SRman's Current Layout - Newton Broadway

[SRman]

I have done a little further painting and weathering on th Medfit wagon.

Posed here with a Dapol B4 0-4-0T, which is also fitted with the Hatton's 3D printed loco crew. I do like these figures.

[SRman]

I had a small win today. I pulled out the 3-way point leading to the turntable and goods shed because there has been a repeating glitch with the polarity switching of the left hand frog. I tried a better frog juicer from Tam Valley (previously using Gaugemaster examples), but that oscilated between polarities, but only when the loco approached from the heel end. Behaviour when the loco entered from the toe end was perfectly fine.

I resoldered every piece of wire bridging the rails towards the heel end, then added more bridging wires across the crossing "vees" at the toe end, including one where I pared away the sleeper webbing. I then added a fillet of solder into the "vee" in the middle of the point, just to be sure there was maximum electrical transmission where it was needed.

After replacing the point in its location, and screwing the wire ends back into the various terminals, using the Tam Valley dual frog juicer, I ran the Heljan 07 shunter through from the heel end into the siding. It hesitated slightly where I had previously had the problem, but it continued through the point to the siding without prodding or poking, or any other assistance.

On a completely different track (pun intended!), I have had a Smallbrook Studios resin LSWR D.1541 brake van on my workbench for quite a long time now. It has received a great many coats of satin white paint on its roof in that time, and the rest of the painting was all but complete, so it was really awaiting the fitting of handrails and transfers. Handrails have now been done, and were painted brown shortly after the photos were taken.

If I get a move on, I may actually have it finished before the Kernow models arrive on my doorstep.

Edited July 17, 2021 by SRman

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, SRman said:

It hesitated slightly where I had previously had the problem, but it continued through the point to the siding without prodding or poking, or any other assistance.

Jeff, have you checked that the point is dead flat?

[SRman]

17 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Jeff, have you checked that the point is dead flat?

 

It is on a slight incline but the point itself is flat (i.e. not bowed or arched). The problem showed up with short wheelbase locomotives only, but with four different locomotives, so the problem was with the point electrics, not the loco pickups. As I said, it worked perfectly if the loco entered from the toe end, any road. It was only if it entered from the heel end via the first "division" with two frogs activated by one frog juicer, and only going to the left-hand branch that the problem manifested itself. All the other 3-way points worked perfctly with the same setup as I originally had with this particular point, and at least one of the others is also on a slight incline - the incline is produced by my deliberately not having any underlay for part of the engine shed yard, also to cater partly for the slightly different overall height of the bullhead track against the code 75 flat bottom points.

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by SRman

[SRman]

I have lettered and numbered the LSWR D.1541 10T brake van, using the number of a preserved example on the Bluebell Railway. I started to add the tare weight as well, which goes on the lower right of the sides, but my hands were too shaky today, and I gave up in disgust. There are a couple of bare resin patches where I scraped off paint blemishes, and these and the handrails will be touched up before I varnish everything.

Also in the photos is the 13T Medfit wagon, on which I have overpainted the green triangles with a better shade of green, which means I'll have to "restore" some of the rust again.

[SRman]

Way back in the last century, as a teenager, my first large steam loco was a Triang B12. Fast forward to the last few years, and Hornby released a rather nice, but expensive new super detailed model of the B12. I wanted one purely for the nostalgia, but wasn't prepared to pay full price. Saw one on Amazon, which was still a little dearer than I wanted to pay, so I put it in the shopping cart and left it there. A few weeks later, the price suddenly dropped significantly, so I bought it on the spot. 

61576 turned up on the doorstep this morning, and after a quick test on DC, was fitted with a Zimo MX600 decoder. I also fitted the detailing parts while I had it on the workbench. It runs very sweetly and smoothly, and has had a bit of a trundle around the layout, so I am very happy with the purchase.

