RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 7, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 7, 2012 Layout all ready for opening this morning at Folkestone. We had a few hiccups yesterday morning but everything settled down and went well in the afternoon. A few photos of the layout including something that shouldn't be there! Ian 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 8, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted October 8, 2012 (edited) The layout ran well on Sunday. We did have a slight glitch with two turnouts which if any give a problem then its these two depsite being attended to in the past. It got quite warm in the location we were in at Folkestone overlooking the Channel and eventaully the venue staff unlocked the doors onto the balcony. Once the area had cooled down these two turnouts didnt play up again, so must be the heat that gets to them. We had a few locos fail but as there were only 4 of us on Sunday and the layout needs three operators at a time, these locos had to be put to one side. The turntable also playred up for a while but some dirt had got into the mechanism so luckily thta was just a cleaning job. We vacuum the turntable well each morning to try and avoid this. The turntable is the Wlthers one (made for them by Heljan and now also sold by Heljan). It can be temperamental but once its working its normally fine for the rest of the day. We had to carry the boards up from the bottom of the venue at Folkestone to street level which is quite a few flights as the venue staff had not unlocked the lift to street level. We were exhausted by the tiem we had the car loaded but itas a good job the boards have foam decks!! The layout is now back in its storage location for a few weeks but some scenic work is to be carried out on it in time for Warley in late November. Luckily, we have a full crew for Warley!! Ian Edited November 12, 2012 by roundhouse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 12, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) Under two weeks to go before the layout is at the NEC, so yesterday I managed to get a new coat of fire retardant sprayed onto the skirting as it was a dry sunny day. It was drip dry by the time the sun went down but still had to hang it up around the living room (its about 25 feet long as is used on other layouts) pinned to the curtain rail, shelves and round the third side of the room on the radiator. Good job it wasnt any longer or it would have been hanging on the TV and that would have caused a bit of upset from the other half! Some modifications were made to the legs so that they pack together better. The stock tray support blocks were in the way of the electrical multi ways that are mounted on every other leg. So I decided to cut gaps in the tray support blocks - the legs now pack closer together. A bit of maintenance on the lighting pelmet sections also completed. These will be in use this weekend on another layout. Work on the stock continues and I hope to do a few bits to the scenic sections but it wont be as much as I had hoped. Ian Edited November 12, 2012 by roundhouse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 ^^^ In your photos above, the item that should not be there - is it French? I can see that it has buffers, a red buffer beam and is painted green! Those large UP steam locos do look rather good btw! I havent had much time to work on the layout its self but some work is being carried out on the freight car fleet. There are some box cars that still have their steel axle wheelsets which cause the occassional problem over hte uncoupling magnets, so these are being replaced with Kadee plastic axle wheelsets. Unoftunately they arent a straight swap on the Trix cars, so the axleboxes are having to be drilled out to allow the Kadee axles to freely rotate. I find this, too! I use a truck tuner (Micro Mark via MSE models) for this job but have to squeeze the axleboxes together in the modelling vice to ensure adequate clearance. I'm not at Warley but have a great time. John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 12, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) John I wondered if anyone would comment on that loco. Its Bullied rebuilt light pacific 'Crewkerne' which I had just purchased and was gviing it a bit of a test run with its factory fitted sound decoder! Yes, I have seen the MIcromark truck tuner but as I don't have one I used normal drill bits going very carefully into the axle boxes at the same angle on each so as not to end up with a wobble on each truck. Regards Ian Edited November 12, 2012 by roundhouse 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
49395 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 ^^^ In your photos above, the item that should not be there - is it French? I can see that it has buffers, a red buffer beam and is painted green! Looks like something ex southern region in BR green to me... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Its Bullied rebuilt light pacific 'Crewkerne' D'oh! Ha, ha, ha! How wrong can you be!?! Ah well, I suppose I was only 22 miles out! Cheers, John E. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 12, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 12, 2012 Yes... only that little bit of water called the English Channel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 12, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 12, 2012 We are hoping for an accident free weekend at Warley with none of these mishaps!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 We are hoping for an accident free weekend at Warley with none of these mishaps!! Mike's driving? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 12, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) Mike's driving? He might well have been but its definitely one of his locos! As he doesnt have DCC all his locos are DC enabled, so we get the odd run away when the system comes back on after a short!! Edited November 12, 2012 by roundhouse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 He might well have been but its definitely one of his locos! At least he has good taste in railroads Adrian 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 19, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 19, 2012 Only a few days to go before the layout is loaded ready for the journey to NEC. I am hoping to fit a sound decoder into the Bachmann Spectrum HO 0-6-0 saddle tank. I have the N scale MRC decoder sitting in the roof of the cab so now its just finding space for the speaker. The diesel stock box modifications are nearly complete. This will mean all my stock will be in stock boxes rather than some being in the manufacturers box - The Athearn Gas Turbine box is way bigger than the loco despite it being a really superb UP liveried box! A few other mods to do as time permits. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
