Opinions please...

[TrevL]

Or add another "red" dropper to that rail.

[emjaybee]

@jpendle Thanks JP.

Question: If you put a feed on the stock rails of the slip, why have IRJ's on the ends of the stock rails?

What am I not seeing?

@ntpntpntp yes, I understand. I'd have a dead section. The short section of track is a recent addition, maybe.

[emjaybee]

Or add another "red" dropper to that rail.

Quite correct, thanks.

[ntpntpntp]

To be honest I think the reason for fully isolating the slip with IRJs is a DC thing, because typically you'd be choosing which controller to power the trackwork through the slip depending on the route taken.   Effectively the slip becomes its own little cab control section.  That's how I've wired my slips on my DC layout. 

With DCC it shouldn't be necessary to isolate the outside stock rails, only the frog Vs like any other electrofrog point. Doesn't do any harm to wire the same as for DC though, even if the stock rails are then simply linked to the DCC track bus.

[emjaybee]

To be honest I think the reason for fully isolating the slip with IRJs is a DC thing, because typically you'd be choosing which controller to power the trackwork through the slip depending on the route taken.   Effectively the slip becomes its own little cab control section.  That's how I've wired my slips on my DC layout. 

With DCC it shouldn't be necessary to isolate the outside stock rails, only the frog Vs like any other electrofrog point. Doesn't do any harm to wire the same as for DC though, even if the stock rails are then simply linked to the DCC track bus.

Thanks for that.

It has made me think though.

How difficult would it be to wire the layout for DCC and DC?

[ntpntpntp]

Wire properly for DC and it will work for both.  That's my philosophy.  Use mechanical frog switches rather than frog juicers (mostly they don't work with DC).  Keep point motor accessory decoders etc. on a separate DCC bus so that they can continue to be operated on DCC even when the trackwork is DC  (even if that means simply join the accessory bus to the track bus when running DCC).

My current loco depot project is most definitely wired for DC - control panel smothered with section switches     but I know I can simply unplug the DC controller, plug in DCC and it will work (leave all section switches on).

[jpendle]

@jpendle Thanks JP.

Question: If you put a feed on the stock rails of the slip, why have IRJ's on the ends of the stock rails?

What am I not seeing?

Sorry, you don't need to do that for DCC, all my posts are done from memory, cos by the time I've been out to the shed to see what I did, someone else will have beaten me to it 

John P

[emjaybee]

@jpendle Thanks JP.

Question: If you put a feed on the stock rails of the slip, why have IRJ's on the ends of the stock rails?

What am I not seeing?

Sorry, you don't need to do that for DCC, all my posts are done from memory, cos by the time I've been out to the shed to see what I did, someone else will have beaten me to it 

John P

Thanks JP, some of the bods on here are walking encyclopedia's of modelling.

Do they 'do' sheds in the US? I've spent a fair amount of time travelling around, including visits to Home Depot, Lowes, etc., and I don't recall sheds.

[jpendle]

Do they 'do' sheds in the US? I've spent a fair amount of time travelling around, including visits to Home Depot, Lowes, etc., and I don't recall sheds.

They do! They call them 'storage barns', and apart from the size they are garden sheds by another name.

But in my case it's actually a detached 2 car garage with extra tall doors so you can park your boat and RV under cover 

The previous owner built it and used it as a woodworking shop, or workshop as we would say.



See, I am bilingual, despite what all my European and Asian colleagues might say  .



Course, if I had a brain I would have realised, BEFORE using my old baseboards, that my layout would end up on a gradient, cos it's a garage and the floor slopes down towards the double doors. 

Oh well.

Regards,

John P

[emjaybee]

Do they 'do' sheds in the US? I've spent a fair amount of time travelling around, including visits to Home Depot, Lowes, etc., and I don't recall sheds.

But in my case it's actually a detached 2 car garage with extra tall doors so you can park your boat and RV under cover 

Course, if I had a brain I would have realised, BEFORE using my old baseboards, that my layout would end up on a gradient, cos it's a garage and the floor slopes down towards the double doors. 

Nice workspace! Ah yes, barns, seen mention of them.

Yeah, we're pretty bilingual too. We're also pretty fluent with the driving skills. I actually prefer driving in the US to the UK. The one problem I always have is we get back to Heathrow, get back in our 'manual' car, hike up the M40 to Jct10, and almost without fail I stall the car at the exit roundabout as I've spent two weeks driving an auto!

