Stockrington - Mojo ignited. Thanks, Heljan!

[jcredfer]

I have been thinking [dangerous] about Kadee Couplers for a while and the idea of a permanent Magnet leaves me reluctant and the Electro-magnet, like Scott, very expensive.

 

......................    however   .................

 

http://www.kadee.com/html/308ins.pdf

 

I just read this and it is the first time I have seen it   ............   there is another solution, by swinging the 308 downward on a hinge it can be moved to prevent unintended un-coupling.

 

Another part of the Pdf [ref O Gauge]  set me thinking again about it and maybe installing a couple under 3mm ply to see if it would work like that???

 

Julain

 

[jukebox]

I do agree, Julian, that they need caution in positioning.  Apparently they have a strong enough field to attract free running 4 wheel stock (a problem for UK modelers, but not their intended market, the USA)

 

Luckily for me, the logical location for me to take locos of rakes of wagon is at the foot of the slope leading out of the yard; when a new loco backs on, and pulls away, the train should naturally be in tension.

 

On a small flat earth layout, you would need caution.

 

The other place I am contemplating them is the central run around road at Stockrington station - but again, there should be no regular train movements over them, so it should not be an operational issue.

 

Scott

[jcredfer]

The "swing-thing" has set me thinking  ....   I'm not fond of the idea of several 2" x 1 1/2" holes in the Baseboard, particularly as it is quite very small anyway.  

 

It does seem possible that some iron nails/screws/thin sheet could be placed under the rails and through the Baseboard and the Magnet swung up into contact with them.  Whether there would be enough induced magnetism passed on to them seems like a bit of a lottery  ...   plus, others have found issues with poles which face upwards, rather than out sideways.  I will have to wait until the 308 magnets arrive  .......

 

 

Julian

[jukebox]

A little more sedate progress these days - the marshaling of time to more pressing matters - but here's where Stockrington stands.

 

 

The ladders are now motorised; I like to work in batches if I am doing multiples of a task, so I prepped six Cobalts with tails and installed them over two nights.  Made the rookie mistake of rushing, not centering the actuator, and thinking the throw would be fine - and so had to re-locate two of the six.  Lesson: always set the point motor up with the arm mid-throw, and the point blades mid way, to ensure you get full throw in each direction. 

 

 

Once the ladders were in, I started to fill in the tracked headed South to the chute. Nothing ground breaking here - tins of baked beans and spaghetti used to hold down the track whilst the diluted PVA set. The oxidisation issue remains - I am unsure how serious it really is operationally.  The thought of ripping the whole lot up to relay it with an alternate adhesive isn't something I'm going to contemplate for now.

 

 

 

And just a couple of shots of the South end of the yard as work progressed.

 

All the tracks have droppers soldered on and pulled down to the underside of the track-bed.  I need to spend a few nights doing soldering overhead - never a pleasant task, and then can energise the work and see how it all has some together.

 

 

This is the South Yard throat, and the new headshunt turnout, all laid, and motorised, ready for connection to the DCC bus.

 

Northmoor Works took delivery of an L1, an 04 and a K3 over the past month - all have been fitted with decoders and need a stretch of the legs, so I'll press them into service to do some track trials once the red and blacks are all hooked up under the track.

 

I'm more than halfway through finishing the yard now - just a half a box of Peco Code 75 remains - and I'm hopeful to have this part sorted by August, but that's a loose schedule.  For now, I'm happy to let things tick over and keep me interested - though the desire to get on to the scenic side of things is certainly a strong magnet!

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[Andrew P]

Wow Scott, that's some Yard, really impressive trackwork. 

[David Todd]

An excellent update,with the pics, Scott.

 

I take it, your culenary skills have also improved and you are not,having, "Bean en Cruton"',

Every meal time.

[Brian D]

As you can see from the number of "likes", I have belatedly just caught up with the rebirth of Stockrington - been busy myself getting the new layout commenced in the railway shed.  It's great to see you back in the groove.  I will definitely start to "follow" your thread so I don't miss anything.

Best wishes,

Brian.

[jukebox]

Seasons Greetings everyone.

 

It has been a long time between reports - too long, I am sure.

 

I'm pleased to be able to report some good, sustained progress on Stockrington, due in the most part to the influences of Jeff over at Kirkby Luneside - whose pace at turning an empty shed into operating trackwork put me to shame.

 

Having lurked over his thread for the most of this year, in late November, the fog that had kept me from being upstairs seemed to lift, and so I set myself a plan of an hour or so each night, to slowly get my momentum back.

 

The first job was to wire up the control panel for the south throat of the storage tracks. I suspect my dislike of electrics was one reason I put of coming back up.  But like eating an elephant, I just took it one step at a time, and after a week, had everything operating properly, and able to be tested with actual loco movements.

 

During construction, I'd gone to a lot of trouble to make the individual trackbed "fingers" so that the combined vertical and horizontal curves could be as gradual as possible.  In hindsight this wasn't so smart - I was left with rather treacherous gaps in the 6ft in places.  So besides fitting a wall to catch any runaways on my 5% grade, I also went to the trouble of infilling the 6ft with wood offcuts here the gap could fit a wagon, and foam roadbed offcuts where it was smaller but still enough to make life difficult.  The result, when completed, was suitably tidy, and I was pleased that I'd made the effort.

 

 

Runaway barge-board fitted - but train consuming gap yet to be plugged... dead end for loco holding also to be completed.

 

 

Next, I wired up the three crossovers in the middle of the storage yard.  Again, a few niggles with polarity, and getting pairs of turnouts to operate off a single switch, but they were resolved by using logic and changing just one thing at a time when fault finding.  I did some test runs through these once the approach track was down, and the Bachmann K3 performed nicely though them; strangely, the Heljan Falcon does not seem to like one particular set of turnouts, and the front axle lifts off ahead of the frog when taking the diverging leg.  Kestrel is not affected.  I will spent a little more time investigating, but as it's only one loco, in one direction, at one turnout, I may just treat it was a route restriction and leave it as is - although not knowing why it does what it does is frustrating!  If I've time, I'll try and get a video of what it does.

 

And so with the south and mid sections done, I went on and completed the final section - the northern throat tracks. These went down quickly - and I was left with just 3 lengths of Peco Code 70, so my materials estimating was spot on.

 

 

Barge-board and gap covers fitted.  Kadee magnets siliconed in place under all tracks.

 

I've been running test trains back and forth, and there's been no major hassles.  Annoyingly, I now have amassed three Cobalt Clickers.  One of these spring to life at 2am (I Leave Stockrington's turnouts energised 24/7) - and my son, whose bedroom is below Stockrington, woke me to tell me he could hear a strange noise upstairs.  It sounded like fast dripping water - which, if you know the history of my house build, is the stuff of nightmares.  A very cautious tiptoe up the stairs led to the railway room, and a Cobalt that had, of it's own volition, decided to turn "clicker" in the middle of the night.

 

So that's it. The storage yard is complete and operational.  I'll keep testing and ironing out any kinks, but am ready to begin the meatier part now.

 

My next step is to shift all the construction material over to the yard side of the room, and tear up the existing run across the west side, to relay it along the new alignment and elevation.  From there, I'll start extending double track mainline trackbed out and around the room.  Should be an exciting 2016!

 

This was a gift from a few years back - I cringed at the time, but it has grown on me - enough that I put I up inside the doorway to Stockrington's home last month

 

Merry Christmas to all of you catching up with Stockrington since the hiatus.  I look forward to sharing the build with you as it progresses next year.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[jcredfer]

Nice to see the progress Scott, all very neat and tidy.

 

Regards and Best Christmas greetings

 

Julian

[David Todd]

Thanks for your report back, very happy to read your progress,  2 mins, its Christmas Day, your neck of the woods.

 

Have a good one.

[Jason T]

Bloody Cobalts

 

Happy Christmas mate, here's hoping Santa brings you some Tortoises (Torti?)

[jukebox]

Bloody Cobalts

 

Happy Christmas mate, here's hoping Santa brings you some Tortoises (Torti?)

 

Trust me, Jason - at 2am, when I discovered that ^&**ing clicker, it was YOU I thought of!      

 

That two more went U/S in the following month has not impressed me.  One was righted with the recommended thump with a screwdriver handle, but once I am up and running, the last thing I want to do is be rolling around under the layout replacing those little blue sods.

 

I'll be watching the price of Tortii as I progress - it may well be that Northmoor Shed, where there's around a dozen motors required - gets a green army installed under the board there...

[jukebox]

I trust every who wasn't naughty managed something nice for Christmas?

 

In the days immediately after the main event, we had 42C/105F heat here - not much fun, I have to confess.  I spent that time on SCARM, trying to resolve what the "interchange" trackwork at the south western end of the room would look like.  The limitations of the vertical and horizontal geometry have been frustrating me, but I've come to a compromise I can live with, that is more about looking like plausible trackwork, rather than trying to squeeze in everything I want.  Rather than spend time drawing it up on CAD, I'll explain that in more detail as I lay trackbed down.

 

In the meantime, I have dismantled the double slip and trackwork over the lifting section.  That was quite confronting - never pulled apart track I'd spent time getting "right" before.  I have a new found respect for Gordon over at Eastwood Town. But like him, I'm sure I'll be happier that I'm doing it right, rather than going further and being frustrated by compromise.

 

As part of the reworking of Stockrington, I've been more selective about motive power - in the last 12 months I've acquired 3 more B1's, an ROD, a 4MT, and a Dub Dee that Royal Mail sent to Germany and lost (!), so the roster is looking a lot more North Eastern Region these days.  I'd guess that over the next few years, a couple of WD's, an O1 or O2, and a Q6, and the roster will look very healthy - but that is a fair way down the track... 

 

Here's one of two Hornby B1's that now calls Northmoor Shed home - that running plate looks a bit bowed - shall have to see what can be done with it when it's time to run her in.

 

 

I've been helped by a number of really useful books from Booklaw Publications I've imported from the UK; NER in the Latter Days of Steam; and North Eastern Sheds Vol 1 & 2.  Highly recommended!

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[gordon s]

Hi Scott, good to see some progress being made.  I can't really comment on Cobalts having never used them, but I agree with Jason that Tortoise motors may have their critics occasionally, but they are bullet proof. Several of mine have been in and out of layouts and I've only had one fail.  Nothing to do with Circuitron, just my own ham fistedness managing to break a chunk out of the casing around the screw slots.  No matter, it has now become a spares mule.

 

Just in case you have ever wondered what is inside the green boxes, here's one I took apart....

 

 

Edited December 30, 2015 by gordon s

[emt_911]

Scott, wishing you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016

[jukebox]

Welcome to 2016, everyone!

 

First, a gratuitous shot of new Year's Day sunset here - for no reason other than because it was so darn spectacular!

 

 

It certainly feels like the cobwebs have been thrown off, and I've had a few days since Christmas on my own here so have been able to get stuck into the planning and reconstruction works.

 

Unfortunately, the ~2 year hiatus tripped me up today, and it's just as well I have a sense of momentum now, as I had to scrap two days work because of a basic error.

 

In re-planning the simplified layout,  started looking at trackbed elevations, and decided that 1000mm off the floor would make a nice easy to calculate number for the mainline around the room.  I had been trying to massage that into a workable station throat where stock being drawn up from the storage sidings could be set down in the centre track of the station, and locos exchanged in either direction.  I ran through it on SCARM, and ended up with a workable compromise.  So I spent New Year's Eve day, New Year's Day and this morning, dutifully gluing risers at carefully calculated heights on the approaches to the lifting section for the three different levels that will cross it.

 

As I got to the mainline, and set the last of the 988mm risers (the laminate of 2 x 3ply trackbed gets me the final 12mm), I set up a spirit level across the lift up section, to see I'd got the approaches right...  I had. But because I'd lost that intimate knowledge of the decisions I made two years ago, I managed to forget I needed clearance under the lift section. And 1000mm only left me 55mm. Not enough.  That was why I settled on 975mm two years ago.

 

Out with the hammer and chisel, and brute force and some fruity language got me back to 2015 in about an hour.

 

Fortunately, the mojo kicked in, and in about 4 hours this afternoon, I've managed to reinstate most of the errant risers at the correct height (the old ones all had to be scrapped - too well glued together).  It's frustrating as elsewhere on Stockrington, I'll use the traditional L-girder screwed T-risers - it's just that along the wall near the lift out section, I wanted to have things a little more rigid, so have laminations of solid wood blocks set on the battens, that needed bashing off.

 

 

 

Here's where I was at after Christmas - demolition Mk1 complete - no longer a loop of track around the room.

 

 

The low bridge.  This is the reworked South approach - three sets of tracks, at three different heights.

 

In this view you can see the old "chute" that will now have the reverse curve significantly eased, and run along the wall side of the alignment - rising to meet the mainline.

 

Looking North from the lift up, you can see the left most risers come level with the central (mainline) in the distance.  The old trackbed on the right will stay - I may use that alignment for some on-layout storage - or as a track for a breakdown crane?  No need to decide today...

 

Scott

 

[Jock67B]

Afternoon Scott,

Just wanted to wish you all the best in 2016 - I had New Year's Eve spoiled a little by having a hernia operation! Recovering slowly at home now and trying to catch up with the fast moving threads on here.

Loved your sunset image, and look forward to following your progress in the coming year.

Kind regards,

Jock.

[jukebox]

Well, it's Sunday night here, and I'm back on track.

 

But rather than post progress, I just want to explain what I'm trying to do around the Western approach to my station, and how it has morphed into something (I hope) is a little more NER-flavoured.

 

My original track plan for the station looked something like this:

 

I confess that I did like the operability of this arrangement - trains would pass through the station non-stop on the central tracks, then, the following lap of the room, re-appear as stopping trains.  There was, however, no thought given to attaching and detaching locos, and as the stock needs to be drawn out from the low level storage by a D/E because of the 3% grade, it probably would have annoyed me very quickly as I tried to use it.

 

 

Mk.2 was only a small improvement - but also just a placeholder. This appeared in late 2013, when I realised that I wanted to complete the layout sooner, rather than later, and so the thrice around the room idea was abandoned in favour of a simple, uncluttered loop.  Central tracks would have allowed trains to pause, and engines be attached detached, or run through as express trains as in Stockrington Mk.1

  

But it didn't look much like Stockton-on-Tees....

 

So late last year, I started trying to bring some reality to my plans for the station.

 

A pair of avoiding lines would be nice if I could fit them, and a single central track, connected both ways at both ends, would do the job of being where loco exchanges were made.  What I wanted to try and achieve was this:

 

"A" would be the holding point for locos headed North (down the page); trains come in to the central track - D/E comes off the front, and proper loco reverses on, and pulls away.  Because the MPD, and approach track, were 70mm lower, I wanted to try and use that headroom to weave the ECS arrivals under the Up Main. But there's just not enough space to bring that line back up to platform level - and I have to keep that grade at "A" to 3%, so a steam loco can pull away to the down line.

 

Instead, I've come up with the following:

 

The blue track is the common arrival road onto the layout from the storage and MPD.  Locos can hold, or come off the train into the yellow areas.  I'll install an under track uncoupling magnet just to the left of that central turnout. The red tracks are the mainline, and the purple track on the right is the chute down to the storage yard. It probably should be a single slip at that junction, but a double slip there will give me a trailing crossover that I may find handy when running trains. On the far side of the station, that double slip is replaced by a diamond, making it just a regular double junction.

 

The only real operational  issue I have is that essentially the Up platform is now cosmetic.  There is actually no way for a train running on the up circuit, anti-clockwise, to enter the up platform - only trains coming from the stowage can arrive there.

 

However, I can live with that - the 3 + 2 track layout is much more suggestive of an NER station, and the ability to send goods trains around the station whilst passenger trains are held inside - or vice versa, is a welcome improvement.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

 

 

[David Todd]

Happy New Year Scott,

 

Great to see the motivation, has kicked in !

 

Send me some over. 

[Physicsman]

Hi Scott.

 

I'm glad my rapid-fire construction on KL2 has got you fired-up and on-the-move again. Especially as Stockrington has such great potential.

 

I did chuckle to myself when I read about your problems with the Cobalts. I know that Jason hates them! During the original KL build, 3 years ago, I had to replace 4 out of 40+ motors - 2 that were totally stuck, another 2 for excessive clicking. When I started the KL2 build I had 39 previously-used Cobalts to choose from. 31 were ok, 8 have gone on the scrap heap for the previously mentioned reasons. Considering the light-use they've had, and the fact that I used them at 10V on a very smoothed power supply, it's just not good enough. But I've too many to swap, all 31 are now fitted and I do prefer their size to Torti.

 

Anyway, enough of griping! All the best for layout and personal progress in 2016!

 

Jeff

[jukebox]

I had been running low on softwood to make the risers, and wanted to get the ply that had been salvaged from the house build laying flat, ready to mark up for jig sawing.  So I took some time out on the weekend to buy 40m of 40x19mm pine, and I retrieved the sheets of 3 ply I have been carefully storing on edge in the garage; Even the stockpiling of timber feels like progress - sad, eh?

 

 

So after that torrid weekend of build-demolish-rebuild, the PVA is now dry, and I cleaned up the work area, placing the trackbed loosely down to see how it all looks.

 

First, and most importantly, the clearance under the lift up hinge:

 

 

Sorted. Phew!

 

 

That small radius turnout will lead to the coaling stage - this is the sort of view that will come from the roof of Northmoor MPD; I like how the mainline here will sit on a slight embankment. 

 

 

This view shows the three levels on the lift up section; the chute track on the left is falling towards the camera at approx 5%. The double track mainline in the centre is level, and the track from the MPD on the right has a 3% rising grade.

 

 

This is a wider view - the large open space between the L-girders on the right will be the MPD; as this will be flat, I am giving serious thought to laying and wiring it on a separate board, off layout, and dropping it into place.  That would save a lot of grief, given how many turnouts are needed there.

 

I've got to say it felt good having that side temporarily set up - it is starting to look like a model railway ready for track laying - not just a rough series of timber frames.  I want to get all the trackbed in before I start any mainline track laying, so have a few more weeks of woodwork ahead of me, but I can see what I have been imagining coming together now.

 

Scott

[Brian D]

Nice to see you back on track fellow NER fan (down under).  Looking forward to more updates.

Regards,

Brian.

[jukebox]

And summer continues here...

 

Progressing on a speed restriction due to the heat (!) - well over 40C a week or so ago, making the room Stockrington resides in revolting to work in - and some very harsh bushfires impacting a small country town about 30 miles from me - two fatalities and over 120 houses burnt to the ground.  No risk the blaze would come our way, but shocking to see, as I'd spent a fair bit of time there over the last 20 years - the devastation is amazingly comprehensive.

 

Back upstairs I have been sorting out the details around the lift out section, as it's clear laying the chute track will be a lot harder if I wait till the trackbed is all in.

 

So I spliced in a section of trackbed ply that will allow me to slew the alignment from near the wall, to 65mm off the mainline, as this is the centreline running up to meet the mainline headed North.

 

 

With the trackbed for all four tracks across the lift up in place, I could see the drop potential in the spaces between, so cut some 3mm particleboard to blank the openings off.

 

 

 

This afternoon, I gave the area a coat of black paint, and am just about ready to stick own some trackbed foam.

 

Once I have the chute track across the lift up, and onto the other side, I will go back and start extending the mainline trackbed through the station.

 

I've placed a turnout and crossing order with Osborns, of Bideford - the Liverpool shop didn't have a complete set of Code 75 product in stock, and Osborns was very competitively priced.  Highly recommended!  No connection, just a satisfied customer etc.  This delivery will complete the parts needed for the mainline circuit around the room, however I will need to do some surgery, as the Peco track centres are somewhat larger than 45mm, which is my tangent mainline spacing.

 

Cooler weather this week, so shall see how we get on.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[jukebox]

Some nice mild weather here, and I have been progressing slowly but steadily.

 

Across a few days I laid foam on the chute area, and also made up the supports that will ultimately sit under Stockrington Station; I've also been jig-sawing the 1st layer of 6mm ply that will sit on the supports - consuming a good chunk of the plywood that has sat dormant in my garage for three years since the house extension was finished.

 

 

There were five of these at 350mm centres, and I was keen to have this area as flat as possible, so took a bit of time getting it right. Luckily, a house brick with some wood shims gave me 988mm off the floor - just the right height.  Right about now the reason I didn't choose expensive wood flooring for the railway room was revealed, as klutz here knocked one off, and it left an almighty gouge in the laminated timber below.  I had told myself the floor was going to get plaster and paint on it, so I didn't shed too many tears - but wont try and repeat the vandalism...

 

 

Remembering the floor was not 100% level, I set the outermost supports up, levelling them perpendicularly as well as parallel to the track with a spirit level.

 

 

With the outer two supports setting my reference, I had some aluminium angle that is straight and flat, and set that up across them, as my guide to ensure the remainder of the supports formed a plane.

 

 

I went to add the final two supports that sit on the diagonal braces, but discovered I'd muffed the calculations, so couldn't screw them on.  This proved fortuitous, as after a few minutes, I saw I couldn't get into the corner to lay the last of the chute track once I have those fitted, so I went back to track laying.

 

I'm thinking whatever scenic treatment I use in this corner - or all corners, in fact - I may make on a module, that I can drop into place when done.  Shall just need to facilitate that by setting up some supports before I build myself in. I'll be able to get into these areas, but it wont be easy, so want to make life as simple as I can.

 

With the track relayed on the chute, I was able to run some test trains - my first attempt left little clearance to the room wall, so I shifted the track an extra 5mm or so inwards, and now had plenty of passing room.

 

 

The track was glued in place, and this morning, I retested the finished chute, and all seems well.  I had Falcon propelling some Mk4 coaches up and down earlier - to check end throws - this run was to see how pernickety 4-wheel stock coped.

 

 

The lift up section needs a second coat of paint, but it too is ready for track laying.

 

 

I remain concerned about the way C+L track reacts with the PVA I am using, so will stop by the hardware store this weekend, and see if I can get a hold of some carpet glue and other alternatives, and try some experiments.  I have one other idea I'm going to try too - more on that once I've got a result.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

Edited January 23, 2016 by jukebox

[gordon s]

Really pleased to see things are moving forward again, Scott.  I like the way you have designed to sub structure for the upper level boards and the use of girder construction throughout.  You've given me a whole raft of ideas on how to produce ET terminus above the storage roads on my own layout.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

It must be wonderful being in warmth and sunshine.  Seems like light years away here....:-)