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Henley-on-Thames - GWR in the 1930's


Neal Ball
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On 20/03/2020 at 22:29, Neal Ball said:

Friday 20th March 2020.

 

A group of 6 of us (on Messenger video; all in lockdown Spain) took part in an on-line quiz this evening, hosted by a drag queen in Lanzarote. When you are in Lockdown its good to keep in touch with friends!

 

During the day, I've been working on the signals for Henley on Thames again - its a long drawn out process..... I struggled to get the wire into the signal arm as well as the counter-balance. Looking here on RMWeb, I'm obviously not alone. Sadly I then took the decision to glue them all at danger.... which means every train will be a SPAD, apart from the outer home toward Tywford, which is a working Ratio signal.

 

On the approach to Henley on Thames - on the down line, (2nd from left in the photo below) this ran into Platform 2 & 3 or possibly the yard - protected by a Home and route board. At the same time the Up line (bi directional) had a 3 arm bracket signal (in 1932(?) the left arm was removed , but the post remained - but signalled into Platform 1 or the loco yard. Both these signals existed, but maybe not exactly where I have them.

 

Starter signals from Platform 1; 2 and 3 are to suit the model and weren't just Home / Bracket signals. In my time period they were slightly different, but I am happy with how they look.

 

I am disappointed that I had to fix them all, but given the comments going back to 2013 about how difficult they were, I decided life was too short and moved on!

 

1234625194_Signals20-3-20.jpg.44d9bc9a691366f5edbb5738545d1e60.jpg

 

They all need to be fixed down to the baseboard, but I'm happy with them at the moment.

 

Next projects:

 

1. Finish off the passengers and crew.

 

2. Then after thatI will probably tackle the water tower. Much as its almost complete, I will re-build it in cardboard and brick paper... just need to work out all those curves! Hopefully that will be finished next week......

 

We have rain for the next 4 days, after which I want to get on the roof, clean it all down and then put the rubberised paint down to seal the tiles.

 

Its busy being in lockdown!

 

Stay safe, have a good weekend everyone, Neal.

Neal

 

Catching up. Its looking good!

 

All is not lost on the signals. I had similar problems. Far too fiddly, so I simplified matters. I changed the back of the signal arm and just connected the wire from that to the servo under the baseboard. With brackets I adopted someone else’s idea (sorry forgot who, but I’m grateful) and made a rocking arm under the gantry floor, connected a wire from this to the arm and another down the post to the servo. They all work and are quiet robust. They get a lot of use. They don’t look amazing or detailed, but they fit the bill. I have photos on the Buckingham West thread.

 

Rich

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48 minutes ago, Richard Mawer said:

Neal

 

Catching up. Its looking good!

 

All is not lost on the signals. I had similar problems. Far too fiddly, so I simplified matters. I changed the back of the signal arm and just connected the wire from that to the servo under the baseboard. With brackets I adopted someone else’s idea (sorry forgot who, but I’m grateful) and made a rocking arm under the gantry floor, connected a wire from this to the arm and another down the post to the servo. They all work and are quiet robust. They get a lot of use. They don’t look amazing or detailed, but they fit the bill. I have photos on the Buckingham West thread.

 

Rich

 

Thanks Rich, I looked at your details when I was contemplating what to do.

 

In my mind it's a temporary / quick fix until I get fully working and lit ones from Dapol.

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2 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

 

Thanks Rich, I looked at your details when I was contemplating what to do.

 

In my mind it's a temporary / quick fix until I get fully working and lit ones from Dapol.

Just make sure you don't want o take the Dapol signals out to do other work where they might be in the way. Robin or Kevin (sorry Guys, can't remember which of you had the problem!), will tell you they don't like  being removed and put back.!

 

Cheers

Keep safe

Paul

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12 minutes ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Just make sure you don't want o take the Dapol signals out to do other work where they might be in the way. Robin or Kevin (sorry Guys, can't remember which of you had the problem!), will tell you they don't like  being removed and put back.!

 

Cheers

Keep safe

Paul

I think it was @checkrail on Stoke Courtenay?

 

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30 minutes ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Just make sure you don't want o take the Dapol signals out to do other work where they might be in the way. Robin or Kevin (sorry Guys, can't remember which of you had the problem!), will tell you they don't like  being removed and put back.!

 

Cheers

Keep safe

Paul

 

15 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

I think it was @checkrail on Stoke Courtenay?

 


Thanks for this.

 

I remember reading about that. Another benefit of having my current “dummy” signals.

 

Today it’s all been about gauging issues.... now I am painting the tank.

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As I left the railway room tonight, I managed to photograph the pick up goods leaving:

 

153189860_Pickupgoodsr.jpg.bbd4b50d8fac1151581d832a72bb9e1e.jpg

 

I tried to do a "stack" set of photos in affinity, as in reality I took about 8 photos - but in doing so, I cropped off the loco!!

 

I quite often only have my 'phone downstairs, so need to take a camera and tripod.... Needs more practice!

 

Today has seen the water tank painted (will probably need a second coat); and a light added into the signal box. In doing so, I've also built a fireplace.

