rogerzilla

Thanks for the replies.  The old M7 now has a NOS Airfix 5 pole motor in it (I paid the local model shop to swap the worms over) and it both runs more smoothly and smells a whole lot better.

That V2 has been planned for five or six years, hasn't  it?  Is the body actually different to the split chassis one?  There are still mint/unused examples of the latter around for not much money, and they run well as long as you're ready for the axles to collapse the moment they come out of the box.  With Hornby having cornered the market in indifferent A3s, there's not much available for lovers of big apple green locos.

There's a chap 3D printing replacement gear and spacer sets now.  I'll try those as the material is different to Bachmann's brittle nylon.  Never-run split chassis locos can be had very cheap now; no worries about bearing plating wear with NOS examples but the spacers often crack after less than an hour's runtime - it's age, not use, that embrittles them.

Thanks.  I have a bag of resistors so I'll solder suitably-sized ones into the circuit.

I want the distant and home signals to switch together (they're boty 2-aspect, same spec apart from colour) and would also prefer a lower voltage for longevity and more realistic brightness.  Is this possible through one on-on switch?  Black is the common +ve wire and red/green are the switched -ve wires for both signals (they're LED so this matters).  Any ideas?

Very clever!  My limit is making the homes and distants change together.

The new signalling building at Didcot Railway Centre might be worth a visit.  They have stuff from various eras, including the whole 1960s Swindon power signalling panel for the GWML, wired up and working (with simulated trains).

16 hours ago, royaloak said:

A link would be useful.

For some reason my phone won't let me paste one.  The seller is wehonest_cn (made me smirk).  They also do Belisha beacons so must have some eye on the UK market!

About £12 for a bundle of five (two-aspect), available in red/green (home) or yellow/green (distant), and you can get 3-aspect if you like.  They're probably not based on any particular prototype but they are a lot more convincing (and a fraction of the cost) than the Hornby ones.  Quite finely made in bendy plastic and with an access ladder.  Below the £15 customs limit so no issues with delivery.  I'm quite impressed by the colour of the green LED, which has the correct bluish tinge of the real thing - will post a photo when I've wired them in properly.  They only need one hole drilling in the baseboard as the wires come out of the bottom of the main post - you just plant them.

On 02/06/2019 at 17:52, KenB said:

Lighting these signals was a step too far for me Rogerzilla although I had thought about it.  It would involve a small PCB with components to reduce the power of the warm white LED to a more sitable glow.  The spectacle lens are simply PVC glue filling the hole and once dry a thin wash of blue and red acrylic paint coloured them.

The beauty of semaphores is that you only need a steady supply to the warm white LED.  No switches required, as the movement of the arm does it all for you!   The wires can be very thin as they'll be carrying a fraction of an amp.  Maybe an idea for the next batch?

China doesn't really "do" intellectual property, so the chances are that any designs will eventually pop up under a different label.  DJ could sue the distributor and get an injunction banning the sale of any stolen designs in the UK, but that takes big money for IP lawyers. 

As an analogy, Brompton Bicycle successfully did this when Neobike (who had access to the technical drawings) produced unauthorised clones of their product in Taiwan, but Brompton Bicycle has fairly deep pockets.  I believe the clones are still sold in overseas markets where there is little realistic prospect of suing Neobike.  There is, of course, little market for OO gauge British outline railway models outside the UK.

We've now lost the last of our HSTs here in Swindon - the Class 800s aren't popular.  At least they've changed the seat upholstery, which used to look grubby after about a month's use due to the light colour, but the seat booking indicators are frequently not working and (as with most modern trains) luggage space is pathetic; hand luggage fits into the overhead racks but many people seem to move house by train, taking those enormous suitcases on wheels.

Bike booking is especially hopeless, as you book a space then generally find the entire space is already packed out with massive suitcases and surfboards. Maybe at Paddington you could find the train manager and get something done about it but, at an intermediate station, you have about 2 mins to get on the train so you end up blocking the gangway and standing all the way.  At least, with the HSTs, nothing else used the bike spaces.

I like the Watercress LIne but I'm holding off going until it's open to Alton again.  The last visit was also marred by a troupe of travelling Morris dancers whoi seemed to choose exactly the same trains as we did!

The local model shop just happened to have a 6 x 4 baseboard they'd once used at exhibitions.  I just had to scrape the old flock off it.  For £40, it was cheaper than making something.

Thanks.  It was sold as a Romford motor so it's going back!

The Gaugemaster ones with simulation do this although, if you turn off the power, a train "coasts" to a halt a bit sooner than I'd like.  Starting is more realistic.  It's fun to play with.

The flywheels in most motors won't significantly increase inertia, they just smooth out the pulses from the armature coils, especially useful with 3-pole or non-skew wound armatures.  To simulate the inertia of a train, you need a controller that can gradually change the track voltage (for DC) or tell the loco to graduallly change its speed (DCC).

Yes, lots of track packs in there.  There isn't a massive amount you can do with 6' x 4' in OO - I had more like 18' x 6' in the loft when I was little - but at least this gives the locos a decent run.

I have a motor here from Ebay in a Romford box but it has 3 poles and is utterly indistinguishable from an X.04 - I have two here to compare it with.  Did Romford make such a thing, or is is it just an old X.04 that someone tidy-minded has put in the box after upgrading?

Here's the 6' x 4' layout in my daughter's bedroom (it swings up and hangs from chains* when in use, so all the buildings are robust plastic ones as they need to be removed and replaced frequently).  Outer loop is 3rd radius, inner loop is 2nd radius so anything can run on these.  The very inner siding loop has a lot of 1st radius so the Class 14xx struggles, with its long 0-4-2 fixed wheelbase.  Everything else manages it ok.

Trains can change between loops as the crossover has insulating fishplates between the points.  As long as the loco has pickups on all wheels and the power setting is the same for both circuits, it's seamless.

Everything is setrack except for the short straight pieces in the middle of the 3rd radius loop curves, which were cut to fit.  All the track was secondhand.

All the points are at the front because you can't reach the back when it's horizontal!  Track cleaning is easy, though, because you do it when it's hanging against the wall.

I was using Hornby R.965 controllers screwed to the bottom LH corner but am halfway through changing to a Gaugemaster DS/HF-2.  I'm just waiting for a 6-pin automotive plug and socket to turn up, since the DS can't be bolted to the baseboard.

20190529_080617 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

*you need very strong fixings and chain, since a chipboard baseboard with timber framing is heavy

If you look at the complexity of a brick or stone skew arch, you can imagine how much something like that would cost to build.   These days you'd just use reinforced concrete.  Not as pretty, though.

They're nice.  Do you have lights behind the spectacles?  I think very warm white LEDs are available which mimic the yellowish colour of paraffin lamps (which you need to get a green light).

Is it possible to use them without point motors?  Most of the guides to installing them say that the polarity of the frog will be set by a switch on the motor.

I haven't used a Relco but I have used a Gaugemaster HF-2.  It's a shoddily-built thing (the circuit board is loose inside the case and rattles around!)  but slow running is incredible.  Even the old Hornby M7 tank, with a stone age X.04 motor, starts realistically.

Super detailed Duchess.  Looks great and runs like a champ.  The front steps are a bit fragile though, and the bogie can break them off if the loco is posted without carefully packing something soft around the bogie.

In value for money terms, it's hard to beat the Jinty. The crimson lake colour is ridiculous, though,so I sprayed mine black and put straw (non-shadow) LMS decals on it.  It looks a lot better.