gismorail Posted November 9, 2016 Author Share Posted November 9, 2016 It was great on Monday when Andy Peters called in to see the layout in the flesh as it were. We had a good natter about possible developments which has given me something to think about. A couple of people have commented about the branch from Helsby to Mouldsworth and I promised to post some pictures from the Helsby end. Sorry it's taken so long to find them but here they are .. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 Just catching up, nice pics above thanks for sharing, very impressed with your coal drops installation, very neat. Martyn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Hi Martin, just been catching up and found you on PAGE 12, and your post re my visit in early November, any more work on the Layout since then or are you still sorting out that Boiler and Building work? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted December 14, 2016 Author Share Posted December 14, 2016 Hi Andy. Thanks for your interest still without central heating so should be in the man cave modelling as it's warmer in there than the house to be honest but work keep sending me out and about the Queens Realm so nice a cosy in my wagon. Layout wise I'm busy doing wiring sketches for the Megapoints servo controĺ and have received some of the Hobbyking servos which work out very cheap compared to point motors so looking good. Once I have some electrical work done I will update the thread 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 Hi Andy. Thanks for your interest still without central heating so should be in the man cave modelling as it's warmer in there than the house to be honest but work keep sending me out and about the Queens Realm so nice a cosy in my wagon. Layout wise I'm busy doing wiring sketches for the Megapoints servo controĺ and have received some of the Hobbyking servos which work out very cheap compared to point motors so looking good. Once I have some electrical work done I will update the thread Thanks for the up date mate, I hope you get your Heating System sorted soon mate before the Snow arrives, you don't want any burst pipes, now do you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
380John Posted December 15, 2016 Share Posted December 15, 2016 Thanks for uploading those pictures Martin. I always try to have a peak over the bridge at the old station on my way to Tesco! It's almost an identical angle to that first picture you've posted. When going past today you can see a small lane just off the bridge on the main road. I believe this lane forms the driveway for the station as it's now a private residence. What I'd do for a walk down there! Cheers, John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR. Have to report that unlike Network Rail there are no engineering blockades at Chumley End this Christmas as all PW and Signalling staff are either at home with their families or in the pub getting very Drunk ......hick up !!!!!!!! Unfortunately there are still no trains running due to an engineering over run from last year and the Railway Board apologies for any inconvenience that this might cause.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 24, 2016 Share Posted December 24, 2016 A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR. Have to report that unlike Network Rail there are no engineering blockades at Chumley End this Christmas as all PW and Signalling staff are either at home with their families or in the pub getting very Drunk ......hick up !!!!!!!! Unfortunately there are still no trains running due to an engineering over run from last year and the Railway Board apologies for any inconvenience that this might cause.... And a Very Merry one to you to Mate, I hope 2017 sees some Trains running before I come down in the Spring, If not, there will be Hell to play with the Local Workforce,(or is Workforce to strong a word for them), hahhah. All the very best mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 A Happy New Year to all Chumley End followers . Will do my best Andy to get something working before the Spring I have been doing a bit of wiring over last couple of days mainly because it's warmer in the shed than the house at present but next week a NEW BOILER arrives (no I'm not changing my partner) so hopefully the cottage will not feel like 'Bleak House on the Hill' Most of the point feeds have been installed just got to wire up the threeway point which will be fun indeed .....think I will follow what I did on Chester Northgate Shed. I have managed to get the Megapoint system servos to work on the workbench so just need to design a control panel 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Further activity has continued on the wiring front tonight .... completed the wiring for the threeway point thank heavens though still have to test it with power but the checks with the metre seem to check out OK no shorts anyway. Downloaded an excellent wiring diagram from the C&L website which has the various sections within the formation highlighted by using different colours which is simple to follow. It's noticeable in many of the layout threads that once the wiring gets underway updates very often dry up with regards to how the 'Dark Art' is achieved, I can only presume that most of us feel that it's an evil necessity that just has to be done as quickly as possible. I have to admit that the electrical side of the hobby is not my strong point and I have to think very hard to get my 'head around' a great deal of the aspects involved. I have also noted that there are a few threads recently posted by members who are fairly new to the hobby asking for advice as to how to tackle the wiring of their first layout so with this in mind I thought I would share my approach to the wiring of Chumley End and apologise in advance if I'm 'teaching my mother to suck eggs' as it were but hopefully it will be of use to members that are wondering how to approach the task involved. I mentioned a couple of times in previous posts that I wanted try some different ideas in the building of this layout, one of which was the Megapoint Control System which utilises servo motors for the operation of points and signals so I'm am trying to keep some sort of order in place in the wiring of this layout. In the past I have tended to be somewhat haphazard regarding colour coding etc so I have set myself some objectives the main one being that a plan should be put into place as to how I should go about the electrical side of the layout. To be continued 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
