Extension: FINISHED!

Last week, we worked on the upper loop section, adding dowel pins & catches before laying the track.

This then needed to be wired to the rest of the upper section.

With this done, the layout could be assembled in its full 21 foot glory for the very first time.

 With just four days to go before its first outing in the new extended format, we put the layout together for final testing!

The main tracks were tested with a recently acquired green Deltic (not pictured) and then the Lima Railcar was sent along the newly extended shuttle track for the very first time.

There were a few unexpected gremlins along the way - having stripped the control panel to add the new switches and graphics, some wiring had to be amended, also one of the points controllers in the original boards suddenly failed. I also managed to blow up the Arduino controlling the turntable after accidentally sending 12 volts through the switch sensor in the process of fault diagnosis. Thankfully I mounted these in socket pins so it'll be a simple job to replace.

The hope was to make the extension look like it was always part of the layout design. I'll leave it to others to decide if we've succeeded in that! 

Looking from the main station end, looks pretty seamless to me!

The Railcar will never actually get to live in the engine shed, but whilst it was out testing the shuttle, we used it to test the new sidings, and thankfully they all work.

So that's it, job done and ready (just) for a four day exhibition.

Just one final thing to do...

This poor old maroon coach was used throughout the build to test the track joins and features in many of the build progress pictures. It's fair to say that it's had a hard life, so as work is now complete, time to refurbish it so that it can be used on the layout which it spent so much time testing!

Much better!

Facebook

The layout now has its own Facebook page, which can be viewed here:

https://www.facebook.com/iadthat/

Dinky

During our last exhibition, one of the attendees asked us if we'd like some Dinky cars to compliment our layout.

Although we do have cars & trucks on the layout, these are modern versions and not original Dinky ones, so we jumped at the chance!!!

Wasn't quite expecting this many though...

Some very fine examples, some repaints and some in primer. Nothing that can't be restored and these will make a fine addition to our layout, especially with the ongoing work to extend.

They probably won't all fit, but they'll all eventually be cleaned up, restored, and KEPT!

Needless to say that these arrived in primer, and are no longer in primer! 

Expect to see some of these appearing in due course, once renovation is complete.

With grateful thanks to Ray Burrows, your collection will be put to good use!

Automating a level crossing

There were two primary reasons for extending the layout.

Reason one was due to the arrival of the trailer with more storage space but predominantly, the main reason was that work was ongoing to automate a single road level crossing, and there was no space in the current design to accommodate this.

This, like the turntable project has been kept away from this blog just in case it didn't work!

So I took a battered old level crossing and stripped it, drilling out the rivets from underneat that support the barrier hinges and posts. I then modified the barrier gates, adding in a support wire that could be connected to a pair of servos.

After lots of thinking about the best way to attach connecting wires, I decided to cut a slot along the bottom of each gate, drill a small hole further along and then attach the wire through the hole, bend at 90 degrees and run through the newly cut slot, bending again at 90 degrees in line with the original barrier lower supports (which were filed away) zooming in on the picture below, the gates (in unpainted form) modification can just about be seen.

The wires are in fact handrails from a scrap class 20 Bo-Bo!

Next job is to file away the lugs that form the latching mechanism. Previously the gate would have to be lifted slightly before opening and this will no longer be needed and could also jam the servo mechanism, so this was reamed away.

The original lower gate supports also needed to be drilled to allow the support wires to drop through to the underside of the base board where the servos will be mounted.

But there was too much free-play in the barrier, a support bush was needed. As we're recycling here, a couple of bushes from a scrap two rail chassis should do the job, just need to press them out of the wheels without damaging them...

Success!

Now this rather sorry looking crossing needs painting.

After stripping & primer, the beige coat is applied.

And left to dry.

This is then masked ready for the green edges to be applied.

Much tidier!

The gates were also repainted, along with the red reflectors in the middle. 

Now painted, the modification is much harder to see, and almost invisible once installed!

