latestarter

12 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

Perhaps tone it down with a light application of some 'Track Dirt' or similar brownish wash? Depending where it's from, colour can vary immensely.

Thanks Brian. I've got some Mig station grim paints, I'll try one of the rusty colours.

I'm at the stage in my (first ever) layout where I am painting between tracks, and at the corners of the layout, before adding static grass. The ballast I laid seems to stand out like a sore thumb against the muddy coloured 'ground'. Do you have any advice on how to blend it in? Thanks for any suggestions.

p.s. I can't take it up and start again and it's too late for research on geographically prototypical ballast.

 

2 hours ago, Lemmy282 said:

Sure you haven't got some ballast stuck somewhere in the gears, there seems to be a lot of bits of looses ballast lying around

Thanks for the reply Lemmy. Yes it's very possible. I was cleaning up the ballast today.

UPDATE: I took the body off, and brushed the gear. Didn't see any ballast, but when I put it back together it was running perfectly!

My 2 month old Hornby R3847 'Bembridge' Terrier was running fine today, and I was using it to rest track on my DCC layout following cleaning since ballasting.

I took it off the track, to try other locos, and when I put it back, it won't move and makes a whining/humming noise when the power is increased (the noise doesn't happen when the controller is at '0').

I've put a short video at this link, if anyone would care to take a look and offer thoughts on what might be happening, and how to fix it.

Thanks in advance, Stephen

1 minute ago, Steamport Southport said:

Comments such as toy train track should be avoided. Nothing wrong with Hornby track. It's ideal for beginners. That's the point of it. If not everyone would be starting out using P4.

Thank you Jason. I've been avoiding responding to the toy train comments as I think it says more about the writer's than me. I will say though, that the authors of the Hornby track plans books must be toy train fans. Some of those plans can be very complex, and they are all made with set track.

19 minutes ago, Georgeconna said:

 

IPA can be dropped to you within Ireland No hassle. Got some Dropped the other week from these lads.

 

https://ie.rs-online.com/web/p/electronics-cleaners/2274427?cm_mmc=IE-PLA-DS3A-_-google-_-CSS_IE_EN_Facilities_Cleaning_%26_Maintenance_Whoop_HI+(2)-_-(IE:Whoop!)+Electronics+Cleaners-_-2274427&matchtype=&pla-299936613816&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqbyNBhC2ARIsALDwAsAbzHcJr8aTWk7AqwJLyZKOOdfC8vD2Ebejmz0Zgly1TUd_ZCltFBYaAgqEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

On getting the paint off the  metal parts of the track Cellusose thinners  for enamel will take it off no bother with a damp cloth, Not for the plastic sleepers though.

 

Marks don't have the Cleaning Cradle

 

I have used white spirits and cotton buds for my wheels and a Fiberglass pen for the pick ups. Everything works perfect.

 

BTW there is a Irish Form too that may help:  https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/

 

Hope all is good in Kerry today

 

George

Cork.

 

 

Really helpful post George, thank you very much indeed. I'll look up your links and try and get some IPA. Everything in the house is rattling, and I can hardly hear the TTS in the train room with the dormer window! I hope you're not flooded in Cork!

26 minutes ago, meil said:

I think the fundamental issue here is that you can only expect toy train performance from toy train track.

 

If you want more satisfactory running then you need better track, laid properly.

Ouch!

@Il Grifone and @cadder toad Thanks for the additional thoughts. I have noticed a point where the rails are not in vertical alignment, so the 'spacer' idea was very helpful, and I had been contemplating bending the rail upwards!

@cadder toad Can you add a bit more to this....3. Once the point is level and you're happy with the pick ups, run the loco slowly and if it stops then get a length of wire, clip to one rail and take the other end to each wheel in turn(each wheel on the rail on that side) and see when it restarts. It might not restart so repeat but with the wire clipped to the rail and wheels on the opposite side. It might be easier to remove the loco body to do all this. If the wheels don't turn, what does it tell me and is there a fix?

Thanks again.

1 minute ago, Phil Parker said:

 

You might find the Loco servicing piece in the Virtual Show useful too for checking pickups.

Thanks, I'm in there now and will get to it soon. Only found 19 of the 20 'spot the differences', and it's keeping me busy!

3 minutes ago, ITG said:

I’ve had good results with this. No connection except for satisfied customer. There are videos on YouTube of it.

 

https://www.themodelcentre.com/gm60-gaugemaster-trix-style-66602-oo-ho-scale-wheel-cleaner-cleaning-brush

Thanks, I'll see if the only Railway model shop in Ireland has it, or it's available via Amazon. There's no other option for me for buying a lot of accessories as UK mail is getting 'lost' for weeks (or forever) and/or the postage is astronomical.

49 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

The heads of the pins should only just touch the sleepers. Any firmer and they can distort the plastic sleeper base. I's easier to do this than you might think!

Thanks Phil - my pins could bit a bit 'tight', I'll double-check. By the way, I subscribed to BRM solely because of your articles and videos online and am currently watching your excellent 'Ground Cover' video. Let's put this post in the 'sycophancy at dawn' folder.  

6 minutes ago, GeraldH said:

Zooming into your photos does raise a couple of possible issues.  The jumpers that you have added to make the points non-isolating[?] look as though they could potentially interfere with the wheels?  It's hard to tell from the photos, but has some of the paint got onto the inside edge of the rail head or even the tops?  Locos pickup from both at certain times.  I have had stalling issues in the past due to my over enthusiastic painting and ballasting track.  Don't get too downhearted and stick at it, you'll get there in the end :-) .

