ECC Wheal Imogen / Rosevean Station: the expansion

[Calnefoxile]

3 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Other than potentially shortening the legs tomorrow, there is just one remaining issue to overcome....   Working out how on earth I am getting it all in the car!

 

 

 

I take it you're bringing the wifes car and not the I3??

 

Cheers

 

Neal.

[The Fatadder]

1 hour ago, Calnefoxile said:

 

I take it you're bringing the wifes car and not the I3??

 

Cheers

 

Neal.

No, that’s the issue… 

She’s away Friday night with the kids and needs her car….  Thankfully I have hers for Sunday for clear down.    Going to load the i3 tomorrow afternoon to check it all fits, in theory it should as the old one did, but the legs have now changed…..

 

 

A view from this evenings testing, just the 150 to sort out now and all should be good to go.  
That said I think I will pull together a short engineers rake this evening for a bit of wagon variation.

  
@Calnefoxile I assume there is some trade who would be selling Peco track at the show?  Would like to expand the fiddleyard for Sunday.
 

[The Fatadder]

Almost loaded now, still have the stock boxes and buildings to fit in somewhere.

 

in the mean time, seeing as a lot of locos have not ran in quite a while I am doing a bit more running on the rolling road to loosen things up. 

[Rich_F]

19 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

No, that’s the issue… 

She’s away Friday night with the kids and needs her car….  Thankfully I have hers for Sunday for clear down.    Going to load the i3 tomorrow afternoon to check it all fits, in theory it should as the old one did, but the legs have now changed…..

 

 

A view from this evenings testing, just the 150 to sort out now and all should be good to go.  
That said I think I will pull together a short engineers rake this evening for a bit of wagon variation.

  
@Calnefoxile I assume there is some trade who would be selling Peco track at the show?  Would like to expand the fiddleyard for Sunday.
 

 

Gotta love a good Loadhaul!

[The Fatadder]

The first day of the show is now over, thanks first of all to Mark for the help setting up and Rich for helping to operate.

 

There were a few teething problems, the legs on the LH fiddleyard are too short (by about 8mm!).  I can only think it was an issue with the floor level in the house offsetting the short legs while it was at home.  Fortunately I was prepared for this and had a mix of cardboard and plywood off cuts as spacers.

 

A much bigger issue was the track alignment  exiting the RH fiddleyard, two tracks had shifted slightly by about half a mm.   On the branch line this resulted in derailments every time something went over it, while on the middle line it was only an issue when going into the slurry siding with certain locos.  A quick touch with the soldering iron sorted the branch out, while the other line waited until the end of the day to fix.

 

37710 proved to be a real trouble maker, with a fair few issues eventually one bogie started to oscillate the body as it moved.  Until I can look into the issue it’s now out service.   
 

We couldn’t get the 66 to work, thanks to SCC for finding the stupid mistake (coding the loco 66026 rather than 66027.)

 

There was a mistake with 37403 and leaving the engine running after it had completed it run.   It must have been sat on speed step 10 for the best part of a couple of hours before I noticed and removed it, the body was very hot to touch!

 

Finally right at the end of the show I noticed that the ladder for the slurry loader had fallen off during set up (and at some point during the show I had stepped on it).  A new one will need making before it’s next show    

 

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Was operating on my own today so not much of a chance for photos.  

 

On the whole the layout worked a lot better today once it had time to settle down in the hall.  I am now back home and just need to unload the cad putting the layout back in storage under Brent.   I will miss its presence in the dining room (the wife will be happy to have the room back…) 

 

issues today were relatively minor, 37710 had somehow sorted its issue out over night  and was running perfectly.  At least it was right up to the point where I tried reprogramming cv29 to change the direction of the directional tail lights.  Programming with the Lenz controller is a real pain with something going wrong bricking the loco.   A factory reset got it going again (but it needs reprogramming back to 3710 as well as fixing the lights tomorrow.)

 

I have a hit list of improvements to make

- adding a protective bar either side to protect against runaways (this will have to be removable for transport).

- add an led marker to show which way the point is set (located on the inside edge of the arch)

- relay the track in road 1 of the LH fiddleyard, this should have been laid so that road 1 plus 5 and 6 all aligned with the 3 exits from the board at the same time.   A real godsend when I am running it on my own.

- fix the legs on the LH fiddleyard, both of which are too short.

