Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

Thanks Phil.....
Gormo

 

G`day Ron,
Most of them are just placed there.
The only ones fixed down are those on lift out sections for track access......so the buildings fixed down would number 10 at the moment.
The rest of the buildings not fixed down would number 22
Gormo

 

The latest YouTube video



Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
At auction last Monday I acquired an LMS Jinty model by Bachmann.
I know.....I am a GWR guy.....but I do like a nice engine from any company and I`ve been a Jinty fan for some time.
Auctions are really buyer beware so that must be kept in mind when acquiring so called bargains.
Well the Jinty is a beautiful model, but when first run it was not travelling over points etc. as well as it should.
Here is the model in question










So I thought I would start with the obvious fixes.
First clean the wheels and backs of the wheels where pick up is collected.
Some improvement in running, however not good enough, so I thought possibly this engine has not run for a while and maybe the lube on the gears has hardened slightly......so decided to give it a good run similar to running in.
Result = no better......so I turned it off and left it overnight.
It was time to sort this out properly so upon closer examination I could see as you slid the second and third axles from side to side, they were losing contact with the pick up wipers. The driving axle was fine and also has less sideways play than the other two axles.
Time to take the lid off and sort it out.
The wipers are in good condition, so I gently eased them away from the chassis enough to give a good contact with the backs of the wheels regardless of the sideways position of the wheel.
I checked it running as chassis only and found it worked, so I gave the gears a lube with Inox and then put the body back on.
It is now running sweetly and as it should......video below.
This also begs the question......can wipers contract from their correct positions over time, or is this the result of human intervention.........



Gormo

 

Interesting analogy there with the string Brian.........
Gormo

 

G`day Jim and thanks for your info,
From what you`ve said, I would say that the wipers have found their own way out of contact due to fatigue.
The wipers are in good condition, no bent bits or creases etc. , so I will have to keep an eye on them.
I suppose knowing the problem is half the battle in these situations because you know what to look for.
Many thanks
Gormo

 

G`day Gary,
Yes it`s a Bachmann.
The wipers were evenly spaced, but just not making contact on both wheels of the same axle at the same time.
I think Jim`s theory about metal fatigue and / or poor quality control is probably pretty close to the mark in this situation....
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Well here we go off on a tangent so to speak.
On my last update video on YT, one of the subscribers suggested it would be good to see my camera car do a drivers eye view of the entire layout.
I replied saying that I would consider it, because the last time I did do a drivers eye view video, the layout was nowhere near as complete as it is today.
I decided to give the camera car a practice run, whilst thinking through the route I would take, so as to show the longest possible run.
Unfortunately my camera car is now catching on the inside edge of GCJ UP Main line tunnel. This is something I had not tried since installing the tunnel complex and furthermore,it`s worse on the two narrow tunnels which have tight clearances.
The problem with the camera car as is......is that the camera retaining clip hangs over each side of the wagon considerably, and in the past I have already shaved some of it off.
The camera car also being a four wheel wagon, is not entirely smooth when negotiating some of the older points on the railway.
You can see in the pic below where I`ve shaved the catch on the retaining clip, however the other side is hinged so it can`t be touched



Time to redesign this system and get rid of the retaining clip.
Some years ago I was given some old HO European wagons and I`ve had them put away ever since they were given to me as they don`t really suit what I do.
One of the wagons was an approx. 50 foot container wagon labelled " Martini " which had some heat damage to the roof and generally has had a hard life.
I took the body and the roof off and did a test fit sliding the camera into the body. It`s a perfect friction fit.
So I`ve decided to divide the body up into separate sections.
One section for the camera. A second section to hold a battery pack and a third part section to mount a switch.
To make all this work, the body sections are now mounted upside down on the chassis.



I`ve also added weight to the back half of the wagon to balance it with the camera.
This is a bogie wagon with two axles on each bogie and therefore it runs over my older track much smoother than the four wheel wagon did.
The battery pack and switch will be used to power an LED headlight mounted under the front of the chassis.
The battery pack goes into the middle section



Here you can see the part section which is a switch mounting plate.
The switch plate and the battery section sit atop a piece of flat steel that is used as a weight.



It`s a bit of a dogs breakfast at the moment when compared to the original model, however I think I will spray it black and that will tie it all together.
The reason for the headlight is as follows.
I reckon just about every drivers eye video that I have seen is still quite well lit when the camera car travels into tunnels and under baseboards etc.
When I run a camera through my tunnels and hidden fiddle yards, for long sections, we are in almost complete darkness with fleeting glimpses of light filtering in through joins here and there.
I think it would be good to partially light these journeys with at least a headlight to make the video more interesting.
If I wish to keep people in the dark, I can switch the LED off.!
I`ve done some test runs with the camera aboard and it clears all areas of the railway.......so we are all good to go...
Here is a short video of the prototype proving run which highlights the dark areas mentioned, although the fiddle yard, Newmarket Yard, in this instance is lit.



Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Well I`ve finally finished my new improved camera car.
It was not all smooth sailing though. The camera fit and the battery fit and also the mounting for the toggle switch all went as planned, however first attempts at fitting an LED did not go so well.
I mounted a single white LED on the front of the car......fairly simple......and then ran positive and negative feed wires back along the inside edges of the car to connect to the battery pack ( 3 x AAA batteries ) and the toggle switch. A voltage dropping resistor was added in the feed to the switch.
Got it all soldered up and ready to go.....but no go....no light....dead as a dodo...kaput !!!!!....
Time to back track with the meter and found firstly, one dead toggle switch.....no response whatsoever thanks very much, and to add insult to injury, one of my dead batteries had snuck into my live stash and therefore we had a dead circuit in the battery pack.
Once all that stuff was sorted out and we at last had light, it was time for testing.
Result.......not enough light unfortunately.....
Back to the drawing board
I recently acquired a book light from a charity shop for very little money. It has an array of LED`s with reflectors and all at a size that I could adapt, and the LEDs are very bright when running on the same power input as the camera car.
Two LEDs were the limit so I set about dissecting the array and fitting the modified set up to the front of the car.
Here below we have the complete car with camera onboard and LEDs fitted.
These LED`s have their own resistors so this is a simpler set up than originally planned.



Rear view showing the replacement toggle switch fitted and two standard rubber bands keep the lid on the battery compartment



The reflectors have just enough clearance above the track



And with power on.



I just need to take another look at the wheels because I think they may be rubbing against the bogies. Some test run videos have indicated this may be the case so we`ll pull them out and sort it out.
Once the wheels are sorted we`ll look at doing a proper video.
More to follow
Gormo

 

Good question......
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Some random test running



Gormo