wasdavetheroad

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!

11 hours ago, PhilH said:

Poundland glasses (spectacles) cleaning tissues.Dried and ironed to get rid of folding lines however these can be prototypical as tarps were folded when not used.

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

What is the purpose of this pipework forward of the tank? I tried searching online with no success, obviously because I did not use the correct search terms.

7 hours ago, DCB said:

Basically the end of a turntable revolves at walking pace, say 3 mph,   I will work that out in RPM when I have a spare minute

About 6 minutes for a 65 ft to turn 360 degrees, or 3 min for 180 degrees.    Some TTs used vacuum power to turn.   Starting and stopping are problems, especially stopping an several attempts to engage the locks were quite common, 

I think waiting 3 minutes for a model turntable to rotate 180 degrees would drive me crazy. I want to turn the loco, not stand there waiting, 30 seconds seems a long time to me. I remember admiring a beautiful BLT at an exhibition. No trains moving so I asked when the next one was due. He looked at his watch and said '3 quarters of an hour, I am running the Saturday timetable.' It was Saturday. I replied, i like the trees and backed off rapidly. If i ran a real Sunday service on my layout there would be a couple of excursion trains and a curtailed local passenger service. No pickup goods, no shunting in the exchange sidings etc. 

1 hour ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Then again, I have been getting away with sticking copies of this inside the back cover of TTTE books for over ten years without retribution. Could make a good modelling subject...

 

“Ouch, that stings a bit,” said Thomas.
He couldn’t see what was happening behind him, but had a real pain in the bunker region. This and
the fact that he had been staring at the back of James’ tender for three weeks with not a sign of his
driver and fireman had put him in a bit of bad mood.
“Nothing to worry about” said a voice from somewhere behind his bunker. “Just a bit of work
required here on your buffers”. Thomas thought to himself that if only his crew had made a nice fire up in him, he could give the man fiddling with his buffers a bump to show him his place.
‘Where are Annie and Clarabel?” asked Thomas. “It will soon be time for the summer traffic, and
they will be stiff after sleeping all winter. I really should give them a run or two to make sure they
are ready to go”. The voice replied, “Didn’t they tell you? They have retired as a holiday bungalow
for the thin controller. He’s had them placed in a nice field with a sea view, and a roof over the top,
they are really enjoying it very much.” Thomas thought about that and then asked, “Well what will I
do then?” The voice replied “Don’t worry, the fat controller has given special instructions for all you
most valuable engines”.
Thomas felt very pleased, he knew he was a valuable engine, and the fat controller was of the same opinion. “Where are the other engines then?” asked Thomas. “Well”, said the voice “Gordon, Emily and Spencer were so special that they have gone to a special home for really important engines at York. Stepney’s gone off down South to gather bluebells I believe, while Henry was very pleased to be allowed to retire to Bootlitz holiday camp; he is going to get a new coat of paint, and children from all around the country will come to admire him on his plinth. James is here with you, but won’t talk to anyone since his brass fittings were removed for safekeeping, and Skarloey just fell apart the moment I looked at him, and has had a complete melt down”.
“I see” said Thomas, who really didn’t understand what was going on. “Then what about the others
like Edward, Percy and Duck?” The voice replied, “They were a bit too valuable for me, and went off
with Cutter and Smelt. I think most of the rest like Toby, Dugald and Donald and so on went with
them as well”. “Does that mean our family has been broken up?” Thomas blurted out. “Afraid so”,
said the voice, “They are big operators, and had everyone who went with them broken up inside a
month”.
Thomas thought a bit more, and said, “But that’s not right, the fat controller was keeping us here
together forever as a happy family, what has happened?” The voice sighed and said, “Look even fat
controllers have bosses, and the incredibly corpulent controller had different ideas, that’s all”.
Thomas would have blown off steam if he could and said, “Can you bring this incredible controller
here for me to talk to?”. At which point, fearing he would either go hoarse or insane from the non-
stop questions, the man walked round to Thomas’ front and cut his face off with the gas axe to shut him up. It also made it easier to get at the nice heavy fittings in the smokebox that would quickly bring in a good price for scrap.

 

Non-canonical.

Nice, yesterday I Hannibal Lectered Thomas' face as someone had used polystyrene cement to weld his visage into the smoke box. I presume the same person used the same stuff to add coal to the bunker. If they had used PVA I could have just dumped him in a glass of warm water for an hour or so. I got the gunge off after several hours with some slight damage, the coal rails had to go.

The good news is Peters spares have Smokebox doors and Phoenix Precision Paints have the Ramsbottom safety valve /whistle but only post on Friday. ,I am not going to bother with the chimney. The doors were posted today. Shapeways have them as well.

