Progress (or otherwise) on Jeff's new layout

I must confess to great admiration for those with all these electrical skills, Counting you among them Jeff.
That panel looks the business.
regards,
Derek.

Thanks Derek. My electrical skills are basic but sufficient to work out most of my needs.

My wiring needs a bit of tidying up but I have designed it from the start with some modularity so that it is easily extended or shortened without having to rewire the whole lot.

Having worked on two Hornby 2 BILs and my Ayjay Models 'Tin' 2 HAL with the yellow paint and transfers, I decided to pose them on the layout, just for a bit of fun.

The first two photos show just the 2 BILs, including the third, as yet untouched, NRM version of unit 2090, unit 2147 with full yellow ends, and unit 2134 with small yellow panels. The third photo shows the 6BIL formation with the 'Tin" HAL added. this will receive unit number 2694.







Once Hornby produce their 2 HAL units from the 2014 announcements, the possible formations will be even more interesting.

I have been working on the Bratchell class 319/1 a little more and it has actually run in service. I added the third rail shoe beams (or, more correctly, height limiting bars) to both this and the earlier Bratchell class 455/8 I was building. While I had the 455 out, I also finished off the front handrails and jumper cables/receptacles.

With all that going on, I decided to have a Network SouthEast (NSE) running session.

In the two photos below, the trains at Newton Broadway are, from left to right, the Hornby class 92, 92 022, on a Speedlink freight (the rear of the train), the Bratchell class 455/8, 455 835, the Bratchell class 319/1, 319 174, and a Bachmann class 416/2, 6225.





From the other end of the station, looking under the rail overbridge, from left to right are 319 174, 455 835, and 92 022.

One thing about my platform construction and finish didn't look quite right to me and that was the light grey edging extending down the ramps at each end. A thin white line will be added to the edges of the level surfaces later but there always seemed to be a discontinuity at the ends of the real thing. I have corrected a couple of spots along the edges of the platform where particular items of stock rubbed or caught, most notably the Dapol Western at the curved edge on the right of the platform. I also levelled a couple of bits, before painting the ramp edges coal black (Humbrol #85) and touching up the light grey elsewhere.

However, while doing this I  noticed there was some distortion at two of the section joints, one at each end of the platform. This seems to be a result of the plasticard base expanding in the heat (we are now on our fourth day of 40+ degree Celsius heat, with evening and night temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s). I am hoping I won't have to cut and trim anything after it all cools off again over the weekend (cooler change on the way).

Another job I have been putting off for some time is fitting some sort of interior detail to the Hornby Dublo signal box that masquerades as an LT box.

It should probably really have the Westinghouse electro-pneumatic style of miniature levers but after much thought, I realised that no one would be able to see such a system inside the box anyway, so opted to use the old style levers. With this in mind, I ordered the Smiths/W & T etched brass levers. These were duly assembled over a couple of evenings, with many pauses to cool off again from the heat. I can't say I did a brilliant job with these, but once they are painted they will look OK. The frame was stuck to a small rectangle of 40 thou plasticard acting as a sort of plinth. This was trimmed down a bit once I had the final size of the frame.

I cut a false floor out of 40 thou plasticard, designed to fit the shaped end of the signal box and overlap the recess in the floor/roof at the other end. Onto that I stuck a floor cut to exact shape from Wills' wooden planking.

The wooden floor was stuck to the false floor with solvent, while the lever frame/plinth was then glued towards the front windows of the box, roughly centrally along the floor planking. A small rectangle of black plastic was glued to the shaped end of the box to allow the floor to rest against it and prevent me from pushing it too far upwards.

I will draw up and print a track diagram to mount on the back wall of the box, and add some more furniture for the signalmen to use (desks, chairs, etc.).

Anyway, here are some photos to show what I am talking about.

I worked on a miniature track diagram for the signal box last night, partly of the layout around Newton Broadway and partly fictional tracks, signals and stations on either side of the "known" bits.

I created the diagram in Microsoft Word, using the line and shape tools. I then took a screen snapshot using the snipping tool built into Windows and loaded the resulting image into Paint Shop Pro (Photoshop would be just as good!) for a little 'fettling' and adding the green background.

I then loaded the image back into word and resized it to suit the 40 mm width available on the back wall of the signal box, printed it on the colour laser printer, then cut it out. I cut a 40 thou plasticard panel, slightly over-depth, and glued the printed panel onto the plasticard, then glue the whole panel into the signal box. The result is rather pleasing, I think

Continuing with the LT signal box, I have painted the interior floor and put the first coat of paint on the levers - these are mostly either black for points or red for home signals (which are all 2-aspect here). I made a high bench from scrap bits of plastic. I'll add some printed matter to it as I proceed with the project.



​

And here are a couple more shots of progress. I have added a figure I think looks like a signalman and probably need to find another as well. I made up a train register book for the bench. All of this is based on what little I know of signalling rules and practices and rather a lot of assumptions, including one that LT used much the same as BR and its predecessors. I think it looks reasonable and feasible, anyway, although I have no doubt there are a few experts out there who can  correct me if I am wrong (please do!).

Well you certainly have improved the old Hornby/Dublo signal box !  The box has come up great with the interior, levers, glazing and signal man. Fantastic job. :thumbs Now for some warm white LEDs…

Cheers, Gary.

It's funny you should mention the LEDs, Gary!

