wasdavetheroad

This is getting interesting and I need to explain the quarry line working. The quarries are at a lower altitude than the station and there is a steep graded section somewhere off the layout. I imagine the company loco as a 0-4-0 saddle tank propelling several small groups of wagons into the exchange sidings with those for the UP goods going into the left hand siding and those for the DOWN goods being left in the exchange loop. There is enough room for 6 wagons in the loop without fouling the left hand siding. The loaded wagons are collected by the evening goods trains and the empties arrive in the morning. The company loco collects the wagons and pulls them down the quarry line in larger groups because they are empty. Still problems with the sequence though as I did not realise the company loco would not be allowed to run around.

Thanks, how do get a topic moved?

Thanks, those diagrams are useful Here is a more complete track plan. OO scale, 16 foot baseboard, Track is Kato Unitrack HO, not laid yet as railway room under refurbishment. I am trying to keep things as simple as possible as my old hands just can't deal with the fiddly stuff anymore. I am going to try Dapol GWR square post home signals, at least they are lower quadrant and I can mod the finial. Maybe I can get away with just 4 of them. BTW the UP and Down are reversed. Penrith is now in the DOWN direction

Thanks for the info and yes, the yard would be shunted using the UP platform road as well. However as there was several miles of steep hill to the west apparently mineral trains hauled by the small goods engines would sometimes split the load and use a long siding in the goods yard as a refuge while they went back down the bank for the other half. Because of this there was also a water tank provided. I am going to use modellers licence to include some pre war trains for operational interest. I need to provide another diagram showing the complete layout with the quarry exchange loop and sidings behind the down platform

Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith 1950's ITG - I have not included all the track and the goods yard has 4 sidings plus an additional head shunt which is not on the inspirational original Troutbeck. . There is other track on the DOWN side but I wanted to clear up the UP starter position first

This will be part of my next layout. A passing loop on a single track branch line. The loops contain up and down platforms. There is also a small goods yard with maybe 3 pick up goods per day. My question is where to put the up starter semaphore. 'A' looks logical and 'B' probably dangerous if there are trains awaiting to depart the UP loop and the Yard. Maybe 'A' and another stop signal at 'X'?. The Yard will need a signal at 'C' and could this be a ground signal? I have now added a plain image of the current AnyRail plan. OO scale, just under 5 metres long and Kato Unitrack

If you find the Faller onboard batteries work well and are easy to charge I would consider just replacing the onboard speed control system with a RC one. This would mean the overhead wiring would be purely cosmetic, IMO avoiding a lot of hassle!. Question - what type of batteries are the Faller ones and what voltage is the motor? Question - how does the Faller system steer the vehicle? is there a continuous magnetic strip under the road and what about junctions?

Somewhat similar to Troutbeck on the CKPR. In the middle of nowhere but with a bigger goods yard than you would expect, sited where your refuge siding is. There is a long steep bank to the west and in the olden days the small locos tasked with heavy mineral trains would split the train and run 2 portions to Troutbeck. There was a long siding in the goods yard that could be used as a refuge. There was also a passing loop added and 2 platforms. Dualing to the East came later. This is my inspiration for my new layout, present name the BIG train set. For play value (operational interest) I have added another loop and some simple exchange sidings for the fictional 'mineral branch'. Historical bridge weight restrictions allow for double heading on long freights and excursion trains. I am also planning on turning the fiddle yard into a terminus/exchange station, again to increase play value. Two layouts in one.

You just use the same procedure as the original binding of the Rx to the Tx Switch off the Tx Select the Selecta number you want to bind to Switch on the Rx, the LED flashes for about 15 seconds followed by rapid flashing Switch on the Tx whilst holding down the bind button The Rx should flash slowly a few times and then come on solid, The Rx is now bound to the new Selecta number

There is a way of getting a true consist for 2 locos with a Tx-22 but only one consist per Tx. Basically you need 2 Rx's which are factory fresh, ie not bound to your Tx or with a software reload also works. The Rx's are set to the Selecta with Tx change option. For the consist you must set both locos to Selecta position 6 as this overwrites the position used in the 'factory' for testing. Then after speed matching you set each loco to a different 2nd Selecta position. for example I have 2 Hornby 2P 4-4-0's. One bound to S4 and S6 and the other bound to S5 and S6. The locos are controlled independently with S4 and S5 and S6 controls both locos as a consist. Obviously S6 can only be used to control the consist and no other locos should be bound to it.

