Layout Update - June 2021: Music Wire Vs. Blowtorch, Crossing Finished, Athearn Genesis SD60M...
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- Опубліковано 19 чер 2021
- Here's what we've been up to this past month on the layout:
- Mount Norquay road grade crossing protection complete. 16 LEDs on this crossing powered by Logic Rail Technologies Grade Crossing Pro/2 and a Grade Crossing Pro/2 Expander. The gate arms are driven by a single tortoise motor attached to two circuitron bell crank mechanisms. The speaker for the bell is from a Samsung Galaxy S20.
Took a very long time to get the bell cranks working with my overly complicated lit gate arms. Even the tiny magnet wire puts up enough resistance to overcome the bell cranks abilities. After replacing the throw wires in both pedestals with music wire, I was able to get it to a spot where I'm happy with it. I had to add one more SPDT on-on switch to disable whichever photocell is not needed on the west end of the crossing due to the tracks going from double to single. With two far sensors on the west side, the crossing circuit thinks there's a train on each track if the sensor that is not lined for the turnout isn't disabled.
Crossing Circuit Boards:
www.logicrailtech.com
- Banff Station progress, one step forward two steps back. I was about to glue the whole first floor together when I noticed the front door on the town side wasn't centered with the operators station on the track side. I didn't pay close enough attention to which way I overlapped the styrene walls to glue them and it ended up adding up to being almost a cm off. So I took the townside wall apart and redid it with some pieces not surviving the renovation. It's all good now and the whole first floor is together. Next up will be working on the 2nd floor which is the station operators living quarters.
- Athearn Genesis SD60M DCC install. No fooling you guys, about a dozen of you knew right away what I was working on my bench last month. I had it done and then a very unlucky slip of my thumb broke the lightboard in half when I was almost ready to put the shell back on. (Be extremely careful around the rear end of the lightboard on these!) I ordered a new lightboard from Athearn, replaced that and then reinstalled the ESU Loksound V5 decoder with the Athearn dual sugar cube speaker. The diesel mechanic over at the Caramat & Kinghorn sub layout put the full throttle sound file in it for me (thanks Justin). After that ordeal, it was put into revenue service straight away. It is missing a bearing cap which Athearn has told me they will be sending replacements.
Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! Thanks for watching. - Розваги
FANTASTIC NATIONAL PARK ,THE BANFF STATION IT'S PERFECT❤
Hi Ben. Hope you had a lovely Father’s Day with your family 👍🏻 That opening shot was as real as you could get 😄 Well done for the amount of detail you’ve done and sharing it with your UA-cam family 👍🏻 Cheers Stevie 😎🏴
Thanks Stevie it was awesome. Lots of time to work on the railroad and had the minions down there with me. Hope your having a good summer my friend, stay cool!
I keep it simple...I just say, "ding ding ding ding ding" when the train goes through a crossing🤪
Great work....inspiring!
:D :D :D hahaha that is awesome,
Thanks for the update Ben. Happy Dad's day.
Thanks Grant. Same to you!
Happy Father's Day. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Vincent!
total modeling majic realism ,,,,,moving art...... museum quality..... must be a feeling of being beside the mainline
Hey Ben, amazing stuff! Thank you for posting this. I too embarked on a similar project of lighting my crossing gate arms and use the Logic Rail Tech boards and Circuitron actuator. Like you, I initially thought "no problem," but you are absolutely right--this was one of the the most challenging things I've ever done on my RR. Happy to send a pic/video if you're interested. You're right, it was absolutely worth it!!
Thanks! Haha yes, I have a new appreciation for moving crossing gates.
Irv Athearn did more to enlarge the HO scale train hobby than any other individual. Locomotives sold for less than $30.00, looked good and are still reliable. Car kits were $2.50 and $3.50. And made in USA. Oh how I mis the old days.
Tell me, newest stuff has been getting more and more expensive by the minute, its becoming un-affordable and now resellers are slapping the "vintage" watermark to the older models to drive up the price.
I don’t remember those days, when it was, 50-100 years ago?
Dude that cell phone speaker is genius! I have a friend that does phone repair and has thousands of just iphone and samsung speakers!
