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After having been laid low with the 'flu for a week I decided I could do with a small modelling project to aid my recovery. I had been looking with distaste at the old Arnold point in the coal jetty at Dunalistair for some time, and I decided to finally replace it. For this, the stripwood decking had to be torn up. This proved to be rather difficult as all had been stuck together with PVA glue, back in the 1980s when the jetty had been made.

Here is a photo of the decking being torn to pieces. Eagle-eyed readers may spot the hoax: the Peco point by this time had been put in already but naturally I forgot to take photos before taking the old one out. The damage to the jetty timbers can be clearly seen however.

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In this shot you can see Lord Dunalistair having a look at the work in progress. As usual the old busybody is clad in his black suit and accompanied by his umbrella.

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The Peco 12" radius point was inserted with some difficulty. I had to cut bits of rail off each of the jetty tracks and then soldered the point in place. The front track had to be bent a little to accommodate the different curvature of the Peco point. I soldered tiny pins to the rail sides for improved strength. I needed to tweak the gauge on the curved track a little as it tended to spread. It doesn't look pretty but the track has become quite smooth and the mess will be covered up with planking.

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The toe end of the point was extended with lengths of rail glued to ply sleepers. These fit neatly on to the stub end of the jetty road which curves around the Fisherman's Rest:

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After testing the track using the six-wheel West Clare brake, the decking was patched up by gluing in the old deck sections and filling in most of the holes. In addition, a Peco point lever was shoehorned in. Note that I didn't add any point blade switching or a point motor, as there never was one and contrary to general opinion I feel confident the blade switching will do its work.

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To be continued.

Part 2

Even now this Colin Ashby wagon fitted with Parkside wheels refused to run over the point. The cause proved to be a back to back problem on the wheels which were 7.2mm apart. Investigation of the new Peco 12" radius points proved they have a back to back between the wing rails and the check rails of exactly 7.2mm. So there is no free space left for the flanges to pass through especially if they are at an angle on the curved section of the point.

The Parkside wheels pass through the older Peco points without problem. The flangeway in the frog of the new Peco points is about 0.9mm as opposed to 1.1mm in the older points.

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Most of my stock uses continental N gauge wheels which have a back to back of about 7.5mm. I have since made a 7.4mm back to back gauge from brass bar to re-set all my Parkside Dundas wheels with.

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This photo shows the deck completed with stripwood and balsa fill pieces next to the rails. These were pre-painted, then the point blades and some of the detail were masked with tape and a light dusting of matt black spray wafted over it to represent the coal dust.

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Lord D and the foreman observing the running trials with a few coal wagons:

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The chap in the green yacht by the way is a caricature of myself in my first 18ft boat. And I fear Brian M will have something to say about the alignment of the track in this view  ;)  :

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I added a safety rail next to the point lever as this is right over a 20ft plunge into the harbour:

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Finally, comparing the removed Arnold point and the one that replaced it:

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There will be more track reconstruction at Dunalistair in the future, but it may take a while. At that time I will revive this thread.

Good work, tricky thing to do.

John W

Don't worry about the track work Ted - there is a section much like yours at the (standard gauge) harbour station at Weymouth!

 ;D  it's not the track that worries me, as that works all right.  ::)

Last winter when I replaced the point on the coal jetty, I didn't install a point lever, apart from a dummy Peco one. Since the point needs to be operated regularly, I decided to replace the dummy lever with a real one.

This is a very ancient overscale item but the smallest I could muster. I made an elongated hole in the operating bar, which engages with the stud on the end of the point's tie bar. The elongated hole was needed to account for the difference in throw of the point and the lever. Here is the result - I see I still need to fill in a few tiny gaps in the planking, but otherwise all is working as it should.

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It is rather overscale. So I painted it black now and it looks much better.

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It is about time to pick up this thread again. I haven't ripped up any track in Dunalistair yet and it will probably take some time before I do.

One reason is that replacing the pointwork will also need me to re-site or even replace the point motors. If I replace them I may need to use servo motors instead, which in turn will mean changes to the wiring. I'm not yet prepared to do so at short notice. Furthermore I will need to scratchbuild a diamond crossing to replace the old one, which has a slightly different angle and also is far too coarse in the flangeways. For the moment, I jury-rigged the old track where the gauge was too narrow, and it works.

The easiest way to prepare the way is to copy prototype railway practice, where pointwork often is built up as a kit of parts which is assembled on site, and later inserted into the track layout. First, I checked on the geometry of the Peco 12" points. These have a slightly bigger angle than the Fleischmann ones. If necessary it is possible to tweak the curved rails where they leave the crossing (aka the frog). But if I don't need to do so, I will leave them.

I laid out the points in the spot where I will position them as follows. Here are the two cross-overs between the platform road and the centre road.

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Next, there are the points leading to the existing diamond crossing. Here immediately the different approach angle is apparent. When I install a new diamond crossing, the inset track will partly have to be lifted.

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Measuring the length of the crossover track between the points.

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And here it is installed, with an insulating joiner next to each point. Instead of cutting both rails at the centre as in the present track, I have staggered the insulated joints. Note that the connecting rails will be shorter than they are in the present layout, due to the different angle of the points. The metal joiners have been reinforced by a light touch of the soldering iron.

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Next, the length of track between the two facing points in the harbour road is cut. Note that I removed part of the sleeper web, so the rail can be cut safely. There will be a single insulator between the points. I will add a diagram of the points and the diamond crossing at the end of this post.

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Here is the new complex in the harbour road, where a diamond crossing will be added. Again, note the different angle.

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Finally, the point into the goods shed is added, with a short length of track separating it from the toe of the point leading to the coal jetty.

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For the moment this will have to suffice - the diamond crossing will be built up as soon as I can spare more time! The built-up assemblies were put away in a drawer. Here is what I built tonight.

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Wiring diagram for the diamond crossing:

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I confess I'm disappointed,Ted - those crossovers in the second photo were just crying out for a nice r*v*rs* c*rv* between them...  ;)

David

Oh, but I'm a true believer - didn't you know?  ::)

Today I decided I would have a go at that diamond crossing in the harbour tracks. It is situated in the coal pier siding, which crosses the quay siding halfway in the pavement of the access road. The present crossing will have to be dug up when the track is replaced. Since the original material of the pavement isn't available any more, I will have to think of something else - possibly wooden inserts.

The old crossing was built up on a piece of printed circuit board. The methods I used at the time were crude, so this time I decided to try and build a proper crossing. Note that this is an experiment which I hope will work as I planned! Even though I'm a long time modeller, I'm still trying new techniques. The way to build it up was described by the late Don Boreham in his 'Narrow Gauge Modelling' book. The rails are filed to fit to each other at an angle. After fitting the rails together, the flangeways must be cut. Here is the diagram from his book.

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The first thing you do is prepare the PC board. This is about 35x45mm. The copper surface is cut through in preparation for the rails to be soldered on. This was done with a cutting disc in a mini drill.

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Then I established a reference rail to fit all the other rails to. The reference rail is aligned with the track that will remain in place. First, the points are aligned over the main harbour track, then a single piece of rail is fitted to one of the points, and aligned with the corresponding rail in the inset track on the quay.

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This first rail is soldered on to the copper surface. You need a pretty big soldering iron to do so - my 25W iron just manages to heat it well enough to fit the rail - the soldering isn't as neat as I would like, but it works. I spot solder it at one end, then tweak it into place at the other end and spot solder it again. The first spot is then heated so the tension comes off the rail. Finally, the entire length is flooded with flux and the entire rail is soldered in place.

Next, the reference rail from the other point is cut to size, filed to a chamfer and joined to the first reference rail. The rail ends have to be recessed at the bottom to take the foot of the rail section into account - otherwise a gap would result. The second reference rail is continued beyond the crossing (bottom left). This again is aligned to the appropriate rail in the other siding.

I had to slightly bend the reference rails to align them to the siding rails, due to the slightly different point angles.

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With the reference rails aligned, the other rails can be cut to size and fitted into place on the workbench, each 9mm from the reference rail. The 9mm track gauge was used often to check the gauge. Step by step the rail was fitted into place, spot soldering at one end first, then aligning it to the reference rail and straightening it out. Note the rail in the third photo below, which is only spot soldered at both ends as I check the gauge.

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Finally, the entire assembly is laid on the layout and checked against the existing track. I also put loco 17 (with the thick Arnold flanges) on the crossing to see if it would fit without binding. And it did!   ;D

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Next, as soon as I can find the time, I will fit the wing rails to the crossings and start filing the gaps as in Don Boreham's diagram. If you file the gaps to the most common depth of the wheel flanges, the stock will run across without bumping. Also, note that the rails will have to be gapped between each of the four crossings.

