gordon s

Afternoon all.... Some good news and some not so good. The good stuff is that the wheels and spare parts arrived this morning. Don't really know why, but I ordered a new set of rod screws to go with the wheels. That was a result as when I tried the old screws, the first three fitted, but the fourth had no intention of going in the hole. Somewhat surprised I found this last screw had a thread bigger than the others, so at some or other in the past, I guess a screw had sheared and they drilled out the wheel and fitted a larger screw. Jeez, that was result after waiting a couple of weeks for the parts to arrive..... I've made up a quartering jig and will fit the gears and press home the axles today/tomorrow. Any ideas which way they should be mounted quartering wise or doesn't it matter? Looking at a few UK locos from the cab, the right hand side appear to be 90 degrees ahead of the left. Were US loco's the same? The bad news is that the cheap Chinese power supply was a total no. As someone who believes you get what you pay for, I shouldn't be surprised. I didn't even get as far as testing it as it was fitted with an illegal and dangerous three pin UK style plug. No fuse fitted, a sleeved earth pin and minimal gaps and clearances to live pins was enough for me, so it will shortly be heading back for a full refund. I'll get the loco kitted out first and test everything and then go back to the original plan and buy a Marklin unit.

I'm not a religious person, but having changed from a gas guzzling V8 to a hybrid for all the right reasons a few weeks ago, I'm reminded of this.... God grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference. They'll get you one way or another, Death and taxes........

Read a bit more and a partially sleeved earth pin is illegal, so another fail.... I can't help but think of young kids with small fingers using such leads.

That's OK Teaky. I thought I was being a bit sarky, so added the explanation..... We almost have a ground floor attic..... This was our garage, so the conversion was a railway room upstairs and my office/study below plus the utility room at the back. As my job was international, it made far more sense to work from home and only go into the office when required....and it gave me somewhere to run trains. Next job will probably be to clean the roof....

Seems I'm not the first....On it's way back to the vendor once I've completed the on line requirements.

....but it begs the question how it gets into the UK in the first place if it doesn't meet legal requirements. I'm sure it came from a UK address who has stock here. Out of interest I was thinking about EU plugs which have just two pins. OK, double insulated devices from an earth perspective, but they don't have a fuse fitted in the plug. Maybe they have internal fuses in the device.

Thought I had seen it all, particularly with product from China, but this surely cannot be legal. I ordered one of these purely to test an old Lionel locomotive. I'm always wary of ordering from China, but the mains plug on this device surely can't be legal.... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363109269512 The main plug is the smallest I have ever seen and cannot meet specs re finger access and spacing to the edge. There can't possibly be a fuse in the plug, so surely this must break every UK safety regulation on mains plugs. Is it legal to supply electrical goods in the UK with a plug that doesn't meet BS1363? Need to check my facts, but reporting to both eBay and Trading Standards is certainly an option if they are illegal.

We have a window cleaner...... Joking apart, they are just above ground floor level, so easily accessible. Our window cleaner who comes round has one of these extendable poles that will go up a couple of floors easily and uses 'pure' water pumped from a tank in the back of his van. The days of hanging off ladders two floors up with a chamois are long gone.

My wiring options are somewhat limited by having to use the original wiring as it is virtually inaccessible within the roof structure. As each individual tube is only rated at 45w, there’s no problem connecting them together. These particular tubes don’t have the end to end connections, probably to keep the cost down, but it didn’t take long to take each cable to a central point and from there connect into the existing wiring back to the original switch in the roof slope, meaning all three are controlled by one main switch. My plan is to eventually connect them all to one main switch, but have single architrave switches on each fascia that will allow independent switching of each area. All 10 tubes will require just 450w, way below the maximum rating of 3120w for 1.5mm lighting cable. I’ll use something like these with a 16mm plastic box on the back on each fascia plate. https://www.screwfix.com/p/crabtree-capital-10a-1-gang-2-way-light-switch-white/25858

Apologies for my pendantry, but Woods and Spieth both won by 18. Johnson’s -20 was a new record for The Masters.... A most enjoyable four days viewing...

Great, it was one of those magic moments you get on the practice days..... After Tiger’s 10 on the 12th my dream was shattered as he missed an eagle putt by inches on the next hole and then went par, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie. 5 birdies in 6 holes is pretty tidy.... Not that he needs the money, but those 7 dropped shots probably cost him $250,000.........Ouch....

