Brampton Road

[wireman]

 

I could not find a picture of 31869 before weathering, but have received one today from Nick which he had taken before starting work on it. So, instead of a before and after, we have already seen the after so here is the before.

 

 

 

 

 

Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

 

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by wireman
Picture addition

[wireman]

 

 

I have obtained more Peco 3rd. rail insulators and have two lengths of code 60 rail so a little more 3rd. rail can be added. In the mean time, the second handheld controller on order since December has arrived.  Just in time to run the inaugural electric service into Brampton road.

 

 

 

414 with Zimo sound chip.

This 3rd. rail is addictive.

 

Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

 

[wireman]

 

 

Straight out of the box. Excellent.

 

Regards Brian. ( wireman )

[wireman]

 

Normal Bank holiday weather limited our walk at the quay this morning, opening the car door against the wind was challenge enough. Good to see visitors back in town though.

On the bright side, I cleared the area around the engine shed to be able to continue 3rd. rail installation. Every thing not glued down was removed plus, during the work, several things that were glued down were also removed.

This time, after cutting the rail to the lengths required, I gave them a coat of primer to help the painting once installed, plus, as I am unable to paint the rail sides which can't be seen once fitted, my thinking was at least they would not be shiny on that side.  This made sliding the insulator pots along the rail a little more difficult. Was it worth it ? Not sure, not something I will do next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Peco instructions suggest a .8mm drill, to fit the insulators, I thought this a bit tight and used a .9mm. Despite the small size, non were broken drilling all the holes although one became unusable after using it to put super glue into each hole.

I have now run out of rail, so for the time being the third rail runs only into the bay platform. Something which was not unusual on the southern.

 

Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

 

 

[wireman]

Now into September and so far no progress has been made on the 3rd. rail instalation since May.

However, a recent donation from a friend of two lengths of dode 60 rail, has prompted the purchase of another pack of six lengths plus another pack of insulators. The aim being to 3rd. rail platform 2 and the carriage siding.

 

Having followed the Peco instructions re. part seperating the insulators from the sprue and then painting the rail

holders ok. Fitting the then seperate insulators to the rail is quite fiddly, so, with the insulators still attached to the sprue, placed on a flat surface, I have been holding the length of rail upright , pressing the end into the insulator, lifting the whole from the bench , then snipping them off.

 

 

 

 

 

Gradualy pushing them along the rail length.

 

 

Using a spacing of one insulator per every four sleepers requires about 22 per length. I always add a couple in case of casualties during fitting. Next is drilling and fitting.  ( to be cont.)

 

Regards Brian ( wireman ).

Edited September 6, 2021 by wireman

[wireman]

A few points which I had forgotten to mention about the above pictures.

 

Code 60 rail is quite fine and has a tendancy to have a mind of its own when fitting insulators as shown in the first picture. Perhaps a cork or blob of blue tac on the loose end could prevent an eye injury.

 

If your length of rail is for a curve, it helps to curve the code 60 roughly to the required shape before fitting insulators. This will help final fitting to the track considerably.

 

The fitting stems on each insulator are quite long and I found that by reducing them to about half their length makes fitting much easier. Bear this in mind if you are going to use the supplied spacers. The insulators as supplied are the correct height for code 75 track and the spacers increase the height for code 100 track.

Before starting this project,  I fitted a short length of track with 3rd rail, just see how things fittted, drilling holes, spacing etc. As the 3rd rail height  came above the code 100 track without the spacer and it looked right I decided not to use them. Also,at this stage I also tried to make a small jig to help position the fixing holes.

This proved very time consuming and fiddly and I eventually opted to just judge the drilling point by eye.

 

 

 

The plastic sleepers are quite soft and a .9mm bit in a pin vice is all thats required. The rail lying on the ballast behind the drill is the length that is going to be fitted into the holes being drilled here, the insulators have yet to be spaced correctly.

 

More to follow.

