Monday 18 March 2024

Thoughts on Staging yard electronics

 

Staging yards turnout control, and some extras

 

 

Auscision Models livery CLP9 "Peter Wilks" at Junee in February.  

Way back in August 2017, I wrote a layout design primer on “X” factor layouts, and described that my design of the Wagga layout would be an X factor.

https://buildingwagga.blogspot.com/2017/08/x-factor-layout-design-theory.html

 

Whilst painting the walls, and laying down the false flooring on my train room, I have been giving some additional thoughts to the staging yards.  In the comment section of that original blog post, James McInerney suggested that the number of staging tracks I had proposed was too small in number.  He is right.  The NCE Switch 8 that I have only gave me enough for 9 staging tracks, which as James suggests, is not enough

In addition, I was never comfortable with having to install a lot of wiring, and slow motion stall turnout motors under the staging yard benchwork, as adjustment later would be at best tricky, at worst impossible. 

I had contemplated constructing the benchwork so the staging yards could be extracted, but I could never settle on a feasible benchwork arrangement. 

 

Another option was to mount the switch motors above the benchwork, and use levers to transmit the throw action to the tiebars   possible, but would need some testing.  Or go with twin coil motors – peco makes an adapter base for their motors, and making a diode matrix for route selection is something I have done before.  Peco side mounted turnout motors are smaller again.  A further option was to use a servo motor driver – Peco has one for 4 servos, although there are Arduino servo driver circuits that can be built.

Any of the above options could work, although I was never convinced they were the right way to go.  All needed  a lot of wiring to return to a central location

So it was a relevation to discover a product that was compact, DCC controlled, modular, and designed to mount above the benchwork

 

Enter the DCC Concepts SS point control

Metro Hobbies had a recent sale, and I bought a 12 pack from Metro Hobbies for $399, a $100 saving.  The pack contains six DCC addressable control modules, each module will switch 2 turnouts.  The turnout motors are extremely compact, and rely on a stepper motor to turn a screw shaft containing the attachment for the linkage.    In addition there are extender wiring harnesses, sets of mounting screws, and a selection of pre-bent wire linkages

The DCC Concepts, Cobalt SS 12 pack box.





The Control module supports 2 DCC controlled turnouts.  There are six of these in the box


Testing.

I found a suitable board, and mounted two turnouts, 2 point motors, and one controller.  Annoyingly, the DCC concepts wire linkages were all designed for vertical holes on the tiebar (peco), and not the horizontal tiebar hole in my Atlas turnouts.  So I bent my own linkage with brass wire.

To power it I used my portable Powercab test bench.  The alligator clips made connection to the power easily.

Two Atlas customline #6 turnouts installed on the board.  Each turnout connected to a point motor, which is then connected to the control module - one uses the extender cable.  DCC power via the alligator clips from the NCE Power Cab.  What I haven't wired is the frog polarity wiring - switched also from the control module.  (click on the picture to enlarge the image)


Following the DCC Concepts instructions,

1)     Assign an address to one side of the control module.

2)     reset the point motor

3)     Using the Powercab accessory operation, check the throw.  You will need to activate the accessory address multiple times, whilst you adjust the throw distance using the adjustment control on the control module.

4)       Once the throw distance, matches the turnout tiebar movement, attach the linkage, double check the throw, and then screw the point motor down.  I only used 2 screws, leave the other 2 holes in case you need to later adjust the position of the motor.

5)     Program the other side, and repeat the above.

I had assigned 0001 and 0002 as the DCC accessory numbers for the specific turnouts.  Later, I will use a dymo label  to record the accessory numbers more professionally


The NCE hand controller has specific buttons for selecting accessories, or a macro.  The screen on this controller image is asking for the Macro number.  



The NCE Macros.

Controlling Accessories with your DCC system can be tedious, and my preference is to avoid it if possible.  The NCE system that I have, has an <Select ACCY>  button, but you still need to enter the ID of the accessory, press <Enter>, then “1” (for Normal), or “2” (for reverse).  Some of software available for the mobile phone throttles makes this process less of a chore.  In any case, to align 4 hidden staging yard turnouts one by one, to find the appropriate stub ended track is not going to end well.  This is where the Macro comes in.  A macro allows a number of turnouts to be switched simultaneously – and if a macro is assigned to each of the staging tracks, than just activating one macro, all the necessary turnouts can be aligned.

The system limitations of the NCE Power cab are 16 macros, each of 8 accessories.  Not enough?  The NCE Power Pro system has 256 macros, each of 10 accessories. 

