Kernow Models D6xx Update

[Clive Mortimore]

And our Dapol Wessies run fine on Abbotswood - just look at the state of the trackwork on that on recent videos!

 

Phil

Complete with wild life to run over!!!!!!

[JSpencer]

There might be such a thing as being too realistic; if you reproduced the suspension of a 'Western' correctly you would have recreated the violent vertical oscillation that occurred between 55 and 65mph...

 

Most rtr models have only basic compensation/springing/suspension if you are lucky, and the vast majority of steam outline locos are completely rigiid in the vertical plane.  A choice which should be made at the planning stage of a layout is whether to employ some sort of compensated chassis, and for the majority of people I would have thought that rtr rigid is the way they will go, for reasons of cost, time, lack of skill in chassis building, or all sorts of other reasons, in my case that I had a collection of rtr locos which I was reasonably happy with.  

 

If you go down the rtr route, then some care in tracklaying is required.  It isn't rocket science; you simply need to check that the underside of the track is free of detritus when you put it down, along with the surface it is to be laid on, so it will sit flat on the baseboard or whatever underlay you are using (I glue directly to the baseboard).  Try to avoid pointwork over baseboard joins, and if you are using gradients, keep the track ends away from the actual top/bottom of the sloping part to give a vertical transition curve, and your running should be pretty good without much extra effort.  The other thing is to make sure that the track joins are smooth, with no kinks or angles, and for this reason it is important to pin or clamp the track in position until it is permanently fixed so that it doesn't flex or move on you when you're not looking while you are fiddling with the other end. 

 

Scale locos on tight curves may give you some problems, as might lock buffering on tight reverse curves if you use scale couplings, but most stuff will be fine down to radius 3 if you do not race around it!  I would prefer to use setrack for any curve sharper than about 30 inches radius as flexi is difficult to keep from springing ot a transition shape that can be very sharp at the centre of the curve, even to the extent of pulling the rails out of gauge.

 

Real track is often not laid anything like as carefully unless it is on a high speed main line, and even there may be liable to subsidence or soil creep; look at the Midland's Erewash Valley Main Line, designed for fast running but never capable of it.  Track in sidings and yards is often appalling, and on industrial sites, particularly NCB, even worse.  We had a driver at Canton, outstationed to Cardiff Docks, who claimed that there were some places where he could tell he was off the road because the ride improved. The recreation of this on fine scale shunting problem/micro layouts is a joy to behold at exhibitions, and must be great fun to model, but it requires compensated chassis on all vehicles using the layout to achieve reliable running.

 

Nothing to do with D600s, except that they need good track as well!

This is fine advice, but when it becomes a big layout built in modules, being perfectly aligned between modules is easy when laid down but over the years it will move. The middle of the baseboards sag, not much, maybe as much as 2mm while the edges where joins are do not.

 

Things get complex on big curves. Flexible track will tend to kink at the rail joiners, no matter how much you fix them down. I soldered mine at the joints to get a continuous curve, but this then creates large sections of track with little expansion joints. In the case of the modular layout, the expansion is where the boards join.

 

People who use foam underlay, will never have perfectly flat track period, I avoided this except for a couple of small sections. Most locos cope except for two models last year. One of those has the weight concentrated on the rear half and is a fairly light loco, the other has 0 down play representing a prototype that was noted for being flexible.

No problems on the diesel front, even the tighter Western copes.

[Phil Bullock]

All good advice in the above posts. The only additional caveat I would add based on a portable is that if you fix track firmly at baseboard ends - eg soldered on to copper clad sleepers - you will not have alignment problems.

 

However do not be tempted to lay a single piece of track firmly fixed at both ends across a board without any joints....if firmly fixed at both ends where does expansion go? Better to leave a joint to allow for expansion

 

Phil

[JSpencer]

And boy does it expand. In summer the railway room which 2/3rds below ground level, is 8 degrees. In winter it is 22 degrees, thanks to central heating and the thermostat being on the floor above. I have added thernostats to radiators since.

[The Johnster]

Whoa, this is, like, just sooo way off topic, like, dudes.  Good points about alignment of modular layouts, and I have no advice to offer.  Perhaps some form of adjustable support at the centre of the baseboard to cope with sag?  It is kind and wise old Mother Nature's way that things sag with age, as I am all too aware...  Foam underlay is Satan's arse floss, and I do not like it; your track must be firmly supported across it's entire base.  As I say, I glue direct to the baseboard, but do not mind cork or similar underlay which has a miniscule amount of give in it if you feel better having it; it will do no harm, though personally I fail to see what good it does beyond accepting pins readily.

