Hallett Cove Southern

January Progress

2012-02-01T15:53:00.000+10:30

In this months progress report you will see details of work done in the following areas: Flinston, Picard Junction, the Helix Approach, Stanvac, Huntington, Lower Level Control Panel, Model Rail Radio informal session, helping a fellow hobbyist in Sweden, Rossco & Pam try Skype for participation in Model Rail Radio and my Ebay auction wins

Flinston

Dropper and Bus terminations continued along with frog and turnout wiring.

Chris working away

and Bob "giving me the bird".

Picard Junction

Testing of turnouts has commenced on the bottom level so debugging has commenced where issues were found. I uncovered a design problem and an addition turnout control cable was required from the panel to Picard Junction. Chris is shown below doing the additional terminations.

Helix Approach

The debugging of the connection into the helix has commenced!

We found a major problem where grade transitions from the bottom section of the helix - I guess I must has rushed it! With help from Rossco we removed the backdrop and regraded the road bed by removing all existing fixings on the risers from the base board to the road bed and adjusted all heights from the base of the helix to start of branch on the bottom level - see below:

Inside the Helix

Re pinning the track outside the Helix

Testing after re-work

Other Problems identified were:

When we were testing in hot weather, trucks were derailing in a place where it had never happened - Murphy was at work! - we found a kink in the code 100 track due to heat and lack of expansion space - Dremel and cutoff wheel used to remove approximately 3mm of rail and it now works a treat - Rossco did a great job undertaking this work between adjacent levels in the helix!

We also found some ties in the helix about 2/3's of the way up that were lifting - direct pressure and glue were applied and this seemed to fix the problem.

Stanvac

BJ has been busy again doing a number of things.

Placing bushes next to buildings

Making the background tress "higher"

Installing another low relief building and scratch built water tank

Another hand me down from Bill2 has been "tarted up" by BJ and now has a place on my layout.

The new toilet block and water tank on stand

BJ has scratch built a toilet block that showing the inside half as the edge of the layout goes through the building!

I'm sure when the wives come and have their next look there will be some giggles!

Huntington

When Tom Barbalet visited in December and when he was shunting ore cars in Huntington we discovered a problem in the ballasted track adjacent to the winery. The tedious repair work was undertaken by Rossco and rail painting and ballast reinstatement has been completed by BJ. Thanks guys - all the testing done since you did work has shown it seems to work perfectly!

Lower Level Control Panel

Well 45 turnout control switches to activate 54 turnout motors done in 3 banks: Bank "B" (23), "C" (14) & "D" (17)

With 5 wires per control switch having connections of: Solenoid1, Solenoid2, Frog, Rail A, Rail B. Rail A and B also have inline resistors at their LED connection on the switch leaf. The Solenoid Common are all commonly connected to the CD unit common return.

Preparing the first of the looms

Installation of the looms between the leaves commences...

All looms terminated!

Close up of switch leaf

Model Rail Radio

A bag of swag arrived from Tom Barbalet for the participants of the "South Australian Take Over Show". Thanks Tom!

Helping a fellow Model Rail Radio hobbyist

Anders Wirten from Stockholm had a wiring problems with some turnouts. He informed me that wiring anything just was a major challenge for him. He sent me some details of what he had done including some pictures above and below and I suggested a fix and it worked! Glad I could help you Anders.

You can see Ander's layout at the start of this video taken by Prof Klyzlr.

Rossco & Pam try Skype

Well following Tom Barbelet's visit in late December and Ros and Pam coming over to my place during the recording of Model Rail Radio Show #50 I spent an afternoon setting up their Laptop. This was followed by an evening of testing/learning me at mine and they at theirs.

Must have done something right as Rossco's (AKA Ros) participated in the recoding of Show #51.

eBay Auction wins

I think I did ok...

People

Figures for BJ to paint.

Painted figures.

More Painted figures both standing and seated.

Seated figures for use in passenger cars.

Vehicle

Tractor & Trailer

Once again I must thank all my helpers who continue to contribute towards the completion of the building component of my layout.

-ooOOOoo-

December Progress

2011-12-30T15:52:00.000+10:30

In this months progress report you will find details of: The Tuesday Crew including a visitor, Flinston, Stanvac, Onka Valley, Control Panels and Daveyston.

Then there was our group break up BBQ and Christmas which was followed by a visit by Tom Barbalet from Model Rail Radio.

My Tuesday Crew

BJ and Chris have been along most Tuesday morning following coffee at the local shopping center.

Bill1 made it up from the deep south for one session

Thanks for your continued dedication to regularly help guys.

Flintston

Chris is still wiring - this time droppers in Flinston. At least there are only half the number when compared to Hornertown.

Stanvac

Below the escarpment (between the LPG storage tanks and the refinery plant) is a dirt road that needed extending across the backdrop behind the packaged goods facility to later cross the tracks and come to a service building within Stanvac.

Buildings were then added behind the galvanized iron fence in front of the road.

Onka River Valley

The masking tape covering tracks during scenery work was removed in order to have some trains running during Tom Barbalet's visit. This was followed by vacuuming the tracks to remove debris from the prior scenery work. This was followed up by using my CMX for the first time - I found the CMX to be an excellent investment as two locos pushing it ahead and using MEK as the cleaner as the masking tape had been there for "some months" and it did a great job!

Control Panels

This month saw the commencement of work to complete the lower level main line control panel - a somewhat daunting task. Switches and LED's installed first and the LED's common soldering.

Then the CD bus to push button switches and then from the other push button contact to each of the toggle switches served by the push button:

Then solder the the 5 wires - Solenoid normal, solenoid reverse, LED common, Normal position LED with 1k resistor and finally the reverse position LED with its 1k resistor - oh and don't forget the shrink tubing on all three led joints to avoid shorts!, then make the "S" bend loom, cut wires to length strip and terminate on the appropriate terminal strip.

The challenge is to keep wires in sets and them sets into the loom in a tidy fashion.

Many hours of work is still required here!

Daveyston

Well I actually did some building kit building this month. Chris and I assembled the basic structures over two Monday construction nights. We cleaned all the flash from windows, doors, downpipes, etc and placed detail parts on double sided tape on cardboard ready for painting. It is worth mentioning that BJ & I has looked at each kit and BJ decided the best colour scheme for each building. BJ requested that all detail parts be painted by brush so as to show some variation in texture after painting to form the basis of the weather finish - I was also told don't paint every detail thoroughly leave some variation in coverage to aid the overall effect.

Then we had a air brushing day it BJ's to apply the base building colours and for him to check I'd done the detail parts painting correctly.

BJ then weathered the detail parts with "Flouqil Foundation" to remove any shine prior to me being sent away with the buildings base colour and detaiil parts to assemble without the window glass (acetate sheet) so I could return and allow BJ to complete the weathering process.

Back home to add the detail parts prior to final weathering.

Now follows the progression of each building

Duplex House

Newsagency

Garage

General Store

Thatched Cottage

BJ is going to had detail all the woodwork before I get this one back!

Once again I must thank all my helpers who continue to contribute towards the completion of the building component of my layout.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year and look forward to modelling in 2012.

-ooOOOoo-

November Progress

2011-12-01T23:28:00.000+10:30

I did not think much had been done this month.... That was until I put this post together....

Work has been completed in the following areas of the layout: Daveyston, Stanvac, Hornertown, Onka River Valley, Flinston, Fascias & Control Panels. If BJ had not been busy enough he has also made a model of a Portative Organ used in the Baroque period - it's details are at the bottom of the post.

As usual picture saves a thousand words (quite a few thousand words!!).... see below...

Daveyston

My old workmate Ross has built a couple of Dapol kit buildings for the pending township. I have another six in my kit building line up and Ross has taken another to build.

These two will form part of the twelve or so buildings to be placed around the station.

BJ and I have decided on a footprint for the buildings beyond the station on the Huntington Branch and Bill2 has agreed to construct the shallow relief buildings for the background and street scape scene. These will be constructed next year!

Stanvac
BJ has been quite industrious with ground cover, shrubs and trees commencing at the plant in the northwest corner and heading south towards Iron Hill albeit the photos go from south to north!. The progression can be seen below.

Ground cover and trees

Fitting wood sleepers to flexi track joints and hand made turnouts

Rossco fitted the wooden ties under my triple gang hand laid point - notice the cardboard under the copper sleepers as the code 70 rail used for the points coupled with the copper sleeper being thinner than the plastic ties so "packers" were required.

half done

finished product - the ties were stained with an Indian ink wash before ballast and ground cover.

