markwilson

I've been testing my MP1, before buying some more... and I'm really impressed. One thing I've been struggling with though is getting my head around the wiring (even with the instructions). I'm not using DCC for the points - only for the locomotives - the point motors will be controlled with manual toggle switches and a separate DC supply. Meanwhile, most of the online advice seems to relate to using a Digikeijs DR4018 accessory decoder. I managed to work out the DC wiring with a 9V battery to test the motor but poking the Aux switch contacts with a multimeter isn't suggesting any activity. Can anyone advise please on what the wiring should be to polarise the frog on my Electrofrog/Unifrog points from the Aux switch on the motor, please? Is it track feeds +ve and -ve to f1 and f2, and frog wire to to Aux1? (Ignore the colours on the wires - they were just what I had lying around - though I'm not sure which colours I should really be using, despite looking at the DCC Wiki suggestions - blue, yellow and white?).

Thanks @Dominion - that's really helpful.

I found this review of Unifrog really helped me understand. Basically, they seem to have the advantages of Insulfrog (don't need insulating joiners) and of Electrofrog (can power the frog, so no long dead sections). Plus, no need to solder stock and closure rails together (as is often recommended for Electrofrog) as it's been done in the factory - but can easily be undone with a snip!

I'm comfortable with the idea of modifying my Electrofrog points to improve reliability (i.e. not relying on the switch blades) and also happy that a point motor with a built in switch will handle the frog polarity for me. What I can't understand is: a) why the advice for double slips is to insulate all rail connectors, not just the inner rails that are connected to the frogs. b) whether there is an option to snip and then solder a link between stock/closure rails on double-slips, as some would advise for normal points. FWIW, I'm using Peco code 55 track. I can't see the answer in this thread but starting a new thread seemed wrong, given the original topic here. Please can someone help out with some advice?

I didn't realise that Betjeman was a fan of Olney. We only get to hear about Cowper and Newton!

I often ride the redway that runs along the old trackbed. Good to see so much is still intact (until you get to Newport) Yes, I was watching a video from East Midlands hub. Track layout is simple enough but Olney would not be well connected enough by road either. It would (thankfully) be an entirely unrealistic concept. And the train lengths are causing some challenges too... Will almost certainly have a rail-connected warehouse (smaller than originally indicated) and a stone terminal. Stone would fit with gravel extraction in this area. Exactly that - only negative is that the kids are no longer interested. Good idea. I hadn't realised that was the reason it was too low, but that makes sense. I think there will be some OLE (to run the electric stock that I have) but not the whole layout. Possibly only the branch (from Newport and on to the WCML) and the bay platform, though maybe the whole station area.

Today, I made a hole. A useful hole, but it wasn't quite as smooth an experience as I would have liked. I didn't get much done yesterday, but I did cut some sheets of 9mm ply to form the track base. These are now resting on some offcuts of 2x1 timber to raise up the base level. Once I've worked out the track locations, I can cut accordingly and adjust to get the gradients in place. I also needed to punch through the sides of two of furniture "modules" to allow the layout to work. It should have been straightforward - 4 holes at the corners (note to self, when the drill starts to come through, stop and drill from the other side, to avoid the plywood splitting) and then use a jigsaw to cut between the holes. 4 broken blades and a scruffy hole later, I managed to get an opening. It will need some tidying, but it does at least turn my 102.5mm sections into one long 208.8mm scenic section. I've decided that the third "module" (with the fiddle yard at the rear and the branch line in front) will not be using this approach though - I'll just be drilling some tunnel/bridge portals at the appropriate locations! Having the full area has let me lay some track out though, and that's led to some amendments to my original track plan. I've ordered another double slip to condense the space taken by the main station throat, turned the station at an angle (for more interest and slightly longer platforms than a straight line) and the yard/TMD areas are being completely redesigned. I also realised I need some catch points at the end of some of the sidings (Peco don't make Code 55 catch points, so Code 80 will have to do). Next will be to finalise the track beds, get some cork laid and maybe even pin down some track...

