Derwent Spa

[GWR57xx]

On 02/02/2021 at 16:47, lezz01 said:

I've got a similar power issue with a neon clock. I have one with blue led in the lounge and it's worked fine for years with the 12v DC supply it came with. A week ago it started flickering on and off which is very annoying. Trying to replace it has been a total mare. I can still get the same one but it's now well over £70 and as I only paid £16.99 for the original I was more than a little outraged. We eventually found a very nice replacement with a genuine blue neon ring light for £23 on Amazon. When it arrived we found that it had an American plug on the power supply and it has a 12v AC output . Not the end of the world I hear you say just buy an adapter. If only life was so simple. Being a yankee product it requires a 110v AC input and the best price I can get a 240v to 110v transformer with a UK plug for is £19.99 and I have to wait 2 weeks for it too boot. So what was only £23 has become £42.99 plus a total of £12.99 postage, £53.98 in all. No where on the Amazon add does it mention that it needs 110v AC input! To say that I'm not impressed with Amazon is an understatement to say the least. So even though it's not a like for like example I DO feel your pain!!! 

Regards Lez.        

Hi Lez,

If the “American” power supply outputs 12V and has a normal jack plug on it, why can’t you just use a UK 12V power supply with the same plug on it?

The 12V is the same whether it started out as 110V AC or 240V AC, so the clock doesn’t know any different.

Or did I misunderstand?

 

[lezz01]

Yes but it's AC so I still have to buy a power supply that gives me 12V AC. I have nothing in the house that puts out AC at 12V. The only AC one I have is 36V which was on the old printer that I've just retired. The only others are from laptops which is higher still. I don't think neons work on DC I believe it needs to be bussing back and forth to excite whatever gets excited in neon for it to florress. it certainly did nothing when I tried it on DC. So whichever way you slice it I'm buying something.

Regards Lez. 

    

[Rowsley17D]

13 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I can see me getting the blame for this one. If your other half asks, Harvey Keitel made you do it....

 

No, I blame the +ve balance in my PayPal account (aka Model Railway Fund).

[Rowsley17D]

11 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Yes but it's AC so I still have to buy a power supply that gives me 12V AC. I have nothing in the house that puts out AC at 12V. The only AC one I have is 36V which was on the old printer that I've just retired. The only others are from laptops which is higher still. I don't think neons work on DC I believe it needs to be bussing back and forth to excite whatever gets excited in neon for it to florress. it certainly did nothing when I tried it on DC. So whichever way you slice it I'm buying something.

Regards Lez. 

    

 

PM sent.

[MrWolf]

27 minutes ago, Rowsley17D said:

 

No, I blame the +ve balance in my PayPal account (aka Model Railway Fund).

 

That's a relief, I have on occasion been accused of being a bad influence. 

BTW thanks for your advice on rescuing the old South Leicester wagon bodies. The results now need detailing, weathering and a minor number change for one of them.

 

[Rowsley17D]

16 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

BTW thanks for your advice on rescuing the old South Leicester wagon bodies. The results now need detailing, weathering and a minor number change for one of them.

 

 

 

You're welcome.

[Rowsley17D]

The shed at Derwent got a new loco today, a sister for 1303. I've numbered her in the 2888 Class range, the last 0-4-4s Derby-built for the Midland. No 1421 was a Buxton engine in the 30s along with 1420 which were both reboilered with Belpaires and converted to motor working for the Millers Dale service.

 

 

 

There's a little more work to be done to the Craftsman kit before she can be put in service like a suitable decoder. I think I'll go for a Youchoos which is also in my Bachmann version.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Rowsley17D

[Regularity]

Very nice. They look lovely in MR red, but they certainly suit black (proper colour for an engine) with that wonderful lettering.

[Rowsley17D]

Once a suitable decoder can be found (have to save up first) the next new engine to enter the stud is MR Class 483 superheated 4-4-0. With the weight of this white metal kit I thought it would not move itself let alone a rake of coaches but It handles 6 bogies with ease, whether it can get itself up the incline from the shed to the station is another matter but I need the decoder before I find out.

 

[Rowsley17D]

Newly chipped Craftsman kit Class 2888 tank at Derwent Spa on testing trial. This loco uses the Youchoos (no connection) Zimo decoder for the Bachmann Midland 1P but on a 6-wire harness so it could be hard-wired into the model. They put a slightly different whistle sound from the Bachy version and left off the coal shovelling sound. It's one of the best steam sound decoders I have. Also fitted was a Youchoos 17000uF Super cap stay-alive. The decoder is in one tank and the stay-alive in the other. A sugar cube speaker is in the bunker.

 

if you prefer B&W

 

[Rowsley17D]

The growing stud of ex-Midland engines on-shed awaiting their turns of duty.

