Jump to content
 

Dave Holt

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,069

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Dave Holt

  1. Dave Holt
    In my last entry, I reported that I couldn't get the signals to work and suspected some switching problem, which I assumed was due to my attempts at some limited interlocking within the control panel. This requires certain switches to be either normal or reversed in order to allow the circuit to the signal servo control board to be broken, thus clearing the signal. So, for instance, it is not possible to clear the home signal unless the entry point is set to the platform road and the FPL engaged or it is not possible to clear the yard exit ground signal if the cross-over is not set or if if the yard entry signal is already off.
    Anyway, all this arrangement was checked using a resistance meter to check the making/breaking of the circuits within the panel and all appeared OK.
    My next worry was the use of the layout common return for the sevo control return rather than a dedicated servo control return, especially when DCC power is in use because of possible traction signal interference to the servo system.
    Well, I don't really know what had happened, because without making any alterations (other than swapping two of the signal switch connection on one of the control boards which I had connected to the wrong wires from the control panel), when I tried the system a short time ago everything worked OK, even with the DCC system connected. Phew!
    I've also fitted two of the Tortoise point motors with stiffer operating wires to solve a couple of point throw issues.
    Better get on with the point rodding stool supports, cosmetic tie bars, etc., prior to painting the track on the most recent board. Than it's ballasting - something I'm really not looking forward to!
     
    Dave.
  2. Dave Holt
    Following a couple of days break attending the Wells Finescale show (helping(?) Robin Whittle and the team with Bristol Barrow Road), Today I got round to function testing the control panel - as much as I can without it being connected to the layout, at least. Everything appears to work as intended but I was puzzled why the LED's indicating the route set by lever No. 4 weren't illuminated whereas the similar LED's for lever No. 8 worked fine.
    Then it dawned that until connected to the Tortoise point motors there was no circuit (No. 8 has a ballast resistor associated with the facing point lock). I then realised that I could simulate connection to the Tortoise by temporarily connecting a ballast resistor between the point motor feed and one side of the 16 v AC supply. As I made the cannection there was quite a spark and I noticed that the 12 v DC power LED had gone out. I then noticed that several other LED's no longer worked. Oops, lesson learned. Don't make temporary connections to live circuits or when the panel is powered up. Fortunately, I had plent of spare LED's and it didn't take too long to replace the damaged ones.
    All working OK again, now!
     
    In between finishing the panel wiring, I have been working towards finishing a couple more ex-LMS Period III open brake coaches made for me to finish off, by Coachman. These are to diagrams 1916 (6 bay) and 2008 (5 1/2 bay) and appeared at ends of an enthusiast special that visited the branch, hauled by an ex-L&Y Class 27 0-6-0.
    The work to complete includes making & fitting the interior, fitting the roof and connecting the water tank filler pipes, spung buffers and making & fitting the P4 bogies.
    The D1916 is now done, as shown below:
     

     
    The interior for the D2008 is currently being painted.
  3. Dave Holt
    Close on the heels of the BR Std Class 2 tank, I've now completed the finishing touches to my Fowler Class 3, 2-6-2 tank, which has remained almost finished for some years. The work required was the same as on the Standard, namely adding coal to the bunker and a crew in the cab, together with fixing the cab roof.
    Having said these are the finishing touches, I realise that I still need to add fire irons to the rests on top of the RH tank. This also applies to the Standard and to the tender of my Crab 2-6-0. Obviously, a fire iron manufacturing session is required shortly.
    Anyway, here are some photos of the loco as it currently stands.
     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  4. Dave Holt
    Following some final adjustments to the deck sections (some time ago, I accidentally broke the deck into two pieces by dropping it onto a quarry tile floor!), I have now got the fit to my liking and have made a final dry run with the assembly. Now it's take a deep breath and fix it in place on top of the pillars, permanently. I've not quite decided on the best adhesive, yet. The options appear to be PVA, Uhu or epoxy. The deck is wood and the pillars a mix of wood and plastic, on the contact areas.
     
    Here are a few rather poor quality photos of the deck in place. I think more lighting or the flash would have been beneficial!
     
    First, a plan view. Some of the cross beams are missing and will be added once the main longitudinals are fixed
     

     
    Some views from the front.
     

