Really Simple Block Wiring

If there's one thing I struggle with greatly in this hobby, it is wiring. No sooner does the soldering iron come out than my wife invariably grabs the car keys and head to the shops, and I generally find myself quitting the hobby 14 times within the next hour! So this post isn't designed to enlighten the minds of the DCC savvy circuit breaking, record making masters of electrical wizardry. It is purely for the simple DC modellers, like myself, who struggle when it comes to the thought of which wire goes where and would like to master the basic concept of creating an isolated block of track that is controlled by a simple switch. Because, let's be honest, we all have to start somewhere before we stretch our imaginations to the next level.

As you can see by the above diagram that I drew up on a piece of paper, all I wanted to do was create an small set of isolated blocks of track on my staging shelf, that by means of throwing a simple switch would cut the power to one locomotive at a time. I could then throw a switch to the other track to make that track live and bring a different locomotive into view on my bookshelf layout. The problem was, whenever I Googled anything like DC block wiring for a model railroad, the result was a series of diagrams popping up on my screen that resembled the wiring schematics of a Collins Class submarine. Thankfully, model railway wiring and I have reached a peaceful truce. I call it the KISS treaty, short for keep it simple stupid. So this little project had a simple outcome, that simply works.

Visiting my local Jaycar Electronics store, I purchased 5 toggle switches with the simple on/off lever frame, making sure that they were the version that had the on/off marked boldly in red and black. Not only do they look better in my opinion, but eliminating which way was on from which way was off made it a lot easier for me to understand what I was doing. These switches are known as SPST, or single pole single throw switches, and a good run down explaining the differences between SPST, SPDT and DPDT can be found on the website Sparkfun.

The single throw switch simply acts as a current break for the positive wire that feeds from the control pack to the rail. The block of track that will be isolated is of course defined from where you use a plastic insulator join (or carefully cut gap in the track) as shown in the above drawing, or between two insulated breaks in the rail if creating a block section on a continuous stretch of track. The negative wire is then connected to the negative rail, bypassing the toggle switch altogether. On is on, off is off, and a better explanation of how it works can be found on the website Learning About Electronics. The term common rail wiring simply means that the negative wire power feed is already connected to the negative rail (providing a common rail and negative grounding). So wiring a toggle switch using common rail wiring will only require the positive wire feed into the toggle switch and a positive wire out of the toggle switch to the positive rail. I still connected the negative wire to each section I was wanting to isolate simply because of the joins on each track where my staging shelf connected with my layout.

Mounting the toggle switches at the front of my staging shelf kept each one within easy reach.

Looking at my layout I wanted to create five isolated blocks of track. Two for each siding on the layout, two for each siding on the staging shelf and 1 for the main platform road at the station. So to keep the toggle switches reachable from a single operator's point-of-view, I drilled 5 holes centered at the front of the staging shelf, wide enough for the body of each toggle switch to sit flush with the surface.

Underneath the layout, the positive wires went in at one end of the switch and out on the other to the track above.

The wires to each switch are connected from underneath my layout. As you can see in the above photo, the single positive (red) wire has a join that connects with 2 wires that lead to the positive 'in' on both toggle switches. Each switch then has a positive 'out' wire that leads through the holes drilled to the left of picture to the two tracks above on my staging shelf. One is joined the positive rail on track A, the other is joined to the positive rail on track B. On the other hand, the negative (yellow) wire has a join that connects with 2 wires that bypass the toggle switches altogether, they lead directly through the holes drilled to the left of picture to the negative rail on track A and the negative rail on track B. It doesn't matter which negative wire connects with which negative rail above, as they both join beneath the layout and become the same wire below that feeds back to the control pack.

These simple on/off switches will control each block of track I wish to isolate.

The toggle switches I purchased from Jaycar are positioned in place from underneath the layout and secured above by a screw-on washer that tensions down on the face plate. The 9 mm plywood base on my staging shelf proved too thick however for the small clearance on the thread between the washer and face plate, so I had to make a backing plate using some scrap 3 mm MDF board. I then covered the MDF board using some leftover adhesive vinyl wrap, keeping with the same steel checker-plate pattern that I used on the back panels of my layout. I glued the backing plate in place using some craft glue and then tensioned the washers on the toggle switches until the whole assembly was held firmly in position.

Mounting the switches neatly didn't detract from the overall appearance of my layout's staging shelf.

The finished panel looks stylish, but is really, really simple. The simple switches provide simple operation on a simple block wiring section of staging tracks.

While I am still no expert at model railway wiring, sitting down to write a how-to article such as this really makes the lessons I've learned stick. For those that argue that DC control should be referred to as Dinosaur Control in this digital age of model railroading, this simple block wiring technique has stood the test of time in this hobby. With Philden now wired and ready to handle the coming-and-going of two different trains on an up-and-back layout, I feel a lot more confident that this simple project will add a lot more visual operating fun to a small layout such as mine. Now all I have to do is send in my exhibition applications and see how my new layout handles some model railway show appearances this year.

