RFS

I got my replacement wheelset from Howes Models - https://howesmodels.co.uk/product/oo-general-spares/. It's a fairly simple replacement. However you will have to contact Howes to find when/if they going to be back in stock. But they're also available from Gaugemaster - https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/Heljan-hn19853583.html . But whereas Howes was £11.50 for a complete set of wheels, they're now £22.50 per bogie!

A 1 amp chip is more than adequate. I have Lenz Standard+ chips in mine and never had any problems. The first one I had did indeed have brass wheels which were quite a problem as has been mentioned, and I subsequently replaced them.

I have a Hornby Schools class loco - 30924 from the R2815 set - which now has an erratic motor that needs to be replaced. It's the loco-drive version with the X4026 motor. I've replaced a couple of these before on a West Country and a King Arthur, but with the Schools it's not obvious how the motor is extracted for a replacement. Has anyone done this and can briefly say how it's done? Thanks

Had the same problem myself a couple of weeks ago with a Hornby King Arthur loco. Likewise only one wire had come out of the loco plug and I quickly come to the conclusion that it was not possible to fix it back in. I purchased a replacement X6113 and was able to use the 3 wires still in situ to work out where they all went on this loco. What I did need was some thin shrink wrap as the wires from the original plug were quite short and soldered to the internal wires and covered in shrink wrap. In the end it was relatively easy to do but still a very fiddly job.

There's a guy on Ebay offering a set of 12 photos of the Lymington branch, one of which is this, which seems to confirm it's Lymington Town. The rear of the train looks to be curving away from the signal box, but then it looks as though it's coming out of the siding on the left of the picture.

And so do other suppliers, and I've now switched to the Roco Z21. At least Lenz hardware does keep its value and all my Lenz kit sold for good prices on Ebay ...

In many cases these can be avoided by using the switches on the point motors connected to the diamonds. For example, with a turnout leading into a diamond the point frog and the diamond frog furthest away require the same polarity so can be connected together. The other diamond can then be switched by the other switch on the Cobalt. On my layout I have a couple of crossovers so there are two points connected to the diamond. One switch on each point motor manages two frogs which thus covers all requirements. Just have to remember not to have the crossover road set when a train is crossing the other way over the diamond.

Anything to do perhaps with the current hot weather? Has an isolating joint closed up due to expansion? Just had a problem with that in my converted loft, where the two rails either side of the lift-up flap were now just touching and hence marking their blocks occupied to the detectors. I was surprised as the rails themselves are soldered to copper-clad sleepers. So bit of careful filing needed to correct.

Hardly surprising looking now at his negative feedback .

Saw this item by chance on Ebay today. Despite the glaring spelling error, 7 have been sold already!

He's just misspelt it which is quite common - autocorrect isn't responsible. I've listed a few coaches in the past with correct spelling that's never been interfered with! If I'm looking for anything Bulleid I always search for both spellings.

Which is one of the reasons I've ditched Lenz and gone for the Z21. I can now turn Railcom on and off via a couple of mouse clicks on the PC via the Z21 Maintenance Tool. Really does make the Lenz look pretty primitive, not to mention charging €75 for a firmware upgrade ... None the less the Lenz DCC systems are pretty solid and reliable if you don't want a complicated system, and one of the reasons why all my Lenz kit has sold for good prices on Ebay. I have however kept my LH101 throttle as that's one item that is really excellent, and works really well with the Z21.

What you need is the Zimo MX617 which is £20 from most retailers including Coastal DCC who have it in stock. They have the 6-pin wired decoder so you'd need to cut off the plug and hard-wire it, but I found with mine (using a Lenz decoder) that the bulk of the wiring loom made it difficult to get the body back on once disturbed. Removing the 8-pin socket and wiring loom made the fitting easy.

And these days 'elf and safety would have a fit at that board crossing with the live conductor rails running right through it!

They were used from introduction on West of England services, as seen here for example - https://railphotoprints.uk/p668741324/e7b0d60da. Being at the front of the train the set is probably the Plymouth portion. But as Olddudders says above, they were displaced from these front-line services after a while by newer stock. A number were then used extensively on Somerset and Dorset locals.