So, "Olney West" is now "Olney Riverside". The basic premise is end-to-end, with a double-track line ending at a small station, with a single track branch leading off in the foreground. The location is now to the east of the town, potentially on the old line to Bedford but now truncated east of the River Great Ouse. The branch disappears into a tunnel so we don't know where it ends, but I'm going to suggest it runs under Chicheley Hill towards Newport Pagnell (on a completely different alignment to the one that was nearly built), but it could also end up somewhere in the Marston Vale (Bedford-Bletchley). I know that "less is more" in N, but I do want to include lots of interest. There will be basic locomotive/multiple unit servicing facilities and I'm intending to include some kind of freight facility too: Buckinghamshire International Railfreight Terminal (BIRFT) - which would horrify me if it were real, but can happen in my model. My stock means that I can run 1980s Blue/Grey into sectorisation or something more modern. Location means that we could legitimately have London Midland/London NorthWestern Railway, Thameslink, East Midlands Trains/EMR, or maybe even Chiltern Railways (via East-West Rail) though ultimately rule 1 applies and I have recently invested in a complete ScotRail set with Mk2 DBSO, 4xMk3As and a 47/7... which must have been transferred south to operate new push-pull services. Just over a year ago, I built some furniture out of plywood. There are 3 sections - the left and middle include hinged top sections for (un)covering the railway with the right section including the fiddle yard to the rear and a low-level narrow scenic section in the foreground. The whole arrangement is just over 3m wide, by about 44cm deep. Sadly, the 12mm shelves at the baseboard level have warped slightly so, yesterday, I supported them with some 38x19mm timber that I had spare. You can see before and after shots here. With the base now level and supported, the intention is now to use 9mm ply to build up the track base above this - and to get the levels in place. Hopefully, that will make progress over the coming days (some time off work for Easter), after which I'll move on to track laying and wiring.

I've just picked up some nuclear flask wagons and I'm trying to obtain a matching DRS barrier coach: either 374-681 or 374-681A. Please message me if you have one you would like to sell. Thanks, Mark

Thanks for this. My new layout is Code 55 but it's good to know I can use Code 80 catch points as they don't seem to be available in finescale.

Thanks everyone for you comments. They have really helped me get my head around things. Inspired by @Nigelcliffe's original response, I decided to look at motorised points. Cobalts and Tortoises look huge (and expensive) but the MP1 that @Gavin Liddiard mentioned is interesting and I've ordered one to try, especially as the combination of Peco PL-9,PL-10E and PL-15 adds up. Fiinally, I thought some may be interested in the advice below, from Peco's technical advice service, re: their accessory switches: "For N gauge turnouts it is best to use PL-15 switches as the switch positions can be adjusted to suit."

That's really helpful - thanks @Nigelcliffe. I was tempted down the Peco route of least resistance, but will look again at the motorised devices because they should be more realistic, and include the switch... time for some YouTube watching, I think! One thing I'm still not clear on (if I do go down the Peco route) is the difference between the PL-13 and PL-15 switches?

Please forgive me if this has been asked before, but I have spent some time searching the forum and don't think this is a repeat question (to my surprise). My last layout used Peco PL-10E motors with PL-9 plates and a Gaugemaster CDU. All good, but that was DC and Insulfrog. This time, I'm going DCC and Electrofog/Unifrog though I think It's likely that the point motors will be DC operated - only the rolling stock will use DCC for now. There are some really good posts about the need for an accessory switch (like this one) and I understand this now (thank you). What's not so clear to me is whether I can come up with a non-motorised frog polarity switching solution or whether I need to jump in with both feet and buy all my point motors and accessory switches right away (about 20 of them). Then I'm trying to work out why I would use the Peco PL-15 over the cheaper PL-13s. Finally, I understand that some motors have the accessory switch built in - what are the "best" point motors/accessory switches to use in N gauge. Please, can anyone help me navigate this minefield? Easter holidays are coming up, which means track-laying opportunities, if I can get my order for motors, etc. in quickly! Thanks in anticipation of your help, Mark

