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Update: Seeing as the initial installation was a success, and I don't need to allow for a quick decoder swap if one blows up, I have now put in a TCS M1 decoder, which sits comfortably on top of one of the bogie towers, with heaps of room around it. Motor control is also much, much better with the TCS.

With the Gaugemaster decoder, I had to put a value of 15 in CV2 to get the loco moving on speed step 1. There was no such problem with the TCS decoder, and the loco inches along on speed step 1 with no extra tweaking needed.

It now really needs a good run to get the electrical pickups back to good condition - it was a little hesitant at first but after even a short run it improved considerably.

The positions of the LEDs need slight adjustment to get them in optimum positions for the light guides, but in all other respects I am very happy with the results for what was a real bargain purchase.

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My theme for today is my Bratchell Models kits. All the 4-car units have been motorised using Replica Railways 64' motorised chassis with 12mm wheels. The 2-car class 456 is unpowered at present but will gain a Replica half-chassis - an idea put forward by Replica Railways themselves.

 

The units are, from back to front:

Class 455/8 5835 in Network South East (NSE) livery;

Class 319/1 319 174 in NSE livery;

Class 319/3 319 368 in Thameslink livery;

Class 455/9 5907 in South West Trains (SWT) livery;

Class 456 456007 in NSE livery.

 

The Thameslink 319 and SWT 455 are both unfinished as they have not yet had their underframe details fitted. 5907 is also still undergoing adjustments to its livery. This uses Electra Railway Graphics vinyl overlays but I have been painting the end 'swoops' and cab fronts by hand.

 

The unpowered class 456 usually runs attached to 5835.

 

49660283091_5388636c5e_k.jpg

P_20200315_111402_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

49659742248_4989db88f1_k.jpg

P_20200315_111334_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

 

Edited by SRman
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For something a little different, I have started adding some of the lineside cabling so typical of London's underground railways. This is only the first bit, with lots still to go. The section that has dropped slightly on the right has been fixed - I only noticed it when I looked at the photo.

49661192242_5b0ac6c66e_k.jpg

P_20200315_163411_vHDR_cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

49660371668_962899055d_k.jpg

P_20200315_163358_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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1 hour ago, SRman said:

For something a little different, I have started adding some of the lineside cabling so typical of London's underground railways. This is only the first bit, with lots still to go. The section that has dropped slightly on the right has been fixed - I only noticed it when I looked at the photo.

49661192242_5b0ac6c66e_k.jpg

P_20200315_163411_vHDR_cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

49660371668_962899055d_k.jpg

P_20200315_163358_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

That looks super Jeff.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been gluing down and blending some grass mats with various textures along the narrow bit of wasteland between the tracks at the front and the fiddle yard at the back. I will add a few low bushes and shrubs later, but I don't want anything too tall as that would impede access to trains when I am reaching across, and also for track cleaning purposes. The mats are from Modelscene, bought from Modellers Warehouse in Brisbane, and I have used some Woodland Scenics scatter material and bushes/foliage to fill gaps between mats and along the sides adjoining the tracks. The glue is still drying in the photos.

Also in the photos are the Ratio yard hut which was a freebie from Railway Modeller magazine (not its final position, but I still need to work on the engine shed area where it will end up if all goes to plan), and the workman's caravan from Oxford Diecast, which I have weathered and dulled down somewhat, but forgot to treat the steps!

As always (this is almost a mantra!) there is still much to do to complete the effects properly and get rid of bits of bare boards or cork sheeting showing through.

 

49703375506_211b0f1ed7_k.jpg

P_20200327_171140_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

49703375481_e840871f96_k.jpg

P_20200327_171204_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

 

Edited by SRman
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It's looking good Jeff, I even spent an hour or so running trains. Managed a bit of kit building on the V2 again. I hope the couple of weeks at home allow you more time to get more scenics done. I'm still working so my time so I will just have to watch what you get up too! 

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I have been doing a little further work on the London Transport lines on the lower level, mainly involving the cabling that is so prominent along LT's lines. I recently purchased a couple of the typical arches that carry cables over the lines from Shapeways. They aren't cheap but I have not been able to figure a way to scratchbuild them myself that isn't also incredibly labour intensive.

