Highlandman Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 Unfortunately there has been a distinct lack of progress on Salcombe Harbour. This is due to several factors, video recording and editing of school Christmas plays and the designing and layout of a magazine. But things have started to move again now I have a bit more free time. All rails across the two main boards have been fixed and and cut through. I have tried a couple of methods to fix the rail ends, one is a small brass dome head screw under the rail and then soldered the other is copper clad sleeper strip stuck to the board with 5 minute epoxy and them soldered. Of course remembering to gap the copper as well . One problem I did have was how to fix track on a 36in radius with a joint in it, with out kinks. Well after consulting the gurus on this esteemed forum the problem has been solved and I think has worked quite well. By cutting one rail short on each peice of track and removing I was able to stagger the joints by about 6ins, so that when bent in to a curve the joint did not kink. Many thanks to all those that took the time to answer so quickly. (see Track joints on a curve ) I have finally opted for a cassette fiddle yard and the first cassette has been made. So today I have been concentrating on the harbour branch and fiddle yard boards. The track to the fiddle yard has been laid but does need some tweeking as there is a small step up from the cassette that could be a potential source of problems if I do nothing about it now. I will post some more pictures as soon as I have taken them so that you can see the progress so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 2, 2011 Author Share Posted March 2, 2011 As promised here are some new pictures of progress so far. Above: The long centre track will be cut back to allow a building of some sort to finish the end of the layout. Probably a harbour master or business. Above: The quay side track nearest the camera will be extended to equal the centre track in length. The kick-back siding will access on fuel oil terminal for boats and beyond that a timber merchant (probably). Above: Here you can see the proposed site for the fuel oil terminal and possible timber/builders merchant You can see the assette fiddle yard on the left, but this still needs a bit more tweeking. The upright board is where the fiddle yard screen/backboard will go. Low releif warehouses will front this. The first siding of the branch will be under a warehouse overhang and hopefully into a warehouse end door. Warehouse beyond this will have a goods platform for loading. I hope to inset the track on the quay side. Would you believe I do have a plan, but as someone in the military once said "a plan never survives first contact with the enemy" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted March 2, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 2, 2011 I'd put a business there rather than the harbour master. He would be unlikely to give much direct business to the railway where as a business would and could well want a location close to the yard for transportation reasons. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 A bit more work has been done today on Salcombe Harbour. The track you saw in the last pictures has now been stuck down after cutting out the recesses for the Kadee #309 uncouplers. All rails at board joints have been soldered and cut so that I can at last seperate the boards and work on them individually and on their sides if I have to. Below: Fixing point motors As you can see I have started fixing the Tortoise point motors rescued from an old unfinished layout and having changed the operating wire to a slightly thicker gauge for a more positive throw. I have also started to fit the electro magnetic uncouplers but I am still five short. These I have just ordered from Nairnshire Modelling Suppplies and hope to get them soon. Once I can get these fitted I can concentrate on the wiring (DCC) and designing the panel for the point switches and uncoupler buttons. Here I intend to use a consol case similar to the one pictured below. Away from the layout I have been looking at different types of warehouse both real and modeled to see what type I would like to have along the quay. Decisions, decisions, decisions !!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 I have managed to complete a few more jobs this weekend. I put some more point motors on and found out I was short by four. Managed to purchase two Cobalt motors from Roxley Models in Great Bookham but could not find any more. It will be interesting to see how these compare to the Tortoises I have fitted and used in the past. Today is a day of odd errands but I have at least been able to cut and fit two end boards for storage and transport. They currently make the unit measure 4ft6in x 2ft x 2ft, but I might be able to cut down the end boards by 4 to 6ins depending on placement of scenery, when i come to do it. This should make it easier to get the layout into the car if I need to. I still need to complete end boards for the 3ft 6in units that include the fiddle yard. Hopefully more pictures soon. Now the track is down and boards seperated I can concentrate on wiring the point motors and uncouplers. Reminder to self; I must make sure it is neat and I make a note of where each wire goes and what it does. :lol: (we'll see). Below: A view of Salcombe Harbour looking across to