You might try a small dab of Copydex on the underside here and there plus a track pin or two. If your layout remains level it should be OK and the track is easy to lift. I have 'blue foam' baseboards and drill 0.8 mm holes in the track (Kato HO) then use Sainsbury's finest Korbond dressmaker pins, they stick surprisingly well to the blue foam

That's what I found as well so all my tension locks are being converted to bogie mounted and all freight stock to Hornby wheels and medium tension locks if possible. Medium type tension locks! I like the train set look

All the control signals to the loco are via Bluetooth link. the loco power can be from the rails or a battery or a combination of both. I tested an earlier BlueRail board and it even switched automatically from rail to battery power and vice versa. the battery was in effect a giant stay alive but retaining full control of the loco. ps - as I do not need sound so I use Deltang equipment plus some Lemon receivers for radio controlled uncoupling.

Thanks everyone, I think I understand it now and I don't have to add the extension leads etc until the new garage side door is fitted

That's an interesting suggestion. I have tested the output of the PSU's and they are stable at just below and just above 12V. I will have a go at extending the 12V output with good capacity wire, probably cable and check the voltage drop and whether it will still fire a pair of point motors. Thanks again

Yes there are systems available. this one from Tam Valley using Bluerail boards can control any DCC decoder apparently including sound ones http://bluerailtrains.com/tam-valley-dcc/

The layout is in a converted garage and has a supply laid on, the attached images may help. the armoured cable is about 14mm diameter. Power needs in the garage are 1 or occasionally 2 x 1Kw fan heaters,1 used for frost protection and one to 'top up' if needed 2 x 4ft florescent tubes and 1 bulb with switches on the wall. Four switched wall sockets and 3 extra lights from one of the sockets. I want to add the 2 power supplies . There is no track power as the layout will be radio control/battery powered locos. No idea what the numbers mean on the circuit breakers. I think the 7Kw electric shower pinched the cooker circuit!.

I find elektrical trickery confusing so can I do this without burning the layout room down. Present situation - I have 3 additional 240V LED lights wired in parallel to a switched 13A socket using 3A cable, needing about 0.5A?, works great I want to change this to add 2 x 12V switched power supplies for point motor control, one in the scenic section and one in the fiddle yard. The point motors are Kato with Kato passing contact switches. They run on 12V DC. a maximum of 2 motors will be switched simultaneously. The 2 power supplies I have are; A BT router one, input 240V AC 300mA, output 12V DC 1.5A An APD? one, input 240V AC 850mA, output 12V DC 1.5A I have tested the BT one and it fires 2 point motors no problem. I plan the connections to be from the 13A socket to a 4 way 13Amp individually switched power strip and from 3 plugs on there to the lights and the power supplies. Advice on problems please and what cable will I need to connect the power supplies which are up to 5 metres from the sockets.

Thanks for the advice, I read through the posts again and checked the turnout finding there is a 20mm straight section between the end of the point blades and the end. that gives 40mm of straight built in and I think I can add an additional 60mm section giving 100mm. All the stock will have medium Hornby tension locks fitted. I actually like the 'train set' appearance

Confused with this reverse curve problem. This is part of a layout I am designing which uses Kato HO scale 490mm radius turnouts in the fiddle yard. Am I right that there will be problems with wagons/coaches traversing the section above the red 100mm ruler. The wagons will be mostly 4 wheel and the coaches Mk1's and Staniers

Beautiful, lets have a look under the bonnet

I have used Irfanview for years. It is very comprehensive and you can download it for non commercial use for free.

When I used to do military vehicle modelling I formed rivet patterns by drilling on plasticard and then using a old ball point pen to press the pattern into thin card. I suppose it would work with metal foil as well?

I remember a famous modeller doing that at an exhibition, 'when is the next train due' I asked. 'in 45 minutes' he replied. 'nice trees' i said, backing away rapidly As for scale speeds, 31 seconds around the UP Main is scale 60 mph on my layout, everything is simple after that. I cheat of course, unfitted freights are about 60 seconds not 74.4 seconds

Have a look at these magnetic connectors from Micron radio control Micron Radio Control : Power Connectors Also search for Bahoma connectors, they used to be commonly available in different sizes