Coombe Ferrers - 80s / 90s South Devon

[DomDulley]

Dom,

 

I'm a little surprised that you have not had more posts on this thread.  There is some really interesting work here, and ideas to copy.  

 

A very neat bit of soldering on the mimic diagram; and heatshrink, Wow.  I am particularly impressed by the wiring on the 37 way connector.  I have seen work much less neat than this from professional wiremen (you aren't one are you?).  

 

More practice will help with your soldering of brass, plus a little liquid flux.

 

I would suggest you get some much smaller choc block as there is a risk of the wires not being gripped by the screw and them randomly falling out (thought the layout was n gauge when I saw the size of it in post 14!)

 

Loving the Kadee flags and camera too.

 

Edit to say added you as a friend.

 

Thanks David

 

I discovered exactly that with those big choc blocks, so have bought a load of smaller Screwfix 6A ones.

[ChrisB]

Some very nice work there. Looking forward to more progress.

[DomDulley]

Some very nice work there. Looking forward to more progress.

 

Cheers Chris. Me too

[dhjgreen]

Dom,

 

I linked your lift up sections post into the thread of a well know modeller, you are now the talk of RM Web!!

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81400-seaton-junction-and-honiton-bank-1958-1964ish/?p=2093900

Edited November 17, 2015 by dhjgreen

[DomDulley]

Dom,

 

I linked your lift up sections post into the thread of a well know modeller, you are now the talk of RM Web!!

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81400-seaton-junction-and-honiton-bank-1958-1964ish/?p=2093900

 

Very exciting

[DomDulley]

I've had a productive few days.

 

The layout was not quite level at one end due to this board, which supports the fiddle yard's reverse loop and the end of the storage roads. I'd made the legs a couple of centimetres too long and it was throwing everything out.

 

 

I had to move my modelling table out of the way, disconnect the track, slide the board out, take the legs off, detach the adjustable feet, cut a bit off each leg then put it all back together again.

 

Pain in the bum, but now everything is nice and level.

 

While the table was out of the way I decided to add an extension board.

 

First, I removed the existing MDF.

 

 

 

Then I knocked up a 4' by 1' board. Because the lower track needs to run under it and there isn't any clearance I extended the 9mm ply top out from the frame by 3". Hinges were used to connect it to the wall, with lower braces for support. The hinges will also allow easier access for wiring etc.

 

 

 

 

Let the track laying commence!

Edited November 18, 2015 by DomDulley

[DomDulley]

Track laying is progressing well. I'll put up some pics soon.

 

Now my mind is turning to signalling. I've spent a lot of time researching, and have come up with the following (see track plan below).

 

Does it look okay? I'm just using ground signals for the two sets of crossover points (at the end of the platforms and on the right of the plan to allow wrong direction running when coming out of the depot and up to the platforms). Similarly there is a single ground signal at the depot entrance.

 

Other than than it's just three-aspect starter signals for platforms 1 and 3, and a repeater on 2. Is this enough?

 

Any advice will be eagerly leapt upon!

 

[DomDulley]

Hi all,

 

I've resurrected this topic after almost 3 years to post some updates 

 

The layout has had a name change (from Fernlea to Coombe Ferrers) to reflect my decision to set it in an imaginary bit of Devon. I grew up in Plymouth in the 1980s, which is when the layout is set, so this setting appealed to me.

 

Since my last post back in November 2015 I've made some changes to the plan and completed the track laying and some bits of the station. I'd just started on some scenery this summer when I had a brainwave (!) and embarked on an extension -- which is progressing well.

 

Anyway, let's start with the latest iteration of the track plan. The layout is on three levels, the lowest being a fiddle yard which leads up to the main loop, with a branch line recently added rising up to something which is as yet undecided.

 

This is the fiddle yard, which is more of a storage yard really as it's a bit limited in height to do much fiddling! This was the first thing I built and I used a load of old Hornby points I had lying around, which was a bad decision as I'm getting a lot of derailments. A job I am keen to get to is to relay the yard using larger Peco electrofrog points, but this is how it looks at the moment.

 

 

This is the main loop. The recent extension is at the bottom, outlined in red. I'll post some pictures next.

 

 

 

   

[DomDulley]

Here's a couple of views of the lower yard.

 

 

 

 

From here the track exits the yard into a gentle, continuous incline. This has been rebuilt as part of the extension. You can see the up and down lines of the main loop above it.

 

 

 

This is the new lift-up section. I've used brass screws to bridge the gaps for the first time and I'm very happy with the result (despite my dodgy soldering).

 

 

 

It continues along the front of the L-girders I've used for the main lines, still climbing, then snakes round the corner.

 

 

 

  

 

 

[DomDulley]

On to the main loop. The line up from the lower yard rises here, which will be hidden by scenery. You can see the turntable in the foreground, a hangover from when the diesel depot was an MPD in the days of steam. I will probably cover a couple of the lines with roundhouse sections based on St Blazey. 

 

 

 

The lower line climbs behind the station and under the raised town scene. I can't wait to start detailing the diesel depot.

 

 

 

Here you can see what will be the town scene in the corner.

 

[DomDulley]

The lower line emerges from under the town here (nearest the wall), where trains can either join the up line (moving in the wrong direction for the line), or continue up the new branch line.

 

 

 

This is the new lift-up section for the two main lines and the branch line (rising behind them).  

 

 

 

The main lines continue round, past a cross-over which allows traffic coming from the lower yard to move onto the down line (phew!) and under what will be a tunnel, with the branch line passing above. The area beyond the tunnel will be hidden.