East Portlemouth Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold gwrrob Posted March 6, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2011 I have managed to complete a few more jobs this weekend. I put some more point motors on and found out I was short by four. Managed to purchase two Cobalt motors from Roxley Models in Great Bookham but could not find any more. It will be interesting to see how these compare to the Tortoises I have fitted and used in the past. Today is a day of odd errands but I have at least been able to cut and fit two end boards for storage and transport. They currently make the unit measure 4ft6in x 2ft x 2ft, but I might be able to cut down the end boards by 4 to 6ins depending on placement of scenery, when i come to do it. This should make it easier to get the layout into the car if I need to. I still need to complete end boards for the 3ft 6in units that include the fiddle yard. Hopefully more pictures soon. Now the track is down and boards seperated I can concentrate on wiring the point motors and uncouplers. Reminder to self; I must make sure it is neat and I make a note of where each wire goes and what it does. :lol: (we'll see). Below: A view of Salcombe Harbour looking across to East Portlemouth Beautiful.Is that the South Sands ferry in the middle distance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted March 6, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 6, 2011 Beautiful.Is that the South Sands ferry in the middle distance. It's the "Rivermaid", South Sand's ferry is smaller. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold gwrrob Posted March 6, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 6, 2011 It's the "Rivermaid", South Sand's ferry is smaller. What do I know.I'm only some pesky holidaymaker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 1000 points to Kris, but points don't matter. It is the 'Rivermaid'. She runs a ferry service between Salcombe and Kingsbridge, normally to the Boat Yard Quay in Kingsbridge but will go right up to the Town Quay when the tide allows. The fact that it uses and follows the estuary to get to Salcombe it's almost the same route the railway could have taken. It's a lovely trip to take in the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 Salcombe is starting to get its wiring. I made a start on board 4 today. This board contains the harbour and fiddle yard and only has a couple of turnouts and uncouplers to wire. First of all I installed the power bus for the DCC using 1mm2 lighting cable stripped from its cover. Each end was attached to chocolate box connectors and droppers from the track were soldered to it. Below: Power bus and point motors Below: Close up of wiring I drilled a small hole on each side of the cassette entrance to the fiddle yard so that I could attached wires from the track to the aluminium angle at the side of the track. This will be used to energise the cassette by connecting them with bulldog clips or similar. No comes the crunch. All done for this board to power up the track or so I thought. POwer up the Digitrax connect clips to the track. DEAD SHORT. Ooops! I forgot to gap one of the copper sleepers used to secure the track at joins. No I hadn't. Maybe the Tortoise wasn't fully thrown and it was shorting the crossing. Nope it wasn't that either. Now I'm losing patience, it's late and I still haven't started dinner yet. What could it be? So in a moment of clarity I decide to check the isolated crossings in the point work. First point, no short, second point, DEAD SHORT. Bu?$*r it. Below: Errant point work Nothing to do but gently ease up the point and hope I don't break anything why I do it. I had to cut through the insulated fishplates to lift it, while carefully breaking the glue joint. Managed to get the turnout up, turn it over and Hey Presto! I hadn't taken out the two little jumpers that Peco fit when I soldered blades to the stock rails. Duh!! what a dummy! . So I broke the contacts and replaced the turnout using some more PVA hoping that everything will still be aligned when it has dried. Now i'm hoping I remembered to remove the contacts on all the other turnouts fitted. Hopefully lesson learned. I'll find out on the next board. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 What are the odds? Shorts on two different boards caused by me not taking out the little jumper on the back of Peco live frog points. In my case i'll give you odds on favourite. Yep, I did it twice. I wired up the second board today, connected the controller and click, click, click a short. This time I was loathed to lift the turnout as it is a curved one and I did not want the track moving out of alignment. So out came the mini drill and a disk cutter and I cut through the insulation on the crossing and the little jumper underneath. I am hoping that by the time I have ballasted the track the scars will not be too noticable. I am now keeping fingers and toes crossed that I didn't miss the turnouts on the main station boards. I am sure I didn't, maybe. It was still nice to see a loco under power, even if it was only for a very short distance on the corner board. More a case or two steps forward and one back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 There are two possible routes to Plymouth from Salcombe Harbour. One is by the original line up the Avon Valley to the mainline at South Brent, the other is via the Yealmpton