A while ago I bought some LED lighting strips from a dealer on eBay (also available from the likes of Jaycar). I bought 5 metre reels of warm white strip and cool white strip for around $AUS15 each. The strips come with resistors already built in and work off 12V DC, and are marked with cutting points and solder pads every three LEDs. I had carriage lighting in mind (Hornby 2 BILs in particular) but they are also ideal for lighting buildings.




I cut one strip of three Surface Mount LEDs and soldered some wires to it, then mounted it in the ceiling of the signal box - the strips are self-adhesive but they don't stick well to the matte paint I used on the inside of the cabin so I used some black-tack to secure the strip and the wires. I had to file a small semi-circular notch in the floor assembly to let the wires pass through to baseboard level.

I hooked the wires up to my test analogue controller, which has a controlled output but also has 12V DC uncontrolled and 16V AC uncontrolled outputs, noting which was the positive wire as I did so. The result was just a teensy bit bright!!





I could add a higher resistance into the circuit but I thought a diffuser would serve to distribute the light as well as toning it down a bit. Some 10 thou plasticard was cut to fit the ceiling area and Blu-Tacked into place. This was somewhat better.



I still have to add some more fittings and furniture into the box, including something like an armchair, a clock, a couple of phones and possibly a stove. There's also a white metal cat awaiting painting!

You can see the wires running down next to the door. They will be painted to look like pipes.

Lights do look good ! A good way of hiding the wiring is to use individual thin brass wire lengths. These can be soldered up to the LED, bent into shape to fit the walls and roof and then painted to match the interior. If you run then down the wall, they will look like electrical conduits, rather than down pipes ! Come to think of it, the signal box on Jacks Corner utilises the down pipe at the rear of the building as one of the power feeds…



Cheers, Gary.

Normally I'd say the brass wire was a good idea but the old Dublo box is all metal, except for my additions. I even had to put small bits of paper under the ends of the lighting strip to make sure the solder pads didn't touch the metal ceiling.

True, but I did say paint the wire. This could be done with enamels which would stop any electrical contact. The other option is to make the metal box a power source of its own and only run one wire… ;-);-) 

Cheers, Gary.

Yes, that would work, using the whole box as a common return! Could be interesting if it comes into contact with something else live!!

:shock:  :shock:  :shock:

I did a little wiring this morning, so here it is in situ on the layout.





The lights are still a bit too bright but the overall effect is good.

With the arrival of an ESU LokProgrammer, I decided that I needed to do something about switching the programming track, because the LokProgrammer is really only intended for ESU products.

I found some spare 6 way 2 pole rotary switches left over from the cab control of my old layout's Middlehurst branch, which would allow me to switch three (or more) controls to the programming track with some 'off' positions to isolate it as well.

So, I have wired the LokProgrammer/computer to one position, the original programming output from my NCE Power Pro system to another position, and a Power Cab to a third one - the Power Pro 'talks' properly to the computer allowing full read back and programming from Decoder Pro on the computer, whereas the Power Cab has some limitations on this through its USB interface but, on the other hand, the Power Cab has a little more 'oomph' for programming sound decoders.

I could also add a 12V DC output to one of the spare pairs of terminals on the switch too, which would allow me to use the rolling road and run DC locomotives in before chipping them.

The switch was mounted on a piece of stout plasticard and a label printed up on the computer, with a little trial and error to get things to line up satisfactorily. It's not perfect but it works well and doesn't look too bad.

I must label that Power Cab Panel to ensure that no one tries to use it to drive the layout - it is programming track only

Going well Jeff.
Its amazing how many gadgets have got into model railway builds with the event of the two wire system.
I have yet to try fitting a decoder, I just look at my DCC control packages challanging me to open them.
Those wires look very tempting as playthings for Toby!
Keep up the good work,
Derek.

Here is my straight out of the box latest arrival, Heljan's new tooling class 33/0 D6570, side by side with old tooling D6585 with modified cab roof profiles.










The main (large) side grilles on the new version are a little too prominent but overall it does look better than the original. I particularly like the new bogie side frames, although the brake blocks are still not in line with the wheel treads. It is nice to have the original roof layout modelled properly too.


I did a little extra wiring to the programming/test track to include a controlled 12V DC supply, using one of the erstwhile neutral positions on the switch I showed in my post of Monday 27th January (post #316 http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=7883&forum_id=21&page=16#p212486). This allowed me to set up the rolling road and run the locomotive in a bit on DC before fitting a decoder.


D6570 is currently fitted with a TCS M1P decoder, after burning out a cheap Hattons one! I will try to get something a little beefier to replace the TCS one but I have run out of good quality 8-pin decoders (I usually like ESU ones for Heljan locos but Lenz are also ideally suited). I do have plenty of good quality 21-pin decoders in stock but they are of no use here!!

Another new addition to the locomotive stud: a Bachmann clss 47, 47 715 Haymarket, in Network SouthEast livery. Thi is straight out of the box apart from adding the coupling on one end and adding a Lenz Silver+ 21 pin decoder after some initial running-in on the rolling road on DC.

It is seen here on 'menial' engineers' duties!

Today I had a visit from Neil Wood. We chatted and ran trains for a while and I showed him what I had been up to since his last visit. He must have inspired me because I started tweaking the building positions and levels a little more. The results, so far, are shown below in pictures.

There is still much to be done but each time I do these little tweaks and adjustments and rearrangements, it gets a little better and just a little closer to being finished. Ignore the glue bottle - it is fulfilling a useful function there by holding a section of roadway down while the glue sets!