Harry Lund

Thank you Michael. The aspects and shunt signal all work, just not wired yet. The route indicators are dummy. I have shied away from working ones for 3 reasons. 1. The working dot matrix type are much too big in 4mm, and don't look right. 2. They are very fragile - the first signal delivered was Y161 on platform 13, 4 aspect, shunt plus RI, and it didn't take long for me to brush it with an arm and damage it. And 3. It is going to be tough enough to configure iTRains to get these working, and working RI's on top would be a step too far in terms of both hardware and software. Giles

I digressed today from track laying to install two signal gantries, delivered by Absolute Aspects on Monday. As with all of their creations, they are works of art! 1st photo is the board at the southern end stripped of anything that could fall off when tipped. The signals locate into DIN sockets fitted under the baseboard. Once the holes for these were drilled and filed, the board was gently slid out (it is wedge shaped) and turned on its side. 2nd photo shows the board with the two gantries slotted into place. With the board located back into its normal position and parts replaced, a few photos of the gantries in situ. Wiring up us 'work in progress'. Giles Giles

Thanks Tony. Giles

Tony. Quick diversion. I'm putting together my 'Elizabethan'. The CWG which you kindly lent me lists BG, FK, RF, SO, etc. Can you shed light on the Diagram no of the RF? As ever, Giles

After 3 weeks away over Easter, I'm back on tracklaying at the southern end. Lines left to right: Normanton Up & Down Doncaster Up and Down Leeds up and Down, which almost immediately join the Doncaster lines - not enough room to carry both through Line into the south shed, which will be a 2 road representation Leeds goods up and down. These join the southbound main lines just round the corner. Looking norh. The left hand pair, Leeds down and up goods will branch off into a much, much diminished representation of Branches yard. progressing .... Giles

The Down Main, Up Hull and Down Hull Fiddle Yards are all operational now. Just need connecting into the rest of the layout at the 'south' end, ie through the hole in the wall. To that end, the last weeks activity has been to finish the three lifting sections and fit the hinges. The closest flap will carry the Up and Down Mains, and the Up and Down Hull, although at the point at which they duck through the wall they become the Down and Up Normanton respectively. Don't ask! The second, and lowest flap carries the Down Scarborough line through to a 4 road fiddle yard, round the reverse loop and returning as the Up Scarborough. The flap in the distance carries the York Station southern throat. And with each open in turn I learned with the temporary lifting section that it was very easy to knock it, so it would come crashing down and the stock would come merrily off the rails. Like me some say. So I've experimented with a gas 'soft close' strut. This one is 200N, not quite string enough to a 'hard landing', but good enough to hold at about 30 degrees from the vertical. I might add a second and see how that works. Once I've fitted the gas struts to the two nearest flaps, it will be time to get to work on the track. Giles

Sorry. 1st pic looking in the Down direction; 2nd pic in the Up.

Its been a couple of weeks of dull but necessary work on the non scenic boards, trackwork (Peco) and electrics. This is the Hull Fiddle Yard looking down (1st pic) and down (2nd pic). The Hull yard is directly under the stairs; the yard by the wall is the Down Main, with a relatively sharp decent down into it. You might just make out the Up Main ascending a rather gentler incline. I had originally planned for 4 up and 4 down lines for the Hill yard, but the geometry would have been challenging given the curving space, the hole through the wall, and the stairs. And running quality must be top drawer a) in principle and b) as these are hidden behind the backscene, and monitored by a combination of cameras and occupancy modules. Going for 3 in each direction just frees everything up. In this area Track Bus, Accessory Bus, 12v DC, 16AC are fed from the centre to 'service' boards, with feeds taken off to the fiddle yard in sections. Occupancy status is reported through Lenz LRB08 feedback modules fitted to the service boards, like this one. The numbers 36, 24 and 23 are the board numbers, with feeds out. #91 is the DCC base address for the feedback module. Giles

The leaning building has nothing on the half relief coaches! The backscene isn't fixed yet, so its all a bit wobbly. Giles

Paul Bambrick spent today on site. We fitted the Leeman Road 3D backscene. Peter's original buildings front and centre, with the 3D backscene tucked behind. The terraces and larger buildings are about 3cm in depth. Clifton stretches out into the distance. And one of Paul at work. There are just a few finishing touches to go. Next stage will be along the section behind the loco yard with carriage sheds and parked coaching stock in low relief, and open countryside beyond. The two larger buildings to the right of the scene are just placed temporarily, so that Paul can size up the carriage sheds, and adjust. Giles

Tony. Apologies if I have missed any discussion about the future of OO Gauge DJH kits. Geoff West visited York today. The subject came up so we rang DJH. The range has been sold to Ellis Clark Trains. Giles

