Thanks, James, for the wonderful update about the boards and how you got to this stage of the McKinley Railway layout. I have to say it is an impressive system you guys and women are building here. I just can't my head around to the sheer size and complexity of putting all of it together. It really is a massive undertaking, but the results speak for themselves. I take my hat off to you all and hope all the track laying will be finished anon. Why, well I can't wait to see all the scenic idea's being landscaped to this skeleton of wooden frames, runs of wiring and the metres of rails etc. Wonderful times ahead for this layout to watch and see it grow to a near finished state, but that may not be for many years yet, mores the pity. Plus, can we have more of the (insert name here) female member of McKinley showing more weathering tips and the various other creative talents this beautiful young lady can make with her hands.
Very coherent and well presented James, thank you (and well done Charlie as ever!). When you build a layout with this kind of volume of trackwork you are bound to end up with some level of complexity in regards to the electrics and of course it takes such a long time (thanks a bunch covid19!) that new things come around midway through that you might have used had they been a realistic choice at the start. One primary example is devices with "local intelligence" (for want of a better word). One such area would be the points subsystem - point motors that can be directly DCC controlled without intermediate boards is a prime example. Of course it would be possible to do a great deal of this now with CAN bus tech (such as MERG sells kits for) which would reduce the wiring enormously - but retrofitting all that onto a project that you started in 2014 is a massive and daunting task and so just not a realistic option I guess.
There is still space for a post stamps collection under those Wakefield boards (compared to Sheffield), therefore prebuilding somewhere else was clearly the right step to get it in order.
Really enjoyed that. Can't wait to see the next video on the construction of Halifax boards. - I have an educated guess based on the fact that everything else gets documented, but is there a full wiring schedule for each section of the layout to aid in any future fault finding or expansion. I know Charlie used ID sleeves on his cables, but other than a few hand written marks and some tags around bundles of cable I didn't see anything to suggest you followed Charlies methods ;-)
Hello malcolm, We use ID markers to ensure they get wired into the right detection board, but those come off once connected and checked as they get in the way and just repeat where the wire should be wired to. In principle the idea of identification sounds good, but in practice, there is the challenge of how they are useful. Under the track work they serve, their location is self-evident and on the PCB panels, they are wired into specific ports which are documented in the database. In reality, if we have a problem with a wire, we know where the start and end points are from the documentation and work backwards from there. Wiring faults, post installation and testing typically are the result of poor connectivity at either end. David
When spraying the turnouts (4:30), wouldn't that clog up the contacts? Or is all electrical continuity dependent on the "Tortoise" point motors? Just wondering...
Hi Peter, good question. All the points have been modified so every section of rail, even the blades are fed by a wire. The frog is switched by the point motor, we even modified the double slips to make them true electrofrogs. This means there is no reliance on any contact between the stock rails and blades so as long as the rail heads are clean the trains will run. There will be more on this in a later video.
Thanks for the quick clarification James. When I watched the video, I had visions of folks gaily spraying their track, without knowing the implications if they didn't wire the turnouts as you do.
Hello David. Good to meet you at the Bath & West on Friday. I wrote my contact details in your book but forgot to make a note of your email address. Please send me an email and I will provide the details of how to get in touch with the company we discussed. I have already spoken to them and they are interested to hear from you. Bob Fuller.
Oh wow. This is massive.
Fantastic video, It's all looking pretty amazing!, You're a great speaker James. I hope you plan on doing more videos like this. :)
Thanks, James, for the wonderful update about the boards and how you got to this stage of the McKinley Railway layout. I have to say it is an impressive system you guys and women are building here. I just can't my head around to the sheer size and complexity of putting all of it together. It really is a massive undertaking, but the results speak for themselves. I take my hat off to you all and hope all the track laying will be finished anon. Why, well I can't wait to see all the scenic idea's being landscaped to this skeleton of wooden frames, runs of wiring and the metres of rails etc. Wonderful times ahead for this layout to watch and see it grow to a near finished state, but that may not be for many years yet, mores the pity. Plus, can we have more of the (insert name here) female member of McKinley showing more weathering tips and the various other creative talents this beautiful young lady can make with her hands.
John,
Your request will be answered soon. :-)
So many wires! I localize all my boards with hardware so I only have three wires per board. DCC bus and a loconet cable.
I get it... But my computer wouldn't. Each to his own...
thank you for the great detailed video
from Australia
Great video excellent explanationwell done
Hi James, What an amazing set up you have there. I really look forward to your future updates. Thks for sharing.
Enjoyed your lateset video you done thanks for sharing.
Darn it, 223 i got. Forgot about the earth wire.....
You're still closer than me. I guessed 210 (figuring that it would be closer than someone who just guessed a round 200).
Very coherent and well presented James, thank you (and well done Charlie as ever!).
When you build a layout with this kind of volume of trackwork you are bound to end up with some level of complexity in regards to the electrics and of course it takes such a long time (thanks a bunch covid19!) that new things come around midway through that you might have used had they been a realistic choice at the start.
One primary example is devices with "local intelligence" (for want of a better word). One such area would be the points subsystem - point motors that can be directly DCC controlled without intermediate boards is a prime example. Of course it would be possible to do a great deal of this now with CAN bus tech (such as MERG sells kits for) which would reduce the wiring enormously - but retrofitting all that onto a project that you started in 2014 is a massive and daunting task and so just not a realistic option I guess.
So great
He is a good presenter
Thank you.
There is still space for a post stamps collection under those Wakefield boards (compared to Sheffield), therefore prebuilding somewhere else was clearly the right step to get it in order.
Interesting video. Any chance we could pl see trains going on a journey from one place to another? Thank you
Really enjoyed that. Can't wait to see the next video on the construction of Halifax boards. - I have an educated guess based on the fact that everything else gets documented, but is there a full wiring schedule for each section of the layout to aid in any future fault finding or expansion. I know Charlie used ID sleeves on his cables, but other than a few hand written marks and some tags around bundles of cable I didn't see anything to suggest you followed Charlies methods ;-)
Hello malcolm,
We use ID markers to ensure they get wired into the right detection board, but those come off once connected and checked as they get in the way and just repeat where the wire should be wired to. In principle the idea of identification sounds good, but in practice, there is the challenge of how they are useful. Under the track work they serve, their location is self-evident and on the PCB panels, they are wired into specific ports which are documented in the database. In reality, if we have a problem with a wire, we know where the start and end points are from the documentation and work backwards from there. Wiring faults, post installation and testing typically are the result of poor connectivity at either end.
David
That many wires sounds like a nightmare. Is there no way to multiplex the signals along fewer wires between sections and back to the control boards ?
When spraying the turnouts (4:30), wouldn't that clog up the contacts? Or is all electrical continuity dependent on the "Tortoise" point motors? Just wondering...
Hi Peter, good question. All the points have been modified so every section of rail, even the blades are fed by a wire. The frog is switched by the point motor, we even modified the double slips to make them true electrofrogs. This means there is no reliance on any contact between the stock rails and blades so as long as the rail heads are clean the trains will run. There will be more on this in a later video.
Thanks for the quick clarification James. When I watched the video, I had visions of folks gaily spraying their track, without knowing the implications if they didn't wire the turnouts as you do.
I get the tutorial. Can you move all of this?
Will this go to 2080!
Hello David. Good to meet you at the Bath & West on Friday. I wrote my contact details in your book but forgot to make a note of your email address. Please send me an email and I will provide the details of how to get in touch with the company we discussed. I have already spoken to them and they are interested to hear from you. Bob Fuller.
Sorry for the delay in writing.. Day job..!!