Edington Junction

Tell us about your layout, where you put it, how you built it, how you operate it.
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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Mon May 13, 2019 4:38 pm

Hi All. Today I received the first two panels for my backscene and I think they look rather splendid. Only issue was the right hand panel end wasn't 100% square so couldn't join the two together, so the artist has taken it back to address this.

This part of the backscene sits in front of the Highbridge line to give the appearance that the line goes off in another direction. In the second image where the coach is, this is where the line will go through the backscene. To help defuse the sudden disappearance of the train there will be a sort of tapering screen which will sit in front of the line so to help shield the hole in the backscene. There will also be a copes of trees to help in the illusion. The trees etc will start just after the end of the Down Siding, so where the Guard end of the coach is, it should be almost hidden from view. Thankfully in real life there was a copes of trees in that area. Eventually once I start doing the scenic's in that area between the Bridgewater branch and the backscene the ground will slightly rise up from the line to just before the backscene, again this should give the effect making the backscene look further away.

All Best

Dave

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CDGFife
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby CDGFife » Wed May 15, 2019 3:37 pm

Dave this is looking excellent. Watching with interest for the next stages. Keep it up!!

Chris

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Wed May 15, 2019 5:21 pm

Thanks Chris, will do. The backscene will be the most professional bit about my layout. LOL.

All Best

Dave

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Noel
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Noel » Wed May 15, 2019 7:27 pm

Serjt-Dave wrote:The backscene will be the most professional bit about my layout.


It is very neatly done. It's a shame that it looks so unlike any English countryside I've ever seen, and in particular, the countryside around the Edington station site. England is green, mostly, certainly, but definitely not all the same hue, and the land around the station site is very flat for up to a couple of miles, the most prominent objects being buildings and trees. The colours seem to lack the change in hue which comes from distance as well.
Regards
Noel

Alan Woodard
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Alan Woodard » Wed May 15, 2019 8:19 pm

I like it. it reminds me of an area between Swindon and Bristol on the M4. The hue for me is just right if the sky was a little darker. But hey, I'd have it on my layout.

Al.

John Palmer
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby John Palmer » Thu May 16, 2019 1:53 am

Dave, I have to say that I share some of Noel's views about the backscene.

Here is a selection of views I have culled from Street View and annotated to give some idea of location and direction of shot:
Levels horizons.jpg
You can see that in some places the line of the Mendip and Polden ridges shows up quite well - they are quite a bit more blue than the foreground scene, and a little washed out from atmospheric dust etc (but not much - shots were taken on a clear day).

I fancy the green in your backscene could do with a bit more yellow in it. As it stands, it is a trifle on the lush side.

The two shots taken at Huntspill Crossing (next manned crossing west of Edington) are representative of the open meadows in this area, allowing long distance views completely devoid of undulations until you reach the Mendips or Poldens, with the exception of Brent Knoll, a prominence visible over quite long distances across the Levels. Glastonbury Tor is also just about visible, but at this distance from it you have to know where to look for it. At the site of Edington station it has become a little more apparent, but can hardly be said to be a dominating feature of the landscape.

By Shapwick, you are moving into an area in which trees and bushes more severely constrict the horizon. Distant prospects still occasionally open up, but it is not until you pass Aqueduct Crossing that you get a view of Glastonbury unobstructed by trees and hedges.

This first section of the Somerset Central is carried over the peat moors on a formation resting on fagots such as to elevate it only a foot or so above the surrounding countryside. So devoid of contours is this part of the route that your view goes no further than the nearest line of trees or bushes - though the pictures show that in somes cases these can be several hundred yards away.

I would love to see a backscene that captures these characteristics of this distinctive and special landscape, and as yet I think your artist has missed a trick or two. Sorry for the critical note; hope the pictures help.
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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:04 am

Hi All. A long over due update on the progress at Edington Junction. I'm about three quarter of the way round the scenic part of the layout {fiddle yard will be done at a later date}. I'm over the biggest hurdle {for me anyway} making the point work, with only one point and one trap point to construct. I've just started laying and wiring up the junction area but my aim is to have a complete circuit by the end of November. I've included some images of the progress of the backscene which I'm having done, and before anyone says anything it's not fitted to the layout yet but just roughly placed on the boards.

00A Station East End.jpg
00A Station West End.jpg
00A Junction East.jpg
00A Junction West.jpg
00A Panel 1.jpg
00A Panel 2.jpg
00A Panel 3.jpg
00A Panel 4.jpg


All Best

Dave
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Paul Hutfield
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Paul Hutfield » Fri Oct 18, 2019 5:25 pm

Great to see more progress Dave, I've been keeping an eye out for your next progress update! Your track work looks excellent, very impressive! Have you managed to make a start on the 1P's yet?

