it all together, especially with the droppers!

 

Very lucky to win the competition. The trip to the USA looks awesome, I would love to go to the Smithsonian.

 

Alan

 

Thanks very much for the support and encouragement, fellas!

 

Andy, the space is a blessing and a curse - I am still coming to terms with the scale of things, and how even with plenty of room, there are limitations.  But I have to say it is very satisfying, as I have wanted to build a big layout for more than a decade.

 

Robert, I visited Durango in 1988 - we flew in for a long weekend, from New Jersey where I lived - I drove North over Coal Bank Pass - 10,000+ ft high, the rental car barely made it - and down into Silverton, then across to Monument Valley in AZ. Brilliant countryside.  A Big Boy hunt sounds like serious fun.

 

Alan - yes, the quantities start to get quite overwhelming: I went to buy rail joiners, and ended up working out I needed a dozen packets each of metal and insulated... I've just ordered a dozen Kadee under track magnets, and that only gives me two spare from the locations I know I need them.  The trip to the USA was wonderful, and both the Smithsonians in Washington are brilliant (and free!) - incredible to see so much aviation history under one roof;  I was amazed how small the cockpit of the B-29 is - standing on the gangway looking over it, imagining the crew huddled up front at 8:15 on August 6th... very, very thought provoking stuff. The annex is not easy to get to without a car, but worth the effort.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[jukebox]

So, this week I finally got back in the saddle.  I'd been planning to start evening sessions, but really felt knocked about by the travel, and it has only been the last few nights I've slept all the way through.

 

I also started a new job this week, which I am really enjoying.  They pay is not as good as where I had been, but I negotiated a four day working week with the new boss, so have Fridays to myself once I have gotten the kids to school.

 

***

 

I spent most of Friday morning tidying up and doing the last of the unpacking, and getting set up to start electrical work.  That meant getting fresh board to solder on, and bringing all the Stage 1 turnouts and some flex down into my study to solder.

 

I had three different solders lying around - a roll of 60/40 mulitcore, another tube dispenser with some 1mm solder from a DIY shop, and a couple of packets of DCC Concepts Sapphire 179, along with some DCCC no-clean flux.  I'm using a 40W iron with, for this exercise, a pointed tip - more on that in a minute.  

 

I started with the Peco Code 70 I would be using on the storage tracks, so get my techniques honed.  It became clear the general purpose solders were not suitable for the job - either life expired (they were both <5 years old) or not just the wong stuff.  The DCCC solder works like a charm, and the size of the wire it is sold in means you can be sparing with how much you apply.

 

I know some people find this something of a black art, so whilst everyone will do things differently, here's my own take on this, based very much on the advice Richard from DCCC gives.

 

1/. Good sized iron, and plenty of flux, applied with a small paint brush.

2/. Take a couple of mm of solder on your iron tip, put a droplet of flux on th underside of the rail where you want to make the joint, and apply the iron to the rail for 2 seconds.  The flux will sizzle, the rail will heat, the solder will transfer and you will not melt the sleepers.  You will be left with a small blob of solder, ready to accpet your dropper.

3/. Tin the end of your dropper - dip it in flux, and wipe the iron tip over it, coating it in solder. 

4/. Bend the tinned end through 90 degrees, and cut it, leaving a 2-3mm foot at right angles to the wire.

5/. Dip this end back in the flux, and hold it onto the blob on the rail.

6/. Get another 2-3mm of flux on the iron tip, and apply heat for 2 seconds - till the solder melts, sizzles the flux and transfers the heat into the join.

7/. Hold the wire in place for a few seconds after you have removed the heat.

 

That's it.  You should have a wire that is very rigidly soldered to the underside of the rail that is invisible from above when ballasted.

 

***

I am using Shinohara turnouts, and these need to be made DCC friendly by adding jumpers.  Before you wince that that thought, take a look at these photos:

 

 

That is a double slip.  No masses of wires, just feeds for the red and black circuit, and the frogs.

