Mack1979

S9749

I have the Wrexham and Shropshire Hornby Mk3 coaches, but all 4 bogies are damaged. I bought spares from Peters Spares and separately hooks only to fit and find they're not remotely close to correct. I don't know what they're for, but they're about 10mm short for the Mk3s. They should have the coupling hanging out on a bracket. I have spent ages looking online today and apart from one person selling a single grey (Royal Train) bogie which looks correct, I can't find a single one the right size. Any ideas where it is possible to get spares? For display the Peter's Spares ones are OK, but I planned to sell the set (67 + DVT + 2 coaches) and they're not usable like this so not comfortable selling as they are.

I use flexitrack, but they're fine down to second radius, but it's right on the limit. I had one curve slightly too tight and they kept de-railing. I have had to rip up and re-lay. I've tried the Hornby Pendolino which has a similar coupling but has more vertical "give" and this is surviving the gradient changes better, but seems to de-rail on some of my curves where the IET didn't, weirdly. I'll try lubricating it a little, as it seems to be ok sometimes, so maybe just a little tight.

Ouch. I was worried someone would say that. My layout is over 3 levels, so has several gradients. The coupling (the ones which come with it as Tom suggested) have good lateral movement for tight curves, but zero height capability. It manages the infinitesmal start of the gradient using the Woodland scenics risers, but it can't cope with the end or any flatter sections for bridges within the rise as it simply lifts the middle carriages right off their wheels. It will basically never go around my layout, however much I soften the gradient entries I think.

I'm having trouble with couplings on a change in gradient. There is no slack in the couplings like you'd get with bogie-attached ones. I tried a couple of disastrous experiments with weights on top to try to hold the carriages on the track. Anyone had similar issues and got a reliable solution? (Other then re-laying the track)

I have now worked it all out and got it all working. Thanks everyone for the help. I had been given the impression elsewhere that it was only the frogs which would change, and I was so tied to this I kept thinking I was working it out wrong. Worked it all out on paper and then tested it (thank goodness for Wago's for connections) and it works perfectly first time.

I've caused confusion not showing the whole plan. The terminus connection is the upper two tracks, joining the crossing and P5. The remainder of the dog bone joins on to the P2 point and the attached double slip (which feeds a TMD not shown). Sorry, not got access to my computer currently to upload a full picture.

Just drawing this out some more, I stick with single directional lines, driving on the left and all points are fully isolated. That leaves only 2 possible routes across the diamond. The straight across from the left towards the green point. The 2 diamond frogs need to be opposite polarity. The left-hand one should be the same as the left hand-rail (from the driver's perspective). The second case is when the grey point is closed so it joins the green loop with the diamond. In this case again the (driver's) right-hand rail joins to the right-hand frog and the left to the left. The frogs therefore do not change polarity, but the outer rails of the diamond act like frogs on a normal point and need to switch polarity. The top side of the diamond is the left rail when going left to right (towards the green point), but the right rail when coming from the grey point. So the lower side should share it's polarity with the grey point's frog (and signalling should say you cannot enter that crossing from the left unless the grey point is thrown). The other side of the diamond, when crossing from the grey point, needs to become the right rail. Avoiding the train crash option (allowing L-R on the diamond as well as from the grey point), I think the green point HAS to be thrown (or rather L-R isn't an option, so it is OK to be thrown), in which case the 2 points are linked, and I can use the green point's frog switch to also set the diamond's top rail. I'm using JMRI so I can do this if I only use routes and I suspect there's a more robust way to do this. OR, could I just use the auto-reverser for the top and bottom rails on the diamond and not link it to the point switches at all? I think the only case where I need the auto-reverser is when the outer rails of the diamond switch over.

Thanks Nigel! That's really helpful. I was tying myself in knots.

From the left of the pic the right two tracks are part of the squashed dogbone which goes round the green loop. All the points are electrofrog on DCC, all joiners are insulated and I use Cobalt IP Digitals as point motors which also power the frogs. The pointwork at the top of the image joins the twin tracks from a terminus. I think that when the lower point is closed it will need an auto-reverser for the loop, but need some advice. I'm also unclear on how I power the frogs on the diamond crossing. I've read I should use the lower point to determine which way it is running and hence the power should come from switches on that point, but I'm now just confused.

Thanks! Have managed to get 2 off now. Only one major bleed on my thumb tip ;-) Now got to work on the conducting paint which doesn't seem to be conducting.

I'm trying this. How on earth did you get a wheel off to get the spring on? I can't seem to shift them.

The wheel linkages on my Hornby Class 08 FGW have come off the driving wheels. They seem to push back on, but when I do this the motor makes a nasty grinding noise and heats up and it doesn't move until I give it a firm push or remove one of them. Is there a particular knack or position they need to be in to go back on correctly?

Thanks everyone for your replies. After more experimentation today with other models it became clear either my sprog or jmri was the common factor. It seems that somehow jmri had reverted to a 14 speed step setting for the sprog (I tell people things like this are user error all the time, but this was on a window I've never opened before someone suggested I check this) which is incompatible with the 28/128 speed setting on the decoder. Changing this sorted it out. Thanks again for all the responses! Mack

I had a couple of v5 decoders which worked ok in their respective locos. I swapped to better speakers and they've gone nuts. They're now stuck on 14 speed steps and the sounds have gone crazy (pressing any function button makes multiple sounds come on) I've tried resetting them; resetting my controller and software. Anyone have any advice?