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cheshepe

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  1. cheshepe

    until

    Unfortunately we cannot bring the model of Millom (N), as our Chairman had urgent surgery barely two weeks ago. However, unwilling to let our good friend Phil Tuer down, we have agreed to bring his new micro layout 'Parkhouse' (N) instead. This layout is set in North Staffs BR Corporate Blue period and includes electro magnets for interesting shunting manoeuvres. We've been busy this evening adding Peco lift arms to some additional wagons so that we can vary the stock using the yard. DMU fleet currently includes 101 (refurbished white / blue), 108 (blue / grey) and 121 in plain BR blue. We'll be adding BHE kits to this fleet soon. Locos will include blue Class 03, 04, 08, 20 & 25 on local freight trips. Again Millom Railway & Scale Modellers apologise for any inconvenience. We trust that you'll enjoy the replacement layout which we are presenting and understand the genuine reason for not bringing Millom!
  2. cheshepe

    Ask Dave

    cheshepe replied to DJM Dave's topic in DJModels

    Hi Dave, hope that you have a great holiday! Thanks for treating our small club so brilliantly in 2012. Based on how well you treated our exhibition and our members, I've ordered a couple of your first N Gauge models even though they're outside of my usual modelling areas. Best of Luck with your endeavours and I look forward to receiving these new masterpieces mate!
  3. cheshepe
    Simon, just reading back through these mailings and I noted something that concerns me! Your reference to the Dapol model signal failing. I have one exactly the same and having already filed down the base to bed it neatly into my existing ballasted track area, it cannot be sent back. I am an electrical engineer and have found that there is no output from the chip inside the signal base. My input voltage is correct and within the Dapol specs and the switched input is also fine. However there is no voltage output from the internal chip and the LED does not light. I used the two signals for a whole weekend at Wigan then found one to be dead on the next club meeting. We have our own small show this weekend and therefore |I have replaced the faulty signal. At over £20 a shot I hope that this is not a common fault. Both the present signals are working well. Once our show is over I shall check the chip number and find the reference drawing on the Rapid Electronics website so that I can see what this IC actually does, then I will try replacing it. If this works I will use the old signal on our other club layout, Millom. Can you please let me know if you found any fault with your bad signal and whether you returned it? Dave Jones of Dapol is exhibiting at our show and I will discuss this with him, so it would be handy to know your findings. regards, Pete Chesher MBE
  4. cheshepe
    Ray, thanks will do! Make your mind up regarding the name then we can get it posted on our website! Regards this weekend, don't worry Rowan is working at the exhibition and he'll gladly give you a tea / lunch break. best regards, Chesh.
  5. cheshepe
    Ray, the new layout is looking great, particularly like the buildings. Okay for Millom 2014? Chesh.
  6. cheshepe
    What a fantastic small layout. I always say that the massive layouts are not always the best. You have managed to get so much atmosphere into this model without overcrowding. Very difficult to pull off successfully but you have managed it! This is the sort of layout that I look for when visiting exhibitions, not the large tail chasers. Oh.. and I am a north based LMS fan! We have Ray Slack's Bodmin at our small show next month, another great GWR layout. If a model is good, it is worth looking at regardless of region or scale and you have inspired me to have a go at modelling Bridport (where my grandad lived) which I have been thinking about for some time.
  7. cheshepe
    Having exhibited our micro layout Hartley with the NGS mini stand at Manchester MRX this weekend, I can confidently state that Dapol will do well with these signals regardless of the negative comments posted on this forum. The average modeller wants signals that will work and look reasonable but they must also take a few knocks here and there. We had loads of queries regarding the Dapol signals and all comments were positive. We need to remember that Dapol, Hornby, Bachmann et al need to cater for the average Joe Soap who is new to the hobby and they don't just cater for a few serious enthusiasts who want all singing and dancing controls tied to a laptop. In our experience many modellers are frightened to fit a plug in decoder never mind understanding advanced control systems. I have lost count of the number of times that I have renumbered a DCC loco for visitors to shows who cannot read an address. This is why I suspect that Dapol decided to keep things simple. I have made a good number of scale N gauge signals, complete with lenses and working LED lamps. However they take an age to built from brass and, because they are true scale, are easily damaged. I won't hesitate to use Dapol signals wherever we require single arm home or distants. On the club's exhibition layouts I plan to replace the arms with MSE components and to add additional home made limit switches on the unused side of the 'actuator arm' for feedback to the control panels. It will still be faster than building from brass and result in a stronger signal. True, it will make the warranty invalid but so does weathering and fitting hard wired decoders to my locos! I am sure that those who desperately want feedback will find a means of doing so. If not, we can always scratch build our own signals!
  8. cheshepe
