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About this blog

When ignorance is not always bliss and improvisation has its cost

Entries in this blog

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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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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Another one rewiring

Since my last post I have been renovating elements of infrastructure and reorganizing the wiring under the baseboard. As indicated in previous posts I have had problems with my point motor control. The Hornby passing lever switches worked O.K, but were not suitable for the present state of my fingers. The pushbutton switches used in their place were not designed for working with Hornby motors and both LEDs remained alight, whereby there was no indication of point direction. Finally, as I browse
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Getting nearer to a workable layout

Hi all! As mentioned in a previous post I replaced my 14 Vac point motor control for 12 Vdc and purchased a new controller to replace the old Piko start kit. This meant that the 14V transformer became available to power the new controller. Since, as can be seen from the enclosed images, the transformer is relatively large and was previously mounted on the baseboard, I decided that I did not want either the transformer or the controller to be permanently attached to the baseboard. So, I installe
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Posible movements

I have been quiet for a while because my layout is at a standstill, mainly due to my not having been able to replace the hoisting pulleys I wanted to change way back last November and also due to the fact that it is cold in the garage where the layout is suspended. With a bit of luck, there may be some new movement the weekend of Feb. 28-Mar. 1 and the new pulleys installed. I also have to replace a burnt-out point motor. That will leave a few blank places to be filled with appropriate scenery a
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Untitled

I have not written a specific tite because what I have got to say this time is only partly connected with modelling. I have just come back from a fortnight in Portugal and had intended to have a ‘drive’ on my layout to try and approach a finish (those of you approaching my age may remember the G.P.O. drives post-war to install as many telephones as possible, party lines included). While away, I had seen and purchased in Lidl a digital caliper, so I decided to try it out on my problem DMU Class
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Still plodding on

Things seem to be moving forward again in the direction of getting back to the situation prior to the accident. Last Sunday we had a family visit and with the aid of my son-in-law (a Jack-of-all-trades for my wife and me) I managed to get the layout tipped edge on again to be able to work on the underside since, at my age, my body is no longer supple enough to do contortions to work underneath. I reconnected a couple of point motors and then started testing them all. I found that one was not wor
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Filling the blanks

I have been doing some card modelling in recent times. I have decided that I must fill in the blank spaces on the layout soon. Like Maggie Smith in that Hotel film who did not buy green bananas because she didn't know whether she was going to live long enough to see them ripen, I have got the same feeling about the layout. So, I purchased several Metcalfe card kits: subway accesses, wooden pavilion, platform benches (two packs) and park benches. I have already assembled all the kits except one
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Gradually getting there

Good evening all. I have been hesitating about a new post for a whle but after yesterday's events, I think I can add a bit. Tuesday was my wife's birthday and yesterday we had a family gathering (limited with two members being absent abroad and two working) with the grandchildren included. One boy got out all the mobile scenic material, i.e. buses, cars, trucks etc. and we got two trains running at the same time. The purists would have objected: there was a French locomotive hauling a motley ra
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Showing some scenic progress

I have mentioned in previous posts certain advances made in the scenic decoration of my layout and would now show a few photographs. In June I posted some photographs and requested suggestions for filling in the bare spots, but none were forthcoming. So I went ahead on my own initiative. First, there was this bare corner: Which has now become this and to which I may add a few cows. Then there was this space at the other end, thus. Which has now become this after lifting the last track
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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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Some success at last

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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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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Starting afresh

I have been silent for some time since: after an exchange of opinions on the Forum way back in February concerning dead spots, in the light of the comments made and of the fact that these comments allowed me to identify the cause of one such dead spot, I came to the conclusion that my layout had very many more potential candidates for producing dead spots. It was originally designed and built for analogue DC operation and had been converted to dcc by adding some droppers, but retaining the power
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Some hard work done

Since my last post, I effectively refitted the point motors, then turned the layout edge on to be able to work underneath without contortions and set about getting the droppers connected to a bus. I made a query on the Forum, got some good advice and, while I did not follow it too closely, it was a a great help. After almost two weeks, in sessions of 1-1/2 to 2 hours or a bit more at a time, I to-day managed to connect the last droppers and wire up the bus wires. I still have to wire in the plug
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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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