Les1952

Now that sounds like a good idea for a different cree. Time to look through the box of dead wagons for a suitable body..... many thanks for the idea. All the very best. Les

8th October- still doing panel wiring. At least with the new clubroom we can work on more than one job at the same time. With me sorting wires and tags, and keeping an overview of the plan, Jim and Alf have been doing the upleads to the panel from below the board, working on both sides at once. Meanwhile Geoff has started installing the point motors for the three points at the front of the board. Trevor is cruising the Black Sea with SAGA. A closer look at the wiring going on top and bottom of the board simultaneously- achieved by using a screw eye on the outside of the back wall of the bench and a luggage cord taken fron there and wrapped round the legs to keep it upright. Meanwhile having taken the cable labels home for use on Hawthorn Dene, I forgot to bring them back this week. Luckily Jim had these in his toolbox. We now have 2 point motors installed and wired back to the tag strips, and both panels wired to their tag strips with the first set of switch jumpers done, again on both panels. Hopefully next week the panels will be completely wired for power, and Trevor will be back just in time to cut the underboard webbing for the third point motor.... He will also need to bring his thing-for-drilling-big-holes so we can wire in the main power cable and the hand-helds. All the very best Les

Coupling rod pin was off, as I found out when I applied power. I'll lamp it finally when I know what train on Top Valley/Rise Park it is to work. It won't be chipped as it isn't for Hawthorn Dene. Cab glazing is also still to do. All the best

Decision Made (or gone over to the dark side) I've bought a PowerCab for the layout, and got as far as chipping five of the locos. I really couldn't face the six weeks or so wiring it up. All going DCC has meant was to common up the sections under the board- I will need to separate some places where the two polarities come too close together, but the layout now runs DC as a complete single section. Trackwork cleaning is going on, together with a little smoothing of a couple of bumpy bits in the fiddle yard. 5 locos chipped so far (all 6-pin NEM)- 60045 Lemberg with a Zimo 61018 Gnu with a Lenz Silver Mini the pannier with a small CT Elektronik chip the class 24 with a Bachmann, and the WD, also with a Bachmann. In addition the Class 24 will come back from DCC Supplies after warranty repair chipped, and one J25 has gone to DCC Supplies for chipping. All the very best Les

To DCC or not to DCC, that is the question. The layout is now on its back- one half on the workbench, while the other half is on Furtwangen Ost's trestles, held vertical by bungee cords wrapped round the roof trusses in the workshop. Next job is finishing the wiring, but I'm not sure whether to make it analogue or DCC- the latter would involve chipping twenty-odd locos and a bit more expense on controllers. However- to remain DC the following jobs need doing.- three SCART plugs on each board to carry the wires across. forty extra pairs of drop wires to install in the fiddle yard three panels to make and wire in about 4 extra reels of wire to install. three new hand-helds to buy from Modelex. I'm not sure whether the time this will take can't be better spent on the scenics. Ideas? Les

A little wiring.. We've started wiring up from the tag strips to the bottom of the control panels- doing the runs up to the switches in two stages- Underboard tag strip to panel tag strip first, then tag strip to switch inside the panel. First- a shot of the tag strips in the base of the control panel. At the time Trevor bought the boxes he hadn't realised that we were planning tag strips inside them, and the boxes are polythene. The tag strips are held clear of the bottom of the box by strips of Evergreen plastic glued on the underside to create an air gap. The middle board has been placed on the new workbench vertically with the underside pointing into the main work space and the panels at the top. This allows the panels to be opened and hooked over the bench backboard to steady the board. It has the disadvantage of whoever connects the panel end of the wire needs to hike 20 feet to get to the other side, but with a two-person team on it isn't that much of a problem. The little tags on the wires help identify which is which- less necessary when the wire is entirely under the board, as even droppers have the number marked on the underside of the board, and the tag strips under the board are labelled. However these wires go up what will be a tunnel on the outside of the board - we abandoned the slots as wiggle in the wires when the panel is tilted would derail trains underneath. These are the tags in the box- Radio Spares ones many years old- the number 1 is running a bit low... Wires are done one at a time, and kept tight as the panel in open position is slightly further from the tag strip under the board than the panel closed. More shortly. Les

