Construction of a Test Track

Tell us about your layout, where you put it, how you built it, how you operate it.
Colin Parks

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Colin Parks » Tue Jul 31, 2018 4:01 pm

Hello Terry.

Yes, I agree with you that hot rails will move. That has been made clear to me from experience in the recent heat wave. However, the movement might not always be (and was not in my case) linear!

All the best,

Colin

Colin Parks

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Colin Parks » Tue Jul 31, 2018 5:30 pm

steve howe wrote:
When I was at Pendon this weekend, I was told that Guy Williams used to roll up taper boilers in this way, the seam finished at a perfect joint for soldering. When onloooking tutees gasped in amazement and asked "how did you do that?" his response (as one would expect of a retired Headmaster) was "Oh do pay attention!!" and just rolled off another one.

Steve


Yes Steve, but Guy Williams had a gift which not many possess!

All the best,

Colin

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Will L
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Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Will L » Tue Jul 31, 2018 9:02 pm

Colin Parks wrote:Yes Steve, but Guy Williams had a gift which not many possess!


Undoubtedly true, but not necessity in the metal bending department. Mostly, many just havn't given it a go.

Will

Tony Wilkins
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Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:57 pm

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Tony Wilkins » Wed Aug 01, 2018 11:37 am

Will L wrote:
Colin Parks wrote:Yes Steve, but Guy Williams had a gift which not many possess!


Undoubtedly true, but not necessity in the metal bending department. Mostly, many just havn't given it a go.

Will


Ah yes, but how many attempts did it take Guy to perfect his method? Guess we will never know.
Practice makes perfect.
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

Colin Parks

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Colin Parks » Fri Aug 10, 2018 9:50 pm

Good point Tony!

Guy Williams was quite self-effacing when I met him and saw his Pendon locomotives on display at a Bristol show. But once mastered, his rolling/bending technique definitely stood him in good stead for all those fine models he produced.

Colin

Barry Davis
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Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:49 pm

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Barry Davis » Sat Sep 01, 2018 10:31 pm

Hello Colin,

Nice to see how you layout is progressing. As you know I live in Napier in New Zealand, and our out side temperatures range from approx -2 deg. in winter to + 33 deg. Celsius in summer.

When I lay track in the summer I allow an expansion gap of approx .25 to .5 mm and when I lay track in the winter I allow an expansion gap of approx 1 to 1.5 mm. I have had no problems with rail distortion, but sometime in the summer I get electrical shorts caused by the gaps in the crossing V's closing up, easily solved with a fine razor saw.

As a point of interest, I have noticed that in height of summer the roof conduits on the Hornby 2 BIL units buckle and distort but return to normal when the summer temperatures drop about 10 degrees.

Barry

Colin Parks

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Colin Parks » Thu Sep 06, 2018 6:55 pm

Hello Barry,

After a rather unfortunate chest infection, seven days in hospital and convalescence I have just got around to posting a reply. The [outdoor] temperature range in Mid-Wales could now be said to be from -20 to 34C. The temperature range in my workshop where the test track resides is in the region of 5 to 25C. This is less extreme range is due to Velux roof light ventilation and a very well insulated roof, which comprises of plasterboard, 100mm Celotex insulation (as in the Grenfell tower disaster) and an air gap of 30mm between the insulation and the slated roof.

All the gaps have returned to normal, so I am assuming that there was only one tight spot on the track.

Re. the Hornby 2 BIL and its 'conduit' (using the term loosely), when I re-worked the roof details on my 2 BIL, I initiallly used brass rod for all conduits, In warm weather the brass rod buckled. This must have been due to the difference in the coeffcient of linear expansion of brass and the polystyrene body shell. I have never ever hand any of these problems with my scratch-built EMUs which all, bar the 2HAL which has some .009" guitar string on the lighting conduits, have plastic rod for roof conduits.

There is a picture of my solution the the Hornby 2 BIL conduits conundrum here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... il/page-15 - if you have not seen it before.

All the best,

Colin

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Le Corbusier
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Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Le Corbusier » Thu Sep 06, 2018 7:50 pm

Colin Parks wrote:After a rather unfortunate chest infection, seven days in hospital and convalescence I have just got around to posting a reply.


Sorry to hear you have been ill Colin .... sounds miserable. Glad you are on the mend. :thumb
Tim Lee

Colin Parks

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Colin Parks » Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:22 pm

Thanks Tim. I think I have missed a few updates on your Monsal Dale topic, so will have look through that later.