Hornertown

More wiring of those "36 turnouts and 75 lengths of track = 222 droppers" previously mentioned. Plus we remembered that the flexi track joints to be hiddden under the scenery on the back dog bone tracks between Hornertown and Flintston "had not been secured"

Installing Copper sleepers

Copper sleepers were required to be soldered to ensure no movement of rails towards "out of gauge" tracks will happen over time.

Chris and I soldered the six copper sleepers in place at the back of the bottom level under the top level - it could not have been in a worst place! Both Chris and I were nearly at full reach! Perhaps if this had been done a lot earlier it would have been a lot easier!

Chris did not find the camera so I don't appear - as usual!

The easier of the two locations...

Of course the NMRA standards gauge was used to check tolerances.

Wiring

Bob completing the last of the Hornertown dropper connection to track bus wires.

Onka River Valley

The humugas job of mountain building continues.....

Work mate Ross mixing the 4:3:1:1 scenery mix for Onka River Valley

Before this month

At the end of the month

It does not look much but 5 mixes were placed - probably another 30 mixes to go to cover the remainder! That reminds me I'll need more supplies from the hardware store.

Flinston

Rossco gluing wooden ties under flexi track joints at the cement works where plastic ties were removed for the joining.

Fascias

Bill2 and Barry have been busy on the fascias installed last month with filling, sanding and painting.

Bill2 filled and is shown sanding

Barry painting

Painting is about 20% completed on the first coat of two or three required coats.

Control Panels

Work has been completed on Hornertown, Hornertown East, Hornertown West, Flinston & Daveyston. I ran out of yellow and green 3mm led so ordered some more from RS Components (they are a lot cheaper than Jaycar) buy on-line and get free air shipping throughout Australia.

Hornertown

Hornertown East

Hornertown West

Flinston

Daveyston

MTH PA's

I placed an order for a PA-PB set and another PA, a three diesel consist originally on Broadway Limited Imports but they cancelled all orders when they gave the dies to Mikes Train House (MTH) following the court case between manufactures a while back. So, I reordered my locos from MTH to six months later find out they use DCS not DCC a totally different and proprietary control system with only a few DCC settings available. I researched the JMRI user group message database to find that many of the usual loco set up parameters were not available - including a top speed setting. The comments related to Proto Sound 2 - luckily my order was for the new Proto Sound 3 which I have now received..

By using my MRC Prodigy Advance 2 on my test track I have been able to:

• program a 4 digit address in the same manner as other decoders,
• been able set CV29 to run in reverse even though all the discussion groups say this cannot be done,
• set start voltage,
• set the acceleration rate,
• set the deceleration rate &
• set the top speed

This all means that I should be able to speed match!

The down side is that DecoderPro won’t talk to the decoder (even though it has a MTH PS3 decoder file) so having to do it all by individual CV’s.

Still to try my own speed table but may not have to use it as the three MTH PA-PB-PA will be a consist that I can use as it does not conflict with any other loco numbers!

I'm thinking of asking the JMRI boys if they can update the MTH decoder definition file as using DecoderPro is just ssssoooooo much easier than doing the old way CV by CV - all 40 of them.

Relaxing BBQ Lunch

Well the Tuesday morning crew have been enjoying a BBQ lunches after the morning work sessions.

The pic below shoes he boys enjoying a glass of chilled "Sav Blanc" while I cook the snags, spud chips and onions....

(Not I had not had too many glasses! just didn't stop long enough the camera to function correctly!!)

BJ's Organ Model

It is a Portative Organ the idea developed in Baroque period used to provide a continuo part in orchestral setting. They were built to allow movement between venues to allow the "organ part" performances at Baroque concerts.

A musical group in Brisbane want to acquire one so BJ have built a model so they can display what they are on about and and use it as focus for raising money.

A close-up of the had carved scroll work.

It may be of interest that the "Adelaide Crows" football club chairs seen in the background may not be appreciated by the Brisbane Lions football club supporters.....

Once again I must thank all my helpers who continue to contribute towards the completion of the building component of my layout.

My current comment seems to be "if I worked 40 hours a week it would take me a month to finish the control panels" and that does not include the lower level yards' point motor wiring!!! Just have to bite off the elephant in digestible chunks!

Till next month.......

-ooOOOoo-

October Progress

2011-10-30T17:56:00.000+10:30

Well the appearance changes are not so stark this month! The last couple of months had so many visual changes it looked like things had been racing along.

With help from the Monday night crew and Chris and BJ we have managed to get a few things done at Hornertown, Davetston, Flinston & Stanvac this month. I must not forget to mention "welcome back" to Bill2 who has had a break from the Monday night crew for a few months.

And I had the pleasure of traveling to Traralgon 200 km east of Melbourne (900 km from Home) to see Peter and do some more work on setting up his locos using DecoderPro.

Hornertown
We back in the June Update I commented "Droppers, droppers and more droppers.... 36 turnouts and 75 lengths of track = 222 droppers apart from the extras for short pieces of track... " well Chris and Bob have very nearly finished them. See Chris below.

BJ has begun the section of backdrop betwwn the "town Centre" and Hornertown East. The new section of backdrop will be placed infornt of and scenically blended with the basic blue backdrop already in place. Se below

Daveyston

Lat month we showed the formation of the basic landforms. Well BJ has done some basic colur texture work and painted the tresstle I made from Evergreen sections and I have cut the base board and flex track to fit it in.

I installed the trestle on the final approach to Daveyston.

Construction and trial fitting the tunnel portals and retaining wall for Lewiston Loop track (the third one back) below Daveyston township has commenced. The inner and outer folded dogbone main lines are in the foreground.

Flintston

I have kitbashed an Atlas truss girder bridge to be fitted to the Huntigton Branch behind Flintston. This will be installed over the industrial access road where it enters the rear of Flinston yard.

Rossco and I have fitted all but two of the turnout motors in the yard this month and the wires and terminal blocks are still to be attached to the benchwork.

Stanvac

Last moth I talked about structures under construction and the various "issues" we faced.

Chris has finished constructing the propane storage tanks. The refinery structures, propane tanks, petroleum products tanks, and loading platform have been temporarily placed in position following painting and weathering by BJ. BJ has also started on the ground cover surround some of the structures.

Petroleum products tanks

The propane tanks

The plant area

The ground cover surround some of the structures

Fascias

BJ did not get much scenery work done one day as he was purloined to help me with the remaining sections of fascia. The photos show the final sections.

Now for Barry to fill over the screw heads and sand back prior to the black paint finding its way on.

Traralgon trip

I once again traveled to Traralgon 200 km east of Melbourne (900 km from Home) to stay with Peter and have the pleasure of his company and to do some more work on setting up his locos using DecoderPro. My previous visit was detailed in the July post.

Last time I came we discovered that the Digitrax Zephyr had issues and was not communicating correctly with LocoNet despite being sent stateside for warranty work some time prior. A new Digitrax Zephyr Xtra has arrived and what a difference a working piece of kit makes! Peter's frustrations have seemed to have evaporated and it is only a few "older" series Digitrax decoders that seem to "under perform" causing frustrations. A lot of the "problem" locos are now running seamlessly.

Peter "tuning up" his locos - note the "pile" under the test track table.

I wonder how long Peter will be able to leave the test track on the dining room table after I have left this time.....

Thanks for the great time Peter & Faye I enjoyed the extractions from the cellar and your excellent cooking!

Once again thanks for all your help guys....

-ooOOOoo-

September Progress - Summary

2011-10-05T14:16:00.000+10:30

It has been a productive month visually as things have appeared in a number of areas this month. Some of my hired helpers we called upon for family duties taking them away from modelling assignments. Well the clean up of tools, spare equipment, scenery supplies amongst other things on the bottom level has commenced! A eight draw cupboard has been fitted under loco for storage, this required replacing one central support leg with one on each side.

Ross Lends a hand
Apart from his structure building which can be seen on previous posts he came to help work on the layout for a day and was given the task of mixing the vermiculite, patching mortar, hard plaster, cement mix (4,2,1,1) grout colouring and mixing with the correct amount of water to get Joe Fugate's "soft ice-cream" consistency. He did a great job of the eight loads we achieved during the day. You can see the results in the Daveyston and Flinston sections below.

