Wardell Station welcomes you

Wardell Station welcomes you
Wardell Station late 1950s

Friday 2 October 2020

Two Yards does not equal Two metres

I completed my first year yard area back in 20151, being the Wardell Goods yard. This second yard will take place in the 3rd phase of the layout covering the "Newtown" end. I have named it Crago n Dairy Yard as the industries as the sidings for the industries will include milk and flour (as per Crago Flour Mill which is located in Newtown but now currently repurposed as apartments and art studio/offices.

Brief summary of the Control Panel

The control Panel for the second yard consists of 5 points crossing over a bridge and includes a Tram point. All points are medium turnouts and are powered by Peco motors.  As per the previous yard I used red and green 3mm LEDS with green meaning the mainline or straight section and red meaning siding or turning. I also used miniature DPDT monetary toggle switches for each turn out. 

Each point motor has 4 wires two to the switch and 2 wires to the Capacity discharge unit. I also used the PL-13 Accessory switch attached to the motor to determine which direction the point is turning on the LEDS. Wiring description is in my previous post 1

Finally I added a Hex frog juicer so that all points will have continuous power especially on the frog. 

Lessons learnt from my previous yard include the following:
  1. When using the point motors with the long shaft I DID NOT cut them(until all testing is working as it should) so if I needed to make an adjustment in moving the point motor placement it will be easier to locate the hole in the turnout.
  2. Instead of soldering on the wires to the motor or toggle switches, I used Phone In crimpled lugs to crimpled to all the wires. This made it easier to remove the wires when testing and making any adjustments.
Above: Point motor and PL-13 Accessory switch with Phone in Crimpled lugs used. 

Challenges faced
Despite the above the following challenges were faced:
  1. I only a 6mm Drill bit for the layout holes where the point motor shaft connects with the point. I should have drilled it using at least an 8mm or 10 mm to ensure that the shaft has sufficient clearance. 
  2. There was difficulty in trying to use the Peco wood screws to screw the point motor adaptor bases in the underside of the layout. I tried to screw under the layout and it was difficult to ensure that the motor was aligned correctly. I had to tweak a couple of times to ensure that the shaft was free for movement. 
  3. As a result of 2) there two points that I had to ditch the mounting plate adaptor and chisel out a bigger hole and directly attach the point motor to the point. As per below.  

 Finished Product
Attached video shows how the toggle switches work

Overview of Yard