April-June 2011

It's been a while between blogs, however much has been happening on  the layout.

The mains power to the layout and accessories, as well as the lighting controls, have been centralised on the end of the peninsula.

Centralised layout power and lighting controls

The amp meter is an indication of the total current draw of the layout and accessories from the main 240V supply.  The green neon lamp is an indication, when leaving, that nothing has been inadvertently left on (eg: soldering iron, hot glue gun, DCC booster etc) as it is easily seen from the exit doorway when you switch the room lights off.


All of the PSX circuit breakers (5) and auto-reverser (1)  have been wired into place, and the bus wires all terminated and labelled on a terminal strip.

PSX Circuit Breakers & Autoreverser

The booster has been temporarily wired in (I intend to hardwire the RRAmp meter when the layout track laying and dropper wiring is completed and tested).

The lead-in track and the start of the inner helix

Track laying has begun, with the inner helix commencing construction, and is now 4 turns complete, only 4 more to go. Each loop of the helix is electrically gapped so that block detection can be used.  I will be using a Digitrax BDL168 to monitor 16 blocks, and give an indication via remote LED panel as to the travel/location of a train through the helix. There will also be viewing windows around the outside to allow visual contact for train crews.

The helix after 1 1/2 turns, with H220 and 1BCE as a test train

Halfway round the 4th turn

Cab Bus – March 2011

Using the internet, I tracked down a source of some universal throttle panels (UTP’s).  Despite the layout being wireless, it is useful to have points to connect either the wireless throttle (handset) or a wired throttle around the various parts of the layout.  There are 12 UTP’s on the layout.  I decided to install an LED on each panel to indicate both power available, as well as to be easily found in a darkened room running under night conditions. 

This required some PC board soldering skills, and a resistor, bi-colour LED and a wire bridge to be soldered to each of the 12 UTP boards.  The wire bridge was made from the excess wire cut off from the resistors, and installed so as to ground the face panel of the UTP.

The bi-colour LED bent and soldered in position (centre top)

It has been some time since I have tackled this type of soldering, but having the right tools, including variable temperature iron, quality solder and flux, the job was a breeze.  The only difficulty was viewing the tiny areas to be soldered.  A magnifying headset helped to bring everything into focus and large enough to see clearly. A pair of helping hands (third hands) helped to hold the PC board at the right angle whilst I soldered the components in place.



The added resistor soldered to the PC board



The small wire bridge soldered to the board insie the "U" bracket

Each UTP was then tested by applying 14V AC from the DCC track output to the LED connections on the UTP, and run for about 15 minutes.  It will be powered eventually by the accessory bus, which is really just a second 14V power bus.. Each UTP proved to be a success, no blown diodes, no magic smoke appearing, and no burnt fingers!

UTP in position and the LED working off 14V AC supply

As the length of the Cab bus will be more than 30m, I have powered every 3^rd UTP with a 12V DC 1A power supply.  This provides power to the UTP and all downstream UTP’s until another power supply is plugged in downstream. This will help ensure that the signal from the booster is not lost as power losses occur over the cab bus, particularly when multiple throttles or handsets are plugged in.

The next job is to obtain some 3 pair cable and wire the UTP’s daisy chain fashion from the DCC Control Unit to the last UTP, where the Radio Aerial is connected in.

After evaluating several different systems, I chose the NCE Power Pro-R (radio) 5 Amp DCC system.  Combinations of wireless and wired throttles can be used with this system on the layout. The convenience of wireless and the features of this system led me to choose it as my preferred system.  Having used the NCE Radio system previously on Bill Black’s magnificent Sn3 layout - Vance Junction, I was comfortable with the use and operation of the NCE system on a layout running non-sound and sound equipped DCC locomotives and lighted passenger coaches.

Layout Joists and Track Bus Cabling – January to March 2011

Some 17mm ply was cut to length, and placed across the L-girders at approximately 450mm intervals.  Both decks and the peninsula took over 140 joists, each screwed from underneath at either end through the L-girder.

Once this was complete, then the main track bus wires were run around both levels, the peninsula, and the helix, all from a central point. All bus wiring was done in 2.5mm² building wire (approx 12-13 AWG). Red and black were chosen as the primary colours for the main bus.

