A 'Quickie' out of doors - now Palin's Yard

[81A Oldoak]

Bad news Chris,

 

I took the Octavia up to book an MOT yesterday, and to get an opinion on the ominous knocking, which I thought was a clutch release bearing, looks like its a new dual mass flywheel, and clutch, which together with air-con pump-up, overdue service, brake pads, reversing sensor repairs, looks like 1k+, the damn thing's only 7 years old. (Still it has done 180k!) so it's bye bye Fowler.........ta -ta Hudswell Clarke.

 

 

 

 

 

Good news Chris,

 

When I got home from leaving my garage mans' pension plan behind for repairs, I met with my own pensions man, to see if I had to do anything in the tax year before my 'official' retirement date.

 

One of the pensions, a final salary scheme, which was assumed to get me 6k a year, turns out to have had some sort of index linking from when I left in 2001, so it's now 8k+, added to which I can take it early for a loss of 4% per annum.

As I'm not going to pay any tax on it this year or next, I am picking up on that option, so I shall start to get some income again in October, a year early. - Hello Fowler..........Hi Hudswell Clarke, what's a nice pair of loco's like you doing without an owner at Christmas time!

 

What a nice surprise Peter. Like you I had some good news and bad news with respect to pensions and retirement.

 

The Good News.

 

I retired from the Army in 1994 having volunteered for Phase 3 "Options for Change" redundancy as a major with an immediate pro rata pension. Last year I reached what would have been full army retirement age for officers i.e. 55.  The compounded indexed increases in the intervening 17 years were all added at once on last year and the effect was most agreeable and more than I had expected. Meanwhile, I still work a couple of days a week so have not yet drawn down on my SIPPs and company DC pension scheme. I have to say that the Chancellor's decision to allow full, unfettered draw-down from personal pension funds resulted in quite a lot of celebration and toasting by several of us in the office that day.

 

The Bad News.

 

I thought that my liability for military call-up on the RARO list (Regular Army Reserve Officers) also ended when I reached 55. Sadly, I received a letter from They-who-must-be-obeyed (not to be confused with SWMBO) reminding me that I was in fact liable for call-up until I reach 60. All I can say is that if TWMBO have to call up a a long-retired army major who these days is built more for comfort than speed, then we are in very, very deep do-do and certainly will not be worrying about whether Exactoscale chairs are better than C&L's.

 

Looking forward to watching this project's progress. There is a fighting chance that I will complete the lower storage yard on Cwm Bach this week.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[Guest Isambarduk]

"... we are in very, very deep do-do and certainly will not be worrying about whether Exactoscale chairs are better than C&L's."

 

Love it!  Brilliant :-)   David

[peter220950]

Stage 2 Support

 

Several options for this. I shall use my trusty Screwfix  Multi-purpose ladder, purchased for Bournville at a cost of around £85, but I also illustrate a couple of budget alternatives.

 

 

A pair of adjustable height trestles can be purchased for around £25.00 but would also require a couple of timbers to provide support to the boards along their length if only 2 were used, as illustrated using my workhorses.  This has the disadvantage of needing to transport 7 or 8 foot lengths of timber.

 

 

There is also the possibility to use a pasting table, hinged door sections (as illustrated in the board build), or as an alternative, to make timber trestles, which can be adjusted for height, and which fold flat.

 

As it happens I needed to build a couple of trestles for the club layout, on this set-up the boards mainly only have 2 legs and  ‘piggy back' off one another after erecting a king board with 4 legs, so to remove a board for maintenance one end of the resultant gap usually needs support.

 

Because in this instance a specific height was required the trestle was mocked up on one of the baseboards, the required height was marked with a piece of masking tape and the parts laid out to get dimensions.

 

 

At this stage of the build the plain baseboards ar brilliant as a workbench, providing a clear uncluttered work-space, unlike my bench.

 

Two supporting timbers of 63 x 38 regularised studding timber were then cut to 750mm wide, this timber is remarkably cheap, if a little rough, but a quick sand soon brings it up to an acceptable finish.  Uprights of 34 x 34 planed softwood were cut next, with rounded ends (to accommodate different angles on the floor), and a cross piece cut to brace the bottom of the frame.

 

 

 

The whole frame was then glued and screwed together flat on the baseboard and a 63 x 38 leg, with a hinge at one end, was fixed to the top rail.

 

 

The trestles were set to the correct height and chain was cut and screwed to the frame and support leg. These trestles were built from stock lying around the clubroom, but I have priced up similar timbers which work out to around £10.00 per trestle, again a budget build could halve this using second hand timber, old stripped pallets or the like, given that they don’t show when exhibiting the layout.

 

 

Costs - Support Phase

 

 Again no cost as I already had the ladder, but the various alternatives should see a supported layout for around £30.00 for 3 trestles, with a budget possibility of £10.00 for a Wilco pasting table.

 

Time taken - Support Phase

 

No time taken for the ladder or height adjustable trestles, but the fabricated timber triangular supports took about 3 hours to put 2 together, including a trip to the local DIY store, say 6 hours for 3.

[puddlejumper]

Really enjoying this but have to highlight my disappointment with the content given the thread title!!!

