Portsea Town

[Danemouth]

Dave, I’m using Carr’s green flux . As I said it does them job fine and I love the name, which sounds like an Elizabethan medical diagnoses only curable by the liberal use of leaches , four a day taken after meals ( and yes I know the joke is borrowed from Blackadder )

All the track droppers are in place now. One I did yesterday had to be redone as it was a dry joint .but all sorted now .

Next job is to flip the base board and complete the wiring for the tracks so I can do some comprehensive test running …..or to put it another way playing trains

 

Thanks for the info; when I built Danemouth Mk 1 I didn't use any flux on the droppers and got some right 'orrible unsightly joints - I don't want to make the same mistake again!

 

Regards,

 

Dave

[lash]

Track wiring done and tested . Discovered another dry solder joint to the track and that I and missed out an insulated rail joiner which caused a short but have sorted these. Wires are all attached to a terminal block and temporally to the controller , the underside of the baseboard is looking fairly neat and so all in all a productive evening .

[lash]

I made good progress with wiring point motors etc over Christmas but nothing done in the new  year and it can't really be 9 January can it. 

 

So here are a couple of pics of the underside of the board showing work in progress , track wiring is blue, point motors white. All point motors , switches  etc.  are  Peco as previously posted . Wires are fed through the board to two Peco banks of switches , 4 for points and 4 for sections or and 3 for isolated tracks at the end of platform roads . I am still happy not to have gone DCC yet but the electrical spaghetti does make you think

 

I have a BR 2BIL on order from my local shop (HobbyGoblin in Burslem ) and also some code 60 rail and dummy Peco dummy insulators. . I am intending to ballast first and then fit the third rail but would welcome other’s thoughts

 

The 2 BIL is so evocative  and takes me back to those days sitting in the car at Fratton with my mum waiting for my dad to arrive on the Waterloo train and knowing it wasn’t one of those with the curved roof at one end of the carriage .  All that and the prospect of the Kernow  2H too, definitely no cash for DCC  yet

 

 

 

[lash]

Wiring to the point motors and switches all done and tested . A couple of the  centre contacts of the Peco passing switches were shorting due to the wires from adjacent contact pressing against them in the housing but that is sorted .

 

 

I do have problem’s because the point motors are not switching the points although they are trying and work when dismounted . I do not think it is bad positioning but rather a lack of oomph so a CDU may be the answer ? Any thoughts please

[Gruffalo]

16VAC from your controller straight to a CDU and then to the point selection arrangements should solve your problem BUT just make sure you have not twisted the points when laying them and that the point motor is perfectly parallel to the axis of the point tie-bar.

[lash]

Thanks Gruffalo will acquire CDU asap and checking alignment is good idea. I'll let you know how I do

[Barnaby]

Portsea Town is coming on great Lash, I'm still playing paper trains but I'm very near now and I intend to start a spring build.  lol

[lash]

Lovely walk up The Cloud this morning ( big hill on edge of Cheshire Plain overlooking Jodrell Bank ) then drove over to Trident Trains at Dagfields outside Nantwich to but a CPU . Very useful as its open Sundays and I really wanted to complete the electrics this weekend . Job done and purchased one by Gaugemaster . Somehow also inadvertently bought a  Bachmann Southern Pillbox Brake in BR bauxite , can’t understand how that happened but it’s a lovely little model.

 

Fitted the CPU under the baseboard and wired it up to the 16v ac outlet on my controller and discovered I had original wired the motors to the 12v dc outlet by accidently swapping crocodile clips during temporary wiring to the controller.  So I might not have needed the CPU but it works very well and gives the points a lovely thump  which I didn’t get on my old layout without the unit.

 

Point motors all tested and working and I trimmed the rails at the end of the baseboard and gapped the platform roads to create isolated sections for which I had already provided wiring . Test running with my Crompton and more dry solder joints on the isolated  sections . I sorted these and now all the electrics are done and fully working

 

That is a big moment for me because I can now return to working on the top of the board and be a railway modeller rather than a dodgy electrician , although I have had a lot of satisfaction in dealing with electrics. My decision to keep things simple has been vindicated because I have managed to maintain interest and reasonable momentum .

