Much Murkle - back on the road

[nickwood]

1 hour ago, longchap said:

Well I'll be at the Southampton show next weekend, despite one of my favourite model railways going to Basingstoke later in the year, but only just up the road, so anything's possible.

 

MM is still looking splendid Nick and I'm glad it will be giving much pleasure to enthusiasts once again.

 

Are you still considering another layout? 

 

Best,

 

Bill

 

Hope you can make it, would be nice to see you again Bill.

 

Prior to my house move in 2021 I planned another GWR terminus layout and built the boards. Peco bullhead track was ordered and received and that is as far as it has got. It is not a dead project, just on the back burner and waiting for sufficient spare time.

 

I also have another project that is moving on albeit very slowly. I acquired a couple of DCC sound equipped diesels and a small amount of goods stock from the estate of my good friend Mick Bonwick who you may recall passed away suddenly in 2021. I had some spare boards already built for another layout which didn't progress so I've used these with the intention to try out DCC with a gritty industrial shunting layout set in the late 60's. Green diesels and 16T rusty minerals aplenty. I've moved my workshop into a garden studio building which will have this layout on a shelf along the rear wall. I may start a thread on this soon as the track is down and wiring is nearing completion.

 

Anyway this thread is about Much Murkle and my focus currently is getting it back into tip top shape before the Basingstoke show.

 

[nickwood]

Link to the details of the Basingstoke show

 

[57xx]

On 21/01/2024 at 13:28, nickwood said:

There is a small problem with it though. The cylinder guards catch on the screw heads holding the aluminium angle in place on the cassettes, so I've got to alter the fixings on the cassette dock and one of the cassettes which will have to be allocated solely to the Railmotor. Shouldn't be too difficult just moving a few screws back approx 3mm each side

 

Good to see you back, Nick. Have you tried fitting the narrow scroll irons from the accessory pack?

[nickwood]

48 minutes ago, 57xx said:

 

Good to see you back, Nick. Have you tried fitting the narrow scroll irons from the accessory pack?

Thanks, Actually I hadn’t noticed they were in there until you mentioned it and I checked the box. When I get a minute I’ll fit them and see if they solve the problem. Cheers.

 

[nickwood]

On 24/01/2024 at 06:02, nickwood said:

Thanks, Actually I hadn’t noticed they were in there until you mentioned it and I checked the box. When I get a minute I’ll fit them and see if they solve the problem. Cheers.

 

They didn’t solve the problem unfortunately so I’ve had to resort to moving the fixing screws. No big deal except the narrow scrolls will have to stay as one of the wider ones broke removing it 😟

[nickwood]

Much Murkle is loaded in the car ready for the short journey to Basingstoke this evening and its first outing since Milton Keynes in March 2020, 4 long years ago.

I’m looking forward to the buzz of exhibiting again and spending the weekend with my team mates, old and new. 
I’m acting as a Guinea Pig for Deluxe Materials new product, “Locomotion” a synthetic loco oil claimed to reduce friction and give smoother starting at lower voltage. It’s not on the market yet but I’ve serviced all my locos with it and will review it here after the show.

if you are reading this and attending the Basingstoke show please make the time to stop for a chat.

[ian]

Good luck Nick. I hope it goes well and that you and your team have a great time.

[nickwood]

Thanks Ian

[longchap]

All the best for a great return to the exhibition circuit this weekend Nick. Unfortunately my UK trip had to be shunted back to the next weekend, so I will sadly miss seeing you and MM again!

 

 

Edited March 8 by longchap

[nickwood]

8 hours ago, longchap said:

All the best for a great return to the exhibition circuit this weekend Nick. Unfortunately my UK trip had to be shunted back to the next weekend, so I will sadly miss seeing you and MM again!

 

 

Thank you Bill. Shame that your plans have changed. Another time I’m sure.

[ELTEL]

Hope it all goes well with MM at Basingstoke.

 

A bit far from Stafford 

 

Any other exhibitions planned a little nearer me ?
 

Terry 

[nickwood]

Hi Terry, nothing north of Oxford at the moment but who knows what the future holds.

[nickwood]

Much Murkle was judged by Steve Flint, former Editor of Railway Modeller as Best in Show at Basingstoke. Thanks to my team for making sure MM operated flawlessly whilst he was watching and making notes. 😉

[eldavo]

Well done Nick. The layout was certainly looking good when I stopped by.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

[richbrummitt]

Good to finally see the layout in the flesh today. If in doubt add another pannier was being taken to the limit when I stopped by with a goods being shunted down the quarry sidings behind a light engine. Probably too much going on to match the reality of an 8 mile branch, but otherwise risk being criticised by others for nothing much happening. The scene is beautifully modelled. I did here someone nearby muttering to another that it must be fine scale. 
 

