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RobinofLoxley

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  1. RobinofLoxley

    The missing link

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    Well I have no idea if this works, but I will find out later. I tried to link from my new google 6a to the blog and failed miserably. So now I'm trying to it on my PC, at least I have the link pasted in but I dont think this is anything like the most elegant way to get a video link even if it works.
     
     
    https://youtu.be/VQk8MhyOU6g
  2. RobinofLoxley

    Very very overdue for an update

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    I don't stop work completely on the layout in summer but on sunny days it's too hot in the loft unless I use the AC or go up very early or very late. I have other things to do as well. 
     
    But come September and track laying is in full swing. I have noticed that my track laying skills have improved massively which given how much I have laid shouldn't be a surprise but it's months since I drilled a hole in the wrong place.
     
    So progress has been made and for me this means the through station loosely - very loosely based on Wolverhampton is now finished and the 2 main lines are heading away with all point motors working, all track powered up and working, and only a couple of areas of concern for operations. 
     
    So I can run trains on a shuttle basis between stations; having 4 platforms each and some sidings between, quite a lot of possibilities exist. At this point it's passenger services only - a legacy of what I acquired in the past.
     
    To prove it works I logged 2 phones onto the z21 today and used one to run the layout and the other to make a clip of a passenger service run from one station to the next. There are no luxuries like platforms yet, this is just to show the perspectives and blocks that arise from having a loft full of roof support structure as well as a model railway.
     
    Probably I will fail to attach the video file and it will finish up added to a separate entry! In fact I have to go and find out how to link to a yootoobe item. 

  3. RobinofLoxley
    Winter is a bad time to be in a loft. I could heat it, but that would be a bit wasteful, although not as wasteful as a Patio Heater, a Chimenea, or those radiant heaters that are so fashionable for cafes seeking to extend their outdoor comforts. On a windy day the place is draughty enough to be uncomfortable, and I might even be unlucky enough to get a nice dose of PM 2.5 via any of the woodburners installed in nearby houses. But still there are days. A good dose of sunshine and provided the air temperature is up to 8 or 9C the conditions in the loft are quite tolerable for maybe 4 hours even in mid January. But I don’t need or plan to spend that long up there, as I can do some work downstairs making trips up only to check some aspect of the fitting of a project, as I am in the building phase of the layout and will be for next 12 months I should think.
     
    The main winter project is anything related to the overhead section that creates a figure of 8 layout. As we know trains can’t manage massive gradients and construction of gradient sections need a lead-in and lead-out of decreasing severity so the transition from flat to tilt is smooth.  So the sections in OO gauge have to be quite long having transitions with less gain of height than average. I tested trains on the planned gradient and being a mock-up it was more of a challenge than the real model so I’m optimistic. I also planned in longer transitions on the rising side, both sides of the layout.
     
    Then there is the complexity of fixed structures in the loft which means that the viaduct work has to be threaded between trusses. Therefore the section of viaduct I’m working on requires a long straight section, then a curved one with a reverse section in it, then a girder viaduct model section, before more curves and even a set of points. Those last are on the level, although I think they would work on a small gradient I’m not risking it.
    So over the worst of the winter I have built a series of sections of the overhead, based on ply with walls and other brickwork made from foamboard sections with brick paper laminated to them. I wouldn’t pretend that I’m building to exhibition standard because the time and effort equation doesn’t permit it at this stage where track support is fundamental to the success of the build but the quality of decor over such long lengths has been skimped on, to get it built this century. Later, when the layout is running I plan to build some set pieces to high standard when it doesn’t matter so much how long it takes.
     
    If I got any really warm days I put way the building and go back to track laying with point motor installations. I broke a point last week and I don’t have a spare, just knocked the tie bar out. It’s still working but I can’t afford to leave it as replacement later would be a nightmare.
     
