Lineside Signals: B&M Eastern Route

[Philip]

I'm a wiring hack. If this were mine it would be on fire. I love those signals especially this one. Great work sir!

[ACL1504]

James,

Way way over my head but still very impressive signal system.

Tom 

[jbvb]

Thanks, Philip and Tom. I think you overestimate the difficulty of this.  But if you model RRs that never had any signals, the question is moot.

[deemery]

Thanks, Philip and Tom. I think you overestimate the difficulty of this.  But if you model RRs that never had any signals, the question is moot.

That works for me :-)  I have one planned signal, the ball signal controlling the SG/NG crossing, and I built that ball signal last year...

dave

[jbvb]

Ralph's an accountant. But his 1970s Lehigh Valley needs signals, so he's done what was necessary (except learn to program in Basic AFAIK).

[jbvb]

Illustrating two ways to attach wires to the pin connectors the used Chubb DCODs came with:



The plastic connector body isn't super heat-resistant; note soldering tip scar by the left pin.



The DCOD's connector appears to be designed for wire-wrap.  At least it worked very nicely before my wire-wrap tool disappeared. It's been gone 10 years; clearly the only way I can make it turn up is to buy a new one.  Have to order online, wire-wrap is uncommon enough today that nobody I know can think of an in-person store which would sell me a wire-wrap tool.

[KentuckySouthern]

[deemery]

...

The DCOD's connector appears to be designed for wire-wrap.  At least it worked very nicely before my wire-wrap tool disappeared. It's been gone 10 years; clearly the only way I can make it turn up is to buy a new one.  Have to order online, wire-wrap is uncommon enough today that nobody I know can think of an in-person store which would sell me a wire-wrap tool.

Micro-Center in Cambridge?  (We had one close to us when I lived in Virginia, kinda Nerdvana.  Almost as good as Fry's Electronics in California...)

dave

[jbvb]

Micro-Center in Cambridge?  (We had one close to us when I lived in Virginia, kinda Nerdvana.  Almost as good as Fry's Electronics in California...

Maybe? I may be there for other reasons this Spring, but I should call them before I buy online.

[jbvb]

Spent the afternoon working on the short circuit I was getting when the Spring Switch at the Newburyport depot was in the reversed (eastbound) position.  Turned out to be a mechanical issue: the NJ International twin-coil switch machine is more than 50 years old and was getting balky.  A few puffs of Kadee Greas-Em graphite powder fixed that (graphite lock lube would have worked too, my bottle was just farther away).

But while getting to that point, I documented the wiring I'd done by color, made the fascia bipolar LED indicator power feed independent of the Azatrax D2T power feed, switched the D2T from the +/- 12vDC bus to the 16 vAC power bus and generally organized things down there.

On the To-Do list goes: Apply graphite lube to the rest of the layout's switch machine solenoids; all are over the minimum age required to serve as President.

[deemery]

Is this what you're looking for?  https://www.amazon.com/Wire-Wrap-Gauge-ELECTRONIX-EXPRESS/dp/B00BFYE0CY

dave

[jbvb]

Close; 28-30 GA is thin for HO track current. But I could have already re-bought what I lost, for 22-24 GA, if I wanted to further enrich Mr. Bezos.
So I found one on FleaBay, due Friday (I like that billionaire a bit better).

[jbvb]

The transient short associated with my Azatrax Spring Switch controller throwing to the "spring" position is found and fixed.

My design uses one 4 pole double-throw relay per power turnout (or crossover in one case). I installed protective diodes across the relays' coil terminals. A voltage spike is generated when you switch off a relay coil. It can eventually erode the contacts controlling the coil.  I don't bother with cheapo control panel pushbuttons in panels, they're easy to diagnose & replace. But I put diode protection where I'd have to crawl under the layout to diagnose and fix.

This one diode failed in "short circuit" mode. Usually a burned up diode just stops conducting, but not here. I may have contributed to it by connecting the +/- 12VDC power backwards. Regardless, the dead diode was shorting one side of the power supply the whole time the switch was in the "spring" position, which somehow (not worth figuring out details) was making a PSX power district controller unhappy.  Sometimes as many as three at once.  Diode replaced at the bench, "interlocking board" reattached to the benchwork, wires put back in the screw terminals, signals do as they;re supposed to without FEEEPing.

[jbvb]

Showcase Miniatures makes an HO B & O Signal Tower Mast Assembly: 2391. It's a good match for the straight-brace version (GRS I think?) of what the B&M called a "Bracket Arm"; a signal placed next to a multiple track route with a mast for each track. A signal bridge could have done the same job, but was more expensive. B&M rarely used signal bridges outside of bi-directionally signaled territory. If not all the tracks to the left of the Bracket Arm were signaled, short masts with fixed Lunar White (blue) heads were installed to indicate the unsignaled tracks.
 
The kit includes injection-molded plastic base and braced crossarms, 2 diameters of brass tube for the mast and etched brass and stainless components for the platform.  The Union Switch & Signal version of Bracket arm had curved braces for the platform. Since they were also lattice girders, they'd be tough to scratchbuild.



Here I've cut and soldered the tubes to place the platform 22 feet above the railhead. I left the bottom extending below the base in case I needed it to attach the HO Break-Away Base: 2365. I bought them because the site is at my GE River Works, which is intense switching territory now and will get worse when I finish the GE in-plant track.

.

This is where it will go. I cut away the platform casting's molding sprues (against the mast in these photos) before actually gluing it to the mast.

[jbvb]

This signal was installed by Guilford at Ayer, MA sometime after 2000. Two 3-light masts each signal one track of a bi-directional main line to the right of the mast. It matches B&M-era prototypes except the platform is much higher. I think that's to keep it visible when the near track is occupied by auto racks or double stacks.