To be continued.

Bloomi' heck Ted, you must be a masochist to do a crossing like that! Or better still how many bottles of scotch are you going through while working away on the crossing. Dedication is probably more correct. Thanks for keeping us enthralled with your super efforts to keep the C&D running in tip top condition.

Roger

 ;D  I will have to make it work first. If it flops, I'm out on a limb and you can all share my discomfort...   ::)

Well - today was an unexpected off day. I had expected to do some work on a new door in the living room, but it hadn't arrived yet. So I did some track construction. I largely completed the soldered diamond crossing.

First, I added the wing rails. These were soldered on using low melt solder to avoid disturbing the other solder joins. Note the right lower wing rail, which hasn't yet been soldered. The procedure is to make it to size, then drip a little flux under it and lay a tiny piece of solder wire against it. Touching it with the soldering iron results in the piece of rail being fixed to the copper clad surface.

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Here is a close-up of a rail end. This is chamfered and in addition, a notch is filed in the end where it has to slot against the foot of another rail.

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Here are two photos of the assembly largely completed, but still without the flangeways having been cut. The back to back measurement between the wing rails and the check rails is about 7.2mm.

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Finally, the completed assembly. The flangeways have been cut, and in addition two brass support pads have been fitted in the angle of two crossings where the flange needs to be supported over a greater length. The cutting of the flangeways is done with a cutting disc at low speed, with some of the finer work completed using a Roco track saw. It has to be done with care, otherwise the passage is too deep and the wheels wil start to drop into it. The flanges of 'William Wallace' still stick a little, but I expect that they will improve with careful fettling, and polishing of all the sharp edges.

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By the way, I also cut the gaps to insulate the four crossings. For this I used a track saw - a cutting disc is too coarse. It was rather a difficult job, and one piece of rail came off which had to be re-soldered.

The interior of the diamond will have to be fitted with check rails also, but I plan to make these out of plastic. They are less important and they span four insulated areas...

Today I wired up the diamond crossing, after fitting the necessary insulating rail joiners. Here is how it looks now.

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Compare to the diagram. The red wires in the photo are fitted to the curved stock rails of the points, just out of view. The wires seem to be connected in a different way from the diagram, but I assure you they're not! Green and yellow take the place of blue and green in the diagram - sorry I used different colours from the diagram here. Note that I soldered the connections to the copper surface of the PC board. After fitting all the wires I tested for a short circuit in the assembly, and I found one. This was eliminated by scratching out the gaps in the rails and the PC board.

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I also fitted the assembly in a test rig with stub tracks to both ends and tested several locos and items of rolling stock over the diamond crossing. All ran satisfactorily, although I need to deepen some of the flangeways by a fraction. More later.

What rail did you use for this?
Mal.

Recycled N/S Roco and Fleischmann N gauge flex rail. The Fleischmann rail has a slightly wider head, but if you fettle this down where a passing flange might catch, there is no problem.

The N sleeper web at the bottom, the area inside the crossing, and part of the PC board will be obscured by wooden decking or by cobbles. The remainder of the PC board will be covered in ballast.

Here is a video of the tests I ran over the diamond crossing. I ran several 009 locomotives over the points and the crossing, the wheels having various flange depths between 0.6 and 0.9mm. Some trial runs reveal the flangeways must be filed down a little. There is one flangeway about 0.6mm deep - no wonder the older chassis bump a little over it.

One locomotive (Brutus) stumbles on the plastic checkrail of a Peco point! This will have to be filed down a little as the loco has a correct BTB. Actually the crossing performs better than the points. Have fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesCIoLOKF4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesCIoLOKF4)

After various delays today, tonight I managed to correct some of the high spots in the crossings of the diamond. Since I don't have a file narrow enough to fit in the 0.8mm flangeways, I had to use a cutting disc at low power.

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I gradually whittled away some of the material, using several wagons, and later, locomotives, to verify the depth. The Arnold chassis are the worst, followed by the Minitrix ones. They now only bump a little, whereas he more modern wheels hardly drop into the flangeways. I think it is enough! In addition, I did some work on the Peco point that was a little tight, and had another look at the front axle of 'Brutus'. This was set a fraction wider. Together these corrections now result in the loco running through smoothly.

Here is another detail shot of the use of the cutting disc. It is easy to set it spinning too fast, but if you keep the speed down, it will work all right.

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I fill my flange ways with solder and then saw them out with a hacksaw blade. Gives me a 40 thou (1 mm) flange way. It's an old Jack Work trick that I got from Model Railroader.
Mal.

Fascinating watching the different behaviour of the locos and stock negotiating the crossing. Well done Ted, looking forward to seeing the installation on the layout.

Roger

You are making a super job of that crossing Ted, but the question I have is why is it there in the first place?

Having two points and making the approach angle of the two lines slightly different to the way they are would have eliminated the need for the crossing all together.

Or have I missed something here?

Brian Meldon

Thanks, all, for your replies.

Mal, the idea of filling a gap with solder is what I did on the previous crossing. If you have a hacksaw blade that is narrow enough to cut a flangeway 0.7mm wide, it will work. The main disadvantage is that the solder is softer than nickel silver. But perhaps that doesn't matter very much.

Roger - did you notice the difference between the Arnold-powered Darjeeling tank and the Kato-powered skirted saddle tank? The Darjeeling tank clearly bumps, and the Kato just glides across. I took off a little more in the flangeways, and the Kato chassis doesn't mind. The Arnold chassis runs much better across now.

Brian - thanks for the praise. To answer your question, I needed to get a siding to the coal jetty and another to the quay, which has to move round the warehouse. Both need immediate access from the main harbour road. If you look at the plan of Dunalistair shown below, you can see there is no chance of doing it another way, unless you either introduce a fearsome reverse curve around the warehouse, or run one siding as a kickback from the other. That would however mean you have to clear the quay every time you need to work a coal train to the jetty. And finally, I like a challenge.    ::)

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Ted,
        the wheel flanges of the old Arnold chassis are much deeper and coarser than the Kato. The Backwoods Barclay 0-4-0T ran well with it's short wheelbase. A lovely piece of work.

Roger

I do see what you are on about Ted.

But if you had built the point on the coaling stage about 5cm closer to the back of the layout and then also angled the warehouse and adjacent quayside a few degrees clockwise so it was not in line with the track going to the turntable then it would have been possible to just have two points and no flat crossing at all. (and a stright between the two curves going to the warehouse.)

Obviously it is too late to change it now but I think the need for the crossing could have been eliminated at the planning stage quite easily. It would have saved you a lot of work.

But I suppose the crossing is an interesting feature of the on the layout.

Brian Meldon

Ted,
Some of my points are 30(!)years old and still working fine, and they have seen regular use over the years. I built a crossing on one of my layout sections and actually removed it because the same job could be done with a conventional point. It worked OK and I've still got it. Your crossing looks good though, and adds a lot of interest to Dunalistair.
Mal.

Brian - 5cm closer to the rear of the layout would have meant eliminating the harbour road which is a much needed feature in operation. The track plan was developed with operation in mind and is very satisfying as it does the job.

Regarding this particular formation, I wonder why I should have gone to such lengths just to avoid having a crossing which I could build? In real dock areas of that period space always was at a premium, and they used tailor made track formations all the time. Sometimes track crossed two or three other tracks at various angles and no one batted an eyelid.

Although my existing crossing was made less precisely than the new one, it worked well enough for 30 years, and as I said before I like a challenge.

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Mal - the main reason for replacing the Fleischmann points is that they are worn out and too coarse for wheels with finer standards. As Roger says, the Kato and Backwoods wheels are quite different from the old Arnold and Minitrix ones. And all the frogs are fitted with a piece of brass shim and a triangle soldered on, which lifts every passing wheel just a fraction so the stock doesn't pass smoothly. In addition, the track is cheap N gauge and doesn't look as it should.

Why do simple when you could do complicated?  :D

David.

I like track in cramped locations. I have found it is fun to build, and it saves space.

Such as Chatham dockyard - that's even worse than mine.

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http://www.kentrail.org.uk/Chatham%20Dockyard%202.htm (http://www.kentrail.org.uk/Chatham%20Dockyard%202.htm)

The author writes: Being a dock railway, the track formations are unlike those found on standard British Rail lines. As can be seen here, a line intercepts this pair of points just after the divide, and a line branches off sharply to the left, disappearing into the darkness of the shipbuilding shed.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/hydragenic/493570224/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hydragenic/493570224/)

Complex track work was not just combined to dockyards. How about this dual gauge set up at  Guinness Brewery (http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/exhibition/dublin/emigration_migration/GDB.BR14.0014.59a_mas.html), and this (http://everydaydreamholiday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/guinness-factory-historical-cask-pile_dublin_ireland.jpg) triangle with another line running through it!