Managed to get the third tube in this morning and all three are wired and working. Still some work to do with the fascia, but overall pleased with the outcome. The telling thing for me is that standing at the bottom of the right angled staircase up to my railway room, it appears that the room is flooded by daylight. It’s not until you enter the room can you see it’s dark outside and the blinds are shut. Well worth the effort....Just three more sides to do.

He’s just had a 10 on the 150 yd Par 3 12th with three balls in the water..... There’s hope for all of us senior hackers.....

Hi Warren, been sitting on the bed since 5.30 watching The Masters.....as I was Thursday and Friday...... Wonderful place to play golf, even in November....Augusta, not the bed... Wiring wise, the lights are 240v, but sealed plastic construction, so much happier there is no danger of shock. (Those are the mains leads hanging down with 3 pin plugs on for test). When I had the garage conversion done, they put in two lighting circuits. Four downlights in the vaulted ceiling and three down each side on the roof slope. I pulled out one of the downlights last night and they all have 12v transformers. The one switch for the lights down both sides can be seen in the second pic above. My plan is to replace the dimmer and pull out the wiring via the downlight hole. With any luck I will be able to connect all the light battens back to the switch using the existing wiring. Once that’s done, I’ll cut some plaster board circles to fill the holes and then fill and paint. With any luck the wiring will all be hidden from view. I guess these lights are 600-700mm above the boards, but am fairly sure you could go well over a metre or so without light deterioration, particularly if you build a deflector to stop the spread of light sideways. Just thinking I have one in my filter shed in the garden and that must be a metre plus above the filters and the light is fine for a shed 12’ x 5’. Not for detail work like loco’s, but fine in a dark shed. Edit: Forgot your question re fluorescents. They give the light output as 4,000 lumens. Just looked up 5’ tubes on Screwfix and they say 5,200 lumens so 20% lower, but then you don’t want everything washed out. You could use shorter tubes with 4,000 lumen output, but then you may have lighting gaps over an 18’ length.

The spec says they are non dimmable, but then they aren’t particularly expensive. Heat wise, they do appear to get warm, but the spec says up to 25,000 hours, so I would have thought they would have incorporated a heat sink somewhere within the plastic case. To be honest, I haven’t had one on long enough to see if it’s an issue, but I can’t see Screwfix selling anything if it was a problem. Fitted the second tube in place and it’s a huge improvement. Still a fair bit of tweaking to do, but overall no regrets...

Well, so far so good.... Lashed up some old shuttering ply across the window to form a trough. I've spaced the backplate away from the wall to clear the Velux surrounds and you can still open the window a reasonable amount for through draught in the summer. It will all be painted inside and out once I can prove the theory. I've only added one 5' tube at this point and have yet to add a front fascia. There will be another two tubes over this side of the layout to cover the whole 18' length. Each end of the station curves away, so they don't need to cover the full length. Comparing the before and after is interesting. The existing down lights are standard not led's and as such appear much warmer. Of course my camera is probably playing around with the white balance, so it's not a true comparison. Old lighting.... ....and the new with just one tube..... Needless to say, the lighting is so much more even across the whole platform length and will be a big improvement overall. The two shots above both used F2 but the shutter speed on the first was 1/30 second whereas the second was 1/160, so a huge difference as you would expect. Downside? I've whacked my forehead on the front of the fascia several times......Ouch! Of course, I'm 6'3", so others may not have a problem. I will experiment to see how to resolve this as it may well be I can narrow the depth of the fascia or lift it slightly. If not, I'll wear a hard hat.......

From the pics I have seen, Baz, our two rooms are very similar, so I’m sure we’ll face the same issues. Today will be very much an experimental day as like you I don’t really want loads of holes in the walls or the trims around the Velux windows. I think the wooden battens down each side attached to the roof slope will work, even allowing the windows to centre swivel and open to the horizontal. Each end may require a different solution and here I may use a plywood diffuser box suspended on chains from the raised ceiling, but I’m sure once the sides go in, all will become clear. Whatever solution evolves, it will be a huge step forward as the current lighting is dire and it really puts me off working in winter evenings or gloomy overcast days. Onward and upward......j

I’m glad he built a smaller version as the 500W water cooled LED and 4’ satellite dish might just get in the way...... I thought at one point he was building a Death Star. Switch that on and the Police would be round in case I was trying to dazzle pilots......

