petertg

Not really to do with modelling, but I had a funny experience in one of these during my N.S. days. While awaiting take-off, I was sitting alone in the back beside one of the port side windows and when looking out it was obvious that the plane was tilted and the ground was level. However, when looking across to the other side, the impression was quite different, i.e. the plane seemed to be level and the ground tilted. It made me a bit airsick for a few seconds, something that has never happened to me when the plane is in the air.

Originally from Leeds. For the last 50-odd years, from Spain.

Nothing new on the modelling front. Just to send my best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all members and particularly to those who have the patience and good will to respond to my questions on the Forums. I hope to be able to make some positive progress in the New Year.

Unfortunately around where I live there are no clubs. I have heard of a few people who have more or less sophisticated layouts but don't know anyone personally.

Hi all again! Since I can’t make any positive movement forward on my layout, I feel I must let off steam with this note. I have a list of jobs to be done: 1. Improve the lighting in the garage, not only for better illumination of the layout, but also for all uses of the garage. 2. I have to replace four pulleys of the hoisting system which do not rotate when the baseboard is being lowered or raised. Fortunately the cords used are Kevlar mountaineering cord which seems to resist the friction and slides over the stationary pulley. I had arranged to have my son-in-law and family for the weekend of 1st November so he could help me with the job, but my wife going down with flu and his mother suffering a fall stymied this. 3. When we get around to replacing the pulleys, I want to turn the baseboard round. This is because the new controller connects to the same end where the point motor control is installed and this means that when the garage door is closed, I have little room to move in the space formed between the door, a side table and a chair (the transformer and controller go on the side table). With my previous starter kit, I had a hand held throttle with freedom of movement all around the layout and this lack of space did not occur. 4. The scenic arrangement needs finishing. The original layout plan contemplates a second signal box and, to place this appropriately, I shall have to demolish or remove a line-side shed. Also, in parts I have foam track underlay and in other places I have cork where I shall have to ballast. A burnt out point motor needs replacement and finally, some items are in need of repair. Although it may seem strange to some, it gets very cold here. As the crow flies we are just over two miles from the Med, practically at sea level, but we get early morning frost and ice. This week we had ice in the back garden. So, to avoid working in the garage (surrounded by north and west walls), I have made a portable test track for working on the kitchen or dining room table. It can be used either as a programming track or main as it can be interchangeably connected to the leads from my controller (see photos below). It is obviously not long enough to do long main track testing but at least the start volt (CV2) settings can be tested. Apart from that, all CVs can be read off and reprogrammed as necessary. I have three locos which need adjusting. This shows my controller with two female ended leads which attach to male sockets on the baseboard. This shows the male socket at the end of the portable test track, albeit unfortunately not very clearly This shows the portable track. I finally received (after 16 days) some spares ordered from the U.K. and set about doing something that I would not have dreamed of a year ago, namely modifying RTR stock. I was inspired into this by reading of others who fit a body of this onto a chassis of that and do other changes. So, to change the couplings on a Fowler 4P 2-6-4 tank of 1992-5 vintage, I changed the front pony truck and fitted new couplings and have also chipped it. Some modification of the interior of the body will be required to allow for convenient housing of all the additional wires and insulation. But, at least, it responds to commands. I also ordered a replacement pony truck for my Stanier 4P because I have had problems with the original. One wheel has lost its tyre twice and even came off when I tried to replace it. So, if this happens again, I shall have to replace the pony truck. As mentioned on forums and blogs, I have had problems with chipping locomotives and have spoiled five or six decoders. My experience now shows me that not all the problems were due to the decoders. What is obvious is that the decoders were probably not adequate for the particular locomotives to which I fitted them but, also, I was not aware of the possible need to reprogram various CVs and, if I had known, I would not have been able to do so with my DCC starter kit. Also, at that time I thought that all decoders were the same (part of the blissful ignorance mentioned in my first ever post). While on the question of decoders, the Bachmann 21 pin decoder (ref. 36-554, ESU manufacture) according to the data sheet attached therewith, has no provision for modifying CV6. I am wondering if it has an automatically variable default value. In the Zimo decoders CV6 comes with a default value which is automatically one third of CV5, so if you reprogram CV5, it adopts the new value, while at the same time it can be reprogrammed otherwise.

Hi! I tried rinsing the ballast with water before laying and it worked, with the advantage of not being subsequently moved.

Nice trip, but how do the drivers stand the noise? I gather that this was a cross-frontier trip from Switzerland into Germany.

