Hand warming for Christmas.

 I while back I said no more 9mm track. Then I built a small 09 scale layout. Then there is this. There is link wiring to do and then there are questions. Will it be operated? Unlikely/only minimally. The 009 layout has been hawked about by young Burnham on a couple of occasions, but this would be regarded as unusual. The pointwork remains at this time manual, but I have considered using the Peco switches and switch stand thing with the 'new' smart switches as an almost retro-step. Remember this is theirs, not mine. I am just the instrument.

Some of the early feed wiring fell into the realm of 'entertaining'. I've not managed to this for a goodly number of years and ran a follows:

The brain has two applicable reactions in this situation. 1. grab something which is falling. 2. keep hand away from the business end of a soldering iron as it is likely to be warm. In the split second in question, my brain confused these two reactions and placed them in the wrong order. I now have less skin on my finger than I did before the moment in question. Don't let anyone tell you that half a century of experience makes you better at the job in question.

Saturday Ramble: Selling things on

There was a layout exhibited over the weekend; let's call it Duckling Ghyle. Well known, but for some reason I'd never seen it in the flesh, despite it having been around for decades. Disappointed? Most definitely. 

The modelling was superb; impossible to fault. The display and operation were frankly appalling; off the scale. Achingly slow and partial front operation meant that 3-link couplers were fiddled with in the view-line of the audience. I'm really not a fan of this. Either work at the front/end and go auto, or work from the back and lean over. I can accept the hand of God no problem, but I don't want someone's arse in my face with every single shunt move. 

The problem as I see it, isn't this directly, it's the selling on; and this from a modeller who sells everything on. The original builder has a concept in mind and if he/she is thinking about this properly, it will include an early idea of how the thing will be operated and from what position, even if it is a home layout. Selling on removes this mentally carried part of the concept. I have no doubt that the current owners were competent in many ways, but the slight alteration in display removed this initial operating/layout whole concept approach.  Result: total failure, despite the very high modelling quality. 

I suppose that what I am taking away from this is that if you buy something, you have to be careful that you think carefully about the operating concept as a whole, and don't just purchase the visual modelling. Any reflected glory that you are hoping to obtain will soon be wiped out in seconds if the original operating style is not adopted. 

What do you think?

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Thoughts on TT track

 

 

Deep into the ritual of track laying with the TT. 

There have been some hiccups. Well, more U-turns. OK, if I'm honest, it really wasn't working and I had to change my entire mindset. Was this a product fault? Obviously I cannot say that, but there are some changes which I have had to adapt to. 

Normal procedure is to lay track the same way that I have for years with a back up/operating lever in the form of a DPDT slide switch. This works really well with most of the Peco range. Things are changing. Now we are in to fully swayed toward DCC product design. Depending on your placement within this, this could be a good or a bad thing. Below is a medium radius TT point. It has a funny frog and compared to my standard brain level OO code 100 point it has lots of funny wires running crossways underneath. 

It is non-isolating. This is deal braker. It's totally live whichever way you set it. I tried by-passing this, but gave up, and also gave up on using the DPDT switches. I had to change my head around.

If you want say, the left hand road to be a dead siding, you have to create a new section with an isolating fishplate and a switch. If it's part of a loop, a whole new switched feed section. This for old head DC running.

However... if you assume in this case that it's a one engine in steam branch, you're laughing. No need to isolate anything except in the storage yard. Metal fishplates all the way around. So that's the way I've gone with it. The points are for the minute operated manually (or once a year) but slots have been cut so that motors could be retro fitted.

The plain track is also a new design; code 55 like the N gauge range. This is really code 80 with a different profile. The non-visible lower curve is moulded into the sleeper base rather than sitting in chairs on the top. This makes the whole thing quite chunky with close sleeper spacing. Compared to our old friend code 100 OO she makes for a much more robust beast altogether. This was another head shift as I couldn't visually use copper clad sleepers at the baseboard edges. The track is so robust that I think that the two pins and glue approach should be ample for all but the most violent use.

Conclusions: Different. Needs a new approach and certainly the most robust track I've ever used. Before I started this I did some web research to see what the TT 120 boys were doing. The vibe is definitely leaning toward trainsets, in that there is a lot of train set boxed stuff. This is largely very oval and mainline in practice. Also unsurprisingly there is a fair amount of entry level DCC. I get the feeling that it will take a while to move away from this to other places, a bit like rabbit warrens in 009 in the 70s. There is however a large groundswell, more than I expected. Certainly worth considering with the trade support rapidly growing.

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Normandy open day

This is becoming a regular trip. Across the wilds of the Surrey Hills where direct routes do not exist and yet your destination is moments from the Hog's Back. The Normandy O gaugers open up once or twice a year. OK I'll level: this is not the most exciting on exhibition terms; it's not meant to be. All bar one layout (which was physically replaced by Peter Harding with a table full of books) the 'exhibits' were exactly the same as last time. It's the club getting the toys out and letting people in. There is not one, but two roundy test tracks, a small amount of local trade (Roxey Mouldings, C&L et al) and some rummage stands. This last one as you may expect was where my focus lay. Purchases were a bag of DPDT slide switches for £4 and a scratch- built Rhymney Railway brake van for a whopping eight quid! There are some issues with the latter, but it's perfect for the infant O gauge layout which is bubbling under the TT. The catering, courtesy of the local WI, was as you may imagine top notch and heavy on the cake front.

These open day events are a poor relation not having the glamour of an exhibition with star layout visitors, but this is always well attended and is a great place to catch up with people and grab some bargains without the pressure to rush around and tick the layout viewings off. They're a vital part of the model railway structure so don't think that there is no value to be had in these softer low-key events.

Open day - 8

Parking 9 (the speed bumps are evil)

Catering 11

Rucksacks 5

 
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Underframe excitement

 ... well possibly more annoyance. Much of the Rhiw stock roster has grown quite organically, and even this has moved around date wise. The upshot is that the stock is stored in random boxes. Post Eastbourne some of this stock jumped out of the box. There was damage. This was a known known and it has sat motionless since the summer, while I plucked up the courage to investigate further.

Most was underframe damage and mostly those oh-so-delicate tie bars. I did scoot around Squires stand a couple of weeks back looking for some thin brass but to no avail. So it was plastic again reinforced where possible. I'm thinking that it will probably break again so there is little point making it so strong that the break point is extended elsewhere. Five of these needed attention and a buffer and some odd bits of brake gear. All done and painted now. have I reached the point where I'm in 'care and repair' mode rather than 'generate new'. In some ways that may be a good place and I've mooted the lifelong single project as the unreachable ideal many times here before. Somewhere where the movement is about maintaining what you have with the odd addition here and there. This opposed to the butterfly approach that I and many others have where a new project/new stock on repeat is the name of the game.

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