Newcastle Emlyn in N scale

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by Marty, Jan 20, 2016.

  1. Marty

    Marty Full Member

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    What with the wildflower season being spectacular this year and camping and hiking expeditions into the great outdoors to see such things as this magnificent Wreath Flower (Lechenaultia Macrantha)...
    [​IMG]
    and continuing the hunt for a new job, layout progress has been a bit slow but progress is being made.
    Despite showing the NE station boards in place in the last posts there still required the adjusting, levelling and fixing of heights between the various upper and lower parts of the layout around it, while still allowing the boards to be removed for tracklaying, wiring, etc.
    Here is the main station and yard board propped up for under board activities...
    [​IMG]

    It is designed to slot down around wooden fixed riser supports at the left end and by using two vastly different sized screws, onto adjustable supports on the right hand end. The tiny brass screw head sits inside the driver slot for the coach screw. There are 3 such arrangements, one in the middle to prevent sag and two at the right hand end. I'm pleased to say that they all line up perfectly.

    [​IMG]

    It did make levelling between the two station boards a breeze and so far appears to be rock solid.

    Next has been the creation of the spline road bed between the existing Henllan station board and the new NE station turntable board. In the photo below you can see the 45xx with the down milk on the new NE Station approach. (The track is just plonked, there are two more splines required to widen the road bed for scenery attachment and cork underlay needed too). The passenger is on the original south bank down to LLandyfriog Junction, the bank running behind the NE station boards.

    [​IMG]

    An overview showing how it all fits together. The line in the foreground is the north bank up from Llandyfriog Junction.

    [​IMG]

    And finally a photo taken from above the NE Station boards looking back towards Henllan.

    [​IMG]

    ... now.... back to writing job applications... sigh.

    cheers
     
  2. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Nice progress Marty, and good luck with the job hunt.

    Paul
     
  3. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Hi Marty,

    The woodwork is a thing of beauty. :thumbs:I hope your job hunting bears fruit for you. Never an easy thing getting the right job. Keep faith there will be one just around the corner ........ I feel it in my bones. :thumbs:

    Cheers

    Toto
     
  4. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Your wood work looks great Marty. I'm betting you have a couple of squares in your tool box ! :thumbs:

    Did you get many pics of the WA flora whilst out camping ?? The Wreath Flower is stunning.

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  5. Marty

    Marty Full Member

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    Cheers Chaps,

    Just pinged off another application.... might be my last if Toto's bones are right!!?

    Wonderful wildflowers this year Gary, never seen so many. The Wreath flower only grows in a 400km x 140km swathe of WA's wheatbelt. It was pretty special.

    I'll stick to modelling photos in this thread though....

    Note to all passengers: All branch traffic between Llandyfriog Junction and Newcastle Emlyn has been cancelled and omnibuses are providing a limited service instead. Yes, I know that services have only just been restored but Signalman Proud at Llandyfriog Junction has urgently called in the Signal and Telegraph Department linesman and his mate to investigate a failure of the points at the West End of the junction.
    The ganger, too, has been called and the stationmaster, and serious discussions are taking place regarding the current arrangement of the track at the west end and potential improvements.
    The report from the linesman indicates that due care and attention was not paid when recent repairs were made to the point motor at the West End of the junction and that it has subsequently failed catastrophically and will need to be replaced. Just as well, I was disappointed with the tenuous piggyback nature of the micro switch and with how difficult it was to align.

    [​IMG]

    Despite being an annoying set back, it is actually fortuitous as the point motor and point were the first installed on the layout some six or seven years ago. The point itself is of a short radius and has never suited its position on the mainline often requiring trains to reduce speed considerably to avoid derailing through the tight radius.

    There has also been some disquiet amongst the shunting staff who have been heard to mutter that the redevelopment of Llandyfriog Junction had not allowed sufficient length on the goods loop for a decent train to be shunted into the new sidings.

    Luckily Colonel Frobisher Ret. from the Ministry, had his Tiger Moth at the aeroclub and was able to conduct a sortie and take some quick photos to show the situation at hand.

    Firstly, the current layout with the location of the faulty point motor indicated.


    [​IMG]


    Secondly, the option of using a long radius straight, which would need to be manufactured off site and delivered. Here too the location of the point motor is indicated. Notice how the riser below the road bed dictates that location to a certain extent.

