DCC Controller- Update

I  haven't touched this project in a long time. However I have found a project that is up and running which uses the Arduino Uno/Mega to generate the DCC signal and also uses a L298 Motor Shield to act as a booster for the DCC signal. This project is DCC++ and listed below are some useful links for it:

• DCC++ Website

• DCC++ YouTube Channel

• DCC++ GitHub repository

• TrainBoard.com topic - Introducing DCC++ ---a complete open-source DCC station and interface

Also there are two Raspberry Pi SPROG modules:

• Pi-SPROG One
• Pi-SPROG Nano

More information can be found at the Pi-SPROG webpage.

Been a while

It ha been a while, work has been taking up the vast majority of my time. Plus I have been attempting to plan a branch lines station, which has been taking forever as I could not make up my mind, and I still can't make up my mind.

There are a few branch line stations I have been thinking of use for inspiration of my design. The stations are:

• Arley Station on the Severn Valley Railway
• Bodmin General
• Goathland station

Arley Station 

I watched a YouTube video (shown below) about Arley station on the Severn Valley Railway, which made me realise that Arley station could be  good station to base a branch line station off of.

Which then lead me to watching the YouTube video D8059 Arley, 04/10/15 shunting the yard.

 The difficult part was looking for track plans, thus I used google maps to help me.

Arley Station as per Google Maps

And then I found "A drawing of the signal box track layout for Arley box at c1960, from the collection of John Hinson" located at www.signalbox.com.

Thus I decided to use Arley as the basis of my branch line station plan. Shown below are some initial track plans for the branch line station which is a work in progress.

Version zero - A basic rendition of the Arley station track plan using straight track segments

Version 007 - Extra sidings and a third platform added

Version 008 - double slip switch added

Version 012 - Station can now have double track approach on either end if required.

I still have a lot of work to do with the plan, especially as I want to give various options for the station:

• Through station with:
• single track access on both sides
• double track access on one side and single track access on the other
• Terminus station that has the terminating sides track buffer stopped and used as the head shunt. The remainder of the disused track will be populated with overgrowth. The station approach is via:
• single track access
• double track access

Version 012 of the track plan can now support double track on both ends of the station if required, and also follows the British goods yard access standards from when facing point locks were not in use.

As mentioned earlier Arley station is one of three candidates for my branch station idea, I also like Bodmin General and Goathland stations. 

Lack of Update

I have started working in April and I have been busy since. The plus side is the increase in funds I can use on the Model railway.

Currently I am collecting Intercity liveried coaches and locomotives, unfortunately Graham Farish and Dapol have no Intercity branded locomotives, unless one looks for second hand. I am still collecting steam era locomotives and coaches, but I also want to run some more modern coaches and locomotives on my heritage rail. Of which I am still in the design phase, I keep on getting interesting ideas that start off good, but then take up too much room.

Anyhow a list of my recent purchases:

Locomotives:

• Class 86 Bo-Bo Electric 86415 Triple Grey 'Distribution Sector'
• Class 5700 Pannier 0-6-0 4 in BR black with early crest

Coaches Locomotive Hauled:

• Mk3 - 1st class Intercity Executive ( x2)
• Mk3 - Buffet Intercity Swallow
• Mk3 - 1st class Intercity Swallow
• Mk3 - 2nd class Intercity Swallow (x3)

Wagons:

• 20t EX-LMS Brake Van BR Grey
• Conflats BR Bauxite with AF containers BR light blue (triple pack)

and I have on order:

• Class 43 HST Book Set in Intercity Swallow
• Mk3 TGS Intercity Swallow (x2, HST)
• Class 3F Fowler Jinty 0-6-0 tank in BR black with early emblem
• BR Mk1 57ft Suburban Second Open in crimson (x2)
• BR Mk1 57ft Suburban Brake End in crimson (x2)

In regards to the HST, it is a better deal to buy the bookset than to buy the spare part unpainted motorised power car. At least with the bookset you get in addition to the motorised power car,  two coaches and dummy power car. My plan is to have a full HST rake with both power cars motorised, which means transplanting the frame from one motorised power car to a dummy power cars shell. From there I plan to have one of the dummy cars sit in my maintenance depot as apart of the scenery.

As for the suburban coaches, I have a Class 2MT Ivatt 2-6-2 tank locomotive that is push pull fitted, and thus want to convert one of the brake end coaches into a push-pull fitted driving unit. I plan to have a push pull rake of four coaches.

And of course my planning is still an ongoing journey as shown below. The biggest issue is keeping the length down to 3-4 metres.

Latest Arrivals

I had received on Friday (20/03/2015) the Coronation class locomotive "City of Coventry" in the BR maroon livery with the late crest. Which I have not tested out, as I was waiting on my order of Kato unitrack to arrive, which happened today (24/03/2015). Andfinally I did test run the locomotive on Thursday (02/04/2015), which ran well and looks good with Maroon coaches.