I'm planning to have something along the lines of the latter photo on the new version of Latham's - but don't hold your breath! :laugh: ::)

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Train services to Dunalistair suspended

As from today, train services to Dunalistair are suspended in preparation for track renewal.

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Temporary measures have been taken to ensure a service over the line. Passenger trains between Rae Bridge and Craigcorrie will run as scheduled. A railmotor shuttle service will operate from Rae Bridge as far as the outskirts of Dunalistair, where a temporary platform has been erected (note this is off scene). The new Innisfail tram coach has been found suitable to serve as a trailer to the motor train:

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The main line can be used by works trains and to serve the Caledonia Foundry. Here the foundry shunter is seen working a wagon to the Foundry siding.

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Coal trains are diverted to the branch, where transhipment arrangements have been made to the North British interchange at Glenfinnan.

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Ferries to and from Oban make an extra call at the pier at Kinlochalastair. Note this depends on the state of the tide. The railmotor shuttle will run at revised times as required, to ensure a connection to Rae Bridge.

By order.

T.W.Polet, general manager & dogsbody.

As you may have gathered, I have finally taken the plunge. I'm busy evacuating Dunalistair as the right-hand layout unit will be subject to extensive track work. In the diagram this is the rectangular unit to the left of the headland area, carrying the station and the ferry pier:

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All the loose items - ships, one or two buildings, backscenes, the coal pier etc. will have to be removed as the headland unit has to come out for access to the harbour unit.

The point units I built last spring will have to be inserted, track replaced, point motors revised etc. Possibly I will replace the signal solenoids by Siemens relays that won't overheat if left on. Some re-wiring will be needed, but re-siting the point motors is the most daunting part of the job. The throw direction will have to be changed - not yet sure how to do that.

I expect it will be a job taking several weeks. In theory I can run the services mentioned in the previous post, since Rae Bridge and the rest of the layout are intact. I could jury rig the headland unit to the rest of the layout, but in practice this is a lot of extra work. So effectively, services are suspended over the entire layout.

Here is a view of the new point assemblies in position on the layout.

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In the past hour I have been digging up the dropper wires of the track sections. This wasn't too difficult since most of the ballast is non-reinforced plaster. The red ellipses indicate the dropper wires.

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The layout will remain in place as I dig up the old track and lay the new. The dropper wires will remain in the same place, or almost in the same place, since the track gaps won't change very much. So I plan to solder them to the new track and test the layout before ballasting.

The wiring of Dunalistair is very robust - all is labelled and glued down. Here are a few photos made of the underside of the layout.

The first photo shows the interlocking relays for the Rae Bridge line (top left), the turntable controller (centre and centre left), and part of the capacitor discharge unit (bottom left). The home-built point motor for the pair of points (no. 5/6) in the previous photo is on the right. The green wire goes to a dead section in the harbour track behind the goods shed.

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Labelling charts under the headland section to indicate the wire colours of one of the flat cables making the link between the two sections.

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The terminal blocks used to link up the connecting wires to the headland section.

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A view of the home made point and signal motors under Dunalistair (red ellipses). Note the track switches operated by the point motors using an N gauge rail as an operating lever.

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Finally, a view of the connectors used to link up the two layout units.

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DESTRUCTION!

Tonight I removed the platfrom road and the run-round from Dunalistair. For the moment I left the harbour road since the two are quite separate. Two cross-overs were removed and a few yards of track. The surrounding scenic base was easy to remove - some of it flaked off - but I had glued barriers along the Fleischmann points to prevent them being flooded by plaster and water. This had set extremely hard, and removing it took such a lot of force that some of the detail on the platform just vibrated loose. This doesn't spell any good for the harbour road with its in-set track - I fear that must be carved out with a slitting disc in my new Proxxon tool.

Anyway, here are the last pictures. Note there are several wires still sticking out of the baseboard - I had to remove the frog power wires as the new points are slightly longer. These will be re-installed when the point motors and switches have been re-sited on the underside of the baseboard.

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Here, after cleaning up and removing even more flakes of scenic base, the points seem to fit in place. Next I will sink slots in the plywood so the tie bars can be worked from below.

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If you see the destruction needed to get the points in, you may understand why I delayed this for such a long time!   ::)

Trains for Kings Cross will terminate at Finsbury Park.......(etc)   ;D
Wow!

 ;D   ;D  Finsbury Park indeed...!

Meanwhile I have been busy. The first crossover and most of the platform road have been tailored to size. The breaks in the platform road have been made and I cut operating slots in the plywood. Also, the area under the points has been painted brown so I don't have to ballast that bit and the point blades won't gum up.

I have performed clearance checks with the Leek & Manifold coach to prevent any trouble with the platform edge. I checked alignment from the curve into the facing point using a mirror - it lies straight without any kinks.

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Note the slot under the tie bar - this had to be opened out as the point needed to be realigned.

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A view from above.

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I find the approach I have chosen is a good one - Leave the layout in situ, then first take up the old track and lay new track. This enables you to replace all the old wiring connections you can re-use and make sure the new track works. Only then the layout will come out to gain unhampered access to the underside and re-fit point motors, switches etc. Following that I will run trials for some time, then when I'm satisfied, finally I'll add ballast and new scenic cover.

Now I'm off to check my boat, since the weather is good and there is bad weather forecast in the days ahead.

To be continued!

One step further: the platform road has been completed, including dead sections. I connected up the wires and ran the first trial train hauled by Sir Theodore. The wide four-wheel coach and the Leek & Manifold saloon are used for clearance checking.

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The drive to the points of the release crossover will be interesting to solve. The point next to the turntable is over a huge steel frame that carries the turntable mechanism. I will probably have to use a cantilever arm to operate the point from a place where a point motor can be inserted underneath. But first I will lay all the track and make sure it is free of trouble.

To be continued!

Blimey Ted, after you have sorted out the relaying of your track and all the associated works will Marcel offer you a second career!!!

Roger

I think he has been out of that line of work for ages!

Well - today was a wet and windy day. Ideal weather to get a move on and do some modelling work. I completed the track on the run-round, the loco and stock siding, and the turntable access. It took some aligning and re-aligning.

A particular problem with Peco points is the short rail stubs protruding from the sleeper base. They work well with Peco rail joiners, but not with other makes, since these have a short lip on the base (to guide the joiner on to the rail). This lip has to be removed to ensure it will slide home far enough.

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Note that the operation will leave burrs on the joiner which must be removed with a sharp object. Otherwise it will refuse to slide on to the rail of the point.

Another thing to remember is to drill holes into the sleepers to accept a track pin. I use a pin vice and a 1mm drill. Note the plastic insulating joiner - I used to cut through the rail for insulation, but this can leave a step in the rail that must be stabilised with glue. A good quality insulating joiner does the job without trouble. After sawing through the rail, clean up the ends with a file to ensure the joiner will slide on.

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Finally, I ran trials with Sir Theodore, and with William Wallace, checking whether it would run through all the new track with its coarse flanges. Apart from stumbling a little on the turntable end, it did quite well.

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A video of the test running can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIGT3suFF2c (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIGT3suFF2c)

To be continued!

Since I have the bit between my teeth now and the going is good, tonight I tackled the harbour yard. The new Proxxon tool I bought at Cologne has now been complemented with a power unit and a set of large diameter slitting discs. This was invaluable when I dug up the track buried in the pavement:

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The pavement was embossed in a 1980s resin filler material called Porion. I remember painstakingly laying a few square inches of the stuff and pressing in the courses between the setts. The stuff is rock hard and has to be cut with a machine, then chipped from the baseboard. Regrettably it is off the market, so the replacement material must be something quite different. We'll tackle that as soon as the track is down and the scenic work begins.

The track had to be cut as well, and the rails freed so a new rail joiner can be pushed on. After an hour's hard work, the track was gone.

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Now fitting the new yard points could begin in earnest. I laid the complete unit with the diamond crossing in place and started marking off the shed siding, which is accessed by the single point at the bottom of the picture.

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This is the other end, where the quay siding branches off the main harbour road as it curves from the station throat.

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The rails of the shed siding were cut to size so the outer points of the entire unit fitted between the existing track. Now the crossing and the quay and coal pier sidings had to be matched.

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After more painstaking work with the Proxxon and a file, the unit fitted in place.

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Since it's 10pm now, I decided to call it a day. Connecting it all up will be the next thing to do.

To be continued!

