Thursday 22nd May

Work log:

Review the new board for the estate yard.
Review Geoff's research into permanent magnets for Kadee uncouplers.
Work out how to fit and then fit some.
Review all other magnet positions.
Review point operation.
Review the new board for the fiddle yard.

As you can see, there was a lot of thinking this week, but some good physical work as well.

First up was to see the results of Geoff's experiments with the rare-earth magnets we'd failed with last week. He had worked out the unusual pole arrangement and determined they're best orientation was as a pair, side-by-side. These were set on a steel keeper plate and various layers of thin card inserted as spacers.

Placed under a section of track, it performed beautifully. The first to be fitted was on the new board, which has an 8mm ply top. A Dremel was used to form a recess in the baseboard.  The original keep was replaced with a steel strip, with slotted holes in the ends for fixing. It worked first time!

The next one went on one of the original, 1/2" chipboard boards. The handheld Dremel quickly became a mini-router. This time, the magnet went further into the baseboard, so a small steel keeper was fitted and a plywood fixing strip used. Some card packers were needed to get the distance from the rail top right, but it too worked nicely. 

In fact, the use of hidden magnets meant we could remove all of the 'fake' pedestrian track-crossings, which made the layout look much nicer.

Stephen had recently visited the SWING model railway show in Bognor Regis and apart from some superb exhibits, noted the lack of solenoid 'clunking' on the layouts. Things have moved on since Cottesmore was on show - should we upgrade all the solenoids to motors? On cost grounds, we decided not to, but would consider reducing the multiple point groups to twins, or even singles, to allow the capacitor discharge unit to be downgraded, which might ease things slightly. 

As the rest of the uncoupling points were discussed - train lengths, shunting moves, run-around routes etc were all thrashed out. It transpired that some mods to the multiple point firings would actually make operating much better. The main problem area was the full crossover, where currently, all four solenoids fire together. This has been reduced to four twins, but will require some 'deep thought' on the rewiring (by Marvin Geoff).

So, instead of developing our own electromagnets, permanent magnets will be used. We did find a spot for a Kadee electromagnet uncoupler purchased at SWING. Not cheap, but very useful. 

Baseboards:-

Geoff had been busy. The yard board had its 125mm insert - inserted. A lovely feature was the road slopes down to the edge. Subtle - what an artist?

The new fiddle yard board was made from an old hollow door with a solid timber meeting face. A single sheet of 2mm plastic will be glued on top to allow the 12mm MDF cassettes to slide easily.

MDF to be purchased for the next meeting, so some cassettes can be made and tested.

For the train operation investigations, more of Stephen's stock was employed. This time, the modified Peco van was accompanied by four Peco timber bolsters now fitted as 'disconnects' and a pair of scratchbuilt vans.

Thursday 15th May

Work log:

Check the sluggish points
Check the rewired sections
Remove Kadee magnets
Redesign the layout!!!

The sluggish points were given a brushing with graphite powder, which had a positive effect. The new capacitor discharge unit was now capable of throwing the cross-over, although during a short running session, they again became prone to sticking.

Geoff checked the capacitor storage against the 19v supply and announced that it was working at it's optimum. The options to increase the 'thrust' was to add more capacitors or increase the input voltage. Although there is space in the panel for more capacitors, we'll try a 24v supply first, next week.

We decided to have a small running session, but had two snags. The first was another track joint that had come loose - easily rectified - and the other was the Kadee magnets. For some reason, these are all now a bit higher than the rails and cause the coupling drop-bars to scrape. We took the decision to take them out and duly did so. However, John fitted them, so no soft, pliable glue; they were rock-solid and only one magnet survived the process. The electromagnet experiments will have to be brought forward!

Following on from the previous week, we looked at he platform edging in more detail. The foamboard base was trimmed back slightly to make the edging stones easier to fix. We then reviewed the length of the platform itself, from an operational position. At 750mm long, it could comfortably take a three-Gakken-coach train and loco. A train this long might be unusual for a small country manor house, but it was considered something we wanted to run. Having decided this would be our longest train, consideration of how this would be handled in the 'fiddle yard' loomed large.

Our first new board (the 'goods yard') was 675mm long. We had decided that board storage and transport would be with pairs of boards assembled face-to-face with end plates. The fiddle yard board would have to be 800mm, so the goods yard board would need to be longer! Geoff suggested he cut the end off, and insert a new section. This would leave the already-laid track just short of the road - a nice solution.