 

 

 

The main lines come back out here (where you can see I'd started on some scenery before putting it on hold for the extension) and curve round into the station again.

 

 

 

 

So that's it. What I could really do with is some ideas for what to do with the branch line, which you can see just ends in mid-air at the moment! I suppose a little halt would do, but i was thinking perhaps something more ambitious, like a china clay works for example. The line has to terminate at the far wall though. Any thoughts would be appreciated 

[lezz01]

It looks very good mate. As for your branch line how about a brick works? Don't know if they had any in Devon but not everything is built from stone is it?! so they had to get bricks from somewhere right?

Regards Lez.Z.

[DomDulley]

It looks very good mate. As for your branch line how about a brick works? Don't know if they had any in Devon but not everything is built from stone is it?! so they had to get bricks from somewhere right?

Regards Lez.Z.

 

Thanks Lez

 

A brick works sounds interesting - I will look into what it would involve!

[DomDulley]

After all the track laying I've been doing recently, I realised something yesterday that made me feel pretty stoopid.

 

I've been drilling holes in my sleepers for Peco track pins using a pin vice, but the smallest bit it would hold was slightly larger than the diameter of the pin, so there was a little give unless I hammered them home very firmly.

 

Yesterday, as I plucked yet another of the little blighters out of my fingertip, I realised they were so sharp I probably didn't even need to drill a hole, and that I'd only been doing it because that's what I used to do with the Hornby pins.

 

Sure enough, a few gentle taps gets the pin through the sleeper and holds it very firmly, and track laying becomes so much quicker

Edited October 12, 2018 by DomDulley

[Stubby47]

You should be able to push the Peco pins through the sleepers, if you grip the pin in a pair of long-nose pliers.

[DomDulley]

Even better! Thanks

[DomDulley]

Sigh

 

 

 

[lezz01]

Yeh You don't need a hammer for Peco track pins at all mate. I use a pair of angled long nose pliers. Hold the pin 2/3rds of the way towards the point and push down till you hit the sleeper with the pliers then I use a magnetic screwdriver bit holder to push it all the way in. The one I use has a small depression in the hexagonal end that fits in the drill chuck so it don't slip off the pin. I use a magnetic one because if you drop a pin you don't stab yourself picking it up again. They even go into plywood but you have to do it with 2 pushes with the pliers 1/3rd at a time and take more care in plywood. Once you get the ballast stuck down you can go back and pull the pins out and fill the holes before you paint the sleepers. 

Regards Lez.Z.

Edited October 12, 2018 by lezz01

[DomDulley]

Have some more track to lay today, so I will give this a go. The pins have a tendency to bend when being hammered so this makes much more sense

[DomDulley]

Spent a very pleasant and unseasonably warm afternoon in the garage, and got the last of the main loop laid and wired into the bus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspired as always by Richard's marvellous Everard Junction, I used matchsticks to super elevate the curves. 

 

 

 

It was a bit hit and miss, but when I first ran a DMU over it, it looked brilliant (it's going to the little known village of Doncaster, near Plymouth). 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, as this phase of track laying is now complete, I will have to bite the bullet tomorrow and just play trains all day to make sure there are no problems. I'll post some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lezz01]

Nice I'm loving the super elevation on the curve in the last pic. What did you do? Just small bits of card or is it mount board? You have to be careful when you start playing trains mate. Before you know it years can go by. 

Regards Lez.Z. 

[DomDulley]

Nice I'm loving the super elevation on the curve in the last pic. What did you do? Just small bits of card or is it mount board? You have to be careful when you start playing trains mate. Before you know it years can go by. 

Regards Lez.Z. 

 

Thanks, I was surprised how good it looks. It's just matchsticks with a couple of strips of plasticard of increasing height at either end to lead gradually into it. 

[lezz01]

Nice Dom.

I hadn't thought about using matchsticks. I was going to retro fit my layout with card to lift the outer rail before I ballast which is still a long way off.

Regards Lez.Z.

[DomDulley]

Nice Dom.

I hadn't thought about using matchsticks. I was going to retro fit my layout with card to lift the outer rail before I ballast which is still a long way off.

Regards Lez.Z.

 

I nicked the idea from Everard Junction - 29:16 or thereabouts:

 

Edited October 14, 2018 by DomDulley

[DomDulley]

I was planning a big running session today, but then realised there was still one job I had left to do first.

 

I've planned some storage sidings coming off the main loop (in blue at the bottom).

 

 

 

As the sidings are in a non-scenic area I thought I'd use solenoids to control the points rather than the DCC Concepts Cobalt Digital IP point motors I have in the scenic areas. Because I want to be able to control them via DCC I bought a DCC Concepts ADS-8sx, which is a neat bit of kit that basically allows you to assign decoder addresses to up to 8 solenoids. 

 

I haven't laid the track for the sidings yet but the points leading into them needed to have a solenoid fitted, so I spent some time wiring everything up. My daughter taught me how to plait wires, which makes things much neater.

 

 

 

The ADS-8sx was simplicity itself to wire in, but the solenoid was a nightmare. After the joy of installing the Cobalts I'd forgotten how fiddly it is to fit a solenoid. Now I've done one hopefully the others will be easier!

 

 

 

Anyway, it all works now so I ran my class 108 DMU and a class 50 with a couple of the HST's Mk3s attached around for a bit with no problems, but forgot to take any photos   

 

I did get a couple of my old green Deltic. 

 

 

 

I stuck some cereal box up to try to mask off the tunnel entrance a bit.

 

 

 

I'll try to coax some more era-appropriate stock over the dodgy points of the lower yard and up onto the main loop tomorrow.