DCB

The center of the axles make electrical contact, some Lima 37s have wiper contacts on the back of the insulated traction tyre fitted driving wheels but I could never see the point of them.

I find Xpress publishing's "Train Formations & Carriage Workings of the Great Western Railway" by W.S.Beckett to be invaluable. It covers the 1931/2 winter timetable If you are modelling Cornwall the train services are a bit surprising, Cornwall was a long way from Paddington so an early morning departure became an afternoon arrival in Cornwall. Most trains were remarshalled at Plymouth North Road, The Plymouth portion often terminating at Millbay while the rest continued to Cornwall Only the Up Postal loco ran though to Paddington from Penzance (Longest through loco working in the Uk maybe the world!) with an Exeter based loco and crew and that stopped when the LNER started running non stop London to Edinburgh. Other trains changed locos at Bristol, Exeter, Newton Abbot or North Road Some trains came via Westbury, CRE etc, The CRE ran with a minimum formation of 8 coaches west of Pllymouth, 6 for Penzance, Bk 3rd, Corridor 3rd, Kitchen, Open Composite, Corridor Composite, Brake 3rd, with additional Brake Composites for St Erth and Truro. The Newquay Brake Comp was detached at North Road and followed the CRE (Plymouth arrival 14.37) as part of the 14.55pm Plymouth Newquay. Other expresses ran via Bristol with through carriages from Leeds York etc over the Midland added to a Paddington portion often remarshalled at North Road. These seemed to have winter formations of as few as 4 or 6 coaches. Not sure which trains had LMS/LNER stock on through workings, but unlike Exeter - Plymouth post war which had 2 SR trains each way per day there would not AFAIK be any Southern workings Locos changed, prior to the Halls (1927) and Granges (1936) which in turn virtually monopolised the Cornish main line pre war, the 43XX moguls ran virtually everything except the Cornish Riviera which had a Castle. Prior to that Dukes and Bulldogs were de rigeur. The workings were more interesting post war but few locos based East of Exeter worked into Cornwall. A couple of Cornish Branches used 14XX/ 48XX. Most were the preserve of the 45XX small Prairies. 57XX were banned from most branches until 1950 so you are looking the older smaller Panniers not avaailable RTR!. Tender 0-6-0s were rare in Cornwall, Exeter had a 2251 in later years but nothing further West.

In my experience tension lock couplers with only one hook tend to pull stock sideways causing derailments with long trains. Hooks going wrong side etc is usually a result of mixing different couplings. Standardising on one coupler is the optimum, Bachmann seem to be most readily available. Airfix the neatest. Triang / Hornby metal the most reliable. If you can get the coupling heights and the hook lengths standardised, and its not easy, then running / coupling etc should be greatly improved but its going to be a lot of work. Even under optimum conditions Tension locks are not great for shunting. Might be easier to fit Kadees.

Re the size issues. Hornby used to make their locos 1mm higher than scale in Tender- drive days, the buffers and everything above buffer height is raised 1mm to give clearance for couplings and for oversize flanges in the splashers and from memory the unrebult Patriot is one of these. The parallel boiler has a larger smokebox than the taper boiler Jubilee which shared its smaller smokebox with Black 5. 8F and the GWR Castle and County all of which had 5ft dia front tubeplates. The electrification flashes are unfortunate as I don't think many unrebuilt Patriots lasted long enough to receive them. Jubilee and Patriot were essentially the same size, early Jubilees were ordered as Patriots and had Patriot bogies. Patriots had steaming issues when crewed by crews unfamiliar with them which restricted their sphere of activity. I understand at one stage Holbeck requested / told Barrow Road not to send Patriots north of New Street as their crews could not cope with the Claughton derived shallow grates. The tender coupling is an Aclises' Eel (Cotswold vernacular) and will give trouble, hard wiring improves it but the Tender drive is a bit naff and I have often thought of sticking an X04 in the loco instead and towing a Bachmann fowler tender.

If the track without a buffer stop is the incoming track and you want (a) minimal wiring and (b) to be able to have more than 1 DC loco at a time on the layout I suggest simply bridging the feed across from the lower rail of the upper track to the lower rail of the lower track and inserting one isolator see pic. That way when point A is set towards the lower track the lower track left hand end is live and when point B is set it automatically makes the right hand lower end live or not. When point A is set to the upper road the lower track is not live so up to 3 locos can be operated and isolated on the layout.

Using a laptop power supply sounds like a good way to set the railway shed on fire, I have had several laptop power supplies fail, they always seem to run hot even just running a laptop. They simply are not intended to run at maximum output for long periods or o cope with short circuits, . You need something with decent overload protection around 1 amp and a 21 watt bulb is still going to allow 30 watts/ 1.75 amps on an 18 volts supply which won't do your fishplates, point blade tags, or locos pickups and internal wiring much good if you get a dead short. A 10 watt bulb might be a better bet but a proper thermal breaker is a better idea.

