Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

Your spying could be correct Gary.......the last time I ran that loco with my little apprentices the front bogie was catching on the body work and derailing.
It`s up behind the station waiting to be repaired........guess I should get on and have a look at it.?
The back scene is rather good actually and it may be worth getting another one to give a bit more consistency to the whole area.
Gormo

 

G`day Chris,
It`s a method I have been using for years now and seems to work OK.
The process uses Superglue.
When the figures are ready to be placed, I trial them first just to eyeball the location and make sure it`s the right place.
I then find a piece of flat disposable plastic or a jar lid or whatever flat non absorbent material is at hand. I place a drop of Superglue on that material and then I place / stand the underneath of the figures shoes in the Superglue. Not too much glue is the rule. I then take the figure to the predetermined location and put it in place whilst holding it upright for about 20 to 30 seconds until the glue has started to grab.
I think figures look good if they appear to be interacting with each other ( cameos ). The odd single lonely contemplative figure is also good but he /she probably needs a purpose as well.
Anyway it`s a whole subject on it`s own.........maybe a video one day.
Gormo

 

Well Chris,
It was a fairly easy one to do, plus my YouTubers are always hanging out for more vids from me......poor sods ....
So killed two birds with one stone as they say.
Gormo

 

G`day Chris,
Post#56 to #68 pretty much covers the whole turntable build with detail on how you get power to the track and reverse polarity.
Click on the link below to take you to #56
Great Chesterford Junction Part One ( Pre P1MRC )
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Well i`ve been out in the shed doing some planning this morning.
It is time to start Bamford terminus refurbishment. The first thing that needs to be done is to fit the point control system.
There are eleven points across two boards, six on one and five on the other. I will be using my manual control system again and I have to decide whether to go for one eleven lever frame or two separate frames, one for each board.
The single frame would be more difficult to arrange because it would require linkages under the baseboard to connect between the two boards. Below those two boards I have a sliding yard which would have to be removed to gain proper access to do the job.
Two separate frames would be definitely easier as stand alone modules and most likely this is the way I will go.
So the two frame solution then raises the question of the control panel. The control panel for this part of the railway will have to be more compressed than other panels I have made, as it needs to not foul the sliding yard directly below it.
I have a flip up panel at the moment that was always only ever going to be a temporary thing, but nevertheless it`s a good starting point for ideas for a more elegant smaller panel.
I have also considered integrating the control panel and one of the lever frames, which ultimately may serve the site better by reducing the overall footprint.
Control panel design starts from one basic measurement.....the size of your switches. The size and location of the switches on the panel determines how far apart the lines on your track plan overlay have to be spaced, and consequently that spacing determines the overall height of the panel. Width is less of a problem
So you can see, before the saw begins to cut the timber, we need a plan of attack.
I think the first place to start is the control panel track plan condensed as much as possible, then move onto the design for a six lever frame that will integrate alongside that panel. Once the first lever frame dimensions are sorted, the second frame can be built to match and then we should have a uniform design across the two boards.
So I need to draw up a proper control panel track plan and determine where all the switches go. I have most of the switches in place on the temporary panel however there are still some more to go in.

Gormo

 

This is the current temporary panel with the Red areas showing what has to be considered behind the panel. There are only a few more switches to be added, so condensing this might not be too difficult, especially if I relocate the circuit board and the relay to under the baseboard and stagger the switches.





Gormo

 

OK.....I`ve taken an A4 page in Landscape orientation and I`ve crammed the plan into half of it height wise.
I`ll have to print a draft copy and try it for size tomorrow........here`s how it looks.



Gormo

 

I tried the panel draft print this morning and the size is good.
One thing I`ll have to change or get rid of first though is the switching control that allows Bamford to be either controlled from GCJ or Bamford.
Since the installation of the block instruments, this switching has become redundant. It does however require some back tracking and side stepping because it is interlinked with the long / short shunt section as well.
The long /short shunt allows Bamford yard to be shunted ( short shunt ) when the Branch shuttle is running back and forth from GCJ to Bamford bay platform automatically. When set to long shunt, the automatic shuttle is not used and the whole of Bamford is under it`s own controller up to the rail breaks where the Block Instruments kick in.
To run the shuttle service automatically now, all Block Instruments are set to " Train On Line ". Not prototypical I know.....but tell someone who cares...
So some wire tracing and understanding feeds required to sort it out, however the bonus is that the whole thing becomes less complicated.
Gormo

 

Thanks Toto......

Revised Panel.....now resized in various parts and shuffled around to bring a better logic to it.




Gormo

 

G`day Sol,
The knob for the controller fits over the top of this covering most of it. You will see the little increments just around the edge of the knob. The knob has a white line marked on it, so in theory you can set it accurately against one of the marks around the edge of the circle.
Gormo

 

That`s the Goods Shed Chris...
Gormo