Pillar

Did the 92s ever make it to the North East during the 1990s / early 2000s? I need an excuse to run one of these!

Thanks Martin, that's very helpful. I've managed to generate a reasonable looking 3 way turnout; however, the problem I'm having now is that it doesn't show up when I plot the trackpad as an image file. The rest of the track plan is visible, but not the 3 way turnout. Do you have any idea what might be causing this? Thanks, Liam

Another vote for this. Definately needs the Accurascale rake treatment!

Thanks Fran, I've heard the term 'playable' used to describe horn functions where the tone continues as long as the button is depressed, which is a nice feature as doesn't restrict the horns to pre-set durations. Regardless, it's good to hear that the tones will be on separate buttons. Cheers, Liam

Hi All, I've started experimenting with 3 way turnouts in Templot, and I'm finding that the automatic tool sometimes generates crossings angles to multiple decimal points; such as 1:6.08. Prototypically, does anyone know whether crossing angles like this would be used, or if the design would instead be rearranged in order to use more convenient values like 1:6 or 1:6.5? Cheers, Liam

Sounds excellent! Will the high and low horn tones be playable? I find this is a great feature which is sadly missing from many RtR sound-fitted locos.

Thanks for all of your thoughts. I'm keen to try and develop a believable backstory for the layout and it’s interesting to read all the different ways this could be approached. I've attached a revised version of the sketch below. The principal changes are: - Trap point removed. - Spacing between the running line and yard revised to allow a prototypical (I believe?) spacing of 10ft between the yard and the former 'UP' line. - Intact double line up-stream of the overbridge now represented by a DMU traverser. - Signalling altered. To give a bit of background; I based the concept on the idea of a 'half marshalling yard' in the book 'Modelling the British Rail Era'. I only have circa 40cm x 2.2m of space available, so running long trains is out of the question. I hope therefore to hide the shortened length of my trains by having only the loco and first few wagons appear in the scenic section. I’m intending the station to be former NER in run-down/cut back condition. The area formerly occupied by the ‘UP’ track and platform will have been built over with yard paraphernalia of some kind. The yard itself will be kept deliberately generic in terms of its traffic as there are various types of wagons I’d like to run. I think the road overbridge presents an interesting conundrum given that the line was formerly double track. I’m intending to base it on a girder type construction with stone piers and two spans; one span being smaller than the other and possibly having been replaced at some point. I got this idea from the bridge which carries St James Road over the railway near Gateshead, south of the former Tyneside Central Freight Depot. However, given that one of my piers will occupy the former UP track bed, this means the bridge must have been built after the line was singled. Does anyone have any thoughts regarding a plausible timescale for this, and what it might mean for the type of architecture used? Regarding the signalling, I’ve tried to modify the diagram based on the advice above. However, I still have a few things I’m unsure about: i) If a shunt disc is added at Signal A, as shown, my understanding is that this would allow the main signal to be passed at danger, but only for movements into the yard. This would presumably involve interlocking with the turnout opposite the signal box? ii) Related to point i), how would the driver of a loco know that the turnouts are correctly set for entering the yard? Colour light signals have feather indicators to show which route is selected, but I’m unsure how this workings with semaphores. iii) Would Signal C be a shunt disc or a normal starter? If a light engine was leaving the yard intending to travel back up the running line, would this still be considered a ‘shunt’ movement? I’m hoping a shunt disc will be plausible for at least one of my signals as I do like the look of them. Sorry this post is a bit long! Cheers, Liam

Hi All, I'm trying to develop a signalling strategy for my layout, the tack plan for which is shown below. The layout is set in North East England and may be operated anywhere from the 1970s to 1990s. It is a fictional freight yard with adjacent small DMU passenger terminus (possibly a former through station on a truncated branch line). The main junction between the running line and the yard is off-scene to the left and not part of the layout. However, it is possible for light engines to re-join the running line near the station. I'm a novice when it comes to signalling, and would be grateful for advice on the following points in particular: 1) My thinking is that Signal A (which would probably not be modeled) would control access to the station for trains in the DOWN direction. If a train is already occupying the station, any further train would be held at Signal A. However, if a loco needed to enter the yard at this time, how would such a move be signaled? Would this require a subsidiary signal? 2) Similarly, Signal B releases trains from the station in the UP direction. Could a subsidiary arm here possibly be used to release a loco from the yard onto the running line? 3) Am I right in thinking there would be no signalling required in the yards, and that the turnouts here would be controlled by hand rather than from the signal box? 4) My understanding of ground signals is limited. Is it likely that any would be required for the track layout shown? 5) How would the trap point be controlled and signaled? Would this be the responsibility of the yard or the signal box? Any advice regarding the above, or the track plan in general would be much appreciated. Cheers, Liam

Thanks very much Martin. I'll move the trap point further back. Would the turnout for the connection to the running line also use the equalised incremental approach, or would the timbers be kept square on to the main route?

