Lime Street Station

[Steve Hewitt]

And another...........

 

Latest update from John - he's a busy boy.

 

Hi Chaps,

 

Well, this one turned out to be a quick one after all. Yes, Baseboard 6 is now complete. As there was only through wiring on this one there were no complications. The board is now up and tested as far as I can at this stage.

 

This is in stark contrast to the next one Baseboard 7. This one has wiring going in three directions plus all the connections to the Y box, so don't hold your breath for the next update.

 

I hope to put the back scenes up for the scenic detailing to start in the cutting area, so stand by Rob for a phone call soon !!

 

I mentioned in update 3 that Brian was working on the "well" that the hotel fits into. He nearly finished that last Monday, and it should be finished tomorrow (Monday).

The big news here is that Steve and Les are bringing the hotel for a test fit on Wednesday, I really can't wait to see it in position.

The two boards concerned are temporally up on their own so we will be able to get all round them as we position the hotel for the first time.

I need this doing sooner rather than later as I am running out of space to do this as I slowly complete the wiring upgrades on the boards and they are put up in their positions.

The hotel will then be going back to Preston for Les to carry on with all his detailing.

 

So it's heads down and on to No.7.

 

See some of you on Friday on the Glasgow trip,

 

Cheers,

 

John.

 

The above details were sent to the Lime Street Crew.

Apologies if some of the detail doesn't make any sense to RMwebbers at large.

Just ask and I'll try to explain.

 

Steve.

 

[Steve Hewitt]

 

And another...........

 

Latest update from John - he's a busy boy.

 

 

This is in stark contrast to the next one Baseboard 7. This one has wiring going in three directions plus all the connections to the Y box, so don't hold your breath for the next update.

 

Here's it is on the bench:

 

I mentioned in update 3 that Brian was working on the "well" that the hotel fits into. He nearly finished that last Monday, and it should be finished tomorrow (Monday).

The big news here is that Steve and Les are bringing the hotel for a test fit on Wednesday, I really can't wait to see it in position.

 

Here it is in the back of my car:

 

Unloading:

 

You'll notice that the roof is absent - still in Fulwood for Tiling

 

Here's the "Well" into which the Hotel should fit.

 

 

Will it fit?

 

 

Of course it will  

 

 

The hotel will then be going back to Preston for Les to carry on with all his detailing.

 

It is safely back for more work....

 

Steve.

 

 

[mullie]

Clicking a like or craftmanship clever icon is not enough for such amazing modelling. Simply stunning.

[Removed a/c]

WOW that is just stunning. !!! I am lost for words. 

[Steve Hewitt]

Lifting the hotel .......

 

In my previous post, you may have spotted John and Les lifting the hotel into place for its "First Fit".

 

Here's a little video showing a bit more of Les's planning behind this fantastic model.

 

 

Steve.

[Steve Hewitt]

Another update from John....

 

"Hi Chaps,

 

Nice to see you all on Friday on the trip to Glasgow, only sorry Rob was not with us as he was on a short break in North Wales. The trip was great again this year especially the dining service on the train !!

Peter Goss handed over the first batch of figures he's done and they look great. These consist of the track workers for the cutting, a load of university students, and lots of "working class" people for the top of the cutting. there are some horses for the stables (I have to say it would be a shame to have them hidden, maybe Rob will have an idea on this one), and some cart wheels.

 

I spoke today with Trevor at the other end of our street who is building an O gauge layout, he said he had a static grass applicator we can use, and has someone coming soon to show him how to use it. Very useful for the grass in the cutting - I'll call you soon on that one Rob.

 

So, board 7 is now complete. All the paperwork is done, but I still have to do what functional testing I can in the morning when Brian comes and we put the board up and connect it to it's mate board 6. The significant point about this board is that the Y box connects to it so I hope to get the X & Y boxes talking to each other again through the new cabling. (Fingers crossed !)