     

     

     
    Mmmm! That angle-poise lamp does look a bit out of scale!
  5. Dave Holt
    I was very please to accept an invitation to run some stock on the Manchester Model Railway Club's "Slattocks Junction" P4 layout recently. As the layout is set on the Manchester to Rochdale line, it is the perfect setting for my locos as I hope the photo shows. Besides railways, in various scales, I have a great interest in the cotton mills which dominated the landscape of my native Oldham during my childhood so, I have been pleased to be able to help in some small way with encouragement and some architectural information in the marvelous model of "Alpha Mill", which appears , or rather dominates, the background of the photo. The photo was taken by my good friend, David Clarke who, as explained in earlier entries, painted, lined and weathered the featured loco.
     

     

     
    Here we see Caprotti fitted Black 5, 44741 at the head of a parcels train passing the mill and then on to the canal bridge.
     
    Besides 44741, I took three other locos which ran with varying degrees of success. My Stanier 2-6-4 tank ran faultlessly, the Crab struggled a bit with the weight of an 8 coach passenger train, whilst Jubilee 45701 ran well but had an intermittent short as did EE type 4 diesel, D211. Later investigation of the Jubilee revealed a brake hanger had become dislodged and was catching one of the driving wheel flanges. Unfortunately, this required a major disassembly to put right, but this has been achieved without damage to the finish. I think the diesel was just on the limit of curvature it can accommodate.
    Anyway, thanks to all the guys in the Manchester club for their warm welcome and kind hospitality and allowing me to play trains for an afternoon.
     
    Dave.
  6. Dave Holt
    A quick update following completion of the FPL lock bar operating mechanism. This includes a representation of a spring assister which helped the signalman move the weight of the bar and cushioned the bar at the ends of its movement.
    Still got the other portion of the bar to complete and the rodding from the signal box.
     
    Here's a view of the recent bits added:
     

  7. Dave Holt
    In order to correct some unsightly gaps in the cut out in the cork underlay, where the goods shed fits, I have temporarily re-fitted the shed. Suitable cork infills have now been fitted. Eventually, the shed will be surrounded on three sides by cobble stones. The total thickness of the cobbled area will be roughly 4 mm so as to be flush with the top of the rails. Similar to Martin Nield's description of the typical L&Y yard arrangement in the latest MRJ, the yard at Delph (ex-LNWR) had a double row of old sleepers between the adjacent rail and the cobbled area, presumably as these were easier to lift than cobbles when track maintenance was required.
     
    Whilst the shed building was in situ, I posed a part completed banana van on the shed road to check clearance and running. All OK, i'm pleased to report. However, I'm not too sure that any part completed banana vans ever actually ran to Delph, so this may not be strictly prototypical!
     
    The event was captured on film (well, pixels, anyway!):
     

     

     

     

    Banana van just visible at the far end of the shed in this view.
     
    Back to loco maintenance!
     
    Dave.
  8. Dave Holt
    I collected the superb station building, platform, goods shed building and signal box from Gravy Train on Saturday and couldn't wait to try them in situ. Thought I'd place an appropriate Donkey train in the platform for some of the shots.
     

     

     

     

     
    Dave.
  9. Dave Holt
    Have made a start on the stone retaining walls for the coal drops. These were along the back and both ends of the drops and also a section set back at an angle where the road entrance was located. The walls were of coarse stone and appear to have been a 76.2 times scaled-up model of the Wills coarse stone plastic sheets!!
    So far I have cut the basic wall facing sheet along the entrance section and part done the right-hand end wall. Later this will be split into two sections, one each on the two base-boards which a have a joint in this area. Hope I'll be able to paint and weather this stonework to match the magnificent station and goods shed which Gravy Train has made for the layout.
     
    Here's a couple of shots of the two Wills sheets loosely set up on my work table. Visible in the background is a photo of the real thing I took in 1991. My wife, Sue, is standing roughly in the middle of the right-hand end wall, acting as a 21 mm scale rule!
     

     

     
    Unfortunately, the Wills sheets are too short for the longer wall, so it has a joint which I've tried to disguise by carving of the stones. Hopefully, when painted this won't be too obtrusive. Also, where the corner joint occurs in the wall, the moulded stones didn't quite suit, so some smaller or very short ones have been replaced by plain Plasticard pieces carved to roughly match the moulded sheet - those are the white bits on the corner. Again, when painted, hopefully not too visible.
     
