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Piskey

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    Was North Cornwall, now near Kaukapakapa, New Zealand

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  1. Hello Mike, I just found your Boscarne Junction revisited and am most impressed. Being a roundy-roundy gives you far greater scope for longer trains than I had. When adding a line of washing don't forget some used to hang on the fence, as may be seen in the attached photo by Chris Knowles-Thomas! My version from 2013 never advanced to a finished state as I had a couple of problems, firstly the fiddle yard for the Wadebridge end was far too short and secondly, being a linear model, the sheer space that it took up. The boards (though with just three instead of four) and stock live on in my latest endeavour, Polwithian, which is oh-so-slowly slowly progressing.
  2. I'm having related problem with my AD-2Fx decoders, though I can't for the life of me think why. These were working 100% correctly a couple of days ago. Because I was having a problem with a digital Cobalt IP, DCC Concepts recommended that I reset my Digitrax DCS 51 to factory condition, which I did. The problem with the Cobalt IP seems to have gone away but now none of the AD-2Fx boards are working correctly. As mentioned above, when attempting to change direction all that happens is I hear a light click from the point motor, a Cobalt analogue one. I can change the address of the decoder without any problem as when I do the light click sound then moves to the new address. It really is frustrating. From a Digitrax source is the suggestion of resetting the AD-2Fx to factory condition, but as far as I aware this isn't possible. I certainly cannot find any mention of such an instruction on the DCC Concepts site.
  3. I contacted Rails though that was a dead end. Had a pretty quick response of: "I don't think we did, if we had these listed they would still be there." Strange. I'm 99% sure it was a Rails page, and there's no sign of the page on any other site, so if it were there it obviously isn't any more. Can't remember how long ago I saw it, late April/early May perhaps? Oh well, no doubt there'll be something to look at closer to a production date. They did look good.
  4. Well, I've been through everything and can't find where I saw the coaches, which as I recall was just a page of their own, though I wouldn't put any money on it! I'll try asking Rails.
  5. I have indeed, and there are hundreds of entries where I've been unsuccessfully searching for the page. When I have a bit more time I suppose I'll have to go through them all again though it seems that if it were in fact on the Rails site that the page has been taken down. If it was another site then I've no idea where to start! :-(
  6. A few weeks ago I found a web page (I thought it was on the Rails of Sheffield's site) with some pre-production photos of these coaches, but I cannot for the life of me find it again. Does anyone know if it is still up on the Internet, and if so, what the URL is please?
  7. Piskey

    St Columb

    Work progresses and now the Shaper Sheet has been applied all the way across the hilly section and the various gaps, corners and tunnel mouth edges have been finished with Foam Putty. This is not something I'd ever come across previously but is very easy to work with and has dried to a nice hard surface that is simple to cut, file and shape if necessary. Next will come a coating (or two) of plaster, then it'll be off to the paint shop to, I hope, completely transform it from a snowscene to a rugged rock face. Part board 2 and board 1. No matter how hard one tries there's always an annoying line in the scenery where the boards meet. The Shaper Sheet was applied across the join (as may be seen above) then cut with a sharp knife once securely fixed yet still the "join" is obvious.
  8. Piskey

    St Columb

    Hope it's not another six weeks until there's something else to post! Well, no, it's today, one day later! The Woodland Scenics Shaper Sheet cliff face cladding has now been added to the first board, as below. This was easier to do than I had feared and once anchored top and bottom it was a doddle to "adjust" the middle part. Next I have to fill in a couple of gaps where it makes a 90° turn, plus finish off by the sides of the tunnel mouths. Then progress to the next board.
  9. Piskey

    St Columb

    Time flies by so quickly and it really doesn't seem like six weeks since I last posted! Some progress has been made and I'm now just about to start some serious scenicing with a skeleton structure in place. Next will come cladding it which, for the first time, I shall be doing using Woodland Scenics Shaper Sheet. Sounds good but .... will it prove to be as good as the adverts for it? Time will tell. From the level crossing end the background rises steadily as a rock face with a road part way across this board. Board two has the background continuing to rise and the standard gauge line diving into a tunnel in the rock face Board three and the background is now at full height. Beneath it is the cassette bay for the standard gauge "fiddle yard". On the far right the narrow gauge line dives into its own tunnel. This tunnel mouth is actually meant for N scale, so needs to be raised a little!
  10. Piskey

    St Columb

    Nice photo of 1456. My first ever cab ride was in 1453 when working the 'Marlow Donkey', as here:
  11. Piskey

