MattB

Work progressing on the front scenic module with the cabin now added, currently making the Palisade fence. Fuel point off board under construction. Currently making a CANPAN for controlling the lcb switches at this end. Lights fitted in shed but non operational at present. Yard lighting Testing in progress.

Quite a while ago I managed to break something with the wiring on the control panel that caused a glitch on the programming for all the switches so I had the TM7 board 'temporally' on the CANPAN. Several months later and several more servos and relays now online and I realised that I had to reluctantly return to the control panel and try and figure out what had gone wrong. Disconnected the LED wiring from the circuit board (no change) Fiddled with some switches and and found a fault, with not just 1 switch but 2 of them! Typical! So two switches (which equals 8 functions) now temporally out of action. 24 functions still working and I now have 11 functions programmed, with two more functions coming once I get 4 more servos installed. So not to worry too much for a while. The great thing about using CBUS is that I was able to simply re-programme the event functions that were using those switches over to other switches and carry on with minimum fuss. Well to be quite honest I have decided that the panel I have built doesn't quite meet the bill. It was a good first attempt but I think I need to have the LEDs on a mimic panel map as that will be far easier to read and install plus I need a code sheet on the panel itself so I know which switch does what event. Also I think having the panel slot inside the box instead of hinging ontop of it will look far neater than it does now. Also using toggle switches that return to centre - maybe I should use push buttons with an internal LED as having had 2 toggle switches fail so quickly doesn't give much faith in them. Mimic panel diagrams and this is my strength having drawn one for real for a heritage railway. I drew something quickly on paper and pinned it to the ceiling (no walls in the loft) and then proceeded to draw something more professional on AutoCAD for all my boards and functions so far. How I get the LEDs onto the underside of the mimic panel diagram and then attach to the sloping ceiling well that will need a bit more planning but should be fairly doable except I will need a wiring bundle (x12 wires for each CANPAN) to go under the board and up the ceiling from each splitter board.

I finished construction of the scale scenes diesel depot, now down to a single road, clearances are a little tight (due to a central heating valve) so large locos can't fit but small ones can. I swapped the old container crane to the other end and the fuelling siding will now be alongside the tanks but I need to add pipes at some point to the tankers siding. Now working on a west hill wagon works test facility. Its going in the siding alongside the shed on a separate module. Need to continue the duct routes and add some orange ducts under the tracks

First semaphore signal installed and working. 2x front crossover points all wired up and working, have installed microswitches for frog polarity. Now I know the wiring configuration the rest should be straight forward enough although I need to build a daughter board for the CANMIO to enable 16 outputs for the servos. When I took the photo of the signal I had power to it but had wired the relay up wrong so that it wasn't moving but it is now. - (Its a CANPAN, to CANACC8 to a relay to the signal) Wiring on the underside of the board is a mess while I figure out how to wire things up. But going forward I now know how it all works Crossover on the far right is now powered and tested with locomotive (4 left to do on this board). Had a short for quite a while until I realised that the power rail going to the V on the point was one of the end pins on the microswitch not the middle one (like PECOs). Whoops! Edit -further adjustments to servos coming out of the branch followed by a change to the configuration and adding the polarity wiring means i now have the next crossover working off another switch.

Continuing work on this part of the project over the May Day weekend. 2 servos now installed in the shed area (merg servo vertical mounts) and programmed. Eventually I will programme them to run off one switch as they are a crossover but still testing them out and need to add the polarity wiring so keeping them separate. I think I need a ground signal here prior to the catchpoint (on the shed side) ( Also a signal with a shunt signal on the other side facing toward the shed. I need to read up on how these signals would have been placed as ideally I want them installed before ballasting. I took up the central crossover as it wasn't level. This point motor needs replacing with a dingo servo mount Recent visit to Thornbury Show where I purchased 3x left hand SLE 92s points (Code 100). Interestingly these days the manufacturer puts in a option for livefrog so instead of cutting rails all I had to do was snip a couple of wires out from the underside. Many years ago I had all sorts of problems with shorts on DCC using insulfrog and discovered that modifying electrofrog points to Brian Lamberts 'livefrog' was a good solution. Started install of goods loop crossover, 1 point is in and the other needs a bit more cutting of rail for it to sit neatly. Lots of SG90 servos needed now At least 3 Dingo servo mounts and for the rest Merg will do. Probably need another electronic module at this end to operate signals. Still quite a bit of mess from the old track layout to cover up again with scenery. Point rodding also to do, having seen that on exhibition layouts I think it should be installed. But light ballast might be needed in the cess areas first. So essentially I will have up / down main line. Branch Single line and then sidings on both front and rear of layout.

