Hills of the North - The Last Great Project

[gr.king]

I don't see any lack of "finesse" in manual point operation, in suitable places. All the better if you can add a discreet, dirt-cheap, DIY, hidden linkage to the tie bar and you can operate the linkage from a reasonable position. It doesn't matter if you have to move around a bit to operate the various points, signals and circuits - the real signalman in his mechanical box had to do just that - he didn't have everything within finger tip distance of his permanently planted posterior.

[Barry Ten]

1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

And now: your mission - should you choose to accept it - fill this gap!

 

 

 

See you later 😉

 

If you fail to do it, will you be disavowed by the secretary?

[Clive Mortimore]

2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Looking at that mug, tea boy/pot washer Clive is going to have his work cut out, are you doing biological experiments on the side?

 

Mike.

Looks like I will need an autoclave to ensure a safe hygienic standard. 

[LNER4479]

Well, that was a very pleasant morning's work🙂

 

This section of track is being laid temporary for now as this piece of board needs to come off yet to finish off the S&C running lines beneath. Hence the piecemeal bits of cork underlay.

 

First line in.

 

And the second. Much easier to lay once you have the first one there as a reference. As you can perhaps detect, the curvature of this length of track is much gentler, mainly 5-6 foot radius. And they're only goods running lines! Being molly-coddled.

 

A quick check of the flap - alles gut!

 

And with both flaps in place. All looking suitably busy.

 

More wiring up now beckons 😟

[LNER4479]

Another bite-size chunk of wiring done.

 

Can you see it?(!) Wires now extending onto the top lifting flap, meaning that ...

 

Success! Trains can now run onto the flap from the station (and vice versa).

 

I need to do some more tracklaying to recover ...

[drmditch]

Will those protruding screws hurt if you need to reach underneath for any purpose?

Will the wire loops when in the down position stay clear of stock running on the lower level?

 

(I speak with some experience!)

[coronach]

Looking amazing Graham. So that is what retirement is !

[LNER4479]

40 minutes ago, coronach said:

So that is what retirement is !

It is when you give yourself a week off 😏

(and the missus goes away for a week)

Edited July 13, 2023 by LNER4479

[LNER4479]

So ... with Objective No.2 complete (minus wiring up!), on to Objective No.3 -  start to lay out Dentonholme yard.

 

Here we are. Cork down and painted and first bits of pointwork prepared ( the tracks underneath the 'Shaprith' boards were laid earlier in the year.

 

Who knew that tracklaying could be so complicated?(!) One of the points being installed is having a motor attached, with attendant hole in the baseboard. Also, channels cut in the cork for point rodding.

 

That's better. Whereas these points are easily accessible at the moment, eventually they'll need to be motorised as the north end of Carlisle station butts up against this(!) The aforementioned channels for the point rodding can be seen and the idea here is that one motor will power both points of a crossover via a mechanical linkage.

 

Once all the roads fan out, there's room for eight roads. The coaches are standing on the West yard reception road, with the through lines to the right of them. The two lines furthest right will represent the East yard. The full yard should have capacity for some 200-250 wagons. Hours of fun shunting to be had.

Edited July 13, 2023 by LNER4479

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

one motor will power both points of a crossover via a mechanical linkage

Good luck with that. Myself, I'd shell out for another motor.

[LNER4479]

Tried and tested on Grantham, I have to say John ... A Peco point motor, backed up by a Gaugemaster CDU, has a fair kick to it. And with a fair dose of bad planning on my part, several of the points are sitting above battens etc, rendering direct mounting of motors underneath impossible.

 

Anyway, I thought we were both mechanical engineers (and proud)?

Edited July 14, 2023 by LNER4479

[LNER4479]

And to finish another productive day ...

 

... a late night wiring session. Was strangely 'in the mood' for it this evening. Just really pleasant working in there, plenty of space, good lighting, everything to hand and just general peace n quiet ... aaahh

 

And, shortly before 1am, first movements at Dentonholme, controlled through an interim mini panel. Should do for now.

 

Now, just gotta get the loco over the lifting flap, through Caldew junctions and down to Grand Junctions. No pressure...

[St Enodoc]

29 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Anyway, I thought we were both mechanical engineers (and proud)?

I know my limits!

[St Enodoc]

25 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

an interim mini panel

Very smart. I usually use MDF.

[Michael Edge]

Temporary panels for Carlisle were even cruder...

I have to agree with John about additional point motors v mechanical linkage though.

[Barry O]

49 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

Temporary panels for Carlisle were even cruder...

I have to agree with John about additional point motors v mechanical linkage though.

They do work ok. The ones on Granthem have had very few problems as have the one on Leeds(London Road)

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Michael Edge said:

Temporary panels for Carlisle were even cruder...

I have to agree with John about additional point motors v mechanical linkage though.

 

Did someone say crude?

[Enterprisingwestern]

7 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

 

Did someone say crude?

 

Amazing what you find in skips nowadays!

 

Mike.

[LNER4479]

2 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

I have to agree with John about additional point motors v mechanical linkage though.

Ah, well - each to their own I guess. And there's some bloomin' clever stuff both of you do respectively that I wouldn't dare tackle ...

