RSR new layout.

[RSR Engineer]

Thank you for your feedback, gentlemen. Patience is something I tend to be short of sometimes, BB. That's why I take long breaks from modelling to play trains. I did finally get the first part of the "paving" finished today but still only bare cardboard. To continue I fear I'm going to have to replace the SM3 that drives point CR1 (previously disguised with a small hut) with a PL11 so I can route the vehicle access through there - another example of a lack of forward thinking. See pic NL594x attached.

NL549x.jpg

[RSR Engineer]

A couple of lessons have been learned in the course of this exercise, which may be of use or interest to other members. The first is to make sure that everything sits snugly on the baseboard (or whatever) under it. I found that where the lower underlay was not fixed down properly, the paving stood proud of the rail top and pumped up and down when it was pressed. It didn't look good, so it had come out and be done again. Good thing I used Pritt stick and not some super stuff. The same goes for the track, which on my layout is pinned. It doesn't need to be hammered down hard, but also shouldn't pump. The second is to be sure //in advance// of how far the scenic effect you're applying is to go. I find myself undecided just how far along the paving is to reach before the road goes down to normal level, one reason for that being I haven't yet decided where the goods shed is to go. Also, there isn't much space for a lorry to turn round. I wouldn't want the job of reversing a juggernaut all the way along there, although I suppose an experienced trucker could manage it, but I'm sure he'd be cursing the idiot who laid the road out like that. The moral of the story is forward planning (again!).

The SM3 I intended to replace had to stay coz the over-centre spring on point CR1 is gubbered (which why it got an SM3 in the first place. but I'd forgotten that), so I moved it to one side and gave it a longer push rod. There are a few more pix on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@N06/

Cheers,
Artur

[Rog (RJ)]

Artur, you have an email from the forum.

In fact you have two now. Brian

[RSR Engineer]

Firstly, let me apologise, Brian, for not acknowledging your help with that spam last month. Thank you for that support effort.

The topic here is getting tracks across baseboard joins on the slant, especially where there are no rail joiners as the boards have to be dismantlable. The method adopted was to insert sections of Fleischmann Profi-Gleis track base to replace the last one or two Peco sleepers on each side of the gap. This problem is particularly relevant on the boards of the old layout, where a great amount of forward thinking was omitted. The work is documented in detail on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4145/page3 pix 701-14.

Cheers,
Artur

[RSR Engineer]

Good evening, gentlemen. I hope it's not too late to wish everyone a happy, healthy and successful 2023. The radio silence the past year is a sign of much reduced activity. I won't go on about the effects of advancing years, but waiting to get my cataracts done did slow things down a bit. Right, end of moan.

The ballasting of the track is still the big outstanding job. After wasting a lot of time trying to automate in some way the thinning of the acrylic paint for the sake of consistent coverage, first with the airbrush and then with an ordinary artist's brush, I finally decided to try it with oil paint. This is also a fiddly and tedious job but it does eliminate the shininess of the nickel-silver rails.

I've posted a coupla pix on flickr (715/6): https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@N06

And videos showing the benefit of straight axles:
Before: https://www.flickr.com/photos/188026976 ... ed-public/
After: https://www.flickr.com/photos/188026976 ... 994476728/
This old electric was given to me by a lady friend a while ago and I managed to find the necessary spare parts on eBay.

Cheers,
Artur

[RSR Engineer]

Once again, gentlemen, I must apologise for the radio silence; I haven't got much work done this year yet. One project, though, has been an amendment to the Station South Control Panel, mainly for the sake of smoother operation. The layout was designed with this primarily in mind.

When designing the new layout I extended the main line tracks leading away from the station to the "north" (clockwise) and "south" (anticlockwise). The power supply for these was taken from track sections 1 and 16 at the north end and 8 and 9 at the south (pic 597 shows the south panel, 628 the tracks). Section 8 also contains the double slip crossing DS12 that gives access to the headshunt. Any shunting manoeuvre traversing DS12 needed section 8 to be switched from the green cab (anticlockwise main line) to the blue (yard). Because section 8 stretched all the way along the anticlockwise track to the far end of the contrun1 and southern approach bridges, any change to the switching of section 8 would affect a southbound train, and would have to wait for the engine of such a train to clear the bridge. Because shunting manoeuvres, especially to the industrial estate, which uses platform 4 as its own little headshunt, have to wait for a "window" between main line train movements in both directions, such delays are better avoided.

The solution adopted was to create two new track sections, 8A and 9A on the anticlockwise and clockwise tracks, respectively, of the southern approach. A southbound train goes from section 8 to 8A almost immediately on leaving the station. Only 8A is truly indispensible; 9A was included for symmetry's sake. The further reaches of sections 8 and 9 had already been provided with supplementary bus cables to compensate for voltage drop. These were reassigned to sections 8A and 9A.

The measures adopted were:

1. Isolation of the southern approach tracks beyond the end of the original sections 8 and 9;
2. Creation of new track sections 8A and 9A, stretching from the south end of the station to the far end of the contrun1 and south approach bridges;
2. Insertion of rotary switches for them on the Station South Control Panel;
3. Transfer of existing bus cables for sections 8 and 9 to control panel outlets for 8A and 9A.

Panel modification:

Two new 9mm holes were drilled in the lower plate of the Station South Control Panel (see pix 717/8). Corresponding holes were drilled in the upper plate (see pix 720/1). The new rotary switches were mounted in the lower plate like the existing ones and wired to the red and green bus (clockwise and anticlockwise) but not to the blue bus (yard) (see pic 719); the main line is not to be used as a headshunt. New wires were installed to carry power to the 8A and 9A buses. A new label was printed and stuck in place (see pic 722).

The pluggable carrying power to the 8 and 9 bus plus section 31 (headshunt) and common return drew its power from the station south manifold. This was modified such that sections 8A and 9A replaced 8 and 9, respectively and 31 and T remained unchanged (see pic 723). The bus connections before the bridges were left unchanged, merely relabelled (see pic 724).

Testing was successful and the panel was connected up and normal operation resumed. The total work effort was some three hours.

The work is documented, as usual, on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@N06/

Cheers,
Artur

[sandy]

Wish I could do wiring as tidy as that Mine looks like an unravelled ball of wool.

[RSR Engineer]

Thank you for your kind complients on my handiwork, Sandy. I can assure you, there are plenty of rats' nests in other places on the layout.

Cheers,
Artur