With the top deck tmd nicely underway I decided that it was time to return to the lower deck. I had already started work on it by repainting the front to a dark green and painting the rear to a matt sky (white colour)and adding viaduct arches to give the effect that the top deck is on a bridge rather than flying in the air. I took a critical look at the existing track layout on Baseboard 1 and decided that it wasn't quite right and that the crossovers were located in the wrong place and there was no catchpoint either for the loco shed located at the front of the layout. Although the layout isn't based on a real location I would prefer if it appears to be correct in the way it is laid out. Due to the position of the loft hatch I have found that the geometry of the old layout wouldn't work and even with removing the end meant I still couldn't fit in radius 4 or larger curves in at this end. So I decided to move the station completely round the corner on to the next couple of baseboards. I have decided to add a goods loop. I haven't space for a relief line but have noticed some station layouts of this era operated without one. Removed all the track that was on the front of the layout and all the ballast for recycling. This was originally laid in 2009 so its been here a while. Re-laid track swapped the crossover round so that layover locos can be stored easily in a siding but also easily access the water tower and coaling siding. Started installing the crossover which needed some transition pieces as this is code 75 and then ran out of points. Installed 2 servo mounts with servos and microswitches ready for the CANMIO. Two steps forward one step back though... I decided to swap around the wiring of the 4 remaining solenoid point motors but I had a bit of disaster 😢😢😢 when wiring up onto my remaining working CANSOL. I dropped a screw and although the power was off there must have been some charge in the circuit still and I have shorted it and fried some of the components. (this was after 2 hours of re-wiring so I was a little annoyed). However I still see using CBus as a game changer to layout control and although I am disappointed with the CANSOLs (as they are expensive in my view for the number of outputs and seem to be prone to faults (all 3 I have no longer work correctly) I have decided to change all the points over to servo operation which will require 1 CANMIO with a daughter board added giving me 16 outputs (for 16 points). Having already fitted several servos to the top deck in hard to reach areas of the layout I think installing servos on the lower deck should work well but I need to get the frog polarity microswitches working correctly to prevent shorts as this deck is DCC. Have looked into frog juicers but I think they are a bit pricey and the control system seems to work ok with microswitches at present. Overall pleased with what will hopefully be a more enjoyable layout to operate. One photo below the signal box is one out of storage and needs to some paintwork and changes to the base.

Finished the rear module with some more scenery and walls Spray painted primer onto the ratio container crane that I have had in storage, unfortunately I have lost some of the parts during the house move so its going to be a 'condemned' structure' unless I can fix it so I have started dry brushing streaks of rust and grime onto this. This will be an ongoing project that I will add to over time. Technically it should be placed a bit further to the right but I haven't the space available due to clearances. Some social media gave me inspiration for where to place the oil tanks. Its a wills kits that I have had since the nineties and they have not found at home. Decided to place them on the module next to the crane and built a wall around them on three sides. Don't know whether to add a gate or not. Other scenery added around. Added scenery onto the signal box module with a mixture of landscaping, sleepers and discarded rail. Nice to visually have something here rather than bare boards. Spot the birds...

Been working hard on this part of the layout. Signal box - I have built the scale scenes brick signal box. I wanted a 1930s style design. This is placed on its own scenic module which is a 3mm piece of mdf (kitchen unit back). Between the module and the cork track is a concrete duct run that I am constructing to run the length of top deck layout but starting it here since ive never used it before. Basic scenery of scatters is now laid on this module Engine shed - I have had a peco 2 road depot for many years but I have decided that it just doesn't fit the 'look' I am trying to go for. So having built two scales scenes kits I have decided to have a go at making the diesel depot. At present I have to spend a lot of time not in the railway room so having kits to make out of card and printed paper is actually quite useful. Old engine shed probably dump it on flea-bay for a quid and see if I can get anything for it! To save printing costs I used an online print company. Control - Relays are installed now so have 3 controllable sections. MERG universal relay boards made this job easy. Control is still via the main panel but will build smaller panel when I get round to it. Backscene - Experimenting with canvas, have some spare roll left over from a decorating project and also a lot of green, pale blue and overcast colour paint Rear scenic module and low relief warehouse - this is practically finished, mixture of scale scenes and scale model scenery here and various bits and bobs from the spares box. I am pleased with how this part is going Oil tanks - was going to buy some new ones but in the end I have decided to use the old wills kits ones so just to add some pipes Crane - Have a crane needs an overhaul Cabin to build - another model that can be done outside of the railway room.