 

At risk of slight deviation, the following two pictures illustrate the approach on Grantham:

 

 

 

Left and right hand end of the same crossover. The motor is in the middle. This was just as it was being installed. The actuating pin (PL-10E) was cut to length once it was all proven and working. In this case, it was out of necessity in that the right hand point of the crossover is situated on the bridge - quite impossible to get a point motor underneath (I suppose I could have put of the them sideways surface motors in the ten foot ... but it wouldn't have been very good from an aesthetics point of view?). These ones on the bridge (there's two more to the right) always cause comment at exhibitions.

 

The 'trick' (if there is one?) is sturdy Mercontrol (formerly GEM) angle cranks and 1mm gardening wire. If you know the product, you can make out the cast bases for the cranks and the cranks themselves have had their outer holes of the cranks removed and the inner ones drilled out to take the 1mm wire. A bent over Peco trackpin is doing the guiding. The drive to the left hand point passes through a piece of 1/8" brass tube under the ballast (above) - if you zoom in closely enough on my pics above you can see the equivalent in the trough I've cut in the cork underlay. Obviously needs pre-installing before you lay the track for good!

 

Most of the others (on Grantham) are underneath the baseboard and use even stouter wire for the main push/pull connecting rod (from a florists shop, intended for flower displays!). I'm generally very comfortable with traditional mechanix like this - unlike electrickery, you can see what's going on!

(and isn't this the way folks used to build model railways in the days when the only supply of point motors was ex-GPO relays? Maybe I'm just a dinosaur that should have been rendered extinct many moons ago ...)

 

And now, back to some more (very traditional) wiring ...

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by LNER4479

[LNER4479]

More progress this morning.

 

Trains can now run over the lower flap (not too challenging - no pointwork on this bit of track!) ...

 

... as far as here! That's this afternoon's challenge (and possibly into this evening as well(!)

 

Meanwhile, in response to an earlier H&S concern:

 

The offended screw tips are actually reasonably well tucked out of the way once the flaps are down; access to rescue any recalcitrant rolling stock will be from this side. And there is clearance from the dangly wires, pushed to one side slightly. It's all reasonably accessible hereabouts.

I too have been building layouts for over 40 years ... and have similarly collected a fair few badges and t-shirts along the way🥴

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

More progress this morning.

 

Trains can now run over the lower flap (not too challenging - no pointwork on this bit of track!) ...

 

Hi Graham

 

Looking at your alignment of the "fly" end of the lifting section, is it a simple screw? That is one up on my system. I had all sorts of complicated but well intended suggestions. The "fly" end will always have some wiggle in it no matter how accurate the carpentry is. I have resorted to Mr Newton's invention of gravity. I bung down Dore Bridge as the flap is called line the tracks up using my eyes and then running my fingers over them to ensure my eyes are lying.  There is generally no sideways movement so I don't have trains falling off. The rare occasions that does happen, I put the train back on the track and realign the tracks.

 

Both trains crossing Dore Bridge at the same time and staying on the tracks towards the end of this short video. 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Clive Mortimore

[LNER4479]

1 minute ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Hi Graham

 

Looking at your alignment of the "fly" end of the lifting section, is it a simple screw?

Yes, Clive - a simple screw. Plus, my perennial favourite slidy fishplates. The very ends of the Peco track are just floating (if you like), last track pin about 5 sleepers away. The fish plates just slide into place and automatically deal with the alignment.

 

That is for this, lower flap. Slight variation on the upper flap due to tighter radius; that's where I used those ST-238 33" set-track pieces, so no tendency for rails to spring back towards straight. But slidy fishplates otherwise.

[Clive Mortimore]

3 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Yes, Clive - a simple screw. Plus, my perennial favourite slidy fishplates. The very ends of the Peco track are just floating (if you like), last track pin about 5 sleepers away. The fish plates just slide into place and automatically deal with the alignment.

 

That is for this, lower flap. Slight variation on the upper flap due to tighter radius; that's where I used those ST-238 33" set-track pieces, so no tendency for rails to spring back towards straight. But slidy fishplates otherwise.

See simple things work.

 

Another part of my reliance on Mr Newton's falling apple theory  is should anything happen to me while in the train set room someone can get me out before I start to make the rest of the house smell. The room door is inward opening, and opens enough so you can grab hold of the fly end of the bridge and push it out the way to enable the door to fully open.

 

All part of my plan for the worst outcome and you only get the second worst.

[woodenhead]

4 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

See simple things work.

 

Another part of my reliance on Mr Newton's falling apple theory  is should anything happen to me while in the train set room someone can get me out before I start to make the rest of the house smell. The room door is inward opening, and opens enough so you can grab hold of the fly end of the bridge and push it out the way to enable the door to fully open.

 

All part of my plan for the worst outcome and you only get the second worst.

I thought the plan was to line the room with asbestos, then the railway acts as a pyre in the event the worst happens.

 

Mrs M tosses in the match, the room goes up Norse style and you go to the Great Hall to be welcomed by the modellers who have gone before.

[Enterprisingwestern]

32 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Mrs M tosses in the match, the room goes up Norse style and you go to the Great Hall to be welcomed by the modellers who have gone before.

 

, or go downstairs to join all the modellers sat on their roundtuit piles feeding the flames?

 

Mike.