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jamesg

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  1. jamesg

    More LEDs

    By jamesg,

    Very little work has been done on the layout recently. My focus instead has been on locomotives and rolling stock. After adding a firebox LED to Whitechapel a few weeks ago, I thought about adding a more conventional cab light to the Class 08. This is wired to the decoder in series with a resistor and placed in the cab in place of the speedometer.
     


     
    Quite pleased with the result, I went about adding an LED to the cab of the Hornby Sentinel as well. The Sentinel has the same type of decoder as Whitechapel, so it doesn't support functions - or so I thought until testing the pads on the PCB with a multimeter. The X9659 decoder used by the Sentinels is very similar to the R8249 decoder, which supports forward and reverse lighting and two additional functions. The location of each function on the PCB is included in the manual - DCC function 1 is at J9 and the common supply is J6 (you'll need a magnifying glass to find them). Very carefully soldering onto these pads, and hey presto! A controllable cab light.
     


     
    One last thing - I discovered derailments when rolling stock with different sizes of tension lock coupling are used in the same train. It looks like the hook on the larger coupling was forcing the smaller one off the track. I built some new narrow couplings without hooks out of plastic card and replaced some of the larger couplings with the smaller type. On a lot of Hornby wagon chassis, the large coupling is riveted in place. The rivet can be drilled through and the new coupling fixed with an M2x10 bolt and nut.
     


     
    Every wagon has either two Bachmann couplings or one Bachmann and one home made coupling, with all the home made couplings facing the same way - not a problem for Haroldston East as there's nowhere for wagons to be reversed.
  2. jamesg
    It's been a few weeks since the last entry and not much has happened on the layout. I just thought I'd share a picture of terrier 'Whitechapel' on a test track with the firebox LED lit. It's a nice novelty, but the colour isn't quite right and a flickering effect would be more realistic. It's bright enough to light some of the detail in the cab; I might add a crew as well.
     

     
    The next job will be rebuilding the control panel to the right of the controller. This has more controls than the one on the left, which pictured in its current state here.
     

     
    In addition to more 'levers', the panel on the right has a switch for selecting a programming track connected by banana plugs.
     
    Here's a photograph showing how the LED was fitted.
     

  3. jamesg

    Space for a Controller

    By jamesg,

    On Saturday, I decided that the layout needed a space to keep the DCC controller while not in use. There are five spaces between the wooden pillars along the front of the baseboard - the outer two are storage spaces for rolling stock, the next one in on each side is a switch panel and the one in the middle was empty. I rectified this late on Saturday by fitting a small sliding tray on wooden runners.
     

     
    Speaking of the switch panels either side of the controller - these are not complete at the moment (in fact, one hasn't been started), but they will replicate functions already provided by the DCC controller.
     
    I fitted some LEDs to the signal box yesterday. It doesn't have a proper interior, so the windows are covered with greaseproof paper. Someone has been busy decorating the trees by the station in time for Christmas (I wired these up about a week ago for Hornby's festive photograph competition).
     

     
    The terrier has no connection to the layout.
  4. jamesg

    Introducing the Layout

    By jamesg,

    Haroldston East is a layout that lives next to my desk. In fact, the removable fiddle yard runs along the back of the desk while attached to the layout. The layout measures about 6' wide by 1'4" deep and is built on one baseboard 8" high. The height is taken up by shelves for storing rolling stock and road vehicles not in use on the layout. The removable fiddle yard adds about 5' to the layout, giving plenty of room to run trains onto and off of the layout.
     

     
    The track plan is a little extravagant for a small station, featuring a double slip. The passenger platform is unusually situated beyond the loop, as this makes more room for shunting freight wagons. There were a few stations with similar arrangements. A locomotive, having brought a passenger train into the platform, must propel the stock out in order to run round, before propelling the stock back into the platform. Multiple units, which I hope will feature on the layout soon, don't suffer from this problem.
     
    Wiring is all DCC. Points are a mix of Peco insulfrog and electrofrog types. They are all animated by servo motors controlled from the DCC controller.
     
    At present, the track and basic scenery are complete. I still need to add the coal yard, some more trees and more low-relief buildings near the platform. The fiddle yard currently has just one track, but it has been designed for conversion to a cassette system for lengths up to 3'.
     
    The date for the layout isn't set exactly. The year is roughly 1960, but BR blue diesels and a Terrier appear from time to time. Here's a lineup of the regular locomotives on the layout; all Midland Railway or LMS types.
     

     
    Something the layout could do with is some more appropriate rolling stock - I'll keep a look out for some LMS van and open wagon kits. Apart from that, there are plenty of details to add that will keep me busy all Winter.
     
    Please let me know what you think of the layout so far in the comments.
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