richard.h

Fresh from it's trip through the works The Welsh Guardsman prepares to leave the shed.

And after turning.

Makes it's way out to take over The Thames-Clyde Express.

I've never been able to post a track plan of the layout because there never was one, it was all worked section by section to an overall idea I had and gradually evolved.

Anyway here is a video which does show the layout in full and then concentrates on some of the details.

3 hours ago, brossard said:

 

Don't know about the derailment issue, but I wanted to congratulate you on the Wright couplings.  I was assembling coach rakes with these just before I switched to 0 gauge.  I didn't do much running with them but what I did showed the system to be reliable. and much better at getting close coupling than Kadee.  Propelling wasn't an issue as I recall, however I did replace the rigid gangways with folded paper ones a la MJT.  These folded gangways provided a spring effect and prevented buffer lock.

 

Nowadays I think Hunt couplings are where it's at.

 

John

Thanks for that, yes the Wright couplings do the job where needed but like yourself I am now using Hunt Elite couplings on most of my coaching stock.

I find it actually saves me money because at an average of 50pounds a time I can't afford to buy all the coaches I would like and it's much easier to re-arrange the coaches into the different formations needed with Hunt Couplings compared to the Bachmann Pipe couplings I was using before to achieve close coupled sets.

10 hours ago, ikcdab said:

Hi Richard, I think you have the NEM pocket ones, but the principle is the same. Somehow the bogies get caught up. I really want to have a "fixed" coupling rather than loose coupled. I see how you have avoided this. 

Ian

Hi Ian

   Just to clarify my statement previously the coaches can be run in either direction but it is not advisable to push them in reverse.

  The problem with the Pullmans is the weight of the coaches and the stiffness in the bogie-coupling arm mechanism, especially as they age, which causes the them to derail on curves because the bogies are not swiveling freely and get pulled off the track.

By locating the connection on the coach body you have removed the stress on the bogie and solved the problem as I said previously the maximum rake I could run before was about 5 coaches, and my minimum radius is 36inches,  since the conversion I can run up to a 12 coach, my limit, without any derailment problems at all.

Richard

I not sure if we are talking about the exact same models but I had a similar experience with my Pullmans, I couldn't run a rake of more than 4 coaches without them derailing.

After trying all available modern coupling without success I ended up fitting a Hook and Bar system as per Tony Wright and they now run perfectly as long as you don't need to reverse them.

Attached is a photo showing the system.

Richard

Here's a video of my recent weathering of a Fowler Tank  Engine using a slightly different method from normal.

Spanish Import

Well my parcel arrived this morning after I managed to get the paperwork and payment sorted out but it was a scary moment when I realised that the only other option besides delivery was to destroy it rather than return it.

The next difficulty is the cost, the item was 141.00 pounds to buy and importation was 70.00euros made up of Spanish VAT and import duties so I am going to have to more selective on what I order in the future at those rates.

Still never mind it's a funny world we live in post Brexit and Covid with lots of new problems for everyone so in the words of a Mr Churchill I will just have to K.B.O.

Living in Spain it has been quite difficult to get parcels delivered here since Brexit.

There are different companies and different ways of doing it but all of them require more paperwork and charges than before.

If you use Royal Mail low value items are delivered with just a small local tax from the Post Office.

Higher value items are held at the main sorting office in Madrid pending processing.

I had one such in February which they kept for six weeks and then sent back because, it had been in their office for too long, even though they had all the correct documents.

Now it seems they have changed the rules again, I have another package in Madrid and have five days to provide all the paperwork correctly filled in, if not they can destroy the parcel.

So that's the EU at its best, I have double checked with a translator that everything has been filled in correctly so now its time to keep my fingers crossed and hope that they are going to play fair.

Finally managed to get away on holiday so not much work done recently, but here is a trip around the layout to show where we are at the moment.

1 hour ago, great northern said:

But it isn't an upgrade Richard, it is an entirely new model, body, chassis and tender. I agree we have had a long wait, but Covid and its ramifications will have been a factor, and Bachmann had already acknowledged that they should only announce new models when they were near completion, which they now do.

Yes, I realized as soon as I posted that I shouldn't have put upgrade it is indeed a new model but it is still an unacceptable wait  in my opinion.

The only loco that took a similar amount of time in my experience was the Heljan Garret and you were made aware at the time that due to the complexity of the project there would be a long wait for it. No such warning was given for the V2 so it has been in the production pipeline forever.

If Bachmann are only going to announce models nearing completion in the future then that is a step in the right direction otherwise if they don't then they will be outperformed by newer more nimble manufacturers.