-add lighting (it wasn’t an issue at Calne but may be else where)

- locking bars for fiddleyard, not an issue yesterday, but today the LH fiddleyard loosened up and wasn’t holding itself in position.  I have a potential design ready to go 

Edited April 16, 2023 by The Fatadder

[dj_crisp]

Great stuff Rich.

Impressive that you got it rebuilt for the exhibition and I'm glad it ran well!

[The Fatadder]

Layout is now unloaded, the scenic section has been put up in the study (and the dries building has made it home in one piece).

 

while the layout can’t be ran (seeing as there’s no room for fiddleyards), however it does mean I can do more detailing and keep it all safe.

 

I tried to get a HST pair running for Sunday, alas the decoders wouldn’t play ball on Saturday night.  

A pair running a test turn from Laira is planned.

[Calnefoxile]

@The Fatadder

 

Thanks for bringing it to the Show and, even accepting the mickey taking 😜 , well done for completing the rebuild in such a short space of time.

 

Whenever I saw it, which wasn't very often, it seemed to be running ok.

 

Hopefully it'll be even better for DEMU Showcase in June.

 

Cheers

 

Neal.

[The Fatadder]

The road to Demu Showcase has started, at least no full rebuild needed this time!

 

The intention is for more incremental scenic updates, starting with the covered loading area.  The superglue joint holding it in place proved a lot stronger than I expected (having made it home loose in the car).  So this evening I have properly added pegs and glued it to the ground (as well as gluing the dries in position.)  the last remaining loose building (the slurry loader) will be glued in place just as soon as I get a new ladder built. 

Next up some loco work on 37670, during the period this had a full set of reinforced windscreens (painted body colour).  A set of Extreme Etchings etches were painted and stuck in position with liberal amounts of Klear.  Certainly an improvement even if not up to the current Bachmann model’s standard.

 

On the subject of windscreens I’ve also glazed half of my test bed 37510.  Again not quite to the new model’s level but I think this is probably a good compromise vs doing the full EE conversion.  Once 37675 is finished with its full EE ends I can get a better impression.   I live in hope Bachmann will do an EWS loco which just has the centre reinforced frame so that I can sort out 521 for which there currently isn’t an easy route.

510 now needs sorting out with a set of OO wheels, as does my current 521 which I think will have to get put into service as a backup loco at DEMU despite having the incorrect nose grills.

 

Finally two more locos have gone back to OO with 50149 looking right at home on the layout along with 31465 not so much.

 

having the scenic board set up certainly allows for better photos of completed stock.

[The Fatadder]

Another additional loco sorted for DEMU has 60026 fitted with a decoder and OO wheels.   This just leaves 60059 with P4 wheels awaiting work (although I’m rather tempted to get this sold and replace with the Cavelex one.)

 

 

The broken ladder on the slurry point has also been repaired, so that is now glued fully in position.  Fingers crossed it’s still there when I unload in Sutton Coalfield 

[The Fatadder]

Another loco finally working, I had tried to get 37057 up and running for Calne but the decoder wouldn’t play ball.  There is still an intermittent electrical supply issue, presumably either wheels or pickups (the loco every so often just sits there with the lights flashing) but for the most part it’s ok.

 

in addition I’ve also fixed 43127, I couldn’t work out why this wouldn’t work on the Sunday at Calne. It was fine on DC and was fitted with a decoder that I knew worked fine.   Turns out it was the 8 pin harness that was faulty so this is now fine with a new harness (although still need to find a decoder for the other end).

 

To free up an 8 pin harness I decided to rewire my test Vitrains chassis, I wasn’t paying attention as I did this and managed to wire a led direct to a function output killing the Led.  But it will be find for its intended purpose in a passenger 47 that will only ever work one way round.   Not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things, but does mean I now need to sort out another loco as my test bed as I really need all 4 LED working!

[The Fatadder]

Another fixed loco, I managed to kill 37710 on Sunday afternoon trying to get the direction changed on the tail lights  (having accidentally wired them to the head lights).  A factory reset got it working again, and this time rather than messing with the cvs to change the direction I’ve fixed the wiring so it’s the right way round.   Having one loco without directional headlights felt a little risky with the ability to drive it off the end of the fiddleyard

 

 

for the core of the fleet that  leaves 670/672/403 plus 47768 as the easy ones to fix headlights on.  I think the pair of Hornby 60s will end up just having electrical tape added over the tail light contact given their ridiculous non standard wiring on the light boards.   Will be slowly working through these over the next few weeks so that all being well at Demu there will not be any taillights showing when wagons are coupled up. 

