NoelG

On 04/05/2021 at 12:40, Georgeconna said:

Looks like you are having fun Noel. Will you be weathering down the track a bit?

 

Funny you should mention that  

Snag markers placed where touching up needed

Play time! Took a break from construction today to play and try some shunting and test track, point motors and uncoupling magnets. Now that wiring is proven ok, after sufficient play time can proceed to next phase of scenics.

More running tests today to test wiring of power and point motors. Discovered one minor problem, a 2 inch dead section I'd forgotten a dropper for, easily added and connected to the nearest DCC dropper board. Test below of DCC switch encoder from DCC concepts. Their AEU allows any type of switch to remotely control any DCC accessory decoder on the layout. I chose this method so that my lever switch frame could be portable, and plug into the cab bus anywhere on the layout. Saves wiring looms running all over the place. Saves time. Only eating the pudding will tell how well this will stand the test of time, but so far impressed with the massive amount of wiring work this Cobalt eco system saves and how easy it is to get it all connected together.

Today was spent testing the wiring. First a comprehensive test with an Ammeter revealed one small snag which was easily rectified. Then test with DCC track bus enabled and DCC cab bus enabled. The Cobalt eco system can connect directly to the NCE cab bus. Impressed how easy the DCC concepts Cobalt eco system is to set up and especially impressed how much it simplified and reduced the amount of wiring needed. Saved me literally days of work. The less wiring there is the less there is to go wrong. The Cobalt ADfx8 accessory decoder and Cobalt AEU are the back bone of the system. Can work with ant switch type or any pain motor type, but I opted for Cobalt IP Analog point motors (stall type). Now I can switch points either from the NCE cab control using the accessory mode, or by physically operating switches which I prefer.

It's Alive! First short DCC test run today including a test of hidden under track uncoupling magnets

12 hours ago, jhb171achil said:

Superb...... I have a small portable "mini-layout" in progress, about 18 ins wide by 7'6" long - are things like this suitable for supports for such a thing?

Apologies correction I got this pair in Woodies €35, they cost less than on Amazon

https://www.woodies.ie/stanley-junior-sawhorse-twin-pack-1127038?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1a6EBhC0ARIsAOiTkrFLMz6dVc1X5J1-7p1n-NndePdRRrPkQOfIXn0-6K7IjHOalZF6UbMaAvw0EALw_wcB

1 hour ago, jhb171achil said:

Superb...... I have a small portable "mini-layout" in progress, about 18 ins wide by 7'6" long - are things like this suitable for supports for such a thing?

Gort is 2' x 10ft (ie two 5' x 2' boards) with two trestles under each board, so I guess 7'6" long will need only two. One day it might grow with a loop behind the back scene, but for now an end2end shunting layout which is what it was designed for.

49 minutes ago, jhb171achil said:

Those plastic leg things you have it all sitting on - what are they? Can you get them different heights?

Hi Jonathan. I don't know I bought from from amazon and for from local B&Q store. They are very light and fold up neatly

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01ANYIAEA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have also bought some adjustable feet for testles I plan to make myself. The B&Q and Amazon ones seem to be a standard height targeted at DIY home builders, etc.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LSGC5H6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ennis/Limerck board wiring is now complete and tested. Had one minor short to sort on one of the Cobalt connector blocks. Test ran loco on DC to check frogs polarity switching ok. Smooth as a button. While I was at it tested the under tack uncoupling magnet as now is the time to rectify any problems. Just in case. So far all good, now finishing the Athernry board wiring. The boards will be connected with 25pin D type computer connectors (ie the type used on RS232 serial printer cables 35 years ago). I'm bored now, what's happening next?  With hindsight it was well worth painting the underside of the base boards even though it seem unnecessary at the time they were constructed, handy for self adhesive cable keeps and tempoary alignment of Cobalt point motors.

On 21/04/2021 at 01:11, jhb171achil said:

There was comment somewhere on here recently on "eras" for easily categorising what model ran when or where. 

 

Elsewhere, the same question arose, and I suggested this, if it's of any interest........

 

1834 - 1890   Building

 

1890 - 1910   Second wave of government-assisted building ("Balfour" lines, most narrow gauge)

 

1910 - 1925   Main companies' "Heyday". (The "heyday" period?)

 

1925 - 1945   GSR era; if applied to the north, the understanding would be that the "heyday" continues in the north, even as just about everything south becomes CIE.

