mavsk Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 I've been lurking here for sometime so I though it was about time I posted something about what I was up to! I'm working on building 'Rhiw Goch' - it's will be a Ffestiniog-inspired 009 narrow gauge railway designed to fit over the bed in my spare room. Needs to be fairly light and portable so it can be taken down when someone comes to stay. Here's the track plan: It will be about 2800mm by 900mm - fiddle yard is at the back with the station at the front. It's heavily based on Tan-Y-Bwlch adapted to fit the space available. I spent last week making a model of the model out of cereal packet card so I could work out the levels: So far, I've built the two fiddle yard boards and got them wired up last month: And I've also built the control panel: I've started some work on rolling stock and buildings - will be a slow process though as I certainly don't get the amount of time I'd like! There are a few more pictures on my blog (link below) - didn't want to put them all up here in one go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ngtrains.com Posted March 9, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 9, 2014 Looks like it will be a nice model and I wish you luck with it but....... Why make a model based on one real place and name it after another real place that's only 3 miles away? Your title caught my interest because as a college project back in 1980 I built a model of the actual Rhiw Goch and did all the signalling and point interlocking with solid state AND and OR gates. The electronics was the college part and the layout itself never got past being a plank with a loop and a siding on it. Once given a distinction for that bit of the course I lost interest in the model. Now I drive trains through the real locations Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 There is a reason! Discovered (by the power of Google Translate...) that Rhiw Goch roughly translates as red hill or bank, as I live near Redhill it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. Rhiw Goch also seems to be a fairly common place name in North Wales. Planing to do similar to you for the signalling - trying to dust off my electronics knowledge at the moment. Spent this afternoon painting this up - it's a cut and shunt job with two Wills water tower kits, very happy with how it's turned out so far. A little bit of tidying up to do - doors still look a little bright! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ngtrains.com Posted March 9, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 9, 2014 Planing to do similar to you for the signalling I wouldn't if I were you. Back in 1980 its was done with IC's full on AND, NAND, OR and NOR gates which meant the logic was fixed and decided by the hard wiring of components. What I was doing was replicating the full signal box logic and interlocking with all the overlaps and timing elements of the real thing for an electronics project rather than trying to run a model railway. Only when I got as far as testing it did I find there was a fault in the logic. Luckily the lecturer marking it knew nothing of railway interlocking and my effort had one feature that set it above my fellow course mates - I got as far as actually getting a working version, most of the class never got off the drawing board. Were I doing it now I'd use an Arduino or Raspberry Pi so that the logic could be changed and developed. I see your logic, sort of, with the layout name. Of course you can call it what you want and as its a bedroom layout rather than an exhibition layout it'll be fine. Were it an exhibition layout I suspect you would tire quite quickly of people pointing out "that's not Rhiw Goch, its Tan-y-Bwlch" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiesler Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 I was thinking about making a layout very similar to this, but I don't have the space. So I will be interested to see how it progresses. I have to agree though with instantly thinking "that's not Rhiw Goch, its Tan-y-Bwlch". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 Were I doing it now I'd use an Arduino or Raspberry Pi so that the logic could be changed and developed. I see your logic, sort of, with the layout name. Of course you can call it what you want and as its a bedroom layout rather than an exhibition layout it'll be fine. Were it an exhibition layout I suspect you would tire quite quickly of people pointing out "that's not Rhiw Goch, its Tan-y-Bwlch" I've been having a look at Arduinos online this evening - they're a lot more suitable than I realised. Thanks for the suggestion - think I will be exploring that more! Can see what you mean with the name - if the layout comes out decent enough, it would be nice to take it out somewhere. Only thing with calling it Tan-y-Bwlch is whether I've made too many changes and have a similar reaction! Perhaps time to look at a map of North Wales and find a similar but different place name - don't need to decide too soon though. Some exploring to do next time I'm up there - looking forward to seeing the changes to Harbour station as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted May 26, 2014 Author Share Posted May 26, 2014 Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted here! I haven't has as much time as I'd have liked, although I now have three of the remaining four boards built up in skeleton form - still need to add some bracing. Hoping that the weather will improve at some point today so that I can cut the plywood for the final board and start on some of the cross-bracing - can't really get the jigsaw out in the lounge. I've also built up the legs - a bit of an experiment really as I need it to straddle a double bed. The plan will be to put a couple of 'beams' across to support the middle joints. Following one of the suggestions above, I've bought an Arduino and various additional modules, including an LCD screen, buzzer and relays. All seems fairly simple so far and not very expensive if you're willing to wait for things to arrive from China. Haven't used it in anger to control anything yet though... Finally, I have been giving some thought to the name. I agree that I probably need to change it, however I don't want to call it Tan-y-Bwlch as I'm not planning it to be an exact copy,more 'inspired by'. I've been going over the OS map for the area and using Google Translate (dangerous I know!). Given that tan-y-Bwlch translates as 'under the pass/gap' (at least according to Wikipedia...), I have the following two ideas: Tan-y-Graig - this is a place name a couple of miles north-east of Beddgelert, think it translates as 'below the rocks'. Tan-y-Bryn - below the hill Tan-y-Coed - below the trees Think I prefer the first one at the moment. The name of the railway will be the 'Glaslyn Railway / Rheilffordd Glaslyn'. Any thoughts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
