Sunday 20 January 2013

Keeping it simple...

Spent several chilly hours in the loft preparing the portable layout for its next outing in February.

This means removing all the DCC bus wiring and reverting everything back to good old DC. Sounds simple but with the volume of electric points I had added, plus the need to simplify the layout at one end (trains couldn't get into some of the platforms without derailing) it ended up taking ages.

After much head scratching I decided to tone down the amount of electric points used, to keep them all would require hours of additional wiring to install the track isolation and signal control. Some will be retained for the station area where the signals are, and for some sections where it can be difficult to operate them manually. All the rest have been removed and I'll make use of them in the loft layout.

I needed a complete rethink of the main station, the outer line ran right at the edge of the boards, this means that derailments along this stretch could potentially be very costly if they fall over the edge - not great for public display either. I also wanted as little disturbance to the radius of the curves as possible and avoid using points right after a corner - this is where all the problems arise. The points are now located before the bends when the trains approach, this should make everything run much, much smoother than before.


So the track has now been relaid, from 6 down to 5 lines, the 5th will also comprise the TPO apparatus. I used spare track as a setting guide, with a spirit level to keep everything nice and straight.


Sadly the loft floor is the only space in the house big enough to allow me to couple the three end boards together. 

Doesn't look much yet but add in some station buildings, footbridge and signals...

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