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About this blog

When ignorance is not always bliss and improvisation has its cost

Entries in this blog

A short update

Good evening fellow members and guests:   As the sixth anniversary of the start of my layout is fast approaching and the seventh may even come before it is finally finished, I have decided to show some photographs, namely:         In them you can see my two DMU's. After exchanging information and advice elsewhere on this web. I came to the conclusion that, from the DCC angle, my layout was at least acceptable and so I had a go at playing trains with these DMU's running simultaneous
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One step forwards, more backwards

I have been hanging on since my last contribution hoping to be able to report some real progress but, far from that, I have to report regress (i.e. retrogression). I have mentioned elsewhere my problem with arthritic fingers and the risk of hitting the wrong lever of the passing switches for the point motors, with the risk of damaging the motors. I replaced two damaged motors and, furthermore, installed pushbutton switches. These are supposed to give feedback information via leds but do not do s
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Hope renewed

I have decided to add a new piece to my blog although, after reading all the blogs where people build all their own stuff I get the impression that, in football terms, you all are in the Premier League and I am low down in a half-holiday league (if such thing still exists).   However, being no angel, I will rush in. I want to update my DCC equipment but I can't make the investment until it is reasonably possible to play trains with what I have got and it seemed that the track was still full of
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Frustration!

As mentioned on other occasions I have problems with my Hornby 2-6-4 Stanier tank 4MT Class 4p. It just refuses to perform correctly. I have yet to be able to use it for hauling the three coaches I bought for it last year. I have managed to get it to circulate at low speed but once I up the speed a little it derails here, if not here, then there and if not there, elsewhere. I have other rolling stock that offers no problems. I have spent all this afternoon checking cambers, I ripper up part of t
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Some success

I have been rather under the weather for the last three days but, while far from being OK, I can at least get out of bed and do something other than watch TV. So, after lunch to-day, I decided to have a look at one locomotive that was a poor runner, namely, the Hornby R505 Fowler LMS tank. From previous tests I hd the feeling that something was binding and blocking the motor or, less possibly, the chip settings were interfering with each other. A quick check showed that the loco answered to its
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Some success at last

It’s been some time now that I have been itching to update my blog. A few months ago I said that I had successfully digitized my old Wrenn City Class locomotive (though for some unknown reason I can’t locate the post now). This was true only in part. I did get it to run, but it only ran for a few feet (or should I say decimeters) and then stopped. The final result was that I spoilt two decoders. Then, when I tried to put it back into DC status further problems arose. An exchange of comments on t
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Some success

Hi all: Have I come too confident? daring? or downright rash? with altering RTR stock? After having rake splitting problems both with U.K. tension lock couplers and my modern HO couplers, I went on the Forum and requested information concerning Kadees. As a result, I decided to go ahead and purchased several envelopes of two different types and a height gauge. As far as the coaches and one of my locomotives were concerned, it was a simple matter of unplugging the old and plugging in the new. Th
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Still repairing in the aftermath of the earthquake

In DCC Questions I raised a query concerning a possible PCB failure in my Class 108 DMU. As a result of the fall the decoder had developed faults, so I removed it and inserted a blanking plug and tried the vehicle with an analogue controller, with no success. I assumed that the PCB might be damaged and dismantled the power car to the extent of even removing the motor from its support. When tested it worked so a number of further tests as recommended on the Forum led me to suspect that the blanki
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Two steps forward, one backwards

Hello again. After an exchange of comments and receiving good advice from fellow members concerning DCC track wiring and a few trials, I came to the conclusion that my wiring, albeit not perfect, was not bad and that certain anomalies observed with certain vehicles were due to the vehicles and not to the track wiring. Then, when one problem seemed solved, a new one arose. My whole point activation system (analogue) went dead. In view of the way the system is wired, it was obvious that the fault
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A short holiday

Just got back from a fortnight's holiday in the Department du Lot (France) where, among other great sites, we visited a Heritage Railway (if that's what they are called) that runs on a disused line from Martel to St. Denis. Among their items there is a locomotive built way back in 1887 and which was in service until the 1970's. There are a few photos below. The coaches (?) were open, unsprung I believe, the flooring seemed to be old sleepers and the seating was wooden, recovered from old French
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Feeling a bit like a fool

I have done a bit more work on my layout. I finally obtained the new tips for my soldering iron, together with some decent solder. I managed successfully to solder some droppers direct to the track without making a mess of it and fixed the loose track back again to the base. I also replaced some previously installed droppers (which were relatively thick cable and connected to an elevated portion of the track) with some thinner wires which adapt themselves much better to the contour and in fact h
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Frustration again

Just a short note to vent my new frustration. After an exchange of comments and receiving good advice from fellow members concerning DCC track wiring and a few trials, I came to the conclusion that my wiring, albeit not perfect, was not bad and that certain anomalies observed with certain vehicles were due to the vehicles and not to the track wiring. Then, when one problem seemed solved, a new one arose. My whole point activation system (analogue) went dead. In view of the way the system is wire
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Slow progress

Good evening all. Since my last post modelling has been almost stopped. I had got to a stage where I had to wire up two new platform lampposts and two street lighting posts. This obviously meant working on the underside of the board, which is now a problem. My physical conditions no longer allow me to tip the board on edge like I could a couple of years ago to work upright. Working seated is not comfortable, but after a week turning the matter over in my mind, I decided to put into practice an i
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Slowly but surely(?)