So how did a B12 find itself on the Southern Region? Well, when the Eastern Region was loaning various B1 and V2 locomotives to cover for the temporary withdrawal of the Merchant Navies, it goes like this:

Shed master: Hello Eastern, the other Southern sheds like your B1 locos. Could you send us a B-1-too, please?

ER manager: Sure, no problem. (To the Shed Master: Hey, Fred. Send the Southern a B12, will you?).

[CHAZ D]

From Southern Railway E-Mail Group

 

"Towards the end of June 1964 B1 class 4-6-0 Nº61313 (from 41D Canklow) worked a pigeon special to Lewes. It was stopped with a hot box and spent some days at Eastbourne shed before being sent to Redhill for repairs on 6th July. It spent some weeks at the rear of Redhill shed, where it is shown here on 28th August 1964. Following repairs it was re-steamed at the end of September 1964 and worked passenger trains to and from Reading on 1st and 2nd October 1964. The following day Nº61313 worked a special freight, a long train of condemned wagons (mainly 4-wheel vans) from Earlswood to Streatham Common and from there it returned light to Cricklewood on the first stage of its belated return to its home depot."

https://sremg.org.uk/visitor/b1.shtml

 

[John Tomlinson]

5 hours ago, SRman said:

Way back in the last century, as a teenager, my first large steam loco was a Triang B12. Fast forward to the last few years, and Hornby released a rather nice, but expensive new super detailed model of the B12. I wanted one purely for the nostalgia, but wasn't prepared to pay full price. Saw one on Amazon, which was still a little dearer than I wanted to pay, so I put it in the shopping cart and left it there. A few weeks later, the price suddenly dropped significantly, so I bought it on the spot. 

61576 turned up on the doorstep this morning, and after a quick test on DC, was fitted with a Zimo MX600 decoder. I also fitted the detailing parts while I had it on the workbench. It runs very sweetly and smoothly, and has had a bit of a trundle around the layout, so I am very happy with the purchase.

So how did a B12 find itself on the Southern Region? Well, when the Eastern Region was loaning various B1 and V2 locomotives to cover for the temporary withdrawal of the Merchant Navies, it goes like this:

Shed master: Hello Eastern, the other Southern sheds like your B1 locos. Could you send us a B-1-too, please?

ER manager: Sure, no problem. (To the Shed Master: Hey, Fred. Send the Southern a B12, will you?).

 

I have one of these and completely agree that they are a lovely model.

 

If you still have your childhood one do put them side by side. Despite all the criticism you'll see that the pattern makers in Margate long ago weren't that far out after all.

 

It's very easy to think that one worked off East London (Stratford), on a passenger special or a freight back in the '50's, quite possibly never reported anywhere.

 

John.

[SRman]

31 minutes ago, John Tomlinson said:

 

I have one of these and completely agree that they are a lovely model.

 

If you still have your childhood one do put them side by side. Despite all the criticism you'll see that the pattern makers in Margate long ago weren't that far out after all.

 

It's very easy to think that one worked off East London (Stratford), on a passenger special or a freight back in the '50's, quite possibly never reported anywhere.

 

John.

 

Unfortunately, the original is long gone. I only have the tender left, and that was converted to a snow plough.

[SRman]

 

More appropriate than the B12 impulse purchase for my Southern area layout, my Rails/Dapol SECR D class 4-4-0 arrived today, pre-ordered some time ago. After a quick test on DC, I fitted a Dapol Imperium Next 18 decoder and put it on a lightweight train of period stock. It runs quite smoothly, but hesitated a couple of times on points. I think the traction tyres are interfering a bit with the automatic polarity detection and switching. I will be swapping the traction tyred wheel set out later as I don't have a huge amount of suitable passenger stock and what is there is light and free rolling (my entire SECR passenger stock is in the photos, although I will be acquiring some of the Hatton's four and six wheel coaches in due course). There is a set of wheels without traction tyres in the box, complete with a tool to undo the crank pins.

This locomotive, with its open cab, is crying out for a decent period crew. There is a firebox glow with a gentle flicker as well, activated on F0.