long island jack Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Ian Hope you enjoy the scrum!!!!! Speaker in coal bunker pointing in to cab,or speaker in cab roof and decoder in bunker,thats what i'm thinking of doing. Ray Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 19, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 19, 2012 Ian Hope you enjoy the scrum!!!!! Speaker in coal bunker pointing in to cab,or speaker in cab roof and decoder in bunker,thats what i'm thinking of doing. Ray Yes we are getting ourselves prepared for that! The rear light gets in the way of using the coal bunker. I have removed th boiler firebox section that extends into the cab and it ay not go back in or will be cut ack to allow the speaker to sit on the cab floor as the decoder is too big to do so unless I cut t crew ad seats out. Will have another play with it tonight. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 23, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 23, 2012 Finally reassembled my 0-6-0 saddle tank switcher this morning and added it to the JMRI software roster. It now has an MRC 1637 sound decoder installed and it sounds pretty good. The decoder sits diagonally under the cab roof with the speaker stuck face down onto a few layers of plastic card monuted on the cab floor but ot clear the rear light cable. The firebox moulding has been removed in order to get all this in but its not that noticeable as missing. I reckon I can cut it down and refit it at a later stage. The one thing that does bug me is that the rear light works when the cab fgloor is removed but not when its in place. I have checked for any intermittent connection but havent found any. I suspect that I will replace it with a new light in the near future, by passing the plastic light tube. This little loco will be running tomorrow at Warley. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewC Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 Have a good trip up and setup. May get to see you on Sunday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 24, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 24, 2012 Layout now set up and ready to go this morning Number 89 now fitted with a sound decoder was our test loco to check the layout was all working fine yesterday 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 24, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 24, 2012 A genersl shot of thr layout set up in NEC The layout looks tiny amongst all the other superb layouts in this vast hall. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted November 24, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 24, 2012 A genersl shot of thr layout set up in NEC The layout looks tiny amongst all the other superb layouts in this vast hall. It's quality not quantity thta counts. It looks good. That's me and Supersonic with Green Ayre demo behind you. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 24, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 24, 2012 Jamie I must have a good look at your buildings tomorrow as I have been following your posts on the construction. We have been staying in Lancaster in the past few years on our way back from the Barrow show which adds to the interest. Hope to post a few more photos of the layout tomorrow as its not a very good signal in the pub we are in at the moment. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 26, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 26, 2012 The layout ran very well throughout the Warley show over the weekend. Even the turntable deck performed without fault (we often have problems with the contacts to the deck at the start of a show till it settles down). We had one or two locos give a problem otherwise it was just operator error including me throwing turnouts under a rake of freight cars and derailing them! It was a superb weekend and a good end to our show schedule for 2012. Now to do a few more modifications to the layout prior to attending the show in Weston Super Mare in January 2013. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 It was good to see the layout again and have a play with the coal drops job, if I didn't have the smallest layout in the world I'd definitely consider using a smartphone as a wireless throttle, as this method has the easiest useability of any DCC handset I've encountered. Thanks for letting me have a go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted November 26, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted November 26, 2012 It was good to see the layout again and have a play with the coal drops job, if I didn't have the smallest layout in the world I'd definitely consider using a smartphone as a wireless throttle, as this method has the easiest useability of any DCC handset I've encountered. Thanks for letting me have a go. Glad you enjoyed having a go. You are more than welcome to have another go at a future show. We will be at the Leamington show in January 2013 if you are in the area. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 We will be at the Leamington show in January 2013 if you are in the area. Ian In the area...? It's very nearly my local show...! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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