Hi all! Finished remaking all the connections, put my baseboard level again and then found that a different point motor was out of service although it seemed to work. I could hear the movement of the solenoid but the turnout did not move. I thought at first that the actuating lever could have separated from the turnout drawbar, but no. The motor had burnt out but I don't know why, since it was wired up with a capacitor. Anyway, with the system I used for connecting the motors, it will not be too much of a job to replace the motor. The problem is that, living outside the U.K., I can't just trot down to my local shop and buy one. I have to order one from the U.K.

I can't really say which is my main concern. It is perhaps to have all the infrastructure settled, no material derailing at certain places for certain individual items as happens now. Trackwise the layout is finished, there is not much space left for scenic development. I just want to get to the point where I can place things on the tracks and they run without too much problem because except for small four wheel wagons, with my fingers as they are now, I cannot rerail items and there is only one place where I can use my rerailer device, so I have to start from scratch so to speak every time something needs rerailing.

If my memory does not fail me, I saw these trams still during the war period, since after the war they put buses up our way (40 Stanks) and I stopped taking the tram into town.

I sometimes wonder if what I post is of interest to anybody but me. Some people are building kits, others are making attractive dioramas, etc. but I am doing nothing of that. When I think I am getting somewhere another hitch occurs. At the beginning of summer, after a couple of weeks of hectic work to install the new operating system for my point motors I found that one of them did not switch, Since prior to doing the final wiring I had tested the motors one by one and they had worked, my conclusion was that one of the soldered joints within the switch panel box had come adrift and since this meant undoing around 40 connections to gain access to the inside of the box, I left it for a future occasion because all the other motors (14) worked well and it was not too much to move one turnout by hand. A good while back I had observed that four of the pulleys in the hoisting system for my layout were not rotating. Since I used Kevlar cord (mountaineering grade) there were no signs of frictional wear, so I did nothing about it. However, since I have made arrangements with my son-in-law to come and help me this coming weekend to change the pulleys I decided that the time had come to look into the point motor fault and set about it. I released the 40-odd connections working from underneath (without having to tip the baseboard edge on) and then found that there was no loose wire. I checked the corresponding switch and it was O.K. So, what was wrong? I finally found that it was the point motor that had failed but I have no idea why. Fortunately I had a spare motor which was quickly fitted and proved to work. However, to redo the undone connections I shall have to tip the baseboard edge on this time because one thing is to loosen a connection and pull the wire out but another thing is to get it back in again. Apart from that certain items are now in need of repair, I have three locomotives awaiting decoders (two have to be hard-wired) and one needs the couplings changed, not all the scenic work is finished and I am in doubts as to how to do it. The Faller station, bought right at the very beginning, has not yet been properly installed and there is the problem of discovering why different locomotives derail at different places, while others do not, or come loose from their coaches. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for when I started (see my very first post). The above was written two days ago and to-day I upturned my baseboard and set about restoring the connections and I got through 21 in just over an hour before having to leave it. It was a fiddly job with tweezers, a light from above and a torch to see from below the terminal strip. I’ve still got another dozen to reconnect and then tests the lot before returning the layout to the horiozontal position. I have also asked a question in the Modifying RTR stock forum but haven’t got any information yet.

Those trams bring back memories. However, have you ever thought of doing a balcony tram? My only recollection of seeing them at Crossgates is in mid-winter, with frost on the raailings and silly me sitting out on the balcony (with other silly kids).

Thanks for all the help. This locomotive definitely belongs to the 1992-95 period and I have downloaded the corresponding Service Sheet 122A. All my track, except for a few straight sections, is Hornby bought 2007 onwards. The truth is that I have only given it a couple of trips round the circuit to see if it worked and have not investigated more deeply. In any case, I will check the back to back. For the time being, I have enough food for thought. Thanks once again.

I have rechecked the link and have downloaded a service sheet for this model. It is R505.

Thanks for the information, but the instruction sheet available on the above link is for a more modern model. Another question is, does anyone know how to remove the pony truck (this goes for both the Fowler 4P and for the Stanier 4P)?

Hi all! I have just acquired a near new version of Hornby Model R505 LMS Class 4P tank. Since I observed differences with the later Stanier 4p tank I already have, I looked up details on the Internet and, among other things, I saw that Hattons had advertised an as new version but, since it had been sold, there was no price tag. I also saw that there is another one in mint condition offered on e-Bay, with the separate accessories that mine does not have. However the price asked for this latter is 55% higher than what I have just paid and postage of GBP19 is quoted, whereas I have paid GBP12 for two items, which were more than adequately wrapped for the trip. Having all that off my chest, I have some questions to ask, namely: 1. Over what time period was this model originally marketed? This one was most likely post 1971, since it has a decimal price tag (only GBP1.70 less than what I paid for it this week). 2 How can I modify the couplings? The front one is integral with the pony truck, while the rear one is attached with a screw. 3. I have tested it and it runs well on the straights, but seems to jam at the points. All the points were purchased new in 2007 and after. Before I get my nose down to track level, can anybody suggest a reason? 4. Would it be hard to digitize this locomotive? My other tank came DCC fitted, but with a decoder that leaves much to be desired. 5. Can I get an instruction sheet with an exploded diagram anywhere? Any other comments would oblige.

