richard.h

Virtually every Film or TV program that has been recorded after the demise of mainline steam seems seems to have inaccuracies in it, I suspect that the film crews just go to the nearest preservation line and use what is available there because for the vast majority of viewers that's perfectly acceptable. Iv'e stopped remarking on it at home because the inevitable reply is "well you would know that wouldn't you"

I have a Duchess with a decoder from YooChoos, it's on a Zimo Chip with Stay-Alive and performs well. Personally I am very happy with it but I suppose that's subjective because how do you compare, if you go online and listen to recordings its difficult to judge because you don't know the quality of the equipment they used to make the recordings. The only sure way would be to attend a show where different manufacturers had their products running then you could decide which suited you.

Assuming that this is now the correct thread for all things concerning TTS Sound does anyone know if there is a suitable place on the decoder where you could connect a capacitor to perform the Stay-Alive function. My preferred choice of decoder is Zimo which has this facility available and while TTS is not in the same class, for me it does a decent job for a third of the price on some locos, but I do feel that Stay-Alive would be a benefit for slow running over complex pointwork.

I can't offer any better advice than that which as already been given, basically divide the offending track into smaller sections which can be tested individually until the fault is located. When you do find the fault please let us know as I don't know about other people but it's niggling me.

It will be nice to see this one develop especially as it bring back memories of days out on Whitby, the buildings are certainly made to high quality so it could be an outstanding layout. Can I ask what you have chosen to use for your bullhead rail as I would like to try bullhead on a new extension.

The other problem now is that a lot of Hornby's production seems to be in limited production runs. I can understand that they don't want to oversupply and be left with unsold stock but if you want a particular model you are now often forced to pre-order to guarantee getting one. In the past you could wait till the model was released,read the reviews and have a look at it in store before you decided to buy, now you have to buy blind whether it's design clever, railroad or top-of-range.

Sorry I didn't make myself clear, all the LEDs I have bought usually come with something like a !k resistor supplied which I use or provide an alternative if not supplied. But the initial post on this thread seems to suggest that the LEDS are being driven directly from a twelve volt supply but makes no mention of how they are wired or if a resistor is used in the circuit. If so this is not correct and will probably result in damage to the LEDs.

The other factor in this is the brightness of your lights, looking at your photos they do seem very bright but this may be exaggerated by everything else being in total darkness. LEDs normally need a minimum 3volt supply to trigger them after that they can get brighter with higher voltage and also burn out quicker. You mention a 12 volt supply this shouln't be fed to every LED either put resisters in series with each light to drop the voltage or couple them up so for instance you have four lights across a 12volt supply so that each receives 3 volts. Sometimes it is necessary to play about with the voltage to get the effect you want but it looks more effective when you have a pool of light under each lamp rather than a floodlit effect. I have twelve LED lamps in my MPD and I bought a switched output power supply 1.5-12 volts to supply them so that it was easier to adjust the voltage until I got the effect I wanted.

A daily visit to Peterborough North has been a feature for me for quite a some time now, I always look forward to the latest quality photos showing the most recent happenings.Having said that it amazes me the amount of work you must put into it, and the hours per week needed to take and edit the number of photos you provide. P.N. is your layout so enjoy what you have created, If and when you ever want to update us with new developments you will find a ready audience waiting.

I run DCC now but can only agree that something like DPDT switch as advised should do the job for you, the main thing is the improvement it makes. At first I installed peco insulfrog crossings to save on wiring but the performance was not acceptable, when I changed to wired and switched electrofrogs the improvement was dramatic and now even the shortest wheelbase 0-4-0 will run at a crawl across them without hesitation.

I originally intended to use Cobalts a few years ago when starting to motorize my points, bought six, 2 worked 2 stuck and 2 clicked, so I tried Tortoise motors and never had a faulty one, they all worked perfectly straight out of the box every time and I've bought quite lot. When I contacted the dealer about them I was told to get in touch with DCC in Australia 'they're very helpful'. I understand that Cobalt have now sorted out the teething problems and that their point motors are now very reliable but i am perfectly happy with the choice I made and if anyone wants six Cobalts they are in a box under my layout

I think it's from P&D Marsh PDZ10, I have one that looks identical.

