Jonnyb

Good idea on the dingham couplings I’ll check those out

On 17/11/2021 at 20:20, brossard said:

 

The faux Kadees fitted to these work great.  (it would have been more realistic to put these through the buffer beam instead of under)  You totally can't get at 3/screw link between coaches.  In reality, Mk1's used buckeyes between coaches.  For loco coupling the buckeye could drop down revealing a hook.

 

John

My logic was that I am going to build a shelf layout to run my few o gauge items, i was going to do this a preserved line that hasn't got very far and just wanted a single open second for the train.

This end to end will have a station at one end and a run round loop so ideally need to have a three link coupling at each end.

I hope that makes sense

Has anyone fitted a three link coupling to a normal open second coach?

50 minutes ago, WIMorrison said:

 

Which type of DCC Concepts point motor, they make at least 3 different motors and how you use them to wire up is different.

I have the cobalt ip digital ones

I have cleaned the track that was an old photo but it does sound like an upgrade to the bus wire would be sensible if it doesn’t improve.

For the points I just removed the jumpers from underneath as per Peco instructions and use the think wire as the switchable frog. Like I say some are okay but they don’t all work as well as each other.

It does sound like some the decoders haven’t been set up well, tbh I have no idea how I would go about changing that.

But like you say, sensible to tick one thing off at a time 

9 minutes ago, Robert Stokes said:

I can only answer some of the points you have raised. Firstly I think that with a layout of that size it would have been better to use mains cable for sockets, not lighting cable. Voltage drop may explain the slow running.

 

You mention using DCC Concepts point motors. Are these the slow-action type? If so then you definitely should remove the springs and should use DPDT switches which give constant current instead of push buttons.

 

Have you adapted the points to feed power to the frog by a switch on the point motor rather than rely on blade contact?

 

I don't know anything about the Prodigy so can't comment on that.

Hi thanks for helping with this, I do have the slow acting motors so I will remove the springs then.

I haven’t come across dpdt switches before so I’ll give them a look too and I do have the frog switching off the point  motor, most are fine but one or two aren’t great.

maybe power cable will be better, might be worth putting a voltage reader on each piece of track and see the results

No doubt you more than experienced people (basically everyone) can help me as I’m having some trouble with my Dcc layout build.

it’s about 9ft by 10ft square with a double circuit but with a single line section. It has a series of point and I have so far laid the track and wired in two thirds and been testing as I go. 

I have the gaugemaster prodigy system  and have a few problems.

1. The trains run better / quicker over some sections/pieces of track than others

2. I have Dcc concepts point motors, is it best to remove the point springs?(Peco oo code 75 and some bullhead)

3. I have live frogs but small locos still stall, is there a way to resolve this?

4. some the engines are very slow to react. The worst is my Hornby 2800 class, you need to wind the controller up quite a lot before it will move. Hornby decoder in that one

5. my point motors use gaugemaster push to make contact switches but sometimes it take a couple of attempts for them to work

I used mains Light grade (twin and earth) cable for my bus wire with 0.8 mm droppers on all pieces of track. And the same grade wire for the point motors
 

I was wondering if the size of the layout was too much for the controller of if I should have used different gauge wire.

it’s almost like their isn’t enough current or too much resistance 

I also run the points directly off the bus wire, I’m now thinking that I should have run one power feed from the bus wire on each board to a distribution block and all the smaller wires from that.

maybe the whole thing needs a rewire but as other people will have experienced, an unreliable layout is an unused layout…sorry for the essay

I wasn’t that keen on the wws stuff I already have.

I think I need to visit the gaugemaster shop, still would prefer the mininatur stuff ideally 

Fantastic thread, I have a wws small static grass applicator but I’m struggling to find the right colours.

the wws ones seem to have blues and yellows in their mix.

ive seen Giles’ videos on YouTube but the mininatur range seems to be unavailable now as does the polak range. 
 

any suggestions? Based on Giles’ guide I would need spring and autumn 4.5mm and 6mm straw

1 hour ago, Gilbert said:

I did say earlier I'd taken the opportunity to detour to some kit building...

Fruit van

Parkside Horsebox....with thanks to John Emerson for some research material.

"Airfix" cattle wagon with a few modifications

If you don’t mind me asking, what did you use for ballast on this layout and is there a build thread for it?

This is great, lovely modelling and feels very spacious 

That was the plan anyway, so you reckon on that part to the left near my cardboard mock-up just load it up with trees?

These trees are superb, inspiring!

Hi all, I’m in the process of building a 10 foot by 9 foot model railway, steam era loosely based around the S&D.

ive got the boards built and backboards up and some of the track laid but I’m undecided about backscenes.

I have three gaugemaster ones with hills and trees (as per photos) but unsure how to blend these into a dropped section of the board, would seem a bit odd to have hills and then to the left of it just sky. In the picture to the left of the back scene the board will drop for a midford style viaduct

So do I keep the back scene? Find something better (not sure what) or just paint the boards an off white/ blue 

what are peoples thoughts?  

Brilliant thanks very much

Wow thanks chaps this really is very useful information, especially the descriptions of the pin arrangements.

most of the retailers for the zimo ones don’t seem to have very good descriptions. I’m glad to hear on the right lines with zimos so will follow that route.

As for the controller I was just keen to have a knob and point motor function control without having a laptop on the go.

any suggestions on the best shop/retailer for zimo decoders?

Hi all I wonder if you can help.

I'm finally moving to DCC now I'm going to build a new oo layout. I was going to buy the gaugemaster prodigy advance controller as this seems to meet my needs and I like the look of the controller.

I'm just struggling with decoders, friend recommended zimo ones but I'm not sure what ones I need. I'm not interested in sound and have 10 plus locos to convert so after a lower cost option where possible (some are Hornby Bachmann DCC ready with variety of pins).

Any suggestions or guidance, there seem to be lots of choices.

Many thanks

Jon 

thanks guys, videos should be useful.

I did email them, they didn't have a track plan available unfortunetly

No one then....damn

This one was an end terminus this one, there seem to be very little pictures of it on the web. thanks all the same

Hi,

As above really, looking for pictures and a track plan for Ipford. This is the GWR branchline that normally has an autotrain running.

Apparently it featured in the 2014 railway modeller magazine annual but I don't have this and it doesn't show the track plan anyway. I will order a back issue anyway.

I can't believe I didn't take any photos when I was there.

Help would be awesome for a small project I'm undertaking

This looks cracking, read from start to finish in one hit.

What are the dimensions for this? Inspired me to crack out the n gauge