Balmoral Road - Ready for GBTS

[brossard]

Today, I wanted to get to grips with the Dapol signal.  I bought the Traintech SC4 (stupid of me really because the SC4 is for 2 signals - ah well).  Should have got the SC3.

 

I cut of the toggle switch off and connected the wires as directed.  Similarly the red/black wires from the servo and DCC input wires were connected.

 

I figured I better do a bench test before installing, so this is what I got:

 

 

and

 

 

Control is not ideal and is via the accessory decoder selector on the throttle.  You assign an address (201 in this case).  For each position you press the "learn" button - bottom RH side of the decoder and there's an LED that flashes.  Once that is done you are good to go.

 

I was pleased to see that the arm goes up slowly but when it comes down there is bounce.

 

I will make a mounting plate for the signal and arrange an intermediate connector so that the signal can be demounted for transport.

 

John

Edited July 26, 2022 by brossard

[brossard]

A couple of milestones in the last day or so.

 

First I got the layout running.  I spent too much time chasing a non existent fault but all seems good now.

 

 

The new crossover.  It has been located about foot further along and straddles two boards.  The idea is to accommodate two coaches better.  The previous turnouts were equivalent to small radius and some locos were uncomfortable traversing them.  The new turnouts are equivalent to medium radius.  Yet to see how the other locos will cope.

 

 

The new Peco Double Slip.  It works very well and the Sentinel (fast becoming one of my faves) is quite happy negotiating all the routes.  The Sentinel balked on the old Single Slip.  Pretty happy about this.

 

Milestone 2 was to get the signal installed and working:

 

 

I made it demountable and installed connectors.  I had a lot of trouble getting one set to work but finally, after much cursing, managed.  Nothing ever seems to work out without trial and trib.

 

I can breathe easier since we committed to have the layout at Exporail, our local Railway museum:

 

https://exporail.org/en/activites/a-great-passion-for-model-trains/

 

Our spot will be near the Royal Hudson so exalted company indeed.

 

https://exporail.org/en/activites/la-visite-royale-de-1939-et-la-locomotive-royal-hudson-no-2850/

 

I can now focus on some titivating.

 

John

[brossard]

So, today, I wanted to correct the platform.  When the new Double Slip was installed the track to the parcels bay was off by about 1/2".  Odd that because the old Single Slip was built on the Peco DS template.  Ah well.

 

So, the situation after the track was realigned:

 

 

You can see the witness marks from where the track on the left was before realignment.

 

First I made a coarse template from light card:

 

 

Then I refined this by running a coach on the track both sides using a pencil to mark:

 

 

Initial marking out with card overlaid on the platform:

 

 

I needed to separate the platform wall from the platform and then trimmed the edge until the coach passed without fouling.  Took a few tries.

 

When I had the shape I rebuilt the edge using paving from the Scalescenes kit on self adhesive label paper.

 

 

Finally, after a group meeting the other day, we discussed the opposite end of the platform which a long ramp.  My buddy supplied some pics showing a fairly steep ramp.

 

 

This buys me about 3" and I can shift the Staionmasters house over to make more room for the planned road.

 

In a couple of pics you can just see some ground signals.  These are LNER type.  Right now they are cosmetic but do swivel.  I shall apply the leetle grey cells to link them to the point motor actuation arms.

 

John

[brossard]

I’ve been doing a blitz on the layout this past week trying to get as much done as possible.  I am at a place where I think I need to stop.  Here are some pics that I just took:

 

 

You might notice that most buildings are on bases.  My plan is to cut the foam underlay to the appropriate shape and embed them.  I’ll do some tomorrow probably.

 

The really major change is the crossover which has moved towards the camera and the turnouts are larger radius.  This solves two problems:  a)  two coaches can more comfortably occupy the station and b) some locos didn’t like the small radius turnouts that were there before.

 

 

The next big thing is the installation of the level crossing deck, check rails and all, along with the road and pavement.  There’s a gap in the left pavement where I will put an entry for the goods yard.

 

 

Not too much to say here.  I put the cobblestone floor in the engine shed – something that has languished for a long time.  A couple more structures with bases.  Note the cinders and weeds.

