ECC Wheal Imogen / Rosevean Station: the expansion

[The Fatadder]

Testing has started at last....

 

It has already identified a few issues. First up upon connecting the wires to an old Hornby controller there was no movement from the loco. This was traced to a single copper clad sleeper close to a vee which did not have the insulation gap cut. Once that was sorted the testing could start.

 

Further testing highlighted a couple of tight spots which needed the gauge correcting.

 

So far I have only been testing with a Vi Trains 47 fitted with 14.5mm Maygib wheels and a Bachmann 2251 fitted with Ultrascales (the latter substituting for a Hornby 08 which is also fitted with Ultrascales but will not be tested on the layout until I am comfortable it is minimal risk to the decoder. I also need to sort out a controller (either by fixing my old 511's control handle or getting another front plate for my Powercab)

 

There are still a couple more tweaks required to try and resolve a temperamental derailment, but the next job is to get a temporary fiddleyard cobbled together and installed (and probably to come up with a final design for the actual fiddleyard.

Edited May 20, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

The focus this evening has been the paint brush, first painting the rail sides and chairs with rust then applying a mix of browns & greys to paint the sleepers.

 

I have also found time to spray up the roof for the covered loading area, first treated to a coat of rail grey before spraying a rough coat of Vulcan grey over the top whilst still wet. Once dry I then drybrushed streaks of rust, it will next need to be airbrushed with streaks of white.

 

With that done the plan was to wire up the point motors, first up some live tests. All went well until the last one failed to switch. It looks like it is fouling the side of the hole through the baseboard. At this point I gave up for the evening as there was no way I could get the drill out without waking the baby (this now cant be fixed until Saturday when I can work in the day.)

 

 

So with no more real work possible, attention turned to planning. I am once again debating how to set up the buildings, in particular returning to a previous idea removing the bridge on the right hand side and making a scenic brake with buildings. This in turn leaves a big gap in the middle of the layout, so I have tried a couple of options here. The first is to add another building between the dries and the large structure (either an office or silos), the second is to extend the dries (I have rejected this as it would need the hard standing extending meaning relaying a lot of track), while the third is a return to the other potential building (in this case there is an alternative option chopping about 4 inches from the overall length to maintain the 3 inch gap between the two buildings.) In the foreground there is an option between having the brick office as a scenic brake or a clump of trees.

 

Ive just realised on some of the photos the roof has fallen over, that will teach me for not looking before posting...

Edited May 22, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

The problem point motor has now been sorted, opening up the hole by another 3mm to provide clearance for the moving parts.

The points can now be connected to their respective switches, just as soon as I decide on a control panel design...

 

 

Next up was preping some surfaces with brown paint, this included painting the river bed and reprofiling the river bank in the approad to the bridge.

 

 

Finally I have ballasted the track which is not set in concrete, I have used Carr’s ballast and original Klear to bond it dropped on with a syringe. The only problem with this was that it kept getting stuck, before squirting our too much liquid disturbing the ballast. As such there are a number of areas which need a touch up with more ballast. On this simple board I got through about an inch of bottle, I hate to think how much I will use on Brent...

[St Enodoc]

The problem point motor has now been sorted, opening up the hole by another 3mm to provide clearance for the moving parts.

The points can now be connected to their respective switches, just as soon as I decide on a control panel design...

 

 

Next up was preping some surfaces with brown paint, this included painting the river bed and reprofiling the river bank in the approad to the bridge.

 

 

Finally I have ballasted the track which is not set in concrete, I have used Carr’s ballast and original Klear to bond it dropped on with a syringe. The only problem with this was that it kept getting stuck, before squirting our too much liquid disturbing the ballast. As such there are a number of areas which need a touch up with more ballast. On this simple board I got through about an inch of bottle, I hate to think how much I will use on Brent...

Did you dilute the Klear or use it neat? I have seen both methods described.

[The Fatadder]

Did you dilute the Klear or use it neat? I have seen both methods described.

I’ve always used it straight from the bottle, I will have to do some experiments diluting it and see how well it works

[The Fatadder]

Too much going on over the bank holiday to work on the layout, let alone stick to my original plan and go to RailEx.

 

I have however managed to do some shopping, I now have a pile of plywood to make the backscene and frontage, along with some 1.5mm foam sheet from which I plan on making the concrete infill for the works track.

 

I also found a Dapol signal on eBay, it’s likely to be non working but I’ve been reading up and expect it will be fixable. While not amazingly accurate it will do the job for this project.

[The Fatadder]

In the end I did manage to get a couple of hours working on the layout yesterday evening, as a result the layout now has a back scene. Everything is made from 5mm ply which was chopped to size at B&Q (it took a while to find two sheets which were flat!)