Sorted. It was just stuck Big lump of lead added, still feeble. \have to stay on shed while the Wrenn 8Fs run the freights

That is a real puzzle, if it was a diode issue the loco would go either forward only or backward only. Try another loco, and see if the other loco goes both ways, If not change the controller, if it does add the HST and see what happens, it may be a sideplay or gear mesh issue if you have changed the gears, not quite sure what you might have done but an axle in the wrong way round is a possibility.

I was trying to add weight to a friend's 00 gauge Bachmann ROD 2-8-0 and I couldn't see how the body comes off. Does anyone have a diagram or pointers to a web site as he has lost the packaging and instructions and its far from obvious which screws have to be removed. Hoping to have another go this evening (Sun 16th July) Thanks in advance

The Hornby Dublo geometry is based on a standard trainset 15" radius curve divided into eight full curves or 16 half curves. One H/D point exactly replaces one (small radius) half curve or one half straight. There were large radius curves very much like 2nd radius though I don't have any. Hornby Dublo 3 rail points have flangeways the same depth as H/D flanges so wheels run through very smoothly without dropping into a rail gap. 2 rail is similar geometry but some weird live frog arrangement. The H/D rail was a strange pressed section rounded on top, The 2 rail was code 100 like peco Code 100. The H/D points have virtually no straight before the point blades so are 15" radius through the curved road Set Track has its roots in Triang geometry which had a 13" ish standard curve divided into 12 sections. The points replaced either a curve or a straight. There was also a rather rare large radius which was around 17/18" radius like second radius. This track had soild bases with dummy ballast and sleepers and a huge rail section easily capable of being walked ion with no damage and continued into Series 3 track which had huge widely spaced sleepers and for Super 4 with 00 scale sleeper spacing. For Super 4 the geometry changed to eight standard curves/ 16 halves per circle with the points replacing either a large (2nd) radius 1/2 curve or a 1/2 straight. The first radius also changed to around 14 and 5/8ths" slightly tighter than H/D. The points had a straight lead in for three or four sleepers so the sharp road was actually nearer 15" than 18" and this annoying feature continues through to cause derailments on modern setrack. Hornby Dublo didn't make 64ft coaches, their Mk1s were scale 57ft and many had offset bogie pivots to minimise throw. and their closer rail spacing worked fine, in fact if laid correctly they could have got away with 50mm and 15" radius

Talking low power wall wart DC here. Clean track helps, however it is the gauge corner, not the rail top, which needs to be clean, as most OO/HO wheels are coned like the prototype whereas unlike the prototype the rails are not inclined inwards so they make contact only on the corner The gauge corner is the inner edges of the rails. I run a Peco track cleaning rubber along the inside of each individual rail angled down at around 45 degrees. the inside corner of point blades frogs etc need cleaning You don't say which locos need a nudge. Some locos with traction tyres like the Hornby Railroad 0-6-0 chassis and Hornby 14XX seem to need a nudge every now and again as the centre axle wheels with traction tyres don't pick up current and the other wheels don't have enough suspension travel to take enough weight to make contact if the the centre wheels stop on a hump. This is much worse if new traction tyres ave been fitted. Leaving these aside, better still selling them, the older Hornby chassis with under size flangeless centre wheels should be fine as long as the wheels are clean. Really clean and that means the back of the wheels where the pick ups rub, and the pick ups themselves need to be clean. This is much more important on modern chassis with less pick up tension and far more pickups, 10 as against 2. Often one or more pickups simply don't do anything and cleaning them without damaging them is difficult. I find the heavier the axle load on the pick up axles the more tolerant locos are to dirty track my old Grafar 94XX with a modified Hornby chassis splashes happily along rain soaked track outside where Bachmann 57XX and the like stop dead. The P 9000 wall wart doesn't deliver enough power to damage fishplates and point tags but extra feeds are a good idea, I like one every six railjoints or so, droppers are too much aggro for me on low power DC though pretty much essential with high power DCC. Some old direct worm drive locos tend to not restart without reversing slightly, this is not a pick up issue obviously but gear meshing and its probably best to sell the loco or you will end up like me in spending hours shimming gear wheels instead of running trains.

