mallaig1983

It certainly would! Until then though I am looking forward to a new Heljan 27 too. I’m sure it will be announced once the 26 is released. I ordered 083 without understanding when they are due. Are they with this first tranche or the first announcement for the second do you know? If the 24/1s won’t be with us for some time I could possibly persuaded to save up for one as they are proving hard to ignore. I don’t own a 24 but have been blown away with them since my first encounter at Warley. Many years ago and I’ve been hoping and wishing for a suitable 25 since. As we agree, these 2 are close enough.

Yes I read that after posting 😀 It doesn’t say where it was seen from though. I think the Mallaig - GQS it was double heading with a 27. There’s always the possibility that 25083 had been added at Fort William to get it back to Eastfield so if it was seen at Crianlarich for example there’s no proof it started from Mallaig but that’s close enough for me though. I am tempted to order 086 as well but I don’t want to swamp my late 70s fleet with 25s as I am still being patient for an early example too. Plus I’m still a couple of 27s short. Up until now I’ve been building the 1983 fleet up. I can however see a future of SLW temptations. Thanks for the info.

Having spent most of the weekend crawling around and crouching underneath the baseboards I certainly wouldn’t recommend retrofitting soldered joints either. Nice idea re the 60’ lengths Ian but……… 😱 Warren I hopefully won’t get to find the cause of the short and it’s gone away forever but it could have been parts of the old wiring still attached and touching something that it shouldn’t. It was as described a real rats nest. It looks much tidier now. Future sections will be wired with the boards turned upside down. Thanks David, indeed onwards and upwards. I had a lot planned to get through this weekend and fortunately I have a free weekend with no visitors or visiting coming up so hopefully can push on.

It’s been one of those mornings. I woke early at half past 6, showered, dressed and made a brew and by 7 I was watching a random Everard Junction on YouTube. After it finished I was in the mood to venture into the attic. I can happily report that after a couple of hours of careful soldering I now have a new and fully functioning dcc bus. I have just done an hours continuous testing with all of my dcc fitted fleet without hiccup so I am absolutely over the moon. I did hit a bit of a low point over the weekend so thank you guys for all the support and advice and giving me a lift. Lessons have been learned for when I start Glenfinnan in the winter. I still have the catch point to fit, wire in and motorise but that’s for another day. And as I’ve been writing this BRM magazine has just dropped through the letterbox so it’s a good Monday so far. Hopefully work will go well later too. Thanks again, Andy

Also because I have done away with the choc bloc connectors I can no longer isolate droppers/rail sections to test them individually. I have decided to leave it for today. A positive step forward from where I was this time yesterday. Only the last few droppers to solder to the new bus but potential for another problem so I’ve decided to end on a positive for today. I did empty the fish boxes out onto their new ‘hump’ and the pile now looks much more significant. The boxes have just been poured out of a plastic container and I love the way they all sit as if they had just been hoyed one at a time onto the stack.

Sadly the multimeter is in the toolbox in the campervan and that’s not at home so I have been using 37178 to test. The station section is now running as it should (don’t ask how) so I will continue to replace the bus along the remaining 150cm or so. Yes @BoD I checked all the droppers went to the correct bus wire, even their positions in relation to there partner just in case I had originally got any back to front. Thanks for all your suggestions and advice

There are strange forces at play here as it’s so random it’s bizarre. I have unattached the remaining section of bus wire from my new section I did yesterday. So I renewed from the buffer stop to the crossover by the signal box so from that point on there is no electrical connection now. The new section is dead also unless I run that red cable to a positive rail and then every line on that section of the bus is live. Unclip that cable and it all dies again. My unqualified head is telling me that each and every one of the positive droppers on that section are ineffective and the juice is powering the rails via the rail joiners. When I first laid this layout I put power from the controller to only one piece of track and the whole layout ran, reverse points and all. So although that made no sense to me then and still doesn’t now it does at least hint at what is going on. Sadly it also tells me that I need to completely rewire the layout which does not excite me on the slightest. I shall continue to investigate the short as once that is found I can solder that cable to the track and at least be able to operate the layout pending the rewire. yours, baffled of North Wales.

That’s quite the comparison isn’t it? Now am I correct in thinking that flux needs to be cleaned off after the joint has been made as it’s corrosive? Hence dcc concepts ‘no clean flux’? If that’s the case maybe my joints have corroded over time and became reliant on the rail joiners? That only raises questions about the initial problem, here in Mallaig the search for the short goes on. I have just wired up a length of code 100 (following the methods advised above) and my soldered connection looks very nice. I have done this just to eliminate the feed from the controller from the enquiry. Controller and locos tested and all ok. Now back to the rats nest………

The rail I’ve laid on the extension section has had the droppers soldered to the underside of the rails. This was done to the best practice as outlined by your comments above. I learned a lot over the 3 years since I wired up Mallaig. I’m back home now so will venture up into the loft to see what can be done.

Thanks for the explanation Warren. A lot of the above is how I’ve done it but perhaps I haven’t done it well enough though. I will practice away from the layout and follow your guidelines. very much appreciated, thank you.

What soldering irons are you gents using for wiring? As in what wattage etc? I’ve always had a nightmare when soldering.

