Driving Me Loopy - A Shunting Layout

[@jackiehankin3859]

Looks great I'm just in the process of building a first radius curves layout (all my stock bar2 are old horn by etc but still run fine on my test circle) its an enjoyable hobby kept me going as I'm housebound disabled but I love my trains regards mike

[@markcooper2641]

Brilliant loads of fun cant wait to build mine

[@segundaaguada]

Very interesting one. Thanks for sharing!

[@dirks.4172]

Very nice, Geoffrey. Have you thought about an alternative concerning the coupling ? Dingham may be a good choice. It couples up quite smooth (no spring) and it offers delayed uncoupling as well. If you use coils instead of magnets there is no need for this hectic back and forth for uncoupling. As you use DCC add a capacitor to the decoder, you will not have any problems with the loco stalling any more then. Enjoy shunting ! Best wishes Dirk

[@dad1ipms]

Call it lazy, but both the club & myself have layouts using Kadees and for simplicity off the shelf components were the order of the day. Now too far down the line to change, but Kadees do need specific fettling to work well on each individual layout. Part of that individual fettling is because any change of track standard, or moving from above sleeper magnets to hidden beneath will totally alter the required trip tail height setting.

[@dibsyardshuntinglayout]

I use rod in tube point control and it works well, so I thoroughly recommend it. The rod end is bent 90 degrees and poked onto a hole filled into the knobs of 2 way slide switches which control the frog polarity. I get motion and frog polarity change in one simple movement. I got the idea from Luke's Scale Modelling.

[@dad1ipms]

I like my control knobs to be part of the scenery and not protruding from the front as some have. Previously I've used home crafted mechanical polarity switches and as you say everything is done from simply changing the point. On this one moving the vehicles back & forth does it all ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3iWdKJ8o82lg80

[@dibsyardshuntinglayout]

Nice track design. It looks like it provides hours of "funting" (fun shunting).

[@guylewis3982]

Hello Geoffrey, I am enjoying watching the shunting layout seen in operation. Please could you tell me the size of the boards the displays is on? Thank you

[@mattlestat2703]

Not having owned a train set before. Are the turnouts to make that track 2 lh and 2 right hand?

[@dad1ipms]

Yes, each crossover is made from a matching pair.

[@bobsmodelrailways]

Hi Geoff. What controller are you using? You’re giving it quite some hard working there. Will it stand the test of time?

[@dad1ipms]

Hi Bob The one in this video is a Digitrax Zephyr, and yes it's taking some stick using just a swinging direction lever that takes you from a pre-set forward drive, through brake on, to reverse. It was rather rushed and therefore clumsy, nice slow changes of direction would have been much softer, less clumsy and looked better, but that's for later !! I will admit to using Hornby Selects on shunting layouts, where again I set a slow speed and just press the direction change buttons. Currently a Gaugemaster Prodigy is being used on the Clubs 'Green Frog Brewery' in a similar manner set at a slow speed and just press direction change buttons. Certainly I'd go with anyone who says it's clumsy driving, but to video my Peckett W4 working on HS-2 would take SO much longer, but I do drive that slowly and smoothly watching and listening to the Kadees operation. Mine are well set, but never 100% !! Perhaps I'm just an impatient modeller ?

[@dibley1973]

Maybe consider some extra weight in the wagons. I use stick-on 5g or 10g alloy wheel weights on some of my wwgons. It helps on some tricky points. Mckinley Railway have a formula they use for weight vs wagon length. I'm not that anal though. I just add a bit more.

[@dad1ipms]

I'm not a believer in adding wagon weight unless absolutely necessary, and that is more often found during use. Wagons down to 10 grams could usually benefit from some ballast, particularly if using fine scale wheels, or even Dapol with their small flanges. I currently have a Cambrian wagon of under 12 grams that stays on 1st radius curves while pulling 20 behind it. That is due to using Hornby wheels with their much deeper flanges. Certainly IF you decide it's needed, stick on auto wheel balance weights are an ideal solution, not as compact as they used to be before lead was outlawed - I worked in the tyre trade as far back as the late 1950's, all my old stock long gone !! See the light wagon taking the strain - kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYiYqKWIfNp2hrM