 

Testing of the route control using macros

For the purpose of testing, I assigned 3 end points.   And then programmed the macros using a truth table

Staging track 1.                Turnout 1 – Normal         Turnout 2-Normal

Staging track 2                  Turnout 1 – Reverse        Turnout 2 – don’t care

Staging track 3                  Turnout 1 – Normal         Turnout 2 - Reverse

 

In operation – press <macro>, enter the macro number (which is staging track ID) and hit <Enter>.  In my test above, one, or both turnout motors activated simultaneously, selecting the correct route.

 

It is like magic.  Theoretically, I could set up 128 stub ended staging tracks at each end of the layout, by using the macro function, although in practice, it is unlikely to be more than 16, which will be switched by 4 or 5 turnouts

 

There are a few you-tube tutorials on using the NCE system to control the DCC Concepts SS turnout.  This one by Barcoola is excellent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNmD3cDphmE

An  alternative to the DCC Concepts SS system 


Something that I wanted to avoid with the DCC Concepts SS motors, is a mass of wiring, and circuitry below a layout.    Whilst this undoubtably works, the complexity,  arduino components and programming could lead to a nightmare in diagnosis a few years down the track when the memory goes hazy.  

 

Repair of Westinghouse Brake gauge for display

Installing Yellow Tongue flooring on the walls was a deliberate choice.  The main reason was for strength in hanging the upper deck off the wall without needing to know where the wall studs were.  The bonus was to allow for simply screwing on my railway memorabilia directly onto the wall. 

Last month, I was transferring a box of brass gauges from the house, to the railway room, when I heard the unmistakable crunch of broken glass


 

Westinghouse air brake pressure gauge from a NSW48 class.  

 

After removal of the brass bezel, and the broken glass, both arms also showed damage - the Main Reservoir hand also lost part of the enamal, and writing 

The broken glass was used as a template to draw a circle on the 2mm thick clear PVC that I had

Using a dremal cutting disk, I cut around the line.  Note the protective paper on the clear PVC

After much filing, the PVC was fitted inside the brass bezel

 

I color matched the enamal to Floquil Signal Red, and the writing redone with Floquil Reefer White. The original paint was gloss, but after the "glass" was refitted, I doubt anyone could tell

Removal of the protective paper on the PVC, gives a crystal clear result.  How long will the PVC stay this clear is a mystery.



On the Train Room display wall, with all its friends.  

Train room progress. 

After finishing the painting of the ceilings, and the walls, the next major task was laying about 50 square metres of flooring.

Bunnings delivery of 20 boxes.  Each box contains 12 planks, and weighs an estimated 30kg.  This delivery was worth the bunnings $94 delivery fee.  The boxes were then relocated into the train room - a serious workout.


The first planks are laid like writing, from the top LHS of the room, and after that run, the next run is layered down a line, clipped into the the first.  The lines have to be straight, to avoid gaps in the planks.

 

The other end of the room.  These planks have an included rubber foam backing, so saves having to install an extra foam mat beforehand.  Much simplier than the 4 other false floors I have previously laid

One of the hassles of having a room full of junk, is moving it prior to painting, laying flooring etc.  The new floor is immediately useable

The kitchenette area.  The newly acquired bar fridge fits nicely under the "L" shape kitchen bench, hiding the hot water system.  Note that the plumbing has not progressed as all since October

Next stages after completing the flooring,  are the skirting, and gloss white painting of the window sills, doorways etc.    That just leaves the ensuite - waterproofing,tiling, and painting, and the plumbing.  Progress is slow, possibly as my builder has only been once since XMAS, so I am going at my own pace. 

Conclusion

You have to be comfortable with being able to diagnose faults, and fix your models, or your layout.  That confidence will pay dividends.  Before I stumbled across DCC Concepts SS turnout controllers, I had trepidation that I would have created a maintenance monster that would lead to the premature demise of an operational layout.  Now, by having each part self contained, and relatively easy to replace, I can get onto worrying about other aspects of the layout build.

 Until next time, build a model or two.









Tuesday 13 February 2024

Murrumbidgee Milling Company Limited

 

Murrumbidgee Milling Company.

 

The largest structure I plan to build for the Wagga Wagga layout is the Murrumbidgee Milling Company.  The building dominated the eastern end of the Wagga Wagga railway yard, and was a both a destination and source for freight movements.

I was able to find some information using Trove.  Two articles from the Daily Advertiser in May 1883, and March 1895, as well as Wikipedia.


Murrumbidgee Milling Company is directly behind 3801 in my picture, converted from slide.


