Pillar

Is it really a snowplough? It doesn't seem shaped for it. I always thought it was an 'obstacle deflector'.

I model the North East and had ordered mine on a Rule 1 basis. Good to see it did actually show its face here!

I'm glad you found it useful. That was one of the first locos I converted to P4 and did extensive detailing for. I've definitely become more pragmatic since then given the time it took to finish. I was even questioning whether to do the other two 40s at all, but the new detailing parts from West Hill will probably sway my decision back in favour - not having to make 16 more of those lifting points by hand is a load off my mind! Cheers, Liam

Great work! I did a Bachmann Class 40 a while ago and have been gradually posting my writeup here: https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=164&t=7804 I've seen a lot of people say the Bachmann mdoels needs lowering but to be honest I didn't see the need comparing it with drawings. The Peak model was more suspect I felt. Just typical that the West Hill detailing parts have become available after I spent ages making my own inferior efforts from plasticard and flower wire! On the other hand, I have two more Bachmann 40s to do and those 3D printed bits will make those much less painful!

I've been pondering how to convert mine to P4. I found standard 26mm over pinpoints 2mm axles do just about fit, but the brakegear as you say will need repositioning to avoid fouling the wheels. A bigger problem is how to arrange electrical pickup for the lighting. The factory solution picks up via the pinpoint bearings from half-axles which are live to the wheels. Unfortunately live, uninsulated wheels aren't that common in P4 (or EM I assume), so keeping this arrangement could be a non-starter.

Thanks, I'll see if I can track that down. There is an Arriva one here which is quite interesting, although I'm not sure if the drawings are to scale: https://traincrew.colinjones.co.uk/traction/TractionManual.pdf Edit - This site seems to have the traction manuals and more besides! http://www.locodocs.co.uk/brmanuals/143-144DMMU-Working-Instructions-issue1-1987.htm

Nowhere did I say I wanted 'others to do the leg work'... I'm only asking for advice which could point me to resources I might have missed in my search so far, on the off-chance. Would you rather I took a long trip to photograph a 143 (there are none preserved near me) even if there are drawings available?

Hi all, Does anyone know where I might find any of the above? There seem to be precious few photos of these units out there which are anything other than the standard 3/4 view from platform level. Ideally I'd like to find some decent underframe shots similar to Brian Daniels' excellent collection for locos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brianews/albums/ Thanks, Liam

I was reading through this thread today which sums up the limitations of Hornby's Class 153 model. Although newer and better in a lot of ways than their old 142 and ex-Lima 156, it's nothing like in the same league as Realtrack's 156 and 143, or Bachmann's 158 (or even their 150). Unfortunately it isn't just a lack of finer details or features which can be corrected by modelling; the basic shape of the body is at fault. All of that said, who else would like to see Realtrack produce a 153 to the same standard as their 156? It's a well-travelled class which has worn a lot of liveries, and being a single car the cost would be lower.

NORTHERN SPIRIT! 😁

I recently received my order of buffers from S Kits after sending a list of items and cheque by post. It took a long time to receive though. I tried contacting by email in the interval to confirm the order had been received, but didn't get a response until a message arrived after 2 months saying it was being dispatched. It's still a very good product range though despite the wait. Edit - George at S Kits did also send me the latest price list, which I've attached below for reference. This was correct as of 4th March 2023 when I received it. s list Feb 2022.pdf JPGlist Feb 2022.pdf

Don't forget 262!

I've been experimenting with converting mine to P4. I tried swapping the motors for Mashima 1015 or Mashima 1020, which are capable of fitting to the original gearboxes (although the latter needs either chassis modifications or omission of the flywheels), but there was no real improvement. I think the gearboxes are the issue rather than the motors so I plan to try fitting a High Level Kits Pacemaker unit to see if that makes a difference.

Well i finally got round to testing this, and it turns out I was mistaken as the interior lights are definitely on the 3rd function ouput and nothing higher. Based on Rockhopper's post above, it seems more likely that the interior lights issue must be due to a poor contact somewhere, rather than anything decoder related.

Hi David. I removed the brake yokes planning to refit them, but I ended up damaging them. I'll probably replace with some etches therefore. I don't think the yokes are quite wide enough for P4, but they would probably look and work fine if the brakes were chamfered as you say.