That crossover is a wonderful bit of work Ted.

I did think when I saw you had lifted the old one that you may have re-designed the entire area including the approach to the jetty and the quayside to remove the need for the crossover. But clearly not.

Brian Meldon

Thanks, Brian. The crossover was built last spring and extensively tested on the workbench.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesCIoLOKF4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesCIoLOKF4)

The need for a crossover, or why the area wasn't redesigned, was discussed before. The layout is very cramped due to the way the buildings are sited, which was done for scenic interest.

Operationally, the coal jetty and the quay siding both need to be accessible from the main harbour road. I cannot shunt the coal jetty from a siding containing stationary goods stock.

In addition, a simple replacement does the least damage. It took me most of an evening to dig out the old crossing and associated trackwork. Rooting up more would have been out of the question - the alternative would have been to replace the entire harbour module which would have set me back several years.

Ted, thank you for posting all this - it is very interesting. I admire your knack for documenting your progress at various intervals - I tend to get on with things (when time permits) and mostly forget to take pictures!

Thanks Harry - after a time it becomes a habit. I always have the camera on the workbench to try and make a shot of one or two details.

Today I finally installed the harbour road and the associated pointwork in the yard. Although I don't own shares in Peco, I thought I'd show this - being a satisfied customer...   ;)

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Getting the pointwork in place wasn't very difficult. I used sliding rail joiners that were put on the appropriate rails and slid in place after positioning the points/diamond crossing unit. For the diamond crossing I had to recondition old Roco joiners, since the sidings have a peculiar rail profile that doesn't take Minitrix or Fleischmann joiners.

The curve towards the left (to the coal pier) contains a length of old Lima steel track that had gone out of gauge (to about 8.5mm). Removing the track was no option, but I managed to re-set it to slightly over 9mm gauge, as some of my locomotives don't like under-gauge track. The old Arnold and Liliput chassis have thick flanges that will run through the Peco points provided the back to back is OK, but the track gauge needs to be spot on otherwise they will bind.

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I removed a bit of the pavement and wedged 9.5mm lengths of matchstick between the rails. Heating the outer rail with a soldering iron and then supergluing the rail back on resulted in a stable curve of correct gauge.

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Note that I painted the area under the point blades, and I cut a slot for an operating rod underneath. In the view below, I inserted thin card under the points so the through road doesn't sink.

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And here is a close-up of the turntable. Note I fiddled with patches of card to even out the rail height, and also note the radiused rail ends to cater for inaccurate lining-up.

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Finally, here is a video showing trial running over the crossing. I used William Wallace and Brutus for their thick flanges, and Sir Theodore since it has very fine profile wheels, plus assorted rolling stock. I'm pleased there is hardly any bumping, a great improvement over the old crossing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJPvdm0_RI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJPvdm0_RI)

To be continued!

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Ted, in the above image, what are the centre rails for? Are they cosmetic, or do they act as check-rails? (Perhaps I have not understood something.)

They hold back the stone setts.

Track inset in a road takes many forms, sometimes using double-headed tram rail, or using a second rail or even a piece of steel flat to keep the flangeway clear from stones going astray. In some cases a wooden fill piece made up of sleepers is used. As long as the flangeway is kept clear.

Today I'm running a trial service to test the new track under normal operating conditions. The points are set by hand - I have to avoid throwing the point levers on the panel!

Here are Brutus and the Darjeeling 'B' which have double-headed a down passenger train. These two run together very well by the way - the old Liliput chassis and the old Arnold seem perfectly tuned.

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Up to now it works all right. Few problems have surfaced, but I have some tools standing by to correct anything going wrong.

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The running over the new pointwork looks gratifyingly smooth - you must be very pleased with the result ( and maybe even a touch relieved!) Your experience shows, but then it would all be wasted if it didn't!

David.

Thanks, David. I'm glad to see it is very smooth indeed. I had tested the pointwork after I built it, and made some tiny adjustments at the time, but you never know what happens when you fiddle the units in and out of place.

Up to now I have tested almost every type of wheel over it (especially that diamond crossing) and they all go through without bumping.

A big improvement over the rough riding of the old one.

Like good wine and good Scotch, you get better as you get older.

Stan.

 ;D

Depends on the quality of the original, which wasn't too good to start with.   ::)

Another upheaval!

Being satisfied with the track, I took Dunalistair apart and set the station unit on its end so I could access both sides. I screwed an angle iron to the layout and the framing behind to keep it upright. Unfortunately, the cable and connector needed to power the circuits are fairly short (they can be seen stretched diagonally), so I'm forced to work in a cramped space to the left of the vertically positioned unit.

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Now is also the time to show something of that turntable I built about 40 years ago, which is still working reliably after all that time. This was made using a primitive Supraphon 8" record player. The table shaft is still true with very little play. I oiled the motor bearings as it was very noisy

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At the bottom is a weighted lever which presses a roller on to the edge of the steel turntable. In this I filed notches for the roller to drop into. As soon as it does, the microswitch is released and the motor stops. In addition, the table is locked mechanically - it has automatic indexing, stopping at each approach track. Pressing a button powers the solenoid and lifts the roller, switching on the motor.

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The visible part of the turntable (the bridge) is fixed permanently to the table well, which turns with the bridge. Note one of the rail contacts on the side of the table, bottom right. There is another at the other end, so the polarity of the track on the bridge is automatically
reversed using contact springs in the frame.

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The ancient Fischer Technik drive, which is still faithfully doing its job. The big worm is the final drive.

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The purpose of removing the unit was to get at the slot for the release point at the headshunt. I made a copper strip with one pin sticking up through the slot, a pivot in the centre and another pin sticking through the hole in a standard Peco point motor adapter slide. I tested the motor using the capacitor discharge unit, and it slams across positively. I was glad about the slack I left in the lever, or the full force of the point motor would have come on the point's tie bar. The point has a throw of about 2mm, the point motor has 4mm, so you need to leave some slack.

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To be continued!

My mind is starting to boggle...

Seconded!
Remarkable work there, Ted.

Thanks, both! It is a lot of work and it involves some athletic moves on my part, but it seems to move forward, one step at a time...

Today I installed the point motors of the release crossover at the platform end. Points nrs 5/6, worked in tandem by one point lever. They have been connected up and tested, and all seems to be OK.

Here is a short video, part of which was made in bad light, but probably the points can be seen to work in unison. Note the multi-pole switch seen halfway the film - this will be connected to the tail end of the operating pin on the motor. It will be glued down on the block of wood so it's at the same level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyxIoifF7Y (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyxIoifF7Y)

The adapter slide for the second point motor proved to be different from the first - it's almost impossible to first fit the adapter under the baseboard, then insert and lock up the point motor. The pinholes to fit the adapter in place cannot be reached to drive a pin in, as the motor is in the way, and locking up the tabs on the motor can only be done before fitting the adapter. Chicken and egg. But I found a way to do it.

Why use adapters? I didn't cut large holes in the baseboard to fit the motors directly under the points, and since one motor was fitted with one, I decided to fit the other one as well to ensure they would work together. To reach the point's tie bar, I fitted a thin screw about 1.3mm diameter, with the end filed down. I think it must be a 12BA screw.

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I had the devil of a job to get the motors to throw. They are much smaller than the huge ones I used to have, so they need more power. I had to change the operating capacitor (C1 in the diagram) from 220uF to 1000uF. Probably they will work at about 470uF but I didn't have one.

Warning: diagrams ahead!

For the electronics buffs, you will see that the switch charges the capacitor over one coil of the point motor, and discharges it over the other. So the position of the switch shows the setting of the point.

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However, I don't simply connect the power to 12VDC as shown in the diagram, it is fed from a huge capacitor discharge unit and a voltage multiplier. This charges a big 3500uF (not 2000 as in the diagram) storage capacitor with 38 volts:

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The charge of the storage capacitor is used to load the smaller point motor capacitors. This helps especially with the charge cycle as you throw a point motor - there is a huge charge available to do the job. To make them work with the CDU, this takes the place of the resistor (R1) and capacitor C2 in the first diagram.

And in addition, I just installed and connected up the polarity switch. This is an old radio chassis switch, DPDT, with the latching mechanism and spring removed. It was already present in the old layout and I just reconnected it. Note the switching action in the photos below.

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A steel wire was fitted between the tail rod of the point motor and a hole drilled in the switch stem. The wire was stiffened by a piece of re-used aluminium tube (hence the filthy exterior) threaded on to it and glued on the wire. The end of the wire was bent and bent back through the hole in the switch stem, and wound round a screwdriver to make an eyelet the other end. Then it was locked in place by supergluing a bit of brass pipe to the tail rod of the point motor.  I glued down the switch on the block of wood visible in the photos, after setting it to the correct throw.