[The Fatadder]

Continuing on the Class 37 front, last night I made a start on the first 21pin chassis.  The original plan was to make us of the cab lights (under the foolish assumption that Bachmann would have wired them independently on a 21 pin circuit board and a minimum of a 4fct decoder. 

 

Of course RTR loco manufacturers and logic are not the most frequent of bedfellows...

 

The solution (thanks to Mick) is to solder a wire directly to the appropriate pin on the pcb (of course you could solder both directly to the respective pins and maintain the cab lights, but I really dont care about them)

 

Just need another 21pin decoder to arrive so that I can test it, this chassis is intended for 37510 to which I am planning to fit the wheels / sound decoder from 37207.  However naturally i would prefer to test the loco with a normal chip rather than a much more expensive sound decoder...

Edited April 24, 2023 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

More dcc woes last night, with lighting on decoders playing up again with lights coming on that shouldn’t be.  Just tried 3 decoders in two chassis with new circuit boards and lights at one end are permanently dimly lit.  Or in the case of the other properly lit.  Checking the board there is no reason for this (decoder reset, tracks on the board scraped with a screw driver)

 

Driving me mad, as far as I can tell it’s the age of the decoders that’s the issue.  But I really don’t want to have to go replacing the chips in everything!

[The Fatadder]

When it comes to DCC life is certainly easier when you can just plug in a decoder.  It’s just such a shame that for so long even with 21pin chips manufacturers couldn’t be bothered to take advantage of it to get the r lights working properly (looking at you here Bachmann and Hornby…)

 

Fortunately the 150 for the moment at least doesn’t need to run in multiple, and until the platform extension is built won’t need the working door open lights.  As such it was a straight forward plug in decoder, program and run.  I think when I eventually fit the door lights it should be an easy job just soldering wires to the decoder pins as per the 37 tails, (I have already drilled the holes / fitted transparent lights).  Of course it will mean running wires between the two coaches as well. 
 

I’ve ordered some Par / Newquay destinations from Railtec to finish the cab fronts on this and the 153, just need a source of Wales and West branding now to complete them.  It will certainly be good to have a choice of DMU running at Demu (potentially with the 158 added into the mix as well)

 

Next on the hit list will be getting 47768

back into service (after last nights lighting issues) along with decoder fitting two more 37s with the 21pin board / tail light modification along with switching the sound chip from 207 into 510.  2 of these 37s are still awaiting OO wheels sorting which will cause a further delay.   I have another sound chip (8pin) that’s about to go off for a reblow as a 37, adding even more noise to the layout. 

[The Fatadder]

In addition I’ve been trying to sort out a lighting issue on the Hattons class 66.  Which ever way is set as forward on cv29 the headlights are lit on the other end.  I’ve tried changing cv33/34 without success.  But I can’t work out why it’s wrong in the first place, I could understand getting the motor feeds the wrong way round or linking the headlight wire to the tail light function, but for the lighting to be messed up like this you’d need to wire them to the wrong end of the pcb.

[dj_crisp]

1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

In addition I’ve been trying to sort out a lighting issue on the Hattons class 66.  Which ever way is set as forward on cv29 the headlights are lit on the other end.  I’ve tried changing cv33/34 without success.  But I can’t work out why it’s wrong in the first place, I could understand getting the motor feeds the wrong way round or linking the headlight wire to the tail light function, but for the lighting to be messed up like this you’d need to wire them to the wrong end of the pcb.

Hello Rich

 

What decoder are you using? For mine I've used a 10 function decoder and managed to get seperate markers, tails, night, day and cab lights for each end. 

 

It did involve a bit of a re wire but off memory the circuit board was OK to interpret. If it helps I'll dig out my notes on it as I can't remember what I did.

 

Cheers

Will

[The Fatadder]

17 minutes ago, dj_crisp said:

Hello Rich

 

What decoder are you using? For mine I've used a 10 function decoder and managed to get seperate markers, tails, night, day and cab lights for each end. 

 

It did involve a bit of a re wire but off memory the circuit board was OK to interpret. If it helps I'll dig out my notes on it as I can't remember what I did.

 

Cheers

Will

I’m just using a 6 function, which means no cab lights or night headlights, tbh neither of which I particularly miss.  I have set the switches per the instructions.  And have markers plus centre headlight direction controlled the wrong way round, separate tails and separate day headlight.  