    [​IMG]

    And thirdly, the option of using a curved point further to the west. There is a curved point in the yard having been recently removed from the east end of the junction. Again the riser below the roadbed dictates the position somewhat. The shaky green line, the ganger did his best, represents the extension of the goods loop.

    [​IMG]


    Colonel Frobisher Ret., in consultation with the permanent way crew and the station master, has given the nod to the curved point and the extended goods loop. Work will begin immediately. (In the little people's world anyway)And yes, that does mean that a wider roadbed of 9mm ply will have to be cut to replace the current one.

    It's all OK...I am having fun.

    Cheers
     
  6. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    I think Col. Frobrisher has it right, although the addition of a second point to provide a head shunt / trap point for the goods line may also be worth considering.

    Are you continuing with the solenoids or changing to a different solution.

    I'm going to be replacing my seeps with servo as per ....

    http://p1mrc.com/p1mrc/view_topic.php?id=390&forum_id=12

    and using the MERG servo4 kit or an arduino to control them

    http://p1mrc.com/p1mrc/view_topic.php?id=162&forum_id=12

    The forthcomming O gauge layout will use the same especially as the trackwork looks like being hand made :eek:

    Paul
     
  7. Marty

    Marty Full Member

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    Paul,
    Sticking with Seeps and DC control for the moment.
    I already have a stock of seeps and the Panel for the Llandyfriog Junction, from which the west point is controlled, also already exists.
    Once I've exhausted the supply of Seeps I'll be trying servos.
    Track is up and road bed has gone.
    New road bed is under construction.
    cheers
     
  8. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Well done Marty. Once again in looking through your scenic spots it's just fantastic to view. A real pleasure Sir.

    Same with the woodwork as I've commented before. It's nice to watch quality come together.

    Fingers crossed for your latest applications.

    Keep the pictures coming please.

    Cheers

    Toto
     
  9. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    So the muttering of the shunting staff has paid dividends. I'd say Colonel Frobisher has a couple of new friends ! :lol:

    Looks to be a reasonably easy execution.., at least you don't have to move mountains for the extension of the loop ! ;)

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  10. Marty

    Marty Full Member

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    Time passes eh? Yep... the mojo went on a little holiday for one reason or another but here is an update.The point motor in the posts above was well and truly fried....
    [​IMG]

    Removing the motor and the old short radius point was rapid..

    [​IMG]

    All of it gone, including the road bed in a couple of days following the previous post...

    [​IMG]

    Wiring up the new point motor....

    [​IMG]

    and dropping in the new extended road bed happened within the week...

    [​IMG]

    The old curved point was recovered from the yard, tidied up a bit, the damage to the tie bar from failing to use a heat sink when cutting the actuating rod with a dremel cutting wheel is plain to see, rewired for polarity control...

    [​IMG]

    ...and then it all became too difficult when trying to mount the motor to the point and get it to throw nicely. What a PITA... and it is summer... and the river was calling me and the sail canoe.... and then it was Christmas and New Year .... you know how it goes?

    But.... then... and my heartfelt thanks to Adrian Vaughan and he writings on the GWR, I happened to stumble across another of his wonderfully descriptive and evocative books in a second hand book store.

    The old fire was thrown out, the clinker cleaned from the bars and a new fire lit with a handful of oil soaked cotton waste and some scrap timber... steam raised....

    Remove the new extended Llandyfriog West point road bed, mount the point and motor on the workbench using an old power pack to actuate and test the motor and then reinstall road bed onto layout....

    gotcha...

    you recalcitrant, antiquated, random collection of plastic and nickel silver. Sigh of relief, now to get on with relaying the track...

    [​IMG]

    It IS worth getting track laid right! Track installed, it was tested... repeatedly... and just about every loco derailed when approaching the point from the toe end... aarrgghh.

    I was aware of the oft repeated warnings that curved points were a bit tricky and straight points with a straight bit of track before the toe end was much simpler. Did I listen? Well, yep I did, but I thought I could make it work...

    Turns out (no pun intended) I can... but it took me 3 days of pottering about to fettle it into shape... it was the gap caused by the insulated rail joiners that I use on the toe end as a belt and braces method of ensuring that no shorts exist.