The latest Peco catalogue clearly shows the inner radius of the ST 245 is 2nd Radius and it needs a special ST 227 1/4 curve to equal a standard ST 226 curve, The Streamline Curved point always used to be described as inner 30" radius outer 60" radius The set track curved point is very long and does not really save over much space unless it is part of a ladder on a 90 degree curve , so I would try to use streamline points if possible. I successfully bent a streamline curved point down to around 3rd radius on the inner track under a thread about bending streamline points. The Set Track ones look awful and trains on the outer radius sort of wiggle from curved to straight as they pass through which is a good recipe for derailments. I

Skips are a great source of materials. A manky old interior door can make a great free baseboard. Very light, and with a smooth lower surface wont scratch the Dining Table/ coffee table/ bed spread. I have used several, shortened them, hacked them about. For a new build I would take one, shorten to taste and then cut round the track bed and cut away the surplus leaving the track raised and the cardboard honeycomb exposed but with framing round the outside, than way you can have scenery below track level, the lack of which ruins many otherwise admirable layouts. My present N gauge layout costs are negative if you discount petrol. Damaged Layout from skip £ 0 (Yes I did ask permission) Extra wood from skip ( ditto) Pannier, Toad, power unit, 2 X 00 gauge locos and 3 00 gauge coaches from Ebay £ 8.80. Sale of one 00 loco £ 10. Profit so far £1.20. Plan A Tidy layout up, scenery etc. Costs Paint from Freecycle Free. Glues from Freecycle Free. Plan A (i) Sell completed layout for £100 with controller but no stock. Profit £ 101.20 = about 50p per hour! Perhaps I need to re think this.

It will look a lot better when there are some "Dummy" sleepers under the rail joiners. Be careful with those very short filler section of rail ,they just love getting out of level, and you have a nasty straight "kink" between the point and the Y point where it should flow. A chunk of 3rd or 4th radius set track rail would smooth it out. and bring the goods shed round another half inch or so. I try to avoid short pieces of track if possible, preferring to chop chunks off points for clearance. Whether its worth painting the baseboard I'm not sure, most goods yards had a uniform black / green sort of oily / grassy/ coal dust surface across the whole of the yard, under tracks and between in later years. often to the level of the sleepers sometimes to the top of the rails with flanges cutting grooves in the muck. 48" X 18" is a bit wide and short. plenty of room for scenery but unless you angle the tracks diagonally or through an arc the ratio of track to scenery is very much weighted in favour of scenery. Open frames suit this sort of layout . A road or river Under a bridge at the right hand end would be a nice touch. It might work better with the track nearer the centre of the board and then a single asymmetric 3 way could replace the Y and 2ft left and free up a bit more space.

Looks like you can afford a diorama of one DCC tank loco on one length of code 75 track, if you buy new, maybe add in a second hand wagon or a Oxford Diecasts car.... I bought 2 X 00 locos and 3 coaches off Ebay for £8.80 the other week.....

The Hornby 14XX and Prairie are pretty awful runners and our 14XX are out of use since the Hattons 14XX appeared while the Prairies look OK until they move and I am using a Triang chassis under one as I try to make one run half decently. The latest Bachmann 57XX is a good runner, their 45XX prairie runs nicely but has a very short coupled wheelbase which can cause pickup issues on non bonded points The Hattons 14XX is excellent for slow running and shunting as long as your track is flat and level and the loads not excessive, a dozen Bachmann wagons is well within its capabilities. The GWR built a batch of twenty 48XX (later 14XX) with Auto gear and twenty without the 58XX class before standardising on the Auto Fitted variety as they were more versatile. It was not a particularly difficult job to uncouple the Auto train gear and on some lines the 14XX would uncouple the auto coach and haul the branch pick up goods between passenger trains, Faringdon was one. Equally 14XX worked goods on the Presteign(?) branch. 58XX were used for shunting around Swindon but combined this with workman's train duties. The 64XX were generally kept to passenger workings but the visually similar but somewhat stronger 74XX were branch line engines though many were BR built. The 16XX were BR built but the real gap in the market is the 2021 and 850 classes of small panniers which were used extensively as branch goods and shunting engines. I would go for a Hattons 14xx/48XX/58XX, as the 57XX were not branch line engines until they were reclassified Yellow from Blue in BR days

It sounds like the thermal cut out is being used for the wrong purpose. The Powercab's cut out seems entirely capable of protecting the Powercab but under partial short conditions, loco over an isolator with wrongly set point the current is well within the Powercabs limits bearing in mind it the transformer provides less than 50% of the Powercabs maximum Amperage. What this sort of overload does not do is blow the decoder or Powercab but it does stress the other components, droppers, loco to tender wires, fish plates, polarity switches etc and some of these, particularly plunger pickups and tender wires will not take1 amp for long without failing. Realistically a 0.5 amp continuous rated thermal which should quick trip around 0.75 / 1 amp would probably be more reasonable, that is one per power area/ section not one per power cab.

Another vote for Morley, their hand held add ons are excellent.

