Monk Subdivision: Lazy Signals for Dumb People

I wanted signals on the Monk Subdivision because they always appears on 1960s and 1970s pictures, but the truth is that adding the detectors to get a true railway logic according to Canadian standards is both a costly endeavour and a descent into madness. If you aren’t an electronic wiz, a programming enthusiast or haven’t that level of very specific autistic obsession with such intricate intellectual challenges, let’s just say it’s not for you.

Add to that the Monk Subdivision slice I depict is just one station, so not enough place to really implement full signalling over many blocks. It wouldn’t add that much of a layer of entertainment. Thus, I thought I should just wire the signals to be coupled with turnout positions. Simple, vaguely prototypical, and at least useful when operating trains because you get an obvious visual indication about what’s going on with the siding.

My approach to my dumb signals is to wire them all on a tortoise switch machine. They have two built-in switches, one will control the turnout frog polarity and the other one the signals. And here is the catch. I need to wire up to 4 signals to that single switch. Sounds crazy, but it is in fact relatively simple and very different to how I wired some on my stuff on the late Vince Valley layout (now demolished to provide free building materials to finish Monk.

I've read a little bit about Canadian signals and decided to replicate a few of their aspects that suits my needs the best. My objective are simple, I won't model occupation but route. It means that a diverging turnout or one aligned on the main line will change aspects. Not prototypical, but not completely nonsense either. As long as signals help you understand where you are moving, I'm fine. Anyway, Monk still used some TT & TO with their signals, and it wasn't a full CTC or ABS system. Just some hybrid thing to automate sidings a little bit.

Dumb signals schematics

Let's say a train is travelling from West to East (Staging to Armagh), if the route is aligned on the mainline, the restricted signal 2 will show green on red meaning to go full speed ahead and continue on the mainline... At the turnout, the signal will also show green on red. In the opposite direction, signal 4 will be also green on red. If occupation and direction of travel was taken into account, it wouldn't be necessary the case. Dwarf signal 5 is red since any train in that siding should wait the turnout is properly aligned to proceed.

Let's say we move in the same direction, but the turnout is set on the diverging route to take the siding. The staggered signal 2 show us red on yellow, meaning the main line is not accessible, but the siding is. Since yellow means to slow down the speed since we take the diverging route, we also get, in advance, an indication of things to come and to start reducing speed. Signal 3 is also red on yellow for the same logical reasons. Signal 4 is red on red because a train on the mainline can't move and must stop there.

If you travel from East to West, things are rather simple. Signals 4 and 5 will display green or red depending if the turnout is properly aligned with your respective track. Signal one is the less prototypical, but it serves a purpose of telling you if you are continuing on the mainline at full speed or if you are entering the staging area an must slow down. Occupancy will probably be done through optic sensors and a track diagram with LEDs... or simply a small camera in the staging room with a screen in the layout room.

I won't stress enough my system is dumb and really simple to implement. Better, it animates the signals, giving them an realistic aesthetic while providing useful information for an operator. Most derailments on model railroads are caused by misaligned turnouts. Looking at LEDs on a fascia isn't always practical, intuitive or interesting because it breaks the suspension of disbelief. Having the signals giving you that precious information is both more realistic, but also visually compelling to the point the route ahead is clear to understand at a glance. As long as the signals have a "real" purpose, they are "prototypical" in my eyes. I can understand if purists will be horrified at these shortcuts, but they make it possible to have working signals on a realistic budget and with bulletproof logic to it. It's simple and at the level I can do myself with some wire, a DPDT and my trusty soldering iron.

Also, it must be noted that with a DPDT on each specific signals, it could be possible to give them a different aspect, but that would need some little thinkering.

Some Work on Monk Subdivision

It was time that things start to move. As things stand, I had the choice to continue working on various diorama projects that clutter my space and will be dead on arrival when its time to run trains, or simply put these same exact efforts on Monk instead. I could wait for the room to be perfectly ready, but it won’t happens soon and it doesn’t means I can’t progress elsewhere.

The real river makes a sharp bend which is perfect for a layout

 Sure, the Armagh section is currently dismantled and need rebuilding after the water pipes will be moved around, but the Langlois Station and Abenakis bridge areas are perfectly suitable for building, track laying, wiring and scenery. I thought to myself, well, better put some work there and get somewhere than wait and get crushed by the need to build everything at once.

The river bed is defined with old cork salvaged from Vince Valley

Using salvaged cork and cardboard boxes, I’ve started to build the scenery by the bridge. Nothing fancy, but general shapes to give an idea about what it will look like. The river shores are defined by old piece of cork that have been in rough shape. This is perfect to replicate eroded terrain.

Cardboard is intuitive and easy to work with... and forgiving

Then I decided to work on was the bridge backdrop. It needed to be put back in place since I transformed the swing gate last year. Some cutting was required, but it’s now back in place. The backdrop is also getting repaired in the room corner. It used to be a sweeping curve made of MDF, but it took too much space, and the geometry was awkward because of the two tracks form staging. I decided to use a wooden cornice molding glued in the corner to merge two pieces of MDF. It was a trick once published in MRR a few years ago. I really like how neat it now looks. I recall James Hilton once told me about how very small coving could have a really big impact. I agree! Can’t wait to finish, prime and paint the backdrop again!

