Deliberately Old-Fashioned 0 Scale - Chapter 1

[Nearholmer]

You can adjust the flangeways on Maldon track. I set mine to work with 27.5mm b-t-b,  Which is good for post-war things, but they can be set for narrower b-t-b, to suit pre-war BL for instance.
 

Where things can get awkward is if you end-up owning a mix of things with very different b-t-b, in which case you either have to use tinplate points or Home-made ‘universal’ points (or adjust your Maldon points every five minutes!).

 

(my phone keeps randomly inserting upper case letters!)

[Nearholmer]

Between doing the things I’m supposed to be doing, and making some grumpy postings in Edwardian’s thread, I have actually managed to make a useful step on the road to a working shunting/photo plank for the study today.

 

Traverser-type FY created in outline. Seems to be OK so far.

 

Quite a bit to do, but it’s a start.

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Nearholmer

[rockershovel]

a propos controllers, I was using a Lionel KW which works just fine, in conjunction with a 230v/110v step-down transform from eBay, but I've lately taken to using a Helmsman I bought on eBay in conjunction with a Rail King controller coupled to the 16v AC output. This seems to suit very well. The Helmsman also provides up to 20v DC controlled, which seems to run the big Lionel locos a treat (although the voltage has to be kept down, this isn't really a problem since 9v seems as much as they will take and stay on the track)

 

I did have a Triang controller dating from the early 90s on the workbench, this won't run the bigger locos but its 2.4A max seems fine for the smaller ones, like the Lionel 2-8-4 I started with 

 

[Lacathedrale]

Hmmm, can't quite put my finger on what's wrong here...

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

10 minutes ago, Lacathedrale said:

Hmmm, can't quite put my finger on what's wrong here...

 

The couplings are missing off the Pannier Tank?

[Lacathedrale]

Not sure that shed would have been in light/dark stone, maybe?

 

I've just recieved a delivery of the terrier and some track, and the Gaugemaster controller - lovely stuff and works a real treat. The 'clutch' on the terrier is really something quite amazing.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Lacathedrale

[rockershovel]

54 minutes ago, Lacathedrale said:

Hmmm, can't quite put my finger on what's wrong here...

 

 

Small.... far away? 

[Nearholmer]

Its a railway version of those ancient Egyptian tomb paintings, where people are depicted in a size proportionate to their social status. Here we see The Pharaoh of Engines, and an obscure minion of some sort. 

[Lacathedrale]

I'm working my way through the thread slowly (page 40ish) and although I would have preferred a Marsh Umber terrier, when I saw this at Raylo I could hardly refuse - particularly my own pleasure at the Railway Series pictures therein. If anyone knows of an umber one, please do let me know (or not, I'm not sure my wallet can handle it...). My justification, as thin as it may be, is that as Station Pilot , No. 55 was kept in Improved Engine Green for a little while longer...

 

"Put the tinplate in the basket..."

Edited August 25, 2020 by Lacathedrale

[F-UnitMad]

20 hours ago, Lacathedrale said:

Hmmm, can't quite put my finger on what's wrong here...

 

Sir has been on the road to Damascus, and seen the Light.   

[rockershovel]

Out of curiosity, does anyone recognise the models used in W&G?

[Nearholmer]

There was a big discussion about them on another thread - they are scratch built on commercial chassis IIRC.

[Lacathedrale]

Based on my understanding of the Maldon geometry, I've put together a coarse O-gauge Minories that fits on a pair of Wickes hollow-core doors:

 

Minories in 0 in 2'6" x 13' with a 6'6" spring-loaded traverser

 

 The staging yard itself could be a frame with a hollow core door on drawer runners ontop, using steel or aluminium bar/rod rather than track, very much inspired by Maybank. Spring loaded? I feel that a more typical period arrangement would be station-to-station or a return loop, if anything?

 

A 30" and 34" parallel track reverse loop can also be fitted, but would need to be a 4' drop-leaf to actually contain the loop. In this mode there's no need to bring the station curves in, but we do end up with almost zero 'storage' !

 

Minories in 0 with a balloon loop

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Lacathedrale

[Nearholmer]

That would certainly work, and I think work well for a fixed layout (doors are too big for portability).

 

Meanwhile, I've been getting frustrated by our old and tired printer. The idea was to try drawing some "tinplate scenery" element on the laptop as a trial, but the b printer insists on de-saturating everything, turning the greens blue, making several different pale yellows white etc etc.

 

But, the basic idea is sound!

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Nearholmer]

Couldn't you simplify that balloon a bit, by making it single track lead to two or three concentric balloons, thereby getting rid of the crossover? By nose-to-tail storing trains, even two concentric loops will accommodate four trains I think, which is probably enough, and it would save you having to swap locos from end-to-end, and you could operate everything from one "cockpit", without having to wander about too much. 

 

If you had say five rakes of stock, one perhaps newspaper and parcels, and kept the inner balloon for two suburban trains, and the outer for a longer distance train, the news/parcels, and maybe a very short train of vans or milk tanks, I think you would have the makings of a very good operating session.  You have at least seven "slots" (four on the two balloons and three platforms), so five rakes wouldn't cause indigestion. The only thing missing is a turntable, which with jiggery-pokery you might be able to fit on that spur at the front of the throat.

