A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Tell us about your layout, where you put it, how you built it, how you operate it.
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Ian Everett
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby Ian Everett » Sat May 24, 2014 1:25 pm

I suffered a short (or at least a fault which disappeared when I disconnected one circuit) on Clecklewyke on the Sunday afternoon of Scalefour North. This forced us to adopt single line working, running all trains on the up line - very appropriate for Sunday working!

I still haven't had a chance to set up the layout again after the show and check it through - no doubt it will be very tedious and difficult to trace.

Which has caused me to read very carefully Don Rowland's article in the current Scalefour News about using battery power and radio control. (And here we are nearly back on topic - at least it is one of Don's layouts.)

This looks very tempting, not least because it would eliminate track wiring (except for re-charging points and points/signals) and reduce the problem of unexplained short circuits. Using one supplier - Lococontrol - it appears that a simple one-loco starter set would cost only £60 - £70 and I am very tempted!

I'm thinking of setting up a new topic on radio control if this would be of interest to others. Has anyone any experience or interest in such a topic and would like to contribute to a discussion about it (elsewhere, to avoid hijacking John's topic?

Ian

Ian

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Tim V
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby Tim V » Sun May 25, 2014 1:36 pm

Go on Ian, though I will be a critc!
Tim V
(Not all railways in Somerset went to Dorset)

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jsherratt
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Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2008 3:21 pm

Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby jsherratt » Thu May 29, 2014 9:45 am

Ian,

This is not actually that far off topic here. I remember Don telling me some years ago that his original plan when the layout was being set up in his conservatory was to use 12 volt DC for most of the railway, but use radio control in the marshalling yard at Alpraham Sidings. A dedicated fleet of 2 or 3 radio control 3 F tanks would be used here with conventional 12 volt DC locos working the rest of the system. Sadly, the untimely passing of Bernard Weller lead to this system not being available so Don wired the yard up in the conventional manner for 12 volt DC.

Since my last post, there has been a working afternoon on the layout with my friends David Burton, John Degg, Bill Wood and Will Litchfield, thanks chaps. As a result of this, several recalcitrant points motors have now been prompted bag in to life and a few more wiring gremlins banished, largely in the area of the station. It is a lot easier to do this with several people - not easy to poke around under the board, fire the motor at the panel and look to see if the blades move all at the same time! Track has also been relaid round the curve in the goods loops where baseboard misalignment from when the layout was set up here had caused dodgy joints. So steady progress is still being made.

John

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Ian Everett
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby Ian Everett » Thu May 29, 2014 10:28 am

Ian Everett wrote:I suffered a short (or at least a fault which disappeared when I disconnected one circuit) on Clecklewyke on the Sunday afternoon of Scalefour North. This forced us to adopt single line working, running all trains on the up line - very appropriate for Sunday working!

I still haven't had a chance to set up the layout again after the show and check it through - no doubt it will be very tedious and difficult to trace.
Ian


I now have set up the layout again in its home and there is no sign of any short. It all works perfectly.

Heat, expansion, bare wires occasionally touching???

I almost wish the short was still there, then I would be motivated to work out what was causing it!

By the way, what is the size of your layout? I'm planning something of the same order of complexity (but with a fiddle yard and a smaller marshalling yard) and I wonder how Don fitted it all in. No doubt somewhere in his writings this information can be found but my trawl of MRJ and Snooze has yet to reveal it.

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jsherratt
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby jsherratt » Sat May 31, 2014 10:13 am

Hello Ian.

From memory - the whole layout is about 17 ft 10 inches by about 10 ft 6 inches - or thereabouts. It was planned I believe to be a snug fit inside the conservatory at Don's house.

The track is quite close to the edge of the baseboard in a few places - and sheets of perspex have been screwed to the edge of the baseboard in these spots so that any accidental derailments do not lead to a sudden nosedive on to the hard wooden floor :o

As I have a bit more flexibility with space here, I have plans to add a bit more scenery round the outside - probably just to a depth of 3 - 4 inches to set the railway in the landscape a bit more. There have also been suggestions about adding another loop (or two) to the outside for some more storage. I am still thinking about this one.

And now as it's Saturday - back to the workbench.

John

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Tim V
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby Tim V » Sat May 31, 2014 10:51 am

Ian Everett wrote:I now have set up the layout again in its home and there is no sign of any short. It all works perfectly.

Heat, expansion, bare wires occasionally touching???

I almost wish the short was still there, then I would be motivated to work out what was causing it!


I'd suggest it is the angles of baseboards to each other. Try lifting each baseboard relative to each other, see if that replicates the short.

One of the problems of multiple legs, something I reduced by having a sub frame.
Tim V
(Not all railways in Somerset went to Dorset)

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jsherratt
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby jsherratt » Fri Apr 10, 2020 8:38 am

Hello All.

I’m surprised how long it is since I posted anything on here about the railway here. In these difficult times it is good to just set the trains running round and to sit down and watch. I can share this clip with you:

https://youtu.be/tqDKnyj81Jo

The sidings normally are a lot more full of wagons. The 3F is a Bachmann one running on an Easichas. The brake van at the end of the train is also Bachmann with 3F wheels dropped in. Going the other way, the GWR 517 Class is an old Mallard kit built in the 1980’s by a friend of mine. It came to me as a swap for building some 0 gauge wagons for him and after some repairs and a repaint is now in service. The GWR coaches are a set of Hornby non-corridor ones with P4 wheels dropped in after some work with a big file. I know the roofs are too clean, it is on the to-do list

Stay safe and well - John

ralphrobertson
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby ralphrobertson » Fri Apr 10, 2020 9:07 am

That's all running very nicely John. Would be nice to see Alex Jackson's loco running like that too!

Ralph

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BryanJohnson
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby BryanJohnson » Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:45 pm

John,

Could you please expand on the big file work for the Hornby coaches? I also have a rake of 4 to convert but haven't started yet.

Thanks in anticipation.

Bryan

DougN
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Re: A New Home for the Central Cheshire Lines

Postby DougN » Sun Oct 04, 2020 9:46 am

John, the layout worked very well in the video and has inspired me to reread MRJ 138 and 139. The idea of a operational layout with fiddle yard on view. I will be interested to see what your plans are to develop the scenic work. Matching into what is there already will be a bit of challange but I can see you have already had that with the new trackwork and electrical bits. :thumb
Doug
Still not doing enough modelling


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