British OO Model Railway - Texiun

[texiun]

Uppers, (To be quite honest my skills with signalling are very lacking)...Attempting to do some reading on where and how to place them.

[Hom3br3w]

Originally Posted by texiun

Uppers, (To be quite honest my skills with signalling are very lacking)...Attempting to do some reading on where and how to place them.

To the best of my knowledge there are no ready to run UQ semaphores on the market at the moment. DAPOL in the UK are working on them at the moment, but I don't think they are on the market yet. Our club, NMRI, are working on producing automated kits for UQ's that work realisticly, right down to the blade bounce when the signal falls, but they are still some time off. I do believe that Strath Hobbies do make brass kits for UQ's tho.

[Hom3br3w]

This website has a heap of information about the various British signaling systems. Here in SA we used a variation on the LMS Speed signaling.

[texiun]

Excellent find! Thank you! I've found I'm most interested in the era of the big 4 LMS GWR etc, I purchased a hornby semaphore tonight to see if I can perhaps make it look a bit more realistic but still able to operate.

Reading the link now thanks again


*edit* seems That the big 4 adopted uppers... So glad I chose them!

[AkiBro]

Originally Posted by texiun

Quick question, Anyone had much success in finding realistic Semaphore Signals? Looking for some that can be actuated when I throw my points. Hornby have some but they aren't the best looking.

Try ebay. I have found a large selection and rather cheaply too. Dont be scared of buying from out of country or second hand. I have imported a large number from the USA successfully.

Originally Posted by texiun

I believe I'm running full Insulfrog Points. With that in mind i am using the little power connector Clips to (Looks like a giant staple) I'm just doing a bit of reading and under the impression I don't even need the little clips?I have multiple feeder wires to the track as well if that helps.
And the short tends to happen (From what i can see)....on the Frog

Look up DCC point wiring online, there is stacks of info out there. I have found this link very helpful.
I have setup so that when a point is thrown there is no chance of short circuiting by isolating the non active switch rail. Shorting is covered extensively on the Brian Lambert's DCC page.

Cobalt point motors are brilliant (or tortoise from USA) and you can use them for points or semaphore signals. They can also help with the complexities of isolating points and DCC decoders to trow them (you can control the point and signal simultaniously with DCC) and while having a DC fallback if you wish

PS. the cobalt motors give a nice realistic point movement (2-3 seconds) instead of just snapping left or right (like peco or hornby motors) and are not as noisy as the tortoise (which are affected by voltage use)

[texiun]

Just a few more of the latest progress. - AKI I will reply to your post this evening

[AkiBro]

Originally Posted by texiun

Just a few more of the latest progress. - AKI I will reply to your post this evening

I look forward to your reply, I hope that information has helped!

Originally Posted by texiun

image

I see your Zephyr instead of the hornby, three cheers for that!!!

[texiun]

Indeed! Gone to Digitrax and never looked back!

In terms of semaphores here is an interesting link!
http://www.handmadeacc.com/
While the website is a tad hard to navigate the owner is extremely dedicated and his craftsmanship shows!

Looking to purchase a few of his semaphores soon! Tasmanian based too

[texiun]

Oh dear...The Missus has ...Approved me to move into the bigger room...To celebrate this...I have purchased another 4x8 MDF Board allowing a farrr bigger layout! Look out mountains here I Come

With this in mind...Does anyone have any thoughts idea's on track layouts? Really wanting a Sorting yard

[AkiBro]

Originally Posted by texiun

Oh dear...The Missus has ...Approved me to move into the bigger room...To celebrate this...I have purchased another 4x8 MDF Board allowing a farrr bigger layout! Look out mountains here I Come

With this in mind...Does anyone have any thoughts idea's on track layouts? Really wanting a Sorting yard

What I have done is high res screen dump from Google maps of a local shunting yard where I watched loco's at work as a boy (slightly sentimental!) and use an application called AnyRail to overlay the tracks on the aerial photo. You are able to scale the layout as you wish and it gives a fantastic bill of materials once you have laid out the track work (the trial allows you to lay 50 track pieces but the licence is well worth it when you are going for massive layouts. I successfully did a container terminal which I am very pleased with.)

[texiun]

Try ebay. I have found a large selection and rather cheaply too. Dont be scared of buying from out of country or second hand. I have imported a large number from the USA successfully.

I've been looking into these a bit more, I'm really picky when it comes to style and Era, Trying to match that British feel. So far DAPOL seem to make the decent ones.

