chris

First train out on yesterdays running session derailed. Nothing uncommon about that. The odd thing was that I couldn't get the train back on the rails. On inspection I noticed that the rails were out of gauge, a couple of millimetres narrower than they should have been. They were narrow gauge for the length of the the viaduct. The sleepers had the look of narrow gauge track, wiggling about under the rails. The heat had got to them, but why this week and not when the temps here reached 39ºc last month? Last week, to mitigate the intense sun heating up my conservatory I placed some reflective insulation roll over the windows. This reflected the sun back on to the tracks. They got a double dose of sunlight. Enough to cook the plastic sleepers. At one point last week, while sat in my temperate conservatory, my mind did wander as to where all the heat that would have been trapped in that room had gone. Now I know. This only happened to set track, flexi was fine. They use different plastic to make set track and turnouts ridged. I replaced the set track on the viaduct a few months ago with new track. This was because I'd had enough of soldering track which had been outside for 8 years. I've still got the old lengths. I'll be putting them back into front line service. The train that discovered the track fault? My Network Rail gauging train. Very appropriate. Network Rail and Northern Rail sharing the platforms at the new mini Colwick terminus.

Further work. And with the platform surfaces stuck in down. A nice little project, done in a week.

Progress The tracks are wired up. I need to add the lead that will connected it up to the DCC. I also need to build a support for the station building to rest on the end.

Started working on a stubby version of Colwick Station. The baseboard is 20cm long, which is 100cm shorter than Colwick. It will allow the tracks to be extended by 12cm, which will enable a couple of my trains to fit in the platforms. It's main purpose is to prevent trains running off the cliff edge. The small baseboard will be self supporting. Rods extend out of the platforms which then slot into the electrical trunking that form the base of my platforms. This is strong enough to hold it in place. I've painted on the undercoat. Top coat next and then I'll pin the track down.

I've not tried it outdoors I've put train detection on my indoor tramway using MERG block occupancy detectors. These are DCC only and trigger when a current is drawn. No reason why there would be a problem outdoors.

I had to attack a fence post with an orbital sander. Bracing fence posts and levelling baseboards meant that colwick station's tracks no longer aligned. About 5mm of post was removed with the sander to give space for the stations rear wall. A notch was removed from baseboard too. The result was baseboard alignment. I've always left the last few sleepers off Colwick pin-less and wiggled the tracks to alignment. With the baseboard now aligning better than it ever has, I've pinned those sleepers in place. All the work means that the run up to the buffers is now level and aligned. This evening's running session may be the first time I've run trains into Colwick and nothing has derailed. I also tweaked the alignment of tracks on the lift out section, which didn't take long. On Sunday I tackled the lift up section in the shed. I replaced the alignment dowels and realigned the tracks. This will allow me to run trains along the three tracks in both directions without derailment. Which will make returning trains back into the signings a lot less traumatic. Turnouts There was a fault with my new point motor system. The design of linkage was difficult to install and resulted in poor alignments of parts. This created too much friction. Servos were struggling to throw to the required position. Servos have internal feedback. They try to reach their set position. This means they keep drawing current. 3 or more servos all drawing current at the same time is a too much power draw which can cause a reset of the local controller. I've replaced the badly installed mechanisms with a better design which is both easier to install and has reduced friction. I did 5 replacements. The servos are a lot happier. By late afternoon I'd completed my jobs list. Amblethorpe's track and turnouts are better than they have ever been. I celebrated with an impromptu running session.

My original design for linking a servo to a turnout is not hitting the reliability levels I'm after. I've come up with a new design and that is working out better. I'm retro fitting the new mechanisms to the turnouts that are proving to be unreliable. I'll probably do a separate topic on this somewhere else in the forum. The new mech is on the left, original on the right. Put in a shift yesterday fixing my leaning fence. The posts always leaned a couple of degrees. The weight of the baseboard shelf has exerted a force that has increased the lean. The two posts that were affected support the board next to my lift-out section and Colwick Station board. I'd thought of some complex structures, but tried a simple "temporary" solution. This has worked and will probably become permanent. Aluminium T girder from a dead greenhouse. Screwed at the top, wedged against flagstones at the bottom. There were further adjustments to the baseboard between the two posts. This is 400mm wide board and it sagged in the middle, even though there is a support there. I added an 10mm thick plastic strip between the shelf bracket and the board and that fixed the droop. An extra T girder brace was also added beneath for extra support. I'll need to keep an eye on it in the rain to ensure that water still drains off. The movement of the fences post means that the lift-out section and Colwick Station both now need tweaks. I'll get that sorted today.

Every time Mick. Every sodding time.

Congratulations and best wishes.

I've always put up with the fact that things on my railway didn't work perfectly. I put this down to the fact that I was outside and that makes perfection impossible. As long as I could get things working then I put up with the bodging around every session. This year I've tackled a lot of the issues that I have put up with. I've continued to work on problems until they are fully fixed. Nearly fixed hasn't been good enough. The weekly running session have given me a deadline to fix things. If something was annoying, or preventing a train running along a particular route, I sorted that. Each session I wanted something working that wasn't working last time. The upshot is that I've got a lot done. Still plenty more jobs on the list.

Steady progress throughout the day. Turnouts were in by lunchtime. All track work was in by late afternoon. Servo motors and Bob buttons to control them went in this evening. The final track work looks great. I'm happy with the appearance, it looks much better than I was expecting. The mid project addition of the extra turnout has really paid off. Note the floating turnout blades. This was taken prior to the addition of point motors which hold the blades in position.