I also posted a video on YouTube showing a couple of the LT trains from the late 1950s and early 1960s period running. In this video the cable arches are unpainted, but in the photo that follows, I have started painting. They still need a little light weathering, and some minor variations in the cable colours to really bring them to life.
 



49722481802_e51e9001c3_k.jpg
P_20200401_110445_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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I have been doing a little further work with the LT lineside cabling. This is also temporary in nature - the arch will remain in this position, but the ground cables are actually intended for wall mounting, and are there for show at present, until I set up the proper cable support posts (white metal items from Radley Models). Still, I think the overall effect is good, if a little rough.

 

49733732017_ef80377ca0_k.jpg

P_20200404_161613_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

 

In the meantime, on the upper level, this is purely experimental at present, but I have decided to try a less labour-intensive method of adding third rail. I still have a heap of Peco code 75 rail salvaged from my old layout, where it was used with the Peco third rail insulator 'pots'. Those 'pots' are very fiddly to slide onto the rails, and tend to ping off into the distance or break just as one is trying to feed them into the pre-drilled holes and glue them in. For this experiment, I am dispensing with the 'pots' altogether, and gluing the code 75 rail directly to the sleeper ends. This meant clearing a little bit of stray ballast that had stuck to some of the sleeper ends. It also means bending the rail to match the line profile, and setting the distance out by eye, although if I adopt this method for the rest of the layout, I'll make up a spacer template. For the glue, I am trying out a Tiger Grip glue, which resembles a PVA but promises to bond all materials including plastics and metals. So far it seems to grip very well, but I'll have to see how it fares for durability over a longer term. The appearance is not too bad, as the lack of 'pots' is barely noticeable at normal viewing distances.

 

49732824658_5f94111ffe_k.jpg
P_20200404_154721_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

Edited by SRman
Fixing up numerous typos.
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On ‎04‎/‎04‎/‎2020 at 06:30, SRman said:

I have been doing a little further work with the LT lineside cabling. This is also temporary in nature - the arch will remain in this position, but the ground cables are actually intended for wall mounting, and are there for show at present, until I set up the proper cable support posts (white metal items from Radley Models). Still, I think the overall effect is good, if a little rough.

 

49733732017_ef80377ca0_k.jpg

P_20200404_161613_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

 

In the meantime, on the upper level, this is purely experimental at present, but I have decided to try a less labour-intensive method of adding third rail. I still have a heap of Peco code 75 rail salvaged from my old layout, where it was used with the Peco third rail insulator 'pots'. Those 'pots' are very fiddly to slide onto the rails, and tend to ping off into the distance or break just as one is trying to feed them into the pre-drilled holes and glue them in. For this experiment, I am dispensing with the 'pots' altogether, and gluing the code 75 rail directly to the sleeper ends. This meant clearing a little bit of stray ballast that had stuck to some of the sleeper ends. It also means bending the rail to match the line profile, and setting the distance out by eye, although if I adopt this method for the rest of the layout, I'll make up a spacer template. For the glue, I am trying out a Tiger Grip glue, which resembles a PVA but promises to bond all materials including plastics and metals. So far it seems to grip very well, but I'll have to see how it fares for durability over a longer term. The appearance is not too bad, as the lack of 'pots' is barely noticeable at normal viewing distances.

 

49732824658_5f94111ffe_k.jpg
P_20200404_154721_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

Good picture updates again:good:

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51 minutes ago, saxokid said:

Good picture updates again:good:


I'm going to have to find an alternative to Flickr soon as I am about to hit the 1000 image limit for the free version. Either that or delete some earlier photos, which means those will not be visible any more.

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2 minutes ago, SRman said:


I'm going to have to find an alternative to Flickr soon as I am about to hit the 1000 image limit for the free version. Either that or delete some earlier photos, which means those will not be visible any more.

Always the way modern tech at its best..

