wasdavetheroad

Secondhand back in March from a well known retailer but only run recently as my layout has had trackwork alterations. Maybe the retailer did not know what they bought was not quite the same as the name on the as new box. I will try fitting the spare coupling rods and take a look at my other rebuilt Patriot. edit - my other Patriot is Sir Herbert Walker KCB and it has the correct small hole connecting rods. It also has Royal Scot type wheels with curved counterweights!.

The loco had the wrong set fitted? and the spare rods are marked X9749 but as you can see from the second image the hole appears to be the same diameter as the one fitted to the loco. The right hand rod also appears to have the same diameter. I have athritis in the fingers and nerve damage so no alteration.

'E Tootal Broadhurst has had a connecting rod detach from the rear left hand wheel. This has occured 3 times in the last 2 weeks. The crank pin has remained screwed into the wheel and I can't see how the connecting rod can detach as the rod hole diameter is less than the 2.5mm hexagonal pin head. I bought a replacement set from Peters Spares and comparing them it appears the hole is exactly the same size. Help!

It is far stronger and in thicker sizes does not need wood bracing on the edges, or laminate it if you want. On the second photo you can see the 'temporary' cardboard edging which has been there for years. I am too old for working under the baseboard so top down is great, especially as I keep modifying the layout.

My layout has 50mm plus of blue extruded polystyrene board with a further 10mm of extruded polystyrene screwed down on top. it is easy to excavate trenches for point wiring and feeds and all the scenic elements are either screwed down or pinned with dressmaking pins, between track ballasting is woodlands scenics on cardboard sealed with PVA. The pins and screws hold well in the extruded board but dont use self tapping screws. The boards themselves are on top of a mixture of tables and constructed staging.

I think the Deltang Rx41 receivers are no longer available. Anyway for a large scale loco Micron Radio Control have their MR603 receiver which is 5V to 20V and delivers up to 3A. I use one on a section of my layout to provide track power for a loco which is just too small for a receiver installation. It has output over voltage protection so no worry about short circuiting the rails. Micron tested it by shorting out the motor terminals. I must write it up sometime. The Micron receivers have options for handling signal loss. IIRC the default is carry on.

Well I tried a final final attempt to fix the problem. I finally got the gear train cover off and lots of dirty grease inside but on cleaning nothing obviously wrong with the gears. So I fitted new gears and a new wheelset with connecting rods, using fresh white lubricant for the gears. Then over 4 hours on the rolling road without any improvement, after which there were sudden loud alarming noises every quarter turn of the wheels. That was due to a loose connecting rod 'nut'. I took another look at the gearing and a substantial part of the white lubricant had turned black. I have had enough that, the whole lot is put away in a box which I might open in a couple of years or so. Next up is the J94 and it seems I have a bad one of those as well and the last resort is a Kerr, Stuart 'Victory' 0-6-0. I think I should have spent my efforts and money on remotoring and upgrading old Lima models to compliment my Lima Gronk which runs well without weird noises. I just wanted a steamer!

Well I have reached the end of the road with this problem. The noise comes from inside the gear train so I made the mistake of buying replacements. There is a gear plate cover with a retaining screw BUT after removing the screw I could not remove the cover. It was such a tight fit it must have been forced into the housing and there seems there is no way of gaining any traction to lever it off. It also appears from the service sheet that the two gear 'axles' in there are part of the casting so could be contributing to the problem.

What is the purpose of this on the rear of some GWR tank loco bunkers? Some locos don't have them.

Hours of running later and still creaking. I stripped the loco down this morning and checked everything but nothing obvious, except when running slowly on the smooth test track the right hand middle wheel, the one with the gear, kicked upward a fraction of a mm at random intervals not synchronised with the wheel rotation. The left hand wheel remained in contact with the track.

I tried the powdered graphite and it made no difference. The loco is quieter on the rolling road but both there and on the track the creaking persists when the loco is moving forward. It does not syncronise with the wheel rotation and not on the same parts of the track either. What is left, the gears and worm? I do have a shunting loco that works, an ancient black Lima Class 08 with a CD motor and planty of room for a battery. No hesitation over points and can maintain a low speed of 5mph which is good enough for me. I really want a steam shunter for my Westhaven (fiddle) yard. I have another Lima Class 08 and a Strathpepper CD conversion kit. Maybe I could botch up an outside framed pannier or saddle tank but i don't think there ever was such a 0-6-0 loco.