There have been online comments on these locomotives showing a slight discrepancy in the heights of the valances/running boards where they should line up. Looking at my photos, mine doesn't seem to have this problem, but I will check it on level track later. The fix is apparently quite easy, involving a small spacer over the tender body fixing screws.

[SRman]

What seems to be a fairly common problem with recent Heljan and Hornby small locomotives is soft and/or brittle electrical pickups. This is made worse with Heljan's locos because they allow rather excessive amounts of sideplay on some or all of the axles. With that in mind, I decided to do something about this with both of my Heljan class 07 diesel electric shunters, after adjusting the existing pickups for the umpteenth time, only to find they have lost contact with the wheel backs again afer a short running session. The leading wheels seemed to be the worst.

 

My solution was to solder an extra length of phosphor-bronze strip at a reverse angle to extend the reach of the pickups. The photo shows this better than I can in words. Th one in the pic (right-hand end) has been given an exaggerated crank for clarity.

 

Similar problems have been observed on Heljan's classes 05, 14 and 1366 pannier tanks, while Hornby's B2 Pecketts also exhibit the same problems. As every one of these apart from the teddy bear have very short wheelbases, effective pickups on all wheels are crucial to good, reliable running.

 

 

 

[SRman]

The LSWR D.1541 brake vans turned up from Kernow Model Railway Centre this morning. I pre-ordered two quite a few years ago, one in LSWR original livery and one in Engineers' BR grey, which I particularly wanted because it has 'Return to Three Bridges' on the sides - I used to live just around the corner from Three Bridges in the 1960s.

For comparison, I have included my Smallbrook Studio resin D.1541 brake van, bought before the Kernow models were announced, but started after that, and still not quite finished, awaiting the weight inscription on each side and the roof gutters and stove pipe chimney, plus lamp irons to be added. The Kernow model is much crisper, and dimensionally very slightly smaller, but the Smallbrook one is still pretty good, I think, and I can say I put it together. It was filling a gap at the time I bought it and a few other brake van kits from Smallbrook.

[SRman]

After a bit of a hiatus on the resin Merchant Navy, I have now filled the daylight under the firebox area with some white metal ashpan castings from RT Models, intended for Bulleid Light Pacifics, but more than adequate for the MN, seeing as I really don't want to scratch build them to the absolutely correct pattern. Being white metal, they have the added bonus of putting a little more weight over the rear driving axle.

The photos show the items glued into place, and after a first coat of black paint.

 

 

 

[P.C.M]

Looks good Jeff.

[Sandhole]

4 hours ago, SRman said:

After a bit of a hiatus on the resin Merchant Navy, I have now filled the daylight under the firebox area with some white metal ashpan castings from RT Models, intended for Bulleid Light Pacifics, but more than adequate for the MN, seeing as I really don't want to scratch build them to the absolutely correct pattern. Being white metal, they have the added bonus of putting a little more weight over the rear driving axle.

The photos show the items glued into place, and after a first coat of black paint.

 

 

 

That's a great job.
Regards,
Chris.

[SRman]

 

Recently received from Modelu were these figures which are 3D printed, and represent loco crews from the Edwardian and 1940s-50s period, plus some Edwardian seated passengers. There are also a few of the Hattons crews left over from a previous purchase on my rather dirty workbench as well, all in the process of being painted. The Edwardian ladies costumes are going to benefit from some fine detail painting. All are at present only roughly finished, and the colours I have chosen are rather arbitrary as there are no period photos in colour to give me any clues/ideas. All of these figures had an initial coat of black applied before adding other colours.

The aim is to populate some of the pre-grouping locos with fairly open cabs, and also the Stephenson's Rocket coaches with the passengers.






The Hatton's crews come up as looking quite natural in their poses, and the Modelu ones will be just as successful - I think that Modelu might have been responsible for the Hatton's commission. Here's a photo I have posted before, with one of the Hatton's figures in a Dapol B4 0-4-0T.