Hi All, Does anyone know what would be the prototypical approach to timbering for the arrangement shown in the attached image? As far as I understand, timbers can be extended to become 'common' to closely spaced turnouts (such as crossovers). However, as the middle turnout here is not parallel to the others, the timbering direction clashes; especially around the switch blades where rodding may need to be accommodated. The formation will form part of a small freight yard set in the 1970s-1990s and laid in bullhead rail. Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers, Liam

Thanks for your replies. I was aware that the ICI locos had a different bufferbeam shape, but images of them in ICI service seem to be thin on the ground. There is one here at ICI Severnside works. Judging from the chassis Michael has posted above, the livery would appear to be similar to the Billingham examples? Besides this there are a few images out there of the locos in post-ICI service: here and here for example. At least one former Scunthorpe loco seems to have been based at Jarrow also.

I'm contemplating a repaint or two of the Oxford Rail Janus 0-6-0s, and have seen quite a few references to the locos being used at ICI Billingham and NCB Ashington. However, other than the latter being no. 2708, I haven't been able to find any details or photos. Does anyone have any details of these, or other members of the class based in the North East? Cheers, Liam

It took until I saw the nameplate to remember what day it is. Not going to lie.

Thanks. That's a fantastic resource. Not sure how I missed it! Cheers, Liam

Does anyone have any close up detail images of Class 20 bogies, preferably side-on? Most of the ones I've managed to find are either too small or have the suspension details in shadow. Cheers Liam

Does anyone know whether these TEAs ran in the North East while still wearing their Total branding? I know they are/were on the trains from Jarrow in heavily weathered condition, but those logos do look nice.

Does anyone know when / from what number Class 08s switched from using a whistle to an air horn? There are some very good previous threads on the subject of detail differences, but I can't find any reference to this. All I know is that some examples with whistles later had them swapped for horns. The particular prototype I'm interested in is ex-BR D3088 which was used at Blyth Bates colliery by the NCB in the 1980s. There are some good images of it online but unfortunately none which show this detail. Cheers, Liam

I'm using a Uhlenbrock PluX 22 which seems to work fine and the functions correspond with the Bachmann leaflet. DCC system is NCE PowerCab. The model is quite a noisy runner though; has anyone else found this?

Another vote for this. I'd happily buy P4 wheelsets from Accurascale, whether or not they needed to be user-fitted.

A question for users of the Roco WLANmaus. Is it possible to change the direction of the head/tail lights on a loco while it is stationary? Since it uses a locking centre zero point rather than a direction toggle button, presumably you have to move the knob one way or the other to select direction. Does this immediately start the loco moving or is there a dead-zone to allow it to sit stationary with the lights illuminated in the chosen direction? Thanks, Liam EDIT - Also, is it possible to use the Z21 app on a Windows laptop to run trains, or does it have to be Android or iOS?

Hi Andrew, Thanks for your reply. There are actually four similar ICs on the decoder (another photo attached). It does seem as if there might be one per function; but as you say, single transistors would be 3 legged. My soldering is ok, but I haven't done any SMD work before. Your method of slicing through the pins before desoldering sounds like the way to go since the chip is dead anyway. [Edit] - I don't generally use separate flux for electrical work, but I have some ancient brown BICC flux which has worked well for stubborn joints in the past. Do you have a particular reason for thinking the transistor would be NPN? My understanding was that DCC is common positive and most DIY lighting circuits seem to use PNP transistors. Cheers, Liam

Due to incorrect wiring while testing out a breadboard project I managed to fry the yellow function output on a Hornby 4 function decoder . Other than the faulted function being suck 'on', the rest of the decoder still seems to work correctly. Looking at the circuit board, it seems fairly obvious which component emitted the magic smoke (see attached). It appears to be marked 'H46', but I can't find a sensible match for this so far in any lists of SMD devices. I'd expected perhaps a PNP transistor, but it uses a 6 pin package. Has anyone had success with identifying and replacing parts like these in the past? Thanks, Liam

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Does anyone know whether the Hattons 66 is designed to accommodate conversion to EM/P4? In particular, does it run on standard 2mm diameter axles?

Based on that video, it seems like the two-tone horn sound is pre-recorded rather than playable low and high notes. This is my biggest issue with most factory-fitted sound packages. I've ordered the non-sound RR version from AGR.