Branch that branches off just to the north of Kingsbridge. Below is the 10:49 service to Plymouth North Road on the Yealmpton Branch just outside Modbury, powered by Prairie 5526. In reality just coming into Staverton on the South Devon Railway, but it all add atmosphere to the layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 Got the first of the big boards down today and ran a multimeter over the point work to check for any shorts. I couldn't find any so will presume the jumpers have been cut. I had to fit two Kadee #309 uncouplers to this board. The holes were already cut so it was just a question of puoshing the units in and sticking them. I also noticed some of the soldered joints on the Tortoise motors looked a bit ragged so they were removed and then resoldered. Last job of the day was to run the two power bus wires the length of the board. Droppers will be added and soldered later. I still need to work out the cable runs for the point motors and uncouplers. In my head I can see what I want clearly but implementation is a different matter. How to run connections between boards? I am leaning towards multipin D-plugs or similar. I am now also wondering if I should split the control panel into two. The main one for the station area and a smaller sub panel for the small harbour branch. Watch this space...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linesman Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Wonderfully neat under-baseboard work there. Those Kadee uncouplers are pretty sizable items aren't they? I was considering using Kadees for my new layout but am now wondering if the rubbishy old tension lock couplers might be a lot less trouble. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 Wonderfully neat under-baseboard work there. Those Kadee uncouplers are pretty sizable items aren't they? I was considering using Kadees for my new layout but am now wondering if the rubbishy old tension lock couplers might be a lot less trouble. Thanks Linesman for the comments. The uncouplers are a bit chunky but thankfully the new #309 version sits fully under the track. All you need is the courage to cut the correspoding hole in your nice new baseboards . I did think about sticking with tension lock but liked the look of Kadees plus the way stock could be lifted from a rake in the fiddle yard with out disrupting the whole train. I am also trying for a totally hands free operation on the scenic side. ( I'm not holding my breath though). I did try Spratt & Winkle but could not get on with assembling them. My soldering skills are not quite ready for that yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted March 11, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 11, 2011 There are two possible routes to Plymouth from Salcombe Harbour. One is by the original line up the Avon Valley to the mainline at South Brent, the other is via the Yealmpton Branch that branches off just to the north of Kingsbridge. Below is the 10:49 service to Plymouth North Road on the Yealmpton Branch just outside Modbury, powered by Prairie 5526. Purely theoretical thought time - - - - - - - - I wonder if the line connecting Kingsbridge and the Yealmpton branch had been built if this would have caused Plymouth Friary to stay open with the trains terminating there instead of going into North Road, after the bombing of Millbay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Purely theoretical thought time - - - - - - - - I wonder if the line connecting Kingsbridge and the Yealmpton branch had been built if this would have caused Plymouth Friary to stay open with the trains terminating there instead of going into North Road, after the bombing of Millbay. It would have made sense to keep Friary open to serve the South Hams and outlying areas, possible a central hub for a West Devon Transport Authority. They would have left North Road to deal with all the mainline traffic between London and Cornwall I have been doing a bit more work on the two main base boards over the last couple of days. Tortoise point motors have been connected to the frogs and wired to connecting blocks ready for the wiring to be continued towards the control panel. While at the Basingstoke show I purchased som 37 way D-plugs to take the point and uncoupler wiring across baseboard joints. Droppers have been wired to the main bus and a loco has actually been test run on each board. When I have some more pictures I will show progress so far in the meantime below are a couple of photographs of stock I could run on Salcombe Harbour, both taken on the South Devon Railway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 What is it with Maplins? It's supposed to be an electronics store, so why can't they sell electronic items? Because they don't have the damn things in stock. I started assembling the control panel for Salcombe but need a few more switches to complete it. All I wanted was a couple of push to make buttons for the uncouplers and some DPDT switches for the Tortoise motors, so I paid a visit to one of my local Maplins and they were out of stock of both switches. So on to the next local store. I did manage to find one push to make switch but they too were out of stock of the DPDT switches. " When are you getting them in " I asked. I was told that they only had FOUR DPDT switches on order and had no idea when they would be in. Not very good for a major electronics store. Role