geoffers

Oooops! Popped into my local Great Eastern Models, Norwich, today and a raft of Class 37s have arrived. Found a single D6702 available and just had to have it. Have just ordered the Class 37 (pre-refurbishment) Accurathrash sound decoder from Accurascale to fit into it in due course. For interest Great Eastern have a few D6704s, 37001, and another variant currently available, together with several Manors.

"...Secondly, I've been looking at the rather tall starting signal when heading South from Evercreech Junction. Does anyone know just how tall this signal was?..." I might be able to give you an idea on this. I few years ago I was involved in the partial dissembling of a OO-gauge scratch-built model of Evercreech Junction. A beautifully crafted and most effective layout this was, and good enough to be highlighted in a popular model railway magazine in 2010. I was offered some items and the station building is now incorporated in my own layout. I rescued some signals, one being the very tall signal in question. The measurements of this model signal are 19.2 cm from base to finial top, and 16.2 cm from base to signal platform. This equated to 48 feet and 40.5 feet in reality. I am not sure how the builder came to these figures but am sure he very carefully researched it and may well have used photographs, including the collection of the late Eric Rimmer (available from the S&DRT) to work out the measurements from adjacent buildings. He also visited the Junction post -closure and measured up the remaining buildings. So I have a great faith that these measurements will be close to reality.

Adjusting the motors can be frustrating. They need to be correctly aligned both horizontally and vertically. Very true. I have spent some frustrating times adjusting them, even to the point of making my own throw bars. It really doesn't take much to jam things. A single errant piece of ballast can do so. Also true. Keep the surrounds clean They are fairly quiet. They make the most noise when they've reached the end of travel and are slipping on their screw. If you get the throw correct they won't do that. True again. Would I use them again. Not sure but when you get them right they do work very well.

Not seen any comments on here so just wanted to say I thoroughly enjoyed my visit on Saturday. Some really good layouts on show.

Too true sadly, though Mrs geoffers and me can still do a certain amount, We found a chap who will come round a few times a year to do things like pruning etc. which knackers my wrists and shoulders. He did a lot of gardening for our even older neighbours and is very good. He charges £17 an hour to give you an idea and uses his own tools, and I pay him promptly via BACS. So see if your neighbours can recommend, and also try your Parish Magazine (if you haver access to one) and local shop notice boards.

Try these publications. "Legends of the Somerset and Dorset Railway" by Alan Hammond. On page 93 top there is a photo of Hymek D7024 on the MP's inspection train at Stalbridge in 1965. "The Somerset and Dorset - Aftermath of the Beeching Axe" by Tim Deacon. Photos of freight, milk and demolition trains. on p39 there is a photo of Class 47 D1986 and E6108 at Blandford. Also p39-41 has photos of trains at Bailey Gate milk and p84-88 of demo trains. Three books by Jeffrey Grayer. "Sabotaged and Defeated Revisited" with a photo of the mystery Class 47 at Broadstone Junction p93 top. Also "Sabotaged and Defeated Revisited - A Final Glimpse Vol 1 and 2". Volume 2 "Evercreech to to Bournemouth has some rare photos between Blandford and Broadstone. Don't forget the S&DRT's "Pines Express" magazines which have covered diesels on the S&D.

"....am i the only one to find this completely bonkers...." It does seem bonkers, but then the world has gone bonkers anyway.

"....But what about other brands of decoders. I asked ESU about the LokPilot 5 and was told function button F6 will turn it on and off...." Gosh!!! Is it really as simple as that.....!!!!!!! Great discovery - thanks for that. Sadly I cannot try it on my Manor as it is now out of my hands on the way to Accurascale but I guess they may try it.

Met up with Accurascale reps today at Great Eastern Models this morning, Richard and Paul, and various upcoming models were on view. Tasty!!! They also investigated the stay-alive issue on 7800 "Torquay Manor" I have mentioned on here earlier and the consensus is that it is a duff capacitor pack. So they have persuaded me to return the loco, via GEM, to them for repair. Fingers crossed. I shall miss the loco whilst it is away in the shops. Very much enjoyed chatting to them.

Likewise - DHL around Norwich have been excellent so far,

"Midnight on the Great Western" by Thomas Hardy. "At the Railway Station, Upwey" by Thomas Hardy "Adlestrop" by Edward Thomas.

With the WR keen on removing steam and the closure of the S&D on the books, as it were, it would have been a costly and wasteful exercise to train drivers etc and establish a diesel infrastructure. The SR was for a long time responsible for loco provision and they was steam at the Bournemouth, and to a fair extent Eastleigh, end until July 1967 so steam locos were the order of the day up from the south. Politics might have been at play at the WR end with the attitude that the modernisation to diesel haulage was to benefit WR services and not be "wasted" on the S&D - who knows? As far as "prohibitions" - well the Peaks and Class 40s were no doubt too heavy, the Class 47s were still being built. Could have used 37s and 33s I suppose but they were in demand elsewhere. 24s, 25s? - maybe not enough grunt? I am surprised that DMUs were not in greater use but possibly the the idea of running down the S&D was in people's minds and there was no will to improve services and the economics. I believe the Unions had put forward this idea but were ignored, and even Ivo Peters.

