4mm Monks: perhaps NOT a Classic Minories - for a grandchild.

[jonte]

Wiring, fellow Westerners, continues in earnest though regularly it seems interrupted by the mundanities of life and requests from family to help with myriad jobs, from leaky showers to those that involve the use of drills - at which I’ve become particularly adept during this build! Incidentally, had use of a ‘proper’ drill used by the trade, and oh, what a difference to the Black & Decker/DIY chains’ own brands in my previous and current ownership. An absolute pleasure to use; I could have gone all day drilling random holes in masonry to my heart’s content! However, having been informed of the price, I doubt one will ever join the mis-match of cheap’n’ nasties of the Jonte tool shed, but still, it was nice while it lasted (I could have waxed lyrical there but really, over a drill?).

It’s true, in my experience, that every cloud has a silver lining because without the unwanted distractions, things could have got a bit sticky. Literally.

You see, if I’d carried on trimming to fit the soldered-on wires as intended, I wouldn’t have been able to lif track an appreciable distance from baseboard to spread the glue. Now I know I wrote that I was to shy away from glue because it masked my hard fought datum lines - since then I’ve realised that the track seems to hold its shape since being slotted together which pretty much null and voids that approach anyway- but it suddenly occurred to me that as I’d already decided to adopt the @LarryG method of lay ‘n’ ballast in one go, which IMHO suits the good ol’ Peco stuff better than the somewhat ubiquitous method of fix first, ballast later with dropper and watered down glue, I’d better have an urgent re-think before it was all too late! I should point out here that I think the latter more suited to scale track with its ‘fatter’ but ‘thinner’ sleepers (I know what I mean); Peco Streamline, with its undersized sleepers in every way, seems to be made to look even ‘slimmer’ when ballasted using this method, but I repeat, that’s just to my own beady eye, and not a criticism of those who do this stuff far better than I ever will.

And so I breathed a sigh of relief. Only a couple of wires will now need lengthening rather than the whole darned lot had I not realised earlier!

So, whilst enjoying the early evening sunshine with my nearest and dearest, I thought I’d conduct a simple ballasting experiment involving nothing more than small offcuts of ply ‘n’ rail, some sand recovered from shoes during a visit to a local beach yonks ago for the purpose, a bag of Woodlands’ medium ‘gray’ sourced way before the memory went; and of course a spot of glue. I say ‘simple’, but as I’ve never ballasted before, this could have proved anything but, but thankfully didn’t.

Mixing in proportions of 6:1, sand to ballast - just seemed about right, as I wanted that late BR urban station look which to me looks like not quite ash, but neither fresh ballast, interspersed with ‘bigger’ bits which I think may have been bits of coal fallen from bunkers of passing locos.(?).

This is what it looked like:



This was just after doing and the glue was still wet.

I left some in place overnight to see if it could still be removed, like that removed immediately by blowing away, in case of unforeseen problems during protracted track laying. Will find out later, as visiting family today for Fathers’ Day impending.

Will then prime half of it to see whether the paint looks better on primed or unprimed ballast. If the latter is the case, I will need to prime the track first, of course. Better to find out now.

Remarkably, it looks okay to me so will employ it on the model. Even the web below the rail looks like shadow, apart from the jointed sections, but as this isn’t scale model railway building, I doubt anyone will mind.

Incidentally, I’ve a different type of ballast in mind for the platform area on the other board: ash which smothers most of the sleepers leaving only chairs and rail showing, so I’ll need to get the Chiminee thingy going at some point, which will provide an opportunity to burn some more of that confidential mail that’s been steadily building in my garage.

The unseen benefits of railway modelling hey, fellow Westerners?

Jonte

Edit: Quick update. No leaching from glue if ballast not removed immediately, such that one can do so when glue has gone off. Good to know:



Grey of the ballast can be seen more clearly here.

And a quick spray of primer as mentioned:



Jonte

 

[jonte]

Just thought I’d post up my initial results of the ballasting experiment I started over the weekend, fellow Westerners, which I hope one or two of you will find of interest.