An incline on a garden railway is a really bad idea. Mick's original Selby Garden Railway had the shallowest of gradients and it didn't go well. I'm not understanding why you can't go from your outside loop into the shed. Why are you planning to go from the inside, up and over?

I've made a start on the remodelling of Amblethorpe Junction. I made good progress, although rain did stop play for a an hour or two after I reached this point. The rain brake gave me time to think. I decided to change the layout. Adding an extra turnout in place of that short curve will enable a short siding and it will prevent a train running onto the mainline when the turnout is set against it. The Peco geometry of crossings is odd. I didn't like how things ended up when I put a long turnout in place of the curve. I have a shot turnout, but think a medium one will work better. I get hold of one tomorrow. I should be able to back on with it on Saturday. As ever it was the soldering of all the bonds that took the time. But a still day at 20ºc made it less painful than usual.

Thank you. This year has been a year of renewals. The backlog of problems had become large after years of bodging fixes to keep things running. With friends coming round for running sessions every week, I had the reason and motivation to do renewals rather than maintenance. My electronics are very simple. Nearly all of it is off the shelf modules requiring very little use of a soldering iron and no real knowledge of how to design electronic circuits. The tricky bit is writing the computer code to get the Arduino micro controllers to do what I want them to. If you have logical brain, it's definitely worth a try. I've started using Foamex as well as Correx. I'm recommend Foamex, I find it easier to cut than Correx. Both are used to make signs. I got a load of Foamex when a shop closed down and there signage was removed. Might be worth asking at local supermarkets what they do with their old signs. In this age or encouraging reuse they may be keen to give it away so it can have a second, longer use.

Three of the four CMRI-Arduino nodes are now in place. Only the junction for Amblethorpe station is still driven by car door lock motors. Remodelling that junction is next on the jobs list. I'm removing the ladder junction and putting a crossing in to simplify operation. The photo shows the crossing placed on top of a turnout. The junction is going to require more space. The turnout on the siding is being removed along with the second road. This will allow a track to pass below the crossing and join the inner track to the left of the crossing. The result will be that trains can arrive at Amblethorpe without having to throw the turnouts on the inner loop. And more importantly, I won't have to remember to throw them back again once the manoeuvre has been completed. The track layout change at Emble Junction followed a similar logic. Operators have been far more inclined to run trains in and out of Colwick since the change. I hope the remodelled Amblethorpe approach will have a similar impact.

Work on Amblethorpe continues. I found time for scenic work. Brymoth Station needed finishing off. Reinstallation of the fencing being the main part. I also made a small area filled with cabins. Work outside has been limited to short periods, with some early starts. Thus the long shadows on the photos. I've done a technical switch. The turnouts at Brymouth were controlled by DCC (and local Bob buttons). The problem with DCC control is that it is one way. When a Bob button is pressed and a turnout thrown, the computer isn't informed. It's not a big issue. But my other turnouts now feedback turnout position, so I'm used it it. I'd always planned to make this change so it wasn't a big job to add in the two way CMRI connection. I even managed to reuse a 8 way cable that had been the wring for the Car Door Lock motors. That saved some time and scrambling around under baseboards.

I'm replacing the point motors on Colwick throat. Car door lock motors are coming out and servos going in. I put together a couple of circuit boards yesterday (an extra for Amblethorpe junction) to hold the Arduino and its wiring. I've made a two of push button panels so I can have local control form both sides of the lift out section. This morning I've stripped out the old stuff. Should be have it all working again in time for Monday's running session.

You can almost see my house in this photo! Amblethorpe is just below the horizon on the extreme right. Live update: They are harvesting the field on left.

Looking great with all your stock out and running. When I have a problem with a coach I try two things. Rotate the coach through 180º. If it still runs badly (derails) then I move the coach within the rake. Trail and error usually leads to a formation that can run smoothly (in one direction!). The big issue is coaches from different manufacturers with coupling at different heights or arm length. Careful matching of coupling type is sometimes required.

I had my station buildings on the workbench this week. They are 10 years old and two had faded badly. I removed all the windows, stripped the paint of the frames and re painted with white lacquer. New glazing was cut from acetate. I used weathering techniques to give the building a similar tone and painted the fittings a Northern Rail midnight blue. To fix it all in place before they get hit by rain and sun I gave them a light spray of clear lacquer. That’s the platforms and buildings of Brymouth finished. I need to add some detailing in the form of fencing along the back and people etc. around the buildings. I’m adding a small compound of cabins beside the platform end. Mainly to fill a gap on the baseboard. My aim is to have all the space between the outer track and the back scene fully scenic.

My mate has printed me a ramp for my platform end. Much easier than faffing around cutting up a plastic chopping board to make them. The other end is being printed now and is a more complex design. I've painted the bathroom floor tiles for the platform surface. I should be able to instal them tomorrow.

Shrubbery and platforms going back in today.

This Corex lasted 9 years. It had gone brittle, so yesterday I removed it and replacing a 6 meter length. My style has of sky has changed to a more cloudy look over the years. This has everything to do with using less blue paint and cheaper grey and white. It also looks better. Today I need to find my pan scrubs stash and create a 6m line of shrubs.

Work on the Fairground rides continue. I’ve motorised the merry go round with a stepper which I can accelerate and slow. More realistic than the one speed AC motor supplied by Faller. I’ve scratch built a rocket ride. Again a controllable stepper drives it. I have push buttons on the baseboard. They can also be started by a signal from the computer that controls the layout. i have plans for four more rides.