 

I started by cutting the holes in the end boards to allow the track to pass through, this leaves a 5mm gap between the end of the rails and the fiddleyard board (so I have kept the offcuts to use as a spacer.) The rear was a bit more tricky as the backscene needed to be at a different angle to the rear of the board, this forms a subtle curve along the rear of the layout. As a result I used five 1inch brackets with a slot filed in the ply to enable fitting to the rear of the board.

 

With the backscene assembled, I have also prepared the frontage which is now ready for installation (maybe tonight). It all now needs to be painted, along with filler to blend in a couple of more difficult sections.

 

While I had the boards upside down, it showed up a couple more areas which need the ballasting touching up, (another task for tonight). The only slight issue now is that thanks to my designing the wedge the wrong way round, now that it has the backscene up access to the workshop is a lot more limited. It means a lot of work is going to be needed to completely reorganize the roof in order to put the layout in an easier place to work on.

 

 

Finally some photos,

The wood at an angle on the left hand side is currently just taped in place (matched up to align with the profile of the dries), the red marker pen is approximately in the location where the signal will be installed.

Edited May 29, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

The last two nights have been spent working on the concrete infill for the works area, the plan was to use a Templot print as a guide and cut the required components from 1.8mm foam sheet.  After cutting everything to size I have found that my cutting just wasnt accurate enough and the foam didnt cut very well (compounding the former).  Net result, the foam has worked for the larger areas but not between the rails.

 

As such its now back to square one.

 

I have not added the metal strip on the inside of the flangeway, on the real thing its pretty thin and I didnt think  I could do it justice in 4mm scale.  This makes the next job more difficult, given I am struggling to cut parts to the right size the alternative is to use tile grout / filler.  The difficulty is a: getting it flat just below the rail line and b: ensuring that the flangeways are correct.

 

In preparation for an attempt at the weekend, I have been cutting up the rest of the foam sheet to fill the gap under the rail between the copper sleepers (thus meaning I use less filler so it will dry faster).  The large areas between track will be filled with foam sheet (with a 5mm gap next to the rail to fill with filler) helping to ensure I get the rails slightly proud of the concrete to assist with cleaning.)  Then its time to do between the tracks....

 

Its a shame that when you export a DXF from Templot the rail is made up of hundreds of very short lines, its taking me a very long time to offset all of them by 0.67mm to form a cutting template.  The logic being to make the parts near to the mechanism from plastic.  For the rest I am thinking along the lines of making a couple of formers (the width between the rails) to level the filler, masking the rails before applying the filler then using a bit of 30 thou plasticard to scrape out the flange way gaps.   I remember hating this task on Blackcombe Torr, and for some reason have made the job a lot more difficult this time including one and a half points in the concrete area!

[Stubby47]

Can you temporarily fix a thin sliver of plastic on the inside of the rails, which can be removed after you have in-filled the centre?

[Siberian Snooper]

I'm with Stubby, I'd laminate up some plasticard strips to 70 thou, to sit inside the rails and then fill the area between and once dry, ease the plasticard out. I think that I would only do short sections at a time, especially on curves.

[The Fatadder]

Can you temporarily fix a thin sliver of plastic on the inside of the rails, which can be removed after you have in-filled the centre?

 

I'm with Stubby, I'd laminate up some plasticard strips to 70 thou, to sit inside the rails and then fill the area between and once dry, ease the plasticard out. I think that I would only do short sections at a time, especially on curves.

 

Thanks both, I will give that a try and see how I get on.  Unfortunately everything on the layout is curved to one degree or another, including the bits which look straight! 

[The Fatadder]

Last night I had a first attempt at adding the infill (starting with the slurry loading area given that it has no points).

 

I started by preparing the rail, covering the inside edge of the rail with tape (in order to minimize the clean up).

Once that was in place I covered the whole gap between the rails with polyfiller, doing the whole track length (about two foot) in one go. As soon as I had finished I took an offcut of 30thou plasticard and ran it along the rail to clear the flange way. The down side of this is that the excess filler has to go somewhere, in this case it forms a pile along the edge of the infill. You cant do anything about this until the filler has fully dried (otherwise you just end up pushing it back into the flangeway. Once dry the intention is to attack with a scalpel, files and sandpaper to tidy up.

 

There are a few area's which require additional filler (mistakes where the plasticard caught and pulled out too much filler), which again need to be fixed once the filler has dried.

 

Other imperfections are fine, and can be integrated into the weathering.

