RMweb Gold chuffinghell Posted December 11, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 11, 2021 1 hour ago, Harlequin said: It's great that you've got some things moving. That is what it's all about after all! Whatever you do, though, don't ask what the best method of cleaning your track is! We've seen recently that that sets off a chain reaction that doesn't end well! Whilst attempting to clean the track I’ve had to reattach fencing I knocked over, remove bits fallen from my tree, reattach the ladder to my water tower….and so on because space is tight but mostly because I’m clumsy I’ve ordered a decoder with stay alive to attempt to fit in my 57xx that should hopefully be more forgiving on less than spotless track My panniers actually run quite well even at their slowest speed so it looks like putting droppers on every track instead of relying of fishplates and opting for electrofrog was the right thing to do but I still think stay alive on short wheelbase locos is a good idea in the long run especially as DCC appears to be very sensitive to the slightest bit of dirt My Hattons/DJ Model runs ‘okay’ but too slow and it stalls in places which I think is down to the loco not the track as other locos run fine in the same spots. I’ve no idea how I’d squeeze a stay alive in that though 2 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 11, 2021 Share Posted December 11, 2021 I've found that even my most ancient of locos run better with lots of extra power feeds and bridging the point rails. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nick C Posted December 11, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 11, 2021 3 hours ago, MrWolf said: The night time filming looks great, not too many lights, just enough to work by and spot on for the period modelled. I've always liked the idea of lighting on a layout but always been put off by the amount of layouts that look like Blackpool illuminations. Agreed, coming from the modern world of light pollution, it's astonishing just how dimly lit the railways, and indeed everything else, were back then. Even a modern heritage railway is much more illuminated than it would have been, and they're pretty dark compared to the rest of the town... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chuffinghell Posted December 11, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 11, 2021 I’ve had a mess about with my three panniers, mostly adjusting the pickups so they actually touch the wheels all of the time. There is quite a lot of float and I’d noticed that if you moved the wheels side to side the pickups didn’t always touch so I’ve bent them out slightly, although I may have gone too far on my 64xx because I can hear the rear pickup wiper scraping….well I think it’s that? It might just be a noisy loco Anyway whilst the bodies were off I’ve removed some of the weight that was in the water tanks so I have a cavity to put a stay alive capacitor as I didn’t want it in the cab Still not sure how to tackle my 48xx though, I don’t even know how the body comes off 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
outatime Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 There is a good tutorial on how to disassemble the Hattons DJM 14xx/48xx on scalefour.org: https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6127 It doesn’t look like there is a lot of space for a stay alive though. 3 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chuffinghell Posted December 12, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 12, 2021 5 hours ago, outatime said: There is a good tutorial on how to disassemble the Hattons DJM 14xx/48xx on scalefour.org: https://www.scalefour.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6127 It doesn’t look like there is a lot of space for a stay alive though. If I haven’t already glued in a real coal load I might have been able to fit a small stay alive unit in the bunker and used the speaker wires?…..bu99er! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 I'm sure that you can find a way to remove that and fit a stay alive before disguising it all with more coal. Violence is the answer. Now what was the question? 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chuffinghell Posted December 12, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 12, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, MrWolf said: Violence is the answer That has been considered there is only a thin layer of coal on top of the ‘fake coal’ so if I can break the bond I should be able to remove it. I used watered down PVA so a little water might help to dislodge it Edited December 12, 2021 by chuffinghell 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 12, 2021 Share Posted December 12, 2021 Warm water seems to attack PVA a little better. 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold lezz01 Posted December 12, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 12, 2021 Soak a bit of kitchen towel in warm water and press it onto the coal load and cover it in cling film Chris. Leave it over night and the next morning it will have gone white again and de-bonded. I use this method to remove track and ballast that has been glued in place works 100% every time....unless you've used waterproof PVA. Regards Lez. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb67 Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Just seen your videos Chris, great to see stuff running and the lights look great. The layout's looking fantastic, keep up the good work 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted December 13, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2021 Morning Chris, Great to see trains being run Chris. The layout looks lovely. Once my track is down and wired, I try to keep the layout in a usable state so I can play with it when ever it takes my fancy. Yesterday evening, having spent far too long tinkering with the Kadees over the weekend, it was very satisfying to finally run a shunty sequence or two for fun, to check the operation of both layout and stock you understand. Rob. 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 5BarVT Posted December 13, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 13, 2021 2 hours ago, NHY 581 said: to check the operation of both layout and stock you understand. Checking and testing is most important! Paul. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chuffinghell Posted December 17, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 17, 2021 Fitted the stay alive to one of my locos and subjected it to a ridiculous test Not sure if it’s supposed to ‘jump’ into action but I’d like to think this test was a little over the top. I need to do something with it though because it makes an awful noise going backwards so I’m wondering if a stray wire is hitting the worm gear? 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Rowsley17D Posted December 17, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 17, 2021 You've been watching too many of those YouTube videos, Chris. Next you'll be lifting the loco off the track and sending it back the other way. Whose stuff are you using? I'm slowly putting stay alives in all my locos. Even though I've tried to be careful in track-laying and keeping wheels clean not all locos run as I would like. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chuffinghell Posted December 17, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 17, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Rowsley17D said: You've been watching too many of those YouTube videos, Chris. Next you'll be lifting the loco off the track and sending it back the other way. Whose stuff are you using? I'm slowly putting stay alives in all my locos. Even though I've tried to be careful in track-laying and keeping wheels clean not all locos run as I would like. funny you should say that because I’ve just had it running slowly on the rollers and picked it up and timed it at 12 second run on (probably too long really) It’s a laisdcc decoder and stay alive thingy I’ve been careful too but DCC appears to be really sensitive to the slightest imperfection Edited December 17, 2021 by chuffinghell 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 On 10/12/2021 at 21:32, chuffinghell said: I think it might be wise to try and fit a stay alive decoder for better reliability It bumps up the cost (obviously) but I find them a godsend. Running is improved no end. They do tend to encourage bad habits though such as not keeping the track as clean as you should. Somewhere on my YT channel is a video of a stay-alive fitted Class 08 diesel quite happily trundling across my desk, so if recreating the Titfield Thunderbolt scene is your aim, its all you need. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 18, 2021 Share Posted December 18, 2021 14 hours ago, chuffinghell said: Fitted the stay alive to one of my locos and subjected it to a ridiculous test Not sure if it’s supposed to ‘jump’ into action but I’d like to think this test was a little over the top. I need to do something with it though because it makes an awful noise going backwards so I’m wondering if a stray wire is hitting the worm gear? I was at a show once and Chris Sutton was demoing the Stay alive on his SLW Class 24. He took it off the Track, passed it from one hand to the other behind his back, and then put it on the table and still it was trundling along. Great work Chris. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin S-C Posted December 18, 2021 Share Posted December 18, 2021 My magic gronk 4 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chuffinghell Posted December 18, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted December 18, 2021 Still noisy but not as bad as it was, I cleaned the gears and reapplied some plastic safe grease on the worm gear etc It would be too costly and headachey to fit sound so I’ll have to make the chuff chuff noises myself 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted December 18, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Martin S-C said: My magic gronk Shades of Titfield............. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Popular Post chuffinghell Posted December 19, 2021 Author RMweb Gold Popular Post Share Posted December 19, 2021 9 11 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNP Posted December 19, 2021 Share Posted December 19, 2021 And a Merry Christmas to you to…… and a Happy New Year 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 19, 2021 Share Posted December 19, 2021 Merry chuffing Christmas and a happy new year to you too. 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 19, 2021 Share Posted December 19, 2021 And a Merry Christmas to all. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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