Very similar... Tried the 4’ ones, but 5’ gave more light and covered most of the station from one fitting. https://www.screwfix.com/p/twin-5ft-led-batten-white-45w-4000lm/5440r

Thanks PMP, that sounds perfect as the roof slopes behind two of the main runs down each side of the room. I have to negotiate three opening windows, but played around with a spirit level today and took a line vertically from the front edge of the station baseboard. I plan to use 90 degree brackets off a wooden batten around 2’ above rail level. The batten will run right along the wall and across the two window openings and with a small compromise, the lights will sit just inboard of the front edge vertically and still allow the windows to swivel to horizontal. The big bonus of mounting the lights at 90 degrees to the roof slope is that they will effectively point across the layout parallel to the roof slope as you suggest. I must admit I hadn’t thought of the reflection issues, so your comment has made me happy the mounting will be at the best angle. I’ve gone for three 5’ battens each side and a single across each end, so the daylight led’s should supply enough light without being overpowering. Your pics look great and exactly what I hope to achieve.

Thanks Andy. Sorry to read about your heart scare. I hope you are making a full recovery. Just take it very easy.... I’m glad they have worked for you and Kevin. I can certainly see all the advantages, but now I’ve read a lot more, I have a couple of unanswered questions. I fully appreciate my concerns are probably without substance, but I seem to have become risk averse after all these years. No idea why....... The first thing is putting mains through led substrate and then fixing it in accessible areas around the layout. I know we all have mains lighting and mains power supplies around a layout, but that’s generally obvious to the eye with thick cabling and earthed appliances. Having thin and cuttable pcb substrate with mains running through all seems a bit scary to me. I know you can get low voltage systems (I have them in my kitchen) but the led density and brightness seem to be of lower levels. It just reminds me of cheap Christmas lights back in the 50’s with 12v bulbs wired in series to the mains..... The second question is the heat generated by super bright led’s and the recommendation they are mounted on aluminium channel made for these types of leds. Normal led tape appears to fit into 12mm channel, but the super bright strip is 18mm wide and if course you need a much wider extrusion with a higher cost, typically £7 per metre. Once you add the channel into the cost equation, it becomes similar if not higher than led batten lights and with around 24m to illuminate costs rise rapidly. I’ve yet to find how the aluminium strip is earthed with mains led’s running through it. I’m sure my concerns are unfounded, but with no cost advantage (unless you compromise on the heat issue by not fitting the aluminium channel), I’ll probably go with conventional led battens. Maybe I’ll regret it, who knows.....

Still have the enclosure to build, but finally wired up all the leds and control circuits. Great news is that it works, but still a bit of final tweaking on the platform routes via the ECoS. Happy with the outcome even if it did take me weeks to get to this stage (or was it months....)

Some interesting info re length and power on 12v versus 24v. https://www.instyleled.co.uk/12v-vs-24v-led-strips/

Thanks SS. Ashamed to say I hadn’t seen that thread before, but agree the quality of light really is first class. With 327 pages to plough through, I did a search thread and managed to pull this one up, so will definitely read some more..... Thanks for the info. We have led strips under our kitchen cupboards, but hadn’t considered them for ET. I like the flexibility they could bring and the daylight colour looks very good with the mix of cool and warm. A lot of reading clearly needed.......

Pressure, pressure, pressure....... just been down to Screwfix to get some led batten lights. A long, long time ago (cue Don McLean) when we had the room kitted out for ET, I thought half a dozen 50w down lights fitted in the sloping eaves would be more than enough to light up the layout and allow me to work in the evenings. How naive can you get...... Picked up three 4’ s and one 5’ as a starting point. The quality of light is always the unknown with cool white tending towards blue and warm white heading towards yellow. These are marketed as daylight, so hopefully will be OK. Biggest problem is working around the large horizontal centre swivel opening windows that are essential to open in the summer. I think it will be possible for the lights to cross the window opening and still allow them to open, but the vertical position is still an issue with light spread versus hard shadows. Right now a beer is called for, so more in depth fiddling can take place tomorrow. Really looking forward to working in decent light and being able to take pics with a reasonable speed/aperature, rather than the grainy or blurred pics with little or no depth of field. Any guidance you can offer on led lights/fixings and pelmets always welcome.....