[R455 0-4-0 from 1974]

Drat, axel drive gear is split and seems a odd size, anyone know of a supply?

[R455 0-4-0 from 1974]

So mine is from 1974 with the loti dome. She came as part of a set then, I can see on the Hornby collector site a few wagons. I'd like to see if I have them so I can match her up. Can anyone tell me what they were, anyone got access to the 1974 catalogue? Would love a screenshot 

[R455 0-4-0 from 1974]

Hi guys

 

A good friend of mine has offered me this sweet little loco, is this the 'Polly' type based on the C14. I'd love to know more about the models history if anyone knows. Looks mint to me but I've only seen photo, guess it's an X04 inside?

[21 ton house coal concentration hopper wagon information required]

Brilliant info as always! Note the info plate says 21VB, assuming VB is fully fitted or is this one of the 100 that were blow through?

 

 

[21 ton house coal concentration hopper wagon information required]

12 minutes ago, 'CHARD said:

All I observe about that identity is that the K suffix indicates that it's supposed to depict a former private owner wagon that's been taken into capital stock.

 

As to the actual provenance, I haven't got the book (Rowlands?) to hand just now.

 

Thanks I found the details now it was part of diagram one/149 lot 3120 a thousand off bill at Sheldon in 1958 so it's odd that it should have the k prefix as you observe

[21 ton house coal concentration hopper wagon information required]

Hi there I have one of these wagons by mainline I think it is brown it's number is B 4 2 9 8 1 6K however looking through my book it would appear these numbers never went higher than 429799 can anyone help

[EFE Rail - Winter 2023 Announcements inc. Southern 'Booster']

On 04/03/2024 at 11:32, NIK said:

Hi,

 

Well spotted. My booster is drawing 440ma at the max setting of my DC rolling road.

 

Did you measure the current draw at max speed step/max DC voltage?.

 

Regards

 

Nik

 

Hi Nik, no, once I saw double the safe value I intervened. 

[Bachmann CEP/BEP multiple working issues]

1 hour ago, DCB said:

My Lima / Triang DMU combo runs just fine on my On Track controller and  a H+M Power master very like the OP has as well as an H+M Safety Minor.  However I do get surging with my Triang  Halls when descending  my 1 in 30 gradient with a heavy train.  It's the worm drive binding up,  being non reversible,  if  the motor runs rough it does not happen so as a work round  I drive down on half wave on a H+M Safety Minor which is a Variable Transformer like the Powermaster but which has half wave , I am not sure if the OP Powermaster has half wave  or if it has high/ low resistance,  my safety Minor has both.
Does it surge on half wave?     Worth a try.

 

Less so apparently but I guess that's because of the longer gaps between pulses. Not good for these modern motors however 

[Era of operation original Freightliner]

6 minutes ago, Lazy said:

Perusal of Michael J. Collins' Life and Times - Freightliner suggests the following :

The wagon, being blue, would appear to represent a Batch 2 vehicle - as far as I am aware, some lasted into the post-BR era (I think that a few are still in use in Engineer's trains). Batch 1 vehicles were painted black and virtually all withdrawn by 1989.

Containers in the original livery were carried on trains at least until 1984 judging from photos, but the branding became "Freightliners Limited" after the organisation was split off from BR in 1969.

The container itself is an original Freightliner non-ISO type, but these seem to have been phased out by the end of the 1960s as BR changed to the ISO system. I have not seen any photos of the non-ISO types with the "Limited" branding though - perhaps they did not last long enough.

 

That's perfect thanks 

[Bachmann CEP/BEP multiple working issues]

Here is a video of them running 

 

[Bachmann CEP/BEP multiple working issues]

Brilliant info guys thanks. These are being run under DC, but I guess bemf can still be a thing. Is there any cure for it, can't use flyback diodes due to needing to go in both directions 

[Bachmann CEP/BEP multiple working issues]

Hi guys. Yes confirmed DC and not my layout it's a freinds with straight track.

[I will spend £150 - £250 on a loco but nothing on a controller]

Has anyone yet identified the difference between the Vector and Crawler by Morley? 

 

They are the same price now but still say there are additional components.

 

I wonder if they just reduced the smoothing capacitors as per my findings?

 

Love to know?

[Era of operation original Freightliner]

2 hours ago, 'CHARD said:

Are we talking about the flat wagon, the type of container or the corporate livery?

Livery and wagon, thanks

[Era of operation original Freightliner]

Hi guys, what was the latest these would be seen about the network 

[Heljan OO gauge Peak - lighting fault?]

Guys

 

I've got an odd issue with my 45. 

When I run it from PWM controller (any type) all the lights come on together, red/white and cab lights. Loco runs lovely but all the lights come on. On normal DC normal function is restored. Is this flyback from the motor? if so it must be very efficient, is it coreless?

 

Thanks

[Kernow GWR steam rail motor]

9 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

That's what the internet says about hifi speakers but empirically I think a sealed enclosure makes the sound louder when used with the typical miniature speaker we're using.

 

 

What you have done is very clever and I like how it looks, however the rear of the speaker should not be sealed. The sound from the rear of speakers is important. In hifi speakers it is both passed through baffles and ported to produce base. Constraining the cone also stops it moving properly. If you are happy with how it sounds that great but as an ex speaker producing company employee it's best to leave the back open.