 

As you have all seen, the hotel made it's first visit to Lime St. last Wednesday and didn't it look great !!! We had the two boards up a week or so beforehand to make sure the "well was the correct size (Thank you Brian), and as usual where Les is involved it fitted first time perfectly. So before those two boards are stowed back in their frame I intend to do the upgrade work required on both of them. This will not take long as there really is very little to do on them, however there is one little gem going on board 11 Y, namely a circuit for switching on Les's wall lights (On the front wall of the hotel). These lights are modelled as electric lights so they must come on as one would expect, not like the gas ones. As we are using the three phase gas supply to trigger the switching, Geoff is building a special circuit to switch them from the standard supply. I will be wiring some plungers up I fitted today ready for the circuit board when it's ready. So as I say, not much to do on these two boards so expect "Update 6" very soon !

After that board 8 will be up on the bench, that one will take a little longer !

 

Onward and Upward,

 

John."

 

These updates from John are sent to each member of the "Lime Street Crew", but I think they're worth sharing with our wider audience of followers on RMweb.

We are all looking forward to the end of May, by which date John intends to have the layout updates complete, and the whole operational once more.

 Can't wait to get trains moving, and try out all these new features

 

Steve.

[LNER4479]

 

I mentioned in update 3 that Brian was working on the "well" that the hotel fits into. He nearly finished that last Monday, and it should be finished tomorrow (Monday).

The big news here is that Steve and Les are bringing the hotel for a test fit on Wednesday, I really can't wait to see it in position.

 

Will it fit?

 

Of course it will  

 

 

I'm sorry - that's just too good merely to 'agree' with someone else's 'Wow!' So have another one.

 

WOW!! Incredible modelling on an incredible scale.

[Steve Hewitt]

Yet another update from John ........

 

"Hi Chaps,

 

Well, I said this would be a quick one !

 

Baseboard 11 X is now complete and safely back in it's frame.

Board 11 Y has had all the work we initially planned completed, but the additional control board for the hotel front wall lights will not be ready for some time so that board will go on the back burner for now.

 

I have tested as much as I can on board 7 and all is O.K. so far.

The X box and Y box are talking to each other O.K. (now I've remembered to plug board 7 up !).

So it's onward and upward with board 8 now, it's on the bench and ready to go!

 

Cheers for now,

 

John."

 

John also sent a progress report showing the Baseboards completed in RED, and those outlined in GREEN which are still to be worked on!

 

 

As you can see, every board except nos. 1, 2, 7A & 8B are affected by these upgrades.

 

Steve.

[Steve Hewitt]

Updates coming thick and fast..........

 

John's latest progress report to the Lime Street Crew:

 

Hi Chaps,

 

Here I am again, to tell you board 8 is now complete!

 

This one as I said before was a big one to deal with, there is a lot of "Stuff"on it.

I just hope I have not caused any problems whilst working on it that will surface at some time in the future and bite me! Plenty of operating required I think when we are all up and running again.

Unfortunately when I was testing it I found that I had inadvertently missed one of the wires back on board 6 (Whistle switching), so today we had to take boards 6 &7 down again to resolve the problem. However all is sorted so they are back up again as well as board 8.

 

I noticed on one of Steve's last posts on RMweb, that he was explaining the key to the progress chart. He mentioned the boards that don't require any work doing including board 7A, Well sad to say (as you will now see on the chart), board 7A does now require some work. Namely the installation of the "Red Bucket" camera.

I anticipated it would go on board 7, however it is too close to the track therefor it will now be sited on Board 7A.

 

I had a good weekend at the Preston show with Brian on Saturday, and Tony Stevenson on Sunday, (yes I'm still alive despite it being Mothering Sunday).

I glazed the new tram, and have made good progress with the furniture van I am converting to work on the car system. 

 

So like at the end of my last post, the next board (9) is now up on the bench, and indeed I have already done some work on it.

 

Onward & Upward,

 

John."

 

Steve.

 

[Les Green]

 

Updates coming thick and fast..........

 

John's latest progress report to the Lime Street Crew:

 

Hi Chaps,

 

Here I am again, to tell you board 8 is now complete!

 

This one as I said before was a big one to deal with, there is a lot of "Stuff"on it.

I just hope I have not caused any problems whilst working on it that will surface at some time in the future and bite me! Plenty of operating required I think when we are all up and running again.

Unfortunately when I was testing it I found that I had inadvertently missed one of the wires back on board 6 (Whistle switching), so today we had to take boards 6 &7 down again to resolve the problem. However all is sorted so they are back up again as well as board 8.