 

1945 - 1960   Transition Era / "grey'n'green" era. Loads of grey wagons - other than the GNR, no brown wagons have yet appeared; most CIE locos still grey; both UTA and CIE carriages green. THREE aspects to this: Closures (1940s NCC & post-fuel crisis CIE; 1950s UTA, GNR & BCDR, and narrow gauge), Modernisation (mass withdrawals of old rolling stock and replacement by new stock (UTA & (especially) CIE); and dieselisation: gradual elimination of steam on most of the network and mass introduction of AEC railcars on both GNR & CIE, experimental one-offs on the NCC, and MED's on the Bangor line 1950-2; B101, A & C class locomotives CIE.

 

1960 - 1972   Consolidation (or "black'n'tan")  era. After years of decline, and the end of the vehemently anti-rail Stormont policies and reduction of the UTA to what is now NIR, and final large closures (West Cork 1961, Tralee - Limerick, Limerick - Sligo '63, Mallow - Waterford & Croom branch 1967), plus final end of steam on NIR, it's now a smaller, more standardised, modern railway north and south.

 

1972 - 1995   Early Modern (or "Supertrain") era. A diesel-operated, air-con modern carriages, and containerised freight railway operated in a steam-type environment, with semaphore signals, a lot more shunting than the 1972 Rail Modernisation Plan ever envisaged, and working practices going back to the Norman invasion. We might call this the "Early Modern" era.

 

1995 - date   Contemporary era.  Freight decline, locomotive replacement by railcars, the "no-shunt railway" comes of age, along with virtual elimination of semaphore signalling, computers doing more an more work both on trains and off them, and in public interfaces.

For modellers, that suits well. If we divide these into periods, we have:

 

A   Pre 1910

B   Heyday Period

C   GSR Period

D   Transition Period ("grey'n'green")

E   Consolidation ("black'n'tan") period

F   Early Modern Period

G   Contemporary (or 21st century) Period.

excellent synopsis Jonathan. Personally though my own nostalgia memory it’s pre-1974 or post-1974. Perhaps also 2008 as the beginning of the end or the orthopaedic yo-yo era, the hideous plastic ICRs (roller skates on rails).

Fitted Cobalt Analog point motors today and wired up the integrated frog polarity switch. Made a portable test harness using a 9v battery and DPDT switch which was useful for testing alignment and throw of the point blades. Really impressed with the Cobalts ease of installation, a little noisy perhaps but at least no 'gun shot' solenoid switch noise. Nice to see blades move more slowly and prototypically. The pressure contacts on the Cobalt PCB makes wiring really easy and swapping frog polarity is really quick and easy to do.

While these are Analog motors they will be switched digitally using an ADfx8 decoder module, so that cab controls can be used to switch points, but there will also be an AEU encoder wired to a lever frame set of switches plugged in to the Cab bus for physical switching of points. The lever frame will only need two wires connected to it so I will be able to move the lever frame around the layout rather than run a bundle of wiring to each switch. I hope to make a plug in signal box modules and use the same digital interface to control signals.

• Only two wires to each point motor for both power and switching
• Local frog polarity switch on point motor for electrofrog point
• All point motors powered by the ADfx8 decoder
• Only two wires to power and control the ADfx8 decoder from the DCC track bus
• Points can be switch by physical lever frame switches or digitally from DCC cab
• Virtual signal box containing the lever frame switches is portable as it only needs a single cable to connect it into  the CAB bus of the DCC system, so it can be moved between the front and back of layout using just an RJ12/45 plug like a cab. The AEU encoder gets its power from the CAB bus.
• Lever switches short pair of wires to the local AEU board.

Once all the dropper PCBs have been wired up the lot will be ready for testing, and once the wiring has been fully tested then the scenic landscaping can take place above.

Layout stripped for more wiring. 

On its side now for ease of access under the baseboards

Lots to be done under here. Baseboard sits happily on its side using back scene for added stability.

Made a test harness for fitting the Cobalt Analog point motors which will run off a portable 9v battery.

5 hours ago, kirley said:

A scary time cutting those boards.  Hope the track alignment works out for you. 

No, Oh apologies I probably wasn't clear. The boards were made separately two years ago, and connected up a year ago using their connecting bolts and butterfly screws, but hadn't been taken apart since last year. I didn't cut the base boards, just cut the rails, some sleepers and through 1-2mm of dried ballast mix. The closed cell form base had been cut at the baseboard joint a year ago. Now that the baseboards have been separated I can flip them on their sides and finish wiring stuff underneath without crawling underneath. One of the benefits of the WMRC baseboard design.

Some more happenings.  Split the two main baseboards for the first time in nearly a year. Disc cut the tracks and sawed the sleepers and ballast, scalpel had already cut the two layers of 3mm closed cell dense foam, so it was a matter of pulling the two boards carefully part and then reconnecting to ensure 100% alignment. The brass baseboard alignment dowels help.