See also; Let's wire this up

A Merry Philden Christmas

A year can be a long time in model railroading. Not only can you accomplish so much if you put your mind to it, but away from the edge of your model railway layout, a lot can change in your personal circumstances whether you like it or not. But for whatever our hard luck story is when it comes to the size of layout we'd like to have, or which latest locomotive we'd like to add to our collection but can't afford, Christmas is a time to reflect on those less fortunate than us, the bigger picture in life and remind ourselves of just how lucky we are as grown individuals to be able to enjoy more than the proverbial toy train set under the Christmas tree!

This Christmas, I have been fortunate enough to set up my 'train set' (if you'd like to call it that), above the Christmas tree rather than beneath it! The rush to finish my layout before Christmas Eve came about simply because of wanting to include the lights of Philden Station as a part of Christmas 2016. Trains have been such a comforting factor throughout my life. Over the years, they somehow became a constant, calming influence, whenever the world seemed to be going to the pack. Only a year ago, I had to part with some of my prized locomotives to get through a difficult financial period when the expenses of selling an overseas property met with the strain of starting a small business just when everyone seemed to be closing down for the dreaded Christmas period. Knowing that we would get through offered little comfort when I was bubble-wrapping my model trains to post off to whomever was the winning bidder on eBay. Yet 12 months on, I find myself thinking more about those less fortunate than myself. To many people the world over, a model train would be considered a waste of money. Clothes, clean water or even a cow would be higher on the shopping list of many under-privileged people in poorer countries. So to not only have completed building a bookshelf layout over the course of 2016, but having more than replaced the model trains that I sold 12 months ago makes me feel pretty blessed indeed.

Christmas still has a certain power about it. Even to the non-believer. Taking the time to wish someone a Merry Christmas still brings a smile to a stranger's face. And for those traditional among us, a Christmas tree and a train set still evoke memories of child-like anticipation on Christmas Eve. This Christmas I've come to appreciate it all. Yet it still is important to stop and realise why we celebrate it every year, when the lead-up to the end of the year sometimes takes on proportions of the end of the world! In the rush to get everything done, sometimes we forget that the greatest gift was given to us just over 2,000 years ago, when time was split between B.C. and A.D.. Jesus truly was the light of the world, and as a lifelong model railroader I can think of no better way than honouring the gift that God gave us, than turning on the lights of my model railway and the Christmas tree, and remembering that this season is all about Him.

To everyone that has followed this blog this year, I wish you all the best for this Christmas, and the safest of New Years to follow. May your trains run on time, not derail or have the cat wreak havoc on your layout. May 2017 bring you a new model train, (or two), and even if it doesn't, may God grant your fingers the skill and dexterity to not drop that tiny piece you need to complete your next kit building. If life is shining favourably on you, may you enjoy every moment of it. And if it isn't, know that better days are just around the corner. Storms never last forever. Finally, may you get the opportunity this season to experience the real peace that only Christ can deliver. It was the great teacher himself who said; "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12).

Until I see you down the track next year, have a very Merry Christmas!

Cheers, Phillip

Cement Works Part Five

Finishing the cement plant kit building on my HO scale bookshelf layout required a little bit of good ol' fashioned kit-bashing. Largely because there were a number of minor flaws with the HO scale Faller Old Cement Works kit. Finally, more than a year after I kept coming back to work on this kit building, my cement plant is now finished and standing alongside the rail line.

There were just as many leftover pieces in the Faller old cement works kit as went into the finished structure!

There were several flaws with this kit, which if not addressed would have taken away from the structure's overall appearance. Namely, the small, central upper level extension that overhangs the rail line had a blank provision for what looked like a pouring spout to handle wet cement. Now while I'm not aware of any cement plant that loads wet cement into rail wagons or hoppers, the spout for starters didn't fit. Also, on the left side of the structure, there was a door on the upper level that led to nowhere, with no mention in the instructions of what was supposed to go there. Even the images on the box didn't lend any clues, with the structure only shown from the three other sides!

Once more I hand painted the pieces I used to kit-bash the cement plant receiving dock.

Fortunately, there were enough left-over pieces from the kit for me to fashion something from. My best thoughts are that this kit shared generic sprue pieces from other Faller kits, and it was simply cheaper to share the manufactured sprues between models without any care for the wasted leftovers. Now I've been in the hobby long enough to know one thing, and that it is you never throw leftovers away. They always come in handy for something down the track.

In this case, I decided to kit-bash a wagon height receiving dock, complete with a staircase leading up to the dubious door to nowhere. Using a leftover stairwell (that was much shorter than what was needed), I glued on some angled handrails (that were also leftovers), and cut a small piece of plastic to act as the landing at the top of the stairs before painting them with a silver paint pen. As the stairs were not long enough to reach ground level, I used a leftover section of what looked like wall paneling to act as the rail dock platform, and painted this using different shades of brown acrylics to resemble timber. The dock is then held up with pylons of what looked like log dividers that were supposed to go with the sand holding bins which I didn't end up modelling beside my structure. I painted these using oil paints to resemble green treated copper logs, as though the receiving dock had recently been re-stumped. Finally, I cut down some leftover sections of ladder that would provide two access points to ground level, and painted these with visible white handles at the top.

