Big jim’s Garage conversion and layout thread

[GWRPhil]

Hi jim

 

how goes progress on the layout in last few months?

[big jim]

I’ve done absolutely nothing other than make a bit of room in the garage by removing the sofa and moving my car/bike toolboxes to the shed which has given me a bit more floor space

 

i keep looking at the layout and thinking I need to crack on and get various hits and bobs done such as securing the high level bits properly but I’ve been distracted by going cycling instead

 

i will get something done soon! 

Edited May 12, 2022 by big jim

[big jim]

First bit of work on the layout since December, mainly messing about with the 009 bit, first I glued down the risers that drop down to what will be the station next to the mainline one 

 

I then went to the back of the layout and had a think about doing things differently, originally I was going to have the line that climbs up the spiral under the castle drip back down and cross the preserved line before joining the racer track across the bridge, I’ve now decided to continue that line on an embankment up to the high level branch line area where it will loop round and continue back on itself (with a reverse loop module)

 

I’ve straightened up the dual gauge bridge (would have rather had it on a bit of an angle but the revised layout works better straight 

 

The racer track will separate just inside the tunnel below the high level branch with the preserved standard gauge line to the left and the narrow gauge one exiting through separate tunnels 

 

Back to the high level bit, I’m going to cut the board so the tracks are on a ledge on the edge

 

I’ll use the redundant crossover to put a line toward the MOD sidings, probably just scenic due to space but gives the new line a ‘purpose’ the points will take the narrow gauge line back down the hill alongside the standard gauge branch line 

 

The mill area will hopefully have lots of little sidings, the goods shed building can become the 009 loco shed, the big shed behind is for the preserved line 

 

 

Finally after 10 months a bit of progress!

[big jim]

Cracked on with the heritage line this evening and managed to get it right round and over the dual gauge bridge

 

 

Got the chaser tracks operating too, horrible feeling there may have been a slight short or power spike of some sort initially as when I put my new peco little England on the track it ran for about a foot then stopped dead and is now unresponsive, I switched to the mini colas 70 which worked fine for quite a while back and forth over the bridge however it then stopped buzzing (non DCC fitted) while sat at the end of the line, picking it up it was warm and it smelt like the motor had burned out on it

 

the 009 shares the positive feed with the standard gauge rail and need a jumper from the negative side to the inner rail, they can’t be gotten mixed up as it will simply trip the controller, the only other variables in the circuit are 3 gaugemaster frog juicers in the station area but I can’t see that causing an issue as any short circuit from them would also trip the lenz (although they weren’t powered up when I tried the peco loco initially) I did run 2 negative feeds at first either side of the lifting section, again can’t see how that would cause a problem

 

I’m just hoping I’ve not cooked the motor on the little England, the DCC fitted 009 locos I have are all non responsive as well (assuming I’ve put the right address in on them!) I did discover a loose metal strip under the chaser track at one end of the bridge (bus bar for the track feed below the frog) but I can’t see how it would cause an issue as it wasn’t touching anything else metal, I pushed it back into place and refitted the track and it seem to be working alright with a temporary negative wire in place between rails of the lifting section and main part of the layout 

 

Nice to have trains running on all lines now, I think next I’ll do the low level 009 circuit through the mill area and back round through the station then make a start on finishing the loop below the castle 

 

 

[5BarVT]

Sorry to hear that Jim.

That’s a nasty buzz coming out of the L&B loco and noticeable that it decreased when under power.  It sounds like you might have got DCC mixed in with the DC.  The frog juicers you mentioned - are they on dual gauge points, and do they switch any frogs that are DC one way and DCC the other?  From what I understand, Gaugemaster frog juicers connect stuff through resistors to determine whether they need to switch or not so could they be overlaying the DCC signal on your DC?

Paul.

[big jim]

It’s all DCC so no danger of getting them mixed up, it’s just certain locos aren’t chipped up yet hence the buzzing  

 

took the locos to Richard and other than the motor on the colas 70 having burned out for some reason the others are all ok, on the DCC locos I was simply putting the wrong address in, strange though as I’d not reprogrammed them (to my knowledge) and one address was set to 6 and the other 9, not even numbers that correspond to the loco numbers, the Little England was simply the pick up on one side had come adrift from the wheel, Richard got it back in place and put a blob of black tack in the channel to stop it moving again 

 

Now that’s sorted I can crack on laying the rest of the 009, annual leave this week but working a couple of days so probably wont do anything until the end of the week

 

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by big jim

[5BarVT]

Pleased to hear it, glad it was something ‘simple’.