[LASteve]

Yeah, we're pretty bilingual too. We're also pretty fluent with the driving skills. I actually prefer driving in the US to the UK. The one problem I always have is we get back to Heathrow, get back in our 'manual' car, hike up the M40 to Jct10, and almost without fail I stall the car at the exit roundabout as I've spent two weeks driving an auto!

On one trip back to the UK (not last year's one when we met you at TINGS but I think the year before) I parked our stick-shift in Abingdon by a bus stop so we could have a quick swing around town before it got dark and sneak a look at Blenheim Palace.

As we got out of the car and locked it, naturally I'd forgotten to put the handbrake on as I'm used to an automatic locking the transmission, so the car started slowly to trundle down towards the High Street. A lady waiting in line for the bus alerted me "Yer car's moving" so I hopped back in and applied said handbrake.

I thanked her as she did the "bleddy tourist" eye-roll. Jill capped it off though, she's good at this: "We're American, we don't know how to drive on the wrong side of the road. We're amazed we made it this far from Heathrow without crashing into something small".

The chorus of tutting and muttering from the bus queue was worth the price of admission.

[emjaybee]

So, trundling back on topic, we progress.

I've tweaked the track plan a little and incorporated a hiding, yes, a hiding, not a siding, as this will be under the scenery. It will enable me to 'park' a loco, and or a wagon or two out of sight.



I'm also going to take the track right to the edge of the board to allow the option of loading via a cassette.

Just to fill in the blanks, this will hopefully be a multi-era, multi-country, multi-location layout. I'm hoping (ha-ha), to have interchangeable tunnel portals, buildings, goods yard/industry to allow be to play run a variety of stock.

I'm at this point at the moment.



Right, the first of the problems.

I'm using Cobalt IP Digital, and unfortunately due to the trackplan, both the single turnouts are quite close the edge of the board, which means I can't get the Cobalt where I need it because of their size/shape.

Has anyone off-set a Cobalt  and how did you link to the turnout? The DCC Concepts site has a way, but it seems ridiculously complex. Can I not just get a fresh length of spring steel and bend an appropriate link rod?

Something like this?



Anyone got a spec for the spring steel and a supplier?

Ta!

[jpendle]

Something like this?

I'm not a mechanical engineer, but I suspect that, if you bend the wire as shown, the bit that goes into the point tie-bar would act as a second pivot point, and the right angle bend would just end up trying to swing back and forth, especially if you are using Peco points and don't remove the springs.
Assuming that you are offsetting the point to the side of the motor, then you need to bend the wire at 90 degrees so that it runs sideways from the cobalt to the point tie bar, but I still think you might need to thread the wire through an eyelet screwed into the baseboard from underneath to guide the wire.

For my Tortoise motors I use 0.64mm Music Wire, when I need to replace the wire that came with the motor.

Regards,

John P

[Andy-S]

You can buy 0.64 mm piano wire from Squires or mega points controllers if that is the right size for you. I am using it for my servos to control points.

[emjaybee]

Something like this?

I'm not a mechanical engineer, but I suspect that, if you bend the wire as shown, the bit that goes into the point tie-bar would act as a second pivot point, and the right angle bend would just end up trying to swing back and forth, especially if you are using Peco points and don't remove the springs.
Assuming that you are offsetting the point to the side of the motor, then you need to bend the wire at 90 degrees so that it runs sideways from the cobalt to the point tie bar, but I still think you might need to thread the wire through an eyelet screwed into the baseboard from underneath to guide the wire.

For my Tortoise motors I use 0.64mm Music Wire, when I need to replace the wire that came with the motor.

Regards,

John P

Hi JP, I'm afraid I couldn't master Paint3D, but in my head, the line diagram is:

the bottom short bit goes into the Cobalt motor, it pivots part way up the long upright, and the next 90deg bend is at 90deg to the bottom 'bar' i.e., this shape wouldn't be able to lay flat , there would always  be a bit of it sticking up. It'd be a 3D shape not a 'flat' shape.

I think you are on the same wavelength with your description, the 'eyelet' sounds like a good plan if necessary.

The springs will be removed from the Peco points. I've also found the Cobalt spec on the wire, it's 0.8mm spring steel.

Thanks.

You can buy 0.64 mm piano wire from Squires or mega points controllers if that is the right size for you. I am using it for my servos to control points.

Thanks for the info.