A big pause on all model railway projects for several months due to 'life'. Actually I only managed to build 1 model over 3 months! But in February I tried to remember where I had got to with the control panel. Back in October I managed to get the switches working and figured out how I was supposed to wire it all up. Essentially its a matrix on a grid where there are 12 switches but 4 switches switch on the other 8. So 4 switches are in on / off mode and the 8 are in on/off/on mode with one of the 'ons' unpowered. The throw reverts back to the off central position. I used these switches since I have surplus of them rather than using push buttons. I have 32 switches altogether and about 14 are working something. Back then I couldn't get the LEDs working so I parked it and then model railway life had its pause. In February coming back to the model railway I tried a different sort of LED, played around with the programming and it switched on under test. So this was good news and I started working out how I was going distribute them. I have a stripboard distribution board over the IDC board which eliminates the use of larger terminal blocks and then an LED bank underneath. However I have found with the first one that splitting them into a bank of 4 LEDs per stripboard might be easier. Currently have a problem / glitch not sure what it is but is something to do with this part of the panel and basically affects the data input so currently the layout is setup on the TM7 board temporally while I figure out what I have 'broken'. Sometimes I look at how many wires and I think have I made this too complicated. Then I look at the old panel which was the same size and only supported 9 points and massive bundle of wiring and I think its not too bad!

I have this short end of baseboard on the top deck outside the main loop that after a bit of playing around with track I have decided will work as a small TMD. I haven't built one of these before. The thing is I wouldn't mind having a bit of modern lighting on this end, plus its next to the bench so good as a test track for analog models. I am building this somewhat on the cheap, Track, wiring, point control, electronics is from my spares, models the same. Might use scale scenes for several of the models (they have some free ones), I have some card and just need printer ink. Era - 1980s / 1990s (since this is when most of my 'modern' stock is dated from. Years ago I regularly used to pass the train care facility in Bournemouth which borders the A35 (on the old Bournemouth West station approach trackbed). There was a greenish building which I always wondered what it was but now I think its a train wash facility, so I have scratchbuilt one. I twisted together two coloured Pipe cleaners for the wash brushes. I think the result looks quite effective, bit of touching up to do with paintwork. Roof was from a previous scratchbuilt canopy. Ideally it would be better if this was on the track that the 156 is on so I might shift it and have the fuel depot on the other line. Still thinking about it and might need to relay the track a bit to get it to fit. Controller is a Gaugemaster Model 100 linked to a gaugemaster transformer, conveniently located next to the workbench. Might need a walkaround plug in as the main controller is several metres away and could create difficulties for exiting onto the mainline which is on a seperate controller and in a different section or I leap frog the control wiring and install another relay to control that (now that's an idea). Plan is to have a separate CBUS CANPAN down this end with an event setup on a small panel to change points and signals for accessing mainline but also have the same event setup on the main control panel. Test loco is the 07 which happily trundles around this board.

Following completion of the woodwork a few months ago I have recently re-started the control panel project as the number of switches on the temporary board is steadily increasing. First I installed my CANUSB and CANPAN / TM7 temporary board inside the left hand panel and its been like that for a few months while I pondered where to go next with it and extended the CBUS around the layout. I have now cut the woodwork (3mm ply) and screwed / bolted to a couple of hinges for the panel top. Recently I was lucky to procure some IDC patch boards from a MERG member for getting the wiring sorted between the CANPAN and the switches and LEDs. I am still figuring out which wire goes where and will likely setup something on a breadboard before installing it on the main panel I have worked out that I am having a switchbank rather than a mimic panel as I haven't the space for a mimic panel. I have plotted the switch and LED positions on some graph paper (better to make mistakes here before drilling holes) Intend to have 24 switches per panel and 64 LEDs running off two CANPANs. The system works by having 1 (of 4) switch powering up 8 switches at a time so I only need 12 switches for each CANPAN and I am intending to have 4 CANPANS altogether. Noting that 1 switch could actually make a series of items move i.e. place signals to danger, move point 1, move point 2, clear signals.... I am using on-off-on toggle switches that I already have where the toggle returns to the off position. I could use the down position potentially as another switch but will probably leave it un-used Am waiting for a IDC crimping tool and some LED holders (and LEDs) to turn up before I can push this project forwards