I mixed up a very weak concentration of Humbrol enamels: Matt black, brown and chocolate (96?) mixed with a rather copious amount of White spirit which gave it the consistency of water. My intention was to give a ‘dirty’ ballast colour for my tests, to see how this random wash would react with the constituents of my home brewed ballast mix. The colours were chosen for no other reason than they were on the top rows of the paints in my collection which I keep in an old chocolate box.

This was the result after about half a dozen washes:



I like the different hues of the non-primed section.

The results with further washes and in different lights:



Quite pleased really, as it does indeed provide the look of ‘spent’ ballast for wont of a better expression.

The colouring seems okay too, especially the non-primed areas which provide those different shades much akin to the varying shades of real ballasted station areas. I’ll regard it a happy accident. I reckon that washes of varying concentrations of the paint mix will stop it looking a bit samey, enhanced with some weathering powders here and there, and perhaps the sparse scattering of coal in one or two areas to give it a little more credence.

The primed area looks okay, but would require washes of alternative beiges etc to provide the hue of the non-primed area, which just sounds like extra unnecessary time and effort to me, especially for what really is just a train set at the end of the day.

Thanks for reading.

Jonte

 

[simond]

Jonte,

I played around with sand some time back, and concluded that unless swamped with paint, the colour is still there. I know Steve Fay @Compton castle and others have significant success with it, so it is possible to use, but I was frustrated that after painting, my ballast still looked like the Sahara.

The texture works, I think. It may be my eyes, or the combination of electronic wizardry that gets your image in front of them, but I feel there is a hint of sand still grinning through your cover. Perhaps a little more “General grime”, with some black oily lowlights…?

Atb
Simon

 

[jonte]

Jonte,

I played around with sand some time back, and concluded that unless swamped with paint, the colour is still there. I know Steve Fay @Compton castle and others have significant success with it, so it is possible to use, but I was frustrated that after painting, my ballast still looked like the Sahara.

The texture works, I think. It may be my eyes, or the combination of electronic wizardry that gets your image in front of them, but I feel there is a hint of sand still grinning through your cover. Perhaps a little more “General grime”, with some black oily lowlights…?

Atb
Simon

Hiya, Simon, and thank you for your input as always

You’re absolutely right, of course. This also occurred to me, especially during the early stages when no matter how many additional washes -albeit thin washes - I applied, it still looked like sand mixed with a bit of overscale ballast, although I began to acclimatise myself more to it after MANY additional washes later.

Still, I was originally going to plumb for the primed version believe it or not - benefit of which means prime track n ballast all in one go! - but I got a bit lazy thinking of the additional beige/grey washes that would also be needed, PLUS: the wife liked the unprimed better, and whilst I trust her sage-like judgement in most things, I think I’ll forego it this time as she knows even less about this stuff than I do

Thank you, Simon.

Jonte

 

[jonte]

Just a line, fellow Westerners, to show you an overall view of the wiring to date which continues with much apprehension, as, although I’m hopeful of it working first time, I’m not all that confident:



Probably one too many chocolate box connectors - and the presence of one or two over-length screws! - but I’m trying to keep everything separate as the thought of going DCC still scares the life out of me.

I’ve also employed those rather robust earth-blockers that I read about, for the wiring bus. Really looks a great way of adding feeds to the main supply without having to cut out sections of wire and solder them on, especially as the weather has since taken a downturn which sort of puts paid to soldering outside.

Please don’t look too closely, but if you do, you’ll notice that some of the feeds have been left in an un-clipped state to enable gluing and ballasting of track when and if it all works. The feeds to the switches are also loose so that they can be swapped round to ensure switch faces same ‘side’ as switch rails.

I’m going to fit the rest of the earth B’s next and then wire in the feeds. Following the refixing with a blob of solder to a dodgy wire on one of the on/on’s, I should be ready for the inaugural test. With DC.

If successful it’s over to DCC, now that the 2 pin connector has arrived to connect the command module to the layout.

I’m indebted to @JimG for his kind assistance here.

Fingers crossed.