 

 

Water tower and signal box on bases.

 

 

Cattle dock.  I haven’t put this on it’s base yet.  Also need to construct a ramp.

 

 

Station building and coal staithes.  Still not totally sure where these should go.  There will have to be arm waving to decide.

 

I’m pretty happy about progress and I’ll try to squeeze in a bit more in the next couple of days.

 

John

[brossard]

This evening three of the four modules were packed into my car:

 

 

We are so pleased that things worked out.  Shipping frame is mostly 2x4 lumber.

 

Another frame will be assembled tomorrow to take the fourth module in another members car.

 

Feeling much better about this now.

 

John

[brossard]

We got everything to the venue this afternoon.  A very straightforward setup with no snags.

 

Here's a first picture after we finished setting up:

 

 

We're on the main floor where the main items in the collection reside.  Royal Hudson is on the left.

 

I'll take more pics tomorrow.

 

John

[brossard]

A few pics from today, not mine, taken by another member:

 

 

 

 

Hopefully, I'll remember my camera tomorrow.

 

John

Edited August 21, 2022 by brossard

[brossard]

Thank goodness the show is done, I am shattered. 

 

Some pics of the company we kept:

 

 

 

 

 

The museum is worth a visit if you are in the area.

 

 

Class 15 in action.  It was sidelined for quite some time until I got around to fixing a broken wire on one of the bogies.  A superb runner and my friend who is a committed steam guy declared it to be one of his favourites.

 

Everyone had a good time, I think, with lots of trains being shunted.  The layout ran brilliantly and reliably.  We all got a lot of practice using the coupling tool.

 

The working signal was popular.

 

I'm being told my allowable space is exceeded, so I'll post more later.

 

John

 

[brossard]

A few more pics from the show:

 

 

I think the biggest attraction for the public was those green buttons, which almost everybody felt the need to press.  It gets tedious having to tell folk not to touch.  It kept operators on their toes because the route you think you've set may have been changed when you were'nt looking.

 

 

Special visitor in the form of a North British train.  Coaches are 62C kits (I have another to build) and loco is Connoisseur bough second hand.

 

One of the joys for me and others in the group is having kids take the controls.  They are obviously closely watched but seem to enjoy the experience.

 

 

J50 shunting.  The loco is Fine Scale Brass and fitted with Zimo sound.  It is extremely good.

 

A unique thing about this show is that, unlike commercial shows, the museum provides all the exhibitors with quite generous remuneration.

 

John

[brossard]

Wow, a lot of time has gone by.  I haven't been totally idle although I did have mojo issues for a while.

 

I finally got it together and buckled down to get some work done.

 

I had the layout at a show this past weekend, here are some pics:

 

 

Important changes from above.  First, ballast is done and ground cover started.  Cattle dock has been shortened and reconfigured.

 

 

Yes, I know, the canopy is doing it's Pisa imitation.  It is from Lcut and very fiddly.

 

 

Great view of the goods yard.  Yard crane is from Peco.  Station signs done, note the name: "Balmoral Road", layout is finally christened!  Scalescenes have a customizable station signs pack.  Sign supports are Evergreen strip.

 

Station fencing is from Fretcetera but I didn't have enough so I have a couple of packs more now.  Station benches are etched brass from Kemilway.

 

There's a new Goods Shed which is from Lcut.  Modified in my usual way with Scalescenes brick overlay and roof.  Gutters are Evergreen half round and downspouts are brass tube (rod is better but I didn't have any then, I do now).

 

Note the planking at the coal staithe.

 

 

Now a water crane at the shed.  In the previous pic there is a similar one but cut down for platform mounting.  Creamery has been widened to hug the backscene better.  I finally got an over road done for the scenic break.  All made from scratch using Scalescenes components.

 

I am now working on street, station and yard lamps.  The lamps from Layouts4U are very nice and quite reasonably priced.  I was wiring the resistors for these today.  I have a power distribution board off Amazon.  Looks to be quite clever and enables me to connect DCC to it and drop the volts to 3V.

