RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted June 5, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 5, 2013 I did a test run over the point tonight at the club rooms and I got a nice slow run over the point on speed step 1 but as soon as it hit the steel rail it stalled, so I will definetly be replacing all the points on the Tottington section over the summer to give better operation in the goods yard. I have also experimented with a new idea using DCC to help communication on the layout at exhibitions, from the initial test tonight it seems to work and all will be revealed at the Wigan Exhibition! Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted June 9, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 9, 2013 Some pictures of the near completly point (there is some more weathering required to blend it in a little more with the other track work) A close up of my tiebar And my first attempt at making a tree! Nearly ready for Wigan at the weekend! Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcmacchipilot Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Nice looking tree How did you build it? you have captured the feel of the foliage and the structure very well. How bad is the rust on the rail? The reason that I am asking is at the moment I have planned to use steel rail for my layout, however as I am close to the sea I am wondering what effect rust will have and the likely hood of it happening. How often with the steel do you go over with a track rubber? I know that NS oxidies relativly quickly so a track rubber and usage is almost non stop. (its also the cause of alot of black gunk on the loco tyres, that comment being based on evidence of samples being sent off and put through a mass spectrometer ) Was the flux washed off the rail before it was painted? (Sorry for all the questions, Im just really keen to get this bit right ) Also good work with the tie bars? are they scratch built or a proprietary item? Eagerly awaiting your next post, Owen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted June 28, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 28, 2013 Work re-commenced on the Tottington section this week to replace the majority of the track on this section. It was very noticeable the difference in running in the goods yard on this section with the running on the replaced point and the original steel ones at the Wigan Exhibition, so all points and the goods platform area will be rebuilt. I started on the goods platform area on Wednesday night this week:- Here is the old rail and the rust will explain the bad running on the part of the layout, no doubt this was made worse by the filler used to create the yard. Once this board is completed this is the next part of the Tottington section to be rebuil. At present I do not plan to replace the straight section of this part of the layout as running is OK on them, it is just the points and goods yard which has problems. Owen, I hope this helps as to the reasons I have decided to replace the steel with NS. Apologies for taking so long to reply, with all the work preparing for the Wigan exhibition I switched off for a few days. I will post details of the tree and how I made the tie bars over the weekend. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 5, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 5, 2013 Work continues on the goods yard and I have now replaced the other section of track at the back end of the goods yard. The old track removed. The new track put in place, unlike the previous section I didn't build this in situ. I have been experimenting with a couple of lightweight fillers to see how robust they are and I am going to use small rare earth magnets to uncouple wagons and these will be hidden under the filler, hence the white test patches. I did a test run on Wednesday night with a Bachmann Jinty and without a proper track clean I was able to run the loco on speedstep 1 (of 28) with very little problems. This will completly transform the running of this section as we have never been able to have proper shunting without constant stalling of short wheeled based locos. I have learnt a lot in a short space of time refurbishing the track on this section of the layout and I am therefore seriously considering adding a new section based on Woolford Station which was the only one to have a passing loop on this branch. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 7, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 7, 2013 I spent a couple of hours at the club rooms this morning working on the Tottington section. The filling in of the track on the Goods Yard is nearly complete, it just needs sanding down and filling any small holes. This shows how I have used the rare earth magnets for uncoupling the Kadees. Two more are hidden under the filler near the platform. All the yard filled, all that is left is a sanding down and filling in any obvious holes before painting. We started work in the other board of the Tottington section. Chairs in place on the rail and started to relay it. All the chairs glued in place, there are still some of the long chairs to be placed under the point blades. A section of the track being relaid. It is most likely that all the track will be replaced on this section but having done the first piece it doesn't seem as daunting as I first thought - famous last words! LOL! Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 9, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 9, 2013 The work on the Goods Yard section is nearly complete, it just needs some touching up and weathering to blend it all back in. The nearly complete goods yard. A short test run on part of this section and despite the track only having a quick clean I was able to operate the loco on speed step 1, this couldn't be done on the steel rail. It also shows how the Kadees easily uncouple over the rare earth magnets - especially when I know exactly where I have put them! The test run confirms that the decision to replace the steel was the right one and will transform the operating of this section of the layout and make shunting a lot easier. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 25, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 25, 2013 Work is progressing on the second board of the Tottington section. The second point is now complete except for weathering in and work has started on the third point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 30, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 30, 2013 The rebuilding of the track on the Tottington goods yard is now nearly complete, today I finsihed the third point on the layout, it is only the main running line and the point into the goods yard to be rebuilt I have also improved the method of producing the tiebars and it makes it a lot easier and quicker to build them, I will do a post on how I produce them shortly. After reading Rich's post on building his first point I adopted Brian Harrap's method of producing frogs and it was quick and easy, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted August 2, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2013 We have nearly completed the relaying of the track on the entrance to the goods yard board of the Tottington section, all that is left to finish is the point on the main line. Some quick test runs have proved the re railing was a worth while effort, a Bachmann Jinty crept over the two points at speed step 1 of 28. In replacing the main rail we had to lift the 3rd rail and it is Peco 3rd rail on the conductor rail chairs, but the track was completly boxed in so it couldn't be seen, which was not the case as there was a slot for the collector shoe to enter from the top to hit the side of the rail. I have revisited the 3rd rail after my first attempt (see earlier in the thread), I had assumed the top was open from a picture I had seen but it wasn't and a piece wood covering the rail nearest the track leaving an opening for the shoe on the other side of the rail. To produce I have used a plastic 1/8" square tube and cut a slit in the top to one side using a dremel, I thought it is was too rough at first but studying many pictures of 3rd rail, the wood was not in a good condition so it looks reasonably realistic. I used a small tooth saw blade to recreate the effect of wood grain, I got the idea from Brain Harrap's post on how he makes wood grain effect on copper clad sleepers, (Thanks Brian once agian for another great idea.) Showing the collector shoe opening. Various views showing the new 3rd rail box. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted August 4, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 4, 2013 The regeneration, whoops still in Dr Who mode (LOL), the relaying of the track on the Tottington section is nearly complete, the final point was relayed today and I placed the new 3rd rail box to see how they looke in situ. There is still some comestic work to be done on chairs and then painting the track to make it look rusty rather than being rusty, also weathering in of the sleepers, chairs and ballast. There is still the other section of the main line to relay on the 2nd Tottington board and that will leave only the track under the goods shed, as the goods shed cannot be moved this will remain steel for the time being. The last point to be converted The new 3rd rail box The complete relayed board Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted August 9, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 9, 2013 A quick test run to check the height of the 3rd rail box against the collecting shoe on the Class 504. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted August 24, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 24, 2013 Tonight I completed the relaying of all the track on the Tottington section of the layout, it is now all nickel silver and the improvement in running is amazing and will totally transform the operation of this section of the layout. Here is a short video of a test run using Jinty 47584 showing the improved running on all parts of the layout. The test run. There are still a number of things to be done including some minor improvements to the track; weathering in the the track and fixing parts of the scenery that got damaged when lifting the orginal track. Earlier in the day I travelled behind temporary 47584 on the ELR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted September 5, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted September 5, 2013 Last night we started to put the Tottington section back together again to get it ready for it's apperance this Saturday at the official opening of the Greenmount Sidings refurbishment. A test run identified a couple of electrical problems mainly due to dirty track and a couple of loose connections as a result of the weathering work on the track. Once corrected the running was excellent so I am looking forward to giving it a good run on Saturday. We will be in the Old School hall in Greenmount from 1000 to 1530, along with an exhibition of railway memorablia of the old Holcombe Brook branch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted September 26, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted September 26, 2013 Holcombe Brook & Tottington will be at the Halifax Model Railway Exhibition this coming weekend (28/29th September) so if you are there pop by and say hello. Details can be found here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted March 24, 2014 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 24, 2014 HBT has been in store since the Halifax Exhibition last September and made it's first 2014 appearance at the Heywood Exhibition on 15/16th March. We suffered some poor running, especially on the points on Holcombe Brook. We tested the voltage and it was only showing 12.5 to 13 volts so it was very low, as the length of the layout is in excess of 30ft I took the decision to buy an ECoS Booster and split the layout in to two power districts. Digitrains had one in stock and that arrived last Wednesday so we set up the layout at the club room and tested it. The power on the ECoS section was still reading only 13 volts and it turned out that the voltage dial on the side of the power pack was set low, the immediate thought was I may have got away with the Booster but with the amount of sound locos I use and the planned extension with a section based on Woolfold Station it will be worth the investment it in the long run. Initial tests showed a significant improvement in running with little or no stalling and this was due dirty track. We got some very nice slow running over the previous troublesome points. The layout will be at Rail Road 2014, details below. Tame Valley Scouts - Rail Road 2014 Sat 5th April 2014 - Sun 6th April 2014 Astley Sports College Yew Tree Lane Dukinfield Cheshire SK16 5BL OPENING TIMES: SAT 10am -5pm SUN 10am-4.30pm ADMISSION: Adults £3.50 Concessions £2.50 Children £1.50 Family £8.50 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted March 29, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 29, 2015 I have started work on getting HBT ready for MRX 2015 at the Museum of Transport Manchester on the 16th and 17th May (full details will be appearing shortly on a new topic). The Tottington section has motorised points using Colbalt point motors with controlled using a Lenz LS150, and the signals are operated using a Uhlenbrock DCC servo controller. The Holcombe Brook section currently uses the same servo controller but the points are manual. I wanted to motorise the points but try to keep the existing manual mechanism and levers but controlled with servos. I have done a test conversion today and seems to work successfully (see video below), but this time I have used a Megapoints servo controller and this is a lot easier to program and will be used for all points and signals on both Holcombe Brook and Tottington sections, replacing the Colbalt motors on the Tottington section. Here is a short video showing the test conversion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_zwSIttzuo&list=UU68l_UFTle-j1aoALwr7_fA Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 6, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 6, 2015 Having got my 'Man Cave' up and running I am now able to start preparing HBT and it's stock ready for the Blackburn exhibiiton in September. I hope to have a few enhancements done on the layout including the motorised points on the Holcombe Brook section. Last night I decided to start converting a second L&Y Radial Tank to a Belpair version but this time with an extended bolier. Like the previous version I am trying to reuse as much of the original Bachmann model as possible. Here are a few photos of the work so far:- Side View of the extended bunker. I cut the original bunker and extended it using litographic(?) plate strengthened with plasticard behind. The chassis was cut and extended using two modified brass L sections. A rear view. A view of the chassis extension. I plan to use the plasticard and filler to fill in the chasis gaps. The bolier and cab are from my first conversion and I have used them to see what the finished model should look like. Work on the second bolier conversion will start soon too. To be continued....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 6, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 6, 2015 Tonight I worked on the chassis extension and filled in the gap using some square plastic strip and filed it so shape, I will use some filler to hide the join. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 7, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 7, 2015 Another photo without the bunker on. I intend to start a seperate thread on the conversion to the Belpair version and the extended bunker soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Savoyard Posted July 8, 2015 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 8, 2015 Some further work:- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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