Jonte

 

[jonte]

Well, the wiring took longer than a I thought, fellow Westerners, so I’m going to call (this board) done for now. I need to invest a pair of wire sheath removers, as my thumb has blistered and the cutting round the circumference with a Stanley blade gets a bit trying. I’m sure it would also speed up matters considerably.

Anyway, here’s the crossed-anchors look:



I had to pop out for more cable clips. The last were from one of the chains: 4mm square. To save the ordering etc, I just popped along to a local electrical suppliers, who didn’t have the required size in stock. As the next size was way too big, I opted for the smaller 2,5mm square variety. My shock was palpable when I got home to discover they were more like 2.5 inches square!! Not sure what went wrong there, but needless to say I will have to order a new box of the right size from where I got them last time. In the meantime, some of the wires are hanging a little loose.

I do hope it works to make the effort wort the while, but I’m going to leave it till morning to find out as I’ve had my fill for today.

Jonte

 

[Allen M]

Hi Jonte
Question, do you know what all those wires do? A 2nd question, will you remember in the future if you have to find a fault or make a modification?
I suggest, if you have not do so already you identify them. One way is to write the purpose beside the wire on the baseboard. A 2nd is to write a number by each wire and make a list as to what it does.

Worth the effort in the long term on any layout.

Keep up the good work. This not meant as a criticism but to be helpful long term.

Regards
Allen Morgan

 

[Alan]

I wrote the use on masking tape wrpped around the wire.

 

[jonte]

Hi Jonte
Question, do you know what all those wires do? A 2nd question, will you remember in the future if you have to find a fault or make a modification?
I suggest, if you have not do so already you identify them. One way is to write the purpose beside the wire on the baseboard. A 2nd is to write a number by each wire and make a list as to what it does.

Worth the effort in the long term on any layout.

Keep up the good work. This not meant as a criticism but to be helpful long term.

Regards
Allen Morgan

Hi Allen, and many thanks for your interest. It’s reassuring to know that not only are my fellow Westerners expressing an interest in my venture into the unknown, but are also there to lend a guiding hand

With regard to labelling/identifying the spaghetti for future reference, I did indeed attempt, as you suggest, in the form of some pencil marks scrawled on the board at various points, which can’t be seen from the distance I took the photos. In a nutshell, it’s simply (it has to be simple in my case) a number followed by either ‘Fr’ for frog or ‘F’ for feed. So for instance, 7F scrawled on the underneath of the baseboard next to a choc bloc or earth block connection, simply means a feed wire (either red or black) from say a point I’ve designated seven, to one of the aforementioned connectors; likewise, 7Fr just means the wire from the frog from that point to a connector, so that if there are issues with same, I can trace back along the wires for that point to hopefully discover the cause of the problem.

I hope that makes sense, Allen? Apologies if I’ve only served to confuse.

In the case of understanding, it’s pretty much what I’d do in the case of DC. A feed and return with wires off going to/from the track and to aSPDT switch to switch polarity of each point, but via earth blocks to save cutting in to the feed wires. In respect of switching polarity, it would probably be so much easier if I just purchased the appropriate Peco integral part to do the job automatically, but I had the switches lying round and, hey, I just like flicking switches

Just hope I’ve left enough room to incorporate the switches for changing the points!

There are probably more simple ways of doing it, but they’re probably a bit hi-tech for me, so I’ll just stick to the basics: which means miles more wiring!

Thanks again.

Jonte

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Probably one too many chocolate box connectors - and the presence of one or two over-length screws! - but I’m trying to keep everything separate as the thought of going DCC still scares the life out of me.

Once you've tested the circuits and are all ok DCC should hold no fears.

 

[jonte]

Pleased to report, fellow Westerners, that after a sticky start to proceedings, the station throat is now working.

Thankfully, it was just due to a dry joint on one of the feeds/bonds on the top right point just after the curved piece, that introduced a ‘dead’ section. A quick dab of solder to the side of the offending piece of rail with one of the hot irons soon solved the problem. Quite surprised as thorough checks at the time revealed only one dry joint which was fixed before going any further. No doubt due to all the wiggling during wiring.

Thankfully, though, no shorts!

