Lee m22

That is a lot of wire, and I do not envy your soldering tasks! Well....Good Luck! Lee

Ah cool! It's a neat variation to have on the models from the usual smooth dome ends. Think I'll be buying smoe more magnets to play with, n hope for a couple a strong ones myself! Regards Lee

Good progress indeed:D What tankers are they? I don't recall seeing any models with the depressed ends before.. Good to see the magnet hidden away nicely, and more importantly, it having the desired effect on the cargowaggon's coupling! Regards Lee

Wow! Where have I been! Some brilliant progress since I last checked in here. The class 60 night shots make me want to go and buy one! Looking forward to paying more attention to this one in the future! Regards Lee

Good to see you back! Boxenby is one of the most impressive threads going, for the shear quality and attention to detail of your subject. I was in a similar position last year and it took me an unhealthy number of months to get back into employment. The model railway was my little escape of an evening, though I couldn't fund it's progress. Still it kept me sane after hours of form filling and posting. All the best for a speedy turnaround so you can get back to what you clearly enjoy Regards Lee

Thanks for the thoughts. I think perhaps extensive use to loosen up those shanks may be required! (That means loads of playing!) Realistically though, I think I may order a couple more packs of magnets to make up for the shortfall with loose shunting. Big shame, but still a marked improvement over standard couplings! I've had issues with coupling single wagons though the instructions do say weight may be needed for some wagons. I've added to my TTA's and have noticed an marked improvement. I may be less experienced with the long term effects on the loco but I'm happy to load up the wagons (trains won't be much longer than 8 or 9 wagons atm anyway) On the plus side, I am getting good results after mounting my first magnet below the top of the sleepers. One bugbare eliminated! Regards Lee

I've seen that happen too... Have you played with the heights on your trip-pins at all? One of the other problems I've had is the amount of lateral play a wagon has ude to it's wheelsets. Sometimes the couplings don't trigger if the wagons is riding too far towards the fixed side of the coupling. DapolDave mentioned gauges etc in the NEM pocket conversion kits, and I think it's the fine-tuning that will get these couplings doing what they ought! Not had any problems with them uncoupling on the run mind! Regards Lee

Thanks for the video Simon! I'm still 'having an argument' with mine, but clearly it is possible to make them work so I'll just keep plodding. Followed your advice and have cut one of my magnets in, though I'll hold off on finishing it, as I've sniffed a rumour that the magnets are of varying strength! Still It's great to see your's working and well hidden! I think it's one of the biggest factors impeeding people's interest atm! Good luck with the wiring! Lee

Hi I still haven't got the delayed coupling working. I've tried ajusting the trip pins to the closest point to the center line I can, and I've tried various magnet heights etc. Fundamentally, the coupling shanks need to diverge from the centerline to allow the couplings to miss each other, but after testing my GF class 24, 47 and TTA, Brakevan and YGB's, I've nto been able to get the shanks to move when over the magnet. Is this because the couplings are too tight in the pockets? The TTA's/brake have sprung pockets, and the rest is obviously bogie stock. The instructions mention that weight can be an issue so I've filled both the TTA's and YGB's with 'liquid gravity', yet this still hasn't improved the situation. Any suggestions? This feature is kind of critical to my layout operations Regards Lee

Thanks, That certainly will get me started this week Regards Lee

Thank's Simon, it'll be good to hear. I'm keen to see the magnets in place and well hidden, while functional! I was very impressed to see you'd gotten yours under the sleepers! Lee

That trackbed and associated ducting/vegetation etc is looking brilliant (putting me to shame lol) What weathering have you got planned for the trackwork? While I'm throwing questions your way, how's your magnetic couplers working? I saw your picture with the magnet under the replaced (thinned?) sleepers. I'm pretty much at the stage where I really should be installing my magnets now. Any tips would be most appreciated! The suggestion of tea has got me thirsty...to the kettle! Great progress Simon Lee

Hey, that's brilliant! I've been looking for fencing like that everywhere in N gauge...Have you commissioned this yourself? Regards Lee

Hey. I've got a small North Wales layout on the go. Early days but it's coming along further than anything I've done in the past Regards Lee

Deffiatly impressed Just a few hundred of the winged vermin to go to give it that inner urban feel! The scaffolding looks brilliant, though you clearly have a lot of patience to put it all together! The aerial as well is a brilliant little feature that makes a big impact on the scene Regards Lee

Hey, I know I'm a bit of a lurker on your thread as I rarely comment, but I've really been impressed with it recently. Molst people's layouts develope, but your's has "evolved"! # Really like your work with the ground cover. As this is the stage I'm at atm, it's good to see results like yours as encouragement! Keep up the good work and I'll continue to follow with interest Regards Lee

