2014_07_05 Building the branchline!

2014_07_05

Well the enthusiasm is still there and the body is doing what its told. Not as cold today, although raining again, Clouds only a hundred meters above and the Hills are out of site again.

But Trentham is now connected to the main line at Bowser. The track is down as are the main line points. Need to go back and install the Grain Silo when I build the kits and work out where the discharge / loading tracks need to be placed. Tomorrow I need to gather up the droppers and connect them to the bus, also wire in three more point motors and at least two switches.

Some pictures follow, as usual :)

The area towards the yellow capped bottles is reserved for grain hopper storage , need to add a point to connect in where the RH one is sitting.

Track runs through wall.

And enters the other section, ready to join the main BG line and head towards Bowser again.
That slope through the back drop actually looks wrong and I might have to smooth it out by lifting the ply a little this side of the wall.

Joining the Main BG which parallels the SG. Closest I got to running a train today :( Setting up the SG line to ensure enough room was left for it.
Track on the extreme left is the No 1 rd through Bowser (Code 70) with a passing siding No2 Rd to its right (code 70)
The next track is the BG Main Line (Code 75) and beside it will be the SG Main Line (Code 100)

The Shinoharo Code 70 is a pain to use, and should not be regarded as being flexible!

Took me a long time to get a 442 Class. This original production model was sold to me by a Club Member after I missed out on at least 12 of them on EBay.

 

The track becomes a little separated on the corner because of a pair of points placed around the bend which although in a wrong position, actually allowed the passing road to hold a standard train. Actually hated it until I laid the BG Main around it, and now it does look much better than it did.

 

Here is the point that caused the trouble. You can see the BG track has to sweep out to get around it.

The BG branck No1 track maintains 36 inch radius. The No2 road pinches down to 30 inch for a short time, but does reach 34 inch rad whilst the BG Main on the outside is at 36 inch and the SG Main 38 inch.

 

Looking over the three way point. Again the left trach enters the branch and you can see No2 track points towards the corner?

The BG Main Line through the middle roads and the Quarry siding  takes the right road and crosses the SG Main line, which will run up to the Bg and space 2 inches off the BG at the corner.

Well thats about it for tonight. Inside about 9.00 pm. A pretty solid day, with a couple of breaks to watch the Motor Races at Townsville ;)

Cheers

Rod

 

2014_07_04 (continues)

2014 July 4th at about 8.30pm Work ends for the day :)

set about 10 m of track after tweaking the roadbed, and mounted two points. Wired two more ready to plant tomorrow.  Track fixed down and insulated. Just need 10 pairs of droppers and the point motors installed, and lay another 6 m of track to connect in on the Bowser end.
Hopefully this will be working tomorrow.
I just ran a train in using jumper cables to get an idea of the grade and how it looks. I think I am really pleased with it :)

Cheers
Rod

2014 July 4 Happy 4th of July USA

2014 July 4  Happy Birthday Nanny Gertie! Always remembered.  Happy 4th of July USA

So the sun is out first time in what seems like weeks. Last night it was 2 C and right now its 12.8 C.
The solar panels started up again after being dormant for weeks.
putting out 2028 watts with today's total  (so far) 5.73 KW that's feeding 7.5 amps into the grid :D

But inside the shed things are moving. I now have all the 12 volt feeds in for my tortoise motors and all the loconet UP5's are externally powered. The Digitrax sysem worked last night without a hitch.

Had a sound decoder self destruct last night, first one that shorted out the system. Almost lost a Traino V/Line S Class as well. It got mighty warm by the time I found where the fault was. Unfortunately it was in a section protected with an indicator globe, not a circuit breaker type device. Will have to finish upgrading this old system :(

Got moving a little earlier this morning, and decided to put aside my problems with the servo motors until I can get an answer from Tam Valley.

In the meantime I have sorted out the bench work for the branch line extension.

Looking along No 1 Rd to the end of the line and towards the new work

Small adjustments to the road bed and awaiting the base to settle (glue dry)

This is the bit Al and I worked on last Friday. It now has a higher road bed screwed down, a pad for the wheat silos at right and is connected at both ends

In the middle distance you can see the temporary diversion track off to the right whilst the branch continues on straight and climbs on to the trestle.

