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Worsley Dale Garden Railway


mick
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doublecee said:

Didnt the Bachmann Blue Peter ship in a nice wooden box?....

It did yes. Don't Bachmann do a commemorative model each year packaged in a wooden presentation box? I know this year they're doing the preserved blue S&DJR 2-8-0 7F loco No.88 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the S&DJR. Mine's already on order.

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Here's a photo of my model of Blue Peter standing on its wooden presentation box and uploaded shortly after purchase. Beautiful isn't it?

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Apologies for delay in replying, but I've been travelling for a few days, and will be for a few more. (Today, Alnwick. Sunday, Auchterarder.) I've added a brief description and picture of my removable crossover assembly on the Danes Wood thread. All the veroboard does is allow the wire links between different bits of the turnout to be made away from the track, where they can be hidden by scenery. The link from the vero to the rail can be under or close to the rail and hidden in the ballast. As I use electrofrog turnouts, It saves a lot of messy wiring. How well it works remains to be seen.

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littlecheritonngauge said:

I feel really annoyed that I turned to N gauge just as they brought out the 7f...

That must be disappointing but Bachmann/Graham Farish are pretty quick these days getting models released in both scales. I wouldn't have thought you would have too long to wait unless there's some reason that they can't do the N gauge version. Failing that you could always make a return to OO :)

N gauge is very well catered for these days. Even the Blue Pulllman, yearned for by OO gauge modellers for so long, is about to be released in N gauge. I just find n gauge a bit too small for my failing eyesight and clumsy fingers but for those who model in it things are certainly looking rosey at the moment.

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fungus said:

Apologies for delay in replying, but I've been travelling for a few days, and will be for a few more. (Today, Alnwick. Sunday, Auchterarder.)...

A beautiful part of the UK to be in. Have you visited or are planning to visit the West Coast? We've visited Wester Ross for the past few years although not this year as yet due to having so much work done at home.

Thanks for the info regarding the veroboard. I'll have to look into it. Anything that might make the wiring neater would be welcome.

"The Experts are predicting a Scorching Saturday" was the headlines but although not sufficient to register on my weather station we've actually had some rain this morning. It's warm but overcast at the moment so perhaps the experts meant later in the day (or further south)? Anyway, I'm pretty happy if it stays like this - I'm still shedding skin from last weeks sunburn!

Once I've got myself sorted I'll be making a start on the viaduct again. Hopefully I'll be able to get some track fastened down and might even get so far as making the breakthrough into the shed. I need to sort out some kind of structure to go in front of the entrance hole into the shed to make it look like a tunnel entrance. I'd thought of buying a ready made tunnel portal and if I'd remembered that yesterday I could have added one to the order I placed online. Still, I could always fashion something out of one of my spare building blocks. How difficult can it be?

george356 said:

Jeez Mick, that's some stock list

It's becoming a bit OCD and I've still got locos on order! I need to start running and stop buying and maybe thin the collection out a little bit.

As was pointed out to me yesterday, the first train across the viaduct should really be captured on film (do we say film, video...?) and after discovering that 2 of my locos appear to have gone AWOL (I'm sure they'll turn up) I've just remembered that I'm not sure where the camcorder is either. I don't remember seeing that for some time. It'll want charging by now I should think. Have to have a rummage around later.

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I'm just taking a short break while this latest light shower passes by so here's a quick update.

I had almost decided to bond all the rail joins on the track over the viaduct but I've worked out that by feeding power to the first section that leads on to the viaduct I only need to make a total of two more soldered joins once all the track is in position to connect it all to the bus wires. It's much simpler soldering the wires to the rails while the rails are still on the workbench so that's what I'm on with at the moment.

I've also re-soldered some wires to a Peco large radius point that I'll be using to revert back to double track running. I'm not sure that the time and effort required to wire the point for live frog running will be worth it and so I'm going to use the point as is with the frog feed switched via the point blades. You've got to try these things for yourself and see what works best for you.

I've also received my Peco side mounted point motor to try out on this same set of points. I'd looked at the similar Hornby version too but that one appears to be more open to water ingress. The Peco one looks fairly well sealed on top with just a couple of narrow openings on the sides. It also doesn't look too out of place - in fact I'm sure I can live with this. I don't want to dismantle it just yet to see what's inside - I'd rather see how it fares exposed to the weather and then it'll be time to check on the inners should it fail me.

