Progress (or otherwise) on Jeff's new layout

To add to the already many pleasures and benefits of living in here Melbourne, yesterday I was most fortunate to visit Jeff and Agnes at their home and to see Newton Broadway in the flesh. An all too brief tour of the railway room and operations left me with many insights, more questions bubbling around and ideas for lots of possible things I can do back here. My overall impression was of a great layout and the marvelous economy and utilisation of space compared to the room I had imagined. It also gave me hope that my initial plans for Project Green Light are in no way unrealistic, in fact I might now well squeeze in more  :twisted:

Thanks again Jeff, I've already taken first steps to getting my PowerCab set up for Braking.

Colin

 

It was a pleasure Colin. Thanks for ignoring the clutter both Agnes and I seem to attract.  :lol:

As you saw, Newton Broadway is still very much a work in progress. 

All layouts have their compromises, with space always being the limiting factor that defines many of the parameters that go into a model railway. My criteria included having a layout that I didn't have to crawl under just to operate it, and also trying to get a long enough run to allow reasonable length main line trains to be run. Another, rather severe limitation was my total inability to deal with gradients (from my experience of my past attempts).

I have spent the last couple of mornings wiring up tracks into the engine sheds and sidings, including wiring up the Peco 3-way points with Gaugemaster auto frog polarity changers. I also reprogrammed the Heljan turntable, so that is now aligning correctly with the oulet track.

While I still have two more points to wire up (one 3-way, one 2-way), plus installing the track feeds for all lines, this is a major step forward towards completing all track wiring on Newton Broadway.
I took a short video showing a test run with a Hornby 700 class 0-6-0, 30693. The loco was turned on the turntable, then run through all the point frogs involved to join the main lines, then reversed back on to the turntable. All successful! The engine shed tracks are not pinned or fastened down in any way, yet, apart from the one track leading onto the turntable, so there was room for the track to float a bit and upset the loco's pickups.


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Hi Jeff.   Another excellent video of your Railway Empire, top marks for both the turntable and the Loco. Another stunning Loco, can be seen, Sarah Siddons, idling in the background.    Best wishes Kevin

[user=1801]Passed Driver[/user] wrote:

Hi Jeff.   Another excellent video of your Railway Empire, top marks for both the turntable and the Loco. Another stunning Loco, can be seen, Sarah Siddons, idling in the background.    Best wishes Kevin

Thanks for the compliments, Kevin. I actually used 'Sarah Siddons' for the initial tests, but turning a double-ended electric loco on the turntable seemed a bit pointless. 

[user=321]SRman[/user] wrote:

[user=1801]Passed Driver[/user] wrote:

Hi Jeff.   Another excellent video of your Railway Empire, top marks for both the turntable and the Loco. Another stunning Loco, can be seen, Sarah Siddons, idling in the background.    Best wishes Kevin

Thans for the compliments, Kevin. I actually used 'Sarah Siddons' for the initial tests, but turning a double-ended electric loco on the tirntable seemed a bit pointless. 

Thats an easy one Jeff. . . The maintenance crew  wanted her turned so they could check the headlight on each end was properly aligned and dipped, against the back wall of the engine shed, She needed the check for her MOT, and that  cantankerous old git of a driver on the 4.20 am Milk run had been complaining That the light on that "newfangled electricated  thingy" was blinding him    :thumbs

Enjoyed the video, So nice to see your hard graft finally paying off  :cheers

Cheers

Matt 

[user=2080]Barchester[/user] wrote:

Thats an easy one Jeff. . . The maintenance crew  wanted her turned so they could check the headlight on each end was properly aligned and dipped, against the back wall of the engine shed, She needed the check for her MOT, and that  cantankerous old git of a driver on the 4.20 am Milk run had been complaining That the light on that "newfangled electricated  thingy" was blinding him    :thumbs

Enjoyed the video, So nice to see your hard graft finally paying off  :cheers

Cheers

Matt 

Haha, yes. Thanks, Matt.

 :cheers

The TT and the loco run nice and smoove.  :)

[user=1120]peterm[/user] wrote:

The TT and the loco run nice and smoove.  :)

I am quite pleased with the results so far. I must remember to vacuum out the debris from the turntable well before doing any more videos, though.

Biscuit crumbs ??   :)

[user=2080]Barchester[/user] wrote:

Biscuit crumbs ??   :)

Naw. Sawdust! Probably leaked from my head.

Continuing with the wiring/rewiring of parts of the layout, I spent this morning crawling under the boards to replace eight of the Gaugemaster Frog Juicers (i.e. auto polarity changers) with two DCC Specialties 'The Frog-AR' units, which each deal with four point frogs (or if desired, two auto-reversers). This meant cutting/desoldering the connections to each of the Gaugemaster units, running some extension wires from each of the point frog wires, and extending just two track power wires for each of the new units. The idea is that the DCC Supplies units can deliver more power if required, with jumper settings allowing for 1, 2, 3, or 4 amps to be supplied to each of the frogs. This releases the Gaugemaster units to complete the engine shed area, where slow speeds will be the rule, so any power drops will not be noticeable (I had noticed that a couple of locomotives were slowing on only certain points powered by the Gaugemaster frog switches).

