Andrew P Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 Will it have a built in coffee cupholder like Chumley End's control panel Martin? 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 12 hours ago, Andrew P said: Will it have a built in coffee cupholder like Chumley End's control panel Martin? ......ohpppps not calculated for that Andy ...... will have to go back and have a total rethink on this now ........this could mean the fiddle yard project is DOOOOMED....and I might have to start AGAIN 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 11, 2019 Author Share Posted June 11, 2019 (edited) After Andy's important reminder about a parking spot for coffee cups I have made a mental note and will work on a solution to this MAJOR oversight . In the mean time work has continued to sort out the instillation of the control panels and after much thought and head scratching I have come up with this format for the new control panel . The left hand panel controls lighting , effects and gate to the Brewery sidings and the right hand panel is for points and signal on the exit from the sidings area. The empty compartment far right will be for the turn table control panel which is a sealed unit. When the controls were operated from behind the layout they were housed in separate project boxes which I was keen to retain to save cluttering the new board with wires going onto the back of the panel so I have managed to carefully fix them behind by using extended screws. I have also started work on the board joint from the end base board so that I can start to work out exactly how I'm going construct the main part of the traverser which will put the grey cells into over-drive me thinks Happy Days Edited June 11, 2019 by gismorail 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted June 12, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 12, 2019 8 hours ago, gismorail said: . . . MAJOR oversight . . . . . . . after much thought and head scratching . . . The empty compartment far right will be for the turn table control panel which is a sealed unit. I was expecting you to say that the empty compartment was for the coffee mugs. :-) it coming on nicely and looks like it will be even better once complete. Paul. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 14, 2019 Author Share Posted June 14, 2019 On 12/06/2019 at 07:36, 5BarVT said: I was expecting you to say that the empty compartment was for the coffee mugs. :-) it coming on nicely and looks like it will be even better once complete. Paul. Thanks Paul for you kind comments as all modellers know refreshment during building / operating is very important 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 14, 2019 Author Share Posted June 14, 2019 Yesterday was spent in the railway shed as North Wales was being battered with heavy rain. Whilst in the shed the insulation is such that even a heavy down pour cannot be heard above the head banging music as played on Planet Rock ......wonderful So all in all it was a good day as I finally managed to build & design my traverser shelf as well as laying out the storage tracks. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) I suppose the REAL NEWS today is that the worrying problem as to where to site the coffee cup parking space as brought to my attention by our good friend and colleague in all things model railway designing / logistics Mr Andy Peters ..... ( rumour is that he's back on line with fresh ideas for MORE layout construction ) .....this has been a real source of deep concern that I should have over looked such an important facility within the confines of the new fiddle yard area to the point where a total rebuild could well have been needed as life would have been unbearable when Mr Peters next visits 'Carrog Castle' and no place to put down 'The Cup' he is a hard task master as we all know I'm very pleased to show the solution to the situation : There will of course be further modifications to this design as time goes on and a possible space for a second cup. As an aside to this major announcement I have also completed the final details on the fiddle yard logistics in the form of the traverser which seems to solve the operation problems that I found with the original design. After much measuring and checking that all was level and in line with the approaching tracks from the scenic area of the layout I have utilised a pair of 'soft close' kitchen draw runners set beneath the main body of the traverser rather than locating them at each end which is what other people tend to do as I found that the movement is much more positive without any chance of snagging when the sidings are moved into position. The nearest storage road is for wagons that are shunted into the brewery unloading dock with the others covering the three approach tracks from the main layout which gives my more scope to 'shuffle' the pack as it were. All storage roads are wired into the main bus wire so there is no need for any messy connecting bolts to each individual road for electrical supply and I will eventually make a plunger set up to hold the traverser in position (I'm still working on the design of this gadget so watch this space as it were). I will be fitting a programming track at the front of the yard so that I can adjust any Locomotive CV's while operating the layout and I will generally add trim edges once the whole has been sanded and painted to match the rest of the base boards. Edited June 17, 2019 by gismorail 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 Looking good mate, and YES I AM BACK, and ready to crack on with Project X. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 3 minutes ago, Andrew P said: Looking good mate, and YES I AM BACK, and ready to crack on with Project X. Ah at last 'Project X ' if you decide to accept the assignment. is this the one though 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 1 hour ago, gismorail said: Ah at last 'Project X ' if you decide to accept the assignment. is this the one though Well,,,,,, It's ANOTHER ONE if that's what you mean, haha 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shedman Posted June 18, 2019 Share Posted June 18, 2019 Impressive work, Martin. Love the mug!! Trevor 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 18, 2019 Author Share Posted June 18, 2019 2 hours ago, shedman said: Impressive work, Martin. Love the mug!! Trevor One of the 'SUPER GROUPS' Trev and I have A whole lotta love for model railways 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 20, 2019 Author Share Posted June 20, 2019 The midnight oil has been burning again this week and I can finally show some further progress and the finished fiddle yard complete with reworked light pelmet as well as a coat of paint to match the new edition to the rest of the layout. Nice n fresh and ready to represent the railway leading to the locomotive depot. Each road has been numbered to stop any confusion once I have worked out an operating schedule to represent a day in the life of 6D. I have now sited the programming track and Kadee coupling 'checker' The main control panel with a nice coat of paint to highlight the knobs and switches. Following some tweaking of some of the wiring the layout has now been put back together and a good vacuuming required followed by some serious track cleaning tomorrow. I have been giving some serious thought to the lighting of the layout and have been very impressed Kevin's new LED strip lighting on Little Muddle and how it has made a big difference to the photography of this masterpiece. I have spent some considerable time researching this new way of lighting layouts especially the use of both warm and cool white LEDs which seem to give a real daylight effect and at this time the jury is still out as to go down this path until I totally understand the thinking behind the systems involved. 