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Richard Mawer

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  1. Richard Mawer
    T'was Christmas Eve and Santa's little helper was ...... Soldering and gluing of course!!!
     
    The soldering is old hat now. I need 3 Servo 4 boards from MERG to operate the points and signals on the left side board of the junction, Newton Purcell. Each time I make one, my soldering gets better and they get easier. One down. Two to go.
     
    The gluing was more frustrating. As you will have gleaned from this blog, operation is key here. I hope it will be quite scenic too, but it will not be a Pendon. Operating signals are a must. Two were made operational using servos for the right side board. The signals were bought fully made, but I extended the operating wires and added a Servo below each sub base. See previous entries. Now I need 2 bracket signals and either 3 or 4 stop signals for the left board, depending on length of clearances. I decided to make these from Ratio kits. Typical of me, I dived into a bracket signal kit. Why didn't I start simple? Even these "quick assembly" kits are really hard. The minute brackets and cranks are very fiddly to say the least, so I sought assistance from this site and eventually decided upon a real cheat. It works, but doesn't look right. On the next, I will find an improved method. A rocker assembly has been suggested and sounds like a good answer. As you will see, I simply linked the operating wire for the bracket arm diagonally from the arm, through the elevated platform and the base. 2 stacked servos will operate the wires. I did away with the twin cranks below the platform, which should be used according to the instructions. In fact I managed to make those and got the link wires right but they didn't inspire confidence for operation. The final crunch came when one of the wires came out a crank whilst I was wrestling with the arms and spindles.
     
    I also did away with the small blanking plates that should go behind the spectacle glasses on the arms. These were a nightmare. No matter type of plastic glue, solvent, cement or adhesive I used, the plastic spindle on the back of the arm, melted. Not only did the blanking plate not stay put, but the plastic spindle fused into the hole it passed through, stopping the arm from moving. Eventually I chopped the spindles off, superglued track pins in place (heads against the back if the arm), used the pin as the spindle and made new, out of scale, blankers to also take the stress of the operation. Time will tell how well they hold out. Another advantage is that the distance of the wire away from the spindle is greater so the travel in the wire is greater. This allows for greater accuracy in the Servo movement.
     
    The wires now pass over the rear of the signal. In practice the diagonal wire is not quite as obvious as it appears in the photos. I am sure many far more experienced modellers have made these kits with no issues, but my skills are rudimentary and I need the signals to work first and foremost.
     
    So will I get time over the rest of the Christmas break to build the second bracket signal or solder 2 more Servo 4's? Can I find a more acceptable operating method for the bracket arms? I'll let you know.
     
     
     
    Merry Christmas!
     
    Rich
     



  2. Richard Mawer

    A bridge too far?

    By Richard Mawer,

    At the opposite end of my railway room from Newton Purcell there is the door.
     

     
    I have 3 sets of lines to get across the door: the main circuits on base level, the descending line from Newton Purcell to those circuits and the branch from Newton Purcell climbing up to Brackley Road. So that's 3 different levels, on curves. The easiest way would be a simple duck-under. I have set the boards reasonably high, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. However the railway room is also the house store. Most people would call it a garage!! So I have to be able to get stuff in and out easily. The only answer is a lifting bridge.
     
    I couldn't hinge it at the base level (which would be easiest) because the track beds for the upper levels would prevent it from lifting. The hinges have to be at the level of the highest track so there are two posts with the hinges at the top. The bridge has to close at the lowest level meaning the flap is L shaped. To take pressure off the right angle joint at the bottom of the posts I thought of adding two triangles of MDF. I decided to make the one nearest the door into a rectangle to also prevent any stock falling and dropping off the edge. It still holds the right angle firm. I was not able to use such a bracket on the other hinged post because I had to set it inboard from the edge of the baseboard to allow the curves. Originally I had planned it to be outboard to make it as stable as possible. The hinged post now sits between the circuit and falling gradient.
     

     

     

     
    I have screwed a sheet of MDF below the framework of the flap to keep it square and present a nicer finish when the bridge is up.
     

     
    I have put two brass pattern makers dowels onto the fixed closing edge support and sockets on the bottom closing edge of the bridge to securely locate that end in the horizontal plane. The vertical plane will be secured by two small shoot bolts. I will use them to make/break the common return to all tracks on the bridge and a couple of feet each side. This means that unless the two bolts are locking the bridge in place no train can run on or towards the bridge. I would hate to see a train run headlong into the void. Tracks will be soldered to copper clad strips on each side of the gaps at both ends of the bridge.
     

     

     
    The outside trackbed is the branch and will be at the top level. The middle lines are the circuits at the base level. The inside lines are the lines from Newton Purcell to the right, falling down to the left.
     
    I still have the rest of the boards from here round to the dumbbell board to build, but that should be straight forward. At last one of the hardest construction projects is built.
     
    Rich
  3. Richard Mawer
    So the last entry was almost 3 moths ago and what's happened at Buckingham West? The unfortunate answer is not enough. In short it's been too cold in the loft and too busy generally. However I have purchased a Dapol track cleaner and have serviced the 61xx, a 43xx and one of the Dean Goods. Unfortunately the 61xx is still not a good runner and so I have ordered a new Hornby 51xx. I have also bought a Bachmann 4575 from a collector. It had never been run, but after some lubrication it has performed beautifully. Good slow running and reliability will be essential for this layout.
     
    With cleaner track and serviced locos, the ghost in the machine has been mostly banished, but the poor running 61xx is still prone to making the odd twitch on the points. I have bought some small suppression capacitors and will try one across the tracks. However, replacing the dodgy loco will be the biggest help.
     
    I managed to build the right hand side half on the Newton Purcell baseboard in February, but it created an issue. If I added the left side rigidly then how would I get the wiring done and fix the servos and servo4 boards? The access is so limited and the board will be 16 feet long. So I decided to keep the two boards separate until the track is glued, wired and the servos fixed. I have therefore planned the wiring in some detail. This is quite hard as the signalling will select the controllers on a cab control basis. It is even more complicated as I need to have the option of remote controlling the main signals and points from Buckingham West for one man operation. I have been through the principles in an earlier entry.
     

     
    I have now built the left half and both halves are in situ.
     

     
    The storage and return loops are below. You can just see the City and some clerestories disappearing below on the way to Banbury and all points North.
     
    Newton Purcell will be a country junction between the double track branch from Buckingham West to the main from Oxford to Banbury, and the single track branch to Brackley Road. As such it will have two main platforms, a bay and a goods yard. This will be accessed in traditional fashion by trailing points only and that to the up line will be via a trailing single slip across the down line. Another trailing single slip will access an ironstone quarry which will be off scene. Ironstone was found around Adderbury so we can extend reality a little. There will also be two private sindings. These will serve a timber yard and something else. I'm not sure what though. I need another rural industry for the area that would deserve a small private siding.
     

     
    This is the Airfix Castle with an assorted rake on the low level mainline towards Banbury.
     

     
    It will have tunnels or bridges at each end of this run. Newton Purcell will be on the higher level.
     
    So now the fun can start arranging the track and pointwork. Once the right arrangement has been found I will mark around it all, drill the holes for the point control (servos) and frog power droppers. I will then glue the track in place and take the baseboards off, one at once so I can wire them and fit the servos. When all is tested and tidy so it won't snag the trains below, I will put the boards back, connect them together and complete the wiring. This should be quite enjoyable, but it will then leave the last major hurdle of creating the incline from the double junctions to Newton Purcell!
     
    Roll on Spring and Summer!
     
    Rich
  4. Richard Mawer
    Well the day had to come.
     
    It has taken far longer than we expected for a short and simple chain, but we have finally exchanged contracts and the house move from High Wycombe to north Oxfordshire is finally happening. Consequently I have had to take down the layout. I packaged all the stock and the few buildings that were out over the last few weeks, but was reluctant to take saw and drill to timber until the deal was binding.
     
    So today I have toiled in the baking heat in the loft. It is a good way to sweat off a few pounds!
     
