Doxey End - Walls and Bridges

[Anotheran]

So now we're ready for a scary bit, or at least we've got to the point when we need to make sure we know what we're doing. This is the operation to reduce the distance between the running lines to 45 mm. I first saw this on Grantham (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58826-grantham-the-streamliner-years/page-2&do=findComment&comment=738462). On there the Peco points are cut away to give the closer lines. While I am making slightly different cuts (I like the idea of keeping the gaps in both rails between the same sleepers) the concept is copied.

 

So practice on a bit of paper first. Very glad for Peco's paper templates. I did confirm that they are precisely to size and that I hadn't scaled them on my printer! The first picture shows what is to be cut from the points. The piece lower right is to be cut from a medium radius right hand point while the piece top left is to be cut from a rather expensive three way point. That's why I'm practising on paper first!

 

 

The end result is the centres of the running lines nicely set at 45 mm.

 

 

I definitely like the look of the result. A pleasing by-product of the cuts is that all of the sleepers are now perpendicular to the main (straight) tracks through the whole crossing. From what I can see of modern examples on Google maps and from old prototype photos this appears to be correct for all eras in the UK. I can find no examples of the strange diagonal sleepers in the unmodified Peco point.

 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time in the evening to get the Dremel out and make the same cuts in plastic and nickel silver! If not it won't be until the weekend, but I'm tired now, so don't want to start cutting expensive items tonight! Sorry to keep everyone in suspense!

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Anotheran
Adding back images lost by site change

[Anotheran]

I forgot my final photo! The modified templates in place against the track that is currently already glued down on the board...

 

 

That's all for now folks!

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Anotheran
Adding back images lost by site change

[Jaz]

Hi

Just a quickie to say how great it was to link up at RMlive 2014. With so many of us floating around I daresay most of us barely spoke to each other any where near as long as we would have liked to. The good thing is should our show visits cross over...it will be much easier to catch up.    

[Anotheran]

Hi Jaz,

Totally agree it was great to meet up with so many people from the forum. And yes, I shall definitely be posting every show that I plan to attend to get the chance of repeating a meeting! Though I think that the nature of RMLive made that easier than it may be at others. But now we've met once, as you say, it should be easier next time!

[Anotheran]

Rather disappointingly I'm not going to get time to get the Dremel out tonight and I'm off to London for a couple of days, so the points are going to have to wait until the weekend. At least I can see what I am doing with them now that I have the appropriate cut templates.

 

While in London it will have to be more in the way of planning, maybe a station building for NE, or if that feels too ambitious at the time, maybe just some train movement planning!

[Jaz]

Wonderful meeting you at RMlive 2014.

[Anotheran]

Was great meeting you and Kal too. It was fantastic meeting up with so many people that had been until then just a few electrons and pixels!

[Anotheran]

Well thanks to Dagworth on the RMWebLive thread I now have a QR code to label Doxey End should I ever get it to the quality required and then get invited to exhibit...

Such a great idea, point your smart phone at it and you get the RMWeb thread for the layout! I think all exhibition layouts should do this! Of course, I've generated one for NE as well.

 

Edit: The url for the generator is https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/

Edited June 14, 2022 by Anotheran
Adding back images lost by site change

[Andrew P]

Hi Neil, the point set up looks very good mate, I do like complicated point work, lovely job.

 

Bodge

[Anotheran]

So after much delay with work in London followed by most of today in the garden the time finally came to modify the points. As I said previously, this has been seen before on this forum (I got the idea from Grantham), but it's my first go at it, so (as is usual) I'll document fully here what I did.

 

Having cut the templates as covered in a previous post I decided to start with the SL-E195 medium right hand points. I stuck the real thing down on the template with white tac (I don't know it's proper name, but it's not blue!)

 

 

Everywhere that was not backed by paper needed to be cut away. The majority of this I did with the Dremel with a diamond cutting disk which cuts both plastic and rail fairly easily and as the flat surface is coated also provides an initial filing action. The following is after I've finished with the Dremel but before I've tidied up with scalpel and file.

 

 

After tidying it up and removing the extraneous bits around the tie bar as with the previous points I placed the point in position on the board, held in place only by the wire from the frog as I've not yet soldered in the power wires to the stock rails. It fitted the space perfectly alongside the previously fixed points and the template for the three way.

 

 

Then on to the big one! Repeating the process with the three way points was not as scary as I thought it would be having practised on the right hand points. Firstly I stuck down to the paper template showing the slightly complex bits that needed to be removed.

