GWR-fan

Strange that my demon has waited for five years before retaliating. I know things have gone missing or maybe misplaced and then turn up in another part of the storage. Sometimes I have searched for days for a particular item only to find it exactly where I left it. These demons are extremely cunning. Sometimes I put something down and then moments later cannot locate it. Maybe a box full of gremlins that I have not found yet, though I really do not want to. I hope that the lost soul is a hermit as I really could not put up with a whole family of them wrecking my things. It would be nice if the lost soul had an interest in model railways and then he might be more careful how he handles my things, or at least put things back where he found them. Am I asking too much?

About five years ago in preparedness for a house move and a new dedicated train room, I sourced Hornby Dent Station accessories for a large layout incorporating the Dent area and local viaduct. I built the viaduct in two pieces measuring a total of around 1.8 metres in length. The viaduct was built with a curve as I preferred the aesthetics of a curved rather than long straight structure. Due to a long delay in moving due my wife deciding to continue working rather than retiring, I placed the two sections of viaduct on top of some industrial shelving in my garage. The garage is used purely for storage, is airtight and vermin proof and sturdily constructed of brick with a steel roll up door. I rarely access the garage. Two months ago I entered the garage to find one section of the viaduct had fallen to the ground a distance of about 2 metres. There was no reason to have fallen, it had remained untouched for around five years. Fortunately, I was able to seamlessly repair it and placed it back on the shelf after the glue had permanently cured. This morning I entered the garage to find the second half of the viaduct on the floor split in the centre of the central arch plus dislodging a pier. It had sat on the shelf for five years untouched. I will be able to repair the structure but am perplexed as there is no possibility of a draught or an animal to enter the garage and yet something has disturbed both sections of the viaduct two months apart causing them both to dislodge from the shelf and fall to the ground. Should I consult an exorcist and have a demon expelled from the premises? The second section also brought down with it a four arch bridge that is to represent from memory Coal Road that runs past the station itself. It suffered some damage which fortunately was easily fixed. I cannot see how either viaduct section has dislodged from the shelving as the shelving is 2 foot wide and high enough not to be bumped should I walk through the garage. The shelving units are sturdily built industrial units. The east coast of Australia is geologically stable with the last earthquake within 150 klms of me over thirty years ago. No tremors were experienced that may explain the viaduct sections falling. I am perplexed as to a reason for this to happen.

Britain is no longer part of the European "Shengen zone", perhaps they have returned home as Europe has closed its borders.

I would put it all down to social media platforms causing the panic buying. We have exactly the same shortages in Australia. Another thing now in short supply, meaning none at all, is goldfish flakes or pellets for feeding pond fish. Even the tropical fish food has vanished from the shelves. Even more strangely is that there is an abundance of tinned cat and dog food. People are buying kitty litter by the pallet load but not buying tinned cat food in any quantity.

In Australia there are two main supermarket chains, Woolworths and Coles. Today Coles management stated that to date the stock turnover in this crisis is the equivalent to three Christmas periods. Coles have also set up a temporary second distribution wharehouse to cater for the extra demand in Sydney. An oddity that I have found is that while there has been no shortage of cat food, until this morning I have not seen kitty litter for weeks. What litter available this morning was the very expensive brand not the generic store brand. Now I am hoping that the scarcity in supply of kitty litter has nothing to do with there being no toilet paper. What are these people using the kitty litter for? The mind boggles. Other non perishable scarcities are tinned food, cereals, pasta, rice, vinegar, noodles, washing up liquid, washing powder, toothpaste, toothbrushes, coffee, tea, teabags, onions, tissues, handi-towels, plastic cling wrap film, baking paper.

One local very large retail store chain downunder two nights ago was cashing in on the hoarders by offering heavily discounted freezers in TV advertising. I can understand storing products with no shelf life but fresh and frozen meat and chicken has been almost unavailable for weeks at major supermarkets in Australia. Fresh salmon fillets have always been available. Surprisingly, fresh milk has not been an issue but longlife milk and milk substitutes like soy and almond milk vanished overnight and is only now starting to reappear on shelves. One thing I have noticed is couples come into a store and follow each other through the store and pack a trolley full of goodies each thus avoiding the limits that are being imposed on items. This morning a supermarket checkout employee advised me that the store was intending a single item purchase limit on goods until the situation improves. Another surprise is that even though stock is down in numbers the store is still offering specials on limited items rather than full retail.