The temporary track sits on the sceneryand will enter a tunnel in the back drop hidden in a hill.. When the diversion is no longer needed, I can pull the track and model an abandoned tunnel :D

The trestle can be finished now and permanently mounted in this position ;)

Just stepping back a little. The new point will go middle right hand side.

Now looking in the other Direction back towards Trentham. The grain Silo and associated track will fill in the area closest Trentham (where the rail is sitting)

Well I have had a late lunch, so back out in the shed, see if the glue has dried and perhaps lay some track :)
Cheers
Rod

2014_07_01 (Continues)

 2014_07_01

So what is next?
Al Jeeves and I cleaned up the end of the branchline a few days ago, and as promised I can now show what we are doing.
Am afraid it leads to another temporary connection, but it is all in a good cause. To allow me to get trains running, and test what has been laid. Then perhaps I can attempt a bit of scenery?

Ok  After all the prep work was done and the deck cleared and cleaned, and clutter already was starting to appear! I am designing the area allocated to a rather large Wheat Silo which will run along the backdrop.

Eventually the branch will continue to the left over the trestle to the terminal station at the end of the line. But for now a temporary line will be built over the flood plain and into a tunnel and back towards Bowser where it will become the main line until construction starts on the other half of the Railway

I decided to modify the track by raising it the thickness of the five ply. This will reduce the grade to the trestle and out of the station on the old layout in the distance. It does create a few extra problems though.

This is Bowser on the other side of the layout, and definitely marked for a clean up!
The track to the left enters the branch and the one to the right crosses the SG and enters Glen Rowan Quarry. Yes a bit of compression is used here :) The middle line will continue on as the main line into the other side of the room behind the wall shown in the next picture.

So with both BG and SG running along the wall into the other side eventually, I decided to improve running in the short term, by using the BG main line and swinging it to the left and through the backdrop.

And rejoining the branchline across the flats and via the dead ended siding of the new Silo? or maybe not? I will see if I can find another way. (of entering the branch)
Another stuff up? yes the backdrop was cut back to front I think :(

Cheers
Rod

2014_07_01 Still wet but still working in the train room :)

2014_07_01
Well its not exactly raining, however I have two pair of socks on and my V/Line bomber jacket over a winter long sleeve shirt. Sometimes 11.8 C is a lot closer to zero, than one might think :(

A couple of days of frustration. But I at least I have one point motor in and working. I want to operate the branchline with Tortoise point motors. I have about 20 and that should cover all the points.
But these motors do not work off DCC without diode support and anyway, I feel by DCC bus is going to be taxed as it is. But before we get there another problem arose!

I added two more  Loconet UP5 plug in modules and found that the system began to break down. Already my Wireless Receiver was not maintaining connection with my DT402 throttles. But now my plug in throttles were not connecting properly.

Spent about 4 hours searching the Digitrax site (What a great resource they have developed there)
And finally decided that I had two wiring mistakes to fix and a new 12 volt DC bus to install.

Ok first the wireless receiver. I had already moved it from the command end of the layout to a spot high on the island modules. It receives in a 360 degree circle, therefore that should improve things.
It didn't........

Then I checked the flat cable connections of my Loconet.  The loconet must go from one UP5 to the next using the rear connections adjacent the front connections. The loconet must be open ended, that is the last UP5 only has one connection. You must not complete a loop.

However the command station has two Loconet connectors. Can you send one bus to the left and a second bus to the right. I cannot see anything in the documentation saying you can or cannot do this. However it appeared to work for the last 5 years, so I guess that is not my problem?

Now everything looked right till I got to the UR95(?) wireless receiver. I had connected this into the side connector on the UP5 as the instructions tell you this can connect a third throttle or a single device that does not allow further devices to be connected beyond that device..  so I connected the wireless transmitter to that connector. It sort of worked, but kept dropping out. So I made up two new loconet cables and ran the Wireless receiver in line with the rest of the Loconet....   And it  now works perfectly. No more drop outs providing the 9v battery stays around 8 v or more :)

So why are my wired loconet (throttles) playing up?
What did I do last?   Add two more UP5's?    Ok when I bought my cable kit I got some testers for the coax cable. So I plugged all the new cables in and as when I built them, they all stood up to the test. Plugged the system back together, and still my throttles LCD screens were rotating through a menu and not setting up ??

