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Worsley Dale Garden Railway


mick
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Thanks Danny, I'm pleased you enjoyed it. Without a mini camera you'd never see that aspect of your layout. I don't want to post too many similar videos because I'm sure after a while it'll become a bit tedious watching, although I must admit to watching them several times over myself. It gives me ideas for improving things and helps locate faults that need attention.

Can't wait to see videos of your own layout. Are we talking sooner or later?

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jimbob said:

Great video(s) Mick and although l'm not really into sound locos your videos have maybe made me see the light just a little bit.

Some of the sound loco's are worth investigating Jim but mark my word, once you've got one.....

To be honest I didn't think I'd find myself running any loco's outdoors that didn't have sound fitted but unless I'm keeping pace with the train then, with the amount of background noise out there, you only hear the loco for a limited period before its out of earshot. We live on a main road, though fortunately the layout is in the garden to the rear of the house, but that's still often noisy enough to drown out some other loco's. The cab-ride footage is great because the camera's always adjacent to the loco and picks up the sound extremely well.

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Yes, the cab ride videos were taken using a Mobius Action Camera. Excellent camera and at 2x1x1 inches you can fit it almost anywhere. Also good for low down, track level, still photos. More expensive than the older Keyring type camera but the quality and suitability for my needs makes it worth the extra cost. Nice suite of programming utilities too. Highly recommended.

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As stated before, I have had a Mobius fitted permanently in my car for three years now. I have it set to come on and off with the ignition, Sitting between the rear view mirror and the windscreen, it has taken extremes of temperature with no adverse effects. Highly recommended.

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Not a great deal to report again today but little by little it seems we're getting there..

The new terminus station contains just 4 large radius points and two catch points. Two of the large radius left hand points are used together as a crossover at the end of the platform line for releasing an incoming loco and giving access onto the run round. I have managed to motorise those two point today and wire them up to the DCC Concepts ADS-8fx. My first impressions of the ADS-8fx are that it's excellent value for money - cheaper than the frog juicer I have been using and yet this contains 8 outlets, 8 CDU solenoid drives, contacts for panel switches and LEDs and takes care of the live frog feeds. Did I mention it's also an accessory decoder? Yes, change the points with the DCC handset - no need for switches.

Anyway, one of the crossover points was straightforward and allowed fitting of the SEEP motor beneath the baseboard. The second point, however, is located directly over the central diagonal cross-bracing of the baseboard and there is no room whatsoever to fit a motor beneath. It was impossible to position the point anywhere else and so I was resigned to once again adapting the motor for above baseboard operation but then decided that beneath the baseboard would be okay, but it would have to be at a distance from the point itself. Here's what I did.

indoorstation34.thumb.jpg.7d5148087f44370ec9358d6b99f8b5f1.jpg

The protruding wire to the right is the actual motor operating wire which should go through the hole in the centre of the tie bar, so you can see just where I've had to locate the motor. I soldered another wire at right angles to the operating wire and added an insulating sleeve of red cable sheathing. The end of the soldered on wire is bent upwards at 90 degrees to fit through the hole in the end of the point tie bar (after cutting off the moulded pip). The point linkage now operates beneath the adjacent line but it works just fine. The excess wire of the operating wire has now been cut off flush with the top of the soldered joint and we have an operational crossover with live frog switching - all via the DCC controller handset. I've programmed both points to the same address so that they operate together but with individual frog feeds.

You got the rain this afternoon? Me too, and it became so dark that it was almost impossible to work beneath the baseboards hence the limited progress. Lighting is now on the cards - does it ever end?

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Mick wrote

The points I use are Peco large radius - it's the minimum I would opt for. Not sure if that's the same as the ones you use. Did you mean Peco or Piko?

Hi Mick typing error Mick :lol::D was meant to be Peco there is another brand of point that has larger points even the curved points have a larger radius, but double the price, doesn't have a spring like Peco does have can't thing of them wonder is they would be suitable outside.

Talking about the Mobius will come down to the cost of it, I will check out other brands first, would like go/pro4 with a remote bit though being on a pension, have to watch the dollars with the cost of the hobby getting dearer all the time . Last train show shocked me when I saw the prices of the rolling stock and locos, the prices used to be pretty good, looks like lots of projects being planned.

Noticed in page 106 Mick you are having the car locking motor on top of the base board, are you going to have a building to cover it??

More rain coming in next week, more work on my spiral tomorrow, pics to follow, keep the good work up Mick, have to agree what everyone is saying pure brilliant.

Tony from down under

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aussietmrail said:

...Noticed in page 106 Mick you are having the car locking motor on top of the base board, are you going to have a building to cover it??...