 

I have also been doing work on the area to the back of the water tower dock, I wanted to bring the land down closer to ground level. It still needs a bit of work, but is currently drying out.

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In working my way round the back of the layout, once the signal box and water tower is finished, the next job will be the turntable.

 

That needs a control board to be made up and a bit of ancillary work done.... Theres a bit more to do before I get there!

Edited by Neal Ball
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This is from Wikipedia:

 

Palethorpe's is a British producer of cooked meat and pastry products and was particularly well known for its branded sausages. Founded in 1852, it was bought by the Bibby Group in 1969 and then by Haverhill Meat Products (a J Sainsbury and Canada Packers joint venture) before becoming part of the Northern FoodsChilled Foods division in 1991. Palethorpes is now part of Pork Farms.

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Good evening from lockdown Spain. We are now into our third week of being confined to the house - unlike the UK we are not even allowed to go for a run :-(

 

I've had the soldering iron out today, connecting the water tower dock lamp as well as repairing the turntable roads. I found out last week that there was no power to the four roads off the turntable. It turns out that they all had a dry joint(s) and have now all been rewired.

 

At the same time, I have bedded in all the buffer stops round the turntable; behind the loco shed and at the end of the loco shed road. One road is not wired and does not have a buffer stop (as per real life at Henley), which is the road beyond the entrance/exit road. It is currently very heavily over-grown!

 

I now need to paint the buffer stops and then fix them into place. The main job for tomorrow (after painting), will be wiring up the circuit board. Although there is power to the track on the turntable, I have to nip underneath and turn the table by hand!

 

Everything looked calm at Henley on Thames as light started to fall this evening:

 

249071552_Night30-3-20r.jpg.1466fbdf6c7ef1292af2854efe5ae646.jpg

 

Things were very different in the loco yard, where its clearly been a busy day.

 

There are 9 locos in the engine yard, as they were being put into place, it brought home how many of my locos need to be repainted into shirt button livery. That's a job for a different day, but it's likely to be soon. Inevitably it means new loco number plates as well..... Given I've been waiting since the end of October for plates on order from Jackson Evans, they will be coming from another supplier! Maybe Fox Transfers.

 

1124837135_Locoshedr.jpg.54234c4b86ab0d257bb74384a8c4bb03.jpg

 

We have 2 x Castles (r); 1 x Hall on table; 2 x Pannier (short turntable roads); 28xx & 45xx road next to engine shed; 47xx & earl 4-4-0 engine shed road.

 

In reality it's loads more locos that would have been at Henley, plus the turntable roads were not long enough for the tender locos, plus by the 1930's(?) the table was out of use as its back was broken. Rule 1 definitely applies here! - Of course, its not my full loco stock either, there just wasn't the space!

 

More progress tomorrow... Stay safe out there.

 

 

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A lunchtime update from lockdown Spain.

 

All my painting is done, all 6 buffer stops, plus I tried Kevin’s aka @KNP 20% wash. It took a bit of experimentation but I reckon I’ve got the results I was after. The loco crews are a bit grubby! The passengers less so.....

 

I have now started on the turntable PCB, having never made a circuit board up like this before.... 
 

9C2E093C-B1F6-4F83-87C2-4AD9209805C0.jpeg.ca0d078862991ac93e37ff71ee5800a5.jpeg

 

So far it’s been a case of making connections across the board. The kit is from Merg.

 

 

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Well it didn’t quite go as planned.....

 

On testing, I have 0v instead of a. 12v and b. 5v

 

For my first PCB I found it easy enough to make up, just frustrated that I can’t see where it’s gone wrong.

 

611AD1C1-E25F-44E9-865F-FE773896C8E2.jpeg.e6588a938af606423025fc8c4c2a6fd8.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

Well it didn’t quite go as planned.....

 

On testing, I have 0v instead of a. 12v and b. 5v

 

For my first PCB I found it easy enough to make up, just frustrated that I can’t see where it’s gone wrong.

 

611AD1C1-E25F-44E9-865F-FE773896C8E2.jpeg.e6588a938af606423025fc8c4c2a6fd8.jpeg

 

I’ve been there too! If you have trimmed the legs off the components then its almost impossible to remove and start again, so first check the obvious: have you got the inputs the right way round? I see you have a diode and jumper rather than the bridge rectifier. Check correct voltage after that. Then its a case of magnifying glass around every solder point for dry joints or bridges. Looking at the circuit diagram and with the -ve of your meter on the 0v input, follow the circuit round each component if you can.

 

Good luck.

 

I’ve got one Servo 4 from a few years back where I can’t find the fault. I keep trying!

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Neal

 

I have highlighted all the joints I see which might be worth checking/ redoing. Its hard to see from a photo, but some look less than 100% coverage and some are dull, which could be an issue. Worth a go.

 

FECC9ACD-7DFC-4052-86F6-41A8BC7D9C1E.jpeg.56299fe46f3a55ce328b251e53159c84.jpeg

 

Check that the break in bottom left corner is fully broken - I assume its meant to be.

 

Rich

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