Banbury in N scale - A great time at the Abingdon in March 2024

[roundhouse]

Major problems on the Brighton line this morning with over running engineering works.

So I thought it quite apt to show some Network  Rail vehicles on Banbury!

Edited November 20, 2013 by roundhouse

[bridgiesimon]

Your windie looks great, one question - what do you use for the orange lining? I have several unlined models which need them and cannot find a way that I can work with. I am well on with the timber version of the windie to run with a set of OTA timber wagons assuming the chassis can haul them.

 

Best wishes

Simon

[roundhouse]

Thanks Simon

 

Its orange lining from Fox transfers. Cant remeber which size but its not the thinnest one as I cant get on with that.

 

Make sure that you add some weight in the powered cab then hopefully you will be OK.

Mine won't be hauling anything bar its toehr half so will be adding snow ploughs each end made from styrene.

 

Regards

Ian

[roundhouse]

This evenings task was to check a number of the Farish class 168's that had been playing up.

 

One of them required the Hornby decoder to be replaced. Whilst these decoders have worked fine, the regular removal and refixing of the body for cleaning the pick ups, has caused some of the wires to break off the decoder. The replacement decoders are now Digitrax DZ125's which have the wire connections to the board protected in a plastic covering so this is less likely to happen.

 

Another 4 car set was found to have one of the phosphor broanze wheel pick ups dislodged. With this pickup corrected the unit now seems to work fine.

 

Also on the workbench is another Voyager which is having the couplings between the middle coaches changed to Microtrains so that the fiddly Farish coupling bar can be dispensed with.

 

Ian

Edited November 22, 2013 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

This morning I decided to modify the Farish class 168 chassis ready for fitting a decoder.

This method has bern described before on various websites. However my modification includes soldering wires onto the bogie pick ups. This greatly improves electrical pickup.

 

I used to run these wires over the ends of the chassis but this makes locating the body properly more difficult.

Running the wires between the chassis halves, one wire each side of the drive shaft makes the fitting of the body much easier. To date the wires have not caused any problems with the drive shafts.

In the past I have had to file a recess in the top of the chassis in order to fit a Hornby decoder but the Digitrax DZ125 is thin enough to fit between the chassis and underside of the body.

The decoder will be fitted tonight.

Ian

[Pete 75C]

No irony or sarcasm meant at all... I am genuinely slightly in awe. You do appear to be a modelling superhero. Loved Star Lane, following Dobríš with great interest and then a couple of days ago I stumble upon Banbury. How do you do it??? Pete.

[roundhouse]

Pete

Star Lane isn't my layout although did give a hand over a few weekends and build one of the signal boxes.

 

Banbury uses the fiddleyard off another layout so wasn't a completely new layout.

 

Dobris is in its very early stages so won't really get moving till the final bits on Banbury are done.

Luckily I have a very understanding other half who is more than happy that I leave her in peace to do my modelling!

 

Doing an hour early in the morning before heading to work helps.

[Pete 75C]

Agreed.

Wife - Living room: Eastenders, Holby, I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here etc etc...

Me - Dining room: Butchering plastic kits and getting glue all over my fingers...

It really is the secret of a happy marriage!

[roundhouse]

Yes much the same with her in the living room although she doesn't watch those programmes.
I am regulated to the conservatory these days at the light is better in there during daylight hours.

Edited November 22, 2013 by roundhouse

[Gruffalo]

Yes much the same with her in the living room although she doesn't watch those programmes.

I am regulated to the conservatory these days at the list is better in there during daylight hours.

I wouldn't dare using the conservatory and agree with the domain splits. Luckily I have a cosy home office which SWMBO complains is untidy and dusty in which to build things. I have to be very careful not to mark desk tops.

[roundhouse]

The Dapol Virgin Super Voyager extra coach I got off ebay has now had the matching colour bands added to the side beyond the windows and above the cantrail stripe. Various colours were mixed to get a close a match at possible but the pink doors need a slightly better more vibrant pink.

However when removing the masking tape from the cantrail it lifted some of the paint on one side at I forgot to degrease the existing surfaces. Hopefully I can get a match agsin on the paint that side.

 

Weathering coat to the roof will thrn blend this coach into the rest and hopefully not too many people will notice the absence of the XC branding!

 

The new round post Dapol signal does look good so it will replace one of the non working signals in time for this weekend's show.

[Joseph_Pestell]

No irony or sarcasm meant at all... I am genuinely slightly in awe. You do appear to be a modelling superhero. Loved Star Lane, following Dobríš with great interest and then a couple of days ago I stumble upon Banbury. How do you do it??? Pete.

You've missed out Smrzkozva (or however it's spelt). And the Californian one.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Joseph_Pestell

[roundhouse]

Smrzovka was built by two of us 7 years ago. It's not had much done to it till very recently plus some new stock.

 

Santa Barbara uses the fiddle yard legs and Pelmet off Banbury.

[roundhouse]

All the modelling tasks for tonight will have to wait after yet another problem on the trains. This time the London Bridge signalling centre lost power with no trains moving at London Bridge just after 5pm so a convoluted way to get home via Waterloo and Clapham Junction, congestion at a East Croydon with a train to Coulsdon Town and now for dome food and a couple of pints before we catch the bus home.

Might get a coat of varnish on the Windhoff but it's put me behind now.

Oh well, time to enjoy the beer!

[roundhouse]

The signalling circuits ordered from Coastal DCC arrived in the post last night, so tonight I am going to make the decision as to whether I rip out one of the non working signals and replace it with the Dapol one in time for the show on Saturday.. it needs some trimming of the base to fit the location/ then I need to reballast around it and put the coiled up cabling back on top of the ballast and wire it up to the circuits.

 

The pan is to add block detection and then interlock the signals using JMRI. This is likely to happen some time next year.

