2016_11_24 Al came over again for more torture.

2016_11_24   Paint the wall. a little carpentry and then the two of us tackled some wiring.

It seems that my mistakes are not looking far enough ahead, or perhaps I am just less observant than I once was?
 The high level road bed was already clear of the lower level SG track. It would have been far better to lay this baseboard against the wall from the turntable on. It was only when I was looking for a place to put the table that I realised I had clear acess from underneath.
The supports are screwed tightly and appears solid, so I just added another support against the wall and will glue the foam board between that and the baseboard. Actually an easy fix, even if the original mistake used resources and time unwisely. Particularly as I have a good friend helping me get this side finished.

Whilst messing around with the timber, Al painted the wall. Thanks mate.

After this we fixed some more wiring on the Wodonga station board. Some jobs were two man easy, and a lot more difficult on my own. We fixed all those!

Ok so now all the wiring underneath this section is either fixed, or easily fixed on my own. And thats tomorrows job!
Above you will notice that I have removed the LED strip lights and cleaned the venetian blind slats and re-glued the strip back in place.
I used hot glue, and I was very lucky not to destroy the strips. As it turns out the leds are soldered on to the strips with low temp solder, and the hot glue damaged one strip of 4 LED's. It could have been much worse.  I will use "no more nails" in future. But the lights are now out of sight and give great illumination. Some say you need three rows of light strips. That's not for me. I am not modelling a desert scene, after all. You might notice on top of the track some rope lights? These are 10m Christmas lights from Aldi. They can be connected together, up to 40 m, in length, but from their instructions, I am not sure if one power pack is enough for all of them??  But at $17 a box, good value. These are a blue light strip, and will be used during night time running to simulate moonlight.

This is the other side of the island baseboard. Wodonga Coal Siding. These lights were put in 2 years ago, and I attached the LED strips to venetian blinds (as reflector) and to hold them straight I screwed it all to a strip of 35 x 18 pine. The strips have stayed attached, however the wood support is a pain to work around and it certainly does not look great. But it works and will stay in place.

Ok thats it from Al and I for another good "Al-Day"
Cheers
Rod

2016_11_18 Alday!! eh Thursday work day ;)

2016_11_18   Another work day with Allan Jeeves in attendance.


Had a great day, with both of us laying track in different locations.

So Al levels and lays the track on the new add in section of Honey Suckle.

And I work on track laying on the trestle. I had to cut the trestle back about 25 mm and set it up to allow a smooth 36 inch curve into it and exiting it. Worked out well, but time consuming, like everything else on this railroad ;)
Next job is to install the junction and then lay the track on the other leg, back towards the Bowser junction.

At about this time, we looked at the other end of Honey Suckle.......

And I mentioned to Al that I had a short turntable I would like to install at this station. We worked out where it could go, and modified the track bed to suit by moving the whole assembly 55 mill closer to the aisle

So with this section all levelled up and relocated, I have room for the turntable in the new box section we will build between Honey Suckle and the relocated track bed

As the track against the wall can be easily accessed from underneath, now, I will join the high boxed roadbed to the wall with that high density foam, behind Al, here..

We are getting to a place where we have to decide on what to do with the Helix.
Enough for now.
Cheers
Rod

2016_11_13. So lets plan out a steam to diesel era Loco shed.

2016_11_13  All my buildings are stored away in boxes, scores of boxes and...

 Took a short break from wiring and cleaning up this morning, and looked to the Wodonga (eh? freelance?)  Loco sheds.

Have a DCC Walthers turntable (Has that hole shrunk?)  and a nice Victorian steam / Diesel conversion round house.  Yes I know Wodonga had a brick with iron extension long shed, but hey..."its my Railway"  he he. The shed was designed and built by Stuart and Mardi of

Model Railway Buildings by Walker Models Model Train Buildings

I have a box full of bits that might dress up this rather large space, and a friend is casting some between the tracks, inspection pits.

But first I need to design the track and set it up to make it look as real as a fantasy can be.

Cheers
Rod

2016_11_12. Little jobs that take a lot of time

2016_11_12  So its time to catch up on all the jobs which were bypassed earlier.
Even room for new work?

Wiring Jobs?

