a new mini HON3 layout started

[Bill Nelson]

Tom,


Just a little passing siding , will probably have a small station and a water tank. perhaps a couple buildings. I don't think there is going to br too much to Bugtustle NC.

Bill

[Bill Nelson]

I have started the work wiring the switches.



I am using two of the very fine Micro engineering #5 switches. for years the Shinoharra #4 was what was available; but the micro engineering offering looks beter, and the genteler divergence is much appreciated by many locomotives


These new switches are designed with DCC in mind. the point rails are isolated from each other. each is tied to it's respective stock rail electrically, and the frog is isolated from everything. a little stud from the frog casting sticks out of the bottom of the ties, so it is easy to solder a wire to the frog without it showing.

Like wise, I solder wires to the jumper wire between each point tail and stock rail on the underside providing each switch with three wires, on for each of the outside rail, and a frog wire, which will run to a DPDT switch which will both serve as a ground throw for the switch, and power the frog appropriately . after I solder the wires on I check thith an ohm meter to be sure I havent unsoldered the little wire that conects the stock rail to the point rail on each side. it is a paint to discover that you have done so after the switch has been installed, and you have to either remove the switch to repair it, or make a new jumper wire that will be visible.


The leads to the outside rails will also provide two of the four power leads this railroad is going to get, so once these switches are wired in, I will have 2/3rd of the wiring done for the track on this project.

The wire I am using is some wire from a communications cable I scrounged some where. they are color coded, but it is real subtle. I traditionally use green for frog wires (because frogs are green, it is easy to remember. I'm using the violet wires for the outside rail, and the tan wires for the inside rail. the switches will provide an electrical fead for the outside loop an nearly opposite ends of the layout. I will add two feeds to the inside loop adjacent to the switches as well, so I will have four power feeds in a 4x4 layout. If I need more I can add them later. I have a really long skinny drill bit I have used to install phone lines in my 130 year old house. it will be able to drill through the plywood, and all the way through the foam. I will cut a trench in the bottom of the foam to run the wires around, and when I'm done underneath, I'll cover them up with duct tape so they don't snag on anythin


In my next installment I will wire up the DPDT switches. When I hook them up to the switches, and get them installed I will be able to hook up My NCE power cab with some jumper cables, and have an operational little railroad. I want to clean off my worktable, so I can set the layout on it. that is going to take more time and work than wiring the switches and DPDT ground throws up.

[Doctor G]

Good electrical workmanship. I used DPDT sliding switches on my Sugar Cane mini layout. I found I had to glue some wood pieces in to the foam to be able to secure the switches.

Tom

[Bill Nelson]

When I started this, I have 1/8th inch plywood cut out as a cookie cutter roadbed under the track every where but at the big bridge. at the switches the plywood extends out enough to hold the ground throws.


this may have doubled the weight of the layout, but I like having the track on something solid, and that is a challenge when the layout is 80% foam.

Nelson

[Bill Nelson]

I have two ground throws wired up. My local radio shack has not been carrying the little DPDT switches I have used for 35 years, so I am using some SPDT switches from a local electronics store The trow on these smaller switches is a little too short to be ideal in HO, but works ok in HOn3.


The center green wire goes to the frog. the other two wires go to the outside and inside rails. note I have some heatshrink over the frog wire's terminal, to lessen the chance of a short since the other two wires are not adjacent to each other the possibility of a short there is much more remote.

I have used a tiny drill to drill a hole throgh the switches slide handle, and I will fit a small phosphor bronze wire into that hole that will got to the switch, with a little z bent into it that will allow some springiness, and also allow siome adjustment If it isn't perfect the first time.


Bill

[Bill Nelson]

duplicate post deleted

[Bill Nelson]

Last weekend I hooked up some wires to the layout. I had cut a trench in the bottom of the foam layout and put two wires , each made from two smaller phone wires that were twisted together and soldered at the ends so they would cary more current.

I extended the wires from the stock rails of the switches, and ran them through the foam. after some thought as to how to make that happen, I duct taped the wire to a bamboo skewer, made for shisk-kabobs, poked the skewer through the foam, and used a pair of vise grips to pull the skewer, and the trailing wire through the foam. I also stuck extensions of the two wires across the bottom of the layout through the side of the foam layout, and that gives me a place to hook up a power pack or my NCE power cab DCC system


I have also cut some square pads for the spdt switches, with a center cut out, and have them installed to the sub roadbed extensions left for that purpose next to the switches so I can hook up power and run a train.


sadly the inside circle is too steep for my Blackstone C-19 to pull a long combine up, but I can cut between the plywood and the foam and change the grade if I want to, the outside circle is,t that steep, so that locomotive is ok going counter clock wise around the layout.

[Doctor G]

You are getting there. Hope the grade change works out real well.

Tom

[Bill Nelson]

Here are some more photos

in one photo you can see where a chunk of scenery was cut out to get access to the switch wiring, that scenery came out in one piece, so I can plug it right back up to cover the wires.


I also included a photo of the skewer used to get wires through the foam. all the wires in the trench have been covered up with duct tape, so they won't hang put and get snagged on things when the layout is moved.


Next thing to do is to hook yo the phosphor bronze linkage from the ground throws to the SPDT switches, and add the track between the two switches ( with gaps in the rails off the frogs, so I won't have a dead short).



If I decide to alter the grade on the inside loop it should be relatively easy to cut the plywood off the foam, there is plenty clearance under the trestle, so If I wanted to I could raise the lowest level of the track some. whatever I do I can try propping up the track with foam wedges, and test it befor I gle stuff back in place and start to repair the scenery.

[Bill Nelson]

I have the switches hooked up, sadly I damaged the throw bar on one. I have attempted a repair, and that repair may need some modifications later. if that isn't satisfactory I may need to scratch build some points for the switch, or replace it entirely. But I got the circle enclosed, so I only have the outside passing track to put down, if the switch repair works.


earlier I had made a kraft paper template for the shape I wanted for the first part of the removable center scenery plug. So far this is just cut at 90 degree angles, but I will shape it considerably, I figure it will get another one or two rock spires like the ones to either side of the track on one side of the trestle.


this project is continuing to be fun. Once I have a train running in a circle, I may check to see what I can do to modify the grade on the inside circle so my C-19 can handle it with a passenger car. I'm thinking of putting a Tsunami Decoder in my Westside C-16, which weighs a lot more, and pulls stronger, then I could get double headed sound, and pull a sizable train

[gbwdude]

Very neat Bill, this already looks nifty.

Tyler

[Bill Nelson]

I dusted this off, and set it up to work on the passing siding. I still need to wire in the last section of track the switches are wired with separate powered frogs, so the inside rails past the frog need to be jumpered from somewhere. since most of my HOn3 locomotives are DC, I will probably jumper the rails off of the frog wires, so DC locomotives can be parked on the passing sidings . The last time I had this out, the Blackstone C-19 couldn't pull the combine up the inside hill, but it did so easily today.

[Doctor G]

Bill,

The "mini" is coming along nicely. I am glad the lokie could pull the grade.

Are you headin' for a Christmas finish????

I like that you can put your Christmas tree in the center......cool.

Tom

[Bill Nelson]

I'd like to have it operable by Christmas, finished would be a different mater completely.

[Bill Nelson]

I got the hole in the layout cut out for the Christmas tree stand, still need to add wires to the switch rails past the frog, and tie them into the frog wires, so the circle will be powered all the way round.