billtee

Thank you, Steven B! I have looked and looked on the Peco website, but could find nothing but adverts for all their products, which might be good for Peco, but not any help for their customers! I would like to use their red twistlock point motors, in which case I can do all the wiring for the point motor above the baseboard before 'twisting' the motor onto its mounts below. I am going to use the DCC Concepts brilliant analog ADS-8sx solenoid motor control/CDU/push button/LED indicator/frog control for 8 turnouts, if I am able to use push-buttons(?) to operate the solenoid motor. I definitely want LEDs to indicate the point throw, and to change the frog polarity, as I will be using Peco SL-E495 and SL-E496 points which are large radius points rather than the much tighter points. My Heljan Lynton & Barnstaple 2-6-2T locos are supposed to be able to negotiate 12" radius curves, but curves of that tight radius would look ridiculous, and I'm not even thinking about L&B coaches. My BIG layout in my garage loft is O gauge finescale, DCC sound on everything, but this proposed OO9 layout will be quite small, probably all on a 4ft x 8ft board on two levels. I am going to keep my radii to 14" minimum, so it should(!) just fit on the baseboard, and I can play trains (well, TEST RUN!) my trains in my study before coming to bed, rather than being up in the garage loft. Anyway, that's the plan! Thank you for your help. Bill

It sounds silly, but I have not anything much to do with OO9 railways except collecting the models! I am now planning on building a layout using the Peco SL-E495, etc main line turnouts, but they look completely different to OO gauge (16.5mm) turnouts, as there are two long 'bars' projecting from the tie bar area of the plastic sleepers. I could not detect a hole in the centre of the tie bar for an operating rod moved by an ordinary solenoid motor underneath a baseboard, so how do I operate the turnout? I would like the option of a surface-mounted motor if possible, but the usual Hornby or Peco side-mounted surface point motors wouldn't fit, would they? I have searched the Peco website for ages, but all I find are point motors for OO gauge trackwork, not OO9. Could someone please enlighten me? Thank you, Bill

Here is the screenshot of the catalogue, I think, which shows the very indistinct 'lump' on the rear panel of the SR trolley. As you can see, it is not very well defined! Bill

If indeed this IS the turntable in travelling position, where are the 'ramps' which the trolley can use to lift itself high enough for the turntable to be fitted underneath? Having only ever seen a Wickham trolley in photographs and one (at the Severn Valley Railway) about 150yards away when I was not specifically interested in it, I just wondered what the, err, 'lump' was. I am, hopefully, getting a delightful little model from Ellis Clark Trains when they are released in the New Year. On the company's catalogue of forthcoming models, only one picture is shown of the rear of the trolley (which just happens to be the SR model I have ordered!), but the 'lump' is not clear! All the other liveried models are only shown at the front, radiator, end! Bill

Here is the drawing kindly sent from Ellis Clark Trains. The 'lump' I am wondering anout is on the right hand end, directly under the headlight and above the coupling. The only photo I have shows it too dark to see! Bill

Thank you, everyone! I guessed the long horizontal bar just above the coupling (towing hook?) was for lifting the trolley up slightly to clear the rails upon which it is sitting, but it is not that part I am questioning! My model Wickham trolley will be, when I get it, the one which Ellis Clark Trains is producing. The company does not give any further information about the prototype they are modelling! The 'lump' I am asking about is shown in (a very dark image) a photograph of the rear of the trolley, not the front where the radiator is! I thought it might be a single, centralised buffer to protect the trolley from larger locomotives or rolling stock, but I don't know, hence my query! Anyway, thank you for your help. Bill

Dear AY Mod, I'm sorry if I put my query in the wrong section! I thought it was in the right section as I am a BRM subscriber, and most of the followers of the RMweb forums are very knowledgeable folk. I have commented on the Wickham trolley (which I have had on order for over 12 months!) on the Ellis Clark traders site within RMweb, but no-one has replied. I don't know what section you have moved my query to, either. Anyway, I appreciate your help. Perhaps someone can answer my question as I have only EVER seen a Wickham in videos on YouTube - I have never ever seen one in real life, hence my questions! All the best, Bill