I've been using them for several years. Quite a few of my locomotives have an iPhone 4 speaker in them. I finally ran out of those so I'm now trying the Samsung Galaxy S20 speakers because apparently they have even better sound.
Nice layout and love those SD60M especially the golden beaver.
Thank you very much!
I couldn't even begin to tackle a project like your Banff grade crossing. Well done Ben, it's fantastic.
Thank you David!
Nice work Ben!! After watching Rob
Bennett install his crossing gates I
commented to him I would be like
the Dad on Christmas Story when
he was fighting the furnace and let
out a few choice words in the process!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Thanks! haha yes there was some language that would only have been suitable on a pirate ship during this project.
wow, I'll be honest, I never gave much thought to everything that will need to be involved in having a working, lit crossing gate, especially one where the "mechanics' are hidden inside the fixture. Kudos to you Ben with your patience, diligence and efforts on getting it to work! It absolutely looks awesome!
Thanks Scott!
Ben your so awesome buddy I love your layout looking awesome buddy I can’t wait someday visit your layout
Thanks Taylor!
You quite rightly spend a lot of time talking about the little intricacies of your layout, but I’d like to take a step back and say how awestruck I am by how you are capturing the gigantic scale of the Canadian landscape. I’ve watched you building this layout since the beginning and thought you were very ambitious but I look at your updates now and just shake ,y head in amazement at how well you have made it seem like your trains are rolling over tracks winding their way through the enormous mountains. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a layout that comes close to what you’ve achieved. And you still have so far to go!
Thank you so much for the kind words Mike. I really appreciate your feedback and the fact that you've been supporting my videos for so long, I am grateful for your support and it inspires me to keep going. -Ben
Living in Calgary and going to Banff frequently I LOVE your layout. What you've done to model the Banff Station area is GREAT.
Yes, Piano wire is very stiff and hard to bend. I use it for my turnout automation. Never though about using a torch to make it easier. Now that I've seen that I'll remember it. However, you should be able to heat cycle the end of the wire to make it more maleable and if desired, harden it when done. I watch some of the forging shows and of course they are doing it all the time so following what they do may work well. I'll have to give it a shot next time.
Don't know what you are using to raise and lower the gates. IF you are using servos, they can be obtained in all sorts of strengths and precisions. I used to pay a fair price for servos for flying larger gas powered helicopters and they would have MORE than enough power to position those crossing gates to whatever you wanted.
Sounds like you may need to do the control yourself using an Arduino. That'd give you way more flexibility. You could use the Arduino to read the sensors and then use the Arduino to send a signal to the crossing control mechanism.
Thanks very much!
Well , I've never seen any of your other videos and I haven't been to Banff in 20 years and I recognized it immediately. Nice work on the layout. I appreciate the attention to detail and thank you for showing us the "mess." It's good to see the nuts and bolts of what's behind the "curtain."
Well I must have got the crossing right if you recognized it. Really appreciate your comment, thank you!
Ok besides all the trouble it looks so freaking great!!! Great job!!!! Way more realistic now
Thanks!
As someone who crossed those gates more times then I can count in a tour bus you did an awesome job. I mean perfect.
Thank you and I appreciate the feedback especially since you are what I would consider a subject matter expert! Cheers!
Eeefgfff
wow i really liked how you shaved down the crossing lights i am probably gonna do that to
Easy to do and makes them look much more realistic!
Don't I know it struggling with the actuators and gates.I installed a NJ International pair a handful of years ago with a Servomaster Logicpro actuator. Hell of a time getting them set right. I have a video on my TMandN Channel with them working. Sound as well.Yours look and work awesome Ben. Great update!
I had no idea how hard it was until I got into it, all I can say is I have a much greater appreciation for functional crossing gates. Are yours still working good? I'm worried that mine are the best they are ever going to be and will get worse as the mechanism wears out.
It's a good thing the triclops was able to be salvaged after that light board broke, I probably would have cried. Lol
Also fantastic job on the crossing!
At first there was crying, then swearing. Thanks!
As always just great work man - keep up the awesome progress. Always a pleasure looking at your layout.