 

What next ?

 

Positioning platforms and clearances , working out installing the third rail ,ballasting and working out scenic layout …. Signal box ,retaining walls, road bridge etc. to be mocked up along with platform canopies and a bit of overall roof and maybe a footbridge to provide a midway scenic break. Its in my head and if  could I would sketch it but my draftsmanship is about as good as my electrical skills .

 

I have some pics to upload but am having problems with too many bytes

 

Barnanby, thanks for the encouragement , your O gauge layout looks great fun  so I am looking forward to it getting off paper and onto a baseboard !

[lash]

This morning has been my first chance to work on Portsea in a couple of weeks ( work ,children ,snow, pestilence etc distracting me ) and I have started working on the tracks , but first a bit of a catch up.

 

 

 

 

I completed the electrics a couple of weeks ago as reported in my last entry and here are a few pics of the completed job . Out of chaos some order has emerged and it all works

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lash]

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago the strange and unaccountable purchase of a Bachmann pillbox brake van while on a Sunday trip to but a CDU , equally strangely and unaccountably this lunchtime I found myself in the Bell in Eccleshall enjoying a pint or two in  a very convivial atmosphere . Nice place Eccleshall ( small country town near Stafford if you don't know this part of the world) and home to a few pleasant pubs ideal for intentional or unintentional forays .

 

The result of this is less activity on Portsea Town than intended but progress none the less

 

The track has been sprayed with sleeper grime prior to ballasting with point blades being masked first. The rail suface was then wiped with cotton wool pads before the paint fully dried . I need to test the tracks for conductivity again before starting ballasting and I am also going to mark out the platforms  .

 

All in all I am quite  pleased with progress and I will now try to complete ballasting over the next few days

 

Here are a few pics of todays work

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lash]

Just spent an hour cleaning rails and test running .A couple of point blades giving problems but sorted with a Peco track rubber, cotton wool pads and white spirit .Good slow running has resumed all round .

[angell328]

Hi,

I would recommend fitting the 3rd rail after all the painting and ballesting of the main lines has been completed. You will end up finding the 3rd rail gets in the way and knocked a fair bit otherwise, those insulators don't like too much impact!
Like the line plan, looking forward to seeing how you get on.

 

Matt

[lash]

Thanks Matt, that's what I thought , I will let you know how I do ,

 

Marked out platform clearances with time honoured technique of a pencil taped to the middle of my longest coach ( Bachmann Bulleid ) then lots of test running with different stock including my Crompton with parcels stock ,my 2 epb and Terrier. Fun and useful

[class"66"]

Starting to take shape well now!!

[c2c]

I have messed around with model railways for years and actually built an inglenook which was a great experience. There is nothing quite like actually modelling rather than thinking about modelling and learning from your mistakes ,so many in that tiny layout I should be a genius.

 

Portsea Town will be a secondary terminus somewhere around Portsmouth or Gosport with passenger ,parcel and suitable freight traffic. Time is the early sixties with memories of waiting for my dad to come back from his London commute in the car park opposite the old signal box at Fratton. So steam and electric maybe if I can model the third rail.

 

I have adopted the discipline of limited size for “completeability†and portability so we are looking at 6ft by 1ft, a bit bigger than a micro but not much. My inspirations include Ian Futers and the wonderful and sadly missed Carl Ardent, but I suspect I want more than three turnouts for Portsea.

 

The frame for the baseboard is done and the top should go on tomorrow.

 

I have never blogged anything but RMweb is great fun and I met such a friendly crowd at the members day last year I hope I get inspiration and encouragement to make something of my ideas

 

Hi Lash will you be incorporating the line to Gosport? I once went to St Marys school and can remember Steam locos occasionally using that line. At breaktime if we heard one, me and my friends used to sprint over to the netting fence on the edge of the playing field from the playground to watch them go by.

[lash]

Started ballasting using clever push along perspex device. Ballast is a mix of Woodland Scenics medium brown and grey with ash as well ,it will be weathered once laid  .

 

The clever perspex device is good but you need to learn how fast to push it along the track to avoid too deep ballast . I got the hang after a couple of trial runs.

