Theo

Does anyone know where I can purchase a couple of 800-6000 Tortoise point motors? They seem to be in very short supply at the moment. Alternatively, are there any other similar motors that will run from a Switch8 board?

Thanks in advance. Theo

I have an Airfix/Dapol railbus with a Hollywood Foundry (I think) chassis, but it needs a new drive belt. Anyone got any ideas where I could find some new ones?

To centralise Seep point motors I insert offcuts of plasticard in the point blades, and a homemade wire clip to centralise the point motor. Its then easy to insert the operating wire from underneath and attach the motor to the baseboard.  (See attached photos). I've always used double-side foam tape successfully, which can be removed easily if the motor proves faulty.

A Pibgorn!

I was told a couple of weeks for the sound versions.

Digitrains in Lincoln sold me a new cable after exactly the same fault. It is any cable's weak point.

I have a problem with directional lighting with my Bachmann 2-car DMU.

The power car has a Zimo MX648R which does the sound, and switches the front lights from white to red depending which direction is set by the handset (NCE PowerCab).

The trailer car has a Lais 8xx00nn non-sound decoder just to operate the lights. When I fitted this about a year ago, all worked well, then recently  I noticed that the red lights stayed on irrespective of direction.

I've linked up JMRI to the test track and tried to modify the decoder settings there, but it seem to give no changes when I reset the 'function on running forward' and 'function on running reverse' options,  I can't get the lights to switch over when I change direction on the handset. Both chips have the same address, and have done since originally fitted.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Theo

I made up a wire thingy to centralise the operating pin when fitting seep point motors, ( see pic) which helps, but I agree with the erratic performance of the inbuilt switch. Most of my points are now tortoise, and the remaining seep ones are fitted with microswitches for drop power, and a second one for led indicayion

I'll second the use of a graphite stick!

Here's my take on Parkend's Marsh Sidings. I omitted the Sawmills siding for reasons of space (the fiddle yard is behind). There's some good photos and maps in Ralph Anstis's book 'The Story of Parkend' ISBN 9781899889044, including maps from 1859, 1878 and 1922.

Neil Parkhouse's book is wonderful, and he's very approachable, met him at Warley last year.

Great books

Thank you all for your responses. I'll  contact Hornby, as I've now managed to break the pivot pin between the connecting rod and crosshead. Such is life....

Oops, wrong picture. This shows what I've done to try to repair the pickups. Here's a picture of the broken ones

Theyve all snapped at the right angle bend.

Two just fell off, one broke when cleaning. Unlike Bachmann pickups, which appear to be phosphor bronze, the Hornby ones seem to be very thin (not) spring steel, and theyv

Anyone here having problems with Hornby Peckett B2 pickups? I've had two pickup plates in less than 6 months (kindly replaced by the retailer),  but the spring steel(?) Wipers are snapping off. Can I get replacements?

So here is my old 00 DC/DCC test track baseboard, constructed to a new experimental design. It's now ready to be reincarnated as an 009 roundy/roundy, but I don't have any ideas on era, region, style or purpose, other than it should be steam based and not too expensive to build. The board is 900mm x 960mm. Any ideas?

I strive to achieve this level of realism on my own layout, but I fail miserably.....

I've found the DJ 14xx a disappointing runner and difficult to clean. Also without any form of compensation or play in the axle bearings it will rock backwards and forwards and stall on even slightly uneven track.

Don't forget that reversing cameras reverse the image, I did!

Has anyone fitted compensation to this Loco?

I don't think there is space for a Stay Alive.If I remember correctly, I think it's hard to get inside the loco. The DCC chip goes in the boiler at the front but that's pretty much it for access.Mine is similar. It'll stop, then re-start all by itself every 10cm or so, sometimes less.Not figured out what it is yet. Tweaking some CV settings improved it for a while but not now.A Bachmann pannier does similar so it may be the decoder (I have cheapy Hattons decoders in both).

yes I have a similar problem. Changing ces has improved things but there is one point on the layout where it stalls, it seems to 'rock' on the rear driver at this point. Putting a straight edge along the wheel treads confirms about 0.5mm of misalignment, there in no compensation I can see

I feel I'm slowly improving running by thoroughly cleaning wheels, pickups, track, removing plastic wheeled stock, etc, and some locos (Bachmann 9F for instance) perform faultlessly even at very slow speeds. Main problem is with short wheelbase locos, in particular the dj 14xx which a) i can't get into to clean the pickups, b) it sometimes will only run when i press down on it and help it along, but judders, and c) it seems to rock on the rear driving wheels. I'm running peco fine scale track, zimo decoders and nce powercab. Any ideas? Sorry, but I'm not converting to battery power! Could ambient temperature be an issue?

Is it reasonable to need to clean the track daily just to prevent dcc fitted locos from stopping every few inches, even on sections of track they've just transversed perfectly? I seem to spend to much time track cleaning (meths, cloth-wrapped spatula)? I've tried track magic, too, but it seems to evaporate before my eyes.

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Roger (Ed) Cayton at the age of 63.

 

He and I first met aged 13 or 14 at the Welwyn Garden City MRC clubrooms, and later we became Engineering Apprentices together at ICI.

 

We both developed interest not only in railways both model and real, but also a deep love of traditional and contemporary folk music, and also an enthusiasm for kit cars (Ed had an Arkley SS, I eventually built a Marlin Cabrio, spurred on by his enthusiasm).

 

He was Best Man at our Wedding in 1979, and though I saw less of him as our lives followed different subsequent paths, we still met occasionally.

 

He leaves behind two sons, Ken and Sam, who have yet to get the railway bug, but I'm sure they will eventually.

 

Theo Thomas