Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

After we took her mother to the airport this morning, I dropped Veronica in the city then went over to my friend and fellow operator Peter's place to see his layout, which is a folded four-track dumbbell with some flying junctions, a terminus based on Penzance and a through station based on Truro - all set in the diesel era and built in two basement rooms.

 

 

 

Here is my D6306 stretching its legs on a train of clay hoods.

 

[westerner]

More photos please.

[St Enodoc]

More photos please.

Thanks Alan. I'll ask Peter if he has more or if not I'll take some next time I am there. As you can see his layout is still very much a work in progress (aren't they all?) but I'll see what we can do.

[Brinkly]

Hi John,

 

Your layout thread seemed to have passed me by, what a lovely project. I will look forward to seeing your project grow.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[St Enodoc]

Hi John,

 

Your layout thread seemed to have passed me by, what a lovely project. I will look forward to seeing your project grow.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

Thanks Nick and welcome aboard (and thanks for all the "Thanks"!).

[St Enodoc]

Thanks Alan. I'll ask Peter if he has more or if not I'll take some next time I am there. As you can see his layout is still very much a work in progress (aren't they all?) but I'll see what we can do.

Peter is a modest man, and prefers to wait until his layout is less of a construction site before posting any more pictures, so I'm afraid we will all have to wait.

[St Enodoc]

As we prepare to ring out the old year and ring in the new, I think it is a good time to take stock of progress on the Mid-Cornwall Lines.

 

I started this topic on 3/1/15 – a little presumptuously in fact as I hadn’t started to build the new layout at that time. In effect I started on 25/1/15, the day after my electrician friend Terry and I moved the burglar alarm control panel, which would have been inaccessible once the baseboards went up. This was a “horse-trading” job as Tony Wright would say – no money changed hands but I provided a BBQ lunch and a few cold ones.

 

By the end of March all the main line L-girders were up, but things slowed down after that for a few months as Saturdays were taken up by rugby. The lifting flap took a while to build, install and fettle but by the end of May all the framework for the main lines was in place.

 

Baseboard tops and tracklaying followed, with the first piece of track laid in mid-July. After an intensive September I met Barry O’s challenge of getting the main lines laid before the 40^th anniversary of our starting University together.

 

Today I finished the main line bus, feeder and dropper wire installation.

 

The picture shows the four snubbers at the ends of the main line bus wires – one snubber at each end of the Up and Down buses.

 

I finished off the year’s work by marking out the positions of the Paddington loop pointwork, so I am now ready to build and install the points and lay the track. I have four curved points left over from the second St Enodoc layout (the loft layout) which can be reused - you can just see one in the top-left corner of the photo - but I need to build about half a dozen more to lay the first three loops. I don’t think I’ll get all of this done before the BRMA visit in early February but the two main lines will be running, as will the current St Enodoc branch layout, so there will be plenty for people to see.

 

Did I achieve what I expected to in 2015? Yes and no. I thought that the main lines would have been running by the middle of the year and at least some of the loops by now. That hasn’t happened, but as I have said many times there is no rush. I expect the Mid-Cornwall Lines to be the last layout I build, so time is not of the essence at all.

 

I expect to spend most, if not all, of 2016 getting the Paddington and Penzance loops laid and operational. There are over 50 points to be built, installed and motorised so that in itself will be a lengthy business. Of course, now that trains are running a fair bit of time gets taken up with “testing” as well.

 

So before I sign off for the year, many thanks to everyone who follows this topic, posts their views or just clicks a button from time to time. I appreciate all that very much.

 

In closing I wish one and all a peaceful and prosperous 2016 (when it comes, as we used to say in Scotland), full of lots of railway modelling fun.

[Barry O]

Hope you and V have a healthy and wealthy 2016. I will raise a glass of Islays finest at the appropriate time here!

 

Baz and H

[St Enodoc]

Hope you and V have a healthy and wealthy 2016. I will raise a glass of Islays finest at the appropriate time here!

 

Baz and H

Thanks and the same to you both. I will be doing the same but about 11 hours before you. Champagne first, then probably the Bruichladdich I think.

