Saturday 7th December saw eight members of our group meet at St Thomas Hall, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Caterham for our winter meeting.
Continue reading Winter Module Meeting 2019
Tag Archives: Brian Daly
Spring Module Meeting 2018
Following a chat among module owners in October last year, one of the comments made was that we don’t have any module meetings other than at exhibitions and sometimes it’d be nice to just play trains. So we came to an agreement with the Seaboard Southern club, as their secretary is also a member, to rent their club room a few times a year.
Seaboard Southern Annual Exhibition 2017
On Saturday 30th September, the members of the Surrey & Sussex Black Sheep set up their largest modular layout to date, some 66′ or 20m around four sides of a room at the annual Seaboard Southern exhibition.
Seaboard Southern Annual Exhibition 2016
Saturday saw six module owners and three additional engine drivers arrive at the annual Seaboard Southern exhibition to which we’d been invited. By the skin of our teeth, due to some gremlins, we had erected and tested more than 60′ of modules, our longest layout to date.
Operating was on a warrant basis, with two in operation, one each way between the fiddle yards and the central passing module. There were also sidings to shunt in each direction, adding to the operational interest. With a crew of eight, we were split into teams of four and operated an hour on with an hour’s rest. That made the day go very quickly.
Striking down was a lot quicker, with everything boxed up and ready to load within 45 minutes of closing time. Lots of things were learned, experiences gained, which means that the next outing will be even better than this.
Modular narrow gauge railway modelling is some much more fun than having a single layout, not least because it doesn’t have to be the same each time. It’s also great to be able to exhibit works in progress, so long as they are making progress.
We’re waiting for confirmation of the date for this event next year, when we’ll hopefully be doing it all again, bigger and better.
Making legs in bulk using a jig
Today’s activity was legs. Following a straw poll in our Facebook Group, we received orders for 26 legs. Module specifications dictate that individual modules should be freestanding, so each member should have one more set of legs than they have modules.
76 metres of 3″ x 1″ planed softwood was purchased at the local timber merchants, cut into kits of parts, chamfered and assembled using a purpose built jig. Ordering and making in bulk like this enables good savings to be made, and passed on to members of the group.
Seaboard Southern Annual Exhibition 2015
Well, that event‘s been and gone. Thankfully, it appears to have been a huge success. Here’s what was learned on the day:
- It is possible to set up 23′ of modular model railway that’s never been together before in under two hours, including consumption of bacon butty and coffee
- A line token, or warrant, makes control easier for those operators that don’t get the whole single track main line concept
- A Work In Progress is well received in an exhibition environment, if it’s quite apparent what the end result is supposed to be
- It is actually possible to have too many trains, at least for the immediate occasion. One per fiddle yard road plus a spare would have sufficed
- We’re not the only nutters who are inspired, interested or intrigued by this project. At least three people loosely attached to the group have committed and we took enquiries from visitors too
Feedback from the show organisers has been positive too, which might result in a repeat invitation for next year. That’ll mean more modules and more progress on existing modules will be required!
wiring updates for the FremOn30 boards July 2015
Not the most interesting sides to the hobby but one I do enjoy. 3 boards are now mainly finished apart from some point wiring to feed the frogs or cross vee’s.
This is one of the main depot boards. seen in this picture are the 5 point motors and the DCC sub districts. also seen on the right are the two point controllers.
This is the second depot board with the DCC bus lines and point motors fitted
This shows the tree boards that are complete. The board top right is the main fiddle yard board with just 5 plain tracks. I have wired both ends of each track for belt and braces. it will take 2 wires to be disconnected before a track will lose power.
The forth board is awaiting points from the USA, but the guy is ill and I may have to think about only having 3 tracks working for the first show.
To this end I had a play with hand point throws on the baseboard, they will allow me to control the points but the frog will be dead.
The last job i have done is add adjustable feet to the bottom of the legs. this should allow for any uneven floors at shows
Fremon30 boards 3 and 4
Tonight I set up boards 3 and 4. These will have a small depot with a couple of loops and sidings. Trouble is I cannot decide about the track plan.
Which one one do you like
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Fremon30 boards update
This afternoon I worked on the first two boards for the modular layout.
This is is the first board with the gapmasters been glued in place.
what cannot be clearly seen is that all the tracks and clearances are marked on the board.
The centre track in place.
The second track in place. This hasn’t got gap masters at the ends. I will use normal copper clad sleepers.
The third track fitted, that’s one side down. Ply fascia still to add to this board and the next one.
The fourth track is added. The gap between tracks is the maximum loading gauge and is set using a standard on30 loading gauge.
Thats the the fifth and final track added. I have pre drilled holes for each rail 75mm in from each end. This will allow each rail to be connected twice to the DCC bus line fitted to the underneath
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To make the rails straight I used a long spirit level.
The second board was then added and the markings carried across. Gapmasters were added to the centre line track.
The he first point was then added and tracks linked up. The centre track is not fitted, just laid into rough position. I will need to order the three way point and may need to build a short extension board for this all to fit.
A good afternoons work. Hopefully I have enough turnouts and track to do the other 2 modules. I will check this one evening this week.
FremOn30 modular boards
More work done on the FremOn30 modular layout boards.
1 board is complete with side fascia’s
1 board is complete waiting side fascia’s
2 boards end trim to cut and fascia’s to add
One set of end boards is made and one pair of boards are now boxed.
All boards have copper tape added for the DCC bus for track and another DCC bus for accessory’s
Brian Daly
Brian is already well-known for his 0n30 layouts, having exhibited several at many different shows in this country and across Europe.
Brian is one of the driving forces behind the current wave of Frem0n30, at least in Surrey and adjacent counties.
He is currently President of the Rio Florida Logging Company, and our expert of DCC.
You can see some of Brian’s posts from his blog here.