Hi all! For what it is worth, I will explain my experience with capacitors. I have 15 Hornby points on my layout (none being 3-way)and, after having physical problems with the Hornby passing lever switches (my fingers are thicker than the space between the levers) and using some inappropriate pushbutton switches, I found a diagram on one of the forums for using capacitors and simple toggle switches. I fitted a capacitor to each point motor and individual switches and they work well. They are powered with a 12Vdc power supply.

Hi all! As mentioned on previous occasions, have a lot of old (30/40 years) Lima H0 rolling stock incompatible with my modern locomotives because of a difference in coupling height. I also have two old Lima H0 locomotives which I had previously unsuccessfully tried to digitize (one was returned to the analogue state and the other is still disassembled). I have read a lot of forum entries on remotoring Lima locos, with the differing opinions and recurrent comments and, in view of the complications and no definitive opinion in either way, I have decided against the idea. Since in the meantime I had managed to digitize a 39-year old Wrenn diecast loco, after unsuccessful attempts, with the aid of an expensive Zimo decoder (MX632), this led me to the conclusion that my previous attempts at digitization had failed because I was using cheap inadequate decoders of insufficient capacity, although the capacity of the Zimo decoder may be in excess of what is really needed. I can now say that I have successfully digitized the above indicated disassembled Lima locomotive (CC40101) with an MX632 decoder, as above. It had its ups and downs. After wiring up only the motor, I put the loco on the programming track and all I got was “no loco”, “error”, “short”. A visual inspection showed that I had all the insulated wheels of both bogies on the same side, so I removed the non-powered bogie and turned the wheels round, but got the same results. Finally my son-in-law tested it with multimeter and discovered that one of the axles on the non-powered bogie was the wrong way round. Once this situation was corrected I started to get correct readings from the programming track, but the references to right and left sides didn’t seem to coincide. Finally it dawned on me that since I had dismantled both bogies to the extent of removing the pickup strips to clean them, I had inadvertently reassembled the power bogie the wrong way round. Anyway, to avoid dismantling the power bogie again, I swapped the grey and orange wires over and then connected the rest of the wires accordingly. The locomotive now runs well and the next thing to do is to tweak the CVs appropriately to get the best results from this decoder.

Hi all! As mentioned in a previous post I replaced my 14 Vac point motor control for 12 Vdc and purchased a new controller to replace the old Piko start kit. This meant that the 14V transformer became available to power the new controller. Since, as can be seen from the enclosed images, the transformer is relatively large and was previously mounted on the baseboard, I decided that I did not want either the transformer or the controller to be permanently attached to the baseboard. So, I installed two sockets under the baseboard for the main track and the programming track I have also installed. This latter can be seen on a shelf alongside the main track. The transformer and controller rest on an auxiliary table. Some tidying-up is still to be done but, at least now, trains can run. Also, space has been left for additional scenic material.

The same has happened with Penda's Way station, built in 1939 to serve the new Bray Estate in Crossgates (Leeds), which disappeared when the branch line was closed. Nothing has been built on the exact emplacement, but the only visible remnant of its existence is the gap between two gardens on Penda's Way, where the entrance was.

I spent a fortnight in the Czech Republic with my wife and freinds a couple of years ago. We had a house about 30 kms from Prague and, although we had hired a car, to visit Prague we always caught the train, from Bojov, on the Praha hlavni nadrazi-Dobris line, travelling in DMUs. On one trip the driver and ticket collector got off the train while waiting at one of the passing stations to have a beer. Below are photos of the Bojov halt and of one of the vehicles we travelled in. As far as beer goes, we were recommended Urquell by the local house owner and found it good. We also found a very good local red wine. As far as modelling is concerned, I was unable to locate a model shop in Prague. I was interested to see the double deck commuter trains they have there but couldn't locate any model on the internet.

