Selborne

Hi Jamie

Sorry to here the faults at Cheltenham and pleased you got them sorted. I love the night time photo's, they look fantastic. You will need a third rail with the EMU.

Hi Ray, the Class 419 has battery power for short trips off 3rd rail, in this case to get to the depot :-)

Hi Rob, yes agree they need more, they are currently weather lightly but need to remove the shine, as these machines never had such a shine in real life !

Couple of videos as promised;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOgRm9sP37E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prTH3Crqojk

Jamie

You are too fast Rich, you beat me to the update  :-)

Some pictures from yesterdays running (Richard has already shown you three above), have been working through all the little niggles and control issues to ensure that we have a faultless running layout, so the signals have worked out fine, however the ground signals are little to bright, so we are fitting 10k resistors to reduce the brightness plus capacitors to slow the changerate, an additional decoder has been acquired to split the shunt run around points from the signal decoder to reduce volt drop issues when the points are operated, so been busy, should have things ready for Cheltenham on the 24th Oct, looking forward to it.

Also a video of the signals in operation can be found here     https://www.facebook.com/groups/295777203802227/918974274815847/?notif_t=like

I will post some more on you tube once the signal works have been completed,

I have acquired some new rolling stock, as can be seen in the pictures 3 x Hornby Express Parcel MK1 coaches, weathered by TMC, look and run great.

speak soon

Jamie

OK, sorry I have not updated recently, been very busy, however my son and I have now managed to get the signals all working.  we added another DAC20 decoder board so that we could automate the signals, this proved not to be straight forward due to a number of factors, these included;

1.  The decoder has a switched positive for each accessory with a constant negative, which is fine for points and relays but for LED's this does not work, as the LED's are diodes, so we had to make up small two relay control boards which the decoder switched and then the feeds through the relays could have switched negatives.

2.  The NCE controller will only allow for 8 accessories to be swiched with any one Macro, as we had routes to set with points and the signals needed to be swicthed as well we had some macros requiring up to 12 items, so this means that we have to use two macros for route operation, so we have a macro for the points and another macro for the signals, works fine.

3.  Another issue is that the NCE controller can only hold up to 15 macros, this mean that we could not have a macro for each route, instead we have had to be smart and combine macros to achieve the routes we need.

In the end we managed to get everything working well, and we can now select any route from the fiddle yard into the scenic area only sing 2 macros, this has speeded up the the route allocation and the signals all follow the correct path.

we have ordered a few more resistors and capacitors as we want to include for a slightly dimmer LED in the signal, more scale and have a fade on and off, to achieve this we have a 15VDC supply and therefore we have used 10k ohm resistors 1/4 watt, to get the dimmer look, plus the capacitors are 200uf 25v, this gives about o.5 sec fade on and off which looks scale and very realistic.

Once the resistors and capacitors are all fitted I will post some short videos to show the operation of the signals.

Oh, also the better half got me a new split code Class 37 blue weathered from Olivia Trains, for my birthday, it is great, a little loud, so I will have to turn it down a bit, can anybody tell me the CV for the volume ?

The layout will be showing at Cheltenham on the 24th and 25th October, plus we have dates for next year in the east of England confirmed, including Stowmarket, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Colchester.

best Regards

Jamie

A little bit of time travel on Oakley Green :-)

A Couple of Extra pictures from The Barnstaple Show;

Well the layout is finally home and settled in the garage, a big thank you to Richard for creating a masterpiece, well done ! , I am sure that the withdrawal symptoms will start to ease in a week or two !!

Currently the Layout is confirmed for Cheltenham Model Railway Exhibition 24th and 25th October 2015, and provisional bookings have been made for Stowmarket 2016 and Chelmsford 2016, however you are welcome to spread the word.

My son and I have been discussing the next step in the development of the layout and we have plans to add a second 8 way decoder to control the signals and lighting, using macros we should be able to automate the signals to allow the correct function based on the point direction, plus we will be starting to consider the fit out of the workshop building with the assistance of Mr Slate.

Things will go quiet for a while, holiday season, but hopefully we can continue the development of Oakley Green into the Autumn.