In my case sawing the baseboard legs off was not necessary, I just got son and heir to lift the baseboard while I scraped away some of the soil. until the spirit level said level. Sorted. Still think pairs of super neo magnets one under the stock the other between the rails N to S poles would work well, don't think super neos and metal plates would be strong enough.

I think we should remember the advice above "a device which prevents vehicles in a siding or loop gaining access to running lines," It is to prevent stock escaping from sidings and fouling running lines. Unlike models full size stock will force points / turnouts open when set against them, in yards with hand points its no big deal, where its operated from a signal box or ground frame it will bend the rods, if theres a FPL it will likely break something but will probably not stop nor even slow the stock. There were serious accidents at Abergele and others where stock escaped. To return to post # 01 the track layout doesn't lend itself to retro fitting traps they should have been planned for at clean sheet of paper stage

On the full size railways the Victorians, Ike Brunnel and the like, put stations on a hump so trains slowed down on the approach and accelerated away under gravity. The wonderful Victorian museum called the "Tube" under London is an excellent example. Conversely and more relevant, the 1980s saw much reballasting which raised track levels so much that tracks had to dip down to the level of station platforms, Swindon being a good example. A similar "Dip" in the track where uncoupled stock is left might be a suitable cure.

That is a very interesting article re Burbage stations. The Berks and Hants or "Westbury" route was fairly lightly used as though it was the route of the GWRs premier West of England services it didn't really serve anywhere of any consequence between Reading and Taunton, hence some Plymouth trains continued to run via Bristol and indeed most of Bristol's GW mainline services did not terminate at Bristol, continuing to Taunton, WSM or further. Todays heavy stone traffic is largely a diesel era feature It was not at all unusual for trains to terminate and reverse at through stations, or for stopping trains to be sidetracked to let expresses pass, but I am surprised that a stopper was shunted to allow an express past at Savernake Low level. I would be very surprised if an Up train recessed in the Down siding but I have read of Up goods being set back onto the Marlborough branch to allow faster traffic to overtake so perhaps the local passenger also performed this maneuver. At Kemble on the Swindon Gloucester line a local passenger arrived at the down platform and set back onto the up line so it could draw forward onto the Cirencester branch so such things did happen. The terminating trains may well have recessed in the down siding, as an example on the Gloucester Swindon line Auto trains recessed in Chalford goods yard between trips, or if there was a short turnaround the loco may simply have run round using the up road and departed from the down platform in the up direction, possibly flagged away by the signalman if there was no Up starter for the Down platform. Alternatively it may have recessed in the down siding and crossed over to the Up platform for departure. It may well have only occupied the platform for 10 minutes. As this was 60 years ago now the chances of getting an accurate answer are fast slipping away. Two old railwaymen who promised to let me record their memories passed away before I| could arrange a time and place so don't delay. The local pub is probably a good place to start. It's worth remembering that infrastructure did not keep pace with changes in service after WW1 and railwayman had to improvise, many locations lacked sufficient tracks and platforms, others had far more than were ever used, I think Highbridge S&D had 5 platforms of which only 2 were actually used, while Cheltenham Midland had only two platforms and could have done with 5 as MSWJR trains terminated and started at this station on the main Midland Birmingham - Bristol line.

Severn Tunnel?

There is a long Intermodal with Stobart and Les Co (Tesco?) containers on the Highland to Inverness daily. Seemed to be a 68 duty last week though at one stage seemed to be a duty for the 67 which brought up the sleeper. Its faster than road despite the parallel A9 being the only single carriageway road in the UK with a 50 MPH HGV speed limit. Road is however safer as the returning southbound Intemodal was diverted into some chaps garden before ending up in a copse at Carr Bridge on one occasion with spectacular results

MNs were very heavy at well over 20 tons axleload which kept them to main lines so the short trains hauled were in the context of being on the main line. The WC / BB was slightly sighter but slipped under the 20 ton axle load which let them roam far and wide on and off the SR to Bath Oxford Plymouth Padstow and even Newton Abbot, while the only non SR line visited regularly by MNs was Weymouth to which shed all the survivors were allocated at one time in the 1960s. I often wonder if a King and MN ever met in pre preservation days other than in the 1948 loco exchanges. MNs were the SRs premier express passenger power so tended to be used on the most important expresses and some heavy overnight fast freight workings, even in their last days they were working express turns so there were not generally any to spare for menial tasks, there were 110 WC / BB class for that! 35009 mentioned above may well have been in steam after an overnight run from Salisbury and commandeered at short notice to replace a failed M7. I can't see it being a rostered duty. The milk trains were short but heavy with full milk tanks being roughly as heavy as a carriage. So really you can probably justify a MN on a short train but not justify one on a secondary route or branch line.