MattR

Yeah, at this point I’m thinking of just scrapping the whole thing. Unless you’re making a shunting layout (which I already have) 8 feet is just too short for an end-to-end to provide much interest. I might just widen it from 2 feet to 3 and make a single track oval. Finding any locomotives/rolling stock for turn-of-the-century L&YR was proving next to impossible anyway.

Well, I do have a two-car garage, but it's so full of stuff (two kids, you know) that there's only a narrow walkway available at any time (definitely no room for cars). The spare room this is going in also has three other layouts in it, plus bookshelves, a TV stand and a Barbie Dreamhouse, so space is still limited!

Hmmm, simplifying things further and using Peco set track points (SL-240 and SL-241), I've been able to condense the space a little bit (but using Streamline points where the siding comes back to the mainline on the left side), allowing for at most a 29-inch train to enter the siding. Still not enough room to re-add the crossover from the down line, unfortunately.

Well, going back to AnyRail and creating the correctly-sized baseboard, it looks like this track plan is proportionally just too big for an 8x2 layout, even with removing the crossover between the up and down lines. A train would have to be less than 19" in length to be able to take the points into the sidings. Unless I seriously simplify it even more, I may have to put Summerseat on hold for one day when I can get 10 feet or more in length.

I'll see if I can fit the stub in! Here's a condensed, rather crude mock-up I did in Adobe InDesign that's more-or-less to scale. I'll adjust my AnyRail plan tonight to match the new changes. Thanks for you help!

I'm not quite sure of the measurements of the non-point sections, so the dimensions there are definitely not nailed down. I haven't yet translated the actual measurement of the track plan to the layout size. I may have more area available on the left side for Point 1 to be actually accessible from the mainline. The whole reason it's there in the first place is my attempt to replicate the real station's layout. But simplifying things isn't out of the question. Here's the a layout of Summerseat Station from the 1891 Ordnance Survey Map:

I'll have to look into to Unifrogs. They sound promising! As for the number of locomotives to run, I can't imagine having any more than one running at a time (as a DC guy, I'm used to it). As end-to-end layouts go, I imagine this is still pretty small, so it's not really worth it. Maybe a different story it it was a roundy roundy.

After building several small layouts (3 ft x 4 ft, 4 ft x 10 in, 4 ft by 18 in), I'm thinking about building a much larger one. This one will be an 8 ft x 2 ft end-to-end layout based on a real railway station (the now-demolished Summerseat station on the L&YR/LMS, now a small halt on the ELR) in pre-Grouping days. Here's the track plan I've come up with (sorry for the poor quality photo) in AnyRail, making it as close to the real station's layout as possible. Some of the mainline and sidings may be not quire accurate in length, but it's really the layout of the points and powering everything that I'm concerned about. Any opinions of possible problems? Although first, some things to remember: - I've only been doing model railway stuff since December 2020, so I'm not super-experienced. - This layout will be DC only. On my previous small layouts, I just solder the wires from the controller to the rails at one point. I'm assuming with such a large layout that I'd have to use droppers and possibly wire some points. Is it possible to run this layout with just one controller, or will I need two? As mentioned below, I'm in the U.S., so I used Bachmann's standard controller and it's worked well for me. I don't think Gaugemaster makes anything with U.S.-style wall plugs on the cords. - I'm from the U.S., and am used to Atlas turnouts (points) that are not power-routing. Peco points are amazing but I've had issues with them in the past due to their power-routing nature that throws me for a loop, These issues will crop up again in Points 5 and 7 on the photo. With Atlas points, these would be no problem, but with Peco's power-routing, these "backwards points" (as I call them -- I'm not sure the correct term) make the locomotives stop. I'm assuming these two have to be Electrofrog and have to be wired or maybe insulated in a certain way to allow them to work correctly, but I'm not sure what I need to do. The rest can be Insulfrog -- I've used three of them on my industrial shunting layout and they work perfect. You guys are awesome and I've loved reading these threads for years, even before becoming a member, wanting to make my first large layout like the "big boys".

