G.M.R.

Great project Dave. You clearly haven't lost your touch. That trackwork looks superb. I am very interested in seeing how the turntable develops. Can it really be 5 years since I last spoke up on here?

Having successfully shifted my focus from 4mm to 7mm over the past year, I am battling with a fundamental concern over the operational handling of couplings. I don't have a lot of stock yet, but the RTR locos and Coaches I do have are fitted with screw link couplings which sit neatly under the buffer beams, almost out of sight, even from the side. So far I have not found any satisfactory way of coupling up the stock whilst on the track. Even uncoupling is difficult from above, so I use a cocktail stick as a shunting pole from the side. I have made a small wagon from a kit which has larger, rather clunky, three link couplings, which I can at least see from above, but even these are hard to manipulate onto the hook of the adjoining vehicle. I know that there is a wealth of experience here, and although I have failed so far to find an answer from my searches, I would be very grateful for any helpful advice or experience as to how best to go about this essential part of operating my newly constructed layouts.

Great story as usual, John. Love the photos.

Yes, that's the only snag I find with my CMX clean machine. It cleans off the wing and check rail weathering as well as the running rails. Still a great machine though.

I agree that and many other old photos of Gordon's look fantastic. I'm going to dare to raise a criticism though in the hope that Gordon might appreciate the feedback. Here goes. He (and others) have made, and make some terrific looking hand built point work for which I am very jealous. But then I think they are spoiled by the use of a Dremel disc run up the centre of the sleepers leaving a groove. I know the copper needs to be cleared, but why not take the time to carefully remove with a file or emery paper so that no mark remains? I think it would turn an already super track model into a totally perfect one which might be hard to distinguish from the prototype when photographed with Gordon's photography skills. There, I said it. Hope we are still friends!

If it helps, I have a number of curves on inclines. Much steeper and sharper than yours. I have used Woodland Scenics poly inclines throughout. These keep my track bed flat at all times. I even manage to handle two tracks side by side with a bit of squeezing of the poly. I also have a couple of curved points on an incline. I have no problems runnning any of my 00 stock. In my experience the most important part to get right with an incline is the top and bottom. I have found it necessary to ease the incline out with a vertical curve. The top has been the hardest to get perfect.

Just found the reference to New England triangle. It's on page 73. The turntable was constructed in 1852, but then demolished less than ten years later to make way for extensive expansion. The triangle was in place by 1863. So that's two triangles for our timescale on the East Coast!

Have a look at vol 1 of the Great Northern Engine sheds, Gordon. Grantham has an excellent example of a triangle, albeit rather different in layout to the one Martin has drawn. They originally had a 52ft turntable, but that had been replaced by a 70ft. Sadly the 70ft broke down during 1950 due to the foundations under the pivot collapsing. Although temporarily repaired, it was removed in 1951 and the triangle was built. Unconventionally it has a diamond crossing because of the lack of space. In the same book is New England. Whilst I haven't found the reference to the triangle, there is no turntable shown, but there is in essence a huge triangle around the entire shed area.

Using the site search engine on just this topic with a single keyword is almost as good as an index. Try underlay for example.

So you got me into going and turning on the train set to make some live tests. Firstly a small error. My longest train is eight coaches not nine. A mixture of Hornby and Bachmann Mk1s. Here they are being hauled up the incline by Deltic:- No surprise here. Runs at good speed and could pull many more. Next my latest acquisition, Hornby Sound fitted P2:- Same train. Won't go at scale speed of 60mph, but 20 or 30 OK. Does give a little wheel slip when starting half way up. Biggest problem is taking any curve at the top of a rise. The front pair of the eight driving wheels tends to ride over the curving track and stay straight. My 9F doesn't do this despite having ten drivers, due, I think to the flangeless centre pair. Have to keep the P2 on level track duties, or on shed. Finally a Bachmann A1. Sound fitted Sea Eagle:- Takes the curve at the top of the incline fine. As well as the eight coaches, a small extra of a coupling converting wagon! It only runs slowly, but it has to take care due to the yellow aspect anyway.

Have fun with your return to carpentry, Gordon. You really don't need to worry about your gradients. I pull 9 coaches up my 1:48 gradient on a 24" radius curve with many of my locos!