Here’s a picture of a Grange reversing out of what will become the road leading into platform 1:



Unfortunately, the point that can be seen just ahead of the boiler of the loco is giving problems, although a check has shown the wiring to be sound. Not only does the loco stutter - the track has been cleaned and re-cleaned - but there’s a hint of wheel drop that just won’t do. I think I’d quickly lose patience with it which would just spoil the fun, so it has to go. To that end, I’ve successfully found and ordered a replacement.

So that’s DC.

Now over to DCC.

Thanks for looking.

Jonte

P.S. Many thanks for your reassurance in relation to the use of DCC, Dave. (@Yorkshire Dave ). Jonte.

 

[jonte]

Mollington Street’s own 8453 enters the road for platform 3 and heralds the arrival of DCC control at Monks:



Indeed, fellow Westerners, it gives me great pleasure to announce that I have, at last, achieved DCC: and to say I’m delighted would be an understatement. No stuttering, no unintentional stopping and definitely no frustration. It runs better than I imagined and I feel confident enough to say that a I shall never look back. Get in the bin DC control (apart from my Black Cat, that is ).

This is the missing link - in green - that prevented me from wiring the command module to the layout:



My home made connections with some old jack plugs on the ends just slotted into the gaps at the back that opened and closed as the tiny screws beneath were untightened and then tightened again via the use of a jeweller’s screwdriver.

The module and wireless controller:



Incidentally, those batteries weren’t required as, after all this time in the box, the thing just lit up when I (eventually) found the on/off sliding switch beneath.

As per usual, it didn’t start favourably: actually it didn’t start at all.

Blind panic meant that the icons and accompanying blurb in the booklets were just a foreign language on printed page; YouTube proved no better, and although a he wasn't visible in the video, I immediately recognised the narrator as one Malcolm of Bachmann who once again had no intention of enlightening me further.

Returning to the handset, I noticed that it was pre-set for loco no. 003, the factory setting for all locos, apparently. I recall this is how the guy in the model shop deduced that my steed was DCC and not DC as I thought I’d bought. But despite the flicking of buttons and the pushing of joysticks, the loco remained dead as a dodo. Then it occurred to me that the guy had perhaps re-programmed it/assigned it a different code, but what? And more importantly how would I find it? With the mention of programming tracks glaring out of the page at me, I started to become disheartened. After pressing a couple of buttons in a line towards the bottom of the handset, an option to put in a number came up. With nothing to lose, I just poked in the cab side number as that’s what the film makers in the videos tended to do. With no idea how to get out of it, I just ran through them until the initial screen display returned, this time bearing the digits 8453:



Pushing the throttle: nothing. I pressed a couple more buttons including one which said ‘stop’ which seemed non-sensical, and still nothing. Pushing the throttle again and some lines showing up on the display, I eventually heard a revving noise in the background. Looking up, there was my trusty stead moving. Then moving faster. And faster again.....where was that stop button???

And thus was my first lesson in learning to operate a loco via a wireless handset in DCC.

No doubt there’s plenty more to learn, but that’ll do for now.

Cheers.

Jonte

 

[JimG]

And thus was my first lesson in learning to operate a loco via a wireless handset in DCC.

Take care with the Dynamis. I found that it was easy to lose the link between handset and base station. I think it needs to be line of sight between the two and I found that occasionally I would forget and turn away, or whatever, and the link would be lost. The associated problem is that the loco doesn't stop when the link is lost, but carries on with the last command it received. I can remember a few dives to catch a loco before it took a flying leap off the baseboard end. I was reminded of that recently when my NCE PowerCab had a fault and I dug the Dynamis out of a cupboard after about twelve years of not being used to carry out testing of my FS160 layout and I had to do two or three quick dives to stop locos until I remembered.

Apart from that, the Dynamis worked well and my main complaint was that it was difficult to operate with one hand which is my preferred method, so I got a PowerCab to replace it.

Jim.

