sdw7300 Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 Progress! Almost all track laid now, all track across board joints soldered to brass screw heads and cut. Thankfully I got a Dremel for Christmas last year which made cutting the track easier! Also made some wholes in the side of the inspection pits to take the lighting. Just waiting for a delivery electrical bits so I can wire up the LEDs. Forgot to take any photos, will try and rectify this soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted October 29, 2013 Author Share Posted October 29, 2013 As promised a couple of snaps of the laid track - apologies, not the best quality. Main Layout - Thankfully it passed inspection of son #1! Fiddle yard I'm itching to get some loco's moving so need to crack on with wiring up the layout. I had originally thought the layout would be DC but as I wanted a few loco's to be on the layout at the same time without the restrictions of isolating sections so DCC appealed! Hopefully the Birthday Bunny will be bringing a DCC controller and some decoders in a couple of weeks time so the aim is to have the bus wires and droppers all sorted by then! Watch this space..... 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattWallace Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 (edited) Looking great Sam. People here will be fed up with my raving about JMRI+MERG CBUS by now, as I praise it at every opportunity, however it is a fantastic way to run a DCC railway at relatively low cost and gives you wireless control via your mobile phone (assuming you've got Apple/Android). MERG costs £18 to join and there's a list of appropriate costs on a comment I made over at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/76851-edgworth-park/&do=findComment&comment=1198255 I'm not in anyway responsible for any of the kits, just a happy customer. Edited October 29, 2013 by MattWallace Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted October 29, 2013 Author Share Posted October 29, 2013 Looking great Sam. People here will be fed up with my raving about JMRI+MERG CBUS by now, as I praise it at every opportunity, however it is a fantastic way to run a DCC railway at relatively low cost and gives you wireless control via your mobile phone (assuming you've got Apple/Android). MERG costs £18 to join and there's a list of appropriate costs on a comment I made over at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/76851-edgworth-park/&do=findComment&comment=1198255 I'm not in anyway responsible for any of the kits, just a happy customer. Thanks Matt. Now I'm sure I've seen you mention JMRI + MERG CBUS before..... Seriously, I like the sound of it and may give it a go in the future. For now though I just want to get some trains moving in hte shortest possible time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattWallace Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Thanks Matt. Now I'm sure I've seen you mention JMRI + MERG CBUS before..... Seriously, I like the sound of it and may give it a go in the future. For now though I just want to get some trains moving in hte shortest possible time Fair enough. Once thing I will recommend though is to avoid the Bachmann Ez Command as a "cheap" DCC controller - It's really not very good unless you want to start/stop trains and it can be limiting when it comes to DCC sound. I did notice that the Hornby eLink stuff seems to be relatively cheap, but I've not used it so I can't comment on the quality. Matt Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Time for something a little bit different.... I thought I'd add lights to the inspection pits before they were fitted. I have tried using surface mounting LED's in the past but found them a right pain to solder and the tiny square light didn't look that good. This time I have used some side mounted LED's which measure 9.2mm x 1.9mm - they look a bit more prototypical. They were also much easier to wire up as they have decent length legs to solder too compared to the tiny surface mounted ones. I drilled a few 2mm holes in the side of the Peco inspection pit and then opened the hole out to fit the 9.2x1.9mm LED quite snuggly. A drop of superglue holds the LED's in place, then a few strips of gaffer tape to protect the wiring. A shot of the bottom And one from the top. It is really difficult to photograph lights due to the contrast. The second pit is almost done, only I managed to damage one of the LED's by being a bit over keen with the soldering iron..... Waiting for a delivery of wire & connectors then time to crack on with the bus wire & droppers. TTFN 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 (edited) Thanks Marcus. It wasn't too complicated at all. About an hour to drill & file the holes and then a couple of hours to solder up the circuits. That included unsoldering & resoldering one of the circuits as I'd got my resister calcs wrong. A quick Google found this site http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz which helped. Cheers Edited November 4, 2013 by sdw7300 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Looks really good . I've considered doing it before but it looks way to complicated for me lol Marcus You could easy do that Marcus!! worth having ago... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris g Posted November 9, 2013 Share Posted November 9, 2013 Sam, Nice work. I really love the back scene. Chris g Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 Thanks Chris. I'm hoping once it's tied in with some bushes etc & possible a low relief building or two it should blend in well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimleygrid Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 Hi Sam, nice work on the inspection pits. Looking good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 11, 2013 Author Share Posted November 11, 2013 Hi Sam, nice work on the inspection pits. Looking good. Thanks Alex - I'm quite pleased with how they have come out. I just need to widen the holes in the baseboard slightly then they can be fitted in place properly. (A little bit of) Progress.... Wired the track droppers & main bus wire for the large of the two main boards over the weekend. Really not exciting enough to warrant a photo but at least it's a step in the right direction. Itching to get the second main board wired then I can run my first loco! Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 13, 2013 Author Share Posted November 13, 2013 (edited) Inspection pits both now fitted and wired up. I recently bought 10m’s of LED strip and it came with a 12DV DC transformer, which I plan to use for all the lighting on the layout. Who knows, I might even use some of the led strip…. The shed in the picture is a temporary measure (cheap from ebay!). I'm planning to build a better one once the layout is a bit more progressed. Over the last couple of nights the main boards bus wiring has been completed. Last night I tested all the track with a multi meter and the feeling of relief that all was OK was huge. So how does one celebrate such a moment….? Run a train of course! I hooked up the controller and 37514 had the honour of being the first to visit Laoson Valley. She ran up and down every siding and loop without a fault. I’m so relieved. The layout is wired with DCC in mind so every section is always live. In the short term this just means one loco at a time on the layout but I’m hoping the birthday bunny will be bringing some DCC toys in a few days time. That's all for now folks. As always, any questions, thoughts or comments are most welcome. Thanks for looking. <edit typo> Edited November 13, 2013 by sdw7300 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d winpenny Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 Great work looking good keep it up David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Well, the birthday bunny was very kind to me so Loason Valley is now officially a DCC controlled layout! 66610 was the first loco to be chipped, mainly because the body was already off. (I realise now the NCE connector plate is technically upside down..... ) While is was in the zone I wired up the fiddle yard and lift out board so the whole layout is now live. Last night I thought I'd chip a couple more DCC ready loco's (37514 & 37428) with the Hattons 8 pin decoders I had in stock, only to realise the Bachmann 37's have 21 pin sockets. A question if I may, should I buy a couple of 21 to 8 pin harnesses such as the Bachmann 36-559 so I can use the 8 pin Hattons decoders I already have, or would it be best to buy 21 pin decoders? Thankfully 37140 is an 8 pin DCC ready loco so that was chipped fairly easierly. Now I was on a roll so I had a go at hard wiring 08513 - a very cheap Hornby shunter. Worked a treat. My inital impressions of the NCE Powercab are very good, the three chipped locos all run very smoothly even at a crawling pace. Cheers 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d winpenny Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 Looking good I do like the operation of the nce David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark 37 Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 21-8 pin harness. You may find there is not enough room to fit a harness and a decoder. Space is always at a premium. Food for thought, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 19, 2013 Author Share Posted November 19, 2013 21-8 pin harness. You may find there is not enough room to fit a harness and a decoder. Space is always at a premium. Food for thought, Mark Thanks Mark, good point. The harness is quite cheap so i might get one & experient. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D9JEF Posted November 19, 2013 Share Posted November 19, 2013 Looking really good. Have you got any close up pictures of the wiring for the led's in the inspection pits? They look superb. Regards Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 (edited) Seeing your bus wire action has made me finally start mine ( long overdue ) , so I'm officially blaming you for 2 nights of tedious wiring lol ! Ha - I find wiring strangely therapeutic.... or is that just the fumes from the flux & solder But the sooner it's done, the sooner we can play trains! Looking really good. Have you got any close up pictures of the wiring for the led's in the inspection pits? They look superb. Regards Jeff Sorry Jeff, the only photo of the underside of the pits is in post #31. In terms of a how to: the LED's were a snug fit so a tiny dab of superglue was all that was required to fix in place. They are wired in circuits of two LED's (so 5 circuits to for each pit). Once the LED's were glued in place I soldered a short piece of wire between every other LED (short leg (cathode - ) on the 1st to the long leg (anode + ) on the 2nd). Next I soldered a resistor to the long leg on the 1st LED in each circuit and a 50mm length of wire to the short leg of the 2nd LED. Finally run a red & black wire along the underside of the inspection pits (sort of "bus wires"), solder the 5 resistors to the red wire and the 5 50mm wires to the black wire. Connect to a 12v DC supply (positive to the red wire) and hope all your connections work! Hope this helps. p.s. - will you be a Warley with Oulton TMD? If so I'll say hello. <edit for the typos that you can only spot once you hit post!> Edited November 20, 2013 by sdw7300 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave.C Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Only just stumbled across this one Sam. I like it, and will return. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdw7300 Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 I've read on here several times as soon as you get to a point where you can "play trains" progress slows dramatically as you get "distracted"....... I might have fallen into that trap. But there has been a little bit of progress.... Can you guess what it is yet? (It's a lid to go over the fiddle yard so I don't have to put the loco's & rolling stock away after a playing session) I was also a little unsure on what to start next so I thought I'd knock up a test plank so I can experiment with thing like ballasting, weathering track, scenics, magnet for auto uncoupling etc without damaging the main layout. The first loco to test it was my impulse purchase from Warley - 08961 - A weathered Freightliner shunter called Terri. In terms of next jobs on the list; I picked up a couple of 21 to 8 pin dcc converters at Warley so chip my two class 37's and the new class 08. Then paint the fiddle lid & test plank, then see what takes my fancy. I also picked up a "superchip" from Kytes Lights and have ordered some 1.8mm blue LED's as a fancy having a crack at adding flashing lights to an emergency vehicle, just not sure what vehicle yet! TTFN 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipparooba Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 It's looking good. I know the feeling of slowing down before my static layout was finished Ive already started a end to end one making a little end to end. This is my second 3rd go at a home layout the first on was I old fashion layout bob up in the middle and the secon was a L shape with a few helixes now I've a straight but with a helix on each end and its great. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d winpenny Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Liking the 08 David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted November 30, 2013 Share Posted November 30, 2013 Very nice 08 you have Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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