A second bus was also run as an accessory bus, twisted and terminated as above, using 2.5mm² blue and white wires to distinguish it from the track bus.

Taking the sage advice of several DCC gurus on the internet, each of the 6 bus branches was twisted about 3 turns per foot, and terminated on a terminal strip using a 100 ohm 1 watt resistor and a 0.1 microfarad ceramic capacitor. Jaycar was the shop of choice, and bulk orders attracted slight discounts for quantity.

Backscene board - September to December 2010

The backscene board was constructed by inserting 1” uprights at 600mm centres between the two L-girders at the rear of each level, then mounting 3mm masonite sheeting across the front.  This was glued in place, and held with clamps until dry.  This was a very slow process, as each 2.4m sheet required 8-12 clamps to provide the necessary pressure to keep it in place, and the clamps were left in place for at least 24hrs to allow the glue to dry.

This was especially important in the corner sections, where the long 2.4m sections gave nice sweeping corner curves on a 500mm radius, but created quite a bit of tension in the curved sheet until the glue had set.  Despite having amassed a collection of some 24 clamps, the cutting, gluing and clamping process took a while to complete.

Once all of the backscene was installed, the masonite joins were filled, sanded, and the masonite covered with a coat of undercoat, before two topcoats of sky blue as a base for future designs was applied by roller, giving a very smooth flat finish.

Layout Lighting - June to September 2010

With the benchwork constructed, the next step was to install layout lighting. What method to use?

• incandescent bulbs: generate lots of heat, and may well be impossible to get in the future
• compact fluorescents: keep fading and changing colour as they age
• strip fluorescent lighting is one alternative, but with 55 metres of benchwork to light, this could be expensive and power hungry.
• LED strip lighting - low power, extremely long life (longer than mine!), not cheap.

I opted for LED strip lighting.  After testing some samples, I decided that I would use a mixture of Warm White and Bright White LED's, to give the colour temperature range I was looking for. This involved installing 2 strips of warm white and 2 strips of bright white LED's around the top front edge of each deck.

I also added a single strip of blue LED's, so that I could simulate night/moonlight on the layout.  Normally the amount of light from the blue led's is quite bright, but with a suitable dimmer these can be turned down to a nice low level.

As the light emanates from the LED strips at a 120º angle, I ripped some lengths of 90x35 into 3 equal parts, then set the saw bench up to cut these on a 30º angle, thus each length of 90x35 gave 6 pieces of triangular timber.  These were then carefully installed around the front edge of the layout.

Once the glue had dried and all 55m was installed, I then undercoated the face of the timber to give a better surface for the LED strips to adhere to.  The LED strips were supplied in 5m rolls, with an adhesive backing already applied - just peel off and stick.  Before application, the necessary power wires were soldered onto the strip.  Here is a picture showing the LED's in place - some of the backscene masonite panels have been installed also:

I had to calculate the power requirements, and design a power system to suit.  I ended up sourcing some 300W and 10W 12V DC switchmode power supplies on the internet, as well as 3 LED dimmers, and built 3 power distribution boxes and installed these on the very top of the top valance, with all of the wires running down to distribution points at both levels.  This seems to have been very successful and works extremely well.

These lights are controlled from a central console on the peninsula, where I can select white for daytime or blue for night running, and also turn the room lights on or off as needed.

A separate switch located on the central console controls 240V power to the various 240 outlets under and around the layout.  A bright green neon light tells me if the mains power to the layout is on or off, so that if I walk out and leave the layout, I can be sure that all light and power to the layout is turned off. If a soldering iron is left plugged in and switched on for example, then power will be shut down as I leave (not to mention a DCC locomotive sitting idling quietly in a siding all week!).

Blue LED's provide the night-time feel.

L-Girder construction - April to June 2010

The front and rear L-girders were constructed from 90x35mm framing pine, glued and screwed at 450mm intervals.  There were two sets of "L-girders" for each level, the bottom deck, the top deck (which also forms the valance over the bottom deck), and the valance over the top deck, making it six times around the room in timber, and a big dint in the account at the local Home Hardware store.

The effort was worth it as the dimensions happily support the weight of leaning over and on the layout without causing any substantial movement.

Each deck is approx, 600mm deep, with the exception of the peninsula which can be accessed from both sides, and is 700mm across.

