Western Hills Latest loco arrives

Again its being a little while since I have written anything to this blog, so a quick update. I was hoping to get hold of a Dapol 122 from Hattons and pick it up at Warley unfortunately my plan to save £4 on the postage was thwarted. Well the model arrived today one day after me ordering it on line. This Saturday 23^rd I’m taking two of my grandsons to Warley; I hope to pick up a sound chip for the railcar. I have resisted all temptation to chip it with a standard 21pin chip from my stock; there is a lot of intricate detail on the chassis so I only want to take the body off once. I guess I need some passengers too. 

Western Hills MPD extension part3 repair

Sunday 12 August 2018 

The access to the turntable at Western Hills MPD has been a bit of an issue for larger steam locomotives due to uneven track! The Fat Controller allocated funds to be used to replace the approach track. Work started with the removal of old track and splitting the boards. Cleaning away the old tack ballast New copper strips were fitted at the joints and code 100 track laid to turnout 15 using a code 100 to 75 adaptor rail droppers were replace and tested new ballast laid  and surrounding ground work made good.

   

 

Western Hills MPD extension part2

Its being a little while since I have written anything to this blog, okay back in August last year  I started building an extension for the of the MPD.  See Western Hills MPD extension. Having laid all the track and tested it the time had arrived to some ground work.  First off was constructed retaining wall of a back of the turntable and add some higher ground.  Not really a lot can be said about that, so lets cut to the chase and look at the pictures

Wow that's green

New Volvo L150 being delivered that will make a difference in the coaling yard

Camera Wagon

Pondering as I do “thinks” what can do with that old knackered R296 Hornby track cleaner. A camtruk. First I tried the cheap SQ8 from China disaster! The most awkward devise to operate very poor picture quality next I tried the SQ13 also form China for the princely sum of £18 better user interface and the option of WiFi. First I cut the damaged end out of the Hornby track cleaner and trimmed off the windows from the roof, refitting the clear window into the coach covering the remaining window apertures with white plasti-card shimming it out to hold the camera.

 The camera is 28mm wide so it fits into the body of the coach with a small amount of packing. I drilled a small hole in the base under where the camera sits to allow a cocktail stick to poke the camera out.

Little strips of a bean can glued to the inside of the roof and small magnets attached to the body side hold the roof in place total cost £26.00

Western Hills MPD extension part1

With the increase in locos on Pix Valley, the board of trusties decided to allocate funds for the construction of the Western Hills MPD extension. First off was some groundwork. A dry test of the proposed new site was made. 

Construction of the new base board was completed and fitted together with the support frame. 

Power for the DCC buss is connected though the 8mm fixing bolts. 

The old track bed was wetted and lifted from the ballast the remains of the latter scrapped away, a new turnout has been trial fitted. 

I have a slight concern regarding the DCC wiring with this turnout configuration I prepared the live frog Peco turnout the same as all my other turnouts i.e. snip where the rails are already gapped cut the wire links and bridge between stock and closure rails. 

Finally the top of the board was cut out and a recess created to accommodate the Hornby R070 turntable.

Modification to the turntable power to is through the slip ring which is modified to be 2 concentric circles ensuring the polarity matches the input rail then each of the spurs are wired to the DCC buss maintaining the correct polarity. This enable sound enabled locos the remain “live” whist on the turntable.

Fordson Bucket Loader

As with any project it starts with an idea and evolves. I wanted a means of loading bunkers with coal so a converted tractor would fit the bill, as Pix Valley is a heritage line money would not extend to a spanking new JCB 3CX. So the engineering department came up with this little gem based on a Fordson tractor. Fortunately the team of one photographed the construction for you to enjoy.

Frames are butt jointed then backed with 10 thou plastic card and trimmed to the original form 

A length of 8mm plastic tube cut lengthwise and fixed to the bucket end plates the remainder is fashioned using 20 thou plastic card.

The pivots pins are made from 0.8mm brass rod pressed into the lift arms

Side frame are glued to a piece of 30 thou card in the shape of a T the tail of the T screws in to the fixing hole in the base of the tractor.

A quick splash of red paint and a counter weight fixed to the rear, Job done

Coloured light signals interface card

An interface is required to control the current from the DCC buss. I used 4 x 1.5kOhm resistors to achieve this switching is accomplished from DCC Concepts point motor using the inbuilt switch, however I have  other points controlled with Peco motors which will require micro switches.