Focalplane

Western Thunderer
As a result of the changes to the track plan I am rethinking the stock position. For a simple running session on the main lines I have these options:

UP Main 2 loops

Loop 1 - Paddington bound express, Castle plus choc/cream rake
Loop 2 - Semi-fast Hall plus three coach maroon rake and Short transfer freight Pannier in charge

DOWN Main 2 Loops

Loop 1 - Wolverhampton bound express, ?King plus choc/cream rake
Loop 2 - Fast fitted freight, 47xx or 43xx and long rake

That’s five trains. In addition I can have three trains in the future fiddle yard, two local passenger, one pickup freight. Additional trains will be in the station.

I am keeping the two coach sidings to store passenger stock when doing a night operation when the Goods Station becomes alive. A different operational scenario, to be sure.
 
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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
The demolition is pretty much over and the rebuilding has begun. As mentioned above, the first track being relaid is the outer radius UP main and this is almost complete. Some of the inner radius DOWN main has also been laid so the two are about 66% laid but not yet re-wired. This weekend should see circuit running again.

Next, the new tracks associated with the station throat. One of the odd things about Moor Street is that the entire station and good yard is built on raised land. As a result drainage is not what one usually expects, there are no cess (is that correct English?) between tracks. So I am laying cork sheet right across the "top" of the Digbeth Viaduct. This is taking time to do, one sheet at a time due to lack of weights to allow the glue to set.

IMG_1816.jpg

The point above shows where the relief line will run, with the right fork aiming to the local fiddle yard. The left fork will parallel the two main lines around the 90º "corner" and then join the Down line just before the duck under which will then will allow trains to cross over to the Up line via the scissor crossover (off scenery). The siding in front will be one of two coach sidings, extended so that local coach sets can be stored when night operations are in progress. Two head shunts will be provided, one for each side of the passenger station.

I think I need to do a new track diagram once I know exactly what will fit and where!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Yes, currently 6 litres of UHT milk being used to weight down glued track! In times past used bottles of wine but it would appear I am now a teatotaller! Other weights include tins of paint, old 110v transformers and so on. If it’s heavy it gets used.

The Up line was tested last night, no problems with just fishplate connectivity. Storms predicted for this weekend so expect some progress.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
No storms here (though the Gard Department got another drenching with more flooding around Nimes) and I have managed a reasonable amount of progress. Both main lines are now laid but not yet hard wired on each track length. Despite possible continuity problems I have had the two Large Prairies circulating off and on for at least half an hour at a 40 to 60 out of 126 setting on the DCC controller. One small area where the full length coaches touched but that has been taken care of (thank you, Copydex!)

The cork sheeting is nearly done and the area of the station throat is ready to be attacked. I have found, however, that I have a rogue Peco LH Turnout. This may have even been part of the trouble with the super elevation running. I intended to move the turnout and when I tested it in place my Jubilee refused to stay on track. So I went back to one of my unloved Peco Curved LH Turnouts and it seems to work like a charm More testing is required but it looks as though I will be using the curved point.

The Goods Loop no longer appears to be viable so I will have the pick up goods shunted in from the fiddle yard with run round having been assumed to have taken place at Bordesley Yard. Run rounds on the Up side of the passenger station can still use the Platform 3 traverser. Other than that, I think all should work well. The coach sidings can take 4 full length coaches each (I plan to run local passengers with a B Set pair and one extra all 3rd non corridor coach, which I understand was prototypical in the late 1950s). Pick up freights will of necessity be short, while night goods services will be assumed to be split up before arrival.

The fiddle yard will have two roads, essentially one for passenger, one for goods trains, but this may be expanded later if necessary.

We are running on 4G internet at the moment while waiting for fibre optics to be installed on Tuesday. This will allow uploading videos, etc. "just like that" which should be interesting. France Telecom/Orange show that the fibre will enter the house and connect directly to their Fibre Livebox, so no copper wire link as we have in Hampshire. And no extra monthly charge (well, not straight away!) makes the service even more attractive. The French Government has been criticized for not giving rural areas decent internet services but the overall service seems good to me.
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Hmmm! We live a bit "out in the sticks" but not a million miles from Aylesbury in Bucks so not isolated by any means. We were promised superfast broadband to all the villages as there are and always have been so many businesses working from home. The best BT can do is fibre to the nearest box and copper from there. Speeds have improved considerably but there are so many geographical areas which remain in the stone age. Last week in Norfolk we couldn't even get a mobile signal in the house.

