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Planning Advice


FCI
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Hi all a long-time reader of this forum, I've finally decided to join as I'm ready to start my first garden railway and I'm going to need some help!

I have a reasonably sized garden to work in - it happens to be my partners but I've got her full support to proceed - with certain caveats: - the railway has to be aesthetic with the garden, the garden has to remain 'useable', by that she means she can still get to the flower beds and the paths remain clear.

What I have to work with is here: -

garden_1.jpg

garden_2.jpg

garden_3.jpg

garden_7.jpg

garden_8.jpg

garden_9.jpg

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Great! Another new layout. Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting details of your plans.

It looks like my kind of layout - a nice long run with uncluttered track. When you say it will be single track out and back do you mean just a single track exiting the shed, running down the left side of the garden before looping back on itself to continue back down towards the shed? If that is to be the case then had you considered running double track from the shed and using the two lines to create your loop? That might give you a little more operational flexibility and remove the need for any pointwork in the area of the loop.

There's a decent selection of DMU's available these days, I have a fair few myself although I tend to buy at random without any thought as to whether or not they fit in with what I'm doing. Will your layout be based on any particular area?

Plastic boards seem to be popular recently as a base for the layout so it will be interesting to hear of the experiences from those using them. Likewise plastic drainpipes are also being favourably considered as supports but I have no experience of using either at this moment in time.

Look forward to hearing about your ongoing progress and if there's anything you need help with then just ask. There's bound to be someone come along with the necessary answers or advice.

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I like it. I like the fact that the line is appearing from the side of the shed rather than the front of the shed - it'll give the appearance the train has come from somewhere rather than appearing from an oversized depot. I wanted to do something similar but don't have the angles to work with.

I also looked into using EkoPly but one thing that put me off (aside from cost) was the fact that you needed to allow for expansion which worried me about warping, so make sure you research it some more before going ahead with it.

Good luck!

Shaun

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mick said:

Great! Another new layout. Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting details of your plans.

It looks like my kind of layout - a nice long run with uncluttered track. When you say it will be single track out and back do you mean just a single track exiting the shed, running down the left side of the garden before looping back on itself to continue back down towards the shed? If that is to be the case then had you considered running double track from the shed and using the two lines to create your loop? That might give you a little more operational flexibility and remove the need for any pointwork in the area of the loop.

I want to keep it single track, I like the idea of a DMU 'wandering' through the garden. I'm thinking about a loop/juice module to handle the loop - which may now be situated down the side of the house; the 'boss' doesn't like the idea of crossing the path, I'm OK about this as it actually adds another 10 metres to my potential available building zone.

mick said:

There's a decent selection of DMU's available these days, I have a fair few myself although I tend to buy at random without any thought as to whether or not they fit in with what I'm doing. Will your layout be based on any particular area?

I've got a couple myself, they're DC, but I want to convert to DCC; they haven't got a plug so it'll be new modules.

mick said:

Plastic boards seem to be popular recently as a base for the layout so it will be interesting to hear of the experiences from those using them. Likewise plastic drainpipes are also being favourably considered as supports but I have no experience of using either at this moment in time.

Look forward to hearing about your ongoing progress and if there's anything you need help with then just ask. There's bound to be someone come along with the necessary answers or advice.

I'm still researching plastic boards, next time I post I hope to have made a decision.

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I have another question that I can't seem to get an answer to. The line will be single track, it will run down the side of the house to a loop - that I won't be able to see all the time - and I want to be able to automate the loop process. There seem to be many auto-reversing modules available and I get how they work. The sticking point for me is how to change the points as the train is negotiating the loop. Will the force of the train exiting the loop be enough to push the blades over or am I looking at a derailment? As I said, the loop is a bit remote so I have to have a robust methodology in place or I'm going to end up running round the house to sort this issue!

Is there a module available that will change the loops polarity and, when the train has cleared the points change them ready for it to exit the loop? If I use train detection to change the points as the train goes round the loop will that cause issues with the module, as I assume the polarity will have to change again.

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FCI said:

....how to change the points as the train is negotiating the loop. Will the force of the train exiting the loop be enough to push the blades over or am I looking at a derailment?....

I believe Shaun is our forum member nominated (by Mark) with giving advice on automatic modules and so on :)

I really don't have a clue. I'd be inclined to run double track to avoid the need but I'm sure there's bound to be a module or set of modules out there that would automate the task. Again, the outdoors isn't the best environment for electronics but with some careful siting and installation it should be possible.

Running through points in the trailing direction tends to derail the loco so unless you were to remove the spring that holds the blades in the set position I would say that's a non starter. With the spring removed you'd need to work out a way to ensure the blades don't move when running through them in the facing direction and that they remained fitting up by the time the train returned to the loop.

It's good that these points are raised (yes I know - sorry about the pun) because they're all problems that we are faced with outdoors and it would be great if other members could offer their thoughts and advice in an attempt to find a reliable solution.

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I've read about the Filcris recycled plastic products before and in fact I think we published a link to their website some time ago. They seem to have a better selection of sizes and products now than I remember. I was looking through the accompanying pdf document to try work out the extent of expansion but I can't seem to find any reference other than the fact that they "expand/contract less than other recycled plastics". The boards look ideal for a track base and if I were to start over again it's the sort of thing I would be looking at.

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mick said:

I believe Shaun is our forum member nominated (by Mark) with giving advice on automatic modules and so on

 

Baimor said:

Yes if you're reading this SHAUN could you try it out please?

:o:o:o:o

I have no hands on experience with DCC so all of my knowledge is based on research and electronicy geekiness! Others will have far more experience than me on this! From my reading, the loop section is isolated from the single track coming in and powered by the outputs of the module (in green below). As the loco hits the loop section, if the polarities are incorrect the module flips them before the DCC system registers a short circuit. Then as the loco completes the loop and hits the points, the polarities again flip over. I could be completely wrong though!

As Mick has mentioned elsewhere though with his frog juicer, these are open PCB's so will need either heavily protecting from the elements or you'll need to attach them every running session. I'm going to try out a plug system using GPIO plugs and housing the module in a lineside building.

I've not looked into the automatic point switching but I'm sure there must be something out there that could do it using loco detection? If not, I would probably tackle it using either a light sensitive resistor or a pressure sensor, and possibly an Arduino to control it. That's just a fingure in the wind starting point though ! :ugeek:

 

loop.png

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Thanks Shaun, this is what I intend to try. I've been looking at IRDOT to detect the train, this can then throw the points and the auto-reverser 'should' take care of the polarity change. I'm going to order some bits and have a try in the shed to see what happens. The loop is planned to be close to the house and I've got some watertight plastic cases, that we've used for outside Christmas lights, which are already mounted on the wall close to my intended route to house the electronics.

I've been working in the shed today, creating an area for the fiddle board and clearing vegetation for the likely route of the track. It looks like we've got honey fungus and sadly a lot of the woody plants are dying. Bad for the garden but good for my route clearance as I'd never have got permission to cut them down!

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Good to see you've been able to make a start.

I've seen those post hole digging tools used before and they do look like they save an awful lot of time. I'm pleased to hear you've chosen the Filcris plastic planks and it will be interesting to see what you think of them.

Track laid in two weeks sounds good to me and yes, I do think it's important to get something running as soon as possible. The only problem I've found is that it tends to distract you from future progress and you find yourself playing trains when you really should be cracking on. But never mind, that's what it's all about.

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