I love that you used the Metal Gear Solid alert sound with the blowtorch. It was funny in more ways than one! Also I love how the layout is coming along. Very very nice. Cannot wait for the whole scene to be complete with the entire station done and finished.
:D glad someone liked that! Thanks Zach!
Was looking forward to seeing the crossing update video, man does that look awesome!
Thanks!
Great update! Lots of cool stuff. Thanks for sharing. The crossing gates with all the lights looks amazing! Great work!
Thanks Michael!
Good job Ben that works great the start of video is awesome seeing the crossing fire up when the train approaches
Thank you Chris!
The grade crossing is awesome, great job. Your layout video’s always interesting
Thanks for sharing 👍👍😎😎
Thank you very much!
Nice update today will follow you to see more thank's Diesel Dave.
Thanks Dave!
Awesome job on the grade crossing! It looks amazing! As a railroader I can honestly say that not all gates go all the way up all the time or even function correctly everytime. So I'd say you have modeled the crossing to perfect specifications.
Haha thanks!
While once again hats off to your work thanks for your example🎩🎩 i’ve seen prototype crossing it’s not work 100% as well 👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks very much Michael!
Great job on the crossing gates!
Thanks Sean!
wow brother, that's pretty complex. Lots of patience and determination. Glad you posted the video so I know what to expect when I do mine. Appreciated the video and am saving it!
Definitely a challenge. I was happy with the mechanism from Circuitron, like I mentioned I think I was just asking too much of it with all the wires attached to my gate arms.
Fantastic Layout, the BEST that I have ever seen, and I'm an old guy.
Wow, thank you!
Great update.. love the cross gates
Thanks 👍
Amazing work, I'm in the UK just found this channel. Honestly the 1st scene I was not sure to start with that it wasn't real... Fantastic Sir... Oh I have subscribed as I will be attempting an n gauge model railroad in the future.
Thanks very much Mark. Welcome aboard!
That crossing looks amazing!
Thanks Matthew!
Another great vid, thanks Ben. I was interested to see the scene from a higher angle @7:30 onwards, the mix of textures and colours on your ground cover is terrific. As much as I enjoy your 'trackside' filming this angle literally opened up a new appreciation of your work. Keep 'em coming! Ian
Thanks Ian. I should show overviews more often as it does give a much different perspective. You can't beat what mother nature provides, all the ground cover, besides the ballast, is just sifted dirt from about 20' out my front door.
Ben, outstanding vid great information...love your layout looks great. Gary
Thanks Gary!
Beautiful: thank you for this update.
Great update thanks for sharing. I can feel your pain snapping the board. I've done the same on the light board for my level crossing so I need to reorder one. I've mentioned it before but I do like your back scene atb Andy
Thanks Andy. Yes it was frustrating especially since I was about ten seconds away from finishing it. I know exactly how you feel.
Happy belated Father's Day, Ben.
Thank you!
Probably the best HO scale layout in Canada
There are many layouts far better than mine, but thank you!
@@BArailsystem It is really good my friend
Very cool!
Thanks!
Looks Great!
Thanks!
Piano wire for the win !
Yes but dang hard to work with!
Love the extra editing on this. XD
I'm trying not to go overboard but its hard : )
That is soooo cool!
Thanks!
@BArailsystem I personally think the jerkiness of the gates adds to the realism as I’ve seen some crossing arms do that on the real thing...
Well I guess I nailed it then :P , thanks!
Also that SD60m is former SOO so thats rather neat as well.
Long live the SOO!
NCE "Switch it" has a circuit in it that when engines go around reverse loop will trigger the switch.
Thanks Arthur, that is a potential option, I'll have to consider that.
HELLO BEN ITS IS RANDY AND I LIKE U VIDEO IS COOL THANKS BEN FRIENDS RANDY
Hi Randy! Thank you.
😊
Wow this layout just keeps gets better and better, awesome work man. Was that weathered locomotive at Banff a GEVO?
Thanks so much. That is a GE AC4400CW.
It's all fun and games until you have to take the torch out.