History

The Murrumbidgee Cooperative Milling Company commenced operations in Edward Street Wagga 28th June 1890.  The Milling Co-operative was the second largest flour milling company in New South Wales outside Sydney

The Co-operative was formed in August 1889, and a contract was placed with Messrs. Thos. Robinson and Sons Limited mill on 18th November, 1889.  By the middle of June 1890 the mill was completed.  The capacity of the plant was to clean not less than 100 bushels of wheat, and make not less than 13 sacks of flour per hour.  The plant actually produced 16 bags per hour.

The Mill in 1890, before expansion. This is the view from Edward street


By 1896, capacity had grown to produce 2160 bags of flour and by 1910 it was capable of producing over fifty tons of flour per day.

Original track arrangement for the Mill sidings.


A 1910 image showing grain delivery by dray.  Note the wall of bagged wheat on the LHS of the picture.  Image from the A. Brunskill archive held by CSU


Operation of the mill.

They were using the Rochdale system of milling   The Daily Advertiser article of May 1883, describes this process in detail, but in summary,

1)      The wheat is taken to the top of the building

2)     Passed over indented cylinders to take out the impurities of oats, cockle, barley

3)     Passed over a machine with sieves, and a large fan blows away larger impurities

4)     Passed to a scourer, that removes the smut, and much of the “germ”

5)     Passes to a brush machine that gives the remaining berry a final polish, before

6)     At the bottom of the building, it is then taken up an elevator to a holding cleaned wheat bin

Converting the polished berry into flour

1)     The berry is passed between 2 rollers, and split down the middle, releasing the dirt contained therein, that being removed by suction

2)     The split berry then gets sent to the next set of rollers, and crushed. 

3)     The powder then passed over a sieve which separates the semolina and flour

4)     The coarse flour is then rolled 6 more times.  Any remaining husks are separated from the flour using a centrifugal dressing machine

5)     The flour is then dressed in a reel with silk fabric, before being ready for the cloth sacks.

- In addition, there was a magnetic separator, to capture any metallic impurities

Some of the byproducts also got processed, with a separate set of rollers. 

Steam Engine

The plant is run by a 56 tube multitube  boiler, 14 foot long, by 6 feet in diameter., producing a steam pressure of 100 lb/sq inch, producing around 100 horse power.  The engine was a compound Tandem – with high and low pressure cylinders 14” and 24” respectively.  Stroke was 30”.  The engine drove a 12’,6” diameter flywheel, and ropes were used to drive the various rollers, and equipment.

Expansion

By 1895, new buildings had been added.  The flour store, 80’x50’x19; high on the eastern side, and the wheat store 150’x50’x32’ high on the eastern side. An additional grain shed, 80’x50’x 27’ high   A duplicate railway line had been laid, so trucks can be shunted as they are emptied.  Doors are built at convenient distances apart at each of the shed, thus facilitating the labour of loading, unloading and stacking from either railway trucks, or wagons and drays on the other.  A screw conveyor is also used between the buildings.

Additional 2 boilers installed.  The whole complex consumed 35 cords of 5’. 6” wood per week.  At the peak, the mill employed 37 persons 

Steam power was still in use in the 1960s, as my uncle, who was a boiler inspector in the 1960s-70s told me about the wooden stairways being a bit frightening.  I regret not being old enough to really appreciate my opportunity missed to quiz him on other aspects of the mill, like fuel source for the steam engine.

A image stolen from Lost Wagga Wagga facebook: Aerial view of Wagga yard around 1940. The mill is prominent 



Final Track arrangement of the Mill siding.  The plan of the mill gives a rough idea of the size, and shapes of the various sheds associated with the Mill.  Thanks to Bob S for supplying these trackplans


Closure

The Co-operative closed its operation in the 1980s the site was sold in 1987 to Goodman-Fielder, operating for approximately a decade before ceasing its operation in December 2000.

There are plans to convert the building into a shopping precinct, with possibly hotel accomodaton, but whilst some work has commenced, and some retailers have come, (and gone) the building is currently not used.

A more recent article in the Daily Advertiser provides more information on the mills construction


Photos

Most of the pictures here are mine, unless otherwise attributed.  I was able to wander around the railway side around 2004, after closure, and record what I could. So much had already been erased by this stage.  Many of the lean-to sheds had been removed – their ghost image still on the brickwork of the main building.   I hope I have  enough for modelling purposes.  The set of 4 silos, appeared to be used for advertising purposes.  I have found “Allied” and “Max McLachlan” painted over the cupola in my pictures.   There was a separate rail unloading shed, where the other unloading points at the mill were hidden under the large shed rooves.