Edited June 1, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Progress continues on the infilled track, although I have now ran out of pollyfiller so there will not be any further progress until Monday when I can buy some more. This second batch was more complicated than the first (in that it included points), and is now at the stage for tidying up the excess. Unfortunately the 1 year old was up all night last night (typical given the wife is away at a hen do which doesn't help.

 

I have started adding in the rest of the concrete around the areas which are already complete, once dry it needs to be blended into the track (again once I have more filler)

 

The next job should have been the installation of the Dapol signal, rather hindered by a lack of suitable drill bit! It has been tested and is all working (a slight concern given the known issues with the Dapol signals and buying second hand.)

 

The final area of work was the bridge at the right hand side of the layout, I now have a rough design and have built up a mock up from foam board. If I can find a way of bonding it effectively this will make up the core of the structure and be clad in embossed plastic sheet.

 

With the bridge and signal in place (the latter modelled with a drill...) I am still having second thoughts as to what structure to put in the foreground between the signal and the large building at the rear. I feel that it needs something, I just cant work out what to build...

Edited June 3, 2018 by The Fatadder

[St Enodoc]

The next job should have been the installation of the Dapol signal, rather hindered by a lack of suitable drill bit! It has been tested and is all working (a slight concern given the known issues with the Dapol signals and buying second hand.)

 

With the bridge and signal in place (the latter modelled with a drill...) I am still having second thoughts as to what structure to put in the foreground between the signal and the large building at the rear. I feel that it needs something, I just cant work out what to build...

Signal looks nice. The arm looks better than the ones on the Dapol wooden post signals I have seen. Have Dapol improved the arms or did the original owner perhaps swap it for a Ratio one?

 

I'd be tempted to put some sort of nondescript grotty hut in that space.

[The Fatadder]

Signal looks nice. The arm looks better than the ones on the Dapol wooden post signals I have seen. Have Dapol improved the arms or did the original owner perhaps swap it for a Ratio one?

 

I'd be tempted to put some sort of nondescript grotty hut in that space.

I was a lot happier with the signal than I expected to be, to the point that for the round post signals needed for Brent I will be very tempted to use them again. Its just a shame about the square post ones...

 

 

As for the empty space, I think I will start with an overgrown patch and see how it looks, then try placing on various huts, portacabins etc to see how it looks.

 

For now its back to woodwork and building the facia, the parts are all cut so it just needs to be screwed together. I havent decided if I will actually install it yet, it will depend on how much it will impact access to the layout for all of the remaining work.

[The Fatadder]

One other task completed this morning is to get a couple more wagons converted to P4,

 

First up another Dapol Silver Bullet, I have four of these in weathered condition for running with my late 90s stock, however the slurry siding can only take two wagons at a time. I am undecided if I will operate using a longer rake and have to shunt them in pairs into the loader, so for the moment I am only converting the first pair. It was a simple conversion, there is a raised collar around the axle holes which needed thinning, then a few twists of an axle drill (for some reason Dapol and DJM both seem to use a fractionally short axle).

 

 

Next was my pre production Kernow Clay Tiger, again the bogies needed to be drilled out in order to fit standard length axles. I also had to remove all of the narrow brake gear (which is still pending replacement.) I also had a repair to make replacing a missing buffer (I still cant remember if it came with 4 buffers or not... I have modified an S Kits white metal casting from the scrap box to match the length, which now needs painting blue.)

 

 

Both now need to be fitted with Screwlinks, but are now ready to assist in clearance trials as part of the track testing.

Edited June 3, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

The arch and sides have now been completed and are ready for installation onto the layout.  the only problem is that it gets completely in the way, and will make working on the layout a lot more difficult.  As a result I am working on a temporary fix to attach the arch to the layout with G clamps, the idea is that this will both protect the arch and also allow me to get a good look as to how whatever I am working on will look once it is finished.

 

While I was at it I have also glued the extra angled backscene plate to the left hand of the layout, and drilled the hole for the signal (along with giving everything  good hoover).  Hopefully I will be able to get some filler tomorrow so that I can get on with the concrete infill.....

 

At some point I will get round to testing a live loco through the concrete that I have finished so far....

[The Fatadder]

So after a tidy up and a test fit of the frontage, here is the current state of the layout:  There is a bit of a gap between the works and the backscene which needs attention (and identification of a solution), the bridge will also need shortening by circa 10mm to clear the sides of the frontage.  the idea of the 100mm panels on the sides of the layout is that it should frame the scene (and in assist in blocking the hole through the backscene.)

