Haromthwaite 1: Getting On The Case (or In It)

Welcome to a new Blog thread from me!

Since taking over as the Association's Publicity Officer in October 2007 I have gradually been refining the 2mm Publicity Stand with new display materials and features. I've had a lot of help from other members on the way of course and the '2mil Roadshow' is starting to get noticed and invited to more shows. I think Society stands are so much better if they have some sort of movement on them, whether it be a live modelling demo or trains running and being shunted etc. With this in mind I have determined to build a compact demonstration layout as an adjunct to the Publicity Stand. I have also decided to enter it into the GJLC to give me the incentive to hack it within 12 months or so.

What am I aiming to achieve with this new micro-layout?

a) It should be a long and thin layout that can sit on the front edge of a standard 6 foot trestle table and still allow plenty of room for the stand staff to model, hold court etc.

b) For ease of transport to and from exhibitions itt should pack away as small as possible in one hand-held carry case.

c) The track plan should be simple and yet prototypical.

d) It should showcase the latest Association products and techniques.

e) Simple shunting operations should be possible using electro-magnets and various delayed coupling systems. Reliable delayed action auto coupling systems always impress the punters!

f) Designed for both DCC and DC operation, according to the preferences and stock available of those manning the stand.

g) It should be modelled to a high standard in all respects but at the sime time appear as something achievable by a potential member viewing it.

At about this time I was having a clear-out at work and came across an old lock sample case that was fitted out with a custom cut foam interior. The foam was soon discarded leaving a sturdy case ideal for housing a small layout:



The interior dimensions are approx 20" x 15" x 4". I have been much impressed by Anthony Yeates' micro layout that folds in the middle and lives a box-file. It didn't take me long to work out that if I made a layout that folds in two places I could have three boards each 20"x5", giving a total size of 60" x 5", ideal for the front of a trestle table and have it fit snugly in a fairly decent case that had cost nowt (as we say in Yorkshire).

The three baseboards are to be made from 10mm birch ply and were very kindly donated to the project as a kit of ready-cut parts by friend and member Alan Smith. Through his business Alan has access to some high-tech CNC woodworking machinery and can knock out baseboard components very quickly - see the curved boards for Tony's 'Braffertion' project which are from the same source. I collected them from Alan at Ally Pally last weekend where he was demo-ing Easitrac turnouts to great acclaim.



The shot above shows the three track deck boards laid into the case and the shot below shows how the boards will fold sideways.



The shot below shows the kit of plywood parts for one board, which will be glued and screwed together. However before doing this the end pieces and intermediate cross members need hole-sawing to provide wiring ports. The intermediate cross members will only be added once turnout postions have been finalised. With each board only being 500 x 120mm I'm looking forward to being able to work on them at my normal workstation - they are really tiny compared to the one-piece 1500 x 500mm of Niddbeck Bridge and the 1200 x 600mm boards of Pool-In-Wharfedale.



In the next instalment I'll reveal the general layout design, it's track plan and the prototypes that inspired it .

Brafferton Update 21: Scenery

Earlier today I did a bit of work on the scenic side of the layout. First up was to attach the backscene to board No2. I did this with board No1 attached to try and get as neat a join as possible between the two bits of backscene:

The uprights are glued to the backscene board and then gradually screwed to the baseboard:

For the final upright I had to remove the protection board from the end of the layout. There is a slight overhang at this end which will be planed and sanded off (the upright is already flush with the board end):

With this backscene in place, I can now commence putting the landscape on board No2. Same process as before, but more fiddly between trackbases. A sheet of 10thou styrene sheet was slid in after a while to stop the plaster setting as one whole:

All told a good days progress!

Brafferton Update 20: Adventures in DCC

Having successfully forced my way into the Farish DMU yesterday and installed a Lenz Silver, I today set my mind to programming. A second chip was inserted in the trailer unit; this seems a rather expensive option just to control the lights. However it seems to be the most straightforward so I'll just gulp and accept it.

The chips were then given consecutive address numbers; 0405 for the power unit and 0406 for the trailer. I must be getting good as I then worked out how to join them in a multiple unit. It went a bit downhill after that; the two ends display the same colour lights at the same time! The power car is correct, but the trailer is wrong. I'll need to work out what to do next; presumably altering the direction CV will correct it. Unfortunately, at that point the kids arrived home from school and any pretence at concentrating was lost!