Best Wishes

Paul

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Sat Oct 19, 2019 3:15 pm

Thanks Paul. To be honest track making is beginning to do my head in. I'm just glad that it's near coming to an end {the scenic part anyway}. By the end of November I hope to have the scenic side of the track made and laid, then I'm going to crack on with making locos and rolling stock. So the 1P's hopefully will be started early next year.

Back to the layout I have now laid all the junction and have all the dropper wires etc in place. Will get on with fitting motors {servos} to the points, get them all working and then thoroughly test it all.

Will post updates as soon as things progress.

All Best

Dave

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:53 am

Hi All, just a brief update for Edington Junction. Have basically finished making and laying the scenic track {except for the bay platform siding an Down siding, which I'll tackle early next year}, and have it all wired up to the BUS WIRES. The area where the fiddle/storage yard will be I have just temporarily laid some flexi track so I can complete the circuit. It will do for the time being until I decide how I'm going to do the storage yard and when I have enough stock to store on it anyway. LOL. To my surprise it all seems to work though I've only hard wired the points up in the junction area to enable me to run trains around the Highbridge and Bridgewater Brunches. Again I'll tackle fitting the point motors {servos} in the New Year. I need a break from the track side of things for a while.

With all this track to play with my attention turned to keeping it clean. It took me a best part of an hour to clean it using cotton buds, so a more efficient method is called for. As with many things in my modeling career {trains not posing for a glossy mag} the simplest of tasks always turns round and bites me. I will cover this in my next thread in "On my workbench" later in the week.

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As you can see, there some caps in the sleepers on the right hand track. This is courtesy of C&L Finescale supplying a length of EM gauge track in with the P$ stuff I picked up at Warley. I had to route round in my bits and bobs box to find any replacement sleeper sections.
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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:10 pm

I thought I better do a update on my layout as I've not done one since December last year. To be honest it's only been the last couple of weeks or so that I've done any work on the layout and most of that has been under the baseboards rather than anything visual. The only scenic work I've done is put up a couple more of the backscene panels and managed to f##k one of them up in the process by misreading a measurement and cutting it too short around a light fitting. After which I thought it would be better to move onto something else.

My attention has been mainly focused on getting the point work up and running so I can then thoughtfully test all the track work with the intent to start adding the chairs, painting and ballasting etc. So under each point {including catch points} I made up plates of 9mm ply which will hold all the working gubbings so this can be assembled on my workbench rather than upside down under the baseboards. The operating system I've opted for is a Megapoint system. For my test track I used a Merg system which I really like but for some reason {probably dazzled by the LED's etc} I brought the Megapoint system. Wiring the Megapoint units up is very quick and easy as it's a very much plug and play. However I found setting up the servos and adjusting them was a pain but I'm now getting used to how the system works. I made up a temporary control panel to house the circuit boards to have something to attach the switches to. Once things are tested and working properly I'll transfer control of the points {and eventually signals} to a lever frame. The servo driver boards can then be fitted under the baseboards on a accessible panel and the mother board will be housed in the main control panel. This will help reduce the amount of wires coming from the layout to the control panel. With the Megapoint's system this is just one network cable.

I'm about half way through wiring up the 12 points but have run out of brass tubing and Squires are taking their time in sending me my order, it's only been a week. I would have preferred to have ordered from Elaine's Emporium but they didn't have the size I needed. Till my order turns up it's back to the 4f.

Here's a couple of images showing how I set up the components to motorise the points. Too connect the workings to the point itself I made up some brass pins that go through the tie bar then through some brass tubes which are attached to the C&L slidey thing.
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Dave
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Paul Townsend
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Paul Townsend » Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:31 pm

I like the look of your thumbscrew length adjuster.
Is that a commercuial item or DiY ?

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Wed Mar 11, 2020 7:03 am

Hi Paul. The adjuster is home brewed. A bit of 2mm {1mm id} tubing flattened off at one end to take a 10BA nut, which is then soldered to the tube. If I could have found out where you could have brought these I would have. Still it does the job.

Dave

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:59 pm

Hi All. A short up date. Having wired up the point work and got it running almost flawlessly, almost. I decided to erect a couple more of my backscene panels. This has almost completed the scenic side leaving only the extreme ends to do. However I'm not going to get those in the current climate. When the artist does come over he will also sort out and blend in the panel joins, fixing holes etc. I've also got to explain to him how I managed to screw up one of the panels when I got the measurement wrong when I cut around the light fitting. It's true whet they say measure twice and cut once. It also didn't help me reading the measurement upside down.

Probably the next job I should do is finish making the last bit of track work in the station area.

Keep Safe.

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Thu May 28, 2020 10:05 am

Hi All. I hope your all keeping safe and well. A little progress has been made on my layout with the last bit of scenic track being made and laid. This was the track for the Bay Platform and Up Siding. All points and traps are motorised and I have installed electro magnets for the S&W couplings. You can see I've made up some mock up of the station buildings and signals etc. This was done to give me some idea of how things will look and plus I got board one afternoon. Next is to start at one end of the scenic section and work all the way through checking for rail alignment at the joints, joint heights, tight spots through point work etc. Thankfully there' not too much to sort.

