Enjay

The Hornby 08 has a flywheel, that should keep it moving over a dead frog. But if you've got clean wheels and well-laid track you should be OK in any case.

I'd love to know where that photo was taken, Brian?

Peco do (ex Wiils. £8.95)

The Modratec levers, although they can be fitted with switches, are mechanical in their simplest form. The levers don't look as realistic as the Cobalt ones, but they can fully interlocked for that authentic signal box experience. Not, I hasten to add, that I've used them, my signals and points still have Peco switches with the upgrade to Modratec still on the 'to-do' list.

Hi Suzie, the 12V supply is from a Gaugemaster controller model P, max output 12VA so 1 amp only. Oddly, Peco don't mention current in the otherwise excellent instruction booklet. There are moments when all four servos 'jiggle' to the centre position. As I've said to Jon the problem was my ham fisted wiring (I was laying on my back under the layout..). The Gaugemaster is powering everything else (track, some Dapol signals, and point solenoids), so maybe I'm starting to push my luck. I was planning to use a separate power supply for lighting, as I have on another layout. It's doing OK at the moment but I'll bear your wise words in mind and look for a bit more power for the lights and then I'll connect the smartswitch to that and give the Gaugemaster a break! Thanks again for all your help N

Jon, thank you, you are quite possibly a genius. The Smartswitch control board has terminals for the 12V power and for the SPST switches for operating the servos. Nice and easy to wire up, unless you are a ham fisted cloth head like me. I managed to leave one strand of the power cable to go astray, and I think it was shorting onto the board somehow, A touch of solder to keep the strands together (rather than just lazily twisting the wire) and a more careful reconnection of the wires and all is well. Anyway, I think the signal is repairable, the working signals project is on again, and the whole episode just teaches me to be more darn careful!! Thanks again for your advice, much appreciated Nigel

Hi All I've just spent today installing a PECO Smartswitch I set up the first servo, it worked well, excellent slow control of a calling-on arm. I thought, this is nice, I like this. I was setting up a second arm, and the whole thing went beserk, the display kept changing of its own accord, and the first servo starting swinging wildly. It's pulled my signal kit apart, serves me right for trying to motorise a ratio kit, I suppose. Not a happy bunny, wondering if those modellers who just have static signal models might just have got the right idea. Anyone else had this problem? Thanks Nigel Beeton