Newbie2020

Hi everyone, Wasn't sure where to put this post but here goes. I've done the standard wiring ' adaptations' to the Peco electrofrog points -cutting the factory soldered wires and putting droppers across further up. But the Y point seems to be different form the factory with no factory soldered wires to remove! DO I need to do anything to these or just connect the frog and go?? Clive

Busy underneath the baseboard this week. Bus cable for PD2 now installed and the parts of track that are laid for PD2 are all connected and working - checked all the point frogs too and they were all spot on! The PM74 lights up like a Christmas tree! Programming track is out as a late Birthday present arrived today in the shape of a Bachmann Class 37, had to get it programmed and give it a test run!! @HarlequinYou were right! Holding the phone Horizontal makes it much better! Tomorrows jobs include more track laying and a trip to my joiner friend to use his fancy saws to make some supports for the rest of the incline and to support the baseboard for Lyneworth on the upper level. Clive

Power district 3 now connected and working so thought Id test the incline with a little bit of steam! The Dapol Large Prairie made it look easy! The Dapol Mogul went up backwards with ease, and then came down gracefully! Job well done so far!! (Excuse all the mess and apologies for Max barking in that second one - he's a bit wary of the train whistles!!!!!) Fiddle yard is PD1 and incline is PD3 so good to see the Digitrax PM74 is doing it's job properly too! Curves for the mainline into Millhampton Station are down but not connected yet as I ran out of suitable bus wire! but the points are all working at the approach to the station (these are wired through the accessory bus). The big plywood board stacked by the door is the baseboard for Lyneworth station on the upper level, you can see the coils of bus wire for that board sat there ready they are for PD3 which starts at the beginning of the incline. Clive

No you weren't dismissive, I was just saying that was not a video to "grab attention" lol

Thanks for the tips, I'll try to make the next one a little more exciting!!! Clive

Not the best bit of video, but then I'm not Chadwick or Everard Junction!! Hope this works!! YouTube channel is called "Lyneworth Millhampton" - Hope to put some better videos up there soon! (Please don't expect too much!!!)

Busy couple of days as someone was off sick at work so the PD1 bus took longer than expected. All done now though and it was "almost" all plain sailing. One set of points had the frog polarity wrong and I forgot to put insulating joiners between PD1 and PD3! The problem with the frog was that I had turned the point motor round in order to fit around the woodwork under the base board - never thought about having to change the wires around too! All sorted now and took 55 003 "Meld" for a test run and all was great! I have a video and I am going to try and get that up over the weekend (I'm not very computer literate so bear with me!). Here's a pic of 55 003 to be going on with!! Can someone explain why all my pics (or most of them) get turned ion their side????? Confused.com!!!! Clive

I'm still in the process of setting the layout up so I haven't used it 'in anger' yet! But I think I agree , that was pretty much how I was thining before someone suggested each PD should have one! Clive

Hi All, Quick question, I'm using 3 separate power districts for my layout through a Digitrax PM74 and have a DCC Concepts AlphaMeter between the Digitrax Control unit and the PM74. Is putting a separate AlphaMeter on each output from the PM74 useful or just extravagant? Clive

ooooh! didn't know I could put video on here!! I definitely will!

Friendly electrician finished off on Sunday so managed to get the Digitrax 210+ in its forever home, connected through the Alpha Meter and into the Digitrax PM74. The layout will be split into 3 power districts with the fourth being the accessory bus. Accessory bus fully fitted and working a treat. Tomorrows job is to install the track bus to PD1 which will be the fiddle yard, and see if that works too! Still can.t figure out why some of the images turn sideways!!! lol!! More crawling under baseboards tomorrow and Wednesday then, hopefully, the fiddleyard will be live!! Exciting!!

Mainly under the board work this week. All of the droppers sorted for the fiddle yard and all the point motors, wiring tidied up a bit, I'll do that more once I've got the track bus installed properly. Incline fixed in place and track laid (as far as I can), couldn't resist asking 47375 to give it a quick test run! First train I've had running since I took the old Lyneworth down before Christmas! It was very satisfying, even if it was only brief! Friendly electrician coming round to complete the mains electrics, last couple of sockets going onto the baseboard facia and "kill" switch which will cut the power to the whole layout if necessary, and also makes it easier when packing up at the end of a running session! Next job is to start the points for the entry into Millhampton Station and the TMD, then the BIG (for me at least) challenge of laying the two mainline curves to join the fiddle yard to MIllhampton. Need to start thinking about the joinery to support the upper level for Lyneworth Station too. Clive

Todays progress sees the fiddle yard laid with all the points working fine and the Bachmann Mk1 carriage running fine. Though I'd have a look at how the incline for the branch line looks. That is 3% and gives me plenty of time to reach the right height for the raised level station at Lyneworth. Excuse the mess!!!!

More progress! Almost finished the laying the fiddleyard, two more points fitted (motors tomorrow) would have finished but I seem to have a shortage of red and black dropper wires!! 🙄 More ordered - should be here tomorrow. Thought it would be a good idea to run a carriage around to make sure all was good and the Bachmann Mk1 Buffet car seemed to run great on all but one of the runs. The first bend out of the point on the 4th lane was a bit kinked but was an easy fix as I've stuck the track down with copydex which is easy to lift, clean and reinstall! 10 minutes and all running good again!

Bit more progress this week, all the track bed laid for the fiddle yard and a bit more track laid More work underneath this week, iP Digital point motors installed. All of these are recycled from the original Lyneworth so I've had to remove the sticky pads and replace them - boy do they stick well! Also had to change the metal rod that moves the points as the old Lyneworth base board was thinner and didn't have the Woodland Scenics track bed so they weren't long enough! 14 Motors installed, wired, reprogrammed and tested - all working fine! Using red/black for track bus and droppers and brown/blue for the accessory bus and droppers. No commitments for next week so hopefully get a bit more done. Itching to get trains running again!! Clive

Hi Phil, Yes I noted the angle change, its hard to tell but yes the first stretch of rail off the ladder is slightly curved, and yes I have insulated joiners in! Clive

More progress! Not too much in this heat! Main line curve R3 at the top end fixed and another length of the fiddle yard completed. Discovered that Copydex goes off really quickly in this heat!! D365 having a sneaky peak at the down main!

Mainline with passing loop laid and fixed, track bed fixed for the run of 6 points to form the fiddle yard. The holes drilled for the points too, but didn't feel like fixing them tonight (job for tomorrow!) after soldering track droppers and frog wires to 6 sets of points!!

Thanks everyone, thats very useful.👍

Hi all, quick question! I'm using the Peco 6ft way gauge to set the distance between tracks on the straights but how do I set the distance on the curves? I know it has to be wider to allow for the overhang of locos and coaches so that they don't hit on the curves, but how do I set the correct separation??? Clive

Moved on a bit, in between trips to Manchester for hospital visits! Definitely going to need more FlexiTrack!!!!!

Afgter another week of medical emergencies with aging parent, finally got the last piece of baseboard (the big one!) into place. Also got the control panel with the digitrax controller, alphameter and UP5 (there's going to be another UP5 and controller on the other side. Hopefully more progress in the next few weeks!!!! Clive

Slow progress this week! shelves made for the Digitrax CU Facia Board for the Digitrax handset holder, AlphaMeter and Digitrax UP5 And some track! Not much but its a start!! Still waiting for the last couple of bits of baseboard - being delivered on Wednesday as they wont fit in the car!! Getting there slowly!!

Quick question! Should I treat/seal the new plywood boards?🤔 The MDF ones are from the old Lyneworth and are already sealed. Clive

Carpentry holding up so far!!!