Somewhere SW of London. Somewhen before today

Easter weekend being traditionally a time when chunks of the railway shut down for major engineering works I have followed their lead and spent much of today crawling around with wires, choc-blocks and tools whilst muttering in frustrated tones.  

The result is that the first three switches on the panel are fully wired and working and I now have proven isolation where required in the larger fiddle yard.  

The next few switches to be wired will be points in the same area though I am still a couple of motors short of the total required.  I did have enough but then found a way to power a couple of points which I had expected would have to remain manually-operated.  Motors are ordered and are somewhere in the Great Peco Log-Jam.

Young Sir, I think you have more than earned a glass, or two of the Amber nectar, Relax, imbibe, and then when sober ! Carry on with knitting these wires  :thumbs

Cheers and happy easter

Matt

Well the best laid plans of mice and men …….

As fast as I did one thing another problem popped up.  Wiring up the panel has produced some unexpected quirks.  The wrong points firing (easy - swap the wires at the choc-block), an expensive oops when the wire pair labelled "Points 7" proved to be "Track power 1" and blew up the CDU, a persistent buzzing from point motors which turned out to be constant operation and possibly due to a short somewhere.  Replacement of a pair of electrofrog points with insulfrogs in order to remove another short and separate track circuits completely (not too taxing - a bit of rewiring and a swap-out of track pieces) and then more buzzing from more motors.  

Swapping of wires between motors and levers apparently traced the fault back to the levers (everything else works fine) so a small number of spares is on order to see what happens.  It is possible that some were damaged or an internal short has arisen during the soldering of wires to tags; it shouldn't happen but a there's a lot that occurs in the world that shouldn't happen.  

The state of play as of Easter Monday night is this:

Four electrical circuits for track power have been partially re-wired to avoid overlaps and to account for the replacement of the tricksy electrofrog crossovers by insulfrog units which allow for simpler wiring and easier isolation.

Circuits 1 and 4 work as they should.  Circuit 2 requires a slight re-wire.  Circuit 3 requires more work including some switched isolation.  We're getting there.  

Half the point motors are wired and working.  None of the lights or signals are yet wired up.  The platform lamps are not yet in place as they require further detailing before installation.  

I am awaiting some lever switches and point motors mostly as spares but a few are required to complete the wiring.  The package is due on Wednesday.  

Onwards and upwards.

The trials and tribulations Rick, your certainly coming up against it !
Think you've earned  a Wee glass of something   :cheers

Cheers

Matt

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

The trials and tribulations Rick, your certainly coming up against it !
Think you've earned  a Wee glass of something   :cheers

Cheers

Matt

There will be a glass of something - and probably not a wee one - when everything works as intended.  That will leave me more time to complete the scenic side of things which is what I derive more satisfaction from.  Electrickery is not my "thing" even if it does include my name!  

Shakespeare wrote a play about wiring up his own layout Rick - it was called "A Comedy of Errors" ………..

All these things are sent to try us but you'll get there in the end.  In the meantime, it's a good excuse to go and buy another bottle ………. :cheers

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

Shakespeare wrote a play about wiring up his own layout Rick - it was called "A Comedy of Errors" ………..

All these things are sent to try us but you'll get there in the end.  In the meantime, it's a good excuse to go and buy another bottle ………. :cheers

Wasn't that "The Comedy of Terrors", Peter??

:hmm :cool wink

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

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

Shakespeare wrote a play about wiring up his own layout Rick - it was called "A Comedy of Errors" ………..

All these things are sent to try us but you'll get there in the end.  In the meantime, it's a good excuse to go and buy another bottle ………. :cheers

Wasn't that "The Comedy of Terrors", Peter??

:hmm :cool wink

A Comedy of Terriers Waddling down the Marsh ??   Hat, coat, gorn



 

Don't mention Terriers - they remind me too much of Panniers …………………….. :Red Card

Terrier is short for Terrifier isn't it?  It certainly is where four legged "friends" are concerned though they are no friends of mine.  

Meantime another small step forward has corrected a short across one of the double-slips and I reminded myself why I wired two tracks to one circuit - it saves a lot of switching and isolation!  

My reward has been a Brandy and Lovage for the nightcap.

The Peco log-jam seems to have un-jammed at least so far as I am concerned.  Switches have arrived.  As have various other bits.  Defective switches on the panel are being replaced as and when they are identified - so far only one but I suspect there may be more.  

Re-jigging of the track wiring is also taking place which will enable simplified operation at the minor cost of having to "hand over " trains from one controller to another for certain moves.  

At the end of this there will be four quite distinct electrical zones rather than the five I once had planned.  This makes redundant the GM Combi hand-held controller which therefore goes back into stock as a spare.  

A couple of extra plastic joiners need to go in and a couple of spurs need to be soldered across existing ones (if I can't replace them with metal ones easily) which are no longer required in order to pass current continuously.  

