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ian

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Blog Entries posted by ian

  1. ian

    I Feel Fine (Scale)

    By ian,

    After an unpleasant experience with a point motor (don't ask, I don't want to talk about it * :icon_mutter:) I thought I'd try some of this boundary pushing lark.
     
    Following Graeme's revalation that current production N stock will run on 2mm Association Easitrac I felt that it had to be worth a play - so with a supply of concrete sleeper Easitrac sprues, some code 40 flat bottom rail, a supply of copperclad sleepers and a couple of 2mmFS track gauges it was time to play.
     

     

     

     

     
    Well, that went well. :icon_thumbsup2:
     
    Now for the copperclad. I couldn't be bothered to find my small soldering iron so large bit and lots of solder - not the neatest job in the world.
     

     
    The sleepers were only trimmed roughly and not all are at right angles - even the point blades are different lengths but when built to 2mmFS gauge - to match the Easitrac with sufficient clearance at the wing and check rails, guess what? It worked!:icon_e_surprised:
     
    That's right - I can rattle that DMU through at any speed up to supersonic, in any direction, and it stays on the rails.
     

     
    The check and wing rail clearances can be tightened up a bit and a bit more time and effort will result in a much neater job, but it does prove that it will work. I wonder what will happen if something with 2mmFS wheels tries to go through? More experimentation is needed I think. :icon_winker:
     
     
    *OK then, since you asked. I soldered the wires to my brand new Seep point motor. Test fitted it. Cut the operating arm to length. Screwed it in place. Connected it up. It worked first time - great. I flicked it back and forth a few times to check that the point blades moved and sat correctly. On about the sixth operation the operating arm fell out and the spring and contact of the built in switch made a bid for freedom on the floor. :icon_grumpy:
     
    More by luck than judgement I managed to find all three fugitive parts and, after unscrewing the motor, disconnecting it and a modicum of bad language managed to reassemble it. The only trouble is - I don't trust the thing any more. I just know it'll drop out again when someone is watching it.
     
    I hate point motors.
  2. ian

    The Beal Thing

    By ian,

    Whilst I am putting in yet more wires on Hatton Parkway to get all the point motors working I thought that I'd take time out to do some musing (they can't touch you for it, you know).
     
    Back in the days of yore there were model railways that put the emphasis on the railways rather than the model. This is something that is still big in the US - models of large sections of railway systems rather than a single station, or part of one. Currently the UK hobby seems to be concentrated on producing rather nice models of a specific location (be it real or imagined) rather than portraying how a chunk of the rail network works and interacts.
     
    Those of you of a certain age, or more, will remember layouts like Jack Ray's Crewchester, Norman Eagles' Sherwood Section and Peter Denny's Buckingham - all of which were models of railway systems where trains went from place to place, in some cases with intermediate stops or alternative routes. Whilst the models were all individually built, rather than taken out of a box, none the less they weren't the stars of the show, instead they were just actors in the show that was operating the layout like the real thing.
     
    Many people hold up John Ahern's Madder Valley, now preserved at Pendon Museum, as the first true scenic layout but overlook the fact that it was designed to be interesting to operate as well. The various industries gave a purpose to the freight movements and the various modelled communities gave a reason for the passenger operations.
     


    The 'grand-daddy' of UK 4mm operations was Edward Beal. During the 50s and 60s he published a stream of articles and books about building 4mm models and how to use them to portray real operations. If you come across a copy of his book WEST MIDLAND: A Railway in Miniature I'd strongly advise sitting down with it. It is a fascinating read and whilst much of its content is dated it still provides much food for thought.



    Today we are fortunate in that we can sit at a computer screen and order finely-detailed locomotives that run smoothly, accurate coaches and freight wagons to a constant scale and scale miles of track at the wave of a plastic card. We can add virtually any type of scenic embellishment we like, all without raising a sweat if we so choose. So where are the operating empires of today? Where are the layouts with four or five stations with freight terminals, branches and visibly different types of traffic?
     
    Maybe it is just me, but the layouts I remember reading about in my youth that left the biggest impression were not the large 'railway in a landscape' single (or no) station scenic spectaculars, but the ones that replicated a significant slice of railway. Good narrow gauge does this - after all you can model a whole line and often get the spectacular scenery thrown in, US outline layouts (in the US) have it down to a fine art. Perhaps it is time for a few more of us in the UK to think about using the current crop of ready-to-play products to create models railways rather than model stations?
     
