salop89a

15 hours ago, melmerby said:

I have DCC'd mine. I used an Arduino circuit to do it

You can't use a DR4018 or a YD8116. (I have a DR4018 and it definitely won't work)

It needs to be a volt free switch, which neither AFAIK will do. (unless it's an undocumented mode!)

 

It's not operating a servo, the control circuit in the box does that, It just needs to be a changeover switch.

 

I would be concerned about trying to operate the signal with YD8116 as it will give out a much higher voltage than the Dapol unit works on.

It's possible it's been damaged.

Luckily it seems no damage has occurred. I have reconnected the signal to the toggle switch and it is working fine.

Karst Drenth on the YaMoRC group has confirmed that a group of 8 turnouts can be connected in common for one YD8008 unit but not for multiple units. The commons are connected internally in a YD8008.

Looks like I will be staying with dc control and toggle switches for the turnouts.

Thank you to everyone that has responded to my query.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try that.

Thanks for the quick reply.

It is the YD8008 that I have been looking at. However, your confirmation that it is indeed three wires from each point motor back to each accessory decoder is what I feared.

The prospect of altering the wiring of 30-odd solenoids by going under the baseboards is too much of a risk for my dodgy back, I fear.

Regards

At the moment I am operating the turnouts on my layout using dc by means of a control panel with toggle switches controlling Peco solenoids. Power to the turnouts is supplied via a secondary bus for the common with short connecting wires to the turnouts. Longer wires connect the left and right of each of the solenoids to the control panel toggle switches.

I am using a Roco z21 to control locos and signals and am considering using accessory decoders to control the turnouts.

Can I still use the secondary bus for the common supply to each turnout or would I need to run an additional length of wire back to the common output of the accessory decoder for each turnout?

The decoder manuals I have looked at seem to indicate that each turnout will need three separate wires back to the accessory decoder but I am unsure if I am correctly interpreting the diagrams.

I have a few Dapol servo operated junction signals which I currently control using toggle switches but would like to operate them with DCC. The Dapol manual states they can be operated by means of an accessory decoder such as the Digikeijs DR4018 but this is no longer available so I bought a Yamorc YD8116 which I understand is the equivalent.

I have connected everything in accordance with the manual as far as I can see but the Dapol unit is not responding to commands from the DCC controller - Roco z21 white box with Multimaus.

Does anyone have any experience of using the YD8116?

Seat units for the coaches are also available from www.dcresinreplicas.co.uk in white or brown for £7.00 each. I bought some a few months ago and they seem a good moulding to me.

No connection other than as a satisfied customer.

On another forum, Paul Dunn has announced that the Coopercraft business including the Blacksmith range is for sale. Apparently he now has a full-time job so has decided to sell up.

If anyone is interested, I saw the announcement on the Great Western Study Group forum.

Thanks for the link.

I am looking to restore an old K's GWR 40' passenger brake van that is missing it's roof.

Can anyone suggest a suitable replacement item?

Thanks

On 11/10/2020 at 09:26, Captain Electra said:

Try Metro Bank - I was able to set up a business account with them in about two weeks. Really nice, friendly service.

Not accepting new applications for business accounts until next year according to their website.

SVR have announced this morning that all refreshment rooms, bars, Engine House, etc as well as all services are closed until at least the end of April.

There is a photo in Middleton Press' book 'Shrewsbury to Newtown' of a stopping train train from Welshpool to Shrewsbury comprising GWR coaches hauled by ex-LNWR 0-6-2T no. 27640 on 21st June 1947.

missed out on the Mercian Kit, if anyone has one spare, or another kit in process then id put my name down. Incidentally our house appears above Carlisle's chimneyin the one photo taken here in Bc. Currently bashing an old Mc Gowan 517 into No 1 . There is a bit of work involved to backdate Fair Rosamund to No 1.

Mercian Models were at the Warley Exhibition last month and had the Carlisle kit on the stand.

Well now Basil, the excellent St. Jacobs and Aberfoyle is 10 minutes from my house. So if you do visit there, you'll pretty much have to come by here for an ops session!  .    

 

Pete

Thanks, Pete

Having the current week between jobs means I've finally gotten out to chase the OSR.  It's a great way to spend part or all of a day if you get the weather and have a car.  It's easy to follow, their crews are on the radio for communications as they are switching and moving about.  Pictures and Videos from Monday this week are linked below:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55976115@N00/shares/23DWxK

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpysJVgYaxw3LdUUDoRxDVOBNoLURkhyV

 

Cheers

 

Stephen

Thanks for the links. Some great photos there.