I’d been looking forward to a weekend working on the layout this weekend. The postman had brought nice things during the week so the stage was set for an enthusiastic couple of days in the attic. this morning I made a fairly early start putting in a new bus wire. I undid the first half of the old choc blocs and tinned the wires. It’s not a lot of fun working upside down or sitting under the baseboards in a tunnel behind the units that the layout sits on at the front. However I just got on with the task in hand, reminding myself just how much I hate soldering. I got half way along the layout and decided to make a cup of tea and test what I’d already done. No difference, the platform line was still dead. So to me that shows that the droppers on that section were poorly soldered in the first place. I adjusted the rail joiners with a pair of pliers, just back and forth and that section burst into life again which tells me that unbeknownst to me I had been relying on the joiners for connectivity since day 1. Disappointed I decided to cheer myself up and play with the new Accurascale 37s for a while. I then decided to give each loco a run along the layout. All of a sudden one 37178 which had had her run suddenly decided to restart her engine of her own accord just before the system shut down with a short circuit. I took all locomotives off the layout and turned the dcc back on and it just stated ‘overload’ and made a worrying noise. The controller works fine with the layout plug pulled out so it’s not that. So I have discovered that it wasn’t the bus at fault but probably piss poor soldering where the droppers are soldered to the rails and and after a few hours graft it is now worse than it was before. We’ll probably as bad as it can be as it’s currently unusable. I tried to calm down by fitting the catch point but that didn’t even go well so with my temper rising I did the most sensible thing and walked away from it. Not the update I was hoping to give tonight sadly.

Lochinver it is then…. Over to you sulzer71

Poster paint. Hobby craft but wilko dp black and white. My experience of Wilkinson over the past couple of years is akin to a closing down sale though. In tinterweb we trust.

Bill, I’ve spoken to the dog and it wants it’s danglies back! That looks fantastic. I’ve been looking at my pair and contemplating similar. Where can one aquire a small tin of Northern yellow? I can only get Crosville leaf green around here. Andy

I’m in total agreement with @young37215 here. The older Bachmann model is a great model. It stands up well to the new kid on the block. The Accurascale improvements are everywhere but the old bachy tractors are not made to look like they need replacement thankfully. Warren, I can see where you’re heading and I like it. Can we come along too?

That’s interesting re the St Kilden’s. I just assumed they headed to Glasgow before dispersing. As Sulzer said about services from Inverness I assumed the Fort Augustus line had been completed and reopened. Lochinver, now that would be a lovely location if a station was on the waterfront which surely it would have been.

I’ve day dreamed about a layout set at Lochaline in the past. Alternative ferry port for mull and something of a backwater. Don’t know how well you know your Scotland so perhaps Google maps can help. Just throwing that idea on the mix. Depends how busy/grand a station you want.

My parcel arrived on Wednesday and looked exactly the same 😀 I got them early for the next phase of my project. I’ve opened the boxes and had a look and the do look very nice kits.

Both projects are looking good Andy. Over on Mallaig I used the lining to add an Eastfield white stripe to 37039 and it was an absolute pain in the aris so you have my sympathy and respect in equal measures. The method I used to paint my concrete/polyfilla on the oil dock and slipway was using white and black poster paints. Mixed to different shades of grey per coat. It was watered down a little to before being painted on with a brush and then sponge dabbed. This not only took a lot of the paint off but also left a nice finish. When dry just mix another batch and go again. I just kept repeating it until I was happy.

I was trying to fit the buffer beam mounted ploughs to one of mine the other day. Do the plugs go straight into the holes or do they need drilling out slightly? I was blaming poor eyesight. I opted to fit the one piece one to that particular loco as it was much easier. I do want to fit the body mounted ones to the other though to represent the fact that many of Eastfield’s 37s ran without the centre piece in the warmer months. I don’t know why this was the case though. The weathering on the track looks wonderful. Do you have a layout build thread on here?

Ian, I have moved the sleepers that can be moved so hopefully once they are painted and ballasted won’t be to noticeable. I’ve also bent the unit into a very slight curve as to have laid it in the straight section would have contradicted the prototype. Fingers crossed it will be a success.

The mojo hasn’t exactly gone, it’s more a frustration with the scratch build I’m attempting. I’ll put it down and do something else for now. Thanks for the hints and tips regarding the wiring. This morning I’ve stripped some cable back in readiness. Also finished tidying the flash off the fish boxes while waiting for a parcel that hasn’t yet arrived. stunning work on your 304 by the way. Looks fantastic.

Thanks for the kind words Warren. I'm sure we'll be back on track shortly.

No I havn't sorted it yet Andy. It really is very intermittent. I thought i'd dorted it a couple of weeks ago when i undid everyting in one of the choc blocks, retwisted the wires and re-assembled and it ran fine. Each and every rail has a dropper on it and I assume (perhaps wrongly) that they all work as they should. I will be making a start on it this week so hopefully the new bus will be operational over the next few days. Unfortunately the attic is a long way from the front door and I have parcel deliveries due hopefully tomorrow so i'll have to wait for those first but I can still tin cables at the table so progress should start. I will dig out my electrical meter and see what it has.