380John Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Me and the missus had a stroll up helsby hill this morning. Got a great photograph of what can be seen in the distance showing what I presume is the tree line of the old railway and where it joined to the helsby line which exists today. Am I right in saying that the turntable facility etc is where the Tesco sight is today? Looking forward to seeing more pictures soon! Happy New Year John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Me and the missus had a stroll up helsby hill this morning. Got a great photograph of what can be seen in the distance showing what I presume is the tree line of the old railway and where it joined to the helsby line which exists today. Am I right in saying that the turntable facility etc is where the Tesco sight is today? Looking forward to seeing more pictures soon! Happy New Year John Such a shame that the line was lifted and with the reinstatement of the crossing at the Runcorn end of the Halton Curve I'm sure that it would have made a good diversion route in the future as well as the new line into the glass factory at Ince. Wish I had taken some photo's of the trains that went up to Mouldsworth when it was open Class 25's hauling UKF fertiliser bogie wagons which were once modelled by Lima and Class 47 with bogie oil tankers from Stanlow were the most regular workings. I'm often in the fertiliser factory in the wagon collecting for Corwen Farmers and most of the trackwork is still in place across the yard all but buried in hardcore and in the collection shed's they are still set in the concrete. When you consider the amount of production going on there now there must be a case for going back to rail haulage given the environmental issues these days and with the new line to Quinn glass now in place one never knows . The turntable facility was on the other side of the track bed behind Tesco's where the new houses have been built along side the large Victorian house's on the left hand side going towards Helsby . The land where the turntable was became Garner's Builders Yard, Mr Garner used to live in the first Victorian house with the yard alongside and for many years you could just make out the turntable pit coping stones after it was filled in. Tesco was built on the site of the old BICC factory boiler house and the road leading to the car park was where to public weighbridge was sited. I believe that there was a small narrow gauge line that once served the factory in the early years and have spotted it on a very early map. I have also been told that there was some sort of narrow gauge line up to the old quarry on Helsby hill and there is still an old bridge on Old Chester Road (Well it was still there years ago not sure if it's still there now) in the cutting where the sand stone walling is. If I find any more photo's I will post them on this thread for you John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
380John Posted January 6, 2017 Share Posted January 6, 2017 Such a shame that the line was lifted and with the reinstatement of the crossing at the Runcorn end of the Halton Curve I'm sure that it would have made a good diversion route in the future as well as the new line into the glass factory at Ince. Wish I had taken some photo's of the trains that went up to Mouldsworth when it was open Class 25's hauling UKF fertiliser bogie wagons which were once modelled by Lima and Class 47 with bogie oil tankers from Stanlow were the most regular workings. I'm often in the fertiliser factory in the wagon collecting for Corwen Farmers and most of the trackwork is still in place across the yard all but buried in hardcore and in the collection shed's they are still set in the concrete. When you consider the amount of production going on there now there must be a case for going back to rail haulage given the environmental issues these days and with the new line to Quinn glass now in place one never knows . The turntable facility was on the other side of the track bed behind Tesco's where the new houses have been built along side the large Victorian house's on the left hand side going towards Helsby . The land where the turntable was became Garner's Builders Yard, Mr Garner used to live in the first Victorian house with the yard alongside and for many years you could just make out the turntable pit coping stones after it was filled in. Tesco was built on the site of the old BICC factory boiler house and the road leading to the car park was where to public weighbridge was sited. I believe that there was a small narrow gauge line that once served the factory in the early years and have spotted it on a very early map. I have also been told that there was some sort of narrow gauge line up to the old quarry on Helsby hill and there is still an old bridge on Old Chester Road (Well it was still there years ago not sure if it's still there now) in the cutting where the sand stone walling is. If I find any more photo's I will post them on this thread for you John Hi Martin thank you for that very informative post. Funnily enough whilst having a glance through the disused stations website this evening it appears they've updated and added the helsby and alvanley page. There's a cracking aerial shot including the turntable and the BICC siding if you are interested. Thanks again, John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Thanks for that info will check it out Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Morning Martin, Any new updates from the weekend mate, or have you been LURKING on the Dark Side? hahhahah :no: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Wiring Chumley End Continued Well further 'dropper' wiring has continued over the weekend and I'm finally glad to say that this has now been completed. I have gone for a simple colour coding on this by using black wire on the back track and red on the front track simple me thinks . I always fit this part of the wiring in first as it involves drilling the base boards many times and at this stage of the construction there is nothing fixed the the underside to damage, I have carefully worked my way through the track formation marking each location that requires a dropper Simple marker pen location marks The resulting and tangle of wires and this is just the start....... Who said DCC is just two wires should had said just 'two colours ..... So this is the first part of the wiring completed and this will be linked up to the 'buswire' that will be located along the underside of the baseboard at the back .....and will be labelled Loom 1. DCC supply . There will be two plug in control points one on next of the two boards. The fiddle yards require no electrical feeds due to the design of the cassette systems that I have used The other part of the wiring that can be completed before the layout boards are turn on their sides are the point feed / polarity wires these again have been colour coded for easy