RFS

A while ago now I did use a lot of Peco point motors and used some relays as you are thinking of. I now use Tortoise motors with their built-in switches and the relays have been reused to work colour-light signals. I used them mainly where I had two points forming a crossover as one relay was equivalent to two Peco switches. Cost about £2.50 in components at the time - relay, a piece of board, diodes and terminals. The diodes were needed as they were being operated by Lenz LS150 decoders which were supplyin AC current. LS150 input at the top, two sets of switch terminals at the bottom.

The body for the Dapol 73s is attached to the chassis by 4 screws whereas the the Lima/Hornby 73s are just a clip fit, so this would be a major issue.

Gaugemaster have a ready-made relay switch designed for this purpose - see here. Being DPDT one switch will handle the frogs of two points forming a crossover, for example.

Have you tried speaking to Hornby? They sometimes have some spares available. A while ago I did contact them about missing buffers on one of my Pullmans and they sent me a couple in the post free of charge. I've also recently used a couple of Bachmann sprung buffers to replace lost central buffers in two of my 2-EPBs - they do seem to fall out all too easily. Bachmann do the round buffers in various sizes, so perhaps one will be a good match.

Have you posted this in the wrong thread?

I have a lot of EMUs too and run many different combinations without problems using DCC. I've found that to prevent buffeting between units you need a rigid coupling. I used to use Kadees, but these are not rigid and I now use Hunt magnetic couplings which have cured this problem. I would also check the driven bogies of these units. It is a known fault that the gear pin can fall out meaning only one axle is driven. To check if this has happend, try turning each wheel with your fingers: if the pin is in situ you won't be able to do this and all is well.

The issue has been raised in the non-DCC forum so l have assumed it's DC.

These models do not have traction tyres. What happens if you run the units together but not coupled, ie with some daylight between or on adjacent tracks?

Looking again at Real Time Trains, the answer appears to be no to both. So anyone going from St Johns or New Cross to Charing Cross will need to change at London Bridge.

Hi Dave - like the bridge pictures. In J4188 it's a BR Standard EPB in the picture - either 2 or 4-car version. I grew up using this line and the 4-SUBs had gone by the late 1950s, being replaced by EPB stock.

I've used a black chisel-tip Sharpie to tone down the shiny surface of the couplings, although not the front. It's the sides of the couplings that stood out for me as their brightness made them too conspicuous. I found it best to do this before fitting.

The Real Times Trains website shows that the trains stopping there are to/from Orpington and Gravesend and all to/from Cannon Street.

Making progress in creating a BR Green set in the lighter shade of green that I prefer. All the Southern transfers came off easily just by careful scraping with a cocktail stick. I've now applied the BR numbers as below. Not quite happy with a couple of the numbers so I'm going to replace them. Just got the composite to do now, but I'm happy with the results so far.

Lais not only produce decoders with their own label, I believe they also are contracted by others to provide decoders. For example, Hatton's, Gaugemaster, Dapol, DCC Concepts etc

The 3-coach set in Carmine and Cream is already available. Also two matching corridor seconds to allow configuring as 4-set or 5-set. For BR Green you'll either have to wait for Bachmann to produce this, or alternatively, do as some of us are doing, and replace the decals on the SR green coaches with BR ones. It's around 18 months since Bachmann released these new coaches, but it seems most shops are still awash with stock. Perhaps that's one reason why we haven't seen any new versions yet.

Hello again after a while! I've now done the same as you and converted my S1935 coach as above. First time I've done this. so can I ask if you have varnished over the transfers above and if so with what type? Just want to get everything right as I'm about to do the same on the 3-set from which I've already removed the SOUTHERN decals and the 3s on the doors. Thanks

The DCC decoder page is on the JMRI website - https://www.jmri.org/xml/XSLT/pages/DecoderId.html

I believe the maximum allowable configuration at Charing Cross was an 8-car formation of 2-HAPs due to their longer length than EPB stock. Non-stop trains from London Bridge to Woolwich Arsenal would usually go via Greenwich as that was the shortest route. I grew up in London in the 1950s and remember well these trains being 8-car 2-HAL formations.

Here's a photo of 92239 taken in 1964 on Robert Carroll's Flickr site which clearly shows how the lamp irons were fitted.

See my post above showing the newer version. The tail is much more flexible than the previous version, and is altogether a better coupling.

This scares me just looking at it!