 

Also got myself some Gaugemaster photographic backscenes.  Three rolls for a total of 18'.  The sheets are 12" high.

 

John

 

 

 

 

[brossard]

Today my friend and I pasted the photographic backscenes onto the boards.  I had endured a lot of criticism about the painted boards so it was time for improvement.

 

...and what an improvement!

 

 

I should say that the boards are currently sitting on the floor waiting to be re-erected.

 

 

 

We had to do splice job since the two sets didn't match.  Probably my fault, I maybe should have got consecutively numbered backscenes.

 

 

Some very cruel closeups there.  When the layout is dressed, some of the warts will be hidden.

 

John

 

[brossard]

Last week I set myself two goals.  First was to get my lamps sorted and start installation.  There are a lot of lamps and they needed to have resistors spliced in as well as extra wire length added.  All very time consuming and tedious.

Second job was to add a "faux" viaduct to the end backscene.  This was done using a blown up Scalescenes kit (R017).  The team was over on Friday and pics were taken:

 

 

This is the best I think.  Not finished and the photographic sky needs to be added.

Lots of ideas thrown around on how to make the end of the layout better - we'll see what precipitates out.  Main issue now is that the garage is being pushed towards the street and there's no room for pumps.  Two solutions present:

 

1)  Shorten the garage by cutting out a couple of inches (my thought)

 

2)  Make a 4" long box to be bolted on the end.  Not only will this solve the garage issue but also permit more house back detailing.  The problem with this will be my corporation and whether I can squeeze past.

John

[Georgeham]

On 10/06/2023 at 05:16, brossard said:

Today my friend and I pasted the photographic backscenes onto the boards.  I had endured a lot of criticism about the painted boards so it was time for improvement.

 

...and what an improvement!

 

 

I should say that the boards are currently sitting on the floor waiting to be re-erected.

 

 

 

We had to do splice job since the two sets didn't match.  Probably my fault, I maybe should have got consecutively numbered backscenes.

 

 

Some very cruel closeups there.  When the layout is dressed, some of the warts will be hidden.

 

John

 

This really transforms the look of the layout - it looks fantastic!

[brossard]

Thanks George, when the layout is back up we will see things better.  More work to do yet installing yard lamps on the other boards.

 

John

[brossard]

For the last couple of weeks I've been working on the platform and the lamps for it.  These came in maroon, which seems a standard colour for some reason.

I spliced sturdier wire onto them and added heat shrink tube at the base.  I then wrapped masking tape around the base at just the right dia for some brass tubing.  Holes were carefully drilled in the platform surface and the brass tube glued into the holes.  The idea is to make the lamps a slip fit into the tube.

Another big job was to rebuild the platform completely.  The old one was looking knocked about and the tipping point came when I had to shave 1/8" from the rear to stop some stock fouling.

I decided to use Scalescenes newer platform kit, R008a:

 

https://scalescenes.com/product/r008a-station-platform-with-shelter-and-lamp-hut/

 

So, today I was able to install lamps and glue the platform down.

I took a picture of the board all dressed up:

 

 

You can see the four lamps.  Painted brown and buff to make them look like GER.

I added strips of wood to frame the station building so that it looks like it is actually embedded.

Spear fencing was completed.

Note the two benches with "Balmoral Rd" on the backs.

Platform is truncated as I left the ramp separate.  The team suggests that magnets might be used to stick it down when the layout is assembled.  Another section on the right will be glued to it's board.

Finally the superb Gaugemaster backscene can be seen in it's debut.  We had to splice sheets together.  Must think about some judicious airbrushing of the sky at some point.

John

[brossard]

The Exporail show is just a week away, so I've been working to get things in order.

 

I installed automotive connectors to connect the boards.  These require the user to assemble and are not all that obvious.  I scrapped one and now everything works with the connectors.

 

I also wired in various lamps that I think I mentioned before.

When erected and everything plugged in, there were several faults, mostly associated with me miswiring some things.