Once again thanks for all your help guys....

September Progress - Summary
September Progress - Hornertown
September Progress - Daveyston
September Progress - Flintston
September Progress - Stanvac

-ooOOOoo-

September Progress - Hornertown

2011-10-02T14:48:00.003+10:30

Wiring

Bob and Chris have commenced the large taks of hooking up the droppers to track bus wires and fixing turnout motor terminal strips on the entire southern section of the lower level.

Point motor wiring

Power distribution

Track bus's

Hornertown East

BJ has completed hand painting the rock retaining walls and they look great!

September Progress - Summary
September Progress - Hornertown
September Progress - Daveyston
September Progress - Flintston
September Progress - Stanvac

-ooOOOoo-

September Progress - Daveyston

2011-10-02T14:47:00.003+10:30

Installation of the backdrop had been completed and the scenery base has commenced.

Backdrop installation

Wooden oddments have been glued to the base to form a rough terrain in which the masking tape has been applied to form the base for application of the base upon which the ground cover will be applied. The photos below show the progression.

The plan is for the trestle is to be painted and installed during October.

September Progress - Summary
September Progress - Hornertown
September Progress - Daveyston
September Progress - Flintston
September Progress - Stanvac

-ooOOOoo-

September Progress - Flintston

2011-10-02T14:47:00.002+10:30

Yard Tracks, approach track, shunt lead, cement works lead and Huntington Branch bank

Well this month all the track has been laid in Flintston. Rossco assisted me with installing some turnout motors. The droppers, track bus and remaining turnout motors are outstanding.

ou can see the scenery progression at the Northern end of the yard below. It starts with some basic woodwork then the masking tape and the topping mix. A particular challenge is a hand made turnout in the approach track tunnel that I may want to provide access in case maintenance is required at a later date.

The access "hatch" to maintain the turnout should it be necessary in the future.

Northern Light & Power

A year ago in the October 2010 post I talked about Ross building the Cornerstone kit. It is now time to place it on the layout. The pictures show its location and the approach tracks.

Cement Works

The plan is to build a loading structure based loosely on the one in Dodge City, Kansas that I photographed on my work trip the the USA & Canada in 2008 .

The cement works is behind the "bank" carrying the Huntington Branch on its approach to Daveyston. See the scenery progression below showing the progression from benchwork to building blocks then masking tape landform to application of the top mix mentioned i the Intro.

Bigland Engineering

The platform and tracks have been installed and the structure (the white one on the left which looks like an engine house) comes from Bill2 - it was a mockup he made for his layout - but BJ will do his magic when finished you will not know the difference. Funny this method of construction was discussed on the Model Railcast Show #149.

Warehouse

The siz tracks have been installed between the platforms, The idea is that different products will be delivered to different platforms so the operating complexity will be high.

The last track (7th from the front) will become the piggy back loading facility.

September Progress - Summary
September Progress - Hornertown
September Progress - Daveyston
September Progress - Flintston
September Progress - Stanvac

-ooOOOoo-

September Progress - Stanvac

2011-10-02T14:46:00.001+10:30

.
Work has commenced in earnest here but some mysteries have teased both BJ & I. The first photo show the elusive base forming the platform and foundations for the refinery's packaged good building. Well we took it along with the building carcass to BJ for building works last month but I forgot to take the photo seen below. Anyway at the next work day we brought it back for the photo. Then it mysteriously disappeared! we are at a loss as to where it went, we can both remember seeing it put out to take back to BJ's then neither of us have a clear recollection of what went on from there - it went missing never to be found again despite BJ & I spending many hours on a number of different days over three weeks looking - some would say we also had a "girls" look rather than a "boys" look!

I decided to make another base and then whilst rushing a bit and not thinking glued all the underside pieces on the top and discovered my error the next day when I attempted a trial fit! The second one was scrapped so third time lucky except...

The first base used 16mm MDF and a 6mm square section was to be added to the front of platform for the overhanging section but since the first one was made I found a better method 12mm MDF base with a 6mm MDF sheet over the top as it gave a neater appearance. When I trial fitted the 3rd base it did not sit on the base board! I discovered it was resting on top of the terminal strips used for the turnout motor wiring as the building hides 3 turnout motors. Solution was to remove terminal strips hollow out the base board by 3mm under each and re fit the strips - hey presto it now works properly - see below.

The building signage is from images available on the web discussed in the Model Railroad Hobbyist Ezine forums.

The base for the oil tanks that are to the right of the building should be made in October. Chris is building the three Propane storage tanks from Plastruct still to be erected between the petroleum tanks and the refinery. The primary liquid product loading platform is also nearing completion and should make an appearance next month. The LPG loading facility is still to be devised.

September Progress - Summary
September Progress - Hornertown
September Progress - Daveyston
September Progress - Flintston
September Progress - Stanvac

-ooOOOoo-

August Progress - Helix and Flintston

2011-08-31T13:46:00.003+09:30

Helix track work extended to meet the lower level main

Finally the track between levels has been installed albiet not without issues! Unknowingly I "moved" the track after I had placed some glue - I think it was when I placed the wooden blocks to ensure smooth grade transmission - the track got moved sideways and I had a big kink...

I'm still to run gear over it but I am hopeful that I don't have to rip it all out and redo. Time will tell

Flintston

This is the last town to have the track laid and it is located under Iron Hill (Southern end) and Stanvac (Northern end). It will have numerous industries with switching complexity!

The warehouse and associated platform foundations have been laid!

I can now see the potential end of track laying but I will try and resist until Hornertown has been completed. The staging tracks at Stirling will be the only other track remaining to be laid.

Thanks Guys for your continuing support!

In conclusion of these pots I think it is fair to say a lot of stuff has happened this month. I'm sure things will be a bit slower next month, so until then.....

Part 1 - Intro
Part 2 - Hornertown
Part 3 - Adamsville
Part 4 - Stanvac
Part 5 - Jimtown
Part 6 - Onka River Valley

August Progress - Onka River Valley

2011-08-31T13:17:00.002+09:30

Panoramic view

These are taken looking North. The left hand side is west and the right east.

Looking up the valley to the North West

Looking up the valley to the North East

Looking to the East

BJ doing some "strata" work in the closest section

And the results!

Bridge Portals

The "Hill" between Onka Valley and Adamsville

The initial idea looked simply "wrong" BJ and I had a number of discussions and the solution was to have a section "through" the side of the hill as part of the fascia. The reworked result is much better!

End of Part 6 - The final installment follows

Part 1 - Intro
Part 2 - Hornertown
Part 3 - Adamsville
Part 4 - Stanvac
Part 5 - Jimtown
Part 7 - Helix and Flintston

August Progress - Jimtown

2011-08-31T12:25:00.002+09:30

Barry, BJ and I have all had a hand in these tunnel portals. I did the woodwork including the base scolloping to the rockface then Barry applied some texture to the scollops at the top. BJ had laid the rockface external to the tunnel face and I have installed the tunnel portals following BJ's airbrushing.

Ground cover and a few bushed still to be done.

End of Part 5

Part 1 - Intro
Part 2 - Hornertown
Part 3 - Adamsville
Part 4 - Stanvac
Part 6 - Onka River Valley
Part 7 - Helix and Flintston

August Progress - Stanvac

2011-08-31T12:19:00.002+09:30

The plant models were built some time back one by a Monday crew member and the other by my son Adam. I modified some "Bachmann Oil Tank w/Blinking Light Kit" by removing the "Blinking lights and fitting a "top plate" cover. I have a "Cornerstone Oil Loading Platform" under construction to be placed between loader tracks 3 & 4.

Three "Propane Storage Tanks" are en-route from Walthers these will be placed between the fuel tanks and plant. Some work awaits to complete other product delivery structures.

Barry has placed the Fuel Tank failure retention banks.

Loader tracks 3 & 4

Base for packaged goods building and platform

View down the Iron Hill Branch with Stanvac on the right

Packaged Goods Building base framework ready for detailing

Construction of Fuel Tank failure retention banks

End of Part 4

Part 1 - Intro
Part 2 - Hornertown
Part 3 - Adamsville
Part 5 - Jimtown
Part 6 - Onka River Valley
Part 7 - Helix and Flintston

August Progress - Adamsville

2011-08-31T11:35:00.002+09:30

Grain loading facility
BJ started with a cardboard structure made as a mockup by Bill 2 which he used before building its replacement on his layout. It is barely recognisable since BJ "mods".