Thinking long and hard about things I don't need the Up and Down passenger lines to be separately wired because there's a short section of single line where they merge then diverge at the entry to hidden sidings.  I cannot therefore run two trains in opposing directions at the same time.  A quick flick of two levers will allow an Up train to stand, isolated, in the station, while the Down train arrives.  Flick back and the Up can depart, flick again and the Down then departs.  

Then there's the ongoing girder-bridge end-scene to work on.  Plenty going on.

More juggling of wires takes place most days. I am rewiring the track supply and moving a couple of insulated joints.  Here the double-slip in the yard now has power feeds to the outer rails instead of at each toe-end. Exit roads are either insulated or frog-switched. The two black wires and IRJ at the join to the left are new and feed back to a switch controlling power to this road which otherwise remains live.  



The panel looks a bit more complete. I measured (twice) and marked the holes for the push-to-make buttons and wasn’t best pleased to find them incorrectly spaced when fitted. These control the isolated sections along the loco road. 



Finally a view across a busy goods yard which is (at last) powered and working without a short though at the modest inconvenience of having to “hand over” between controllers for a couple of moves 

Nice Rick, are you a bit happier with the electrikery fettling now that you are getting into it? It took me a while but I found the effort well worth it. 

Hi Marty always good to hear from you.  

 The elecktrickery is slowly morphing back to an insulfrog format which I am more comfortable with.  The remaining electrofrog points feed switched sections or dead ends where they should self-isolate when the frog switches go live.  If not I'll suck a few more thumbs …..  

Crawling underneath the boards today to wire up more bits.  Also stripping out redundant wiring which was put in for another project years ago and is no longer all required.  Some will still be used.  It's not as easy under the boards as it was ten years ago when I last did any amount of that sort of thing!!!  

[user=1753]Gwiwer[/user] wrote:

Crawling underneath the boards today to wire up more bits.  …….. It's not as easy under the boards as it was ten years ago when I last did any amount of that sort of thing!!!    

tell me about it !  getting down is easy , getting up..no way !

My mother told me, as she moved into her eighties, “the trick to getting up is to remember how sheep do it, first roll over onto your tummy and get all 4 legs under you!” :lol::lol:  
I seem to recall that I sorted my electro frogs by insulating every rail join on the point, toe end and diverging ends, and wiring each piece of adjacent track with its own dropper. 

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

My mother told me, as she moved into her eighties, “the trick to getting up is to remember how sheep do it, first roll over onto your tummy and get all 4 legs under you!” :lol::lol:  
I seem to recall that I sorted my electro frogs by insulating every rail join on the point, toe end and diverging ends, and wiring each piece of adjacent track with its own dropper. 

I have never found it necessary to use that many insulated joiners, but even so, it is wise to add as many as you are conmfortable with. Years ago, on my old layout, I had cab control on the branch line, with the shortest section being the Peco double slip, which had insulating fishplates on every rail joint and its own power feeds. I never had any electrical problems with this, as a result of being cautious like you have been.

As for getting up, I have to roll over as your mother suggested, heave myself onto all-fours, then creak into a bent-over position, before gradually straightening up, accompanied by a few groaning noises.

Some natural sunlight this morning gave an interesting effect. The water tower is newly fitted. 

Fully-powered testing over the weekend has revealed one more short this time on the loco-release crossover in the goods yard.  It doesn't clear with isolation but instead the track goes dead.  I can't be sure of what lies beneath the electrofrog points in terms of clipped or spurred wires without taking them up.  If I take them up the easiest "fix" is to simply replace them with a pair of insulfrogs which I already have to hand.  Accordingly the crossover will operate with insulfrog points since power is already supplied at both toe-ends and all will be well.  He says - with fingers very firmly crossed!!!

Something different today. Take one Wills “Wayside Station Building” kit. Turn it into the yard mess complete with grotty potty. 
First built was the outside “pissoir”. 











Colours used were Jo Sonja acrylics with Forest Green, Olive Green and Moss Green roughly mixed into each other for the screens, Raw Sienna with Olive Green for the s**thouse door, Warm White for porcelain and Raw Umber for floor and roof. The entire job was detailed with green, black, grey snd ochre weathering powders. 

Then the main building. 









Colours for this were Smoked Pearl interior walls distressed with Fawn, Fawn also for the floor, Forest and Olive Greens mixed for windows, doors and trim and lastly Railmatch Stock Cream and Concrete mixed 2:1 for the external walls. The floor has received brushings of various mixed weathering powders. 

At the end of the afternoon the job was incomplete but this is how it currently stands. 

There remains the chimney, rainwater goods and a couple of detail bits to add. The exterior can then be weathered and the paintwork tidied up as required. 

The two parts will be joined together and take their place in the goods yard allowing the resin “Shillingstone” building which is currently there to move around next to the signalbox.