on for Ally Pally, I'm sure I will be able to pick some up from there, but surely I should be able to go into a large retailer and know that they will have more than four switches in stock. Anyway, the panel is coming along and I now need to work on teh connections between boards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold gwrrob Posted March 21, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 21, 2011 I think All Components will have everything you need at Ally Pally Andy.Cheaper too I'd expect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 I knew I should have waited Robin, but wanted to get at least the front of the panel completed. Lesson learnt me thinks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 Here is the front panel with the missing switch at top. Still a bit of work to be done. Point A is a continuation round to the harbour quay side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 A bit more work done today. I have completed the wiring on board one which is the station board and yard. All wires lead to a 16 way solder tag strip from which I will take off a multi way plug to connect to board two. Above: Board One I have made a start on board two which is the station throat, so it it has the majority of point motors on it. The uncouplers have all been wired in orange wire to their own tag board. The point motors still need doing. This will be the board that the control panel will be connected to with a jumper lead long enough to place the panel either at the front or the back of the layout. Above: Board Two It's amazing how much work you can get done while watching a good film and a decent cup of coffee, currently it's High Plains Drifter with Clint Eastwood and Nescafe's Espresso. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 Went to Ally Pally at the weekend and managed to pick up some more items from All Components. All individual boards have now been wired up and I have started to make up the jumper leads to connect all boards together. I couldn't finds a console wide enough for what I wanted so have decided to make one out of ply and a white coated aluminium panel as per the picture in a previous posting. I have decided to connect the panel with a 2 metre lead so that it can be mounted at various places on the layout depending on location. I had a look at the Expo filter hood and managed to talk to the demonstrator on the Modelmates stand who had one operating. I decided not to get one as I wasn't to impressed with the airflow at the filter face and even more so at the front of the extractor. As it will be used in a family flat I need something that will pull all the fumes and particles in to the hood and extract through a duct out of a window. Precision Paints solution seems to be ideal but does cost quite a bit more. We will see. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Bloody grockles! Am really enjoying this thread. We should start a south hams modelling area for all the layout threads. With regard to buildings I would look at those on the Kingsbridge branch for potential style clues. The goods shed is still there and very nice. I have full plans for KB station building and Kris has superb drawings for detail and the other stations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlandman Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 Bloody grockles! Am really enjoying this thread. We should start a south hams modelling area for all the layout threads. With regard to buildings I would look at those on the Kingsbridge branch for potential style clues. The goods shed is still there and very nice. I have full plans for KB station building and Kris has superb drawings for detail and the other stations. Too right there, especially those that will not pull their nice new cars over in to the hedgerow to let you pass. They don't want to put any scratches on it. Even more reason we should have a railway network covering the South Hams. I would be very interested in the plans for Kingsbridge Station if possible. I could not get there before they criminaly tore it down. Funny it was at a weekend when the planning department and others could have put a stop to it. I have looked at Gara Bridge and Lodiswell for ideas and trawled through several books. At last, the point control has been wired on the control panel and linked by an umbilical cord to the layout. I had a few problems, one was the front panel was electrically linked to the switches. HOW? Through trial and error I found that a small bit of solder had bridged the gap between the solder tag on the back of the switch and the metal side. As soon as the switch was placed on the board the front became part of the circuit. My soldering skills still need some refining. I completed all the point wiring on the panel, plugged in the power and umbilical lead and Hey Presto! they worked, sort off. For some reason there was a voltage drop off between the panel and point motors so out came the multimeter and testing started. It turned out to be the wire I had used to make the power bus for the motors. De-soldered this and replaced it with different wire and all seems to be working at the moment. Next job is to connect all the boards together and test the motors on the other boards. Keep your fingers crossed. Here are some pictures of work so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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