 

I noticed on one of Steve's last posts on RMweb, that he was explaining the key to the progress chart. He mentioned the boards that don't require any work doing including board 7A, Well sad to say (as you will now see on the chart), board 7A does now require some work. Namely the installation of the "Red Bucket" camera.

I anticipated it would go on board 7, however it is too close to the track therefor it will now be sited on Board 7A.

 

I had a good weekend at the Preston show with Brian on Saturday, and Tony Stevenson on Sunday, (yes I'm still alive despite it being Mothering Sunday).

I glazed the new tram, and have made good progress with the furniture van I am converting to work on the car system. 

 

So like at the end of my last post, the next board (9) is now up on the bench, and indeed I have already done some work on it.

 

Onward & Upward,

 

John."

Update 7.jpg

 

Steve.

 

 

How about including a photo of the underneath of each board as it is completed. That should be a real jaw dropper of a photo!

[aac]

I don't know where this layout will end up long-term, but I just hope someone somewhere knows that we are witnessing exceptional museum-standard modelling going on in front of our eyes.

 

aac

[Steve Hewitt]

And another update from John.....

 

Hi Chaps,

 

Me again, I suppose this is getting a bit boring now, but it shows I'm still out there getting on with this upgrade.

 

Well that's board 9 done, not too hard this one as it was mostly about wiring coming in and out of the board. (In & out from three directions)

 

I fell a bit behind as Geoff and I spent some time last week working out how the combination of new and old camera buttons should best be displayed on the consoles. I hope you find the layout we have adopted O.K. when we start to operate. No matter what configuration we adopt there will always be a different view on how it could be done, but having looked at all the options I feel the choice I have made is the best compromise. I will send you a picture once Geoff has finished the consoles.

 

Geoff has made really good progress with the video switch despite having to deal with other pressures on his time. The last thing he was doing was cross-connecting all the video inlets on the video switches to the various camera feed sockets that the incoming cameras to the video switch plate terminate on. Also cross connecting all the eight video switch inlets together. There are at least 64 different connections to make !

 

So board 10 has now been temporally put up so I can fit the next new camera. This one will be facing the end of Back Road 1&2 and will allow you to see the little tank loco coming off the coal train. It will be heading straight for the camera !

 

I take on board Les's suggestion about pictures of the board wiring when they are up on the bench, so will oblige when I get to Board 8A as that is the next one with any significant wiring on that I will be working on.

 

Cheers for now,

 

Onwards & Upwards,

 

John.

 

Here's the camera on Board 10:

 

and the view from it as seen by the operator in his console:

 

That will make life easier for the operators, as these tracks are completely out of view from the normal "driving seats".

 

Steve.

 

[Tony Teague]

Steve

What cameras are being used on Lime Street?

I have some hidden storage sidings where these would be useful but I am not sure whether to acquire 'security' type cameras, which can be used with fairly standard devices that will show 4 pictures on a screen, or something else. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Tony

[Steve Hewitt]

Hi Tony,

 

Cameras are nothing special.

I believe John found them on the internet putting something like "CCTV cameras from China" into a search.

They cost about £3.50 each

 

They would probably be OK feeding straight into a simple monitor.

We have a custom made "video switch" to allow our monitors to display the image from any camera chosen by the operator.

 

No idea if the sort of multi-image display gizmo you mentioned is readily available, nor what the cost might be.

 

Hope this helps,

Steve.

 

 

[Steve Hewitt]

More from John.............

 

"Hi Chaps,

 

That's board ten done ! This marks a significant point in the upgrade as that now completes all the spine boards.

On my last post you saw the new camera on Board 10, well that is now wired and ready to go.

 

Please don't think I'm putting extra time in, it's just that the last couple of boards have been relatively easy to do.

I have board 7 A up on the bench now and that one too should be relatively quick to do.

It's just a question of how my time pans out over the next few days. I am very conscious of non railway activities catching up with me soon and having to put railway matters on the back burner for a while so I'm moving as fast as I can while I can !

 

We had a good day here today with partial testing of the comms system now that board 10 is up.

We had a visit today from Noel who has made excellent progress with the script for the commentary track. He will be mailing it to me to look at after which it will be forwarded to Allan for recording.

