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Wiring Baseboard B I thought it would be a good idea to draw out the wiring of the Baseboard before starting. So here is the drawing of the underside of Baseboard B: I made a couple of errors in the process of 'reflecting' the drawing to show the underside and ended up with some of the small stripboards (veroboard) circuit boards turned 180-degrees. This became apparent later ... Anyway, I progressed with the wiring installation and fitting of the first servos / microswitches to the turnouts and it looked like this by early December: And here is a close-up of a few servos ready for installation: As you might have noticed, I was fairly meticulous with labelling of all wires / plugs / sockets / turnouts / servos. This really should pay dividends in avoiding 'crossed wires', or at least I hope it does.

Time for an update .... Been quite a while since I posted, but I've been busy on the lower level of the layout. As I tend to refer to the baseboard names I thought it prudent to include a quick 'map': Back in November I started on one of the smaller areas, but one that included a lot of turnouts; Baseboard B. Now I thought this would be a nice 'easy' one to start on. Hmmm, got that wrong! Turned out to be quite a difficult board that took me a while to 'learn' all the necessary skills. Once the track was installed it looked like this (and, yes, I did extend the tracks onto the adjacent Baseboards A & C, another skill to learn!).

Brian, Do you plan to add any 'weathering' to the printed card, and if so how? I ask because I foresee that I'll have to do some in the future.

Brian, Been looking for a reasonable / good cutter for a while, so I was quite taken by the red/black one you used. Bought one for myself. Thanks for the inadvertent hint ...

Tracklaying Tools Have progressed to the point where I am now laying some of the track. My method is as follows: Glue down the foam underlay (neat PVA is used). Place timber & bricks on the underlay while the PVA sets. Mark out the track (particularly the turnouts) on the underlay using a 1:1 scale printout of the layout area [photo below]. Using a bodger (nail or pin would do) mark the track centreline at all changes of geometry, plus turnout extremities & servo location. Remove printout and 'join the dots'! This gives me the required track plan on the baseboards. Lay each piece of track and mark locations for all droppers / wiring on both the rails and the underlay. Put sticker on each piece to designate it's location, including which rails are 'black' and 'red' wires (using the 'back to black' nomenclature). Drill all required wiring holes and holes for turnout servos. Solder all cables to individual track components. I'm leaving all these at 500mm, and will trim (or extend ...) as required later. Working along the track, place neat PVA on the underlay, feed the cables through the holes, and gently lay each piece of track. To keep the correct alignment, use a straight-edge for straight track and railway-curves for curved tracks [photos below]. Place timber & bricks on the track while the PVA sets, occasionally removing in the first hour or so to check / re-align the track using the straight-edge and railway-curves. So far this method is working for me. If anyone has any comments / observations / improvements I'd like to hear them. Typical Track Plan Section: Straight Edge (1-metre ruler) + Box of Railway Curves Typical Railway Curves

I tend to agree, but given the 'constraints' of the OP, I can't see any other way to do it! I'm not aware of any stations like the OP described (but there could be ...). All the ones I've seen have the ridges running perpendicular to the platform edge, and the side parallel to the platform edge ramped down. More like the photo I posted on Burton-on-Trent.

Dave, In which case, my understanding is that the columns and ridgelines gradually come together, with the 'valley' between the ridgelines gradually narrowing and becoming less deep. See sketch below. Platform edges are on the left & right of the diagram. At least this appears to be constructable.

Dave (?), I have the same problem to face when I get around to building the station for my layout; Burton-on-Trent south. In the photo below, you can see how the SB platform (on the right) curves towards the straight NB platform & bay (on the left). Notice how the right-most columns curve around, duplicating the curve of the platform edge My understanding is that the canopy overhang section remains the same, with the first support column at a constant distance from the track. I provided dimensions for this in my posting http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/138271-canopy-overhang/?p=3345863. The following extract from "A Pictorial Record of LMS Architecture", showing Wigan Wallgate station, seems to confirm this assumption. Again, notice how in the plan drawing the columns nearest to the platform edges maintain the same distance from the edge. I hope this helps. Let me know how you get on with the roof, as it may provide me with some useful tips and ideas!

Phil, Glad you liked the Servo drawing, prepared as always in Xara Designer Pro. I'm still using 'your' technical font, it just looks 'professional'. Got any others?? Yeah, the MegaPoints system does seem to be very good. I've got their 'servo starter pack' plus the DCC module. So far I've only explored the basic servo operation and corresponding LED lights, but very impressed. I need to get some actual layout installed before I can test the DCC module. It suits my 'keep it cheap and simple' approach (once you've shelled out for the controller ...), with the majority of the non-electronic components readily available from a number of sources.

Servo + Microswitch Installation In case anyone is interested in the servo installation method used in the previous post (and who have not looked in the MegaPoints Controller forum), here is a drawing of the installation: It uses the MegaPoints Controller 'recommended' aluminium channel from B&Q (other suppliers may stock ...) with my modifications to integrally support the microswitch (for frog power on electrofrog turnouts) and to 'clamp' the servo into the channel to prevent [? - we shall see ...] it coming loose. Currently, the servo is rock solid.

