South Pelaw Junction

Tell us about your layout, where you put it, how you built it, how you operate it.
Armchair Modeller

Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby Armchair Modeller » Mon Mar 23, 2020 2:22 pm

John Donnelly wrote:
Serjt-Dave wrote:It beats looking at the television. LOL. I can't see my wife agreeing to allow me to do this in our front room.


As a widower, there is no domestic authority to object...


What about the neighbours, when you start knocking holes through the walls to accommodate the next set of baseboards? ;)

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Mon Mar 23, 2020 2:26 pm

Armchair Modeller wrote:What about the neighbours, when you start knocking holes through the walls to accommodate the next set of baseboards? ;)


Got that covered as well, I live in a detached house :mrgreen:

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Paul Willis
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby Paul Willis » Mon Mar 23, 2020 6:17 pm

John Donnelly wrote:
Armchair Modeller wrote:What about the neighbours, when you start knocking holes through the walls to accommodate the next set of baseboards? ;)


Got that covered as well, I live in a detached house :mrgreen:


Surely the primary reason for living in a detached house is Motorhead, and a set of speakers that go up to eleven?

Flymo, confused/
Beware of Trains - occasional modelling in progress!
www.5522models.co.uk

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:11 pm

Got the speakers but not a Motörhead fan...

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:54 am

Track work continues...

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Tue Apr 07, 2020 10:15 am

Another, small, milestone tonight as both the up and down main have been completed across the two boards I have at home (giving a 12' run in both directions) so, for the first time, the bridge has two, fully functional, tracks running under it...

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:57 pm

Testing, testing and more testing...

It occurred to me this morning that an ideal vehicle for testing the track was my never fully completed Penbits Bogie conversion of the Bachmann Class 24. Mechanically it is complete but cosmetically, I never finished it as the SLW 24 came along. As it has no bogie sides, it is great for testing as it is much easier to see what the wheels are doing when going over point work.

At the real South Pelaw Junction, the maximum permitted speed was 25mph so no need for express train speeds but I thought I'd run a couple of tests of the curved route of the single slip at speed so here are a couple of short videos of the 24 at speed over the formation. The track on the left hand end is deliberately dead for now to stop anything from running in to the wall.





The Class 31 in the background still does not always make it through without a derailment but, seeing what the 24 can do, whilst there is still some adjusting to be done, I'm a lot more positive about the accuracy of the track than I was a couple of days ago...

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Sun Apr 26, 2020 3:23 am

Another turnout completed (apart from the tie bar and a few chairs that will be fitted after testing):

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Not the best photo as it is against the light and the depth of field isn't great but, hopefully, if shows the flow of the track through this part of the junction:

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:16 am

Trackwork looking great there John. Well done. It's nice to see you up nice and early this morning, 03:23.

Keep Safe

Dave

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:47 am

Thanks Dave, I've gone all night without getting any sleep so got an early start on track laying again this morning.

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Thu May 07, 2020 12:24 pm

Waiting on more track parts so here are a couple more photos:

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Tue May 12, 2020 9:06 pm

Having screwed up and ordered the wrong chairs from the stores, track laying is on hold so I figured I might as well start with some of the land forms. The original plan was to use polystyrene but, as a trip to B&Q for stuff for toy trains isn't exactly essential travel, I've gone old school and used card board and MDF formers covered in paper mâché for the first board.

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Porcy Mane
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby Porcy Mane » Wed May 13, 2020 2:29 pm

John Donnelly wrote: I've gone old school and used card board and MDF formers covered in paper mâché for the first board.


Flour & water paste ???? That'll get the living room smelling "old school".

P

CornCrake
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby CornCrake » Wed May 13, 2020 3:13 pm

Nice straight rails, what's the secret?

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Wed May 13, 2020 4:21 pm

Porcy Mane wrote:
Flour & water paste ????

P


Not quite that old school, watered down PVA.

Hope you're well...

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Wed May 13, 2020 4:24 pm

CornCrake wrote:Nice straight rails, what's the secret?


First rail laid up against a straight edge with lots of looking along the rail from low down as I go. Second rail is laid with as many track gauges I can get my hands on.

Fortunately, the plastic chairs on ply sleepers allows for adjustment if need be...

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Wed May 27, 2020 9:15 am

The best laid plans...

My plan was always to get all the track laid, wired and fully functional before moving on with anything else. However, with lockdown meaning I only have access to two of the three scenic boards, this has not proved possible so I'm been dotting around doing different bits here and there. The arrival of a static grass applicator last week has meant that I've made a start on part of the scenery with initial layers of grass.

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:46 pm

With the easing of lockdown, the layout is now back 'home' at the club and here are the scenic boards set up:

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As an aside, another club member is building a model of Eastfield shed in Glasgow in O Gauge. It now takes up the width of the room and goes all the way back to the coloured walls in the background a space of almost 70' * 30'...

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Julian Roberts
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby Julian Roberts » Wed Aug 19, 2020 9:14 am

John what are you doing for turnout switch tiebars (you mentioned them April 25th)? And I think you use Screwfix trestles for some parts of the layout?

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Wed Aug 19, 2020 12:38 pm

Still not 100% certain but I'm probably going to go with the method in the 4th post of this thread on RMWeb with the copper clad pads connected by a wire:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index ... nt-motors/

Plan is to get the track completed on the main lines (the left most two in the first photo), get the turnouts operational so I get trains running end to end and then work my way across from there.

Yes, the trestles are from Screwfix. They still need modifying with some form of fine adjustment although, as the layout isn't likely to move for a long time now, there is no urgency.

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Julian Roberts
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby Julian Roberts » Fri Aug 21, 2020 7:54 am

Thanks John. I'm trying out Masokits. I'll describe on my Etched Chairs thread when I've got them done. Great layout by the way, an inspiration.

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Sun Aug 23, 2020 10:56 am

Julian Roberts wrote:Thanks John. I'm trying out Masokits.


Are you driving the turnouts from the tie bars or are they just cosmetic?

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Julian Roberts
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby Julian Roberts » Mon Aug 31, 2020 8:55 pm

Apologies John I didn't see your post. The Masokits stretcher bars are very robust so I will use them to drive the switch. The little ears with holes through which to thread an operating rod can be removed before construction if you don't intend to use them. I'm still intermittently playing around with the switch with Brasso to free up the movement - having used cigarette paper the clearance under the stock rails was too tight. I'll write up progress on that thread in due course.

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John Donnelly
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby John Donnelly » Tue Sep 01, 2020 9:05 am

Thanks Julian, I may take a look at them.

John

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: South Pelaw Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Tue Sep 01, 2020 10:18 am

I use the Masokits Tie bars and found them very good and reliable {so far}. As Julian said they are very robust as they are all soldered and the rail are soldered them. To connect them to the servos I soldered thin brass tubing where the little tags are on the tie bar and two brass rods/pins slide through them into more brass tubing which is attached to the drive mechanism.

Keep Safe


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