    I installed my two upper quadrant home signals this week. I tested the first and then I filed down both bases, taking a few mm off each side / end, then blended them into the layout with ballast. I then tested them after wiring in to my AC supply. Doh, one of them wanted to work as a lower quadrant and jammed in a low position. Moral of the story, as always, is to test first as once work like this is undertaken I don't think my local model shop would accept a return! Anyway, I softened my ballast with a little warm water and opened the mechanical casing, which was very easy, one screw in the base. It was apparent that the centre mechanism had not be installed correctly at the factory and it was a two minute job to reset and then re-install on my micro layout. It appears that Dapol have used a standard mechanism and that the operating 'screw' is reversed for use on the lower quadrant signals. Is this assumption correct, Dave? I am very satisfied with these. Excellent Dapol! As noted elsewhere the arms are a little heavy for the fine scale modeller and I will be swapping with MSE parts on our club layouts. I will also be braver and reduce the bases even further as I am now confident that, performed with care, this can be done without damaging the model. I have not changed the arms on our micro layout as this is designed to show N Gauge entrants what is available commercially and I expect that the average modeller will be more than happy with Dapol's excellent efforts. For those using DCC and whinging about compatability, there are pulsed stationary decoders out there which can be used to operate the signal. These could also be used to latch relays for your feedback indication, on either DC or DCC. Dapol should be applauded for a great bit of innovation. I have already heard some moaning about the price, just imagine what the cost could be for fully DCC compatible signals. When considering the cost of servos, cards etc, this seems to me a reasonable price for a good product. Until now we have been forced to make signals using brass and I feel that these will sell in large volumes.
  9. cheshepe
    Just bought a couple of the upper quadrant signals from Dapol at the Maryport show today. Admittedly the arms are a little heavy compared to my scracthbuilt MSE efforts but they will be sufficient for most modellers who don't wish to spend days messing with tiny bits of brass. I will be adding these to my micro layout, Hartley, early next week. Very good effort by Dapol and something that many UK modellers have been crying out for.
  10. cheshepe
    until
    Millom Model Railway Exhibition 2012 at The Palladium Theatre, Millom, Cumbria (Sponsored by Cumbria County Council Neighbourhood Forum, The Hadfield Trust & Eon Climate & Renewables). Saturday 1st Sept 10am - 5pm, Sunday 2nd Sept 10am - 4pm. Adults £3.50, Concessions £3.00, Families £8.00 (2+2 but we are flexible & use common sense if your family is a little larger!) Programme 50p Disabled Access to all layouts Free Parking Light Refreshments Licensed Bar Finalised Listing: Museum of Transport (OO Gauge, Robin Brogden, Heysham. Trams, trains, buses, canal boats and even a hot air balloon) Bodmin (N Gauge, Ray Slack, Stockport), GWR layout of the Cornish station. Welham Green MPD (N Gauge, Dave Jones - known around these parts as Dapol Dave, Liverpool. Modern Era based in London area but expect to see latest Dapol products) Hartley (N Gauge, Pete Chesher MBE, Fictional Micro layout on which we run whatever we wish, from LMS steam to contemporary scene). 009 Scenic Moutain Railway (009, Brian Caton, Selby. Live steam 4mm scale on N Gauge track. Single cylinder steam engines built by Brian and run on a scenic hilly layout). Plum Lake (N Gauge, Roger Hawkins, Barrow-in-Furness. Japanese scenic layout with overhead catenary. Japanese steam through to modern era Japan). Helm (HO, Ray O'Neill, Workington. Ray returns with his extended DCC layout based in the US). Imagination (N Gauge, Barrie Tomlinson, Millom). This may be Barrie's last layout due to ill health and we had to persuade him to exhibit one last time. Uses mainly Metcalfe kits with some scratch building to show what can be built at home by the average modeller with some 'imagination'. Asgwrn Ci (Asgwen Quay) (009, Stuart Bass, Cleator. Stuart will be at Millom with his new layout, the track is complete and the lake scene taking shape. This is a work in progress and will return in 2014. 5" Gauge Steam Rides (South Lakes Model Engineering, Live steam rides on the green, included in the entrance fee. In 2010 as many adults as children enjoyed these!) Military Display & Warhammer (John Bennett & Rowan Dust-Ambler, Millom. John and Rowan show off their work on a static display including Ships, planes, helicopters, tanks and Warhammer). Large Scale Ships (A static display by a local modeller).
  11. cheshepe
    until
    Millom Model Railway Exhibition at The Palladium Theatre. Saturday 10am - 5pm, Sunday 10am - 4pm. Adults £3, Child / Concessions £2, Family £7 10 Layouts, new to Millom show, and Live 5" Steam Rides (weather permitting) Layouts include: ORMSGILL - G Gauge layout British outline, set in North west Lake District quarries, as seen in recent BRM, Maurice Bramley CUYAHAGO - Z Gauge US Nickel Plate lines by Kev Smith MANX ELECTRIC RAILWAY IOM - (OO12) Millom Railway & Scale Modellers, 3ft gauge line around Laxey, all scratchbuilt. LAXEY WATER WHEEL - A 4mm scale working model of the Laxey wheel (water driven) THE BLOCK YARD - OO, based on a wooden overhead crane used to build concrete blocks for sea defences. SHAY TOLL ROAD - HO, DCC ISLE OF MAN RAILWAYS - OO, LIVE STEAM. Scratchbuilt single piston spirit fired models on a detailed layout. RED MOUNTAIN RAILROAD - N, North America 1940's to present day GE AC4400's. HELM LEASING - HO, US outline DCC. HUNTSVILLE - N, US outline by Kyle MRC. BASSENDALE - OO9, Narrow Gauge steam outline set in Lake District. 5" GAUGE LIVE STEAM RIDES, FREE with Admission Ticket CRAFTY HOBBIES - Dapol GOLD DEALER, OO & N Gauge New & Used Models, Limited Edition Wagons on Sale LANCASTER CITY MODELS - New & Used in N & OO, Exclusive DRS Transfers in both Scales CUMBRIAN RAILWAYS ASSOCIATION - for all regarding Railways in the County NORTHERN RAIL - Stand to publicise local routes and fares, Community Rail promotion. GRAND TOMBOLA - great prizes including a brand new microwave. LICENSED BAR, REFRESHMENTS AVAILABLE, DISABLED ACCESS, FREE PARKING THE SMALL FRIENDLY SHOW WHERE EXHIBITORS TAKE THE TIME TO ADVISE THE VISITOR! HELD EVERY TWO YEARS. COME ALONG FOR A FANTASTIC WEEKEND.
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