    So the pictures show the viaduct being built and one shows the track section I’m working on, which will be my through station. I have to take great care to ensure the tracks are absolutely parallel through this section as I will prefabricate the platforms and if I build them the wrong width that’s one thing but the sections have to be rectangular otherwise the whole thing becomes too difficult. Platform setup in my opinion is one of the hardest parts of general modelling because that gap needs to be spot on and in relation to scale the more clearance is left the more ridiculous the gap is in scale terms. I’m not a perfectionist when it comes to scale by any means, but if your stations are the showpieces of the layout it’s an area to spend time and effort on.
    I don’t know how other people have attacked the problem of maintaining track power on a viaduct. As I am committed to having droppers on all principal track sections, the question was how to handle that where there is a closed viaduct with walls both sides, so no access to the underside. I decided to fit long (up to 9cm droppers), long enough to pass through corresponding baseboard holes. Being hidden the holes can be large, I had no problem placing the droppers which are solid copper wire, through the holes to interface with the rest of the power supply system below, having planned the holes to correspond with the brick plinths of each section. Planning, planning, more planning........
    The pictures show only a placing in position to check all is well at an intermediate stage in the building, I will do a bit of tidying up – those bridge arches are quite awful.
    But generally I have made a lot of progress and the viaduct section will be completed by the end of winter at this rate.




  4. RobinofLoxley

    Its easy to do

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    Said a lot of times in the Skills section of the site. And no doubt raised a smile a few times as modellers struggle to carry out some of the mundane jobs of modifying stock to fit the new purpose or layout scenario.
     
    My own little cameo in hacking models about is a common one, the conversion of old ringfield tender drives to DCC. There a lot of stuff on the net about this, most of it horrible and unwatchable. And none appeared to fit my first case, a King Class unit, with electrical connection on DC achieved by using the motor chassis to carry power, with only a single cable from the tender connection to one of the brush holders. Still, not that difficult. This type are supposed to be aided by using nylon screws to break the power connection from clip via screw into the block, however in this case the screws were far too large, and had a very fine thread, so that even to cut a new profile by screwing into the threaded block was impossible.
     
    So I decided to ask the audience and posted a query on Modelling skills and tips. I waited and waited and waited, and eventually a poster name of Armand supplied the answer, good man, he has been helpful to me before. Solder the red wire from the decoder onto the gear retaining clip. So simple and yet I have never come across this suggestion anywhere; at first I thought it wouldnt work, thinking that the clip fitting over the gear stubs wasnt tight enough for eletrical contact, but overlooking that at its apex the clip makes a firm contact with the block in two places. So the next stage was easy; cut the tag off the black cable and solder to the black lead from the decoder; solder the grey and orange leads and solder to each brush retaining clip, and the red as mentioned to the gear retaining clip. Two minutes the lot.
     
    So back to the problem of isolating the brush retainers while employing the original screws. The internet says to make some plastic isolating washers, which I did; now one of the screws was no longer long enough, and further, there was a possible connection where the screw passed through the U-shaped hole in the retainer. Again, never seen this mentioned as an issue. With nothing to replace the screws, the only option I could see was to enlarge the U so the screw would pass through easily without touching, which needed a 5mm drill. I though the retainers might break at this point but they didnt, and using a single plastic washer between the screw head and retainer, I was able to fit everything together and it passed the continuity test - wowser.
     
    So I just taped up the black to black open joint and all the remaining leads, which may one day get to control an uncoupler.
     
    So now the decoder is in position, the tender moulding fitted easily over the top on test but its left open until I can put it on the programming track in a week or so. One down, ten to go. And so far, side by side, they are all different in some degree. Will be interesting to see if the technique works universally.
     
    Photos show the finished conversion, soldering decoder to retainign clip (poor), use of plastic 'washers' for insulation, and the retaining clip with red soldered lead in place. Juts the pic of the blown decoder to come




  5. RobinofLoxley

    Cold weather work

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    It's no use pretending I spend hours at a time in the loft in the winter. If there's any sun it's warm enough to spend some time there and milder days are ok anyway. I have now crossed to the second arm of the layout where I'm planning the most complex track laying I will have to do. It's a through station with 2 island platforms and a central relief line - 5 tracks in all.
     