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On Newton Broadway I have rewired the Dapol semaphore signals to a 9 Volt DC power pack which DougN kindly picked up for me on a trip to Jaycar recently. All four currently fitted signals work perfectly. Once Dapol produce the upper quadrant junction signals, I'll be looking at fitting a couple of those, but I believe they will use a 16V AC supply.

Most recently, I have been wrestling with a couple of Hornby class 56 locos. The first has sound but the lights were defective, and the second had seized solid, as well as not having its lights.

Dealng with 56 127 first, I had reblown the Hornby ESU v3.5 decoder with legomanbiffo sound, a slightly cut-down project to fit it on the decoder. I had given up on the lights as I could not get a flicker from them at one end, no matter how much I tweaked the contacts or fiddled with the wiring. I decided a while ago to order a lighting kit from Jason Edmunds (Stickswipe on eBay), who is always very helpful. He offered to split or combine lighting functions for the marker lights and headlights - I chose to have headlights on with the markers. However, I wanted to separate the tail lights out so it would be more realistically able to haul trains with head/marker lights on but no tail lights. Also, I dithered for quite a long time, trying to work out how to run the wires from the lights to avoid them showing in the cabs or behind the grilles. I ended up threading them around over the doors (so they can still open) over the side grilles at the radiator end, and then down behind the bulkheads, using 3-pin plugs to allow the body to be removed without too much disturbance to the wires. I put the blue positive return wire to the centre pin to ensure I could not accidentally short the lights out - it wouldn't kill them if I connected white to yellow by accident.

I connected the head and tail lights at the #1 (radiator) end as per usual - white to head/marker lights, yellow to tail lights. For the #2 end, I resorted to soldering the yellow and white wires to the aux outputs on the 21-pin connector. The blue went to the normal connection on the PCB. To test all this out without accidentally killing the expensive sound decoder, I plugged in a much cheaper (non-sound) Hatton's 21-pin 4-function decoder and it all worked as it should, so the ESU decoder was restored to its rightful place. The first photo shows the soldered connections with the decoder removed and sitting on the speaker.

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P_20200511_220757_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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P_20200512_160954_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


The second class 56, 56 049 in railfreight red-stripe grey, was a different proposition. It was bought second-hand many years ago and worked fine apart from the usual bugbear of dodgy lights (hence I got it quite cheaply). I went to run it a few days ago and it sat humming but not moving. On dismantling, I found that by removing the bogie tower tops, which just spring off their locating lugs, I could test the motor without the drive to the bogies, which proved the motor was fine but the bearings on the tower tops had seized solid. The whole lot was swimming in an unknown oil, some of which had congealed and completely glued the worms and bearings. I removed these and soaked them in a combination of IPA and methylated spirits for several hours, and ceaned up some of the excess oil from the bogies and gear train. On reassembly I applied a small amount of oil to the drive shafts where they slide in and out of the shafts from the motor and flywheels and to the bearings at either end of the worm drive. On test on DC power with a blanking plug in place, the motor and shafts turned smoothly enough, with a little bit of bearing shriek from the towers. I unclipped the tops again and cleaned the worms and bearings again, then put it all back together, with the same result. Not entirely right, but at least it runs smoothly enough, but with some intermittent noise. 

Turning my attention to the lights, I found they were all capable of working, but weren't contacting the pads properly. A few judicious bends in the springy contacts resulted in some promising flickers of light, so with a little further tweaking I got them all working again.

I ran the locomotive for a few hours on the rolling road, in both directions, on DC. It improved but still shrieked intermittently. Anyway, I decided it was sufficiently working to reinstall a decoder, this time upgrading slightly to a Lenz Standard+ v.2. Further running on the rolling road showed no improvements, but I chose to accept it as it is for now. Hopefully the proper modeller's oil will penetrate the bearings and shafts and quieten down properly with more running. The photo shows the locomotive before I fixed the lighting.


49982966873_da8b5cd481_k.jpg
P_20200604_200557_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


I have been reluctant to post too many photos recently because I am running out of space on the free Flickr site. I have to find another free hosting site or pay for an ongoing subscription. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Edited by SRman
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FWIW I bit the bullet and paid up to Flickr, although it was quite a price hike on the previous level when it was part of Yahoo. I think it works out a bit cheaper if you do two years at once, which I did. The problem with moving is the time spent re-uploading stuff and re-doing the captions, which could be enormous, otherwise you just start from scratch.