 

Curves are a whole nother thing, as they are on real railways, with all sorts of implications for clearances, maintaining gauge, track geometry, never mind the difficulty of laying them so that a smooth transition curve leads into a set and maintained radius.  It is a pity that a large number of modellers who use flexi track systems in order that their curves are not unprototypically sharp, a laudable desire, are then forced by space to lay their flexi in the very 2 to 4 foot radius curves that challenge the capabilities of the track to the greatest extent.  Tracksetta and the like are a big help, but if you are trying to lay concentric curves while maintaining minimal '6 foot' clearances it is a bit like juggling 4 balls.  

 

Valid point about temperature and expansion as well.  In my teens I had a layout in an unheated and uninsulated loft (which my Father had boarded in and deluded himself that it was heated and insulated), and, despite cutting the track into half yard lengths to aid expansion, the temperature differences ripped it apart.  Since then I have preferred not to have a railway at all if it cannot be accommodated in the living area of the home, garages, cellars, and sheds being IMHO unsuitable unless they can be professionally converted or adapted to be part of that heated and ventilated environment.  My current blt lives in the bedroom of a 1 bed flat.

Edited February 27, 2017 by The Johnster

[DJM Dave]

I purchased some Salmon and found it was perfect, in fact I went back and purchased more which I'm going to have with chips......dcc....

I purchased some salmon last night but upon putting it in the pan found the pan was warped, which is strange because it cooked other foods perfectly.

[GRUNFOS]

I purchased some salmon last night but upon putting it in the pan found the pan was warped, which is strange because it cooked other foods perfectly.

You should return the Salmon at once and ask for compensation!

[chris p bacon]

You should return the Salmon at once and ask for compensation!

Was the salmon P4..........

[The Johnster]

Salmon steak, grilled with a top coat on the final turn of a drizzle of olive oil and sun dried tomato pesto with some general herb and spicery.  With a bit of mashed potato fryup.   Nomnomnomnomnomnomnom....

[Gwiwer]

And what does one serve salmon steaks on?

 

Fishplates of course.

 

Which might lead us vaguely back in the direction of the topic

[woodenhead]

You should return the Salmon at once and ask for compensation!

Don't forget to also create a topic on SWeb (Salmon Web forum) to carp on about it - making sure not to use the main topic in the forum but to create a new thread that the cods have to shut down.

[Francis deWeck]

This one is going off the scale.......

[Mad McCann]

I think we should just skate over this before someone gets brought to 'eel...

 

Dave

[St Enodoc]

I think we should just skate over this before someone gets brought to 'eel...

 

Dave

I agree Dave. It's all pollacks anyway.

[DJM Dave]

I agree Dave. It's all pollacks anyway.

r eel y? where have you breem? i hake to tell you this but cod you just stop fishing for updates ;-)

[St Enodoc]

r eel y? where have you breem? i hake to tell you this but cod you just stop fishing for updates ;-)

Well, after that little telling off I can see that the whiting's on the wall for me.

[Gwiwer]

I cannot be the sole member who thinks this topic has floundered in recent dace.

 

Please make you in-tench-ions clear, pike up and be heard or shark up and go quietly.

[DJM Dave]

I laughed so much at all those I had a whale of a time!

[Phil Bullock]

Was that on porpoise dave?

[Jamiel]

Sorry to be a killjoy, but is this thread getting too far off topic now?

I know the long development period for this model has caused people to start to speculate quite a lot, but now this thread is getting silly.

There are threads on the forum for jokes, but for those of us who wish to keep up to date on what is happening with the Kernow D6xx this thread is becoming rather hard to follow.

Jamie

[bubbles2]

In an attempt to get the thread back on track I recently found this....

 

 

https://flic.kr/p/DL3RTZ

Edited March 13, 2017 by bubbles2

[woodenhead]

The best place to actually follow progress will be Kernow, they will always be first to report anything.

[The Johnster]

In an attempt to get the thread back on track I recently found this....

 

 

https://flic.kr/p/DL3RTZ

 

That's got mazak rot!

[John ks]

In an attempt to get the thread back on track I recently found this....

 

 

https://flic.kr/p/DL3RTZ

 

Go forward about 10 images & see what is behind the 2-10-0

Could they be fish vans  

 

The innards of that loco are very interesting

Will the drive for the model be similar I.E. motor in body(electric vs hydraulic) with drive shafts & gears to the wheels

If I an seeing correctly the D6XX an A-1-A

Will the model be a "C" type bogie(not very prototypical but OK by me)

 

John

[No Decorum]

Sorry to be a killjoy, but is this thread getting too far off topic now?

 

I know the long development period for this model has caused people to start to speculate quite a lot, but now this thread is getting silly.

 

There are threads on the forum for jokes, but for those of us who wish to keep up to date on what is happening with the Kernow D6xx this thread is becoming rather hard to follow.

 

Jamie

Fin.