As always comments are welcome,

Best Regards

Jamie 

Hi mate,

Yep, I completely agree with the space, some rails with sleepers, cable drums etc with weeds sounds perfect !

I note in the corner where the side and back board meet, the scene changes slightly, how about a nice tree in this corner, sort of cut to fit in the 90 deg ?  Have to say though, the back scene look really good, I am very happy with the look !

With regard to the signals, I note you have added two additional signals coming into the yard, what are they R/G only ?  and the main signal is that just an R/G with route or does it have an amber ?  the ground signals are also just R/G ?  let me know, so I can work out the wiring for the minimum number of switches.

Also, question regarding the concrete pads outside the workshop and refuelling area, how will they be finished off, painted or some sort of coating ?

I think from a lighting perspective, one more yard lights should do it, one over the end shunt/fuel delivery area, I think the oil depot area should be illuminated via the road side type lamps we have discussed, one every 30 feet is the normal spaces, but one every tanker position would also be suitable, plus what ever you think is necessary for the road area and outside lights for the parcel and work shops, up to you.

Otherwise looking great !

Jamie

Just ordered the signals and yard lamps, plus some street lamps, as well as a few detail bits this evening!

 

Will keep the posty busy in a few days time !!!

 

Will sort out the wiring of said signals and lights when they've arrived and I've had chance to study them. Will be fitting a regulated power supply to provide constant power for all the lights. Each signal will have a toggle switch, operated from the rear. Doesn't warrant running these off DCC control, plus something else to remember to operate. The points are DCC operated, so that's plenty to think about! Will also fit simple on-off switches for the lights, which are for atmosphere rather than providing lights to enable night time operation. A full lighting rig is being constructed (by Selborne), so can't show this fitted to the layout.

 

Slowly getting there now and although deadline for completion is getting closer (25th July), still have a few weeks ......

I was thinking mate, might be good to get some really fine brass tube to run the cables in for the shed lights, sort of over scale conduit, these could come straight up from the floor level with the beams, what do you think ?  I had a look at the building lights supplied by Layout4U and they are really smart, almost scale high bay light fittings.

by the way the refulling area looks really good, an dthe fence work great also, the fence does look a little unstraight at the end nearest the back, or is this the camera angle ?

Anyway speak soon,

Jamie

The two lamp fitting is on this page;

http://www.layouts4u.net/ooscaleyard.html

Last ones at the bottom.

Hi Mate,

I went to the Stowmarket Model Railway exhibition today, not bad group of layout, and a few guys were aware of the layout, due to this blog, so that was a good talking point, Layout4U were there and they had there stand with all the lights on it and I think based on this that I have found the lights to use.  Let me know what you think;

For the yard, the two lamp PL2 style fittings £5.00 each, will most likely need quite a few,

for the road areas then street lights T91A  6 for £8.00

plus, they do really small wall lights for the sheds, MBL fitting 2 for £3.50, these can be added to the parcl and engine shed inside and out.

See what you think,

They also did ground and route signals, night be worth having at chat with them.

Speak soon,

Jamie

Looking forward to seeing the back scenes in place, I would have thought that EvoStik would have been fine for the glue, what was the glue supplied like ?

speak soon Jamie

Hi Richard,

Starting to take shape, the shed is looking great, also the refueling area is looking the part as well :-)

I see you placed a long parcel coach in the siding for scale, this is the same coach which I have a couple of.  As we discussed, that siding will be an odds and sods area, bit of clearway, general yard maintenance area, cables drums etc, should be great.

With regard to the the power supply, if you get the one I sent you the link for, you have the connector cable which can be mounted on the layout, cut and jointed as necessary, thus leaving the power pack and lead to be able to be 'plugged in' , perhaps you could drill a hole and have it mounted near to the controller connector ? I will leave it to you to decide :-)

Speak soon,

Jamie

Hi Richard,

Just ordered the Judas Priest - Epitaph recorded at Hammersmith May 2012 on Bluray as well, found it on Amazon, should get it tomorrow !!