[peter220950]

Really enjoying this but have to highlight my disappointment with the content given the thread title!!!

Sorry,

 

I did warn you in line 1!

[81A Oldoak]

Peter,

Given the solid nature of the boards, what means do you plan to use to move the points.

 

Chris

[peter220950]

Peter,

Given the solid nature of the boards, what means do you plan to use to move the points.

 

Chris

Chris,

 

surface mounted servo's with control rodding to take the servo behind the back-scenes etc. - One of the 'see if it works on a small layout first' ideas. I am using the ESU Switch Pilot Servo, and Sitch unit to control frogs.

[peter220950]

Track  Part 1 – Turnouts Phase

 

For this layout I shan’t be taking quite the care on trackwork that I am on Bournville, for the simple reason that a lot of it will be buried in the cobbled yard, so mostly it will be copper-clad, which also keeps costs down. For those not prepared to have a go at track building I have costed Marcway turnouts, though it’s always worth keeping an eye on second-hand sites.

 

The track layout could always be adapted to use 2 ‘normal’ turnouts instead of the three-way if it suited the user.

 

There’s a small length of exposed track on the two front sidings which will be using old Peco track, but that in itself means that I have to consider having to lift the level of the copper-clad. I have in the past used 5mm foam-board for under the copper-clad and 3mm high density foam under the Peco sleepers. The hidden and buried tracks don’t even need the same amount of sleepers as exposed track to save costs.

 

 

A trip into the roof produced a pair of copper-clad turnouts already built but the three  way turnout is something different altogether, I’ve never built one before but had printed a  drawing off some years ago for this project, this was dug out and secured to a length of veneered chipboard. Strips of double sided tape were attached to take PCB sleepering and a start made on the first of three turnout frogs. Sleepering under the frog was attached and the filed up rails were soldered up.

 

 

Having fixed the first frog the second adjacent one was set up and attached, followed by the associated wing rails.

 

 

The third frog was then lined up and attached.

 

 

Followed by the remaining sleepers, rails, check rails and point blades, and a quick check with a wagon.

 

 

After some deliberation the old template was marked up to indicate the various wiring sections and the copper-clad was gapped to suit.

 

 

Time taken – Point production

 

The three -way turnout took a total of one and a half days, (9 hours) to build, the other two turnouts would have taken about the same for the pair.  Obviously if buying in there’s not time at all!

 

 

Cost for the Track - Turnouts Phase

 

This is all getting a bit predictable, the turnouts and track in the roof have been used, along with stored copper-clad sleepering strip and rail,

 

 

so I still haven’t spent a lot, but I have costed turnouts using both pre-made turnouts from Marcway and track from C&L or Peco.

 

A thread on RMWeb gave approximate costs for various turnout fabrications and track an is attached here as a link to study, I have used these costings in my cost spreadsheet,

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79207-o-gauge-on-a-budget-share-your-tips-and-tricks/ 

 

it’s in post 19, but the whole thread is worthy of a read to help with budget savings.

 

If all of the track is built with copper-clad sleepers, and code 100 rail from stripped second-hand 00 track is used, it could see more savings, the lighter rail being perfectly acceptable in an industrial setting, though using cheap Lima loco’s and their large wheel flanges might see issues with this route.

 

As you can see actual costs can vary between £50.00 and £200.00, depending on what you want, how lucky you are, or whether you are prepared to make your own track. What it does show is that it’s really worthwhile to have a go at making your own track, I still think it’s not that difficult, as long as you use a track gauge and take your time, the savings on this layout are in the region of £150.00, give it a whirl.

 

There’s a further saving if using nothing but copper-clad as there is no need to put any sort of underlay beneath the track, as the whole track can be laid straight onto the boards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[peter220950]

Buildings – a minor diversion

 

I was going to stop at board level once the track was laid and build slowly using either foamboard or card with downloaded buildings as an interim measure. This would be very cheap, give an immediate result, and allow for slow replacement over time as the opportunity arises.

 

We are etching our own windows for a Club layout, which means that once we are onto the industrial area there will be A3 sheets of suitable windows for around £30.00.

 

The initial aim was changed somewhat when I stumbled across a couple of buildings second-hand. One is using parts from the Heljan Engine shed kit, and the other appears to have been cobbled together using an unknown kit.

 

 

The Heljan building looks good in its own right, and mayl be used more or less as it stands,

 

 

the other building had 3 good sides and one made from expanded foam and distorted plastic brick sheeting,

 

 

this building was stripped down to the three good sides, when it was discovered that the whole thing is modular.

 

 

The brick sizes are a bit on the large size, but it’s a rather nice set of bits which I shall probably cast from to make a larger building unless I can identify the maker. At £20.00 it was probably a bit too much to pay for one and a half buildings, but if it provides masters for the large building masking the turntable it will be worth it.

 

Experiments in Pivots and electrical continuity

 

The turntable pivot is to be made with the last of my brass board joint dowels, though any pin and sleeve system could be adopted.

 

 

To test the theory a piece of mdf had a hole drilled in it and the socket of the dowel was pressed in using the vice. A similar hole was drilled in a further piece of mdf to take the dowel peg.

