Time to tidy!

There comes a time when you know that you are going to have to stop and have a clean up. Whilst I have argued in the past that some of the greatest artists in history have produced their best works in the chaos of a cluttered and untidy studio reminiscent of my man cave,  But, I have also admitted that I am no great artist or produce great work! However things were getting to the point where I was spending more time looking for things then actually doing things so time to tidy! 

An hour saw some bear workbench area being revealed and tools and materials back in places that I knew where they would be.

Meanwhile the wiring on the baseboard is progressing although much to do yet! Just need to keep the place tidy!

Extension pins!

I am eventually going to have motorised points on my Last Great Project layout which will avoid having to switch them with my fingers. All very high tech but it does mean a lot of work. The point motors are the Peco solenoid ones which have an actuating pin that attaches to the tie bar in the point. Apply electricity to the solenoid from one direction and the point moves one way, change the polarity of the electricity and it moves the other.

The Peco motors are designed to fit directly to the point but means you have a big hole in the baseboard which I am not keen on. It also makes changing the point motor, if it fails, very difficult. I therefore mount the motor to a plastic base that Peco makes for this purpose. The plastic base secures the motor and can be screwed to the underside of the baseboard. The only problem is that the actuating pin is then too short to attach to the tie bar of the point. Not a problem as you can lengthen the pin with some brass tube and steel wire which handily the WMD Stores had in stock.

Having measured it did not take too long to make the extension pieces.

It became a bit of a production line. Altogether, on this baseboard I need eigh point motors.

 

It was then onto mounting the plastic bases.

I just need to fix them to the baseboard and then wire them up. Not much to do then!

I must have been lucky!

Well it is back to more wiring on my Last Great Project layout and whilst I thought that I had already previously wired up all the track I discovered I still needed to add power feeds at each end of two points so that is another 12 wires to deal with!

I am using these handy multi wire joiners which I got from DMG Electech, where I can feed up to 24 wires into one unit and then just have two wires powering them. Very handy as it saves cable, saves time and actually makes things a bit neater.

I am also using these screw terminal plug and sockets that I used to know as choc blocks to make the baseboard to control panel (once that is built!) connection. These are again really useful.

Having temporarily connected the various track feed wires up I thought that it might, given my history with wiring, to actually test that it all worked. So I connected up a controller and had this DMU go through all the tracks. Miraculously it powered its way around all the track without a glitch - I must have been lucky! 

East Midlands Narrow Gauge Modellers Group show - some humour as well as a couple of other things!

Still at the East Midlands Narrow Gauge Modellers Group  show, there was some humour about.

What is this on a railway????

Of course it is Thomas the Tank Engine!

Then of course there is that famous locomotive, Mallard!

Followed of course by a duck egg!

Now what's coming?

Ah! It's the flying Scotsman!

There was a Christmas themed 'pizza' layout which was nice.

And then there was Santa having a summer break layout!

Then there was this fantastic 009 Deltic prototype loco on a small layout!

Back to sensibility but keeping it small this layout is the size of two A4 sheets of paper and folds in half - you really cannot say you don't have space for a layout!

Apart from meeting Steve from Steve's Narrow Gauge Adventure blog I also had the great pleasure to unexpectedly meet James and Dylan from Dylington Model Railway YouTube channel - click here to see that. Dylan is a young but very talanted modeller and also a very capable video maker with stop frame animation being something that he excels in. Have a look at his latest video to see why I say that.

Dylan also had his 'in progress' 009 layout on display as part of a Paul Lunn lecture on designing a layout . Whilst at an early stage you can see why this will be a great layout just from the skills demonstrated in building the various structures.

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If only I could build like that!

The unexpected afternoon out for Mrs. Woody!

I took Mrs. Woody out for the afternoon! She wasn't expecting that and equally wasn't expecting to end up at the East Midlands Narrow Gauge Modellers Group  show which mysteriously was on our route!

