Cottam Strassenbahn wind down year 2012

Thanks for all your comments. This is a positive move, and I look forward to boring you with the build ing of its replacement in the future. Meanwhile, I would like to share with you some of what happened in the last five years.
The layout occupies an odd corner of the garden about 25 ft by 12 ft. I liked the idea of big layouts like Mainline Thurnby where there was enough room for anyone to run anything, but benchwork across the lawn was definitely out of the question. Whilst I couldn't afford a decent length of run, I could get an oval with 5' radius curves, a couple of loco sidings, and a couple of 10' stock sidings. As far as possible I have allowed plenty of clearance, although I couldn't vouch for the likes of a K27 !
The 'analog' loop sits outside the Strassenbahn proper, and is completely independent.

Its all fairly straightforward, Aristo 10' diameter corners, 4 isolating sections, 4 point motors with lanterns, and three uncoupling ramps.

I have a 6'X4' shed to keep a few bits in, and its got an armoured cable feed from a distribution box I had added to the garage when the house was built. Power is always switched off when the layout is not in use. I had forgotten just how much wire you need for uncouplers, track feeds etc, so pretty soon an alarming number of black or red wires were appearing in the shed. All the wires are laid on top of the decking, and a few bits of wood with holes in pay off five years down the line when things go wrong.

As far as possible, I tried to lay continuous lengths of wire from accessory to switch, but I was a bit mean, and ended up with the switch boxes at the end of a 6' umbilical cord. It only just reached out of the shed, so in the end I had to splice a few more feet in. In reality it still didn't reach far enough, and I kept tripping over the cable. I hestiate to describe the first unit as a panel, more a control plank.

The Gaugemaster O scale controller wasn't really man enough for a couple of USAT diesels, but it would keep your hands warm ! The control plank was useful to get something up and running quickly, but after a year it was broken up and the switch boxes sold.

Attached Image(s)

What I wanted was a more self-contained unit that you could hold in your hands. I needed a simple
controller that would fit in a box, with the switches around it, so I made one up.
First off, draw the trackplan in Windows paint

then print it on your last sheet of expensive sticky paper

after re-printing it the right way round, stick it to a bit of plywood and drill some holes

then conceal your drawing under a forest of pushbuttons and curse the fact that they take up a little
more space than you had reckoned on.

The EPL motors are switched through diodes in the box - I use IN5401's (100V 3A) for just about
everything, and they are dirt cheap if you buy 100 from a supplier like Rapid.

Attached Image(s)

I had a laptop power supply (18V 3A) which lived on a shelf in the shed, so given that a diode drops 0.6V I reasoned that I could make a controller from a string of diodes and a rotary switch. Apologies for the scabby drawing, but it gives you an idea.

I mounted the diodes in connector blocks to keep the various rows apart when they were in the box

and the finished product. It lasted about four years in the end, and my only regret was printing the panel on paper as it got very grubby.

The box got warm after a days running, but the power supply took care of any short circuits. The box was small enough to sit on your knee, and the cord was long enough to rech through to a well in the middle of the layout. All in in all, it was a success.

Attached Image(s)

Opps thats buggered it. Glad to hear it's not good bye but farewell till next time. Onward & upward David

Thanks Phil - I hope you get a chance to visit this year.
Ok, last control panel episode. Its 2011 and the last panel is very grubby. I had sort of stopped work on the Strassenbahn, then this thread came along http://www.gscalecentral.co.uk/f/m168646.aspx
To quote Phil & Mike "thats buggered it".
My unit turned up from China in about a week, and I faffed around for another two weeks before deciding what to do. Basically its a 12 button handset and a 12 relay reciever board. The relays switch with a satisfying 'clunk' but there is also an irritating 'bleep' from a sounder on the board. Lump hammer volume control fixed that, and restored domestic harmony whilst I was playing.

As shipped, the relays switch in sync with the buttons, but there are a number of programmable combinations, including latching the relays. Each relay is a SPDT switch, and I have had to compromise a bit. I opted for 6 latched relays and 6 momentary contact relays, and ditched two of the track sections and the powered uncouplers. So now the buttons work like this :

Well, not quite. I should mention at this point that the last panel had been pulled to bits, and nothing was working. More to the point KeithT was due in a few hours to pick up the Round Robin boxcar. I kept the diode arrays from the last panel and tapped in a couple of times for the speed control, then hastily wired everything else up.

Fortunately it all worked first time, but the two button reverser isn't as straightforward as it seems - you have to switch off 'forward' before you switch on 'reverse'. I will probably wire a DPDT slave relay in for reversing, and free up an extra button for a third speed notch, but for now it works, and wireless
control for 15 squid is hard to beat.

Attached Image(s)

??? Were you not experimenting with voice control, of the railway that is?   Or did I imagine that?

Netty


??? Were you not experimenting with voice control, of the railway that is?   Or did I imagine that?

I can well imagine which word you would use for emergency stop. 

lumphammer tecnolagy...its a british inventon at it best

Netty

??? Were you not experimenting with voice control, of the railway that is?   Or did I imagine that?

Yes Dave, the voice control is on the digi bit in the middle - it'll probably be a while before I get to that . Whilst I am enjoying recording all this tedious detail, I do accept that by October, followers of this thread may be driven to ritual self-disembowellment by some of my posts, and we will all be happy to wave goodbye to it.

yb281

Netty

??? Were you not experimenting with voice control, of the railway that is?   Or did I imagine that?