It doesn't take a lot to alright give a sense of the place

Later, I placed the bridge back in place and put a locomotive on it. I must say Mission accomplished. That’s exactly that look I was after and I know the spot has a lot of potential to become one of my favourite.

Not too shaby, but a trio of Big Alcos would be even better

I have yet to figure out a few things about DC and DCC operations, but that will be in the future. I’m seriously thinking about simplifying greatly my staging schemes and removing the crossover. Simplicity and reliability seems to be more important than a reversing capability that could lead to potential issues.

 

Vince Valley - Wiring

I’ve been refraining from posting this article for about a month now. It was already written, ready to publish and then disaster struck in the for of MTB turnout motors, or should I say 2” thick foam roadbed. I’m not a fan of wiring because my brain isn’t wired for that kind of work. Yet, I wanted to try it out.  Give it a chance, at least do it once in my lifetime and call it done, case checked, been there done that. However, while everything went relatively smoothly, I didn’t expect foam to throw a wrench at my efforts.

Slicing the roadbed and cutting a mounting hole

Any switch motor will struggle to move points if mounted under more than a 1” thick sub roadbed. At 2”, forget it. You will need linkages in a way of another. Alright if you planned for that, but a really catastrophe if you didn’t like me. It wasn’t in my plan and dealing with rods and links wasn’t something I wanted for that layout supposed to be fun an easy. I try a tortoise, a MP4 and a bullfrog. They all relatively failed at the task and only one solution remained: cut a hole in the 1/4 “ plywood then carve out some foam to reduce thickness to 1”.

Wooden saddles

My idea was to build a wooden saddle that could be inserted under the roadbed. Under normal circumstances, just gluing a piece of plywood under the foam would have been enough to fix the motor, but since I was using foam splines, they were warping and flimsy when carved out. The saddle was required.

Wooden saddles secured in place

Fortunately, after making a jig and using my oscillating saw, I was able the cut the foam in a reliable and quite precise way. Everything was secured with a generous amount of caulk. Installing the turnout motors was fairly easy and everything is working fine at this point.

MP4 motor in place. I later enlarged the holes to make wiring easier.

However, it just confirms my hatred toward foam as a structural material. Let’s be honest for a minute. This building material is full of dimensional discrepancies caused by manufacturing. Add to that its natural tendency to warp, sag and contract with age due to degassing, it’s inherent inflammable nature as recently seen with Ken Patterson’s layout fire and the unnecessary complications it creates with turnout controls. I see little redeeming qualities remaining to outset these things. For good reasons, I’m phasing out that material from my modelling life, except for very niche uses where it performs as intended. The scenery and landforms will be crafted in cardboard, paper and other more traditional materials. That is deeply informing my choices for the future Monk Subdivision.

I want to credit Jonathan Jones for not having dropped the towel at wiring. He posted an interesting article about his wiring efforts a month ago and it convinced me to soldier on and move forward. I was quite near to trash the project altogether. But back with more positive things about wiring because not everything is dark and gloomy, on the contrary.

Up until now, I only wired layout by running bus wires and attaching feeders to each piece of rail. All that was connected to a DPDT switch which selected either DC or DCC power. Nothing more, nothing else and it worked. Turnouts were controlled manually with Bullfrog rods by Fast Tracks. Simple and elegant for modules. But this time, I wanted to experiment something I had never done with fancy panels, metal switches, display LEDs and electric turnouts. I even went as far as break the layout into 3 blocks for DC operation.

The lesson learned is that just adding a few gizmo makes the number of wires quadruple if not more. Not being the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to wiring, I decided to do it by baby steps. I have drawn diagrams to understand what I needed and built the parts I was the most confident first, starting with feeding power to the track, preparing the LED, installing the switches. I could easily lose track of all that mess if I was trying to do everything at once. In that regard, the UK YouTube channel Horsehay Railway Modeller provided a lot of inspiration. The way he twist wires together to create manageable cables that you can run neatly and trouble shoot in case of defect really made my life much easier.

At this point, I'm about 1/3 done. Turnouts motors still need to be installed and wired, and I have to create the auxiliary power system that will feed the LEDs indicators. Also, having built two control panels, one for each side of the layout, I will need to add another NCE Power Cab Panel to the yard. I'm already regretting not having made my secondary panel larger with DC and DCC plugs. Live and learn I guess! I decided to print another version of that panel to take that into account and to revise the track layout of the yard since turnout location was modified from my original plan when I laid track.

Vince Valley - Budget-Friendly Professional Control Panels

A few weeks ago, I started working on wiring for the small layout. I see it as a practice run before working on the more complicated Monk Subdivision. At face value, none of that work is required for the layout. I could have just installed a switch to select between DC power and DCC. But I wanted to try to create zone, control turnouts at distance and install a few fancy LEDs here and there with a neat track diagram.

