RMweb Gold traction Posted December 14, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 14, 2012 Sometime ago my dad asked me to take his layout down which was taking up half of his spare room. After building my little shunting plank layout he had a go and said how good it was and that he would have loved to have made that sort of layout just shunting the wagons. With this in mind I thought I'd build a simple inglenook layout so he won't need a lot of room but he can still have some shunting fun. I had all of the track and the scenery, although did buy a few more trees. The only thing I did buy was the 8 Peco wagons and Class 08 shunter, as before I've fitted the "Elsie" lifting arms to the wagons. It's DC controlled by the Stapleton Varipulse controller which gives great slow speed control. I've used Seep point motors cut in half for the electromagnetic de-couplers, these are controlled via the Heathcote electronics dual timer board, so that a press of the push button causes the timer to run and energize the coil for about 4-5secs. I'm actually powering these coils by a 9v PP3 battery and it all works really well! A few little bits to finish off but For a very small Inglenook shunting puzzle I think my dad will be rather pleased with it. Cheers Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Grafarman Posted December 14, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 14, 2012 This looks really, really nice and just the sort of thing MY Dad would appreciate; although he prefers OO because of his eyesight!! If you don't mind a bit of advice I would add some weight to the wagons as the Peco ones are so free-running the couplings sometimes don't 'latch'... I'm sure your Dad will enjoy it; what a lovely present David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNCF stephen Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 It looks a fantastic present and I am sure that a lot of people of all ages would be glad to get such a well made little module. I like the way you have put a tunnel going off scene, it really got my mind racing as to where does this lead. Have you built it with the possibility of expansion? Perhaps another set of sidings or a small station module? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 nice work mate, i'd be happy with a present like that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodshaw Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I agree, this is really nice. One thing that put me off N gauge shunting was that I'd read that the Elsie-type lifting arm method was unreliable, but this was with the standard Seep/Gaugemaster electromagnet. Do you find your method works consistently? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed a/c Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Very nice layout, lucky Dad I'd say Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold traction Posted December 14, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 14, 2012 Thank you all for the kind comments. This looks really, really nice and just the sort of thing MY Dad would appreciate; although he prefers OO because of his eyesight!! David Hi David, watch this space as I've a similar thing in mind in OO but again there is a method and reasoning behind it. It looks a fantastic present and I am sure that a lot of people of all ages would be glad to get such a well made little module. I like the way you have put a tunnel going off scene, it really got my mind racing as to where does this lead. Have you built it with the possibility of expansion? Perhaps another set of sidings or a small station module? Hi Stephen, the only reason for the tunnel was to make it look like the trains had somewhere to go, as it's for my dad who has limited space I think he will just leave it as is, one thing I need to do is make a sliding door to cover the tunnel so if he looses control the loco won't shoot off the end! I agree, this is really nice. One thing that put me off N gauge shunting was that I'd read that the Elsie-type lifting arm method was unreliable, but this was with the standard Seep/Gaugemaster electromagnet. Do you find your method works consistently? So far they do work consistently, even powered by the PP3 battery!! As the power is going through a normally open contact on the dual timer board I can play about a bit so the electromagnet stays on for a little long, which isn't proving too much of a problem when powering the coils with a battery. The coil resistance of the standard Peco electromagnet is much higher than one of the coils cut from the Seep point motor, I did notice that using the same power supply on both coils gave VERY different amounts of magnetism, the Seep coil producing a lot more and hence lifting the arm every time. I'm sure the Peco ones would be just as good but I would guess a bigger power supply would be needed. I have also added weight into each wagon and the open wagons will also have a weight put into the bottom then covered with cinders or ballast for the load. Again thanks for the replies much appreciated. Cheers Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold traction Posted December 15, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 15, 2012 A few more photo's as it's about finished. Just need to fill the open wagons with loads to hide the extra weight and then take photos of all of them to act as the shuffle cards. The mimic diagram was done using Any-rail then printed out, stuck to 2mm thick cardboard and then good old fashioned "Sticky back Plastic" put across the top to protect it. The whole layout is built on 10mm thick foam-board laminated to 2mm thick cardboard, makes for quite a strong structure at this size. The above picture shows the side of the layout with the tunnel sliding door. The PP3 battery pack to operate the electromagnetic coils for uncoupling and the quick release push buttons for connecting the power supply. Cheers Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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