RFS

1 hour ago, Fredo said:

Hi, 

It would be good if Bachmann did the 3 coach set with a CK in BR Carmine and Cream or BR Green. Fred

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.

On 08/11/2022 at 22:07, Kirby Uncoupler said:

    So I took the plunge, and bought one malachite SK as a guinea pig (btw, there were only five, 1932-36), removed the factory lettering, and re-numbered it with Fox's BR yellow numerals. I'm happy with the result, this will be a "loose" add-on coach, apparently the matching brakes and compos are delayed?

                                                         Cheers, Brian

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

11 hours ago, Tom Burnham said:

In the 1960s and 1970s (so a bit earlier than the OP), EPBs were almost universal on the Dartford lines.  The main exception was the xx.36 from CX and the corresponding up train which were semi-fast to Ramsgate (from memory) and used 2-HAP units, often in 10-car formations. Non-stop from London Bridge to Woolwich Arsenal and I think usually ran via Greenwich, although Lewisham and Blackheath was a possibility.  There was an up train of HAP units that called at Sidcup in the mid afternoon which was a rare appearance of first class there.

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.  

33 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

In my view the material they use to make the couplings is too brittle - lacking the flexibility and elasticity of the plastic material that the rtr manufacturers use for couplings.  

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!

Is it this box on the tender frame between the 1st and 2nd axles? There's on on each side of mine.

On 28/02/2024 at 09:49, BluenGreyAnorak said:

I've had a similar experience and on a couple of occasions have resorted to gluing them in rather than throwing away. They're not so cheap that the failure rate is insignificant, unfortunately. 

I've used a thin shim of plasticard or paper to re-use a couple of broken fishtail couplings. The shim makes the coupling tight enough to work reliably whilst still being capable of being removed. 

Just bought another pack of ultra close couplings for some recent stock additions, and these are the new style  with a shoulder. Looks to be quite an improvement, and the tail seems to be changed as well.  Here's a picture of old (with broken fishtail) and new coupled up -

Westhill have produced useful guides both for choosing the right couplings and a fitting guide. These are PDF documents that can be downloaded from here - 

https://westhillwagonworks.com/content/7-hunt-couplings-guide

As already mentioned, they are 3D-printed and can be brittle. I've converted all my stock to using them and have got through 27 packs in all. I've had 7 or 8 failures out of that number, which is not bad really. Another issue is when they are too brittle, and hence don't click into the socket properly so simply come out of the socket as soon as there's a load. A couple have been discarded as a result.

But apart from that I'm very pleased with them. I use the "close" length ones for Bachmann MK1s, and the "ultra close" for Hornby Maunsells and Bulleids and most of the freight stock. The Bachmann MK1s do need the stepped version of the coupling to get them to the right height, as the close are not only too high but also catch on the solebar at times causing derailments. 

33 minutes ago, dessire_luvals said:

Anybody got a scrap M7 maybe?

Have you tried giving Hornby a ring? Sometimes they have spares from returned items.

39 minutes ago, Sjcm said:

The guy is obviously deranged. He wants nearly a grand for an electric toothbrush😳

Indeed so. He's the same guy who wants £4k for this one (and other items too) - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334621993835 .

CV 30 is the one that will report errors and should be 0 if all is OK.

Are you sure it's the decoder that's the problem and not the coreless motor?

I just used a simple push-to-break switch under the flap. Originally, I had a Lenz LZV100 and that had a feature for this, whereby you could set up an emergency stop button by wiring it across the the E and M terminals. When I replaced the Lenz with a Z21, I simply wired the switch across the bus so now you get a short circuit that stops the whole layout. Crude but effective and cheap. The lowering of the flap breaks the connection and ends the short.

9 minutes ago, Southernman46 said:

There is a photo in the latest Model World showing 20001 in Black / Silver with the silver (it is a B&W photo so it could even be any light colour) extending over the whole roof so it looks like this was the case for both locos at some point.

A number of photos of the locos in this album here - https://railphotoprints.uk/p293667875 - all of which show 20001/2 with silver cabs. 

1 hour ago, Penrhos1920 said:

 

So how do you switch the 2 frogs on a diamond, since it has no blades to switch?

In most instances via the switches on the points that control the path over the diamond crossing. I have several crossings on my layout wired like that with Tortoise motors. For example, with a crossover using two points, each point switch controls its own frog plus the diamond frog furthest away as both require the same polarity. Only thing to remember is that, if a train is set to traverse the centre road, the points must not be set for the crossover, but that is normal prototype practice anyway. 

21 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Not quite.

Frog juicers are a solution to cope with operator errors (when you forget to throw a point).

You could argue that the errors are bad operating practise & we all try to avoid them, but they do happen.

So how does this stop the train from derailing on the point?