Richard Mawer

Cant get diverted though, there are still loads of jobs to do!

Its always good to get diverted!

Looking good Neal!

Happy New Year

Rich

14.20 at Charlton cutting. Up Birmingham to Buckingham West Parcels and Down Local to Banbury.

Thanks Richard.

My controller has a fast clock operation. But I would prefer a visual display above the layout.

My kindle fire tablet is attached to the lighting rig, so is just above operator head height so all can see it.

The clock PCB is here: https://www.merg.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&p=73218&sid=363d9e85df4e8d37f7082cc0e84953c1#p73218

I’ve had a look at that thread. This is certainly a project someone is doing/done. Its not a kit. They have collected bits from all manner of sources. There is mention of a TB which is a Technical Bulletin. It would be a good idea to look that up. It might explain much more. Otherwise get in touch with the authors. People tend to be vety helpful if you plead complete ignorance which I personally find easy.

I fancy the idea of a fast clock with multiple repeater displays on each panel. I’ve not found one, so if you are successful please let me know.

At present I run a single fast clock display on an otherwise redundant Kindle Fire tablet. I run it on software. See my entry #276 on page 12 of my thread. It’s worked very well so far, but one operator has to keep turning round to see it.

I'm confused!

 

Having seen the post for a clock to make - or at least the PCB for it - I cant see either the kit or the details of the components.

 

The website is rubbish - very hard to navigate, it takes me an age to work out how to log-on!

 

To be honest, I'm not impressed so far - hopefully when the turntable kits appear tight might change!

 

Happy Christmas Richard.

Oh dear. What’s this clock post?

The website is better than it was, but it doesn’t have an easy log in. Go to Members Pages or Members Forums and then you have to log in.

There are lots of things made by the group that are not in kits. Its primarily a group of enthusiasts but the most popular things are produced in kits. Its not a commercial entity.

Try looking up what you want in the technical bulletins. The forums are good too. Searchable.

I have a friend who has made a turntable with a stepper motor and bits from Merg. I think you have to buy the bits separately following the article, unless it is being made into a kit. I’m not aware. The tirntable works a treat though.

All my electronics for the servos are from Merg and the members were very helpful when I initially had issues.

Merry Christmas

Have had a few servo issues tonight. I presume it is because of the (lack of) temperature. Is that right? Does their throw become limited or slow in low temperature?

I was right.

Warmer weather, problems gone away. Faster moving servos, with the throw back to normal.

Note to self: increase the heating!

In an effort to get all the electrics done, having hung about for a while, I have joined MERG.

.

Well done. Such a great society. Very helpful,as well as good kits.

I have two double slips used for low-speed moves and haven't had any problems with derailments except for trying to take a 9F through them.

Dan,

I have 2 code 100 Peco single slips on the mainlines at my junction station, and 2 more on the twin double junctions (instead of peco diamonds which are diabolical things and should have been redesigned years ago). Trains run through these at full mainline speeds with no trouble now the back to backs on the stock are sorted.

I have another single slip in the main terminus throat ( not dissimilar position to your proposed double). That takes all comers too.

I have 1 peco code 100 double slip in the loco yard. It only has locos and open wagons passing over, and quite slow, but only a Hornby 51xx grumbles. I’m not 100% sure why yet.

Good luck with this. An interesting location for traffic diversity. I know the line and location well.

I like a good back story.

Keep us posted.

Have had a few servo issues tonight. I presume it is because of the (lack of) temperature. Is that right? Does their throw become limited or slow in low temperature?

Rich

 

Could you leave the ballasted track for (say) a couple of hours after you've applied the glue and then see if the sleeper tops can be cleaned before the glue sets?

 

Given that the adhesive is latex based I'm surprised that you're finding the ballast on the sleepers hard to remove as I'd have thought it was as flexible as the rest. In fact I'd probably have expected the ballast being cleaned off the sleeper tops to have a tendency to lift some of that between the sleepers at the same time.

The ballast pieces tend to just bend away from the position on the sleepers and then spring back because of the latex. Eventually they gave up the ghost and let go. I hoovered them up.

I will be trying much harder to keep it neat before the glue but I think you are right to come back after a couple of hours and dislodge any other errant pieces.

Rich

 

My bucket of that glue didn't have all those wires attached!

 

I found that I had to brush the ballast off the sleepers in places as well but I used a slightly different method. I loosely pinned all the track down to make sure it was the correct length etc. adding the droppers prior to the initial (loose) fixing. I then lifted each length/point in turn and spread the (neat) glue before replacing the track and spreading a blanket of ballast which I tamped down with my fingers. I then went along with the vac and lifted most of the excess which cleaned sleeper tops. Glue didn't generally get on the sleeper drops because I was lowering the track onto the glue rather than dropping glue in between sleepers where it is inevitable that some will stray onto sleeper tops.

Hi Ray

I know. That's a far better controlled method. It looks really good.

My issue is that there is so much track and its been glued down already anyway. I wanted to "prove" the operating system and make sure it all ran as I wanted before I ballasted it. Its the price I have to pay.

Thanks again for the steer regarding the glue.

Cheers

Rich

THE STICKY SITUATION

I’ve been laying more ballast. See my post of 2nd December. But compared to other people’s like Virney Junc and Little Muddle etc, mine looked scruffy. The main issue is that mine has bits of ballast sitting on top of the sleepers. Theirs doesn’t.

My spreader makes decent shoulders of ballast now it’s been modified. See post 428. But it isn’t so good at getting it only between the sleepers. It delivers too much. I’ve tried brushing the excess along the track, but without great sucess. Upon reflection I think I’ve been doing stretches that are too long. I’ve been refilling the spreader as I go. I’ll now do shorter stretches and brush it out more, before moving on.

