Holcombe - an SDJR branch line terminus

[RobAllen]

1 hour ago, RailWest said:

Are you going to have a bay window? It's questionable as to whether or not that would be needed at a terminus, depending upon what the rationale was for it in the first place.

This is something that I hadn't even known I needed to think about :)

[RailWest]

..and maybe you don't anyway ? :-)

[Captain Kernow]

6 hours ago, RobAllen said:

This is something that I hadn't even known I needed to think about :)

I didn't bother with Engine Wood, the facilities would have been less at such a small place anyway, as compared with Radstock or Midsomer Norton.

 

[RobAllen]

Given my complete and utter lack of experience, simplification appeals!

 

These cardboard mockups are my first attempt ever at this sort of craft work. Building a “proper” model of the station building will be quite challenging enough that I’ll skip the bay window.

[RobAllen]

Back from a conference and made up a test track with a Seep GMC-EM1 electromagnet on it for testing.
 

 

It requires a 5mm hole which is slight too big for the sleeper space of HO track, but seems small enough for Peco Bullhead track. I have HO track on my test track:

 

Nice that it worked. I remember my dad’s electromagnets had a half-inch bar across the top, but it seems that the small stud of the SEEP one works well enough:

 

These are two of my dad’s wagons. Interesting that the couplings are different sizes. I assume that the wagon has the 4mm version and the van has the 3mm.

 

My thoughts at the moment are that if I can get away with just a 5mm hole between the sleepers of the bullhead track then I’ll be able to choose where to put the electromagnets after I lay the track as I can work out where they need to be as I play test.

 

I’ll also need a lot more Sprat & Winkle couplings!

 

Edited March 17 by RobAllen

[Captain Kernow]

Interesting to see the underside of the baseboard, too! Is that an Ikea product?

 

[RobAllen]

50 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

Interesting to see the underside of the baseboard, too! Is that an Ikea product?

 

 

Nothing so grandiose. It's a bit of ply with two bit of 2x1 on each side. The track's merely held down by three wood screws and the buffer stop is a nail.
 

 

I intend to mount the electromagnet's power connector and push button soon though.

I'll also sort out another power connector for the track so that I can use it for DCC programming. I suspect that I should get a different shaped connector for that one and make it common with Holcombe.

[Fishplate]

17 hours ago, RobAllen said:

I’ll also need a lot more Sprat & Winkle couplings!

 

Hi Rob @RobAllen.

 

I experimented with S&W couplings on my Mk1 layout and concluded they weren't for me. I've got various packets left over from that and am happy to pass on. Let me know what you are after on a PM and I'll have a rummage to see what I have. Better used by someone than lying idle.

[RobAllen]

Put down the underly today. This is 3mm XPS underlay insulation glued down with Copydex and painted a dark grey so that there isn't a bright green in any gaps in the ballast!

 

 

 

I rather quickly worked out that 126cm above the floor was a little too high for me to work comfortably, so used the floor and worked on two boards at a time.
 

Now I'm waiting for the paint to dry, before I drill holes for the droppers and then lay some points and track.

 

[RobAllen]

Thinking about laying the straight track, is there any benefit in cutting the ~1m lengths of track down to approximately scale 45' lengths to create the look (fishplates) and clickety-clack sound of track laid in 1920? 

Maybe a cosmetic fishplate and cutting a notch into the track (assuming I can find a thing enough cutting disk would also work?

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I'd notch the track if you want to take that approach, Rob, rather than cut the rail all the way through. 

[Fishplate]

2 hours ago, RobAllen said:

clickety-clack sound

 

If you want that sound, you'll need to make sure the 'joints' are further apart than the longest wheel base of bogie coaches you want to run. 

 

I agree with @Peter Kazmierczak about not making individual 'panels'. You'll have to cut one of the rails further to get the joints square where you lay them on a curve, rather than at the end of a yard of OO.

 

45ft is only 180mm, or just over 7" . So each yard of OO will need chopping into five pieces, all of which might need further adjustment. You also might end up with a thru'penny bit railway. 

 

Although that could be quite prototypical for some locations. . . . 🙂

[RobAllen]

Thanks. Best of all notching means that I can defer the decision!

[RobAllen]

Taking advantage of the bank holiday, I laid the first three points. Looking at the plan, I decided that starting from the end of the curve made the most sense.

 

First thing was to lay them out and check: 

 

Which immediately showed a problem in that the point into the goods yard crossed the board join! 