    As it's a through station I don't need to create access from all lines to all platforms - it's basically 2 split lines one each way with the relief line allowing trains to pass in either direction, more or less. The platforms are straight with tapers at each end and what is exercising the brain at the moment is how to ensure that I can maintain the tracks parallel so that the platform sections can be rectangular and pre-assembled without creating gauging troubles. Not just interference by stock on the platform edges but the opposite when too much clearance is built in. 
     
    True there won't be sight lines for that but I will know.
     
    The pics show the track roughly pinned in place. There are 2 tracks at the rear that should be elevated so don't need to be clearly parallel to the lower track. 
     
    The other problem is that the roof trusses aren't uniform so the whole space is more of a parallelogram than a rectangle making it hard to line stuff up.
     
    But my layout building has improved a lot so I feel more confident. Things like point motors slot in perfectly first time now. 
     
    I'll have to add the pictures later - the software won't behave at the moment@
  6. RobinofLoxley

    The illusion of progress part 2

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    After posting yesterday I realised that given the perspectives in the photos no-one would have any idea what I was talking about, so I have included two side-on photos that roughly line up.
     
    The station approach comprises two parallel tracks with all platform access so in certain circumstances simultaneous arrival and departure is possible. The point at the left in photo 1 is a Hornby Express point and I used existing stock to maintain track gauge at Setrack standard, because of the Setrack curves that are in widespread use here, The other points and crossover are Streamline. The next point gives Headshunt access, the third gives access to the shortened reversing loop. It’s only intended to use the loop for locos as there are no turntables on the layout. The reverse loop track is the first time that I bent a Flexitrack into an S-curve and it looks good.  I also replaced some reverse curves ( 2 x R606) with more gentle flexitrack and its an improvement.
    What the long perspective photos do show is any imprecision in laying long sections of straight track. The main lines at the rear of both photos run for about 15 feet and over that distance some wiggles have crept in – they look worse as not all the track was pinned when I took the photos. I made a mistake in using only track gauges and not straight edges with them, now corrected. I got some aluminium angle sections from a DIY shop and they will be in regular use from now on.


  7. RobinofLoxley

    The illusion of progress

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    The illusion of progress is what I should have called my last blog entry, quite a while ago. Summer in any case is a time when I temporarily abandon modelling for the outdoors as my allotment and specifically my plant breeding (Hemerocallis or daylilies) takes over. But in autumn there is a nice period when I only need 3-4 hours a week of gardening time and so it’s back to the loft.
     
    What time I did have was spent sorting out the snags with what I had just laid. I did foresee some troubles, and the major one was that some locos couldn’t negotiate the tight curves and indeed reverse curves associated with the station entrance. After a lot of testing I had to admit defeat and decided I would have to rip up all the station approach trackwork and re-lay it. The problem was how I would do it without sacrificing platform length, as I decided to use a labyrinth of Setrack points to gain the distance associated with the 22.5 degree turn compared with only 12 degrees for Peco points. In some situations the more gradual angles work well but in this particular space, not. I was also concerned that I was going to lose loco parking sidings but as I redesigned the whole area I realised I could fit in one headshunt accessible from all lines and it can be a full trains' length.
     
    So all in all I had to relocate 12 point motors and a lot of track. I already had the points I needed in stock but they will be missing for later parts of the project and will have to be replaced; the Setrack points will never be used and finish up being sold, modified as they are.
     
    I think the new layout looks quite good in the end, and I only lost 5cm off two of the platform tracks, while gaining more on two others. The length is critical to having and 5 coaches minimum per track, with the loco uncoupled at the buffer end and eventually another loco coupling up at the other without fouling the points, as there are no reliefs anywhere with the 1-2-1 track configuration. But better still, the more temperamental locos navigated every combination of point setting without problems. There were one or two hesitations at very low speeds. The worst snag I had to deal with was a dodgy soldered connection to a point right in the middle of the labyrinth, but fortunately I was able to reach enough of the joint from above to get an extra dab of solder onto the dropper joint, and bingo. So while I say no progress, in fact I have passed the point I was at in May as every piece of track and every turnout configuration have had 2 locos through them at least twice. I will be running full trains tomorrow but in terms of snags I have always found with steam era locos they always run better, in terms of track holding, when they are pulling a train.
     
