Elbow Lane. Having a rest while I build board 4.

[simon b]

3 hours ago, dasatcopthorne said:

At last!

 

I can now get rid of the temporary flat bottom double slip and ballast in the correct Bullhead.

 

Only been 2 years.

 

Dave.

 

 

The last piece of the puzzle so to speak, looking forward to the pics.

[dasatcopthorne]

[dasatcopthorne]

Now I have a little spare time, work has started to lift the Flatbottom double slip and replace it with the new Bullhead one.

 

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by dasatcopthorne

[dasatcopthorne]

Edited July 7, 2022 by dasatcopthorne

[Ian Morgan]

Well, it is going to take him a long time if he is just going to sit on that sleeper all day ....

 

[Graham T]

Looks rather good!  But don't you need insulated joiners?  (I know next to nothing about layout wiring, to be fair...)

[The Stationmaster]

26 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Looks rather good!  But don't you need insulated joiners?  (I know next to nothing about layout wiring, to be fair...)

Not necessarily as the slip has various insulating blocks in it as it comes but it does depend how it is wired and whether or not any inbuilt electrical bonding (e.g to the wing rails) is rearranged.

[JackB95]

On 07/07/2022 at 14:40, Graham T said:

Looks rather good!  But don't you need insulated joiners?  (I know next to nothing about layout wiring, to be fair...)

 

It's part of their new Unifrog design. Best of both worlds as it has a metal frog like electrofrog pointwork, but there's an insulation joint built in meaning you can just put it in and not have to worry about wiring up the frog to get it to work reliably.

 

https://dccwiki.com/PECO_Unifrog

[dasatcopthorne]

Double Slip Saga

 

If you can’t be bothered to do the ‘Long Read’, Skip to the end to see the result. Otherwise plough on.

 

Peco history meant that the early use of their Bullhead 00 track (introduced around Nov 2017) left buyers without a double slip until mid June 22. In 2019 I decided to use the new track for first ‘personal layout’ rather then build my own which I normally did. This decision was based on Peco showing a double slip at a show in 2019, stating it would available soon. Haha!

 

Layout was built in 2019/2020 using a flat bottom double slip which was left un-ballasted so some funds could be recouped when the new version was fitted. Since built, the servos that operate the turnouts have worked faultlessly. In June this year the new slip arrived and replaced the old type. This is where the trouble started.

 

The holes for the tiebar drives are in a slightly differing positions, meaning the original holes needed enlarging. Also, the holes in the tiebars for the drive pin were larger, meaning the servos needed their throw adjusting. At this point I discovered that one of the servos was dead so a new one needed fitting. Luckily, the Dingo Servo mounts make this fairly easy. Once fitted and whilst adjusting the two servos, I must have pressed a wrong button or two and the servo control board went into a fit. Depression set in at this point and I left the whole thing for a week while I considered what to do. At the back of my mind all the time was the fact that the layout had a Show approaching.

 

With no help in the instructions for the servo control board for this situation, I took the bull by the horns and performed a ‘reset’. Yay! It worked. This meant that all servos needed re-setting to work the points and the single uncoupler correctly. I week of testing then followed before I was happy to ballast the new track. Only four blooming weeks in all!!

 

So, (if you’’ve skipped here straight from line one) it’s all back to normal and ready to appear in Hasting on 13th August.

[5BarVT]

11 hours ago, dasatcopthorne said:

and performed a ‘reset’.

It’s a computer: isn’t that line one of the faultfinding manual!

Although unlike a compute4 it didn’t remember where it was before the reset.

Paul.

[dasatcopthorne]

Elbow Lane is off to the Bexhill Show this Saturday.

 

Come and say hello if you are there.

 

Dave.

 

 

[dasatcopthorne]

What next for Elbow Lane.

 

Now the layout seems reasonably 'complete', thoughts are turning to its infrastructure.

Only three problems have occurred: a Servo packed up(at home), the small problem with the double slip blade and a feed wire broken on the swinging sector plate.

The last two caused a very short pause in Exhibition operations (1 or 2 minutes) so I feel the layout is quite reliable.

 

As it's not out to a show until March 23 (Basingstoke) I've decided to do away with the micro switches for Frog Polarity and fit MERG Frog Juicers as they are called.

 

More later.

 

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by dasatcopthorne

[dasatcopthorne]

All five Frog Juices have now been fitted.

 

This is a design by a MERG member and works beautifully.

As I needed 6, a fellow member needed more and some will probably be fitted to a Club layouts, it was decided to have the Circuit boards printed and a colleague set himself up to program the PIK chips. Rest of the components cost a few pence and easily available and built.

 

Well worth the trouble and I for one won't be using anything else on future DCC points.

 

While I was at it, The Dindo magnetic uncoupler was adjusted to make it more reliable.

 

Well worth the MERG Membership.

 

Dave. 

[dasatcopthorne]

Despite their valiant efforts, the staff at Elbow Lane just don't seem to be making much of a difference to the rubbish people drop.

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by dasatcopthorne

[dasatcopthorne]

The Lane has gained a new staff walkway courtesy of Torrilaser.com whom I found at Warley this year.

 

As the local Bus Strike continues, so the the queue gets longer at the stop.

 

The bridge over the Elbow Lane approaches is destined never to have a bus on it, strike or not!

 

Dave.

[dasatcopthorne]

Oooops.

 

Wrong picture above.

 

 

[dasatcopthorne]

The signs for the disposal of Elbow Buildings have recently gone up.

 

I kind of like then but change is always happening.

 

 

[dasatcopthorne]

Guys.

 

The geezer with the dog waiting for a bus needs naming please for a little question time at our next show.

 

let your imagination loose.

 

Dave.

[Graham T]

Forrest!

 

 

[AY Mod]

Herriot. His arm looks like it's just come out of a cow's back end.

[Iron Horse]

Almost reminds me of Jed the basher from the midlands (sadly passed away I believe) but I never saw Jed in orange trousers LOL!!!!!

[CameronL]

6 hours ago, dasatcopthorne said:

The geezer with the dog waiting for a bus needs naming please

He looks to me  like a young Bob Harris.

 

Just found this thread. It really reminds me of Brierley Canal Road.

 

Best wishes

 

Cam

Edited January 20, 2023 by CameronL

[dasatcopthorne]

Winter sun rarely penetrates as far as places like Elbow Lane but here the local shunter has been caught 'red handed' one late afternoon.

 

I wonder if anyone is going to grab themselves a free trolley.

 

The layout is off the Risex on 18th February if anyone would like to see it in the flesh.

 

Dave.

[dasatcopthorne]

I think most layout builders have, as some time, put something on their layout that they felt wasn't quite right. Didn't quite fit in.

Well, that includes me and more than once.

 

To tell the truth, I've always thought that the street lights on the overbridge weren't quite correct for the time frame depicted on the rest of the layout.

 

Whilst adding yet more figures last week I changed the two street lights to a pair I have had hanging around for some time.

 

I think they are much more in keeping with the rest of the scene.

 

Dave.

[dasatcopthorne]

As we all know, a layout is never finished and sometimes is the subtle little things that make a difference.

 

I realised that the white street lamps just looked wrong.

 

So, they are now green and a new and second staff walkway has been added at the end on the platform.

 

Dave.