It has been placed next to some Cornerstone "Big Grain Storage Bin" with "Conveyor".

Cutting Adamsville to Stanvac Junction
The rear section was prepared where easy to access then "placed" - a much simpler method than "reaching" to do everything.

Basic land form

Ground cover being added

In place at rear - the trees blend with the painted backdop very well.

End of Part 3

Part 1 - Intro
Part 2 - Hornertown
Part 4 - Stanvac
Part 5 - Jimtown
Part 6 - Onka River Valley
Part 7 - Helix and Flintston

August Progress - Hornertown

2011-08-31T11:29:00.004+09:30

Structure work is progressing in a number of areas within Hornertown: Township, West Yard and East Yard. Turnout motor installation and wiring is progressing as well.

Township
The area is above the rear main lines as seen below

A sketch of the general arrangement was developed with BJ

The backboard with facade spacers laid out for gluing

The intention is to paint room details on the backboard before fixing facades. Some window details are on hand as well.

Weight applied after gluing

Building facades to be fixed after detailing

West Yard
Trial layout of building locations commenced

The final location was somewhat different!

The transition to separate from/integrate with Flinston

East Yard
Trial layout of buildings to finalise locations.

Supports for rear section of scenery being instaled

Checking building locations before gluing

Trial fitting platform location

BJ's first trial for painted stone wall - turned out the colours dried too light!

BJ painting the rockwall

He repainted the first section with darker colours

The non painted area will be painted to show concrete pillars and capping

Flour Mills
Last month I had some details of the flour mill that my old workmate Ross has been constructing from Cornerstone kits for me. Well we mounted the front section to the rest of the "framework. This is a lift out section should problems with the track behind and underneath occur later.

70mm x 19mm framework behind facade

A closer look...

The roof and its detailing remains...

Turnout Motors
I have installed 28 below baseboard and one above baseboard PECO turnout motors with accessory switches. The masking tape "tabs" are fixed to the turnout point motor shafts and will be "cropped" after turnout has been tested for operation from the control panel. Thanks to Rossco who helped with the Western end - it made things go a lot quicker,

Eastern end

Western End

Wiring
Bill 1 and I positioned and drilled the bus wire holes, pulled the bus wires and then Bob and this week Chris have commenced terminating the two hundred odd droppers and installing the point frog switch feeds.

End of Part 2

Part 1 - Intro
Part 3 - Adamsville
Part 4 - Stanvac
Part 5 - Jimtown
Part 6 - Onka River Valley
Part 7 - Helix and Flintston

August Progress

2011-08-31T11:11:00.002+09:30

I'm hoping that things will be closer to "normal" now that a number of family activities have transpired. Chris, a member of my Monday night crew and Tuesday day crew has been called up for "family" duties so has been absent from all activities until the last week of the month. The Monday night crew has also been smaller than usual with only one or two guys around.

Despite the resourcing issue I have been trying to spend more of my time on the layout and BJ has gotten over his medical issues so we are hoping to achieve more for a while.

Work has been progressing in Hornertown, Adamsville, Jimtown, Onka River Valley, Stanvac, Helix connection track work and Flinston.

There seems to be too many photos to keep in one big update so this month I will be posting in manageable parts based on location over the next day or so.

I must continue to thank my crew who give of there time to assist me. Thanks Guys!

End of Part 1

Part 2 - Hornertown
Part 3 - Adamsville
Part 4 - Stanvac
Part 5 - Jimtown
Part 6 - Onka River Valley
Part 7 - Helix and Flintston

July Progress

2011-08-04T19:56:00.000+09:30

Again little to report this month as I have been away on a trip interstate. When I returned it was time for a bit of a clean out which resulted in over half of my rubbish bin being filled! Less clutter to look through when I have "put someting in a safe place".

Hornertown East Yard

My work mate Ross has been building the flour mill which will combine three Cornerstone Centennial Mill Kits using both fronts giving a overall length between external side walls of 1495mm. Did you pick the change from the June update - we were 15mm too small with the backboard - oh well we'll just work around it!.

The mill will sit behind the shunt main and three track coach yard.

Hornertown Wiring

As mentioned last month "droppers, droppers and more droppers...." a couple of pics

The track bus wiring still awaits along with turnout motor installation.

Shelving under the layout

Here's a couple of pics of what we did last month the migration of "stuff" to under the layout has now commenced.

Daveyston Passenger Station

BJ has been busy again in my absence. His work continues to amaze me...

Staging approach from Fleets Loop

some bench work installed and track laying has commenced however until the eastern end of the Hornertown yard has the wiring and point motors installed the final install track laying cannot be done.

Grade down to staging and up from fleets loop to the main behind Hornertown.

Entry to staging under the eastern end of the Hornertown Yard.

Helix track work extended to meet the lower level main

Lower main tracks in the foreground with the bridge extending down to the Fleets Loop area and the main tracks against the backdrop this area is one end of the double track dog bone design.

Thanks must continue to go to the Monday night crew, Tuesday crew and work mate Ross for their continued assistance.

July visit to the State of Victoria

2011-08-03T23:28:00.001+09:30

My wife had a training course in Melbourne and that gave me an opportunity to visit hobby shops all across town and then go and spend some time with a mate who is building a N gauge layout.

So after sending my wife home on The Overland I spent a few days modelling with him enjoying his and his wife's company, good food and great wines.

Peter and his wife

Below are a few pics and a video that I took of a Victorian "R Class" we went out to see on my last day.

Peter's last layout

Is in the dining room....

The dining room table - stored behind the layout!

The new layout - in his "air conditioned" (19 degree Centigrade- ~66 degree Fahrenheit lined shed)

View from standing up after the "duck under"

Around the room photos below

Staging

The view when entry door opened

Test Track

Peter has so many locos that need their decoders setup and speed matched into sets that we had to setup a test track. Peter was soon driving decoder pro and was able to program his locos after a short mentoring session. Soon of "those locos" that had been problems were soon running "rickety-boo".

The "R Class" on the move...

Than ks for a great week Peter!

June Progress

2011-06-29T14:23:00.000+09:30

Again not heaps to report this month only a few things have happened.

As stated for the last two months "I will be helping my daughter with some house renovations which will distract me for a few weeks so progress during May / June might be a bit slow....." Coupled with this was the recovery from having my bottom right back tooth extracted took considerably longer than I thought! Then there was helping my Daughter move....

On top of this my major helpers have had bouts of sickness but I'm pleased to report the seem to be getting better.

Hornertown Wiring

Droppers, droppers and more droppers.... 36 turnouts and 75 lengths of track = 222 droppers apart from the extras for short pieces of track... Then there is the double main at the back and front! This has kept Chris, Bob and I busy.

The track bus wiring awaits along with turnout motor installation.

Hornertown East Yard

My work mate Ross and I spent a morning working out details for the flour mill which will combine three Cornerstone Centenial Mill Kits using both fronts giving a overall length between external side walls of 1480mm. We constructed a backing to fix the wall sections to including reinforcing with a 19mm x 38mm PAR pine to stop flexing which he has taken home to finish the mounting.

The mill will sit behind the shunt main and three track coach yard.

Shelving under the layout

Last Monday night we installed two shelves to start the migration of "stuff" to under the layout so the bottom level can be made ready for commissioning.

Thanks must go to the Monday night crew, Tuesday crew and work mate Ross for their continued assistance.

Progress during May

2011-06-05T21:42:00.002+09:30

.
Not heaps to report this month but things have still happened.

As stated last month "I will be helping my daughter with some house renovations which will distract me for a few weeks so progress during May / June might be a bit slow....." I also had a bottom right back tooth that decided to become infected and has since been extracted - this has set my targets personal back considerably! Nevertheless there has been some achievements to talk about.

Fleets Loop Track Wiring
I reported last month that "Chris has nearly finished .. but not quite .. two tracks have "shorts" so some detective work is still required as they all worked ok before....." Chris checked and doubled checked his work and was convinced he had not made a mistake to eventually find the ends of a bus feeder were touching causing the problem!!! - Problem was "Solvered" when these bus wires were separated.

Picard Junction Turnout Wiring
During the QA process and post Fleets Loop turnout installation it was noticed that the track power feeders between the Track Bus and frog accessory switch had been not been installed. Chris has been addressing this oversight.