    Wheels were just dropping straight through the gap in the rail on the curve.The next section of track terminated at gap in the rails at a board joint, no insulators required then, insulated track joiners removed and track soldered to toe of points, making use of the track gauge to keep the rail separation correct, fixed.

    Moving on ...The first bit of new track for the Newcastle Emlyn station board has been laid....A grubby 37254 leads a mixed freight off the new line into Henllan station...

    [​IMG]

    Next, another board join and the first point on the station board... a straight one this time....

    cheers

    Marty
     
  11. Marty

    Marty Full Member

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    ... and just to prove that there is enough heat in the firebox, a tacked together video (no sound I'm afraid)..



    The first two clips are of a Grange hauled evening express on it's way down to Newcastle Emlyn. The last clip is a newly acquired Union Mills Dukedog on a local as it passes through Henllan station.
    The Dukedog has coupling rods that clashed with the island platform and the router has been used to trim down the platform and to provide an overhang that the platform didn't have before. Scalescenes random ashlar stonework reapplied and on we go...

    Oh... and there is a PECO turntable on order and I'm practising making 151 mm diameter holes to suit...

    cheers
    Marty
     
  12. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    :scratchchin: that point motor looked nuked never mind fried. :avatar: good to see the mojo is back Marty.

    Thanks for the update.

    Toto
     
  13. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Beautiful, as always Marty.

    Marty have a look at Cheese cake packaging - Some (Tesco everyday plain cheese cake here) come with a plastic turntable well - I think they use it as a former for the cheese cake, but to me it resembles a plastic turntable well.

    As you are looking towards the dark side

    Possible stepper motor

    https://www.modmypi.com/electronics/motors-and-robotics/stepper-motor-small-reduction-5-wire-512-step/?search=stepper%20motors

    This has a built in 64:1 reduction gearbox and can be used by either Raspberry Pi or arduino.

    For arduino, use a basic motor shield, and connect as follows

    http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=140085.0

    Paul
     
  14. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

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    Lovely stuff Marty,

    As usual..:thumbs:

    I have to keep reminding myself that you are working N gauge.....beautiful,...:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

    http://www.click:tophat:Gormo
     
  15. Ron

    Ron Full Member

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    Classic video Marty, well done! :):)
     
  16. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Fantastic ...... A real treat. :thumbs:
     
  17. Marty

    Marty Full Member

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    After Gormo's excellent tutorial I now have the bits to build a hot wire cutter.

    Hmmmm, short pause while photo is downsized...

    [​IMG]

    ah-ha... success...
    I've salvaged the 25mm electrical conduit from the scrap bin at work, the speaker cable and nuts and bolts I already had and the end caps are turned up on the drill/lathe from an old bit of broom handle.
    Now to put it together
     
  18. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Go for it Marty. One Rolls Royce wire cutter coming up. :avatar:
     
  19. Marty

    Marty Full Member

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    Not sure about Rolls Royce Toto, or at least, if it is, then a Friday afternoon model 'cause the fabricator decided it was POETS day and hurried the job.
    Anyway... it DOES work... thanks Gormo!!!
    [​IMG]

    Now to get on with building up the landscape in the corner of the layout. You can see the recent work on lining the tunnels and arranging tunnel mouths and the path of the Afon Teifi is sketched out on the core flute base.

    [​IMG]

    I'm off to the shed with the core flute as a template to cut out a matching shape in a sheet of the closed cell insulation foam that I've finally found in our mega DIY store.

    cheers
    Marty
     
  20. Marty

    Marty Full Member

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    So.... the power pack short circuit protection is definitely tripping once the wire gets hot enough to cut. I persevered and juggled the power pack reset in one hand and cutting in the other. If there had been a need to create a smooth surface from the cut, modifications to the power supply would have been needed, but as the polystyrene/foam is going to be covered over with my polyfiller landscape gloop mix it doesn't matter. First layer down and the river bed is gouged out using a circular wire brush in the power drill, no dear... I'm working in the garage with the vacuum cleaner on.

    [​IMG]

    Second layer on the left hand side....

    [​IMG]

    and from a lower angle....

    [​IMG]

    For a virtually no mess landscape base that'll do me...

    Off to dig out the rest of my polystyrene....

    cheers
    Marty
     

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