Focalplane

I have tried 0.9mm nickel silver wire as a stop gap and it is better but not stiff enough. I also tried two standard wires soldered together! I think it’s better to get the right material fir the job. Thx, Paul

The RC car/plane model shop at St. Esteve near Perpignan had no stock at all, everything seems to come “in the box” these days. On the bright side, my plans have become fluid and I may get to go to Telford after all, even if for just one day. Paul

I think the bad Tortoise might be one of my Houston purchases - very early on in the history of the product. I am not going to be able to do as much as I thought I would be able to these next days - a small crisis has emerged (can one have a small crisis, I wonder?) But I need to get on with this project because otherwise I will have to start up the learning curve all over again. Not only the stiffness of the Marcway points but also the friction between moving rails and fixed sleepers. Circuitron do point this out and recommend stiffer piano wire. I haven't seen any piano wire in my travels around southern France (remember, model shops don't even sell much paint!) and for that matter I've not seen a piano shop either. More news when I have something to tell! Cheers, Paul

George The 2P - is it from a David Andrews kit? I have built his Compound and have another one stored away for the future. Lovely kits. Best wishes, Paul

Dave, yes, it was and yes I have been referring to it. However, I was not sure about posting a link as it might not be available to non GOG members. It's hard to tell when logged in as a member. I just came across an annoying problem - a short in one of the Tortoise switches! It does explain why one of the K frogs wouldn't work. Luckily I have an extra, but a setback to put it mildly. Paul

Yes, that is the plan I am working on. So far my trouble shooting has resolved some issues but the main problem is that there seems to be no easy way to determine which terminal to use on the internal SPDT Tortoise motors. Terminals 4 and 5 are the poles of the two internal switches and 4 switches between 2 and 3, 5 between 6 and 7. Terminals 1 and 8 are connected to the motor. As I am using 6 switches and four of them are in series, the number of possible combinations is quite high. I had really hoped there would be help on the internet but so far no luck. So I am working systematically through the terminals using an ohm meter. I think I have the straight through wiring organized. By the way, I check each route using a Dapol coach with lights. It's very easy to find the offending "frog" which can then be double checked with the multimeter. Another issue has emerged, that of a lot of friction on the movement of the tie bars. I am going to have to replace the thin piano wire with a much more robust thickness. This isn't required with Peco points once you have removed the centre spring. I would be doing scenery if I had simply used two Peco crossovers in tandem! Wishful thinking probably. I have a week to get this little project solved, then a quick trip to the UK is planned. Paul

Jeff I just came across this thread and will follow with interest. I am so sorry to hear of your family problems, I was in much the same situation four years ago when my wife was seriously ill. Happily all is now well. Thank you for the "heads up" on Severn Mill. I have two sets to order but have been putting it off. They really are superb etches. Best wishes Paul

Larry That's a nice touch! I'll have to remember that for the future! The 47xx looks very nice indeed! Paul

Fell asleep on the sofa (was it that glass of wine or mere mental exhaustion?) and woke up at 2 am not knowing where I was! If this is retirement living then I may have to give up scissor crossings! But seriously, I think I am on the way to getting the wiring to work. I did discover an error in my wiring before I gave up last night - at least now all four motors are doing what they should be doing. As to the Vs and Ks I am hoping the Guild diagram and the Marcway design are truly compatible because that is where I could be undone. Thank you for continuing the discussion without me last evening! As to Simon's traffic problems, you have my sympathy because down here in July and August we do have problems as well, particularly on "changeover Saturdays". When I was working a few years ago I needed to catch a train at Narbonne, normally 20 minutes easy drive, to get to Paris for a flight to Congo. Being a Saturday I allowed plenty of time but it took 75 minutes and a detailed knowledge of back roads for me to arrive at the station just as the TGV was pulling in. I managed to park the car and run to the platform, jammed my overnight case between the closing doors in order to gain entry. My heart was still pumping in overdrive when the train pulled into Béziers half an hour later! It may have been a reason why I finally opted for retirement! More later, first I need some fresh air, Paul

I am resting with a glass of rosé. Things are coming together slowly. Tomorrow?