Soldering the wires to the track proved it was mercifully the right way round. Otherwise a short circuit would have ensued...


;D

Just a short message saying I installed the point motors at the other end of the loop, at the loco siding end. I had to make up my own point motor bases from 4mm ply, and fit extenders to the operating pins. Getting them to drive the points took a bit of fiddling, as the pins tend to catch on the slot cut in the baseboard and you need to set the throw exactly right. I still need to fit the frog backup switch, which will be done the same way as the one of the other pair, on a block of wood.

Again, there are two Peco motors doing the job of a single home made one that worked the two Fleischmann points there used to be. This is because of the operating direction of the point mechanism - I cannot fit a lever under the baseboard to work two points from one motor.

As in the other pair, I needed to increase the driving capacitance from 470uF to around 1500uF. It might work with 1000uF but I hooked up a number of very old capacitors to get enough power. These may have deteriorated - I really have to install new ones.

Apart from having to drive two point motors of less power than the old ones, the Peco points take more effort as they need to be pushed through their over-centre springs. Luckily the driving circuit allows tuning the amount of power you need easily, by replacing a capacitor.

All very dull to read I expect, without photos - tonight and tomorrow I don't have much time to take photos and upload them, so I'm afraid you will have to wait. However, I am slowly getting there. The sidings from the harbour road can be driven from the old point motors as there is space to mount them at 90 degrees to the track. However, I will first need to restore the drive pins as these are all very worn.

To be continued!

Thank you for the update Ted, it's all very interesting to us on the sidelines.

I have been installing reed switches at the short section breaks for holding a series of trains one behind the other, to indicate where a train is parked, but I might have made the short sections too short as sometimes the loco over runs onto the adjacent live section, it depends on the speed of the loco's approach to the mini-section of course.

Keep up the good work.

Kind regards,

BrianT.

Here is an update with photos of the work done on the entry points to the platform and the run-round.

First, a close-up of the plywood point motor bases I have made. These have a slot for the operating pin, and mounting holes for screws into the baseboard. The Peco motor is fitted into undersize holes drilled into the ply and glued down. I had to drill several mounting holes before it was lined up to my satisfaction. The throw of the motor has to be matched to that of the point, so there is no excess to either side which might overload the point's tie bar.

The thick solenoid to the left works the platform starter. This is held to 'danger' by the weight of the thick core. Applying 12VDC lifts the core and drops the signal arm. Now it is of course inverted!

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Here is a similar point motor working in parallel with the other. This operates the entry point and the switch controlling frog polarity for both points. Note the radio switch which, again, is mounted on a block of wood and worked by the tail rod of the point motor. The spaghetti wiring has to be bundled neatly. The two photos show the switch in the 'in' and 'out' positions.

Note the scarred bottom of the baseboard, bearing witness to all the reconstruction work done over the years.

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Finally, a return to the diagrams published before. I realise it might have been confusing, so here is a combined diagram.

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The grey area contains all that is needed to operate a point with two solenoids. For every point, this is duplicated. The capacitor in the grey area is charged over one coil of the motor, and discharged when you throw the switch. So each time you flip the switch, the point motor will follow the switch.

The capacitor discharge unit (CDU) contains a voltage multiplier - it makes 38V DC out of 14V AC, and charges the storage capacitor. I notice I didn't change the capacity in the diagram - in my case this is 4700uF. At 38 volts that packs a lot of instant power, needed to supply the smaller capacitors used to 'fire' each point motor. However, none of this will ever burn out your coils - it's only a short burst of power that won't overload the solenoid.

All you need to watch for is the mechanical jolt produced by this circuit. The point motor should take up the slamming itself instead of relying on the tiebar of the point.

I hope this clarifies the system used at Dunalistair.

Today I started work on the old point motors that will be re-used for the harbour sidings.

As explained before, these were made of heavy duty industrial solenoids. Despite their rough appearance and the shabby state they were in when removed from the layout, they are still healthy and probably good enough for another 40 years' service. I decided to re-furbish two of them, putting them on a new base before installing. The third one was good enough - it has a brass tube for a driving pin, stuck fast in a well aligned pair of solenoid cores. I soldered in a piece of brass rod and glued it under the baseboard.

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Again, note the very dishevelled state of the plywood the baseboard was made of, due to all the work done on it over the years.

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The point motor was aligned so the tie bar takes the least possible load. And possibly due to the great efficiency of these solenoids, I could leave in a driver capacitance of only 300uF. The point goes across smoothly. The only thing I need to watch is what it does when I fit a switch for the point's frog polarity.

Here is one of the point motors being reconditioned - it was removed from its base and fitted on to a new one. The driving pin is new, made up of a piece of square brass tube and brass rod, with a collar on both sides to prevent it dropping out. Note the core lips are staggered - this makes for better stability of the driving pin. One of the solenoids has to be fitted on a thick card underlay so the cores will line up. I leave a throw of 5mm, about the same as that of the Peco point motors.

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With the Rijswijk show reports done, I have installed two microswitches of the three I need to fit. These are single pole switches and will suffice to back up frog switching on the yard points.

The first thing to do is to add a longer lever to the rather stiff switch levers. I used pieces of scrap rail bent in a slight dogleg and soldered these to the short lever on the switch. I used small pointed pliers to hold the tiny flat lever and act as a heat sink between the end and the hinge:

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Then the switch was installed under the baseboard. I measured the distance to the point motor's operating pin by eye and drilled one hole, inserting a 2mm pin as a locating stud. Then I more or less aligned the switch and put in a second pin. The pins are a push fit. Gluing the switch and the pins to and into the underside of the baseboard makes a permanently fitted switch. The lever then is then bent a little so the switch will click with the point motor in one position, and it won't with the point motor in the other position. That ensures it will change over during point motor operation.

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Finally, here is a short video of the switch being worked by the point motor. You will see a fair amount of bounce, but the point motor will first flick the point blades and push the switch over, then it will spring back a little without causing harm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsix9lfcWOU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsix9lfcWOU)

The Flagman

For 30 years, a tiny figure has guarded the quay sidings at Dunalistair with a red flag. He must be all of 5ft 6, and is very slight of build - probably a young lad of 14 earning a few pence on the railway to augment his father's meagre pay. In fact, he must be an H0 figure pushed into service - he can be seen on the far left in the 1990 photo shown below.

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When I installed him, I conducted extensive surgery, removing his right arm. The new arm and the flag it holds were built up from wire, with the insulation representing his uniformed arm and hand. There is a pivot hidden in his chest, and a slot in his right side allows the arm and the flag to move up and down.

A steel wire passes through the baseboard into -pardon me- his posterior, and right up into his body to the wire arm. If you push the wire up a millimetre, the arm and the flag go up. For years I intended to fit some sort of driving agent under the baseboard, but nothing came of it

Test running

Tonight I ran some test trains over Dunalistair, shooting some video of the proceedings. Most of it went quite all right, but I found I had crossed a wire - the one that feeds the dead section on the locomotive siding. The switch is supposed to be fed from the frog of the point which gives access to the siding, but I had connected it to the wrong frog - that of the other point!

It cost me about an hour and a half, lying uncomfortably on my back with my head in a storage cabinet under the layout, to trace the fault and re-connect the wire

So you should be Ted - well done!

So normal service is resumed Ted, I'm pleased you have completed the structural work to your satisfaction, just the scenery to reinstate now eh?

Looking forward to the next instalment.

Kind regards,

BrianT.

Exactly what Juliena and Brian said! Well done Ted, an excellent piece of work and the result looks to be a justified reward for the hard work you have been putting in recently.

Mick

I realise I have been seriously negligent in updating this thread, as the tale has already been on NGRM, so I'll try and catch up.

Two weeks ago I needed a diversion and I started some new work on Dunalistair. I removed all loose items from the Dunalistair area containing the new track installed last winter. The backscene panels were taken out, the vehicles, and the ships. I cut strips of newspaper and used sellotape to fix them here and there, covering the scenery. I put strips of sellotape over all the point blades and their pivots, since these carry power.

After I had removed or covered up everything as well as possible to guard against overspray, I sprayed the track rust brown. Only a few patches of tall grass caught a whiff of brown, otherwise it was fairly successful.

I let it dry overnight, then after painting the rail areas that were missed by the spray, and thorough drying, I used the end of a steel ruler to scrape the railhead. This distresses the paint on top, and removes most of it. Some wet-and-dry was used to remove most of the remainder, and the track rubber (which is far softer than wet-and-dry) does some polishing of the scarred rail surface. This scarring is on microscopic level and may induce fouling up in the beginning. However, after some running-in the contact areas will be polished and the effect is reduced. My reasoning based on practical experience.