I was thinking, if we are going to lights in the yard and shed, and have powered signals, then get a really good power supply that is regulated and has the 16vac or 12vdc outputs, what is the module voltage for the point control ?  If you got a plug in adapter, then you could just fit a female socket on the layout to plug in ?

And thanks Andrew for the thumbs up on the line up for the locos !

Speak soon,

Jamie

A little line up of a few of the locos that will be run on the layout, 

All have sound, and are as follows;

Class 50 - Hornby with South West Digital Sound chip plus Digitrains sugar cube speakers x 2

Class 47 - Bachmann - Olivia Trains supplied with sound, lights etc

Class 33 - Heljan - Olivia Trains supplied with sound, lights etc

Class 31 - Hornby - Olivia Trains supplied with sound, lights etc

Class 37 - Bachmann - with factory supplied sound and speakers (will upgrade speakers when I have five mins

I also have;

Class 08 - Bachmann with South West Digital Sound chip plus Digitrains sugar cube speaker

2 x Bachmann C;lass 25's with standard Bachmann sound

I plan to get a few more more locos for the layout, this will include, Class 40. Class 52, Class 35, Class 20 and a Class 73 if I can find one with sound and in BR blue.

We will see,

Hi Rich, 

Do not worry about working doors, I am happy to have them fixed, as I will not be looking to open and close them.

As you say, there is a great deal to do before the exhibition, and I would rather you concentrate on the 'Slatey detail', around the depot and grounds.

Operating doors would be a great addition to the layout, but time is the key.

Speak soon, Jamie

PS. Depot building looking great !

Hi Guys,

Managed to get the cork and track laid for the fiddle yard.  I used 3mm cork and glued with Evostik as recommended by Richard, then the track was glued with PVA.  It is out in the garage so the PVA took a few days to dry seeing it is so cold still,

The track is code 100 Peco, so hopefully will run well.

I will be switching the points manually, so have left the connector wires underneath, I will however be wiring a live pair to every siding, so that all locos can be left running on the DCC if needs be.

Any comments welcome,

cheers Jamie

Hi Mate,

I was thinking about the signalling, do you think it would be right to a a semaphore or light signal, plus it would be likely that having an oil depot and shed arrangement that there would be a direction signal, maybe ground mounted or conventional, thoughts ?  plus to leave the yard would also most likely have the same but ground mounted ?  these could be linked and switched via a switch mounted next to the control interface ?

let me know your thoughts.

Jamie

hi Jamie,

 

Good to see that you've got the fiddle yard track. I'd suggest using Evostick impact or Copydex to glue the cork down and PVA or Copydex to glue the track down, unless you are just going to pin down. You might want to make some of the sidings longer if you can.

 

Speak soon

 

Richard

Hi Mate,  Yes, all the sidings will run to the edge of the board, I was trying out the lay down to see how the points fitted together.

Thanks for the information regarding the glue down process, I was planning to just PVA the cork to the board, but if you think EVOstik is better I will go and get some, and then as you say use PVA for the track.

With regard to the ballasting, are you planning to run the ballast over the edge of the foam ? to create a ridge or will the ballast finish where it is now ?

speak soon

Jamie

Hi Richard,

Track for Fiddle arrived yesterday, couple of pictures attached.  Just laid out track for now to see how well it fits, looks ok, just waiting for cork to arrive and then I will get laying !

Speak soon

Jamie

Perfect mate, looks really good !!

Looks really great mate, roof trusses do look fab!  whats the plan for the lighting in the shed, side lights as we discussed or roof mounted ?

Also I have sent you an email, 

Looking really good !!

Jamie

I don't drink that much coffee, oh and don't drink Nescafe!

 

Seriously though, I think that these will be too large. OK if only one or two tanks, but we'll be having 4 or 6 tanks! Will also have various ladders / gantries and associated pipe work!

 

All of the points have now bee laid, the final one left waiting for the glue to dry. Just 6 sidings to add! The slots have been cut for the inspection pits and will be threading the rail on the flex track onto the pits before glueing down.

I think the first thought we had regarding the drain pipe, 100mm diameter and about 120mm high, what do you think ?