Piedmont Blues - US O Scale (2 rail) switching layout

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by danielb, Nov 12, 2017.

  1. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    Thanks everyone. :)

    Hopefully the rest of it will come out okay!
     
  2. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Congratulations on POTW ....... a great build.
    cheers
    toto
     
  3. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Another interesting build Daniel, congrats on POTW

    Paul
     
  4. Kimbo

    Kimbo Staff Member Moderator

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    Congratulations on POTW Dan. I've just caught up with your build, looking very good, will be following.
    Kim
     
  5. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    Oh snap! Thank you guys, that's awesome! :D
     
  6. Gary

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

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    Well done on PotW Daniel, well deserved. :thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  7. Ron

    Ron Full Member

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    Congrats on POTW Daniel, well done mate :thumbup:
     
  8. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    With Mansfield show only 9 days away, I'm hoping that at least one board of the three will be fully scenic on the day. Here's the progress on the board in question:

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    A few tasks to do tonight which should improve this considerably. :)
     
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  9. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    Thats great progress so far Dan, I'm sure you will be getting loads of praise and questions at the show. See you Sunday mate.

    Pete.
     
  10. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    We shall see! I'm going to be working on details and extras for the layout at the show, whilst Ford is running trains. :)
     
  11. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    What a difference a day makes.

    Ford stopped by with the current progress on the traversor. This very clever beast is controlled by a simple IR remote from an old CD player.

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    He also returned the sector plate board so I can work on wiring it up. As such, I took the opportunity to mock up the sector plate.

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    Finally, I spent some time working on structures for the end board, which is the one that will connect to the traversor.

    It's really coming together now. :)


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    More to come tomorrow, with any luck.
     
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  12. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    Progress on the merchantile building :D



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  13. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    Looking good Dan, really looking forward to seeing it in the flesh.

    Pete.
     
  14. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    Cheers Pete. I just hope we can get it ready in time!
     
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  15. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    Looking at the weather forecast just getting there may be the biggest problem :headbanger:

    Hopefully the met office will have over stated their forecast, the last lot of snow was nowt to worry about but they got everyone in a panic.

    Pete.
     
  16. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    Well, Mansfield Show is over for another year, and Piedmont Blues worked out much better than I had anticipated. :)

    The to do list has expanded, as is to be expected after the true test of a two day show, but overall the layout performed fantastically.

    During the show, further work was done on the layout, as was always the plan. I worked on the scenery whilst Ford ran trains, and then Ford worked on fine tuning the arduino controlled servos and lighting of buildings whilst I ran trains.

    I can't claim to understand how it all works, but Ford used an arduino control board to work both the lights and the servos for the points.

    Connected to it was an infra-red sensor, which allowed us to use a TV remote to switch the points - allowing for both switching of the points individually, and route setting - throwing multiple points with one button push to line up set routes for the locomotives to take.

    For the Bingham show on 14th and 15th of April, we're hoping to have the point frogs wired up to polarity changing switches, so that when the button are pressed to change the routes, it also throws a SPDT switch to change the polarity of the frogs.

    This would have been a massive benefit at Mansfield. As it stood, the frogs were dead at the show, which prevented us from using the Atlas Plymouth, and caused the slightly shorter wheelbase GP35 to stall when going one specific route, as it ended up with a truck each on two of the dead frogs at once, meaning it stalled out.

    The RS3, having a slightly longer wheelbase, didn't have this issue.

    There wasn't much in terms of things to buy on the trade stands for the layout - US O scale isn't exactly all the rage here. That said, I did managed to get a 3-rail K-Line flat car, which will need converting over to 2 rail, as well as a Lionel/Corgi Greyhound bus, which you can see in some of the photographs below.

    So here we are. Roll on Bingham show in April! :D

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  17. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    And the last few images :)

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  18. Ron

    Ron Full Member

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    Hope to meet you at the Bingham show :thumbup:
     
  19. ianvolvo46

    ianvolvo46 Staff Member Moderator

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    Love this layout Dan/Ford thanks for the photos

    Ian vt
     
  20. danielb

    danielb Full Member

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    Ron, be sure to make yourself known! Already met one member of P1MRC at Mansfield. It's great putting faces to names! :D

    Thanks for the compliments, chaps. :)
     

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