 

Here's a close up of the jumpers needed:

 

 

You can almost see (in Yellow) I split the red and black feeds into a Y shape, so they powered two rails each.  Then, at the four points marked in Blue, I use a small piece of copper wire to jumper across three rails.  All these are attached using the method described above.  If you get in and out quickly, and carefully, you should not melt the sleepers.

 

I tested the turnout once all these connections were made, and it was 100% live, but just to keep things honest, I also added some flexible jumpers to the turnout blades (marked in Tan)

instead of relying just on the fishplates that hold these in place to pass the current. The wire I used for this was just black and grey offcuts from a DCC decoder install I had kept around - I did not want to use anything too thick that might affect the freedom of the blades to swing.

 

Here's an extreme close up of the same install on a plain turnout:

 

 

I'll go back and add "Y spilt" droppers to the rails at the gaps circled in Red.  I used a pointed tip for this work, as it means I can get in clear of the plastic sleepers - although, yes, I have gotten a little too close a couple of times - luckily the damage was on the underside of the turnout, was minor, and not visible. 

 

***

 

I've droppered all the turnouts for Stage 1, and most of the Peco track for the first two yard runs.  I now have a half dozen lengths of C+L downstairs, and will have a go at droppering these during the week, as well as painting up the side of the rails on the turnouts in the visible areas.

 

Then I need to turn my attention to running the first bus.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

[David Todd]

Hi Scott,  Good to hear your getting over the jet-lag and you are using Richard's solder,........... piece of cake.................

[jukebox]

Hi dt - yes, I was sort of cursing him under my breath.... his stuff just works so well! 

 

It's certainly not the cheapest, but I am really starting to appreciate that you buy it knowing it will do what it says on the packet, with zero fuss.

[David Todd]

I do not complain about the price of R.J.' items,...............Hoping he may develop a "hands free solder kit".....instead of the manual version...........

[Physicsman]

Scott - did you ever find out if RJ managed to install his mega-model of Ribblehead into an appropriate layout setting?

 

Best of luck with the soldering. Must admit I really got to enjoy it, in the end - especially when everything worked!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[Jaz]

Hi Jukebox (fancy seeing you here   ) I just adore the choice of emoticons 

 

You certainly have a great area to model in. Loved the pictures from inception moving through. Haven't read all the posts yet. Read a  couple with the weird pictures like the one with water in the lightbulb - made me laugh. but just the pictures tell a great story. Am sure to read everything before long.

I will certainly be looking in and watching your progress................ in a nice way 

Edited May 26, 2013 by Jaz

[trisonic]

If I had known you were going via New Jersey I would have told you to visit "The Model Railroad Store" in Piscataway.

Manhattan is a waste of time for model shops.........

 

Best, Pete.

[jukebox]

Scott - did you ever find out if RJ managed to install his mega-model of Ribblehead into an appropriate layout setting?

 

Best of luck with the soldering. Must admit I really got to enjoy it, in the end - especially when everything worked!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

 

Hi Jeff;

 

Yes, Richard's Ribblehead is now planted on his Focus Modelling layout; visitors to the DCC Concepts home in Naval Base probably only need to ask and I'm sure he would be glad to walk you down the corridor to show the work-in-progress.

 

No luck needed on the soldering - just patience.  I do have to keep reminding myself not to rush, and that 30 seconds now might save me 30 hours fault finding in 5 years time.

 

 

Hi Jukebox (fancy seeing you here   ) I just adore the choice of emoticons 

 

You certainly have a great area to model in. Loved the pictures from inception moving through. Haven't read all the posts yet. Read a  couple with the weird pictures like the one with water in the lightbulb - made me laugh. but just the pictures tell a great story. Am sure to read everything before long.

I will certainly be looking in and watching your progress................ in a nice way 

 

Hi Jaz - welcome to the saga!  Hope you like the story - well worth taking the time to read the details; I've tried to be as narrative as I could.

