Jon Fitness

Strangely enough, it's not just on the Cambrian that ERTMS is having an effect. At Chester a "quick shunt" from platform to platform with a fitted 158 can turn in to a "long drawn out shunt" if the driver has to reset the ERTMS during reversing. I now check beforehand which type of unit the driver is moving before calculating whether or not to chance a "quick shunt". I have heard rumours of ERTMS activations in odd places down the north Wales coast line... JF

Sounds vaguely familiar! Got that one on our layout... Cheers JF

Any Help? JF

Good man! Looking forward to seeing the results! JF

Be a bit like "Angry Birds"....ping...weeeheeee...crash etc etc... JF

I haven't yet taken one as it happens but I'll take one tonight! I use MERG driver boards for our layout as they are fairly cheap, easy to build and reliable. These signals will work with any of the commercially available boards though. The servos are stuck to the baseplate with some powerful double sided tape of the sort used for car trim that I pick up in Aldi or Lidl as it occasionally becomes available.. It's fairly thin but spongey/rubbery. I de-grease all surfaces to be stuck with Limonene first. I bought the limonene for glueing styrene but it's had more use as a de-greaser so far. If more than one servo is used they are stacked/stuck together with the same tape. If more than 2 are stacked or they are for outdoor use, I still use the tape but I also solder a strip of brass from the base round the servos to make sure. I use low temp solder, so if a servo fails its just a matter of touching the iron on the strap/base joint and bending the strap out of the way, change the servo and re-solder. Jon F

Most of my early output was for garden layouts. They have to be strong enough for a bird to perch on! Here's hoping.... JF

Two straight post stop signals. As these are for outdoor use I can't rely on the double sided trim tape to hold the servos on so a brass retaining strip has been added. A thicker coating of paint was also sprayed on! More in a while as I have some rolling stock to paint now. JF

Always a good excuse for a "play"!!! Enjoy! JF

The current batch of ground signals are now finished and here's a few pics of some of them. The double one's my fave. I'd build a few for Saltney but they'd only get bashed about....! A little vid of the twin disc on test... WKtest2small.wmv On to a couple of straight post stop signals now More soon JF

Started on the double disc. LEDs wired and fastened in and tested. Little bits of 0.8mm square bar pyrometers added... I'm hoping the wires won't look too bad after a coat of paint More soon JF

Seem to remember a few around the Telford area when I worked there. Madeley Jn possibly. I think Wrexham had one or 2 as well. Agecroft Jn in Salford had a couple too (I think) Jon F.

It's coupled to a lamp repeater in the signalbox. If the parrafin lamp goes out it readsthe temperature change and sounds a buzzer in the box. I'll put a couple on the double ground signal.(rather than a slot LNERGE!!) And yes I had an excellent time on the DMU's at llangollen spoilt only by having to leave early for work. That104is superbly raspy! May have to save up for a westdale kit... JF

Right...there's one going on the next ground signal!! JF

Interesting stuff. Sadly there are many things not featured that should be on my signals!! Jon F.

Quick test video of the latest builds. The ground signal at the base of the inner home uses a bulb and was also taking the power for the bulb from the same source as the servos. The single ground signal has a micro LED but still uses the servo's power source WKtest1.wmv JF

Cheers Rod! Rather than building signals tomorrow I'll be over at Llan, riding on DMU's....until I have to come home to go to work on 12 hour nites JF

Cheers Rod! Here is the first separate ground signal complete. JF

Finally finished the signal after a bit of a struggle with the electrics (bulbs..hmph) The ground signal at the foot of the main post consumed 2 bulbs after being left on test with a 1k ohm resistor then a 1k2 ohm. Until I fitted a 1k ohm resistor it would last about 6 hours then just as I thought it was ok..phtt. The trouble is it needs a full 12v to light all lamps together now. I could separate all the feeds out but there's enough going on under the base plate already! Anyway, enough of my grumbles..Here is the signal ready for the paintshop. The theatre route indicator displays either 1 or 2 through a stencil. I first tried masking and painting a stencil. Not neat enough. Then I printed one on thin paper. Too thick. Eventually I printed one on clear inkjet OHP and that seems to look ok. This was fitted in the theatre case and a blue screen fitted over the top. The ground signal at the base of the post.. And the finished signal ready to go. Ground signals These are the MSE cast whitemetal ones with etched discs and fittings. While I was at the Wigan exhibition, one of the many trade stalls offering electronic goodies had some tiny surface mount LEDs for sale with matching surface mount resistors in the same pack. Having heard stories of these components being rather intolerant to hamfisted soldering I was not really confident of any success using these but hey-ho, nothing ventured etc. Surely they wouldn't be any worse than those tiny bulbs and I need something for the ground signals!. I managed to solder a couple of fine wires to one of these LEDs, shrunk a bit of heatshrink round the bare bits, applied 3volts and hey presto. Using a disc to get correct alignment for the lamp/red aspect. (the casting doesn't quite match!) I enlarged the hole to accept the LED and wires, then glued it in with epoxy. The assembly was then soldered to a baseplate, maked and sprayed black More soon.

Once the theatre shroud was made I realised there was some round covers that needed fitting. I bashed these out of thin brass sheet using an office hole punch set on some concrete, hitting the cutting pin with a small hammer! I soldered the assembly to the bracket and then fitted the LEDs using the brass structure as the negative earth for the electrics. The wires for the LEDs were then fed down the post via the previously drilled hole. Half way there! More soon JF

The ground signal went together quite well, and the little bulb works but as I'm not sure of the durability of the bulb, I'll leave one on test for a day or so. The weight bar looks a little too delicate for operation so as usual I'll fit it permanently and bypass it with a direct link servo to signal. The Theatre Route indicator. I made one of these for "Saltney" from plastic but as I thought the shroud looked a bit thick and heavy, I decided to use brass for this one. It's a bit of a cheat really as on the real thing each display figure is represented by numerous bulbs illuminating to make up a letter or number. My version uses a stencil illuminated from behind by an LED. The backplate and shroud cut from sheet, with the shroud formed ready to fit. An LED is in place to show roughly how it works The shroud soldered on A strip of N/S soldered inside for the facia/stencils to rest on and the base fastened on. More soon JF

They are 3mm warm whites from Rapid Online. The little bulbs were from Squires. JF