So back to Digitrax site and some more research.

Now I have never before worried about external power to the UP5, which loads up the Command station just a little. I have before I added the last two, 10 UP5's on my loconet which is 70 m long, brocken into 2 sections at the command station which sits in the middle of the loconet.

So I found a HD 13.8 V stablilsed transformer taken out of a car radio display case many years ago I found at the dump :) Ran my new bus line down the middle of the island and connected the 6 UP5's on the module to it and tested the system. Everything worked just fine ;)  So their is a limit in distance or numbers for unpowered UP5's  ?? or not?   But at least it is up and running once more.

Next job was even more frustrating!

Job description:   Install power to an already installed Tortoise point motor..  Ha Ha easy because I have a quality 12 v bus running right past it courtesy of the loconet fix :)

So  have special connectors for the circuit board on the Tortoise, havent I? So out with the diagrams.
The 8 pin plug has a connection either end for the Tortoise motor, and the middle 6 pins operate the two inbuilt single pole switches. I want one switch to switch my point frog power. pin 2 to frog and pin 3 and 4 to Pos and Neg bus!    But which one goes where? I stuffed about and finally decided to go eeny, meeney, miney and mo and just connect it.
Now the wires were short and I am trying to wire the plug over the bottom deck and under the top deck, and I am stretching. How to hold short wires and solder to tinned tabs? When the whole lot is swinging free and the solder iron and solder are in both hands? Well I just could not get it done and solder went everywhere but on the connection. After hours of stuffing around getting it up, and finding Eenie was actually Mo, and redoing it my back was stuffed and my mood was not much better.
I am sure I could do better than this when I was younger?    maybe not :(
Eventually using extended wires protected with shrink tube I got it up and working...... no I didn't :(

All this frigging around had broken the throw rod on the points :(
Remove points and solder in a new brass throw rod, drill it and insulate it and mount it back where it belongs. Test it, and it works just fine!
Run a train over it and Loco derails! Bloody insulating joiners!!  On the frog end I had two insulated joiners, however trying to fit 4 joiners at once, somehow I had allowed one joiner to slide under the rail  GRRR!!

Very carefully pull it out and redo the whole job, this time correctly.
Run train over it and all cross inboth directions, no further problems.

So at least I saved 15 minutes not having to run a new power feed, but the whole job took me 6 -1/2 hours.  Just to wire up a tortoise!!  I cannot believe I could do such a lousy job :(
Cheers
Rod Young

2014_06_29 Auscision deliver the BLX

2014_06_29  Auscision BLX / BLF arrive

The Wodonga yard pilot collects a bunch of Victorian box vans from the Bogie Exchange and waits line to haul them up to Wodonga for return to Dynon.

I took the opportunity to take some pictures whilst I still had some light to use!

Painted signs are only as good as the men who may read them ;) We often saw vehicles return through the bogie exchange from directions, they were not supposed to be :D

At Wodonga in the through road and ready to depart as soon as the road engine arrives from Wangaratta.  

Y 139 arrives from Seymour with a military special, heading for Albury via the bogie exchange.

I am extremely pleased with the detail and the models in general. Well done to our Sydney suppliers Auscision. You just get better and better :D

Its not all that happened on the layout in the last week :)  Al turned up again and we started to work  on the upper level of the branch line. We are attempting to get the branch up and running. More about that another time. But we did get my table saw going which has been just another place to store stuff on, since its purchase 6 years ago. Thank's again Al. You are a mate and great company, but I hope your back was feeling better when you got to relax back home :)
Cheers for now
Rod Young

2014 June 27

2014 June 27    Still raining still cold. The mountains have snow on them

Plenty of trains running :D
Have a major problem with Tam Valley Servo point control, awaiting on answer from them.
And running trains in both directions, crosses etc. Its becoming much more like a railway, day by day!

But now I have the other end to fix. That is trains all eventually arrive back at "Bowser" and terminate, because I need to get the branch up and running again . Show my plans next time :)

Here is a question I posted on DCC Downunder. Would appreciate advice?