 

[jonte]

Take care with the Dynamis. I found that it was easy to lose the link between handset and base station. I think it needs to be line of sight between the two and I found that occasionally I would forget and turn away, or whatever, and the link would be lost. The associated problem is that the loco doesn't stop when the link is lost, but carries on with the last command it received. I can remember a few dives to catch a loco before it took a flying leap off the baseboard end. I was reminded of that recently when my NCE PowerCab had a fault and I dug the Dynamis out of a cupboard after about twelve years of not being used to carry out testing of my FS160 layout and I had to do two or three quick dives to stop locos until I remembered.

Apart from that, the Dynamis worked well and my main complaint was that it was difficult to operate with one hand which is my preferred method, so I got a PowerCab to replace it.

Jim.

Well held, Jim

That’s good to know as my athleticism packed up and left well before the memory put in a notice to quit.

I shall have to start saving for a PowerCab as a DCC convert

Many thanks once again, Jim, for your help with the missing plug.

Jonte

 

[jonte]

Good evening fellow Westerners.

Following a lull in proceedings, I’ve slowly been getting back into things in terms of track laying, ‘slowly’ being the operative word:



Whilst it doesn’t look like much, the constant checking and rechecking that curves aren’t too severe - for a ‘small’ layout, there are a fair few curves - and that new holes for feeds won’t impact the miles of wire below, means that several tasks have to be performed each time, pinning and re-pinning elements of track where necessary. Also, the constant to-ing and fro-ing from model room to outdoor bench for soldering, seems to extend the time of each task but then again, helps tremendously towards my daily 10,000 steps.

As you will see, I’ve yet to address the track on the station board, but that shouldn’t take anywhere near as long as the station throat as there are no points to deal with. Thankfully.

The station throat is almost complete. Having checked that it’s safe to drill without detriment to the wiring below and soldered on the feeds, the section of track which will become the pilot road, can be fixed down next (it can be seen balancing on the bracing above the baseboard joint). Then the final section of track can be laid: the ‘Up’ (or is it ‘Down’) section of track which leads from the fiddleyard. Once done, the feeds from these final sections of track can be wired to the Bus, and if a final test is (electrically) successful, the track in its entirety can be lifted on the fixing pins such that the pins will continue to hold everything in place while I spread the glue in the resultant gap below. Then I’ll ballast a la Larry G, and weight the whole thing down while the glue sets. Once dry, the ends can be soldered to some offcuts of PCB, although I may need to purchase some more.

I may then turn the board over and start to attach the point motors, the ‘on/off/on’ switches and CDU having arrived by post this afternoon.

So there we go, Westerners. Not a lot to speak of, and proving a harder task than I anticipated, but at least there is progress.

Cheers.

Jonte.

 

[jonte]

It all works!



And I’m as pleased as Punch.

Jonte

 

[jonte]

As some of you may have seen from the Questions and Queries page, fellow Westerners, I’m currently encountering problems with my rather long in the tooth Peco solenoids i.e. mounted to PL-9 underboard plates, the switch rails won’t budge https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/th...please-re-peco-point-motors.9810/#post-231232

As Arthur Negus would verify, they’re old but still function, so the problem appears to be one of centre-ing.

To that end, I’ve followed the advice of a gent who posted up a helpful video on YouTube, and built some jigs accordingly using a couple of sizes of Plastruct ‘H’ beams, with a hole in the middle. Here they are waiting for the glue to dry:



Yes, there are only six not seven, as required: the seventh rusty one has the pin missing from the base of the solenoid so I can’t implement the jig on this one. Therefore, thinking hat on to work out an alternative way of doing (probably ramming a couple lengths of appropriately sized square section either side of the pin just below the plate, or just buy a new one).

The switch blades of the Streamline points will also be centred using a couple of strips of 1.6mm square section Plastruct, placed between the ‘cut out’ of the stock rails and each switch rail.

Another good tip was to line the uppermost rim of the plate with double sided sticky tape to aid screwing of the plates to pre drawn guide lines on the baseboard (a third hand so to speak). This really should be done before mounting the solenoid to the plate as per video, but I’m afraid that’s a little too late in my case.

Hopefully, this will resolve the issue. I remain hopeful. If not well, nothing more than a little time, some old motors and recycled wire from a lawn mower flex will have been lost and put down to experience, and I will just have to look for an alternative source.