[Barry O]

off for a few beers first then some happy frog after a smidget of champagne.

[St Enodoc]

Happy New Year everyone!

 

I mentioned yesterday that I had set out the positions of the pointwork and associated curves for the Paddington loops, and I thought it might interest some people to know how I worked these out.

 

The throats at each end of the loops are based on my “standard fan” which is the track layout I have used to maximise the length of storage loops or sidings since I built the loft layout.

 

The standard fan consists of six tracks branching from a single entry track, which runs at right angles to the storage tracks. The key to the fan is the use of curved points.

 

The formula for the radii of curved points of similar flexure is:

 

Re = (R1 x R2)/(R1 – R2) where:

 

Re = the equivalent radius of the turnout from the tangent

R1 and R2 = the radii of the curved tracks in the turnout, noting that R1 is greater than R2.

 

For R1 = 48 and R2 = 30, Re is therefore 80. This equates to a crossing angle of 1/7.8, which is close enough to 1/8 to allow me to use B8 point templates curved to the required radii.

 

Setting out the fan involves a little simple arithmetic and geometry. The starting parameters are the 50 mm centres between the storage tracks and the two radii of 30 and 48 inches (762 and 1220 mm).

 

The curve to the outermost storage track (no 1) is a constant 1220 mm radius, while the curve from the entry track to the innermost storage track (no 6) is a constant 762 mm radius. The distance between the centres of tracks 1 and 6 is 250 mm and the difference between the two radii is (1220 – 762) = 458 mm so the offset of the 762 mm curve from the 1220 mm curve in the direction perpendicular to the storage tracks is 458 – 250 = 208 mm.

 

We find the offset in the direction parallel to the storage track using Pythagoras’ Theorem:

 

SQRT((458 x 458) x (208 x 208)) = 408 mm.

 

This lets us set out tracks 1 and 6.

 

Tracks 2 and 3 both spring from the 1220 mm curve, so their centres must lie on a locus 458 mm from the centre of the 1220 mm curve. Once again simple arithmetic gives us the perpendicular offset and Pythagoras gives us the parallel offset.

 

We now need to calculate the centre of the 1220 mm curve leading to track 4. The centre of this curve must lie on a locus 458 mm from the centre of the innermost 762 mm curve. Again we use arithmetic to calculate the perpendicular offset and Pythagoras gives us the parallel offset, which is 122 mm.

 

We can now take a short cut. Because the configurations of track 1 to 3 and 4 to 6 are the same, this 122 mm offset also applies to the curve leading to track 5, so we can calculate the centre of its 762 mm curve without using Pythagoras again

 

If we were going to set out the curves using a trammel this is all we would need, but because the baseboards are not wide enough for this we will also calculate the intersection points of the various curves (i.e. the toes of the points) so that we can set them out with the templates. This is where the law of similar triangles comes in. Taking the intersection of tracks 1 and 2 as an example, we know the locations of the centres of the two radii at the intersection. The law of similar triangles gives us the offsets of the intersection point.

 

In this example there is a right-angled triangle formed by the 1220 mm radius centre and the offsets of the 762 mm radius centre, with sides of 458, 408 and 208 mm as noted above. Scaling up these dimensions by a factor of 1220/458 gives us the location of the intersection point. We then do something similar for all the other intersection points, resulting in the full suite of coordinates for all the intersection points and the tangent points of the curves.

 

It is now a simple matter to transfer these coordinates to the baseboards themselves and join them up, which is what I showed in yesterday’s post.

Edited July 22, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Barry O]

Hope none of the track "experts" see this, your flangeway to outer radius must be incorrect :-)

 

Looks good!

Baz

[Stubby47]

PECO do sell curved points...

[St Enodoc]

Hope none of the track "experts" see this, your flangeway to outer radius must be incorrect :-)

 

Looks good!

Baz

Hmm, they sound like the sort of experts who proved that according to the laws of physics hummingbirds can't fly.

 

I know I'd rather have something incorrect that works than something correct that doesn't.

[St Enodoc]

PECO do sell curved points...

Yes they do Stu but not to me.