So it's now 2020. My young sons are now teenagers, and my layout was never finished. It suffered from a lack of height due to its resting place under the sofa and I'm sad to say the catenary was broken too. Sincere apologies to @Derekstuart, who showed such interest in this project 6 years ago. The good news is that it has been started again, in a new location, with a more suitable space, and a new track plan. Not sure if it's still Olney West, but I do have plans to document progress this time, inspired by my friend @warpy and his Warphampton layout. Over the last few years I've amassed a huge pile of stock and I've just managed to get hold of the track I need to put the latest plans into action... The new layout will be DCC, and I've had some successful tests using an Arduino and DCC++. Progress may be sporadic through the summer but I hope to be a bit more regular with the updates now. Fingers crossed...

I just received my ScotRail MK3a set today, after paying for their rarity on eBay and then found the news about the recommission! Kicking myself but still pleased to have this lovely set of coaches to go with my recent DBSO purchase. I'm really struggling to find the matching loco though (Graham Farish 372-245). Does anyone know anyone who has stock, please? Or does anyone have one they would like to sell?! TIA, Mark

Thanks for that advice Paul - I had realised that the masts would be too close to the platform edge if I tried to use them in the station area but not about the positioning of the insulators that you highlighted. I think I'll be using NBrass Locos OHLE portals for the through station platforms but the Dapol Mk3s fill the gap elsewhere. Mark

So, a little while back, my son and I decided that our fictitious branch which links Milton Keynes and Bedford via Olney would be electrified (largely because I picked up some WCML electric stock at good prices!). This afternoon, I finally got around to installing some fake catenary, using the Dapol Mk3 masts (NCAT1) that are available at a reasonably low price. Some RMweb links really helped out with working out how to position the overhead line equipment (OHLE) masts: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/14940-Dapol-catenary/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/71391-british-railways-ole-part-one-plain-track/ We'd worked out by measuring the "gaps" between masts in the real world (using the Google Maps measure tool) that the distance is about 60 metres on straight track for both the WCML near Bletchley and the MML south of Bedford. At 1:148 that's around 40cm - which looks too far, so I've settled on about 30cm but closer on curves/around pointwork. The second link above sorted me out for the positioning above the track - the diagram below is from Clive Mortimore's excellent information: Using the Dapol masts that's either 20mm or 16mm from track centres, depending on whether it's the pull-off or push-off mast. I'm starting to regret laying my track on 3mm cork as it's increased the track height affecting both platforms and OHLE. My Farish 350 has a sprung pantograph that relies on the presence of some wires to push it down... there's no way that's going to work this close to the masts so that will be staying down! And in this picture you can see that the clearance between the Dapol 86 and the OHLE is very close, even with the pantograph at a low height (also a bit annoying that the pickup "droops" like that...) Still, I'm pleased enough with them... even without wires they make a difference somehow when running electric stock... I'll need to get some portal-style masts from somewhere for the double-track through the station though - the Dapol masts are just too close to the track edges to use them in platforms (they work in the bay platform because I can position them on the far side).

Thanks for posting this Clive - it's been fantastically useful to help me position the Dapol Mk3 masts I'm installing on my N Gauge layout - especially the diagram below!

Right, seeing as I've been so poor on updates, this is where we're at: Track laid, including isolating sections and some points have motors. My son (who was about 10 at the time... he's now 12) loved helping to wire things up and his "glue gun" helped hold the wires in place. I'll post more about that one day (including the connectors I use to connect/disconnect the power controller. Buffer stops with integrated lights fitted on all of the main sidings. I used some Gaugemaster ones (I think they were GM57s) that were pre-built onto the track (like some of the overseas manufacturers). Platforms fabricated (using Peco kit parts) but not yet fully painted. Track painted (using a Railmatch sleeper grime aerosol). Diesel depot starting to come together. Currently working on the hard standing using Gyproc "Easi-Fill". Today I started to install the catenary (OHLE) for the electric trains... that deserves a post of its own. Ballasting should follow soon, just as soon as the platforms are fixed in place (after painting!)