After Grantham... A good weekend at Grantham Railshow. Lots of people looking at the layout. Two more enquiries, and a possible futher booking for next year- this could give four outings next year if they all bear fruit. Also one enquiry for Hawthorn Dene, so here's hoping..... Only casualty is one of the lamps on the signal on the platform- it displays two greens but one amber has gone out. I've taken a look under the layout and there's a wire come adrift- that will have to be sorted. Trams are running better than they have been- I might at last have got most of the tiny dirt/glue spots removed from places where I can neither see nor get to it. View along the layout from behind the tower. John Catling operating the layout. Next stop Newark Showground for Model Rail Live.... All the very best Les

Control Panels going in The two control panels are now made- not from the black box originally thought- these started as polythene paper boxes. Trevor has built a frame for each of them. The wires will now come up the baseboard edge and enter near the lower end of the panel. The panels are hinged at the front so we can reach behind them when someone rear-ends another train in the fiddle yard. They are also hinged at the back to allow access to the wiring inside. More details on them as we get wires going up into them. They will be fastened with clips for transit etc. All the very best Les

More testing and some physical changes. After a thoughtful three weeks checking for, finding and fixing short- circuits (the last one was due to my having crossed over the wrong pair of wires in one of the SCART sockets) we now have trains running in both directions at once. First a pair of videos, then the first post with new PICTURES- this with the first details of the control panels. Hopefully this one is an A4 going anticlockwise passing a Dapol Voyager I got cheaply as a non-runner (one soldered joint detatched). These were the first trains after Thomas the Test Engine had done his job. Again assuming it works, one of my Dapol 9Fs on hoppers passes Green Arrow going the other way on a short train. Hopefully one of the vids also shows that Geoff and Alf have sprayed the trackbed with track colour. Lastly for this post Jim's blue A4 on a shortish train of teaks. Did anyone say members of the group are rather keen on A4s? All the very best Les

Preparing for shows Not a huge number of things to report- getting the layout clean and running for two shows in the next month. Grantham looms. However following an enquiry for next Summer I've had to try to get an accurate trackplan. I hit upon the idea of taking an overhead view instead, largely because my curve drawing isn't up to it these days. Herewith a track plan.... Still plenty to do. Les

Mostly taken off at York, but have been photographed both at Tees yard/Thornaby shed, and crossing Durham viaduct - which I would take as working through to Tyne yard. The local class 27s seem to have interworked with class 25/0. The Thornaby 27s in any case had smaller fuel tanks I understand, so would have been kept on fairly local duties. Hope this helps. Les

Two more railcars Two railcars in two days, with a third in the pipeline. Photos suffering from an excess of light in the workshop today. This is the second attempt at one of these battery railcars- the first one is in bits in its box. If this one starts to exhibit the same problems as the first (total lack of adhesion as the wheels wore smooth) I'll transfer the mechanism form the other into the unpowered end of this- or get a dealer to do it for me... Looking and feeling more like a workhorse a prewar diesel railcar, quite a brute. Vintage Minitrix model. Both of these will take their turn on the vintage service, sharing a fiddle yard siding. The VT98 set will share a siding with the low floor set, and the third siding will have either a goods train or the vintage steam train- if the latter the goods can be assembled ad hoc. The set in the pipeline is an East German 4-wheel railbus set, which can change about with the VT98 set. Still adding small improvements, and sorting out stock for Hawthorn Dene and Top Valley/Rise park. All the very best Les

Videos at last! Troubleshooting last night got us to the stage that we can run trains right round anticlockwise, though each of the two roads we are using has a problem to fix next week, and the first train was duly run. This is alos the first train to run on any layout in Bingham MRC's new clubroom. Loco is Jim's Dapol Andrew K McCosh Trevor also dug out the platforms and station buildings. We then ran all the other LNER locos we had with us- my Dapol Papyrus and Jim's Minitrix Scotsman. The teaks were exchanged for a long rake of 21-tonners and more trains were run. Final train of the evening was hauled by one of my J39s-the one with an NER tender. Only problematic loco onn the clockwise circuit was the ROD, which isn't happy with 10.5 inch curves. This one will be tested on the 12 inch curves of the outer circuit when we've finished troubleshooting that. All the best Les

Some Stock Pics Pics posed on Furtwangen Ost. Partly to answer Steve O, two locos that have been on my workbench for a week or two and which are going down for testing on the layout tonight. 42769 is the Crab that has been on Mr Simon's workbench about a year ago- he has described swapping the tender and fitting boiler handrails etc to it. What he didn't say was the Gem 4F tender was professionally solder-assembled by David Temple of Darlington. This week I've lined out the tender (a job Mr Simon didn't fancy) and it now waits weathering in a day or two. 63824 is an O4/7 hand-built by Pro Models on a Farish 8F chassis. Like the other three of my Pro Models loco it has needed a degree of fettling to improve its running. Again it is waiting for weathering. All the very best Les

Coo- four months since an update. Little to report- a trip to New York, exam marking and preparing Furtwangen Ost for two exhibitions in September have put paid to that for now. The layout is still standing on its end waiting for me to start to finish the wiring, so any stock done has to be posed on Furtwangen Ost at the moment . 62395 was the last D20 in service, withdrawn 1957, a little too early but I've also got a G5 which was withdrawn the same year. The D20 has been running on Trevor Webster's Parnhams as LNER 711, making it a veteran of Taunton and Warley shows amongst others. It is basically a simple repaint back into BR black, though the tender isn't the original. This tender was my first attempt at converting a small UM Midland type into something nearer an NER type. The rear is a little too flared but it looks OK when moving on a train. Maybe it won't be another 4 months before the next update.... All the best Les

Just to prove Simon's dad does actually work on his own locos from time to time. The Crab tender lined out (fox transfers) and awaiting weathering. It is now in the queue for soak testing on Top Valley & Rise Park. Les

Another week, another problem Progress this week has involved getting a heat reflecting surface on the window- the picture shows the size of the window above where the layout will be. Alf volunteered to clean the windows (without a safety net) then Jim applied the paint. The work bench had its first coat of yacht varnish applied. Buying from a builders' merchant rather than Boyes prevented the usual conversation of "Yacht varnish, what do you use that for?" "Varnishing my yacht " " Ooh- have you got a yacht?"...... We've also got the tea and coffee cupboard up on the wall, provisioned of course, with the set of "Rise Park Top Valley" individually named mugs on top (not that we want to gloat, but.....) Also done enough strengthening of the fiddle yard trackwork to be able to cut the rail gaps we need. However Trevor's cutting disc has worn out so it is delaminating track. We're having an extra session on Thursday evening to finish the cutting and start soak testing. Repairing damaged track is next week's job. All the very best Les

Another visit to Trevor's and a rewire. The two aren't quite connected. After Sheffield show I noticed some damage to the ends from the Proscenium not quite fitting properly. As a result the layout and proscenium went back to Trevor's last month for some strengthening and the fitting of the proscenium to be adjusted, I took the opportunity to get a small shelf included as part of the strengthening- this gives a little more space to park railbuses etc, as these seem to be breeding. The pics show how it fits behind the backscene. Currently the trackplan has been removed so it can be re-done before being stuck back again. To try and get more sections into the railway a partial rewire has taken place. The two dead-end roads (the shed and the brewery) are no longer separately switched, and are isolated purely by the points. This has released two switches on the control panel. I've used these to make two of the fiddle yard roads two sections each- leaving the longest one as a single section for the vintage train. This now allows five trains offstage (and 4-wheel railbuses can still be plonked on at either end as extras). One new addition is an Arnold Kittle railcar. I've also finally got round to servicing the VT98 set and have weathered it. This will share one of the split sidings round the back with the low floor railcar. The MAN and the Kittle will live on the shelf and can run with all fiddleyard roads switched off. All the very best Les