6 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted June 21, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 21, 2019 1 hour ago, gismorail said: The midnight oil has been burning again this week and I can finally show some further progress and the finished fiddle yard complete with reworked light pelmet as well as a coat of paint to match the new edition to the rest of the layout. Nice n fresh and ready to represent the railway leading to the locomotive depot. Each road has been numbered to stop any confusion once I have worked out an operating schedule to represent a day in the life of 6D. I have now sited the programming track and Kadee coupling 'checker' The main control panel with a nice coat of paint to highlight the knobs and switches. Following some tweaking of some of the wiring the layout has now been put back together and a good vacuuming required followed by some serious track cleaning tomorrow. I have been giving some serious thought to the lighting of the layout and have been very impressed Kevin's new LED strip lighting on Little Muddle and how it has made a big difference to the photography of this masterpiece. I have spent some considerable time researching this new way of lighting layouts especially the use of both warm and cool white LEDs which seem to give a real daylight effect and at this time the jury is still out as to go down this path until I totally understand the thinking behind the systems involved. Nice use of Fixit blocks. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Adrian Stevenson Posted June 21, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 21, 2019 Looks very professional. Nice work. 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 Stunning work Martin, it all looks so neat and tidy, and very professional. Well done mate. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 Agree with all that has been said Martin, very nice... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 21, 2019 Author Share Posted June 21, 2019 6 hours ago, St Enodoc said: Nice use of Fixit blocks. They do make good buffer stops for the fiddle yard don't they . I did look at using the triangle ones which could have some wagon buffers fixed into them but though it was going OTT 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 21, 2019 Author Share Posted June 21, 2019 2 hours ago, Adrian Stevenson said: Looks very professional. Nice work. 35 minutes ago, Andrew P said: Stunning work Martin, it all looks so neat and tidy, and very professional. Well done mate. 16 minutes ago, georgeT said: Agree with all that has been said Martin, very nice... Thank you gentlemen for you kind comments. I believe that if you are going to exhibit to the paying public one should make a layout look professional and present the scene like a theatre. Modelling a locomotive depot gives one the opportunity to show a piece of history in action and I was very pleased with the response that the layout received at the Wigan Show. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 (edited) Following on from my last post I have been test running the layout and assessing the new fiddle yard and on the whole the exercise has achieved a more 'user' friendly system. It did however become clear that further storage was needed as I started to work out a running order just to free up some extra space on the traverser. By adding some head shunt type roads I have managed to create an extra 5 loco spaces making a total of 11 storage roads. I'm certainly glad that I have numbered each storage siding as it would have been difficult to keep track of each individual road. The above pictures show roads 6,7,8, 9 and the road for the Brewery Shunter. I have also installed a locking device for the traverser On a locomotive depot that is controller by DCC it is important that one can identify which locomotive is where especially when the locomotive is a distance away from the operating area or at the back of the loco shed. When the layout was operated from the rear it was fairly easy to see the locomotive numbers ( I use a four digit ID ie the first two and last two numbers from the loco number ) but operating from the front of the layout at the fiddle yard end it is difficult to identify every number . To get over this challenge I have made up a loco ID marker which has a magnetic strip on the backing so that it can be placed on a board. The fiddle yard ID chart is located on the left hand side with each locomotive under it's respective shed location. I have made up a track diagram of the layout which is located on the lighting pelmet above the fiddle yard so that I can track the movement of each locomotive whilst it is on shed. It should add some extra interest to the operation of the layout during exhibition Just to finish tonight's update I have taken a couple photo's of the shed area with some classic CLC locomotives on shed. Two 4-4-2T C13 's outside the shed and a 0-6-2T N5 on the turn table ready for it's next duty. Edited June 25, 2019 by gismorail 18 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shedman Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Impressive, Martin. Just needs the discipline to keep it up to date, especially from guest operators like me! Trevor 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 Your much more disciplined than me Trevor as I just get confused 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Confused???? What's a Fiddle Yard? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Andrew P said: Confused???? What's a Fiddle Yard? I believe it's a special sound proofed yard were you can learn to play the violin without unsettling one's neighbours as it's like sound chipped loco's at an exhibition ........squealing and hissing I should add that I tend to switch off the sound on loco's once they are in the Fiddle Yard Edited June 25, 2019 by gismorail 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted July 1, 2019 Author Share Posted July 1, 2019 Preparation continues for the Hazel Grove Show at the end of October this year in the form of fine tuning of the layout as a whole. It's good to operate a layout that's been stored for such a long time and a 'to do ' list is slowly being complied to make sure things don't get over looked as the show gets nearer. Those of you who have followed my modelling exploits on RM Web will know that I have for many years been a big fan of the Lenz DCC system as I have found it easy to operate without a great deal of knowledge of the internal workings which would just get me totally confused to be honest. The one down side I have found with the system is the handsets can be quite fragile especially during exhibition work, coupled to this is the fact that even though I have made a casing for the main units to be kept in, on a portable layout this can take quite a lot of room. With now having two exhibition layouts on the go I have therefore have been searching the market for a more robust system that takes up less room beneath the layout. After much investigation and talking to a couple of suppliers I have this weekend purchased the NCE PowerCab system which is currently on special offer at Hattons for £154.00 for the basic set plus a purchased an extra facial panel for the Chumley End layout. The hand set is very robust and well made and is the main part of the whole system and the only part that requires fitting onto the layout is the plug in facial panel into which the small 9v transformer connects too. I will report back on my findings once it has been connected to the layout and the instruction manual has been absorbed 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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