Model Railway Forum

Thank you, Brian. It'll be a while, though, before I can run trains properly. At the moment it's just test shunting back and fore in and out of the northern sidings. There's still a great deal to do but I'll get there, I hope by the end of this year.

Cheers,
Artur

Finally got the points in the northern sidings and banking engine sidings wired up and tested. The new CDU is a Godsend. Made a start installing the point motors in the northern loops and had trouble connecting the first SM3 to the point. I obviously cut the wire too short and had to apply a Heath-Robinson correction. Since I couldn't find omega loops in Germany and the ones I found in England were quite expensive, I've decided to try to make my own, using jewellers' wire-bending pliers. I'll post the results of my experiments - may be useful to other members.

The small of work done is documented on flickr (only one new pic this time): https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 9557116553

Cheers,
Artur

The point motors in the northern loops have been installed, some of them using home-made pushrods with integrated omega loops - trusty old tube and wire. The motors at the bottom end of the loops have been wired up, using cable ducts for the first time to keep things a bit tidy.

The work is documented on flickr (pix 349-354): https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 9557116553.

Cheers,
Artur

Some small progress. The points at the entry to the northern loops are wired up, plus the relays, plus a DPDT lashup for testing. It is now possible to run a train into the northern loops clockwise and back out anticlockwise. The main job still outstanding is wiring up the panels.

The work is illustrated on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 9557116553

Cheers,
Artur

Finally got the northern sidings done. All point motors installed, wired up and connected to the control panel, with the exception of the DPDT switch for the banking engine sidings. There's still a bit of tidying up to do but I'm pretty much ready to start on the southern loops.

The work is, as usual, documented on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... 9557116553
There's also a video of a test train: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZniJ7MOY8k
Sorry about the lousy image quality; I'm clearly no Steven Spielberg.

My sincerest thanks go to all the Forum members who have contributed their advice and encouragement.

Cheers,
Artur

Wow Engineer
It's looking good there. Nice to see a train moving, always a good motivating time.

Thank you, Dublo. This is quite a milestone in the project. I may even pop a cork tonight.

Cheers,
Artur

Not got much new work done this last month or so - too many other jobs have got in the way. Right now I'm waiting for the webcams to be delivered for the monitoring of the northern sidings and loops. What I did do was unpack some rolling stock to test the northern sidings points. I also took the opportunity to see how much my Belgian Atlantic could pull. Turned out she was able to haul a test train of some 60 axles round the northern reversing loop and up the 1 in 68 of the northern approach without a trace of slip. Of course, she has traction ryres. (I'll never understand why apparently these are so unpopular in Britain and the USA.)

There's a small video clip on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53775591@ ... ed-public/

Cheers,
Artur

I have just watched it and it looks very good. It looked like a realistic speed as well. I'll have to get on mine soon but the grass, visitors, shopping etc.etc. keep on getting in the way . Darned domestics grrrrr.
Jim.

I too have watched your progress over the months and must say wonderful work and you have very good woodworking skills and after all the hard work bet you are looking forward to getting trains running if it is only the first mainline. Lovely job...RSR. Wish I had your skills. All the best ...john