Bloodnok

With the current unavailability of Zimo decoders (I haven't been able to buy an MX638D since February), and with a growing "pile of shame" of new locos which can't be run on the layout because they have no chips, I have decided to try out a few different DCC decoders to see if I can find more suitable options. I tried out a DCC Concepts Zen Black decoder on the basis that several people have espoused how wonderful their ABC implementation is. This turns out not to have been such a good idea, as it's completely incompatible with everyone else. Not only is there is no attempt at constant distance stopping, but they've dropped the 'right rail'/'left rail' distinction, so the loco didn't even react to the braking section when going in with the no.2 end leading.

This board is full of complex levels. Rising gradient through the middle on a curve towards the station throat. Flat on the left for a turntable (complete with pit already cut, as cutting that later would be an absolute pain). Flat (but higher) on the right for the carriage sidings. Still haven't decided if the turntable will be installed and working, disused but present, or just a scenic pit. Whichever way round it'll be a compromise -- From the other direction. Yes, I took the opportunity before I cut the hole to draw centrelines on for tracks away from the pit, which are aligned on the centre. I'm sure I'll thank myself later. And with the plan back in place on top of the board:

I still need to trim the upper level piece, split it where the flat bits for the carriage sidings and turntable are, and make a tiny little bridging piece up at the top left. But I'm nearly done making surface panels now too.

Now available in Ply. One bit still needs sanding down because it's standing proud. Then there are four more bits of wood to add, and after that I'm all done with making frame pieces. On to surface, making sure places to install electronics are available, and ... finally getting back to doing some tracklaying.

More CAD in progress.

I've been busy today. We have the final wall sections in place, and another of the ply supports. The CAD template for the next one is done too, but the light has gone away outside, so I can't go cut it out yet. The triangular brace in the corner will support the track on approach to the station throat. If you are wondering why the flat cutout on the south wall, there will be a turntable right in the corner. The east wall will need a small elevated section to support the rest of the flat area for the turntable. I haven't decided yet if the turntable will be represented as still functional, as present but disused, or whether it will be just the pit remaining with the track lifted. The siren call of a location to park two locos is definitely there. But I think the scene would be better sold with it disused.

That moment your cat judges you for taking up too much space in the lounge...

Interestingly, no. Front loco is a GE AC4400CWM. 4400HP V16 driving AC traction motors. Second loco is a GE ES44AC. Also 4400HP, but from a V12 this time. Also driving AC traction motors. That's an AC4400CW -- 4400HP V16, but driving earlier AC traction motors, and with an earlier cab setup. And ... another AC4400CWM like the one at the front.

Roadbed glued down, plan back in place: I couldn't resist dropping a few of the track pieces down to set out the junction: I'm currently trying to talk myself into having a go at building the left hand curved diamond (currently placeholdered by the up-side-down right-handed one), rather than heading off to Marcway and asking them to build one for me.

Yeah. The key is that you want a dead smooth, consistent gradient. That requires knowing *exactly* what the elevation to climb is, and what the distance between the two points are. And as I've found out with this room, there can very easily be a difference small enough you can't see it at first glance, but big enough that it'll catch you out if you just build to the square, flat plan without checking it against reality. I did have to revise the plan elevation difference between the two levels when I built that first CAD riser, as my planning didn't line up with what I needed to build to accommodate the filing cabinet, and that did change the height I needed on the risers. It was worth doing it properly, not just winging it.

Giant sheet of paper turned into long, thin ribbons. Enough roadbed being glued down to get to the start of the through station and engineers yard, plus a bit up the incline to the terminus. I am slowly working my way out of dependency hell. I couldn't lay track across the bridge until I could glue this down, which couldn't be done until the height of the piers on the incline could be determined, which couldn't be done until the exact height of the terminus was determined. Time to do some more CAD and finish the rest of the verticals.

Update: Madman with glue stick makes very large sheet of paper. More at 10.

Up until now they've been mostly staying on the floor, sitting on chairs, or occasionally going to/from the window via that part of the layout. But it's now becoming a bit of a warren and they are starting to see it as a space to explore. I might have to do something about that...

I've used CAD to design things for this before. Now I'm using the *other* CAD. Cardboard Aided Design. Cardboard template: End result: All these newly hidden spaces are attracting attention...

... And that's where the station is going. Temporarily there for the moment because I haven't laid the track underneath yet.

