2017_04_22 Al Day just gone. Worked very hard.but..

2017_04_22  Al and I had a lot of work on, today. However when Al left for home, it felt like we had not gone forward at all.

Then again pictures show we accomplished heaps!


Up end Trentham New track works

Remember the lean on the B Class in the video. Al decided, after some SDS code 88 wheel sets would keep derailing, that he would replace the track. We use Micro Engineering  code 70 flex here, and he replaced all the faulty hand laid track as well as the short piece I added over the crossing. He did an excellent job, and I see my job is still undone. Need to solder those wires on!

ME track is extremely difficult to lay. For one, only one rail slides easily, and so when you go into a curve, you need to choose which side the fixed rail should go on. Here Al found an S bend, which meant you needed to curve the fixed rail on the wrong side. The only way to curve ME track (or Shinohara and older Atlas track) is to lay it out on a flat surface and keep bending it a little at a time. test fit and adjust till you got it right. Al did a great job, and the track is easily his best effort, much better than I can do, for sure.  We will add missing sleepers next time and try out our new ballast machines.

Now the SDS tanks go through without a problem!

Al was able to remove some of my packing under the crossing, and it looks flat to me (and the camera it would seem :) )

More Diamonds that will not work.

Each end of the diamond is insulated. The two metal un-insulated connectors to the frogs ate directed via mono juicers, one for each frog.
The BG works just fine, however the SG direct shorts, may have even blown the juicer. Mods include
checking all insulated approaches. All four tracks that is 8 rails are insulated and remembering our last effort double checked. I changed out the Peco code 100 to code 75 adapter , left the links in place and insulated the connection to the code 100 SG track.
I also decided that as I have power districts ending at the crossover. That is SG district A becomes District B and same for BG.
I connected the two outside rails of the crossover to Black and Red wires in SG district A and BG district A, thinking something silly may be happening here. Like black is common, isn't it?

Finally I think I might have a bad batch of mono juicers. One works (red light changes to green)
The other stays red and shorts and turns led off till short removed.
Again I am stumped!! So I walked away to think on it, perhaps sleep on it....

More baseboard modifications?

Graeme is visiting Monday, and his roaming eye always finds the problem areas, and suggestions are forth coming, aren't they ? :D

And so we created a tray under the girder bridges to help with modelling the river. This required screwing a flat bottom under neath, which of course meant the undersides had to be cut clear to allow tray to fit in. The tray was fixed in and strengthened

I then widened the bench to 500mm to allow for a better scenery fit. here the changes to the middle island bit....

And on the Albury side. more required here when we work out where the foam board will fix.

The top level overhangs, so I guess the bottom should at least follow under it?
Continues Monday :)

Cheers
Rod

2017_04_21 A video...

2017_04_21  First train from Honeysuckle

After a few weeks of replacing wiring when we have time. Al and I got several sections strung together.
Last night I was able to get an engine from Bowser towards Trentham, and reverse it back into Honey sucle.
We then ran the first revenue service out of Honeysuckle.

Light Engine movement video

First Service video

Edit
 Sorry about the first video. It somehow saved all the out-cuts on the back of the live video. Got a lot to learn, using Muvee but it is stuffed in Win10 because it uses Quicktime which is disabled by Win10. Thus I was unable to review the video in Muvee. I will reedit it :(


Cheers
Rod

2017_04_13 Alday! Honeysuckle tweaks

2017_04_13  Al was here today after two weeks off with "pew-monia"

Despite being only half way through his antibiotics we accomplished a lot today
We finished off fixing down Honeysuckle and started the rewiring. We cranked up this station by applying 240v and noted that it did not operate as we thought. Better ask Tony, I guess.
However all tracks, points allow through (pushed and rolling) trains! That's a bonus.
The signals light up, off the back up battery, but not from the 12 volt supply.

The other job was to reconnect the tracks into the station and reinstall the junction. Al did most of this, and we had to overcome some issues. And this filled our whole day.
One issue was power leads and we relaid the feed from Trentham and laid in a new feed from Bowser side. I need to connect up all the droppers, now and add a supply feed to the new Bowser feed.
We should then be able to run a train direct from  Bowser into Honeysuckle. Finishing off the track upgrades in Trentham, would allow trains in from that direction.

So not much to photograph, however a lot of work required today to get this far.

Threw the 240 V switch! so far so good!

We switched it on without the frame connected. Hoping connecting the frame will fix the blacked out signals. The lights here are backup battery powered (just like the real thing)

Next job is to wash everything down, and try and reinvigorate the scenery.

I have a turntable here and tried to install it. unfortunately the directions are stored away in a safe place. When I remember where it is, I will finish the installation :(
Electrotren  Wait a minute!!  That's not the brand! Its a Brazilian Company ? I can probably get instructions from them? Brand name?? Google is not my friend either....

Tony is building a new bracket signal to allow trains to depart Honeysuckle towards the crossover.
Left arm from No 1 road towards Bowser.
Right arm from No1 road towards Trentham on the straight.
A single home will control traffic out of 2 Rd to Bowser.
Trains in 2Rd can set back and run through a crossover to run to Trentham as well.
Reinstalling this and wiring it took most of our day, but it was worth it :)
 The space above the red handled strippers will hold the relocated frame which needs to be redesigned to operate the additional roads and signals.
Hope you are feeling better soon Al.  Enjoy your company, mate and look after him Maureen :)
Cheers
Rod

2017_04_10 Invented something!

2017_04_10  How do you couple an Alco Walker trailer to a Trainbuilder Walker motor?

Easy if you happen to have 2mm x 1mm round super magnets :)

I bought these from china for about $5 and was going to use them on my two Sprinters, if they ever get built in China :(

The Alco had a really nice lost wax cast scale coupling designed to use coupling bars and pins. Much too tiny to be practicable though.