    Happy New Year and good modelling in 2010 to all.
     
    Dave.
  10. Dave Holt

    More track & trains

    By Dave Holt,

    Track laying continues, but progress is quite slow. I thought plain track would be quite easy, and I suppose it is technically, but it still takes an age. Progress is not really helped by my attempt to replicate the 60 ft and 30 ft track panels used on the real thing. It appears that only the main platform road was 60 ft, all the other being 30 ft. To achieve this, all the sleeper ties on the flexi-track have to be removed and sleepers moved along to the correct spacings. I've already marked the position of the rail joints as near as possible from the Templot track plan. All this cutting and sleeper moving takes time. Then there's a limit how many jar-weights I have to hold the track down whilst the glue dries and there's the ply sleepers with panel pins to be soldered at the board edges......
     
    Anyway, I've now got most of the track in position on the station throat board - just the loop head shunt left to do. Meanwhile, a Delph motor train arrived, hauled by the Fowler Cl 3 2-6-2 tank and consisting of M45 driving trailer M3419M and M12 non-driving trailer M3425M - both beautifully modelled by Coachman. Thanks Coach!!
     

     
    Overall view of the station throat track-work. Lead filled jam jars on the coal drop road whilst glue dries.
     

     

     
    A taste of things to come. Typical 1950's motor train crosses the curved diamond which gives access to the mill siding.
     
    Dave.
  11. Dave Holt

    Delph visitors.

    By Dave Holt,


    4 mm, P4
    Not much active modelling recently, but i took advantage of the good weather to take a section of the layout into the back garden and pose a couple of trains.
    First up, we see the part completed Rebuilt Royal Scot, 46109, having arrived with a returning Wakes Week holiday excursion.


    Then a more prototypical push-pull train, hauled/propelled by BR Standard Class 2 tank, 84012.


    Dave.
  12. Dave Holt
    After what feels like a lifetime of back-aching effort, leaning over the board to focus my magnifying head set thingey, I have now completed fitting the cosmetic chairs to the point on the current board. Not only did thids involve cutting each chair in half to fit round the rivet, but also reguired lots of grinding of the rivet heads either side of the rails to enable a snug fit for the chair halves. On some, I didn't quite achive this, but the overall result is quite satisfying. I did consider only fitting chairs to the visible side of the rails, which would have halved the effort, but in the end I decided to fit both sides - must have too much time on my hands!!
     
    I've also experienced some problem getting the point blades to throw over fully, especially on the diverging road. This was causing derailment of the loco front pony truck when travelling in the facing direction. This seems to have been solved by increasng the Tortoise throw to near maximum and an adjustment to the operating link to the TOU.
    Photos show the completed point with BR Standard Cl2 tank being used to test the throw of the point. Also a close-up of the loco in its part completed condition.
     

     

     

     

     
    Next to do on the track on this board is represent the rail joints by cutting through the rail head at the appropriate locations to represent 30 foot and 60 foot rail lengths. Intending to use a slitting disc on a flexible shaft drive for this. Then it's cosmetic fish plates.
     
    Cheers for now,
     
    Dave.
  13. Dave Holt
    A couple of posts back, I explained how the bell code dinger mechanism had been fitted to the control panel and pondered on possible sources for a suitable battery holder for the PP9 battery.
    Well, nothing appeared to be available commercially, so a custom made holder has been constructed from thick (1.2 mm I think) plastic sheet and attached to the side of the control panel with a couple of 8 BA screws and copious quantities of plastic solvent. The attached photos show the arrangement with the terminal connector held roughly in place using blu-tac. I suspect that actual electrical contact might be more effective in use!
     

     

     
    Dave.
  14. Dave Holt
    Not much actual modelling progress to report, but it's been a while since the last layout update, so here's the latest.
     
