Meeting, unusually, on the first Saturday of February, the brave
stalwarts of the Forth and Clyde Area Group met at our usual haunt of
at the Headquarters of the Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers at
Almondale near Livingston. The Press Officer was unable to
make an appearance due to other commitments and so a game of “not
me” was played to find who would pen the piece on this meeting.
After several
long minutes of silence and examination of the floor as we studiously
avoided eye contact, it came to light that I, this months humble
reporter, would be missing next month’s meeting as I’m travelling
to the far and distant land of Bury, to ride behind Flying Scotsman
as she runs on the East Lancashire Railway. The general consensus of
the room that this is a dirty LNER locomotive, vastly inferior to the
great mechanical marvels of Sir William Stanier, and as penance I
would have to take on the mantle of the blog for this month*.
In attendance
this month were Alisdair, Alastair, Alistair, Jim, James, Simon and
I, your willing volunteer, Martin. There was a great deal of
modelling ongoing, with the Group Layout, an engine shed for taking
to exhibitions, with personal projects studiously being worked on and
on show:
After lunch,
James led a talk on layout wiring.
He showed a
method of keeping it simple that has worked for him on his own layout
and several group layouts he has worked on. The overall premise was
to plan in the first instance with just plain line – he reiterated
the advice given in the "Track" book of two droppers of each polarity
per section of track.
James showed,
using the diagram enclosed with an Easitrac B6 turnout (now out of
production) his view on how to wire these, with isolation gaps and
bonding rails together. There was some discussion on the position of
these gaps in Easitrac vs. other building options (the milled common
crossing on Easitrac provides convenient gapping at the V whereas
other methods require a little more thought).
His advice was
that DC and DCC can be wired in roughly the same way – with the
addition of isolation switches if required, in the DC world.
Keeping it simple
and keeping notes was vital to help with fault finding – you might
remember it at the time, but in the future? “If you write it down,
you’ll never need to refer to it again” he commented with the
inverse unsaid but alarmingly true!
He was a fierce
opponent of chocolate block connectors as they can mangle wire that
is put in and out repeatedly, however did acquiesce later that the
use of bootlace ferrules (a set with a crimper is ~£18 on eBay)
neatens this up. Others did discuss alternatives, including
soldering the ends of wires before using choc-blocs but James
outwardly cringed at this too… He also said he wasn’t a huge fan
of the D-type connectors, as some of the manufacturing methods can
leave these vulnerable to damage when attaching your own wires.
James had
provided a scan of the Squires catalogue and the switches listed
there, then over the next several slides, demystified the
differences. The details of single and double pole, single and
double throw and the various applications for these on a model
railway was covered with schematic diagrams which showed potential
applications.
All-in-all, from
my point of view, a good introduction to layout wiring – for
followers of my progress, I’m not quire at this stage of the
building process, but it’s on the near horizon. I’ve often
struggled here and unnecessarily overcomplicated things, but this
provides a useful grounding.
We returned to
individual projects after the talk.
Simon was working
on the Group Layout – he was soldering droppers and laying
turnouts. He had brought along a section of his Glenfinnan station
throat, and dry fitted a couple of servos to the turnout operating
units.
Jim had brought
along his Caledonian Railways 65’ First and Brake Thirds – now
complete with lettering and CR crests, but awaiting roofs – these
are being 3D printed and are on their second or third iteration due
to an issue with the CAD. I’ve been following Jim’s build on
RMWeb
(https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/174408-cr-65ft-first-and-matching-brake-3rds/page/2/#comment-5072588)
as I have a passing interest in the Caley, but seeing the detail he’s
achieved in real life was incredible(!).
Jim was also
working on the buffer stops for the Group layout. After someone (who
might have been me…) bought the last of the CR Heavy stops from
Shop 1 – Jim decided to build his own from scratch using rail and
some home made jigs. Again, sorry Jim…
The jigs, as
described on RMWeb
(https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/65499-whats-on-your-2mm-work-bench/page/164/#comment-5079816)
are made from layers of card. The results are shown in the picture alongside.