[The Fatadder]

The 66 continues to frustrate me, my next attempt was to try remapping the decoder functions to put the tail lights on F0 direction controlled (seeing as in theory if it just shows red lights instead of white the right lights at each end will be showing.  Clearly I did something wrong with the programming as after selecting this it just lit the red lights at both ends at the same time...

 

This got me thinking, would simply swapping the wires around on the motor solve this?  I have been thinking back to what I could have done to cause this issue (assuming that it was not a fault caused by Hattons).  I havent removed the lighting boards from the PCB so there is no way that I could have reassembled the lights incorrectly, however I think I removed the motor.    Seeing as it will only take a few mins to unsolder /resolder the wires it seems worth a go while the body is off.    The only other thing I can think of would be reprogramming the lights to remove the direction control, in theory this is something that should be done anyway after  @Steadfast mentioning at Calne show that the lights wouldnt keep changing ends as the loco shunts in the yard.   Speaking of which, now the loco has a 6fct decoder it gives the option to not turn on the headlight (so it is running with markers and the centre headlight lit).  Is this correct having the centre headlight as well as the marker lights when moving in a yard?

 

edit: looks like crossing over the motor wires has sorted it all out.  Still cant work out why I couldnt fix it with software but having also failed to do the same change on the two 37 that were playing up I am clearly doing something wrong.

Edited April 26, 2023 by The Fatadder

[Steadfast]

55 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Speaking of which, now the loco has a 6fct decoder it gives the option to not turn on the headlight (so it is running with markers and the centre headlight lit).  Is this correct having the centre headlight as well as the marker lights when moving in a yard?

Yep, all 3 lights are markers, the centre light isn't a headlight.

 

Thus:

 

Lights are on a 4 postion rotary switch, so you have:

Day (3 markers plus secondman side headlight)

Yard (3 markers)

Night (3 markers plus driver side headlight).

Off.

 

Tail lights are on a on/ off slide switch and can be lit independently of whatever setting the rotary switch is on.

 

Hope that helps?

 

Jo

[The Fatadder]

22 minutes ago, Steadfast said:

Yep, all 3 lights are markers, the centre light isn't a headlight.

 

Thus:

 

Lights are on a 4 postion rotary switch, so you have:

Day (3 markers plus secondman side headlight)

Yard (3 markers)

Night (3 markers plus driver side headlight).

Off.

 

Tail lights are on a on/ off slide switch and can be lit independently of whatever setting the rotary switch is on.

 

Hope that helps?

 

Jo

Thanks for that, very useful.  So considering my layout.

 

Train arrives from par on the right into the yard under the bridge.  At this point it turns off its headlight and just has the marker lights at the left hand side. 
 

it runs around the train (during which the left hand marker lights are still lit despite travelling to the right.)  it then does some shunting before eventually coupling to the loaded train at which point the lights are changed to the rh side (with headlight and markers) and then departs back toward Par.

 

The tail lights would only be switched on if running light engine on Railtrack’s metals.

[Steadfast]

Sounds pretty good, apart from the markers would change at each end for the light loco moves, because the white lights on a 66 can only illuminate when the key is in that cab. 

 

Think of it as when light loco the driver should be in the leading cab for the move, whereas with wagons on there'd be a shunter with a radio to call him back.

 

With a loco such as a 37, what you suggest would be 100% doable, with a bit of laziness not swapping the lights over.

 

Jo

[dj_crisp]

11 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

I’m just using a 6 function, which means no cab lights or night headlights, tbh neither of which I particularly miss.  I have set the switches per the instructions.  And have markers plus centre headlight direction controlled the wrong way round, separate tails and separate day headlight.  

 

Sounds like you got things sorted in the end. Excellent!

 

Should you get a 10 function decoder I found I needed to do some hard wiring on mine.

 

I can't remember if this is one where I bought the wrong decoder type so had to hard wire two extra functions as I think I did less hard wiring with the correct decoder.

 

[The Fatadder]

Thanks, will keep that in mind should I ever add a sound chip. (Though if I do go down the sound route, a 66 will be the last in the list).   
 

for now I’m taking advantage of the layout being next to the desk to leave the 150

running on the rollers to properly run it in.  Despite buying this when it first came out I’ve never actually ran it before testing last night.   Now running very sweetly

 

 

Will be doing Demu duties at Expo Em in a few weeks time on the Saturday (working on loco and wagon detailing and maybe some weathering.)  The plan is to get a few more bits finished for Showcase (in particular weathering another pair of Clay Tigers, and finishing a couple of 37s). Must get some Shawplan bits ordered!