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Note slight overspray on the tall grass near the fence. And the foot of the rail somehow always seems to catch the spray less than needed. But since the light is from overhead, this may be accentuated. It will be less prominent after ballasting and weathering.

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The transition to the existing older track.

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The diamond crossing. Special care was taken to clean the contact surfaces around rail crossings - the diamond contains some live flangeways.

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Following that I added pavement at the diamond crossing, half of which lies in the dockyard road. The problem here was that the original road surface was made 30 years ago using a filler material to emboss the setts in. This has been off the market for many years, so I had to find an alternative. I have considered other fillers, but last year I was given a pile of Redutex embossed wall sheets by Daniel Caso, an Argentine modeller living over here. I found one that looks close to the original road surface, although it needed some work to match the colour. I'm not yet sure about the result, but for the moment I'll leave it be.

The space between the rails was painted dark brown and fitted with card inserts to provide a base for the timber inserts made from stripwood.

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After weathering and painting the Redutex setts and the timber inserts, it looked like this. Note that I painted the check rails, but I expect this will wear off as a result of track cleaning.

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The last view shows that the Redutex surface is slightly flat compared to the older setts, which are too rough in texture. However, if I shut one eye it looks like someone relaid the track, then used some different paving to fill the gap.  ;)

The diamond-shaped insert in the crossing is card and it looks a little flat. I may add some PVA glue rivets to give it some texture. I should add that the flat area just beside the diamond crossing will be covered with ballast or ground cover. This is the printed circuit board which I constructed the crossing on.

Next, before I even thought of ballasting, I had to determine the route for point rodding (I have two packages of Wills point rodding bought at John Wooden's shop at Porthmadog this spring) and signal wires. To be continued.

Next, I ballasted the harbour road, since that didn't need any point rodding. The ballasting is provisional, since I will need to clog it up and weather it using plaster. I used the Nixnie approach again since that produces good results. First, I put dry ballast on the track and used a brush to spread it evenly. Below is the diamond crossing - I glued some ballast down on the PCB base using undiluted PVA glue, to get a good key.

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Note the lifted edges on the old scenic cover, where it was left in place. This has been covered in some more before I applied the glue. These edges will form the base of more weeds to be applied after the ballast is dry and stable.

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Cleaning the flangeways with a soft brush before the glue is applied.

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Applying the glue solution using a syringe, dripping it in from the side to prevent disturbing the loose ballast. The glue is diluted with a lot of water, and a little liquid soap is added to break the surface tension. Note that I leave the space under the point blades clear of ballast - it is only painted, which I have found will be near invisible when the rest of the track has been ballasted.

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Wet ballast left to dry overnight. Note the dummy Peco point lever. Note that a little paint is still needed on some of the sleepers, and on the point lever.

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I left it overnight so the ballast could dry. In the warm weather that didn't take long.

Preparations for installing the point rodding

Next, the routes for the signal wires and point rodding were determined. One problem was that the signal box is a little awkwardly positioned. The point rods to the crossover near the signal box will be led under the track there, and cut where necessary.

I thought the point rods and signal wires to the station throat and the home bracket would run past the ash dump and under the road at the level crossing. Eventually I led the wires along the fence between the harbour road and the main passenger line, and only the rodding past the ash dump.

A board was installed to keep the ash away from the main line and point rodding. The rods will run between the track and the board:

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Conduit installed under the road, for point rodding. This was made up from stripwood and balsa. I cut away some of the scenic cover, glued the mouths of the conduit in place and glued coarse sand over them to hide the fact they don't continue under the road:

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Next, Tim Sanderson suggested I fit a catch point to the harbour line. Here it is - although it isn't yet connected up to some sort of linkage to make it work, it has been installed and tested. Here is a step by step report. First, the rail is cut and bent. Note the old Atlas N point blade I would use.

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Next, I removed a lot of ballast and some bits of plastic sleeper. The Atlas point blade was now tested for size, and I ground down the stock rail and the blade so they fitted.

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After soldering the N/S base to the rail where it was cut, fitting a pull rod to the blade, and bridging the gap with a wire (which is sunk in the ballast), I added a little ballast to hide the damage.

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And here is the catch point in open position. It will be made to work in conjunction with the point at the station throat, but that may take some time to realise!

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to be continued!

Point rodding

Following the ballasting of the harbour road, and fitting the catch point, I made a start on the point rodding using one of the Wills kits. This was both a fiddly and an uncomfortable job as I had to do the work under the Inverlochan unit, so I was continually overstraining my back.

Apart from installing the rodding, I did some research on signalling and locking arrangements. First, I decided to dispense with operating the pair of points at the engine release (and turntable) end of the layout from the signal box. I had a look at Douglas, IMR, in its original state, and if I am correct the engine release points were hand operated. So I substituted Peco point levers.

I also removed the shunting signal covering the move of the engine from the buffer stop to the release road. The engine driver has a line of sight to the signalman - if he wants to back up to the servicing siding, he can do so on a green flag from the signalman. The release road has a dwarf signal covering the point to the main line. Technically there should be another trap point there - see further posts.

I added dwarf signals as shunt ahead signals to the main line starter and the goods line starter. These won't be worked, but I will have to add an operating wire to each of them. The number of operating wires is now six... 

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Anyway, the point rodding. I started by fitting a facing point lock to a main line point.

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Immediately I found that these standard gauge components are rather big for 9mm gauge. The point lock casting fits between the rails and keeps under the rail head, but there is no question of fitting a deflector plate to cover it up. In addition, the operating rod which is bent to clear the rail, is far too long to fit the restricted space beside the track. So I cut it short. Here is the crank and a section of rod added.

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Next, the operating rod and crank for the point blades:

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And here is how I made up the assembly for the point lock and the blades, for the other point in the crossover (the one leading to the ash pit road). This one I did on the workbench, taking care to leave 23mm between the rod for the point lock and the crank end for the point blades. Note the thin microstrip used to splice the rod sections together.

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Here is the second assembly in place:

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I will need to extend the platform by a wooden surface to the front of the signal box, as that reduces the amount of detail needed at the signal box itself. The signalman needs a safe surface to step on, and the point rodding and signal wires need a protective cover.

Finally, a close-up of the rodding and the facing point lock of the other point. The parts, although quite fragile, are still a little coarse for narrow gauge use. But there is little alternative, and they do look very good.

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Next were the cranks to get the rods from the point in the last photo under the track to the signal box, and another set of cranks and rods leading to the point and point lock at the station throat.

A day on, I had my fill of infuriating little grey plastic parts from the Wills point rodding kit. The parts are beautifully detailed, but I wonder why they didn't include a few stacked crank assemblies in the sprue instead of having us patch them together. In addition I had to lift the track from the servicing road to get the final pair of rods in place - in various bits and pieces, since they really are not meant to use with 009 track.

But I persevered, and completed the rodding at the signal box end. All that's left do is run two rods all the way to the station throat and add a few bits there. Now I had to find a way of running six signal wires including pulleys in a very limited space.

First, here is a look at the rods beside the platform, where the servicing road joins the main passenger line.

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Next, the point where the release road joins the passenger line. Note the extra run of two rods that will end up at the station throat.

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The signal box, where the rods disappear under a wooden cover. The old interlocking box under the station sign would be substituted by a new one with inclined lifting covers to access the interlocking mechanism.

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Next, a close-up of the rods and cranks passing under the service track. Please don't look too closely at the botched rods under the rails - an indication of the difficulty of the work. The rods were put down in pieces and lined up by eye before gluing them in place. I think some ballast to leave only the top of the rods between the rails showing will do wonders here.

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Sir Theodore's skirts just clear the point rods, as does the union link on E.R.Calthrop's motion. It took some careful measuring to verify that!

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The track here still looks funnily bare, and ugly with all the wiring in view, and the rod guides seem to be very tall, but I expect that will improve with ballasting.

To be continued!

Next, I extended two rods towards the gap in the baseboards. These will be continued towards the 'tunnel' I made earlier. I also looked around for examples of signal operating wires and guides. There is an interesting topic on RMweb: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/71373-semaphore-signal-cable-runs/ (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/71373-semaphore-signal-cable-runs/)

Here are three photos from that article.

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The last one is interesting as it shows the small size of a wire support post, compared to point rodding. I have to fit a bundle of 6 wires to tiny posts, next to the point rods. I will try using fine fishing line. The wires will be run round a curve, so I think they will be strung along vertical posts such as the one shown in the photo. Note how the wire pulleys are grouped and that an entire group of three is pivoted.