Look up DCC point wiring online, there is stacks of info out there. I have found this link very helpful.
I have setup so that when a point is thrown there is no chance of short circuiting by isolating the non active switch rail. Shorting is covered extensively on the Brian Lambert's DCC page.

I will be grabbing a NRMA Gauge soon to properly measure my wheel flanges etc and points to see if they are to scale properly!

Cobalt point motors are brilliant (or tortoise from USA) and you can use them for points or semaphore signals. They can also help with the complexities of isolating points and DCC decoders to trow them (you can control the point and signal simultaniously with DCC) and while having a DC fallback if you wish

I have been looking into these - is there much mechanical noise from these guys? The Under-Mounted Solenoid can be a bit noisy from what I've been watching.

What I have done is high res screen dump from Google maps of a local shunting yard where I watched loco's at work as a boy (slightly sentimental!) and use an application called AnyRail to overlay the tracks on the aerial photo. You are able to scale the layout as you wish and it gives a fantastic bill of materials once you have laid out the track work (the trial allows you to lay 50 track pieces but the licence is well worth it when you are going for massive layouts. I successfully did a container terminal which I am very pleased with.)

Very neat Idea! Just installing the program now, I'm wanting a engine shed yard etc. My Issue is....Finding a Engine Shed with 2 Engine Bays
I've been looking at
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/120976725...84.m1426.l2649

But cannot seem to find a better alternative.

Here's a photo of my layout + the Extension. Trying to plan a elevated area of some sort and perhaps a tunnel if i can but my mind is a bit frazzled on idea's.

By texiun

By texiun
Thoughts?

[Hom3br3w]

Originally Posted by AkiBro

What I have done is high res screen dump from Google maps of a local shunting yard where I watched loco's at work as a boy (slightly sentimental!) and use an application called AnyRail to overlay the tracks on the aerial photo. You are able to scale the layout as you wish and it gives a fantastic bill of materials once you have laid out the track work (the trial allows you to lay 50 track pieces but the licence is well worth it when you are going for massive layouts. I successfully did a container terminal which I am very pleased with.)

This looks interesting. How do you insert the aerial photograph?

[AkiBro]

Originally Posted by Hom3br3w

This looks interesting. How do you insert the aerial photograph?

I presume you have chosento use AnyRail, click on the insert ribbon tab then on rectangle. Create the rectangle and resize it slightly using the handle. click on theborder of the rectangle and a new ribbon tab "lines and surfaces" will appear. On that tab click on the load image and find your image through explorer. After that click adjust outline and it will resize the border around the image. You may have to play with the dimention to get the right, but the application is very easy to use.

[AkiBro]

Originally Posted by texiun

I've been looking into these a bit more, I'm really picky when it comes to style and Era, Trying to match that British feel. So far DAPOL seem to make the decent ones.

I will be grabbing a NRMA Gauge soon to properly measure my wheel flanges etc and points to see if they are to scale properly!

I like your dedication to prototypical modeling! Keep it up! Have you thought of casting your own products? I have have had great fun casting resin moulds, and is how I created perfectly prototypical catenery for my layout

Originally Posted by texiun

I have been looking into these - is there much mechanical noise from these guys? The Under-Mounted Solenoid can be a bit noisy from what I've been watching.

The tortoise ones are very noisy, and from research it has a lot to do with voltage. The Cobalt motors are much more voltage tollerant and make far less noise. I have had them on a layout before and I was very happy with how little noise they made. They have fantastic prototypical movement, and can be used on semaphore masts

Originally Posted by texiun

Very neat Idea! Just installing the program now, I'm wanting a engine shed yard etc. My Issue is....Finding a Engine Shed with 2 Engine Bays

That shed looks good and seems to fit your era.
AnyRail has just released version 5 so have some fun

Originally Posted by texiun

Thoughts?

Keep up the good work!

[Hom3br3w]

Originally Posted by AkiBro

I presume you have chosento use AnyRail, click on the insert ribbon tab then on rectangle. Create the rectangle and resize it slightly using the handle. click on theborder of the rectangle and a new ribbon tab "lines and surfaces" will appear. On that tab click on the load image and find your image through explorer. After that click adjust outline and it will resize the border around the image. You may have to play with the dimention to get the right, but the application is very easy to use.

Many thanks. Unfortunately the photo that I would like to use is too big to import.