innocentman

Bit more progress on Sunday. I installed the DCC power bus down the length of the current boards using the cores of a mains flex cable. 
 

In this case it is “just 2 wires” as there are no points on this board, only tapping off the bus to feed the track. I only have temporary jumpers between the boards. I need to find a suitable high power plug and socket to use.

Bit more on this board with currently 4 points. The circuit boards you can see are the Gaugemaster Auto Frogs, which have a connection to the frog and power bus. I have mounted these on som 3D printed blocks.

For some reason I didn’t take a photo of the underside of the middle board which is the only one with a point motor fitted on the hand built point.

Time to put the layout back up. 
 

Also time for a test. Time to dig out a couple of locomotives that have not seen daylight for years.

First up a Korean brass N&W Z1-a. A favourite of mine. It’s A 2–6-6-2 Mallet.

Next is an out of the box Proto 2000 (manufactured by Roco) Y3 2-8-8-2 Mallet. This one is Sound fitted out of the box.

I did shoot some video of some of the test running. I suspect I may have to upload it to You Tube and use a link to put it in a post. One thing I did learn from the little running I did is that locos sitting in boxes for 12 years do need a little maintenance and lubrication. Time to get the rest of the fleet out of storage!

Andy

Bit wet in Morecambe today so ideal opportunity to build the custom Y point in the comfort of the work room. I have built quite a bit of copper clad track work over the years but not for about 20 years. A bit out of practice but keen to get stuck in. This point however is the first one I have ever done in flat bottom rail! Will it be the last!

First up using the print from 3rd Planit stock on the copper clad sleepers. I have had a pack of sleeper strip the correct width (well same width as Peco sleepers) for years. Finally putting them to use

Next up one of the stock rails with a recess filed in for the toe of the switch blade.

with the stock rail tacked in position time for the frog. This took a bit of filing on the foot of the rail to get it to mate up correctly 

no we are cooking, second stock rail attached and first wing rail, followed by the second. A little notch as cut into the foot of the wing rails with a grinding disk on the inside of where I wanted to put the bend in. Makes for a sharper bend.

Onto the blades. I was expecting these to be a pain to file but I found I could easily clamp the rail in my bench vice at an angle an file down to the jaws. Little bit of post vice tweaking and we have them installed.

The gap between the point blade and stock rail was set using a 20p piece. Check rails were added, and done in a fashion so as to match the Peco points.

I gapped the sleepers, tested it electrically to ensure no shorts and gave it a good scrub to remove any flux residue. Ready to go on the layout

Andy

1 hour ago, 298 said:

 

Certainly for DC, DCC can be less constrained but the belt and braces method would be the same. In theory it only needs to be as long as the length between the vehicles with pickups (such as the combined length of a double header or top and tail formation, as you can mitigate against individual vehicles bridging the gap by using insulated rail joiners with a raised section so metal wheelsets can't bridge the gap.

I like the idea of the insulated rail joiners. Thanks.

The plan is to try two Auto frog juicers between points 12 and 15 on the front of the layout. I only have to worry about a single loco or small fright, no double headers or pushers. This particular section is more for turning the loco when it comes back down from the mine.

The fiddle yard return loops are easily big enough for a full length train so no worries on those sections

Regards

Andy

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

ah.. very good but will it have more Tribbles?

 

Baz

Of course 

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I think I'd work 7 as a crossover, as you've drawn it, but leave 8 as a simple turnout.

I think you are correct. The LED indicators will be via feed back from the point motor to the panel so I can wire it up so that only when 7 and 8 align correctly that the LED will illuminate.

Spent a little time last night working up a control panel diagram on AutoCAD for the Donford Junction section and storage yards.

The different colours denote different power districts (did I mention this was going to be a DCC layout? 🤔)

The small circles will be green indicator lights showing the set route.

The square boxes with a cross and circle denote the locations of the toggle switches to operate the points. The switch positions are set not print except for the hole to drill for the switch. The box is only there to ensure spacing between the switches and no clashes. These are numbered to match the numbering on the  track plan. I will have to think about number 7 & 8 once I have the track laid as they are effectively 2 crossovers.

I will work on the mine panel later today

Andy

30 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

You're not hanging about with this! When can we have at the exhibition?

😱 Can't believe you beat @Andy Ross to that one! Lets not be having these conversations yet please! 

Construction is subject to my carpenters availability

So over this weekend I have laid as much track on the first three boards that I can. Progress Pictures below: -

First up was to print out a full size jigsaw from 3rd Planit and stick them together. I placed few points on to align with the locations indicated as the tie bars to see what it looked like.

After a bit of marking out of the centre lines I started to lay the track onto cork roadbed. The cork is 4mm thick and comes in 300 mm x 300 mm sheets. Its self adhesive which is a bonus. The track is secured to the cork using Evo Stik (Other contact cements are available)

So by close of business on Sunday I had managed the following: -

Its amazing how much rubbish you accumulate on the top of the boards as you proceed! The beer fridge is easily accessible with the boards in this temp location 😉. Operational position will be right up to the red Shelves on the left.

In need to add a couple of custom pieces of point work before I can proceed with any further, one of which exists but is in Leeds 64 miles away, and the other Y point that kind of sits in the middle of the range of the two PECO options. I will go into more detail on the point construction as I cross that bridge later this week or weekend.

Andy

1 hour ago, stivesnick said:

I remember seeing the layout in the video at a show. Did that layout also have a high level line serving a coal mine?

 

It did Nick. However on Crystal Creek it was intended to extend the layout to have the mine connection meet the main lines. Alas space restrictions negated this possibility and the layout was dismantled a few years ago now.

Regards

Andy

5 minutes ago, Andy Ross said:

This looks really good but what happened to the Dutch layout and the EM one.  