Even I, as a technophobe, find this really poor and frankly third world.

Brian
 

simond

Western Thunderer
I remember some German friends visiting us some ten years back. I explained about the poor mobile signal at our house.

“What do you mean, the mobile signal is not good?” You’ll have to imagine the accent, and the incredulity.

it hasn’t improved. We regularly get a ping on the phones saying “Welcome to France”, because the signal from Boulogne (26.5miles) is better than that from Seabrook (0.5miles). It’s ok whilst we aren’t paying for foreign use, but given the current state of affairs, I imagine it’s only a matter of time before all the mobile companies start charging extra.

that said, the phone has gps, it knows exactly where it is. So why it doesn’t say “no local network, use French network?” I do not know.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
My step daughter and family live near Andover but even nearer to British Army HQ at Weyhill. Their internet and mobile reception is definitely third world. Work from home just about impossible, reception best standing at the kitchen window! I keep my fingers crossed for Tuesday!
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
So different with BT - I live in a village in Yorkshire they upgraded our phone/internet lines to fibre in March 2020. Only the mobile reception is poor which I'm not too bothered about.

The thing I find now having BT super-duper broadband is that some of the servers used by other websites appear slow.


that said, the phone has gps, it knows exactly where it is. So why it doesn’t say “no local network, use French network?” I do not know.

Obviously the phone thinks gps = got poor signal. :D
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Well, at least I can post a photo if not a video:

0C7414DA-7B2B-439F-ABDA-D6EF8B163CFF.jpeg

From near to far

1. Goods Station head shunt
2., 3, Coach sidings
4. Moor Street arrive/depart road with Jubilee testing track work
5. Goods Yard head shunt
6. Down Main with regional corridor train
7. Up Main with Snow Hill Leamington local service.

Note. Not all track has been fixed in place!
 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
So different with BT
It certainly is. Only a copper wire. They asked me to pay up to £40 000 for a high speed fibre line; they wanted a similar figure from the other two houses in our little side valley. I told BT to stuff their heads where the sun doesn't shine. There is a super high speed line 300m from the house supplying the internet to the Army. I am told by a BT engineer that that there is fibre line that can be handled exactly like copper e.g. strung on a line, buried in a plastic tube that carries the copper line and a fraction of the price. Instead we have internet from a microwave network that occasionally fails. It's not great but better than the 1mB from the BT copper line which we have to keep to be able to get an emergency service when the internet is down.

Mobile signal. None in the house other than WiFi Calling. It's accessable if you climb 250' up onto the moor or drive 1/4 mile.

Strangely we have a good UHF TV signal even though we are not line of sight to the transmitter. As we are in Wales we are given half the Freeview channels that are available in England. God knows why.

Thank you Paul - rant over!

Simon
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Rants are always allowed at Moor Street!

The Welsh experience sounds so familiar. Our holiday cottage in Borth Y Gest, now sold, had all the same deficiencies as if that is the way it should be.

An update on the fibre optique installation tomorrow. First a phone call to ask if it would be a problem if the technician came at 10 am instead of 8 am. Pas de problemme. Then, this morning an SMS to ask me to confirm I will be present, that I have received the Livebox and that the house is a house and not an apartment. The technician will call me 15 minutes before arrival. “Merci Monsieur pour votre confiance!”

OK, back to the Railway Room!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
An afternoon of progress on track laying, also all the cork sheeting is now glued down. But one of the Large Prairies has lost a main driver connecting rod screw and no end of searching has turned it up, despite using a magnet. How far could one of these fly, I wonder? So I will be ordering a couple of spares hopefully to pick up at Reading in December.

One of the panniers has substituted and it is nice to hear the different sound as the tank engine chugs around the main line. Pleasant music to lay track by!

The approach road into Moor Street continues to allow the Jubilee to run smoothly so that is good news.
 
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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Back on the internet installation. There is no fibre box on our side of the street so the engineer is going to run the fibre cable up and across and down! I told him that copper would be used in England. He looked astonished and gave a Gallic shrug. Overhead wires are everywhere here so no different from the road in Winchester where all our communications are delivered by copper wire. I did ask BT why this is so and the answer was, basically, it’s easier for BT to fix when things go wrong!
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
When BT put my fibre line in they installed a dual copper and fibre cable. Fibre for the internet and copper fot the landline. A year later they switched off the copper wire phone lines in favour of fibre resulting in less clear phone calls.

And of course I can no longer use the landline in a power cut as the copper line provided an independent 50v DC power supply.
 
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