Bottom Level Backdrop Painting
Barry got busy again for me on my scheduled Monday nights and he completed all of the Lower Level backdrop blue base.

Bottom Level Tracklaying
Three boxes (225 feet) of Peco code 75, 3 Double Slips, 8 No.8's, 1 Curved, 2 3-Way's and 21 No.6's have been laid with 3 No.4's and another box of track on the coach yard section outstanding.

Double Main
Well the main around the Helix was laid some 12 months ago and the time has come to extend it on the Bottom Level under Jimtown and along the back and front of Hornertown to meet the tracks emanating from Picard Junction and Lewiston Loop before traveling behind Flintston.

I asked Chris to lay on some planks placed over the coach yard supports and just put the track on to the that laid a year or so ago outside at the rear of the Helix. Well after he had been laying there trying to do this for some 20 minutes his quiet cursing started so I said "let me have a go!" Well, after another 20 minutes, and me cursing we were both were very frustrated! After a few minutes of "cooling down" I went back for another try and noticed a Sharpie line and "75" with and arrow facing me. The penny drops - I used up my old code 100 track in this corner on and around the Helix. Code 75 joiners and code 100 track = no go! I said "hey Chris in the track laying box there are some stepped joiners - can I have some please". Gee when they were fitted the track went together first time..... only too a couple of minutes as initially expected - some 90 minutes after we started!

Note my wet hair from the frustration of trying!

The whole section of the back double track coming from around the Helix with the Fleets Loop approach rising up the grade on the left side.

At the front is the double track main under Jimtown showing the junction and the branch to the Helix.

Hornertown Tack Layout
The control panel single line diagram below shows the yard schematic.

I think the arrangement addresses most (if not all) of the "Ten Commandments" by Craig Bisgeier

The double track main (left) as it enters Hornertown from the East. The track next to the inner track of the two mains is the shunt lead (emanates from the double slip) the next three tracks are the coach yard tracks with the Commissary Building on track 3, then the industry lead for Plant No.4 and Flour Mill behind the coach yard followed by the industry tracks to Hertitage Furniture and the Meat Works and the very last is the tail of the Icing Plant track.

Closer view of the industry tracks to Hertitage Furniture and the Meat Works with the industry track to the Flour Mill in the foreground and to the right is the tail of the Icing Plant track with the double track main to the rear with the turnout for Fleets Loop approach.

Hornertown trackage (East): Passenger terminal (left), double track main, two arrival/departure tracks, three classification tracks, run around then the local industry lead and the rear double track main.

Hornertown trackage looking the other way.

Hornertown trackage (West:) Passenger Terminal with Railcar stub, double track main, two arrival/departure tracks, three classification tracks, run around and local industry lead and the rear double track main.

The double track main as it enters Hornertown from the East with the Railcar (left) in the foreground.

The Railcar stub in front of the double track main as it enters Hornertown from the West the track next to the inner track main is the shunt main followed by the Caboose track and the two container loading tracks with the industry track serving Arrowhead Ale and Buds Trucking then the rear double main at the rear.

Another view of the West end of Hornertown.

Well, no Monday or Tuesday activities this week, as my wife is down from Pt Augusta for some medical stuff and my daughter's house reno is beckoning....

Much wiring, turnout motor installation awaits....

Thanks guys for your continuing help it makes the massive task much easier.

Progress during April

2011-05-01T21:09:00.000+09:30

April has been a busy month with my wife winning a job in Pt Augusta (330km from home) so there has been some packing up and purchasing things to furnish her new unit in Pt Augusta (this also had to be inspected). I celebrated my birthday, endured Easter, Anzac Day & Mother-In_Law's birthday.

The Monday night roster seems to be working with a few members having things rearranged for a while for various reasons. School holidays interrupted the Tuesday team as well with Chris being away and BJ having his son home.

Never the less some great things have happened and some progress made on the layout. So let's have a look at what has been achieved.

Fleets Loop Track Wiring

Well this was the first area where construction and track laying commenced and all tracks are in the same Power District so 2 power buses for 4 tracks was the go until... The introduction of block occupancy detection. As these tracks are hidden and block detection introduced it now requires a power bus per track. Chris has been modifying Bob's earlier work to add two additional buses and change the feeders accordingly.

Chris has nearly finished .. but not quite .. two tracks have "shorts" so some detective work is still required as they all worked ok before.....

Stirling Branch

This was my "first attempt" at trying the principles behind Joe Fugates scenery technique of using Vermiculite, Patching Plaster, and Portland Cement. The finish on the first batch finish left a bit to be desired but the second and third got better! think the texture will allow a better outcome than the wall plaster I have used previously.

It was in the cutting where the Branch departs inside Lewiston Loop.

Onka River Valley

Work has started on the river valley between Adamsville and Jimtown. It will be the most complicated and challenging scenery construct on the Upper Level using Joe Fugates "Vermiculite" mix. I was low on masking tape so I used some excess packing tape over shaped styrene foam to form the base for the mix. I thonk it turned out quite nicely. Have a look below.

Iron Hill

The ore storage bin that receives ore from the mine has been installed along with the conveyor house. The structures and conveyor received their final weathering once placed and secured.

The mine goods platform has also been installed. All mine supplies like machine parts, lubricants and other consumables are unloaded here.

Jimtown

Milk van and farmers truck vehicles have been added.

BJ has been constructing the cattle yards from raw materials and whilst the loading ramps and remainder of the cattle are to be installed you get a good idea of what I will end up with. I have put some thin perspex in front to protect BJ's work.

Bottom Level Backdrop Painting

Barry got busy for me on my scheduled Monday night and he completed about one third of the Lower Level backdrop.

Fascia & Throttle LAN Wiring

Chris and Bob worked on the Lower Level fascia then brought the Throttle LAN through for later termination.

Bill Hunting learns Operations at Huntington

Bill spent the night learning how to operate his namesake town. A few workers disappeared at different times to "help and advise!!"

Trestle Building

I'm building my first trestle using Joe Fugate's methods. A couple of progress photos are below.

Thanks guys for your continued help and advice it is greatly appreciated.

I will be helping my daughter with some house renovations which will distract me for a few weeks so progress during May / June might be a bit slow.....

Jimtown, Adamsville, Iron Hill, Fleets Loop & Control Panels

2011-04-03T16:29:00.000+09:30

Progress has been made in a number of areas during the second half of March. Thanks to all that have contributed especially BJ & Chris for the extra sessions.

Jimtown
The following details have been added since the last post: Track Markers, Water Column, Silo Office, Crates to the Freight Station and Farmer delivering milk to the Cold Store.

Adamsville
The Stanvac end of the yard starts to get its details. Grain Elevator, Silos, Water Tank and Run Down Building with broken windows and gutter starting to fall.

Iron Hill
Chris and BJ have been hard at work with ground cover and detailing Iron Hill. The sequence below shows the progressive approach to getting the basic cover and colouring. BJ has scratch built the ore loader from plywood, cardboard and evergreen plastic sections. Barry has build the conveyor sections that BJ has painted. I think the end result is great have a look below...

Ground Cover
The boys at work. Chris did the general ground cover and BJ followed up with larger materials, basic greenery and crushed iron ore.

After this BJ used his air brush to "wet down" the materials with the usual wetting solution and he had absolutely no blotches or runs and when the white glue solution was applied using the normal pipette method it flowed evenly without any "drop" impressions or "floaters". The whole wet down and glue process took BJ about 3 hours for the entire area pictured.

Ore Loader

The only structure that remains to be constructed is the storage hopper to feed the conveyor at the end of the haul road from the mine.

Below id BJ's mark out on the plywood from which it will be constructed.

Fleets Loop
Chris has been very busy wiring up the six points leading to and from the storage tracks at Fleets Loop. Chris and I also cut in the additional curved point for the Stirling Branch which leads to six hidden staging tracks.

Bottom view

Top View

Stirling Branch Turnout

Control Panels
I have been busy mounting switches and LED's in the face of the panel and marking up the back of the panel with the turnout designations.

Progress Photos

Finished

No ready for the long and tedious job of connecting the switches and LEDs to the terminal strips....

March Happenings

2011-03-13T21:44:00.003+10:30

Subjects for this update include: Joe Fugate's videos, Jimtown, Structures, Trackwork, Bottom Level Control Panel and Turnout Wiring & Testing.