identification Blue frog / Purple back / yellow front Another addition to my 'Gizmo's for the workshop was this electricians labelling machine from Maplins (cost £19.99) which I thought was a good deal as it will help with the clear identifications of all those conections etc. So the next task is to make all the electrical breaks that are required in the track work and double checking that there are no shorts circuits then it's time to go 'underground' and make some sort of sense of all those wires ......oh the joys of building a model railway 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Morning Martin, Any new updates from the weekend mate, or have you been LURKING on the Dark Side? hahhahah :no: Have done a bit of wiring BOSS!!!!! (such a hard slave driver sir ) .....better news is that the new central heating boiler is now installed and the house is warm ....hot and scorching WONDERFULL The down side is there's now No Kitchen My new darkside is lurking beneath the baseboards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Wiring Chumley End Continued Well further 'dropper' wiring has continued over the weekend and I'm finally glad to say that this has now been completed. I have gone for a simple colour coding on this by using black wire on the back track and red on the front track simple me thinks . I always fit this part of the wiring in first as it involves drilling the base boards many times and at this stage of the construction there is nothing fixed the the underside to damage, I have carefully worked my way through the track formation marking each location that requires a dropper 052 (250x246).jpg Simple marker pen location marks 053 (163x250).jpg The resulting and tangle of wires and this is just the start....... Who said DCC is just two wires should had said just 'two colours ..... So this is the first part of the wiring completed and this will be linked up to the 'buswire' that will be located along the underside of the baseboard at the back .....and will be labelled Loom 1. DCC supply . There will be two plug in control points one on next of the two boards. The fiddle yards require no electrical feeds due to the design of the cassette systems that I have used The other part of the wiring that can be completed before the layout boards are turn on their sides are the point feed / polarity wires these again have been colour coded for easy identification 050 (250x97).jpg Blue frog / Purple back / yellow front 051 (154x250).jpg Another addition to my 'Gizmo's for the workshop was this electricians labelling machine from Maplins (cost £19.99) which I thought was a good deal as it will help with the clear identifications of all those conections etc. So the next task is to make all the electrical breaks that are required in the track work and double checking that there are no shorts circuits then it's time to go 'underground' and make some sort of sense of all those wires ......oh the joys of building a model railway Why not use Red and Black the same as the rack? as that's where it's coming from? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 (edited) Good news about your Boiler mate, Snow will be due soon in Wales. Edited January 9, 2017 by Andrew P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 Why not use Red and Black the same as the rack? as that's where it's coming from? I know where you coming from on that Andy but I want to make a distinction on the point polarity wiring as I'm incorporating the Megapoint Control System which is going to be wired in a separate wiring loom and each servo will have micro switches alongside. I know that I could use 'frog juicers for a simple solution to polarity change over but micro switches are cheap and reliable like the servo's and not to technical for my poor old steam powered grey matter All the cleaver stuff is done by the Meggapoint Control boards and a nice man from 'Northwich' which is where the costs are in this project . , I mean I'm pushing the boundaries here I know and it might all land up in tears and having putting on hear the whole world will know Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 I know where you coming from on that Andy but I want to make a distinction on the point polarity wiring as I'm incorporating the Megapoint Control System which is going to be wired in a separate wiring loom and each servo will have micro switches alongside. I know that I could use 'frog juicers for a simple solution to polarity change over but micro switches are cheap and reliable like the servo's and not to technical for my poor old steam powered grey matter All the cleaver stuff is done by the Meggapoint Control boards and a nice man from 'Northwich' which is where the costs are in this project . , I mean I'm pushing the boundaries here I know and it might all land up in tears and having putting on hear the whole world will know Why are you talking in a Foreign Language? haaha Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Why are you talking in a Foreign Language? haaha Told you I'm pushing the boundaries and looking outside the envelope and trying to keep you in the loop 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Well further progress again today 'got fed up of knocking the kitchen about late afternoon and decided to do something constructive so moved into the man cave Did a final check to make sure that all the droppers wires were in place and very carefully got the razor saw to the baseboard joint tracks and successfully separated the two main base boards. As described earlier in the thread I have made the legs for this layout so that they slot into the end of the boards mainly with setting up at exhibitions in mind. The downside of this means that it's somewhat difficult to put the boards on their sides for wiring so the main job for today was to get out the staging from Chester Northgate Shed so that i could get things set up for some serious wire sorting tomorrow. Just some pictures to show how I have set myself up for the wiring process as I feel it's important to make sure that everything is easy to get at during this stage of the layout build and hopefully help to reduce any mistakes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shedman Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 Hi Martin. Pleased to see you getting on with the wiring with your usual care and logic. Even more pleased to hear that you've got heating again!! Trev Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 Thanks Trev, it is a great to have some heating again.... suddenly Cold Harbour house becomes home again . Glad to be pushing on with the layout again too but not sure where the logic is 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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