Luib Bridge

These are straight lengths Gary so I took advantage by soldering. To the underside of the rail so the droppers will be completely hidden. ....... It might be something I later regret.

 

Up sharpish this morning, for a Saturday anyway. Her lady ship ( Lulu ) decided it was time to get up. Her other lady ship has been granted a bit of a lie in.

First thing today is on the domestic front. I need to go and exchange some currency for the up and coming Cyprus trip. Once I get that out of the way ..... I'm free to dedicate myself to some serious shed time.

As I said previously, the main theme today is track laying and all the peripheral activities associated with that and the subsequent wiring of the same. I am hoping that once that is done, I can get a feel for the boundaries of the ballasting and tape off and get a start on that sometime soon. I mention boundaries as there are the obvious structures that I will need to work around and also in some areas, the ballasting will give way to concrete and cobbles etc so a bit forward planning required there.

Anyway, I'm jumping to far ahead there but just in order to try and explain where I think I am heading. I'll need to test the track out first once complete.

I have upgraded the wiring this time around learning from the errors encountered in Luib Bridge ( phase 1 ) where I had Cobalts burning out and even a smell of burning. I am using 1.0 mm solid copper conductor cable for the track droppers ( household twin and earth cable ) the type used for domestic lighting which will easily take 5 amps. The BUS wiring will be run in 2.5 mm twin and Earth ( both without the earth conductor ). That is rated at 30 amps for household ring circuits or 15 amp for radial circuits. More than adequate. The wiring will be protected be a circuit breaker to prevent drawing too much power through the wiring.

Their will also be an accessory BUS to allow me to supply lighting and any other incidentals. A 1.0 mm cable will be sufficient for that.

That's where we are heading over this weekend. Let's see how far I get.

Cheers

Toto

 

12 volts Sol. fed from the NCE.

 

About 70 % of the track laid and motoring on. Should be more or less complete by tonight.

cheers

toto

 

and some pictures of where I am.

got this lot done...... the easy bits really as they were mostly straights and the double slip is just laying there.

here is another of the same. So, as per usual the double slip came with the same unreliable wire droppers that usually fall off as soon as you look at them so its became my practice to replace them with something a little more substantial.

and there it is. So lets get it down. I had marked out the positions where the droppers were going to need to be drilled and ...... hey presto ....... they're in.

and then started to work away from it .....

and one from the other end looking down towards where the structures will go ......

and one last one for the moment. I'm not finished for the night yet so there may be a further post with a bit more progress before the night is through.

cheers for now

toto

 

Had to stop.

Started making mistakes like fixing down the double slip before drilling out for the cobalt actuator pins. a sure sign I'm getting tired. Not only that ...... a sure sign I'm getting pissed. the brandy has been flowing freely.

anyway, tomorrow I'll start by lifting the double slip and then ....... here is a little flavour as to where I am going next.

I've just laid in the inter-connecting track that you can see between the turnout and the double slip but tomorrow will see it fixed in position with the required track feed dropper etc.

cheers for now

toto

 

I only had to skelp it twice and it survived. I do have to take it back up tomorrow to drill out for the Cobalt actuator pins though. I wonder if it will survive a second install.

Cheers

Toto

 

Well,

Just about ready to hit the shed and one of the first jobs is to uninstall the install. In all the excitement and enthusiasm I did not install the screws that the track is soldered to at the baseboard joins. Not a big job but a step backwards all the same. I don't like trying to retro fit them as the alignment can end up iffy. I know this from past experience so I'll just bite the bullet and get it right. The effected track lengths are only pinned down at the moment ( also from experience ). So the time required to alter this should be minimal.

Looking forward to today as it should see the track build more or less completed. The only elements left will be at the extreme ends where I have left gaps for transition pieces to bridge onto the traversers. Small beer.

The wiring is mostly being done as I go so once the track is down, there will only be a couple of sets of droppers to do then it's onto the track BUS and wiring up the switch 8 and the main circuit breaker. Figuring out the double slip will be fun. It's easy enough when contemplated on its own but it's making sure that the polarities are in tune with the rest of the track around about it. Anyway, that's for later. Given that it's only really been weekends that I am working on this, it'll be a week or two before the maiden voyage takes place.

Now ..... Shower then shed.

Cheers

Toto

 

IT looks that way. I may have to go and get myself a Stanley knife. I've misplaced mine and hunted high and low but cannot find it. An essential piece of the tool kit. Feel naked without it. Not a nice thought

 

Hi Gary,

I would have done but my printer is only an A4 and it involve's about 40 odd sheets. Some of the sheets only had the minimal of content on it and it was a nightmare trying to get it to align properly. Was not worth the bother. I reckon it would have made the job harder trying to just align the sheets. ........ I did try it but ...... Nah. It's not worth the expense buying another A3 printer ..... Ink cartridges etc etc just for that.

What I do need to invest in is a gaugey thingy to run between the tracks to straighten them out prior to pinning down. You can never get them quite perfect doing it just by hand. Near enough but not quite 100 % and not worth holding back the build waiting for one.

Things are moving though and the track will have power to it soon enough. I intend, once it is powered up and all tested and running smoothly, to attack the ballast immediately. I don't want to be attending Elgin with bare boards again regardless of if its a work in progress or not. The addition of ground cover makes such a difference. That will be a laugh. You never know, maybe a well known feature thread may attack a how to on it including any mixing of types, colours and giving parts of it that well crushed and settled look. ....... No hints here of course.

Cheers

Toto

 

Hi Gary.

I probably will. I have a brown emulsion that I used on the first version. That'll do the trick.

We have a plotter at my work I could print out on A0 paper but I'd need to try and get my laptop tuned into it. A bit late now anyway. It's more or less there.

Just back from B & Q after buying a new Stanley Knife. What's the betting the other one turns up now. Guaranteed.

Cheers

Toto