Has anybody got an Explorer?
I have a three car early version Southern Models Explorer to which I want to add sound.
As you might know the lead driving car is powered and the trailing one a dummy. When you reverse the headlights and tail lights swap ends as you would expect. But the sound only comes out of the motorised end car. When a long 3 car Explorer passes you it is obvious that the two trailing cars are shut down
How to fix? Well I got 4 cell phone speakers arranged in series and two pairs in parallel returning the load to 8 ohms as required, and hard wired the speakers into the three cars. Two in middle and one each in the ends.
It works!! But the volume is so low that I had to build a small amplifier to boost the signal. That really does not work, and I need a big amp and the space is not there. Plus it is becoming an expensive proposition.
In fact at $415 it is probably cheaper to buy a two car set and use the motor to double power the 3 car unit.
Having said that I will need to operate two speakers in series (?) create a 4 ohm load and as before supply a speaker in front and a second in middle motor and the same from other end.
I presume that I will need to permanently assign the two Loksound V4.0 decoders to an address and lock them after tweaking the CV's.

Now what about the lighting? I guess do not use the second Loksound lighting at all. Wire up the second motor the same as the original dummy, and hope that the car lights all respond as the original set using the dummy. . That is headlights changing ends and marker lights rear lights and saloon lights?
Am I missing anything?
Cheers
Rod

2014 June 15 She is through Wodonga!!

 2014 June 15 BG connection made, finally.

At 1252 the last spike was placed in the run round road through Wodonga. All droppers are placed ready to connect into the bus :D
Should be a simple job wiring it in, because the point motors, juicers and control switches (points) are built all ready to cut into the facia...

Wooooooeeeeeee!   Long time coming and now its ready tonight, perhaps to run several trains round the very big loop about 94 meters from platform and around both levels and back to the platform

Edit Actually just noticed the through road was connected in as well :)  Seems I was through at least an hour or two earlier ;)

So just need to cut and secure the Platform road. Then solder in 6 more droppers.
Connect 5 juicers and 3 more control switches as well as connect the droppers to the bus.
Guess that's about 4 hours work, at my pace :)

Cheers
Rod

2014 June 11

2014 June 11  Tedious preparations.

I am slowly getting there. Yesterday and today I worked in the Wodonga Station area. Still have a lot of trouble working upside down. But got two servo motors installed at High Street end and despite one motor not operating, can at least enter Platform Road and Through Road, and run around.
Fitted Mono juicers and prepared two more for Signal Box end.
Drilled out for droppers, then spent another few hours on my back threading wire for all three tracks. Need to add the runaround road today after shopping.
Prepared 6 stop tail light globes, connecting the two filaments with a solid state fuse and wiring it into each track feed.
I also modified 5 Peco  points (switches) by adding droppers to outer rails, frogs and point blades ready to hook into the DCC  feeds for each track.
It is becoming a real problem getting down on my knees and back and working here at my age. I guess at 69 this year, I am lucky I can still do it at all.

So I am pretty pleased with how far I got. Still a gap big enough to lay 4 points before she is connected through. I almost cheated and just straight lined it through as some points will not be needed till I get the cattle race and Yard working. But I am glad I persisted and connected it through.
More later!
Cheers
Rod Young

2014 June 9 Monday Queens Birthday

2014-06-09

Managed to get a couple days work on the layout despite a bad dose of the Flu and a nose that dripped like a tap.  UGH!!

So track now reaches into Wodonga Platform and I am less than two meters of track to lay to join the first full BG loop up. Unfortunately their are 6 pairs of points in that section and it is taking time to set them all in place.
I wired in the BG track through the Coal Siding and started working back into the siding itself. Their is probably another few days work there after I get trains circulating.
Hopefully  feel better tomorrow and get the Wodonga connection in?
Cheers
Rod

2014 June 3

2014 June 3 Time flies when you are having fun

So what has happened?
Hobsons Bay Easter 2014 Exhibition has run extremely well.
Couple of special meetings at Hobsons Bay sorting out the Club future.
Finished up taking the train to Melbourne Sunday for the last one and returning same day1..Too old for this ;)
Murray Railways Modellers Exhibition for 2014 has come and gone...

Bit of Track laying.....
Still working on the wiring ......
Burnt out another bogie. This time a Y class. Melted a gear and needs a replacement.