Thanks for the other suggestions. All wires look fine and are transferring power, at least from the pickups, so there doesn't seem to be any breaks. As for the wheels, they've never been completely removed, so they can't be the wrong way round, especially since they were literally working one second and then not the next. And since cleaning everything is my go-to when things start acting up (especially on this loco which has given nothing but problems since I got it last December), I'd say it's spent more time having its wheels and pickups cleaned (which never appear to be dirty in the first place) than actually running on the layout. After nearly an hour last night of adjusting and readjusting the pickups (an insane amount of time to spend on one set of easily-accessible pickups that are already touching the wheels, as seen through my magnifier glasses) I got the front wheels on the rear pony to collect power again. I'm not sure what I did, but after about the 50th adjustment, the wheels starting picking up current again. No dice yet on the driving wheels. As on the rear pony, the pickups appear to be touching and work when power is applied to them, but power's not getting from the wheels to the pickups. The adventure continues tonight after work ...

Well, that apparently lasted a day! I noticed the M7 was running not as smoothly again and found that the drive wheelset (the wheelset with the gear) was not picking up current. On closer inspection, I found the wiper pickups were not making contact with the wheels. No big deal -- an easy fix. When I got them adjusted and touching, I was shocked to find that not only were the drive wheels still not picking up current, but none of the wheels were except the the back wheels on the rear pony. All the pickups are touching the wheels and have been cleaned several times with IPA over the last few days. When I apply power directly to every pickup, the motor turns fine, so there doesn't appear to by any wiring issues. However, current is just not passing from the wheels to the pickups for some reason (except the back wheelset on the rear pony, which still works fine), almost as if something is insulating the wheels. I just can't figure it out. Any ideas?

Excellent! I have a few 1k resistors on hand and might try one and see how it does. Thanks for the advice!

Just to update, a received a new base keeper plate and installed/wired it up and the M7 works great, and can even do a slow crawl! It still is very jerky in reverse, but hopefully soon I can procure a new gear and it might that solve the jerky issue as well. For now, it runs great forward with the repaired split gear.

I recently picked up some of these on sale at the hobby shop. I have an analog DC Bachmann controller (I live in the U.S.) that has wire hookups on the front that provides 12V power for accessories. The question is, can I cut off the Woodland Scenics light hub connector from the end of the led wires and hook the leads straight into my controller as is, or will I need to add a resistor first? Some sources I've read online say that these already have resistors built into the LED unit, but I'm not 100 percent certain and don't want to blow the LEDs. Anyone have any experience with these? Thanks!

I try and keep costs low by limiting my range (Southern Railway 1923-30, plus some pregrouping constituents) buying only used or bargains (only 3 of my 10 locomotives were bought new and I've never paid over £82 , including shipping, for any one item) and by making sure each locomotive has something to do, rather than having a whole shed full to do the same task, e.g. the N15 hauls the Pullman train, the Schools class pulls the Maunsell coaches, the 700 class pulls the goods train, the LSWR-livery M7 pulls the LSWR coaches, etc.

Thank you! I had noticed as well that the wheels can be adjusted easily by pushing or pulling on them. I'll see if setting them to 7.2 MM helps the running. Thanks again!

I was recently given this Liliput H0e Austrian locomotive from the Zillertalbahn. It was considered a non-runner, but I've gotten it running (well, categorically) again and the motor/pickups seem fine, but it still has some issues. I was wondering if anyone might have knowledge of these locomotives and be able impart any advice. Of course, it may not be worth trying to fix up either! 1.) The elephant in the room of course is the running gear. Apparently these little locomotives are rather old and perhaps were sold more as toys than serious models, as the running gear was all made of a very brittle plastic. Most of it was broken when I received it, and have removed the rest to allow it to run in some way without broken bits of plastic dangling off. I don't suppose anyone ever made some etched metal replacement running gear for this model? Spare plastic originals would work, but I don't really see any on the Internet. 2.) I can get it to run somewhat on straight track, but it derails on curves (my N gauge test track is Bachmann EZ Track 9" radius). I'm not sure if 9" radius is just too tight, or if the back-to-back on the wheels isn't correct, as it sometimes derails itself on straight track as well. Does anyone know what the correct back-to-back should be for H0e wheels? Thanks for any help you can offer!