All the best,

Colin

Colin Parks

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Colin Parks » Thu Sep 06, 2018 9:26 pm

A few process photos of the lever frame levers being fitted with piano wire drive pins. Needless to say I deviated from the instructions, having a slight concern that soldering a 1.4mm dia. rod into a 1.4 mm dia. hole would not allow sufficient space for the solder to flow. so I used a subtly over-size drill to open out the holes in the levers.
This version of the lever drive pin position is for fitting to the locking frame and using the drive from the cam plates. Hope I am soldering into the correct holes! After the first drive pins was soldered in place I realised that it was just as easy to fit the pins before the etched cusps and excess solder were removed from the laminated levers. The first six or seven levers had rather too much solder used around the edges, but as the laminating process became more familiar, less solder was used. I have been rather generous with the soldering of the drive pins, adding a touch more solder around the hole, which will need cleaning up, but at least I am sure the pin is securely held.

The thoroughly cleaned piano wire had one end ground to a square end and was tinned with 179C solder and 'Lot Honig' flux was applied. The lever was returned to the assembly jig for soldering, with a hole drilled to allow the piano wire to protrude by the required amount (well, just a bit more to be sure). As can be seen, the wire was checked for squareness to the lever.
IMG_8963.JPG


The next photo is not exactly a P4 solution, but is a very quick way to cut piano wire to nearly the right length. Yes, they are indeeed 24" bolt cutters!
IMG_8966 (2).JPG


The trimmed drive pin now needed grinding to finished overall length (3.2 - 4 mm, as Howard says in the instructions).
IMG_8967 (2).JPG


Seen here is the drive pin gound to length. The grinding was done using a bench grinder with a fine grinding wheel. I was aware of the chance that heat from the grinding process would melt the solder, but taking it gently and occasionally blowing on the pin to cool it, avoided any build up of heat. The burrs will be dealt with during the clean up stage.
IMG_8968 (2).JPG


...and finally, as a displacement activity to avoid working on the levers, two more banana vans (the l/h and r/h end of the group of four) have been converted to P4 and have Dingham couplings to one end - one van has a loop and one has a latch. I changed the buffers to the Lanarkshire Oleo 13" type and added extra weight inside with acccess gained by prising off the roofs. This last action proved to be a very bad idea, with many parts being damaged. All damage has now been restored, though there is still some weathering to be done around the buffers. The Ratio early BR banana van is still missing its vertical door catch rods (11 years and counting since I knew that this feature was missing from the moulding).
IMG_8969.JPG
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grovenor-2685
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Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby grovenor-2685 » Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:45 pm

Further discussion of chairs and rail mismatches now at https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=6083
Rgds
Regards
Keith
Grovenor Sidings

Colin Parks

Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby Colin Parks » Thu Nov 01, 2018 7:02 pm

Fitting Dinghams couplings to the Class 73 should have been a quick win. Well it was not quite like that. The 73's buffers have been set in the extended position, which was also to allow clearance for the coupling the lift without fouling the Pullman buffing plate. That did not prove to be the case, so the buffing plates have had to be set back by 1.5 mm, which does not look too bad. At least the dummy buckeye couplers can be fitted in the dropped position to the Dingham hooks, which should improve the front end appearance. The actuating wire on the Dingham loop is still a 'work in progress' at present.

IMG_8985.JPG


The ideal buffing gap that I am aiming for is 1.5 mm between buffer heads when the vehicles are pulled. Tests will prove if this is adequate on a long-wheel base locomotive with the couplings fixed to the headstocks. Short wheelbase wagons negotiate the trackwork with no issues.

IMG_8986 (2).JPG


The wagon looks a bit rough. It has just been fitted with LMS (as in Dave Franks) buffers. They need a second coat of paint.
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JFS
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Re: Construction of a Test Track

Postby JFS » Tue Jun 29, 2021 8:05 am

Dear fellow members,

Colin's brother, Barry Parks, has asked me to post the following message on his behalf.

"I am selling the 4mm scale model railway collection of my late brother, Colin Parks, on behalf of his wife. This includes the “Test Track” described in this thread.
It consists of three Tim Horn baseboards, and appears to be fully wired for DCC, with mechanical rodding for point operation. The wiring allows for additional baseboards to be added at the non-station end. See photos on page 18 of this thread.
From the track plan (which is loosely a reversed version of Seaford in East Sussex, before it became a single long siding), it seems that Colin intended it to be operated using EMUs. Although none of the tracks have 3rd rail fitted, there is likely sufficient rail and S4 Society/Peco parts to add this, which can be purchased separately, if wanted.
The three boards would either have to be collected (from west Gloucestershire), or could be taken part/half way to the purchasers location for a “handover”.
For further details see: http://www.deangoods.co.uk/4mm_wagons.html

Barry can be contacted directly via the email link at the top of the page linked above, or via the telephone number on his home page:- http://www.deangoods.co.uk/


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