Worked out how I shorted out the Y Class.
Turned out it was the second engine in a consist and it pushed the first loco into a dead section of track, and then sat a wheel on the rail gap.
I have a Digitrax system which usually will protect the loco by shutting down. However this insulated section marked the entry into a district operated by a second DB150 control station. So far so good you might think? However the second DB150 was found to have been wired incorrectly. That is the DCC ring main was reversed, connecting black to red etc. Now how the hell did I do that?

A full check on the whole layout found some other minor errors too. Anyway all is good and the Y Class that hit the floor a year ago will be the source of a new axle to get Y139 back on the rails.

So now I am back into rewiring the Wodonga Yards, I might as well keep going :)

Last week we accomplished two jobs Jim and I got rid of the store bought brackets supporting the top level of the center module and that opens up the opportunity of finally wiring up the tracks and getting both stations operational.

The second job was done when Al came to give a hand. We widened the Coal Siding to help fit in the rest of the Shell Siding and add the Super Siding.

Here I show a few pictures of the goings on at my little railway.
And only a few meters of rail to lay before trains can circulate as well :D

The other day Graeme and Norma came up from the smoke for a visit. I was telling Graeme how difficult it was becoming for me to wire up the undersides of the yard. Imagine if you will the bottom shelf as cluttered as the shelf on the other side?
Norma brought us in a cup of coffee and heard the conversation, and says quick as you like... I don't really see a problem!  Just clean the junk of the shelf and scoot yourself along underneath. I think your arms will be long enough to easily do what you need to do. Don't you think?  Well Graeme and I just looked at each other and back to Norma..Why didn't we think about that? :( So the deck is cleared and I have scooted the length of the boards several times and it works well. Guess we were too close to the action? Or maybe not close enough? A real Duh!! moment for me at least.

Whilst Graeme was here we laid down the SG loop and the BG. All I need to do is wire in the loop points and the cripple road on the SG.

The BG is linked into Wodonga, and all I need to do now is fit in the three roads through Wodonga Station to complete the first full circuit of the Railway. About three lengths of Peco to complete the loop, about 8 lengths to get sidings in Wodonga, to make it reasonably operational. Remembering the Coal siding at Wodonga has only one entry facing Melbourne. Trains are hauled back to Wodonga in most cases before departure, although Melbourne trains can arrive straight in. Wodonga Coal siding has been widened to allow these arrivals.

My mate Jim, made up some new brackets to replace the eyesores I bought from Bunnings, and they work just fine.
Here Jim poses with one of the old brackets

Jim takes a few pictures whilst I admire the new supports.

*This picture tells a lie :) Their is no slope at all, the bubble on the level sits plumb in the middle ;)
The supports will be almost invisible once I plaster over them and prepare the back drops. I can now string in my LED lighting as well.
The supports were built to collapse slightly under the weight of the upper deck. It seems to have worked out almost correct in all but one case. We will heat it up and add another few degrees. But the layout is held very nicely and these supports stay under tension. I just saw those fastening heads. Need to replace them with countersunk screw heads before I can plaster over, I guess.

Jim welded up some new brackets and we just finished installing them. The posed picture shows the old brackets which did look pretty awful.

Interruptions...  I got a new Walker and it needs a sound chip. Its here and all it needs is to be fitted :)

Preparing the extension

Fixing the extension.

Applying the ends

Finished I glued the extension together. With ply glued on top, I doubt it will need extra legs. It already is very firm.

Under the coal siding The heavy black 35 amp cable and the similar Red cable are the DCC bus lines connected to the DCC Command Station.
The smaller gauge wires are the short protected local feeds, one for each track. Now all I have to do is join the black and red droppers to the correct feeds :) That job starts today. Before I started this post I installed the Hex juicers for the points. You can just see the multi-coloured fine wires dropping from each set of points in the distance. Unfortunately I will have to solder wires to extend the cables back to the juicer. I avoid soldering especially in confined spaces like this. I will have to be on my back on the lower rack.

 

So with the arrival of the first train at the Coal Siding, all we have to do is wire it up :(  

All it needs now is the droppers and the Hex Juicers to pass through on the main. Definitely my next job.

Well hopefully more to show in the next few days... Although Epping Exhibition is on again next weekend ;)
Cheers
Rod Young