As it is on 3803, photographed on the South Devon Railway in 2006: Paul

I hope I have the answer to your question. Before the scissor crossing had any wiring attached, all four crossings were isolated, both with cuts in the rails and with cuts on the copper clad sleepers. An ohm meter measuring across each and any of the four crossings gave a zero reading. I have spent the last two hours soldering up the four crossings to the six SPDTs on the four Tortoises. I have yet to wire up the Tortoise motors so I have not been able to test the wiring. However, I have checked off all the instructions on the Guild technical paper and they should be correct. I don't believe I can post a copy of the Guild's diagram, etc. due to copyright. Perhaps this afternoon I can wire up the motors and install the module. Bonne chance!! Paul

Simon The four crossings appear to be isolated from each other and I just checked with my ohm meter again to be sure. So far I have connected all six switches on the four Tortoises but am still unsure of the polarity of the terminals. I am hoping that relative lucidity from an early morning swim, coupled with two cups of coffee, will allow me to concentrate. We gave up on the short ferry/tunnel crossings into Kent several years ago, mostly to avoid the M25 but also the Calais immigrant problem (which has now transferred to Caen Ouistreham though nowhere near as threatening). A few years ago we traveled from Kent to the Midlands just after Christmas. The M25 bit took two hours. We were in an adjacent lane to a Chinese wholesale food importer's van. Wing Yip has become a household name we associate with the M25 as we were never more than 6 vehicles in front of behind the van. The Birmingham based company has the amusing sign "Wing Yip, all the Chinese you need to know" on the side of its vans. At least the roads around Warwick are quite good - the A46 is six lanes between Leamington and Coventry. Bon voyage! Paul

Quite a busy day today (including some decorating, exercise and cooking a delicious French lamb supper) but this is about the Penmaenpool progress. I started to build the scissor crossover "module" which consists of the Marcway track, 4 tortoises and a lot of wire. So far: Those bundles of brown wire are probably not needed, I think they are only necessary if using DC. But I have left them in place in case they are needed. My current problem is that I can't tell which wires to connect to the switched terminals of the Tortoise switches. Does this have to be hit and miss? I did try to measure resistance across the terminals of the Tortoise switches but got badly confused so that will have to be tackled again tomorrow when my head may be a bit clearer. (Although I had to study a course of logic at university I don't think it was very well taught. If you know who Barbara* is then you may understand my issues with a course in Syllogistics.) So this evening I started working on the irregular inclines and I think I have them sorted. No stalling is a good result! The fact that the uprights can be adjusted so easily is one very good reason for adopting the L-Girder system. The remedy will mean a re-alignment of the Dolgelley fiddle yard but this is easily done. Paul * Barbara - if all A is B and all B is C then all A is C

The way the UP steam team used to run their two steam locos, 3985 and 844, was “let’s make some noise and lots of smoke” That was Steve Smith’s idea of showing off their capability. He has retired and the new management apparently follow a greener philosophy, so less smoke, less noise prevails. I have some old VHS videos of SP steam around Fresno, California (originally filmed around 1950) and Steve Smith was right! Off topic, I know, but just a reminder that heritage railways don’t always show things the way they really were. Dressing down a loco’s pristene paint job is not the whole story! Paul

Re the power capability of the NCE PowerCab, I have had two locos running and several simmering with just the basic handset. However, as I don't have any diesels this may not hold true for Heljans and possibly Limas. I am thinking of getting the 5amp booster for the PowerCab but not until I have completed Penmaenpool. It is quite expensive! A Gauge O Big Boy! I have seen an even bigger scale Big Boy, at Warley Show. I have not seen the real thing but have traveled behind the next best one, the UP Challenger. That was quite an experience: This was taken at a photo run by northwest of Houston on a day return trip to College Station. I think the consist was 21 passenger cars. It reached 62mph on the return journey. Paul

Thanks, Duncan, just the info I was hoping for. I have sone JMRI stuff from a few years ago when I started out with DCC and a Digitrax controller. It all fell by the wayside when I bought the NCE Power Cab. I will look nto this when I have mastered the scissor cross over wiring! One thing at a time. Trying to retrofit 4 Tortoises under the scissor crossover had me mouthing blue words so I have taken the track base off and am making a removable module. It is what I will do with the scenic track bases. I do have some irregular inclines within the hidden tracks so there will also be sone adjusting of the track supports. There are two small sections that are causing several locos to stall when pulling loads. However I can see a way round the problem plus the 4F reminded me that I had never added any extra weight when it only ran as an on shed light engine at Legge Lane. The longer excursion trains won’t actually travel on the steeper inclines but even so, prototype running often had them double headed. Paul