With regard to the V2 I have had one on pr-order now for around three years which is a ridiculous time to wait for an upgrade to an existing model.

When you see how quickly the the new smaller manufacturers are getting their designs to completion and delivery Bachmann are going to start losing out to these companies if they don't improve their production times.

The model itself is more detailed and looks a decent improvement on the previous one and certainly the chassis should be better plus DCC ready so I still look forward to receiving  mine, eventually!

Richard

Brilliant work, Bradfield was great and remains on of my all-time favourite layouts but you have taken things to a new level with the amount of detail built into this one.

Here's the latest loco to arrive  the D11/1 Somme straight out of the box.

A lovely model but totally unsuited for working at Byford so it had to go through the Weathering Works.

Some may dislike the treatment but a lovely shiny loco would stand out like a sore thumb on the layout as they all get some weathering to give them a workday appearance.

Sun Castle Hornby A2/3

After being suitably weathered Sun Castle was ready for work and here is a video of it preparing for duty.

Here is Sparrow Hawk waiting to depart, this was a picture that I couldn't take before as all the controls for the engine shed would have been visible, by adding a dummy wharehouse wall I have disguised them and it also stops my shirt sleeves catching and breaking the platform lamps, quite a few lights have ended up in the bin that way, progress!

I think an A4 looks good from almost any angle so here are a couple of photos to prove it.

A recently completed short video showing some Locos at work on the East Coast Mainline.

A lot depends on the glue you have used if it is a PVA water based glue you can soften it with warm water so after you have cut through and isolated the track with a cutting disc you can easily remove the offending section, other adhesives will require different solvents.

The new section will need the fishplate joiners to be recessed so that they can be slid out afterwards to ensure alignment and good electrical contact.

Here's Kingfisher resplendent in its new blue livery.

So no sign of weathering as we see it make its way out of Town.

And into the Country.

I have been experimenting recently with using banking engines on the layout so here is a short video showing my progress.

I would think that it is either electrical, i.e.are the frogs being switched to the correct polarity as the point is changed, what are you using as a switching device.

Or, mechanical, what track are you using Code100 or finescale, what rolling stock are you running, are the wheels gauged correctly and not shorting on the point frogs.

I have been experimenting with couplings recently and one of the types I wanted to try are the magnetic type "Hunts Elite" so I bought a selection to play with.

The main reason for trying them is that at the moment most of my coaches are Bachmann and I use their vacuum pipe connectors to get realistic close coupling, the drawback with this is they are difficult to separate  if I want to re-arrange the coaches into different rakes.

After some trials I found that the intermediate size coupling was an almost perfect match for the Bachmann and worked well.

So I know have what I wanted, close coupling and flexibility and as they are cheaper than my other option "Kadees" the plan now is to put magnetic couplings in the rakes and Kadees on the ends

A lovely set of photos of The Coronation Scot and a reminder of times past but for me the Duchess in its normal unstreamlined form was the best looking loco I ever saw, a beautiful combination of power and style.

I bought a selection of Hunt Elite couplings last week and have been very impressed with them.

The main reason for buying them is that most of my coaching stock is Bachmann and I use their Vacuum Pipe close connectors to get a realistic close distance between the coaches.

The problem then is that the coaches are not easy to disconnect to form up into different sets which with the average price of coaches at around the £50.00 mark makes it expensive to build 8 coach sets so I wanted a more flexible system.

After a few trial runs I found that the intermediate size couplings were the best match and behaved perfectly with close coupling on the straights bigger gaps on the curves.

As can be seen from the photo they are a good fit, trouble-free in operationand a saving on my second option of Kadees so the plan now is Hunt couplings between the coaches and keep the Kadees on the ends.

I just need to look at the other sizes now and work out what they are best suited for.

7 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Over the last few weeks, I gave converted 26 locos to Kadee couplings, together with 4 rakes of carriages.

 

At this stage I am only putting Kadees on the outer ends of the rakes, but using a close coupling in between carriages. The Bachmann sunshine carriages will need Kadees on all the carriages in order to get rid of the large tension lock (non NEM) they are fitted with.

 

I have also done Kadees on some wagons, although I need to identify sets of wagons with Kadee on the outer ends only.

 

To be continued...

Kadees are working out expensive the moment.

Have you looked at Hunts magnetic couplings? I have been fitting them to my coaching stock and find that with the different sizes available I can get the close coupling I prefer plus the ability to easily split rakes of coaches and re-assemble as required.

I usually set CV201 to 0, this is the Loco start delay so it helps to cut down the problem where the Loco temporarily stops and then cycles through the sequence for a few seconds before restarting.