 

I don't think it works as well as it used to either. I often have difficulty making comments, which just don't register, and it often won't let me look at Stats or Recent Activity. What I don't know is if that's due to the security on my computer, just standard McAfee, and I'm reluctant to start messing about for fear of getting a bug.

 

John.

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I have just experimented with imgbox. Not exactly sure what I am doing yet, but it seems to work and doesn't have a limit on the number of photos or the total size of storage. There is a limit on the storage size of each photo, but it seems quite generous.

The class 56 works while I was dismantling it:

9J0ooOha_t.jpg

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9 hours ago, SRman said:

I have just experimented with imgbox. Not exactly sure what I am doing yet, but it seems to work and doesn't have a limit on the number of photos or the total size of storage. There is a limit on the storage size of each photo, but it seems quite generous.

You do keep a copy of all your photos separately from the cloud, don't you?

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12 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

You do keep a copy of all your photos separately from the cloud, don't you?

 

I do indeed. I keep multiple backups of all of them. If something dies, I may possibly lose only the most recent from the computers, but since I rarely delete them from my phone (the major camera I use nowadays), even that isn't a problem.

The main reason I want an external host is to post pictures in multiple forums, rather than uploading the same pictures multiple times.

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Here's a project I started many, many years ago, but is now undergoing a little renovation and improvement. It is a 3-car class 117 from Lima. The original conversion included making the dummy DMBS into a DMS by replacing the guard's van portion with a section from a spare DMBS body bought for the purpose all those years ago. The improvements also included removing the gangway connections and replacing them with blank panels, and repainting the added sections to match. 

Flush glazing followed all this, although if I was to redo that I would try to mount it slightly more inboard of the window recesses as the vacuum-formed curved edges do show a bit here. I also modified the couplings to bring the cars much closer together, and replaced the ridiculously tiny Lima buffers with decent turned brass ones, although I should find some even bigger ones for this end in the photo.

The latest improvement done today was to replace the Lima chassis in the DMBS with a much more modern DCC-ready one from the Hornby class 121, bought cheaply a while ago with this purpose in mind. This required a small modification to the shape of the end going int the brake van end as the 121 has a shaped ledge for the 2nd driving cab, whereas the 117 needs a flat end with a slight recess over the buffer beam, easily achieved in just a few minutes with a file and a cutting disc in the Dremel. I have not yet painted the new buffer beam red at the driving end, nor have I weathered and painted the underfloor detail on the new chassis, but these tasks will follow soon.

 

Better headcodes with the correct typeface will be fitted soon too.

I also have a lighting kit I can install to provide head and tail lights at each end, but that will also require some pickups and a decoder in the DMS car. Technically these units in green should not have tail lights as such, but should have an oil tail lamp hung on the rear of the cab.

Z13fpqyt_t.jpg

Edited by SRman
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That looks good Jeff.  And probably gives you much more satisfaction as a project than I shall get opening my Bachmann box with the all-new green 117 in later this month.  

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Re. your 117, I'm sure I've made this comment elsewhere, but it never fails to amaze me how much a bespoke paint job lifts a Lima model. Some say that the Laserglaze from Shawplan gives a better outcome, but being without the lip that the SEF product has to grip the glue it sounds terribly vulnerable to me. A great result!

 

John.

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15 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

That looks good Jeff.  And probably gives you much more satisfaction as a project than I shall get opening my Bachmann box with the all-new green 117 in later this month.  

 

It would give me great pleasure to buy and open the box of a Bachmann unit, which looks superb, but in view of recent discussions regarding the price, I decided it would be better to upgrade the Lima unit with the Hornby chassis and accept the slightly lower standard of detail. 

