Skinnylinny

That's entirely fair - I've seen photographs of ex-SER stations that looked to have the style of signal I have in mind, although they're usually either not sharp enough or scanned at too-low a resolution to be certain. That being said, given the layout is based on a fictitious pre-grouping company's station in a town that didn't exist (even if I can point out where it would be on the map), one could argue that nothing fixed on the layout ever existed!

Thank you - I was aiming to represent the S&F house style of diagram, although I was a bit limited in what I could do in Microsoft Paint! The eventual aim is to trace a printout, then fill in with watercolours. You are quite right that I've missed off the blacking-in of the headshunt point (I'll fix that!), and much of the text. I'm trying to give an overall "Saxby & Farmer" feel - the layout has an S&F box, the frame and diagram are S&F, and the block instrument is also based on one in the catalogue.

I think I may have found a drawing that has something closer to what I'm after, albeit with the lamp atop the post! This drawing from the HMRS Portfolio of Railway Drawings looks to have the right shape of spectacle. I suppose I could start drawing this up for etching now - somehow I completely missed it in the collection!

That's very kind, but I'm looking for S&F designs, rather than M&H - I already have drawings for those! Thank you. For the arms, I am indeed intending to use the Wizard S&F fret, but the Stevens "teardrop" spectacles (number 13 on the etch) look completely wrong to my eyes. I think it's the fact that the lenses in the spectacle in the catalogue look like they make up a continuous egg shape, split down the middle, while the Stevens ones are two distinct teardrop shapes. The square-ended ones (number 10) are closer to what I'm after in terms of lens shapes, but obviously aren't ideal for mounting outside a slotted post, without an arm to attach to the square end!

Hello all, I'm tiptoeing nervously into this subforum, as I normally spend my time in the Pre-Grouping section. My 00 gauge layout, Linton Town is based on a freelance pre-grouping company, and set in the time period 1900-1910. Signalling-wise, I've already worked out what I need, and where (I hope!), based on the assumption that the small "Great Southern Railway" has contracted Messrs. Saxby & Farmer to provide signalling equipment. The signalling diagram is as follows: I've already built up a lever frame (3D printed, with mechanical interlocking), based on drawings in the Saxby & Farmer catalogue of 1889, which is connected to microswitches, the eventual aim being to have servos operating points and signals, controlled by a microprocessor. (Yes, I know that 11 and 12 wouldn't likely be connected to the signalbox, but they've been added for the sake of ease of operation of the layout!) However, the time has now come to actually look at building signals. I was hoping to go for slotted-post signals, however, I'm struggling to find certain components that I'd be after. The difficulty is that I'm not wanting my signals to exactly match (for example) LB&SCR practice, where the spectacles were either mounted further down the post than the arm, or the light colour was changed by rotating lamps. The basic arrangement of arms and posts I'm hoping for is this: I was hoping for spectacles mounted on the same axle as the arm, ideally of as close as possible a pattern to the ones shown in these drawings from the catalogue: As you can see, they're quite distinctive in shape, and rather unlike anything available in the MSE range. I could use the NER spectacles at a push, but they wouldn't look right to me. Does anyone know of anywhere I'd be likely to either find suitable parts for building these signals in 4mm scale, or even where I could get dimensioned drawings to draw up my own for etching? Many thanks in advance!

Personally, what I do in that situation is create two sketches - one from above and one from the side. I then extrude the side view overlength (over-thickness? So that it extends beyond the furthest in and furthest out points of the lever) as one body. Next, I extrude the top view downwards through the previous body (again as a new body). I split the first body, using the second body as the splitting tool. Remove un-needed bodies, and you should have a brake lever that bends in multiple directions at once!

I shall just leave this here... https://hmrs.org.uk/-abp615--albert-usher--ec3--10t-7-plank-s-e--811--op--f3r-tare--6-2-2--spoked-wheels--ssdbk--photo-no--s-600.html

Yes, I ought to start thinking about signals... As I've mentioned before, the history of Linton Town includes the company contracting out the supply of signalling equipment to Messrs. Saxby & Farmer. As such, I'd rather like to have split-post signals, although I'd prefer to have the spectacles mounted on the same spindles as the arms (similar to the NER designs), rather than lower down the post, which was S&F's more common modus operandi at the time. I've been having trouble getting any useful drawings of similar signals, too. I suspect that I may have to "bash" mine together from a mixture of MSE parts intended for S&F and NER signals, and Ian MacCormac's parts. What I'll need on the visible part of the layout will be something like this: I'm not going to lie, I'm rather nervous about the bracket for numbers 16-19! While I'm a big fan of 3D printing in various situations, I think that metal kits will likely be rather more able to stand up to the rigours of operation. I have previously made some laser-cut signals out of MDF, card, and acetate, but I can't decide whether they look too chunky or not. Unfortunately, at the moment, the layout boards are packed up, so I don't have any brilliant photos of them, but these are what I do have!

Haha, well, Sunshine on Shandwick Place in this instance, but yes!

I too collected mine from Harburn. With the beautiful sunshine in Edinburgh yesterday, I couldn't resist a quick snapshot while waiting for a tram...

The frame now has lever numbers (Also 3d printed), and work has started on printing the block instrument. All the circuitry fits inside, although I've had to temporarily substitute momentary toggle switches while I await the push-buttons arriving. I've also set up a temporary trackplan board to make testing easier. Now to decide what type of wood veneer to use - mahogany or cherry. Or possibly walnut. All three are rather nice! I ought to start thinking about signals, I suppose...

