2mm Holywell Town.

adrian

Flying Squad
After a brief(!:oops:) interlude building a few more wagon kits and other things to keep me busy I switch back to Holywell Town - so a small update as a little progress has been made.

So the track building was finished and painted. I then laid down some foam underlay, glued down with a copydex/water mix. I then soldered some wire droppers to the rails and then using the templot template drilled some holes in the appropriate places for the wires. The track was laid in sections, again with a copydex/water mix. Word of advice - don't forget to wash out the brush as soon as you have finished. Once it's dried it's not coming out of the brush! You'd think I'd learn after the first one but no, there are now 3 wrecked brushes in the bin.:rant: It's a good job they were the cheap ones I picked up when the local art shop was having a closing down sale.

holywell_town - 1.jpg

So the track is all glued down although I've still got to fit the tiebars and none of the wiring is done underneath.

One defining feature of the layout will be the bridge - I imported a couple of photos into QCAD and adjusted the scaling to match known dimensions. I then drew out the bridge outline to the photo and now I'm cutting and adjusting the profile. So now that the track is laid I can play around with the heights and clearances. I'm not quite there yet so a few more adjustments will be needed, when I cut out the bridge the gradient didn't look steep enough when looked down on it, however the photo from above the end retaining wall actually seems to match quite well to the photos.

holywell_town - 2.jpg


holywell_town - 3.jpg


holywell_town - 4.jpg


holywell_town - 5.jpg

In the meantime on my workbench is a delivery from MERG this week. So I have some plastic box tubing to make the under baseboard turnout mechanisms, these will be driven by a Merg CBus setup with servo motors.

holywell_town - 6.jpg
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
The trackwork is superb, and well-observed too. I particularly like all the catch/trap points and the continuous check rail.

It's going to be a super layout, full of interest with the different levels.

Richard
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Thanks for the feedback everyone - it is appreciated.

A small update - but as it's electrickery rather than modelling I'll keep it brief. As mentioned earlier my intention is to work the points etc. using the MERG layout control system CBUS. Although it is possible to run DCC over the CBUS system my thoughts are to keep the layout control separate. So start with it'll be straight DC control and CBUS, I can always move to DCC later.

So a few evenings spent soldering up all the modules, no cleaning up required.
holywell_town_cbus - 2.jpg

The servo driver module can control up to 8 servos, 2 of these modules will be used for the point control and uncoupling magnets. The switch sensor module was intended to monitor the microswitches on the point motors to drive the display panel, however I have since found out that the servo module will trigger an event when the servo moves so the switch sensor may be superfluous. The panel module will work the LEDs and monitor the switches in the control panel. Finally the USB module allows connection to a computer for setting up and interface with JMRI if required.

Once built I setup a little test rig with a couple of switches to work the servos. It all worked fine first time.
holywell_town_cbus - 3.jpg

The computer setup for the servos allows full control and adjustment on the on and off positions, speed of movement, power off timeout and position on startup.

Screen Shot 2016-10-03 at 21.36.57.png

Once that was working I then moved over to making the point motors and servo actuators. On the MERG website I found drawings for servo mounting system, although they needed quite a bit of rework to be useable. So then the pyromaniac in me took over!

holywell_town_cbus - 1.jpg

holywell_town_cbus - 4.jpg

The vertical mounting plate is for the point motors, the horizontal mounting plate is an experiment for the uncoupling magnets and a braking system for the incline. It's a shame all this work is going to be hidden!
 

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Adrian,
Looking good. I have been wondering how you will shunt the yard. It looks like you need to be able to park wagons in the loop which is far from level. Would electromagnets under the track be enough to hold the steel wheels to act as brakes?
 

adrian

Flying Squad
it will be interesting to see photographs of the installation.
On second thoughts it's probably a good job it is hidden after you see my attempts of spaghetti wiring!
Would electromagnets under the track be enough to hold the steel wheels to act as brakes?
An interesting idea I might try and see what happens. At the moment initial plans is to use the servo to poke a fine guitar wire vertically upwards just enough to catch an axle and not too much to launch the wagon skywards!
 

PaxtonP4

Western Thunderer
Thanks for the feedback everyone - it is appreciated.

A small update - but as it's electrickery rather than modelling I'll keep it brief. As mentioned earlier my intention is to work the points etc. using the MERG layout control system CBUS. Although it is possible to run DCC over the CBUS system my thoughts are to keep the layout control separate. So start with it'll be straight DC control and CBUS, I can always move to DCC later.

So a few evenings spent soldering up all the modules, no cleaning up required.
View attachment 59683

The servo driver module can control up to 8 servos, 2 of these modules will be used for the point control and uncoupling magnets. The switch sensor module was intended to monitor the microswitches on the point motors to drive the display panel, however I have since found out that the servo module will trigger an event when the servo moves so the switch sensor may be superfluous. The panel module will work the LEDs and monitor the switches in the control panel. Finally the USB module allows connection to a computer for setting up and interface with JMRI if required.

Once built I setup a little test rig with a couple of switches to work the servos. It all worked fine first time.
View attachment 59684

The computer setup for the servos allows full control and adjustment on the on and off positions, speed of movement, power off timeout and position on startup.

View attachment 59681

Once that was working I then moved over to making the point motors and servo actuators. On the MERG website I found drawings for servo mounting system, although they needed quite a bit of rework to be useable. So then the pyromaniac in me took over!

View attachment 59682

View attachment 59685

The vertical mounting plate is for the point motors, the horizontal mounting plate is an experiment for the uncoupling magnets and a braking system for the incline. It's a shame all this work is going to be hidden!

Why didn't you simply buy the 3D printed servo mounts from MERG?
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Why didn't you simply buy the 3D printed servo mounts from MERG?
I have been looking at them as they appear to be good value - unfortunately they have been listed as out of stock for quite a while now.
Screen Shot 2016-10-04 at 22.54.13.png

Also as Mick intimates - because I can make them myself and I enjoy making things. I can also tweak the design to suit my own requirements, e.g. rotate the servo and actuation for my nascent "wagon arrestor gear".
 

Wagonman

Western Thunderer
An interesting idea I might try and see what happens. At the moment initial plans is to use the servo to poke a fine guitar wire vertically upwards just enough to catch an axle and not too much to launch the wagon skywards!

That's essentially what Nick Ridgeway did with his EM Nettlebridge Valley layout about 40 years ago. It worked!
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Thank you for posting - all information gratefully received. It is close enough to me so I really ought to do a field trip myself. I'm just drawing up the dimensions for the bridge at the moment so this will be useful. The stonework is still as it was but the level in the goods yard is deceptive. Since closure the goods yard level is a few feet higher than original - it looks like everything was raised to the top of the platforms.
 
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