Very many thanks for the nice words. I'll pass them on to Trevor and Geoff- the scenic team. Alf is the engineer/tracklayer and Jim and I are thinking through the electrics at the moment- though each of us assists in an area where another might lead. It does help that Trevor is currently barred from entering for the buildings trophy at the N-Gauge Society AGM, having won it too many times. You will see other examples of his work on Parnhams (waiting bookings), Stamford East (now in the care of a member of Manchester MRS and with invites to exhibit in that area) and his new one Whatton Parva, which makes its debut at Grantham Railshow in September and will then be at Sileby. Since Furtwangen Ost is also at both of these shows the whole team will be in action there... We are looking to get the Rise Park part of this layout ready for the 2015 Cotgrave show, and then concentrate on Top Valley Goods, which isn't yet started but will sit over the right-hand end. All the very best Les

Very many thanks for the compliment. Period will be late fifties- early sixties. There is a pic of the O1 and the Crab on Mr Simon's workbench- and some of the stock (mine) is shared with Hawthorn Dene Colliery- pics there. Once we get the layout set up next week and the rails cut where we have currently got short circuits we should be able to start soak testing. At that stage I'll get some videos and pics made. All the very best Les

Week number "Lost Count plus 4" We've finally got moved into the new clubroom- as have the rest of Bingham MRC. The workbench is complete- the structure of it can be seen below (this was while we were waiting for the MDF for the back wall to be delivered. At the other end of the room Phoenix Park is now erected and at the other side of the room from us is Ashtow with the club's N-gauge fiddle yards, and Jeremy Burrows' Yeaton. The second of these shows the reason why we've not yet erected the layout- the big picture windows let in far too much light and far too much UV- we'll have to do something about the UV before long. In the mean time Trevor has finished the Metropole Cinema (which is a low relief version to go along the back at the Top Valley end of the layout) . Next week, varnishing the workbench to seal it, and erecting the layout if we've got the UV problem sorted out. All the very best Les

When new class 27 was allocated to Cricklewood and Thornaby amongst others, class 26 to Hornsey. Class 33 worked North in pairs on a cement train that worked as far as Teesside. Quite OK to see GREEN 26 and 27 working alongside Class 33 and SR EMUs in the London area, or GREEN class 26 and 33 alongside each other on Teesside for a few years. Hope this helps. Les

Even more worth getting your controllers checked- I understand Gaugemaster have a lifetime warranty, so it should be cheaper to get your controllers replaced if there is a problem than replacing your locos..... Les

Week number- lost count First time in a few weeks that all five of the group have managed to get to meet at the same time. I'm not sure if I've posted Geoff's warehouse end before but here it is ready for the rest to be added. Also seen this week for the first time was the first of the Watson Fothergill buildings. This one by Geoff again, and I can't remember which church hall it is.... Not yet finished but coming along nicely (and much better than I can make). On the electrical side the short circuit between the centre board and the end boards has been traced and sorted, and one set of the section cuts needed has been done. Thomas the Test Engine has run about half-way round the anticlockwise circuit so far. Short morning this week as we all went to see the progress on our new home. False ceiling now in place and the walls have been scraped ready for painting. We've decided that the floor covering is good enough just to give a couple of coats of yacht varnish. More next week (hopefully). Les

I can't see a problem with a 1-Bo-Bo-1 provided you don't have too much weight on the outer axles. After all the fabulous (for their day) Life-like E-units were correctly A-1-A A-1-A and they are excellent pullers. All the very best Les