Servoed

 Replacing all the old NJ International Snap Turnout Machines with Servos.

Lit! Turnouts installed and wired to the control panel.

    Last time I had just finished fabricating a disconnect cable between the layout and control panel. Next came installing this connector connection. This was much more difficult since each wire is a custom length between the connector and the servo. 

    Adding a disconnect cable between the layout and the control panel really created a lot of extra work for me. But I've gotten quite good at making a Lineman Splice!

The servos were mounted simply with a piece of Double Sided Mounting Tape. We'll see how that works out. If its a problem I'll use some sort of mounting bracket. 

    Spaghetti Bowl 2021. Servos only require 3 wires each for control and feedback compared to the NJ Internationals each needing 9 wires!  I thought the servos replacing the switch machines would clear up some of those wires, but those block occupancy detectors and street lamps have added quite a bit more wires.

    As each servo was installed and wired it was connected to the OctoIII for centering and alignment. I had to move the OctoIII from its original position since the plugs on some of the pushbuttons were resting on it.  But its still not right- its time to build yet another control center! 

I also added a steel ring as an anchor for the cable wires so should the cable get yanked it doesn't tear out the OctoIII.  I hope that doesn't happen, but should it, I hope it works!

I'm still fine tuning and working out some bugs with all this. But once that's done the turnouts will then be programed for DCC control. 

Yes Sir! Programed for DCC control!

Dandy

Control Panel ~ Cable Provider

 Constructing a Cable to Connect the Control Panel to the Layout.

A quick disconnect cable will allow the control panel to be removed from the layout to ease the transporting of the layout.

Recently I have installed the Octocoder and Singlet servo decoder and controllers to the control panel. Now I need to wire the controllers to the turnout servos on the layout. This is what this cable will be for.

This is the 37 pin twist-on cable connector that I'll be using for the cable. I'll only be using 24 of the pins for the turnout control. The remaining pins will be used for anything else on the layout that needs to connect to the control panel such as the on/off switch for the streetlights.

But first- I need to mount the connector to the layout. So I fabricated this wooden mount that will mount under the layout. The small part of the connector (center) fits into the hole in the mount and screws on. Wires from the servos (and anything else) connect to those pins. The larger part of the connector (right) twists on to it.

Now comes the fun part:

Soldering on the servo wires. But here's the problem. Whoever originally bought this connector installed the pins before the wires were soldered on (I got this connector second or third hand). So I have to solder the wires on in very tight quarters.

Dense. My first try I started with pin #1. But after the first row of wires were installed I wasn't able to access the second row. So I de-soldered the wires and started again. This time I started with the last pin and worked backwards. Which worked just fine. But keeping track of what wires are where is now a challenge!

Gold pins. According to the NASA tutorial I watched on soldering connector pins, the gold from the pins need to be removed first. Which I tried but failed at. But I'm not building a rocket ship- my layout isn't going to be exposed to the extreme conditions of avionics, so I decided to just leave the gold. A stripe of melted gold can be seen in the solder in the photo on the left. Hopefully this won't come back to bite me. If one of those wires detach from the center of the wire bundle there isn't room to solder it back on. Unless maybe I can fit my resistance soldering electrodes in there like this cool "old school" video demonstrates.

A Pin Designation Chart to help keep track of what wires go where. The turnouts are named (e.g. 1AR = 1st turnout, Block "A", Right turn) that coincide with their names with the Railroad & Co program. And where on the Octocoder the wires plug in to.:

And we got a cable! It's kind of messy, so....

Tucking the wires into this Split Wire Loom should make it all neat.

Much better. Let's plug it in...

Under the layout shot. Success- It's in there! But the cable is only half of it. Now comes wiring the receptacle. The servo wires will radiate out from here to the turnouts as they are installed. A lot of work that will never be seen. But it will be felt. Each trolley navigating its own route should be very cool to see.

Yes sir! 

Very cool to see.

Dandy

№ 9 ~ Official Portrait

The San Diego Electric Railway opened with great fanfare on September 21st 1892!

But by the time № 9 stopped for its photo much of the fanfare had moved on leaving one official, two patrons, a motorman, and a conductor to pose with it.

San Diego Electric Railway № 9

This marks the first time I've photographed a completed scene on my layout. Finally! But the layout is far from complete.

Here's the set up. Pretty simple.

Some people model historic battle scenes, some people model fantastic sci-fi scenes, I model everyday life of old San Diego. What does that say about me? I don't know. But if you know, don't tell me- I don't want to know.

Yes Sir! I don't want to know.

Dandy

Track ~ Electrically Isolated Blocks

DC Block Control, Eliminated, and then Revived...

Gaps in the rails.  Originally designed for DC Block Control, DCC eliminated the need for these electrically isolated track blocks.