Light between the two 5ft boards

The join will be disguised with a tiny amount of sacrificial ballast material and perhaps walkway planks. Relived to see that the glued track and ballast is firm enough for good alignment. No need for copper strips for brass screws at rail ends, etc.

Some more scenes 

Provincial wagons Bulleid general open wagon being loaded by dock crane

Goods yard on mart day. Neighbouring builders merchants will be expecting a delivery of a few wagons on the afternoon pick up goods train from Limerick so the cattle wagons will have to be gone before that on the passing Limerick-Galways mixed goods train.

On 09/04/2021 at 23:18, NIRCLASS80 said:

That's photo realistic. Superb

8 minutes ago, Robert Shrives said:

Good ballasting - takes time but the clear sleeper tops and ballast clear of track fittings shows the care taken - good patience levels!

thanks for showing

Robert   

Cheers Robert. It was very time consuming, especially the points (ie avoiding gluing the mechanism). With the benefit of hindsight I might have been better to use woodland scenics ballast which has no dust content unlike the Javis extra fine granite that I used. Was tedious using cotton buds to remove this dust from sleeper tops before the PVA/Water/IPA mix dried. Woodland scenics ballast seems to be lighter too and more plastic in nature so responds better to the spoon tapping trick to bounce over spray off sleeper tops. The ballast plough I used seems better suited to code 100 track than code 75 as it dispenses a little faster than I'd experience before on code 100 which due to thicker sleepers can accommodate more ballast between the sleepers.

Some recent progress. Now ready for soft landscaping.

As they say "guud wun clouseau!"  

5 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

Do you know who you're insulting?

Apologies but if it was done by one of the Maestros it was done perhaps while they were also tying their shoe laces.

DCC dropper plan, plus the eastern head shunt can be toggle switched from ordinary track to DCC programming track using a switch. DCC dropper pairs in red.

On 01/04/2021 at 09:05, woodenhead said:

The really sad thing, they look quite good

Even the NWSE side that looks like it was painted by a 10yo?  The first thing that tipped me off that this was an April 1 wind up was the use of the word 'generic'. AS/IRM simply don't even have that word in their vocabulary as they have consistently demonstrated an almost fanatically attention to detail and scale fidelity, 'generic' simply doesn't fit in to their corporate thinking, obsession with real detail on every variant has been their mantra from day one. Swiss/German quality model engineering at UK price points.

Its a relief to see what started out as a layout design in RailModellerPro evolved into something real

Which was inspired by this photo from "Rails Through the West'

Starting to look like this

When it started out like this. After it started a dry test fit like this a few years ago now using old bits of toy buildings

Spent today finalising track fitting, eliminating any rail or sleeper gaps, loading gauge and clearance tests for platforms and loading docks using a variety of wide rolling stock (eg Laminate+Craven coaches, cattle wagons, etc). Also tested track work with stock and tested the uncoupling magnets. I'm hoping to use magnets to hold the buildings and platforms in place so that they remain removable for transport.

Looking south in the direction of Ennis. B188 uncoupled from the afternoon Limerick-Athenry passenger working to shunt some wagons in the yard ready for the Limerick-Claremorris evening goods train to collect.

Looking North in Athenry direction. Next step should be ballasting once the point motors have been tested.

Track pins will be removed once ballasting has been completed. Really enjoying this project. I've learned so much along this journey and its far from finished yet, but patience is the one thing I've really had to take on board and avoid the urge of trying to run trains too soon.

Some final quilting needed to blend elements together

Have learned so much along this journey so far and there's a lot more to do, but I think the back off the workload been broken. Really enjoyed this learning process. Now to fit and test the point motors, then ballast, then landscaping . . . and then drive trains!!!  

On 01/04/2021 at 15:06, Georgeconna said:

yr joking right?

Well it looked a bit like a wind up when posted on April 1, what got me was the alternating livery sides.  And IRM/AS past track record has been 100% almost fanatical no compromise on accuracy with scale fidelity and details paramount. No offence was intended.

Looks like a good April 1st post

7 minutes ago, kirley said:

The cattle add to the scene but if you look at pictures of that era it would be beef cattle that were transported, unfortunately most manufactures supply dairy cattle, perhaps the  use of the paint brush could transform them... I'm only saying.

Cheers kieran. Yes having grown up on a farm I know about beef cattle, I didn't spot any udders on the model cattle.  But a light weathering might be in order.  

One more final Hornby Shortie respray (ex BR Blue)