Thanks for reading and also to my friends who kindly posted in response to my query.

Jonte

 

[jonte]

Well, the guy in the video wasn’t far wrong when he claimed that fitting these motors with their plates was not his favourite part of railway modelling, fellow Westerners.

Despite the benefit of this chap’s advice and workable jigs, it still proved to be a sweaty, frustrating and onerous task, not least of all because most of the holes had to be widened to allow unobstructed movement of the tie bar. This despite having used a minimum of 10mm diameter holes. As I didn’t want to lift the track again - which would have meant undoing a plethora of wires, no thanks! - I had to drill ‘gingerly’ lest I ended up drilling a hole through the track as well.

Anyway, all is well thus far and I now have six points that switch quite freely, and according to the video, if you get that far, then the point motors will do their job. I hope.

Yes, that should be seven, but I’ve decided not to use the really ancient motor after all: without the lower pin, it will prove a lot of faffing around without the jig to hold it centrally, so I’ll find some time tomorrow to pop out to the local model shop and pick one up. Hopefully, he’ll have one in stock.

I’ll leave you with a picture of where I’m up to:



Now to add more wires, and more holes for switches - if I can find the space! I also need to site the CDU. I do hope it works after all this effort!

Talking of space, I’ve no idea where I’ll stick the signals. Polite answers only, please

Jonte

Edit to show the pieces of Plastruct holding the rails centrally for fitting of jig-centred point motor as described, just in case any other poor soul gets stuck fitting them, and one of the points after fitting. I’ll trim the excess once the track is stuck down and ballasted:

 

[jonte]

Well, yet another disappointing day is done on Monks I’m sad to report, fellow Westerners - and it started off so well.

With rain looming early afternoon, I decided to make hay and made an early start on the next soldering jobs (outside in the garden to reduce fumes), with everything made ready and to hand. First off: wire up replacement point motor (managed to pick up the very last one in the shop!). For some reason, instead of just cutting off some new wire to wire it up with, I plundered the ones from the point motor it was replacing - one with an extended pin. I should mention that it wasn’t until I got home that I realised this motor wasn’t the extended pin variety after all, which is distinguished - apparently - by a letter ‘e’ suffix. No probs: I had a couple of extension pins left from the ones I bought of an auction site. In no time at all, the wires were removed from old and soldered to new. After only the briefest of coffee breaks, it was back out to face the wiring of the on/off/on switches to operate the motors. By half twelve, I’d beaten the rain and was the proud owner of a wired up point motor and seven switches (here are the switches):



After lunch and a snooze, I returned to fit the plate to the new motor and fit the extension pin before marking out and fitting as per the others, with a jig and centralised switch rails. Then it would be on to wiring it all up.

Or so I thought…..

Question: does anybody know why Peco decided to fit (to the non-extended version) a pin of a different diameter to that of the extended variety? In fact, it’s wider. So much wider that the brass tube which enables the extension pin to be attached to the pin of the motor, was too narrow, the extension pin being narrower again! No amount of opening out with a rat’s tail job made any difference, so I resorted to filing away the pin of the motor itself. Another waste of time! Nothing for it but to revert to the ancient motor and try and work out a way to centralise it in the absence of a jig (you may recall that the pin was missing from the bottom of the motor thus it null and voided the jig option. But at least it had an extension pin! Thankful for small mercies, I set about soldering on new wires having cut them off to attach to the new - now redundant - replacement motor. Which meant that I had to set up the soldering equipment, tools and get going as the rain was now imminent. I began to curse when the odd drops of rain heralded the arrival of a downpour. Thankfully, I’m a dab hand now at attaching wires after all this , and before I knew it, the job was done, tools etc away and I was back in the model room ready to move onto the next stage…….but what a pain!