Paul

[big jim]

Nothing major to report, tidied up the 009 ramp on the lifting section, i originally made it with Bachmann risers and card but it seemed too flexible and I made the gap between the rails too big really! 

 

so I cut through the rails and removed the whole section across the join, I got a pack of 12 wooden wedges off Amazon, designed to be used when fitting does etc 

 

i then glued one across the lifting section end before sawing along the John with a fine razor saw 

 

 

Once it’s had time to fully bond I’ll lay the narrow gauge track over it so I can finally have a complete circuit of 009 

 

[big jim]

An afternoon in the garage, got the low level 009 part up and running, only temporary wired with jumper cables between various isolating fishplates to get the whole circuit live for testing 

 

points to take the line down from the bottom of the spiral to the station 

 

This will be the station passing loop, I managed to damage the inner line flexi track so I’ll have to get a new piece later in the week

 

The mill area, the goods shed will be the narrow gauge loco shed with a couple of sidings beyond next to the boiler house 

 

I’m thinking of shortening the planned high level narrow gauge line back to a small station next to the castle and use the embankment for the standard gauge branch line instead

 

 

[big jim]

Got fed up of bits of the layout last night and ripped it all up, luckily bits I’ve not actually fixed down yet!

 

I’ve decided to ditch the MOD yard on the high level bit and make that part of the town

 

the branch line can then come up from the opposite platform face as the heritage line instead of coming up from the high level corner 

 

 

that means the mill area can be widened by slewing the main line back alongside the new embankment and the shed move back and be turned by 90 degrees so the door is the opposite end, doing that means I can make a bit more of a feature of the 009 within the mill, including using the standard gauge crossing that was originally going to be used on the main line 

this is the basic set up but I can add more 009 sidings if I want, the line that goes behind the mill doesn’t go anywhere in particular but looks effective disappearing off round the corner! 

 

thats will be it with the layout now until next week (unless I can sneak in the garage later) as I’ve got work and I’m lodging away 
 

 

 

 

 

[simonmcp]

Glad to hear that all your Loco problems have been sorted. I see some Point Carrying Wagons amongst the last pictures, I am sorry if I missed any mention of them upthread, but can I ask where you got them please? 

[big jim]

The cradles are 3D prints off eBay mounted on Dapol flats with a scrap peco point glued to it I think they may be in my workbench thread but I’ve not updated that for ages

 

This is his shop but I can’t see the point carriers on there, I also got the lobster wagon boxes off him (got 3 more to build soon)

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/class_66_driver/m.html
 

Unfortunately I’ve underestimated the height of the bridges and it doesn’t fit under the one directly in front of it in the picture, I need to raise it about 5mm and it will go through! 

Edited November 9, 2022 by big jim

[Beacon]

May I ask what are the dimensions of your layout/room? 

[big jim]

12ft by 12ft

[big jim]

Secured most of the revised track in the mill area last night, adding an extra point to the station loop means I can run an extra line around the back of the main building to join the track that originally wasn’t going anywhere 

 

Placed some trains on the tracks for the pics

 

Can’t work out how to wire the dual gauge crossover, the electrical connections appear to power opposite sides of each approach so would cause a short, I assume it’s supposed to be totally isolated and switched depending on which part of track is running! 
 

I’ve totally isolated the standard gauge and left the narrow gauge live

 

2 more sidings to add to the back of the goods shed, the track under the 03 is the double gauge stuff, I’ve done it to look like there used to be dual track there linked to the siding that’s going behind the goods shed 

 

 

also fixed down the high level bit where the town will be going 

[5BarVT]

13 minutes ago, big jim said:

Can’t work out how to wire the dual gauge crossover, the electrical connections appear to power opposite sides of each approach so would cause a short, I assume it’s supposed to be totally isolated and switched depending on which part of track is running! 
 

I’ve totally isolated the standard gauge and left the narrow gauge live

Looks like it’s a live frog crossing with the elbows continuous too.

Do you use the same DCC system for both NG and main line?  If so, the easiest way is to connect the outside rails as normal and the two frogs via a DPDT switch so that they have opposite polarity to each other but which can be changed over depending on which route you are using.  (Wired like an old fashioned DC direction change switch.)

Paul.

