Put it down to him being tired Mike. He's had a busy day modeling and it's close to his bedtime now…

 Hahaha. Thanks Lads. Done. 
The 1937 photo in "additional photos" shows the engine shed. There is a much clearer version in the GWR journal.

Cheers

Marty

Turntable - phase 1


To be able to continue with the hill shaping on the far side of the valley and up and over the tunnels, the location of the engine shed road is needed. The engine shed road comes off the turntable and since we know that the alignment of track to and from turntables are critical the turntable location is therefore required.

The Anyrail plan gives a reasonably accurate location but nothing beats the real thing. Time to give it a go. Having spent a few hours experimenting with the router and many more agonising over whether a) the resultant hole in the base board would be the correct size and b) if the previously installed track on the turntable base board would interfere with the operation of the router, the last weekend finally saw some action.

A scrap of pine board demonstrated the accuracy and operation of the router, there was no need to complete the hole once the concept had been proved.



With a deep breath to steady the hands the router was set up on the turntable base board…



and with the vacuum cleaner working overtime to hoover up the MDF and cork dust, a perfectly circular, slightly oversize hole was successfully established. Phew, 3 tiny card shims or a coat of paint will deal with the tiny oversize.



Back in the layout room a pleasant part of the afternoon was spent reading on this forum about Trevor Wright's (Chinahand) N gauge Market Havering and Parmouth layout. Trevor, if you are reading this, could we have an update please? Particular attention was paid to his excellent description of the installation and modification of a Peco turntable in which he referenced an article written in the N Gauge Journal 4/09, a copy of which happened to be upon my shelves. Packets were opened, plastic bags emptied, instructions read and construction commenced.



First up, the turntable well received a coat of grey undercoat primer from a rattle can.



Then using a razor saw and mitre box the girder sides of the turntable were modified as per the instructions, the plastic molded wheel is removed from both ends of each girder.



As per the photo in the journal two shims 15 x 15 x 3mm were glued to the underside of each side of the turntable deck and two 3/32in diameter brass tube lengths were epoxied to the shims as shown. A single, spoked Bachmann wagon wheel on its axle is inserted into each tube (ensuring that it rotates freely and doesn't bind on the end of the turntable girder) and once all glues were dry, the turntable floats on four wheels with precision. In the picture below the wheel can be seen perfectly positioned on the rail in the turntable well.




More needs to happen yet, the turntable elevation needs adjusting to allow rail tops to align, the spur tracks need installing, handrails need to be added, painting to be completed and a decision is required as to whether the turntable will be motorised or hand cranked.



This is my first experience with a turntable install and has been on the dreaming list for NE for over 10 years. Time for a cup of tea and a lie down.

More as it comes to hand…


cheers

Marty

Super build Marty! Took guts to get that router going on your layout baseboard! The painting on the turntable is superb. Your work never looks like N Gauge!

Good work, Marty!   :thumbs

Were the electrics for the turntable tracks easy to do Marty?

Thanks lads,
Still a bit of tidying up to do on the paint work yet Mike… The girders particularly.

Sol,

Electrics were surprisingly easy so far… the proof will be in the operation of course. A spring mounted plunger for each rail acts as a pickup with a semi-circular copper contact strip in the well.

You can see the plunger pins in the square base of the turntable deck and the contact rings in the well. I've tested continuity and it exists. Dropper wires soldered to the under well tags of the contact rings will be connected to the power bus for the turntable board and that should be that.

I have to align the turntable well so that the gap between the positive and negative contact rings doesn't line up with an track spurs from the turntable.

Also got to remember that once rotated 180 deg that the polarity will change and forwards will become backwards and vice versa.




Any thoughts or prior knowledge of how to improve this system is always welcome and appreciated.


cheers

Marty

That's N E sorted Marty,  only a couple of Images I couldn't  re Post as they have been removed from Photobrokit by the members who posted them, nothing drastic though. I can confirm that no puddy tats were harmed in the repair process  :thumbs  







Now moving on to the scratchbuilding section and then another members layout thread I've said I'll look at


Cheers


Matt

 :shock: :shock: :shock:

You mean you went through every one of the 80+ pages and rescued all of the images!? You are some kind of hero. 

And I am so pleased, as this thread gives me so much inspiration!

Amazing.

Thank you.

Well done Marty for the turntable saga, and well done Matt for the image recovering service!

Matt,
Thank you!

Your efforts are truly appreciated.

I’m chuffed.

Martin

Dear Santa,
Thank you!




New Union Mills Collett 2251 class.

More to follow…

33 deg C here today with an early sea breeze. Family coming for lunch. Lawns to water and patio to sweep yet.

Merry Christmas 

Nice, Marty.   :thumbs

Have a good day.   :cool:

I have had my eye on one of those Marty, they do look good. I am slowly changing all of my locos to Union Mills - they are just superb reliable runners.

Bob, not sure that Union Mills will produce a "Castle" or a "King" anytime soon… or any diesels… but I've nothing but satisfaction with the Dean Goods, the Dukedog and this 2251 so far.
There is a bit of excitement at Henllan Station on the branch today. Rumour has it that a new Collett 0-6-0 Number 2253 has been allocated to Carmarthen shed and that it is in charge of the afternoon mail to Newcastle Emlyn.

The up milk behind Collett 2252 (a PECO model) is being held at the platform while the mail negotiates the single line down the Tiefi valley from Pencader Junction.

32xx Class Dukedog 3204 (another Union Mills loco) simmers beyond the signalbox while it too waits to complete shunting the yard.






The steady beat of 2253's exhaust can be heard from echos off the mill buildings as she clears the tunnel and tackles the north bank up to station.





This close up shows the "out of the box" condition of the loco. After 30 minutes in both forwards and reverse on the layout "light loco", 3 coaches is obviously an easy task for this solid model. What is looses in detail finish it makes up for in hauling power and presence on the track. At some stage in the future Carmarthen shed will see what it can do to improve the detail.




… and here she is coasting into the down platform past the waiting Milk.




Old meets new, 2252 (Peco) on the milk is passed by 2253 (Union Mills) while Dukedog 3204 (Union Mills) sits in the yard.




Easing to a halt at the platform the way is now clear for The Milk to head east toward the West Wales main line.




It doesn't take long before 2252 is slogging uphill past Pentrecourt Halt in the lengthening shadows.




toot toot

thanks Ken,
thought it was about time for an update.

Fantastic as ever Marty and some nice pics for the puzzle.

Some nice shots there Marty ;-)

Thanks Al and Phil,
Lots of mistakes in them and every time I look at them I'm aware of the lack of ballast, signals, signs and…  and… oh just everything of detail. 

But, it was a fun morning taking and editing photos, driving trains and posting up.

… designing a rudder for my canoe today while trains run around behind me on the layout.

cheers