Power bus. A bare wire is run under the layout following the cloverleaf pattern of the track above to tie all the block wiring together.

Block Detection for Automation. Putting those old blocks to good use, they can be used to give feedback to loconet for use in running the layout automatically or semi-automatically.

Yes Sir! Running the layout automatically!

Dandy

Trafficky

Short Video: I Managed to get Four Cars Running Simultaneously on the Layout!

Just before this blog was started I purchased this MEW 1936 PCC. I became curious about it recently and wondered if it would be able to run on the layout. Looking it over I noticed it has a can motor and that it wouldn't take much to rewire it for overhead. So I gave it a go, and what do you know, it went! You'll see it in the video above.

Excited buy the sudden increase in traffic, I wondered what else from my collection I could convert to overhead...

Then I remembered I have this Huntington Standard from Overland, the second brass purchase I ever made, way back in the early days of construction of the layout. I had already wired it for overhead. But its open frame motor makes it a poor runner and requires more "juice" to get it to go. It barely makes the tight curves, but it works! You'll see this one in the video also, complaining about the curve.

Pretty fun to see some traffic on the layout now. Yes sir! Fun to see some traffic!

Dandy

By The Light Of The Silvery Lamp

Chrome, Stainless Steel, Silver Plated, or Something, San Diego's Boulevard Lamps were Definitely a Bright Silvery Color.

Boulevard Lamp/Trolley Linepole painted Tru-Color Paint TCP-077 Silver

Well Hey! With a little improvising, I'm starting to get some decent photos of the layout now!

But yes- San Diego streetlamps were in fact silver:

Bright silver street lamps seem to be unique to San Diego. I'm not sure why this is. My guess is that Diego has a natural landlocked harbor that connects to the Pacific Ocean through a strait between Point Loma and Coronado known as the Silver Gate. It is believed that the name comes from Spanish times when silver from mines northeast of San Diego County was shipping out in Spanish ships. The first known recorded use of "Silver Gate" is from a poem written by a frontiersman poet Joaquin Miller (1837-1913). The term Silver Gate was further reinforced by San Francisco's strait being named the Golden Gate. But this gave the impression that San Diego was second to San Francisco, so "Silver Gate" was never officially adopted by the city and the term has since faded into history. But not before some streets, schools, (Balboa Park was almost named Silver Gate Park) organizations, institutions, ships and clubs adopted the term, and apparently, dotting some boulevards with some silver ornamentation in the way of street lamps. Yes sir! Silver ornamentation!

Dandy

Operating System

Just a quick shot of the temporary control panel for the layout.

This simple set up is what I used while building the layout. I didn't want to invest any more money into the layout until I knew if it was going to work or not. So I used basic DC and a control panel built the old fashioned way:

Masonite cut to size.
Spray paint line color (cream).
Use tape to mask off route.
Spray paint main color (green).
Peel off tape revealing line color.
Drill for and install push buttons and indicator lights.
Dry transfers for street names.

These days its so much easier to build a control panel by designing one on a computer and simply printing it out and gluing it onto Masonite or Acrylic. Or, with the capabilities of DCC, a lot of folks are foregoing with control panels all together.

Electrical blocks are indicated (along with the direction of travel) by the gaps in the lines. So as you can see, this layout will eventually be able to accommodate a lot of cars!

These buttons control the NJ International switch machines. The switch machines have a bank of electrical tabs that power the indicator lights in the control panel. This has proven to be most troublesome and are the cause of almost all electrical shorts. Since the layout has proven itself and actually works, The NJ International switch machines are going to be replaced with servos which require a different type of switch. So like I said, this control panel is temporary. Yes sir. Its only temporary.

Dandy

Repairing, Upgrading, Improving

Now that the layout is running regularly, the weak spots are making themselves known.

Specifically, my homemade turnouts are failing. Originally I just soldered the turnout rail directly on top of the post of the turnout link. But it turns out that those kind of forces are too much for the solder alone. So the engineering dept came up with a nub and groove design. The post has a rectangular nub filed on top and the rail has a matching notch. Then this interlocking design is soldered together. And that worked fine… for a while. But now with more frequent use, the hard snapping of the NJ International switch machines weaken that solder joint. And one by one, they are popping off again.

Above. This is the latest turnout point to pop off. You can see the nub and groove design (and I see that plaster from street paving got into the rail web). John McWhirter from the Southern California Traction Club suggested that I make a sleeve that contains the assembly, holding it all in place. Which I quickly dismissed as it would interfere with the flange-way.  But the more I thought about it the more it made sense.  So I thought I would give it a try.

