loco lover

Many thanks indeed for your replies. Would RONSONOLL also remove the overspill onto the Cowling and the flat roof, or would it destroy/deform these surfaces?? And, would it leave intact the surfaces to be joined together again by liquid cement?

I have bought a Hornby air smoothed merchant Navy class loco number 35029 which had the cowling disconnected from the front of the top of the casing. This front edge is rectangular and intact; there are no signs of any fracture. Likewise, there are no signs of any fracture on the mating surface of the cowling. I tried to glue the cowling onto this rectangular aperture, using Tamiya liquid cement (which comes in a glass bottle with a brush attached to the inside of the screwtop). Unfortunately, I did not position the cowling exactly in the correct position, so I need to apply something to remove the liquid cement from the joint - and from the top of the casing which forms part of the air smoothed casing. Can anyone advise me on how to successfully remove the cowling and also remove the excess liquid cement from the top of the smoothed casing?

May I sincerely thank all of you who responded to my query. I will wait until Hornby bring out one in malachite green SR livery with the standard front-end as modelled by Graham. Click submit reply

I am at the start of planning a new layout. My previous layout had a few curved points (insulfrog) and I remember they frequently caused rolling stock to derail when wheels passed through the long gap between the frog and the rail, due to the absence of support to the wheel in question. I remember that this problem did not occur on straight points because they had significantly shorter gaps. Does anyone know how to prevent this problem occurring? All replies gratefully received, Alan

Does anyone know if Hornby have produced a merchant Navy class locomotive in air-smoothed casing design and Southern Railway malachite green livery, as per the photograph below?

Hello RAF 96, Many thanks for correcting my wrong perception about the total number of HM 6000 and HM 6010 units that can be operated from 1 device loaded with the app. Many thanks also for your thoughts on any possible means of HM 6010 unit driving CBUS; you may well be right. Alan hello Nigel, I am very grateful for your reply. I will forget trying to drive CBUS from an HM 6010 unit. As I am completely ignorant of software packages which you mention and have no clue as to how to interface 2 software controlled units, I think I will use 4 HM 6000 units to give me the capability to drive up to 8 locos (on DC) on different tracks and use CBUS solely to control my points; I believe that CBUS can be used to set a complete route for a train to run from a fiddle loop to a station platform and then back to the fiddle loop road. If I understand you correctly, a CBUS command station would be a fixed station. I require the ability to control trains from anywhere in the room; as I understand it the HM IDC system gives me such ability. Many thanks for your reply. Alan

As I am sure many of you will be aware, Hornby has recently brought out an app to load onto a smart phone which enables the owner to remotely control, via Bluetooth, up to 4 HM 6000 power controllers. Each of these HM 6000 controllers can be connected to up to 3 HM 6010 accessory controllers. Each HM 6010 controller can switch up to 4 points motors. Theoretically, as I understand it, this would allow such a set of controllers to control up to 48 points motors. The layout which I am planning to build will have many more than 48 points. Does anyone know whether one HM 6010 unit can be connected to the CBUS system in order to drive more than 48 points motors? Again, as I understand it, the CBUS system uses a twin wire bus going all round the layout via modules which determine which point the user wishes to switch, and another 2 wires which feed the power to all the points on the layout. Does anyone know whether this combination of HM 6000/HM 6010 units will interface with the CB US network to control more than 48 points? All help gratefully received, Alan

Can the CBUS system be used in conjunction with the Hornby HM6 000 and HM 6010 units to control more points than the 48 points which 4 HM6000 units each driving 3 HM6010 units can control? I plan to have a 16 road fiddle loop, which will need 32 points. I will also need points for crossovers, platform loops, goods yards, engine shed yards plus something like a further 12 or so points for 2 branch lines. I was wondering whether the CBUS system could set an entire route for a train and so only consume 1 of the capacity of 48 different points which the above combination of HM 6000 and HM 6010 units possess; does anyone know if this is possible? All replies gratefully received. Alan

May I say a belated but huge thank you to all you good folks who have taken the time and trouble to answer my questions. It will take me some time to digest all of the information which you have given me. I never expected such a lot of advice; RM web really is a great resource, I'm most impressed, having only registered last week! The only answer I would give at the moment is to the person behind the username my rule 1 and it is simply seeking clarification, as follows. You say that "if it wasn't for the comment about having 2 trains in one section then I would recommend HM 6000". I actually said that I would never have 2 locos in the same section, so am I right in thinking that HM 6000 is a candidate control system for me to use? Again, many thanks to you all; I am very grateful for you taking the time and trouble that you have done. Alan

Some 5 years ago, I suffered a spinal cord injury which rendered me a tetraplegic. Consequently, my wife and I had to move house and my extensive 00 gauge steam railway layout had to be dismantled and packed away and stored for some 3 years in a container. We are now in a bungalow which has a very large spare room, 19' x 19' in which I am considering having a new layout built for me. Prior to my injury I had amassed a massive collection of locos, carriages and wagons. The layout was operated by DC. It had 5 mainlines and one branch line and occupied the entire loft, size 24' x 10'. The question which I would appreciate your answers to is 'how viable would it be for me in my wheelchair to operate a similar layout in my new room of 19' x 19'? 'I should add that I would always have a carer with me but he/she would not be up to speed on such matters as speed control and point switching, the latter being particularly extensive due to the large number of tracks in a fiddle yard (or rather, loops). On the latter topic, I have heard of the Cbus system which can switch all of the points necessary to select an entire route; such a system is perhaps worthy of consideration? Should I seriously consider converting possibly 300 locos to DCC? Or would the new Hornby 12 V DC system (I can't remember it's designation) do the job of starting up, running and then slowing to a stop (since I would never have 2 locos in the same section) ? Please advise as you think fit. If you think that it is far too ambitious for me to run 4 trains on the mainlines and 2 trains on 2 branch lines, even with the help of a carer, then please say so. Obviously, I am looking for advice from any other wheelchair bound modeller, but I would welcome advice from able-bodied modellers also. Is a layout of 19' x 19' just far too big for one person to control, enjoy? Is it far too big for me to maintain (albeit I could call in the man who I would use to build a layout in the 1st place - but not instantaneously of course)? The same question applies to fault finding and fault correcting of course. May I thank you in advance for all the advice you can offer me. Alan