On the rear panel of the Wickham trolley, just above the little coupling and the fuel filler, is a quite large, horizontal device which appears to be made of many smaller horizontal tubes. Can someone enlighten me as to what this is, please? Bill

When I used to model in 4mm/ft scale (OO gauge) in the mid-2019s, I lusted after the Adams radial tank locomotive. All my locomotives are DCC sound fitted, so I ordered the Hornby model (R3334) from Hatton's, and it duly arrived. An absolutely beautiful model, except for two rather important problems! First, the whole model was distorted with the coal space forcing the rear wall of the footplate into a very noticeable upwards angle, probably due to the loudspeaker being slightly too large for the space. This problem may now be 'corrected' as loudspeakers are now even smaller these days, but then loudspeakers it were definitely not small enough. The second problem, with the leading bogie lifting the driving wheels off the track on anything other than perfectly flat, absolutely perfectly laid track, was also noted. This latter problem is very well known throughout our hobby. So the locomotive model was promptly returned to Hatton's, and I was refunded. Not to be disheartened, I then ordered the Oxford OO gauge model of the Adams radial tank locomotive, and guess what - it was just as bad as the Hornby model! Again, the loudspeaker had distorted the rear of the footplate cab, and was bending it upwards. So this model was returned to Hatton's, I was refunded, and I gave up trying to get a good model of this locomotive. Now I have completely changed my modelling scale and have gone up to 7mm/ft, so I will not ever have this problem again. What a shame that both Hornby and Oxford Rail couldn't be bothered to check (and correct) the footplate distortion. Surely someone, either the manufacturers or Hatton's, could have sorted out the problem. I was very disappointed, but I did not want an imperfect model after paying such a lot of money for it. All the best, Bill

It’s amazing! After having NEVER seen the rear of those old-fashioned metal speed signs (mainly because I’ve been sitting in a carriage on the train and not knowing when a speed restriction sign was going to appear!), tonight I have been watching a video filmed in 2019 of the Conwy Quest reopening train, and guess what, I had a superb view of the rear of exactly one of those signs as the train departed Chester! I tend to agree with Dan about these signs being yellow so as to be seen better in snowy conditions, but I have now repainted my signs white, so that will have to do! I think many preserved heritage railways follow the practice of whatever railway company formerly ran the line before closure, though bigger preserved lines may have their own regulations. Anyway, I am definitely sticking with mechanical signals (all now rather expensive Dapol electrically operated home and junction signals), and have worked out a fairly simple way of interlocking them with their associated pointwork. I’ve got the signals only able to be pulled off if the point is set correctly at a junction, but I would need several relays to ensure that a train’s route was perfect before being able to pull off a starter or home signal, and my point motors (DCC Concepts slow-acting motors) only have two separate switches built into them which are now being used for interlocking! One day I may try using relays, but the spaghetti junction of wiring under my layout is almost impossible to follow now, let alone making it even more complicated! Anyway, thank you everyone! Bill

Thank you, everyone! My layout depicts a preserved, heritage railway (the West Exeter Railway, where all types of locomotives from many regions can sometimes be seen), and is ‘the present day’, but I have mechanical signals controlled from good old-fashioned signal boxes with big levers. None of those electric signals here! When I was at the SVR last weekend, I noticed that their speed restriction signs (where I could see them) were pale yellow on black, or very dark grey, supporting posts, but as I said I could not see the rear. Actually, having the rear of the signs black is obvious, but I didn’t want to make a mistake, which is why I have asked the RMweb! I think I will repaint my signs into a very pale yellow, almost white, satisfying everybody (I hope!). Anyway, thank you all again. I find RMweb a very knowledgeable crowd of modellers. All the very best, Bill

I have many 7mm/ft plastic speed restriction signs I want to place on my layout. I have painted the posts and number supports dark grey, and the actual numbers (5, 10, 25, 50) in yellow, as they are the colours I have observed (on the SVR!). However, I have no idea what colour is applied to the ‘back’ of each speed sign - I have looked on the internet, but can’t find any photographs of the BACKS of these signs! I am just not sure they should also be yellow! Can anyone give me a clue, please? Bill