 

I got the 'Bucket' camera fitted on board 7 A and was surprised how easy it was to fit. Whilst the image could have been better it is very clear and will really make life easier when uncoupling at the Bucket, no more straining to look round the tunnel!

 

The next board (8 A) will be a big one as we have the sound plate on that one together with wires coming in and out in all directions plus the first platform mounted camera. - Watch this space !!

 

Onward & Upwards,

 

John."

[Steve Hewitt]

Update 10 from John........

 

"Hi Chaps,

That’s board 7A done. Now the red colouring is really starting to win!

 

 

 I just had the CIL to connect through on this one plus the ‘Bucket’ camera to fit.

I was surprised how easy this camera was to fit.

 

This shot shows the new camera for uncoupling at the "Red bucket". 

 

When the bridge section above is fitted the camera fits neatly inside and is then virtually invisible!

This shot shows the camera with the bridge in position. Only the lens can be seen, and this picture is taken from a point not normally accessible when the layout is fully assembled.

 

 

 

Here's the view from this camera:

 

 

For those not familiar with our operations, the Red Bucket marks the location of a KayDee Electromagnetic uncoupler.

 

Following on from Les's suggestion here is a shot of the underside of board 7A.

 

 

 

The most interesting thing here is the drive system for the station turntable.

To the left is the circuit board that controls the "stepper" motor that drives the turntable.

The motor itself can be seen at the bottom of the picture.

The toothed drive belts can also be seen. These give a reduction that gives greater accuracy for alignment, and increased torque."

 

 

So it’s on to board 8A now.

 

This one has the sound board on it so I should be able to do some testing of the sound system when its complete.

This one might take some time as there are wires coming and going from all four sides!

 

Onward & Upward,

John

P.S. Noel sent his commentary script through today. I’ve not had chance to read it through yet, but that’s another thing one step further on."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rumblestripe]

Steve

What cameras are being used on Lime Street?

I have some hidden storage sidings where these would be useful but I am not sure whether to acquire 'security' type cameras, which can be used with fairly standard devices that will show 4 pictures on a screen, or something else. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Tony

Something like this can be easily achieved using webcams, you can get "Full HD" Webcams for as little as £20 (and cheaper for lesser resolutions) you would need to install a cheap network switch (£20 should cover it) and plug a laptop or perhaps a cheap tablet to display the feeds from the cameras.

[Steve Hewitt]

Something like this can be easily achieved using webcams, you can get "Full HD" Webcams for as little as £20 (and cheaper for lesser resolutions) you would need to install a cheap network switch (£20 should cover it) and plug a laptop or perhaps a cheap tablet to display the feeds from the cameras.

I think you may have missed the earlier response, where the camera cost was said to be about £3.50.

Compared to £20 each, that's quite a cost considering the number of cameras involved - well into double figures!

The displays we are now installing are HD, based on the types fitted into car seat displays etc. and these are permanently installed into the operating consoles.

Each operator (three in total) will have his own choice from a menu of 16 cameras, the menu being different at the Station and Sector Plate operating positions.

 

Once all these upgrades are finished, and the layout is again operational, I'll prepare a report on the camera installations, showing each camera location and its view, with an explanation of its use by the operators.

 

Steve.

[Steve Hewitt]

And here's Update 11 from John..........

 

"Hi Chaps,

That’s board 8A complete and tested as far as possible.

 

Again once when I got down to the Nitti gritty it wasn’t as bad as expected. Although wiring was coming and going in all directions it was all straight forward.

The good news about this one was that it enabled me to test the sound system in it’s new guise with the buttons at the sector plate end now fitted in the console. They worked fine and all the ambient sound functions are still working O.K. despite all the mauling I’ve been doing with the wiring, but sadly “We have a problem Houston”with the auto switching of the sound between the gantry and buttress speakers, also the door slam relay function in the sector plate speaker is not working. Geoff and I have discussed the issue and we think a small alteration in the software will sort things out. ( I’ll report back on that when complete).

 

So now it’s on to the really big one, board 9A.

This one again has wiring going in all directions with the added complication of all the cameras new and old concentrating on the video switch on this board.