Never been before and upon questioning neither had Mrs. Woody - strange that! Anyway, it was one of those small shows where there were not massive crowds and you could chat with the exhibitors and take your time looking at what was there. I also had the opportunity to meet fellow blogger Steve, from Steve's Narrow Gauge Adventure - linked on my blog list on the front page or by clicking here. He had said he was attending and as I said I would be carrying a copy of the Beano or Dandy comic if I went we did recognise each other. As I was between him and the exit he had few options other than to talk to me! He did question as to whether Mrs. Woody really does have a list of chores for me to do which Mrs. Woody answered by saying there was a list of lists! That is news to me as well! Being serious, it was great to meet Steve and he is a really great guy with a real passion for narrow gauge modelling and if you have a look at his blog he produces some fantastic models.

Taking in the show itself there were a lot of layouts and traders. I did restrain my purchases but Eddie from 3D Printing For Charity was there to empty my wallet and a number of items from his ever increasing range came home with me.

Talking of 3D printing, this entire layout had been built from 3D printed items including the track.

There were some beautifully executed layouts like this simple circle of track constructed in a cable drum. Very effective!

This O gauge layout only measure 4 x 2 feet for the scenic area  and talking to the builder he only built it to do some shunting at home with a beer or two!

He may only have built it for home use but it had some incredible detail like the guy having a sleep in his conservatory! That could be me if Mrs. W was not about!

This was another layout which was just a simple single track going through scenery but done like a picture with a frame round it.

Get inside the frame and it looks so real!

Another small layout which was for sale - Mrs.W pushed me past this one!

A most unusual layout in that it supposed a narrow gauge layout had made it into a World of automated trains, Amazon delivery pods and the tech world!

Another well presented layout with some real Welsh slate quarry atmosphere.

There were some real example of humour and I will cover those tomorrow but just as a taste.....

Revealing a multitude of wires!

It has been a long tine since I did any work on my 00 gauge My Last Great Project layout but work has recommenced - for now anyway. Who knows what might sideline this!

I still have a great deal of wiring to do and I still need to split three of the four baseboards so that the whole layout is, and I won't say portable but I will say moveable! All the tracklaying was completed back in April ( that post is here )of this year with 86 wires attached to the tracks to wire up the power to the layout. There will be point motors as well so there will be about 200 wires by the time I have finished. 

First off is to cut through some rails at one of the baseboard joints.

With a fine bladed saw these were cut through and it is always a moment I dread in case the rails rip from their sleepers but it went well!

With the rails cut through the end baseboard could be lifted for the first time sine installed to reveal a multitude of wires.

It is at this point you think that I wonder if i should take up flower arranging or fishing as a hobby! However with a bit of thought (not my strong point!) and patience (not a strong point either!) things become organised!

This is going to take some time!

Woody the failed detective!

It was a case of missing the obvious at the Rocks By Rail Museum yesterday. I certainly would not make a detective! I was busy looking at progress in the smokebox of 1931 where dismantling of various pipes was going on as part of the re-tubing work that I missed the obvious major piece of work.

It took me about ten minutes to realise that the cab roof had been removed - so obvious but undetected by me!

Going to the back of the loco it is obvious!

You really get a good view of the firebox without the roor in place.

Of course I needed to detect where the roof was and luckily for my limited detective skills I did not have to look too hard. In fact a few step out of the restoration shed had me detect that this wagon might be concealing something!

Yes! My detective skills were back!

Luckily my detective skills were not needed to find John and Mr. D. John is preparing Mr. D for further painting so it is a case of flatting the existing paint in readiness for fresh paint to be applied. My detective skills would tell me that the new paint maybe similar to that that John painted the removable grills in last week!

This loco is John's project and I think he would set up his bed in the cab if his family would let him!

Once he has finished Mr. D there are a number of other projects in the background that require painting!

For me, despite the Museum now being closed to the public until next year, the grass still grows and needs cutting but at least it was warmand sunny - just the right weather for grass to grow in!

I also had another session of moving some more of the pile of cuttings that has been in place for a couple of years. There is a lot gone as you can see by the bald earth patch of where the pile once stretched to.

I filled two 1 ton builders  bags up and the pile is now getting to the point of almost being undetectable! Well for my detective skills anyway!