Mill and sheds in the background.  Note "Allied" painted on the cupola of the grain storage silos. Picture taken from Railway Street

Grain unloading shed on siding



Ghost images of the sheds that covered the siding closest to the mill's brick building.  This brick wall was part of the original 1890 construction





Sunicrust Bakery was established just east of the Mill in the 1970s.  Whilst not directly connected to the railway, its presence should warrant its appearance on the future layout



Aerial view around 2014 - the site was pretty much cleared of all infrastructure apart from the mill.

The only advantage of the removal of the smaller structures, was that the full size of the mill could be photographed. Edward Street (Sturt Hwy) in the foreground


Painted signs left no doubt as to what the building was used for


 

 

Modelling notes

A quick glance at the aerial view will show a massive size, which if scaled to HO, would be around 2 metres wide .  As the building will be on an aisle, there will need to be much compression to fit it into position.  The sheds over the siding closest to the mill would save a lot of time guessing and modelling the loading docks.  The silos on the other siding though would need to be made, although I may not have enough room for the siding along with the unloading shed.  

I guess this is an aspect for a future Blog post.....

Wagga Council intramaps website has dimensioned aerial pictures.  The mill's size is substantial. The storage silos at the Edward Street side are partially demolished. 2012 image

The Mill building is represented on this trackplan as a red rectangle #33 

Sunicrust Bread also set up a bakery next to the mill.  This was not rail connected, but as Sunicrust was the bread I ate in Wagga in the 1970s, I hope to include a model of the bakery too.  For a bit of fun.....

Sunicrust Bread featured collector cards.  Here are just a few from my own accumulations.  Weg's cartoons of VFL players, and supporters were funny.  I was never able to complete The Space 1999 set - and as this program has now attracted a cult following, the cards may actually be worth something


 

That’s your lot for now.  In the meantime, build a model or two

Sunday 21 January 2024

RATS

 

Setbacks – Just throw money at the problem.

 Building a room for the model railway has been a long process.  And often frustrating.  However, since the work began to convert the back half of my 6 car brick garage at the middle of last year, progress has been positive.

This all changed last weekend.


QUBE QL010 awaits its next assignment at Junee in December.  Modern image, and subtle weathering

Disappearing along the line are the telegraph poles.  These had been pulled out, and dumped into a pile at Junee, in December.  At time of writing this blog, they are still there

Many years ago, I wrote a pair of Blogs on how to make lineside poles, and it would have been useful to have been able to measure them.  Record what you can, as tomorrow, it could be gone



Revisiting the wiring

Brett (my part time builder) plugged in his battery charger into a power point on the future layout power 240V circuit.  I had previously arranged that this circuit would have its own circuit breaker, so I could turn off the power when exiting the room.  Well, the circuit breaker was off – and I assumed I had turned it off.  Well, on re-energizing the circuit, Flash-Bang, the circuit breaker tripped.  Hmmm.  Brett advised that I should contact the electrician

I rang the electrician, Stewie on Monday.  To my surprise, he was between jobs, and had time to diagnose the problem

By following normal model railway diagnosis methods, you successively halve the circuit where you have a problem, and within 5 minutes Stewie discovered that on the extension to the last power point in the wall, all 3 wires (neutral, active and ground) were shorted out . As it is now near impossible to access behind the wall, Stewie used the broken wire as the draw wire to thread in a new wire. 

 

We then inspected the shorted out wire.

 

The cause of the shorting out.  

All the insulation, the white outer, and the colored inner had been stripped completely.  This is the work of a rat, rather than a mouse.  The damaged wire is around 2.5 metres down from the top of the wall, and for a rat to get to the wire, it would have needed to descend that distance through full wall insulation. Stewie told me a story about another job he had, where the new wiring in an old house was eaten in just a week.  Maybe I got off lucky.  I thanked Stewie for his assistance, and paid him immediately. 

Not the best picture, but the chewed wire above is visible in the bottom RHS of this picture.  It actually surprised me that this wire could be extracted, and new one run by simply pulling out the old wire and using it as a draw wire for the new wire.  I was thinking about the need to use an external conduit, which is still an option


 

Rats and me.

I had very little to do with rats after my first year biology classes at UNSW.  However, on moving to Junee,  rats became more than a byline.  Most of them are attracted by dog food up in the kennels, and they would even chew through the lids of wheelie bins where we store the food.  I have an adversion to baits, as dead rats killed by poison could in turn be eaten by eagles, or even the dogs, I set up capture traps. 

Bait the capture trap with peanut butter.  This rat from a few years ago, was kind of cute, but others caught were distinctly feral.