There was also one of those faults that really got my head scratching.  Full voltage at the test points under the layout but only 5V on the turnout diverging road on top of the layout.  I finally realized that the fault was in the dropper itself, something I would never have thought likely.  After replacing the dropper, everything now works.  Must have been a bad solder joint with high resistance.

Anyway, I finally got the layout fully assembled today and here are the pics:

 

 

 

I've been playing with the B4, oooh, what a lovely engine!  Performance is great even though the track hasn't been cleaned thoroughly.  The loco has a sound decoder and I'm wondering if it has integral stay alive?  I found it operates better using 28 steps.

 

 

Figures have only begun their painting.  You can see the station lamps lit, well, 3 out of 5 anyway.  The center lamp may be a dud and the far right lamp hasn't been connected yet.

 

 

All but one of the yard lamps work.  I graunched one and tried a repair but it's not working.  I have a spare.

 

 

 

Still a lot of things unfinished but that's how this layout business goes.

 

John

Edited August 12, 2023 by brossard

[brossard]

I mentioned above that I had one platform lamp that wasn't working.  I looked into it today but ran into a lot of faff resulting in the breaking of two lamps.  These can be used somewhere else as cosmetic lamps.

 

I had spares so new ones were installed and now it all works.

 

I also had a dud yard lamp but that was only a loose connection.  It does work but strangely, it is very bright, putting it's mates to shame.

 

 

It actually looks right to me so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about why this lamp is so bright and the others dim.  They are all connected to the same point on the board.

 

Technical, I have a power distribution board:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Distribution-Self-Adapt-Distributor-Voltage-Control/dp/B07RXQZJB3/ref=rtpb_sccl_2/138-9167320-1700368?pd_rd_w=cNjoo&content-id=amzn1.sym.20523d9a-69e9-4cf2-81bb-78c83b713159&pf_rd_p=20523d9a-69e9-4cf2-81bb-78c83b713159&pf_rd_r=7JAAWVNWQPQQ1CSH7F56&pd_rd_wg=PXq51&pd_rd_r=20a86c81-d797-4160-8942-feb8a454f597&pd_rd_i=B07RXQZJB3&psc=1

 

This enables DCC power to be reduced to 3V DC, and that is how it is set.  All the lamps have 1K resistors, as supplied.

 

Where I might have gone wrong is in creating a buss for all the wires for the lamps and connecting everything to one terminal on the board.  I'm wondering if it would be better to separate the lamps into street, yard and platform.

 

John

[GWR57xx]

Have you wired some of them is series and the brighter one in parallel by any chance?

It also might be the case that they contain different luminance leds - they can range from about 3mCds to over 3000mCds.

Edited August 14, 2023 by GWR57xx
Units

[brossard]

13 minutes ago, GWR57xx said:

Have you wired some of them is series and the brighter one in parallel by any chance?

It also might be the case that they contain different luminance leds - they can range from about 3mCds to over 3000mCds.

 

Thanks for the comment.  Pretty sure they are wired in series although I do make some howlingly daft wiring mistakes from time to time.

 

The Yard lamps are all the same so seems unlikely that the LED in this lamp is different.  I can take this lamp out and power it from a separate 3V power supply.  If it is still bright then the LED may be an oddball.

 

The layout is going to a show this weekend so I won't be doing anything drastic between now and then.  These lamps are more of an academic exercise to stretch myself, never having done lamps before.

 

After the show I can have a good look round to see what I've done.

 

John

[brossard]

I am really happy with the layout performance at Exporail.

 

The logistics for delivering the layout to the museum worked like clockwork and the team pitched in to erect the layout.

 

A couple of electrical scares after setup but happily they were sorted.  It underlines to me that the wiring needs a thorough review and tidy up.

 

We got the layout back to my place smoothly as well.

 

Here are some pics taken on Sunday (photos by R. Ullyott):

 

 

I like the look of this scene.  My figure painting is not the greatest but at this distance they look pretty good.  All ModelU of course, what else?  I have a load more figures on the workbench.

 

 

Mixed goods.  Ex LNER Toad E on the end.  Lamps are conspicuous by their absence.  I have been working on them but I was reluctant to use them at this show.  I want them to be loose on the lamp bracket so they can be changed around to suit the train.

