DCB

The direct from China Dapol models on a well known auction site which rhymes with Ebay as of yesterday were not class 68, or Irish. Just go on the well known auction site, punch in Dapol , nearest first and spend the next hour scrolling until you find "From China" The product looks like Dapol and are 33% discount. Dapol advise against buying them. Now they could be knock off, or seconds or plain fake or maybe someone made extra because the unit cost drops dramatically with volume assuming Dapol would re order and maybe they didn't ... Personally I look for "Made in England" labels so whether the China made model comes direct or via Wales is of zero interest but I am intrigued as to what is actually doing on here..

I just found another YouTube video comparing Superglue used with 4 different fillers, Baking Soda, Styrofoam , charcoal and Cement. Baking Soda performed best on some tests and was worst on others.. Oh well, ... But I don't have Baking Soda, Charcoal or Styrofoam but I do have a great big bag of cement...

The YouTube clip is called, "Works like magic pour super glue on cement and be amazed" I can't make a link work but google the complete phrase. It looks like ordinary (Portland ?) cement used a filler with super glue just like people use baking soda but seems to be a lot stronger. The guy put cement and superglue around two steel (?) rods running parallel and when it set the rod bent instead of the joint breaking. He also mended a plastic chain guard or similar with a plasticine mould which he filled with the cement and superglue mix and it looked very robust. in all about 9 different fixes in 8 minutes running time.

I just watched the YouTube video "Works like magic pour super glue on cement and be amazed" and it looks like the old baking powder and superglue fix but much stronger. Just wondered if anyone had tried it and if it a) worked or b) didn't work, c) exploded and burned the house down or d) ruined a slightly damaged model. As always interested to learn from others experiences.

To be honest I don't know, and if they are contaminated what would be the result? They came out nicely and cleaned up with a piece of cloth. I filed the end square, I had hoped someone else had experience of this. I have cut down larger brushes from power tools and car alternator in the past but its very frustrating as the carbon breaks up easily. The AAA battery core is dead size for diameter and was easy to trim in the lathe chuck

The Mainline didn't have dodgy wheels as such but anything Mainline / Bachmann split chassis is waiting for the wheels to fall off, My Bachmann Manor did it 10 minutes from brand new. Never chuck nothing away. eBay it. One mans crap crud collector wheelset is another blokes fine scale EM gauge refurbished lathe turned and polished wheelset . We had an old gramophone case, no guts bottom falling out, couldn't be bothered to take it to the tip. stuck it on eBay £7.50 plus £5 p+p and got £105 for it. Horrible orange clock £35. 12 axles Hornby Dublo 3 rail wheels £12. I only paid a fiver for 6 coaches so made about £4 profit and got 8 good bogies to put Lima wheels in. Being an old age pensioner that £4 makes all the difference, 2 bottles of supermarket budget cola or a twix bar or 8 Just don't over sell, "Needs attention," "Spares or repair," If its tatty a quick blast of Poundland rattle can matt black and its "Weathered" , or Grey Primer or pound shop red and some flattering photos and Bobs your uncle.

Strewth, you blokes got a death wish or something?

Interesting. New Dapol boxed Items direct from China 33% discount on UK Box shifter prices on a well known online auction site. Plus discounts for bulk. Variety of liveries.. I don't quite know what to make of this, is it the oriental rug scam? (See Arthur Daley's book of doing it right)

Oh well, no replies. Had to try it myself and in initial tests it worked very well. Fitted to my Ring Field Romford geared Castle chassis with 9F wheels which powers my shortened GEM 56XX. Rods also fit pre Ring Field 4MT. N2 Ducjhess, A4 etc.

I don't think half the testers do either, they check the cord, earth leakage etc but I keep finding 13 amp fuses where there should be 5 amp cords attached by the wires not the outer casing and freshly PAT tested items which don't actually work. And of course bare wires inside the casing, normally on 19700s controllers. It's a nice little earner, 2 day course to get qualified. Fancy doing it myself actually.

Crud collectors, I had some and they corroded, went white. Mine were narrow "scale" 00 wheels with underscale treads which didn't like Peco streamline points . I feel jacksons themselves are outclassed by near current Bachmann and Hornby RTR wheels. I would spray the aluminium wheels matt black, polish the treads fit them to surplus stock I no longer wanted and stick them on eBay

It seems to me that the original layout does a decent job of showcasing the stock you have, but the revised ones need small locos which are not available RTR and are not even planned. I would look to build some more locos, TT120 as of 2024 is basically a scratch building or cut and shut modifying scale, not quite like Hornby Dublo in 1938 because they had a decent 0-6-2T capable of local passenger and goods work, as well as two (One?) Pacifics but parallel in that Tillig have class 55 which could maybe be hacked into a Q6 and some nice chassis. I would try to get a few more inches width add a platform at the top of the original plan and build some scenery to watch your trains run through.

I keep seeing suggestions to use the carbon rods found in non rechargeable batteries as motor brushes if new o.e. ones are not available. This afternoon I found Poundland AAA batteries have carbon rods dead size for Hornby Dublo ,but ran out of time before I could test them in my Castle powered 56XX, so has anyone actually had any success with this?

