Thaxham light railway. A Great Eastern Railway themed terminus, in O gauge.

I've had a couple of sessions in the shed over the last week or so. First job I made a small switch box for the points, and wired in the Megapoints controller and the switches. When I connected it to the servos, number 1 wouldn't work, my fault, I had pressed the wrong button when setting the servo throws, any way its sorted now. All the servos throw correctly, however point 2 wouldn't throw all the way on one side. When I had tried resetting the servo and it still wouldn't throw properly I decided to check the point itself. A small lump of solder had crept under the blade so I took my thinnest file to it and now all is hunky dory . Just need to wire up the micro switches and the frog and hopefully I can have a pla-testing session. If all go's well, I will make a short video of sommink running.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

I have spent the afternoon in the shed wiring up the points and fitting the micro switches, unfortunately there were some gremlins with mysterious shorts that took some finding. I got most of the track and points working bar one. The bay road, can't seem to find that one yet but I will!!
Still loads to do yet, board 2 is wired but not connected yet, as it will be in the way of Karens mobility scooter.
Things will have to take a back seat for a while as we are of to Blackpool for a few days next week and I have got an airport run to Manchester on Sunday.
Any way here is a pic of my switch box.



And hopefully a video of a loco running on board one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJiDacwB1Uk

Cheer.s, Pete.

Don't know whats gone amiss with the video. The address is correct?

 

Well I have checked and double checked and the address is correct but if anyone wants to have a look at the video, search, Thaxham Light Railway 1 and hopefully it will come up! Pete.

 

Thanks Timbersurf, the bumpy bit on the point is a bit of solder on a connection, plus the deep flanges on the Lima loco. A little fettleing needed I think!
As for the music in the background, I didn't notice it until playing back the video.

Pete.

 

We got back from Blackpool on Friday last but today, Monday, is the first chance I've had to look at the layout.
First job was to chase down the short on the bay siding. After giving the 3 way point a good coat of looking at, I discovered a copper clad sleeper that hadn't been gapped, a quick flit with the Dremel and all works now.

Timbersurf commented on the bumpy track. Well I have found two culprits, the first was easy to sort, one of the point operating piano wires was sticking up a little too far, quick chop with the cutters and that's sorted. The other is not so easy, the point is built from C&L parts and the rail chairs cant the rail inwards slightly as the real rail chairs do. Where its joined to the Peco track, which stands straight up, the wheels jump a little. Not to much of a problem, just frustrating.

So, now comes the bit I am not exactly dreading but not looking forward to, wiring up the boards connections. I'm going for 9 way male and female D sub connectors. As usual I was sure I had some, can I find them? can I bu&&£ry!! Next job, a trip to my local electronic doodad supplier.

Cheer's for now, Pete.

 

Well, again another belated update. As normal, the plans of mice and men go down the pan when life kicks one in the wotsits. First thing the shed roof decided to leak in two places, one of which was above the cattle/loading dock lifting half the brick paper I had glued on. I decided to leave it off and replace it with cinders, I think it looks right for a loading dock.
Anyway see what you think.



I have now done a temporary repair to the roof covering with a tarpaulin, I'm hoping it will be repaired properly soon, depends on finances

I ordered some connectors for the board joints, I didn't want to use something too flimsy so I have gone for an automotive product. It has 6 pins, 2 for the power and 3 for the servo on board 2.



At the same time I ordered 3 sets of 15 pin D connectors. I couldn't get the separate half's from the same supplier so I used two suppliers on ebay. I wish I had read the small print on the 2nd one, the first was delivery in 2 to 3 days, the 2nd, between 30th October and 30th November. So I had to order a couple of female connectors from somewhere else, delivery 2/3 days. They arrived and lo and behold they are different to the first lot! I gave up and went to my fairly local supplier ( which I should have done in the first place ! ), now sorted. I have wired the switch box, just need to do the rest.





Thats all for now, hopefully more done tomorrow.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

I have now wired the two boards point servos and power cables to their respective connectors, all I need to do next is make the jumper cable from the switch box to the socket on the layout then, hopefully!, we will be good to go. I will bung some photos up later .

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Hopefully this video will work.
I have spent an hour in the shed this afternoon sorting out the point on board two. The block holding the microswitch ha decided to detach itself so first job sorting that after re programming the number 4 servo. Alls good now.



Pete.

 

Oh, nearly forgot, I remembered to turn off the radio this time .
Next job I suppose is give the track some paint, then ballast then paint the rails. Luckily there's not that much of it so shouldn't take too long

Pete.

 

More done today. First job was to put sleepers in where there were gaps at the board joint.
Next I masked off the operating tiebar before spraying the track with Pheonix paints sleeper grime. last job today was to clean the rail tops with white spirit. Where the masking tape was I need to touch up the sleepers by decanting some of the spray paint into its lid so I can brush it on.
There are a couple of pics of the wiring and connectors.















Thats all for now. I will try and get some more done tomorrow.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Cheer's Toto.
I have been doing a bit more today. I've fitted the PCP doodad for the controller and secured the wiring inside the switch box for the power supply.
Also I realised as I'm using Spratt and Winkles I need to fit the magnets in the most useful spots for shunting. So this afternoon I have been trying out different locations. The magnets I have aren't really strong enough for the job, 4mm x 2mm. I doubled them up and that seemed ok so I need to source some longer ones, 4mm w x 10mm l probably.
I'm going to Spalding model rail show on Sunday, hopefully I might get some there. Anyone else going by chance?

Cheer's, Pete.

 

Now that I'm back with the layout I've cleared the decks and made a start on the platform, the basic carcass is made from foamboard with a card top. I didn't take any photos of that stage, its basically the same as the cattle dock. I have glued the timber frontage on though the pva glue I have is pretty crap so its still clamped up for the night.
For some reason, the GER built the platforms on the Thaxted branch only 12 inches high and used steps for passengers to get on and off. So I have done the same.
A couple of poor photos next. I will take some more once the clamps come off.




I have also started drawing up the station building. As I'm using the Thaxted station as inspiration I have been doing some guesstimation on the dimensions as I don't have a plan. I think its getting there, I just need to tweak it a little, once I'm happy I will post the plan up.

Cheer's, Pete.

 

I have been working on the station building the last 2 or 3 days. I'm using foam board for the core and card for the outer cladding what there is.

I have also knocked up the windows, there's only 4 so it didn't take long. They look a bit anaemic but should look better once painted.

Any way this where I'm at, at the moment.







Cheer's for now. Pete.