Up and Down

I’m not sure where the convention of naming travel in the direction of London as ‘Up’. Any ideas? But the convention has some odd consequences for the layout (and for the Beattock operational procedures).

Travelling from Beattock station to the Summit is northwards, away from London, and so in the Down direction. But of course we’re going ‘up’ the bank towards the Summit. This wouldn’t matter so much but for the habit of train crew to refer to ‘going up’ the bank*, meaning travelling in the Down direction from the station to the Summit. So Down trains travel up the bank, and Up trains travel down. Clear?

Of course, it’s different for trains approaching the Summit from the north, but (for the purposes of this layout project) I’m not bothered about this.

*The source of this is David Anderson’s excellent articles published in Steam Days between 1991 and 2003. In one he recounts the story of, when a teenager, being offered by a driver a footplate trip to the Summit from Beattock station, with his bike being tied onto the running plate of the banker.

Track layout begins

I have a basic track plan which is based on Beattock, somewhat modified to fit on a practical-length baseboard. I’ve used XtrkCAD as a planning tool, which has been okay to use.

The photos below show Board 1, which involves the southerly approach to the station. I’m checking whether the plan can accommodate one or two Class 439 tanks in the banker siding – great news, as it can actually hold three!

The Class 439 tanks are, of course, hacked Dapol M7s – not accurate but close enough for now and they look the part. Also, there’s only one tank currently, but eventually I’ll have three or four.

Operationally, the sequence goes something like this:

1. The banker runs down the hill from Summit in reverse (cab first), through the station (Up platform) and over the trailing crossover.
2. It then pulls forward over the crossover onto the Down line.
3. It then reverses over another crossover onto the siding.
4. It then pulls forward past the crossover, where it waits in turn.
5. When its turn comes, it pulls forward from the siding and drops onto the back of the train waiting in the station.
6. It remains uncoupled, and gives two crows from the whistle. Two crows are returned by the train engine at the front. A further crow from the banker is sounded, and it begins to push the train from the rear. At the same time, the train engine starts pulling, and the whole train moves off.
7. After reaching the Summit the banker drops off the tail of the train, while the train carries on, to coast done the other side of the bank. The banker crosses over onto the Up line and coasts down the bank, where the sequence begins again.

I worked this out from a mixture of photos, LMS rule book procedures, deducing tank movements from the track plan, and some relevant articles (which are few and far between on this specific subject). It may not be completely accurate but it’s the best I have at the moment.

The most complete source (though not entirely thorough) is Mullay & Coleford's article on the Moffat branch operations in Railway Bylines (March 2000), which, in a useful digression, explains the role and operational procedures of the bankers.

Major blunder leads to further hiatus

So, Duncan, why no progress for six months? Partly it’s due to having a rush on at work, partly it’s distraction by a major room refurbishment (“Hey, let’s decorate the study!”), but mainly it’s through lack of motivation brought on by a major error in the baseboard construction.

The basic premise was (is) to built a plywood base framed by 2x1 inch softwood, for rigidity, and then to nail Sundeala board over the top, for sound deadening, ease of scenic sculpting, etc. See this post for more details/rationale.

Turns out that the differences in measurements – metric versus imperial – mean that the Sundeala tops are too short for the plywood base, meaning that there is a 3-4 mid-market gap where the baseboards join. Here’s a photo that explains this better.

And a close up…

What to do? I can’t bring myself to dismantle the boards and start again. I could fill the gap with filler, but this would affect the ability to separate the boards neatly if I need to move the layout. My solution is to simply tape over the gap with masking tape. If/when I do separate the boards I can then fill in the gap at each board edge.

Meanwhile the track that runs over the board joins will be soldered to screws either side of the join, which should mean that the track won’t be compromised by any of this.

Time only will tell whether this is a decent workaround or just daft.

