Arise Burton Phoenix – 2013

12/05/2013

Burton Phoenix uses the Upper Station and small scenery sections of the original Burton Crumpnold layout.
All that was missing is a track section to run into. To add usability I decoded to make a ‘Fiddle Yard’ comprising a number of sidings to run trains to and from. The following photograph shows the ‘bare’ fiddle yard attached to the scenery board.

Burton Pheonix - Fiddle yard board

30/05/2013
Work has been continuing on the Burton Phoenix where I have finalised the track positions of the fiddle yard and fitted the point motors, rescued from Burton Crumpnold.

Next comes the wiring, which is the major task needed for the is layout, as I have to adapt the wiring loom for the old station board to work with a new plug/socket fitted to the board. In addition I need a simple way to connect the other 2 boards to a new control panel. The current schematic for Burton Phoenix is shown below, showing the power section ‘cab control’ control over the 3 boards.

Burton Pheonix Control - Power

27/10/2013
I have wired up all the boards for Burton Phoenix. All the track sections and point motors are wired and ready to be connected to the power and control ‘circuits’ using 25way DSub connectors., recycled from the original layout..

Now everything is wired it was time to build the control panel for it.

,ControlBox

The Burton Phoenix control panel is built out of off-cuts of MDF and with a screw on Hardboard panel with a laminated diagram.
The idea with the design of the control box is that my Gaugemaster twin controller sits on top with the ‘cab control’ power selection and and point control switches operate from a ‘Mimic’ diagram on the front. The ‘Mimic’ panel selection are fed to the layout from sockets at the back of the box.

…Now the control box is ‘built’ the next stage is to get the soldering iron back out and wire up the control panel and fit all the switches. Then it will be time to make up the connecting cables between the control box and the layout sections… ….And then maybe we can have a go running some trains…

08/12/2013
Today I managed to test the new Burton Phoenix control panel and layout wiring… BY ACTUALLY MANGING TO RUN AN ENGINE… The first time I have been able to run a ‘OO’ gauge loco for an embarrassing 5 years…

I chose Thomas for this grand adventure – as it was the first tank engine to hand. His mission was to ensure all the ‘Cab Control’ power sections and the point switches all worked. After spending the last few days wiring up the box and making up the connections cables to the layout I was pleased to find only a couple of minor issues to sort out
FirstRunThomas

Here is the completed Control Panel – Painted and ‘Wired up’ – complete with the controller

ControlBoxComplete

This is also the first time that the complete ‘End to End’ layout was put together… Now to add the scenery to ‘Hide’ the fiddle yard..

EndToEnd

30/12/2013
Just before the year end – and as promised to my friends at AAR Models. Burton Phoenix is Running.
Admittedly there are a number of small scenery jobs to do… but that is mostly tweaking.

Here are a couple of views of the Station..

almost_there_station almost_there_station2

…The reason Thomas is pulling a couple of Virgin Mk2’s – hardly appropriate for the Logo.. or the layout is to check for clearances in the station and the tunnel mouth to the fiddle yard…

almost_there_fiddle_scenery

… As you can see I’ve a tiny bit to do to cover up the joins in the hill over the tunnel (which hides the fiddle yard).

Finally a view from the tunnel along the whole scenic area to the station..

almost_there_full_scenic_view

** ARISE BURTON PHOENIX ** – 2013

30/05/2013
.. So three and a half years later where does that put me…

For all sorts of reasons, everything stayed ‘packed’ away – even the N gauge bits…. But is has started to change. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks ‘rediscovering’ where I got to, and even reminding myself what I have.

The priority will be the N Gauge ‘Stowey Green’ layout going initially as far and the lower level. Then I will then tackle the Burton Phoenix end to end ‘OO’ layout. As proof of this I have added a couple of photographs on the Work In Progress page showing the restarted work.

I have also created basic pages to cover the progress and the stock of the ‘Stowey Green’ layout.

27/10/2013
Another change of plan – decided to switch my energies to the Burton Phoenix end to end ‘OO’ layout, this needs much less work to get it going and will help me to ‘relearn’ my soldering and wiring skills. Plus it means I will have a working layout sooner.

08/12/2013
Today I managed to run a loco on Burton Phoenix whilst I was checking out the layout wiring and the new control box.I have added the most recent work and added a few photographs on the Work In Progress page.

30/12/2013
Burton Phoenix is Complete!! (More or Less)..
.. Yes there are still jobs to do in tweaking and improving the scenery… but that is the normal routine of running/maintaining a layout.