    Although the layout is called Buckingham West, that station still hasn't been built. The only one constructed is Newton Purcell, which is the junction, but it never got connected to the double track circuit. In fact only the circuits, storage loops and reversing loop were connected and operational. So I have made the two Newton Purcell boards transit-proof, by adding extra timber to protect the electronics boards and other vulnerable parts.
     
    The boards for the rest of the layout (the operating parts) were taken down next. The problem was that they were not built to be moved or split into sections. They were timber frameworks and basically screwed together all the way round. As the track bed was screwed onto the framework and then covered with insulation / fibreboard with the track glued onto that with pva, it was rather tricky.
     
    My best tool for the day was a bread knife. It was brilliant for persuading the track to leave the fibreboard. In most cases it simply lifted away, but in some areas the top layer of fibreboard came with it. That was quite easy to remove and I only lost 1 yard of track and 1 point, which looked as if it was damaged when laid.
     
    What is more, I managed to preserve the majority of the storage loops on a board. I also saved the twin double junctions on another board. The rest of the boards had to be fully dismantled and mostly scrapped. Some timbers are saved.
     
    I still have the Buckingham West board to dismantle and then to get them all out of the loft!
     
    In the new house, I have a larger railway room and so Marples and Beeching will not get their way with Buckingham West (even though in 1936 to 38 they were never even thought about).
     
    The lessons I have learnt and will rectify in MK2 are to make the height differences between the levels less than in MK1. The gradient I would have needed was far too steep. So I will have no gradient steeper than 1 in 60 and hopefully flatter than that. I will also add more storage loops, make sure there is nothing directly above the loops (Newton Purcell was directly over the loops), use set track for the reversing dumbbell, and make all the boards as separate units bolted together.
     
    So here's to MK2.
     
    Rich
     

     

     

     

     

     

  5. Richard Mawer

    Bells and Whistles

    By Richard Mawer,

    With the continuous run (Circuits) panel made and the route selectors for the hidden loops fitted and working, attention has turned to wiring in the changeover sections in the loops and the cab control switches on the Circuits Panel.
     
    I started out with a simple break in both rails towards the end of each storage loop so the locos would be driven in on the down controller and stop as they passed over the break. Then I put in a single break at the far end of the points ladder beyond the loco so I could use a single 'push to make' switch to add power to the loco from the up controller so that the train wouldn't start off when the up controller was being used for another train going round the circuits. When desired, the button could be pressed the up controller would connect to the final part of the storage loop and drive the train out, round the dumbell and back onto the circuit, but in the up direction.
     
    So much for theory! In practice it turns out I have a number of locos with pickups split diagonally across the driving wheels on one side and the tender wheels for the other. I don't understand why this arrangement was ever devised because it confers no benefit that I can see. If the pickups were on both sides of the drivers and both sides of the tender then it would significantly improve electrical pick up over points and crossings. However, (rant over) the upshot is that these locos stop as the drivers cross the double break, but won't start on the up controller (with the feed button pressed) because the tender pick ups are still on the down side of the breaks!
     
    Plan B. By adding another double break near the entrance to each loop, most of each loop is now switchable to either up or down controller via a sprung (momentary) centre off dpdt switch. So I now hold the switch over to the Down side whilst the train enters the loop. It then stops either half over or fully over the original double breaks, and then by holding the switch over to the up side, the loop and starting section are energised by the up controller and I can drive the train out. There's always a way!!
     
    The control panel for the continuous run/circuits only has one controller: down. The layout is designed to use cab control: switching control of station sections by pulling off the requisite starting signals. The destination controller drives the train the whole journey. The circuits' controller will be used to drive down trains from Newton Purcell (junction) if it stopped there, or from Buckingham West (if it were a through train), all the way to the continuous run and into the hidden storage loops.
     
    Up trains will be controlled from either Newton Purcell or Buckingham West (depending whether a stopper or through) and therefore a selector switch exists on the circuit panel to select which station will have control of the up trains as they leave the loops and run round the circuits before being signalled up the incline to Newton Purcell.
     
    All of this will be done by block bells (when there is more than 1 operator). Down trains are standard in their signalling, but up trains are a little more complicated because the destination controller has to start the train out of the hidden loops and run it a few times round the circuit before it heads off up the incline to Newton Purcell and as I said, that could be operated by Newton Purcell or Buckingham West.
     
    For example, if it's an up through train, the circuit man starts by doing the unusual thing of offering the train to Buckingham with a separate bell that misses out Newton Purcell, but still using the normal exchange of bell codes. When the circuit man gives 'train on line' he should already have selected the correct route out of the loops (so it's the correct train), selected Buckingham West as the up controller and be holding the loops' sprung switch to exit/up. Buckingham then turns his controller and drives the train out onto the circuit. After a few laps the circuit man then offers the train to Newton Purcell in the normal manner by bell code. He will offer the train along to Buckingham West by bell and when he receives the 'line clear' from Buckingham, will pull off his signals, but most importantly his starter signal. This hands control of Newton Purcell's up line to Buckingham. Newton Purcell in turn gives the 'line clear' to the circuit man, who changes the points and signals over (these will be linked) and sends 'train on line' to Newton Purcell who sends it to Buckingham West. Buckingham then continues to drive the train all the way to his own station. "Simples" as certain meerkats say!
     
    Now to find a few old bike bells and cheap solenoids. Oh yes, and to sort out those servos, build the incline and the small job of building Newton Purcell, Buckingham West.............
     
    Rich
  6. Richard Mawer

    Bracket finished

    By Richard Mawer,

    So at last I have finished the first bracket signal and added the servos.
     

     

     

     

     

     
    Remember to take labels off the servos before using the tape. I have staggered the servos to allow non conflicting movement.
     
    I use "No more nails" tape. It's the only one I have found that sticks we'll enough.
     
    The signal is super glued to the MDF.
     
    As mentioned in a previous entry, the servo (in this case servos) goes through a 40mm hole in the baseboard and the rectangle base is flush fitted into the fibreboard top of the baseboard.
     
    Cheers
     
    Rich
  7. Richard Mawer

    Bracket mk2

    By Richard Mawer,

    I'm in the process of building the second bracket signal. I have taken a leaf out of Mike's (Coach Bogie) book and fitted a single rocker arm to the rear of the bracket. However, mine is made from plastic and the spindle is yet again a track pin, superglued onto the bracket lattice. In practice, it can't be easily seen.
     

     
    Thanks Mike.
     
    Happy New Year to all.
     
    Rich
  8. Richard Mawer
    Nearly two months after the move to the Oxfordshire countryside, the sorting out and housely matters have got to the stage that I can start thinking of reconstructing the railway. The only part of MK1 that fully survived was Newton Purcell, the junction. It was built in two halves, but never made it back into a whole. So achieving that goal would be a milestone.
     
    I have spent a good few evenings designing the layout on AnyRail. The junction fits nicely across the end of the new railway room (what some folks would call a garage). That allows the double track circuit around the outside, the terminus of Buckingham West down the middle and Brackley Road at a higher level along one edge.
     
    I learned some lessons from MK1:-
     
    Less height difference between the levels,
    Easier gradients
    More support to baseboards
    Don't use MDF
    Don't have a complicated piece of trackwork above another complicated piece.
    Use more electro frog points.
     