We then considered how the bridge end of the layout would finish at the fiddle yard. The existing bridge is about 150mm short of the layout end. The proposed blank face on the FY end would create an awkward space, where the nice van and small platform sat, but would now be in a dark slot. Another problem with the bridge is that, as well as a standard arch, it had a small arch suitable only for mine locos and stock. Whilst the bridge worked well visually, when connected to another board, it was looking decidedly wrong in the new format - reluctantly, it had to go.

We discussed its replacement for quite a while - another road bridge, a wood/copse, a canal bridge or viaduct - all had merit, but Geoff had his favourite - a canal cattle bridge. Canals often retain beautiful curved brick or stone bridges to allow horses to switch from one side of a canal to the other. In simpler forms, they were often used to allow cattle to cross the canals. We all agreed that the curving walls offered a lovely way to finish the board, with the added advantage that the siding/yard could be opened up for regular stock.

Thursday 8th May

Work log:
Complete repairs to dodgy points.
New power supply for the capacitor discharge unit.
Check-out a couple of odd track sections.
Mods to scenery.
Platform investigations.

Laurence was on baby-sitting duties this week, so it was much quieter in the workshop (!)

Firstly, photos from last week - the new capacitor array, the reused charging control circuit and the bolt-terminals at 'the business end'.

Geoff had already begun fitting a micro-switch to a point that had failed to switch the polarity of its frog. The on-board switches in the H&M motors can become temperamental and this is a standard solution. Several of John's points had this mod, so we were just continuing the trend. They can be fitted in a couple of ways, either onto the rotating horns, or directly on the end of the bar moved by the coils - it depends on what fits best.

Stephen had brought a number of potential power supplies accumulated over many years. The chosen unit was a 19v DC laptop power supply. It just needed a socket made. Fabricated from a piece of glass-fibre based printed circuit-board, a brass bolt and a strip of nickel silver, it didn't take too long. The bolt thread was turned down to the required diameter. The nickel silver strip collects power from the casing and holds the plug in place. 

The 'business end' was rearranged to allow the socket to be located next to the existing power input.

The new supply was tested satisfactorily, but another point started to play-up and will require attention.

The sections in the engine shed/workshop were investigated. One of the feeds must have failed long ago, and been joined to its neighbour as a repair. As we'd run the section wires through to the control panel without knowing, the separate supplies were reinstated, which will make running much better. There are actually 5 separate sections in the workshop siding!

With the electrics in a workable state, thoughts turned to scenic tasks. We had decided that a roadway was required between the workshop on the existing board and the new yard and road. In the way, was the old very steep road, which was cut away. It turned out to be John-made, i.e. very solid - mainly resin and glass fibre, but it yielded to a saw, chisel and mallet.

The platform is a big hole in the centre of the layout, and in Laurence's absence, Stephen had a quick look at the platform edging. Stephen's scratchbuilt brakevan didn't look very wide, so a pair of John's kit-bashed Gakken coaches were tried as they had much wider running boards. We'll get Laurence on that next week. 

Thursday 1st May

Work log:
Replacement of temporary capacitor discharge unit with permanent unit.
Final assembly of control panel.

What no camera Grommet?!!! No one had a camera - lots of excuses, but no camera - so photos will have to follow (possibly).

To get things rolling, Geoff had made up a small CD unit, but it couldn't cope with grouped points. EBay provided a pack of new capacitors, 6 of which were soldered in parallel. The charging regulator circuit from John's original CD unit (a Geoff creation) was added, and both units fitted into the control panel with double sided tape.

The mis-placed connector bolts on the control panel cover were moved to allow the cover to fit the frame and the unit was finally assembled.

The layout was assembled and we tested the CD unit, which albeit a little loud, worked well. We then had a running session and it became obvious that the CD unit would have to be powered from a separate transformer, as the loco's stopped each time the unit recharged.

We then discovered several pieces of stock fouled on the Kadee uncoupling magnets. The stock magnets passed inspection, but the track magnets were found to be fitted higher than they should have been. These will have to be cut out, the baseboard adapted and the magnets refitted. This realisation stimulated discussion about new magnets. We have been considering a new design using rare-earth magnets - extremely strong magnets made of Niobium. These are readily available and not too expensive. The idea was to make uncoupling magnets that could sit under the track and be moved in-and-out of position as needed. We played experimented for ages, developing magnetic flux diagrams, keeper plates and spacers, (well - one of us did), but we struggled to recreate the 'workability' of a Kadee.

A little deflated, we contemplated the mechanism for moving the actuation method. We knew this would be relatively easy as a manually operated unit, but the principle of the control panel was to be able to operate from a number of locations, which would imply electrical operation. This made us question the original brief and thoughts switched to electromagnets. These are not too expensive, but as we were in home-made mode, we're now on the lookout for suitable wire for coils.

We still had fun moving some stock around, which lifted our spirits!