This is what the engineering dept. came up with. A tube which slips over the post and is notched so that the rail seats inside. The sides of this notch fit snug against the base of the rail and is low enough to clear the wheel flanges. Simple.

The whole assembly is soldered together. So now, with this new nub and groove and sleeve design, things should be a lot more solid. (Eventually the old NJ Internationals will be replaced with the more gentle servo turnout motors, that should help too). The plaster was removed from the rail as well and everything is clean and shiny! We are ready to re-install.

The top of the hole is drilled out to accommodate the wider diameter sleeve, and the turnout point is installed.

A quick check to make sure everything is in gauge and... are you kidding me! We are out of gauge! You know, I noticed that the cars were bumping over some of the turnouts in the videos, this is probably why.

Yep, the hole is off center. How do you move a hole over?

The old hole is filled in with a same diameter dowel. Now I have a clean slate to start over with.

Then a carefully positioned pilot hole is drilled. That hole is widened with consecutively larger bits until the correct size is achieved. (This, by-the-way, is a real pain with the overhead in the way!) The turnout point is re-installed. The gauge is checked. And...

... we are back in business! Better and stronger than ever before. Yes sir! Better and stronger than ever before!

Dandy

The Grand Union Intersection in Action!

A Video of the Fully Functional Grand Union Intersection in HO Scale!

The dang thing actually works! Yes sir! It actually works!

Dandy

Resolution Resolved!

The first day of this year (2013) I resolved to get my layout running before years end. Today I am proud to announce the fulfillment of that Resolution.

The completed intersection:

Next week I'll be posting a video of the intersection in action that I think you'll really like. You definitely won't want to miss it! Yes sir! You won't want to miss it!

Dandy

Cutting in!

Locating and Installing the Turnout Pans

The prospect of nipping the running wire so as to insert a turnout pan is a bit unsettling to me. After all, the mainline is running so beautifully that I would hate to mess it up. But if the layout is going to run as designed, well, I've got to cut in those turnouts. So before I do, I want to be perfectly certain as to where that pan should go exactly.

So I read the Trolleyville Guide to Hanging Simple Overhead very carefully first. Then with a Sharpie I marked the wire where the cut happens: 1/3 the distance between the switch point and the frog. 

In addition to the cut mark, I also marked where the holes in the pan line up with the wire so I know where to bend the wire up so as to maintain the same tension in the overhead. 

Now I have the confidence to...

Snip! Twang! Boing! Cut. Then using the marked locations as a guide I bent the ends of the wires up.

The bent wire ends are threaded up through the holes in the pan and then bent back. I soldered the joints for good electrical continuity. Cleaned it up and ran the cars through. So far so good. One Turnout Pan in, 15 to more to go.
Well that wasn't so bad, was it? Yes sir! That wasn't so bad!

Dandy

Grand Union Overhead

I've seen some Grand Union track-plans published.  But never for the overhead wires!

So the engineering dept of the Dan D. Sparks Plywood Development and Transportation Co. has its work cut out for it designing a reliable working overhead cantanary wires for this intersection.

This detail from a Shorpy photo is the only photo I've ever seen of a (non-modern light rail) Grand Union Intersection. Its a bit asymmetrical with one of the streets cutting off at an angle like that.  But lets see what can be learned from this photo anyway.

This is my interpretation of the wiring configuration gleaned from the Shorpy photo. And I believe this arrangement can be improved upon. I know one factor for reliable overhead construction is that the pulloff wires should be perpendicular to the contact wire. Something that the traction company in the photo hadn't yet discovered in those early years. Having a pulloff wire pulling the contact wire at an angle will increase the tension on one side of the contact wire, and cause slack on the other end. Nice balanced overhead tension is desirable. 

Another interpretation. Here I'm trying to counteract pulloff wires pulling off at an angle by having a second pulloff pull from the other direction. But I have found that the tension of having too many pulloff wires tends to cause the contact wires to loose their tension and sag. A model overhead needs to be a simplified version of the prototype.

Getting a little too complicated here. The nice thing about the rotationally symmetrical design of the Grand Union is that each contact wire has a mirror image counterpart that it can pull off from. All that the line poles have do is simply hold the whole thing up!

Here we go! To get a pulloff wire that  pulls off the contact wire at a right angle when there isn't a place for the other end of the pulloff wire to anchor to requires a backbone wire. Support wires can attach to the backbone wire at an angle, but the backbone wire provides a place for the wires pulling off the contact wire to attach at a right angle.

I think I have done enough figurings. I think now its time to dive in and start laying in some of these wires and see where it gets me. Doing these drawings has given me a good idea of what I need to do and the confidence needed to cut into the mainline wire and add in the turnout pans and diverging route wires. Yes sir! It has given me the confidence to cut in and lay in those diverging routes!

Dandy