    A few details about track laying. I have used a very thin, 2mm closed cell foam underlay of a building quality, just under the track. Each piece now has just a single, low tack glue dot attached so they don’t wander, with track pins keeping the sections in place once added. Where there are slight variations in level from one board to the next, I catered for it by inserting an extra layer of foam on the low side. On the old DC layout I used 6mm foam and while it had fantastic cushioning more than required, it was a pain to work with. I’m very happy with the new material, while it doesn’t raise the track quite to prototype height, it’s quite close, and it will be easy to use for superelevation should I decide to do it on the long curves, and decision time for that is coming up.
    All my points are the so-called insulated frog. The Setrack were anyway, and my small stock of streamline was also, not a conscious decision on my part. However there is now a lot of material on the subject of live frog points on RM web and personally I couldn’t see any advantage. I have painted some of the guard rails a metallic colour, it’s not right and I will have to redo them, but this seemed a simple solution and overall I have avoided adding frog juicers or something similar. Although the layout is large and that brings complexity I don’t intend to bring anything that is unnecessary!!!! For a bit of amusement (of the reader, not me) I have included a photo of the under-board wiring. I am in an intermediate phase where I am running direct DCC power but at some point I’m going to install detectors - current sensing type. In order to do this I will have to re-route all the power cables on one side of the power bus into the CS modules. I didn’t do it right from the start as I was worried it would be hard to troubleshoot with the detectors in place and passing current but not in use, but everything under the boards is connected using Waygo 5-way connectors in daisy chains and I will be able to reroute them to the CS modules with just a few extra cable sections. Looks like a mess but I think it’s quite effective. I haven’t had any problems at all with cables and connectors, only with a few dry soldered dropper joints, dating from when my soldering iron wasn’t getting hot enough.
     
    I have also adopted a different approach to wiring the accessories. In order to reduce the difficult wiring while lying underneath the layout, I prewired the decoders out to connecting blocks with larger terminals. The DR4018 accessory decoders have tricky connectors and as the outputs arent protected, one wire in the wrong place and thats an output blown. The wiring loom is what can be seen to the right of the photo.
     
    Anyway, I have reached a good place now and I will carry on with track related activities while the loft stays warm enough; that's usually up until Christmas and then it depends on the weather. I have planned that in January I will build all the elevated sections, which can be done on the dining room table with occasional forays to the garage for painting and cutting.


  8. RobinofLoxley
    It’s been quite a long time since my last posting, or at least it feels that way. I have reached a small milestone with the completion of what I will call phase 1 of the layout comprising most of one side of the loft, which is the top part of the track plan as I laid it out. If some of the track looks slightly out of line in the pictures, it is because alignment is only maintained by the droppers on each rail through the holes drilled in the baseboard. Where appropriate the tracks hold their gauge properly although in this case we are talking setrack gauge as I reuse track from the previous layout. Track will be pinned where necessary to keep sections straight.
     
    The track needs to be tested and some may be slightly concerned about how much is laid without much testing. In the distance the 56XX has been running but as the track is not fixed, I havn’t moved the control pins of the point motors (MTB MP1’s ) into their final positions, meaning stock can’t run over them at the moment. Before I get to that I have to connect all the droppers to their busses and wire up the point motors. I had a few problems with my chosen setup, using Digikeijs DR4018’s. I didn’t realise how careful I was going to have to be wiring them, as it seems to be easy to blow individual outputs if only a hair gets across the terminals, so each unit I have bought so far has only 7 functional outputs now instead of 8. Still I have devised a protocol for wiring them and with about 70 to install altogether I will get plenty of practice.
     
    The other side of track testing is not just to ensure power continuity but to see what track elements cause problems for the rolling stock, and in this part of the layout, there are bound to be a few as I have installed a very challenging station throat. I am sure the 56XX will sail through everything towing a few carriages, but my so far only DCC converted loco is a Modified Hall with a very light pony truck. Whether that will go round the switch corners is open to question. I’m going to start testing with the PM’s controlled by DCC through the accessory bus and DC power through the track bus which is entirely separate.
     