 

Regards Brian. ( wireman )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by wireman

[wireman]

 

I prefer to prepare and fit one length of rail at a time, after fitting the insulators and drilling enough holes, I dry fit the length. This enables me to see any  mis-alignements, or rogue ballast which may be in the way but has been overlooked and to make sure I'm happy with the way it looks before glueing. Next, don't forget to slightly bend down each end to simulate the ramps for the collecting shoes. I have used Super Glue to fix my rails, using a broken .5mm drill in the pin chuck to dip into the glue and place in the holes. I use Super Glue here because of its rapid drying time. Normaly doing 5 or 6 holes and fitting at a time, moving quite quickly along the length. I normaly drop 5 or 6 drops of glue into a small container then replace the cap on the bottle. I am sure most  modellers wil appreciate the dangers of Super Glue if allowed contact with skin and the respiratory problems if fumes are inhaled. Go carefully, many a happy hour can be had peeling PVA glue from fingers, but Super Glue is dangerous.

 

 

In this picture, the rail on the left of the platform is the one I am just completing. I was not sure how long a length of third rail could be on the real thing , so here, after fitting two lengths, Only one end of each length had been bent and once the insulators were glued, i slid the two lengths together with a tiny amount of glue to form a but join which is almost impossible to see.

I am very pleased with the visual results of my fitting a 3rd. rail, if it is correctly laid over the slip and points I don't know. I refered to many sites on line before starting and became more confused the more I looked at.

I am quite happy if anyone can point out any major flaws and would conside correcting them where possible

 

I quite like the idea of concrete cable ducting. Maybe !!!

First put everything back where it should be and have some playtime.

 

Regards Brian. ( wireman ).

 

 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by wireman

[wireman]

 

I took the picture below as things had returned to normal on completion of the 3rd rail as far as intended.

The up express waiting to leave platform 1 and the two car local electric waiting to follow.

 

 

 

But, for a while now I have looked for a way of running another line to the turntable. This really is just not possible without impossibly tight curves or major surgery to the table itself. I have though realised i could at least fit in a short spur to enable an engine waiting to turn to be clear of an engine leaving the table or having been turned, to wait before coming off shed on to its train.

 

 

 

 

 

It may well be possible to connect this to the coaling road.

A bit more measuring is required before digging out the 2 inch paint scraper again.

 

Regards Brian. ( wireman)

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by wireman

[wireman]

 

Connecting to the coal road would look good but space required for a point at that end would limit the storage on the coal road, in fact without extending the coal road, a pacific wheel base loco would be unable to use it.

So. Out with the paint scrapper again.

 

 

 

 

The new point lies just in front of the control panel so will be changed by hand although provsion has been made if I change my  mind at a later date .

The new point will not isolate the siding allowing me to leave a loco parked here with sound switched on.

Most of the roads within the loco. shed do isolate when the point is against them, I had no idea of using sound when I laid them, but once I find a way of cutting through metal fishplates without to much disturbance, I will make them all live.

The siding as shown will be shortend slightly, painting, buffer stop etc. to follow.

It may be noticed that the right hand track, leading to the turntable, has insulated joiners in both rails, this is because it doubles as a programing track. It  is important that this is completely isolated before use as such, therefore  switching to program also swiches off the rest of the layout. This is not used very often as the Gaugemaster units allow on main programing which covers most situations.

 

Regards Brian ( wireman )

 

 

 

[wireman]

 

Finishing the siding took a little longer than expected, but all finished and operating.

 

Picture shows Q1 3309 reversing towards the turntable, Std 4 75074 about to move off to its train in the station and the 700 30315 heading towards the coaling stage. These three are all sound fitted with Zimo chips and Youchoos sounds, as are most locos now. Leaving an engine here just simmering away whilst trains leave or arrive at the station is really effective.

 

 

 

Being a small layout all volumes are kept to a reasonable level and obviously all turned off once the fiddle yard is entered.

 

 

 

 

Regards Brian ( wireman ).

Edited November 23, 2021 by wireman