The LSWR 6-wheelers look great and they'll go nicely with my set of 4-wheelers Hornby did last year. With eight coaches, I might be approaching an actual prototypical rake for a passenger locomotive! I wonder if the wheel friction issue will be any better with these?

Thank you, gentlemen. That's good news to hear about the Ratio Midland coach modification. I do happen to have an unbuilt kit on hand from an earlier project!

Excellent! I've just ordered myself a copy of "British Railway Carriages of the 20th Century, Vol 1" as a reference.

This question sort of spans both the prototype and modelling catergories, so I hope this is OK. I have Bachmann's E4 in LBSC umber and was having trouble finding appropriate coaches to run with it. From what I've read on LBSC.org, LBSC locomotives in umber had their lettering changed from "LB&SCR" to "LBSC" on their tanks/tender in 1911, which makes the Bachmann E4 livery correct for 1911-1923. However, all the available RTR LBSC coaches seem to have much older liveries. Both Hornby and Hatton's 4- and 6-wheel coaches are in mahogany with the coach numbers inside the crest, which makes them pre-1899, according to LBSC.org. Coach livery was first changed to "umber and white" in February 1903, according to the site. Does this mean umber with white lining or umber below and white above the waist panels? It also says that by 1910 all coaches were painted "plain umber". Does this mean there was no lining? As far as I can tell, no one makes coaches in the umber liveries these coaches carried for 20 years. I thought about custom repainting some existing coaches, I can't seem to find any photographs or artistic renderings of coaches in the umber and white or plain umber livery. Almost everything I see is the varnished or painted mahogany used between 1870-1903. Not to mention the lack of any LBSC coach transfers. Has anyone any ideas to solve this problem, or perhaps a visual source for the umber livery that I might attempt for repainting? Thanks!

This sounds like a real option. I'll see what I can find on the internet.

I'll check out the front pickups and wires and see if anything is loose. I've had this thing apart so many times, maybe something got bumped. As to the direction, it runs jerky clockwise whether the locomotive is turned bunker first or smokebox first.

I have a Hornby M7 R.2678 (in LSWR livery) that I bought second-hand and have had no end of issues with. Initial inablility to even pull its own weight ended up being a cracked axle gear. It was repaired with a drop of super glue, but other issues persist: - The locomotive will run OK counter-clockwise, however when attempting to run clockwise, it's incredibly jerky, stops and starts and after a little while just quits altogether. Switch the direction and it runs fine. I've tried this on a 3-foot piece of PECO track. I'll run the loco from left to right and it moves fine, switch the direction right to left on the controller while its still in motion, then it jerks like crazy. Switch it back and it goes back to normal. - When running forward, it seems like the controller has to be turned up to a high speed before the locomotive will start moving. From there, you can dial down the speed, but not too much or it'll just quit. It's pretty much incapable of any speed below moderate. Here's something I had noticed and may be the root of the issue. When I apply a 9-volt battery to the front two sets of wheels, nothing happens. When I apply to battery to wheels on the rear bogie (which also has pickups), the wheels turn. Could this be an issue of the locomotive is not getting any power from the front pickups, which is affecting performance?

Thanks for all the help, gentlemen! My original plan was to turn the Midland 1F into a private-owned industrial shunter, like the ones used by the Staveley Iron Works, since by the 1930s it would be one of those old Victorian, filthy engines (I've suitably filthied-up my 0-4-0 Peckett) and the model can be got brand new for not a bad price, but I may have to settle for the more expensive Peckett 0-6-0. Incidentally, I ran my old Dapol/Hornby Terrier on the layout and it went over the points perfectly, so maybe privatising one of these old models is an option too.

There's three points, all Peco Streamline. One is Electrofrog (SL-E91), two are Insulfrog (SL-91). The Peckett mostly has trouble with stopping on the Insulfrogs, but once and a while stutters over the Electrofrog as well.