 

[lezz01]

I do like the 1P Jonathan. You've made a cracking good job of it mate.

Regards Lez.

[Rowsley17D]

33 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

I do like the 1P Jonathan. You've made a cracking good job of it mate.

Regards Lez.

Thanks, Lez. It went together very well and goes reasonably well on DCC. Just a few more CVs to tweak as the decoder is set up for the Bachmann version. It's not as heavy as the Bachy model but the boiler and chassis above the wheels have as much lead in them as can be managed. I copes perfectly well with 4 bogies which is about as much a load as most Buxton engines had if photos of my period are anything to go by. The loco climbs the bank from the shed are with ease. 

 

Having got the tank building bug I'm very tempted by the LRM kit of the so called Stanier 2P 0-4-4. Although they saw service at Buxton on the Millers Dale run it was very late in the day as they replaced the 1Ps but it would be nice to have 0-4-4Ts from Kirtley to Stanier. Rule 1 applies.

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, Rowsley17D said:

LRM kit of the so called Stanier 2P 0-4-4

A bit of a Lemon, was the prototype...

[Rowsley17D]

My attempt at trying to almost recreate the past.

Photo from Peak Rail Collection.

 

[lezz01]

It's a very interesting track formation Jonathan. What would you call it? An interlaced double crossover maybe? I'd love a go at building that.

Regards Lez.  

[5BarVT]

11 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

It's a very interesting track formation Jonathan. What would you call it? An interlaced double crossover maybe?

Offset Scissors perhaps?

Paul.

[Rowsley17D]

2 hours ago, lezz01 said:

It's a very interesting track formation Jonathan. What would you call it? An interlaced double crossover maybe? I'd love a go at building that.

Regards Lez.  

 

2 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

Offset Scissors perhaps?

Paul.

 

The Peak Rail Collection photo is from c1917 and is also reproduced in Scenes from the Past 7. I cannot find out when it was replaced by a conventional scissors but the formation was in place before WWII. I thought about making it for my model for all of 2 seconds before going down the easier route of 2 conventional crossovers. I might at some point in the future (unintended pun) build the conventional scissors as this will allow me more room for a shallower gradient to the shed area but all this will require some serious civil engineering work on the layout. Is life too short?

Edited March 14, 2021 by Rowsley17D

[Regularity]

It’s just two turnouts overlaid facing-trailing, with an added diamond.

on the surface, that’s a (not quite) straightened single slip, but on a slip, the slip represents a diverging route. Here, the “slip” is the main route.

This was not a frequently used piece of permanent way, so as far as I know, has no special terminology.

[Rowsley17D]

37 minutes ago, Regularity said:

It’s just two turnouts overlaid facing-trailing, with an added diamond.

on the surface, that’s a (not quite) straightened single slip, but on a slip, the slip represents a diverging route. Here, the “slip” is the main route.

This was not a frequently used piece of permanent way, so as far as I know, has no special terminology.

No doubt it had something to do with the cramped nature of the station and its approach. Hopefully, @martin_wynne may be along to tell us if the formation had a name?

[martin_wynne]

14 minutes ago, Rowsley17D said:

Hopefully, @martin_wynne may be along to tell us if the formation had a name?

 

Hi Jonathan,

 

We've been stuck for a name for this formation before. Operationally it's the same as a single-slip, but with the switch deflections in the diamond legs instead of in the slip roads.

 

It's been called a "straightened slip", but that sounds daft when it's on a curve.

 

A nice thing to build though.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

 

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, martin_wynne said:

We've been stuck for a name for this formation before.

Possibly because on the prototype, it simply doesn't have a name?

[Rowsley17D]

2 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

 

Hi Jonathan,

 

We've been stuck for a name for this formation before. Operationally it's the same as a single-slip, but with the switch deflections in the diamond legs instead of in the slip roads.

 

It's been called a "straightened slip", but that sounds daft when it's on a curve.

 

A nice thing to build though.

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

 

 

We have indeed , Martin. I'd quite forgotten about this from 2017.

 

[Rowsley17D]

Trying to improve my Templot skills I tried to make a scissors crossover to replace the facing and trailing crossovers on the approach to the station. This is the best that I could come up with.

 

The problem is the diamond crossing vees have no checkrails as they would have been in the same place as the switch/closure rails, so I don't know whether it would work. I cannot widen the 6 foot as this would mean ripping up more trackwork and virtually starting again. This formation while shorter than two crossovers, is only 10cm shorter so not much space saving, but would be more prototypical. The LMS replaced the Midland "interlaced scissors" or whatever, with an ordinary scissors crossover some time in the 1930s.

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Rowsley17D

[Rowsley17D]

@roythebus1 suggests I make the checkrails inside the diamond a diamond.