Keep Safe

Dave

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Mon Aug 24, 2020 12:07 pm

Hi All. I hope you're are all well and keeping safe. Not done much on my layout since the last update back in May, it's been to hot to climb and crawl over the layout. But as a result of replacing my ZTC controller for the MERG system I needed somewhere to house the MERG command station so I took the opportunity to build a proper control panel and start to make my wiring more permanent. As you can see from the image that it's not finished though the construction is complete. Apart from painting the woodwork I have still to install are the momentary switches for the electro-magnets uncouplers. The command station and Megapoint point controller are fitted inside and as you can see I've also installed my lever frame. If you look closely at the righthand side of the frame about 6 or so levers in from the edge you'll see a bloody great dent in the top plate. What happened was when I was wiring the frame up I must have caught one of the wires by mistake and pulled the lever frame off my workbench and took a nose dive via my shin onto the floor resulting in the dent, three bent levers and a 2" gash in my leg. After much causing and seeking first aid I managed to straighten the levers but couldn't do too much to push out the dent. I'll have to live with it along with the scar across my shin. The control panel may look a bit big for what I need but about a quarter of it will be used to operate the fiddle yard and storage area as well.

Keep Safe
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DougN
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby DougN » Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:30 am

That control panel looks great. It is exactly what I have been thinking about for my P4 layout... hadn't got any further than thinking though! You've given me an idea.., and it is perfect for our lock down... maybe when my enthusiasm for working on my V2's has disappeared.. a bit of wood work could be the answer! :thumb
Doug
Still not doing enough modelling

Steve Carter
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Steve Carter » Tue Aug 25, 2020 10:58 am

Love the control panel Dave.
Theres enough room for more lever frames. How about 30 ‘spares’ :roll:
Steve Carter

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Tue Aug 25, 2020 12:48 pm

Thanks Neil and Steve. I pinched the basic idea for my control panel from a layout called Kerrinhead. Although at some point I was going to need a control panel it wasn't a job I planned for at this time. When my ZTC controller started burning out motors I need to replace it and as I was planning on using the MERG System I might as well get that now. Which meant it was pointless wiring up the new controller to the temporary control panel, in turn meant it was also pointless using the temporary control panel switches if I was going to use a lever frame so one thing led to another. I still have to wire in the switches for the electro-magnets and paint the case etc but that's the main wiring done until I add signals and the fiddle yard.

Steve, you can go off some people. LOL.

Keep Safe

Steve Carter
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Steve Carter » Tue Aug 25, 2020 2:24 pm

Serjt-Dave wrote:Steve, you can go off some people. LOL.


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Steve Carter

Philip Hall
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Philip Hall » Tue Aug 25, 2020 3:28 pm

Dave,

You might have written about this before, so apologies if so, but what is the underlay you’ve used for the track? It looks like the rubberised cork kind, rather than plain cork, and at what thickness please? Presumably it’s quite smooth and stable.

Philip

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:59 am

Hi Phillip. Yes that's correct rubberised cork from C&L. It's 3mm thick off the top of my head, if it's any different I'll let you know. I've not had any issues with it. Some of it has been down for about two years and had no lifting or bubbling.

Keep Safe

Terry Bendall
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Terry Bendall » Wed Aug 26, 2020 8:08 am

Serjt-Dave wrote:but couldn't do too much to push out the dent.


It may be too late now but one solution would be to rest the frame on a piece of flat smooth metal and use the end of a round or square bar and a hammer to push out the dent. The end of the bar needs to be flat and smooth. A piece of wood would also probably work. Depends of course if you can get the bar in the right place.

Terry Bendall

Philip Hall
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Philip Hall » Wed Aug 26, 2020 8:33 am

Thanks Dave,

I quite like the idea of the rubberised cork, might be a bit better for sound insulation that standard cork.

Philip

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: Edington Junction

Postby Serjt-Dave » Wed Aug 26, 2020 9:50 am

Hi Phillip., no worries. I found under timber sleepers there's still some noise transfer {hopefully the will reduce with ballasting, scenic etc} but under plastic sleepers it's very quite. In fact when I first started running trains I had to double check that the trains hadn't derailed when they went from the scenic side with wood sleepers to the fiddle yard with plastic sleepers.

Hi Terry, I understand what you mean but the problem is that the whole frame was fully assembled, screwed to a wooden base, all the micro switches fitted and wired up. Even if I had taken it off it's wooden base I doubt I could get anything up there to push the dent out from underneath. In a bad light and from about a mile away you can hardly see the dent. LOL. If I ever need to strip the frame down {god forbid} I'll sort it then but till then it can be a talking point along with the scar on my leg.

Keep Safe


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