[Bachmann CEP/BEP multiple working issues]

Hi

 

Got a CEP and BEP and even a pair of EPBs that run well on their own, they run at close to the same rate also.

But when coupled together there is an odd surging effect when they slow down then speed up again.

Not layout specific nor controller, anyone know what the issue is please?

[Kernow GWR steam rail motor]

1 hour ago, StuartGWR said:

This could be true.  But it would involve cutting and stripping tiny wires and waving a soldering iron about in a confined , detailed (expensive!) space --  and then getting all to lie flat and un-noticed.  I certainly see the attraction of simply adding on, without cutting into these fragile fittings. It would be interesting to know what voltage the stay-alive works at post-modification, though I doubt whether Mike wants to repeatedly dis-assemble to find out!!

 

Absolutely correct, why risk things when the suggestion answer is so simple and non invasive.  I measured the pads as +3v that of course was without the head tail LEDs in circuit, so with the 200R feed resistance and the LEDs in circuit I think it is just about safe, but close lol

[Kernow GWR steam rail motor]

1 hour ago, Neal Ball said:

Did you consider adding a resister into this Blue / White / Yellow feed? If you did and it was rejected - why wouldn’t that have worked?

 

Apologies if it’s an obvious non-starter.

 

 

Hi, that would only fix one LED and the wires are very delicate. It would also be a material change to the model thus invalidating the warranty. My suggested approach is completely removable. and one resistor fixes both LEDs and coach lights. Hope this helps

[Kernow GWR steam rail motor]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

Sorry, I'm not good with explanatory videos, I can't concentrate on them,  I'll have another look. (I also tend to have the sound off on my PC!☹️)

It's because I've seen far too many You Tubes where someone manages to make the opening of a box a 30 minute waffle fest.😁

 

I'm from the age when a couple of lines of text and a photo would've done.

 

Morning, I get that but due to the complexity and so the viewer can see what the modification looks like a video was really the only way.

I know what you mean about box opening, I hope none of mine ever fall into that category 😉

[Kernow GWR steam rail motor]

4 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

Dapol fit 10k resistors to dim the LEDs in their 73

 

Very interesting, looks like LED efficiency is massively improved from what it was, typical was 20mA lol now we are uA amazing. The one in this model in my humble opinion need 8k plus.

[Kernow GWR steam rail motor]

4 hours ago, melmerby said:

So you are saying that the original resistor is 6k8 and you have added another 1k0 and the LEDs dim significantly?

Something's wrong there as 1k0 in series with 6k8 will not make a significant difference to a LED's brightness, something else must be going on.

Are you sure the original isn't 680R?

 

Hi, if you look the video you can see the original resistors and note they are marked 682. Now while 1k is only 14% increase LED brightness is not linear compared to series resistance.

I'd liked to have added 2k but as explained this would have resulted in too much voltage available to the 2.7v capacitor and coach lighting. 1k a good compromise I feel 

[Kernow GWR steam rail motor]

40 minutes ago, StuartGWR said:

Yes I saw the video, but can't easily see how you dim an LED without making the series resistor bigger (in ohms): you would have to remove the existing one or cut a track to do that.  Maybe you are adding a parallel path across the LED/resistor combination to divert some current.  This might (a) take current away from the end LEDs and (b) slightly beef up the current for the interior LEDs. What do the copper strips make contact with? I would like to try this, but I don't want to run any risk of damaging this beautiful Railmotor......

 

The controller question is easily answered. Traditionally a feedback control uses PWM.  But it can risk putting 12v pulses of very short duration through the motor.  The RMS value of such a waveform is relatively high, and can cause thermal problems.  My controllers do incorporate this, but also Voltage Modulation, where the pulse length is always long, and the voltage is the controlled variable. So a loco can start up on about 2 volts, or even 1 volt for the better ones, with controlled fluctuations of this to suit the motor's tendency to suddenly slow down or over-accelerate.  The only motor burnouts, or near burnouts I have had go back many years now, to those awful Mainline pancake motors, and also the better motor in the Bachmann WD.  These were almost certainly due to putting too much load behind the loco before the brush/commutator interfaces had bedded in, and probably pre-dated my Voltage Modulation idea.     Since these controllers also incorporate a Pure DC setting, the internal wiring got very complex, and I would not care to build more of them!

 

Kind regards from Stuart.

 

Hi, I'm sorry the video is not more clear, I do say I'm adding 1k in series with the existing resistors. Making 7k8 total, this dims the head and tail and leaves more current for the coach lighting. If you cut a track on the main PCB you would further dim the coach lighting. I explained I felt clearly what the copper strips do and how this is a minimum alteration that is easily reversible.

[Kernow GWR steam rail motor]

13 hours ago, StuartGWR said:

 One slight disappointment is the very bright leading/tail lamps, and the very dim interior lighting (in normal lighting conditions) - even though this feature is prototypical.  I wish there was an easy fix on DC.  I am quite good at electronics but my hands weren't designed for surface-mount resistors!  (I have built exceptional feedback controllers which even a 14xx fitted with a Portescap 1219 has been happy with over a number of years).

 

 

I posted a how to reduce the brightness and increase the coach lights about four posts back. Chech out the video. If you need some tape and a resistor let me know

now tell me about this feedback controller?