Cobalt6700
Registered
GTSR DLW
I have started this thread to document my progress with the layout I am building in my back garden.
The first post is detail and back history - feel free to pop to the second post if pictures are more your thing
.
I have some other project threads open;
WiDCC controller - a control PCB that takes RC Tx input or my own nRF24L01 controller input and generates a DCC signal to drive DCC decoders : *Link TBC*
I2CNet IO Controllers - these PCBs use an I2C Network to control various things around my layout. Servos, LED signals, LED lights, Point positions, Block detection, etc. : *Link TBC*
Some history on the GTSR and DLW:
The GTSR (Garf and Trude Southern Railway) began in mid 2019 when Trude (a good friend of mine) decided to put a track down in his garden on the grass with the little bit of track he owned. We had that DC layout down for a week or so.
Early 2020, he decided he wanted to build something that was going to last a bit longer, maybe a few months. He bought some more track to make it happen.
My thinking was if that was the case, then we needed a way of controlling the points and being able to drive more than one Loco on a single road without using DCC
(at the time, with the little I understood about DCC, it looked incredibly expensive and possibly unreliable outside). Here starts the real journey.
With the UK now in lockdown I decided that I needed a loco to prototype on and some track to test with. I found myself a cheap LGB 2080D that needed some work and some cheap-ish second hand track. This was assembled into a small temporary layout on my back garden patio to allow me to test locos.
Working around the lockdowns we managed to plan and build the layout in his garden, and have a few good weekends running.
There is a video from the 2020 layout here:
The first temporary layout was a great success. We learnt a lot, including that grass is bad for track power.
I hacked a 6CH RC radio set to have 14CH (FS-i6) and we controlled 3D printed (Dagnalls) servo point motors directly from that. Setting servo end points was a painful process, and we had noise issues with the length of the wires, but generally it worked okay.
The locos were controlled with the same brand of radio, again hacked to give more channels, and fitted with Arduino's on protoboard to decode and interface with motor controllers, Mylocosound cards, smoke units and lighting. In total, I converted 4 locos to trackpower/RC.
With the lockdowns continuing, we both had spare time on our hands, and this led to planning the 2021 layout and stock. We were both properly hooked on it now, and of course I had to buy another loco, an LGB 2040, which I kitted out with the next iteration of my loco controller - enabling homebrew servo pantographs, servo couplers (Dagnalls), PWM light control and sound via Mylocosound. I also designed and 3D printed a copy of the LGB low loader.
I upgraded the control system massively, building custom control PCB's, a differential I2C network, servo controlled semaphore signals and LED light signals. For further info - see my thread on the I2CNet controllers.
My buddy did the videos from last years layout, you can find them here:
Which brings us to 2022. I bought myself another 2 Locos, a 23900 with LGB remote couplers and a 21151 which needs some TLC. I have designed and prototyped my own radio controller which can drive both DC motor board locos and DCC decoder Locos, from either track or battery power.
Didcot Loco Works;
I have had a few temporary layouts in the back garden now, including one with a reversing loop which allowed me to develop my I2CNet controller to control reversing loops. One of my favorite pics from those is:
I had been toying with the idea of making something more permanent for me to be able to test Locos and to be able to enjoy the engines and stock I have gathered. One weekend last year I decided to get on and do it.
My garden has been mainly untouched since we moved in a few years ago, so much so that it was fairly overgrown and full of weeds.
I wanted to give myself a reason to sort out the garden, and get outside for a bit (I’m quite good at staying inside these days). My initial idea was to only use one side of the garden, keeping things small. I had been trying to avoid routing around the entire garden as this meant crossing the main thoroughfare in two places, one requiring a bridge.
On investigation, actually fitting this into the available space was going to be difficult (like having to remove the peach tree), and not really give me ‘much’ to enjoy. After a bit of head scratching, getting an amazing deal on a POLA roundhouse, researching and discovering I could buy some really cool pointwork (I love points and would like to build my own - that’s for future me) I came up with this layout:
This was going to involve an amount of groundwork as the garden wasn't level and I didn't want to cause myself the headache of gradients over short distances for my first proper layout.