Jim and Simon
spent some time marking the positions of the buffer stops to the
layout – so that Simon doesn’t lay extra track which then needs
taken back up.
Alisdair, after
some prodding, confessed to working on a GWR prototype, of Pen Mill
bridge for Laurie Adam’s Yeovil layout. There were lots of bits of
plasticard on the bench, with very precise incisions in them which
must mean something to Alisdair, if no-one else! The confession that
he was working on a GWR prototype elicited a ne’er before heard
confession from Jim, that he had a test etch of an NBR wagon(!) for
Miles, who wasn’t present.
Alisdair had also brought along his Push/Pull set to go with his
ex-NBR class M (LNER C15) "Yorkie" tank. These are modified
Worsley Works etches of Gresley non-corridor stock. He also spent
sometime with a large tape measure taking measurements in a wee book
that he assures us is for the Scottish Mini Meet advertised in the
most recent 2FS Newsletter
NBR,
LNER and GWR – and I was getting stick for visiting Flying
Scotsman! Must be Chairman's privilege!
On
the subject of the NBR/LNER, Alastair was working on CAD for a N14/15
tank. His intention, with access to machine tools, is to produce a
milled chassis for weight and marry this to a self-produced 3D
Printed body. As previously reported, Alistair has been working on 3D
printing some NBR mineral wagons for his intended layout of South
Queensferry – he reported progress on these, now printing the
W-irons and base as a single piece and the sides as single pieces and
gluing it all together, however, he brought none along so we have to
settle for an action shot…
Staying with the
Al’s, Alistair was working on his plan for a layout. He has a
beautiful pencil drawn plan heavily inspired by Leith Citadel with a
single platform, a run around loop and goods yard. His plan (which I
neglected to get a photo of, but caught the great ma whilst imbibing sustenance and reading a S4 Society Journal (eh?)) shows what looks like a double track
access to the station, but is, instead, a single track access with an
outgoing industrial branch so that wagons can be shunted in the
station then drawn back and into the sprawling industry of the city
(modelled off-scene).
He
is planning a traverser with access to under-scenery storage roads,
and found James’ talk on layout wiring most useful!
Which segues
nicely (almost like I planned it) to James. He had brought along DG
couplings but by his own admission, hadn’t made much progress –
although he and I did have a good chat about how to make and fit
these necessary, but fiddly components. Again, I forgot to get
photographs, but James had produced a jig, that doubled as a practise
cassette for his shunting plank.
James is
converting old Peco/Farish/Dapol freight stock to 2FS and fitting DGs
for the shunting plank and found these all have different coupling
heights – not so much of an issue with the big hooks of N Gauge,
but problematic for 2FS – his jig allows him to sit a wagon in
place then use some feeler gauges to determine the amount of packing
that would be required for a level fitting.
Which leaves me.
I took a couple of projects along and didn’t achieve much –
except recharge my enthusiasm. For those who follow my own ramblings
on RMWeb
(https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/175339-martins-2mm-musings-and-maybe-a-layout/)
– excuse the shameless plug – you may have seen I found my
enthusiasm waning of late, I’d hit a couple of snags, put things
down and just never quite got back to them.
In the course of
speaking with everyone and taking notes to put this blog together, I
found solutions to a lot of the issues I was having, with offers of
ideas and help. So when I got home I got the tools out and started
making some more progress, putting the muffs into the frames for my
ex-CR439 Class, soldering in the frame spacers and gapping the frame.
Simpson springs required next, and a motor/gearing. And I need to
work on the trailing bogie after mangling my first attempt. Still a
long way to go, but from tiny acorns etc.
There
will be a chance to meet the motley Forth and Clyde crew at Glasgow
Model Rail Exhibition on Friday 24th to Sunday 26th February when we
will be manning the 2mm Scale Association Road Show.. Come and speak to
us. We rarely, if ever, bite.
I’ll have to
look forwards to April for my next meeting, however, for anyone else
who wishes to attend, FCAG will meet again on Saturday March 11th
at the Usual location. Work is set to continue on the Group Layout
although no talk is currently scheduled, so bring a personal project!
*I actually did
volunteer…