 

[big jim]

Yes all the tracks (standard and narrow gauge) are powered from the same track input power block 

 

I couldn’t get my head round how (for example) the right hand standard gauge rail is electrically connected to the left hand narrow gauge one, I take it I would have live fishplates on the outer rails (as I was going to do before I got befuddled) then isolate all the inner rails with the switch attached to those? 
 

I don’t really understand wiring switches so I’ll no doubt be seeking advice when I get round to giving it a go, can you show me what type of switch to get too? 

[big jim]

Jumping back and forth between sides of the layout

 

as the spiral line will now be a little dead end station at the castle im going to shorten the board a bit, you’ll have to use your imagination a bit, the card is roughly where I’m reckoning I’m going to shorten it to 

 

A ramp down for a roadway, I’ll leave a narrow lip part way along the back for the NG station 

 

 

Using another arch that I can adapt to stand at an angle I can have the walls crossing the mainline, the 1/2 arches that I’ve placed to drop the walls down can have the arch area filled to make the wall solid

 

The points and double slip in front of the arch are going to be removed as they were for access to the branch line that is now running up from the station instead

 

[5BarVT]

I see your castle is somewhere near Rotherham Central (Booths) or is it Leicester (Vic Berry)?

Paul.

[big jim]

Definitely Vic berry, remember visiting there in the 80s as a kid with my dad, could have got a class 25 or 26 flame cut for £30 but couldn’t decide which one so we never bought one! 
 

Thinking of modelling a car park so I can place a Richard iii figure under it to keep a Leicester theme going

 

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by big jim

[big jim]

Being as my possession job was cancelled in work tonight I decided to have a T3 of my own, laid the narrow gauge passing loop in the station area 

 

it’s going to be a bit Blaenau Ffestiniog once it’s done, going to need a fence between the mainline and loop though!

 

I also laid the sidings in the mill area as well as removing the dual gauge crossover to look how to wire it in, so it’s advice time……

 

I know nothing about wiring switches! It has been mentioned I need to make the inner frogs/rails switchable with a DPDT switch Depending on which line is using the crossover 

 

So metal fishplates in the outer rails and insulators on the inside 

 

Other end is connected to another point so insulators on both rails of the standard gauge and just the inner of the narrow gauge, the insulator in the rail is at the point further along the track 

 

hopefully this will make it clearer, the red * are insulators, the green arrows are the live rails and ‘direction’ of electricity (ie positive and negative)

 

if anyone can draw a schematic of where to place the feeds to the inner frogs and how to wire it to a switch that would be a huge help as I’m struggling to even get my head around it!

 

other than that lot I also took out the double and single slip crossovers that went toward the high level and will replace them with new track and a single set of points heading toward a couple of sidings at the back, maybe a small oil terminal (like I had there originally!) I’ve placed some 3rd and 4th radius set track curves down on the mainline to get an idea how it may look

 

 

Still got to fit a set of points in the station to head toward the new embankment for the branch line as well as cutting a fresh board for the edge of the town, had to order some new jigsaw blades though as I forgot I snapped my only one last week, once they turn up I can really crack on, hopefully then get rid of some of the excess bits of wood cluttering I’ll the floor that are there ‘incase I need them’ as hopefully all major woodwork should be finished soon

 

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by big jim

[big jim]

Just had a thought I’ve got some gaugemaster DCC80 Autofrog juicers, would those on each frog do the job? 
 

Power two them (one for each frog) from the constantly live outer rails of the crossover with the polarity switch connection soldered to the respective tabs on the individual frogs 

 

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by big jim

[shanks522]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

Just had a thought I’ve got some gaugemaster DCC80 Autofrog juicers, would those on each frog do the job? 

 

 

I’m no electrical expert, but would think they’d do the job perfectly Jim, hex frog juicers get me out of trouble all the time. 
 

Graham. 

[big jim]

I’ve used the gaugemaster ones on one of the three way standard gauge points with success so hopefully they work as it looks to be the same principal despite the different gauges 

[5BarVT]

7 hours ago, big jim said:

Just had a thought I’ve got some gaugemaster DCC80 Autofrog juicers, would those on each frog do the job? 
 

Power two them (one for each frog) from the constantly live outer rails of the crossover with the polarity switch connection soldered to the respective tabs on the individual frogs 

Yes they should.  A live frog diamond is effectively two turnouts back to back (toe to toe!) with the switch blade parts cut out.

And you won’t have to remember to switch it and risk forgetting.
Paul.