    My main aims remain the same, but I have added a few more. They are:-
     
    Line to run from Buckingham West, through Newton Purcell to the rest of the GWR system.
    The junction with the rest of the GWR to be storage loops off scene.
    The line is supposed to join the Oxford to Banbury line just north of Aynho, heading north.
    Double track throughout the main route.
    Single track branch from Newton Purcell to Brackley Road (Middle of a field miles from Brackley).
    GWR 1930s.
    Keep 4-6-0s to a minimum.
    Allow the odd ex GCR loco to run in from Banbury
    To be operated by 1 to 3 or possibly 4 people.
    Bell codes to connect operators - so they take the primary role of signalmen.
    DC.
    Gaugemaster simulator controllers.
    Receiving signalman controls the train via cab control.
    All main signals to work.
    Signals to alter cab control permissions.
    Run to a timetable, not just a sequence.
    Speeded up Time to run on a PC via FastClock.
    Mainline to be 43 inches off the ground.
    Different levels to be 3 inches apart.
    Gradients to be no greater than 1:75.
    Control panels for points and signals to resemble signal box lever frames.
    Open frame/L girder baseboards.
    Lifting flap across doorway - no duck-under.
    Turntable at Buckingham West.
    Increase storage loops to 9 or 10.
    Dumbbell reversing out of loops.
    Route selection on loops.
    Loops to be hidden under scenery.
    Quarry off scene near Newton Purcell.
    Stick to steam days rules of as few facing points as possible:-
    Trailing entrance to goods yards.
    Double junctions not single and facing crossover.
    Have lots of private sidings.
    Movements of goods stock not to be random.
    Curves no sharper than settrack 4th radius.
    Curves to be larger radius where seen.
    Medium and large radius points on running lines.
    Signals and points to operated by servos using MERG electronics.
    Space in goods yards.
    Carriage sidings at Buckingham West.
    Code 100. (I have some older stock).
    Stock to be lightly weathered.
     
    Only one or two aims to build in!!!!!!!
     
    And so the fun begins.
     
    Here are some photos showing the coming together of the two halves of Newton Purcell, and the station in its rightful place, ready for further expansion.
     
     
     

     

     

     

     
    I have idea why the first two are on their side, but I can't change them.
     
    Thanks for reading and I'll keep you posted.
     
    Rich
  9. Richard Mawer
    Following a request for a plan.
     
    The station at the top is Newton Purcell, the junction. This is on the middle level. The main lines to the left go down grade. Those to the right go gently up grade.
     
    The double track circuit, storage loops and dumbbell are on the lowest level. The points layout into the loops needs some work.
     
    The yellows blobs are where the lines go into tunnels.
     
    The double track shooting off into the centre will lead to Buckingham West: track plan to be devised. This is just a little higher than Newton Purcell.
     
    The single track branch from Newton Purcell climbs along the left and will reach Brackley Road on the highest level which will be along the bottom wall. I have just shown this as two sidings at present, but it will be a typical branch line terminus.
     
    Spot the similarities to Buckingham Great Central by the late Peter Denny. I just love the concept of that line.
     
    I hope that makes sense.
     
    Cheers
     
    Rich
  10. Richard Mawer

    Cross Country

    By Richard Mawer,

    Cross Country
     
    As mentioned in an earlier post (NE thing goes), there was a branch off the Great Central at Culworth to the GWR station in Banbury. In the summer timetables of 1934 to 1938 there was a cross country semi-fast from Leicester Central to Reading (and back) via the Great Central London Extension, the Culworth branch (like so many other cross country trains) to the Great Western at Banbury, on to Oxford, Didcot and terminating at Reading. Unlike most cross country expresses and semi-fasts, the loco change did not take place at Oxford. It must have been too crowded and busy. Instead, the change occurred at Banbury, like most goods trains. Another difference with this train, was that due to the growth in importance of Buckingham, the train divided at Banbury. Whilst the main part continued South, always with a Swindon product at it's head, the lesser part travelled to Buckingham West. The engine power for the last leg to Buckingham West was the loco that brought the train into Banbury. As such it alternated each day between an ex-Great Central and a GWR loco. The importance and tight timing on the GCR line meant that some fast locos were often used. Castles, Stars, Saints and even the pensionable Counties and Cities were seen. On the LNER roster ex-GCR Directors were the normal providers of the horsepower - in LNER Apple green of course. The coaching rake was interesting too, always being a combination of teak LNER stock and GWR coaches instead of alternating between days like the locos.
     

     
    Of course, this is pure fiction (apart from the existence of the Culworth branch). But it is a great back story to why I now own a mixed rake of teak and chocolate and cream stock and a lovely Apple green Director, courtesy of Model Rail and Bachmann.
     

     
    And I do know that Directors were in black paint by the mid to late 1930s, but hey, they never ran to Buckingham West either, mainly because it didn't exist. Rule number one as they say!
     
    Now I must get on with the building of the layout.
     
    Rich
  11. Richard Mawer
    I could put it off no more. The second difficult bit of engineering - difficult for me anyway- had to be tackled.
     
    For me, the enjoyment of a model railway is running it. I want to be transported back in time and to re-live what I imagine a country railway line in a corner of the GWR to have been like in the 1930's: what seems a golden era for British steam and a time modern enough to have some comforts, but still hanging onto solid principals of hard work and pride in that work being good and right, on time and clean. The country had survived The Great War but hadn't yet gone through the massive changes and austerity brought on by WW2: a war that changed our way of life forever. Part of that illusion for me is to model not just one station, but a small section of my fictional line: 3 stations. This means traffic will have a reason. However, even 3 stations isn't enough. The line needs to link to the rest of the network. For that I need a fiddle yard. But a traditional fiddle yard needs you to ...er.... fiddle to a greater or lesser degree. And that shatters my illusion.
     
    So early on I came up with a solution: a set of hidden storage loops with a dumbbell return loop.
     
    After leaving Newton Purcell, Down trains would join a continuous circuit for a time. A double junction off that would take the train into a tunnel. Inside, out of sight, a ladder of points would direct the train into the correct loop. I designed auto stops and reversing polarity etc so that when needed again the train would leave the loop, go over another points ladder, round the dumbbell reversing loop, back past the loops, out of the tunnel, over the double junction and back onto the circuits as an Up train. The key had to be that it would all happen out of sight and out of mind. So no point control in the normal sense. I would have to have route setting. So when the timetable says D, I press button D and don't have to give a thought to what actually happens. I would just drive the train to ....Banbury, Oxford, Birmingham, wherever!
     
    On Mk1 in the loft, the storage loops were going to be below Newton Purcell. I actually made them and they worked. The mistakes were to design Newton Purcell to sit over the top, and to have too great a height difference between the two levels.
     
    On Mk2, lessons have been learnt, but I still need to have the dumbbell going under the right hand end of Newton Purcell. It's a bit Chicken and Egg whether I should have built the dumbbell section and then put the station over it, but I did it the other way. The problems were that I needed a fairly large radius, so the reach across the baseboard would be very wide. Cutting an access hole in the baseboard solved that. Also the height difference between levels is now 3" instead of 5" which I was (stupidly) trying to use on Mk1. The framing around the Newton Purcell baseboards filled most of that 3" gap. Therefore the framing had to be cut to allow the dumbbell line to pass through. To prevent the station board sagging I have added small feet to the sides of the cuts so the vulnerable parts of the station board are supported off the dumbbell baseboard below. A bit tricky under the station, but I managed it.
     
    There was no way I would be able to lay flexitrack in such a small gap, so I have used Peco Settack 4th radius curves and soldered them together. The almost 4 foot diameter semi-circle is glued onto foam underlay with pva. I then fed the line in through the gap and around the curve. Hey presto!
     
    I ran a test coach through the first opening. All ok. Then bump. It wouldn't pass through the next opening. Peering in, I realised the gap at the rear was noticeably less than 3". The dumbbell board was dead level, I had made sure of that. But right at the start of Mk2 I hadn't been so careful to ensure Newton Purcell was level front to rear. It was only out by 4mm, but that was just enough. The easy answer would be to raise the rear of the station and make it level, but that board is screwed into the wall and I can no longer get to the screws!!! How dumb?????
     
    So in the end I had to shorten the dumbbell board legs by 4mm increasing the height of the gap. All the small feet then had to be reset. But finally I have the track in place and whilst the lower board is now slightly off level, it is not enough to affect the trains.
     
    I will delay gluing the track in place until I have the circuits and loops all laid out.
     
     

     

     

     

     

     
    The carpentry isn't exactly cabinet maker quality, but it works and is stable.
     
