Model Railway Forum

Quite right, Mick. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
Artur

The tracks of contrun1 are laid in and fixed down as far as the bridge, complete with superelevation. I decided to apply a bit more tilt to the track here, and it seems to have paid off. The contrun2 curve on the southeast corner of the layout (pic 477) was revised to conform (pic 498). A Roco uncoupler has been installed at the entrance to the long sidings. I don't expect to need more than this one, as almost all my rolling stock has Märklin closecouplers, which have preuncoupling. For the other stock, I'll have to rope in a shunting volunteer. Criticism of the PL-11 point motor that I've read on the Forum (not enough oomph) led me to fit SM3s to the 3-way point, which does seem a bit heavy. Because the SM3 has a locking mechanism, it will be necessary to push the operating buttons in the right order. I hope I don't do the PL-11 a disservice. The SM3s will be disguised with a signal box or something.

The work is documented on flickr (pix 488-98): https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4145/page2

The new Contrun1 and Headshunt Control Panel is complete and wired up. It still has to be connected to the track and tested. This will have to waill till the headshunt is laid in, for which I'm waiting for the points to arrive.

The work is documented on flickr (pix 499-505): https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 6553/page2

Cheers,
Artur

Just a quick description of the method I used, in case it's of use or interest to other members.

The cant is generated by means of card strips inserted under the outer rail of the curve. The material used is taken from the packing of Peco Streamline points and PL-11 point motors. These supply card of 0.6 and 0.25 mm thickness, respectively. The card is cut into strips 5-6 mm wide. Combining the two thicknesses gives a range of 0.25, 0.5, 0.6, 0.85 and 1.2 mm.

The cant is increased step by step (the code 100 rail is stable enough not to sag) to match the transitioning of the curve (which seems to come about automatically with flexible track). I didn't use any mathematical formulae but deviated by eye from the theoretical curve of the original diagram. The ruling radius of the southwest inner curve is 87.6 cm. On the more generous curves along the south side of the layout, I limited the cant to 0.6 mm. While I usually pin my track down quite loosely, to allow it to "float" on the underlay, in superelevated curves I push the pins in just far enough to hold both ends of the sleepers down.

According to Wikipedia, the maximum cant on the prototype is about 6 inches, which works out in H0 gauge at 1.75 mm, so my 1.2 mm compound cardboard strips are well within this limit. I must say, the effect in Wikipedia's picture of an Intercity 225 seems much more pronounced.

The work is illustrated on flickr (pix 496-9): https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4145/page2
Wikipedia reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cant_(road/rail)

I hope this is of use.

Cheers,
Artur

The southern half of the headshunt and continuous run tracks is laid, wired up and tested under power, albeit with a lashup. Many of the wires and connectors have had to be installed above board. These will need to be disguised during the scenery phase. The next stage is the installation of the contrun1 and headshunt control panel.

The work is documented on flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4145/page2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 6553/page2

There is also a video of a test train in operation:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 783700505/

Cheers,
Artur

Most of the new part of the layout is now installed, so I decided to put the old part back together and start wiring up. All that will then be needed is the last couple of new boards, which will be tailored if need be to fit. There were three locations on the old layout where I hadn't taken care over the position of board joins and screws, which led, among other things, to points cut into two. To correct this I made three new inserts of old board material to carry the points in one piece and avoid screws under the track. Track laying has started.

The work is documented on flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4075/page3 - pix 219-26/8/9.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 145/page2/ - pix 525-20.

Cheers,
Artur

The tracks at the "northern" end of the station have been laid and the ends at the board joins lined up. The "southern" end is missing a few uncouplers, which had to come out when I reconfigured the boards to solve the problem of points divided over the joins. Trouble is, I seem to have mislaid them... Some of the point motors will have to be relocated on top of the board, because there are low-level tracks and supporting timbers directly underneath.

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

Cheers,
Artur

The time finally came when the reconfigured boards would have to be wired up. Where new board sections were created, it was a bit like when the Berlin Wall was built, in that certain track sections, points etc found themselves on the other side of the boundary. Each of the old boards was connected to the north or south control panel via a bundle of wires hanging down underneath and bearing 15 or 25-pole computer plugs (pic 546). These were plugged into the so-called "manifolds", one each for north and south, which carried also a further row of 15 and 25-pole connectors (pix 538/9/41-3). These were connected by computer flatband cable (pic 540) to corresponding plugs mounted on the actual control panels.

Where a track section was split by a board join (another example of my lack of forward thinking), it had a wire to the manifold from each board; this ensured that the track section was properly switched throughout. On the reconfigured boards, parts of some track sections are now absent, having been Berlin-Walled to one of the new intermediate boards. In other cases, the track section is represented additionally on the new board. Since the new boards do not have a manifold connection, the track sections etc on them are wired from the neighbouring old boards via pluggable terminal blocks, some below the board, some above, depending on space available.

To plan the wiring, I drew up for each board a manifold spec sheet showing each wire and indicating whether it is still relevant. Also, I wrote a chit for each pluggable (pix 532-5). This was very useful for keeping a clear overview of the work.

This may not be strictly railway modelling but the work has been a significant part of the project, if only for the time it's taken and the various technical problems that needed to be dealt with as they cropped up - and I'm sure there are others waiting just around the corner. I documented it for completeness' sake and I'm posting it here really just in case anyone's interested.

The work is documented as fully as I could on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 3714966881

Cheers and keep safe, everyone, from that virus,
Artur

The rewiring on the reconfigured boards continues. It's a long, somewhat tedious job but I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, a prerequisite to wiring is laying the track and I did some of that as well. The northern approach is complete as far down as the bridge and connected up at the station end. Also the headshunt now goes all the way around as far as the bridge. I got a bit carried away with the camera, as anyone visiting the flickr blog will see. Sorry about that.

The work is documented, as always, on flickr (pix 553-78): https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@N06/

Cheers, and please stay safe from that bug,
Artur

The mainline tracks are all now laid in, although the wiring up still has a way to go. So it's just another round of the same old stuff. As before, I have documented as much as poss for completeness' sake and posted in case anyone's interested. I don't normally post images directly to the Forum, but one exception I've made is the switching of the south approach junction. See below.

The work is, as usual documented in full on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 4145/page2

Cheers,
Artur

Finally I am able to follow other members' advice and actually run some trains. It's early days yet, as there are various technical defects to be ironed out, stemming mainly from the old boards, where there are power dropouts, a couple of mysterious short circuits and a lack of points function. I did however find a path for trains to run through the station and all around the layout.

There are a couple of videos on flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... otostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... otostream/

Might I again express my appreciation and thanks for the help and advice I've received from other members since the Forum started.

Cheers,
Artur