The points chosen for this swap over were all of the points leading into the fiddle yard loops at the eft-hand end (six points in all), plus the two formin the crossover on the main lines in front of the locomotive shed area.

A thorough test with a Heljan Hymek through every point involved was carried out, followed by some random tests with the Hornby Peckett 0-4-0ST. All went perfectly to plan.
 







The previous evening was partly spent constructing a couple more of the Mike's Models white metal buffer stops, which now require painting. I wanted these finer types for a couple of the engine shed roads, while the more solid-looking Peco sleeper-built units will sit on the ends of the tracks that actually go through the engine shed.

 

This afternoon I wired and pinned down the tracks on either side of the turntable track. These two tracks will receive the buffer stops I was working on last night. I did a very quick video of 'Sarah Siddons' trundling over one of those tracks, and through the points - note that what appears to be a hesitation over the first point was just me slowing the locomotive.

The track on the closer side in the video is also live.

The mess in the foreground is the result of my having to clear enough space to swing the small hammer and generally have enough room to work on the tracks.

 
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I spent this morning installing a Dapol semaphore signal as a starter for the exit from the loco shed and goods siding. Took me quite a while and much cursing to get the hole to the right size for the signal base to fit in. After that it was easier to do the wiring before actually fitting the signal in its hole. It is connected to the existing 9V DC supply feeding the other similar signals. For the most part, this signal will remain at Danger, where the others on the main lines tend to be left in the off position, unless I feel like working them as trains go through.  

I have not done any more track laying or wiring yesterday or today. The bits and pieces out of place were the result of me moving things to get at the signal's position and also being bounced around by the drilling operations.

One more 3-way point wired up and another length of track connected. These are not pinned down yet, but a quick test with 'Sarah Siddons' showed all was well. The adjacent line into the engine shed will be done soon, with only two wires required for the feeds (I will use a single length of flexi-track bullhead rail), as will the next track over. Note that I have shifted this last on slightly to make room for the next one over, removed from the carriage shed to leave only one covered track. The right-hand point has to be wired up, but only required the one frog juicer, so I am on the home stretch.






The view at the back of the engine shed shows I have trimmed the track and added a Peco sleeper-built buffer stop recycled from a much older layout. I may have to get a couple of new ones and paint and weather them properly.






Also visible over the far side is one of three further buffer stops I assembled from Mike's Models white metal kits last night. The one on the right, above, was one of the first two I did prevously for this area. The very first one terminates the siding on the other side of the main running lines, and was built last year. While these are simple kits, it is difficult to keep them square because there are absolutely not locating pips or holes to keep parts together while the glue dries - I used small clamps, but they could, and did slip on occasions.








P.s. I must glaze the windows in that red Bedford HA van (a Taylor Precision Models car kit).

Jeff

I'm guessing the buffer stops were an old purchase, given changes at Mikes Models? They are good, are there other options for decent Buffers still available?

Colin

[user=2170]Colin W[/user] wrote:

Jeff

I'm guessing the buffer stops were an old purchase, given changes at Mikes Models? They are good, are there other options for decent Buffers still available?

Colin

Very old. I bought them while I could, and kept them in a drawer. There were four in one pack and two in single packs, so now I have built and used all six. 

The metal water tank and cranes are also from old Mike's Models kits, as is the 6-wheel crane wagon. I still have an unbuilt water tower, and 4-wheel crane wagon squirrelled away.

'Sarah Siddons' has now found the way under her own power through the engine shed on both roads and onto the EMU road to the side.





Only one point and two more lines to go. The works have disturbed a few things but I'll fix those up once I finish my labours on the track.

This morning was spent on wiring and laying the last bits of track to complete the electrification of the engine shed and yard: in fact, it mostly completes the track for the entire layout. 

I have populated the shed, with every single loco and unit having been driven in under its own power, so I now have quite a sense of achievement.










Of course, I now have to paint and ballast the track, although I want to give the effect of cinder bed for the shed area, plus a little bit of hard standing in front of the shed. The carriage shed sits a tad low, so needs to be raised a bit. I'm thinking of building a couple of low brick walls for it to stand on.

For the layout upper level as a whole, the next stage is to create a control panel, and wire up all the point motors. I will use the tried and true probe and stud contacts, as per the underground section before.

Not resting on my laurels (yet!), I have constructed a couple of low brick walls to raise the Ratio carriage shed. Each wall is made up of two thicknesses of plastic sheet, and two layers of Slater's plastic brick sheet. They have 5½ rows of bricks, and any gaps at the bottom will be hidden by landscaping textures once I get to the scenic side of things. I still need to add some wall capping between the support pillars.