 

The main jobs for June: 

• Finish applying filler to the concrete inset track, then find out whether everything still works...
• Paint the concrete
• Wire up point motors and signal to a temporary control panel, I have a leaver frame which will be used eventually, but for now it will just be 3 switches on an offcut of 5mm ply
• Paint the backsceen
• Build and paint the final version of the bridge

[Siberian Snooper]

 

So after a tidy up and a test fit of the frontage, here is the current state of the layout:  There is a bit of a gap between the works and the backscene which needs attention (and identification of a solution), the bridge will also need shortening by circa 10mm to clear the sides of the frontage.  the idea of the 100mm panels on the sides of the layout is that it should frame the scene (and in assist in blocking the hole through the backscene.)

 

The main jobs for June: 

• Finish applying filler to the concrete inset track, then find out whether everything still works...
• Paint the concrete
• Wire up point motors and signal to a temporary control panel, I have a leaver frame which will be used eventually, but for now it will just be 3 switches on an offcut of 5mm ply
• Paint the backsceen
• Build and paint the final version of the bridge

 

 

Can you post a picture or two of the building and backscene.

 

Ta.

[The Fatadder]

Here are the missing photos, second from last shows the problem area

Edited June 4, 2018 by The Fatadder

[Siberian Snooper]

I think that if you finish of the roof, with ridge capping, you wouldn't need to worry about the gap.

[The Fatadder]

I think that if you finish of the roof, with ridge capping, you wouldn't need to worry about the gap.

Im not sure why I didnt think of that, a very good idea!

[The Fatadder]

Now that I have more filler I have been able to crack on with the concrete infill for the track in the loading area, it still needs cutting and sanding (along with adding the plasticard section covering the mechanism on the left hand point), but it is starting to come together.

 

The only slight issue is that I still haven't ran a loco through it since laying the filler, I am really nervous that I will start getting derailments which were not there before (and if there are issues I don't know what I am going to be able to do about it!) So far I have been doing hand testing with a VGA, Silver Bullet and Clay Tiger, but not with the more temperamental CDAs...

 

 

The aim for tonight is some control panel wiring followed by cutting and sanding the concrete slab,and adding the final coat of filler

Edited June 6, 2018 by The Fatadder

[treggyman]

Hi

 

Been following your thread with interest from a distance but feel a comment coming on......

 

You say that you are concerned about derailments but are not using your CDA's to test the tack as you feel they are too 'temperamental'

 

Oddly enough I find the Hornby CDA's the same in OO.....

 

Thus..... When building points/track I ALWAYS use a CDA to test the point.....

If a Hornby CDA will run through it.......The rest of the stock also normally does too....

Funnily enough I've found the Hornby Class 60 to be the loco of choice as a tester....

The same applies as above.....

 

Really enjoying your thread.....

 

Cheers Bill

 

Edit to finish post....Pressed wrong button & post posted too soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited June 6, 2018 by treggyman

[The Fatadder]

Been following your thread with interest from a distance but feel a comment coming on......

 

You say that you are concerned about derailments but are not using your CDA's to test the tack as you feel they are too 'temperamental'

 

Oddly enough I find the Hornby CDA's the same in OO.....

 

Thus..... When building points/track I ALWAYS use a CDA to test the point.....

If a Hornby CDA will run through it.......The rest of the stock also normally does too....

Funnily enough I've found the Hornby Class 60 to be the loco of choice as a tester....

The same applies as above.....

 

During my initial testing a CDA was used (including running through routes only a loco will use), but in order to do so I had to spend a lot of time getting one CDA to actually run properly.  I now need to find that specific wagon to use again, along with giving the track a good hoover to ensure the flange ways are clear (tricky given I can only normally work on the layout after 9pm and don’t want to wake the baby).

 

There is an element of logic in my approach to avoiding the CDAs, I think the wagon has a fundamentally flawed chassis design (compounded by the w irons being too close together) which gives poor running to start with (as you say its visible in OO).  As a result in the slightly longer term my intention is that these wagons need to have replacement W irons fitted as a priority, it just needs a suitable product….. 

 

For locos I use a Hornby 50 purely because I have one which is without a DCC decoder, I recall the 60 has a marginally better chassis design than the 50 (1 piece axles rather than stubs for a start).  As a result my 60s make use of a trick I use wherever possible on all axle drive CoCo locos, using 14.5mm Maygib wheels on the outer axles and 14mm Branchlines wheels on the centre axle.  That 0.25mm difference in radius is not visible when looking at the loco on the track, but avoids any risk of the loco pivoting on the centre axle and significantly improves performance.  For future conversions (of which I have 3 37s and 2 47s in the queue) I am going to have to find a different approach now that Keen Maygib wheels have disappeared, an issue which is compounded as I use the Maygibs in my CDAs as well (where they work a lot better than the Exactoscale wheels that never seem to work well.)