Thank you David. So sorry to hear of our RM Web pal Jonathan Oldfield's passing on 9 Jan. Derwent Spa is a fabulous layout, and he was a wonderful correspondent, and such a positive supporter of both York and Glasgow Queen Street. Giles

The news I have been dreading. So sorry to read of Jonathan's passing. Please add my condolences to all of those here. As ever, Giles

Its been too cold to work in the railway room for the last few days. The boards are more or less done, just the supporting framework to go. So I have moved operations into the house and have been building the trackwork for the southern end. Most of the pointwork is recycled from either a previous layout, or the redundant storage sidings from the Scarborough branch. I have only needed so far to make two new crossings. Although there is a gale raging outside, the railway room is at least habitable, so I spent the last hour mocking up the trackwork. A few photos below. Giles

The sad news. The article in yesterday's Saturday Telegraph And, in contrast: The enthusiasm shown by Cat Cowan yesterday for our hobby on her Saturday morning show on BBC Radio York. From 2:39 to 2:47 in. Kat Cowan on BBC Radio York - 13/01/2024 - BBC Sounds (Couldn't work out how to copy the link, but just cut and paste into Google takes you to the show recording). Giles

Thanks Michael. The main problem with track on York is not dirt or even dust, but tarnish. I find it gradually tarnishes when not run for a while. The lightest pass with a fine track rubber, an old one which I bought from I cannot remember where, but no longer available, removes the tarnish and polishes the rail. It takes about an hour to give the whole layout the treatment, which I do about once every 6 months. re dust, its a fact of life in the outbuilding in which the layout resides. The scenery so far, ie buildings and track/ballast texture are quite robust enough to be hoovered. The scenery being put together by Paul and Neil, particularly the Scarbrorough section, will not be less so so will need to have some sort of curtain/dust protection when the layout is not in use. Hence pressing on with the joinery and the mess creation now. Over time, the scenery will degrade. C'est la vie. Giles

Tony I've been an avid follower of your thread for a couple of years. Thank you so much. And to everyone who makes it such and avid read! May I share this article in yesterday's Saturday Telegraph. And, in contrast: The enthusiasm shown by Cat Cowan yesterday for our hobby on her Saturday morning show on BBC Radio York. From 2:39 to 2:47 in. Kat Cowan on BBC Radio York - 13/01/2024 - BBC Sounds (Couldn't work out how to copy the link, but just cut and paste into Google takes you to the show recording). Giles

I couldn't believe how much dust the 'heavy engineering' to realign the southern approaches would generate. Time for a general clean to keep the railway in working order: dusting, hoovering, and a light polishing of the rails with a track rubber. Most easily done with the station hotel slid out in its casters, and the roof removed. Here is a photo of York station undressed. If you look at the canopy over platform 14 which is to the left of the 'inner' wall, the lighter sections (ie most of it) is pre-hoovering, the darker section post-hoovering. Giles

More on progress form Paul Bambrick who has been beavering away on the Leeman Road diorama, and the backscene behind the loco yard. This is Peter Smith's original, photographed by Tony Wright. This is how it looks now. Paul was given a clear steer to treat Peter's original models as if they were Grade 2 listed buildinggs, and their setting in a conservation area. For those familiar with Planning policy, only alterations that enhance listed buildings and their settings will be permitted. I think Paul has done that admirably! Paul's notes: In progress detail of Hanover St Chapel, and Peter's foreground terraces and Co-Op re-instated into the original foreground, with their vehicles and figures. Garnot Street, Rosebery Ave, and Swinerton Ave rooftops appear in the middle distance, with Victoria Park and the River Ouse just out of sight beyond. Note the skyline. The next two photos are of the map from which the relative placement of the buildings has been deduced, and a panoramic view of the skyline generated from a website that Paul uses. Zooming out, this is the Leeman Road diorama again, but with the skyline more prominent, and starting to pan towards the NW. Paul again: Looking to the left, this view of the 3D section shows the houses along Garfield Terrace, Stamford St, Hanover St, with the Chapel, (now demolished). St Barnabas School on Bright St (also now demolished) is just to the right of centre, and beyond are the newer houses along the northern half of Livingston St, and Salisbury Rd. To distance, we are looking to the North West over the Clifton Reach bend in the River Ouse, just out of sight beyond the rooftops. Panning round, another photo of the loco yard and carriage sidings behind which the backscene will sit. And finally for this post, the skyline of the panel behind. Just roughed in for now, but will have Far Hill Top , High Rigg, Crayke Hill, and Yearsley Cross visible at skyline. If you look carefully, you will see the River Ouse poking out between and above the treeline in the middle distance. Compare this with the map, and the Panoramic diagram. A lot going on now: joinery for the southern end of the layout, trackwork, DCC hardware (feedback modules), signalling, iTrain prep by Roger, and Paul's 3D backscenes. Hope I can keep up. Giles

Thanks both. Scary stuff! My priority is route setting and signal head logic, reflecting routes and occupancy. Hence setting up the hardware that enables the software for that. The Scarborough line will lend itself to automation, out from and back to Platforms 6 and 7, with 4 storage loops in the new section of the layout. But I need to get the basics up and running first.