The helix is a double design, essentially a helix within a helix, allowing trains to run both clockwise and anticlockwise between levels simultaneously (think of a wide small spring, with a larger narrower spring within extending over the top and under the bottom.  The inner radius in the helix is 30 1/8", the outer radius helix is 33 3/8 " radius. Spacing is approximately 3" between turns, 8 turns rising 24".  The ruling grade is 1.66% for the internal helix and 1.44% for the external helix.

The base of the helix is above.  Narrow points exist around the layout, (20-24" aisle width) but most places have 30" or more where people will tend to congregate.

The layout begins - April 2010

After much measuring, drawing, erasing, sketching, and thinking, I decided to build an around the wall double deck layout, with a peninsula as a main station, and an 8-turn helix between levels, allowing me to have a continuous run around each level, run from level to level, or from top point to a lower point.  There will be one (fairly high) duck under on one side, and a removable bridge on the lower level.

To minimise impact on the walls, the layout is supported with two welded posts and brackets along each wall.  The only supporting feet are two posts on the peninsula, the legs of the helix, and one other post giving me free access to space 550mm below the timbers of the lower deck for storage, as well as 500mm of clear space above the top of the layout, for storage and display.

The accompanying pictures detail the eight 40mm RHS frames in position around the walls.  The local steel supply company was able to fabricate these for me for less than the price of buying the steel from a well known retailer.  Just to make things difficult, I had to move all of the accumulated gear into the middle of the room, then begin the construction.

The layout is L-girder construction; the timber used was framing pine, 90x35mm. The span distances and other vital information such as support location were worked out from the book "Designing & Building Multi-Deck Model Railroads" by Tony Koester; I would highly recommend this as preliminary reading prior to deciding if multi-deck is what you want. I also used Mr "Google" extensively. There are numerous useful sites with excellent formulas and other information related to model railway design and construction to be found on the internet.

Fitting out the room - March 2009

Once the shed had been constructed, any further work on the layout was put on hold whilst the driveway, retaining wall, drainage and driveway gates were constructed.  This took the best part of the next 12 months from April 2009 to April 2010.

The above two photos show the room as of March 2009.  All that appeared in the layout room was various tables and the complete collection of books, magazines, models, modelling materials and tools.  It didn't take long to fill up the space.  Still, it was clean, dry, comfortable and all in one place for the first time in many years.

Welcome

Welcome to the Swipers Gully blog.

I intend to update this site on an irregular basis with the progressive construction of my model railway layout, named Swipers Gully.

The layout is based on Victorian Railways, circa 1950's to 1970's, the so called Blue and Gold era or Steam Diesel transition period. No specific place, just Victorian themed and freelanced.

The layout is housed in a purpose built shed.  The shed is 6m x 12m in size, with a dividing wall halfway along the length, giving a 6m x 6m layout room, and a 6m x 6m workshop area.  Access to the layout is from a rear external door (the internal access door between the two halves is now covered by two decks of  layout - (perhaps the internal door will be of use for the next owner?)
The shed has electrical power, hardwired internet access (data), telephone points, TV point, wireless network access point, reverse cycle air-conditioner, carpet, insulation in the walls and ceiling, as well as being fully lined with plasterboard. The windows are all tinted with a heavy dark tint to keep out the heat and glare, although in the layout room these have been covered over to control the light levels within the room.

There is also a cold water tap just outside the rear door, and a fully stocked bar fridge!  According to the council permit, it is a storage shed - that's technically correct; a storage shed for my handyman tools and model trains.  It's a place I could quite comfortably live in if there was a bed  [that's what my mother-in-law says :))  ]

The next two photos show the shed after construction was completed in April 2009.

Since the photos were taken the drive and paths have been completed, and external lighting that is controlled by movement sensors has been added to make the task of late night returns to the house a little safer! A fire hose reel has also been added to the rear wall, fed off the onsite 45,000 litre water tanks and pumping system.  The whole shed project was constructed by myself, with help from family and friends at different stages.  So far I have had to be: designer, planner, site supervisor, steel shed constructor, plumber's assistant, sparky's assistant, insulator, plasterer, painter, carpet layer and many other odd jobs along the way.

Now that the shed is finished, I can finally start to build the layout.