Beresford Junction

And this photo perhaps gives a better idea of what I was talking about.... so hopefully in future you won't need to look at the piles of tools / rubbish in the background.

I know I said there was nothing stopping me getting on with the ballasting, well something did - it was such a nice day that I actually went outside and did some sawing / painting of the backboards - and they're now installed ready for the second coat. I also tried a bridge out, with the classic bus on it ;-) Track plans for this area still fluid hence the wiggly / not joined up layout Cheers Phil

Like lining up the Grids.....:-) Well apart from that, I've been cutting track - a first for me with my new cutters - ready for the ballasting - nothing else stopping me now. Cheers Phil

Hi I like it - a nice mixture of vehicles, rolling stock and scenes with things going on. Every time you look you see something else - great. Keep the pictures coming. Cheers Phil

Hi Guy, Thanks, and you're right I need to do a bit of reading before I get in too deep - I'm sure it'll all come back to me - I've not made any use of my A-level Physics for the past 25 years so now is obviously the time... I'm always torn between cracking on and doing the ultimate/best ever thing, however I find if I aim for that nothing happens, so my plan has been to get something done then go back and upgrade having learned along the way. I fancy doing some scratch built low relief buildings and have bought all the materials, but seem to be back to major woodworking and painting - I find this hobby interesting in it's extremes - serious construction with saws and hammers through to fiddling round with things 1mm in size. I look forward to seeing more of your updates. Cheers Phil

Thanks again Dave. It's all a steep learning curve, but fun at the same time with this electrics lark - it's all starting to come back to me about how to read resistors, with the stripes etc. No sign of the soldering iron yet so I'll have to amuse myself with other things - I have been and bought some more plywood to finish off the 'sky' round the whole layout. Last night was fun again as I got the trains running and was experimenting with the various sections of track, although I do find trying to control all of the loco's at once a bit of a headache - especially when filming too - a crash narrowly averted here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n98sCQH0GNc&feature=player_profilepage Cheers Phil

Hi Dave That's great and makes really good sense to me. Couple of supplementary questions: 1) Are the yellow/blue wires to the LED's AC or DC? 2) Do I need to put a resistor in series with the LED's, if so what size and where? In terms of the buildings, the brick / dirt on the blue is actually just pastel (wax crayons to you and I). I suspect it's a bit easier just walking down to the basement than going up into the loft. I used to have my layout in the loft in my youth and remember it being either too hot or too cold. I'm looking forward to some pics of the new additions to Chadwood. Cheers Phil

The newly painted factory low relief units. I've also weathered one slightly - I think it needs more, but thought I'd start off with a little then add more. Cheers Phil

Here is the final(?) track layout for this side. The old cork taken up, and the new down and painted. The point motors, switches, LED's and CDU have arrived, however the soldering iron hasn't yet. So I'll have a go at fitting a couple of motors before I head off and building my control unit - I think I'll have one for this side for now and worry about the rest later. This is my first initial thoughts about the layout of the sidings for the other side. Going from right to left, there are the two roundy lines. The next one is a way in and out of the sidings, with enough room to pull past the points and then reverse in (based on a pic I saw of Scott's layout Bocott - here but the mirror image) with the addition of an engine yard and fueling point / buildings. The EWS class 56 you can see at the very top/back is where the way in/out (is there a technical name for this?) joins back on to the main loop. All still early days hence the track just laid roughly in place, and I think the sidings need spacing apart. I'm also debating if I need to hide the curved track with some kind of hill/bridge / false background. Another consideration. As have some DC and some DCC, I'm planning on sort of running two different (unconnected) layouts for now. This yard and the associated loop will be DCC, with the other loop and the station I've been building as DC (hence a linear layout being able to isolate loco's via points). Thoughts?

I've just been having a look under the board and of course four of the nine points are directly above a batten under the board, so I'll have to do a bit of hacking under there first.

Thanks for all the advice. Various bits and bobs ordered, and I've found a 18v adapter from a spare ADSL router that I guess I can re-use by just snipping the plug off the end? A whole new (and exciting world). Am I right that with the PM1, I can also attach up a signal (in due course) that will change at the same time as the point? Cheers Phil

Hi Dave Thanks for the info - strange that about eBay from work. Fortunately, I work from home most of the time so have no problems in that department. In fact a couple of more Grids have turned up today from a certain on-line auction site bringing the total to seven. Cheers Phil

Hi Guy & Dave Thanks for all the really useful info - I'll do some reading (and shopping), then no doubt be back with more questions. Cheers Phil

Tonight has been an evening of painting. First the backboard to a better shade of blue The hole you can see is for the wiring for the LED lights inside the station building. Here you can see the change in track plan where I need to take up the cork previously stuck down and painted and finally pained the low relief factories / warehouses from Ten Commandments (using the blue that sky used to be).