branchie Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Tan y Graig works for me ...... and the translation is correct Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted May 28, 2014 Author Share Posted May 28, 2014 Great - thanks for that! Not too sure how much you can rely on Google Translate... Have now decided that Tan-y-Graig will be the new name so I've updated the topic. Finished the rest of the boards and the legs on Monday and it's now in its new home in the spare room. Plenty more still to do though - cross bracing and something to lay the track down on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted August 6, 2014 Author Share Posted August 6, 2014 Well, I haven't posted here for a long time so I figured it was time for an update - haven't managed to do any work on it for the last month or so as I've had too much else going on! I've now got the track beds down and track laid - needs cutting at the joints though and I've also discovered one of the supports is completely in the way of a point motor. Never mind... Lost of temporary wires in place so I can at least shuttle something up and down for the moment. And I've also mounted the LCD display into the Control Panel. Sadly I can't see myself getting too much more done over the summer but am hoping to get up to North Wales to take a few more photos at some point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwinewt Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Looking forward to watching this one... and seeing what/how you use the arduino... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 The buttons on the panel are already wired to the Arduino and the outputs set up - just not connected to anything! Does mean the logic has/is being checked as at least the screen says what it should be doing. The points and signals at the front will be run through it - points going via relays so I don't need to watch out mixing 16V AC with the 5V DC the Adrunio uses. This does mean they can be interlocked with each other - there are currently three modes: full interlocking, no point detection and no interlocking at all. Power's not interlocked though other than routing it through the points. Real test will be when I finally get round to connecting it to the baseboards... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwinewt Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I have been looking at using the Arduino to control servos for the points, wiring it up as a DCC accessory decoder, which would be rather a lot of fun! It's definitely got a lot of potential as a modelling tool Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted August 26, 2014 Author Share Posted August 26, 2014 Thought it worth a quick update - I've wired two of the new boards up with two still to do. I've put together a couple of Parkside Dundas Hudson steel wagons and a quarryman's coach which just need a bit of paint now. I've also put some work towards the two coaches I've been building - nominally Ffestinog nos 105 and 110 but they're not going to be exact replicas! Both now have interiors, 110 is ready for primer and paint and 105 needs the underframe painting and the body paint tidied up. Transfers are on order from Fox for the final touch. Technique for building the coaches has been unashamably borrowed from http://bronhebog.blogspot.co.uk/p/carriage-building-guide.html - mine certainly aren't of the same standard though. The close up photos are a bit cruel! Hopefully will look a little better when painted... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 Again it's been a while since I updated this! I haven't had quite as much time as I'd like however I've managed to get a fair few things done since August: Boards are now all wired although I have a few micro switches that need adjusting. Of course I had to do some minor carpentry adjustments where I realised I'd put cross bracing where I needed to put a point motor... Coach 110 is finished - not perfect but very happy with it as my first attempt at scratch building a coach. Coach 105 is virtually complete - just needs transfers and a final coat of varnish. I've also started work on Coach 102 now - it's one of the observation coaches. I bought some Parkside Dundas bogies for it at Warley yesterday so will hopefully crack on with it soon. The Ardunio in the control panel is working well - had to change the relays to be opto-isolated ones as I was getting some interference for some reason that kept resetting it. Not sure the inside of the panel is looking quite so neat now! I had a quick chat at Warley with Dave who built the Waton layout and now have a plan to do the train detection using IR leds and receivers - very obvious when you think about it! Finally, this afternoon I've started with the chicken wire and modroc on one of the boards - ran out of modroc though so it's not finished however very happy so far and has completely transformed its look! Off tomorrow so expect I'll be shopping for more... Next jobs are the microswitch adjustments, more chicken wire and modroc and doing the wiring and indications on the control panel for the signals. Had a look at the Absolute Aspects signals at Warely yesterday - not cheap but very tempted! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 A fresh supply of modroc has meant the hillside is now completely covered: Next steps will be to put a plaster/PVA mix over it to smooth it out slightly but I need to wait for it all to dry out first. Does make a big difference to the board! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 As usual, there's never enough time to do everything that you want! I have managed to (mostly!) finish off the board I covered in modroc with a few rocks and scatter (not the best of photos as only taken on my phone): Very happy with it as a first attempt - plenty of bits still to do such as finishing the ballast, making a tunnel mouth and all the detailing such as fences but can't complain too much! All Woodlands Scenics items - rather handily they're being sold off for half price in the old Alders store in Croydon, looks like old stock from Model Zone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mavsk Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Realised I hadn't updated this thread for a long time! There's been some more progress - not quite as much as I'd have liked but never mind! The first board I started has most of the basics complete - planning to have a play with static grass at some point though: The second board is also in a similar state - since this photo was taken I've made up the platform and begun ballasting: Today I've finally begun work on the third board with the chicken wire and modroc - this board also the road snaking around it. Still thinking of how to make the road surface - thinking of trying wet and dry paper? And I'm also having a go a building this - Taliesin from a Backwood Miniatures kit. Has gone OK so far but not too sure if that will continue! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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