 

If I had known you were going via New Jersey I would have told you to visit "The Model Railroad Store" in Piscataway.

Manhattan is a waste of time for model shops.........

 

Best, Pete.

 

I used to live little way up Route 22 in Mountain when I first moved to NJ, Pete, so know the area a little - this visit we went back out to my old hometown of Maplewood and it hand't changed much in 22 years... much like The Red Caboose. 

 

I need to put in a plug for Hobbylinc , Atlanta GA here: I made a list of all the things I didn't get, and Hobbylinc was one of the few places that had the lot - Kadee magnets, wheel sets, Dremel discs and even a right angle attachment for my Moto-tool.  I placed an order on line, and they shipped it to my wife's uncle in NC in a few days - he'll bring it down under when he visits here next month.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

Edited May 27, 2013 by jukebox

[Kal]

HI Scott

 

dt mentioned you had your layout here and well worth the read. I shall try and keep up now I know your here.

 

Regards

 

Kal

[David Todd]

As you are not attending your local exhibition this w/end, due to work commit ments.. ,.......do hope things go well............

[jukebox]

Right, time to get serious!

 

I spent the dregs of last week soldering up droppers on the last few lengths of flex, and loosely layed it all out on the trackbed.

 

I decided I needed to start fixing track down at the double slip.  Probably not the best place to start re-learning how to lay track, but it made sense as I needed that datum to run the storage siding entry down and away. 

 

The first hurdle I discovered was the N scale insulated track joiners I have bought will not fit either FB or Bullhead Code 70 track.  Perversely, the conductive ones by the same manufacturer do. And I've got about 200 of them...  Turns out they will fit the head of the rail, so I improvised by using them on the head for now, to space the required gaps around the frogs.  I will cut them off and touch in a spot of epoxy, once I have the track connected to the bus, and proved electrically sound.

 

I have used flat screw washers to hold the track in for now on the down ramp.  My logic here is that I fully expect this area could give me running problems: the grade is steep, there are curves and turnouts, and I just cannot predict how different stock will handle the dynamics here. By having the track screwed down, I can add shims, shift kinks, and generally realign in three dimensions until I get it sorted.  I will glue down the rest of the track, as I am more confident it will be permamant and less hassle.  Time will tell!

 

By close of precedings last night I had the double slip and express turnout connected, and Cobalts in and tested.  In my hurry to be smart, I nipped the activation wire off level with the sleeper top on the first one - then had a rather fruity time trying to screw it on upside down under the baseboard.  I hadn't applied the adhesive pad that comes with them, and so couldn't "suspend" the Cobalt while I screwed it in (as the extra thickness would have meant the wire no longer reached the turnout stretcher)...  Luckily for me the benchwork here was high enough that I can sit up on the floor and work at eye height.   Lesson learned.  I've installed five more Cobalts this weekend, and not cut the actuator wire on any, used the pad to attach them, and my blood pressure has shown a marked improvement!

 

 

I did have a couple of unforeseen issues.  One Cobalt was a very tight squeeze with the benchwork - so I have pre-wired that one, with all the feeders it will need, as getting to them once it was installed will be almost impossible.

 

 

The other area was where I have three curved turnouts in close proximity.  I had cut short 50mm lengths to space the out, but when I tried to fit them, the soldered droppers kept rolling the rails out of the six sleepers that were holding them in place.  The soloution was to take some PCB sleepers and hard solder the rails to the toes of the turnouts they are attached to, then use the PCB sleepers to keep gauge. I still need to nip the ends off these as they are live, and touching, and fed by the opposite sides of the DCC bus...

 

 

So, there's Cobalts with droppers, track with droppers, all ready for a DCC bus and a 9V DC accessory bus to be installed:

 

 

That is all the turnouts on the Southern end of the room for Stage 1 installed and tested.  I have the two 6m storage runs to lay, and then the five turnouts at that end of the yard, then the ramp up, and three more tunouts. 

 

 

So far, so good.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

Edited June 2, 2013 by jukebox