Joe Fugate's Videos

BJ, Chris, Myself and the rest of the Monday night crew have been watching, at supper time, Joe Fugate's Siskiyou Lines Videos "Model Railroad videos 1-5" which we have found quite interesting. The unique mushroom design is very innovative. I have found Volume 4 in particular the construction of trestles informative. I am thinking of using a similar method on a number of bridges on the approach to Daveyston on the Huntington Branch.

See a few screen shots below:

A great set of Videos. The "Model Railroad OPs Session Live no.1, 2, 3 & 4" ones and "HOT Trains Volume 1 - Alco Mania!" await!

Jimtown
BJ has been busy adding scenery details and structures, see below:

The approach from the bridge crossing coming from Stanvac Junction.

The cutting by the industrial side of town on the approach (sideways look at the center section of the photo above).

Another view of the cutting looking from the industrial side.

The main line and passing siding with the milk depot, freight station and silos before the bridge.

The silo office is still to be placed in the vicinity of the tree next to the silo.

The scratch built milk depot.

Marker posts on track to bridge.

A small cattle yard and loading ramp will be added between the fascia and the tracks.

Structures
BJ and Barry have been busy with scratch and kit building.

BJ commencing the scratch building of the Silo Depot Office.

Barry building more ore conveyor sections for the Iron Hill Loading facility - only 1 1/2 sections left to go of a total of nine sections (Bob in the background).

Trackwork
Rossco has been busy installing copper sleepers at non insulated rail joiner locations.

Bottom Level Control Panel

I have finally completed wiring all bottom mainline turn out wires back to the terminal blocks ready to receive the corresponding control panel devices.

Turnout Wiring and Testing
Bob (above) and Chris (below) doing final adjustments on the last two of the currently installed point motors/

Since this Chris has commenced terminating the eight turnout cables at Fleets Loop.

Thanks for all the assistance guys it is appreciated.

First Post for 2011

2011-02-20T23:40:00.000+10:30

This update covers: Holidays, Jimtown, Signals, Control Panel & Testing Power Blocks and Turnouts

Holidays
Well the last half of December and most of January was a time away from the hobby. The exception was the endeavour with signals which did manage to progress a little. The Monday night crew, the Tuesday team and BJ all had a big rest. What with members kids transitioning to high school and starting the next stage of their lives and others having life return to normal again.

The Monday crew will be sharing their time more widely this year. More assistance to other members and the reintroduction of some more running nights. I have had the "lions share" for the last couple of years and I am more than happy to help other members.

Jimtown
BJ has commenced the ground cover around the industrial areas - factories and town centre. Industries will include: stock yard, milk depot, small silos and a general freight depot.

The larger trees have been installed with the small ones to come. Have a look at where we are at.

Before

After

Signals
I have been spending some time working out a representative but not totally prototypical signal mast(s) that i can make for $5 Vs the commercial versions at $25-$35 each. I need about 70 signal masts both single and dual aspect 3 colour.

I will put up a separate post just on the signals later but here is a sneak peak.

Control Panel
Wiring of terminal strips for turnouts on the bottom level mainline continues. Space is becoming a premium.

Testing Picard Junction Power Blocks and Turnouts
We has one pair of droppers on the wrong block one connected to a PSX and the other to a PSX-AR this obviously caused some confusion. It had to be on a short section of track next to a cross over between the turnouts....

Chris and I spend the best part of two hours to find it - was just about the last place we looked at!

We also found a few more of my early attempts at putting accessory switches on not quite straight - too much binding - we changed them out and I'll rework the poor jobs.....

Final post for 2010

2010-12-20T16:38:00.000+10:30

Adamsville, Structures and Wiring
As the year draws to a close most targets have been achieved with the exception of completing Jimtown industrial area and township industries. The fantastic progress would not have been achieved without the tireless efforts of the Monday night crew (Barry, Bill1, Bill2, BJ, Bob, Chris, Ross and Rossco), many additional hours spent by BJ and Chris and not forgetting my old workmate Ross's efforts as well.

This Monday night is our Christmas BBQ being hosted at Chris's. We will be reconvening in mid January 2011.

Adamsville
More details added, gravel road, fences, phone booth, rail crossing signs, pedestrians, rubbish bins, street lights and more...

Structures

Arrowhead Ale
You may remember a workmate of mine 'Ross' (as opposed to Ross or Rossco from the Monday night crew) previously built some kits for me - well he has been at it again! This time he has built another Cornerstone Kit - Arrowhead Ale.

Depot Building
Barry finished off the building including adding roof flashing at the peak. This is now ready for painting at a group clinic to be run by BJ next year. Following painting the windows will be fitted.

Barry has started construction of a Conrnerstone grain elevator to complement the storage bins at Adamsville.

Wiring
Chris and I have been running turnout wiring for the staging tracks and have run out, loomed, hung and tagged some 500 metres of six core. Following this "work mate Ross" and I run out the twin core feeders for the staging yard. The longest one may need a RC Network as it stretches to approx 12 metres from the booster without twisting.

Thanks guys for all of your efforts this year. It has helped me through a period of rearrangement of my personal activities.

Progress

2010-12-03T20:21:00.000+10:30

BJ and the Monday night crew have been busy over the last couple of weeks. Wiring and scenery has continued. Some targets have been set for things to finish before the Christmas break.

Adamsville
BJ has been quite busy putting the finishing touches to the buildings for the residential area. Most have been fixed to its own base and become mini diorama to form the bigger picture.

Backdrop Trees
BJ has been busy with his artist brushes again.....

Commercial District Buildings
The buildings have been glued in place and the site detailing has commenced with the planting of trees and installation of footpaths and power poles.

Footpath preparation
Once the commercial district buildings had been placed footpath were cutout and painted before being glued down.

Residential Area
BJ prepared each building as its own diorama before we fixed them in place as part of Adamsville.

Bottom Level Wiring & Control Panel
Last Monday Bob and Chris installed droppers and reinstated some block and Turnout wiring around the staging approach at Lewiston Loop. On Tuesday Chris and I put together and installed two groups of six core turnout wires which consumed some 250 metres of wire. The addition of the staging areas has meant that an extra 14 turnouts to the original plan. This meant I had to devise a method of doubling up terminal strips within the control panel.

Buildings
On Monday night Barry has commenced building a depot building.

Thanks guys for your continuing help and support.

Jimtown, Adamsville, Staging, Power Districts & Control Panels

2010-11-23T22:55:00.000+10:30

Jimtown

Scenery

BJ previously fashioned the 10mm MDF and has now applied the stippled plaster and once dried has coloured the rock face which has subsequently glued into place against the backdrop.

The backdrop has had the sky blue background applied.

Baseboard has been painted an "earthy colour" around building outlines.

Base coat has been applied to the fascia.

Depth has been added to the industrial buildings near the power station by constructing a box section behind the building facade.

Dummy industrial track installed adjacent to power station.

Cutting at Northern end of yard before industrial area.

Bridge to farm

Adamsville

Retaining wall behind the town buildings showing construction stages.

Trying out the building locations to get a balanced appearance.

BJ & I spend some time arranging and rearranging and rearranging but the result look pretty promising.

Proposed Street View

Addition of trees to backdrop.

BJ had some fun again.

Staging

New curved turnout installed and tracks relaid to accommodate staging lead. Bob installed the dropers on Monday night.

Power Districts

PSX's mounted on MDF.

Wiring DCC feeds prior to installation.

PM42's being removed ready for the PSX's to be installed.

Control Panels

Iron Hill and Stanvac panels are now wired and operational.

Thanks for your continuing help Guys!

Jimtown, Staging, Debugging and DCC Programming

2010-11-10T14:59:00.001+10:30

I found a source for miniature screws etc today have a look here.

Jimtown

Fascia
The fascia has been cut and attached but is still to be painted after basic scenery work has been completed.

Scenery
BJ has fashioned some 10mm MDF ready for the application of stippled plaster to give the appearance of depth behind Jimtown and before the backdrop. It is anticipated that once completed the visual effect will be that of a small embankment leading to undulating ground with the backdrop appearing "more distant".

Industries
The industry locations have been set and will include" two small silos, freight depot, cattle loading yard, cold store and a dummy siding for the power plant (blue building in background). The power plant siding (not actually visible in photo) will extend to the backdrop, will not be physically connected to operating tracks, but have a couple of "static cars" to complete the scene at the plant.