 

 

Again, after finishing with the Dremel but not tidied up with the scalpel and file. Though you can see that I'm getting more used to the Dremel for the filing bit as well as the cutting as there's less left to remove with scalpel and file. Though you can also see on the nearest end of the third sleeper from the right that I slipped with the cutting disk and put two notches in the sleeper.

 

 

Finally it's placed on the board, again only held in place by the frog wires (three this time instead of one!). I can't say this was quite as easy as I made it look in the photos. First placement showed me a number of sleepers that needed fractions of mm trimmed in order for the point to slide up to the existing track work, and one of the rails needed about half a mm removed. But the Dremel made short work of the adjustments.

 

 

After having taken the photo I realised I'd forgotten to trim off the bits around the tie bars on the three-way point. So that is the sum of today's efforts. I'm delighted with the way that the points have come out and am happy with the alignment of the tracks (and indeed the sleepers) so all in all very glad that I decided to make this modification - and all for the sake of 5 mm reduction in track centres!

 

Tomorrow I'll solder in the power wires to the stock rails and glue them all down. I've bought more track pins to hold them while they are setting as I lost my last pack - very annoying! This evening I'm going to spend some time on my wiring diagram which needs a bit of thought as I'm planning to make different bits switchable between DC and DCC as explained near the start of the thread.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Anotheran
Adding back images lost by site change

[Anotheran]

Hi Neil, the point set up looks very good mate, I do like complicated point work, lovely job.

 

Thanks Andy. I do too. I know they're not a patch on hand built but I do like the Peco asymmetrical three way that I'm using here and the grouping of the five points that I've now got (as in my last picture) I like a lot! And while it may not look a big difference I've also got a nice sense of achievement out of the modifications that I've made to reduce the six foot between the top two lines   

[Jock67B]

Afternoon Neil,

Nice work, and brave too! I've now put a new 'dremel' on my wish list as the old one is missing presumed lost! Look forward to the next episode,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[7APT7]

Hi Neil

 

Great set of Points... look forward to seeing more progress bud

 

Jamie

[Anotheran]

Glued them all down last night, with pins to hold them all in position, and when I took the weights off this afternoon they were about a third of a mm off line! Of course, the one that is out had to be the 3 way point

 

Having spent so long shaving off bits of sleeper so that everything was perfectly together they managed to creep apart under the weights and leave a gap. So after this week's jaunt to London I'll be using hot water to lift it so that I can put it back correctly. Hopefully, after getting the cutting correct, I won't wreck the thing getting it back up off the board. Rather disappointing end to what had been a good weekend cutting and laying points

 

To finish on a positive note, I did pick up some adjustable feet from Topp Trains for my (yet to be designed and built) legs. While there I also picked up four lengths of old and rather manky flex track (two Hornby and two Peco I think.) Why? To use as my power buses on the underside of the layout. Don't know where I saw that so I don't know who to credit with that idea. Will have to see how it goes. But be assured, succeed or fail it will be on here soon!

[Anotheran]

Home from London late last night and decided to wait until this morning to lift the offending track. So, between calls, a mug of boiled water and a paintbrush were called into action. I was very pleased that the whole lot came away very cleanly. So now it's back down, under the weights waiting for the glue to set for attempt two! I know it was aligned before the weights went on, so I'm hoping when it's exposed again later on that we'll be ready to move forwards again!

 

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I thought I'd taken one of the misalignment, but looking at my camera I clearly didn't, and I wasn't about to put it back crooked just to get a photo 

 

[Andrew P]

Hi Neil, sorry to read about you having to lift the points, but why do you use HOT water?

I use PVA / BALLAST / Washing up liquid, and COLD water lifts that just fine after about 3 to5 mins.

[Anotheran]

...but why do you use HOT water? ... COLD water lifts that just fine after about 3 to5 mins.

 

Mainly because I'm impatient. Hot water softened the glue to enable me to lift the point within maybe 5 to 10 seconds.

 

Yours (much more patiently this afternoon), Neil

[Anotheran]

So the weighting (deliberate choice of poor spelling there!) is over and the weights are off and I am very happy. Perfect alignment this time (or at least as far as my eye, finger tip and brake van can detect.)

 

 

I rather like that picture. Looking forward to seeing that bit with all the ballast down!

 

While I do have another pair of points to alter on the other board (at the other end of the loop) I now have the most complicated bits of track-work out of the way. Which is good as with my wife away on business for a week from next weekend I'm looking forward to completing the traction power and getting some trains running in that week. I've also bought a pot of sleeper grime to spray the track with before ballasting so I should even have some colour (albeit mucky grey-brown) as well to improve the look of things!

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Anotheran
Adding back images lost by site change

[KevinWalsh]

That's a right tasty bit of PWay work there

[Anotheran]

Thank you Kevin, and welcome to Doxey End! I hope to get a little more done this weekend. It's slow going as work keeps getting in the way. But if I keep posting here the comments from fellow RMWebers keeps me pushing ahead!

 

Kind regards, Neil

[Jock67B]

Inspirational piece of work Neil, looking forward to the next stage!

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Anotheran]

This weekend has been about gardening and electrical design. So no more track until next weekend because I need to make sure that I've got all of the decouplers in the right places and worked out my finalised wiring layout before I get the rest of the track down.

 

So progress to date... I'm splitting it into traction, layout control and signalling as my points and signals will be servo driven on a MERG CBUS network. So today I've been looking at traction. We all know that DCC can be wired with just two wires (right?) Well in my case it would be just two rails as I'm using the old track I bought last week as my DCC bus. If I wanted pure DCC for traction then the wiring would be pretty simple...

 

 

Here I've flipped the layout (so we're looking at the bottom of the board. My bus is split in two (because of the split board) and every point and piece of track is wired direct to the bus. As I said above I'm following Jeff on power, and all track lengths over 50 cm have two connections. I've not put in the wiring for the frogs here (just the stock rails) as power for the frogs comes via the microswitches attached to the servos.

 

So it looks fairly simple!

 

However, my intention is to be able to run all of the layout DC if I wish, so I need to have isolation on the various sidings. And, to complicate it further I intend to use the MERG ATC system to automate shuttle running from the bottom two cassettes (top two in the flipped picture above) to the platform road. This means that these need to be on separate circuits that can be connected up to the main bus when required. This gives me a slightly more complex system...

 

 

Here I've numbered the bus sections (and will do so on the real thing!) to make some explanations easier. You'll see my representation of some switches. They are in two types (you may need to click on the picture to enlarge it to see them). The ones with green heads are two way to simply isolate a section of track. The ones with pink heads are three way to switch between the main bus, isolated or the ATC system. It does make the wiring somewhat more complex, but still relatively simple I think.

 

The switches are only representative at the moment. I may use some initially while testing my wiring, but they will ultimately be replaced with latching relays that will in turn be controlled through the MERG CBUS system. This will allow me to switch in and out sections as required using the same control panel as is used for the rest of the layout control.

 

That's as far as I've gone so far. I'm still refining it, and looking at the LCB (layout control bus) piece as I can't design them in complete isolation as they all need to fit under the board. But for this entry I needed to keep them separate or my rambling would have turned everybody away. But I'm rather enjoying this!

 

Kind regards, Neil

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Anotheran
Adding back images lost by site change

[Anotheran]

Having just got off the train and walked from the station (only a mile) I was delighted to see a small package from MERG. I only ordered late Tuesday night, fantastic service from the kit locker team! It was my first set of relay mount boards and latching relays. So what do you do after a train journey and walk at midnight... switch the soldering iron on of course! (it's a good job I'm not tidy and hadn't actually put it away after I last used it or I'd never have been enthusiastic enough to get it out!)

 

Now they're not the most complex piece of work I've ever done. In fact it only took 5 minutes for four of them once the iron was hot, but it was nice to have a change from soldering wires to track. Four of these were made up:

 

 

The actual size is 48 x 36 mm, so they don't take a lot of space. Yes, I could have done them in strip-board, but the kit's a neat little bit of green that will match the various circuit-boards under my boards, and the terminal blocks will mean no under board soldering for the relays.

 

In case you weren't paying attention, the switches in my wiring diagram above will be replaced by relays that will in turn be controlled by the MERG layout control bus.

 

But now, I really must get some sleep .

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by Anotheran
Adding back images lost by site change

[Memphis32]

Are you not putting in the coil suppression diodes?

[Anotheran]

Hi Memphis. I meant to say, so am not surprised that someone spotted it... I put the wrong part number in my order so got the wrong ones. A Rapid order last night contained the right ones which should arrive tomorrow... so they will go in 

Edited October 3, 2014 by Anotheran