A job for an evening perhaps. For now, though, here is the Liverpool service coming toward you:

Brafferton Update 19: Point Control Pt II

Onward, onward!

Having prepared the Tortoise machines and the baseboards as mentioned last time, I proceed to fit the two together. This proves fairly straightforward although the template provided with the motors was of no use; I found I had to position an actual motor and hold it whilst making sure the throw either way was sufficient. I then marked its position before drilling and screwing. 

Four in on board No2, two more on this board and a further two on board No3 (which still awaits track):

The motor control will not, I have decided, be DCC. Instead a small panel will be mounted on the baseboard to control the points mimicking the lever-frame on the prototype.

Although curved boards are excellent for forming a circular layout (how else would you do it?!), the boards individually can be a bit awkward. Edward Sissling kindly manufactured two "ends" to be affixed to a single board whilst work is underway. This makes them more stable and also protects trackwork and board edges from "knocks":

I also today chipped my Cl108 DMU. All fairly easy apart from the initial removal of the power unit body; it seemed to be tack-glued to the motor unit.

Anyway, more progress tomorrow. I hope!

In the Distant

North East Area Group meeting information.

Saturday 4th April 2009
Saint Barnabas Church Hall Bournmoor.
Time - Please Note 2.00pm – 5.00pm. (approx.)

This time we start on the planning theme that I spoke about during the latter part of last year.

In my humble view, one of the objects of a group like ours is to enthuse and encourage anyone who might be inclined to build a model railway to get started. (instead of just thinking about it...!)

Whatever you fancy doing almost certainly a plan of one sort or another will be required. Whether that be just doodling a simple track plan on a bit of scrap paper or something more elaborate such as a smaller scale model of the overall scheme, a plan is very desireable and can be greatly beneficial and I hope that over the next few meetings we may be able to cover most eventualities.



I, for one, really admire those who can do the small scale model of a model since it irons out most if not all of the uncertainties of where track and buildings lie in relation to one another and a good impression of how convincing the overall effect can be.



In the past I have brought Wansbeck Road along to meetings and assembled it while discussing the various stages I went through prior commencing construction. I may do that toward the end of this series but to start this time I have already approached two group members who have agreed to do a short presentation on how they approached the whole concept and that saves you all from having to listen to me prattle on again so soon after that last time.

Rather than be too prescriptive about the content I have left that and the presentation entirely up to them and since the planning and construction of any model railway is essentially a very personal thing this ‘free hand’ approach is a must.



Edward Sissling is going to do the first stint outlining what his thought processes were in the creation of Niddbeck Bridge and how he envisaged it should be viewed. For those who have not seen it at an exhibition the presentation is very neat, professional and every item on this DCC layout can be operated using the Lenz hand held controller.

See you all on the 4th.

Mick S.

Brafferton Update Pt. MCXXII - Pointwork & Drives

It goes like that doesn't it? You do very little for a goodly while and then, all of a sudden, you do lots of things often in a very short timeframe. In these instances I reach for my Latin Dictionary and exclaim "Carp Dime!"; or something like that...

Anyway board No.1 is sort of moving along under its own momentum, so back to board No.2 and get the trackwork sorted. I've been cleaning the soldered elements of trackwork using a copper brush mounted in a mini-drill. This was suggested to me by Bob Jones at a recent NEAG meeting, and it has really helped clean the track and reduce the excess solder thereon.

At the same time I've been preparing the Tortoise Point Motors for fitting. Suitable holes were drilled in the baseboard so that the actuating wire could reach the switch. Several unsuitable holes were also drilled, but I'll refrain from telling you too much about those!

The motors have eight PCB type contacts on the bottom; two for the power to drive the motor and six contacts for a DPDT switch. As I'm using DCC, I reckon I'll only need one double throw switch to alternate the polarity on the crossover of each point. To avoid having to solder the motors into the baseboard, I've fitted each with some screw terminals wired onto the PCB. Each unit can then be screwed physically into position and wired using the screw terminals:

By having a couple of spares available, any failure can quickly be remedied without a soldering iron. That's the plan anyway!

Going Green Pt II (?)

Help! My layout is too big!

Well I've known from very early doors that it technically didn't meet the criteria for the Golden Jubilee Challenge. Did that bother me? No; the Challenge provided suitable impetus to start the layout and from there it just sort of took charge itself!