I immediately worked out that I had picked one of long ones destined for the crossover at the end of the platform rather than medium one for the goods yard. Dug it out and it fitted.

 

I'm using the Peco bullhead points and added droppers. 

 

There's nowhere obvious to solder the droppers and you have to cut the webbing somewhere. I picked a place where there were two other pieces of webbing to hold the sleepers in the right place. One of the nice things about the unifrog design is that Peco have already connected every rail, so I figured that it didn't really matter where the droppers go.

 

After drilling a 9mm hole for the point motor and smaller holes for the droppers and frog wires, I glued them down the copydex and put some weights on:

 

Will look at it tomorrow evening and see if they are stuck down okay. Hopefully, I can continue next weekend. 

Edited April 1 by RobAllen

[RobAllen]

Remind me again why I thought separate base boards was a good idea?!

 

 

This sort of thing is harder than it looks!

[AdeMoore]

Brass screws I tried yes I also found difficult.

Then moved over to copper clad board much easier.

This isn’t the best but as it’s on a viaduct end it will be disguised under timbers.

yet to slit the join with a fine disk.

 

[MAP66]

What about this as a solution from Modeltech, haven't used it myself but looks like a good bit of kit for aligning track over baseboard joins.

 

https://www.marks-trains.co.uk/shop/layout-accessories/modeltech-ho-oo-protrack-rail-aligner-standard/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5fTRjuewhQMVD5dQBh2aCQwkEAQYByABEgLK-PD_BwE

[RobAllen]

3 minutes ago, MAP66 said:

What about this as a solution from Modeltech, haven't used it myself but looks like a good bit of kit for aligning track over baseboard joins.

 

I looked at those, but couldn't work out how to use them with angled and curved track. 

All 4 done now though!

 

[MAP66]

3 minutes ago, RobAllen said:

 

I looked at those, but couldn't work out how to use them with angled and curved track. 

All 4 done now though!

 

Well done for cracking on with it, looks like those track rails are not going anywhere. As long as it provides smooth running then that's done the trick.

Unfortunately, I can't comment on the adaptability of the Modeltech product in its use on curves and angles, if indeed that is possible. Reviews for it are good though.

[RobAllen]

After this weekend's work, the track in the station is laid:

 

All droppers in position too, but no point motors yet:

 

I think that I need to sort out the DCC buses (track and accessory) next which will require working out a solution for joining the wiring across the board given that I can't get at the underside until one board has been disconnected.

 

[RobAllen]

I intended to do some wiring today, but I don't have the right bits, so I have ordered them.

 

Instead, I decided to cross the next baseboard join.

 

There's only two for this one. Firstly the pretty straight line to the industry:

 

and then the curve… I bought some templates from WHWW and used the 638mm one:

 

and of course am now waiting for the glue to dry!

 

Edited April 14 by RobAllen

[RobAllen]

The DCC solution I chose is DCC-EX.

I didn't want to build it all from scratch, so purchased a complete system from Chesterfield Models. This included a box with a Motor Shield and an Arduino running DCC-EX to connect to the track along with a separate box containing a Raspberry Pi running JMRI as set up by Steve Todd. 

With the power supplier as well, I decided to put it all in a wooden box to keep it all safe and together.

 

The iPhone is an old one that I had lying around. It runs WiThrottle. The system creates its own WiFi network so the phone automatically connects and is ready to as soon as I turn it on which is nice. I run JMRI by VNC from my computer to the Pi.

It all works nicely and even provides a separate programming track output in addition to the main track.

 

Quite pleased with the holes that I drilled. Turns out that using a rule and pencil first helps!
 

Edited April 20 by RobAllen

[RobAllen]

First board wired up. Tomorrow, I'll work out how to do a plug for the connection to the next board. 

[RobAllen]

Second board wired up now!

 

 

I've essentially run the bus along the side where the most droppers are closest, hence towards the back on the left board and the front on the right hand one.

Obviously, with both station boards done, I had to test it out!

 

 

 

It works!

I need to lay complete the track on the third and fourth boards and wire them up next. Then on to the point motors.

Might just turn a few locos up and down first though…

 

 

[RailWest]

I've never tried this for real, but....why not have a the bus as a complete loop around the layout - along the front edge and then back along the rear edge?  Then, not only can you connect droppers to whichever 'arm' of the loop is nearer, but if you accidentally get a break in one or both bus wires then it won't stop everything working.