What with the wildflower season being spectacular this year and camping and hiking expeditions into the great outdoors to see such things as this magnificent Wreath Flower (Lechenaultia Macrantha)…






and continuing the hunt for a new job, layout progress has been a bit slow but progress is being made.

Despite showing the NE station boards in place in the last posts there still required the adjusting, levelling and fixing of heights between the various upper and lower parts of the layout around it, while still allowing the boards to be removed for tracklaying, wiring, etc.

Here is the main station and yard board propped up for under board activities…








It is designed to slot down around wooden fixed riser supports at the left end and by using two vastly different sized screws, onto adjustable supports on the right hand end. The tiny brass screw head sits inside the driver slot for the coach screw. There are 3 such arrangements, one in the middle to prevent sag and two at the right hand end. I'm pleased to say that they all line up perfectly.







It did make levelling between the two station boards a  breeze and so far appears to be rock solid.

Next has been the creation of the spline road bed between the existing Henllan station board and the new NE station turntable board. In the photo below you can see the 45xx with the down milk on the new NE Station approach. (The track is just plonked, there are two more splines required to widen the road bed for scenery attachment and cork underlay needed too) The passenger is on the original south bank down to LLandyfriog Junction, the bank running behind the NE station boards.






An overview showing how it all fits together. The line in the foreground is the north bank up from Llandyfriog Junction.






And finally a photo taken from above the NE Station boards looking back towards Henllan.





… now…. back to writing job applications… sigh.


cheers

Neat solution for levelling and fixing of heights using the screws Marty  :thumbs


Nice to see an update and best of luck with the job search.




Ed

That's an aspect of your layout that I haven't seen before………..if the scenery is anything like the finished section it's going to be brilliant……..ingenious levelling mechanism……wish I had thought of that
Good luck with the job search

Best wishes

John

Looking good Marty!

Phil

Ed, Ken, John and Phil,
Thank you for your encouragement, I won't claim the the screw adjustment for levelling the boards as original, Gary in Sydney suggested it to me and I've adapted it to suit.

As previously mentioned, I'm keen to move along with the build and am also looking forward to getting to the scenery for this bit.

However, all branch traffic between Llandyfriog Junction and Newcastle Emlyn has been cancelled and omnibuses are providing a limited service instead.
 Yes, I know that services have only just been restored but Signalman Proud at Llandyfriog Junction has urgently called in the Signal and Telegraph Department linesman and his mate to investigate a failure of the points at the West End of the junction.
 The ganger, too, has been called and the stationmaster, and serious discussions are taking place regarding the current  arrangement of the track at the west end and potential improvements. 

 The report from the linesman indicates that due care and attention was not paid when recent repairs were made to the point motor at the West End of the junction and that it has subsequently failed catastrophically and will need to be replaced. 
 Just as well, I was disappointed with the tenuous piggyback nature of the micro switch and with how difficult it was to align. 






 Despite being an annoying set back, it is actually fortuitous as the point motor and point were the first installed on the layout some six or seven years ago. The point itself is of a short radius and has never suited its position on the mainline often requiring trains to reduce speed considerably to avoid derailing through the tight radius.
 There has also been some disquiet amongst the shunting staff who have been heard to mutter that the redevelopment of Llandyfriog Junction had not allowed sufficient length on the goods loop for a decent train to be shunted into the new sidings.
Luckily Colonel Frobisher Ret. from the Ministry, had his Tiger Moth at the aeroclub and was able to conduct a sortie and take some quick photos to show the situation at hand.

Firstly, the current layout with the location of the faulty point motor indicated.





Secondly, the option of using a long radius straight, which would need to be manufactured off site and delivered. Here too the location of the point motor is indicated. Notice how the riser below the road bed dictates that location to a certain extent.





And thirdly, the option of using a curved point further to the west. There is a curved point in the yard having been recently removed from the east end of the junction. Again the riser below the roadbed dictates the position somewhat. The shaky green line, the ganger did his best, represents the extension of the goods loop.

Colonel Frobisher Ret., in consultation with the permanent way crew and the station master, has given the nod to the curved point and the extended goods loop. Work will begin immediately. (In the little people's world anyway)
And yes, that does mean that a wider roadbed of 9mm ply will have to be cut to replace the current one.

It's all OK…I am having fun.