I have started this thread to document my progress with the layout I am building in my back garden.
The first post is detail and back history - feel free to pop to the second post if pictures are more your thing
.I have some other project threads open;
WiDCC controller - a control PCB that takes RC Tx input or my own nRF24L01 controller input and generates a DCC signal to drive DCC decoders : *Link TBC*
I2CNet IO Controllers - these PCBs use an I2C Network to control various things around my layout. Servos, LED signals, LED lights, Point positions, Block detection, etc. : *Link TBC*
Some history on the GTSR and DLW:
The GTSR (Garf and Trude Southern Railway) began in mid 2019 when Trude (a good friend of mine) decided to put a track down in his garden on the grass with the little bit of track he owned. We had that DC layout down for a week or so.
Early 2020, he decided he wanted to build something that was going to last a bit longer, maybe a few months. He bought some more track to make it happen.
My thinking was if that was the case, then we needed a way of controlling the points and being able to drive more than one Loco on a single road without using DCC
(at the time, with the little I understood about DCC, it looked incredibly expensive and possibly unreliable outside). Here starts the real journey.
With the UK now in lockdown I decided that I needed a loco to prototype on and some track to test with. I found myself a cheap LGB 2080D that needed some work and some cheap-ish second hand track. This was assembled into a small temporary layout on my back garden patio to allow me to test locos.
Working around the lockdowns we managed to plan and build the layout in his garden, and have a few good weekends running.
There is a video from the 2020 layout here:
The first temporary layout was a great success. We learnt a lot, including that grass is bad for track power.
I hacked a 6CH RC radio set to have 14CH (FS-i6) and we controlled 3D printed (Dagnalls) servo point motors directly from that. Setting servo end points was a painful process, and we had noise issues with the length of the wires, but generally it worked okay.
The locos were controlled with the same brand of radio, again hacked to give more channels, and fitted with Arduino's on protoboard to decode and interface with motor controllers, Mylocosound cards, smoke units and lighting. In total, I converted 4 locos to trackpower/RC.
With the lockdowns continuing, we both had spare time on our hands, and this led to planning the 2021 layout and stock. We were both properly hooked on it now, and of course I had to buy another loco, an LGB 2040, which I kitted out with the next iteration of my loco controller - enabling homebrew servo pantographs, servo couplers (Dagnalls), PWM light control and sound via Mylocosound. I also designed and 3D printed a copy of the LGB low loader.
I upgraded the control system massively, building custom control PCB's, a differential I2C network, servo controlled semaphore signals and LED light signals. For further info - see my thread on the I2CNet controllers.
My buddy did the videos from last years layout, you can find them here:
Which brings us to 2022. I bought myself another 2 Locos, a 23900 with LGB remote couplers and a 21151 which needs some TLC. I have designed and prototyped my own radio controller which can drive both DC motor board locos and DCC decoder Locos, from either track or battery power.
Didcot Loco Works;
I have had a few temporary layouts in the back garden now, including one with a reversing loop which allowed me to develop my I2CNet controller to control reversing loops. One of my favorite pics from those is:
I had been toying with the idea of making something more permanent for me to be able to test Locos and to be able to enjoy the engines and stock I have gathered. One weekend last year I decided to get on and do it.
My garden has been mainly untouched since we moved in a few years ago, so much so that it was fairly overgrown and full of weeds.
I wanted to give myself a reason to sort out the garden, and get outside for a bit (I’m quite good at staying inside these days). My initial idea was to only use one side of the garden, keeping things small. I had been trying to avoid routing around the entire garden as this meant crossing the main thoroughfare in two places, one requiring a bridge.
On investigation, actually fitting this into the available space was going to be difficult (like having to remove the peach tree), and not really give me ‘much’ to enjoy. After a bit of head scratching, getting an amazing deal on a POLA roundhouse, researching and discovering I could buy some really cool pointwork (I love points and would like to build my own - that’s for future me) I came up with this layout:
This was going to involve an amount of groundwork as the garden wasn't level and I didn't want to cause myself the headache of gradients over short distances for my first proper layout.
