Hills of the North - The Last Great Project

[Barry O]

Mine works fine too!

 

Baz

[Tony Teague]

....and mine!

[bbishop]

On 17/10/2023 at 15:50, gr.king said:

Barriers right up against the layout? As much use as a chocolate fireguard. They offer no protection from finger-poking, clumsiness or theft!

or a decent view of the layout.  I set the barriers at a foot at St Albans.  When we had The Gresley Beat, I set them at two foot.  Bill

[gr.king]

Only useful for roof inspection.

[LNER4479]

No trains running just at the moment, pending re-erection of boards post-MK. However, there's a few remaining 'in the can' from pre-show.

 

The Waverley express (if you remember?!) was inbound from Garsdale. Plat.2 occupied so using the scissors crossover to access Plat.3. A fully fitted goods is using Plat.4 to access the layout as goods yard is a bit busy.

 

Recent arrivals poke their noses out towards the true fiddle yard end of the station.

 

But we can always place the end screen back in place for a more atmospheric view.

 

More soon ...

[Enterprisingwestern]

On 19/10/2023 at 14:08, bbishop said:

or a decent view of the layout.  I set the barriers at a foot at St Albans.  When we had The Gresley Beat, I set them at two foot.  Bill

 

Don't want the punters bashing the Bishop do we Bill?!!

 

Mike.

[LNER4479]

My favourite subject, tracklaying ...

 

The through goods line will be laid at 45mm centres, requiring the usual surgery. This is a large Y; curved left combo.

 

And here it is in position - but not yet fixed in place for keeps - with proof (if proof were needed) of the closer track centres.

 

And zooming back a bit to put it all into context. As you can see, it is a trailing crossover; its main function will be to get light locos away towards Citadel and also some stock moves from the carriage shed. The facing crossover above it is a relatively late addition but it is as per prototype and will be the main way for locos making their way TO the depot. As well as plenty of goods wagon movements into the yard.

(Note that the Code 100 3-way point is just for illustration purposes; I have the Code 75 equivalent waiting for me in the latest Peco consignment!)

[5BarVT]

A long Y plus curved crossover always looks good.  And it’s done at 12”:1’ - Redhill on the Reigate lines.

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

14 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

A long Y plus curved crossover always looks good.  And it’s done at 12”:1’ - Redhill on the Reigate lines.

Paul.

So does a three-quarter scissors plus curved crossover, even though I say so myself.

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

4 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

So does a three-quarter scissors plus curved crossover, even though I say so myself.

 

 

Bullhead wizardry at it's finest!

 

Mike.

[Legend]

On 19/10/2023 at 00:45, LNER4479 said:

Anyhow, no time for laurel resting - there's a layout to be built.

 

Carlisle No.13 laid, bar the shouting ...

 

Heljan turntable powered up and tested. All seems to work OK (phew!) Even managed to work out how to programme the stopping positions.

 

So now it's just this little lot to get laid and working 

😵‍💫

 

Hi ya . Can I ask what you are using for ballast there?  Looks like a scenic mat of some kind - Javis?

 

[LNER4479]

3 hours ago, Legend said:

 

Hi ya . Can I ask what you are using for ballast there?  Looks like a scenic mat of some kind - Javis?

 

Hi there,

 

Just painted cork (at this stage). What might possibly be deceiving is that this current 3mm roll turned out to be coarser than I would have liked so it might appear to have some texture?

[Jol Wilkinson]

9 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Bullhead wizardry at it's finest!

 

Mike.

 

I can't resist a challenge.

 

[LNER4479]

Very impressive. I certainly can't compete with folks building their own track - I've got enough to cope with just laying Peco track...

 

Most points need a motor. Most reliable operation is for said (Peco) motor to be affixed directly beneath. Ergo, a dirty big hole needs making in the baseboard below ... where I haven't inadvertently positioned a supporting batten(!)

 

Motor then needs wires attached (to avoid the near impossibility of soldering upwards in an awkward space. And some motors need a switch to give functionality for (black) section switching, interlocking, light indication, etc.

 

Plain tracks needs dropper wires ...

 

But, eventually, it all comes together. You can (hopefully) see where I've got to thus far. Heading away from the camera, left-to-right, we have:

Up goods relief cum shunt neck (referred to on the signal diagram as the 'third line')

Up independent goods line

Down independent goods line

Down goods reception

Up (WCML) main

Down main

 

You can see how 6 tracks become 2 at Carlisle No.13 top right.

 

New supply of points just received, so more tracklaying to come 🙂

Edited October 26, 2023 by LNER4479

[Tortuga]

Having just completed wrestling two medium radius points into the correct 6’ spacing (as per your excellent tutorial) and had a bash at building my own track, um…

 

…both methods have their merits and drawbacks?

