swisspeat

Those are interesting comments. Thank you. On trawling through You Tube etc I see that a number of modellers do indeed put a sheet of thin plastic over the mechanism. The instructions supplied with my kit and those on the manufacturers website make no mention of this. And if you look at the pictures above there are indeed 4 holes to take screws. I confirm I have already used all the supplied screws in the set. The gap between the rubber rings is non-alterable. I will wait to see what the manufacturer comes back with comments but your suggestions of shaving ever so tiny amount of the rubber off might be the way forward. Peter

Thanks David. Much appreciated. I have now written to Magnorail asking "what am I doing wrong?". Here are two pictures showing the plastic chain as it disengages itself from the O rings. The white blobs are Tacky Wax used to hold the road surface temporarily. I will pass on Magnorail's comments when received. There seems to be no dealer in the UK. Kind regards, Peter

All comments gratefully received. I did try the two pin plug initially in an adaptor. That did not work either! Maybe the unit I received a faulty from the start. Good spot of the broken leg! :-) I must confess I am have some slight challenges getting the system to run reliably. When I am running it without the "road" surface on it is is fine. It can run round and round without any problems. But once I gently put the road surface on (held with Tacky Wax) and run a couple of skiers on they only do about one loop before the blue chain disengages itself up through the two rubber O rings. I have noticed on some videos that some modellers have screwed a piece of clear acetate over this part of the running track which might have the effect of keeping the chain in place. At the moment every few minutes its like riding a real bicycle and the chain comes off again! Still doing research on this. I thought this might be a quick win skiing course but it ain't worked out that way so far! I have an MP4 short video of the skier moving but I see that I cannot upload an MP4 to this forum. I need to figure out what to convert it too! Any ideas please. Thanks for listening.... Pete

Thanks for comments. :-) I have still to assemble the Apres Ski hut but I will make sure there are pots of glue and ketchup on the counter. I am still running it from a 9V battery so at least I have some movement. I have blended it into a test diorama this morning with some of the supplied trees with the kit. Sample photo attached. I have a short video showing movement but I am still working out how to upload it onto this site because in its present format its just too many MBs! Even looking at the picture makes me shiver....

Quick update. The system works well with a 9V battery. That does not give me speed control but at least the motor still works! I am currently finessing the Magnorail chain by taking out a few links and changing them for different length ones. It is trial and error. Do not intend to fix down the snow surface (supplied thin cardboard) until I am convinced the Magnorail system works perfectly. It is currently held down with Tacky Wax to provide on/off facility as I still work on it. Pete

Thanks very much Jim. I think the fuse is a 13A. I will check tomorrow. I must say I did not find the Magnorail instructions that clear. Totally pictorial. They did not alert me to not to chop off this bit and that bit. I did okish but it was a bit of a mystery tour. I realise the instructions are for International use. Again, thank you. Pete

One of this years new items from Noch is kit 66832 which is moving skiers with an Apres Kit cabin. The skiers move via the Magnorail system and all parts are supplied in the kit. I was keen to build a small winter scene and the possibility of moving skiers caught my eye and I looked forward to posting a video here showing the moving skiers. I have nearly finished assembling the kit but have hit a snag with the motor/power. I wired up all up and it all worked great for a few minutes. Now nothing! The supplied AC/DC Adapter had a two pin European plug on it which I replaced with a UK style 3 pin mains plug. When I turned it on a second time the green light came on on the supplied "power box" then nothing. It also blew all the mains circuit on the downstairs of our house. I am slightly out of my comfort zone with electrics so thought I would ask for any ideas as to what I have done wrong. I attach a photo of the "under the baseboard" partially constructed skiing track. Thanks for reading and any suggestions will be warmly welcomed. Kind regards, Peter

You have done a great job painting the rails. What paint did you use please? I presume brush painted? Thanks. Pete P.S. keep taking Step by Step pictures as you go. They would be great for a magazine article in Continental Modeller or Modelspoormagazine.

On dear. I have just watched the Hattons video and I am too tempted! looks good value for money.... Pete

Great to see your splendid layout in the November CM Jim. peter

I do understand Trevor! Sadly I have seen that new livery on 2 locos already... Here are a few other modern BLS offerings.

Thanks everyone for comments made plus thumbs up. Here is a picture of the road above Spiez station which I loosley based mine on. For good measure I saw one of the BLS 465s in their latest livery. I expect this to appear in the Roco catalogue sometime but I doubt if I will buy one! That said I have a BLS 465 in Stockhorn livery by Roco and the sound has two platform announcements. One is so good I can imagine myself at Spiez station. Those were the days..... Pete

Been playing around with some figures I have in stock today... Painted cracks and lines on the road with an HB pencil. Cows coming down from the Alpine meadows. Pete

Hi Craig. No. I struggle with Superglue too. Rarely ever use it. Seems to have dried by the time I have it on the piece! My mirrors were fixed with good quality PVA (not poundshop diluted stuff) too. Dried nicely. Buses and lorries. They look so much better with mirrors though you do have to cut out space for the mirrors in the plastic tray in their packaging otherwise they fold flat when you put the vehicle back in the box. Next stage for the layout - no idea yet! :-) Peter

Thanks. The SBB Cargo Eem 923 is a Model by HAG as you probably know. Named Stockhorn after the nearby mountain. After 18 months I had to return it to the manufacturer because the driving axle became detached from the motor drive wheel. A common fault I understand. Fun to use, oddly Sound is started up on F7. I fitted the mirrors yesterday. By golly that was fiddly.

A few of the recent details added. Incidentally the backscene has been assembled from photos taken at the real location in August stuck to a couple of pieces of mounting cardboard.

Here is an almost overall view of the storage yard scenic backdrop of Spiez station... I have done quite a bit more detailing recently (taken after this picture was taken) of which I will post photos asap. Enjoy your Swiss modelling... Pete

Thanks Trevor. An overall view might be a little disappointing but I will take some more photos later on in the week. basically this layout is simply the fiddle yard for my Swiss lockdown layout that appeared on this Forum towards the beginning of lockdown. I set myself the challenge of trying to make storage sidings interesting to look at. I now have a 3 m end to end layout that for the first time that has given me somewhere to run the locos I bought over the previous decade. It is a lot of fun! Peter

Had a bit of a photo session today. Wondering about making a "clip fit" extension on the front of the baseboard to take platform 4/5 with a canopy so that the camera lens could be poked along the platform to give the true "train watching" experience at Spiez. Those yellow ballast wagons need weathering!

Really nice layout and video! Commentary well paced and easy to listen too. Music not at all distracting. Your 15 years plus 30 hours making this video are much appreciated Geraint. Kind regards, Peter

A bit more progress has been made with the backscene. The track is Code 100 because my HAG Classic SBB Cargo Eem 923 rumbles along too noisily on Code 75! Peter

Mix a little real earth with white glue and plant dabs of it in your fields with a toothpick.... alternatively use use a little brown ballast. your layout is coming on well. peter

Trains are apparently running through the Base Tunnel again....

Gorgeous! These are N scale. You certainly do not need to be hard on yourself. They look splendid! They add a colourful splash! Pete

Thanks everyone. There will be no wires this time with this catenary set up. Working on tidying it all up today between the BLS track maintenance gang going about there duties...