 

meanwhile more decals and touching up of the paintwork has been done to both the Harsco rail grinder and the Windhoff MPV.

 

The additional coach to make the Dapol Super Voyager a 5 car set has now been weathered so it blends in with the other coaches in the set.

 

Another task to do is to modify the slots in the stock boxes for the Dapol mk3 coaches in the Chiltern and WSMR sets. I think I now know why the close coupling mechanism keeps getting knocked out of position when we get the coaches out the stock box. We tend to lift them out from one end thus pushing the other end of the coach into the stock tray slot and hence it dislocates the close coupling system requiring the body to be unclipped to get at the mechanism.

 

Still plenty of other tasks to do though.

 

Ian

Edited November 28, 2013 by roundhouse

[Joseph_Pestell]

The Dapol Virgin Super Voyager extra coach I got off ebay has now had the matching colour bands added to the side beyond the windows and above the cantrail stripe. Various colours were mixed to get a close a match at possible but the pink doors need a slightly better more vibrant pink.

However when removing the masking tape from the cantrail it lifted some of the paint on one side at I forgot to degrease the existing surfaces. Hopefully I can get a match agsin on the paint that side.

 

Weathering coat to the roof will thrn blend this coach into the rest and hopefully not too many people will notice the absence of the XC branding!

 

The new round post Dapol signal does look good so it will replace one of the non working signals in time for this weekend's show.

 

Is it me? Or does the arm on that signal look massive? Generally, the Dapol working signals look very good in terms of installation and operation but I think that I would want to replace the arms with some etched brass ones. How easy would that be to do?

[roundhouse]

Is it me? Or does the arm on that signal look massive? Generally, the Dapol working signals look very good in terms of installation and operation but I think that I would want to replace the arms with some etched brass ones. How easy would that be to do?

 

I have read elsewhere that they are too large but it didnt look too bad when placing near the Ration ones on the layout but I didn't study them very closely.

 

I reckon that the Dapol one could be trimmed a bit with a file. As to how easy they are to replace, I am not sure but will have a closer look tonight before I make the decision to change the signal at the end of the down bay just by the road bridge. I will need to modify future Dapol signals as the two at the South end of the layout are taller and the two new signals for revers working out of platforms 1 and 2 are shorter

[Douglas G]

Is it me? Or does the arm on that signal look massive? Generally, the Dapol working signals look very good in terms of installation and operation but I think that I would want to replace the arms with some etched brass ones. How easy would that be to do?

I think part of the reason the arm looks large is that for these GWR round post signals Dapol have chosen to do a short post version, whereas for the original square post version it was a tall post signal.  The size of the arms does not look so odd in the earlier ones, but the thickness of the arms is still very apparent.  Perhaps it would have been better if Dapol had chosen to use etched arms.

 

Douglas

[roundhouse]

Tonight I wired up the signal circuit boards. Took a bit longer at I did initially wire up the wrong terminals between the two boards. Luckily no damage done. Initially the circuit will control one semaphore and one colour light by the road bridge.

Once the boards were screwed in place the non working signal and surrounding ballast was carefully removed and a 13mm diameter hole drilled for the Dapol signal.

He photo shows the signal in place and reinstated ballast. Also the filed down signal arm looks better although it is still bigger than the ratio one.

Tomorrow morning the signal will be reconnected to the circuit board along with the colour light signal on the main line.

 

Ian

[roundhouse]

This morning up early to wire up the signal to the circuit board.

 

The under board shot shows the two circuit boards for the signals at the top of the photo. The circuit board in the centre of the photo is a Hex Frog Juicer.

Towards the bottom of the photo the Dapol signals enclosed mechanism can be seen protruding through the board. I have fitted a small block of wood to one side of it to give it some protection whilst in transit. The circuit boards will eventually get perspex or similar covers to protect them.

 

Up on the scenic side of the board the ballast has dried and none of the watered down PVA has got into the mechanism at the signal arm and connecting rod still moves freely.

The Wndhoff MPVs had a few more decals added this morning but still plenty more to apply.

 

Tonight the boards will be boxed up and loaded ready for an early departure in the morning to Letchworth.

Edited November 29, 2013 by roundhouse

[60006]

The MPV is just an absolute treat to look at.

Really makes me want to get it now but I know as soon as I do then the chassis' will re-appear and I won't be able to afford one.

 

Good look with the show. Although at this point I think you're pretty well-versed in the art of exhibiting.

 

Tom.

[roundhouse]

Thanks Tom

 

it still has a little way to go before its finished such as more decals, horns on top of the cab,, handrails on the inner ends, headlights etc. but at least its working well now with the extra pcikups.

 

It is a superb kit though and the etchings are a perfect fit.

 

Ian

[roundhouse]

It was good to see our last show of the year, at Letchworth busy. A very pleasant show and good to talk to a number of Rmwebbers.

 

The layout ran well but just a shame that us operators still make mistakes, me making a fair few today!

 

The Dapol signal worked fine although it didn't get a lot of use as the North end bay isn't that busy. The adjacent colour light signal didn't wirk though so I will have to check that out before the layouts next show in January 2014. Hopefully more of the signals will be connected up by then and I will have learnt how to set them up in JMRI.

 

Not far from home now so once we are unloaded its time for a few beers.

 

Some photos taken today to follow.

 

Ian

Edited November 30, 2013 by roundhouse

[roundhouse]

A few photos taken yesterday.

 

The Windhoff MPV worked very smoothly all day.

 

 

The Harsco rail gribder had its first run .the power car was found be a bit light as the motor bogie was slipping but after adding some weight it ran well. Still needs the glazing finishing plus some steps.

[shanks522]

You have done an excellent job with the MPV Ian, looks fantastic.

 

Graham.