[St Enodoc]

A couple of hours' work this afternoon saw the Paddington loops marked out completely, with the two throats and the tracks joining them inked in.

 

To give Barry O some reassurance, the inked lines are about 2 mm wide so that I can see them easily through the glue when I lay the track.

 

At the far end of the photo you can see how the four sets of three tracks come together to form the two standard fans.

 

Once all that was done, I brought some point templates, rail, timbers, crossings and switch blades into the house to make the extra points I will need to lay the three outermost loops. 

 

As these are off-stage points I will only put in about a third of the timbers. This saves a lot of time and copperclad.

 

No action tomorrow as ten of us from work are going to the first day of the Sydney Test. We will either see a lot of runs, a lot of wickets or a lot of rain.

Edited July 22, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Anthony Ashley]

John,

 

Looking forward to seeing this area covered in track. I will be back for the Feb BRMA meeting so should see it live! Hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. Keep up the steady progress. I am a bit concerned about how neat and tidy your wiring looks. My ends up with wire all over the place!!

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

Edited January 5, 2016 by Anthony Ashley

[St Enodoc]

John,

 

Looking forward to seeing this area covered in track. I will be back for the Feb BRMA meeting so should see it live! Hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. Keep up the steady progress. I am a bit concerned about how neat and tidy your wiring looks. My ends up with wire all over the place!!

 

Regards,

 

Anthony Ashley

Thanks Anthony. Based on some previous bad experiences I like to keep my wiring well organised, if not tidy (by the time it is all installed it will look a lot more like a bowl of spaghetti, which is why I try to identify both ends of every wire - what happens in the middle doesn't really matter).

 

Due to our wonderful (not) weather at the moment I'm using my remaining holiday time productively by building points. I've finished five so far this week and with luck another three today. That will be enough to lay the three outermost Paddington loops, although whether the points will be motorised by 6/2/16 remains to be seen.

 

All the best to you and yours for 2016 as well, and see you in February.

[LNER4479]

Hmm, they sound like the sort of experts who proved that according to the laws of physics hummingbirds can't fly.

Bumblebees wasn't it John? (or is that a case of the tale going all apocryphal?)

 

You will notice a flood of 'likes' as I've just whiled away some time on this speeding VTEC train having a read of your thread. Now I've caught up I'll try to keep abreast of your steadily-developing project. I like 'system' layouts ... even if they do feature strange copper-capped creations and oil cans on wheels!

[St Enodoc]

Bumblebees wasn't it John? (or is that a case of the tale going all apocryphal?)

 

You will notice a flood of 'likes' as I've just whiled away some time on this speeding VTEC train having a read of your thread. Now I've caught up I'll try to keep abreast of your steadily-developing project. I like 'system' layouts ... even if they do feature strange copper-capped creations and oil cans on wheels!

Thanks Graham. Welcome aboard (the thread, not the VTEC train) and thanks for all the 'likes'.

 

Bumble bees or hummingbirds? Who knows? As you say, probably apocryphal anyway  .

 

All the best.

[Gwiwer]

Occasional lurker, long time follower and reader of posts via email notifications.  With many other topics now unfollowed I should have time to join in the conversation for 2016.  

[St Enodoc]

Occasional lurker, long time follower and reader of posts via email notifications.  With many other topics now unfollowed I should have time to join in the conversation for 2016.  

Thanks Rick. Look forward to your renewed contributions from Cornwall via Mexico.

[St Enodoc]

I spent the first three days of this week building points for the Paddington loops. As I mentioned before, I already had four points left over from the second St Enodoc layout and to complete the outermost three loops I needed eight more – two A5 Y points, one A5 LH, one A5 RH, one B8 LH curved and three B8 RH curved.

 

I make all my points from SMP Code 75 rail and 1.2 mm copperclad timbers to match the SMP track. If I use pre-made crossings and switch blades I can knock up an off-stage point (with only about one-third of the full number of timbers) in about an hour and a half. In a future post I will describe in more detail how I make my points.

 

I finished the eight points yesterday so today I started off by doing something that I should have done ages ago, namely to test some H&M point motors to see if I could get five of them to throw together.