Been working on two of my corners that are on the top deck and close under the house roof. A few years back I built this corner on a previous layout. I couldn't find a way to incorporate that part of the layout in the new layout so decided to chop off the corner and re-use it here. However it wasn't quite big enough so I attached it to a foamboard base and extended it out the back and made a grassy / vegetation covered slope on the front. The pump house is the ratio one but there wasn't enough room for the chimney so I have shortened it slightly. I originally made it in around 1987 (it was on a corner of a layout back then too!) For the next corner I wanted to have a low landscape slope and had the perfect building that I could fit in under the house roof. It didn't survive moving house very well so I had to rebuild it, install the window glaze and then I went chimney pot hunting but unfortunately I didn't have enough. This building isn't connected to running water (but will be connected to electricity soon). I used my method of plywood frame, mesh wire and some old plastercloth. I painted the area brown (soil) and then laid a mixture of 20% gravel and 80% brown dirt which I had salvaged off an old layout. I sieved this through so as not to get lumpy bits on the surface. Left this to dry and proceeded to make up the horse drawn wagon kit which I thought would fit in well here. Made a well and found a bucket, the little building was a previous scratchbuild, added a privy to the rear. Used static grass with some wild flower tufts in random locations (random tufts planted first), then added some fruit trees. Need to do some touching up on the left and I ran out of some materials and ran out of time for the day. Currently working on the LED but cannot find a resistor that works with my voltage and gives a good enough brightness on the LED. Something to experiment with.

For the last few weeks I have spent time working on installing more servo motors, laying more track, extending the top deck of the baseboard in the corner (a mis measurement when cutting it meant I couldn't fit the inner radius in) and starting to install the sections using relay switches. With the servos I am experimenting with a different type of mount, I found a type on Ebay which is just a L shape metal piece of angle with some holes and these are proving to be far better than the MERG ones. I have found that I have to bend the linkage wire to fine tune the movement of the point but I now have four servos up and running on a loop between tracks 1 and 2. These servos are running off 2 push button switches off the CANPAN TM7 board. Now I am starting to make things move I have a CBUS events spreadsheet to keep track of all the different events that are generated. Last year I worked on figuring out how to get a relay working. I use those opto types which have several pins and at the time I was a little confused which pin went to what. I tested one out again and linked it up to some track and having got that working bought a few more. The plan is to have three isolating sections on tracks 1 and 2, with further isolated sections in the shed area on the heritage line. 2 of the dual relays are now installed under baseboard 1 which was the point where bus splits into two different directions. Unfortunately I have only one output module at the moment (a CANACC8) and since this is located centrally under board 1 the wire run down to the relays was rather long. But at least it was only 5 wires altogether in 1 bundle! (4 event wires and 1 power wire). I installed two of my new terminal blocks here as well. One issue I did have was getting access to the ACC8 so I solved that by spinning it round 180 degrees! Left the experiment board attached to it so I can see that the events are working. I've got everything working on the test panel and its great, I have only the one line working but I have the ability and space to run 2 trains on it but can now stop a train while letting the other one catch up to it.

I have started working on the trackwork on the top deck. I had already laid track 1 which is at the rear and added in the points ready for the rest of the trackwork on this deck. I have now extended track 2 to a loop and started work on track 3 The idea of this deck is for it not to be prototypical but to be more of a tail chaser with a heritage line bolted onto the front of it. That way I can run items that are of a different era (and my older Lima stock) and I hope the height difference will provide some separation between old and new. However I am installing signals and point motors here and generally trying things out that I haven't really done before. Im using Peco Code 100 track mostly streamline with the odd bit Fiddling around with the track layout on a fairly narrow short space basically meant I couldn't fit in niceties like catchpoints or headshunts due to the geometry. I have even got the link between the heritage line half down the loop when really it should be at one end. Because its running older models on DC I had decided not to install too many points on the main running line (probably 3 each) to reduce stalling or derailments. Its about 700mm from the front of the layout and there is limited headroom above which makes re-railing quite difficult. I spent the weekend in the loft laying track, installing wiring & electronics and getting it all to work. I have one MERG CANMIO that will be driving 8 servo point motors, but have now bought the addon daughter board so I can power up a further 8. Its intended to eventually have at least 12 to 16 points on this side of the layout on the top deck. I successfully installed and tested 2 servo point motors on a crossover and have them programmed off one switch off the CANPAN TM7 board. The CANPAN is now in the main control panel and wiring has been very easy so far with only bus wires needed. I missed out several drop downs (what a numpty) so I had to take some track up and relay it as I solder my drop downs to the underside of the fishplates. New wiring bus for the heritage railway that is connected to a Type E gaugemaster controller. Eventually the plan is to add an autoshuttle for this track which will be around 6m long. Wiring is a bit untidy at present but want to get all the servos in place before tidying it all up

Found the wiring fault. I had to just swap two contacts over on a terminal block under the scenic board on the left. (this is power for access walkway bridge). Since what is currently running is intended to remain as DC I am not putting in lots of wiring drop downs but I have bus there nearby in case a fault develops over time. The next project is to get a bit more track down and start working on the back two corner scenic modules. All of this I can do while having something running 😀

Success! I have a train running in a circuit around the room. Bit of tweaking to do, following an hours operation, one of the rails on baseboard 13 isn't seated correctly in the sleeper, so will have to get that sorted to prevent potential derailments and i somehow wired the bus up wrong when i brought the wires in from behind baseboard 1. Easy fix (hopefully) to do in next session. These photos are taken on the 18th May 2021 and today so you can see how much progress i have made in a year. Bearing in mind i work plus have other commitments.