    After spending what felt like weeks on my hands and knees - the major drawback with having the base-boards on the lounge floor! - grinding off rivet heads and applying cosmetic chairs to the ply sleepers at the base-board joint, I have painted the whole lot with grey primer, prior to applying the actual sleeper and rail colours.
    I got this idea from Iain Rice's book on fine-scale track.
    The problem is that the ply sleepers used at the joints and in the pointwork are different in both colour and texture from the moulded plastic sleepers in the plain track. The normal wood dye/staining method for ply sleepered track would be very difficult to match with the painted plastic track, so....everything is given a coat of aerosol grey primer to even it all up and then if can all be painted with the same range of colours and apart from very close inspection revealing the proper keys on the cosmetic chairs, it should all blend together. I think you'll agree with the effectiveness of this approach, as shown in the attached photos. It really is hard to see which are ply and which are plastic sleepers. I used Halfords grey plastic primer. It will be interesting to see how durable it is.
    The eagle eyed will spot that although I tried to be careful to mask of items not being painted, I have managed to get a bit of primer in several areas where it shouldn't be, although it's not much and should be easy to touch up.
     
    First a general view over the station and coal drop boards:

     
    And now a closer view at the base-board joint (staggered to fall between sleepers on the diverding tracks) and at one end of the platform release cross-over points:

     

     
    As you can see, I haven't made any attempt so far to represent the point blade tie bars. These will be non-functional and, bearing the shallow viewing angle which will result from the high track level on the completed model, I'm thinking along the lines of just dummy, fixed stretchers not actually attached to the blades at all.
     
    I also have to figure out the best colours of paint to use for the sleepers. These will have to be individually painted, I think, so another long laborious job in prospect. Well, it won't do it itself, so I'll just have to knuckle down....
     
    Dave.
  15. Dave Holt
    Last time I took my Jubilee. 45701, to run on the NLG test track, it refused to move and showed a fault message "AU5" or "AUS" on the controller. I thought at the time that maybe a pick-up had moved in transport or that there was a chip fault. Anyway, try fiddling with the controller I could not get it to move so it was put away for a future time.
    Last weekend, I was chatting to "Barrow Road" at the Leamington show and the subject of a visit to run suitable locos was mentioned. Now, a Jubilee is a very suitable loco for this layout, so my thoughts turned to trying to sort the problem out. The main issue was the necessity of dismantling the model, with the risk of damage to the finish, in order to access the suspect items. Before starting, I again tried the loco on my short test track and had intermittent movement and then error messages, this time error 01 and 02.
    So, reluctantly I separated the tender, removed the boiler and finally the footplate/cab from the chassis. At each stage i checked for shorts of items out of place but to no avail. It appeared to be a damaged chip or burnt out motor (coreless type). I decided to unsolder the chip leads and refit the bridging bars to enable DC operation to check the motor, starting with the LH side. When I turned the chassis over to do the RH side, I discovered that the wire connecting the RH pick-ups to the connection pad was hanging free. It appears that I had made a dry joint which must have made intermittent contact - hence the problem.
    I quickly remade the failed connection and then reconnected the LH side chip wires and, hey presto, normal behaviour when placed on the test rack.
    The loco was re-checked at each stage of reassembly although there were a couple of hiccups along the way. First, I couldn't find the screw which holds the front of the footplate to the chassis, search as I might. So a new screw was fashioned - it's a very short 8BA but has to have the head reduced in diameter to fit. Then, as I prepared to re-attach the tender, the special screw through the draw bar pinged out of the tweezers. An hour or so on hands and knees failed to find it but did find the missing footplate screw! No option but to make a replacement. The original included a long, Alan Gibson crank-pin bush and I could not find another despite searching my spares boxes and several other Brassmasters loco/tender kits. In the end, something was made up from brass tube and the flange which broke off a 2 mm pin-point bearing which I had been trying to use as an alternative.
    Of coarse, I got completely wrapped up in all this, in my determination to get it sorted, and was slightly horrified to discover it was the early hours of this morning when I finally finished.
    Despite the trials and tribulations and the rather late night, I have now got a fully functioning Jubilee ready to join the fleet.
    As a change, today I've been making a replacement tip for the spokes on one of my large umbrellas, which came to grief in the high winds and heavy rain at the Leamington Show, and making two sets of long fire irons to go on the tenders of the Jubilee and the Crab.
     
    Dave.
  16. Dave Holt
    The shorter porting of the FPL lock bar has now been completed and fitted in situ - still waiting for the glue to set. This just leaves the connection to the FPL bolt. I think I'm going to have to modify part of the bolt mechanism already fitted as it doesn't allow a long enough connecting rod to the lock bar. Not quite as drastic a mod as Coachman regularly makes to Greenfield but a bit of extra work with the added risk of damaging parts I need to re-use.
     
