Bakewell - Peak District Line BR - Layout Views

[Alister_G]

So this evening I have been working on the bits under the baseboard which make the signals work.

 

Here's the ground signal in my bit of test baseboard:

 

 

and here's a reminder of it's size, with my fat thumb next to it

 

 

With the signal in position on the baseboard, what you see underneath is this:

 

 

The end of the brass tube through which the optical fibre and the operating wire come.

 

 

 

Once I'd got clear in my head how I was going to approach this, I set too and made a bracket out of brass sheet:

 

 

and cut some brass tube of different sizes.

 

 

The solenoid to operate the signal is screwed to the bracket:

 

 

And the bracket attaches under the baseboard like this:

 

 

As you can see, to operate the signal, I will need to put in a crank to convert the sideways movement of the solenoid, to a vertical movement of the operating wire.

 

I decided to do it this way, as otherwise the solenoid and bracket would hang a long way below the baseboard, just right for me to take an eye out with

 

However, this evening I'm going to concentrate on the connection for the fibre optic link.

 

Obviously, the signal needs to be removable for repairs and maintenance, so I had to find a way to make it easy to disconnect the fibre. The solution I chose was to make a plug - socket connection of the fibre into the LED.

 

For this, I used the two bits of brass tube.

 

The larger one I soldered to the bracket:

 

 

 

This tube is where the LED is attached to:

 

 

The smaller brass tube is just large enough to slip over the end of the fibre, leaving a tiny bit protruding:

 

 

This was secured in place using heat shrink sleeving, as was the LED on the other tube:

 

 

So now, to get the light from the LED into the fibre, I simply push the smaller tube inside the larger, like this:

 

 

That's all for now,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Jock67B]

Morning Al,

You're burning the midnight oil to good effect my friend - that is just the sort of craftsmanship in miniature that we've come to expect of you, very well done and thank you for sharing it,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Sasquatch]

Wow! Another 5 stars :sungum: :sungum:

[Alister_G]

Having got the Light working, I now turned my attention to the mechanism.

 

As I've said, I chose to make it awkward for myself by having the solenoid which makes the signal work mounted sideways, so I needed to make a crank and pivot to translate the horizontal movement of the solenoid into vertical movement of the control wire to operate the signal.

 

So I assembled a kit of parts:

 

 

So what you have here is some short offcuts of brass tube in two sizes, and an offcut of styrene tube, and a crank made out of an offcut of 80thou styrene sheet.

 

 

The Styrene tube and crank are glued together with MEK to make a robust pivot, and another small piece of brass tube will be to connect the armature of the solenoid to the crank.

 

Using the armature and crank dry fitted together, I was able to determine where the brass tube of the pivot should go, and this was marked and drilled on the bracket.

 

 

The smaller brass tube and collar of larger brass tube were then soldered to the bracket to make a robust pivot for the crank:

 

 

 

The crank was put in place:

 

 

and then the solenoid was replaced, with the armature connected to the crank:

 

 

The control wire was then attached to the other end of the crank:

 

 

 

Here's two views, first, signal On (or at danger) and then with signal Off (or clear):

 

 

 

As you can see, the solenoid armature doesn't need to move much at all - a result of the less than perfect geometry of the two crank attachments. Ideally the arm to the solenoid should have been longer than the one to the signal, but never mind, I'll know better next time, and it works fine for now.

 

The only thing left to do is make a return spring, I forgot to photo that, but it's just a coil of the steel control wire round the pivot and attached to the bracket at one end and the crank at the other.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[uax6]

Looking good, but I wonder if (for the dods at least) it would be easier to directly operate them from a springset on a relay? Even if you have to extend the spring to get the operating length, it will mount up much easier.

 

(and they don't need to be 3000 or 600 types either!)

 

Andy G

[Jock67B]

Al

Impressive craftsmanship in miniature, well done,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Alister_G]

Thanks Jock.

 

I planted it on the layout last night, but my camera battery died so no piccies until tonight.

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Looking good, but I wonder if (for the dods at least) it would be easier to directly operate them from a springset on a relay? Even if you have to extend the spring to get the operating length, it will mount up much easier.

 

(and they don't need to be 3000 or 600 types either!)

 

Andy G

 

Thanks Andy,

 

I think I'm guilty of over-complicating this, to a certain extent, and you are probably right. The only thing is I don't have any relays in stock at the moment. However, some are on order, so we'll see what I can do to simplify it.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[bescotbeast]

So this evening I have been working on the bits under the baseboard which make the signals work.

 

Here's the ground signal in my bit of test baseboard:

 

ground-signal040.jpg

 

and here's a reminder of it's size, with my fat thumb next to it

 

ground-signal041.jpg

 

With the signal in position on the baseboard, what you see underneath is this:

 

ground-signal042.jpg

 

The end of the brass tube through which the optical fibre and the operating wire come.

 

 

 

Once I'd got clear in my head how I was going to approach this, I set too and made a bracket out of brass sheet:

 

ground-signal043.jpg

 

and cut some brass tube of different sizes.

 

ground-signal044.jpg

 

The solenoid to operate the signal is screwed to the bracket:

 

ground-signal045.jpg

 

And the bracket attaches under the baseboard like this:

 

ground-signal046.jpg

 

As you can see, to operate the signal, I will need to put in a crank to convert the sideways movement of the solenoid, to a vertical movement of the operating wire.

