Smallphry - diary of a model railway

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

James Mays Top Trains

Just before Christmas last year BBC2 broadcast a programme called “James Mays Top Toys” where the presenter took a look back at various toys, looking at their good points and thir failings.

The last ten minutes of the show as dedicated to model railways - a toy which James thoroughly approved of. Indeed I’m told he actually models N gauge. The segment included a potted history of the hobby, an interview with Pete Waterman - including a look around his large O gauge layout, a section dealing with the collectors, who collect but never play (boo!) and a dinner party which ends with all the males disappearing to play trains.

For anyone who missed it here it is in AVI format:
Low quaility (22Mb): Download
High quality (56Mb): Download
(Right click the download link and select Save File As).

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

A relaxing diversion

You may remember a few years ago there was something of a craze for videos of burning log fires or fish tanks, which people where using either as electronic wallpaper or as a gentle source of relaxation.

I recently discovered something which has similar uses, but which is much better suited to the railway enthusiast. This was a copy of the DVD “Classic Train Journeys - Scotland". The DVD takes the viewer on a tour of Scotlands most scenic railways with views from inside the cab, the trackside, and even from a helicopter, along with a well constructed voice over which gives many details of the history of the areas through which the trains travel. The DVD even includes the stunning Forth and Tay bridges. I would recommend the DVD both for the railway enthusiast and as a travelogue for the general public.

I looked on the website of the DVDs creators, video125.co.uk and found many more treasures.

The main area of the site is the “Drivers Eye Views” series. These are videos filmed through the trains cab window, for a view which is rarely experienced by the general public. These views are supplemented by lineside ‘pass bys’, views from the station platform as the train pulls in or departs and, on some videos, footage from a helicopter or of the surrounding area.

Whilst I wouldn’t recommend these recordings for the general public, the pictures and commentary include much information for the rail enthusiast and modeller, either from a historic point of view, or by showing lineside ‘furniture’ which should give some inspiration for the modeller. How many layouts feature sections of rail in the ‘four foot’, or the little equipment boxes which the DVDs show dotted along the side of the railway? It’s also interesting to note the ballast detail with changes in colour and depth where recent permanent way work has taken place, sometimes with a noticeable difference between the ballast on each line of a double track railway.

The site also features DVDs of historic railway footage, both steam and diesel and some interesting documentaries. again very useful for the modeller and historian.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

A long awaited update

I must apologise for the lack of updates recently. This has been for a number of reasons.

Firstly it’s been the busy season in my day job. I help run a plant nursery, which means working up to 60 hours per week during the spring bedding season. That’s left me very little modelling time, and even less blogging time, especially when I seem to find my free time so tired that I end up napping.

Second, I spent a long time waiting for a delivery of Lenz modules for the inner loop from MG Sharp. These arrived early in June and have been redesigned internally, though the external connection and programming is still the same. Hopefully the redesigned units will be cheaper to manufacture, and hence become cheaper (or should I say less expensive) for us end users.

And finally, I’ve really been putting off fitting point motors. These didn’t matter with the outer loop, I could manually switch the points and use the point blades for current switching. But for the inner loop, or at least for the electrofrog single and double slips the frog polarity needs switchng, either manually or (preferably) by a switch attached to the point motor.

So, what has happened to the layout?

Track laying on the inner loop is complete, apart from a little finishing off in the fiddle yard. The photo above shows the western end of the station. The two left hand tracks are the main lines, the third track will become the branch line, rising up as it rounds the bend. On the extreme right you can just make out where a headshunt for the carraige sidings (or goods yard, I still haven’t decided) will be connected.

The second photo shows the much simpler east end of the station. The tunnel mouth shows the approximate position where the real tunnel will start with the upper station being above the tunnel.

Without the Lenz LB101 feedback modules I wans’t able to wire up the inner loop, but I did make a start at fitting point motors. Each point motor will have one of the Peco double microswitch units attached. The first switch will control frog polarity switching, the second being used by the computer DCC system to sense for which direction the points are set. I started with the single slip at the east end of the station. Being a slip the frog switching of each motor needs to be interconnected to correctly switch each end, which makes for two motors plus switches attached by a mass of untidy wiring.

The bit I’ve really been putting off is attaching the motors to the points and the underside of the baseboard. I feel I need to be above board to check the motor is positioned correctly to switch the point as well as being underneath to screw in the motor. I need to pluck up courage to take the plunge and see if this is really going to be as difficult as I’m imagining it will be.

On an unrelated note, I’ve received a shipment of new locos, including a few kettles. When I got back into the modelling scene I wanted to use DCC, so I looked on the internet for DCC fitting guides for N gauge. But I found practically nothing. One of my inspirations for starting this site was to get put some proper DCC fittting instructions up and, judging by the popularity of the two I’ve already done, this is very much needed. So the new locos will be for creating these guides, at least for the current batch of Farish items.