The supports are refitted, these were originally riveted but this time I've gone with glue.

If you look very closely, you can just about see where the support wire protrudes through the bottom of the gate and is then folded flush.

The crossing then had to be supported to prevent damage to the wires. There was still some free-play in the barrier, so some heat shrink was added where the wire drops through the support bush. Again this can't be seen!

We're using the Arduino concept once again - this means writing another sketch and building a PCB with two trigger inputs and control of two servos and two signals. The basic idea is that as the single section where the crossing is installed is bi-directional, the circuit will detect the direction of travel, close the gates and then change the corresponding signal to green. Once the second sensor is triggered, the gates close and both signals are set to red. It's the same closure sequence irrespective of direction. 

The signals will be mounted either side of the crossing.

Here the crossing is installed in the extension. The board has been drilled to allow the control wires to pass through to the underside of the board. In the distance, the points can just about be seen and it's from here that the first trigger sensor is connected, once again via the dead centre rails found in all HD points!

The second (east) sensor is in the points at the other side of the crossing.

The underside of the board.

The wires are bent again at 90 degrees as they appear from underneath, then another 90 degree bend into the servo arms. It was for this reason that the system couldn't be thoroughly tested prior to installation as we ran the risk of snapping the wires if they were bent & straightened too many times.

The two yellow buttons are manual overrides for the sensors, this allowed me to calibrate the position of both gates without having to run a test train up and down - carrying out adjustments while the board was on its side would have been very difficult as locos don't generally take well to being run on their side!

And after some final tweaks, it actually worked!

Another lengthy project that should provide some interest in the new extension. A quick nod to HD guru Ron Dodd, who recently posted a video of his crossing on his superb layout.

Video of the crossing operating for the first time, along with a compilation of the pictures above, can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdw4CmJSNIA

Extension: Build progress part seven

Large update alert!

So having stripped the control panel and redesigned the graphics, new vinyl was printed and stuck into place, then more holes drilled for the extra switches.

The panel is starting to look a bit of a mess inside, and is in need of an additional power supply so I decided to tidy it up while it was in bits.

The new switches are then installed and soldered.

Meanwhile, ballast has started to appear.

 

And more greenery.

And a road!

The idea is to make this additional board look like a seemless addition - like it was always part of the layout.

 Trees.

More work on the road (the barriers are cable tied together to reduce the risk of damage during transportation!)

Back to the control panel, decided that I may as well update the graphics on the controllers. Here the old ones are being peeled away.

New ones printed ready to be fixed into place. 

First bit done!

All exposed live connections were covered in heat shrink and some extra vinyl covers were produced to go over the transformers.

The finished, updated panel.

The Trax walkabout controller is in need of attention.

So I decided to modify it slightly!

It's now possible to also control the TPO and the turntable from the walkabout controller.

Back on the layout, work continues to align the track correctly. The top loop is almost perfect!

But the other tracks weren't - some warpage has occurred (again) so the tracks need to be raised in the middle.

It can't really be seen but when viewed end-on, there is a dip in the centre of the board. It happened with the others when they were produced so we know what to do to rectify.

More wiring required!

And patching in at the ends to blend in the board joins.

 Now with the board connected again to the adjoining boards, the difference in grass colour is addressed by brushing in PVA glue and adding a new layer of grass.

The boards were connected one by one and checked before powering up for the first time. The lighting is checked first.

And then the connection from the new board to the other end.

The tracks were raised prior to ballasting but still some minor work required on a couple of tracks, nothing major.

Looking down through with three of the four front boards connected together it's hard to imagine that this is an extra board that was never part of the original design! 

 The yellow LED strips fitted to the engine sheds give off a lovely glow.

Looks pretty impressive in the dark!

Just some minor adjustments left to do but time once again ran out!

The final task is to install the additional section of the upper loop and finish wiring the tracks on the fiddle yard extension, ideally no more than a couple more evenings!