City of Coventry running on Kato Unitrack

Kato Unitrack

Video footage of the locomotive going backwards as the last part of the burn in.

And just for fun, a video of  the locomotive pushing a HST standard class coach with a DVT in front.

Plus I have received some volumes of a series of books about steam depots in various BR Regions - the series is called "BR Steam Motive Power Depots" by Paul Bolger. The regions I have are:

• North Eastern Region
• Western Region
• London Midland Region (second hand)

And now I am in search of books about the diesel traction motive depots (TMDs). These books should help me plan the maintenance facility for the heritage railway depot located at the main terminus.

I have received on Wednesday (01/04/2015) another Arduino UNO, which will be replacing my microduino as the train controller.

Test Track

Currently I do not have a layout and have instead been using a mixture of track to make a simple oval as my test track. Which was assembled on the dining room table, and thus a temporary set-up that was problematic to assemble (and disassemble).

So instead I will use some Kato Unitrack to form an oval, the main benefit for me is that Unitrack is designed for repeated assembly (and disassembly).

As shown in the diagram above I can have it on my computer table. If needed I can also have it on the dining room table but that requires reducing the quantity of straight sections used.

I have just ordered the required track to make the loop.

Layout Plan - idea change - Part Two

Yes there is a part two. The previous diagrams was getting the idea out of my head. Now that I have looked at it, there are a few changes I want to make. 

There are too many maintenance buildings, there are currently four buildings  that are, coach/carriage shed, steam locomotive maintenance, diesel locomotive maintenance, and HST/DMU maintenance buildings. Instead I should be able to make do with one or two buildings, one building with between 2, 3, or 4 rail access should be fine. One rail access section could be lengthened to support three car DMUs. As for the HST, it can be uncoupled and the parts (coach or power car) requiring maintenance can be shunted into the facility.

There are two separate facilities to handle steam and diesel locomotives, which are separated by the main line. Instead both facilities should be merge, allowing for the sharing of facilities and yard track. The turntable can be used for both diesel and steam locomotives, also providing them access to locomotive storage tracks. This has the impact of removing some complexity by the removal of paths into and out of the previous plans steam facility. Which allowed for the reshuffling of points and slips positions which will allow the layout to be shortened.

Currently there are two stabling areas, instead they will be merged, and the location will be where the coach stabling tracks are. The approach tracks will need to be adjusted to ensure full length HST (rake of seven coaches) will fit in the HST stabling section. The HST and DMU stabling will be as close as possible to the diesel refuelling area, and furtherest from the station platforms.

The bay platforms (platforms 1 and 2) will stay as they have little impact on the positioning of points and slips, plus I like the idea a bay platform.

There will no longer be a head shunt, instead any of the three tracks the connect to the station can be used. But the default track to use is the third line - which is bidirectional and terminates by linking back into the two line mainline. This track is an alternative path to the station in case there is an issue with the approach track. 

Building up and breaking down a rake of coaches can be done within the yard.

Version 5.08 of the Terminus

Layout Plan - idea change

The last idea was really good, but I just had a different idea that may be better. The issue with the last layout is there is only one station area that can be seen and lots of hidden staging. What is needed is a second station and maybe some yard facilities. To do this I would take my branch station idea and make it an upper layer which will then be sitting on some hidden staging yard tracks, and sitting behind the main station and yard facilities (which will be on the ground level).

I do plan to take this layout to exhibitions, thus it is important that an audience can be entertained, thus the need for at least two stations. Plus it can be used to show the turnaround of passenger trains, as well as the break down and reassembly of goods trains.

I'll update this post once I have completed my layout plan in AnyRail.

Taking longer than I thought, and of course it is the allowances for the HST that is the problem - I use 1.42 metres for the station platform and I need to use that for the servicing sheds and stabling as well. I'll have the stabling and shed parallel to each other otherwise even more space is wasted. And then there is the required point work to direct locomotives, trains, and coaches to their required locations, which also requires space. So far I have a length of 4.00 metres for the layout, with my luck I will need to go to 5 metres.

I have the coach stabling parallel to the platforms to reduce wasted space.

The bottom half of the diagram below is the area I am currently working on.

Draft Plan

Updated version of the plan for the terminus and depot.

Version 4.11 of the plan

Current length is 4.25 metres, the platforms need to fit a regular sized HST with a rake of 7 coaches and two power cars. 7 * 165 mm + 2 * 125 mm = 1155 + 250 mm = 1405 mm = 1.41 metres. The plus side of this is that the station can handle a rake of 7 coaches, and allow the locomotive to escape via the run around track. Otherwise if the locomotive is trapped then a a rake of 9 coaches can fit, and an alternative locomotive will need to be used to move the train.

HST Book Sets

Just received an email from Ehattons mentioning that the Dapol HST (Class 43) Book Sets in the Blue & Grey livery, and the Intercity Executive livery are available. But no mention of the Intercity Swallow livery which I have on pre-order.