    Now, where did I put my tin hat?
  3. ian

    Abandon Blog!

    By ian,

    I have come to the conclusion that an evolving project like this is better suited to a topic rather than a blog format.
     
    I'm not porting the whole lot over to the new topic - late-comers will just have to read through the blog first to get up to speed, but future Hatton updates will appear in the new topic here.
     
    So go on then, there's nothing to see here!
  4. ian

    I Still Hate Point Motors

    By ian,

    Having made some good progress with the scenery on the 'country' end board the scenic machine was ready to roll onto the middle (station) board. First I thought I'd sort out a couple of niggles whilst I could still flip the board over and lay it on its back.
     
    I had changed the socket postition from on top of the boards behind the backscene to a more conventional under baseboard location, so I had to make up a new 25-way socket with longer wires to replace one of them and had to build a pair of brackets to house them. Then I had to migrate the wiring from the old socket to the new one.:icon_mutter: Not the most fun way to spend an evening, but it's done now.
     
    Now the biggy. Point motors.
     
    The middle board has four points making up two crossovers. One pair powered by a Peco/Seep combination (see previous entries for the story behind this), the other by a pair of Pecos. Oomph is supplied by a DCC Concepts MasterSwitch for each pair. The Peco/Seep crosover behaves itself (touch wood) but the Peco/Peco one had a tendency not to throw completely on one or other of the points.
     
    So, leaving the motors wired in I disconnected them from the points - they threw but were a bit weedy, so another couple of Seeps were substituted. (Having made up a pair of mounting plates to cover the Peco hole.) The Seeps were mounted, the over-centre springs removed and a quick jolt of 16V AC confirmed that they were up to the job.
     
    The next thing was to wire them in and then stand back and throw the switch. They twitched. Right. Unplug the baseboard and try applying 16V AC at the socket end of their wiring run. Snap.
     
    Plug the cable back in. Open up the control panel, disconnect from the MasterSwitch and try 16V AC at that end of the wiring run. Snap.
    Take the MasterSwitch out and put in a spare. Twitch.
     
    Now this particular crossover needs a lot of circuits making and breaking. Three signals, one track feed, two live frogs and panel LEDs. Most of these are performed by a pair of relays run from one pole of the panel switch - the other controls the MasterSwitch which looks after the panel LEDs. The frogs are switched by the point motors.
     
    So I can't change the panel switch. Connect the switch to the CDU instead of the MasterSwitch and add a large pushbutton - who needs panel LEDs anyway? Press the button. A bigger twitch, but still a twitch.
     
    Right, no more Mr. Nice Guy. Connect directly to the 16V AC instead of the CDU. Don protective clothing and press the button. Snap. Hurrah!
     
    As I said. I hate point motors.
     

  5. ian

    More Grasses

    By ian,

    The canal is starting to get hairy. This is from Woodland Scenics field grass cut into clumps then pushed into dollops of PVA. Once it has dried I'll deal with some of the overlong strands and dust the canal. The hedge along the lane is scouring pad cut into strips and coated with Woodland Scenics coarse turf. (Thanks to everyone who pm'ed me with suggestions. You're all wonderful people :icon_thumbsup2:)
  6. ian

    Out in the Country

    By ian,

    Every so often I make a little progress. The hill looks like it is going to be rural rather than industrial. Meanwhile I have put in the canal, fixed the sides on the girder bridge and started to build the abutments and tunnel mouth (Scalescenes again).
     
    The pipe bridge over the canal is also in the 'maybe' category. The pipe ought to be bigger, but it is quite an appealing structure in its way.
     

     

  8. ian

    Starting the Scenery

    By ian,

    Now that the electrics are finished:D I can start on the scenery for Hatton.
     
    The large LEDs are a temporary signal - the scale ones are far too delicate to be installed yet.
     
    The foam is Knauf Space Board and the second layer will lift off to give access to the tracks below. I need to build a Scalescenes tunnel mouth and then trim the foam back to suit. The backsecene board is foamcore. To make it bend cut a vertical line on the back every half-inch or so and then break the foam along the line. The backscene will be one of my customary iD products from International Models.
     
    Question.
     

    Should I leave it as a hillside or have a factory perched on top?
     
    The train is about to go over a canal and then past a car park on one side and industrial units on the other, followed by the station and then the town.
     
    What does everyone think?
  9. ian
    If you are upset by ranting, look away now!
     