When I built the station boards in 2020 during the 1st lockdown, I hadn't considered how I would install and operate the colour light signals. Then Roger (picture a few pages back) asked the killer question. 'What do you want them to do?' My first 'proper' layout used 7400 series ICs, reed switches and magnets under the locos to track the progress of a train round the main line so that the 4 aspect signals showed the correct G/R/Y/YY/G sequence. It was mesmerising to watch, and so it will be on York, together with routes setting, interlocking, etc etc. With a fair wind, and lots of help. Roger and I have settled on iTrain software to drive the system. Routes and signals only, no automation. May I beg forgiveness from those of you who are DCC wizards for whom this stuff is second nature. I'm hanging on by my bootstraps! Things have of course moved on in the DCC era, but the need for occupancy detection remains. After some helpful tips from the iTrain team at Warley, I came to the realisation that for the scheme to work, there is no avoiding replicating the real system. To cut a very long story short, this is what the track circuit diagram looks like for the detector circuitry at the southern end. Hopefully you can see Board 1 and the Lifting Section marked out with the dotted lines. Board 1, the one being split, has 12 sections requiring detection. Now is the time to retrofit. I drew this from 1st principles. I then compared it with the real track circuiting diagram from the 1951 signaling record. Almost identical. Fortunately, the track has been laid with a dropper wire to each and every section of rail. Most isolating breaks (on the J rail only of the J-K DCC track bus) are there already, by virtue of the multitude of common crossings. Wiring to the detector module just requires me to disconnect the J droppers from the J busbars under and re-connect to the module inputs. Some alterations to the arrangements for powering some of the common crossings is needed, but again quite straightforward. Here is the Board on its side from above: I'll let you know how I get on with the wiring on the other side. Board 1 has 12 occupancy sections, so two Lenz LRB101 modules. Most boards (about 20 in all) have 8 sections or less, so one module will do. Board 4 at the Northern end as 24 sections, so 3 modules. Once this is done, I can progress the joinery for the lifting section, refit this board, and add the new boards to the south (see earlier posts) As ever Giles

Michael. I mentioned that there was some delicate woodwork needed to reposition the lifting section. Board 1, which carries much of the station throat at the southern end, needs to be shortened by about 12". Step 1 was to cut through the rails along the line of the new baseboard edge using a minidrill, and then remove the 2 single slips and the toe section of the point. And then carefully, oh so carefully, cut along the line of the split using a hand held circular saw. Thankfully, I was on target, and the saw blade did not connect with the rails and rip them out. Step 2 was to complete the cut using a handsaw.

Baseboards for the realigned section at the south end taking shape, sufficient to lay out some track to test whether its going to work aesthetically given the need to curve the various lines heading south back on themselves to fit the room available. My design criteria was that the access space between scenic boards and the Up Storage lines, off to the left on the photo, must by a minimum of 17" to allow for the inevitable expansion with age. Of self, that is. The white card is a mock up of the lifting section, relocated about 12" to the right. The hinge will be along the left hand edge. Views from the station looking south, and from the south looking north back to the station. Giles

Oops!

In the meantime, Peter has completed the terraces, other than detailing the back gardens. I collected them yesterday and installed them this morning. The train in the background is a local stopper from York to Hull, having left platform 7, crossed the Ouse in the Scarborough Up Line and crossing over to the Down line before speeding away. Hauled by a D20 from an Arthur Kimber kit. Some fettling of the baseboard framework will be needed to settle each terrace at the right levels and inclines, so that they nestle comfortably in the removeable frames, needed to provide access to the storage yards under. Peter also delivered the carriage washing plant which sits at the entrance to the Clifton carriage sidings, behind the North Loco Yard. Another beautiful model to complement the Coaling Plant and the Water Tower. Seen here in a typical setting with a J72 station pilot waiting for its next duty. Re-examining the photos from which the washing shed was copied, I noticed that it actually sits on concrete hard standing, presumably with good drainage. I'll sort that out in due course. Giles