I guess I just cannot work in a clean environment :D

First job I tackled was wiring up Honeysuckle. Ths meant extending all the cables to cover the extra board added. This took a couple of hours over two days, and two visits to Jaycar to get plugs and wire.

So now all the boards are connected, and I thought I could turn the boards over. However I have no idea how to connect into the DCC system. To the right hand side are two computer power supplies. I believe one supplies signalling lights and point power. The second appears to supply DCC power. Unfortunately adding Honeysuckle into my layout will negate the need for independent power, and I also need to introduce the command station (not present).
I guess I can isolate the bus if I can work out where it is, and connect to my own bus used throughout the layout, and  that will use an existing command station.
But as Tony is visiting in two weeks, I might just wait for him, to see if he remembers how he wired it all up. Depends on how patient I am :D

Still on wiring?  Well here is a bit of spaghetti that needs finishing off

I have my trolley working well, and getting into spots much easier now. And with a new pair of single lens glasses, am seeing much better. Most of these wires have found their connections :)  Just a few points and live frogs to track down, and a Hex Juicer to connect up to route power through the frogs.  (Google DCC hex juicer)

 Plaster Walls
Graeme Schulz called in for an hour or two and patched up the walls, whilst I continued on with wiring (rewiring?)

 Next weekend he will sand back and patch up any holes so I can paint both walls. Nice to have friends. I guess we are all looking forward to running trains again.
The helix was laid out on the floor. I am thinking about reducing the diameter down to 80 inches.
The trains would climb a little quicker I guess. Hidden trains traveling slowly diminishes the fun. You need to see something to enjoy it, I reckon ;)

The Loco and turntable space

Finally got the Wodonga Loco Area cut out and screwed down. Its actually freelance as I just did not have enough room for the real thing.
The track enters from behind the Goods Shed crosses High street and then heads for the turntable via track work used by the fitters to service engines, change blocks etc.

Going to build a Car Shops and Roundhouse here as well.

Well that's it for me, another Saturday, and only a little progress, unfortunately.
Cheers
Rod

2016_11_10 Thursday Workday....

2016_11_10  Al came for a days work...

No pictures today because we got bogged down.
Remember the power points behind the wall under Albury?
Muggins here decided that we could spend a few minutes transferring them to the outside and bringing them into use.. well by 4.00 pm, we were sore and we were exhausted.
Al  found the spot and we decided to cut through the plaster and hook them back up again. It was a bugger of a job.

In the meantime I had to make up some new connection looms for Honeysuckle so we could get that back down and installed...  We then thought we could connect up all the track. Well maybe next time :)

Thanks Al, we did actually get some lousy jobs done. We did good :)
We have both double power points back in use. As well we have the camera points set up on top of the wall. Yeah, we did all right.
Cheers
Rod

2016_11_03. Wall construction nears the end. Plus.....

2016_11_03  Al and I continue constructing the wall Plus we mount the union notice board.

For a short time the local model railway club was in the Wodonga Railway Station. When we got the boot, we were told to take the fittings if they were useful.
The Club took the 5 notice cases that lined the walls of the meal room. This is one that I got from that Club.

Originally I was only placing plaster on the frame. However we left the overhang to cover the conduit.

Al checks the level. We had a great day. We were both sore and tired. Despite multiple measurements, and off cut plaster boards we got the job done Eh Al?  :D
This wall is the one closest to house. As a result, I did not insulate it, as it is in shade 80% of day.

Al said its not square. Well it looks fine to me :)

And after I cleaned the glass and Al the debris of over 10 years storage, the Wodonga AFULE union notice case is finally recycled. Graeme Schulz modified the case with shelving and increased the space between the back board and glass. Thanks fellas.
I really appreciate your help with this project. ;)
Had to move the aircon switch. Need to fix that in place, the photo suggests :(

I was doing some wiring yesterday and was having difficulty bending and looking underneath and upwards. Not even sure I could do that as a young man. But quite impossible at my age!

I recycled the Honeysuckle panel to lift my wheeled rolling bed, which has done the trick. Easier to get on top of, and am now close enough to the action to work my magic on my spaghetti wiring :)
Cheers
Rod

2016_11_03. Wall construction nears the end. Plus.....