Hiatus

Not for the last time (I think), not much has happened in the last month. I've dismantled the boards to fit the cross-braces to the legs, and in the process discovered that taking the layout apart at the baseboard joins is difficult. This is partly to do with the tightness of the bolts (M10 size) in the (10mm) holes, and partly the length of the bolts (a tad too short). So I'll take the opportunity to widen the holes slightly, use washers glued to the board ends to ensure alignment and have bought some longer bolts. Track alignment will be maintained by the brass cabinet makers dowels already fitted.

Also taking the opp to reconsider the track plan (oh no!). Currently most of the viewable track is on the straight with a curve at the ends to get it back into the fiddle yard. But now I'm thinking it might be better if the whole length is on a gradual, large radius curve.

Trains are running

I couldn't resist a 'Can't wait' moment, so I've laid some temporary track around the boards and wired up an old Gaugemaster controller. To hand was my trusty Union Mills 3F, my two new Stove 'R's and a couple of GF Stanier coaches. On simple DC, in case anyone asks...

All recorded for posterity...







What this shows up is the lack of good lighting in the loft, which I haven't even thought about. It's not a priority - loft insulation is - but it will need careful thinking...

LED Point indicator wiring

My intention is to have, on a mimic board, route indication driven by the points settings. Green indicates the route is set, and red means the route has points set against. So what is required is a switch on the point motor that will light a green LED when set in one direction, and will light a red LED when set the other way.

The solution, after a lot of googling is this. A microswitch is fixed to the bottom of the point motor. The COM tab is wired to the +ve feed of an ancient Triang uncontrolled DC power supply. The OFF tab is wired to one leg (anode) of a bicolour 3 legged red/green LED via a resistor, and back to the -ve terminal via the common cathode (centre leg). The ON tab is wired to the other leg (anode). This means that this LED will light green when the point is set "off" or normal, and red when switched. An identical LED is wired in the same way, in parallel, but the opposite way round, so it shows red when the point is set "off" or normal, and green when switched.

Here's a diagram:

And here are photos of the test wiring:

  

  

 

Notes:

I initially tried wiring with two-legged bicolour LEDs, but to get the desired effect requires extra diodes and other electronics stuff - so it's simpler to use the 3-legged versions. I used Maplins for the test but they are cheaper at All Components and Rapid.

I used a cheap microswitch (50p at Rapid, £2 at Maplins!) which will be glued to the bottom of each Peco PL10 motor. You could use Peco PL13s but they have a bad press, and they are much more expensive (£2.80-ish). Here's a photo:

Resistors: I used 680R metal film resistors from All Components, at 5p each. I could have used slightly lower resistance, perhaps 540R - there's a formula to work out the minimum resistance on Brian Lambert's site. 

Wiring thoughts

Was directed to Brian Lambert's site via the N Gauge Yahoo! group. Brian's site is excellent, loads of detail and practical experience, clearly explained.

I need to think about wiring now, before laying track, as holes for dropper wires will have to drilled for wiring as track laying progresses, and I don't want to make it up as I go along.

From Brian's site, and other readings, here's my basic track wiring plan:

Use a bus architecture for the main rail power feeds. 'Bus' is a fancy word for cable, and it will run around the underside of the baseboard following (roughly) the track main line. Two wires are required (live and neutral) and I'll use the red and black wires from household electric mains cable (2.5mm twin core and earth).

I'll then drop wires from the rails at appropriate places. Probably I'll use the wire-soldered-to-rail-joiners method - easy to solder first and join later, rather than faff around with soldering to the outside (ugly) or underside (easy to melt sleepers) of the rail.

Dropper wires will then be connected (terminal blocks or soldered) to wires that will then run to the bus.

Point wiring can be considered separately, except when track polarity needs to be switched by a point motor. The only place I think this applies is the long crossing. Polarity of point frogs is switched automatically from the switch blade making contact with the stock rail. (I'm using Peco code 55 electrofrog points throughout.)

Questions:

Should I draw up a full wiring plan? Probably.

Do I want to wire the switch blades of points, or depend on contact with the stock rails? My inclination is to rely on the stock rails, as wiring up the point blades involves intricate soldering (with the risk of messing everything up).

