chaplin

That makes sense, thanks for that. I was thinking I will need a cross-over in the fiddle yard so will remove these and use the points there instead.

Do you mean the crossover in the middle? It's to get from the clockwise line into the goods yard. I was thinking a shunter would be in the headshunt which would take the train apart while the engine that brought it would go off to the shed. Alterations will not be that messy as it's only track on the cork at the moment.

Thanks for that. I'm modelling vaguely around Bradford/Shipley to Leeds in the 60's.

Hi I'm in the process of testing all my tracks and points and starting to look at signaling my layout. I have a vague idea of what's required except when it comes to points and sidings and then I get lost. I have attached a plan of my layout taken from itrain. Ignore everything to the right of the green line as that's the fiddle yard. The sidings to the north will be an engine shed. I have 2 mainlines with goods to the bottom and a dmu platform at the top which also gives access to the shed area. I get the signals on each platform but coming from the left towards the station there will also be a left point to the DMU platform and a right point which will cross the other line to go into the goods area. I was thinking of just 3 signals on one tower but which will be lower the left or right? Does it matter? Will there be any other indicator to say the right point goes only to the goods area and not to the other platform? Also, when departing from the DMU platform, will there be a different signal to show you are going out the mainline and not into the shed area? And another needed to cross the mainline and head back on the far track? I take it the ground signals are just at every point? I hope it makes sense.

Thanks for all the replies. I am using iTrain for the points and control of everything. I may get a handheld in the future. I have bitten the bullet and bought the Roco booster so will hopefully solve the issue of constantly changing points when there is a short and also give me more leeway in terms of accessories. Regards

Thanks, I did look at that but was put off with the fact the power supply is sold separately and is £80 which seems a bit steep. I am a tight Yorkshireman after all. I'll look into that. Would it be possible to boost both feeds separately if required later? I don't want to paint myself into a corner as I add more electronics. Regards

So I have been slowly building my layout and have a circular plan in the loft. It has twin tracks around with a fiddle yard at one end and goods yards plus an engine shed on another. There are around 30 points and Dapol DCC signals. It will also have lights at some point. I have used MP1 servos for all points controlled by Yamorc units and Digikeijs RBus occupancy sensors. I'm in the process of testing all the tracks with a variety of locos but it has become apparent I have issues with the way it is wired. At the moment everything comes from the Z21 with no booster. All units take both power and data from the main DCC bus that goes to the tracks and everything else. Whenever I get a short from a derailment or something else, the z21 switches off everything. Next, I reconnect and all the points move about to their default positions. This means going around setting them all again. If you miss one then the frog is wrong, you get another short and need to do it all again. sometimes it shorts for not apparent reason for a split second and the points suddenly all move which causes a full short when a loco gets to a wrong frog. I seem to be spending all my time resetting points. I'm thinking I need to either add a booster or separate the accessories or both. I'll now wire an accessory bus and take all the power from that. My question is, what do I power this accessory bus with? Do I need something that will speak to the Z21 or can I just wire in a switched power supply? The MP1 points have 3 power wires )1 red 2 black) from the Yamorc unit and then a track power from the DCC bus and track plus the frog wire. Do I wire the accessory bus to the Yamorc and leave the track power to the switch connections? Also, would I need a booster if I have a separate accessory bus? If so do I need the Roco one to work well with the Z21 or is there a cheaper option? Appreciate any help. this constant shorting and switching of frogs is getting annoying.

Some infrastructure projects are financed this way. I believe the new Silvertown tunnel was financed by the contractor in return for running the toll for a number of years to be paid back. It's not without an element of risk, however. Most of these large projects are built by JV's and if one or more should go belly up then it can end in tears. What is really needed is a better tendering process that is not largely based on awarding the job to the cheapest. This is mainly driven by the media whipping up a storm with high total costs. Take HS2 for example, years ago it was all about spending £52b to save 15 minutes and that became the slogan of those against it. This leads to a drive to save money and jobs are then awarded to the cheapest. As we usually see, however, the cheapest bid is usually a contractor 'buying' the job by going in too cheap with the aim to claim as many extra costs as possible during construction to make up the profit. Margins are very slim in this game for the main contractors and it's a case of claim claim claim to make any profit at all. Much better would be to award based on using UK subcontractors and suppliers, UK staff, and incorporating training schemes for locally unemployed etc. Most people would be happy to spend £62bn rather than £52bn if it meant more of that money was staying in the country and coming straight back in various taxation. By constantly talking about these large figures however, we then get politicians and civil servants just demanding cuts rather than opportunities and much of it goes abroad and to foreign workers, who can survive on much lower rates than those from the UK with families to support.

TBM's are stored to be sold and reused all the time. Stopping them in the ground can be problematic, especially in London clay where the face will need shuttering but on the surface, it's not a problem. I can assure you that's not the case. With most of these large projects, delays to the program are the biggest cost by quite a margin. Things can be done which seem to make no sense but they are generally done to make the program work.

Right, I think I've just about got a layout I'm happy with. The left-hand end will be hinged to fold down so it doesn't interfere with the garage door. The other end will have a lift-up section at the back door. There is no turn-off to Redhill but apart from that it's kind of similar to Tonbridge West. I should be able to just about reach the top right corner. I'll certainly be able to reach the points.

Thanks for that. Some great ideas there. I can see a new plan forming now If you do manage to find it, that sounds like an interesting idea. Thanks

I think you're right. Im going to go with the second option. I just need to find or come up with a layout that works. My old one was very parallel with the boards and felt very boring. I want a mix of mainline and yard like at Tonbridge so with have a look through my track plan books

Yes I have been looking at that. Its a great layout. The mix of locos in the yard and mainline traffic is what I want to achieve. This is supposed to represent where the real line goes off towards Redhill and I thought I could have a DMU running from there to the hidden siding round the back. Not really, I need a gap at the main garage door end for it to open without hitting the layout which doesn't give much more to play with.

Currently operating. Although with freight that gives lots of scope with diesels. The garage is 4400 x 2400. I probably can use 4000 to still have the main door opening ok, with a lift-up section for the back door. I did have a large U shape layout I built in the loft but I always end up with a fairly boring track layout. It was also designed as a small steam era branch line. I really need to re-look at that as it's all straights. Onece I get it down from the loft and set it up I will get some photos. Only part has scenery so far so I can change it.

The alternative could be something like the below image. This will have a lift-up section at the back door and a swinging section at the garage door end to allow for a full run-around. This would be much easier to construct it also would allow me to reuse some of my loft layout and was my initial plan which I may go back to after looking into the complexities of helix's and the reach issues above.