[SRman]

I tried running my Hornby SECR H 0-4-4T the other day, and it was very hesitant. The balance was right out, with it leaning back on its bogie, and the front drivers barely touching the rails. I decided to insert a washer above the bogie, which meant dismantling it somewhat to get at the bogie retaining screw from above. I tried a plastic washer - too thick; then a paper washer - too thin; so decided today to make a brass shim washer, which actually seems to have worked nicely. The H has been trundling around for quite a while now without stalling or trying to leave the rails.


While I had it open, I took out the Hattons direct decoder and put in a DCC Concepts one, which has given marginally better motor control. I must try to get a better decoder for it, but the choices are limited because there is very little room inside.

[SRman]

After adding transfers to four of the kit wagons I built over the last few months (the ex-GW Mica B meat van behind the loco is one of them), I decided to give a Bachmann N class 2-6-0 a run. 31862 has not been run for quite a long time, but behaved impeccably when placed on the track and had no problems with the load behind it either. This loco was one of my earlier conversions of non-DCC-ready locos, using a Digitrax DZ125 decoder hard-wired to the motor. I'm not a fan of these earlier Digitrax decoders, but this one behaves well enough. If it plays up or gives up, I'll replace it with something more sophisticated, such as an ESU LokPilot micro.

On the subject of decoders, I am currently looking at the Lenz Silver+ Direct for the H class loco in the previous post.






A minor improvement to the train room as a whole was to put some plastic cable ducting to replace the duct tape previously used to carry the serial cable from the NCE Power Pro command station to the old computer in the room. This followed on from tidying up some trailing cables in other parts of the house using plastic wall ducting. For the future, I will also be able to run the USB cable from the Power Cab used on the programming track as well.

[tender]

I fitted my H Class with a TCS DP2X-UK. I'm not sure a Lenz Silver+ Direct will fit as its still sitting on the shelf and would have been my preferred decoder.

[SRman]

7 hours ago, tender said:

I fitted my H Class with a TCS DP2X-UK. I'm not sure a Lenz Silver+ Direct will fit as its still sitting on the shelf and would have been my preferred decoder.

 

I have a couple of DP2X-UK decoders in the storage boxes, but have found them to be a bit variable in quality - when they are good, they are VERY good, but when they are not so good, they can be frustrating to set up properly. I do have reservations about whether the Lenz decoder will fit. Still, it won't go to waste if it doesn't.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, SRman said:

 

I have a couple of DP2X-UK decoders in the storage boxes, but have found them to be a bit variable in quality - when they are good, they are VERY good, but when they are not so good, they can be frustrating to set up properly. I do have reservations about whether the Lenz decoder will fit. Still, it won't go to waste if it doesn't.

I've given up on TCS after a few duds (different models) over the past couple of years. A pity, because the DP2X-UK was ideal for direct fitting to many models but not at the expense of performance and reliability.

[Gwiwer]

Always good to catch up on developments, Jeff. Looking good as always. 
 

I have two Ns. Both are good runners but one is reverse-wired meaning I have to remember that it requires “reverse” in order to move forwards and that it cannot ve used in multiple with anything else. A job for tge soldering iron when I’m feeling brave!  

[tender]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Always good to catch up on developments, Jeff. Looking good as always. 
 

I have two Ns. Both are good runners but one is reverse-wired meaning I have to remember that it requires “reverse” in order to move forwards and that it cannot ve used in multiple with anything else. A job for tge soldering iron when I’m feeling brave!  

You can change the direction by altering bit 1 of CV29.

[tender]

15 hours ago, SRman said:

 

I have a couple of DP2X-UK decoders in the storage boxes, but have found them to be a bit variable in quality - when they are good, they are VERY good, but when they are not so good, they can be frustrating to set up properly. I do have reservations about whether the Lenz decoder will fit. Still, it won't go to waste if it doesn't.

Works fine for me with the default settings in both the Hornby H and M7. Although, as you say they can be a bit odd with some locos.

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, tender said:

You can change the direction by altering bit 1 of CV29.

Only on DCC