At least I don't have to worry about isolated sections, as my DCC decision removes this requirement.

Stove 'R's arrive!

Almost exactly one year ago the N Gauge Society announced that it was producing its first ready to run wagon - a Stove 'R'. As it was available in LMS livery (amongst several others) I paid my deposit for two like a good club member.

They arrived yesterday.

Worth the wait? Absolutely. They are splendid, great detail and (important) quite different to anything else you can get RTR in LMS.

According to the LMS Carriage Society (yes, there is one!) the Stove 'R' was "used on parcel, newspaper and milk trains, which often went attached to passenger trains." It was designated BGZ code in BR times, or CR in LMS days.

The N Gauge Society Stove 'R' was produced by Dapol. Produced in different running numbers in LMS livery: my wagons are 32975 and 32977.

Here are some photos:

  

  

These next two photos show the colour difference between the Stove R, produced by Dapol, and the Graham Farish Stanier coaches. Quite a difference and the roof colour is very light on the Stove R.

  

 

And the real thing is on the Bluebell Railway here.

Southampton MRC show

Completely with an n gauge bias, I toddled off to Southampton last week to see New Mills, as featured in Railway Modeller in Sept 2009. It was splendid. No station, interestingly, but a main line and both steam and diesel shed/depot.

My pics are below, taken with my iPhone. A bit naff but okay. As there was something moving on the main lines pretty much all the time (a good thing!), there's a bit of blurring that a better camera would improve on. Must try harder...

 

  

 

Conditioning Sundeala

As per the instructions, I've conditioned the Sundeala which will top my baseboards. Instructions come with the boards, which I got from Alton Model Centre, or are available on the web site.

First slosh a good half a litre on each board, on the reverse (which I've assumed to be the side with the Sundeala logo on).

 

Then stack them on top of each other, wet side to wet side, thus:

Finally, drop a couple of baseboards on top to keep everything flat and in place.

And wait 48 - 72 hours...

Baseboard construction completed - again

Following on from the previous post on baseboard completion (!), this time it really is done. Cross braces are fitted and drilled to allow wiring to pass through. Here's proof:

Also, here's a close-up of a leg 'pocket' - the design is a fixed leg design with the leg being held in place with a bolt (not shown). I thought this was ingenious design on my part, but found out later that it's common practice. It even featured in this month's BRM layout construction article.

Also, here's a close-up of a board end, showing the bolt hole and alignment dowel fitted.

Next step is to condition the Sundeala boards before fitting, as per the instructions...

Totnes wins BRM layout of the year

I wrote about John Birkett-Smith's Ashburton a few months back - the scenics were awesome. John's larger project was featured in BRM in in 2009 and has now won the best Layout in a BRM poll. Photos are on John's blog and on Noel Leaver's Farnham MRC pages. Here's one to whet the appetite:

Interestingly there was a discussion on the running qualities of Totnes on the N Gauge Yahoo! forum here - defended by Jerry Cifford (who built Highbury Colliery, featured in Railway Modeller Nov & Dec 2009).

Baseboard construction completed

After some serious joinery work over the Christmas period the baseboards are finished. Well almost - the cross-bearers are not installed yet as I don't want to have them under the boards where point motors are to be installed. So I need to complete the track plan, which needed to be modified because of the space available (see here for details) and because of my misunderstanding of Peco track geometery (see here for more details but basically Peco SetTrack radius 3 is too large to fit on a 600mm board).

I've also bought four sheets of Sundeala board from Alton Model Centre to top the plywood boards - I'll pin these down shortly. Anyway, here's a photo of the four boards joined up:

I thought the bullet-style cabinet makers dowels would be tricky to fit, but in fact they went in very easily (with a tap from a hammer) and work really well. Purchased from Station Road Baseboards, which so far has provided a good service (I also got my adjustable feet there).

Next step: transcribe the track plan from XtrkCad to a large roll of wallpaper on the baseboard to make sure everything will fit - I'll use point temptates downloaded from this useful site - inexplicably they are not available from the Peco web site.