    I have made a decision. In future, unless I happen to be going past the door of a suitable retailer or attending an exhibition, I shall obtain my modelling supplies by post.
     
    Let me explain.
     
    This weekend's project was to complete the wiring of the point motors on Hatton so that it would be possible to operate it from the control panel, rather than moving from end to end to switch points.
     
    Working on the centre board which has two crossovers I found that one of the points didn't want to respond. The 'oomph' comes from a MasterSwitch - one for each pair of points - so should have been capable of moving the two Peco point motors on each crossover. Checking the wiring back everything was OK and one point of the pair worked OK so I unclipped the motor from the bottom of the point and tried it 'free'. Both motors now worked happily so I examined the point, Peco Code 55, and found that it had an over-zealous over-centre spring. Attempting to ease the spring pressure in place resulted in a point without an over-centre spring .
     
    Retreating to the stores I looked for a Peco adaptor base with the spring in place to retrieve the situation. No joy. However I found an old Seep point motor that would do the job - unfortunately once it was mounted on something to cover the Peco point motor hole, the trimmed arm wasn't long enough to reach the tiebar.
     
    Never fear, it was Saturday afternoon and I had two possible solutions that could be provided by any half-way decent model shop. There are two model shops within twenty minutes drive of me, albeit in opposite directions. One caters to the plastic kit, locomotive collector and train set brigade and I knew that they wouldn't have either of the items I needed. The other did, at one time, have a good variety of stock but has, of late, been going downhill. In the past year I have tried, and failed, to buy various items that I have needed from rail joiners (in both N and OO), backscenes and a Peco low-current point motor to a newly released Dapol Fruit D - without success. None the less I have usually purchased something just to encourage them to keep going.
     
    So twenty minutes later I roll up at the shop. Saturday afternoon and apart from the proprietor for the duration of my visit I was the only customer. I examined the stock of Peco sundries - no adaptor bases. I examined the other electrical items. No Seep point motors. I examined the secondhand stock (getting desperate here, but there might be an old H&M or something that I could use...) - no joy. With a sinking feeling I surveyed the stock in the emporium looking for inspiratiion.
     
    Then I looked more closely at the stock and played a little game. What if I had vast amounts of money to spend here and now? What would I buy? Bearing in mind that I have my OO blue diesel Redhill layout, the two purely proprietary OO Shake-the-Box layouts, Hatton Parkway in N plus another couple of 'possibly one-day' projects I was astounded to find that the answer was NOTHING. By and large the stock looked exactly the same as the last time that I had tried, and failed, to buy something there.
     
    Having wasted an hour of my time and a couple of pounds worth of petrol I came to the conclusion that it was easier and cheaper to order on-line. It took less than ten minutes to order the Seep point motor (and a DCC variant of the MasterSwitch for experimentation) - despite the model shop proprietor claiming that they were unobtainable at the moment. Whilst I was at it I ordered a Dapol DB Schenker Class 66 (I'd got that down as an 'If I see it at the model shop, I'll have one') that was being offered at a good price, post free. Whilst I was on a roll I found someone who would supply the three dozen 3mm LED clips that I need for the control panel without an eye-watering postal charge or minimum order. In less time than it took to not get what I wanted at the model shop everything was ordered and should turn up during the coming week.
     
    As that meerkat says, "Simples".
     
     
  10. ian

    Playing Trains

    By ian,

    After a long pause I have been able to resume work on Hatton Parkway and have got the last of the power wires connected up - so it's time to play trains!
     

    This Farish XC Voyager is a replacement for a Dapol Virgin one. The Farish uses the same type of coupling as the Bachmann OO one - nowhere near as easy to use as Dapol's magnetic version.
     

    A Chiltern Railways unit from Marylebone on its way to Birmingham.
     

    I'm not sure what the Arriva unit is doing - deputising for a London Midland unit away for repaint perhaps?
     

    An unusual working for a Bardon liveried 66. Another loco that needs replacing with something more suitable.
     

    And finally, that coal train. It seems to appear regularly. The 57 needs replacing too!
  11. ian

    A Little History

    By ian,

    Hatton Parkway is another project layout. This time, for a change, it is 'N' and contemporary operations. The idea is to move on from the 'Shake-the-Box' style layout and use flexible track, some kit-built structures and more advanced electrics. The thread on the old forum can be found here.
     