On the other hand the Trainbuilder Walker has an oversized (shockingly so) representation of the same coupling with a magnet embedded in its face

First thing I am going to do, is see if Walthers still sell these link and bar couplings and replace the Trainbuilder ones. In the meantime, I used 2mm x 1mm super magnets and simply drilled out a 2mm clearance hole and super glued a magnet inside but flush with the coupling face....  pictures!

Here is the Alco produced trailer with its scale bar and pin coupling. Nice!

Here the Trainbuilder O scale coupling... Yuk!

And here is my modified Alco coupling. Looks like I will have to find those wings and finish the model off. Needs lights, glass and interior fitted.

And here is the united couplings. It works and the magnets are strong enough to hold tight through points and everywhere I ran it.. Success :D

When the Sprinters finally arrive, I intend adding these magnets to the dummy scharfenbergs, in the hope that they will hold two powered Motors together as well
 Cheers
Rod

2017_04_09 Visuals? Changing the look!

2017_04_09 Kept moving on the wiring side, installing sound units, sorting out the bridges and building more walls

say it with pictures...

 Little farm off a road with a shearing shed on other side. Main road comes under the line via an old brick bridge, which appeared to be upgraded with a steel deck recently. The H Beam is large enough to sit neatly over the 12 mm ply. Nice fit between brick piers as well.

 I dulled down the plastic structure by spraying it with water and rubbing plaster all over it. I then waited for it to dry and then rubbed the plaster off with a dry cloth

When I fit the wing walls and bulk it up with foam, I will finish the brickwork off by final clean with a damp cloth. Then glue on the stone caps and it should look ok.

Walls? Graeme came for a visit Saturday. Had an enjoyable session chatting about all sorts of things, but Graeme got his corners in...

I forgot to take a picture of it finished. All the edges were plastered up, readying the job for sanding and painting.

We had a bridge to help cover the double line opening above. Unfortunately we dropped it. But it should look great blended into the back scene

Bridge  ??  try tunnel mouth  ;)

Its a concrete structure, and what makes it stand out is the marks formed by the boxing framework constructed to hold the concrete pour in place, which are quite visible on the tunnel face,
Cheers
Rod

2017_04_04 Hooking up the branch terminal

2017_04_04 HoneySuckle bolt together and install. (Auscision News)

STOP PRESS
Auscision are showing off their latest (best yet)

 Production Paints. I don't think they will change much on these. Hopefully depending on production slots, earliest June? Most likely August for Caulfield.... Anyone?

Al and I pulled HoneySuckle down and connected up the DCC and the wiring looms. Then bolted two modules together, and lifted up the two pairs and placed them in position. When all tracks were lined up, and the two pairs were wired together with provided jumpers, we bolted them together after lining them up.

The lever frame was temporarily left in position. However it will be removed and replaced with a new frame mounted lower down and to right of module, built into scenery.

ok after months spent on this project, its in and we only need to know that the electrics are still ok.
Don't be surprised if it takes some time for us to test it. We want to move on for a while.
Thanks to Al as always for lending me so much support and helping to move this layout along.

Whilst on the trestles, we installed the points and fixed the new track for the turntable in position.
Got a hole to fill and another almost the same, but on the other side and a foot to the right of picture.
Cheers
Rod Young

2017_04_02 Some Videos

2017_04_02 Ok you saw N492 climbing the grade?

It was time to move around the curve to into Trentham. And there lies another story, hurt feelings on FacePoop where I sought advice on how to fix it et.c etc.

Most would have seen this one....

N492 Climbs the grade!

https://vimeo.com/211154057


Here is the problem....

The Problem?

https://vimeo.com/210554258


And here is it running (almost)

Almost fixed :)

https://vimeo.com/211151258

 Just a defect in the track and a short to fix, and it will be perfect.

Cheers
Rod

2017_04_01- Was I fooled...?

2017_03_01   Graeme came for a look and stayed a while and he brought some tools, and so...

With Al working his way into Albury yard, I had to clear  the decks once more. Where am I going to put the stuff? I will get some more tubs, and hopefully find a way to clear the Albury yard.

And we also need to clear the floor for the new helix as well.  So Graeme and I cleared the floor and opened up some space under the benches to get rid of some of the boxes, already loaded.

Ok almost clear. The cut road bed will be used in the Helix.

And the boxes went to the last open space under the layout on the other side. The beauty of the bins, is that they simply can be rolled out if I need to get at the wiring, or to access the bins

Cheers
Rod

2017_03_31 And so March has passed us by (almost)

2017_03_31 A quiet day, kids start holidays, so the bus is an hour earlier than usual. The posty advises my parcel that left Turkey on Friday is here.

But I did get the chance to visit the hardware and get some screws to attach bogies to Al.s  BS car. I needed to fit better wheels. The brass ones fitted were just too sloppy.
At the same time I looked at my fleet of Victorian S Cars and worked out a plan, to upgrade them with close fitting couplers, interiors and better bogies.

Then I opened my parcel.  I bet not many of you have found a reason to deal with Turkey? Well I can tell you this is my fourth purchase and this mob is a pleasure to deal with. So much so, I think I might give them a free add :D

DHL satchel very fast and much cheaper than Turkish post. Maybe more reliable too?

Very heavy weight box, protects contents, as with every purchase made.

Packed tightly, great instructions.

 Pleasant looking accurately produced product.

A free gift! Now that's old fashioned good business sense.

Now all I got to do is see if I can make it work as well as their video shows it can work :)

And for those who would like to read the literature in print?

Ballast spreader carriage
Ballast Glue Application Carriage

Cheers
Rod Young