Exactly the same situation here downunder in suburban Sydney at a large supermarket. Some supermarkets are opening one hour early to allow those elderly and those disabled shoppers to avoid the crush. The store received a large shipment overnight due local authorities lifting an embargo on night time deliveries to suburban stores. The store staff member I spoke to this morning said an elderly gentleman approached her at opening time and asked if there was any toilet paper available and where it was in the store. Her response was to follow the long line of customers with empty trolleys. She likened the lineup to ants who have found a food source. A pallet load of paper lasted barely minutes.

Nigel, I actually did this on another forum, but after over 5000 postings I grew tired of the pedantic moderation the forum entailed. I detailed in one thread many, many purchases, what was wrong with the model and how it was fixed. By the time I joined this forum about a year ago pre-owned non-runners had started to become scarce as it seems others were motivated to take the chance and buy a non-running model to fix. In the past year I have not been able to source that many models to fix and document. I have thus killed my golden goose.

Nigel, each to his own. I read the response and at GBP4.00 I do not think the postman is knocking on his door for a signature and waking him up. He says he works night shift yet he is still passing the store during the daytime so not asleep all day. I read the store's response as well but ultimately it is the store who sets the rules, not the customer. If one person is inconvenienced then it is but a small price to pay. My buying "dirt cheap locomotives" and "breathing new life into them" was to encourage others to look at buying non-runner locomotives and how to fix them. At one time there were dozens of non-runners for me to buy but now they are hard to find as it seems others see the virtue in an inexpensive purchase and a bit of simple rectification. However, if you enjoy what you do in trying to insult others then that is no doubt part of your hobby so enjoy it as I enjoy fixing someone else's defective item. However, snooze away or as you previously stated bring on the dancing girls, life goes on whether you respond or not.

Oh, the humanity, over 200,000 infected worldwide, over 8000 deaths, schools and universities forced to close, sporting fixtures called off, airlines shutdown, international borders closed, person asked to pay GBP4.00 postage, massive unemployment prediction, worldwide recession, bars and restaurants forced to close, night time curfews in major cities, people forced to self quarantine, people forced to stay at home and only venture out for food or medical assistance, medical supplies dry up, shortage of PPE equipment for medical professionals leading to many doctors and nurses getting infected. One thing not in short supply is personal selfishness and lack of awareness of the needs of others. No matter how bad the crisis there are still those who cannot think outside themselves. We need another Churchill to remind us that we are part of something greater than ourselves.

The Australian government has announced its intention to crackdown on those seeking to profit from the short supply caused by panic buying. It seems that ruthless individuals are hiring buses and filling with "grocery buyers" and touring the rural supermarkets and large grocery stores. As singular buyers each person is able to buy up whatever is in the store without exceeding store limits. They then pool their purchases and ship overseas for profit. There is a very large business in Australia of buying large quantities of baby milk formula and shipping to China, making a fortune over there and causing both a shortage of the product here plus numerous fights breaking out on high street as the gangs compete for what is available.. The mainland Chinese are highly suspicious of their local brands due a poison scare several years ago that killed hundreds of newborn babies. Australian and New Zealand milk powder is highly sought after for its known purity. It seems like a Monty Python sketch but now in Australia some stores are getting police to maintain law and order when a new shipment of toilet paper arrives at a store. People have been charged with assault as stock dwindles and buyers try to get every package of toilet paper they can at the expense of those who miss out. The world has gone mad.

It is a time when others needs and precautions are as important as ours. If the store deems that it is safer for all concerned to temporarily close up business then it is abiding with ever more stringent operating conditions. My son arrived downunder yesterday afternoon from South Africa which currently has a low infection rate, mostly if not all from those who have travelled overseas and not community transfer. The risk that he would have been infected is tolerably very low but he like the rest of people entering Australia has had to enter a two week self- isolation routine. We all need to make some inconveniences and alas as the song says, "You ain't seen nothing yet".

The low dollar exchange rate is what all the finance experts are stating in Australia as the lowest exchange rate in 17 years. They are not saying it was as low as back then. I do not intend buying in the UK for a while so I will take their experience as a guide.

An excerpt from the Hattons response to Covid-19. Does not bode well for customers but then I assume that self isolation of staff is of more importance than us making purchases. Quote: "................. We are contemplating suspending service for mail orders. If we proceed with this, we intend to give 24 hours notice. The duration of a suspension will be confirmed at the time, but is likely to be between 10 & 14 days. ........"