Good question 🤔………

Just now, Nicktoix said:

Looking forward to seeing the spiral

Nick

So am I 🫣

18 minutes ago, Michael Edge said:

I've enlarged the holes to .65mm which makes it much easier

I will amend the holes in the next few batches to suit 

I have been on RMweb for many years and finally I'm going to start my first topic for my under construction Norfolk and Western Layout.

This is not my first adventure into the wonderful world of N& W Steam. Many years ago my brother had a layout called Crystal Creek on the exhibition circuit and I contributed to this (Mainly stock) and operated at exhibitions. A video below from 2010 shows a bit more of what we  achieved back then.

Now its my turn with assistance from my brother Ian. 

Ian is a bit of a genius when it comes to designing a layout and he uses a design package from the USA called 3rd Planit (https://www.eldoradosoft.com/)

Having moved house in 2021 I now have a garage with internal dimensions of 18 ft x 12 ft.. Those dimensions sounds great, but the garage is used for other things and has a fixed workbench among other things, so the available working dimension for a layout (internally) is 17ft x 8ft. I did also say to Ian that it was possible to extend the layout beyond the open garage door to make things a little more interesting. So after a couple of iterations and thoughts on operations we have arrived at the following: -

Low Level Section (Donford Junction and fiddle yards

High Level Section Beryl Inc. Mine No. 3

The Mine sits 6" above the fiddle yard and does involve a spiral to get up there.

Overall dimensions are 25ft x 6ft 8" as I managed to increase the width in the top right section by the boards fitting in between a couple of shelves!

I'm in the process of laying the first track on the first three boards that have been constructed, so hopefully I will have an update soon with some construction progress.

All the best 

Andrew

5 hours ago, innocentman said:

 

The Photon is currently half way through its 7 hour print time, looking good so far. I will let you know how it went on a little later 🤞

 

The print has finished and it has had time to cure in the spring sunshine. 

Overall very pleased but does have one issue with the tank bottom warping. I will add some ribs to strengthen it stop it warping on the next version. I will make the ribs deep enough to act as a support for a sheet of plasticard or similar that can be used to creat a base for whatever way Mike wants to create the water effect.

Back to Fusion 360

Andy

Mike has kindly provided me a dxf of his 2D drawing of the Wentworth water tower to see if we can 3D print it.

After a little work over the weekend, we now have a 3D model for the Photon M3. Its based around designing three basic modules that are assembled much like the original I suspect.

• 1 side Panel
• 1 corner
• 1 bottom panel

After running it through the slicer I have found an orientation that will enable it to be printed whole. However, I'm not happy with its angled arrangement entirely so I have opted to print half in an orientation that will give a good result. This will also give a test of the concept and thickness of the panels etc.

The Photon is currently half way through its 7 hour print time, looking good so far. I will let you know how it went on a little later 🤞

Andy

9 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

That would be nice, thanks. You've already got plenty of Black 5s for Chapel, then?

Just a good half dozen or so!

1 hour ago, LNER4479 said:

 

 

Meanwhile, an amusing little moment as I was making my way through my own post-Manchester 'to do' list. One item read 'activate another Black 5'.

 

Hmm ... which one shall I choose? I might have got a tad over-enthusiastic with my recent purchases. I can box shift with the best of 'em.

Would you like to borrow 44767 again for York?

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Fred, how did you get it back into the box?????

As Baz says very carefully. Took a few goes to get the jib wound back up to the correct angle

4 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Looks great Andy but I'm not sure I've got anywhere I can reasonably put it - it's actual position was 60 wagons and about 3 loco lengths before the WJ home signal so that both locos could take water at the same time. I can't run double length trains in the down direction but even a single load of 30 wagons with two locos is a long way back from the signal.

Not to worry, I was using it as an opportunity to get my head around the software

Been busy in Fusion 360 and going to try and print this out for Wentworth which is at the Leeds show at the weekend.

MS&L Parachute Tank.

A few extra bits to add but as it’s drawn as separate components they will be easy enough to add at a later date.

Only a couple of weeks to go and we will out With Chapel-en-le-Frith at Liverpool Model Railway show. Details of the show can be found below

https://www.lmrs.org.uk/Exhibition/Location.html

it has been quite a while since our last show with Chapel

On 20/01/2022 at 06:59, Barry O said:

Tonight we are holding a presentation via Zoom on "Trains running on Chapel en le Frith" how they were identified, a bit of info about other information regarding freight as well as passenger train formations. If you are interested PM me for a link.

 

Baz

Nice presentation, Thanks Baz

4 hours ago, Barry O said:

Was asked to weather a lovely Fowler 2-6-2T built by @innocentman from Judith Edge etches. He built it, painted add lining and numbers etc then..

 

 

and the other side..

 

 

Top down

 

 

and smokebox end

 

hope it is OK!!

 

 

Baz

Wow, looks great Baz, thanks so much

Intersting topic on twisting cables.

I should point out that twisting cables will not help in any way. The principle of twisted pair relates to a 2-conductor system  which form a circuit, and are intentionally twisted together. In data transmissions this is done so that any unwanted Electro Magnetic influence affecting the cable is induced onto both conductors in the same circuit equally. The signal reciever uses an differential amplifier or filter which then only lets through intended signal and cancels out the interferance.

Twisting multiple cables together of differnt systems is only likley to compound the problem as they are more likly to impart an unwanted signal on another cable.

Regards

Andy

Such a shock to her the passing of Owen.

A great friend and wonderful modeller. Spent many hours operating Ynysybwl Fach at shows with both Owen and John up and down the country. Can't recall Owen with a controller in his hand that often. Usually found around the front of the layout talking to friends or explaining the operation of the pit and its features to Joe Public. 

RIP my friend.

Andrew