 

 

 

Once pushed together it makes the perfect pivot.

 

 

A further advantage is the ability to use the system as one half of the wiring connection to the turntable track, this left the other connection, which gave me something to think about for a few days.

 

By co-incidence, when helping a friend move house, he was throwing old fittings out, amongst which was an old brass cupboard door catch, I saw it and thought that it might provide the solution to my problem of turntable wiring, so I rescued it.

 

 

The catch is a very nice piece of engineering, with two ends, each consisting of a spring loaded steel ball, retained by a threaded plug, which also allowed adjustment of the pressure from the steel ball.

 

 

The catch was cut in half, to give two pick-ups,

 

 

and a 6mm hole was drilled into a piece of mdf, with one side squared up with a file. 

 

 

The catch was then pushed into the board allowing the ball to protrude below.

 

 

The screw fixing for the catch provides a terminal for the other rail contact. All that’s missing is a piece of copper-clad board to provide the pick-up from the board. Having trialed the system all that remains is to put it all together into a working turntable!

 

 

 

[peter220950]

Turnout control.

 

For my layout I shall be trialing the use of servo’s, operated by an ESU Switch servo and accessory switch. This provides control for 4 turnouts which could be controlled by the DCC controller, but in this instance will be operated by a small mimic panel and push button switches. For all I am a DCC convert I do not think that turnout operation is one of its strong points unless using a mouse or touch screen.

 

For the budget build a sliding switch to switch the polarity at the frog, with a rod operating the turnout, can be arranged for less than £1.00 per turnout, using double pole switches and something like old bike spokes to move the point blades.

 

The first turnout in the fiddle yard has had one of my resin servo mounts located along side,

 

 

 

and a short control wire, with an Omega loop in, connected to the tie bar.

 

 

The servo was then attached to the ESU unit, and the whole was powered up.

 

 

Wiring to the frog, and to the fiddle yard sidings was carried out, the ESU unit being a temporary lash-up until I have selected its final location, and the turnout set-up.

 

 

 

Time taken

 

For the first set-up, including digging out the various bits, it took 4 hours to get the servo connected and working, in conjunction with marking out and laying the point itself, which is covered in the next section.

 

It’s also worthy to note here that my modeling time, like many of those of my years, is split into three roughly equal periods, a third is spent looking for things I had two minutes ago, a third is spent trying to remember what it was I was looking for, and a third actually doing anything. Thus for those younger than me the build times could probably be halved, and the costs reduced as you wouldn’t lose things and have to by replacements, (I am still currently trying to locate a ZTC 511 I lost 5 years ago and a Bob Moore lining pen about 6 months ago).

 

Costs

 

Whilst I have again used stock for these items I have included their cost as it’s not really unused spare stock, as I have robbed it from Bournville and will have to replace it. The costs, including servo’s, switching, and fly leads, is around £65.00 for 4 turnouts, competitive with the likes of Tortoise motors but with smaller control units.

 

 

 

Track Part 2 – Laying plain track and turnouts to the fiddle yard

 

Track laying is to be in at least two phases, the turnouts can be placed on the board and the fiddle yard laid, but much of the track is dependent upon the turntable so will be put down once the turntable functions.

 

In the fiddle yard, loading dock, and front storage sidings, I am using second hand, or stored unused Peco track, though C&L is a suitable alternative. As noted previously there is a difference in height between the copper-clad and Peco. This has been dealt with by making turnout shaped sections of foam cored card which are glued to the board, followed by the turnouts, which were laid in the appropriate positions, using straight and flexible guides to line up adjacent turnouts and position them in the correct take-off turnouts for the turntable. 3mm closed cell foam was then glued down in the gaps to take the Peco track sections. Again I had purchased a large pack some years ago but 3mm foam-board is also available as an alternative. At board joints a timber was glued to the board to locate the track ends where they butt up against one another and provide sharp joints.

 

The first item to lay was the fiddle yard turnout, the turnout was placed on foam-board and drawn around to form a base, which was then stuck to the board with PVA.

 

 

The door surface is very shiny and PVA can be peeled off it but I am hoping there will be no problem with doing it this way, it allows for surplus material to be cut off and removed later. If anyone is concerned by this it’s not a great problem to rough up the surface with sandpaper to form a key.  You can also see in the photo's that I have used silver and gold marker pens to roughly mark out the track on the darker door surface, a worthwhile investment.

 

Plain 3mm closed cell polystyrene foam was then laid for the two storage sidings from the turnout, again stuck down with PVA, the underlay was obtained some years ago from B&Q for laying under laminate flooring, and seems to be performing well, without any signs of deterioration.

 

 

The other two turnouts, the three-way and the feed to the loading bay, were then placed in their approximate positions and the proposed track layout was marked out with silver marker pen. Once happy with the length of sidings etc the turnouts had foam-board bases cut and they were fixed to the boards.

 

 

I then realized that I had laid track to the end of the fiddle yard board, which would encroach on the footpath to the front of the building which was to conceal it, so it was out with the slitting disc to trim the tracks to length.

 

 

Track laying had to stop at this point, as until the turntable is fitted the connecting track cannot be lined up.