Steve, the SUSU CD drive motor install is as simple as can be. Simply remove the armature and magnet from the stock Lima motor and fit the CD drive motor. Some motors use a retaining strap or cover or many just glue the motor in with hot glue or a bonding glue. At the moment I cannot locate the loco as it is in storage. With the other loco I took a look at it and basically from memory the pickups used were from a later 3-axle tender drive Hornby loco that had separate pickups that screwed to the front and rear faces of the cast drive block. These were fitted to the upper face of the leading and trailing bogie arms. An image will show nothing as apart from the wires entering through the underside of each bogie, the pickups are out of sight above the bogie.

Kev, many thanks.

I do have better quality controllers but like the previous posting I used it because it was handy at the time to test a loco under repair. Apart from the higher voltage output under load (16.5 volts), the power control is extremely smooth.

With the current Australia/UK currency exchange rate at a 17 year low, then for Australian eBay sellers perhaps now is an ideal opportunity for sales within Australia. Combine a record low exchange rate and a 10% GST on international eBay transactions and suddenly using Australian eBay with an Aussie seller seems common sense.

On one prairrie I fitted power pickups to the leading and trailing bogies. On another prairrie I fitted a SUSU CD drive type motor with much success.

Thankyou for your input. I purchased the loco several years ago as pre-owned. It ran when last used some years ago. I was going to sell it so decided to test first. That is when I noticed the pickup problem. I would never use WD40 as a lubricant because firstly it is a water dispersant and secondly it has no lubricating properties. What ever had formed a film on the axle was invisible but very non-conductive. All solved now. As regards minis I drove them for eight years. At over six foot tall I found them the most comfortable (apart from my frogeye Sprite) to drive and most exhilarating. Years later I still enjoy the thrill of throwing a car into a corner and feeling the G force and then powering out of the corner. On my Mk1 Cooper "S" I used the normal optional dampshield over the dizzy and plug leads but also used the rubber boot used on Ford (Mazda) Econovans to waterproof their distributors. I never had a wet ignition problem after that.

Thankyou gentlemen for your input.

OK I got a little scientific. Using an 18 watt bulb and a known good 12 volt controller (2 amp) I got 14.4 volts no load and 11.1 volts under load at full throttle. On the Bachmann model (I believe 1 amp), using the same 18 watt bulb, I got 24.3 volts with no load, under load I got 4.8 volts in one direction and 3.0 volts the opposite direction. With a loco running at full throttle (no light bulb attached in the circuit) I got 16.3 volts in one direction and 16.5 volts in the other. I feel that 16.5 volts is perhaps a little outside the comfort zone for me so if I should use the controller again then maybe just 3/4 throttle when testing.

Kev, I used a multimeter to check the voltage. I verified the meter reading by using a known power source and the reading from the known source was as I expected so the meter was not erroneous when reading the Bachmann controller output. I used to have an outdoor railway using an Aristocraft Train Engineer which was a wireless throttle. It would output a no-load 18 volts to the track with no throttle selected but voltage would decrease to zero when one initiated a throttle movement. With the Bachmann controller this is a solid voltage, not a no-load output. I am not prepared to sacrifice another loco just to test track voltage with a loco running. I could wire up a light bulb and test track voltage with the light powered. The loco had been running fine for sometime and was totally controllable. It suddenly stopped with the throttle at full movement and then smoke emitted from the motor. I had used the controller several times over the past two weeks and had not noticed any unusual speed increase in any of the locomotives tested. With a replacement (not Bachmann) 12 volt controller I measured the track voltage with the loco at full throttle at 13.8 volts which was the same voltage measured without a loco on the track.

Thankyou, yes the unpowered bogie is fine. I have pulled apart numerous Lima models and thought I knew all the tricks and that is why I was stumped when one axle would not conduct power while the adjacent axle connected by a brass strip would.

Further on this, the voltage is variable from 0.7 volts at minimum setting once the power "on" light illuminates up to 24 volts at full throttle position. I would be surprised if Bachmann used these controllers in their largescale trainsets but even then Bachmann used to recommend 14 volts to run those models, not 24 volts. It has me stumped as I do not know if it has been putting out 24 volts all the time but if it was I would imagine every loco tested would have run like a scalded cat. But then could it fail internally and still output a variable 24 volts DC? Edit: the back of the unit definitely states 12 volts output.