I actually finished all the scenic work on this layout just before we moved house in 2020. Wish I had known about MERG back then it might have simplified some of the wiring for the lighting, not that I would have been able to solder stuff easily as back then the 'workbench' was 10'' 6'' tray! I' m tempted to take the track up at the points as the inner loop doesn't work that well. Also the back right corner is a bit tight and has always proved problematic with couplings of which I have tried various different types and methods. Anyway it was fun building it while I didn't have anything else to tinker with or run and a useful place to store all the 009 stock. Doesn't need dusting much.... lives under the main layout where it conveniently fits in one of the new drawers. Holtwood Light Railway - From the boxfile part of the forum

Control panel now installed. For the legs I decided not to use wood but to get some chrome ones from a certain Diy store, had some fun cutting them to size with the mini angle grinder and then getting the whole lot installed level. Its bolted onto the layout at the rear for quick removal if necessary and its screwed into the floor with some 35mm screws (since there is a 10mm cork floor). Legs installed so as not to inhibit drawers being pulled out left and right or if in future I want to get some drawers for the units behind. Switch panels unfinished until I sort the LCB wiring out. Main DC wiring bus runs under baseboards just behind the panel and have found a spot for the socket extension strip which will be attached using command strips.

I had some old L shaped bits from my old 1987 layout and I found that this is a really good way of preventing accidents. It doesn't look that pretty but this is a non scenic section. Underneath is a another piece of frame. Its rocks solid when in and easy to lift out. Hoping to get some bits off Dad to complete the wiring and coppery bits

I decided that this was likely to be the most difficult element of the baseboard build. I trawled the internet and youtube looking for ideas for how to construct these bridges as from previous experience I knew the following They have to be rock solid and not move horizontally or vertically once in position Ideally they need contact connections without having to plug something in separately. They have to meet the connecting baseboards square on and not on an angle DG Modelworks on youtube seemed to have the right idea I watched his two part videos (Making my Lift out Part 1 and 2) several times before deciding that this would be what I would go with. His baseboard thickness was different to mine so when I was building the 'abutments' I put in a 12mm piece of ply underneath the cut out section to take the dowels as they are around 10mm long. My baseboard is 9mm ply but it will be topped with 2mm cork so the intention is to lay the cork and then cut out where the dowels are so it doesn't create a bump on the cork surface. I prefer to use hand tools as I find although its slower I can be more precise. 3 dowels are now in - I recommend using clamps to hold the bridge in place while drilling through the bridge deck and the abutment so it doesn't wobble. I did a rolling stock test to check I had the correct clearances, I used my widest Hornby stock to check the gauge. (all good). (I think im close to correct scale width) Next job on this is to put some support frame in as its a bit flimsy and also some L shaped pieces on the edges to help prevent accidents

The woodwork marathon goes on... While I am a roll I decided to build the control panel. I have never built a full control panel before that is designed to hold all the loco control and switching systems. First I measured the size of my controllers (3 of them) and then I physically walked round the area and decided how far I wanted the panel to stick out into the room. I have made it so that in future if I want to get a few more drawers they won't be impeeded by the support legs, also I have allowed some access gap at the ends so I can access the back left and right corners of the room which are tricky to access due to the ceiling being low. The panel will be bolted onto baseboard No.4 so that it is easily removably for access but also be supported by 4 tubular legs due to the weight of the controllers and transformers. I will probably screw the legs to the floor for extra stability. I have used a mixture of ply and pine frame but also some L shaped hardwood pieces that have smooth edges for the front and anywhere which might scuffed by a hand. (All the wood actually has come from scraps and some bits from an older layout) Control switch panels are set on a slight slope and I have two one for each side. I think I probably haven't made these quite big enough but I can fit some switches on the front that I will need for the CANPAN for each section of the layout. I think I am going to need 4 CANPANs to operate the 4 main sections of the layout with a 5th panel on the other side of the room. I cut some large holes in the rear (large enough to fit plugs through) for all the wiring Planning to further sand it, paint it and apply some wood filler