 

 

Time taken

 

After 6 hours track laying the layout has seen a loco running, though it couldn’t run right through the turnout without a track on the adjacent board, nevertheless a milestone in a relatively short time, this was just to get the first turnout and fiddle yard track running .

 

The other track laying was very quick, there was quite a bit of time taken to line the turnouts up but the other points were laid in 3 hours, leaving the connections and plain track to finish.

 

Costs

 

Predictably the only cost for this phase was £12.00 for three sheets of foam-board, which should also see some of the buildings framed up. I had the Peco and underlay already but the total cost for buying-in would be between £30.00 and £60.00, as noted previously a budget build with copper-clad would avoid the need for any sort of underlay.

[peter220950]

The Turntable

 

As an alternative if you are unsure of the abilty to wire and make a turntable a sector plate could be used, but will make operation more complicated.

 

The problem that I made for myself, when narrowing the base boards by 3”, was that the turntable had realistically, to remain at 24” to carry a loco and 3 wagons. This only left 3” for the front of the building that masks the fiddle yard and the track in front, I had to ponder this problem for a couple of days before deciding that there wasn’t much of a downside in offsetting the turntable, and that by cutting the sides off it needn’t protrude when stored. A cardboard template was made up and the principle seemed to work, so I have proceeded on this basis.

 

 

This is a new one for me, having never built one on a layout before, the Gordon Gravett design includes for two lines on the table, I made a mock-up in card but remained to be convinced that I could maintain the 3’ 0” radius doing this so I have gone for a single straight track.

 

 

I can, in the future, add tracks either side with restricted radii, for 0-4-0’s, or even build another turntable with two tracks, if operational conditions dictate.

 

The centre pivot point for the turntable was marked out on the board and a 2mm hole drilled right through the door. This is important as it means that the reference point remains once the top has been removed.

 

 

To cut the top a length of aluminium display stand was selected,

 

 

and a couple of pieces of hardwood sleeper were cut to length and forced into the channel section. The fixing bolt from my craft knife was removed and the knife was screwed onto the end of the trammel.

 

 

 

A screw was inserted into the trammel at 300mm from the knife blade, and the blade was rotated until it cut through the top deck. The chipboard top was then removed to reveal the honeycomb card filling. This was removed and the glue spots were sanded down or scraped off with a chisel.

 

 

A reinforcing timber was glued into the well, adjacent to the side rail, as some of the rail is to be routered out, to allow the turntable deck to rotate. To further strengthen the well the piece removed was cut to fit and glued into the base, this will be further beefed up with an mdf base. The side rail was then routered out (badly, I have covered it with a strip of 1mm ply), to allow the turntable to rotate fully.

 

Having tried to glue the piece removed from the top of the door into the bottom I hit a problem, the 3mm mdf distorted as soon as it saw the glue, and no amount of weight seemed to be sorting the problem.

 

Given that it formed the base of the turntable I had to have a quick re-think to ensure that I was going to have a stable flat foundation.

 

The garage was again raided and I came away with two pieces of melamine covered chipboard, one slightly shorter than the hole was marked out using the removed top section, and cut to shape using a jigsaw, it doesn’t have to be the full size of the well, just sufficient to support the deck.

 

 

The other piece was a shelf, which was long enough and sufficiently wide for the deck, this was again marked out using the top template and the ends were cut to the curved profile of the well, the combined thickness of the two timbers was 35mm. before any allowance is made for residual glue on the base etc.  

 

 

The depth of the door core is 28mm, the removed top section is a further 3mm and the foam-cored card underlay is 5mm, giving a total thickness from door base to underside of pcb track of 36mm, so the turntable assembly is within 1mm of the right level, something that can be easily accommodated if there’s any misalignment later on.

 

Once the parts were placed in position the centre was drilled using the previously drilled hole in the bottom layer as a guide. Following the procedure undertaken with the trial piece the base was drilled out to 6mm and the brass socket installed temporarily, the turntable deck was similarly drilled and the peg pushed into place, this set up the working turntable for installation into the door.

 

Six locating holes were drilled and countersunk into the underside of the door and the base piece was screwed into the well, the deck was dropped into position, and any tight points on the top rim of the well were sanded out until the table rotated smoothly.

 

Having done a trial assembly the pivot was removed and a section of printed circuit board was cut to 50mm square, a hole was drilled in the middle to clear the pivot point and the area of the board was marked onto the lower base section.

 

 

A router was then set to the depth of the circuit board and the area was removed, the corners of the pcb were filed to a curved profile, as the router bit left circular corners, and the pivot pieces and pcb were drilled to take wires.

 

 

Again as on the test piece a 6mm hole was drilled in the turntable deck 20mm away from the centre pivot point, this was enlarged to square off the slot in order that the ball catch could be force fitted into the deck, a quick re-assembly and turn of the top deck left a clear circular ring on the pcb, indicating the system should work. If there’s any wear that removes the copper on the pcb it should be a simple job to cut a piece of brass to suit.

 

 

Wires were soldered to the pivot dowels, the ball catch, and the pcb, and a groove cut into the bottom plate of the turntable to take the wires away to the power bus. The turntable then had a final assembly and the wiring continuity was tested out.

 

 

The turntable was marked out with a centre line and two lines 60mm apart were drawn straddling the centre, between these lines sleepers were glued to the deck, and the wires were soldered to a sleeper to power the track. Two lengths of rail were then soldered onto the deck and cut to length, ensuring that both ends were the same distance from the centre pivot.

 

 

For those working in DC, or who won’t be using a booster to control track polarity on the turntable, the bottom plate will need gapping through the centre, across the baseboard at right angles to the long side, and two pick-ups will need to be installed in the deck, one either side of the centre pivot, this will change polarity of the rails when the turntable is rotated through 180 degrees.

 

I shall probably be installing the second ball-catch, further out from the centre pivot, to drop into pre-drilled holes in the base which will give alignment at the incoming rail positions, but this will be a retro-fit, to be recorded at a future date.

 

For travelling the turntable deck is just lifted off to stop it thrashing about, and to make the board easier to handle. On assembly the levels of track on the turntable and adjoining board seemed to have worked out quite well.

 

 

If anyone fears that ball-catches and pcb routered into chipboard is outside their comfort zone don’t be put off, it’s a simple matter to buy some small brass sliding cupboard bolts screwed to the deck, and use them to both positively locate the turntable and as plug and sockets to power the track Alternatively the modified cupboard catches can be mounted on top of the board to rub on brass or aluminium angles fixed to the turntable deck.

 

The reason I have trodden the route of ball-catch on pcb is to maintain track power at all times, otherwise sound fitted diesel loco’s have a delay while start-up procedures are gone through before they will move. It remains to be seen if the contact remains positive at all times, though the use of ‘stay-alive’ capacitors should help the situation.

 

The initial Gordon Gravett plan indicated two tracks on the turntable, I wasn’t convinced that I could maintain a 3’ 0” radius on tracks if I followed this route, however I think I can still put two additional tracks, one either side of the centre one, onto the deck, to take 0-4-0’s and increase storage capacity, again it’s a retro-fit option to be tested out once I’ve got something to play with.

 

Time Taken

 

The total time taken for cutting out, preparing the components, and assembling and wiring the turntable has been 16 hours.

 

Costs

 

I have re-used old Ikea ‘Billy’ shelving and kitchen unit bits found in the garage, together with stock pcb, pivot and rail but the cost should be somewhere between £15.00 and £30.00 depending on luck and how much you fabricate yourself.

 

 

 

[peter220950]

Track laying – Part 3

 

Once the turntable was finished it meant a start could be made on the rest of the track, commencing with the connection from the fiddle yard. Underlay was fixed to the board and a length of Peco track was roughly trimmed to length, taking care to ensure that curves were kept to more than 3’ 0” radius. To achieve this I used a cardboard template made from the turntable template surplus.

 

 

Once it was possible to line the track up to the turntable, the track ends were marked accurately, and cut to length with a slitting disc. A piece of PCB sleeper was glued to the edge of the turntable well at the entry point and the track was glued in place, checking for line and level at both ends of the turntable.

 

 

The take off from the turntable to the turnout to the loading dock was next and was filled in with copper clad sleepers and track lined up to meet the turntable square on.

 

Next the infil between the three way turnout and the board edge, again this was carried out using copper clad and short lengths of rail.

 

 

Followed by the loop from the other turntable take off to the three way turnout, a length of Peco track had a section of sleeper removed at each end to solder to copper clad and after curving it to approximately the right profile it was trimmed to length and glued to the foam underlay.

 

 

For most of the curving track my trusty track laying template was used, it appeared in another thread but I think it’s worth showing again. It comprises a length of 2mm plastic cut to fit between the track and is then cut 25mm into the strip, on opposite sides, at regular intervals. This allows the track to curve naturally without kinks, and allows sections to be joined smoothly.

 

 

Finally the sections of plain Peco track were dealt with, the loading deck line was set, using a length of aluminium to keep it straight, and measured at a constant distance from the back of the board.

 

 

The siding to the front corner of the layout was laid next, using the former to give a free flowing curve to provide a bit of interest and avoid straight lines.

 

 

Last but not least, he other yard siding was laid, again with a slight curve away from the loading bay to avoid a straight line of track parallel to the front edge of the board.

 

 

Apart from a bit of trimming to length, and a decision on buffer stops, that’s all of the track laying.

 

The remaining turnout had a servo mount fitted and brass wire fashioned into a control arm as the fiddle yard.

 

 

It was the three way turnout that required a bit more thought, I had tried wire-in-tube on Bournville, but this was one of the problem areas that were undone recently, as I felt it all a bit flimsy. For this layout lengths of copper tube, with brass wire inside, were used, the wire at each end had a sleeve soldered to connect it to the servo and turnout, enabling disconnection should a problem arise, without removal of the scenic work above the tube. The servo’s were again fitted in the concealed area behind the loading dock.

 

 

Ballasting of the exposed track sections will be carried out once wiring and testing has been completed, I have yet to decide on what to use, but I think it’s likely to be either N gauge ballast or fine grey ash, from sieved remnants of the log burner, which is closest to prototypical for a small industrial set-up. The jury’s out on this one for the moment, I shall do a couple of samples shortly.

 

On the ‘yard’ sections I am again undecided whether to use cobbles or concrete slab, again it’s up for a future decision, cobbles are probably a more attractive finish, although hard work to form, but given that it’s likely to be set in the ‘60’s it’s more likely to be concrete or tarmac.

 

 

Time taken

 

The time taken for laying the remaining track has been 12 hours

 

Costs

 

All track, sleepering, and rail was pulled out of stock so has again cost me nothing, but using Peco I would estimate a cost of around £50.00 to £70.00 for the 7 metres/yards used. For those on a budget second hand track is perfectly acceptable and could see savings of around 50% Foam underlay would probably add a further £10.00. If copper-clad self-build is carried out throughout there would be no requirement for any underlay.

 

[2ManySpams]

Looks like you're absolutely motoring!

[peter220950]

Looks like you're absolutely motoring!

It's not quite what it seems, as I mentioned at the start it's catching up from a start made back in June, but it should get to completion of the first phase, to get a working layout, by the end of the week. (I hope so as I'm back off down South next week to do some building work for my Son-in Law)

 

I have condensed a couple of months into a couple of weeks of posts, I didn't want to start something I might not have finished so I waited until it seemed to be a working concept.

[2ManySpams]

Phew, I was feeling somewhat inadequate with your astonishing rate of progress.

[81A Oldoak]

It's not quite what it seems, as I mentioned at the start it's catching up from a start made back in June, but it should get to completion of the first phase, to get a working layout, by the end of the week. (I hope so as I'm back off down South next week to do some building work for my Son-in Law)

 

I have condensed a couple of months into a couple of weeks of posts, I didn't want to start something I might not have finished so I waited until it seemed to be a working concept.

A bit like time-lapse photography then?

[peter220950]

A bit like time-lapse photography then?

Exactly, - London to Brighton in 3 minutes.

 

When I started I didn't want to make a big song and dance about building a new layout only to find that the basic concept didn't work, that just wastes everyone's time, and adds to the 'never finished' fantasy layouts and threads that inevitably fill the Forum. Coupled with this was the hope that I could get hold of Gordon Gravett to gain permission to reproduce his drawings, which took a couple of weeks, but they were fundamental to the decision to build.

 

Having said that, even without speeding it up by a factor of about 3, if I hadn't been tied up hanging doors, sanding floors, fitting skirtings, and painting down in Weston I recon it would only have been about 4 weeks to get to a running layout, (less with manual points), as there's nothing done yet that takes up the time.

 

It's the old 80% of the work in 20% of the time syndrome, detailing is the slow bit, this wasn't primarily about that, it's only really a shunting plank / test bed, but also hopefully a demonstration that something workable can be produced in a short time, at low cost, in O gauge.

[DanielB]

This is fantastic. Inspiring, even.

[peter220950]

Thank Mr G, for it's his design and vision, I'm merely a copyist!

[peter220950]

Wiring & Control Part 2

 

I have only generally used 16/02 wire on this layout, normally I would go for something larger but with 4 turnouts and probably 2 loco’s in use I don’t see any need for overkill, any bus bars that are used are 1mm lighting cable, though mostly wiring is just linking rails together. Once the blue turnout frogs had been fed to the ESU Switch unit red and black feeds for track power are added.

 

 

All other tracks were wired either red or black, depending on location, and feeds taken to the board joins where a plug and socket feed power across the boards. I have used my favourite ‘Switch’ plugs and sockets, which carry three feeds in a 13A rated unit that clips together.

 

 

Usually I split control and signaling busses and use two plugs per board, though you could use the famous ‘2 wires’ of DCC. The reason I opt for two supplies is to prevent operational problems if a loco runs into a facing turnout and trips the power, as you can’t then change the turnout. It’s not a major problem to introduce a second supply and by putting it through a booster the problem of polarity on the turntable can be sorted automatically. Luckily two uncased boosters were fitted into power units for Bournville, and one will provide both a power supply and booster.

 

 

As a check on power to the turntable a jury rig of a diode and 12v bulb was set up, this will be incorporated as a permanent fixture later on.

 

 

As I have to use two plugs I might as well go for my preferred method of wiring, red to line terminal on the plug (one from controller, one from booster), black to neutral the same, even if things get plugged in wrongly the worst that happens is that the layout runs off the booster and the turntable off the controller, you wouldn’t even notice. Having brought the plugs and sockets onto the turntable board there are a pair of similar plugs and sockets taking the power to the loading bay board along with the supply for the control bus, one of the remaining ‘spare’ earth contacts carries the frog switching to the fourth turnout on the turntable board, the booster power bus being used to power the ESU servo controller on the loading dock board.

 

 

All pieces of track are either bonded to the next section or fed from the controller to avoid reliance on sliding fishplates for continuity.

 

Any accessories or low DC voltage requirements will be met by tapping off the Control bus wiring.