Edited March 9 by richbrummitt

[longchap]

A well prepared return to the circuit Nick and certainly executed with some aplomb with Best in Show. Congratulations.

 

Looking forward to your assessment of the Locomotion lube.

 

 

 

[nickwood]

22 hours ago, richbrummitt said:

Good to finally see the layout in the flesh today. If in doubt add another pannier was being taken to the limit when I stopped by with a goods being shunted down the quarry sidings behind a light engine. Probably too much going on to match the reality of an 8 mile branch, but otherwise risk being criticised by others for nothing much happening. The scene is beautifully modelled. I did here someone nearby muttering to another that it must be fine scale. 
 

It’s a fine balance as you say but you probably came at an unusual juncture if what you saw is the episode I think it was. Generally we work to a sequence of passenger train in, followed by prepare to depart. Goods arrives and holds in the loop. Passenger departs. Goods shunts the yard, forms the outgoing goods and then departs. Repeat. 
if there is any lull whilst the fiddle yard operator sorts things out then we hold a pannier in the cider yard which shunts some wagons there.
The vast majority of punters just don’t stay and watch if nothing is moving. 

[nickwood]

20 hours ago, longchap said:

A well prepared return to the circuit Nick and certainly executed with some aplomb with Best in Show. Congratulations.

 

Looking forward to your assessment of the Locomotion lube.

 

 

 

Thanks Bill

 

I must declare that Deluxe Materials prior to the show approached me to try out their new synthetic loco Lube called Locomotion. I had no previous contact with them before this. They supplied me with a bottle of the oil to use and I serviced all my locos using it before the show. it comes in a plastic bottle with a very fine needle applicator which was very easy to use to get a small amount of oil in the right place. What was noticeable was that the response to my KPC handheld (analogue) controller was enhanced with the locos responding to power a little sooner on rotation of the knob, meaning less voltage was being applied to start the wheels turning and slow running was marginally better. My locos do run pretty slow and smoothly anyway but I am convinced that this oil improved them.

I also dug out a couple of long forgotten locos, an old Airfix 61xx and a Hornby pannier that hadn’t been run for years. Tried running them without any attention and they ran very erratically and noisily as you would expect. I then serviced them using the oil and whilst still not up to today’s running standards, performance was remarkably improved. They were still noisy but started and run much better.

 

Would I recommend it? Yes I would. It appears to perform at least as good and better than most of the other proprietary products claiming to do the same job that I have tried in the past.  I had no running problems with any of the 12 locos I serviced for this weekends show.
 

Deluxe Materials took some video of one my panniers starting from stationary on a Peco Electrofrog point which will probably appear on their website when the product is formally launched in April.

 

I have no connection with Deluxe Materials other than as a satisfied Guinea Pig for their product and have not received any inducement to give my thoughts on this product.

 

if you have any questions about it’s use then please fire away. 
 

[sjrixon]

Interesting that you found that much of a difference.. I did look at their stand, but I figured thin oil was thin oil.... Maybe next time I run out, I'll look again.

 

Although my Dean Goods isn't running well, so maybe some different oil might help. 

[nickwood]

21 hours ago, sjrixon said:

Interesting that you found that much of a difference.. I did look at their stand, but I figured thin oil was thin oil.... Maybe next time I run out, I'll look again.

 

Although my Dean Goods isn't running well, so maybe some different oil might help. 

It might help but if your Dean Goods is inherently a poor runner then don’t expect miracles. It is only a lubricant afterall.

[sjrixon]

She used to be fine... I need to find the time to strip it right down and see what's going on.. 

 

Deluxe certainly make some good stuff..I love rocket glue. 

[Dragonboy]

Looking forward to giving this lubricant when it’s available.

[nickwood]

On 17/03/2024 at 10:20, Dragonboy said:

Looking forward to giving this lubricant when it’s available.

As far as I know it will be sometime in April. You’ll need to keep an eye on their website or watch out for the modelling press reviewing it.

[nickwood]

A short video of one of my Bachman panniers which was serviced using this oil starting and pulling smoothly away at low speed. Note it starts from a position straddling the point frog.

 

[jazzer]

1 hour ago, nickwood said:

A short video of one of my Bachman panniers which was serviced using this oil starting and pulling smoothly away at low speed. Note it starts from a position straddling the point frog.

 

That’s quite remarkable. I have two panniers and although they are not bad as slow runners once they start they always need a bit of power to  get moving and start with a bit of a jerk. Same with stopping . I can’t get a smooth stop. I have two Bachman small prairies which seem to have the same or similar motor/gear set up but are both far, far superior to the panniers. I feel that I’ve tried everything with the panniers but the oil you mention is definitely worth a try.