    There's too much clutter there, but work in progress. Note the MERG Servo 4 board wired in at the right hand end of the station, but not yet fixed in place
     
    Back to the rest of the baseboards now.
     
    Rich
  12. Richard Mawer

    Electrics

    By Richard Mawer,

    OK, it may be crude and rather Heath Robinson, but at least I've made it myself and it works. Subtlety and tidiness will come with practice. This is the diode matrix to control the pointwork leading into the hidden storage loops. The con strip for the outgoing pointwork is in place at the bottom.
     

     
    The route selection buttons are 4 meters away from the CDU and point motors, so to reduce loss to a minimum I have used a heavy duty CDU and mains cable. I now just hope the small push buttons on the panel will be man enough and that if a selection only results in one motor firing, that it won't burn out. It has two chances!
     

     
    Once these are all in place and working I can move on to the next challenge - operating the two double junctions on the circuit. One leads to the storage loops and other to the incline (more of which another time).
     
    For all points and signals apart from the storage loops, I have decided to use servos. These are inexpensive and can operate in slow motion. You can even add a bounce to the signal arms! I have bought my first batch and also become a member of MERG.
     
    MERG sell all manner of handy electronic kits including one that operates 4 servos. I need 8 servos to operate the 4 points and 4 signal arms in the vicinity of the twin double junctions. The whole area will be operated from just 4 dpdt switches-one for each point and the signals will automatically show the routes. This part of the layout is going to be operated as an extra task for one of the main operators, so simplicity rules.
     
    I duly made up my first kit as seen below. Sorry for photo quality.
     

     
    It looks complicated, but the instructions are second to none and I found it very easy. It took about 2 hours all in and I was being very careful! You then download the software from the MERG site, connect the board to your laptop via a serial cable and programme which servo you want to move from position 1 to position 2 at what speed etc and the board remembers it. What could be more easy??? Well unfortunately, it would have been far easier if I had read the final instruction and put the correct voltage to the board! I put in 16v ac instead of 9v ac. End result?? - a new capacitor required - but its not the end of the world. We live and learn.
     
    So once these teething problems are overcome - and I've learned to read - I will be able to programme the servos for the points. I have yet to make the bracket signals.
     
    The next challenge will be to mount the servos under the baseboard - I'm thinking of very strong sticky pads (servo tape?) any better ideas that don't cost a fortune (I have about 90 to do!) - and then thin piano wire or guitar string wire to connect the servo arm to the tie bar. The over-centre springs have already been removed from the points. There needs to be a bit of "give" or spring in the wire to apply a small force to the switch blade when against the side rail, but not too much : more trial and error!
     
    At my current rate of progress, that will be January, but I hope not.
     
    Thanks for reading.
     
    Rich
  13. Richard Mawer

    Full circle

    By Richard Mawer,

    Its a few days less than a year since we moved house. That anniversary was my deadline for have trains running again - and I've hit it with just a few days spare. The continuous run is fully laid out, wired and running.
     

     

     
    Not only that but I have the junction station (Evenley) in place (the two halfs never got joined on MK1), the incline to it is built, ready for track laying (that never existed on MK1), a lifting flap has been built and I now have 10 storage loops instead of 6. Ok, I haven't wired the loops, fitted the point motors, built the diode matrices or control panel (the MK1 version cannot be used), but trains are running again. What is more, the layout is feasible, in a better location and with better baseboards.
     
    So why a continuous run?
     
    Many modelers run a mile from continuous runs, unless its a roundy roundy with through station and fiddleyard. In my case I like to see my models moving for a bit longer than just round 2 or 3 sides of the room from A to B. It is also useful for running in or testing. However, I can't abide seeing the same loco going through the same station time and time again. So my rationale is:-
    - the circuit has to be through countryside only, no stations
    - has to be level so trains can be left running
    - is to be used to add time to a journey from A to B
    - is to be mostly visible so I can see the trains running, but broken up by bridges etc to avoid the train set oval look
    - is to have the largest radius curves I can get away with.
     
    Most of my layout owes its design to Peter Denny, but this aspect was squarely nicked from the Gainsborough Model Railway, which originally had two continuous runs in its route from Kings Cross to Leeds. These days it only has one, but it is still effective in keeping trains running and buying the operators time.
     
    For me, i will be able to watch my favourite trains roll by through countryside while indulging in a bit of shunting or whatever.
     
    The wiring is DC common return, so there are just 3 bus wires running in a circle below the tracks. These are quite thick (24/0.2) to reduce voltage drop. Droppers are of thinner wire (7/0.2), soldered in the traditional fashion to the outside of the rail, but connected to the bus wires with scotch locks. Droppers are about every 2 yards. I rely on the fishplates for the rest of the connections. Time will tell, but it won't be hard to add more droppers if needs be. Its fine at present.
     
    Common return means that the outer rails of both tracks are wired onto just one bus wire. This is connected to one terminal of each controller. Each inner rail has its own, discrete wire back to the other terminal of its own controller. So for each track one rail has its own wire, whilst the other rail shares a wire:the common return. I have no idea why the two controllers do not get confused, or how they can both work in opposite directions without problems, but they do. There are plenty of clever people on here and the wider web, who can explain. All I know is that it works and saves wire and bother.
     
    At the lifting flap, the bus wires go down the legs across the door threshold and up the other side. The track feed droppers come over the hinge. The common return is treated differently. There is a length of track on each approach to the flap where the return rail (outer) is isolated. The return feed to each of these sections and for both tracks on the flap are connected through two small shoot bolts on the closing edge of the flap. If either of these are open, then the approach roads are dead. Hopefully this feature will never have to be used, but I couldn't bare the thought of a train taking the plunge.
     

     
    Anyway, on with the construction....
  14. Richard Mawer

    Gone loopy

    By Richard Mawer,

    I have now laid the track for the hidden storage loops that represent the rest of my line to the west, joining up with the Oxford to Banbury line somewhere near Kings Sutton.
     
     

     
    The gradient down from Newton Purcell comes in near left (yet to have the track laid). The continuous run goes off to the far left. It then goes round the room and comes in near right. The lines to and from the storage loops are off to the far right.
     
     

     
    With the continuous run in the bottom of the shot, this is the entrance pointwork. For reason to do with angles and lenses, the curves look mighty sharp, but they are not. The ones at the bottom are the first superelevated ones from my last posting.
     
    Please note that there are a maximum of 4 points for any line. I know my CDU will fire 4 peco surface mount motors at once. These will be operated via a diode matrix just like on MK1. The motors and micro switches for frog power have to go in.
     
     

     
    On MK1 I only had 6 loops. I have increased that to 10. I've bought more locos and stock! The line on the far left is the return line after the dumbell. The two on the right are the continuous run. The loops and return will be hidden under a hill with a deep sided cutting down to the continuous run lines which are on show. The scenery above the loops will be lightweight and hinged to allow emergency access.
     
    The loops will be wired as (finally) worked out on MK1. There are early blog entries detailing that.
     
     

     
    The exit points for the loops, leading into the dumbell and then back out. The return line is clear at the top of the photo and the continous run at the bottom. Again there are a maximum of 4 points per route. Route select both in and out will be by rotary switch with a push button to fire the CDU.
     
    Rich
  15. Richard Mawer
    A mixed bag to report today.
     
    On a good note, I have parted with some cash, not only for the long awaited Dukedog (which still needs to be painted GWR Green with a shirtbutton), but also Star and 28xx with shirtbutton. My Bulldog has also been remotored. This is an old Ks kit which a friend of mine at the High Wycombe club (HWDMRS) finished off and painted for me. The old motor worked but was very noisy and far from smooth. I bought a new Mashima and Roxey gearbox and Stan very kindly fitted it. I have a lot to learn and remember from years gone by on motors and gearboxes. Unfortunately for him, it proved to be very fiddly to get to run smoothly due to the con rods wanting to do their own thing! Thanks Stan.
     

     
    On another good note, I have worked out the wiring needed for the Station at Newton Purcell for the track feeds and also for the servos for the points and signals and have soldered it all up over a number of evenings.
     

     
    The track feed switches are mounted on the track plan. The signal and points are set out in signal box lever frame style. There is an amount of interlocking and interplay between the two types of switches. The signals and points for the double junction are interlocked in as much as the signals will not clear if the points are set for the wrong road. Unfortunately the levers (switches) will throw, but the boards will not pull off. The distants will also not pull off unless the home, starter and advanced starter are not pulled off as well.
     

     
    The advanced starter signals also act as cab control switches. Pulling off the advance starter switches control to the section in advance. Trains are controlled by the eventual arrival section on my layout. This means that if there is a non stop train from Buckingham West to Banbury, the Banbury (continuous circuit and return loops) controller takes control. This is done by Buckingham West ceding control to Newton Purcell by pulling off its Advance Starter and Newton Purcell ceding control to Banbury by pulling off its Advance starter as well. All of this of course is following a series of bell codes. The wiring for Buckingham West and Banbury is relatively straight forward but Newton Purcell is more complicated due to the passing nature of the station and particularly because it is a junction and the branch to Brackley Road is single track, so can be controlled by Brackley Road, Newton Purcell or Buckingham West depending upon the signalling.
     
    More good news is that I have had all my MERG Servo 4 pics (the brain) reblown by a very kind MERG member. These are now on the latest (and more stable) firmware. I have put them back in to the SERVO 4 control boards that are fitted to the Newton Purcell baseboards and have so far managed to very easily reapply all the settings off a laptop. However, I have two SERVO 4 boards that need more attention and are not playing the game. Of course one is the only one that is not directly accessible!!! Why is that always the way. So I am going to relocate that one.
     
    The bad news is that I am very unlikely to see the station up and running for quite a long time. We are moving house (hopefully) and so all the effort put into that station is going to be put on hold. It is not total bad news, because that part of the layout is in two halves and is transportable and reusable.
     
    The really sad bit is that the continuous circuits and reversing loops are going to have to be dismantled and I do not know how much will be reusable. At least it has been a good learning curve and next time I will correct some errors.
     
    Happily, the house we hope to move to will have a railway room. I intend to be moving out of the loft! Although my loft experience has not been as bad as many said it would be. I cannot hide my joy at the thought of a room (hopefully large integral garage which will be insulated and heated) for the railway. Vertical rear edges to the baseboards, allowing taller buildings and backscenes will be a joy. The principles of Buckingham West will be continued.
     
    So there will not be much progress on the layout, but I hope to build some more building kits and to renumber update some locos. I will be adding extra pickups and painting some goods stock. I also hope to start some weathering, having bought some powders and an airbrush. Watch this space.
     
    Thanks.
     
    Rich
  16. Richard Mawer
    Track laying is coming on a pace. I have made two more sets of superelevated curves, so that is three out of four corners of the room dealt with. The final corner, however, is partly on the lifting flap.
     
    I wanted to use copper clad on both sides of the baseboard cut for the flap, screwed and glued to the trackbed and then solder the rails to it. That is how my club, HWDMRS, do it and the tracks match up every time. But then the tracks are on the flat.
     
    I, of course, wanted the curve superelevated. With the other superelevated curves, the tracks are glued flat onto the foam. The foam is then 'flexed' over the spacers under it when I glue it down. See the photo lower down. That's great, but as the copper clad was to be fixed flat onto the ply trackbed, how could the rails be canted? I can't 'flex' the copper clad.
     
    This is what I did.
     
    Firstly, I cut the foam to fit the curve as before and screwed it in place. I then put the two pieces of copper clad each side of the cut through the trackbed and baseboard and marked their position on the foam. I laid out the tracks and screwed them in place as I usually do, ready for gluing.
     

     

     
     
    I removed the copper clad and glued the track to the foam, but not the middle sections where the copper clad would go. I then weighted the track down until it dried.
     

     
     
    Once dry, I cut the chairs away from the sleepers for the length of rail for one piece of copper clad and removed the sleepers, making sure I did not distort the rails and the gauge.
     

     
     
    I slid the copper clad under the rails. The copper clad is roughly the same height as the sleepers. One by one, I soldered the inner rail only onto the copper clad. I then did the other piece. This way, I kept the length without any sleepers as short as possible. I had already cut breaks into the copper clad to isolate each rail.
     

     
     
    I turned it over and glued the spacers on in the normal fashion.
     

     
     
    When that was all dry, I cut the foam away under the copper clad and glued some plasticard in place. This is roughly the same height as the foam and therefore right for the lower, inner rail.
     

     

     
     
    I then glued the whole in place. The copper clad was flat to the trackbed and the same height as the foam and sleepered inner rail. The outer rails were of course higher - the superelevation. In order to weight that down, it was important to make sure the foam in the lower sections stuck to the trackbed just as much as the spacers under the higher, outer rail to acheive the cant. It needed lots of weighting on both rails, but taking care not to bend the still unsupported outer rails.
     

     
     
     
    Once the foam has stuck directly down on the inside of each curved line, with the spacers under the outside, the cant is clear. The foam is the 'flexed' over the spacers. I am pleased with this. Just the right amount: not too obvious.
     

     
     
     
    With the track now glued, the cant in place and the copper clad glued and screwed flat, the larger gap betwwen it and the outer rails could be seen.
     

     
     
    I then flooded large amounts of solder between the outer rails and the copper, fixing it in place for the cut accross the flap and preserving the amount of superelevation. The soldering is not the neatest, but there's a heck of a lot in that gap! I am learning as I go along.
     

     
     
    Finally, when all had cooled, dried etc, I cut the rails with a razor saw, exactly in line with the cut in the trackbed below.
     

     
     
    Hey presto, a superelevated curve over the joint onto the lifting flap, secured by solder onto screwed copper clad on each side. So far the lines meet up perfectly each time.
     
    Rich.
  17. Richard Mawer

    In and working

    By Richard Mawer,

    Well that's what you get when the wife goes on a girlie weekend to a spa - time to do what matters!
     
    I have completed the second diode matrix (to control the exit from the loops), built the control panel for the circuits and storage loops, fixed it all in place and wired it in. What's more, it all worked first time. I can now control entry into and out of the loops by a single push button per loop and not have to think about how the train is being directed.
     

     

     
    The long line of green buttons is the exit and the red buttons are the entry.
     
    At the top there are the point switches for the twin double junctions, which will be operated by servos. These switches will also control the signals.
     
    The red button in the centre is the bell to the next panel.
     
    The middle switch operates the isolated sections in the loops and changes them from incoming controller to ongoing and finally, the switch at the bottom selects which station will control the outgoing train - the junction (next up the line) or the terminus if its a through train.
     
    The large space at the bottom is for the incoming (down) controller - which will be a home made inertia controller - half done, needs finishing - another topic!
     
    Overall, a good weekend. Serious progress.
     
    Rich
  18. Richard Mawer
    Early in the New Year i cut out the trackbeds for the open framed sections. The continuous run has been screwed down on the level for some time now, but I've had to wait until the double junctions were in so that the start of the incline was fixed. So now I had to tackle the incline.
     
     

    The start of the incline.
     
    Because the baseboard section for the junctions and the start of the incline are one board, raising the incline route by bending the ply up means that there is a transistion into the incline.
     
    One of my aims on this layout was to have the inclines no steeper than 1:60. When I laid out the trackbeds and measured the distance to the base of the junctions it was 180". Given that the required uplift (already built, so no way back) is 3", I am very lucky that it worked out at 1:60. Or maybe I just worked it out well!
     
    Soon after the start of the incline it has to pass over the lifting flap. There are 2 cuts, one straight over and one on the curve. Note that it passes through the open bracket on the inside of the flap. The inside hinged pillar sits between the continous run and the incline.
     
     

     
     

     
     

     
    I will need to pack up the trackbeds on the curved cut because they are slightly out of true, but overal I am happy with the outcome.
     
     
     
    The incline leaves the continous run and climbs up to Newton Purcell.
     
    To set the supports for the incline I started with the junctions and then fixed the top onto the Newton Purcell board. I then fixed the 1" high position and 2" high position and made supports which I screwed in. Using a steel yard length on its edge to help avoid dips and bumps, I screwed T pieces below the trackbed and onto each cross member of the baseboard.
     
    Upon advice from my club members and Ray of Sixties Snapshots on RM Web I made sure that none of the supporting cross members were more than 11" apart. It seems that 9mm ply can bridge that gap with very little risk of sagging. I have to say that so far that seems to be correct. The downside is that 11" is too small a gap to get my driver in to tighten the screws!!!! What a pain!!!
     

     
     

     
    Using the steel length and lining up by eye along the surface, I adjusted the heights of the T pieces and as far as I can currently tell I have a pretty even incline with transistions at the top and bottom.
     
    At the top of the incline it passes over the continuous run on an S bend before running into Newton Purcell. This makes for a rather long and diagonal bridge. Apart from working out how best to deal with that scenically (I will no doubt have to trim the width of the trackbed once the track is laid), it was tricky to get the supports for the upper trackbed.
     
    Before that though, I had my fingers crossed that there would be enough clearance to allow stock to pass below once track and the 3mm foam underlay was in place. Was my maths good enough? I could not increase the height of the top track as it connects with Newton Purcell. I could not lower the continous run because it is the base level of all the baseboards. As you can see, it all worked out ok.
     
     

     
     

     
    I am really happy with how this has turned out. I just hope 1:60 will not be too steep for the locos to pull the trains. The maximum rake of coaches is 5, but one of the locos needed to haul that is a Bachmann City. I have a Hornby County that will need to pull 4. The few 4-6-0s should be fine. Time will tell, but I guess I may have to alter the timetable and roster that I already worked out.
     
    Next, onto some more track laying.
     
    Rich
  19. Richard Mawer

    Irritating!

    By Richard Mawer,

    Isn't reality irritating at times!!!!!
     
    In "Bells and Whistles" I said how I'd sorted the wiring for the storage loops (which feed into a return loop). Reality is that it doesn't quite work how I intended.
     
    After lots of testing, I finally realised that because locos stop in different places as they cross the double break at the end of the loops, they are the cause of some odd ghost movements that were starting to seriously irritate me and prevented me moving onto the next part of the project. The breaks in the rails and the wiring are designed to automatically stop the train towqrds the end of the loop whilst out of sight, but then allow it to pull away under when required, using the other controller. The insulfrog points forming the exit are supposed to route the power to the right loop and the sprung, centre off, dpdt switch is used to switch the end section on, so the trains only exit when wanted.
     
    It transpires that some of the locos stop partly over the breaks, with their wheels or their tender wheels shorting the gap and then as the power feed is changed from one controller to the other, and the common return rail effectively swaps over (the exit from the loops is via a return loop), the shorting wheels can feed power/return to different rails in the exit trackwork through point stockrails and the wiring. The end result is that occassionally, depending on point settings and which locos have stopped how far over the breaks, two locos start up instead of one! The results are rather obvious!!! Considering all this occurs out of sight, it is set back. I had not envisaged such back flows of power. The (very rough) circuit diagramme is below, but only shows two loops. I am still not 100% sure how it is happening, but it certainly is and I have tested continuity over and over, with locos in all sorts of positions. I have even undone track feeds and removed the wires from the switches to prove the point.
     

     
    I am now having to insert further breaks to make each loco stopping space into a separate isolating section with a further push button controlling each. So much for simplicity! It will be fun trying to fit isolating fishplates to track already glued down!!!! Ho hum!
     
    At least, due to my testing, I was able to get some green locos moving. Here are my Saint, 61xx (in the process of becoming a 51xx), City and one of my Dean Goods.
     

     
    I have also been asked about the layout itself and how it fits in the loft. Here are some photos to put it in context. It is at a very early stage, with only the storage loops and continuous run built and no scenery at all. I need to loops working fully, before I then build the incline up to the junction and then on to Buckingham West and finally the branch to Brackley Road.
     

    This is the twin double junctions on the continuous run. The one on the left leads to the storage loops (and reverse loop) and the one on the right will lead to the incline up to the Junction. The incline will be built alongside the collar beam seen running towards the camera.
     

    This is the baseboard for Buckingham West - the main terminus - with the continuous run in front at the lower level. The line here will be in a cutting with a brick arched retaining wall up to the higher level.
     

    This is the entry end of the storage loops with the continous run in front and the reverse loop out at the rear. The loops will be covered by the Junction station, with the ground sloping down to the continuous run in the front. The boards for the juction are propped up at the front.
     

    This is the exit of the storage loops and shows the dumbell/reverse loop bac to the continuous run. The mainlines are to the front. Note the boxes of stock and buildings waiting to escape their 30 years incarceration and becoe a layout!
     

    With the Buckingham West baseboard seen to the left, the mainline crosses behind the hatch and dives under the Buckingham West board. The collar beam is again seen in the centre of the loft, but this is the other end. The incline will be on the right side of this and the small branch terminus (Brackley Road) will be built on the left side with trains leaving away from the camera and swinging right handed to the junction.
     

    This shot puts the central collar beam into perspective with the Buckingham West boards in the background.
     

    The loops and the exits which caused me so much trouble. More work required!!!!
     
    Thanks for reading.
     
    Rich
  20. Richard Mawer

    Lessons!

    By Richard Mawer,

    Irritating got even more irritating!!! I made all the cuts in the track, installed 4 out of the five micro switches and even before I could wire them in (so the dead sections on the far rail were totally dead) the locos were still doing odd things. Another session in a darkened room and the reason for it AND the answer came to me. So I put in place Plan..... (Now what is it?) .....oh yes Plan D!! I soldered up all the damage I had just done to the track (!!!!!) and added just one more break, 2 wires and another centre sprung dpdt switch. Job done! How did I make such a mess!!
     
    Big lessons:
    try before you do 6 lots of stuff!
    Think about back flows of electricity.
    Don't test for electrical isolation or continuity with a loco on the track.
    Expect locos and stock to bridge isolating breaks
    Expect the unexpected.
    Oh yes and don't blame sticky locos if you've not cleaned the track! I am sure I knew all that 30 years ago, but .........
     
    Anyway, locos are now running with trains of coaches! It's been nice to see the 30 year old Castle perform for the first time in it's life and to see the new City being put through it's paces: a lovely loco!
     

     

     

     
    At last I have been able to move onto the next phase: to make another MERG Servo 4 board and fix the servos to the double junctions. As you can see, the points have so far been held over with Blu-tac. You take the springs out of the tie bars if you are going to use servos, so you get the slow action change.
     

     
    I have previously made a "servo 4" control board, as mentioned in an earlier entry in the blog. They are quite easy to make if you follow the instructions religiously. BIG LESSON: don't use either the 12v dc or the 16v ac feeds from Duettes to power them!! Not only did I blow up the main capacitor on the first board I made, but I had the same result with a board given to me by a friend! And that was after I changed from ac to dc following the first indoor firework display! Luckily another friend (aren't model railway clubs good!) has repaired both for me. So while I wait for them to come back, I've made another.
     
    Each "servo 4" board controls 4 servos and you program the boards from a pc to set the two extremes of travel and the speed of change. The board remembers the settings and the servo then moves from one setting to the other by changing a simple on/off switch: easy AND realistic. With the electrical tests done and a new, regulated power supply (simple plug in 12 v dc) the board was up and running. Thanks to advice from some clever people at MERG I've modified the board a little to work on common return, but I am using a common return for all the Servo 4's that is separate from the power bus for the trains, to keep "noise" down on the power - no, I'm not 100% sure what that means either, but I'm told it stops the "chatter" or wiggling that sometimes can happen with servos.
     
