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

Below are some early photos of the storage loops. The storage loops with the main line circuits in the foreground. Taken sometime in the summer 2012. Newton Purcell station will be over the loops on a higher level with the mainline visible to the front on the lower level. The dumbell at the end of the storage loops, feeding back onto the main line circuits around the loft. An early photo of the exit from the storage loops, leading into the dumbell. Elements of the main line circuits are in place to gauge clearance. Rich

I've seen this. Does it actually work or is it a gimmick?

Hi. That's exactly what I am trying to acheive! You don't live near High Wycombe do you? Rich

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

Devon D, thanks for the comments. To answer you in detail will pre-empt the next blog entry, but Google did provide me with the route to getting both an answer to the DC/DCC question and got my Bulldog built. It also opened a number of other avenues. The blog is still catching up with reality. Nevertheless, I understand your comments about being able to change from DC to DCC as indeed I ran a wiring bus and droppers. I don't understand your comment about live common crossings on the points. On the newly bought points I have used electrofrogs, but have wired the frogs back to the point control switches to change polarity. What do you do? The short radius points have found use in the storage loops and goods yards/private sidings. Thanks for your interest. Keep in touch.

Hi, It's oo, Peco Code 100. I would have prefered code 75, but I had a fair number of older Code 100 points and as a good proportion of my locos and stock are older, they won't run properly on 75. What do you model? Rich

Jim, Thanks for that. Do you have a layout for your passion or are you "contemplating"? Rich

The layout has to tick various boxes for me. The first and foremost is operational interest. All my layouts as a teenager were tail-chasing train sets with some scenery apart from one which was a fiddleyard to small branch terminus, but they were boring to operate. What really got me about Peter Denny's Buckingham was the operational interest. No matter how I redesigned the concept over the 30 years away from modelling, I kept coming back to Denny's three stations and fiddleyard. I have already said that a timetable and clock are important, but so are the following citeria:- * three independant stations with goods facilities * operators primarily as signalmen not drivers * operating signals and some interlocking * block working with bells * double track mainline * station pilot working of main terminus * layout location to be fictional, but a secondary line placed in a real area that 'could have been' * mid 30's GWR, but with a limited number of 4-6-0s * 5 coach mainline trains * a quarry or other source of mineral traffic * lots of cattle traffic * milk traffic * continuous run for testing /running in /putting time and distance on the timetable /just watching trains * panel switches to be in an old fashioned 'frame' rather than a 'powerbox' track diagram * private sidings for industry * lots of shunting for proper reasons, not just random * intertia control of locos * solo and group operation. Of secondary importance to me is the scenery. Don't get me wrong, I want it to look the part, but I am no Barry Norman and this layout will be no Pendon. I just don't have those skills, patience or time. Mine will be a little more like the Gainsborough Model Railway Society. I think most of the exhibition layouts I have seen on the circuit are amazing. The quality of workmanship is incredible and they present brilliant scenes, but for me, many lack operational interest or purpose. It's a personal thing and I welcome the diversity of this hobby! So that's where the thought process got me. Next was a rummage in the loft to reveal 24 unused short radius peco code 100 insulfrog points, a few superquick buildings only slightly damaged, 4 H&M point motors, 2 H&M Duette controllers, 25 yards of unused but rusty steel flexi-track and an old triang motorised turntable. First real decision - to use peco code 100 and nickel silver track. The steel was ditched. I couldn't afford to ignore the points and buy replacements as well as teh extras I would need. A look in the boxes of accumulated stock confirmed I had 14 locos - most of which hadn't ever been run. Most were bought new, but a few had been ebay purchases. I have collected a good selection of coaches and wagons over the last 10 years os when I have been "seriously" contemplating this layout - rather than just day dreaming with precious little intent! This delve into history resulted in 2 more early decisions to be made: DC or DCC and what to do about that half made K's Bulldog kit I kept looking at and putting away? Time for Google..........

Thank you for reading my blog. So why do it? And do what? Well starting with the "what?", my project is a loft layout. And "why?"...well about 30 years ago, I stopped railway modelling, went to Uni, started a career, got married, had kids, furthered my career etc etc. Now one daughter is 20 and the other nearly 18 and I have a little time on my hands and a little space in the house (albeit in the loft). Over the last 30 years I have mused on different layouts, read books and magazines and in the last few years collected locos and stock. I developed two passions - Peter Denny's Buckingham Great Central and the Great Western Railway in the mid 1930s. And so now.......Buckingham West. The purpose of this blog is twofold. 1) to maybe help any other new-comers or returning modellers and 2) so more experienced modellers can help me! The layout plan is inspired by Peter Denny's classic layout. It will have three stations - a large terminius (Buckingham West) leading to a junction (Newton Purcell), from which a small single track branch leads to Brackley Road whilst the main line runs on to join the Oxford to Banbury line near Aynho and Adderbury, heading north. My addition is that there are two circuits passing through open country before the line enters a tunnel and runs into 6 storage loops which eventuallydumbell back out. These storage loops represent Banbury and Birmingham etc. I prefered this "hands off" arrangement to other fiddleyard types as I can drive the trains in and forget about them until the timetable directs me to drive them out again. Yes, a timetable! It is important to me to try and make this project run to a timetable and a fast clock. We'll see. This project is large! Perhaps too large for a returning modeller, but I've started and so need to finish. Lets hope I get it all done - as much as any layout is ever done! That's the plan and the reasoning. Please stay with me and I'll outline in the next entry what I've done so far. Please add any comments even if just to say you've read it, so I'll keep going. Thanks. Rich