    The layout was originally named Kingsbury Parkway. Kingsbury is situated just outside the West Midlands conurbation, not too far from Tamworth. By amending history a little it could serve as a suitable location for a park and ride service into Birmingham (instead of the real one at Coleshill). However I have amended the location (for reasons that may, or may not, be revealed later ) to Hatton on the old GW line between Leamington Spa and Birmingham Moor Street/Snow Hill.
     

     
    This is the trackplan, to help make sense of the photos.
     
    The scenic treatment has changed a bit with respect to the car park and industrial estate area.
     
    The fiddle yard has two 'clockwise' roads (top), two ;anti-clockwise roads (bottom) and two bi-directional roads (middle) for multiple units. The bi-directional roads are both split in two electrically as are one of each of the clockwise and anti-clockwise roads giving a maximum capacity of 10 trains.
     
    Park and ride DMUs (one or two 2-car sets) will run from a centre road anti-clockwise, over the crossover and into the bay. In the bay it will be possible to add or remove a 2-car set for stabling in the headshunt. Return to Birmingham will be from the bay, clockwise to a centre road.
     
    Other passenger services, DMU & Voyager will run both clockwise and anti-clockwise from the centre roads round the layout, stopping or not at the mainline platforms.
     
    Freight services will be run by fixed rakes which will run either clockwise, from the top roads, or anti-clockwise from the bottom roads.
     
    The layout is 9'x2' and the grid squares are 6".
     

     
    Town planning in progress - the buildings are all from Hornby's Lyddle End range.
     

     
    This is the bridge that will go over the station providing a scenic break. It is a Scalescenes kit.
  12. ian

    Knit One, Purl One

    By ian,

    Leaving point motors behind I have moved on to the colour light signalling.
     
    The signals won't be installed just yet - I'll wait until the baseboards spend most of their life the right way up for that - but the clever bits are going in.
     

     
    The up line (left-right) has a signal with a route indicator (feather) which is illuminated when the train is routed to the bay platform.
    The down line has a signal at the end of the platform with a second one on the bay.
    Ground signals are situated to allow shunting moves between the bay and the layover siding.
     
    The control circuitry also includes signals at the entrance to each end of the fiddle yard although as these are off-scene, they only exist as red repeaters on the control panel.
     
    The MAS signals are controlled by modules from Heathcote Electronics which do all the hard work. The only complicated bit involves the up main to down main (and then to the bay platform) routing which needs to switch a number of circuits:
     

    Up main crossover live frog - by switch on point motor Down main crossover live frog - by switch on point motor Control panel point indicator LEDs - by MasterSwitch output Up & down main crossover point motors - by MasterSwitch output MasterSwitch operation - Panel switch (DPDT) Relay board for extra switching - Panel switch DPDT Up main signal feather - Relay board Clear up main signal - Relay board Hold down main signal red - Relay board Hold bay signal red - Relay board A pair of 12V DPDT relays will provide the extra switching needed when the crossover is reversed.
     

     
    The parts are shown above and will be built into the control panel real soon now .
     
     
  13. ian

    Light Fantastic

    By ian,

    Wrexham & Shropshire service passing the temporary signals.
     
    The sensor is just in front of the front coupling - the main signal will go red when it is triggered, yellow when the train reaches the fiddle yard and then green about 30 seconds later.
     
    The bay signal is held at red as the points are set against it. Changing the points will hold the main signal at red and show the appropriate aspect on the bay signal instead.
     
    Clever stuff this.:icon_thumbsup2:
     
    All I need to do now is put the relay board together for the signal on the other track.
  14. ian

    Back on the Branch

    By ian,

    Charmouth seems to have gone all shy and is trying to hide behind the freezer. I think it must be nervous about Warley!
     

    Meanwhile Walton has been dusted off ready for a local exhibition next Saturday. The use of a flat screen monitor, laptop computer and plastic shelves provides a new high-tech information system to replace the pieces of paper that used to be posted at strategic places around the layout!
     

    Now there's 1970s for you. A beat up 24 and a tranny.
     

    Now there's a message that is far better than don't touch :icon_thumbsup2:
  15. ian

    Puff Puff

    By ian,

    Returned from Warley with some fibres and a Puffer Bottle. It has produced some hairy grass on the embankment but methinks that a flyswat based electrostatic grass tool is needed for a proper job. Off to the garage to raid the strategic reserve of round tuits I think.:icon_mutter:
     

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