In a previous installment I mentioned that, among other problems I had a defective turnout. The replacement turnout arrived this week and was duly fitted. Since I had two spare underfloor motors, I decided to replace the surface mounted motor with an underfloor one which this turnout originally had and reserve the surface one as a spare. It was wired up and worked, albeit the wrong way round. However I am not going to bother about this for the time being. Since I had fiddled around with the CVs of some vehicles, one change being leaving them for DCC operation only, I thought I would try a couple out at low speeds, namely my class 150 and 108 DMUs . First of all I did a conscientious cleaning of the track with IPA and threw a couple of once white then black cloths away. The 150 performed very well at speed levels 1 to 5/6, whereas the 108 wouldn't run at speed level 1. I then gave the 150 (power car only, without trailer) a run at higher speed levels but at speed level 22 it was going so fast that I feared it might fly right off the board so I ended the experiment. At least, today's experience seems to show that I am finally moving towards having a usable layout. There is still a lot of work to be done because (among many other things) the 150 still derails at a particular place when the power car is going forwards in one direction. At one place yet to be located two wheels of the rear bogie leave the track and when the unit reaches the next turnout it derails. This does not happen when running in reverse or in the opposite direction. Anyway within a month I have grandchildren here and something has to work.

Just an update on my circumstances. I can’t get my point control desk to work properly. When mounted for the first time, after everything appeared to work O.K, I discovered that one turnout wasn’t working. This was due to a faulty contact between the capacitor and the point motor, easily solved by tightening up the screw. Then I discovered that another two motors weren’t working. Here it turned out that the fault was inside the box and there was no alternative than to undo all the connections, over 50 wires, and resolder the broken connections (three wires had come adrift). After making all the connections again, I found that a different motor isn’t working. Since it is one that can be changed by hand, I decided to leave it. But yesterday I found another motor that doesn’t work. This is on a siding and can also be changed by hand. After nearly two years waiting, I finally came into some extra cash (an income tax refund) and purchased a new controller. After studying the advice kindly given to me by members on the forum and checking out the different makes, I was inclined to purchase the Lenz system. However, this would have cost me here the equivalent of GBP275 and the need to purchase a new transformer, so I finally opted for the Uhlenbrock Intellibox basic (cost GBP234) which also allows me to use my old transformer (made redundant by the change in the point motor control system). Yesterday, for the first time in the almost seven years I have spent on my layout I was able to sit down and play with the trains, with two running at the same time and carefully controlling their speeds to avoid collisions at the point where the tracks cross each other. However there is still a lot of work to be done yet. One of the turnouts is faulty and I am awaiting a replacement. Around the middle of last year I proudly announced that I had successfully digitized an old Wrenn locomotive (39 years old but practically never out of its box). This was only partly true, since it only ran for a few centimetres and then stopped. Finally it blew two good (but insufficiently rated decoders). There was an exchange of comments on the forum and finally I had to get a replacement armature and a neo magnet. I also purchased a powerful Zimo decoder and the thing now works, although I think its performance could be improved. I have a substantial amount of scenic supplements in the form of buses, cars and trucks, trees and buildings, but it suddenly occurred to me yesterday that my street scene is lacking a telephone kiosk. The thing is that I placed an order for material last week and it’s not worth ordering a phone kiosk on its own.

Hi all! As stated in my last post, after nearly seven years of messing about with my layout (and messing it up), I have now reached the state where I can seriously think about “playing trains” So I got various models out of their boxes and, after cleaning the track with IPA (which, to my surprise, is sold at chemists here) I started trying them. The result is that my Bachmann DMUs (Class 108 and 156) performed reasonably well although the 156 derailed two or three times at the same turnout in one direction. From previous experiences with other locomotives I believe that this turnout is defective and will have to be replaced. The leading bogie goes through on the right track but apparently shakes the moving blades away from the stock rails and then the trailing bogie goes along the other track. This only happens when the trains go through in one direction, but not in the other. The Electrotren Spanish push-pull double deck commuter set went very well except for some (presently) unknown reason the front lights on the non-powered driver coach did not come on. I shall have to check the wiring since they are controlled by an independent decoder. The Hornby 2-6-4 Stanier tank, when coupled to three Gresley coaches, played up although alone it went fairly well. I have had the same problem with this locomotive before. From other blogs I have ascertained that the Gresley coaches, the only 00 passenger stock I have, do not form a prototypical rake, since there is no brake, only a 1st sleeper, 1st passenger and buffet coach. Anyhow, nobody else here knows that. Finally, a picture of my new point control desk. The letters are my own coding for ease of locating the turnouts and the switches are all set the same way so as to indicate whether the turnout is for the straight or for the curve.

Hi all! I think to-day that I can safely say, after nearly seven years, that work on the underside of my baseboard is finished. There is one detail that I cannot finish for the time being. It is a motor that requires AC and, since I have converted everything else to DC, it will not work. Perhaps when I can purchase a new, more complete controller than my current start set. The turnouts all work and the lights also. Since I had reformed the dropper wiring I tested a locomotive, which also worked, albeit after several weeks of non-use, the track needs a good clean. However, I fear that the controller handset is starting to fail. Here are a few photos of the underside of the baseboard: