The Great Bear

The new concept is really coming together now with the harbourside cottages and the harbour details, Alan.

Finally, all signals, points and levers wired and working. Time for a train then... First though, an overview of where the layout's got to - whilst it is tidy: My "signalbox": Levers set: (The distant one doesn't do anything nor does the other one with the masking tape, both off stage but included to give the complete frame and in case I add them later somewhere.) And now the train: (Had better do something about the refuge siding starter post!) The signals aren't perfect, some don't move as much as they ought and they seem to wander a bit despite adjusting the servo controllers but I'm going to stop worrying about that for now and get on with the scenics and hopefully keep things tidy enough to run some trains. (By the way, my photo hosting company's site is running slowly at the moment so hopefully these photos appear ok, in reasonable time.) Thanks for looking Jon

Agree, but my first preference would be for an RTR GWR 00 full brake.

That's very informative, Mike - thank you. Think I understand - and yes the additional ones do help, just need to remind myself how the levers & point blades at the double slip work. The big thing I've missed is including the FPL levers. Quite possibly this was covered earlier in this thread/our pm's but forgot to take cognisance of that and so had assumed that they only effected & would be interlocked with the points. (Indeed the work in my layout thread has wired the FPL levers on the frame in this way as an economy to avoid buying an extra bit of DCC kit, but this can be changed in due course.) Thinking about it, it makes sense in the prototype that you want the FPL locked before you clear a route that goes over that point. I'm sure I've heard the term "pulling between" before on here, but quick search didn't reveal it. Guessing it just means trying to pull a lever which is locked or is it more subtle than that. Once again thanks, Jon

Just remembered this, thanks again Mike. No.5 certainly is a mouthful, especially for the lever labels: I think, based on this site http://www.roscalen.com/signals/Greenford/ that this is the right format. I had initially thought that the numbers below were all the related levers, but this site says it's only the ones which need to be reversed, which makes sense. The intention is to print these on card and stick on the levers in due course. Not as elegant as cast numbers but hopefully won't look too amiss.

After a couple of months' break, back to the "shed"... As per the post above I'm reworking the wiring of the lever frame to use computer control. I bought a cheap Windows tablet/laptop (Lenovo MIIX3 10") and am running JMRI on it. I set up a control panel for my layout in that. JMRI is linked to my NCE DCC system using a usb to serial lead. The levers in the lever frame are connected to NCE AIU units which basically just sense whether the lever is on or off. In JMRI the state of these sensors can then be monitored and routines ("Logix") used to control the "turnouts". (Both the points and the semaphore signals are "turnouts" as far as the program's concerned.) At the moment the logix routines simply sense whether the lever is on or off and move the relevant point or signal accordingly. In due course I can add to these routines to make them conditional on the state of other levers and hence do the interlocking. But for now I'm just going to get the frame set up, then clear up the mess and back to the modelling. It may not be obvious from the photos below, but this so far is a lot simpler. Most of the wires are simply the supplied wiring harness from the levers to the PCBs, For each level two wires connect from the PCB to the AIU, one to the ground, one to each sensor input on the AIU. (There are 14 on each unit). The wiring from the levers is arranged so that when the lever is pulled back from its normal position (ie a signal is pulled "off" etc) the current is on and the sensor activated. The only slightly complicated bit of wiring is the facing point locks. I could have done these via the logix as above but that would have meant shelling out on another AIU unit. So instead, the current from the signal levers is routed through the contacts for the FPL lever; if the FPL lever is in the locked position that turns the current off and so moving the lever doesn't change the sensor. The "shed" computer with JMRI running. (Also being used to control my Sonos music system.) One thing I am being quite conscientious about is labeling the wires, in case on becomes detached I can work out where it went The NCE AIU, a bit of kit that converts the lever position into something JMRI can use. The red LED indicates that a lever has been pulled back from its normal position. So far so good...except...the lever I just wired up wasn't working correctly, it wouldn't lock in position. The beauty though of using these DCC concepts levers is I can just unscrew the adjacent levers and replace the faulty one, not have to mess around trying to fix a bit in a mechanical frame. Hopefully the above is not too technical! Any questions I can try and answer but I'm by no means an expert in this!! Thanks for looking Jon

Alan, are you intending to leave the backscene as is? In the context of Wencombe it worked, but in this seaside area to my eyes the horizon line perhaps could do with being higher - it almost looks like the harbour is higher than the land beyond. (I'm thinking in comparison to somewhere like the Dart estuary, hills rolling down to the water's edge.) Or is the intent to pretty much cover it with buildings like the fine example above? All the best Jon

Given the frustrations mentioned above I am going to explore doing the locking above by computer, with a lot simpler wiring. OK so maybe this means I am bit soft and not a "real" modeller, but lounging on the sofa with the laptop and a beer/wine to hand doing this seems much more convivial than on my feet in the shed, trying to work my way through the tangle of wires, soldering iron in hand, sweat dripping from my furrowed brow.

Well I'm just over half way through this at lever 25, but progress is slowing to a crawl. Levers 25, 26, 27 which control the double slip have a lot of other levers (up to 10!) that need to be at normal before they can be released. Of course it doesn't work first time and i have to go through desoldering then remaking and double checking each connection etc. Getting through the wiring spaghetti can only be done in short chunks without getting indigestion!