The chassis was interesting, something  called a super strong pulling power jobbie with TRACTION TYRES and a compensated rear axle. Luckily I have a newer normal chassis bought as a spare a number of years ago. The next job is to run it in without the body followed by an endurance test with normall full load to determine the power requirements of the loco.

Talking of coal rails i have updated my Bachmann Hughes Crab from LMS livery to BR black. The replacement body and tender body cost £60 from Bachmann spares-ouch!. No coal rails for the tender though. Did the Crabs ever have railless tenders or for that matter run with a different tender. They would look a lot nicer with a BR B1 tender (not my idea but I agree and rule 1 might apply, the excuse is the famous Scalesgill accident when a black 5 ran into the back of a Crab, destroying its tender and derailing itself. Luckily the crew and tender managed to detach themselves before the 5 went over the edge of the Whin Sill - Oops, totall write off.

Thinks - did I use PVA when coaling the LMS version, maybe not as it was second hand.

5 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

It's more a question of what style of door, chimney and safety valves you are after. A typical detail parts supplier list:

https://www.247developments.co.uk/loco_detailing.html

 

If  you go ahead, I am good for a fiver for Thomas' fizzog.

Please translate 🙂

I am planning to convert a Thomas E2 'inspired' loco to battery power and radio control. Despite it's shortcomings this model has one advantage, you can disassemble the body, removing the cab and boiler top which allows for easier fitting of the batteries and receiver. I don't plan to change the cab windows but may consider lowering the bunker. The loco will end up in a simple black livery. I am happy for rule 1 to apply as it will run on a far North West inspired layout.

Questions -

1. The smokebox is 20mm dia, is there any alternative door available

2. Is a shorter funnel available

3. where can i source a replacement safety valve?

1 hour ago, john new said:

Hoping the OP ( @Regularity ) doesn't mind me re-opening this thread again but it seems pointless to start a new one when a lot of useful info is already in here.

 

Step 1 - in improving my garage to make it more useable as a hobby and workshop space will be completed by the roofers on the next dry day. (Just the top GRP finishing coat left to add) This step has been replacing the original, uninsulated, flat felt/GRP roof from when the house was first built in 1974. It was recoated IIRC in the early 1990s but had split the felt and begun to leak, we have now had it upgraded and replaced with a "warm", i.e. insulated, new covering. Now there is more point to having it I will look again this summer at the options for window open/closers.

 

Step 2 - I know from research like the posters above it is about controlling the internal dew-point to stop condensation and resultant mould. There already is a properly wired power socket installed and for the interim I will start up the oil-fired Dimplex style radiator I have used previously. The easy bit would just be to fit a socket timer/adaptor, as I have at least one (and probably more) in stock. Would one of the similar type of plug into the wall socket devices, but with a built in thermostat be better? Any advice on makes and options would be very helpful as a Google search gives several types and prices. 

 

Step 3  - for the longer term, when/if cash is available it will be additional power outlets and a temperature controlled extractor fan. Further down the line too, upgrades to the smaller secondary hinged door and for the really longer time ahead - a new insulated floor and perhaps insulation for the walls. 

 

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

 

Thanks for reminding me. I had a flat warm roof fitted to my garage over 10 years ago and I think it probably needs re-proofing. I can't remember the name of the process used but it involves painting on a water proof resin based paint?

I have  a Dimplex fan heater plugged into a socket mounted thermostat. The heater is set at 1Kw and the thermostat at 10 degrees. For humidity control I have a dessicating de-humidifier ( they work well at low temeratures) and I empty the reseroir every 2-3 days. I decided on a fan heater as it distributes the warm air around the room rather than it pooling at ceiling level with an oil filled radiator. For additional heating there is a second fan heater which combined with the original one , just turn the thermostat up, soon gets the temperature to a comfortable level. The walls and floor are also insulated and I calculated that a 1Kw heater could maintain a temperature 16 degrees above ambient, The de-humidifier maintains a steady 40% humidity.

A online search reveals PVA is Poly Vinyl Acetate and Glue n Glaze is Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA). Both are adhesives.

5 hours ago, H2O said:

I've heard Copydex as an alternative, stays soft so may be lower noise and can be reworked, however need to contend with fish smell too!  Sadly I can't help too much as this is only what I've heard or read, no experience of it my self.

In my experience copydex will eventually become  translucent light brown rather than clear

Johnsons Klear was discontinued some time ago but there MAY be alternatives such as Pledge Multisurface Floor Polish? There is a lot of discussion online about an alternative

Coming late to this topic but how about a re release upgraded period III Stanier corridor composite and brake third in KIT form with the addition of a corridor first and a corridor third. Maybe having kits would go some way toward a guarantee of supply compared with the batch production of RTR models which results in almost everything gone after a few months. New RTR prices are eye watering too.