It'll have some kind of covering over it Tony, not exactly sure what just yet. There was little 'point' installing it below baseboard in that area as I don't intend doing much behind the shed. Installing above baseboard is also a darn sight easier on your neck.

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We're almost there! The remaining four point motors have now been installed, wired up, tested, and found to be working correctly. The bay platform has been laid and all rail droppers have been wrapped around the bus wires and just need soldering tomorrow when the light is better beneath the boards. As far as track laying goes I think that's about it - at least, that's all I'm going to do.

Once I get the droppers soldered up I can make a start on the platform using the Peco concrete platform sides filled with plaster - messy I know but I like the real stone type surface. The plaster also takes an age to completely dry out but that's okay as the weather's not too good at the moment for running trains.

One thing I most certainly am looking forward to is being able to clean out the shed once and for all, to get rid of all the bits that have been hanging around waiting for me to fit them in place. The timber's just about gone now, the used lengths of rail have been moved, the oddments of wire have been sorted and the tools can now go back to whence they came.

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Hi Mick, amazing 9 hours to the exact 7.58 to your 10.58 pm yesterday, your post before my reply saying that you had to put in a slide rod and soldering another right angle rod to the tie bar. I will have to do the same thing on the spiral main corner module too pain module frame is in the way bad planning and used the old model legs from the last layout.

to the points with the module on its side

I too had trouble getting in under one of the module layouts, that had to change, even on this layout I now doing all the soldering work fitting motors even came up with an idea on to make it easy to solder in place the track curved sections, why it is taking long to build my layout, back gets too saw bending over on my knees.

Be interesting to see what cover you put on that point motor, I still have a lot of Peco point motors I will use in under the pergola.

I still haven't figures out how I am going to build my platforms, the longest being 15feet , 10 all up my be the way Rossi built his.

Very cloudy over here , rain coming this week, so long it isn't raining on Election day 2nd of July.

Tony from down under.

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I'm certainly glad that my layout isn't as big as yours Tony. I'm not sure I could manage much more. My body aches through spending the last couple of days squeezing beneath the baseboards but I suppose that's my fault for not making it more easily accessible.

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Hi Mick, I thought your layout is bigger than mine, measuring 54 ft in length and about 30feet wide.

My layout is at a stand still, my wife had eye surgery, her eye is very sore and taking long to recover from that surgery, hoping she will be a lot better by next weekend so I can get back to the layout, but have being busy building those 48ft containers, have made some refrigerated ones too, more updated pics on my container thread, tomorrow.

We had a cold Sunday, peaked 19 degrees, rain coming in again.

Getting late, nearly midnight, Tony from down under. :(

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aussietmrail said:

Hi Mick, I thought your layout is bigger than mine, measuring 54 ft in length and about 30feet wide....

It sounds like you've got a bigger one than me Tony ;) Mine's only 132 feet in total running length, although I haven't measured the area it covers, and for the most part it's only a single line so it's not so big really.

After completing all the soldering of the dropper wires this morning, I eventually made a start on the platform. The Peco platform sides were glued in place with impact adhesive and held in position with some panel pins whilst the adhesive dried. A 10mm layer of polystyrene was then glued along the inner base of the platform, reducing the amount of filler required. Here's a view along the platform with the polystyrene in place.

indoorstation35.thumb.jpg.ef6faca19a9aba58b4ae9d30aced54e5.jpg

I've since made a start adding the filler and will leave the first layer to dry before adding any more.

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Hi Mick, keep forgetting you double the length and width, be a long while before I add o stage three, if I ever do, stage two going to be a big effort, that is the second half of my station complex, three modules involved, plan to ask my brother to build then, he has just retired.

Like the last pic with those concrete sleepers and the long points look good , soldering must be the longest job to do on the layout, what brand soldering iron do you have Mick.

What size bag of plaster would you use to fill between the Peco platform walls, I may go that way, can you seal the plaster but make my own platform sides, will check out the prices on Thursday.

Tony from down under. ;);)

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aussietmrail said:

....What size bag of plaster would you use to fill between the Peco platform walls, I may go that way, can you seal the plaster but make my own platform sides...

Depends on the size of your platform but it's cheap enough to buy. I just go for the unbranded mix. I would think it's easy enough to make your own platform sides to the correct dimensions - I never want the hassle so usually opt for the ready made option. I haven't done anything special as a sealing coat - just gave it a watered down wash of tarmac coloured paint on my earlier attempts and they've been fine since.

aussietmrail said:

...soldering must be the longest job to do on the layout, what brand soldering iron do you have Mick...