    Here are some photos showing assembly and fitting of the shorter part of the bar.
     
    First a shot of the rod having the pivot levers fitted. I used a simple plastic card jig to help me get these correctly positioned so that they fall in the middle of sleeper bays. 145 degree solder was used to avoid unsoldering the vertical mounting pins or melting the plastic too much!
     

     
    Here's the finish section of bar with the bottom of the pivot levers trimmed to clear the top of the track underlay.
     

     
    Finally, a shot of the bar in situ with hair grips holding it in the correct position whilst the glue sets. I put the adjacent section of board in place to ensure the bar lined up across the joint. It also allows me to position the stools for the remaining section of point rodding which moves the whole lock bar/FPL arrangement. Visible in front of the RH grip is the bolt operating lever which needs to be moved one sleeper to the left.
     

  17. Dave Holt
    Following initial function testing of the control panel, I have connected up the panel and two boards to check a bit more, including the yard controller connection points. To my consternation, feeds to the second board (the one with the coal drops) and the DC input were completely dead. Everything on the first (station) board appeared to be reasonably OK (see later) and the DCC input and local point operation/LED's on the second board worked. A slight sense of panic set in as I frantically checked various tag connectiones and continuity. Then, with a massive feeling of relief and realising what a silly mistake I'd made, I noticed that I had only connected one set of jumper cables between the two boards - the other was still neatly held in its clips! Phew!! I sheepishly connected the second jumper and heaved a sigh of relief as everything on board 2 now worked.
    Well, actually, I found that a slight re-thinking of the wiring to the Tortoise point motors was required. I had followed one of the wiring suggestions from Tortoise and used a switched half-wave rectified feed to one side of the motors and one side of the 16 v AC supply to the other. The siding point and associated LED's on the second board worked OK, if a bit slow, but the platform release cross-over, involving two motors and three LED's would only work in one direction. I found that with the LED's removed from the circuit, the motors worked perfectly, so the LED array must be causing too big a voltage drop. I could solve this for the local controlled points by swapping the switches to have an extra pole but the panel mounted switches for he two other cross-overs already were the maximum number of poles available. Mmmm... Then I decided to try wiring the LED's in parallel with the motor feeds instead of in series. I attached jumper leads to try it and thankfully it worked, so it was then a case of rearranging the wiring and connecting on side of the LED arrays, via a resistor, direct to the 16 v AC side which the motors are connected. All now appears to work as intended.
    Next step is to start work on wiring the last scenic board - the one with most of the station throat point-work - that I've been putting off. No more excuses, so I'll just have to knuckle down and make a start.
  18. Dave Holt

    Delph - Trial assembly

    By Dave Holt,

    Now I've got all three boards with track laid at home, I was able to assemble the three together for the first time on the lounge/diner floor - after moving a bit of furniture and a rug! The three sections together are just over 12 feet long, with another scenic board (as yet without track) to take the line off to the fiddle yard (at the far end, in the photos). Current work includes fitting the point motors, TOU's and Alex Jackson uncoupling magnets under the boards, together with trimming some rail ends at the board joints, opening up some rail joints for rail expansion and electrical isolation purposes and cosmetic rail joints at the appropriate positions (these latter cut into or through the rail head but not right through the full rail section). Then it's on to the wiring.
    I think I will get three of the support boards made up, so i can have the boards at a good working height. Kneeling on the floor isn't doing my knees any good, despite use of a foam kneeling pad (intended for gardening!).
    Photos show the three boards assembled on the floor.
     

     

     
    Dave.
  19. Dave Holt
    Whilst I have the station boards down on the lounge floor, with Gravy Train's superb buildings temporarily in place, I thought I might just simulate the arrival of a through local from Stockport (via Oldham Clegg Street). This service is one of the deviations I'm making from the true operation of Delph, to give a bit more variety than just the motor trains would allow.
    In this case, the train consists of Stanier 2-6-4 tank, 42551 - one of the darlings of Lees shed, with a two coach suburban train (models not yet finished - no glazing or buffers) consisting of an ex_LMS period I lavatory composite and an ex-LNWR brake 3rd. The train stops short of the run-round points, then the engine moves up to the buffers, ready to run round. Actually, this shows just how far along the platform passengers would have had to walk if this sort of train had actually run. Not much fun in bad weather!
     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    Soon the fantasy will have to stop and I'll have to get back to working on the boards to get the track wired up and operational! Still, it's nice to play a bit.
     