    St Columb

    Some Countryside Appears! Time passes and not much gets done! There have been a lot of other things taking my time again recently, plus it's been blooming hot! Shifting a board or two is enough to break out a sweat. However, some work has been done and I've just finished fixing the back scene which now hides the 'hidden sidings' (except where you can see through the hole in the wall which gives access to the standard gauge cassette). The left side of the layout. The line here runs on the other side of the road from the town and I intend to add some houses to the shorter straight side to indicate this. The line will then enter a cutting with an overbridge before disappearing through to the hidden sidings beyond. The middle section of the back scene. This is the same as the one I used for my Boscarne Junction layout and I'm rather disappointed that in this print there is an obvious colour difference between two of the sheets, as is easily seen above. Oh well, I suppose some creative planting will be called for here! The right hand side of things. The scenery here will form a hill that completely covers the hole in the wall through which the cassettes will be put on and taken off the layout. The strips of wood on the base are guides for locating the cassettes accurately with the access road. For ease of operation the power socket shown is going to be moved to the other side of the track. The shorter side on the right has an opening door so that in case of an event inside the tunnel (that will be up to the scenery level here) things can be sorted easily.
  12. Piskey

    St Columb

    The Eagle has landed! Well, not quite The Eagle, but the first of my long-awaited Manning Wardles, 760 EXE arrived today. I know there have been a lot of problems with these models so unpacked it with trepidation though I have to say first impression was, "What a lovely model". However, I wasn't quite so enamoured when one of the motion covers fell off as the engine was being unpacked. Maybe a light touch of glue is required if it happens again. There doesn't seem to be any lug to hold it, so perhaps it's simply a matter of faith! I have now set up the rolling road and am giving it the recommended 30 minutes on 12v DC in each direction but the thing runs at almost full speed from the start. It does quicken a little as the controller's knob is turned up, but not by much. Hopefully this won't be a problem when a DCC decoder has been installed. Time will tell. EXE running at the "slowest setting" on the rolling road set up on my programming track. ​Once the 30 minutes in each direction has finished I'll try it on a piece of track.
  13. Piskey

    St Columb

    A short while ago I had turned my thoughts to track cleaning. This is a very necessary task that I was quite surprised to find I needed to carry out on brand new track, albeit track that had been laid for a while but had not been run on. I'm not a fan of track cleaning rubbers as I believe they damage the rails over time, so was thinking of a track cleaning wagon, if only for the longer run of 9mm track. I was drawn to the kit made by Lanarkshire Models and Supplies, which has some good recommendations, but it is only made for OO, EM and P4 track, not OO-9. I had a word with Dave Franks at LMS and he very kindly produced one for me as a one-off special with a turned down roller and smaller frame to hold it. Next was the question of where to install it? A Peco four wheel wagon is too short and I think the overhang on a rather long Peco L&B Bogie wagon would be a problem, so after a brief Internet search I decided on an Eggerbahn four wheel long wheelbase wagon. This arrived today and I set about carving it up! Because the 'ground clearance' is less than with OO I fixed it above the floor of the wagon rather than underneath, as in the instructions. I had to glue it in (easier with above floor mounting) as where I would have put the fixing screws would have obstructed the pony trucks that carry the wheels. The whole construction worked perfectly and I now have a track cleaning wagon almost ready to go. I say 'almost' as I need to paint the underneath of the roller holder plus add a rather large packing case I'm making from some scrap balsa to hide 'the works'. Oh yes, and add a little weight. The track cleaning wagon as first turned out of the workshops! As may be see, the size is just perfect for OO-9. This seems so successful that I think I may well invest in one for the OO gauge track even though there's only a short run.
  14. Piskey

    St Columb

    A train has run! Today the last two point motors were moved half an inch further from the track and Hummy, with up to four coaches, made numerous circumnavigations of the whole layout. I'm getting a bit better at stopping in the correct place - something that will be quite important where uncoupling is required, at a signal or in the platform without the rear of the train out of the station. Four coaches is just about this engine's limit, though when the Manning Wardles arrive Hummy will be relegated to goods workings only. There are 11" radius curves at either end of the layout and with four on Hummy does slip slightly. Hummy and coaches on the first run. These Peco coaches (now fitted with metal wheelsets) are very light and I was thinking of adding a little weight to them but I think I'll put that on hold until I know how well they'll behave behind a Manning Wardle. Exe is on it's way, but I don't yet have a DCC decoder for it.
  15. Piskey

    St Columb

    Not much time to look at this today but I have managed to amend the point connection for the other half of this crossover. As it's a longer run, and goes under an adjacent track, I used a thicker length of brass wire. That was a problem in itself as it was too thick - though filing a groove in the cork underlay soon sorted that.
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