    I couldn't get the pc to operate the board and servos at first, but sought some more advice online from other MERG members. They are a helpful bunch. Although I got lots of advice I was still static and unresponsive -as it were. Then I put the software on my daughter's laptop and all was sorted!! The next issue was actually fixing the servos under the baseboard and linking to the tie bars on the points. My first attempt was the Evostick very sticky double sided tape pads to hold the servo in place and use a section of guitar string supa-glued to the armature crank to connect to the tie bar and provide an element of spring to hold the point blades hard over. The sticky pads worked (so far), but the guitar string was a disaster. Far too bendy. I ended up using piano wire bent through the armature and back on itself.
     
    I've learnt another lesson as well. Even if you think the servos are set half way, they might not be. When you plug in the pc there is a chance they will travel right over and bend the wire, if not damage the point blades. Its going to be better to plug the servos into the board and the board into the pc, before fitting the armature to the servo and the servo under the points. We live and learn.
     

     
    I had another project in mind for the Christmas break. I have to add horizontal rails along the front and rear of the high level junction main board so that the weight is spread. Instead of making whole lifting sections, the ends will be more open framed to allow holes to be cut and removable scenery so that the points into and out of the loops can be reached if needs be, but to allow for the correct alignment of the track, boards will be laid on the frames and the track fixed before the boards are cut around the formations. But that might have to wait.
  21. Richard Mawer
    Google provided me with details of the High Wycombe and District Model Railway Society and I made contact with one of the guys there. He invited me along as there is a large test track (incidently for O, OO and N gauge, DC or DCC!), many people to speak to about DC or DCC and he himself is a serial loco builder.
     
    For a bottle of Port and a small amount of cash for materials, I became the proud owner of a well finished off Bulldog in 1936 shirtbutton livery. I have bought plates to name it "Pershore Plumb". Many thanks Stan!!!!
     
    I also got to test all my locos. All but two ran. Simple repairs to pickups quickly done at home and all was put right. My first and second steam outline locos: a Hornby Albert Hall and Pannier failed the running test over modern Code 100 points (heaven forbid code 75!) and so two decisions were made 1) the two locos became gifts to my second cousin who is running on old Hornby track, and 2) I had to stick with code 100 for the rest of my locos.
     
    I had some great chats with plenty of people about DC and DCC and decided that it would be very difficut to fit decoders into my old locos and DCC would not actually give me much greater benefit given what I want to do with the layout. If I could fit sound DCC, then that would be very attractive apart from the cost. I am sure that will come. The "sound" locos at the club are very attractive.
     
    Although I never intended joining a club, I soon realised there is a huge depth of experience on tap and the guys are very happy to share. HWDMRS has a wide range of layouts and is working on some very advanced stuff including MERG electonics and CBUS control. They (we) also run the popular WYCRAIL exhibition. You guessed it, I joined! If any readers have not considered joining a club or society, I strongly recommend it.
     
    So with these questions answered, I set about finalising my plans, wiring principles and bought lights, a load of timber and insulation.
     
    This was November to January, nearly a year ago. By the end of January I had boarded out the loft, applied insulation (multi foil) to the underside of the slopes and had wired in some flourescent lighting. Apart from the cost implications, I now wish I had put more insulation under the slopes, but you have to be careful to ensure the timbers can breath. The alternative can be rot and mould - not good for rafters!
     
    I started building baseboards using 22 x 44 timbers for the frames. The storage loops, junction station (Newton Purcell) and main terminius (Buckingham West) all have solid tops with framing approx 18" apart. The tops are 6mm MDF. Using PVA, I have stuck soft boarding on top of this, using the underlay boards made for laminate flooring. This is about 6mm.
     
    The interconnecting boards are open framed and so have cross member approx 12" apart. MDF has again been used for the track bed, but leaving gaps to the sides for scenery to dip below the line if needs be. Also, these boards will carry two levels of track, so the higher ones will be on risers from the cross members. The boards on the solid tops are fine, but there is a minute amount of deflection to eth boards on the open frame sections. Ideally the cross members should have been closer together or the boards 9mm. I have got round this by adding strengtheners below those sections. The boards are fitted to the rafters using metal brackets and 2" x 2" legs. Although a little Heath Robinson, the boards are reasonably stable and level, but they will not come up to the exacting standards of many people.
     
    During the Spring I laid the storage loops. Getting the positioning and geometry of the point ladders at each end correct to ensure the maximum loop length was a little tricky and I had to learn how best to cut track and get the connections right. The main issue was, however, getting the maximum radius possible on the dumbell. I was advised that I shouldn't go less than 600mm. In the end I managed 570mm, but I was concerned that the 8 coupled locos wouldn't go round. I already had a 28xx, but knew I wanted a ROD. This was just the reason I needed to invest in Bachman product and what nice loco that is!!
     
    Once the loops and dumbell were laid, work commenced on the double track circuit which goes right around the loft, below Buckingham West and Newton Purcell (that board fits above the storage loops and therefore isn't yet in place). There are two double junctions on the circuits: one to the storage loops and the other to lead to the incline up to Newton Purcell.
     
    The track was laid in the summer heat. Although the insulation is reasonably good, the loft is still hot in the summer and right now is quite cold and feel a little damp - but that could be the cold. Time will tell. I have no heat in the loft and although some people have said you have to have dehumidyfiers fitted, I am very sceptical about that. Some heat for modelling sessions may be needed though. The good point about laying track in the hot weather is that you can butt it up tight and know it won't buckle. If laying in the winter, be sure to leave expansion gaps at the joints - particularly on continuous runs.
     
    With the double track circuits laid and temporary feeds to the live frogs, I installed the power bus below the boards. I have used 24/0.2 wires and have used common return wiring. The outer rail of both tracks is taken to just one wire, which is connected to both controllers. There are separate wires to each of the inner rails. This saves wiring, but also makes section switching, block working, interlockinig with signals and points so much easier by using one side of dpdt switches for the tracks and the other for the accessory.
     
    I used 7/0.2 wiring for the droppers from the tracks to the busses and plastic "suitcase" style connectors, avoiding the need to solder against gravity in a confinded space. With over 50 meters if track laid for just the circuits and storage loops (6), there was quite a lot of wiring, but I don't want to have to rely too much on fishplates for connectivity in a loft environment.
     
    Hey presto I have running lines and I have started running in my locos. It is so satisfying to see GW locos running round.
     
    This autumn I have had less time available, but I needed to fit control to the storage loop points. I didn't want individual controls for each point. For me that would lose the illusion of the storage/fiddleyard being "real" Banbury/Birmingham etc. I want to just send the trains into the tunnel and not have to deal with them again till they are due out. So I designed a diode matrix that means I only have to press one of 6 buttons for a train going in and anoter one out of 6 when one is due out. The timetable will just say A to F by each of those movements.
     
    I found the H&M point motors to need too much current when 5 motors had to be thrown: the Peco CDU to be too weak for my requirements: and a potential loss of power due to the operating buttons being 4 meters from the ladders of points. I have therefore ended up using peco side fitting point motors, thick wires cut from mains cable and a heavy duty CDU obtained from All Components (others are available). I also had to use high current diodes obtained from MERG. After quite a bit of trial and error the matrix for one ladder is complete and the point motors installed. On test it all works. Now I have to build the second matrix, install the rest of the motors, fit the kit in place and connect the final wires. This should be done before Christmas, so I can install the Newtn Purcell baseboard over the loops. My only concern is then how to keep the track clean below. Any ideas?
     
    In the meantime I am happy watching my locos running in.
     
    Rich
  22. Richard Mawer

    Lines and Locos

    By Richard Mawer,

    At last some more progress - on two fronts. Both baseboards for the junction station, Newton Purcell, have been built and initially installed. The construction is the same as the rest - 2x1 inch framing and cross members with 6mm MDF on top, glued and screwed, topped with insulation board made for going under laminate floors.
     