[ian]

26 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

Having just completed wrestling two medium radius points into the correct 6’ spacing (as per your excellent tutorial) and had a bash at building my own track, um…

 

…both methods have their merits and drawbacks?

 

Having just finished a 6.5mm gauge A5 coppercald turnout I can certainly see the appeal of Peco !

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, ian said:

 

Having just finished a 6.5mm gauge A5 coppercald turnout I can certainly see the appeal of Peco !

Didn't realise you'd gone to Z gauge!!!!!

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, Tortuga said:

Having just completed wrestling two medium radius points into the correct 6’ spacing (as per your excellent tutorial) and had a bash at building my own track, um…

 

…both methods have their merits and drawbacks?

 

3 hours ago, ian said:

 

Having just finished a 6.5mm gauge A5 coppercald turnout I can certainly see the appeal of Peco !

True enough but, as I've mentioned elsewhere, when I was a student I couldn't afford Peco points so my very good friends at Leeds MRS @Michael Edge and @Nicktoix taught me how to make copperclad ones. Nearly 50 years later, I've never bought another ready-made point (never made my own plain track, though).

[Tony Teague]

13 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

And some motors need a switch to give functionality for (black) section switching, interlocking, light indication, etc.

 🙂

 

Do you find those Peco switches attached to solenoids to be reliable?

I gave up on them some time ago and use relays wired in parallel to the solenoid as a preferable, and more reliable solution.

Tony

[ian]

16 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Didn't realise you'd gone to Z gauge!!!!!

Worse - N6.5 !

[Clive Mortimore]

On 26/10/2023 at 17:59, Jol Wilkinson said:

 

I can't resist a challenge.

 

Can I join in? Off set scissors crossing with a tandem point and a double slip.

 

 

I was having a wee bit of a problem with one of the K crossings on the double slip. One night I discovered Anyrail and planned a similar Minories layout with four Peco points, not looked back since.

 

[LNER4479]

On 27/10/2023 at 11:02, Tony Teague said:

Do you find those Peco switches attached to solenoids to be reliable?

I gave up on them some time ago and use relays wired in parallel to the solenoid as a preferable, and more reliable solution.

Tony

Hi Tony,

 

I think the best answer to that is that I have managed to make them reliable.

 

I use them extensively on Grantham, in conjunction with Heathcote Electronics relay boards and they have worked successfully in a show environment over the last 8 years or so.

 

What I do is to actually strip down the switch before use and check the inside (they simply clip together and can easily be unclipped). What I found was that the metal slider could have sharp edges which tended to dig into the surrounding plastic a little, hindering movement. So I file off the edges a little and check for free movement. I also check the adjustment of the contact arms, as they can be a bit variable. With these checks and improvements done, they work reliably.

 

Having said that, I'm interested to hear about your parallel relays. Presumably there's some sort of latching arrangement - is that your own design?

[LNER4479]

Meanwhile ...

 

Whilst tracklaying proceeds at the southern end of the complex, some further baseboard structure at the opposite end.

 

These boards host the rest of the goods yard sidings, as well as the end of the loco depot. The running lines towards Carlisle will curve round in front of them.

 

This might give a better idea. The two longest roads in the goods yard should host approx 30 wagon length trains which is about the maximum for the layout.

 

No time to waste - now all corked up and out with the dark grey paint.

 

[Tony Teague]

1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

Having said that, I'm interested to hear about your parallel relays. Presumably there's some sort of latching arrangement - is that your own design?

 

I am very comfortable with electrics, but a bit allergic to electonics where I don't understand what is going on, so whilst my layout and control of it are complex, almost all of it relies on fairly traditional switching.

There isn't really a special design, it's just an extension of normal / basic switching in which one lever or switch on the panel operates multiple devices by firing one or more relays.

I use Gaugemaster GM500 relays which are latching, and can be triggered using the same voltage as used to fire a solenoid point motor - so they are literally wired in parallel with those, and sometimes they are in multiple.

I use them to change polarity, to light indicator lamps on the control panel, to switch off the feed to conflicting tracks, and even to reverse the polarity of servo feeds so as to raise or lower semaphore signals that reflect the direction of the point setting.

They use very little current and so I have locations where my CDU might be powering 2 or 3 solenoids plus 2 or three relays with one pulse.

When combined with the DCC Concepts lever switches, which have both passing contacts and two on/off switches (or one to reverse polarity), so these together offer fairly flexible / powerful switching options.

Hope that helps but happy to clarify or respond to any other points if wanted.

Tony

[LNER4479]

Last of the running photos 'in the can' whilst we anticipate resumption of further running.

 

Fitted goods gets away from Central, passing beneath the WCML approaching Carlisle.

 

A Fowler moment at Bog Junc.

 

Duchess-hauled fish train coming the other way.

 

And tackling Shap unaided.

 

Meanwhile ...

 

Skin n hair flying in all directions at Upperby as the electrical work tries to keep pace with the tracklaying.