Not long before closure, 1965 I think, a Class 35 or Hymek as we knew them, was photographed on an MP.s Inspection train south of Templecombe. The MP was for North Dorset, maybe Sir Richard Glynn, who was on a jolly, sorry information collecting trip, regarding potential hardships that his constituents would encounter if the line closed. The photograph was in one of Alan Hammond's publications on the S&D but cannot recall which one at present. After closure the demolition trains were diesel hauled with Class 08s, 22s, and 35s north of Blandford, and Class 33s so the south on Bailey Gate milk trains and Blandford goods, and after Jan 1969 Class 3s on demolition trains with the with the odd 73 thrown in. Of course also an excursion to Blandford which had a Class 47 (D1986) and a 74 (E6108), all evidenced by photographs. There is also mysterious Class 47 visitor which has been photographed emerging from the Corfe Mullen cut-off into Broadstone hauling a goods or demo train but no-one, to my knowledge, has ever managed to ascertain which loco and why. There is an unsubstantiated report that the odd Peak banked up trains from Bath GP to the portal of Devonshire Tunnel before closure but no photos have ever emerged to date apart from photos of Peaks at Bath GP station..

Oh good. Will try and beat the traffic to pop in.

I did initially reach out to you and have tried various attempts to fix it, including installing the ESU LokPilot you sell for the Manor. 14 volts? - I cannot say as I do not have a voltmeter to check, but the DCC Concepts AlphaMeter shows 17 to 18 volts. Other stay-alives also work including the Manor with the ESU LokSound v5 you produce for the Manor. Maybe I should try one? Yes, while it would be good to sort it out, the loco is excellent in all other respects and runs well on the layout and I don't know if I want the faff of sending it to you. But thanks for your comments and thanks for the locos too.....and Siphons.....and probably more in the future.

We have been battling a Box Tree Moth infestation on our box hedge. This is an imported species and is now prevalent around Norwich. Three ways to cope with it:- 1) Pick out all the caterpillars. 2) Chemical. 3) Remove and burn and replace with a similar shrub. We are getting on top of it and the infestation is much reduced this year. The box can recover if given the chance. There is a chemical solution now which only affects the Box Tree Moth. Sad really as they are an attractive insect.

I feel for you. Likewise I have given up with the stay-alive on Torquay Manor after trying three separate non-sound decoders and fiddling with CVs.

FWIW - 7812 "Erlestoke Manor" originally fitted with a Bachmann 36-567A Next18 decoder - worked well including stay-alive. Refitted with Accurascale's ESU Manor sound decoder - stay-alive works, excellent sound (if a bit muted), and runs very smoothly. 7800 "Torquay Manor" ( non-sound) originally fitted with Zimo MN180 Next18 decoder, excellent performance but no stay-alive, then with Bachmann 36-567A, excellent performance but no stay-alive, and finallly with Accurascale's ESU LokPilot Next18 Manor decoder, excellent performance but no stay-alive.

Reading through the Class 37 posts I noticed mention of altering CV259 in the LokSound v5 Clas 37 sound decoder to increase volume of the Class 37 speaker sound. In the Class 37 post JohnC increased the setting to 255 and the sound was indeed increased. I thought I would try this on the LokSound v5 Manor sound decoder which I bought separately from Accurascale and installed on 7812 "Erlestoke Manor". Now the LokSound v5 "guff" says CV259 max is set at value 128 but on checking I found CV259 was actually set at 160 not 128 so I then increased it to 255 and indeed the sound has got a little louder. I am learning more about the intricacies of this all the time, thanks to the expertise and advice shown on RMWeb. Thanks for this. Hope this increase doesn't blow the speakers though!

Also found fitting a decoder into the Jinty challenging. In the end I opted for a Gaugemaster Opti DCC22 Very Small Decoder (8-pin). This fitted and runs very satisfactorily. Not sure if they are available now as GM has rebranded their decoders in their Ruby range but the below might be the equivalent:- https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/gaugemaster-dcc92.html

Agree. Am enjoying them when they run. They just look right.

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes I have thought about it but to be honest the constant removal of the tender of 7800 is starting to cause damage with bits falling off and the tender connection becoming detached during the process. It is not too easy to re-attach with arthritic fingers and dodgy eyesight. So I am very, very reluctant to do so. I did try a Bachmann 36-567A in 7800 initially (not the same one as in 7812) but whereas it worked in 7812 the 7800 one did not give stay-alive. I suppose I could send it to Accurascale for them to have a look at but I did purchase the loco from my local shop and I don' want to hassle them with it, and it is too much of a faff for a loco that, apart from the stay-alive, is working well. I think I will abandon this now and just enjoy the loco for what it gives.

Reset tried. No difference.

I can try this with the LokPilot. Did try it with the Zimo to no avail. But will give it another go with the LokPilot.

Thanks guys. Not seen as patronising at all. Happy to see your views. Have fiddled with CVs 31, 32, and 323 as well as 113. It may possibly be that I pressed, as Eric Morecambe once said "....all the right notes. but not necessarily in the right order....". Control is a NCE PowerCab run through a DCC Concepts Alpha System and the Alpha Meter shows 17-18 volts, though I have not actually tested the voltage in the track. Thing is....the stay-alive in sister Accurascale loco 7812 "Erlestoke Manor" (fitted with the ESU LokSound v5 from Accurascale) does work, and indeed it worked when originally fitted with a Bachmann 36-567A Next18 decoder. So unless I have messed up with the LokPilot CVs I can only assume it is a stay-alive or a PCB issue and I am certainly not up to messing with these.