 

On the current St Enodoc layout I used DCC Concepts Masterswitches (MS) with great success to provide power to SEEP motors. However, I had never tried them with H&Ms and they are no longer made by DCC Concepts. Thanks to fellow BRMA member Ron Solly from South Australia I obtained a number of pre-owned MS V1s and V2s, together with a few of a similar device called a 751D supplied by Ken Stapleton in Canada. Although these are very nice you have to make them yourself and I would prefer to spend my time doing other things, so if anyone has a supply of MS V2s (or even V1s) that they don’t want I would be glad to take them off your hands for a reasonable consideration.

 

I decided to rig up five motors and five MS V2s to see if they would throw together and what size power supply they would need. The reason for testing five at once is that this is the maximum number that will need to be thrown simultaneously using diode matrix route setting for the Paddington and Penzance loops.

 

With a 3.5 A computer power supply the supply overloaded as soon as I switched it on. This was odd, as the MS V2 is supposed to limit the initial surge current to less than 100 mA per motor. I suspect there is actually something wrong with the supply.

 

Next I tried to use a 6 A power supply but the plug was damaged and rather than take time to replace it I went straight to an 8 A supply, which worked perfectly with all the motors exhibiting that characteristic H&M thud as they threw in unison.

 

With that success under my belt I decided to lay some of the points after lunch. I started with the two Y points and the A5 RH that form the Paddington Down end throat. I trimmed some of the timbers so that they didn’t foul the other points or the existing track and also cut away the cork under the tiebar to eliminate any friction. I fixed the points down with the trusty Kwik Grip Water-Based, remembering to fit insulating fishplates at the heel end on every rail.

 

Once the glue had dried I wedged the two Y points in position for the through lines and fitted some temporary wires to feed the frogs. I’m glad to say that the Limited and the Milk ran through them smoothly with no adjustment needed.

 

 

Here are the three points in position. You might like to compare the first photo with the one in post #106 on page 5 of this topic.

 

I will lay the remaining points before fitting motors and microswitches. To get things running I will then probably make up a temporary control panel without route setting. The permanent panels will be fixed to the wall at eye level above the Paddington and Penzance throats, where the baseboards are narrow enough to reach them easily.

 

Finally, a little bit of living history. When I was sorting through point motors, switches and wire last weekend I found some of the old Dymo labels that were used on the control panels on the first Pentowan layout (the garage layout) over 40 years ago. Why I kept them I have no idea, but they will now go back into storage in a safe place as a reminder of times past. You can see them in their original location in the first photo in post #13 on page 1 of this topic.

Edited July 22, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Brinkly]

Really nice piece of point work there.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick

[St Enodoc]

On the current St Enodoc layout I used DCC Concepts Masterswitches (MS) with great success to provide power to SEEP motors. However, I had never tried them with H&Ms and they are no longer made by DCC Concepts. Thanks to fellow BRMA member Ron Solly from South Australia I obtained a number of pre-owned MS V1s and V2s, together with a few of a similar device called a 751D supplied by Ken Stapleton in Canada. Although these are very nice you have to make them yourself and I would prefer to spend my time doing other things, so if anyone has a supply of MS V2s (or even V1s) that they don’t want I would be glad to take them off your hands for a reasonable consideration.

Having given this a bit more thought today, I've ordered a DCC Concepts ADS-2fx for trial. In effect these are the upgraded replacement for the Masterswitch range, although they have one significant difference in that they can only be activated by a momentary signal (e.g. a push button) not a continuous one (e.g. a microswitch). They do have some other attractive new features such as built in frog switching which would eliminate the need to fit microswitches to the H&M or SEEP motors.

 

If the trial is successful I will probably use the ADS-2fx (and its big brother the ADS-8fx) for the storage loops, where the route setting will be by push button. I will then be able to use the Masterswitches and 751Ds in the scenic areas where I will be using microswitches on lever frames, GPO keys/PMG switches or other non-momentary activators. The ADS-2fx also has a built-in decoder so I may well explore whether or not I can do the route setting using DCC (perhaps with an NCE Mini-Panel?) instead of a diode matrix.