I am struggling with this livery I would have thought the sign writer would have spaced the lettering so it looks right from the side, With the decal wrapped around the framing it just looks wrong. The sign writers art is in deciding how to paint the angled framing so the wording looks "Right" at angles other than direct 90 degrees and the decal makers is in how much extra to allow for wrapping around angle irons etc .

Presumably the power only needs to be provided when the wagon is stopped. If it was 00 and had buffers I would arrange power to be supplied to steel buffers on a buffer stop with a coil around the buffer stem so it acts like an electro magnet when energised so attracting steel buffer heads on the wagon, one connected to + ve rail and and one to -ve I use a magnet to keep my stock from running away from the buffers on a siding which was supposed to be level but isn't so I know it works. Otherwise a couple of retractable contacts coming up from between the sleepers to make contact with appropriate contacts on the underside of the wagon might work. My lighted coaches work fine usually but when stopped they are a bit iffy so maybe stopped is the worst case scenario for wheel pick up.

I don't think they woud have used cast plates for players, the wait woud be a problem. I reckon they would of been cloth and sown on. I remember 40 odd years ago laboriously and lovingly painting an 00 toad with "Return to Nebury" leaving the "W" out. I have never bothered since.

That is my problem with the present state of the ark DCC sound, At a distance of about 5 metres the only sound 1369 made last week as she came past at Buckfastleigh was a very slight sound like a kettle apart from a bit of groaning from the wheels. She accelerated from a stand with four chuffs and then shut off to coast past at a fair bit faster than I can walk. The Hornby P2 with sound makes far more row starting light engine than Sir Nigel Gresley does starting from Goathland up a gradient with 7 on without any trace of a slip. It's that lack of control over the sound which needs addressing and until the sound control starts controlling the speed instead of the other way round we will never get what I would call acceptable sound.

I suspect the same will happen with the 0 gauge, the locos cost maybe 1.5 times the 00 and take up 3 times the area. Six would be a crowd on this layout. I would incorporate a loco lift so you can select the locos you want to display from one of several display cabinets or even better sets of low level storage sidings and have them delivered swiftly and safely to the display area.

Sounds to ,me that it could end right here, with no steam to Mallaig and a catastrophe for the West Highland area tourist industry. The ORR clearly has no concept of a business needing to make a profit and have a viable business plan. They clearly would prefer the service run with a class 68 and mk5 stock. The fact that the attraction is Harry Potter based hasn't really sunk in yet, Yes they should have cut back the platforms permanently and used a couple of red livery GWR locos really, but the trains have traditionally been sold out long in advance. A big part of the attraction is those iconic Mk1 coaches, even if they are TSOs instead of the corridor stock in the films. If the ORR win this they will want seat belts for the driver and fireman next. How about banning standing on commuter trains if they are that concerned with safety? It' been proved to be a killer accident reports

Most OO RTR turntables have 1 entry and 3 outlets. The multiroad ones are usually H0 and massive, probably completely fill a 2nd radius circle if the roads accomodated a Pacific each. I think the second reverse loop has little use and I proved the pointwork for my concept sketch works in Anyrail. It avoids the turntable being a facing connection off a running line . I don't like the open visual staging tracks but they could be hidden. It would certainly look good seeing trains negotiate the junction as they come round the return loop anticlockwise ..

I just watched another YouTube "How to do it" DCC video, and again off goes the loco chuff chuff. etc Two chuffs per revolution. Steam railway locos have with almost no exceptions,(the double acting cylinders which give four chuffs with two cylinders, Most three cylinders give six chuffs and 4 cylinders 4 or eight chuffs. "Aerolite" at the NRM is AFAIK the last 2 "Chuff" per rev loco left in the UK. Is this endemic in the DCC sound files or just ignorance on the part of the modellers?

There are Vacuum Brake Ejectors and Live Steam Injectors (And on some locos not Jinties Exhaust Steam Injectors) not sure which the Jinty actually needs but the Wizard Stanier types are not much like the Jiny Vac ejector set up which seems to be typically mixed up with the right hand handrail. The Injector pipework seems to be hidden, and inaccessible in typical LMS fashion instead of having a top feed where youncan get at it

Looks good. What drawing did you use? It looks pretty much like the illustration in "The Stars Castles and Kings" by O.S. Nock showing the the Hawksworth Pacific. Not too sure it was a shame they never built the Pacific, judging by recent ish you Tubes of Stanier Pacifics slipping on South Devon Banks. The proposed roller bearing Kings with streamlined steam passages would have been a better bet... Unless they upgraded Cornwall to double red and decided to run Penzance to Paddington without an engine change , like Exeter Saints and Stars used to on the West Country Postal.... Which begs the question....

Last time I went some of the bridges were not wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass.

That only works with Local Authorities as the tyres come from the maintenance budget which is completely spent whereas the Bentley is capital expenditure and can be taken from the capital account. Likewise the bloke to empty the ashtray is from revenue but the new car with an empty ashtray is Capital. A larger car with a larger ashtray could result in significant savings whereas an electric car with no ashtray would result in the constructive dismissal of the ashtray cleaning operative, and a series of 3 day strikes whenever the sun came out and repercussions for the ashtray cleaning team line manager who would probably go sick from the stress of having no one to manage and a pool of money he/she/they could not spend.