The trouble with even Southern Ontario is it's big.  Really big.  But if you happen to fly into Pearson, there are a few places worth a look en route to Windsor if you have a car. You'd need one or two overnights to make your way down to Windsor for sure.

 

If you like class 1 action you can check out CP and CN around the GTA. CP at Guelph Junction, CN at Paris and both at Bayview Junction are kind of en route. If you like shortline action, a bit further west you could check out GEXR (some about to be handed back to CN) and OSR around Kitchener-Waterloo, Salford, Stratford, maybe even Goderich if you have the time/stamina. Also there's rumoured to be a half-decent O scale modern shortline layout in Waterloo (actually it's in my basement) that you'd be welcome to operate if of interest*.  

 

HTH,

 

Pete

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the information (and the kind offer).

Plan at the moment is to fly to Toronto Pearson and spend a couple of days sightseeing before taking the train to Windsor. I am not planning to hire a car and will be reliant on my cousin for transport in the Windsor area.

At the moment I am looking at being in Canada for late May/early June.

Basil

Hi,

I am planning to visit my cousin in Southern Ontario (Windsor) next May/June for the 1st time and am looking for suggestions for railroad places of interest to visit in the area.

Thanks in advance.

Basil

Just found this thread completely by accident on a search for coal traffic through Evesham. I thought I was the first to find the "perfect" actual location for a nice layout in the 11x6 space I had available. My layout is complete and although compressed somewhat I have been able to achieve I think a fair representation of the areas between the two bridges of the Midland line and also a little bit of the adjacent Great Western station. Look out for my efforts on facebook where my locoman 8f will be appearing on coal traffic. Incidentally I would love to know if a Stanier 8f ever ventured onto BRs version of this particular line, doubtful I know but hey ho.

There is a photo on the excellent Warwickshire Railways site of Stanier 8F No. 48700 on a northbound goods train at Studley & Astwood Bank Station so they did work on the Gloucester Loop Line between Evesham and Redditch in BR days.

So you are suggesting that the railways should discourage commuters?

 

Isn't that like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas?

 

 

Perhaps a new railway line running to Birmingham International/airport/NEC/HS2 from the west would help?  Hereford to Redditch on the existing line then follow the M42 accross.

 

Decent parkway stations and interchanges with other lines could help cut congestion right accross the south of the city.

I don't understand this suggestion. Hereford to Redditch is not an existing line - Redditch is the southern terminus of the cross-city line via a branch off the main line at Barnt Green. Travelling from Redditch to Hereford involves a change of trains at University or Birmingham NS stations.

What makes a BR branchline?

 

The main theme I'm taking from these replies is that many BR branchlinrs were underinvested and under utilised. Demand was limited and so few trains were run.

 

I now live in Redditch and with the cross city line trains to Birmingham are every twenty minutes but that's only after several million was invested in building a passing loop at Alvechurch. Before that it was every thirty minutes. I understan in the seventies the service was hourly at most.

 

So a prototypical BR layout would have an hourly service at most. But that might be a tad boring to operate.

When I moved to Redditch in 1974 there was a minimal service - two morning commuter trains to Birmingham (1 on Saturdays) and 2 from Birmingham in the evening on weekdays. Service frequencies on many lines were much less than today.

Plenty on the shelf in WHS Redditch this morning.

Another disappointing review on Sam's Trains channel on YouTube. Extremely bad running, very jumpy and erratic. Oxford aren't doing too well with locos are they.

My experience of its performance is entirely different. I ran mine in on a rolling road for about 30 minutes in each direction before fitting a decoder and find it is a very smooth runner. It easily pulled seven coaches on level track (no inclines on my layout).

Plenty on sale in W H Smith in Redditch today.

Were the milk tanks unloaded at the 'Milk Dock', or was that a relic from the days of milk vans attached to passenger trains? It could be that the advent of tanks meant that they were dealt with somewhere else.

The dedicated milk train (was it from somewhere called Donnington in Shropshire?) apparently used to run up the GWR route from Birmingham to Banbury; from there, it would be sent over the link to the former GCR route at Woodford Halse, where it would reverse again to travel down the GCR to Marylebone.

Milk trains ran from Dorrington, Shropshire on the Shrewsbury to Hereford line.

Donnington, Shropshire is further east near Telford and the site of a MOD depot.