Phil Bullock

Was doing a great job on the shunt turn…

Yes that would do … SK BSK CK

Brilliant! Sounds like you had a great trip …

Here’s our latest visitor….

Definitely not in the right plaice….

As beautiful as ever…

Yes we do the same but it is a mixed blessing as lights can be a useful indicator to rookie drivers that they have selected the right loco!

Working out on drive on layout has its advantages …. Buzzed yesterday by a male brimstone and a tortoiseshell in addition to the more literal bumble bees. Overwintering peacock had left the garden shed too, hopefully to produce a new year’s generation.

New visitors for our garden this morning…, siskins ! Very happy with that. Re bird apps I use Chirp-o-matic but if it comes up with exotica I treat it with a big pinch of salt. It was persistently trying to tell we there was a golden oriole in woods at Talybont on Usk last April.

31065?

Great work Andy!! You can never have too many guards vans…

That’s Welsh for you isn’t it? Good job it wasn’t Hafodyrynys ….

Cheers haven’t done that! Where 2 or more wires go in to the same terminal there’s plenty for the screw to clamp on to … with a single small diameter wire I strip the end then wind the stripped core back up around the end of the insulation to give the screw more to bite on.

Can I ask what issues you have had … in the interests of avoiding them ! 😉

Ok! When are you free? 😉

I have shared your aversion for chock blocks! But have overcome it…. Handy for keeping wiring in place too! It’s all colour coded and am now installing colour coded LEDs on each board so if any bus goes down I will know … and have an idea where to start fault finding. Red… accessory bus Green …. Scenic area track power Blue …. Fiddle yard north end track power Yellow…. Fiddle yard south end track power Also following @WIMorrisons advice and powering frogs using the accessory switch on the Cobalt point motors powered off the relevant track power bus.

We have a 7 amp power supply for ECoS - so far it’s only been the IP-CBs that have been tripping. That might come later though as if we split the fiddle yard roads we could have up to 48 locos on the layout. But prefer to work incrementally whilst on a learning curve. Here are the IP-CBs installed and their above board control panel … I have run the indicator LEDs and reset switches up on to the panel. There’s also a disconnect switch on the panel for each IP-CB. Just got to run the additional buses around the rest of the layout now…. Definitely not an installation for @Clive Mortimore Clive “two wires” Mortimore 😉

If the horn sounds like this … 2 mins in to This video then it’s a Howes sound file.

If you work out what the functions are and post them on here am sure someone will recognise the file structure….

Splitters….

A few observations.. Prior to the Newport stop the SW - NW Warship hauled trains ran via Maindee East and North Junctions … crew change at Pontypool Road or Hereford perhaps? D855 was at Crewe when I visited in 1969 and D862 made it to Crewe in 1971 on the NA - NLW motorail but via Brum I think. The NBLs seemed to wander further than the Swindon built locos appearing in the West Midlands, on Padd - BNS trains and also on Cotswold line trains to Worcester and Hereford in addition to West of England duties whereas the Swindon built locos wandered rather less probably due to their commitment to Waterloo - Exeter jobs until October 71. There’s also the rumour of the LM not liking the Swindon locos under their OHLE due to the exhausts being on the centre of the body line rather than offset as on the NBLs. It’s amazing how much. Interest these locos still generate….

Noooooooooooooooooo!!!! I’d be surprised if even 1 sneaks in!!!! Cash lined up for 25s 31s and 37s…. Although our Western fleet does keep growing …. But nowhere near that full fleet yet. Oil sloshers rule!!! Although we do have to run some other stuff occasionally…. My next loco purchase from our friends at Accurascale will be 57xx ….

Was it the doors themselves John? Or the fact that if you had a rake of wagons it would be difficult to load them with evenly distributed loads … doors on each side only giving access to one end of the wagon?

Gen is here… Tam Valley frog juicers

Our over wintering peacock in the garden shed is still there though..