 

My initial thought was to print a diagram and sandwich it between a 1/8” MDF board and a plexiglass sheet. I design the diagram with Adobe Illustrator using the real metal lever switches dimensions to make sure everything fit the board. Once printed, I built the panel base using a wood frame and a MDF panel. So far, so good. Then, I cut the plexiglass sheet to dimension on the table saw. I wasn’t that happy with the rugged borders, but some careful sanding took care of it.

 

It was just a matter of drilling the holes on the plexi. Something that I would say easy… until after maybe 15 holes, the sheet snapped and was ruined. It wasn’t the first time I experienced this. I was about to cut a new sheet when I checked it the MDF + Plexi assembly was thin enough to accept micro switches and it wasn’t! All that work was for nothing.

 

I explored my options. One was to simply paint or stick the diagram directly on the MDF board and not use plexi. I may use a plastic laminated paper sheet so it would survive abuse. Another idea was to print it on a self-adhesive vinyl sheet. I kind of liked the idea but the cost was starting to be high.

 

Then, I thought about using material such as the ones used by engravers and sign makers. A neat Gravoply diagram with predrilled holes would be perfect. I contacted a local engraver and he had many options ranging from $40 to $120. One made of printed plastic, another with Gravoply and finally, a more professional one make of engraved aluminium. The prices were alright for what I would get, but I discovered Staples was offering sign printing on their online print shop. One material, Dibond, was offered. It’s a sturdy 1/8” plastic core sandwiched between two 0.04” aluminium sheets. Quite sturdy, durable and dimensionally stable. For about $45, I could get two control panels printed on one 12” x 18” sheet. Sure, the diagram would be printed, thus less durable than engraving, but given this is just a test for a small layout, I felt it was alright.

 

Cutting Dibond is similar to styrene

After a few days, I picked up my panels at my local store. I was really impressed by the results. Quite sturdy indeed. Also, it can be cut to size with a cutter. After a few passes through the aluminium sheet and in the plastic core, it’s just a matter of score and snap. The material isn’t brittle, so the cuts are quite clean. You only need to file down the aluminium sheet edges to remove the burrs.

 

You get clean edges using the score and snap method

Drilling is also easy. Just use a slow speed to not melt the material. I had good results with various size of drill bits. Punching a pre-drill hole do help too. The plastic core is relatively “soft” and hold screws very well.

 

Installing the switches was easier than expected. I made sure to not scratch the printed surface with the hex washers. The NCE Power Cab Panel was dropped and screwed in place with small screws I blackened with bluing gun.

 

Half assembled panel with switches and LED holders

Honestly, I really like the professional look and sturdiness of this panel. I have taken care to protect the printed surface when I’m working on it, but it should be alright under normal circumstances. Sure, I wouldn’t recommend printed Dibond for intense use (club layout), but for my need it’s perfect. Keep in mind that at the end of the day, it cost me less than purchasing a sheet of plexiglass at the hardware store and my diagram was professionally printed on it. If you want a DIY budget alternative, I think printed Dibond signs are much better than the traditional approach. Plexi and/or charting tapes are, in many cases, a pure waste of time, money and energy.

Autosol - Make Your Wheels Shine

I have a friend who loves to refurbish and repair old bikes and other stuff. He often use a polishing compound called Autosol with is generally used to clean tarnished metals such as chrome, brass and others. It’s easy to use, the results are almost instantaneous and you only need and old rag.

 

Yesterday, I decided to file down the old counterweight on my Mantua 4-6-0 drivers. They are to modern and they had to partially go before I could apply new ones. When everything was removed, I look at the wheel threads which had been cleaned with SuperClean in my ultrasonic bath and thought it wasn’t looking good. Still a lot of tarnish, excessive wear, discoloration and, on the blind drivers, a serious amount of nickel plating having flaked off. Suffice to say this model had quite the good life back in the days.

 

Autosol is a polishing compound found in the aut parts department

Often online, you see people restoring old wheels using destructive or inefficient methods. They start with solvent, use Brite Boy, brass wire polishing wheels, sandpaper and all kind of unproductive techniques that make a mess and yield mixed results. What if I could simply put some Autosol on a rag, wipe and polish the metal wheels until all the oxidation and micro abrasion was gone.

 

Left wheel polished with Autosol, right one altered, scratches and missing plating

Sure I did and it worked much better than I thought. Very little product was used. The nickel plating started to shine bright again and the pitted spots disappeared. Even the blind drivers started to look more than decent. I decided to continue on the backside to polish the surface where I intend to had some pickups in the future. Once again, it worked perfectly. Then, I moved on the axles themselves and made them shine so they would turn freely in the brass bearings.

 

Brand new like the day the left the factory

Honestly, it was fast, safe and yielded excellent results. My fear is the wheels may be too shiny which could reduce traction. However, for any other use like car wheels, it’s impressive. I’m surprised to have never heard about that product used in model railroading. I will see if it impact traction, but otherwise, I see a bright (pun intended) future in this method to restore old wheels.

It must be noted that being a polishing compound, you need to clean thorougly the wheels after you have finish your job because it leaves an oily residue. In my case, I dropped the driver into the ultrasoni bath with isopropyl alcohol to remove all the residue that could have been left on the wheels. So Autosol is excellent but in these cases when you dismantle or restore a locomotive.