The Practice Layout - Some Details Servo Installation This turned out really well, with the ability to pre-assemble the servo and microswitch before installing under the baseboard. I just need to get the wires the right way round on the microswitch! Took me two attempts. Turnout Power This worked out as planned. One simple veroboard to provide the power to two turnouts (red / black power + green to the frog). Track Power & Baseboard Jumper This makes it easy to connect / disconnect individual tracks from power in cases of 'testing'. Also, the board can be made as long as needed for more tracks. However, the barrel jack plug / socket was not such a success. It's large and clumsy to install. Am looking for a suitable alternative. MegaPoints Network & Power Supply Jumpers This needs tidying up, and I'm looking at combining the DC power bus jumper with the MegaPoints power jumper (both are ~12v) and so a 4-way cable looks a good idea. That would leave the Network jumper (3-core) as a separate item. The MegaPoints boards were fairly easy to set up to. I just followed the YouTube video and got it all working as it supposed to.

The Practice Layout - Built Following on from my previous posting, and as if by magic, the practice layout is built: Top Side: Underside: The underside is much more cluttered due to me adding the servos and the MegaPoints controller cards (and associated power supply). However, at least 'most' of the construction methods went according to plan. Lessons learnt were: Don't put PVA glue under the switches! Bad idea. Took a lot of manually operating the turnout to get the switches 'un-stuck'. I only drilled pilot holes for the switch operating mechanism, thinking I could 'open these out' from underneath, the idea being to try and keep as much of the foam intact as possible (to prevent ballast falling through). Hmmm, well this was 'possible' but too much of a faff. In future I'll drill the full hole from above. I drilled only 6mm holes under the toe of the switches for the operation. This is 'enough', but only if your drilling is very accurate. Mine wasn't and I needed to open out one a bit. I can't complain though, it did go mostly to plan and I did learn a lot from the experience, which was the main purpose! And, yes, it does actually work! Trains move smoothly through the crossover.

The Practice Layout What with me being a bit of a beginner and all, I thought it appropriate that I build a bit of a practice layout to try out all my proposed ideas, theories, and construction methods. To that end I used some second-hand track and turnouts, that I had to hand, to build the following layout. As I am planning to go DCC, I plan to provide power to each and every section of track; and with 12 baseboards in Burton-on-Trent South that's a lot of track feeding. So, the practice layout needed to replicate this 'complexity'. The wiring would there be: And that's without the power to the turnout servos (to also operate the microswitches for frog switching). Still, if I can't do it on a practice layout, then I stand no chance on the main layout!

I agree with this reply. I had a quick look through "A Pictorial Record of LMS Architecture" and came across the attached diagram based on L&Y stations, although it does seem to be 'standard'. From the diagram: Canopy column to platform edge: 7'6" Canopy column to extent of canopy: 8'6" Overhang is therefore 1-foot.

Servo + Microswitch for frog polarity control at Double & Single Slips Having successfully installed my combined servo + microswitch at some turnouts, I now need to install the servos / microswitches at a double slip. In line with my preferred 'pre-assembly' approach, I've designed a twin combined servo + microswitch assembly for Peco double-slips, again using the MegaPoints recommended aluminium channel. I hope to get one built and installed soon.

The above captioned model railway exhibition has been added to the RMWeb calendar. Note that a free heritage bus service is being provided to allow visitors easy access to/from the Elsecar Heritage Railway special event "From the Home Front" also taking place on the same dates.

I really do need to keep an eye on this one. I'm also using HK-15178 servos with the PCB plugs .... Thanks for sharing your problems, it may prove useful to me in the future! In the meantime I'll be using the OFF/ON swtich on the power supply a little more frequently.

I too have been connecting / disconnecting servos with the board powered. Maybe I'd better stop that practice! My only concern is powering cycling electronics is also not considered god practice. Rocks and hard places come to mind ... Are your servos fitted with the PCB (black plastic) plugs? If so, I can't see how you could get a short from it, unless there were some 'stray' threads of wire about?

Sorry to hear about the MegaPoints controller problem(s). Any ideas of how it happened? Too much voltage to the board or a stray bare wire touching the board? I was under the impression that the boards are quite 'robust' under 'normal' operation.

Me hopes that doesn't happen to me! Will be very careful about shorting the controller boards. Them Alurailtech brackets look nice, but do seem to need quite a lot of space. I think I'll stick with my cheap-n-cheerful solution due to cost, adaptability, and space requirements.

Thanks for the clarification / explanation. Seems that it's going to be something I'll have to live with. I like that photo of the mass production of channels. I'll be doing something similar myself.

Just for completeness, I'll just add a diagram of my 'wiring' to the micro-switch and the turnout: If there are several turnouts in one place, the board can be easily extended to cope with more turnouts. I'm sure it can be done simpler, but I've gone for the over-the-top individual powering of all turnouts (not trusting the electrical abilities of fishplates).

Now that's something I hadn't considered. Ooops? In my 'testing' the servo arm hasn't moved anything like enough to contact the aluminium channel. Based on my assemblies, the servo would have to turn 90-degrees from the mid-point on either side. I didn't think a servo had 180-degrees of movement? I suppose it could happen if the mid-point was not correctly set, but I do take care to ensure the servo mid-point is with the arm vertically upwards. Would that avoid the issue you describe?

Regarding the 'clamping' of the servo, I'll be keeping an eye on my 'test' crossover installation to see how it behaves. With the M3 bolts tightened up, there doesn't seem to be any movement in the servo. I suppose the plastic moulding of the servo could 'relax' over time and make it come loose, but I hope not. Why use a micro-switch instead of the relay board? In my case (I'm not even going to attempt to reply 'generally' ...) the reasons were: Cost. A bit of aluminium channel (that I already needed), a small micro-switch and a bit of cable (that I already had). Easier wiring (I think). All wiring is 'at' the turnout itself, and so can be almost pre-assembled. And no need to provide power to a relay board. In reality, (1) was the over-riding reason. It's also something that I can understand.