cpman46

Give us a clue. What is a bride rectifier? I stand to be corrected but a half wave rectifier (single diode) into a capacitive filter should give about 1.4 x the ac input voltage. Certainly my Gaugemaster CDU and homebrewed ones give about 21V when measured.

I use Rapid Online Part No: 75-0086 (on)-off-(on) switches on all my panels where sprung toggles are required. They are not the cheapest but I have yet to have one fail in service.

Did it have a regular rhythm?

Does it appear in the list of SI units (EESRIS47)?

'Apolgise'? Over Run Engineer? Where was the delay? Their? Whatever 'State' it's in I look forward to seeing it tomorrow. Keep at it Stubby!!! Mike

Couldn't agree more. Picture of wiring to a Tortoise motor below. No loose wires to short out else where and easy to insert in less than ideal lighting conditions under the baseboard. We also use D type connectors on our O gauge test track, 16 sections to put up and take down and have had no problems in the last 12 years.

Single Cored Orange Back Vipers by the look of it!! Highly poisonous to soldering iron wielding sahibs!

Does Rownley know you are using them? Have you asked his permission? Mike C

As the MERG 'Elf' who puts these kits together it's good to see one put together and looking good. I don't normally get any feedback from those purchasing and assembling the kit unless there is something missing (hasn't happened yet!!).

Update to the progress of the WC&P Railway Group: Last Tuesday 29th October the Portishead Interpretation Display was officially unveiled by our local BBC West weather girl Jemma Cooper who managed to conjure up some sunshine instead of pouring rain! The board is opposite the White Lion on the grass verge close to the Waitrose petrol station. Plans are well under way to install an Interpretation board in Clevedon, probably on the side of the Conservative Club where the railway crossed Kenn Road.

Terry Can't really help very much other than to say that from your description and the number of screw terminals this is as you say a point controller capable of switching 6 Peco or Seep type motors by means of an in built Capacitor Discharge Unit. The pushbuttons will be connected between one output of the CDU, and one each to the two poles of the 6 way switch (motor select) hence 12 connections (screw terminals). There will be one terminal for the other CDU output connection and 2 terminals for a 16V ac input to power the CDU, thus giving 15 terminals in total. Without taking the unit apart there is no easy way of determining which terminal is which.

140-350 and 140-356 are the old Farnell codes for 16/0.2mm gauge wires. The current codes for 500 metre reels are Black - 117-2916 and Blue - 117-2924.

Just been going through some of my photos taken at the unveiling of the information board at the Ashcome Road site of the Weston-super-Mare terminus of the WC&P, the route here being named 'Colonel Stephen's Way'. Local MP John Penrose unveiling the board with 'Colonel Stephens' looking on. The Information Board The WC&P Railway Group hope to have an information board installed at Portishead in the near future and also at CClevedon at a later date.

Bartb Many thanks for the pictures. Unfortunately these are the remnants of the GWR Portishead branch, long since disappeared under modern development of the docks and former power station sites. The current branch serves Portbury docks with a 3 mile currently disused but extant portion of track reaching as far as Quays Avenue on the new Marina development (hopefully to be reinstated as a passenger service in the near future). The WC & PR trackwork was all removed by the end of 1943. The scrap recovered amounted to some 16,000 tons, the rails helping the War effort.

Brian Very neat and tidy especially the internal wiring! Silver Sidelines neat and tidy underneath as well! Have attached a couple of pictures below for general interest of a control panel I designed and built for a customer about 2 years ago. (I know the date on the panel says 2009 but it didn't really get off the ground till 2010!) Unfortunately I don't have photos of the wiring on the back of the panel. The panel was drawn up using CAD to the customers requirement, reverse engraved on 3mm white backed perspex and filled in black. The case was again designed using CAD, manufactured in 1.6mm mild steel and painted inside and out. Transformers and power supply PCB modules are fitted to the base, individually fused and fed from a single fused & switched IEC mains inlet. All connections to the layout are via 25 way 'D' connectors on the rear of the enclosure with individual cable assemblies terminating in pluggable screw terminal blocks under the layout. It sits on a slide out shelf under the fiddle yard which dictated its maximum dimensions. the panel replaced the one shown below which, although it worked and gave good service, was starting to fall over! It's shown sitting on the same shelf now occupied by the new panel. Mike

Not quite in the same league as some other panels on here but have recently installed three panels like this on a large 'O' gauge layout for a friend. The purpose was to upgrade 3 Kent Panel Controls controllers from a mix of DIN and 4 way QM connectors to a common connector alowing any controller to be plugged in to any panel easily. 4 Way XLR connectors have been used and, whilst more expensive, are more robust and easier to wire with the wire gauges involved. Each 4 way panel socket is terminated on the back of the panel in a screw connector block for connection to the existing wiring and is fed from separate transformer windings. The LED provides local indication of the presence of ac power from the transformer. The LED is wired in inverse parallel with a 1N4148 diode and current limiting resistor.

I also think these gave pulse width modulation (PWM) at lower outputs if not all the way up to full output. Nearest preferred value of capacitor these days would be a 220uF most electrolytic capacitors having a tolerance of +/- 20%. If you replace the old rectifier (Selenium Plate?) one with a modern bridge rectifier I would suggest you make sure the capacitor is rated at at least 35V as the voltage drop of the modern bridge will be lower than that of the selenium one. A higher voltage rating than 35 will not do any harm. A photo of the underside of the controller would be useful to identify the components and enable further comments regarding operation. Regards Mike

I hope this is the right place to introduce this. The Weston Clevedon & Portishead Railway (closed 1940) ran from Weston Super Mare to Clevedon and on to Portishead. Several years ago a number of people decided to form a group to promote and preserve what is left of the line before it disappeared for ever. There is a very good website at http://www.wcpr.org.uk/ with lots of information, maps and photos and a link to the WC&PR Group website. To date the group has now over 100 members.

Dave you need a separate (usually) 12V dc supply and a switch actuated by the point motor to switch the supply to the LED. If you are using normal 3mm or 5mm LEDs you need a resistor (about 1000 Ohms) in series with the supply to limit the current through the LED. Each LED when illuminated will require 15 to 20mA so your power supply will need to be rated at sufficient current to supply the on LEDs. Best bet is to count the total number of LEDs, multiply by the current say 20mA to arrive at a suitable rating for your power supply. A 12V 1A dc plug in transformer will be good for up to 50 LEDs at 20mA each. Regards

Dave For sprung to centre off toggle switches try Rapid http://www.rapidonline.com Part No: 75-0086 Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) (On)-(Off)-(On). For power supply Gaugemaster http://www.gaugemaster.com do a WM1 Plug in Transformer giving 16V ac @1.1A, bit more expensive than the Hornby but possibly worth a search to see if anyone does it at a discount. Regards