As I’d intentionally designed the boards to be bigger (wider than Cyril’s original plan just to make sure I had room for uncertainties, plus I had the space and the amount of wood required), why then did I decide to put the first point so close to the edge? I’d barely left enough room for the motor and plate which was right up against the frame leaving virtually no ‘wiggle room’, and to compound matters, one of the brother-in-law’s excessively long screws was right in the way of the hole provided in one end of the plate (the bit nearest the frame!). Try as I might, I couldn’t get enough purchase with even the smallest hack saw in my possession to cut it off - it’s almost in the right angles joints of the frame so space was seriously restricted - and I have a grinder, but could I find it? I resorted to using a blunt chisel, but each hammer blow just slid the baseboard along the bench. So without somebody to hold the baseboard while I waved the chisel, it was yet another pointless exercise. Once again I had reached a point where I was a gnat’s thingy away from loading the whole ensemble into the back of my car and heading for the local tip. None of you, of course, will be familiar with this overwhelming sense of abject hopelessness, fellow Westerners, but being the world’s worst railway modeller, this is a path well trodden.
I had to get out of the model room quickly to compose myself and have a rethink.

A caffeine fix shone a new light on things: with the unfixing of an adjacent choc bloc and some wires, by turning the motor assembly approximately forty five degrees or so to the left, I could then swing the thing in ‘behind’ the offending screw thread while viewing the location of the tie bar from the right. A single twist, and it was located. Voila! In such a tight spot, it was difficult drilling the holes for the screws, but via other methods, I managed it. Now to work out how to centralise the pin in the absence of a jig. A quick trial with a spare extension pin in brass sleeve and a thin piece of brass wire shoved between the gaps in the tags either side of the pin soon had it where I wanted it. So that was that. Done. But it didn’t work. Motion partially obstructed again. So as with the other motors, it was time to get the drill out and open up the holes. With this being the ‘end’ point so to speak, I was able to raise it slightly to avoid the drill penetrating the sleepers. A guard of a lashed piece of cork meant that I could relax a little more while drilling. Cool. I then repeated the exercise confident that the extra width would do the trick. But it didn’t, and to compound matters, the lifting of the point had raised other parts of the track, such that three, yes three (!) points had become detached from their pins :



To ensure the return of free movement, I’m going to have to remove the motors and start again with jigs for all three

Buoyed by the fact that it wouldn’t be as difficult to undertake as last time due to the holes being prepared-drilled, I put it to the back of my mind and returned to the job in hand.

What was needed was to create a little more leeway to give wiggle room. So out came the piercing saw to remove a smidgeon of of the base plate from the end nearest the frame (behind that bl**dy screw), and the drilling of a new hole through which to place the screw.

To cut a long story short, none of it worked: when tightened, the movement wasn’t free enough; when loosened it wasn’t too bad,but I’d been warned about loose fittings where solenoids were concerned. So enough was enough. There was no point ordering a replacement motor with pin, as I’d just end up having the same problems trying to site it, and it slightly irked having to discard the new item I’d bought in good faith only the day before. It was at this point that I was grateful once more for the help and advice of my fellow Westerners, in particular @76043 (Tony) who reminded me of the most straightforward way of fitting these darned motors and getting them to work: just cut out a bloody big ‘ole in the board and attach it directly to the point via the slots on the sleepers. No fart-arsing about with jigs etc. Simples!

So after a well-earned break from it all, I briefly returned to the layout, and after marking out the location of the motor, I lifted the point and fitted the motor to the base as described:



Another bonus was that the earlier clumsy filing in an attempt to get the extension pin to fit hadn’t quite rendered it useless, despite it being slightly more anorexic than when purchased. A quick test revealed that it worked first time: and the six million times after that.

Okay, it’s not as neat as using the more demanding method of underboard placement, but hey I’ll stop losing minutes off my life and that part of the point will be inside a tunnel leading to the layout proper. And a dab of appropriately coloured paint here and there on the metal lugs should hide a multitude of sins. Thanks again, Tony!

Next time I’ll cut out a hole to accommodate the motor - Tony rather cleverly created a well to disguise his, but I’m not Tony - and then I can set about remounting the pins in those points I mentioned earlier. If this wasn’t for a good cause, it’d be history!

Still a great hobby.

Jonte

 

[Alan]

There might to be a sympathy button.