Staging
Following on from the base board and track modifications at Lewiston Loop time has been spent in the area leading to the section under Flinston. It has been a bit tricky to get the grades right and ensure the road base installation still allows access to and point motors which may require maintenance in the future. Following much debate between Chris, Bill2 and myself I think we have a workable solution.

Debugging
On Monday night Bob and I adjusted some of the micro switches installed on mainline turnouts in order to get a second set of voltage free contacts for signaling logic. On Tuesday morning Chris and I continued with this and fine tuning some accessory switches on upper deck turnouts.

DCC Programming
Having "run in a number of new Blueline diesel locos I researched the Broadway Manuals and JMRI Yahoo Group for DecoderPro. I had prepared myself some programming notes in order to try and not forget anything as there is quite a lot to remeber.

I commenced programming the first loco and set some CV's for the address and on-board sound levels then "locked" the decoder which worked just fine. I installed the LokPilot Version 3 DCC motor decoder (52611 same tech spec as recommended 52610 except that it has no Motorola, Selectrix or Analogue AC operation) and did the basic setup address, acceleration, deceleration and top speed. It worked fine.

Now for finer adjustments...

To my dismay there was no CV15 or CV16 to lock the motor decoder (Error 301 in decoder pro - no loco found) so all my work preparing my notes was wasted as the locking process could not be utilised. eg CV133 is the master sound and ALSO the Assignment of function outputs that are activated in status „stop-forward on the LokPilot - and there are many more.....

So any tweaking of either decoder must be done when they are not all hooked up for running.

So I had to make a dummy plug with track input and motor output connections and a motor (a load must be attached to the decoder to write CV's) in order to program the motor decoder functions which have CV conflicts with the sound decoder.

I'm hoping that when I have tweaked my sound decoder to what I want then I can lock it down so only CV1 and CV15 can be addressed the I can use DecoderPro for speed matching prior to consisting.

I'll have to write a new set of programming notes now!

Work Room Test Track

2010-11-03T22:12:00.000+10:30

Following the need to think about and have a facility for speed matching locos and the old door plus a width extension has become the test track.

Now for time with my laptop and DecoderPro!

Debugging, Staging, Scenery, Structures and Wiring

2010-10-29T14:40:00.001+10:30

Debugging

PM42 Issues
Well since the last post I have not been able to solve the problem despite advice given through the Model Railroad Hobbyist Discussion Forum in fact is has gotten worse! I can now replicate the problem in another power section not only with Athearn loco but with BLI locos.

They will just have to go and PSX's will replace them. Perhaps I can sell them on ebay!

Point Motor Accessory Switches
At Stanvac junction on of the cross over points was proving less that reliable. It turns out that when the switch was Super glued to the frame the alignment was not quite centered causing it to bind. A previous attempt to improve operation of the switch has spelled the accessory switches death! A new one has been affixed and everything now appears to be working properly.

Staging
Following listening to a number of previous issues of The Model Railcast Show I have decided to increase the number of staging tracks to hold an additional six trains. This will provide more operating flexibility and enable my yards to be less cluttered to allow for more prototypical operations.

This has meant that some base board and some track work has had to be remodeled at Lewiston Loop just past Picard Junction.

Scenery
BJ has continued to work steadily away on details for many areas and some final decisions on Daveyston have been made.

Jimtown
The rural area adjacent to Jimtown has progressed well following the earlier decision to not proceed with a township scene. The area now has grass, cows and a milking shed. Trees have been planted and the whole area including a paddock with horses towards the back drop is substantially complete.

The retaining walls for the road bridge have been installed.

Plans for a small cattle loading ramp to be added to the siding to complement the freight station and silos now exist.

Adamsville
The buildings that were proposed for the Jimtown "town scene" have been relocated as the available space at Adamsville allows for a much improved scene that will look more realistic. Some additional structures are being built by BJ for the town scene.

The siding will have a freight station and two grain silos.

Daveyston
Much time has been spent deciding on getting the best location of land-form and backdrop to blend into the lower level tracks at Picard Junction/Fleets Loop and the new Staging approach main.

The township initially proposed to be above the passenger station will now be at the same level and with the realignment of Fleets Loop to incorporate the Staging approach the township area can be extended slightly.

The new design has the advantage that the LeMaistre Loco arrival and departure tracks will be more visible during operations.

Structures

Conveyor for Iron Hill
Barry continued making the conveyor sections and six of the required nine sections have been completed.

Northern Light & Power
You may remember a workmate of mine 'Ross' (as opposed to Ross or Rossco from the Monday night crew) previously built some kits for me - well he has been at it again! This time he has built another Cornerstone Kit - Northern Light and Power.

He was not happy with the bare insides so he added some scratch built "Gensets".

This structure is destined for Flintston.

Hornertown City Structures
Ross has finished cutting the 12mm MDF standoff's (One was only 4mm wide) to provide depth to the facade and allow BJ to paint scenes to be seen through the building windows. It is proposed that I install some SMT LED's to highlight the room contents.

Wiring
Points behind Flinston on approach to Hornertown
Bob and Chris finished terminating the wires from the control panel completing the wiring of the mainline points on the bottom section in Section B.

Power District B - Bottom Level Power Distribution
Bill2 started connecting up the block wires after installing the panel.

Debugging

2010-10-10T14:20:00.000+10:30

Well since the first run debugging has commenced.

Three issues have emerged to date and each requires rectification.

1. Jimtown Cutting
2. Grade behind Adamsville
3. Power section problem

Jimtown Cutting
There was a clearance problem in the cutting! Somehow the plaster ended up a lot closer than what was desired. Whilst the diesels and Cab Forward clearance was fine the handrails on the cab of the Big Boy were just touching the rock face in a couple of places on the curve.

BJ took drastic action trimming parts of the rock face back with a tenon saw!

It was re-plastered and re-coloured. It is hard to tell what happened by looking at the photos. I guess the quote "with scenery if it does work out - you can do it again!" Look below...

Before

During

After

Grade behind Adamsville
I always had a concern that the transition of grade "wasn't quite right" and Murphy was at work! The couplers were moving vertically too much ( a high & Low would disconnect) meaning that everything that was not exactly to the NMRA gauge was at risk of disconnecting. Some steam engine Pilots whilst not hitting the rails were getting too close depleting any tolerance should anything "move" over the coming years.

The solution was to remove the track, chisel up the caneite (homosote) from the MDF, re-cut and join the MDF, cookie cut the "new" baseboard and adjust the surrounding supports before relaying the track. I now have a much better transition!

Power section problem

I have a mix of DCC Specialties - PSX's and Digitrax PM 42's for power sections within my 4 booster power districts. I use a Roco MultiMaus DCC system as the group I meet with uses the same system.

In describing the issue, I have three "traditional DC" power blocks each with a Block Watcher connected to one power section of one booster district on a PM42 where I am experiencing "some issues".

I can run single or double head Blueline SD40-2 (each with a ESU Lok Pilot DCC V3.0 decoders fitted), Athearn Genesis Big Boy or Blueline AC4 or AC5 (also with a ESU Lok Pilot DCC V3.0 decoders fitted) without fault, however, when I run a single or double head Athearn SD45T-2 (each with a ESU Lok Pilot DCC V3.0 decoders fitted) it causes the PM42 section to cycle between short / restart - erratically.

This does not happen on any other power section powered by either a PM42 section or a DCC Specialties PSX.

I am wondering if the PM42 has been set to something other than factory defaults. I do not have a Digitrax DTxxx throttle to check/reset the PM42.

I have checked with my local hobby shops and Digitrax is not sold in Adelaide here in Australia, so finding a local to borrow a throttle also does seem a good prospect.

I am thinking I may need to scrap the PM42 and purchase some more PSX's - an expensive solution - unless I can get a solution. If you have any ideas please feel free to pass comment.

Upper Level - First Test Run

2010-09-23T21:47:00.000+09:30

Since the last update I have spent may hours wiring up the Upper Control Panel and Power District D. BJ has been doing more scenery work around Jimtown and there will be changes from the original plan! More about that later... Chris has been away on holiday in Canberra and the Monday night crew has met at Barry's but will be back here next week. School holidays are upon us as well which will curtail BJ's Tuesday's activities.

Upper Level Control Panel

Finalising the connections within the panel has taken many hours - especially when I missed some components in the design..... Luckily I picked it up fairly early on so only had to undo six hours worth of work before a fix could be applied.