 

As far as possible wires are surface mounted in the concealed areas, though inevitable some wiring will be buried under scenics, one of the compromises with using a solid board. Wherever possible, around the edge of the turntable, wires were taken into the well and have been concealed behind the card side walls, this retains a reasonable access but tidies things up somewhat. 

 

 

The first attempt at the three way point servo’s was done using a straight linkage, but the results were poor, the servo’s constantly chattering when not in use, no matter how much I tried. A rebuild with a small Omega loop has largely removed the problem, though there’s still the odd chunter from a servo.

 

 

The next problem that I encountered was with the ESU unit, which seemed to be getting hot, hot enough to make it difficult to handle, so there was clearly something wrong, I assumed it was putting too much voltage through it, but looking at the manual again confirmed it was suitable to run from the track bus.

 

I disconnected servo’s and power, let it cool down then started to work the problem through. The unit remained cool to start with, then once a servo was connected started to fry, after a lot of head scratching I realized that the control arm had been screwed onto the servo with a bit too much force, locking it up almost solid, hence it was struggling to move and causing the problem. Once loosened the unit is working well and awaiting connections for the frog polarity changes. This setting up of servo’s has taken far more time than I anticipated, 6 hours for 4 servo’s seems a bit over the top.

 

Final conection work involved connecting the track power plugs and frog switching, this has been carried out on a temporary basis until the final location of the ESU servo switching unit has been determined.

 

Once all was rigged up tasting commenced, but there seemed to be several gremlins in the system, despite the simplicity of the layout. Wiring and testing of track power again seemed to take a disproportionate time, fault finding and testing taking 6 hours for just this small set-up, however after a lot of messing about and sorting out it was established that all areas were accessible by an 0-6-0 dock tank so it was ready for the final phase, to locate the control systems behind the scenery.

 

 

Wiring that is completed has been wrapped in spiral wrap to keep things tidy.

 

 

Wiring and control - time taken.

 

The whole of the ‘temporary wiring and testing took longer than anticipated and stretched out to 25 hours, this included re-jigging the three way point servos and  sorting many of the gremlins that seemed to beset me when testing.

 

Costs

 

As noted before the total costs for 4 servos and the ESU control unit and frog switching is around £65.00. A budget solution, using DPDT sliding switches and rods would cost less than £5.00.

 

[2ManySpams]

Pardon the slight diversion but is that a 1366 dock tank? If so what make is the kit? I ask because I'm currently building the Agenoria one for my Pencarrow project.

[peter220950]

Pardon the slight diversion but is that a 1366 dock tank? If so what make is the kit? I ask because I'm currently building the Agenoria one for my Pencarrow project.

Couldn't swear to it but if I remember correctly it was an Oakville kit, you're making a much better job of yours.

[L&Y]

Informative & interesting. I found a new copy of the Gravitt book Pt one. Which helped me decide on O gauge. Waiting for Part 2 to come found on ebay. Sadly these books are now out of print. Like the use of the doors. Usually folk complain that they are too big. But you have shown how easy it is to cut them down & join them together. Worthy of consideration for my layout! I will follow this with interest. Bet you have it finished before I even have my railway room ready! Actually its my sons bedroom but I don't think he will mind.. Hes train mad. Don't know why.......

[peter220950]

Informative & interesting. I found a new copy of the Gravitt book Pt one. Which helped me decide on O gauge. Waiting for Part 2 to come found on ebay. Sadly these books are now out of print. Like the use of the doors. Usually folk complain that they are too big. But you have shown how easy it is to cut them down & join them together. Worthy of consideration for my layout! I will follow this with interest. Bet you have it finished before I even have my railway room ready! Actually its my sons bedroom but I don't think he will mind.. Hes train mad. Don't know why.......

 

Similarly my workroom is my son's bedroom, but fortunately he left home 10 years ago! I do think that doors are an underrated resource for cheap stable boards, and workbenches,

 

 

The speed of construction is mainly because it's a means to an end, if I pick up some Sprat & Winkles at Telford I can start to test and then make inroads into Bournville, using what I have learned about mocked up buildings, servo's and couplings, to get on with the layout. I will then gradually spend time ballasting, adding scenery and buildings as further test beds on this layout. I am particularly interested in how the track infills will work, leaving sufficient rail height to clean without marking the surface etc. It's much easier and cheaper to screw something up on this layout.

[peter220950]

The End of the Beginning.

 

Time for a review.

 

At this point I have a working 8’ 0” x 2’ 3” layout, (actually I’ve been lying it’s 2.40m x 2’3” – I left it slightly short to allow both halves to be placed into an 8 foot gap before pushing the dowels together).

 

 

It has no scenic work, but it’s functioning, albeit with a degree of temporary wiring. This was the point I had intended taking the thread to in the first quick hit.

 

 

The layout has taken around six weeks in real time to construct, although almost two weeks have been lost due to being dragged into building works at son-in-law’s studio, a few days digging out and re-laying a new lawn, and all the usual day-to day stuff that gets in the way of railways.

 

It has actually cost me around £100.00, albeit with a lot of kit out of the loft and the cupboards.

 

It does, however, prove that there is a real possibility of making a working layout for anything between £200.00 and £400.00, with a budget build feasible for around £100.00, depending on how lucky you are.