Thanks for that. I added a 2nd set of point clips to the points in the photos (no others) just to make sure the original ones were not part of the problem. The Terrier was stalling before I put them in, but I'll revert to one set to be on the safe side. I had also considered that the paint be an issue, and I (foolishly) ran the Terrier before it may have dried fully. So, I'll go an see if I can take some off the rails and get something to clean the wheels of the Terrier properly - I'm not certain what would be best. IPA is not easy to get here, but I'll look a bit harder.

1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

 

I decided that your general attitude and the fact that you'd already bought the track and committed to a certain direction meant there was no point commenting any further.

 

FWIW: Here's what you said:

I misremembered that the track was only a part of the £1600 outlay.

 

Track, locos and accessories. That's NOT jut track - which is how you quoted me. The help I've got here has been invaluable but there's no need for your personal and attacking remarks, just because I'm new and not as informed as you are.

Given that I worked in a job for 40 years where, if I didn't do research, people could DIE, and I've written papers and books on research, I took your remark personally.

16 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

 

Research before getting started?

 

Virtually the first thing you told us was that you'd already bought thousands of pounds worth of Hornby track.

 

If you'd read around or asked here first you could have saved yourself a lot of hassle!

 

I actually said hundreds of euros worth of track. I spent months researching how to lay it. But the difference between insulated and electrified points was not something that came up in my research. It's impossible to ask a question if you don't know why you need to ask it. I changed my layout on advice here, and there are 18 points in it. I don't remember you suggesting that might be a problem.

6 hours ago, DCB said:

I just don't understand why anyone would go to all that trouble with droppers and not live frog the Hornby points.

The answer is simple. How can you do something if you don't know you're supposed to do it? This is my first layout and I've never heard of Live frogs. I spent 20 years teaching at universities and managed not to assume others knew as much about my subject as me. Your post is helpful in hindsight, but this is your subject and I know much less about it. So how could I know about live frogs?

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

Yes, it's called a multimeter and a cheap one is all you require for model railways.

 

You set it for ohms (Ω symbol) and check for continuity for the wheels on one side of the loco. It's easier to do than describe.

Thanks Kevin. Believe it or not, I bought one some weeks ago, to check a faulty Hornby point! I managed to do that, but had no idea about it's other potential uses with a layout. I'll give it go.

2 minutes ago, Andymsa said:

...and no I don’t use it for track cleaning or drinking  hic

My understanding is that IPA is 99% alcohol, for a reason. The remaining 1% is something that tastes nasty, to stop you drinking it.

33 minutes ago, ITG said:

1. is the point sitting dead flat?

2. are the loco wheels clean?

3. are the loco wheels aligned correctly? Ie are the back to back measurements correct? Are the chassis, axles, wheels sitting ‘flat’? Are the pick-ups making good contact? Can you add extra pick-ups?

 

What is worth doing is closely scrutinising exactly where the wheels are on the point when you get failure. Is it the same spot on different points? By a process of elimination, you can at least identify the exact cause, and then stand a chance of fixing it.

 

The final suggestion I can make is to try using ‘stay alive capacitors’ in your locos. They store power, so that if track contact is interrupted briefly, the power is maintained, Never fitted one myself, but I bought a pre-fitted used Class 08 0-6-0 shunter which every time crawls across every point, including some insulfrogs I still have. And ‘crawls’ is slow, very slow.

1. Yes, I have definitely nailed down the points as flat as possible and my over-use of track pins in becoming legendary.
2. No fluff, but I'll get some IPA and clean them next week. My thoughts on the Terrier is that is was running well straight out of the box, but is sticking in various places since I have been busy with wiring and a bit of drilling.
3. This needs a back-to-back gauge I think, and I'll put one on Santa's list.

As for where the loco fails, it's the same spot on the same point (over plastic) but I'm not sure about the same spot on different points. I'll double-check.

I have only recently heard about 'stay alives'. Where I get them and how I fit them is on my 'to-do' list.

Thanks again for the detailed response.

30 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

have you checked the loco is picking up cutrrent on all wheels it is meant to trhoughout their sideways movement - not unusual for a pick up contact strip to need adjusting for some odd reason.

Thanks for that. Forgive my ignorance, but is there a simple way to check if the loco is picking up current on all wheels?

Now that my DCC track (all Hornby set track) is fully laid down, bus wired, painted and ready for ballasting next week, I'm becoming more than a little frustrated with Hornby points. No matter what I try, some locos will always stick on some points below a certain speed - often just less than 50% on the Select controller. I've tried filing down the plastic frog and other parts of the point; and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

I just wondered if anyone knew if there is a standard place on the points that typically snags smaller locos, such as my terrier, in the photo? I'm still not fully 'track literate', so would appreciate you spelling out exactly what to do and where to do it.

Thanks for any help.

23 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

I am quite happy with Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA).  I'm sure you will be able to get that in Ireland without rip-off postage charges.

Even buying that seems to be an issue. The Irish pharmaceutical authority has taken a 'nanny state approach' to most things. My local pharmacist no longer has a licence to sell it. I'll try the hardware shop when I'm next in town.

Thanks again guys, I'm pretty sure it was the track rubber, now. @RedgateModels I looked at 'Track Magic', but the postage costs from the UK to Ireland are prohibitive. One dealer wanted £30 postage, which I think is about 5 times the price of the bottle.