HO Donford Junction & Beryl Inc. Mine No.3

[St Enodoc]

21 hours ago, innocentman said:

After getting back from a weekend at York show, I had a couple of days off which amongst other things allowed me to complete the wiring and drive a couple of test trains. Not a lot to see at the moment but I will try and put a video on of the moving points, changing LEDs and a moving loco tomorrow.

 

In the meantime I had been thinking about the fiddle yard that will be required to support the operation. I had placed a 16 hopper train, caboose and a Y3 (likely to be the longest loco to climb the hill) and worked out that I needed a fiddle yard a shade under 8ft to accommodate the full train.

 

The fiddle yard will be located parallel to the front and will use two board to turn 180 degrees as it departs he front of the layout. I will draw up sketch and post it on here later.

 

I decided on a 5 road traverser which meant a width of 250 mm to accommodate the roads. I planned the total traverse based on two entry roads as I would like this to be flexible for future projects. I have spent some time in Fusion 360 drawing up my thoughts on hoe to have an 8 ft fiddle yard that will be compact when not in use. I have opted to build the traverser in two 4 ft sections and if all goes well hinge then together.

 

Here are a few renders from Fusion 360 of the design. There doesn't seem to be plywood in the render library so the following images use very knotty pine!

 

First up was the representation of the linear bearings and runners I have opted to use. There will be two of these units on each 4 ft board.

 

I developed the traverse board and added the linear bearings in position.

 

Next up was the base board to support the runners. I though about making this open frame, but I like the idea of a solid top for stiffness and to stop things accidentally passing through on the way to the floor.

 

When you put all the above together you get the above.

 

Two assembles joined together give you the full 8 ft. Hopefully the clever bit is the mounting of hinges on the blocks at the end of the traverser sections so that it folds up like so.....

 

Although not seen on the above render, I will be following @St Enodoc earlier suggestion in this thread and add diagonal stiffeners. I absolutely don't want any twist in these!

 

This layout is DCC, but to make this traverser flexible I plan to wire it up in such a way that it can be operated using DC control.

 

All I need now is my friendly neighbourhood carpenter to visit and we can begin construction.

 

All the best

 

Andy

 

 

I can't see Charlie's balls anywhere.

[innocentman]

44 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I can't see Charlie's balls anywhere.

Hopefully we never will again!

[innocentman]

A little Video of the trains moving on the Mine

 

 

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

2 hours ago, innocentman said:

I have knocked up a sketch of the fiddle yard this morning.

 

This may change and I may introduce an extra section (300mm or so) between the traverser and the curved section to allow for locking pin mounting and loco storage roads.

 

The second track on the curved section will be used as a hand shunting neck when releasing locos from the incoming trains.

 

Regards

 

Andy

If I might make a suggestion, I think adding an extra straight section between the traversed and the curve could prove to be essential, so that trains entering or leaving the traverser don’t start to sideswipe anything on the adjacent tracks as they begin to take the curve.  Adding enough straight track for your longest cars or locomotives to approach dead straight might be wise.  Just a thought - enjoyed the video (a smooth running sign of a layout coming together nicely), Keith.