I can well imagine which word you would use for emergency stop. 

Ah well, thereby hangs a tale. Its software, so you can make it do what you want, however the voice recognition engine generally doesn't favour words that start with soft sounds like "shhhh....." no matter how loud you shout. Far better to use words starting with "cr....".

Dtsteam

yb281

Netty

??? Were you not experimenting with voice control, of the railway that is?   Or did I imagine that?

I can well imagine which word you would use for emergency stop. 

Ah well, thereby hangs a tale. Its software, so you can make it do what you want, however the voice recognition engine generally doesn't favour words that start with soft sounds like "shhhh....." no matter how loud you shout. Far better to use words starting with "cr....".

I was thinking FFFFFFFFFFFF ........... 

yb281

Dtsteam

yb281

Netty

??? Were you not experimenting with voice control, of the railway that is?   Or did I imagine that?

I can well imagine which word you would use for emergency stop. 

Ah well, thereby hangs a tale. Its software, so you can make it do what you want, however the voice recognition engine generally doesn't favour words that start with soft sounds like "shhhh....." no matter how loud you shout. Far better to use words starting with "cr....".

I was thinking FFFFFFFFFFFF ........... 

Naahh - too soft ! It'd never work.

Dtsteam


Whilst I am enjoying recording all this tedious detail, I do accept that by October, followers of this thread may be driven to ritual self-disembowellment by some of my posts, and we will all be happy to wave goodbye to it.

Nay, nay and thrice nay!   We, the people of Ruritania demand that you continue this inspiring tale and Prince Rudolf has told us to say so. 

A brief interlude for a few piccies of visiting engines on the analog loop.
Early days, and Mike's pride and joy at the time.

Later the same year was the Charnwood Forest super sale. Netty & family picked up an engine for me, but Dave couldn't bring it round, so sent his Mum and Newshy instead. The red engine was Newshys pride and joy - I hope it still is.

A topical shot of the V52's - there must be hundreds of thousands of models by now, and I was amazed to find that there were so few real ones built. Tne Rhb belongs to Andrew, one of the guys in the background, who used stop off at Arcadia models on his way here. It was rumoured that you could hear the thunderous swipe of his credit card reverberate around the hills above Oldham.

Zman & I did a swapsie a few years ago, so he decided to drive over for the afternoon. He bought a lot of stuff to share, and kept us all entertained until sunset. I've chosen this pair, as I think they were all powered, with full-on sound. My diode controller got a bit warm that day.

Finally, Andrew sets the road for his latest aquisition, in the sure and certain knowledge that Tim at Arcadia will be able to eat this week.

 

Attached Image(s)

  Keep them coming please David
 



 
 
   Taking the lead from Prince Rupert of Ruritania, the "CsB" experimented with invisible track! It was not a success

Attached Image(s)

I set off with a great wave of enthusiasm for this thread, then sort of ran out of steam, so here goes again. This time I'm going to ramble on about the trackplan for a bit.
Years ago a mate of mine came up with a great plan for a double track tramway, where the trams changed tracks, but without reversing loops or changing direction. I adapted it a bit to fit right hand running and ended up with this

A quick fiddle with google sketch up showed that it would look OK in my corner of the garden

I really wanted a double track tramway with a double track railway round the outside, and I also wanted a tram depot, but endless b*ggering about showed that it wasn't all going to fit

As many people on this forum have said, sometimes you just have to get some track down and see what happens, so I laid the basic plan

After a few weeks the penny dropped. I combined the outer track of the tramway with the inner track of the railway and ended up with the final plan.

Next time I'll try and explain how it all hangs together....some how.....

Attached Image(s)

Ok here goes...I should mention that all the inner tracks are DCC....
The innermost loop is the 'tramway', in that a tram can leave the depot and travel round the circuit in a clockwise direction. A permanent way car can run round at the same time, and reverse into either siding. In practise I usually leave a tram trundling round

Doris the trolley dancer does her daredevil act just outside the station

The middle track is even simpler - just a straight oval with a train also circulating in a clockwise direction. There is one signal, which stops the train in the station with a spot of EPL automation.

Again, one train just left to its own devices

Attached Image(s)

The streetcar and the train are just the supporting cast. What I really wanted to do was drive a third vehicle over a route which covered as much track as possible, and avoided the other traffic.
Here's the interurban route, for want of a better term

Starting at the depot (1), we'll follow the yellow car

which pulls across the tram tracks onto the arrivals track (2)

from there it pulls onto the tram track and does a lap. Interurban cars have magnets, and so they throw the point P, and pull into the departure road (3), closing the point behind them. trams don't have magnets, so they just keep going round in circles.

The departing car then pulls across the tramtracks, but heading in an anti-clockwise direction this time, and pulls up at the signal (4). this trips some EPL automation to stop the train in the station, and allow the interurban to do a lap of the middle track, back to the depot

Attached Image(s)

When I started this layout I gathered loads of odd pictures for inspiration. This old postcard was amongst them.

I've always been interested in funiculars, and I was mightily miffed to discover that SWMBO and I walked past this one in Fribourg without realising it was there. Anyway, it ended up on the inspiration pile.

The result was this little station, Cottam Funi, reached by reversing over a sprung point from the departure road (5).
 

Attached Image(s)

now thats brillent daveied