Seriously though, the layout is of such a size that I cannot assemble two of the five boards in the study; to do this I have to comandeer my son's bedroom and even this will struggle with three sections. I can fit one board on the study desk to work on it, but the size has limited what I might do over the winter months. Now spring is in the air (hopefully), I can decamp to the garage and work with more available space:

What I have been doing is making a scenic start on board No. 1. This operates well (as it should being just a single stretch of track) and having finished the bridge, I have now started bedding it in and commenced grassing:

On Sunday, James and I visited Keighley Model Show. This is a fine show of modest proportions and featured some extremely nice layouts. Andrew Cox was present with Cotstart East and deservedly won one of the show prizes. 

At SiSt Trees we purchased some more flocks and scenic scatter and some very nice ready-made trees; bargains at 70p - 90p apiece! Visit www.themodeltreeshop.co.uk for more info.

Going Green

Yes, this will most definitely be an organic layout. Already you can smell the country:

The moral must be; be careful where you store your layout. I thought mine was safe in the loft area, carefully boarded out and safe from small hands. Unfortunately birds, have made a nest under the roof and have been flying around the loft space. They are now evicted, but just to be on the safe side I'll be covering the boards with polythene when they're up there!

Supporting Act

It's been a while since I updated the Group blog on progress on 'Niddbeck Bridge' and to do so I must retrace my steps back to August 2008 and the manufacture of the supporting structure and associated lighting and presentation facia. The layout had it's first showing at Shipley in September 2008 and this work was done in advance of that show.

One of my pet hates is poor layout presentation at public exhibitions and layouts that lack integral lighting. I'm also not keen on layout supporting structures that are complicated or 'Heath Robinson' in design, slow to erect and take down or require any sort of tools to do so.



The stucture consists of two end frames made up of 45x20mm PSE (Planed Square Edge) softwood with simple glued and screwed butt joints. The rear uprights stand 1980mm tall, the front uprights 1200mm and are 435mm front to back. The longitudinal spacers and diagonal brace are good quality 6mm birch ply. The front one is 280mm deep and the rear one and the brace are 155mm deep. The rear one is shallower to allow an operator to sit at the layout on a draughtsmans swivel seat with knees underneath the layout. For that reason there is no rear diagonal cross-brace. Being tall and narrow the structure is not overly stable but once weighted at each end at floor level with a couple of 25kg boxes of nails (I'm in the trade!), it's very stable. All bare timber is painted with matt black paint.




The beams locate onto small steel 8mm male/female furniture dowels and are secured by plastic handwheels with M10 male studs which screw into threaded female inserts embedded in the rear of the timber uprights. Nice and easy to assemble and no tools required.




The lighting is provided by 4 x 20w slimline kitchen-type fluorescent lights which are mounted in a 6mm play 'tray', lined with white Formica to reflect the light downwards. I had some of the laminate left over from a DIY project and it seemed easier to use it rather than do several coats of white paint. The tray is stiffened with lengths of 45x20mm PSE down each side. The ends of the tray have 6mm aluminium U-channels epoxied on and the channels simply locate onto the projecting bracket arms seen in the picture. The brackets are 6mm ply and like the beams are attached with alignment dowels and handwheels with T-nuts. The metal brackets seen at the ends are to support the facia panel (see below).



This shot shows the rear of the facia panel. Again it is 6mm birch ply and is faced with white Formica. It attaches to the projecting brackets using interlocking steel 'flushmount' fittings. It's a simple drop-on fit that requires no tools and is held in place by gravity. The lettering on the front of the facia panel (see first picture) are in black self adhesive vinyl and were done by my local signmaking shop. The 2mm and 2FS logos are the latest Association resin-domed layout badges .



This last shot shows one of the protection brackets I made last Saturday to protect the overhanging/cantilevered kickback sector plates. Experience at Shipley showed them to be vulnerable to clumsy operators on adjacent layouts not watching where they were going! These attach to the end frames using the flushmount fittings seen above. They give an indication of track level on the finished structure, approx. 1350mm or 4' 3" in old money


Other jobs to do prior to my next outing at York this Easter include adding a couple of extra 20W lights behind the facia panel to eliminate shadow in front of the station building and adding a small inside shelf at each end to keep my DCC 'tower' and associated gubbins off the floor.