Martyn Thanks for the recommendation (and the video "like"!). Unfortunately I have the wrong brand of controller, the app says for ESU, Marklin and Lenz only. Is there an equivalent for the NEC powerCab? Paul

Here is a link to the LMS 4F test run. A couple of comments: The loco needs more weight added for greater adhesion on the inclines. I didn't realize just how heavy those Dapol B set coaches are! The run uses about 80% of the planned circuit and also takes the loop under the back of the scenic section which will eventually be used to store excursion trains. And, not an excuse, but with an iPhone in one hand and a controller in the other it was hard to use any functions for the sounds. The 4F sound file is from Digitrains. Enjoy, Paul

Here I am at 4:50 am wide awake and thinking along the same lines as your post. First of all, the entire layout is planed to be one power district. Second, I was thinking about using the second powered switches on the Tortoises. This needs more thought (be me) but could be very useful. I have retaken two photos that show the NE/SW and NW/SE settings: I can use these to map out the changes in polarity for each of the three settings. Also, can I control the motors using only two levers? For straight running, both levers off, then one or the other lever pulled on to set the required crossing? Some form of interlocking would be a luxury at this stage. The dawn chorus just started, I think a mug of tea might be the next activity of the day! Bon Journée! Paul

The above discussion highlights my problem, mentally at least. I agree that each crossover should be handled separately but my thought was to simplify as much as possible, then resolve the remaining complexity. I need to look at the Guild manual before adding anything else. Meanwhile the video is supposed to be transferring fron iPhone to iCloud. Tomorrow awaits. Thanks, Paul

As promised, better news. The Connoisseur LMS 4F was introduced to Penmaenpool and went well. However, it started to short out over the double slip where nothing else did cause a short. The problem? The hinged plate between cab and tender was interfering with the stability of the two parts of the locomotive, not being in the right position. All now works well, so I need to make a movie. Paul

The double crossover! It turns out that Marcway's design and the online wiring diagrams don't match up. Which may explain why, when I called Marc some time ago he said I would need a DPDT switch. The rest of his description was, quite honestly, lost in translation, so now I have to reconcile the track design with four Tortoises. The first realization is that in fact there can only be two settings for the four points. Straight through or crossover. And when I say crossover this means that both crossovers could be active at the same time. For the time being I am prepared to accept the possibility of a terrible accident (if it was a club layout that would be unacceptable) and eventually I plan to have a lighted track diagram and maybe some protection system providing a right of way to one crossover over the other. So, I have photographed the two logical settings and these are shown below, if only to try to explain what I plan to do next: EDIT: Ignore this photo!!!! See later posts The plan is to add in red and blue the polarities of each section of track when either straight or crossover and see if there are any bits that can't be accounted for using the Tortoise switches. Meantime, see next post for better news! Paul

All except the double crossover completed and all the hidden tracks have been tested with various locos. I found one fishplate that was out of vertical alignment and this has been corrected. I also have two 1:50 slopes that need to be fine tuned (by repositioning the vertical supports) as the Jubilee, of all locos, starts to spin if not given enough power. But other than that the testing has gone well. I will start thinking about the double crossover next, using suggestions by Clive Mortimer and SimonD on earlier pages. I also should bring out the Connoisseur 4F 0-6-0 for a run, it's been a while. I see Coachmann has one at Carrog but I think having it run to Penmaenpool would be difficult to explain - failed mogul on a Birkenhead-Barmouth excursion at Chester, anyone? Though why a Saltley engine would be on shed at Chester would be very difficult to explain. Future locomotive power already includes the Warren Shephard mogul and now it looks as though David Andrews will have his Dukedog kit ready by the end of August. I am going to miss Telford, unfortunately, as we have to be in France that weekend, but this may stop me from spending too much. Paul

I believe we are now officially experiencing a canicule, French for heatwave. Though I think it is just as hot in parts of the UK. Well, this has kept me in the railway room and I have made some progress on the three points’ motor wiring. 2 done, one to go. But I then noticed that I have to tackle the double crossover if I am to run circuits. That will require 4 Tortoises and some clever wiring. Oh well! Paul