Kit-bashing the steps and receiving dock solved the problem of the door to nowhere.

So far, so good. The dubious second level door that you can see on the structure above now looked like it was there for a reason! As for the pouring spout, I boarded it over using a small piece of nailed on planking that was also left-over in the kit. So if no cement is going out, it stands to reason that I then had to make my cement plant look like it received loads of dry cement mix instead, to be mixed on-site and loaded into trucks that would then deliver the wet concrete to local building sites.

By this stage, I had long decided to abandon the idea of using the 3 stall holding bin that was supposed to stand beside the plant. I had constructed it in my Cement Works Part Four post, but the end result just looked cheap, plastic and well.... just plain awful! Instead, I went ahead and scratchbuilt the abandoned siding and concrete loading apron that you now see beside the cement works. I'm sure you'll agree it looks much better!

The receiving hoses were made out of old speaker wire, spliced in two, painted and glued into place.

From this point on, I've got to be honest. I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to receiving train loads of cement hoppers, other than it involves discharging the cement mix from the myriad of valves and piping that reside underneath the models of the NPRY/NPRF cement hoppers that I purchased from Southern Rail Models. So for that, I painted a circular piece of something-or-other that was still attached to the sprue sheet with the silver paint pen. I next glued a short section of spliced two-way speaker wire into the round hole, (painting one strip of the speaker wire with a black marker pen for a bit of visual variety) before gluing it into position beside the track to resemble a messily-unwound hose that supposedly connects the something-or-other to the underneath of the incoming cement hoppers.

Adding a danger sign gave the model a more serious look.

I kit-bashed two of these, and spaced them evenly where two of the NPRF/NPRY hoppers could be set out beside the structure. I next added another leftover section of painted silver down-piping, (that I simply couldn't get to fit where the instructions said it went), and glued it instead to the overhanging upper level office extension where it runs down along the kit-bashed receiving dock to ground level. What it does I don't know. But with a printed "DANGER" sign added above the pipe, it gives the model a little bit of interest.

The cement plant was then glued into place and the scenery blended to the edge of the structure.

Being a plastic kit, the structure lit up like a roman candle when I tried to add interior lighting to the building. So I simply pulled the lights back out and glued the structure in place beside the rail line as there is no need for the building to be removable. Next, I added some LED light posts to either side of the structure so that they would light up the stairwells leading to the upper level, and blended scenery to the edge of the structure using the same scenery methods I've already outlined on my construction page.

Finally, a cement plant that I was happy to see finished!

Finally I stood back, dimmed the lights and admired the finished structure. By night light, the building takes on a realistic industrial appearance, as though the plant is awaiting the next load of cement hoppers to be delivered before the workers arrive first thing in the morning. Finally, I added a few more tufts of grass between the sleepers (that's railroad ties for the good ole boys from the US), to give the siding a more sleepy feel.

The concrete loading pad will handle both loads in and loads out for operational purposes.

The concrete loading apron with the abandoned rails protruding from the concrete beside the cement plant, has the light posts spaced out enough for the forklift driver to have access to load the louvered vans and soon-to-arrive steel wagons that will be needed for the steel-reinforced concrete spans the boys are working on just beyond the layout edge.

Pressed hard to the edge of my layout, my cement plant reaches right to the layout's ceiling.

Building this structure was a slow process that I spaced out over the course of 12 months, largely because of the dubious door to nowhere that almost had me beat when it came to finding a solution. Thankfully my perseverance paid off. While not pretending that this is an actual portrayal of a working cement works, it looks 'railroady' enough to provide me with some realistic operating fun on a small bookshelf layout. By placing the structure at the end of the layout, the building doesn't really obscure the view of the trains from the public, and with the backdrop being reversible, you can see from the above photos that I have the added benefit of viewing the cement plant from both sides of the track when I want to.

Having now figured out the lighting dilemmas that previously hindered me completing this layout to my own satisfaction, this past week I have also skipped ahead and replaced the lighting at Philden's railway station. The cement plant and the lighting were the two final projects I had needed to do in order to say that stage one of my layout is now effectively complete! As the year draws to a close, I've actually surprised myself with how much modeling I've managed to fit in before Christmas. Not only have I completed my bookshelf layout before the end of the year, but in the month of December I've also spent a day at the cricket, taken my family to a Brisbane Bullets basketball game and been treated to a night out with my daughter to see Keith Urban in concert as an early Christmas gift. Life just seems so good right now!

Later this week, I'll post a final photo for the year with our Christmas tree set up in front of my bookshelf layout. But as usual, I'll let that be a story for another day.

See also: Building an abandoned siding or Cement Works Part Four and Cement Works Part Three and Cement Works Part Two and Cement Works Part One