Wow! 600mAh giving 30 minutes of run time suggests the loco is drawing 1.2 Amps. Are Heljan locos all power hungry? My steam locos top out at 400-500 mA and range down to 110mA in my remotored Lima Class 08.

I must finish my Class 37 conversions and endurance test them. The endurance test runs the loco at normal load and speed with a 100mAh battery and the time to LVC (low voltage cutoff) is used to estimate the locos mA requirements for a hours run time.

I don't need an hours run time as my operating sessions are 3 hours with locos running for up to 30 miniues max and the rest of the session lying idle but switched on. An idle Rx plus booster draws about 20mA per hour so for example a 400mA loco would need 200mA running and 50mA idling for a total of 250mA.  I am fitting all my big locos with 600mAh batteries from Micron Radio Control, and I even managed to squeeze a 600 mAh battery into a Bachmann 2MT 2-6-0 Micky Mouse. The loco draws 240mA so is good for 2-3 sessions before recharge.

That's interesting, is the blue circuit board a voltage booster? and the Rx60 is hiding in the black tubing?

Could be possible but that depends on the loco size. You would need a switch between the receiver/motor and a switch to isolate the receiver from the battery as well as the receiver (Rx) is drawing a small amount of power when the motor is idle. I think a 3PDT switch would work if wired properly.

Are using a track controller for the DC rail power? Using the radio transmitter (Tx) to control the Rx on DC makes it more complicated as well as needing rectification. Others more expert than me will know more. 

You could try emailing Micron Radio control fo advice.

I must be getting old, how do you search for multiple words in content?

Excellent video. Pity i did not think of the wood filler when constructing my S&C station etc. I like the gutter down pipes as well. I wonder if an empty fine tip ball point pen would good for embossing, I was in the Range this morning and could have bought the real thing.

I have a Airfix/Dapol 3 coach lavatory set, Brake 2nd/Composite/Brake 2nd in BR Crimson and would like a 2nd as an occassional stengthener, no need for a Lavatory. Extensive modification of the Airfix coaches is beyond my old hands so what would be a reasonable RTR option ?

I contacted DCC Concepts with several images. They swiftly replied and asked me to return the item for examination and sent me a paid postal label. I posted it last Friday 2nd class tracked so it might have not arrived yet. Fingers crossed🤞

I have several old style Peco Loco Lefts and use one of them as a virtual turntable and for moving groups of 3 wagons to/from storage track on a shelf. I opted for the MPD 360mm to accommodate extra long wagons  and also a rather nice Hornby Fowler 2-6-4T loco in LMS crimson Livery which I am converting to radio control. My old hands can't do fiddly stuff any more so I am going to permanently attach a short luggage van containing the fiddly bits and run it as a steam special.

Plan B might be to use 3 new Peco lifts but at 450mm it is too long. Plan C is to consider re boxing 2 locomotives and trying to knock something together from their loco lifts.

My layout is Kato H0 unitrack running 00 scale models. I do not have any old big flange models but a friend gave me this LNER J83 some years ago. He found it in a charity shop for a pound, I still have the motor. Produced from 1976 to 1978. BIG flanges and no flange on centre axle. After lubrication I pushed/pulled the chassis with my trusty Lima Class 20 which will pull out the side of a house.

Results - no fouling on the track straights or curves but not checked 430mm radius, but some issues on the pointwork. OK straight through but catches the point blade otherwise. I checked the back to backs, 1 mm less than tolerance!.

As an alternative Peco do a Code 83 90 degree crossing for less than £22 compared with the Unitrack at £17.50. With Setrack this would work out cheaper.

Needing a large 'virtual turntable' for my large locomotives that can also be used to transfer groups of wagons to a 'virtual siding' I have just received delivery of a DCC Concepts 360mm Motive Power Depot and there is a problem which I hope is just a rogue item.

My track is Kato Unitrack HO scale and I checked the 369mm straight and it is in gauge and really straight, not curved or warped. The MPD gauge varies from end to end and the plastic end pieces differ in width by 1mm, the images will show the problem.

Has anyone had a similar problem?

The long version. Are you using a Deltang type transmitter with the 12 position Selecta knob? If so select the position you want the receiver to bind to but don't turn the Tx (transmitter) on. Apply power to the Rx (receiver) and the LED will flash slowly as the Rx searches for the Tx. After several seconds (15?) the LED will flash rapidly, the Rx is now in bind mode. Hold down the Tx bind button and switch it on then release both buttons. The LED's will flash as the Tx and Rx establish the bind. When the Rx LED stays on it is bound to the Selecta position you selected.

You can do this as many times as you want as it just over writes a memory location in the Rx