Hi Dave Thanks for sharing all the links - I've had a brief look already and will dive in fully over the next few days - I suspect like you in reverse, it'll be a big learning curve, however as I've only returned to modelling after a break of about 25 years, a lot of it is all new to me here in the UK. I look forward to seeing some pics when you've got your camera out. Cheers Phil

Hi Dave (& Guy) Thanks and yes if you could post some more info on it, that would be great. I've looked at your pictures and wiring, but am still sort of the stage before that. As for the Gaugemaster motors, I hadn't thought of them. I travel past Arundel (Ford, where they are is about 2 mins off the A27) about once a month so always pop in - it's a great place. I'll have a look next time I'm passing. I suppose my questions are: Do I need a Capacitor Discharge Unit, and if so what are good / where I do I get one from? Power - I'm currently using the aux power (12v) of my old Hornby R9000 (I think) from the 1970's or '80s - will this be OK for now, and what should I really upgrade to to power all this stuff - I currently also run mu LED's off that. Where does this common return come in? I have a + and - ? What were the bi-colour LED's you used, and where do I get them? What kind of switches do I want, and again where do I get them. I should point out that I haven't used a soldering iron since I was a teenager in the early '80s, and even then mainly got my older brother to do it, so I also need to invest in a basic iron - again any advice. Sorry for all the questions. Phil

Hi Dave Glad the photos made sense. Do you have any photos of your layout(s)? Is there an equivalent of RMWeb in the US? Phil

Can someone point me to information on how to build a control panel for operating signals. I'm thinking of one where a push button flicks the state of the point, or perhaps a small switch does the same and then a red / green LED for both tracks to indicate which ones are open. Thanks Phil

And just in case you want something to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CExltdfoyv4

In addition to messing about as above, tonight as an evening of painting. I have installed a new backboard behind the station and put a first coat of 'Hydrangea' onto it, which is much better than the previous colour I had on the other backboards called 'Skye Blue' , but of course you were all too polite to tell me ;-) I've also cleared the rest of the area to be done and done a first coat of grey, however I now have no roundy lines to run trains on, until it is finished - hence me being on here.

Hi Dave Thanks for the comments. As for terminus stations as we call them, this is how I operate trains in/out of them. 1. Train pulls into platform but not right to the end. 2. Loco uncouples from carriages and pulls past point 3. Reverses over point onto other line 4. Runs back to the front of the train 5. Reverses onto the other end. The other way I can do it is to just uncouple the loco then a different loco pulls onto the back. The third way I also operate this on is for the shunter to take away the carriages and shunt them into a siding. Of course now there aren't really any passenger trains that have loco's at the front - they're all integrated multiple units (there are two examples in the photos), so it doesn't matter which way they're going. I was going to do the above as a video, but I would have had to manually alter all the points and drive at the same time - another reason to put point motors in. Thanks for the advice on the couplings/ Kadees and you're right they look nothing like what is in use over here.

Thanks Guy, and I was coming round to that idea myself tonight strangely enough. After much messing about I was actually 'playing', with the trains - isn't that what I was doing it for in the first place? Anyway it got a bit silly me constantly having to go and flick the points so that's it I'm going to put point motors on and I suppose some kind of control panel, then automate it etc. etc. However I'll start off by buying some point motors, installing them then worry about the rest later. Other stuff from today - I installed some decent spotlights £10 each from Homebase and a great improvement - I can properly see what I'm doing down there - yes I know it looks like a window, but as it's in the basement with just a grille in the pavement it's never really got daylight in there. I like this cropped one as it's a full shot of what I'm trying to do as a small area and get completed before starting on the rest of it. And this is the rest of it. Yes, and I know I was saying less is more, well it's now become more is more again: I've got high hopes for getting through a few jobs this weekend, and will keep you posted - thanks for looking and all the comments. Cheers Phil

Thanks for the advice on shaving a bit off the platform - and glad to hear it's not just me having problems - I'll give it a go. Not much to announce tonight, apart from the arrival of a new bus to sit outside the station - unfortunately not with working lights (or DCC sound). I did try to take some video of the newly lit station with some locos coming in/out, however it just ended up as black with the odd dot moving - not that good.

The good news is that I've finished building the last bit of platform. I also tried out the light inside the station building and think it's a good idea. I'm going to put a wall inside it so turn it into two rooms, so it will look better if you peep inside - more work. You can just see the light in the rear window in this picture. The bad news is that when the platform was installed, and I tried running various loco's in and out, they were fouling on the edge, so..... I've had a bit of a re-think on the track work and removed one set of points. I am also thinking of changing what was going to be a refueling point / engine yard and just make it sidings for carriages. I'll mull it over but looking at the pics before uploading it seems very busy (I purposely filled all the track up to see it at it's worst). Perhaps I'll go down from three roads to just two.

Thanks Dave, I'll probably do like you and try some of the surface mounted ones then progress to hidden ones once I get the hang of it, mind you all this distraction is keeping me from actually completing the trackwork and ballasting, which I know will make a huge difference to the look of the part I'm currently working on. I made a concious decision not to install point motors on this part as a) it's just next to where I stand/sit B) I've got a lot of points in that area (probably too many) so it would cost quite a lot to do c) I wanted to get a bit under my belt that I'm sure will be re-engineered sooner or later. however I'm now having second thoughts. Perhaps I could drill the holes in the board ready, but not fit the motors for now, hmmmm Hopefully I'll do a bit tonight and post some more updates. Phil