    Dave.
  20. Dave Holt

    Track laying under way

    By Dave Holt,

    Have started to lay the track at long last - couldn't think of any more excuses to put it off any longer. Being my first ever layout I thought I'd dip my toe gentley in by starting with the main station throat pointwork! As can be seen, I used some mini jam jars full of "liquid lead" to hold the track down whilst the glue dried. The items were first laid dry, adjusted for position and long pins inserted at the ends of sleepers at key locations. The track was then lifted, PVA glue brushed onto the underlay and the track replaced, being automatically realigned by the pins, pressed down and the weights added. I think it's all gone well so far.




    Just the platform release cross-over and one turnout for the goods yard to go. Then it's the plain (flexi)track to join it all up.
     
    Dave.
  21. Dave Holt
    Here's my interpretation of the timber baulk buffer stop. Actually made from plastic sections - it probably ought to look a bit more distressed than it is. I've given it a base coat of dark grey to cover the white plastic. I'm not sure if the original was painted with black bitumastic , like the rail built type, or just treated like sleepers - which tended to weather to a silvery light grey.
    The view below is the same general direction as the photo of the real thing in the link posted by Meil "Do you mean this buffer stop?", in my earlier post (Fairly major cosmetic...)
     

     
    I did take a photo of the front, but it's out of focus, so I'll have to have another go later.
     
    ...and here it is - still a bit blurred, but you will get the idea.
     

     
    Dave.
  22. Dave Holt

    Nearly there.

    By Dave Holt,

    After contemplating sprung intermediate buffer, due to practical considerations, an executive decision was made - fixed W/M buffers!

    The tender is now complete and has temporarily been connected to the loco. The latter has had some fine strips added to the rear edge of the fall plates, to bridge the gap to the tender.


    Still got to fit locating pins to the loco number and shed plates but, otherwise, I think it's finished ready for painting.
    Here is the finished loco, face to face with a later class mate.

    Dave.
  23. Dave Holt
    The 12 v DC power supply units for the two signal servo control boards were collected today and then fitted under the boards. There's one power supply unit for each of the control units and these are now all wired up. Another step towards completion of the wiring arrangements.
     

     
    This one supplies the starter and ground signals;
     

     
    and this one the bracket signal.
     
    Next task is to add the bell code dinger unit to the control panel.
  24. Dave Holt
    Phew! I'm pleased to say I've managed to partially recover from the recent set backs described last time.
    First, the replacement illuminated magnifying glass has arrived and is ready for use, so at least I'll be able to see the jobs in hand!
    This morning I got out the mini drill with a rotary burr and ground away more of the inside of the Jubilee resin firebox such that it now fits over the motor whilst missing the whistle. Getting the front fixing screw in before the new lamp arrived was a tricky task but accomplished on about the tenth attempt.
    On Saturday, I thought I had better check to see if my DCC control system was working at all by trying out one of my existing DCC locos on the test track before starting to rip bits apart. That worked OK, so I then tried the Jubilee chassis again, using the default address 03 and, lo and behold, it worked - rather spasmodic - but at least it moved, proving that the chip is not completely dead. I think the issue with the loco now is pick up related so I need to get the tender pick ups connected to the loco and see if that improves the running.
    However, the failure to change address suggests that there is a problem with the programming aspect of my DCC power unit or the way I have it wired to the track. Further investigation is needed with possible replacement in the future.
    Dave.
  25. Dave Holt
    Having brought the coal drop board home from the workshop, I've been able to make better progress with the stone retaining walls, in comfort! The brick pillars and stone retaining wall sections in between and at the ends are now ready to be coloured (not sure if to paint or try the crayon technique being used by Barrow Road on his excellent loco shed buildings). Anyway, had a trial fit of all the bits which are on this board (the RH wing wall is on the next - station - board). Couldn't resist placing the deck and putting a few unfinished coal wagons over the cells to visualise how it might finally look.
     

     

     

     

     

     

×
×
  • Create New...