Father Dougal

Feeling really excited now! Just ordered my 'big boy' decoder and double speaker for my kit/ scratch built 37/0. Not as expensive as I thought and the decoder comes with an inbuilt stay alive. Just got to order some LEDs now. Hopefully by next Thursday everything will have arrived. Dougal

It might be a summer day in the school holidays, but the sea looks a bit choppy today. The Bedford van needs a clean. Dougal

I found both of my diesels to be pretty robust and well constructed. I would imagine that if you unscrew the wrong bit you can just refit it. There should be 2 screws near the front, they may be well hidden! I needed a torch to find mine. I found both of mine had a plate covering the wheel sets as well. I accidentally removed this, but it went together again very easily. The motors on both models were neatly wired with no loose or stray wires about- unless the previous owner has 'tinkered' you should be fine. I managed to DCC fit both of mine without any problems. Give it a try. Fingers crossed! Dougal

I have 2 of their diesels and both have 4 tiny screws underneath on the chassis. Yours might be similar,Dougal

PRMRP also do a kit in 7mm/ O gauge. A bit basic but can be tarted up and straightforward to build. Dougal

Hi, I will see if I can find a photo, but it was fairly easy. If you have a helping hand it is easy to solder, I didn't have one so I blue tacked one wire then simply soldered another to it and then used heat shrink. The resistors can go on the red or black wire, it doesn't matter- just do the same with each light. I assume you will use a flux. I use Carrs red label or Dcc concepts flux for brass. Either work. Dougal

The sound file on the Fowler is pretty cool, I love mine.

Is the SSA in the corner available as a kit? If so, how do I order a few?

That looks really nice.

Hi, I had 5 On/Off switches so I used these for individual control. 1. Yard and external building lights and fuel point. 2. Clay dry. 3. Bagged clay. 4. Diesel shed. 5. Mess hall. I plan on building similar when I start illuminating the dock side and shops. By the way. All my lights so far all come off a cheap starter controller. As they are all LEDs the current draw is really low. Dougal

A little more progress. Yesterday I fitted directional head and tail lights to my 03. The Bedford Van is new too. I also made a cover for Gary as I worried he would get a wet head! And, I payed with my 02. Here she is just leaving the shed.

Spent all weekend wiring up loads of lights for the clay sidings. The last shot is of Gary's bald head! At least he has some light now. The 02 with her Gubbins exposed. And, the modelu lamps and the sub micro LEDs from Railroom electronics. Dougal

Hi Dave, sound fitting is pretty straightforward and the decoder comes with a little booklet to explain which colour wires do what. I buy mine from Digitrains.If you ask nicely, they will usually wire up and test before they dispatch. All you have to do then is connect to the pick ups and motor. Don't forget some heat shrink and take your time. Mine took me about 40 minutes, but this included the lights. I have a PRMRP 02, which I built a while ago. This is brass construction and there is plenty of room for the speaker and decoder. If you have a white metal 02 starter kit you might want to measure what space you have first and then call digitrains. (No connection, just a happy customer). I used a MX645R sound decoder with an 02/ Janus file, plus a mini boxed speaker LS26x20xH 8mm (This fits easily in the nose). The stay alive was one they picked for me, it's a 86009 6-20 second stay alive. I usually phone to order rather than use the online shop. I will try and take a few photos tomorrow. Dougal

Hello! I am feeling pretty pleased with myself this evening. I have now fitted sound to my 03 shutter and today I fitted my 02 shutter. I built the 02 several years ago. It never ran properly and it was really frustrating as I couldn't work out why. This month I took the chassis apart, fitted a better quality motor, tidied up the pick ups and tidied up the weathering. After that I purchased some really teeny LED's for directional lights and some lamps from ModelU. I concluded that the previous poor running was due to using a cheap motor mounting, which I also hadn't built very well. The 02 now purrs along at a crawl. The sound chip and speaker are Zimo. I assume the stay alive is from Zimo too. I will post a few pictures on Saturday. The sound file and speed control is really good- on a par with my Fowler. Douglas.

I fitted the sound chip today and I fitted a cab light. I am now working on the decals and glazing. Then she is done. All being well my order from ModelU should arrive soon.

This morning I built the speaker box. Everything fits easily into the nose. It looks like I can fit the decoder on top of the motor too. Just need to buy some insulation tape, then I can fit it. Dougal

Phew! Time for a rest now. I have spent the weekend building the clay dries. It is much larger than I thought, but I have the basic frame done now. I ran out of support beams. I can't do any more now until they arrive. I will post an image once I have done a bit more. My sound decoder arrived. It all fits neatly inside the nose of the loco. I purchased a few white LED's as well to use as a cab light. This might sound a basic question, but could any one answer the following? There is a white wire for function 0 and a blue wire for common return. I assume I use the two to wire in the LED? Also, does it matter which wire I connect the resistor to? Dougal

Hi Dave, there is a glut of information about track weathering, with lots of different methods. Try looking on YouTube for Dean Park station (Dave47) and New Junction. Both of these guys have posted recently about track colouring. Dean park uses an airbrush, whilst new junction tried a few washes. Cheeky tek is also a good one to look up. Dougal.

Just ordered my sound chip from DigiTrains. Apparently the new sound file for the 03 isn't ready yet, so I will have the current version. I also decided to order a cab light. Apparently they have it all in stock, which should mean I can fit it fairly soon. Next on the list, a suitable shunter figure, solder and flux. Dougal

Hi Tim, The ones I have on my layout, have 2 wires and already have a resistor fitted. I just wired them up to a 12v power unit. They are not too bright either and give a nice realistic golden light. Dougal

RTR can be more expensive than kits, but if you look at eBay and Hattons (or other shops) you can often get RTR for the same price as a kit or cheaper. It depends what you are after. Dougal

That looks very nice. You know, rail room electronics do some really nice wall mounted swan necked lights. They would look good by the loading area. No connection to the company, just a happy customer. Dougal.