Shortly afterwards it was suggested on NGRM that I fit trap points to the ash road and the release road. I decided to build dummy ones, which can be inserted in a very short time. More of that later. Another suggestion was to protect the rods and wires between the rails with deflector plates or boards to prevent glowing cinders from locomotives causing damage. This suited me fine as these would serve to hide any glitches in the rods as well, or even the ends of wires and rods where the cranks and pulleys would be too close together to model convincingly.

Here is a photo of the signal box, mercilessly showing its age (but I won't replace it!). I fitted a new cover box for the interlocking gear just under the nameboard.

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The wires for the signals will pass under the tracks to end up at the opposite side to the point rods. That makes for a less crowded layout and a simple route to the signals at the station throat. The route has already been decided on: they will run under the end of the point, and continue under the release road seen in the lower left corner. Between the rails I will fit deflector plates or boards to keep out the ashes and to protect the wires.

Here are some shots of the signal wires I'm trying to make up using fishing line. In the run shown there are six strands next to each other, glued to pins using superglue.

I set up pins on the edge of the workbench and just threaded the line back and forth. More pins brought them close together:

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Then I inserted pins under the strands at 50mm intervals and superglued them to the nylon line.

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Here is the result.

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However, this approach didn't work very well as the nylon line came off the pins - they are very smooth and the glue didn't properly key to the material. I fitted the pins in the baseboard surface and glued the bank of 6 wires to hem using neoprene contact glue, later reinforced with liquid CA glue. I'm not quite happy with it - in close-up it looks too coarse, however from a distance it's hardly noticeable, being stuck behind the fence. The fence posts are about 15mm tall - stripwood and yarn, 25 years old.

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But here is the first catch point which I think is rather better. Note the brass pin used to brace the rail as it was bent.

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Also note the two castings glued in place - pulleys for the platform starter (out of the picture) and the miniature signal. The pull wires will be added later. The pulley banks for the six wires leading off along the fence will be scratchbuilt. And the rod and cranks to the trap point have to be added.

developments

Fitting the catch point to the ash siding took about 25 minutes - I timed it. The procedure was the same as before. Note the dental mirror - I used that to verify the alignment of the rear of the point blade.

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Test running on the ash road. I tested the track gauge first, and it needed correcting, otherwise the Kato chassis would have dropped in.

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Next, I started building two banks of three wire pulleys. They were made using offcuts of a piece of mains wiring insulation and some styrene strip. Note the whitemetal casting (single pulley) bottom right. Once painted they will look funnily similar. Except for the holes in the pulley.

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I needed eight parallel wires under the track, emanating from the signal box. Some of this would be hidden under protective boards, but I wanted a suggestion of many wires running in parallel. So I made up this, with the styrene strips superglued under the fish line strands:

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After installation - I needed to lift the end of the release road to get it in - it looked like this. Note that I added the wires to the platform starter and the dwarf signal blocking the exit from the release road. The three-tier pulley banks are at the bottom of the photo. The guide unit next to the track is one of the left-overs from the Rae Bridge signalling project, about 10 years ago. It's a staple with a wire soldered across it, and an aluminium tube meant as a roller. It seemed to fit the purpose.

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Next, I added protective and walking boards to several areas where rodding and wiring needs to be covered - cinders from the engines are one reason, and providing a flat walking surface for the engine crews during watering and coaling is another. For me, it did away with the need for even more fiddly cranks and rods - I have seen enough of them in the days past!

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ballasting

Finally, I spread ballast round the area, and spent about an hour levelling it and brushing it away from moving parts of the points, and from the rods and wires which in reality would be kept clear of ballast as well. Note that the ballast is still unweathered - after it has set I will treat it with a thin wash of black paint and plaster to clog it up slightly, and to tone down the colour.

Here is what it looked like before I started dripping in the glue solution.

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The function of the protective covers is now more apparent - there are three places where rods and wires cross the siding in the top of the photo. A long piece of boarding was added there. The wires continue under the track to the pulleys at the bottom. The only place where I didn't fit boards is the point, where the operating rod for the catch point passes under the rails. Top left is a piece of boarding which hides the point rod towards the catch point in the ash road. This provides a flat walking area for the loco crews.

Then I dripped in the glue solution. As before I took every precaution to keep it away from the point blades... 

Yesterday I destroyed the Animated Flagman, completely and utterly. I nearly scrapped it, but luckily I decided to rebuild it.

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What happened was that I had noticed it tended to stick a little, with the flag lifted and not coming down. The figurine was plastic to begin with, and it was very fragile. I suspect I had knocked it during the ballasting operation. So I decided I would use a tiny bit of superglue to reinforce its feet....

Well... the superglue found its feet, but it also found the tiny steel wire in tube that operated the flag. It was stuck so tight that nothing would budge it any more. In the end I had to remove the entire figure, and the wire in tube assembly. In the process I managed to knock the extension arm off the relay. So now there was no more flagman ... but the ballasting operation has been successful.

An hour or so on, Mr Flagman had new cyano gel feet and the steel operating rod up his spine has been re-set. The flag is now soldered to the flagstaff. The worst part was having to fix the driving tube in a solid position and re-fit the drive with the baseboard in its normal position. With me lying on my back, head in a storage cabinet and everything I drop falling into my face.

The flagman is back at the job. He is now a bionic man with two clay cyanoacrylate feet. His flag waves in an odd way, but the action is more positive after his accident. But I didn't fit a new shoulder joint. Wonder what's ailing him this time...

Here he is again, holding up his flag!

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In addition, the ballast which had dried overnight, was brushed with a thin wash of dark grey plaster and a lot of water. In the photos above and below, the roadbed looks very dark, but in the end it dried in the right colour. When using coloured plaster, the end colour is always a matter of trial and error.

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In this view, note the expanse of bare plywood which will be covered in green things.

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The ash heap hasn't been touched.

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The method used is largely the same I used on Nixnie, although I was a bit sparse on the plaster. The harbour line has been clogged up most.

This morning I found the colour of the ballast has improved markedly. I cleared some stray particles, vacuumed the surface and ran extensive trials with various locos - fine flanges, coarse flanges etc. In one case I needed to clear the flangeway of a check rail, as some goo had accumulated there - the Kitson with its long wheelbase stuck a little.

I found I have to drip in more glue solution as in places the ballast has weakened due to having been wet again - it has to be tied together a bit more. When I do, I immediately wipe the solution off the rail and the points - the point blades and stock rails where they make contact are never touched. Now I have to wait until tonight to clean the track and do more trial running.

However, before I started work I made a few photos.

A close-up of the harbour sidings, and a section of release road, showing a variety of textures. Perhaps the track needs a little more clogging up - the siding at Nixnie is better. But for the moment I'll leave it as it is. I'm rather pleased with the cobbles as well - they are the original thing, 30 years old, but they weather well since the space between them is fouling up.

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Compare this to the siding at Nixnie which I think is slightly better. I think the fine rock dust I used there looks better than the artificial ballast stuff used at Dunalistair:

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I feel the track next to the signal box now has the right colour - not as pink as it was. Some of the rail needs a touch of paint.

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A close-up again shows a variety of textures, and the signal wires come out nicely which was what I wanted.

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Finally, a shot during trial running. The Kitson and the L&M saloon have fine flanges, and the Kitson is used to check clearances as its motion bracket strikes anything protruding into the loading gauge. William Wallace has the original coarse Arnold flanges so that will bump over any particle that rears its head in the flangeway.

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As the ballast was drying, I decided to glue down the scenery in the station area, since I had to wait anyway. I got out the remnants of the Woodlands and other scenic material and selected a few colours that matched the older scenic cover best. I thought - they were still too bright compared to the weathered and worn stuff on the 25-year-old harbour layout. Some work with brown and yellow water paint will be needed to tone down the brightness. However, I set to work, and here is the result.

The harbour shunter and the NWNGR style six-wheeler at the coaling stage.

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A wider angle taken from the slipway shows some of the new scenic cover.

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Between the tracks there is an area of weeds and shrub. More tall grass is needed around the fence separating the dockyard from the station.

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The end of the line has hand operated points. Weeds and shrub have appeared here as well.

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The dockyard again, showing the new pavement and the ballasted and part overgrown track.

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Period piece taken across the dockyard.

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Another view of the area near the signal box. Weeds and shrub have appeared between the tracks.

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Next will be some work on the other baseboard unit - extending the point rods and the signal wires, and matching the scenic cover so the transition won't be too obvious. To be continued...

