Hi Marty,

The bridge has come up a treat. Looking good. :thumbs 

Is the tan trim (handrails/post etc) the same colour as the trim (window/door frames) on the station buildings ?

Cheers, Gary.

Hi Marty, just been doing a bit of catch up. The little halt looks very convincing and I particularly like the way that you have managed to keep the gap between the train and platform so small, even on a curve. The footbridge is a little gem too. Bob

[user=878]Gary[/user] wrote:

Hi Marty,

The bridge has come up a treat. Looking good. :thumbs 

Is the tan trim (handrails/post etc) the same colour as the trim (window/door frames) on the station buildings ?

Cheers, Gary.

G'day Gary,
I was just about to say that the trim colour was exactly the same. Painted from the same tube at the same time…. which it was (I'm almost certain :???: ) but looking at the photo I am going to have to go home now and check!!

Yes, the barge boards around the shelter are a lot thicker than any of the handrails on the bridge and this may account for the apparent colour difference but now I'm wondering if someones changed the paint in my Jo Sonjas tubes while I wasn't looking!!?

Both the bridge and the shelter were sprayed primed with the same light grey too.

There are always variations due to lighting, base coats, extent, adjacent colours and the mind can be fooled quite easily… Hmmmm, was it Lilac or puce?

I'll update soon. Nearly home time :lol::lol::lol:

[user=11]Novice[/user] wrote:

Hi Marty, just been doing a bit of catch up. The little halt looks very convincing and I particularly like the way that you have managed to keep the gap between the train and platform so small, even on a curve. The footbridge is a little gem too. Bob

Thanks Bob.

Hard to believe that the halt is mostly finished now, for so long it's been a part of the layout that was on the "to do" list.

The branch passenger now stops there on a regular basis on the way to and from Henllan and the mill lad, Rhys Jones, responsible for heaving the bundles of flannel shirts across to the guards van is quite pleased with the gap too ;-).

cheers

Marty

Lovely Footbridge Marty,Plus you have preserved your sanity by not trying to scratch build.
Regards,
Derek.

 Great little bridge Marty!!

 I would agree with the comments re the mini drill cutting through the webbing. Once the disk hits the rail, you`ll hear it and feel it…..so that`s when you back off. I think it would save you some time.

:cheers  Gormo

Bridge looks great Marty :thumbs

Good luck with the points, I only did one in OO gauge and made a mess of the webbing, which is why I now solder to the rail joiners and then solder the joiner to the rails.

I wouldn't dream of doing it in N gauge.

Each to his own, and to all those who say you shouldn't solder to the rail joiners :tongue


Ed

[user=1338]Ed[/user] wrote:

Each to his own, and to all those who say you shouldn't solder to the rail joiners :tongue

Hear, hear! :lol: 

I too use soldered rail joints (in N) and they work perfectly even without the joiners being soldered to the track as long as they are a good tight fit.

Ken

 

Hi Marty.  Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I was at an operating session at the home of a very,very experienced modeller (he's a member here, but I won't name him).  He's also a retired telecom tech.  We were all operating away, when suddenly a critical piece of track in the main shunting yard went dead.

You guessed it, a soldered metal rail joiner.

Don't do it.  :It's a no no

[user=269]MaxSouthOz[/user] wrote:

Hi Marty.  Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I was at an operating session at the home of a very,very experienced modeller (he's a member here, but I won't name him).  He's also a retired telecom tech.  We were all operating away, when suddenly a critical piece of track in the main shunting yard went dead.

You guessed it, a soldered metal rail joiner.

Don't do it.  :It's a no no

and was the rail joiner soldered to the rail Max ?

Ed

Yep.  That was the problem, Ed.  The joiner was soldered to the rail both ends and it failed.

I'm guessing that the water from the ballast glue got in there and corroded it.

It only let go on one rail, but it was enough to disrupt the operating session.

I use soldered rail joiners to interface between Codes, but I always put droppers each side of the joint.

If you can't be bothered bonding them to the bus, at least join them to each other.

In fact the joiner was new and took solder easily but the rails were not & I thought I had them cleaned properly but apparently I did not clean them very well and while it conducted electricity OK then, in time, it got corroded with the watery dark brown paint I use on sleepers & rail.
99% of the rails on the D&S were either bonded to each other or with droppers - this one bit wasn't & Murphy reared his head !!!

Could be that soldering both ends of the joiner is the problem Max, as it doesn't allow for any rail expansion, which could break one or other (or both) of the soldered joints.

If water from ballasting corroded the soldered joint on a rail joiner then logically it could just have easily corroded any soldered joint anywhere on the rail.

As I said before, each to his own.

Ed

(Sorry Marty)

[user=606]Sol[/user] wrote:

In fact the joiner was new and took solder easily but the rails were not & I thought I had them cleaned properly but apparently I did not clean them very well and while it conducted electricity OK then, in time, it got corroded with the watery dark brown paint I use on sleepers & rail.
99% of the rails on the D&S were either bonded to each other or with droppers - this one bit wasn't & Murphy reared his head !!!

Sorry Sol, posts crossed.

With the best will in the world, joints of any type are going to fail at some point. Just a bit unlucky with that one.

All part of the fun, fixing the problems.

On the prototype if everything worked 100% all the time,  Network Rail would be out of a job.



Ed

The problem is soldering rail joiners and using them for electrical conductivity, Ed.

Believe what ever you like.

I've raised it.  My conscience is clear.

G'day All,
Been a bit quiet of late, time for a short update.


Firstly the plank for Llandyfriog Junction came to a shuddering halt after trying to forge ahead late at night, fatigued after a long day at work.

Framing had been glued and clamped and all was good… until it came time to do a test fit the next morning… yep, you guessed it, upside down :oops:, and it is handed with specifically angled ends to fit the existing layout.





Rather than rush off and buy another bit of 18mm MDF and making another mistake, thoughts turned towards using a spare bit of 18mm MDF off-cut to test, primarily, the reliability of SEEP point motors inbuilt switching with PECO's N Scale points. There has been some discussion of the smaller scale throw not allowing the inbuilt switching to engage consistently.

The inbuilt switching on the SEEP motor is going to be used to throw a 4 pole relay that in turn will change frog polarity, LED lighting on a control panel and interlock signals. That's the theory anyway and it made sense to make a test plank to see if everything in reality works as it should.

This work is progressing fairly well and some photos for those interested in the process will be forthcoming.

Then, the mojo wandered off for a while.

But it came back with a vengence when a friends 13 year old son AND 11 year old daughter spotted the layout room on a recent visit and went…. "ooooh… that is so cool, awesome, can we have a drive?"
2 hours later we were dragged out for dinner by SWMBO…. :shock:

So… last night, needing a change of pace from the frenetic activity of the office, a little more landscaping around riverbank was undertaken.

I won't bore you with more of the same, until the water is in anyway, but THIS I really like……





Iphone 4 at track level….

More soon…. I hope….

cheers

Marty

That image at track level is so good, I want to save it for my screensaver file. OK Marty?

Of course Sol.... thank you.

[user=19]Marty[/user] wrote:

Iphone 4 at track level….

More soon…. I hope….

cheers

Marty

Sunny summer evening, just off to do a bit of fishing then pop in the pub on the way home.

Idyllic scene :thumbs:thumbs:thumbs


Ed

Ed…
The photo has the name "Summer afternoon by the Mill" in Photobucket. 


Glad it's not just me.  :thumbs


Just have to model a pub in Henllan now :lol:

cheers
Marty