 

 

The Sentinel ran like a champ, very pleased with it.

 

 

The J50 is a great performer.  It is Fine Scale Brass, and fitted with sound.

 

 

 

Jinty again on a minerals.  The coal loads can be removed.

 

 

Shot towards the level crossing.  Crossover is handbuilt and is equivalent to Peco medium radius.  The standard Peco turnouts are just too long.  Crossing gates are from Skytrex.

 

 

J50 shunting.  There was a load of shunting over the weekend.  I was pleased that everyone got on well with the prototypical coupling although there was head shaking, deep breaths and mutterings from time to time.

 

I'll leave it at that for now.

 

At a club meeting the week before the show, it was decided to take this layout to the Great British Train Show (GBTS) in the spring in Brampton ON.  The club has shown that we can manage that.  Now I have to get on with finishing the scenery.

 

John

Edited August 25, 2023 by brossard

[brossard]

I got a short video in YouTube yesterday:

 

 

Credit: R. Ullyott

 

Shows some shunting action.

 

John

[pwr]

What a cracking layout this is turning out to be

 

Paul R

[brossard]

Thanks Paul, I am very pleased and so is the team.  We just put two of the boards on their sides in order to review the wiring.  As we were doing that, I noticed that one wire is broken and a couple others have come out of their choc blocks.  To remedy that we will use ferrules:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Lytool-Insulated-Connectors-Terminals-Single-Line/dp/B0BY2CS16J/ref=pd_ybh_a_sccl_9/138-9167320-1700368?pd_rd_w=O2L0P&content-id=amzn1.sym.26263969-2443-405f-93cd-ce3158ea3965&pf_rd_p=26263969-2443-405f-93cd-ce3158ea3965&pf_rd_r=C8ZSKW41PRCEVGQ614Q8&pd_rd_wg=sKGjf&pd_rd_r=0252e8c6-905c-4977-b531-d8591ccf2913&pd_rd_i=B0BY2CS16J&psc=1

 

These require a crimper:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Hexagonal-0-08-16mm²-Lytool-Self-Adjustable-End-Sleeves/dp/B0C5HT4LXJ/ref=sr_1_4?crid=KYT5U5E37KIL&keywords=lytool+crimper&qid=1692983519&s=hi&sprefix=lytool+crimper%2Ctools%2C88&sr=1-4

 

I also plan to purge any solid core wire changing it for stranded.

 

John

 

[brossard]

My tools arrived today from Amazon (less than a day after ordering!).

 

I have a crimper:

 

 

and there's also a box of ferrules that I ordered earlier.  There are hundreds in various sizes.  My mate has ordered hundreds more of 22 and 18 gauge (for when wire is spliced).  Not only is my layout getting wiring attention but the large club layout is in the throes of being wired.

 

The idea is that the wire is inserted into the metal tube until the insulation hits a stop:

 

 

 

The metal is crimped by the tool and any excess wire trimmed.  The crimper puts a sort of knurl on the tube.

 

 

Now the wire can be locked into the choc block and is very secure.

 

I also decided to get a better wire stripper:

 

 

This should do a better job and avoid damage to the wire.  I will have to read the instructions or do I have to wait until I have broken it?

 

Here's the first board I have to tackle:

 

 

Those are PSX1 short protection boards in the LH corner.  One is connected to the DCC track bus, the other to the DCC power to the Wabbits.  First thing to tackle is the edge connector for the Tortoises.

 

I found these:

 

 

 

Two things struck me:

 

1)  The board edge connector looks like it's the right width so no need to pack with plastic strip.

2)  Screw terminals, no soldering.

 

Installing these will make my Tortoises exactly equivalent to Cobalt.

 

John

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by brossard

[brossard]

I have completed the wire maintenance and upgrades for the first board:

 

 

I think it's a bit more functional.  The wires are clamped down, solid core wire mostly ditched and replaced with stranded.

 

BTW, the little black box in left center is a stationary decoder for the Dapol signal.  The dangling connectors attach to the signal when it is installed in the square hole.

 

On to the next board.

 

John