Hi Derek - really sorry for not seeing this earlier. Progress has been painfully slow... though we now have painted track, some platforms and I'm hoping to lay ballast soon. We also decided that the line will be electrified (as a branch extension from the WCML), at least in part. The rolling stock collection has now become quite significant... time to focus on getting the layout complete...

I said I'd post the track plan soon, and here it is: The original plan came from an article in a September 1985 "Railway Modeller" with a layout called Hafren. Unfortunately we found that our tight radius 1 curves didn't work well for a branch rising above the fiddle yard (too steep, too canted, too many derailments!) and anyway, the current storage location (under the sofa) means there isn't the headroom. The station is also straight in my version (curved in Hafren) and the yard/shed have been simplified to match the space we had and our modelling capabilities! The dotted lines are the track we haven't laid yet. The electrics are progressing now - with all of the track feeds wired up and isolator switches in place - and last weekend we did the first point motor. Another post will follow on that soon... Next up will be the rest of the track, and some track painting, when I pluck up the courage to get the spray can out...

Thanks for the info Derek - funnily enough, from my knowledge of the area that route sounds remarkable similar to where I imagine "Olney West" being (across the fields from the housing estate where I live, down in the dip between Olney and Weston Underwood, behind Ousedale School)! There's also an embankment in Emberton Park that looks like an old railway route; however that might just date from the gravel extraction there before it became a Country Park, rather than line that actually went anywhere.

The initial layout we created was an out-and-back but the boys convinced me a roundy-roundy would be more fun (although the eldest, now 10, has decided he would be happy with an out and back). Still, over the last couple of years, we've laid most of the track (on cork) on a flat baseboard of 9mm MDF on a 2x1 frame, approx 1800x600mm (6' x 2' in "old money"), with casters to allow it to slide in/out under the sofa. I'd like to do something more ambitious but the storage location (easy for the children to access, acceptable to Mrs W for keeping out of sight) limits our headroom somewhat (about 4cm clearance!). Its a DC layout running off a Gaugemaster Model D controller (with hindsight, I should have bought a DCC controller - although now we have quite a lot of stock and it would be a sizable investment to digitise them all). I'll post a track plan soon but, at the moment we have some more sidings to lay and wiring to complete, before I pluck up the courage to paint and ballast the track.

When I was a lad, I had a Hornby APT, a Lima 87 and several of the "too short so they can go around trainset curves" Hornby Mk3 coaches (among my collection). Then, in my 20s, I part-exed my OO stock for a Farish 4MT trainset (oh, if only we had had eBay then!) and started again but didn't get far with my 1960s steam layout in the loft before a steady girlfriend, house move, then marriage and children came along. Then, my boys reached an age when they could "play" with my trains and, over the last couple of years, we've amassed a sizable collection of stock - initially coming up with some kind of back story for a preserved line with steam, 1970s/80s diesels and visiting modern image (EWS) freight trips from the main line before giving up on any one period and rotating between eras (we now have quite an eclectic mix). The current idea is for a fictitious extension of the Wolverton-Newport Pagnell branch, via Sherington and Emberton to Olney, where it joined the Northampton-Bedford line. I believe that such a line was once envisaged (although probably not joining the Midland in Olney) and this gives plenty of scope for branch workings from the West Coast and Midland Main Lines, as well as cross-country workings from Oxford (via Bletchley, when that line re-opens) or even perhaps to Towcester via Ravenstone Wood Junction and Salcey Forest. There could even be diversions due to engineering works allowing for interesting passenger and freight workings. "Olney West" station is a few hundred metres south of the junction with the Northampton-Bedford line, rather than in the north of the town as the real Olney (Midland) station was. This is the partly fictitious route map for the area although it does make me think "what if Dr Beeching hadn't had his way..."? So, I'm hoping this is the right place on RMweb to start a thread like this (please tell me if not!) and, over the coming weeks and months, I hope to share my progress.