Since I now have the bit between my teeth, I decided to carry on with the point rodding on the headland unit. I found I have just enough material to complete the run of point rods and the facing point lock to the point at the station throat. Basically I cut small patches into the scenic cover to fit the bases of the point rod guides. I make up the units to size, then determine where the bases will go.

Here is the length of run from the existing rodding to the 'tunnel' I made under the level crossing. Note that the rods must be cut through at the baseboard gap, or I would damage them when I move the layout. The units in the middle are compensators - they convert a pull action into a push action, and vice versa, to allow for thermic expansion of the rods. Another tunnel is needed for the signal wires - the mouth is cut from a piece of styrene tube, bottom left.

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The rods at the other side of the 'tunnel'. The rods continue past the location where a connection will branch off to the catch point. I cut a slot in the scenic cover. The new (dummy) tunnel for the wiring exits here.

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Next, the risk of burying wiring in the scenery. I almost cut the wires to the track at the station throat!

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Finally, I noticed the bogie of the Kitson tended to derail on the (older) Peco point in the station throat. The problem proved to be the too-short check rail, which doesn't properly guide the bogie into the frog. Some wheels don't like this, and the bogie on the Kitson which doesn't track very well to begin with, left the rails each time I reversed it over the point. So I cut off the end of the check rail and I removed a few rail spikes, then trimmed to size and bent to shape a piece of rail which I then glued in place. End of problem...  8)

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To be continued!

Today it was a very rainy day over here. I hardly poked my nose outside, and I did a lot of detail work on the station throat. The amount of effort doesn't really show in the result, but it had to be done.

I completed the point rods to the point blades, the catch point and the facing point lock. This includes cutting a passage under the track in three places to get the rods through. Also, I did most of the preparation work for the signal operating wires. The wires to the home bracket are in place already. The only part missing is the wires and pulleys to the starting signals and the shunt ahead signals. But I prepared the pulley banks for those.

Here are some photos. First, the nylon fishing line being tightened at the home signal end. There are two strands that had to be led all around the curve, to the starting signals where they will pass under the track. The large pin is a temporary aid to tension the line.

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Here the 'wires' are led along the track and the point rods. Note the rods to the facing point lock and the point blades. Each is led to its own crank and linkage.

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Cutting the 'wires' after they have been glued to the posts. Gluing is a two stage process - contact glue first, later reinforced by liquid cyano. In the process I separated the wires so they are vertically under one another, before the glue set.

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Another home made pulley bank at the foot of the home bracket. Here the 'wires' have been painted track colour.

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A close-up of the detail at the station throat, not yet completed. The rods are finished, including a 'bridge' to the catch point which is split off the rod to the point blades. The wires in the distance are still loose - here a bank of four wires will be led under the track, and joined by two more from the harbour road signals.

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To be continued!

By now this has almost turned into a signalling thread!

Today I completed the work on the signalling and track of Dunalistair - the station throat and the main line needed little work, apart from the signalling detail. Even though I had anticipated a lot of work, I grossly underestimated it. The main danger is that you damage all the structures and scenery that have to stay in place - working signals, lamp posts, fences and telegraph poles are the most likely candidates. And due to the awkward situation of the layout I had to stand in an uncomfortable attitude time and again.

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Anyway, all has been done now. I will describe the work step by step, then add some photos of the largely completed scene. Yesterday I had prepared the route for the operating wires along the track, drilling pilot holes for the pins used as wire stanchions and testing the clearance.

Yesterday night, as we sat watching a TV film, I made up a number of pulley stacks similar to the ones made before. This time I needed no less than seven two-tier pulleys. The process has been described a few pages back. Fitting them to the layout this morning was a matter of careful alignment to prevent the widest stock hitting them on the tight curve of the main line. The NWNGR type six-wheeler with its deep frames has the worst overhang.

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Here is an image showing most of the pulleys and the way they were laid out to guide the wires to the signals. After they were glued down, rigging them with fishing line proved very similar to rigging a ship model. The fishing line is rather stiff though, so it needs careful gluing, often using contact glue first before applying cyanoacrylate.

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In the next photo note how I temporarily tensioned the line by tying it to a pin inserted in the scenery - there still is a tiny pinhole in the road!

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In the next photo, I have filled in the damage spots made in the scenery to glue down the point rods. Note that the rods and the wires are interrupted at the baseboard break - an unfortunate but necessary measure.

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An overview of the signalling arrangements near the starting signals and the (dummy) shunt ahead signals, after the wires and pulleys were painted.

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After all the work done, I'm not displeased with the result shown in these detail shots.

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Next, a view of the facing point lock and operating arrangement at station throat. The actual operating rod for the point comes in from the bank behind the railway - it's a steel wire hiding under the plastic crank! The point motor is under the lighthouse.

Also note the wires to the home bracket on the headland - these terminate in pulleys leading the wires to the signal post. No pulleys actually mounted yet on the post itself.

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Note that some improvement on the buildings and scenery is planned as well. But first I will operate the layout for some time so the new track is proven and any remaining glitches ironed out. One of these is the track gap between the two baseboard units which seems to have increased over the years. This has to be re-set so the transition is smoother than it is now.

Here is the Kitson and the L&MVR coach on a special working.

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And a goods train hauled by William Wallace, approaching the catch point on the harbour road.

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And some final views of the goods train entering the station.

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I still need to think of a lever frame at the Foundry siding, and the associated rods and wires. But for the moment I will halt the project and enjoy the results of this two-year project for a while!

This should really go in the 'signalling and operation' chapter.

An electrician's lot

Warning: this post may not be for you if you don't like wiring!

A few days ago a drive pin broke on a point motor under Dunalistair. It was this one, fitted with a brass drive pin:

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I was just trial running the little Backwoods Barclay that I repaired the chassis on, when I noticed the point to the coal jetty wouldn't throw when I flicked the switch. A moment later I heard something tiny drop into the cabinet below and I thought 'noooooo....!'

Luckily the point motor could just be reached - they are stuck to the underside of the baseboard with contact (impact) glue, which can be coaxed to 'give' if you slowly apply a force. The point motor tilted out of the way and I could replace the drive pin, this time soldering it to the bottom end of a new brass tube, so there was a little more free play at the top end of the tube. The pin looked like having failed through metal fatigue. I refitted the point motor, gluing it in after I managed to fiddle the new drive pin into the point's tie bar and get the microswitch lever in place - this is pressed on by the drive pin if you throw the point.

Test running over the point proved it was all right, both on the curved and straight roads.I ran the Barclay up the line with a load on to see how it would hold up. It went all right till I cleared the up starter at Rae Bridge for it to continue through the Gorge and up to Inverlochan.

The train refused to move past the signal, and after investigations it proved to be the case that the track relay at Rae Bridge didn't click in as it should. For those electrically minded, here is a diagram:

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The power to the relay at Rae Bridge is controlled by a relay contact at Inverlochan - follow the blue circuit at the bottom from where it says 'signal track control switch', bottom right. The circuit is routed through the relay on the left, then returns to the coil of the relay on the right.

After establishing the cause of the power failure, I got out the diagrams, which (though out of date) mentioned the colours of the wires under the layout. I traced the control circuit back to a screw terminal fitted to the support frame of Dunalistair, next to the point motor I had just replaced! And lo and behold, there was a wire loose which had been nicked out of the terminal.

To give you an idea of the cramped place I had to work in, here is a photo - various pillows stuffed in the bottom to prevent me hurting my back. I could just wriggle in and out, not a bad feat at age 64. Note the 230V lead of a LED spot which I had clamped to a frame under the layout:

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And here is the underside of the layout that I had to work on. The offending point motor is in the shadows to the left, and the wire I pulled loose just to the left of the picture, indicated by the arrow:

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Well, all was done, I thought. But that d*mned little Barclay must have been jinxed, because after returning to Dunalistair I noticed it wouldn't run over the point at the other end of the diamond crossing, the one leading to the harbour siding. It stuck every time I tried. I had just re-packed the cabinet that I had worked in, so all came out again and I investigated. You'll see the red-ringed area to the right of the photo. The microswitch has a grey and a purple lead to the screw terminal just to the left of it. The grey lead was loose, and when I re-fitted it, it shorted out the point in one position!

Eventually, the problem was traced to the solder joint on the arm of the microswitch which was threatening to come adrift. I superglued it as I didn't fancy soldering over my face without room to move. And yes... I also stuck the switch lever to the casing grrrrr.

I removed the switch, upon which the point worked fine and the blades switched the power without problem. Probably the grey wire had been off from the beginning so I didn't notice the switch that had failed!

Anyway, this morning I unstuck the lever and tested the switch, found it was all right and replaced it. The frog of the point now finally has a working backup switch!