wireman

Thank you both for your help. ESU Loksound has put me in the right direction. Thanks once again. Brian ( wireman ).

A recently aquired Bachmann CL.47 runs well and sounds great. In an attempt to identify which chip is fitted, I have read CV8 which showed only 15 1 as idetification. Does this indicate to anyone what this chip could be or do I need to take the body off to find out. Many Thanks.

Mainly an operating session this week but there are now steps to gain access to the fuel tanks plus destination boards on the Bournemouth Belle Pullman stock. I'm not sure whats next, although the long awaited new control panel is a possibility. Regards Brian. (wireman )

Ladder for access to fuel tanks being made but in the meantime 08 drawing empty wagon away and a couple of pictures of the Bournemouth Belle. The pullmans have had a light weathering and the rake looks superb running though Coleborne. 35012 needs sound fitting !!!! Regards Brian, ( wireman ).

Although nearly two months since our last post, time has flown by. Christmas, New year etc. plus weathering a rake of pullman coaches plus sound fitting the 9F have all caused delay in sorting the Bund wall problem around the fuel tanks. No hard and fast rules have yet been found re. the period in question but given the limited space available, a plausible, ( I hope ), wall has been fitted. An access lader is still to be built and fitted but hopefully this goes some way to answering the problem. NO, I have not worked out the contained capacity should a disaster happen. Thanks once again to Lez and Oldddudders for interest and advice. Regards Brian . ( wireman ).

Thanks fo reply Lez. The bund wall topic was a new one to us and as we were unable to have our weekly meeting last week we have not had chance to discuss this further. One question I have is to when these regulations came into force. The layout is based in the early 60's , 60 years ago, were these walls a requirement then. Historic pictures of Diesel fuel points are hard to find, the best one I found was of Crewe Diesel fuel point. The main fuel storage tanks here do not seem to have any visible bund walls. However, we appreciate all comments and advice and if these walls are required I'm sure Nick will want the error corrected. Hopefully we will be meeting again this week. Thanks once again for comment. Regards Brian. ( wireman ) .

During this weeks visit we had an enjoyable operating session, although I did manage a little more progress on the fuel depot. I took a couple of my sound fitted loco's, I feel sure we will soon be hearing sounds on some of the Coleborne fleet. The class 47 in this picture is already sound fitted and spent agreat deal of the afternoon ticking over here. Regards Brian ( wireman ).

Thanks for comment Olddduders. I did not know the term bund walls before but will certainly take a look. Cheers Brian.

I've found a couple of better pics of the bolsters and brake van. Regards Brain ( wireman )

An update on the refuelling point. Final fixing and scenic work remain although the idea of a fence between the tracks at the point is still up for debate. ( Nick can't decide. ) The urge to weather all of the 16 ton mineral wagons has morphed into a need to weather and load the bogie bolster wagons. and the Queen mary. Rgards Brian.

Just a couple of pictures to show progress on the refuelling point. The first is just to have some idea of where things will be placed, Then the wall and base for the tanks. The tanks are a Peco/Wills kit. these need painting and weathering before being fixed to the base in order to continue with the pipe work. The refuelling stand is from Bachmann and also needs detailing and weathering before final fixing. The walls are thin foam board and brickpapers. I think there should be some sort of fencing between the tracks at this point as well, although I'm not sure what type or form this should be. The lamp hut in the background will not be there. Regards Brian. ( Wireman )

The finished coal wagons , plus my own Loco. Bideford. Nick weathered this engine for me a few weeks ago but running problems resulted in fitting a new set of driving wheels. These were obtained from Hornby, extremely cheeply and quick service. Hence the need for another visit to the paint shop. I do know that the rear pony truck is fitted backwards, this was corrected at home after wondering why it kept de-railing. This had nothing to do with the superb weathering, it was my excitement in refitting the body and truck. Now.Back to the refuelling point. Regards Brian ( wireman )

In my entry at the end of August, I mentioned that during the track alterations, we had hoped to fit in a spur for a small diesel refuelling point and as I said this proved not practical. Although it was decided to still include a refuelling point which would be accessed from the turntable. Work on this has started but things have been side tracked by a sudden urge to fill and weather a batch of 16 ton mineral wagons. ( And one of my engines ). The first picture is of a larger Loco coal wagon and the second is the first batch of the 19 wagons requiring filling and weathering. They were purchased as factory weathered, all looking very similar, the enhanced weathering gives each an individual look. Graham spent a couple of happy hours fitting packing pieces to the inside of the16 tonners and then filling with crushed coal, fixing by dribbling diluted PVA in a manner similar to that used when ballasting track. All good fun. There were actually only 11 of these at Coleborne, but I have 8 at Brampton Road so it seemed a good idea, well to me at least, to slip these in. To prove work has started on the refuelling point , here is the area being cleared for it. As many times before, this required a paint scrapper and small hammer Regards Brian ( Wireman ).

The holes for the point motors look rather large but under baseboard access here is limited so the motors and Peco switches have been pre -wired, before fitting to the point, with a long enough run of cable to be able to fix the terminating six way connecting block to a suitable cross member where there is better access. The live frog dropper wire will also be extended before fitting. The point motor switch will be for panel lights and the frog dropper wire will go to a Gaugemaster frog juicer. These two views show work in progress, this took quite a time to achieve, plus as the control panel is going to be replaced , tempory switches were added to the existing panel. Using some existing wiring plus additional new wiring was interesting to say the least. And finally. Some scenic odds and ends remain to do, but all fixed and working. In all, this took around 5 afternoon/evening visits over the last 5 weeks. Graham made endless cups of Tea and storekeeping, I spent a good deal of this time under the base boards, Nick drilled holes and laid track and as always superb painting. There were a few problems along the way, but the objective was achieved. Problems? NEW CONTROL PANEL. Regards Brian. ( wireman )

Track clearance and a start on holes for new point motors Regards Brian (wireman)