Power District D

8 PSX's and 18 Block Watchers have been wired

First Test Run

Well after all the wiring stuff the tracks needed cleaning before the big test. The first test was to run over the Power District boundary between District "C" and "D" from Jimtown heading for Stanvac Junction and you guessed it "A Short" - Obviously the "A" and "B" rails were reversed again!

Once the "A" and "B" wires were changed the loco moved over the boundary seamlessly then traversed the boundary between District "D" and "B" - Yes a full loop as "B" and "C" had been previously sorted!

I attached a small string of cars and set them off slowly to traverse the inner loop of the Upper Level and in the first tunnel "S..t" happened the first half the train comes out of the first tunnel with the last bogie of the last truck off the rails with some cars laying on their side in the tunnel!

Further investigation finds a piece of scrunched up newspaper in the middle of tunnel! Obviously the loco was heavy enough to "push it aside" but the cars were not!

On the next test run things were somewhat different.

Watch below as the train comes out of the cutting.

and coming across the bridge on the approach to Jimtown.

Scenery at Jimtown continues

BJ finished off the plaster shell and has started the colouring process on the shell. When the colour was applied the proposed "Buildings - Those built by Chris" - it just did not work. Looked like a shag on a rock or as BJ said "a cartoon scene!".

Alas we have a reserve area on the layout where the structures are still to be determined.

As for Jimtown, well we have some industries, a freight station and some silos there already. So we will have a diary in lieu of the town and add a cattle loading area.

So watch out for the proposed changes which will include some green irrigated paddocks of pasture!

Adamsville

Freight station and Silos for starters.... The cattle yard will be transferred to Jimtown and those lovely buildings that Chris made will be moved to a location with much more area at Adamsville.

Picket Fences

BJ is building some - he is including some broken palings!

Thanks again BJ for all your efforts.

18th September Update

2010-09-18T21:10:00.001+09:30

Further Progress At Jimtown

BJ has been doing "his stuff" again while Chris is away and I'm doing control panel wiring.

Upper Level Control Panel

Well fun and games when testing out operation of tracks passing over Power District boundaries. Everything seemed to be sweet when first tested using DC until DCC was applied - but I'm not sure what happened maybe the first track used as a reference was not set up quite right and then all the others followed suit?

Well after reversing some track block wires and removing the initial specific problem I then was getting shorts at other Power District boundaries and some frogs (obviously some "A" rails were connected as "B" rails) it was back to basics to check every track feeder, each track interface between power districts and frog polarity wiring.

Three hours later things now work like they should.

A bi-product of the point indication LED's based on frog polarity is the "Block Watchers" are sensing the current and activating their occupancy function. My first impression was "Oh S...t" I have a flaw in my electrical design.

Out with the new digital Multimeter, which I just got for fathers day, to check the current flow and voltage in the block 24mA with 24.5v AC.

I started thinking about additional wires to power turnouts which could be independently powered outside the power through the "Block Watchers" - Oh no more wires...

However, "If all else fails - read the instructions" (heard that somewhere before...) The "Block Watcher" documentation told me that I could set them into "Learning Mode" and then the current drawn by the turnout frog LED's will be considered base load and detection will start when the block current was greater than "base load" plus 3mA.

Problem Solvered! - I was worrying over nothing.....

Structures

2010-09-17T12:36:00.004+09:30

Cornerstone Plant No.4

You may remember a workmate of mine 'Ross' (as opposed to Ross or Rossco from the Monday night crew) previously built a kit for me. This time I gave him the Cornerstone Plant No.4 to build.

To my surprise Ross also built another building out of odds and sods see below.

Thanks Ross they came out looking great they will be put in an appropriate places on the layout.

Cheers

Jim

Works around Jimtown

2010-08-31T22:32:00.005+09:30

Jimtown Scenery Commences

Jimtown is to the east of the southern wall which can be seen adjacent to previous work. BJ has been at it again putting the scenery base in for the residential and business side of town.

The town will be to the south of the yard which will contain two small silos and a general freight industry.

BJ has been busy putting in foam upon which 3mm MDF has been glued to allow buildings to be placed. It is intended to use HO scale buildings in the foreground and N scale in the rear to give a diminishing appearance.

Chris has been busy building some plaster kits I bought from Walthers quite a while ago. When we opened the international mail were found that some of the plaster sections had been broken in transit but Chris has done a fantastic repair job and most people could not find evidence of the breakage.I now have an opportunity to show off his excellent work.

Trial building arrangements

We tried different arrangements of the buildings to see what seems the best order for the street fronts. We decided in the arrangement in the second picture.

Bridgework

While we were busy doing the town scenery considerations, Rossco was addressing the track work for the bridge between Jimtown(eastern side)-Adamsville (northern side)of the layout.

The bridge between Jimtown and Adamsville locale is where Rossco has joined the sections of track forming double track across the bridge base. Details were shown in the 7th August update. Now the next task is to glue the tracks to the base with contact cement. Then the structural elements will be applied.

Joining the tracks on the bridge means the track laying on the upper level is complete and ready for test running - This means the onus is ow on me to finish the wiring and control panel.

Keep up the good work boys - If I did not have your support the outcomes would be less significant.

Iron Hill - Old Mine

2010-08-31T19:47:00.005+09:30

When Adam my son was one year old (some 25 years ago) I built a Campbell Scale Wooden Model of a Mine Head. I lost the wheel house in my house moves and the mine head axle and wheel were gone to. I had always wanted to have a special area where this structure that I thought - one of my better early constructions - would have pride of place. Three layouts later if finally has a home and looks somewhat different to my basic structure! BJ has fixed it up for me.

See below what I gave him and the results that ensued.

And what came back...

When it was put back in its home it looked as if had been there for years. BJ your artistic work on my technical bare bones structures make a huge difference!

I'm so happy with the results.

Wiring, Power Districts and Control Panels

2010-08-25T22:31:00.001+09:30

Wiring

Chris and Bob continued work at Picard Junction and along the Bottom Level on the Western Wall. We had to "pull the plug" Monday night when we found that there was a missing link in the understanding of implementing the point wiring strategy at Picard Junction. Wire 1 goes to point 5, wire 2 to point 6, wire three to point 7, and so on for wires 1 to 12 NOT wire 5 to point 5, wire 8 to point 8!!!!!

Chris and I labeled all the wires next morning to stop and further confusion - I was all because points 1 - 4 are fed by going around the room the other way as it's a few metres shorter.

Power District Works

Power Booster 1 - Power District B
Bottom half revamped to include the additional block watchers for the hidden staging.

Power Booster 2 - Power District C
The pre-wired panel has been mounted inside the helix ready for the block section wires to be terminated in the terminal blocks.

I was pleased when I activated Power Booster 2 for the first time and the test loco crossed the Power District flawlessly.

Power Booster 3 - Power District D

Additional Block Watchers arrive

Control Panels
Bill spent Monday night terminating the wires from Picard Junction at the bottom level control panel terminal strips - Until I "Pulled the plug"!

Note the last photo taken Tuesday after all cables labeled!

Hornertown City Buildings

2010-08-25T08:06:00.003+09:30

Barry has been working on the "City Classics" building facades ready for the mounting on 16mm MDF to give depth when they are positioned close to the backdrop at Hornertown on the bottom level. He removed the flashing from the castings and ensure surfaces were flat and smooth. He them assembled them.

Open Cut Mine Face

2010-08-25T07:57:00.002+09:30

Well about twenty years ago when BJ was living in Whyalla some members of the current Monday Night Group visited Iron Knob and we inspected the iron ore loader loading the ore train which ran from Whyalla Steelworks to Iron Knob daily. Apart from being told we were trespassing by a staff member who affronted us we managed to get a 1/2 gallon ice cream container of actual iron ore. The first two pictures show the sifted product which has been in storage for all that time. It has made me reflect on just how long it has taken me to get around to completing the intentions of twenty or so years ago.

BJ started adding the real iron ore both stones and dust to the plaster face forming the open cut mine face.

The iron ore was then glued in place using normal scenery techniques.

The finer aspects of strata were hand brushed on to the "rock face".

The finished product - I'm impressed.

The only thing left to do is dress up the edges and apply the black border paint.

Another great job BJ!

MRCS Pioneer Golf Shirts

2010-08-24T21:13:00.004+09:30

The golf shirts have arrived and BJ and I put them on for a picture today!

Modelrailcast Show

They look good Ryan!