Also we have the new connection to the station panels here as well, so once this one is cracked, we should be over the hump.

Today Brian and I had the board up on the station panel table and fitted the new camera for siding C.

This has been mounted on a wooden plate that is bolted to the baseboard through the platform. It is located between two of the double pillars. Fitting this way means that the whole unit can be removed from the baseboard, then the building that will need to be built to hide the camera (any volunteers!), can be removed from the plate to allow the camera to be changed if it goes faulty.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the view from this camera, but I can assure you there will be no more looking under the bridge to the second pillar to locate this uncoupling magnet!

When we finished fitting the camera we put the board up on the bench and I have now started on the wiring proper.

 

 

I’m hoping that Geoff will have completed his work on the video switch later this week and he will be able to bring it over. If so we will be able to sort the software problem with the sound system and then I can complete all the wiring on this board.

 

 

Here is a shot of the underside of board 9A.

I have taken the shot looking up at the underside of the board after it was put up. This way you see the various inter board connections connected.

The large circuit board you can see is the Sound Board with the three little red boards being the "wave triggers" that play the sound files. The little flash cards are located on these boards.

The six small black units numbered one to six are the amplifiers one for each channel.

Things are getting a bit tight under here, so much so that this board is mounted on Stand-Offs and there is a board with some 64 Relays hidden between the baseboard and the new Sound Board. Hope none fail in the middle of a show!

 

To the right of that board is the sixteen way servo board that controls believe it or not sixteen of the signals on the layout.

Further to the right of that you can see the back of the buttress speaker.

One other point of interest on this shot in the top right hand corner are the D type sockets that the board jumper cables plug into when the board is not in use. These keep the cables safely stowed during transit.

 

Heads down, Onward & Upward,

John.

[Tony Teague]

Something like this can be easily achieved using webcams, you can get "Full HD" Webcams for as little as £20 (and cheaper for lesser resolutions) you would need to install a cheap network switch (£20 should cover it) and plug a laptop or perhaps a cheap tablet to display the feeds from the cameras.

Thanks Rumblestripe; I am now doing further research along these lines.

 

I think you may have missed the earlier response, where the camera cost was said to be about £3.50.

Compared to £20 each, that's quite a cost considering the number of cameras involved - well into double figures!

The displays we are now installing are HD, based on the types fitted into car seat displays etc. and these are permanently installed into the operating consoles.

Each operator (three in total) will have his own choice from a menu of 16 cameras, the menu being different at the Station and Sector Plate operating positions.

 

Once all these upgrades are finished, and the layout is again operational, I'll prepare a report on the camera installations, showing each camera location and its view, with an explanation of its use by the operators.

 

Steve.

Thanks Steve, I noted your response and I am now actively looking at software that will allow the display of multiple simultaneous camera outputs to a single screen and /or to switch between these. I'd rather go for a software based solution than try to work out how to build hard switching!

[George Leacon]

Staggering stuff gents.

[Les Green]

Some progress is being made above baseboard level whilst John works under the boards.

 

The roof sections of the hotel are now complete. The roof slates are from two sources. The pinnacle slates have been laser cut by Chris Denning of CD3D. The remainder of the slates are slate photos from Smart Models. These have been printed on self adhesive photo paper and then cut into 4mm strips. Altogether 6000 individual strips of slate had to be glued on!!

 

 

 

An addition I did not expect to add, but again Chris Dening of CD3D came to the rescue with some serrated lead flashing strips for the chimney stacks. Serrated flashing has also been added to the side walls of the gables. More flashing at the base of the chimneys will be added when they are finally glued in position.

 

 

The next step is to add a lot more detail to the hotel structure. Yes, even MORE detail.

 

 

[Steve Hewitt]

Fantastic Les,

 

How many slates are there in 6000 strips?  

 

Steve.

[Les Green]

Fantastic Les,

 

How many slates are there in 6000 strips?  

 

Steve.

 

Not even going to be tempted to count them!!  Not even the hundred or so slates that stuck to the carpet!

Edited March 24, 2016 by Les Green

[Revolution Mike B]

I've seen some modelling nut cases but this takes the ?!&$!!!

 

Just when I thought I'd seen it all, I found this thread...... amazing stuff gentlemen, truly amazing.