Wednesday 25th August 2021

Worklist:

Construct new loom.

Laurence was taking a break with his family so just Stephen & Geoff.

Geoff immediately suggested that a start was made on the new wiring loom. The first thing was to establish which boards were to be connected together. After initial confusion, the three connectors were identified - an 8-way for the fiddleyard and 2 x 20-way for the main boards. The new three-plug loom comprised just the connections required for the 5 board exhibition layout extension as the second 8-way on the engine shed board is connected to the exchange board control unit. A suitable end point for the control box end of the wire was decided (i.e. the seat of the chair underneath!). Initial wires were measured from their plug to the chair seat and multiple lengths cut.

A temporary work bench was set up and wire, heat shrink sleeving, connectors, vice, soldering iron and various tools were set out.

Lengths of wire were cut and soldered to the connector pins, with labels as per the pin numbers. 

The shells were fitted and the completed plugs and hanks of wire were fitted to their sockets.

Fiddleyard connector - just 5 wires. One of Geoff's 3D printed shells was used for the 8-way plug. 

Engine shed and mason's yard boards had extra wires fitted connecting to unused pins, just in case.

The three hanks were then taped together to make the loom. One wire was required to run between the 2 x 20-way plugs for the point frog that straddles the board joint, while all of the others connect to switches in the control panel.

Next weeks' job:  soldering the loose wires to the control panel pins.

Wednesday 18th August 2021

Worklist:

Running session!

(Create a to-do list)

A full house and as requested by Laurence, it was a running session.

Just the exhibition layout was initially set up (4 boards), but then it was decided to set up the full layout (10 boards) and give it all a test. There was an immediate problem with the assembly of boards 2 & 3 and their attachment to board 1. A different connection system might need to be considered. The issue was overcome, but a To-do list was started. 

For the new boards, wire jumpers were added across the board joints. Making the wiring loom for the new boards would be the next project, which would then allow full operation. 

The first light engine ran from Worton Court around to the fiddleyard on the quarry line (far right) and returned returned on the mainline. (Strangely, this was somehow difficult to comprehend, but once the quarry line is concealed, it might be less of an issue).

This was then followed by another train - a Deceauville with two coaches and John's infamous brake van with compensated underframe (almost impossible to align on the track).

The 'train' moving past the mason's yard and around the disused quarry was a delight - snaking its way through the curvy section.

Some of the cardboard building mock-ups were found and dropped into place across the face of the fiddleyard. It brought back some memories and heralded a considerable amount of work to come.

Geoff started running full and empty stone trains from end to end.

The to-do list eventually ran to 10 items; some simple and some requiring a fair bit of thought, but all were worth uncovering. One of the to-do list included shortening some of the board bolts to reduce assembly time. Geoff decided to alter some of them straight away...

Wednesday 11th August 2021

Worklist:
Continue with control panel.
Review storage space.

Full house.

Geoff had obtained a new XLR plug & socket of the correct 'sexual orientation' - female plug / male socket. Unfortunately, the socket fixings were sufficiently different to require an intermediate blanking plate, but the matter was soon resolved.

We then turned to completing the control panel wiring by:-

    a) Connecting the three selection switches to their feed sources (local or remote controllers).

    b) Connecting all of the point and section switches to their respective pins.

A full power test was completed and everything worked correctly. We're not sure whether to get a full colour self-adhesive fascia sheet made or just add coloured lines and lettering to the existing melamine faced hardboard top.

With Geoff able to get back to the museum, the stockpile of equipment stored in the front garage lessened sufficiently to free-up the future storage rack. The four boards that will eventually have scenery (2 for the exhibition extension boards and 2 adapter boards) will have their own shelves and the two bare adapter boards will probably hang on hooks, on the front. We'll see how things develop.

A very satisfying days work. As planned, next week will be a running session - mainly for Worton Court, but a few of the other boards might be 'hooked-up' as well.

Wednesday 4th August 2021

Worklist:
Fit the power indicators.

Continue to wire-up control panel.

A full house and the first job was to fit the two power indicator units that Geoff had been working on in the week. These turned out to be neon lamps, so they were simply replaced with LED's to go with the resistor & diode unit Geoff made the previous week. However, when trying to test the lamps, the existing panel power supply couldn't be used as, although the same type of fitting, one plug is male and the other female. A rigged-up supply proved the lamps worked, but if the idea of duplicated power and controls is to be maintained, a new plug and socket is required. Geoff will do some research.

Work on the panel next, with Geoff and Stephen working on the same elements, from opposing ends.

Push-button lights power commons first, then track feeds and common returns (to suit easy access to terminals).

The principles:

Separate 12vDC supplies to the section switch lights and point switches. The zone power selectors determine either the Main panel or Local panel to feed all sections within that zone together with a centre-off.

The work bench!

Whilst Stephen is happy to work slowly through the wiring, Geoff finds it boring and would like to finish the panel next week and then have a running session the following week. Watch this space...