Right, back to the shed to get the last few wires soldered and then it'll be track on the viaduct!

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I never seem to do a lot in any one day but at least each little bit feels like I'm making some kind of progress. Although there's not a lot to show again today I have a good feeling about it.

I've got a couple of lengths of track laid along the viaduct. They're not fixed permanently in position just yet until I can get the remainder done and be able to run some stock along to test for level and find any irregularities. The track pins go into the blocks very easily by the way. With most of the wiring also completed in this area I've been able to tack the bus wires out of the way along each inside wall of the viaduct where they will eventually be covered by something resembling a walkway.

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I've also knocked up a little tunnel portal from one of the discarded block sections to conceal the entrance into the shed. I really don't want anything fancy or elaborate and this does everything I need. There might be some slight mods done later but for now, although not yet fixed in position, it looks okay to me.

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And so to the Peco point motor I've mentioned earlier. Although it's only a point motor with no additional internal switching for live frogs etc.. I'm hoping that it will be okay outdoors. Okay it's a little bit bigger than a scale motor but it's still pretty discrete in my eyes and resembles the kind of things often found at the lineside. I thought about making a wooden effect walkway over it in order to conceal and perhaps protect it. For now I'll wire it up and see how it performs. If it proves problematic I'll take it apart and see what can be done to make it more suitable for use outdoors.

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The viaduct looks really good with the track.

I have been thinking about remote switches for my layout ( as soon as I get to the point of having two lines that is :lol: ) and I was thinking of just using Atlas switches with motors much like the one you have there. Not sure how they'll hold up to winter and rain, but I could always have them removable for the winter time. I'll be curious to hear how yours work out.

i always hear people going on about live frogs. On my N scale layout i used atlas switches that have an isolated metal frogs that need a polarity switch to them. I was lazy and just used them without power. I never had trouble with locos on them. The layout had 23 switches too. Although I never ran anything like a 060 or 040. Most of my stuff was 4 and 6 axle diesels that had all wheel pickup. And the layout was wired for DCC.

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traingeekboy said:

...i always hear people going on about live frogs....

Yes, I'm not sure they're really necessary outdoors. The additional wiring and switches makes installation not so easy, especially on solid bases and exposed to the elements. However, the point shown in my photo is a live frog point - just used in its very basic form with the frog feed coming directly from the point blades depending on which route is set. I'm not sure how long this will last so this is another one to go down to 'experience' for me. I have installed the point with sufficient movement on the fishplates to enable me to slide them to one side for easy point removal should that become necessary.

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grockle said:

...That cable running along the side of the viaduct looks suspiciously like normal household 240v stuff ?

That's exactly what it is Ian; the individual cores from some 2.5mm ring main cable. It actually fits down in the void between the track base and the sidewalls of the viaduct - I just need to cut some thin strips to cover the void once everything's found to be working okay.

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Quote

However, the point shown in my photo is a live frog point - just used in its very basic form with the frog feed coming directly from the point blades depending on which route is set. I'm not sure how long this will last so this is another one to go down to 'experience' for me.

The trouble with that is that you're relying on the on the point blades making good contact with the stock rails, i'm not too sure how long that will be reliable.

I have my doubts about the reliability of the side mounted point motors too. I use two of them but they're on a removable section of the layout which is kept indoors.

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IanR said:

...The trouble with that is that you're relying on the on the point blades making good contact with the stock rails, i'm not too sure how long that will be reliable...

Yes, I agree that the reliability of the point blade switching is probably time limited but I'll just be interested to learn how long they last. In the interests of OO garden railways we need the data! When/if they fail they will be changed for an insulfrog version and the rails bonded across to the point blades - it's just that all I have at the moment are live frogs.

IanR said:

...I have my doubts about the reliability of the side mounted point motors too. I use two of them but they're on a removable section of the layout which is kept indoors.

Are yours the Peco version Ian? Have you experienced any problems with them up to now? Again, this is going to be collected 'data' to see how some of the RTR stuff performs outdoors - we need the answers.

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