If the sound projects have a drivelock type feature, you might be able to select the rear loco and lock the revs at idle regardless of speed.

Made my day to see this announcement! Four EWS ones preordered. With the Cavalex ones they will recreate the Jarrow oil trains.

Not something I expected, but interesting! The main thing I would ask is whether the WIPAC light clusters will be the correct size? They looked too large on the original Hattons versions. Another vote for EM/P4 wheelsets too! Although the axleboxes might make this tricky.

No wheel spin on mine when running on a 3rd radius loop. It is coggy at very low speed though.

When I tested my LMB sound chip on a decoder tester, I seem to recall that the function light which lit for interior lights was further up the scale than 4. I'll check when I get a chance, but seems this could well be the problem.

Could the lights be wired to a function pin beyond what is supported on your 4 function decoder?

I've been test running my T&W PTE version. In general it runs ok, but at low speeds and when starting off it has quite a severe 'cogging' effect. Has anyone else experienced this with theirs or am I looking at a faulty example? I'm running it on a Loksound V5 from Legomanbiffo (which is excellent as always).

I've managed to spring mine using the Dave Bradwell springing plates etch. It seems to work well so far and runs freely over P4 pointwork. My steps were as follows: Remove the protruding collars on the rear surface of the W-irons and smooth the surface with fine grit emery paper. Bore out the existing bearing holes to be deeper and wider; first using a 2mm drill, then 2.5mm. Depth is not critical, but care is needed not to bore all the way through to the axlebox detail. This is to give room for the new brass bearings to move up and down. To prevent lateral slop and restrict the bearing carriers to move up and down only, fold four U-shaped sections of 0.45mm wire so that the distance between the inner edges of the vertical members is 5mm (i.e. the width of a Bradwell bearing carrier). Glue these to the backs of the plastic W-irons, making sure they are centered; thin superglue is ideal. Trim off any excess length of the verticals. Glue in plasticard rests for the springs either side of each W-iron. At one end of the wagon there is an extra rib in the underframe which will foul the spring unless an opening is made in it. Make up four Bradwell bearing carriers with brass top hat bearings and spring wire. Then file the bearing back so that the overall thickness of the carrier+bearing is about 1.2mm. This is to minimise the chance of the bearing clashing with the inside of the plastic axlebox. In this process the inner pinpoint of the bearing is lost, but I found that they still work fine with plain-ended 1mm axles of appropriate length. For wheels, I used Exactoscales fitted to 1mm axles. I started with their 25mm plain ended axles, but to get a good fit I ended up filing them back to about 23.9mm. Hopefully this may be of use. Cheers, Liam

My T&W PTE set arrived yesterday. It looks like a really nice model, but haven't got a suitable decoder to test run it yet. A few observations: - The orange door warning lights are painted on the EFE model and not lit with LEDs. I think the Realtrack ones were illuminated? They definitely are on their 156s. - It looks as if (fingers crossed...) conversion to P4 or EM should be pretty straightforward. There is a lot of room between the axleguards to accept wider wheelsets. The powered and unpowered axle assemblies also seem to be fixed in place by screws accessible from the underside of the chassis, so hopefully may be removable without much dismantling. Not sure what the axle diameter is though, or whether the axles are split or solid. I can't make out any wiper pickups to the wheels, so I suspect the axles may be live. - There seems to be some level of springing provided for the axles to take up irregularities of the track, although its quite stiff. Time will tell how well this works in practice. The axle assemblies seem to be a lot chunkier and more intrusive to the underframe than the Realtrack ones (which I believe also had springing or compensation?) - The instructions don't show how to remove the bodies. Granted, this isn't necessary for decoder fitting, but a lot of people, including me, will want to fill the seats with passengers. The only screws I can see seem to be for the motor mounts and decoder cover, so perhaps the bodies are held on by the dreaded clips. Can't say I'm looking forward to finding out for certain... Cheers, Liam

For P4 wheels, the undersized ones for the accurascale deltic were about 12.5mm and could be an option. Would need holes drilling though. For springing, I'm in the process of using Stenson Models / Wills Workbench pedestal springing units for some long wheelbase IZA vans. Just don't fit the pedestal castings and you gave a neat little assembly which fits between the plastic w irons.