Hey an interesting thread and I've just discovered the BR Blue section of the forum. Being a blue modeller myself, I best contribute I most definatly didn't grow up in the blue era, and to be fair aircraft were my thing while I grew up...it had all gone wrong/private (depending on your slant on things) by the time I got into the railways properly! My Blue modelling came from buying the GF Railfreight sector box set (with the class 47 in RF sector livery) When I got it home, it was in fact a BR Blue loco in the box! I was going to take it back as I'd hoped to go grey, but a good friend pointed out this website to me after discussing the loco livery, and I instantly fell in love with the blue era! I do love br-nse-fan's statement above regarding BR Blue - "it screams of stability". Too true! Regards Lee

Here's hoping your talking RRP, though I read that as ten pockets at first....Ten pairs much better! It's an expensive project to convert my 16tonners, but hopefully very worth it! I do look forward to the day when N gauge sees things like dcc chips on board as standard, and NEM couplers are found on the majority of stock. Still the most important thing is the product is being supported for universal fitting! Really looking forward to getting my yard into action! Thanks for the reply and info Dave. Most Helpful! Regards Lee

Brilliant to hear it's near to production Dave! Do you know how many kits will be in a pack (am I pushing my luck to ask the price too?) I'll certainly be needing a few!!! Regards Lee

Hi Matt. I'm afraid the three packs I got didn't include spares and Im not sure the springs are pre-loaded as future batches are suggested to be. I imagine the packs I got came before the changes were made. To me though, knowing that spares are coming is the important thing. A bit of a pain for you in the short term though When it comes to replacing the springs, I knocked one of mine out in exactly the same way as you. I failed to re-insert it for about 20 mins as I gingerly pushed it about with a needle. In the end, I came up with laying 4 magnetic screwdrivers around my desk, and the Dapol magnets under where I was working and just kinda "went for it". First time it pinged out but was caugt by one of the screwdrivers. Second time, it dropped in a treat, and worked fine after some extensive testing. In all fairness, I have trashed two springs on GF non-Nem pocketed wagons recently, when they have fallen out, so to me I can accept spring issues are going to happen occasionally. I was worried by reading some posts that the springs may fall out of all 50 odd quid's worth of couplings I just brought, but I'm confident that's not the case now. After knocking the spring out, I fitted the rest of my couplings by pressing against the inside of the coupling with the shaft of a small screwdriver. This way there is no risk of compressing the moving part beyond the reach of the spring. I honestly don't think the springs will fall out under normal use! As yet, I'm still to get the delayed coupling to work for me. Looking at the pictures in the instructions, it seems the shanks deflect as well as the coupling heads, but this hasn't occured for me yet. The shanks have stayed perfectly straight and the heads just simply cannot open enough to contact without coupling after passing the magnet. I've only tried on some new, short wheel based wagons so far so tomorrow, I will try on my seacows. They've seen a bit more use and might just see the shanks move on them. Still overall, I am really impressed with them. Aside looking better, I've not had a single one uncouple while playing pretty much all day today. I will figure the delayed coupling out I'm sure so it's just the NEM pockets that I really need to encourage me to adopt the couplings fully!!!! Any news on these DapolDave??? Making these couplings more universal to older/incompatible stock must be high on the agenda for increasing their sales performance (I would have thought?) Regards Lee

Hi Thanks for the suggestion. There's not a lot of room to ajust the pin. Its easy to go too far, though I have got what looks like a more open coupling from doing so. Still not getting the delayed shunt though. I imagine the shanks themselves need to rotate if the couplings are not going to engage, but my shanks are staying straight.....perhaps its because they are brand new wagons, and have the GF sprung nem pockets? (my test wagons are the ttas and an ex lms brake van) Regards Lee

At last I can say I have some of these! I had three packs of the 5 pairs turn up today, along with a pack of the magnets. I've only really played lightly with them so far (some real testing tomorrow!) I managed to fit the first 5 pairs without hassle. I'd say they were actually quite robust considering the size! whilst handling, I did managed to catch a spring loose, and this did proove an effort to relocate (though not impossible!) keeping the magnet near to the coupling while trying to relocate the spring helped as more often that not, the magnet caught the spring whenever I dropped it. I've not fixed anything down to test it all yet, but while playing with some loose track, I managed to get the coupling and uncoupling down pretty well, though the push-shunting never seemed to catch properly. They're no three link chain, but I do think they are an improvement on the old Rapido couplings. I was rather upset to find my brand new rake of GF 16t open wagons didn't have compatible coupler pockets so I'd be really keen to hear when the conversion parts would be out for release or if anybody has an alternative solution. Unfortunatly, until the nem pockets can be added to the wagons, the magnetic couplers are no use to the train. I'm hoping it's a short term issue but it's a big one. On the whole I think I'd rate these as an improvement over the rapido coupling, and I'm hoping with a bit of permanently fixed track, that push-shunting can become more reliable. I'll be setting up some test stock,but I don't think I'll be commiting the stock on my layout until the nem pockets are on the market. Good work Dapol Regards Lee

Exellent there! Its great to see things 'in progress' as it gives a good idea as to how you've gone about producing the structure....of course the thought of having to make all them neat cuts and chamfered edges. Hard work! I'm sure all that hard work will pay dividends at the AGM Regards Lee