The GF sounds good. The controller that I'm using is fine, but it does send the servos to their high position during power up. It is the set high position, so the only affect is that the signals all go off together for a few seconds after the power is turned on.

I too experience this with analogue servos. Another way I have found of stopping it is to reposition the servo arm a single spline in either direction and then reset the end points. Often works. I understand that using digital servos, which run from the same controllers, clear the problem completely and also do not move on start up either.

Great photo. Is that your collection yard? Would it possible to see more details of that signal post. The position switch for example, and the other bits further down the post. Maybe on a separate thread if you don't want to clog up Steve's.

I have a very similar set up, Martin, using LEDs to indicate turnout settings by wiring them between frogs and one DCC rail. I think that if you just included a short length of isolated rail - couple of centimetres long - and connected that to the other side of the LED/resistor you don't need the bent piece of metal. the first loco wheel will connect the short isolated section to power, and the LED will illuminate.

Interesting video Ian. Automating signalling is a great interest of mine. I've been using hard logic, but am now using an Arduino. One thing I have learnt from the various real signalmen on this forum, is that a green signal must stay green whilst the entire train passes it, so that a guard sees the clear signal, not just the driver. I am now busy changing my software to accommodate this. Means waiting for the detector to see the end of the train, not just its presence. You may be aware that Heathcote electronics make a board which does all the work of Richard's project and includes the ir detector. It will also drive other signals further back down the line.

I use a lot of irdots very successfully, but here is an alternative which I am about to try:- http://www.teamdigital1.com/prod_catalogue/dbd22_product/dbd22.html Just have an isolated length of track and feed one side of the DCC to it with the wire passing through the current transformer on this board. No connections needed, except to the LED you want on your control panel. ( and a power supply). £16 for two detectors. coastaldcc.co.uk stock them and will be at the Alton show first weekend in February. I intend going along to pick some up. You can also make them yourself with parts sold by Coastal or with bits from rs-online as shown here:- http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/DccBODvt5.html That site also shows you a lot about infrared detection. They have the advantage that they will show occupancy over an entire section, not just at one point. Could be useful for stacking and, of course, are ideal for full automation.

Hi Gordon. Long time since we last chatted. Happy New Year to you. Great to see that ET is firmly back on your agenda. Your current layout looks excellent and I can imagine it taking shape within your train room. Maybe I can offer a couple of thoughts from my experience in admittedly a much smaller room. If at all possible, try to avoid hidden inclined lines especially at the back of the room. Access can be very difficult, and I got frustrated at not seeing my trains for long periods whilst they made their way from storage to scenic levels. I now have my inclines very much in view, and in their own scenes. It is just a matter of how you look at the trains passing. How do you walk from one side of the storage lines to the other? I have removed all duck unders and now have lifting or dropping flaps so that I might still be able to get around the train room as each year passes! Do you get to either side from the stairs? Now that I've found your post again, I will look forward to watching your progress on this latest version of ET.

What are the "scaffolding" poles for?

I find the safety hoop interesting. Clearly it provides a little protection when the lamp man accesses the top arm's lamp, but I would think he would just have to hang on tight when accessing either of the other two?

Terry, I've followed those instructions a few times and interpreted them like this:- Starting from the end of the axle on the balance weight side of the post. We have firstly the soldered washer which acts like an end stop, then the outer part of the bracket, then the balance weight itself, then the inner part of the bracket, then the axle goes through the post and finally is soldered in place on the other side. I've got a photo somewhere of an early one I did. I'll post it when I find it. Hope that helps. Edit. Maybe that photo helps. I've used a 16BA bolt instead of the wire axle and washer, but it looks the same.

Looks superb as usual. Are you leaving the crank in place during painting? And how do you keep paint out of the 16ba nut on the other crank pivot?

This is what the final model looks like on the layout And a couple of other models also driven by memory wire

Dave, sorry for a very late reply, but having only recently read through Steve's wonderful thread in depth, I have just seen your question about gravity return of model semaphores. I have built a few models now driven by memory wire motors. They only pull. So I use thread over pulleys. The return is pure gravity. If you would like to see more, I can add more details on my layout thread. Sorry, but my modelling is not a patch on Steve's, as you can see from the photo! Geoff

I shall look forward to seeing ET back again. Hi, by the way!