Grrr sleepers....

[cabbage]

Well having been very busy with a Universal AVO meter along my complete track work... The reason foe this back breaking effort has to do with the train detection system for the layout. Not very surprisingly it uses the fact that the wheels and axles "short" across the track. What was very surprising to me was the fact that the transistor detector said "Yes boss -there is a train there!" This was regardless of one being there or not...

But then it worked perfectly, moved to another section of track - it bombed out again(?)

Delving deep into Towers Transistor - I found out what the problem was. Because I am a cheapskate I used the transistors in the "bit box" -not the ones in the original "Freezer" circuit. The tranny used by Freezer is a general purpose BC108. The one I used is a "modern equivalent" . However it is rather more sensative rhan it its stone age forbears. The original sleepers were hardwood treated with a water soluble copper based preservative and supplied to me from Brandbright. After 17 years they had started to show their age. The damp sleepers at 24 to the yard conducted enough voltage to drive the system from Low to High. The only solution is to completely replace the wood sleepers with plastic ones. This is what I am doing at the moment.

Lifting the yard lengths and replacing the white metal chairs etc involves using a adjustable spanner as a slide hammer(!). Then a once over with a brillo and slide on the new sleepers. I have done about 20 yards so far and I think there must be at least another 30 yards to do...

Still the weather is fine and it is not as if I have anything else to do(!)

Regards

Ralph

[cabbage]

I am now out of replacement  plastic sleepers... But testing on the replaced track shows that the system will work! I am sat in my "office" out of the sun and busy making "taps" for the track to electrify the insulated sections. This time the detector works with anything lower than 10ohms...

Regards

Ralph

[cabbage]

Everything has been ordred from Cliff Barker... The wallet is seeking divorce on the grounds of cruelty. The track detection system will use his brass fishplates with electrical connections soldered to them. The new entrance and exit routes from Brassica have been worked out. The next problem I have is that although I have enough  "Cobolt" points motors to complete the system no-one seems to have anymore in stock!!!



 

Regards

Ralph

[cabbage]

Right. Now the logical jiggery pokery.

The first jpg shows the route selection system. This is run off three on/off/on switches. The first bank of relays  isolates the remaining two, thus ensuring only one of the six possible options will work. The 12line then feeds through a diode network to apply voltage to the dpdt relays which then provide the correct polarity to the points motors.





The second jpg shows the points ayatem for controlling Lowe Point -which is basically the fiddle yard





The last jpg shows the simple switch and relay systwm to contol the entrance to the cross lawn loop.





This "should" all fit on a sheet of A4 polycarb....

Regards

Ralph

[cabbage]

Being a nice ecological type of person I am now left with a toxic problem... I have (I think?) about 15 yds of sleepers to replace. Which is going to be boringly easy. No, the problem is the remains of the treated hardwood sleepers and the white metal chairs still nailed to them. I have about 7kg of toxic floor sweepings in an A3 ziplock bag.

The question is - what do I do with them now?

Regards

Ralph

[Doddy]

Contact the council. They can advise on either a public or private hazardous waste disposal.

[MikeWilliams]

As Doddy says, double bag them, sealed, and take to the local council dump.  They should have specialist disposal areas, but in my experience they will throw them in the landfill skip.

Sorry, but lead has been dumped in quantity for thousands of years and I don't think the tiny amount in a few chairs will make a difference to the health of the nation, or indeed of the world.  There are extremely stringent rules about using lead on carriage roofs, as I know having obtained a licence to use it.  By the stupid thing is there are no regulations I can find about the disposal of old lead paint from carriage roofs.  Painting on new stuff you need a ventilated space, masks, double bag the brushes and take to a special dump etc etc.  Dismantling an old coach involves pulling the canvas off the roof boards which disintegrates sending showers of white lead paint into the air for a considerable distance around the domestic gardens where many bodies have been found - you don't need a licence for that!

Mike

[AshleyW]

p.s, if any one is wanting to creosote, i believe it's banned now, but when i painted the fencing at parkwood, we used barratine "creocote" which is oil based and you can daub it on,splash it all over, like proper creosote. best price was on amazon £14.00 ish, ash

[John Candy]

Creocote... I used several cans of that about 6 years ago and got it from Wickes.
I don't remember paying as much as that for it (but it was a while ago).
I have just looked at Wickes website and a 4L can is 12 GBP.
John.

[blagdon]

Yesterday I had 2 tubs of 'Dark Creocote' dropped off by my local hardwear store - £9.99 each.

Whitemetal chairs and hardwood sleepers; I modify them to take Peco 'G' code 250 rail and use them and the old wooden sleepers on sidings.  The now 20+ year old rail being nickel silver have oxidized to a brownish black colour; looks just right for sidings.

Ian the Gauge '3' Pirate 

[cabbage]

Ok, the toxic waste has been bagged and tagged! Just when it will get transferred to waste disposal - is as yet unknown...

The next phase is to built and paint twelve sets of four aspect colour lights. This will mwan moving the bog lathe out of the kitchen and the milling machine back in to replace it. The fronts have been laser cut by MEL and I have the required surrounds and LEDS to populate them. The test device has proved visable at over 20m so there can be no mistakes. Each switch box will run from a 24 Volt 10 Ampere DC ring main. Inside the box will be the local relays and voltage regulators. How I actuate the points inrelation to the boxes I have yet to decide.

If the points motors are mounted together then the slide rails are moved by long rods and cranks. This centralises all the switching actions. If the points motors are next to the points then the slop of the cranks and rods is removed but the wiring is more distributed.

Personally I favour the whole thing being a compact installation. This is not because of the wiring - but rather I like the idea of all the cranks and levers  moving as they would in the original. I will also have to open the memory  tool box marked "I will never need these again" and service my wiring tools, stripper guns and heat shrink machines.

I bet they all work too!

Regards

Ralph

[Doddy]

What really intrigus me here Ralph, is the interaction of the colour light signals vs the Radio Control system you deploy in your models.
Are you planning on using line of sight using your own eyes or do you have other forms of automated train control in mind?
Will you need another operator to operate the signalling whilxt you control the trains?

Robert

[cabbage]

The signalling will be automatic. In theory all I should have to do when the loco arrives at the destination is press "arrived" and the system should all reset back to four green lights. Robert as to using "line of sight"... My vision is now so poor that I can just make out the greenhouse from the backdoor. Anything over 10m is just a blur.

regards

ralph

[cabbage]

This is the start of building the "sensors". It is simply a Cliff Barker cast brass fish plate with a wire soldered to it. The
Tin soft solder contains Silver and Lead and should still hold tight in the depths of the Derbyshire winter...





The system uses zero volt switching. The zero volt line (ZVL) is NOT Earth!!! Thus a 24v line can run two 12v devices in series each one seeing a 12v higher supply than its base... This the ZVL from the base of one relay is the 12v feed to the one below. The breaking of any ZVL causes the devices below to fail, or in this case: the relays to collapse to N/O.

And yes, the tools were still working well!

Regards

Ralph

[cabbage]

After some pen scratching and slide rule work... I have ordered the main "ring main" DC power cable. This is going to be 8A rated 1mm sq "red and black". I have ordered two 50m rolls. Tap offs for the switch boxes will be via "Scotchlok" style knife connectors. But these have a Lucar 1/4" spade output rather than knifing a parallel cable.

I suppose I should start stocking up on ring ends and jumper cables?

Armed with my Mimic board I now have to find out where the signals are in the real (scale) world!!!

Regards

Ralph