Multiple capture traps, and an infestation in the dog kennel shed, means meals for eagles, or foxes.  I am tolerating the foxes, as they target the rabbits

Besides the food, the little monsters will dig holes, and a few manage to get into the ceiling space of the house.   Up to now, I have not seen evidence of rat activity in the garage.  In contrast the garage is where mice are.  Not the end of the rodent problem either – there are also  dozens of rabbits – some making their home under my storage container.  Anyone with a ferret?.    

The joys of country living.....

Accessing the ceiling space above my train room may be easy for the rats, but it is not for me.  I have managed to “throw” some rodent bait to roughly where the walls are, and set up some rat-sack bait on the crawl space where there are some rat droppings.  Hopefully this will do the trick.  Some have suggested ultrasonic pest devices might also work, but I am fairly sure the yellow tongue walls are too think for that to be effective.

Train room build continues

A trip to Wagga during the week, and returning with 10 litres of paint colour matched, and 1 litre of primer undercoat.   Paint is not cheap -  $286.  At least Wattyl is made in Australia.  Interestingly, the 10 litres of white ceiling paint I got from Aldi a few weeks earlier (it was on mark down special) was also made by Wattyl, and that cost me $50.  Swings and round-abouts.

 

Brett assembled the kitchenette cabinets, whilst I quickly painted the walls area near the window where the cabinets will go to save awkwardness later.  The cabinets are below the bench.

 



I had thought the cabinets would be fitted direct to the floor, rather than on adjustable feet.  My concern is that the hot water heater may need additional bracing due to the weight of the water.  Basically, now awaiting the return of the plumber to fit the sink, and hook up the pipes.  Note the join in the cabinet benchtop

This can of silicon adhesive should have been thrown out three years ago, and it was only a suggestion from me to cut into the can that we discovered viable silicon for the benchtop join - applied with a spatula 


Then came the tricky part.  Cutting the benchtop for the L shape.  Success.  And then a small win.  Brett asked me if I had any silicon adhesive, and I did.  Despite being 3 years old, and leftover from a caravan roof leak repair, there was enough silicon still viable within the tube, after cutting into the tube.  And being black, the colour was perfect.

Bunnings however did not supply the correct width cabinet doors, and no drawer support hardware.  Not good enough when they charge me over $90 delivery.  This is the third delivery that has had wrong items delivered

 

Still, with the cabinets in place, the plumbing work can recommence

Display wall.

With the new paint, I was able to finish my display wall.   I needed no excuse to start putting my display up.  The yellow tongue wall makes adding these heavy plates quite easy

2 coats of paint on the display wall.  Junk on the floor


A porcelin "High Voltage" sign seemed appropriate next to the circuit breaker board


A start is made

More plates added.  Adding these plates (some of them are quite heavy) to the yellow tongue wall is simply just by screws.  It is one reason why I chose yellow tongue


 

I have been collecting these plates for close on 40 years, so it is great to finally have them on display.  The train room, whilst not finished, is starting to develop its own character.  There are more plates and other hardware to be added as time permits.  Until then, I have the task of finishing painting of the rest of the walls   

NMRA Meeting at Mal's place

Brett was unable to come on Saturday (Jan 20th) , so I took the opportunity to travel to Canberra for the monthly NMRA AR Region Div2 meeting   After the normal banter, show-n-tell and afternoon tea, we all headed downstairs to see how Mal’s new layout was progressing.

Mal's layout trackplan (not showing the staging yards).  The general size of the room is a three car garage.  N scale allows for 2 peninsulars, which will give a good length run.  Mal is basing his line on Burlington Northern through Montana. 



Staging yards are 43cm below the mainline tracks.  These staging yards extend on 3 sides of the room, and the storage tracks are extremely long.  Mal loves long trains


Bridges always add an element of drama to trains running

Site of future turntable


Yet to be built is the complex helix benchwork to allow connection to the staging yard trackage

Use of brackets supports the main line deck, and gives good access to the wide staging yard.  Mal has not yet added the tortoise motors, or the extensive electrical wizardary to the staging yards, that will allow trains to be accessed simply.  So these staging yards are not yet fixed in place. 


 

It is always good to see what others are doing, and gain ideas.  I like the idea that the staging yard boards can be extracted for fitting the tortoise switch motors, and electronics, and I may try something like for the staging yards below my Bomen station

 

A thought

Why do we use the term ‘Rats Nest’ for a jumbled up wiring mess?  And something that is ‘R S’  (short for ”Rat S**t”) is broken?   

 

Until next time.