2016_11_03  Al and I continue constructing the wall Plus we mount the union notice board.

For a short time the local model railway club was in the Wodonga Railway Station. When we got the boot, we were told to take the fittings if they were useful.
The Club took the 5 notice cases that lined the walls of the meal room. This is one that I got from that Club.

Originally I was only placing plaster on the frame. However we left the overhang to cover the conduit.

Al checks the level. We had a great day. We were both sore and tired. Despite multiple measurements, and off cut plaster boards we got the job done Eh Al?  :D
This wall is the one closest to house. As a result, I did not insulate it, as it is in shade 80% of day.

Al said its not square. Well it looks fine to me :)

And after I cleaned the glass and Al the debris of over 10 years storage, the Wodonga AFULE union notice case is finally recycled. Graeme Schulz modified the case with shelving and increased the space between the back board and glass. Thanks fellas.
I really appreciate your help with this project. ;)
Had to move the aircon switch. Need to fix that in place, the photo suggests :(

I was doing some wiring yesterday and was having difficulty bending and looking underneath and upwards. Not even sure I could do that as a young man. But quite impossible at my age!

photo here!

I recycled the Honeysuckle panel to lift my wheeled rolling bed, which has done the trick. Easier to get on top of, and am now close enough to the action to work my magic on my spaghetti wiring :)
Cheers
Rod

2016_11_02 Maintenance and Fixing wiring days.

2016_11_02 Then there is the old fix up previous mistakes days!

Its been a long time since the track was fixed to the island benches, and I have just discovered that the cause of my shorts has been here all the time.

I have a heavy duty (45amp) ring main bus line that runs all around the layout.  At an earlier time, I introduced power sections by introducing modified DB150 Command stations, and divided the ring main into 5 sections, each fed by a command station.

Recently I divided these sections up further by using NCE circuit breakers. At about this time, I discovered many problems, loss of power and random shorts, which I have been trying to fix.

As the middle island also turns into a reverse loop, I used reversing switches to allow trains to seamlessly complete the very long loops.

When one continuous ring main power bus was in use, it is certainly the reversing sections that saved the day. It seems the reversing sections ( the whole power districts) fixed the polarity problem that I found over the weekend.

The changes stopped the interesting, unexpected, fix and created a short which I could not locate till today.

The easy fix is to just reverse the wiring for all track sections in the island modules. Every where else the black rail is the outer or wall side of the layout, and of course the red rail is the inner.

For some unknown reason, I wired the module starting at Wodonga, which put the black wire on the aisle side, but when I worked on coal siding I continued the black wire to wards the wall and the red wire towards the aisle, creating the conflict.
I have now cut the bus short between Wodonga and the main layout and am presently swapping the red and black wires on each yard length of track, to keep the same standards used everywhere else.

Its going to take some time!

Using plug clips make things easier. I could have just swapped them all over. Decided that in the future it was going to be simpler to keep the common code, so I took the harder option, or changing every wire over, all approx. 130 pairs :(

Repeat after me... Red to aisle, black to wall...
repeat after me.... Sg is connected to blue wire, Bg is to the brown wire.... Black to black, bus DCC!!

Cheers
Rod

2016_10_29 Another month done and dusted (almost)

2016_10_29  A Saturday work day. Lets finish the wall?

Al came another day, and so did Graeme Schulz.
Graeme is going to beat this backdrop issue, and he is determined.

I got up at 7.30 am and started cleaning up the floor, and carted all the boxes to the skip. emptied the contents and burnt the boxes.

About now Al shows up, so we decide to build the final wall section at the South end.

Some pictures....

I need to wire the modules together, but found some of the plugs were missing. A trip to Jaycar is on the cards, me thinks :)

I braced the track abutments to keep everything in place when I turn it all over  ...... next time.

So here is the "dirty corner" all cleaned up and wall ready for filling , sanding and painting.
Actually like meeting an old friend, that floor, went missing 6 years ago :)

Trying to brace the plaster against the brick pier so the cornice cement can stick it.

And just 5 hours of work, and my clean, cleared bench needs loving attention once again.  sigh's.......

Cheers
Rod

2016_10_27 Back on the job!