I actually did the body modifications to produce the DMS for a couple of these units, this one in green and another in plain BR blue, plus the conversion of another DMBS to a class 121, well before Lima modifed the moulds to produce one for themselves. The extra cab for this came from the same body shell that provided the upgrade parts for the two DMBS to DMS conversions. I don't have enough of the newer Hornby chassis to upgrade all of the units, but am slowly working through what I can do. I also have some rather decrepit Lima 117 cars which are scheduled to become a class 119, which has already got a Hornby 121 chassis reserved for it. I keep my eyes and wallet peeled for cheap Hornby 121s or just the working chassis.

I already have a few upcoming items pre-ordered, so have to stop somewhere. Priority for my dollars goes to the forthcoming 2 HAP unit from Bachmann, plus I have a Stephensons Rocket set due soon (don't ask, I couldn't resist!).

Edited by SRman
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1 hour ago, SRman said:

 

It would give me great pleasure to buy and open the box of a Bachmann unit, which looks superb, but in view of recent discussions regarding the price, I decided it would be better to upgrade the Lima unit with the Hornby chassis and accept the slightly lower standard of detail. 

I actually did the body modifications to produce the DMS for a couple of these units, this one in green and anotehr in plain BR blue, plus the conversion of anotehr DMBS o a class 121, well before Lima modifed the moulds to produce one for themselves. The extra cab for this came from the same body shell that provided the upgrade parts for the two DMBS to DMS conversions. I don't have enough of the newer Hornby chassis to upgrade all of the units, but am slowly working through what I can do. I also have some rather decrepit Lima 117 cars which are scheduled to become a class 119, which has already got a Hornby 121 chassis reserved for it. I keep my eyes and wallet peeled for cheap Hornby 121s or just the working chassis.

I already have a few upcoming items pre-ordered, so have to stop somewhere. Priority for my dollars goes to the forthcoming 2 HAP unit from Bachmann, plus I have a Stephensons Rocket set due soon (don't ask, I couldn't resist!).

Jeff, I've got a green Hornby 121 which I don't need any more. I was going to convert it to a 122 but I bought the Dapol one instead. If you're interested let me know.

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There will also be a couple of spares here once the Bachy models arrive.  Hornby 121 b/g x2 and Hornby 121 GW150 x1.  All lightly weathered but the powders will come off if required.  

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When the Heljan 1366 pannier tanks became available at bargain prices at Rails of Sheffield, I grabbed the cheapest one I could, with a view to adding it to my industrial fleet. As it happened, the livery I got was GWR green and it was the class leader, 1366. I checked that it ran properly, then chipped it with a Bachmann (Zimo) 6-pin decoder.

I have now started painting it into a blue scheme to fit in with my other industrials. There's a bit more to do, but I think it looks quite attractive in this BR steam era express passenger blue. At this stage, I have retained the GWR numbering, both with the cabside plates and with the buffer beam numbers. I am undecided as to whether to keep it this way or to renumber in my industrial scheme. It's not that important!

sPs0usjX_t.jpg

 

cTWUaab1_t.jpg

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22 minutes ago, SRman said:

When the Heljan 1366 pannier tanks became available at bargain prices at Rails of Sheffield, I grabbed the cheapest one I could, with a view to adding it to my industrial fleet. As it happened, the livery I got was GWR green and it was the class leader, 1366. I checked that it ran properly, then chipped it with a Bachmann (Zimo) 6-pin decoder.

I have now started painting it into a blue scheme to fit in with my other industrials. There's a bit more to do, but I think it looks quite attractive in this BR steam era express passenger blue. At this stage, I have retained the GWR numbering, both with the cabside plates and with the buffer beam numbers. I am undecided as to whether to keep it this way or to renumber in my industrial scheme. It's not that important!

sPs0usjX_t.jpg

 

cTWUaab1_t.jpg

 

Definitely a twist on the pannier theme Jeff and she does look OK.  Don't be tempted t oadd a yellow front or a face though ;)  

 

For much the same reason I acquired a very cheap old-mech style Hornby 08.  The one in beige with "Dinosafari" decals.  It was destined to become an industrial loco and appeared on the layout a couple of times as a static exhibit though it runs well.  That is as far as the project got and the loco remains in the "surplus to requirements but no resale value" box.  

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