 

With a small shunting loco being something that can be bought for under £50.00 and a few Skytrex or Lima wagons you can be in business relatively cheaply, certainly at a rate that’s comparable to 00. Buildings can be downloaded and printed and improvements to standards can gradually upgrade the scenics, buildings, and rolling stock as budgets allow.

 

During the build I have been keeping an eye on e-bay to see what’s available, there have been 3 Lima diesel shunters, and a Pola 0-4-0 shunter which each sold for less than £50.00.      

 

On the track front a very nice three way turnout went for less than £50.00, a copper-clad curved turnout for £10.51, and two bundles of Peco track, each of which was more than enough for the layout, for £35.00 and £50.00. All indicating that it’s out there if you look around.

 

I hope then that I have proved that O gauge is possible in a small space, it can be cheap, and it doesn’t need huge skill levels. What’s more it can be fun.

 

Things are likely to slow down a bit from here on in, with works carried out as and when I can fit them in. After a period of testing/play, to test couplings, servo’s etc. I shall be getting it closer to finished, while hopefully getting back onto Bournville with renewed vigour.

 

But with me you never know……………………………………………………………

 

 

 

A moment of doubt.

 

Having surprised myself with a layout that seemed to work without too much fettling of the track, I cleared the decks and had a look at the layout. - Let's be honest it looks nothing like Gordon Gravetts’ vision, and I wasn’t sure it ever would.

 

To me it just looked like a couple of cut down doors with some random track fixed to it,  then I realized that without any structures to mask the turntable and fiddle yard, and a mess of differing track and underlay, it was never going to. There was a real possibility in my mind that it wasn’t going to work, not technically, but as a layout rather than a test plank.

 

Added to this dilemma was the need to get the servo controller and mimic panel located before I could properly wire and intensively test the track. I had not envisaged getting involved with buildings at this stage, but felt that it was crucial to further development to see what the layout could look like and where to put stuff.

 

Once again the mean streak kicked in, rather than spend a lot of money on buildings, only to find it wasn’t looking right, or working practically, I decided to mock up the buildings in ‘greyboard’, a coarse cardboard purchased from art shops and the like. At around £2.15 a sheet it is a cost effective way of planning structures.

 

 

By chance I was tidying up at the Club when I found a set of Townscape back scene sheets in one of the cupboards, very nice watercolour backscenes from Freestone Model Accessories,  that we have been using on one of the layouts, I felt that some sort of representation of the buildings might help my doubts about the layout.

 

 

Four sheets of greyboard were purchased from Hobbycraft and a start was made on the Main Office and buildings masking the turntable. The building sides and roofs were marked out, cut out with a sharp craft knife, and glued together. Once dry, strips of double sided tape were applied to the walls at top, bottom, middle and ends and the covering tape was removed

 

 

Suitable sheets were selected from the back scenes, the relevant parts were then cut out and applied to the buildings, giving a pretty good representation of the finished building. This proves also that a budget build layout could, using commercially available downloaded factory buildings, could be put together for very little cost. A building to the rear of the turntable exit was made next and covered in a similar manner, along with the narrower building to hide the front of the exit.

 

 

The loading bay was constructed next, set at a suitable height relative to the bottom of the wagon and van doors, and allowing servos and control gear to be located underneath. A canopy was next constructed of card and timber and the deck was trimmed to length.

 

 

A works chimney was constructed next to fit by the turntable, followed by the large loading bay building which covers the fiddle yard.

 

 

For the moment a small bridge of corrugated iron has been introduced to hide the fiddle yard entrance, further pipe work and stuff will be introduced into the finished article. This building involved scanning a small section of the printed bridge detail and photo-shopping it into a longer structure, then printing.

 

Finally the infill buildings hiding the fiddle yard access track were put together and all buildings had either papers or paint applied to get an indication of what the finished article might look like.

 

 

At this point my faith in the scheme was restored, I can relate to it as a layout and see the concept will work.

 

This building work, though taking up a further two weeks, (18 hours of modeling time), has proved invaluable in showing what the final layout would look like, as well as indicating where all the control systems would fit. The mock up’s have also had several ‘re-cut and carves’ which would have taken much longer on the finished building, so as a fitting exercise it has also proved useful. Again I shall adopt the same principles for the Bournville buildings, a few hours spent on mock-up’s are time well spent.

 

I think it may be possible to get somewhere near Gordon Gravetts' vision given time and a lot more work on buildings and scenery.

 

 

So we have now caught up with ‘real time’ – the layout has taken a bit longer than expected, but not too bad considering the other things going on and two weeks spent on adding buildings. The diary shows that the first day spent on the baseboards was 16^th June, so it has taken 8 weeks to get to this point, a working layout ready to play with at home, it will take a lot longer to get it tested, finally wired, and scenic’ed, but in that 8 weeks I have also done a lot of other stuff, total build time to date stands at 99 hours.

 

I shan’t bother with costs and time from here on in, as it really depends on what you want, for a home layout there needn’t be anything more than a bit of ash ballast track filling, and flock, to make it a working layout.

 

So no more talk about haven’t got room, money or time, it’s not that difficult, get building.