Cobblers

The onset of winter brings a new chill to the workshop and only the real men bother to turn up, OK a few have valid excuses.

A short discussion over coffee and some photographic evidence of a rail-car with horse box attached (or a horse box with a rail-car attached) settles an earlier "told you so", then its down to business.

So a cobbling we will go, some fine cutting of some bits and pieces slowly fill in the gaps between the rails. Think of it as the modellers version of Tangram, some useful hints regarding bevelled edges are duly ignored and the cobblers continue using their own special technique.

Meanwhile the rebuild of the steamer platform is well under way, only halted by the fact that half the bits needed are not here, including the glue.. Never mind I offer the use of my glue, should be OK on plasticard. After some muttering it's tested and thirty minutes later reject on the basis that it's no good. I though my glue was perfectly acceptable but apparently not, now I'm offended!

Lots of wet glue, so an early night. We pack up and venture out into the cold.

No.....

With a weeks rest and restorative time we return to test the wiring. Guess what.. It shorts again. Finally the problem is isolated to point 13 and we set about trying to understand whats going on.

Finally a eureka moment and a sneaky little jumper is removed, what was that .... Anyway result, we are now able to run between the sections moving trains from the station area through to the dock area without any hassle, result.

Strangely the mock up of the platform has also warped to an interesting shape, so this was removed and work started on a replacement.

Some tinkering was also done on the cobbled area to try ease the problem of trains riding off the rails when they have detailed parts.

With the trackwork done perhaps now we can accelerate progress.

The Aftermath

With the pressures of Modelex out of the way it's back to work. Hang on... Where is everybody. It looks like a combination of corporate hospitality and the promise of an England victory has limited our numbers somewhat, in-fact now we are two! After sometime spent admiring the new finish on ceiling we set about sorting out the electrical issues that plagued us at Modelex.

Firstly the engine shed point motor that was only switching one way. Ah-ha isn't this wire supposed to be soldered on to the point motor, hang on though it's operating the wrong way round. A quick switch of the wires and success, normal service is resumed to the engine shed.

Next we had no lighting on the dock board. Ah-ha isn't this wire supposed to be soldered on..... deja vu me thinks. Pass me the iron and oh look all the lights are working now.


Finally the last big electrical issue, the wiring to the extension board that we cut at Modelex. Having already discussed the problem at length we knew what the solution was; the common return rail needed to switch with the power rail.



The introduction of a new switch on the main controller to switch both the feeds and returns corrected the problem.



Excellent work if I say so myself..

Andover MODELEX 2007

If it's not done now then forget it, he cars are packed ready for the extensions first public show.



Saturday, all goes together well but as the controllers are plugged in our ever present electrical gremlins return to haunt us.... Had anybody tried running multiple controllers. The dockyard controller appears to be able to interfere with all the others.. aghhhhh. After a couple of hours of controlled panic and head scratching we cut the track between the boards to isolate the new dock end. Its limited running from now on but at least it works.



Sunday, everything runs smoothly although the list of things to do is increasing again. Should we have a running timetable, whats everyones job and remind me again what era is this model.



In conclusion a successful show with plenty of lessons learnt. Thanks to the guys from Andover model railway club for the invitation and hospitality at Modelex 2007.