Thanks, to add to my confusion I ran the loco yesterday after the recommended lubrication. Even with the the body removed it still creaked!. I will try the powdered graphite. I don't like the NEM couplings on this loco. A loose fit in the pocket has them drooping all over the place and having the fishtail pocket as part of the chassis does not help. I managed a fix by 'borrowing' the NEM pockets from a Bachmann wagon and filing down the fishtails . So much for standardisation between manufacturers. At least my Sentinel 0-6-0 runs really well despite the bad press it received. So does the cute Hornby J94 with a small amount of noise, apparently I should try re-aligning the motor. They all handle my HO Kato insulfrogs at low speed though.

I recently bought a 'new' Hornby Class J50 R3046. After running in I like the performance powered through the track using 16Kh PWM on a 3amp radio controlled receiver. However when running forward there is an intermittent creaking noise, yes, definitely a creaking noise. Anyone any idea what the cause could be?

My Derby Lightweight has a removeable battery so I did not replace the screw and removed the side 'catches'. The body is still a comfortable fit and not loose.

Thanks for the comprehensive reply.

After 30 minutes searching I still don't have an answer. My question is what would the maximum speed for unfitted 4 wheel wagons be when reversing into a goods yard and and also during shunting moves.

Yes, there are no replacements for the small Deltang Rx4XXX series, however I believe Micron are working on additional projects, don't know which though.

The MR601 is a 1.2A receiver 22.5x11x5 mm it works with Deltang transmitters and has lots of options. The larger MR603 is a 3 amp receiver for 0 gauge etc. I have installed one to provide RAIL power to my mineral line. It has short circuit protection as well

I am well into implementing a timetable for my Scalesgill and Westhaven layout. Basically a single track branch line with station passing loop, small goods yard and a set of exchange sidings for the 'mineral line'. Westhaven is the fiddle yard with a altered track layout so I can add scenery and use it to add playability to the layout. Scalesgill's timetable is a combination of a weekday timetable, with added excursion trains from the weekend and a couple of long through freights. I use a pack of cards numbered 1 to 19 with 2 'trains' per card. First train down passenger 6.30am and last train 20.45 up through goods. I just run the timetable in sequence and it takes more than one operating session to complete a day. Per day 16 local passenger 2 Lakes Express 4 Excursion/convention specials 6 local goods with Scalegill shunt. Midday goods may be special, cattle, engineer, milk etc. 2 mineral line trip workings on main line 8 mineral line shunt moves 2 through goods Westhaven shunt moves as needed

The variable ESC acceleration implementation is better than the Deltang version because it has seperate settings for braking,not important for me as I don't use the Tx inertia knob either. I notice the M601 does not have the 3rd Selecta option allowing change to a different Tx controlling that locomotive. I think it was used for passing locos between operators on a big layout. By following the correct setup procedure you could have a TRUE consist, I think only one per Tx . I tried it and it worked. For example I had 2 speed matched locos on selecta 4 and 5 and position 6 controlled them both. The locos could operate independently or combined. I did not use it much and decided that having a 12 loco Tx capacity was better. I have bought 2 Micron M601 receivers, both of which are still in the testing stage and a M603 receiver used to control a tiny locomotive via track power. Micron confirmed the M603 has short circuit protection on the motor output so the Rx won't fry when you short out the rails!. I must get round to providing a description of why and how I did it.

My experience of Deltang receivers, Micron may be similar, is when idle the Rx consumes about 15mA per hour, there may be an auto shutdown after 1 hour idle but that is adjustable

A few years ago I tried out a receiver board from BlueRail Trains that switched automatically from track power to an onboard battery if the track power failed. I only tested it on the rolling road but the change either way appeared seamless. Unfortunately it was too big to fit in any loco and used a smart phone app. No way, I much prefer knobs, switches and buttons with tactile feedback allowing you to look at the loco while controlling it. I did calculate that all the 'fiddly' bits of my layout 'dead' were about 1/3 of the length which would extend the battery life by 3x. No need for a stay alive!

Thanks for the inspiration. Now i have a use for the 100+ spare Zeiss lens wipes I bought by mistake . 150mm x 130mm when flat and the alchohol has evaporated.

If you decide to have a dehumidifier buy the dessicating type, they work well down to low temperatures. Mine mantains a steady 40% humidity and contributes a little toward frost protection.

Thanks