Since a request was made for photographs of my progress, while I did say that there were no real visual changes, I have decided to show an overall view of the underside of my baseboard as of when it was upturned two or three weeks ago and a couple of scratchbuilt items, namely a Park Shelter and a Bus Shelter. The Park Shelter was originally intended to be the Bus Shelter, but it turned out too rustic so I built another one. The Park Shelter has suffered vandalism (actually to avoid overbalancin
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Just plodding along

I sometimes wonder if what I post is of interest to anybody but me. Some people are building kits, others are making attractive dioramas, etc. but I am doing nothing of that. When I think I am getting somewhere another hitch occurs. At the beginning of summer, after a couple of weeks of hectic work to install the new operating system for my point motors I found that one of them did not switch, Since prior to doing the final wiring I had tested the motors one by one and they had worked, my conclu
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Some positive movement

In a previous installment I mentioned that, among other problems I had a defective turnout. The replacement turnout arrived this week and was duly fitted. Since I had two spare underfloor motors, I decided to replace the surface mounted motor with an underfloor one which this turnout originally had and reserve the surface one as a spare. It was wired up and worked, albeit the wrong way round. However I am not going to bother about this for the time being. Since I had fiddled around with the CVs
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Progress(?) report

What is progress? Is it having more on your board than you had before or is it that some things that didn’t work well now work a bit better? I had to replace a surface mounted point motor. Previously all units had passed well, albeit by a hair’s breadth. After replacement I discovered that the non-powered driver car of my push-pull double deck commuter rake (the first double deck units introduced by RENFE prior to the genuine EMUs) was hitting the motor. The point in question is situated right
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One hard task finished

Good evening all. Two and a half years after relaying the track I have finally finished the ballasting. Unfortunately, in spite of my efforts, it has not been a tidy job, in fact it is rather messy, but it is the best I have been able to do. Some of the earlier work will need touching up but, after a clean up, I can start start fixing down certain buildings and other scenic items now that they don't represent an obstacle for working. The engine shed will not be a fixture, since it will surely ha
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Christmas Greetings

Nothing new on the modelling front. Just to send my best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all members and particularly to those who have the patience and good will to respond to my questions on the Forums. I hope to be able to make some positive progress in the New Year.
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Some success

It is now nine years since I had the bright(?) idea of building a layout. Originally conceived for DC operation, I upgraded it to DCC, but inadequately and this year, as mentioned in a previous post, I made the drastic decision of ripping up the whole track and relaying it with a multidude of droppers and bridges across rail joints in places. I think I can now say that I have solved the electrical problems, but soldering droppers and relaying the track has left a few imperfections to be sorted o
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More sessions of fitting Kadees

As mentioned in a previous post, around July last year i came to the conclusion that my UK 00 fleet was very poor in comparison with my continental H0 fleet. Namely, I had two DMUs, three steam locomotives and only four passenger coaches. So, I lashed out and purchased four passenger coaches (Dapol) and seven goods vehicles, all Bachmann. I had the idea of fitting them all with Kadee couplers. I managed to fit them to the passenger coaches with some trouble, since these did not have the NEM pock
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An update

Just an update on my circumstances. I can’t get my point control desk to work properly. When mounted for the first time, after everything appeared to work O.K, I discovered that one turnout wasn’t working. This was due to a faulty contact between the capacitor and the point motor, easily solved by tightening up the screw. Then I discovered that another two motors weren’t working. Here it turned out that the fault was inside the box and there was no alternative than to undo all the connections, o
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Some joy at last

Hi all! As mentioned on previous occasions, have a lot of old (30/40 years) Lima H0 rolling stock incompatible with my modern locomotives because of a difference in coupling height. I also have two old Lima H0 locomotives which I had previously unsuccessfully tried to digitize (one was returned to the analogue state and the other is still disassembled). I have read a lot of forum entries on remotoring Lima locos, with the differing opinions and recurrent comments and, in view of the complicatio
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Adventure with Kadees

Recently I have had some success. I had commented on the Forum that I had a runaway problem with one locomotive which the recommended solutions did not solve. I had also had a problem with the lights of another locomotive, i.e., the front headlight came on at power-up and did not go out irrespective of the direction in which the locomotive was running. Both had Zimo MX632 chips which I had bought on-line from the U.K. I took the matter up directly with Zimo and, after an exchange of e-mail corre
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I am still alive, in spite of all.

I have just realIised that six months have passed since my last post and a lot of things (not all pleasant) have passed in the meantime. To be brief, In May I was rushed into hospital with a lung edema (lings full of blood) and was discharged a week later with a new addition, namely a stent. Then I had a couple of short visits (a few hours each time) for a nose hemorrhage and a heart block). On the pleasant side, there was a trip to the UK to visit relatives and old friends (in spite of my age a
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