That's not a bad idea. Through-wiring the lights each half of the train would also mean the DTS decoder could control them, too. Does that then make the pickups redundant? I seem to recall someone saying pickup drag was a significant factor in the performance issues with this train. In my case I need pickups on most axles for train detection anyway, but this might help other people.

Also interested in this. I'm unsure whether I should be concentrating on fixing the one powered NDM so it has sufficient traction not to just spin it's wheels when presented with a gradient, or whether to power to the second NDM. I have a 10 car set and it can't climb to save it's life -- whereas a train the same length made from Bachmann Mk2Fs (also lit) hauled by an 86, 87 or 90 will walk up the same gradient without issue.

Stuff happened. I am now in the "Have ply, need 2" x 1" side of the baseboard construction problem.

There's no ViTrains RTR LMS 10000, but the Silver Fox kit can be built using a ViTrains Class 37 chassis.

I can't remember just how many times I've heard people say "I use N gauge ballast, OO gauge ballast looks too coarse for me". I never understood why. I think I am beginning to understand why: The space between the sleepers in the Peco Code 100 in the background is about half what the more accurately proportioned track in the foreground has. Hence the visual appearance of an inter-sleeper gap being "wrong" with 4mm/ft ballast, but closer to reasonable with 2mm/ft ballast. The proper fix, of course, is not to use underscale ballast; but to stop using under-scale sleeper spacing...

I made a video talking through some of the construction, and showing some more of the baseboard and viaduct. I'm particularly happy with how the frame for the lift-out section isn't visually dominant, like it would have been if I'd have made this section with a conventional frame. I'm planning to use Exactoscale FastTrack concrete sleeper bases with Code 83 rail on the plain line sections. Thinking about track across the viaduct though, I don't think that's appropriate. Looking at this photo: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6794657, I think I'm coming up with a plan. Code 83 flatbottom rail in Peco individual Pandrol clips, on baulk road timbers. Only thing I'm not sure of so far is where to get the baulk timbers from. Would the sleeper strip sold for building points (with the intention you cut to length yourself) be wildly inappropriate, or would that work? The metal tie rods look easy to make from single core wire...

The bridge has over-centre clips to hold it down: On this side there is a shelf with a new power board and some electronics. Here we see the DCC command station, booster, and USB interface. More will join these as the track is laid in this area. On this side I have more of the frame in place, and I've solved the issue with the drawer runner needing to be parallel to the other side. I've put a thin wedge under the bottom to make it parallel, and spaced the top out to keep it vertical. Here are the bridges in place. The bits of MDF before and after the bridge are to create a solid and flat approach to put PCB sleepers on. If they sit on the foam there is still some give and the alignment might not be perfect. And here's the onward trackbed as it curves around:

First time I set the 10 car set up (after running the NDM on it's own for some time), it got about two thirds of the train onto the gradient, and promptly spun to a stand. It's now back in the box awaiting a way to motorise the other NDM and allow me to run it properly.

It's amazing how much difference a few bits of wood makes. All of a sudden that "hidden storage" actually ... looks hidden. Having said that, the bits above the table aren't fixed in yet. I ... kinda need to remove the table before doing that. The plan is to put a retractable workbench under the layout in that space mounted on drawer runners. I would be able to pull it out to work on stuff, and slide it away when I don't need it. To get the drawer runners to work, everything needs to be dead square. I've carefully made sure all the new bits are square to each other. The front and back of the board under the window are exactly the same length, and the diagonals measure the same to the millimetre. So far so good. I even made sure the upper RHS started at the same point on the wall that the storage level baseboard does, so I can use that edge to support the sliding workbench. However ... the edge of the storage level baseboard is parallel to the far wall, not perpendicular to the wall with the window in it. This adds up to a 10mm difference over the distance the board slides -- meaning the drawer runners won't work at that angle. And naturally it comes *in* rather than going *out*, which means I can't just add a quick spacer to the bottom front corner when I mount the edge sheet and drawer runner on that side. Currently trying to figure out what to do about this problem.

Proper frame for the lift-out bridge with locating pins and hold-down clamps. The two runners are right in the 6ft of each double track bridge for maximum support with minimum visibility. I'll add a couple of little notches to the runners at some point so the droppers from the outer tracks can get to the centre, and all the wiring can run in the centre void. There will be a plug both ends. I'm also planning to run an extra wire circuit through both plugs purely so I can tell in software if the bridge is in or not, and prevent train routing across the bridge if it isn't there.