It would, although I lack the required woodworking skills, and no longer have access to the laser cutter since moving to Glasgow-ish. GrandOrgue at the moment, as I don't have the cash to drop on a copy of GrandOrgue, and I'm sort of cautiously dipping my toe back in for as little spend as possible. The 61-key MIDI keyboard cost me £60, while the pedalboard has cost me the grand total of £1.04 on eBay and the price of a decent takeout dinner for a friend to drive it up to me! It will require a bank of microswitches, and the use of an Arduino which I already have, to MIDI-ify it.

Bells-wise, I'm leaning towards a speaker and recordings, to be honest, rather than physical bells. I love the idea of operating with them, but I daresay my neighbours would appreciate the idea of a volume control. They've enough to deal with now that I'm getting back into organ practice too (well, as best I can with a MIDI keyboard, and an old church organ pedalboard that I've managed to acquire and am planning to MIDI-ify...) but at least that I can do on headphones!

So i was sitting playing with the lever frame, and got to thinking. It's all very well having a frame, but what use is it if the next box down the line can't communicate to send me trains? Now, I could just rely on talking to the fiddle yard operator, but where's the fun in that? So, I've been playing about a bit more in CAD. I've not yet decided how to drive the arms, but I'm leaning towards servos unless I can find a way to hook this up to some solenoids in such a way that I can drive it on 5V or so. It's to a larger scale than the levers in order to be visible to a 1:1 operator, and I've yet to decide how to sort out a pegging handle. The outer finish, however, I've decided on. I have some rather nice self-adhesive veneer, which should look rather good over a 3D printed case, perhaps with some suitable decorative wooden mouldings.

It lives! Well, all the levers, microswitches and locking are printed, assembled and working. Unfortunately, the 2mm threaded rod I ordered for attaching the microswitches is... subpar... The M2 nuts just slide along it rather than "biting" the thread! I may have to look for another source. There are still a couple of minor bits that need tidying (like painting the handles on some of the levers) or that may get changed - the strengtheners to the catch rod guides, for example. There's also a very slight occasional issue with the tappets binding slightly between the quadrants - this may settle down as bits bed in, or I may have to adjust the tappets slightly and reprint, but all in all I'm very very pleased with how the project has turned out! In the meantime, I've been working on something more modern - the ScotRail class 334 for the club's forthcoming Haymarket layout. Awaiting varnishing before I grubby up the roof and add the cant rail stripe, then do the glazing.

Just wanted to say thank you to @m0rris - I bought a class 334 a few months back, and have finally got to the point of painting. I'm delighted with the model, and very impressed - it's well detailed, weighty and the resin used is nicely flexible, rather than brittle. Just enough to get the wheels into the bogies (although I did find them a little snug, but easy enough to ream - always better that way than too loose!). I'm really enjoying this build. Next thing on the to-do list is figuring out where to get a suitable pantograph, and sorting couplings between the cars.

Once everything is in place and tested, I intend to have a clear piece of acrylic over the top.

Getting there... 4 more quadrants, 6 more levers and one more locking bar... and hopefully that should be all the bits I need to assemble the whole thing!

Hi Michael, So the pivots on the catch handles are M2 bolts, which pass through one side of the catch handle, and self-tap into the other side of the catch handle. The catch rods do have springs attached to the bottom where they pass through the quadrant. The springs hook over the hooked "leg" to the left of the lever in the picture above. They're fairly softly sprung, but enough that the catch falls reliably. I am not expecting many guest operators, and the long-term plan is to have a mimic panel as an alternative method of control, that can be plugged into the same electrical connector that will attach the levers to the layout - the levers are mainly for my own enjoyment. That said, there's a *little* flex in the catch rods, but only enough to allow maybe 1mm of movement at the very tip of the lever handle.

Well, the printer's been on the blink for a little while now - it suddenly started producing plastic spaghetti instead of lever frame parts. About 8 hours of tinkering later (spread over about a week!) I've managed to get it working, and I now have an idea of what to look for if it fails again. My first successful print was the locking bars, and there are now the first ten tappets on the print bed. I've also been playing around with how to mount microswitches, and I think I've got a nice neat system which should do the trick, having stolen the basic concept from @Lacathedrale's suggestion a few pages back. Every third quadrant will have this tab with two holes in, to fit more threaded rods (M2 this time, rather than M3) to support microswitches. It *should* be possible, with care, to route the wires neatly downwards, although I may draw up some kind of cable trough for them. While the interlocking may be mechanical, the levers themselves will operate the microswitches and thus, indirectly, the signals and points through servos. I'm also hoping to add coloured strengtheners to the lever catch rod guides at some point, but for the foreseeable future I'll be printing lots and lots of black parts (interlocking and more quadrants!)

What's wrong with "embiggened"? It's a perfectly cromulent word!

Well, a fair bit of finagling later, and now things are stretched such that the tappets' throw is approximately 1.5 rows, thus stopping the problem. Whew! Now to try printing the bloomin' thing!

Oh, I think I see what you mean - there wouldn't be any movements from the down platform across 3 unless it were reversed, so the FPL on 4 only needs to lock 3 in the reverse position. Very smart! I am a little worried that one port in tappet 5 (that's on row B when normal) will be rather too close to the dog on the green bar - this could allow the following sequence of lever movements (that I don't want!) Starting all N 3R 5R 3N (while 5R!) I must say, I'm glad I'm not doing this for a living!

Hmmmmm, I was *hoping* to allow simultaneous arrivals and departures, but I would definitely rather avoid conditional locking! So something like this? (I realise I've done the lilac bar in sort-of the opposite way to usual, but that's to avoid clashes with other ports in the same tappets). The only niggling thought in the back of my head now is "Should 5 be locked normal unless 3 is reversed?" Thank you so much for your help, @Nick C!

Much better! Just lever 20 to do now...