Thank you, everyone! I will have a look at the Record vice first, as it seems to have the best ‘record’ (sorry!). Some of the vices sold as being useful for modellers are anything but! I have seen several where the jaws don’t even meet, either horizontally across the jaw face, or vertically between the jaw faces! It is very dispiriting, and living in East Anglia which is NOT exactly an industrial area doesn’t help. I used to live in Harbury, not far from the centre of the Midlands, and with Birmingham being just 35 miles away, I had a fair choice of engineering and machinery suppliers, but now that part of Britain is over a 2.5-hour drive away, something I did not consider when I retired and moved to Suffolk. I may try the Great Eastern Railway Models store up in Norwich, which might be able to supply a reasonable vice, though Eileen’s could possibly help. I know the vice sold by Hobbycraft - it is the same one as that sold by B&Q, and it is only good for holding down sheets of paper, absolutely useless as a ‘holding instrument’! I have a machine vice which I used quite often when I had a Naerok milling machine, and a small two-axis vice which I use with my pillar drill, but both are for holding much larger workpieces which can be clamped very securely. Tiny 1/43 scale whitemetal castings are anything but sturdy - they would be crushed if trying to hold them with vices of these sizes. I could, perhaps, consider jeweller’s vices which possibly would be much more suitable, though I have not actually seen one except in a museum! Anyway, I’ll keep looking - someone must produce a decent vice suitable for modellers. Thank you again, everyone, for your help in this matter. Bill

I do most of my modelling in 1/43.5 scale these days, but my bench vice in my garage workshop is far too large to hold tiny items firmly while I work on them. I usually finish up holding the item while trying to cut it or file it, and when the item is as small as the superb Springside O gauge lamp castings (GWR or BR ones, specifically!), the outcome is not good at all. I thought I would try a large machinery and tool store in Bury St Edmunds as they would have what I wanted, but their smallest vice was suitable for holding a full-size slide bar of a GWR King class locomotive, not something about 2mm x 5mm! I tried all the tool stores in the area, and the best(!) I could find was a £22 Czech vice which had crooked jaws which were not even vertical to the sliding axis, with a ‘swivelling base’ which was so badly made that it almost needed to be dismantled for it to work. And the jaws, very roughly serrated to ‘grip’ the workpiece, would never hold tiny items like I am working on. So I am asking you people where I can find a really good modeller’s vice, preferably with adjustable slides for the moving jaw, and if it has a swivelling base, this needs to slide smoothly and be absolutely rigid when in the required position. I don’t mind paying a higher price for a REALLY good, smooth-acting, and rigid moving jaw of a vice with a jaw width of about 50-60mm, but anything larger would become awkward to clamp onto my study desk. Here is a close-up photo just taken of my current workpiece - an O scale Springside GWR tail lamp in which I filed a slot to fit a flickering LED to make it illuminate like an oil lamp. The casting is very small and fragile (the handle is also cast!), and holding it in my fingers while filing the slot with needle files is not easy! The LED will be glued into the slot with the tiny lens poking through the hole in the outer face of the lamp, and all of the faces which might ‘leak’ red light will be painted matt black before painting the whole lamp casting white. I looked at the internet and found dozens of seemingly suitable vices with jaws that might hold steady workpieces of about 25mm thickness, but I am working with items at least one-tenth that size! None of the vices on show looked like proper QUALITY items - indeed most would be worse than a pair of pliers! And yes, I have used pliers sometimes, but not with any real success. Thank you for any advice, Bill

Dear everyone, I am pleased to report that my crude wiring diagram is correct, and now all my Dapol electrically driven junction signals are interconnected with my Cobalt point motors. Of course, now I will have to drive my DCC sound-fitted locomotives and diesels very carefully, observing every signal before proceeding! I wouldn’t like to have a SPAD incident! Thank you to all the people who advised me - your help has been invaluable for the many problems I have encountered over the years. Thank you! Bill (22932)