It's not a job I enjoy at all, especially when you're working upside down and laying on your back. I have three soldering irons but none of them are anything special. The one I tend to use is an unbranded 50 watt temperature controlled iron - way past its best now - but I just feel more comfortable with that one. There's also a 25 watt Antex among them but it needs new bits having burnt a circular hole :oops: one of them.

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Nothing much to report again toady - I'm waiting for the weather to improve - but I have managed to do a couple of little jobs that needed doing.

Firstly there was the danger of running through the set of points that diverge into two lines at the rear of the shed, and it's a fair drop to the floor should there be a derailment. I've already had some coaches off the track by not setting the point correctly but thankfully they just huddled together on top of the boards. So I've added an isolated section on both lines just after they exit the shed and wired them up to a changeover switch. Now I can only run towards the point from the rear of the shed if I've got the switch set correctly. It's probably not the best way to achieve it but for now it's better than the consequences.

Another little job was lowering the board that enters the shed at the terminus side as it stood slightly proud of the internal boards with a resulting rise in the track. This proved not to be so easy as I thought it would be due to the track being fastened down and wired up to the track bus and the fact that one of the screws was now concealed behind the board itself. Fortunately after some digging around I managed to extract the offending screw and I now have a level transition from outside to within.

I've also got hold of a waterproof microswitch that I intend to use to change the frog feed on the newly installed point. I've had a test run with it in place and it works as I hoped it would so it only requires wiring in once I get a cover made to protect everything.

Unfortunately my first layer of plaster on the platform at Cattle Leys hasn't yet dried so I've been unable to get any further with that. I'm sure the damp weather hasn't helped but if I remember correctly, I think I had the same problem when I used this method before.

We've had four days of rain and my test section of ballasted track, done using 'Yacht Varnish' as a fixative, appears to have held together so it looks promising so far.

That's about it for today I think.

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We're currently into our 7th consecutive rainy day, this time with accompanying thunder, so again, there's been little chance to do much outside. Instead I have finally made a start on some wagons that I've really been looking forward to doing for my OTA log train!

I have two kinds of OTA wagons, the ones released by Bachmann with curved ends and those released by Hornby with angled ends. The Bachmann ones come with resin 'log loads', or at least some of them do. The Hornby ones are all unloaded wagons. While the Bachmann resin loads are a decent simulation I decided from the outset that I would be adding real logs and so about two years ago I began putting aside suitable clippings from the garden that I would later cut up into suitable sized logs. After two days chopping, I'm left with no feelings in the tip of my left index finger but I do now have lots of little logs as can be seen here:

logtrain02.thumb.jpg.8eb58e38bc4551a2855772e494fefafb.jpg

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Those are just part of the logs I've cut so far but I hadn't realised just how many I would actually need. I've got in the region of 34 OTA wagons so I guess there'll have to be one loaded train and one empty, otherwise there'll be no shrubs left in the garden.

Here's a photo depicting, on the left, one of my Hornby OTA's with some of my cut logs standing alongside a Bachmann wagon with its resin cast log load.

logtrain01.thumb.jpg.a75e987411a6a022e87fc81cdb299cc8.jpg

I need to add some additional stanchions in order to properly contain the logs and there's also some strapping that needs adding, but first the wagons need weathering. There's nothing quite like a proper load using real materials.

I intend building the logs up in layers and using PVA to glue them together but I'll have to see if it works okay first. I'll also be using different sized logs so that the train isn't all a uniform size. I've seen photos of wagons with three piles of logs as well as four like the one above, and ones with logs much smaller in diameter to the ones I've done so far so there'll be a bit of variety included.

Of course, once the train is complete it'll make an appearance when I decide to run the West Highland and Kyle Line coaches in preference to the preserved line stock.

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Hi Mick, nice looking wagons what will the logs be used for wood chip, we don't see don't see al lot of that over here mostly transported by truck, those little projects you can catch up on those rainy days.

Quote

Mick wrote

I have three soldering irons but none of them are anything special. The one I tend to use is an unbranded 50 watt temperature controlled iron - way past its best now - but I just feel more comfortable with that one. There's also a 25 watt Antex among them but it needs new bits having burnt a circular hole :oops: one of them.

My soldering iron is a Weller work station should of paid a bit more and got the next one up as that one was a controlled iron , mine I can adjust but in the pencil tip, a bit of mucking around, to stop it getting too hot I have a wet sponge that cools the tip down and cleans it as well.

Thanks to those two weekends raining I was hopping to test run the first loco on the completed spiral this week not to be always next month.

How are you going with that platform , I will check out the bigger bags of plaster on Thursday, probably be the way to go, a question what about proper cement :?: make up a dry mix and dampen it as you go

Tony from down under

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