    The station is roughly a "handed" version of Grandborough Junction on Peter Denny's Buckingham Branch - why reinvent the wheel fully? you may think, but the design actually came from planning how the layout would be run and what traffic types it will have. Not unsurprisingly, as the concept behind the layout is so strongly influenced by Denny's classic, the traffic and operations led to very similar requirements and once you apply steam era rules to platforms, junctions and trackwork (ie, double junctions off double track, as few facing points as possible, trailing access to goods yards etc.) the plan looks very familiar.
     
    Due to the length of the station, and more importantly because it is above the storage loops, I have decided that for now, the boards will remain in two halves so that once the track is glued in place, I can remove them one at a time and wire them up, add the servos etc. Only when all is neatly stowed away underneath and wires taken to chocblocks will I replace them and join them together. I need to ensure that there are no hanging wires etc to snag on trains below and there is insufficient access to the undersides when in situ.
     
    I have modified all the points, most here are insulfrog. I will explain why in a future blog, but it's for control panel reasons. I know this is a compromise. Consequently, most only need the centre throw spring removed for servo control. The rest need the switch blades soldering to the running lines in the common fashion for electrofrogs.
     
    The radius of the curves has been marked out. This is tighter than I ideally want and varies from 610mm to over 900mm. I next laid out the pointwork and joined them into larger units. The holes for the servos now need to be drilled and the track glued down using PVA.
     
    The pointwork comprises 3 main sections. The up end of the station has 2 single slips forming the trailing crossover with trailing access to the yard setting back from the up line (furthest away), and trailing access into the ironstone quarry, setting back from the down line. There are also 2 small private sidings trailing onto the up line (at the top of the photo).
     

     
     
     
    At the down end of the station, there is the double junction off the mainlines onto the branch and access to the bay.
     

     
     
     
    The final area is the ladder of points in the yard and headshunt. The line nearest the mainlines through the platforms runs through and trails into the down main via a curved point at the very end. It is protected with a catch point, in the traditional (but seldom modelled in freelance layouts) manner.
     

     
     
     
     
    I have had the old Airfix 61xx apart a few times, and whilst it is running better, I can't get it to start reliably enough. I also think the rear driver axle is slightly bent. So I bit the bullet and bought a Hornby 51xx. Well we all need some therapy at times. It's a lovely runner. So is the Bachmann 45xx I also bought. This came via a list of never-used locos owned by a local collector who unfortunately died. The list was sent to my club, HWDMRS in High Wycombe.
     

     

     
     
    I am gradually getting the locos out and running them in after all these years in boxes. I have two Mainline 43xx's. So far I have only run one. It was bought off an auction house and so was a risk anyway. I bought my other new, so I hope it has faired better over the years. Anyway, early on, the drivers got out of alignment all of a sudden and it threw some strange shapes with the con rods! When I took it apart, the chassis was cracked as well. I bought a cheap BR version on ebay and swapped the chassis, but after a short while the drivers slipped in the same way. It transpires the glue keeping the metal stub axles connected to the plastic insulator mid way, comes adrift, so the quartering goes caput! When trying to find out what best to do, on this site, help was offered by a very kind, and helpful modelling couple: Polly and Ray. Polly is Southern 42. They offered me the Bachmann Chassis as they have built a Comet chassis for theirs and a deal was done. Duly fitted, the loco is good as gold. A big thank you to you both.
     

     
    Now should that lining remain on those cylinders??
     
     
     
    Rich
  23. Richard Mawer
    As is often the case for me, even the best planned railway exploits need some replanning.
     
    When I came to add the curves to the exit points ladder to start the laying of the storage loops, the geometry didn't work. Something must have moved inbetween checking it all out (see last entry) and sticking the points down. Some of the curves were too sharp. I have had to change the arrangement of the points. However, whilst the alignment may not be 100% smooth, it is smooth enough and coaches run over the tracks without a problem.
     

     
     
    I glue my track onto the foam base, which is glued to the baseboard. It's all done with PVA. I am not sure how others do it, but with flexitrack I have so far glued the foam down first. To keep the curves in place whilst the glue sets, I put 3 screws in: 1 on the outside at each end and one on the inside in the middle. This is done whilst dry-running the alignment. The track can then be lifted slightly and be held up on the screw threads whilst PVA is spread underneath. Once pushed down onto the foam, it is weighted down to set.
     

     
     
    As will be seen from previous entries, I learned the hard way to use double isolators for the loops. I have also learned to have 2 isolated sections at the exit end of the loops: one after the other. The polarity of each section is controlled by sprung, centre off, 2 way switches. When held over to the "in" setting, the 1st section is wired the same as the "in" road to the loops and the 2nd section is dead on both rails. This allows the train to run in, run over the 1st section and auto stop in the 2nd section.
     
    When held in the "out" setting, both 1st and 2nd sections adopt the reverse polarity, to allow the train to run over the points, round the dumbbell, out along the return line (furthest away on the photos), back over the double junctions and onto the continuous run. Even if the loco stopped with wheels over the isolator between the 1st and 2nd sections initially (as kept happening) this arrangement stops back currents energising other lines.
     
    The exit end of the loops and isolated sections are now laid. The wiring is still to be done. The arrival end points will be laid after the double junctions and continuous run.
     

     
     
    I have also worked out the position of the 2 double junctions which sit between the storage loops and lifting flap. This where the gradient down from Newton Purcell joins the continuous run, Where after a few laps, the line leaves, goes into the tunnel and into the hidden storage loops. I cut out the odd shaped ply base after designing it all on cardboard which I cut out and used as a template.
     
    The junctions are made from 2 medium left insulfrog points, 2 long diamonds and 2 right hand curved electrfrog points. I needed to have flowing curves and be to be able to get the curve around the baseboard to the left. I also needed enough room to get the loops entry ladder in whilst being far enough left to give the incline down from Newton Purcell the longest gradient possible. This line comes in at the bottom of the picture, from the right.
     
    Once the alignment was sorted, I stuck the foam to the board, drilled the holes for servos and frog feeds and then stuck the points to the foam.
     

     

     

     
     
     
    Whilst cutting and gluing track, it became obvious that I was working in my own shadow. With the onset of middle age (ahum!) and the march of time on my eyesight, I needed more light. Many of the layouts at my club (High Wycombe and District MRS) use LEDs in strips as the lighting gantry. I didn't need anything fancy. A few words with the wise at the club, a trip to our friendly on-line auction site and 15 meters of warm white self-adhesive LED strip was purchased and stuck under the shelf that goes round the walls of the garage. The result? Just enough light to make things easy to see. Maybe a bit too yellowy, but acceptable.
     

     

  24. Richard Mawer

    Moving on!

    By Richard Mawer,

    To all you good folks who have followed my blog so far, I have decided to move the blog to Layout Topics on RMWeb. It's where most layouts seem to be reported and dicussed. Please keep following my layout's progress and provide me with the advice I need.
     
    The new location is http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/102581-buckingham-west/
     
    Thanks
     
    Rich
  25. Richard Mawer
    In 1900 the Great Central Railway opened a double track branch to Banbury from their London Extension, joining at Culworth Junction. This line became the main interchange point for trains between the Great Central and the Great Western. It allowed trains from the northern cities to run to the west and south. Trains ran from such places as Sheffield, York, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, to Southampton and Bournemouth. Often these trains saw the loco and stock from different companies, such as a GCR loco hauling GWR stock.
     
    There was also a large amount of freight passing over this line.
     
    Although the line from Banbury (via the Oxford line) to Buckingham was GWR and there was no GCR interest at Buckingham West, it was agreed between the companies that when demands required and loco availability was stretched, the GCR (and later LNER) would be allowed to run locos to Buckingham West to relieve congestion at Banbury.
     
    Of course all this is pure fiction, but it did allow me to purchase the new Bachmann LNER liveried ex-GCR J11 Pom Pom. Although I am not struck by layouts running mainly black locos, it is nice to have one (or maybe it will stretch to 2) black ones! The loco is a superb slow speed runner and I am very pleased with it.
     
     

     

     
     
    Rich
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