The other problem was my water spray was too strong and it dislodged/splashed some ballast. I’ve got a finer one now.

Luckily, the glue I’m using leaves some flex to the ballast and by using an “overgrown lolly stick” trimmed to fit between the rails, and quite a bit of elbow grease, I have dislodged the errant ballast pieces and it looks a lot better.

This is the glue I use, mixed down with two parts water to one of glue. I use a pippette onto thoroughly wetted (plus detergent) ballast in the time honoured fashion.

Whilst on the subject of siting signals, the following two images show possible positions of a shunt signal at Buckinhum.

 

161117_2.jpg161117_1.jpg

 

The left hand image shows the signal between the platform track and the loop - the signal is the exit signal from the loop onto the single line. I've always assumed that signals should be positioned to the left of the line (except possibly on the WR/GWR where right hand drive was [i believe] more prevalent]. It is passable on either track by any stock that I have.

 

The right hand image allows a little more room for the signal. Here it is between the loop and the long (dead end) siding in the goods yard. Aside from being on the wrong side for the driver it has worse visibility for any loco approaching over the divergent (curved) road at the bottom of the images. I think that the only benefit of this position is that there is a little more room between the two tracks than in the other image.

 

Anyone care to offer an opinion?

Ray,

I can only comment on my perception of GWR practice where the norm was simply the best position for it to be seen, full stop. The GWR seemed happier with positions for overal sighting rather than dogma of “has to be on the left”.

My main reason for a comment is to say how good your track and ballast look. I’m impressed.

AND NOW WITH ADDED BUTTRESSES

I think I might have redefined how low, low-relief can go. They are about 1.5mm, but you were right, even they make a difference. I will be able to weather round them too in due course.

TURNING TABLES

My Heljan turntable works really well, but doesn’t look very GWR.

Mask the electrics and rack, spray some frame dirt. Take a scalpel to the railings. Add the sides from an old Airfix kit which I’ve painted and....

A busy time at Evenley. It’s 12.10 and stoppers to and from Banbury are crossing in the main platforms. The Auto train has arrived from Brackley Road and the coal train from Severn Tunnel is in the yard dropping off coal for Evenley and Brackley Road.

WESTERNISATION

So far my buildings have been RTP or kits, left as they are. By comparison to layouts like Little Muddle and Much Murkle and loads of others - sorry guys - mine does not scream Great Western. I’ve got the marvelous centre piece Brunel Train Shed from Stu, but the other structures needed westernisation. So out with the light and dark stone paints.

That looks more like it.

COVERING GROUND

Today I have been trying to get some scenic basics underway, mainly ground cover.

I’ve tried Artex for the Evenley yard and was quite happy. The other flexible material I’d found was decorators caulk. I’ve tried it out on part of Buckingham West loco yard. Its not quite so easy to use. It’s very sticky and stiff. Hard to smooth out. It also comes in smallish tubes. In a nutshell I need quite a lot. I’m going to stick to Artex.

Instead of using my airbrush I tried rattle cans of sleeper grime, frame dirt and weathered black from railmatch. I wanted a lot of dirt.

I’m reasonably happy, but the paint is too thick. The ground cover is too sparce and I need more cover between the tracks. I’m going to have to get the cinders out.

I put strips of tape over the point blades to prevent paint getting in. The white is where it kept the paint off the cover.

I’ve also started the ballasting. Just over half the branch is done. I’m reasonably happy with that. The trick is most certainly to wet the ballast thoroughly with water and detergent from a spray bottle before dripping the diluted vinyl adhesive all over from a pipette.

That crossing in the sky really needs the rest of the road and the bridges making.

Have you got room for very thin buttresses, perhaps only a millimetre or so thick? They would improve the visual effect even though they would be, strictly speaking, underscale.

I'll have to have a play and see how the Churchward 2 cylinders fair getting past.

Can you add a couple of trees immediately in front of the back scene to form sort of an arch over the road?

That would hide it nicely.

Hi, Neal, yes. I intend to add trees and bushes on top of the retainer on the right (over the top of the Quarry line behind the retaining wall) and in front of cut out printed tree. And another on the left of the bridge abutment. It certainly does need more 3D foliage in front, but I don't have any yet.

WORK IN PROGRESS

The retaining wall has been covered in brick paper and looks ok. It's a shame I haven't got room to angle it or add butresses.

I've painted the top dark green and will add foliage at a later date. I need to hide the join with the backscene.

One of the (many) issues with Quarry Lane bridge is that it comes from and goes to nowhere. The nearside will be dealt with later but I needed something on the backscene side. I found two pictures on the net. One of a lane and fence turning a corner. The other of trees. A few cuts with scissors and a scalpel and some pritt stick and then some paint on the road to match the photo, and the lane now goes round the corner behind the tree.

A few more bushes and trees on top of the retaining wall, to blend the tree in and a tree on the left of the bridge to disguise the lack of a bank, and I think it will look fine.

Not too bad for a first attempt at such things.

Neal

Sounds like hard work. I didn't bother this year.

"For a 5 coach train, they need al least another 2 carriages. Some refurbished full length HST's would seem like a good idea here." My experiences of Cross Country are that they are always crowded. I have never been on one which isn't. They ought to be forced to increase the length, but now I read above that there are platform issues. In that case they need to run more often. Very poor experiences.

Rich

 

Someone on another site sent me a sketch of rhe processes at Hook Norton Brewery. There is more up and down movement than I had thought. I think will have another attempt with my mock ups......dispense with the connecting corridor and create one larger building but with 3 separate sections and roof lines........back to the drawing board!

 

 

I was just about to suggest you looked up Hook Norton Brewery. One of the last tower breweries. Just up the road from me. Interesting tours. Good beer too.

Rich