Dominion

I have had 5 Tam Valley hex frog boards in use for several years. They are all still working fine luckily. I hope you can figure out what caused your issue. I did not get them from coastal DCC as I am in Canada so could get them closer but I have sourced lots of other things from them and I find Kevin to be very knowledgable and very helpful.

Sorry Martin, Templot is a wonderful resource. Tom

Big locos certainly look good and run well through the Finetrax 1:7 slips. I believe in Templot t for a double slip the blade tips start one further timber towards the centre to allow space and clearance for soldering to the tie bar arrangement and for flange clearance. Single slips could be one timber closer to the V crossings, and that maybe the default for a single in Templot. Wayne’s singles use the same spacing as the doubles. Initially I was wondering if it was worth extending the blades on the singles somehow, but the only solution would have been to do a lot of butchery or start from scratch and Wayne’s just are too good for that :-)

Mmm, you have me wondering now. Like many things on the layout I did it so long ago I am struggling to remember the specifics of why I did something a certain way. I agree you certainly need to protect DC locos from DCC power. Also I did not want any stationary stock to accidentally be able to bridge the two power sources, as I do sometimes run a DC loco on its loop while the rest of the layout is DCC powered and operating. But I agree you can set CV29 in the decoders to not respond to DC, which I routinely do when I first configure them. I am now definitely scratching my head as to why I have been removing the DCC locos from that loop and why I thought it was best to separate the storage loops from the DC switchable running lines where I could. Perhaps it has just become an old habit ! Paul are you saying some old decoders were not happy on DC ? I do have some locos I fitted a very long time ago so perhaps that was the issue.

I notice you mentioned earlier you planned to have the ability to run DC for Mark’s unchipped locos. I do that too. I would suggest making it one loop only and not even the associated storage loops. Otherwise it means all the DCC locos on sections that might become DC should be removed and it becomes a bit of a faff if you have lots of locos in loops. In turn that would mean adding insulation gaps at the end of the stock rails of turnouts in fans that might otherwise bridge the DC switchable and DCC permanent loops. I mention this as in normal DC or DCC wiring you would not have to insulate outer rails of fans, and I missed it when first laying my storage loops. It may be too late as it looks like you have laid several of those turnouts already but may still be easier to do sooner rather than later. Having the switchable loop is also very useful for running-in locos before fitting a decoder. Tom

Photos of coal trains in the grouping period are a glorious mix of different sizes of wagons. I have many Bachmann and Oxford Rail RCH 1923 wagons and I am grateful that they have made several appropriate livery and operator names for my area, but the trains look too uniform. I am delighted Rapido have made these earlier wagons and look forward to any more colliery and factor wagon liveries they may do in the future. I am supporting the project by buying as many names in the current releases as I can justify running on my lines :-)

The Notts & Derby Pinxton wagon is a joint commission I think between TTC Diecast and Malcs models. The Malc's website shows it as being sold out already but perhaps TTC Diecast have some left. https://www.ttcdiecast.com/rapido---notts--derby-7-plank-wagon---ttcdiecast-x-malcs-models-exclusive-oo-gauge-172694-p.asp Tom

I just paid for 4 special commission wagons from Malc's models, and they will be on their way to Canada tomorrow. The photos of the actual products on their website look really excellent. https://malcsmodels.co.uk/collections/rapido-wagons That link should show all 5 they have done. Here is one example. Malc's has commissioned some very useful colliery wagons in the mix. I hope they do well for them and I am very excited to receive mine. Tom

I just did a 2600km drive, twice. I spread it over 3 days of daylight both times. The most I did in one day was 1100km. Easier headed west than east as in one direction I was picking up an hour of daylight each day but going home I lost an hour of daylight each day.

Hornby produced Rosamond. The real Pullman car was Rosamund.

I use a volt-meter to test if there is any connection between any of the 8 sockets and its neighbours on all Hornby 8 pin locos now. With the blanking plug out of course. All 8 should be isolated from each other. When I have found a fault it has been a small solder bridge on the underside of the socket. Fixed with a knife or triangular file. Good luck with your loco. It is a nice model once you get this issue fixed. Tom

If you have power feeds to both rails on both tracks the cross over should work with 2 insulated joiners. Is that what you have ?

If you want the loops independently powered then use insulated joiners between the 2 turnouts. If you want then to be on different power zones then use 2. If you want them on the same power zone but just independently switchable you could use one depending on your track plan. The short frog rails beyond the unifrog get their power from link wires on the underside of the Peco turnout from the stock rails. Just to be sure, by crossover you do mean 2 turnouts heal to heal, and not a diamond crossing don't you ?

