MattR

Same here! Although here in the eastern U.S. with the time difference, the new preowned listings would appear around 10 am - noon, with the email coming in around 12:30 pm. You knew once the email arrived to stop hitting "refresh" every 30 seconds because most of the time that would be all that was added for that day. Although there were often exceptions, with more stuff going up after the email. Prime pickings! That's why 25 of my 30 locomotives and 151 of my 162 pieces of rolling stock (not to mention several more that I've since sold on) are second-hand items from Hatton's!

Yeah, the withdrawal is rough. It's like being told as a child that there will be no more Christmases to look forward to.

I have a question about the shades of BR blue used on Bachmann Class 40s. I used to have one of the 2003-tooled models (first photo) that was a dark blue that looked about right to me However, I sold it on and picked up up one of the 2014-tooled models (second photo) that is a lot bright lighter with a blue-green tinge. Which is more correct to the real thing (at least ex-works)? Or were there variations in the color applied so that both are correct? I'm about to weather the new one but I'm not sure if it's going to need a blue respray first.

Hmmm ... very interesting. Wait, this is not helping me!

Yeah, very true. Although for the most part the plan for Dreams of Summerseat is to focus on the locomotives that normally would have run on the Bury-Bacup branch over the course of existence before the closure in 1980. There are a few exceptions, but if I started allowing everything, I'd go broke!

No real place for a Class 56 on my layout, but I'm enjoying these photos of such an (to me, anyway) aesthetically pleasing locomotive in model form.

You may wistfully recall How Benjamin Disraeli said that "Life is too short to be small," Or maybe like some old-time song Overall it's long - so So long ... it's all over.

It took every ounce of strength to resist grabbing those!

I hated it on my previous layouts -- so fiddly and irritating. But on Summerseat, it's been rather enjoyable once I followed some others' suggestions, namely: - Pour small amounts at a time rather than dumping a bunch and trying to spread it around - Use your finger instead of a small brush (I think 90% percent of the tediousness came from trying to use a brush) - Hit the track to bounce ballast off the sleepers (I use the rubber-coated handle of an X-Acto knife).

I got the cheapo Chinese airbrush/compressor combo from Amazon. I've been using it pretty regularly for two years now it's been great. I had some teething issues with it at first with clogs, despite my best efforts to meticulously clean it out after each color used. The game changer came when I stopped trying to run straight IPA through it and got some Iwata Airbrush Cleaner instead. Run a few squirts of that through the brush after each color and I've had no flow problems since.

Cleared my final trunk -- the aforementioned Vitrains Class 47 and a Bachmann On30 wagon (for the Bachmann On30 locomotive I got in the penultimate trunk order). Thanks Hatton's for building my entire hobby these last three years.

You guys nailed it. It's been flying around the track for 30 minutes on the 1-amp controller without issue. Controller is only slightly warm. I guess I'm in the market now for a better controller! Thanks again!

I've got it on a test run right now with the 1-amp Tyco controller from 1983. The speed control on this thing is terrible. The loco comes to life only at 25% power, at which it races around the track. On the Bachmann I could get it to start nice and slow at less than 10% power.

It really is very nice and good to see a Ringfield/pancake motor that doesn't involve traction tires or split axles. The only odd thing about the loco is that it's rather overscale -- one forum I saw suggested 1/78 scale, which makes it look huge against the little four-wheel Marklin coaches, yet the coupler is up too high to hook up to OO stock.

Thanks for your help! I'd rather it be my apparently wimpy controller than such an otherwise nice-running locomotive.

Looks like the controller's output to the track is 0.6 amps. The only other controller I have is an old Tyco Tyco-Pak rated at 1 amp. I used to have a Hornby Sir Dinadan that would overload this controller the same way the Fleischmann is doing to the Bachmann one.

The wall power pack (remember I am in the U.S.) reads "Input: AC120V 60Hz 24W. Output: AC16V 1000mA." Do I need a more powerful power supply?

Since technically the locomotive is drawing too much power and overloading the controller (and not really shorting out the track due to a short circuit somewhere) I've reworded the original post to be more accurate.

Love that you can hear Ocean Colour Scene's "The Day We Caught The Train" playing in the warehouse. One of my favorite songs!

Good idea! Unfortunately I'd have to get a pinion gear puller to get the commutator out of the housing, as well as a remagnetizer. Another good idea. I'll have to look up how to do that on my multimeter. I guess a replacement motor sounds like the best option, but I'm not seeing any on eBay. Apparently there used to be an Australian company called Motortorque that made CD motor replacements for Fleischmann ringfield/pancake motors, but they went out of business 10 years ago.

- Run #5 (boiler forward, counter-clockwise) : 10 minutes 20 seconds - Run #6 (boiler forward, counter-clockwise): 12 minutes 24 seconds The controller gets very hot and then the circuit breaker inside trips. You unplug it and in resets after 2-3 minutes. Heat from loco motor is barely discernible.

Not that I can see. I've added lots of insulation tape around areas where wires come in contact with metal, but no changes. Removed the weight (which sits on a plastic spacer over the metal valve-gear brackets -- nothing. I decided to time it to see how long it takes to short out the track - Run #1 (boiler forward, clockwise): 7 minutes, 28 seconds - Run #2 (boiler forward, clockwise): 4 minutes 57 seconds - Run #3 (bunker forward, counter-clockwise): 9 minutes, 12 seconds - Run #4 (bunker forward, counter-clockwise): 4 minutes, 9 seconds

I was able to pick up that Vitrains Class 47 with the wonky buffer beam for £39. Not a bad deal at all for something that just needs a bit of cosmetic repair.

Re-writing this post to more accurately describe what's happening. Recently I picked up Fleischmann’s H0 BR 70 (model number 4016) with the old Ringfield-style motor. I serviced it and it runs great (albeit noisy) -- smooth, good at low speeds, good torque/pulling power However, it runs fine for a bit (see times in later posts), then overloads the controller and trips the circuit breaker in it (I use a Bachmann trainset controller, which I have three of on different layout and never had any issues with them). The controller gets very hot before tripping. The locomotive feels normal, just a little warm as normal. I’m new to Fleischmann — does anyone who knows these motors have an idea of where to start looking to remedy this, short of buying a whole new motor?

Thanks again for recommending the book! It arrived today from the L&YR Society. Some really excellent stuff in there, and the clear photo of Summerseat signal box alone is worth the price of admission.