 

I decided to do it this way, as otherwise the solenoid and bracket would hang a long way below the baseboard, just right for me to take an eye out with

 

However, this evening I'm going to concentrate on the connection for the fibre optic link.

 

Obviously, the signal needs to be removable for repairs and maintenance, so I had to find a way to make it easy to disconnect the fibre. The solution I chose was to make a plug - socket connection of the fibre into the LED.

 

For this, I used the two bits of brass tube.

 

The larger one I soldered to the bracket:

 

ground-signal047.jpg

 

ground-signal048.jpg

 

This tube is where the LED is attached to:

 

ground-signal049.jpg

 

The smaller brass tube is just large enough to slip over the end of the fibre, leaving a tiny bit protruding:

 

ground-signal050.jpg

 

This was secured in place using heat shrink sleeving, as was the LED on the other tube:

 

ground-signal051.jpg

 

So now, to get the light from the LED into the fibre, I simply push the smaller tube inside the larger, like this:

 

ground-signal052.jpg

 

That's all for now,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

Brilliant work Al, your a marvel at problem solving. 

[Alister_G]

Brilliant work Al, your a marvel at problem solving. 

 

Thanks mate, It works sometimes, but with the solenoid I think I over-engineered it a bit...

 

Al.

[Classsix T]

Hi Al,

 

Apologies for not popping in lately, though it seems the amount of work you've done lately, I should sling my hook more often!

 

To repeat the well deserved plaudits the other Bakewell aficionados have stated above would be repetition. Suffice it to say (if you recall I'm on mobile and too lazy to go back one thread page looking for new content) when your layout thread appeared on the "front page" and I caught up on what you've been up to I was thrilled and immensely impressed with progress.

 

Now, the rub! Do you ever revisit page one of this magnus opus and maybe your vision goes wibbly whilst recalling those early days of "I'm getting back into the hobby..?"

 

RMWeb, dontcha love it!

 

Keep on keeping on Al, C6T.

[Alister_G]

As promised, the ground signal is now planted on the layout.

 

The only problem being it's difficult to get the camera near it!

 

Anyway, here it is - although it's showing "Off" when it shouldn't be...

 

 

Whilst at the layout, this prompted me to have another try at reproducing some prototype photos.

 

The first is one of Stan Roberts' used with permission:

 

Copyright Stan Roberts / Peak Rail Collection

 

and here's my version:

 

 

And then there's this one, which I think is one of E.R. Mortens' but is under Wikimedia commons licence:

 

 

and my version:

 

 

The crew of that 4F seem puzzled by the new ground signal...

 

 

That's all for now,

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[HealeyMills]

Hi Al,

 

Absolutely stunning.  Those ground signals are a real work of art and just incredible how you have them fully working.

 

The comparison pics are great and its getting difficult to tell between the real thing and your model!!

 

Cheers

Lee

[Andrew P]

Great pics Al its looking really good and so real now.

[Alister_G]

Hi Al,

 

Absolutely stunning.  Those ground signals are a real work of art and just incredible how you have them fully working.

 

The comparison pics are great and its getting difficult to tell between the real thing and your model!!

 

Cheers

Lee

 

Thanks Lee, much appreciated.

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Great pics Al its looking really good and so real now.

 

Thanks Andy, catching you up now What with ground signals and DCC sound... I just need to build about a hundred layouts in the next 12 months and I'll be there...

 

Al.

[beast66606]

Looking great.

 

Pedant mode - Don't forget the track circuit indication (white lozenge) on the ground signal.

[Alister_G]

Looking great.

 

Pedant mode - Don't forget the track circuit indication (white lozenge) on the ground signal.

 

Thanks Beast, I'll get one done.

 

Al.

[Donw]

good work on the ground signal Al.

Don

[uax6]

Bit of a kick in that track Al! A dummy sleeper under the fishplates would help it lookm better too.

 

But having said that, its amazing what little details like dods bring to the overall picture. It's a stunning 'layout' (oh I hate that word for this sort of set up) and just gets better and better.

 

Well done

 

Andy G

[Jock67B]

Al,

That is a lovely set of images mixing model and prototype - nobody can possibly doubt that you've really captured the atmosphere beautifully!

Well done, and thanks for sharing your talent with us,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Mrkirtley800]

I have been following your thread since day 1, Al and I congratulate you on some very clever and original thinking and sheer genius shown on your layout. The latest, the ground signal, is so cleverly done, I really take my hat off to you.

Derek

[georgeT]

Really like the ground signals Al, lots of work, but really worth it in the end, lovely...

[Andrew P]

Morning Al, just echoing what the Guys have said above and the fact that you your Model Railway really is YOUR Model Railway, all the way from the Station Buildings, the Canopy, (a work of art in itself) to the Tables and Chairs inside, and now working Ground Signals, all just beautifully executed mate, well done.

[Alister_G]

Thanks guys, really appreciate your comments. You know very well that Bakewell wouldn't be half as good as it is without all your advice and support, and the occasional kick up the backside when I've done something wrong

 

Cheers,

 

Al