2016_10_27 Thursday! Work day :)  Al is here and Mick came too!

After last Friday, I had to go to Melbourne to get my caravan and visit Mum and Dad.
Arrived home early Wednesday  pretty exhausted and put the Caravan away, emptied the car and van, and did my washing etc. Exhausting week.
Mick asked if I would be at Club Wednesday, and I thought I might go.
Al was at loose ends and really wants to see trains running so he volunteered another work day on Thursday.

So as we have plenty to do. I agreed
.  Mick also said he would come visit, and he is a friend of Al,s that should not be a problem.
And it wasn't it was a good day.....  Thanks my friends, I appreciate your help.

 See the folding table sitting up against the layout? That was sitting right down the far corner loaded up with stuff, that I had no idea about. This has blocked the extension of the wall and needed to be gone!

So Al started on the broom and we moved all the boxes from wall, and cleaned up the place.
We sorted through screws, nails, bits and bolts and stored all away in a bin, marked for easy finding, of course.
We cleaned down the table top and sorted all tools from the rubbish, and tipped that outside for the dumpster.
Its hard to see here, however the far end is actually ready for the wall and then we can start on the second Helix..

Then we started building boxes to carry the single line track from Honeysuckle to the Helix Station, and return loop.
We got about as far as we could go, in this shot.
Al surveys the new baseboard installed and we notice how twisted the module we installed earlier today at Honeysuckle is. It really stands out and the picture shows it. In reality it looks worse. I already water soaked it, and loaded weights on it over bending it, and thought I had fixed it. Not so, it seems.

Single track connection to the reverse loop on top of the Helix.
Cut the ply, just need to fix it down.

The front left edge is too low.



Mick got the worst job, bending code 70 rail to fit the trestle bridges. Railcraft rail just refuses to bend easily. A real pain for those of us, used to Peco track.

Thanks Mick, all glued and pegged in place. Just need to fix the track to the embankments to finish off.

That's about it for today.
Cheers
Rod

2016_10_21 Continues..last thoughts?

2016_10_21 Addendum

Pic1/
Close up of area to move lever frame into. Just box it out and build scenery around it.

Pic 2/

Thinking about extending this end another module and fitting a small turntable in place, maybe a cattle race and silo?  Moving the modules North did not cause too many problems this end.
This picture and the next one show the SG track hidden in the rear and how much it has dropped even at 1.5 % gradient.

Obviously this out rigger could have been higher, blocking vision to Albury yard underneath. Will look at it when I finish this level, start working on lower level

Pic3/
All screwd and glued and tight level construction.

Honeysuckle is actually only clamped into position. I am going to get Tony to come visit and help sort through the wiring, before we screw it all down for the last time

Cheers
Rod

2016_10_21 Continue connecting it up (new territories)

2016_10_21 Al and I spend another day on the Branch.

Continuing on from yesterday, we now connect Honey Suckle and Bowser  via the trestle bridge.

Picture 1/
shows that we have four tracks (one on lower level) all coming off  the North wall  and entering West wall. The first track, was the hidden SG track on a 1.5% max descent to the new helix  which enables train to  enter Abury yard from Sydney direction.

Picture 2/

Making sure the trestle is in position and level.
The front of box removed. I may remove rear as well, but hoping scenery and foam will fill in the ground and creek.

Picture 3/
We had to build frames and add supports under the track to support it all.

Picture 4/
You can see the wood colour change where the two branch tracks join, to enter the junction and then Honeysuckle. The rear track is dead level, and the front track a short 2%. off the trestle.

Picture 5/
Going to move the lever frame off the top and fit it into scenery near yellow clamps.  Calling Tony!!
Might have to find out how to electrify the points and connect the frame electrically rather than by rods and levers as is now. To right of clamps is where the junction will bring two lines into station.

Ok y'all
And thanks to Al for motivation, great suggestions and pushing me along. Two very good days indeed :)
Cheers
Rod

Ps
Note for the day! You cannot have too many clamps. Count them, over 30 and still not enough. You cant have too many pencils...  Hidden around here are 7 sharp pencils and one blunt one. Guess which one you find all the time?
You need more than one battery drill. Two is cool, three better and four about optimum. But where are all the drill bits and screw driver bits?