Imustbemadatmyage

No room for a New York skyline this time?

After a while where I was helping my wife after her knee replacement, I have restarted work. I have got the cork down and the track laid. The droppers are in place and terminated in small choc blocks. I still have the main bus to install, but it’s too hot to do anything more today!

I have taken my first steps to building this layout now! My progress was delayed because SWMBO has had a new knee and has needed a lot of TLC. 

I transferred my track plan to lining paper, leaving a generous margin for slight adjustment and then cut it out. Again leaving a generous margin, I transferred it to a sheet of 2.5mm cork sheet and cut that out also. 

As the cork sheet was tightly rolled, I am now going to leave it a few days to flatten out before fixing it to the baseboard. 

Which locomotive do you have? N gauge has very little room and I had a Dapol Mallard which, I was told, would only have room for a particular Gaugemaster chip. Others were too big. I returned it as it burnt out on its first run and another chip made no difference. 

With a different locomotive I chipped it with a Zimo decoder (they do really small ones) and it runs a dream with my Prodigy controller. 

35 minutes ago, spikey said:

Not a lot wrong with that

Many thanks 

Many thanks for all your comments. I am now managing to solder fairly well, as this picture of the underneath of code 55 n gauge rail shows (I hope!)

Possibly OT but I have the dc version of the alpha mimic board and the leds on that are also the switches. It is ridiculously easy to set up, being plug and play. The dcc version (which I considered, but decided that my small dcc layout didn’t need the complexity of dcc points) appears to be even easier. 

Thanks. Hadn’t seen that on the website, although Chris at DCC suggested it so I thought it must be ok

Went for a lovely drive in the Yorkshire Dales the other day and my self driving car arrived at Settle! I couldn't resist wandering down the sidings and happened to notice DCC Concepts.  A quick dive inside found me buying some Cobalt Omega point motors and a Cobalt Alpha switch. The manual suggests a special power supply using two wall transformers wired together.  This arrangement looks a little bit unsafe to me and I was advised that simply using one power supply and not connecting the common terminal in the middle was easier and cheaper.  Has anyone else tried this and with what result?

16 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Are we attempting soldering to DCC Concepts stainless steel rail by any chance?

Definitely not.  It's Peco N code 55 flexi. I realise that soldering to stainless steel is harder. 

34 minutes ago, ROSSPOP said:

What flux are you using??

Dcc concepts flux. Definitely for this type of work. NOT plumbing flux! 

I have a 50W iron with variable temperature settings (Atten SA50). Despite using plenty of flux I seem to be unable to get the solder to flow well enough to reliably connect droppers to a rail. Any suggestions as to the best temperature setting to use? It goes from 200 to 500 C

What a shame - they looked so easy to wire up! Many thanks for the information. Looks like I will have to rethink my plan.

This may be a silly question but I am finally getting round to starting my first small digital layout. I am considering using Cobalt IP digital point motors but can't find a reference to using accessories in my prodigy Express 2 instructions.  Does this mean that the controller can't operate them?

1 hour ago, Crosland said:

 

What era, livery? 

Bampton Grange is in GWR green so presumably era 3

I am setting out a small n gauge layout which will incorporate some sidings and an inglenook. I have been looking for a shunter which will go with my dcc Grange class locos. I imagine that it would have to be a Jinty or similar but I can't find a dcc one. Any suggestions gratefully received. 

You could always use the generic Yorkshire name for any West Yorkshire place - Cleckhuddersfax!

12 hours ago, Graham Radish said:

Get one of these at 18VDC that way you are future proofed for life:

 

They are adjustable from 13.5v to 19.2v

 

The one you posted can easily get destroyed by surge current of the point motors.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-3-3V-5V-9V-12V-24V-36V-48V-Universal-Regulated-Switching-Power-Supply-LED-PSU/151886747221?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=451076083333&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Many thanks. One ordered today 

2 hours ago, WIMorrison said:

Code 55 is definitely small scale and raises challenges that are nothing to do with DCC

 

i would suggest the you you look at live frogs from the start, especially as you want this to be a learning experience. They will provide much better running for the layout and best gain the knowledge now.

I agree with it being small scale but any layout will have to be n gauge as I have very limited room. I thought it better to start in the scale I will eventually use. BTW, my post does mention unifrog points, so I assumed that everyone would realise that I intended to use live frogs. 

I am going to do the same - ie start small. I have built a baseboard (810 x 405 mm) and laid out a small trial track plan for it. I intend to use dcc control with unifrog points controlled by switches on a mimic panel. The whole is using n gauge code 55 flexitrack. (See my thread on boxfiles and microlayouts).

This will be specifically a “training layout “ (pun intended) so I can make my beginner’s mistakes on a small scale. 

Thanks for all the replies. Where do I get power supplies from? 

Looks good to me.  

It’s only a small (810x405) layout with 4 points. Surely it will be enough?

Rummaging in my parts box, I found this. Is it suitable for powering point motors with a CDU in the line?

Proposed layout with Peco code 55 flex track and Unifrog points. The right hand side of the layout is a 5:3:3 suitable for an inglenook. The lower lines will provide space for sheds, coaling etc. 

I couldn’t resist these coal wagons as they are all from collieries near me. Old Roundwood was about a mile away.