 

All things being equal, I'd go for the balloon, rather than the traverser, because I think it allows a more realistic simulation of the rest of the universe, but a lot depends upon what else the area is used for - would the balloon become an annoying obstruction?

 

PS: You could scenify the sticking-out bit of the balloon, and have visible stored trains "waiting at signals" too, which would help the layout not to be "all off stage".

Edited August 26, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Northroader]

Really, you could ditch the double track Junction and the outer loop of the balloon, also the Junction at the bottom of your traverser. Everything from the terminus just loads straight round back into the traverser ready to return. You just need to halt the train on the loop while you realign the traverser, and curve all the roads at the bottom end of the traverser?

[Lacathedrale]

@Northroader the balloon and traverser are mutually exclusive but I have  but together a loop without the junction anyway:

 

 

The need for the inside of the double track loop to remain a minimum of 30" (to try and remove SOME of the throw) means there a ginormous S-curve and the angles get all a bit uncomfortable...

 

 

Just as a bit of an experiment, by removing the carriage dock track at the front of the layout, the station section can be squeezed into 4' + 4' + 5' boards:

 

I'm not sure I've a way of amending a straight 'normal' fiddle yard in a similar way. I only end up with capacity for three coach trains whatever what I slice it. My desired train length is a tender loco + 4 coaches (close to 6'6") and the total space available to me is 8'8" - more than enough for a traverser whose minimum footprint is 7' in a single unit. However, as a standard fiddle yard layout using points, then that two feet gets me two sidings in each direction, rather than the four to support four arrivals/departures per-operating-session. Any ideas that don't involve me selling my internal organs? Maybe a traverser that consists of two halves, joined in the middle via bolts/pegs/rods?

 

I'm starting to consider my loft again - though it has joists, I think I can get all of the points in one 'cockpit' and it's only loco uncoupling at the buffer ends that'll need a solution. Fishing rod? Is there a 'known solution' for switching these coarse scale turnouts remotely via solenoid/etc. ? Anything special required? It might be then possilbe to sit at the platforms, the full breadth of which is accessible unobstructed, and have a 'signal box' controller for the points on a desk underneath....

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Lacathedrale

[Donw]

You could choose what you want for turnout control. Soleniods, Servos, wire in tube, mechanical rodding.  Rather depends on what suits you. You can have a simple row of switches to replicate the levers or you could build up a lever frame from Salefour etches but somhow that doesn't seem right for old fashioned.  A row of nice chunky switches seems right. I have some easy servo drivers for turnouts from MERG £2.24 each plus postage just set using a screwdrive in trim pots seros about £2. Wire in tube could be cheaper.

 

Don

[Nearholmer]

I think Northroader is advocating a hockey-stick traversed, which could be made to fit, although I can’t quite see the need with two concentric balloons.

[Nearholmer]

Vintage points machine (double solenoid) here http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/blowke/track/index.html

 

I’ve not tried remotely operating a Maldon point, although I can see no reason why it couldn’t be done. “One day” I hope to have a full mechanical lever frame and rodding on a layout, but that day seems to recede as I move towards it!

 

You will find that, provided you don’t go at express speeds, coarse-0 is much more tolerant of reverse curves than you are probably used to, and I suspect you will find that all the ‘hands-off’ ethos that comes with fine-scale will go out of the window once you start playing. There is something very different about the old-style, which invites hands-on involvement. Before long you will be adding and removing head and tail lamps, for instance.

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Lacathedrale]

Thank you! I got my other two purchases out today to check they're all working. The King Arthur is just otherworldly, but I think I might have a problem with the schools - does this sound off, or am I just comparing a brand new loco with a used one and not having proper expectations? Given the price (north of £600) I was expecting them to be identical in terms of running characteristics - but the Schools is noisier by a long shot...

 

 

Any thoughts?

[Nearholmer]

That schools definitely sounds as if it is working too hard. Have you got an ammeter that you can put in circuit to see what it is drawing,?

 

If I get time later, I’ll dig mine out and give it a run ..... recollection is that it doesn’t sound like that.

[Mark Carne]

2 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

That schools definitely sounds as if it is working too hard. Have you got an ammeter that you can put in circuit to see what it is drawing,?

 

If I get time later, I’ll dig mine out and give it a run ..... recollection is that it doesn’t sound like that.

At times like this, a power unit with built in amps and volt meters comes in really handy.........    https://www.circuitspecialists.eu/power-supplies/bench-power-supplies/

 

(I am gently pulling your leg Kevin.)

 

Lacathedrale, I've not got an Ace Trains Schools, but plenty of other modern coarse scale locos by Ace, B/L, ETS, Darstaed, etc, my gut feeling, is it probably just needs servicing, body off, clean and relubricate. Most of the later Ace locos, the larger ones made in China, owe a lot in terms of design and construction to the modern B/L locos, because Ace Trains chief engineer Len/Leon Mills used to hold a similar position at Corgi when they owned B/L. Suffice to say, it sounds like a new B/L loco in need of some TLC.

 

Mark

[Nearholmer]

Needling, I think is the term.

 

And you can’t beat a good big needle on you ammeter.

 

:-)

 

 

[Lacathedrale]

Excellent. I've got a little portable voltmeter thing - I'll check if that does amps too. Is there an idiots guide for servicing somewhere?

 

Cheers!