 

Ballast is glued down with dilute PVA with the traditional dash of washing up liquid and applied by a syringe. All fine after a dodgy start which resulted in the tie bar mechanism of a point getting stuck and then me being over rough trying to free it and detaching the blades from the tie bar and generally messing up the mechanism. I have thought of repair but unless anyone can persuade me otherwise I am going to replace the point and then learn to be more patient ,careful and gentle , I am decidedly cross with myself about this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c2c thanks for the comment . I think the layout will end up being located somewhere on Portsea Island and so I will not be taking the Gosport option. There are some nice ideas for a Gosport based layout thogh ,how about a what if of Lee on Solent taking off as a resort and the branch developing a healthy passenger traffic with the Meon Valley line staying open to give a direct route to Waterloo

[phixer64]

if you require any info on Gosport, i might be able to help, have lived here since 1982.

[c2c]

c2c thanks for the comment . I think the layout will end up being located somewhere on Portsea Island and so I will not be taking the Gosport option. There are some nice ideas for a Gosport based layout thogh ,how about a what if of Lee on Solent taking off as a resort and the branch developing a healthy passenger traffic with the Meon Valley line staying open to give a direct route to Waterloo

 

Back in the early 60's there used to be a munitions factory or something on the way to Fareham from Gosport near Bridgemary, I think today its named Ordnance Business park. But I can remember as a child sitting on the top deck of a Provincial bus seeing shells, bombs and different shapes of ordnance all neatly stack and loaded on rusty rolling stock that never went anywhere.

 

Here's a web page I found that may have some good information for you:  http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/webmap/hantscat/html/railways.htm

Edited February 4, 2013 by c2c

[lash]

c2c , was that Bedenham sidings I wonder. You have been making me think about a more precise location  for Portsea Town and its starting to look like this.

 

The LSWR built a line diverging from the main line between Fratton and Portsmouth and Southsea station to serve a potential commercial dock located to the north of the naval dockyard located pretty well where the commercial docks are today. A terminus for passenger trains was located where Victory Retail Park is now between Flathouse Road and Mile End Road . Initially local trains ran to Fratton and the station served as terminus for some services to Victoria and Brighton ( third rail electrification in the 60s) to the east and also services to the west ( steam and diesel ). Parcels traffic was also handled . By the 1960s the line was looking tired and run down but maybe it lasted into the 70s ( blue period stock a possibility as an alternative to my early 60s green ). That's it for the moment and no doubt my ideas will develop and change , and strictly speaking I know its more Landport or Stamshaw as a location not Portsea but that never seemed to stop the railway companies in naming stations

 

On the modelling front I have removed the broken point and will hopefully install a replacement tomorrow

 

[7APT7]

Hi mate

 

You do excellent track weathering, Great Photos to...

 

Jamie

[lash]

Thanks Jamie, as you will see from the thread no great skill was involved ,just a spray can of sleeper grime and a bit of care . I really don't have the patience to paint rail sides and sleepers by hand.

 

 

 

 

The damaged point was replace this evening and looks fine but not tested yet. I gave it the sleeper grime treatment before it was laid .Progress is slow but at least its steady .

[lash]

Thanks Jamie, as you will see from the thread no great skill was involved ,just a spray can of sleeper grime and a bit of care . I really don't have the patience to paint rail sides and sleepers by hand.

 

 

 

 

The damaged point was replace this evening and looks fine but not tested yet. I gave it the sleeper grime treatment before it was laid .Progress is slow but at least its steady .

[lash]

Not a clue how double post happened , the interweb is as much a mystery as ever to me  , fun though

[lash]

Been cleaning point blades ,unsticking sticky point blades checking electrics (again) and feeing frustrated .......... but I keep telling myself this is vital work for the long term viability of the layout. So ballasting and progress delayed and need to find my modelling mojo

[angell328]

Modeller blues, hits us all at some stage buddy!

Keep at it but make sure you have a few times set aside to just run trains around to unwind. I find that seeing them run around for half hour over a cuppa can get me motavated ready for another few hours of tedium ballesting or cleaning etc.

Chin up bud Mojo be back soon!

 

Matt