Cheers

Go for it Marty, looks good  :thumbs

It's funny how sometimes things go wrong and force changes, only for everything to be better than it was in the first place.

Somebody or other's law I suppose 



Ed

4 months eh? Yep… the mojo went on a little holiday for one reason or another but here is an update.
The point motor in the posts above was well and truly fried….






Removing the motor and the old short radius point was rapid..






All of it gone, including the road bed in a couple of days following the previous post…






Wiring up the new point motor….






and dropping in the new extended road bed happened within the week…






The old curved point was recovered from the yard, tidied up a bit, the damage to the tie bar from failing to use a heat sink when cutting the actuating rod with a dremel cutting wheel is plain to see, rewired for polarity control…






and then it all became too difficult when trying to mount the motor to the point and get it to throw nicely. What a PITA… and it is summer… and the river was calling me and the sail canoe…. and then it was Christmas and New Year …. you know how it goes?


But…. then… and my heartfelt thanks to Adrian Vaughan and he writings on the GWR, I happened to stumble across another of his wonderfully descriptive and evocative books in a second hand book store.


The old fire was thrown out, the clinker cleaned from the bars and a new fire lit with a handful of oil soaked cotton waste and some scrap timber… steam raised….


Remove the new extended Llandyfriog West point road bed, mount the point and motor on the workbench using an old power pack to actuate and test the motor and then reinstall road bed onto layout…. gotcha… you recalcitrant, antiquated, random collection of plastic and nickel silver. Sigh of relief, now to get on with relaying the track…





It IS worth getting track laid right! Track installed, it was tested… repeatedly… and just about every loco derailed when approaching the point from the toe end… aarrgghh. I was aware of the oft repeated warnings that curved points were a bit tricky and straight points with a straight bit of track before the toe end was much simpler. Did I listen? Well, yep I did, but I thought I could make it work…


Turns out (no pun intended) I can… but it took me 3 days of pottering about to fettle it into shape… it was the gap caused by the insulated rail joiners that I use on the toe end as a belt and braces method of ensuring that no shorts exist. Wheels were just dropping straight through the gap in the rail on the curve.

The next section of track terminated at gap in the rails at a board joint, no insulators required then, insulated track joiners removed and track soldered to toe of points, making use of the track gauge to keep the rail separation correct, fixed.


Moving on …

The first bit of new track for the Newcastle Emlyn station board has been laid….

A grubby 37254 leads a mixed freight off the new line into Henllyn station…






Next, another board join and the first point on the station board… a straight one this time….


Might update soon… might not too 


cheers

Marty

It reads like a "Carter Brown"  Marty.   :cool:

Felt like it too, plenty of sleuthing and magnifying glass work required….
What is it Holmes says… ah yes…."when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"


 :lol:

Marty

Thanks Ken, and yes, a bit of sand on the rails and easing the throttle open, rolling nicely at the moment.
cheers
Marty

Something new, I've cobbled together a test video, without sound I'm afraid. Hopefully if it works I'll try and improve them.
The first two clips are of a Grange on an evening down express as it passes by the Pentrecourt Mill. The last clip is of a recently acquired Union Mills Dukedog on a local passing through Henllan station. The Dukedog has connecting rods that sit way out into the loading gauge and as a consequence the island platform at Henllan required modification with a router and file to ensure clearance. The platform now has a prototypical overhang which it didn't have before.

[yt]TAP0P-CKGuo[/yt]




cheers


Marty

Looks great Marty!

Quite atmospheric Marty, only missing some steam :thumbs


Ed

Terrific layout Marty. More vids please, with or without sound !

Allan.

Its been a real pleasure watching this layout grow; steady progress over the years. The video captures that rural feel of a country branch line perfectly.
Bob

just back again Marty,missed your layout but good to see it again,looks teriff,keep em coming
Owen  :thumbs ;-) :cool:

Excellent video Marty! Now we've seen the Trailer,let's see the whole Movie.The footage is beautiful,but I hope no-one comes out of that door in the side of the Station building,or they'll have a nasty fall!!! ;-)

Cheers,John.B.

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







But…. then… and my heartfelt thanks to Adrian Vaughan and he writings on the GWR, I happened to stumble across another of his wonderfully descriptive and evocative books in a second hand book store. 





cheers



Marty



I too am a fan of A.V.'s books I think I have all of them now mostly obtained secondhand via
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&an=Adrian+Vaughan&tn=&kn=&isbn=