Talking of stacking photos, on my phone, a Windows phone (Nokia Lumina 925) one can get an app, Lumina Refocus which does some kind of image stacking thing in one go. The results aren't too bad, considering the ease of doing it, up to the size shown below, anyway. Photo focused on close point: All in focus: Photo focused on close point: All in focus: OK, so I am the only person I know with a Windows phone, but I'd imagine there's something similar for one of those iThingys...? Jon

I've been working on the lever frame for Begbrooke. DCC Concepts Cobalt-S levers as used before. Wiring up 46 levers and trying to interlock them is proving slow progress. The interlocking is done by looping wires through the contacts on the pcbs of the relevant other levers. Hence the the long wires on top of all the others. I've managed about a quarter so far, trying to wire things up as fully as I can, doing as much locking as I can - the plan attached. (I don't profess it to be complete or accurate, just as much as I could get my head around even with a lot of help a while back from the Stationmaster.) I may skimp on some of the steps, lock signals to the appropriate route etc and the FPLs and maybe skimp on the ground discs to simplify the rest of it. Locking table v6.2.xlsx

In case you didn't realise - it's a bit more tricky than that: if you did this, you'd have to change the lining on the cabside to go around the windows on the GWR version. Unless you covered it in grime. Also the smokebox number would need to be carefully removed and replaced with number on bufferbeam. An alternative would be to buy a BR black one remove all the lining and smokebox number add GWR to tender (noting this might be slightly different letterring) and say it was in wartime black livery. Depending on when, one could remove the nameplate too - don't know if when locos were given names this coincided with them be repainted to post war lined green. That way you get the Collett tender which I think was attached to the early modified halls from new(?)

Is the s-bend at the far end in the last photo prototypical or practical? (I guess the latter) I hope you don't mind me saying but in that photo to my eyes it jars a bit with the smooth flow of track through the station. Presumably it would impinge too much into room if the curve through the station continued or reversed much less then tightened. Or will it be hidden by scenic break? If I've orientated myself correctly at the south end there was bridge you can use, but the north end nothing so ready? Given the standard of your modelling of Hemyock, I really do look forward to seeing this develop, Jim. All the best Jon

I wonder, seeing as the model was released a couple of years ago then recalled, did anyone, public or magazine, spot the error under the smokebox and raise it with Bachmann?

After several years being mothballed under assorted pieces of carboard, wire, track and the like, traffic has finally returned to Marlingford. (The original intention of keeping it open to "play" with succombed to it being a convenient big area in middle of the room to dump stuff.) The first test train actually ran a couple of days ago, but no photographer was present, so here's today's test train. The PW needs some attention in areas, running is not smooth. The autotrailer is in a bit of a state, 3 years I made a start on the Dart Castings upgrade kit, then decided to build Begbrooke. Whether I still have the parts and the instructions I'm not sure (especially the latter). The loco isn't my work, by the way, found on Ebay - labelled as a 14xx. As the last 517 in service, 1159, worked the Woodstock branch, this was a lucky find. Not sure how accurate it is, but to my untutored eye, it looks near enough. With a TCS decoder and keep alive it runs over the setrack without stalling, albeit at times with a wobble. Nice to have the branch back in action, like finding an old friend. Nonetheless, there's still work to do on the mainline station. Not the finishing straight, but the bell's just rung. Thanks for the interest shown Jon

Great photos, Shaun. Like the unusual and ground level views; the one looking across the tracks to the platform being my favourite. Will watch out for more Jon

Can't remember where, but did read reference to B17s? Well, as that's another fine model (albeit the wrong tender for non GE ones) that's what I've assumed...

Here's something new and a bit different. One of the attractions of the line I'm basing my model on was the inter-company workings, so here's one: The train in question is the night mail from York to Swindon. Except that it isn't night. Replicating that properly may come. Probably post war it should be a B1 at the head (or the C1 be in plain black) but heck it's such a fine loco and a great model, who cares?! Model now safely back in box for safe keeping! Thanks for looking, Jon

Ah - thanks. How about the release lever in the main frame (the one I have as brown and blue)? I'm guessing the GF is locked when that lever is normal, then.

Ages ago now, when I wired the frame (as photo above) for the branch line terminus up I got the operation of the FPL levers wrong, which I've just fixed - so that the lever would normally stand reversed to lock the points. I'm wondering, does the same apply to ground frame release lever or is that released by reversing the lever? Thanks Jon

In the process of trying to complete wiring up of all the points and servos for the signals, not being the brightest bear in the box, I've managed to get confused because my layout being viewed from the inside is the opposite to the real signal box and diagram. So I'm risking further confusion by re-drawing my signalling diagram: and a list of the levers below - the list simply reversed, assuming there was some rationale in real life for how it was arranged, due to rodding or something. (I'm not at all too sure about my terminology, whether correct, but makes sense to me) Hopefully this will make operation easier in due course!

Or, I have read, completely unofficially of course, if they had to often shunt without the autocoach due to clearances in the yard or whatever, they didn't connect the gear and the fireman controlled the regulator leaving the driver controlling the brake and the gong.

I think I might have used the word "sublime" before in this thread, but I'll say it again - the bridge and road are that. The moss on the side wall is a nice touch.

Thanks, Mike. I was a bit constrained on how far I could move no.39, with it being on the lifting flap as you can see here

After a year I've managed to finish building all the signals (well there is one left, but I have run out of parts) and got them placed on the layout, following a discussion with the Stationmaster in my layout signalling topic on their placement. The one on the left was built a long time ago, before I got the confidence/skill(?!) to try putting several balance arms on one side The signals just fit with the lifting flap raised! The next job is to fit the servos and wire these up and others I missed before, then back to the scenic stuff.