Checking this reminded me that the tender top from Great Snipe has the letters slightly higher than the other similar tender tops. It still may look better than a dremeled one though ! Good luck finding a spare. Those tenders or tops seem to come up reasonably often on eBay. I strongly suspect the actual R30261 top is very unlikely to be available yet, but the alternatives will look fine. Tom

I checked the colour. I think you will be fine with any of the streamlined non corridor LNER blue tender tops you can find. The Garter blues look consistent to my eye. FYI I am comparing R2339 to R30262 (as I don’t have R30261).

Occaisionaly Hornby have altered the internal fixing method between their Gresley pacific tender tops and chassis during the super detail era, but the fundamental dimensions still work. I have managed to make little brackets from plasticard sometimes to match up different versions. All looks just right when back together. I don’t have the particular model you mention but I do have an LNER blue one made at the same time and can check the shade of blue compared to earlier ones for you if you like. I think it will be consistent. Tom

If the cross over is made from 2 Peco unifrog turnouts and if the 2 parallel tracks are intended to use the same power feed as each other, then you can just use metal joiners on both rails. This is because the diverging rails beyond the unifrog are already connected to their appropriate stock rail within each Peco unifrog turnout.

I use PSX circuit breakers for different power districts on my layout. They can each be given an accessory address like a turn out and be turned on and off by sending an accessory command. They normally start up “on” but a simple CV change can make them start in the off position until their accessory address is used to send a 1 or normal command. I have my loco depot set up like that so that it starts up off, and a push button linked to a spare input on an NCE mini panel sends the address to power it up. I think the solutions in previous replies are simpler and also protect the gap if you remove the flap during a session and leave the power on. However it would do what you asked in your opening post, if you treated the 2 tracks either side of the flap as a power district set to be off at power up. I would probably only do it that way if I happened to have those bits of electronics knocking around already. If you have any male and female plugs and sockets you could route power so that the track sections either side rely on plugs or sockets only present on the removable flap. That would be much cheaper than the electronics. It is the same conceptually as Olddudders solution but uses manual plugs instead of aligning contacts if that installation looks tricky.

I keep hoping they will decide to do another LNER appropriate loco. I really like my Great Central designed C13. Tom

The thickness and width of the 2 bits of evergreen strip I used are in the original post. The length of each was just a little less than the width or the Rapido recess. The holes were located based on the boss position rather than a specific measurement. Was there a different specific measurement you were looking for ? I can’t remember if a 146 would work, my hunch is not otherwise I would probably have used it in preference to a 141, but that is only from memory.

I was idley wondering about that too. I guess we will not know until 2007 with the steam generator is released. Tom

I have loved my time searching the Hattons pages over the years and anticipating the arrival of parcels in Canada. The team there has always been a pleasure to deal with. I analyzed my spend for 2023. Hattons received 1/3 of my budget. I had thought it was higher and it has been much higher in previous years as they had brilliant service for overseas customers. Fully another third went on Hornby preorders and Bachmann purchases I could no longer get from Hattons. In the past I would have relied on them for all of those purchases too so their revenue from me would have been double what it actually was under "normal" conditions. However the real shocker for me was the average purchase value. It was dramatically lower at Hattons, between a third and quarter, without the higher value fast moving new loco items. I would imagine for a retailer the cost of picking items and making up parcels and customer service is quite tied to the number of transactions, not the item value. Much lower per item and per parcel value would dramatically drive up the cost of operations as a percent of revenue if a similar pattern played out amongst many of us. The first time Hornby cut Hattons allocations and I scrambled to get my preorders elsewhere I tried hard to get them from other stores and not Hornby directly. The second time it happened I was less careful to do that, and I allowed Hornby to cherry pick some of my spending. I regret that. I have expressed my heartfelt thanks and best wishes to Hattons employees directly where I could. They made UK modelling from this great distance practical and low stress. Hattons service in my experience was so good they will be a very tough act to follow. They will be very much missed.

It is a bit fiddley but I prefer it to the complex recent “dynamic” types. If you bought them second had it is possible the draw bar has been bent downwards and perhaps that is preventing it from engaging properly. As-new the draw bars are straight. If you do need to straighten yours it can be removed from the loco by loosening the rear mounting screws and creating a small gap between the loco body and chassis.

Have you tried the loco on its own ? That type should work as the tender is just providing extra pick ups. you could also try one of your other tenders with Sandwich and your Sandwich tender with one of the other locos to help narrow down the source of the problem. The 2 sprung contacts on the top of the loco drawbar should only touch the plate on the underside of the tender, not the metal post. The 2 prongs under the drawbar should only touch the tender post and not the plate on the underside of the tender.

I have seen at least 9 identities of 12 wheel Hornby Pullman models and they all had grey rooves. There are "umpteen" white roof 8 wheel lit Pullman's. Their convention seemed to mostly be that the ones with the early Pullman crest were white or cream roofed and the later crest ones were grey rooved, but I suspect that is not systematically the case. Tom