    The nearest part of the layout will be a 4-road terminus station. There is parallel access so inprinciple trains will eb able to leave and arrive at the same time. There are two loco storage roads that can only be accessed from two platforms. The track runnign diagonally across the layout in front of the station complex, as seen in the last photo, is a loop line, which will allow locos to reverse out of the station and run round the loop back to the station facing the opposite way, this will be a mainly steam age operation obviously. The station tracks are fairly long and while I havnt done precise calculations yet, should allow 5-6 coach trains depending on stock. That depends where the outgoing loco will finish bearing in mind there is a steam loco up at the buffers. It will get interesting at some point.



  9. RobinofLoxley

    Two blogs in a week, whats happenning?

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    Having a relatively large area to work in means that when it comes to scenery a fairly industrial approach may be needed. This week I have been working on the backscene, which in MM comprises 3 sides of individually fabricated boards 60cm wide with cut-outs to accommodate the trusses. There are 23 along the sides - the long chimney wall element was saved from the previous layout although once I had removed it I could no longer get it back into position with the baseboards in place. For the original backscene I had selected the Guagemaster landscapes as an economical way of covering the distance involved, and along the sides I decided to use the same product as that kept the same height all the way.
     
    What I had forgotten was how difficult I found it the first time, to glue the backscenes to the backing boards. To be kind, the paper isnt really adequate and I'm sure many people have panicked when the print starts to bubble and blister. Fortunately in my case, the backscene really is back, behind and beyond everything and not exposed to close up view. But I did also learn something. Having painted on a thin layer of slightly diluted PVA (OK quality from Wilko said to be suitable for woodworking) and laid the cut section of backscene print onto the baseboard, I found that by continually 'polishing' the bubbled-up sheet, while the blisters would keep coming, after about 10 minutes hard work the blisters would start to disappear. There might even be a few creases at this point. I then laid the boards face up covered with kitchen towel weighted down - I have slate placemats but books would do, and left them overnight. By the morning most of the blisters had gone, and the effect from a distance was perfectly acceptable. I could do 2-3 boards a day like this, so about another week should see that job finished. Photos below show the progress from board to finished article.





  10. RobinofLoxley

    What a lot of track!

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    This entry is at the request of a couple of people from layout threads. I did post trial track plans last year and the one I have posted here is as near to what i am building as makes no difference. The blocks on the plan mark the position of roof trusses, although the plan assumed that they are in line when actually they are out, so as you move from left to right the real position of subsequent trusses is slightly below the last one, accruing a significant distance over 12 baseboard sections. I didnt find this out when building the previous layout!
     
    The position of all these trusses imposes some restrictions of layout. It is just possible to thread second and third radius parallel tracks between them on a right angle or semicircle but no significant feature like a station can be accommodated easily unless the track runs at 90 degrees to the trusses. I want to have some nice curves but these will be restricted to the rising track running along the front of the 'top' half of the layout to a viaduct section on the left. 
    The terminus station on the left is raised, so the track along the bottom edge of the plan rises about 5cm to the junction then continues a bit higher at the station, and also the viaduct.
     
    The end to end run is about 25 metres.
     
    The through station is based on Wolverhampton High Level, which I have decided has already had its track approaches remodelled to eliminate the low level station while retaining the structure of the station as it was c. 1960, which I am going to try and model, or at least the facade, in the future. When I looked at archive photos of the station I thought it had 5 through tracks, which isnt correct, but I have left it the way I built it on my first layout. 
     
    I have used mostly setrack and code 100 flexi some of which dates back more than 25 years, but having studied more track plans over the last year, and acquired some peco points, I decided to change the plan in the station area utilising streamline points. This may have been an inadvertant stroke of genius, as test laying on the upper half showed that the trusses were a bit closer than on plan (the wonky building I guess) and the station approach had to be modified to fit it in, with some loss of platform width. The reduced track separation using the peco should I hope enable all 7 tracks to fit in the available space. If not, the central through track in the station may have to go.
  11. RobinofLoxley

    Progress, mostly forwards

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    Well, winter time means cold, and that means difficult working conditions either in the loft, which is cool but tolerable on the warmer days, or in the garage, which seems to be colder than outside on the warmer days, but tolerable for building baseboards that can be left for glue or paint to dry and work done in stages.
     