:D
LINDO
cute 🦋
Damn layout is looking awesome man. Hearing about the lighting board break on you that sucks that SD 60 looks good though are you going to add crew to it
Thanks Bubs! I don't usually add crew, I've always been weirded out by figures haha there are none on my layout besides one hobo who rides a train and you have to look really hard to find him.
Instead of running wires around the shaft, wouldn't it be better to use slip rings somewhat like a commutator? These would let you avoid all these stretch issues of the wires in the joint.
This would have been a much better way of doing it. The entire signal is brass so the common + wires could have been replaced by just energizing the signal and running tiny jumpers to each gate LED.
Why do your gates need 6 wires for the lights, are you not running a common cathode/anode? On the prototype (as you call it) we have just three wires, one for the common and one for left or right flasher. The lamp on the end has a half-wave bridge rectifier on it so that both left and right sides power it and it will appear constant. And then we can get away with using garden variety extension cord (#18/3) to run between the motor housing to the lamp housings.
That sounds like a much smarter way of doing it! These tiny LEDs (0.3mm) need a dedicated resistor on the (-) lead, they could've shared a common (+) but it's difficult to manage putting those commons together in place on the gate. The better route may have been to energize the entire gate as its made of brass and used that as the common (+). Thanks for the information on how the pros do it, very interesting!
I admire your attention to detail, well done. How did you fabricate the concrete roadbed between the tracks at the Norquay Road crossing?
They are molded plastic from BLMA models that I painted.
shop.atlasrr.com/p-49605-ho-concrete-grade-crossing.aspx
Nice update Ben. Are you having any issues with the truck on the sd60? Athearn trying to create a fix for "warped" trucks. Not sure if this is a universal issue, or you just get a 'lucky' one that needs to be fixed. M
Thanks Michael. I've had a few random derailments and I think that may be the cause, one wheel bearing cap was missing as well. Don't think I was lucky : (
What am I caught 4K for real…
cool i got the same sd60m locomotive. hey for that dcc board did you order from horizon site? cause for me i try ordering from there and they don't ship to canada. it was while ago so i donno if it changed. so i went to hobbylinc for dcc board and replacement led lights. also for those crossing games did you add farter way sensor. cause i use to have MTH crossing gates and i had to extent the sensor wire cause depending on how fast train was going the gates would start going down right when train was at the games.
Yes I did order it from Horizon and it came surprisingly fast too. They definitely ship to Canada too. Yep these circuit boards have far sensors and its modellers preference how far away from the crossing they are installed. I did some testing with mine and found the right spacing was 7' on the mainline and about 5 feet on the passing siding based on train speeds that I normally run.
The only problem with trying to model a prototype railroad is the expense in trying to stay current. Pic an era, and stay with it, or join a modular club that will allow you to run trains from multiple eras.
You're 100% correct Ralph, my era is ~2009 - ~2019 and I am pretty good at sticking to it. No clubs in my city unfortunately so I've had to make my own in my basement : )
Add some counter weight to the crossing arms to help em come up a bit easier maybe?
A good idea but they are so tiny (~4mm), even if I used tungsten I don't think it would make a difference. I also thought about a spring but that will add resistance on the down stroke.
With the resistance on the LED wiring and bell crank would dry graphite help at all?
I am actually bowing the wire on the bell crank itself so I think I am at the physical limit of what the bell crank can do. Graphite in the gate arm might help a bit though, good idea!
I love the lighting on your layout. What do you use and how far above the layout??
It's high CRI LED strip lighting made by Yuji LEDs, mounted on alumnium L channel. If you go back in the Layout Update videos playlist I cover it in detail.
Ben, Have you considered any sasquach crossings, on the layout?
I haven't but that's a good idea, I should hide a bigfoot somewhere in the trees.
How did your new cell phone speakers work out?
Haven't put one in a locomotive yet just the crossing dinger so far.
Looking great and I can imagine those crossings would of been a pain.
You maybe interested check out The DCC Guy on you tube he has done a video on automating using block detection a reverse loop for polarity as well as automated switch motor alignment, this may help your sensor being hooked up to a tortoise for that sprung loaded one :).
Thanks! I'll have a look at what he did, thank you for the tip.
What brand are does searchlight signals
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