Just finished reading through this thread which I really enjoyed, it's a great layout and I particularly like the way you have modified standard structures to fit your layout and also put together small cameos with figures to create interest and atmosphere. This will be definitely one for me to keep an eye on in future. On the subject of Kadees could you tell me what type of uncouplers you use, I have been retrofitting them to all the ends my rakes and the rear of the locos but as the track is already gravelled it seems super magnets or surface mounts would be the only options

Really enjoying watching this develop, I was a big fan of Bradfield which I thought was superb and still watch the videos now of the daily train movements. This layout promises to be even better and it also reminds me of the many hours I stood at the Platform ends with sandwiches and pop in hand waiting for something new to arrive

No I don't think so, I tried the the website listed on this thread first and it said that they were not shipping outside the US at the moment so later on I did a search and found www.scenicexpress.com which would ship to Europe, so unless the original company had changed their policy that's where I bought them from. The actual items are listed as EX0240 Super Sage value packs in their product range

I can only agree with other posts in that it is a very impressive layout modeled to a standard that very few of us could achieve I was particularly interested by the way you made the trees as it was a method I had not seen before, I've used sea moss previously which look pretty good but I feel are let down a bit by the thinness of the trunk at ground level. Anyway inspired by your article I found an American supplier who would ship to Europe and ordered some Sage Brush Armatures, they finally turned up last week and I was able to build my first tree with materials to hand. Even by my standards it looks really good and is the most natural looking tree on the layout so I can't wait now to get a selection of vary coloured leaf material so that more can be produced. Richard

Just found this after receiving the latest BRM, read the article, watched the video, stunning layout. I am really looking forward to reading through it and hopefully picking up a some advice on improving my scenery and buildings.

Great work as usual, I always find your layout a good place for obtaining new ideas on building as you explain how you have made things. Where did you get the load for the Warflat. I have been looking for something suitably bulky to pit on mine.

Hi I don't know where you are based but since Royal Mail brought in its paint and glue ban a few years ago it has become very difficult to get these items sent abroad. After a lot of searching the best one I have found in the UK, for me anyway is airbrushsupplyonline.com and in Europe slotcar-union.com they both stock the Humbrol range including the railway colours, and airbrush also have the lifecolour series. Richard

I have used different cleaning methods over the years with mixed results but have now settled on the CMX machine, its expensive but I would rather have one CMX and nineteen locos performing well than no CMX and twenty locos struggling. A Deltic is used to push it around the layout for best results and after about twenty minutes everything is clean and it also stays cleaner for longer than other methods I have used, the only place it tends to miss is the point of the frog but a quick polish with a track rubber cleans that up. I use IPA when I can get it but also find that Nail Polish Remover is just as good ( having first tested the brand on some spare rail section to be sure it doesn't damage the plastic)

I know its not what you asked for but Hattons stock six different sizes of Plastruct T section if they are of any use to you. Richard

That's a beautiful rake of coaches and brings back memories of watching the Yorkshire Pullman at Leeds Station with all those posh people as we thought of them sitting at their dining tables. Could I just ask if you have any problems regarding the running of any of your Pullman sets, I notice that this is a set of ten closely coupled with predominately Kadees. There is a known problem with Hornby Pullmans whereby the weight/resistance of them causes the extending couplings of the first coaches to stop working properly on curves so that the bogies ride up and derail. On my layout I cannot run rakes longer than six coaches without this problem occurring. There is a cure developed by Tony Wright where you replace the couplings with wire hooks and bars secured to the coach bodies but I thought it might be worthwhile asking about your experience before I go to that level.

I have a similar setup and wired it up using the secondary switches on my Tortoise Point motors. With the lines set to run straight through it doesn't matter what the polarity of a fully isolated crossing is. If you treat it as a route setting then if you say cross from top to bottom you use the spare switch on the appropriate point motor to set the crossing to the correct polarity for that route. When you reset the route to straight through the point motor reverses the polarity so that it is ready for the route bottom to top when selected. As you are never going to set a route where both crossings are activated at once there shouldn't be a conflict. As others have said you can also use a dual frog juicer just to feed the crossing if required the last one I bought was around £28.00 so its not an expensive solution.

Not sure that I understand your problem but if you are using Electrofrogs straight out of the packet i.e. you haven't modified them into live switchable frogs then the power to them comes only from the switchblade. In that case poor running is usually due to poor contact between the switchblade and the main rail. Firstly check that the internal spring is still intact, you can buy spares to replace them if broken. if the springs are still operating and throwing the point then check for dirt between the switchblade and main rail as this is usually the cause of poor running. You can clean between them with a nail file or small file but support the other side of the switchblade with something like flat screwdriver so that you don't damage or distort it.

One place one Loco, A Duchess at Hest Bank 1958. Taking on Water - - - Building up Speed - - - Ready to Climb Ah if only, I know it can be partly recreated now but then I wouldn't be the same youth in awe of those magnificent machines