    Anyway, the last of the 26 baseboards was completed on 9 March and since then I have been tying the power bus connections together from board to board. Two buses, one for track power and other for accessories, plus 2 sets of holes drilled to carry auxiliary power or communications cables through from one baseboard to the next.
     
    The main problem has been that the house is ridiculously out of square. Victorian property OK but this is Bryants 1990's and we are talking maybe 1 foot or more. Maybe you can see that there are small overlaps in the positioning of successive boards - well they are all perfectly rectangular but the trusses are sightly offset to each other so the boards finish up needing to be offset to maintain position between trusses. This is the second layout but due to the different constructional method employed for the first, the offset wasnt so obvious as now. I will hide it a bit when scenery is installed. 
     
    With the lights just turned on the pace looks a bit gloomy but once they get warmed up its quite well lit.
     
    The layout is in a U-shape. The ends are one baseboard separate from each other so that there is room for 2/3rd radius parallel tracks to make a full turn each side and me to squeeze my sylph like figure through the gap.
     
    Now waiting for some point motors to arrive so I can really get into the track laying!
     



  12. RobinofLoxley

    Coming along

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    Well a couple of weeks have gone by and I have managed to finish some more boards so that the 'Apex' of the U shape of the layout is now complete. However I ran out of batten timber. I am now approximately half way though the board building process - 23 required plus two 'bridging' sections at the base of the U. Each one has to be built and slotted in individually, and as the roof timbers dont line up neither do the boards when they are in place. More on that later.
     
    The boards sit on brackets screwed to the roof timbers. The eagle eyed might notice that the visible support bracket is a different height, I have lowered the entire layout about 5cm compared to the old one- while I cant sit upright under the boards anymore I can reach the undersides comfortably while lying on my back. When im sure I wont have to take them out again, I can screw the baseboard sides direct into the roof timbers. Each board is modular and can be disconnected easily from those either side.

  13. RobinofLoxley

    Board by board

    By RobinofLoxley,


    Layout building
    So this is my first blog post. I returned to the hobby about 5 years ago and built a make-mistakes-and-learn DC layout using mostly the 25 year old track and rolling stock from when the kids and I put track together on the loft floor.
    The first layout had highs and lows. I built the main station across the centre of the loft and carried the main running lines outside the further of the two A frame structures, both of which resulted in massive access problems and were the main reason I decided to dismantle and rebuild. So that was the lows; the highs were that I got 4 trains in motion at once, two main line and two yard and shunting activities. I had a lot of fun with the electrics.
    I built up the track base and rolling stock mainly through auction purchases. Just a choice. So at dismantling time I had 12 BR steam locos, either ex GWR or LMS, running through my main station which I imagined as Wolverhampton High Level rebuilt in the 1950’s not the 60’s to justify both kinds of stock running through what would have been purely LMS infrastructure. There aren’t many public domain photos of the old station and from the ones that I could obtain, I had to do some guesswork; as far as I know there still isn’t a Signal Box plan of Wolverhampton published. So I had two island platforms and a through line between, so 5 tracks. Only later I found that actually there were three through platforms plus the through line, what I saw as a continuous run was actually 2 short platforms, probably goods and shed access. But you can’t actually see that from the photos.
    So the same station plan was transferred to the new track plan mistake and all, and forms the central, through station of a Terminus to Terminus plan with the possibility to run past both, and back to the through station. So it’s a roundy with 2 Terminus stations or an end to end with a roundy bit. I designed it with automation in mind, yes I'm going DCC, based on a free track plan. I will post the layout next time.
    Below are some general views of my baseboard building in the loft. You get used to all the timberwork in the way, after a while. What I have to do is prefabricate each board section, with several checks of fitting, a bit like a Tailor. Each baseboard sits on blocks screwed to the timberwork frame of the loft.  There will be 23 individual sections plus two bridging sections at the chimney end that join the two sides together. I am at board 6 at the moment. I have prewired each board with two buses, and a distributor feed for connecting droppers to the power bus. They will form a daisy chain. I hope no soldering underneath!



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