john dew

Hi Neal Just popped in to wish you a Merry Christmas and success in tracking down your Turntable Switchboard. I know exactly how frustrated you must be from my TT travails in the spring, and at least in my case it was largely my own fault! Grabbed from an earlier post b) source the components in Spain and build it myself. Its certainly an option you should consider.....I certainly would be thinking that way and I get the sense you are electronically far more competent than I. Making enquiries and perhaps making a modest purchase could well be enough to ensure that the switchboard arrives and works perfectly. Murphies Law has a high success probability Whatever.....my very best wishes for the New Year

Thanks Mikel........and a very happy Christmas to you! Andy would be very welcome. Apart from the photography I have a couple of non performing point motors I cant quite reach! One can live in hope I guess.

Thanks Robin He is certainly right about the weight. Its almost 50% heavier than an out of the box Hornby Prairie. I had to pack in 70+ gm of lead to my Hornby prairies before they would even think about performing. My Dapol Prairie arrived just in time for Christmas. Straight off it ran pretty well.....certainly nothing like the stalling Sam had. Once I added a Zimo chip (which was so simple) it runs very smoothly above a scale 8mph . I still think I will do the mod to the rear pony truck though. No tank separation and the GWR green livery looks good. By chance, its on its side next to the Bachmann 94xx and to my dodgy eyes there is hardly any colour difference. I am looking forward to seeing your war time black version. I do hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas despite everyting and once again so many thanks for hosting ANTB......I would be lost without it,

A very Merry Christmas from Vancouver Wishing all RMWeb members a very happy Christmas and a prosperous and healthy 2022. Special thanks to all who follow Granby. Your comments, advice and support throughout the year make my weekly (?) attempts to write something lighthearted and amusing feel really worthwhile. In other news, here is a picture of Granby shed which you may not have seen before: I occasionally post Black and White shots in the "How realistic are your Models?" thread. This has been selected to appear in the February edition of BRM to be published Dec 31. Its the first time a photo of Granby have ever appeared in a magazine, so I guess that quite a memorable start to 2022!

Hi Neal I have been following this tragic saga, hoping for a happy ending, with lots of “friendly supportive” emojis but this latest twist to the tail is too much. You must be incredibly angry and frustrated by all this and you have my total sympathy. One has to hope against hope that the replacement package will be released soon and actually work. Will it be possible to recover a portion of the purchase price? I guess the logistics of court action are horrific? Looking on the plus side…. you have an incredibly realistic GWR turntable which is only a step away from functioning. Is it too much to hope that you can find an electronics whiz, either here or locally, who can adapt/modify Greenwoods board? Best wishes

Of course…..silly of me. Now you are tempting me again….how difficult will it be to remove the lining?

Hi Robin I do agree with you about the service from DCC supplies. They were equally efficient when I ordered a plain door for myDapol Mogul. Your large prairie looks great in that transition livery………I am seriously tempted…. but how many large prairies can one buy before it looks like an obsession? I have to ask the reason for a plain door….I understood the smokebox numberplates were installed at the sametime asthe paint job……is it to match a photo you have seen? Best wishes

Dean Goods crossing Richard's Wharf Lower Lock Granby

For the last few weeks my railway time has been disrupted by a series of medical appointments. However I did find time to finish the tunnel mouth and most of the wall edging Here are some before and after shots From the Railway room entrance: I ran out of overlays for the wall so for now I will focus on the tunnel mouth Here is a before and after from inside the layout: The camera is a great fault checker.........I tried so hard to subtly graduate the weathering from the extreme grime of the tunnel through to the first wall panel but I think I need to apply a few more diluted dirty black washes. The buttress is designed to hide the transition between the straight sheets of wall used for the tunnel and the wall edging modules. Its made from offcuts of wall material.....sanding the mating edges down to 45o angles was a ton of fun....fortunately I was given dispensation to do this upstairs while watching one of Netflix's less than stellar offerings. Top right there is a glimpse of the newly installed yard gates......all will be revealed next post. Now its time to put the tunnel to use........ A Dean Goods emerges with the afternoon pick up goods for Cynwyd. The lock keeper hardly looks up from hoeing his vegetable patch. I rather like this cameos but more often than not it gets cropped out.. The Dean is one my favourite locos. Its a genuine silk purse from sow's ear story. When it first arrived it was a total dog.....the only loco I have ever returned.....the replacement wasnt much better but I persevered fitting a Zimo chip and butchering the tender to squeeze in a Stay Alive Capacitor. Now its superb .....ultra reliable. Its time I kept my keep promise to do video of her shunting the yard at Cynwyd Regards from Vancouver

Thank you so much for posting that video. It has given me great encouragement as I anxiously wait for mine to cross the Atlantic and then North America. I think Ian’s post which pointed that all (? ) of the negative reports where analogue whereas your locos were DCC fitted and not with any old chip but Zimo. In the last year or so I have received Hornby Prairies, Dapol Moguls, Bachmann 94xx and the Heljan Railcar. Both the Prairies and 94xx performed abysmally out of the box. While waiting for Zimo chips to arrive I tested all of the above with spare decoders ( usually Lenz) …….there was a marked improvement in performance……..and when the Zimos were fitted an even greater improvement……they are all ultra reliable over some quite indifferent track. (The prairies of course also had to have weight and stay alive added. The 94xx also had SA added.) Did you have to clean the wheels and or adjust the pickups? I notice this wasnt mentioned in Sam’s review but I almost always find the wheels of new locos need cleaning. Wil let you know how I get on with the Dapol when it eventually arrives in Vancouver Best wishesl

Thann

Just a suggestion……I found it made a significant difference

Have you added any weight to the Hornby Prairie? It makes a big difference.

Excellent…..that is good new!

I so admire optimists

The Zimo made a big difference to mine but I still needed to add Stay Alive and lead (lots)! I will let you know how I geton with my Dapol prairie Neal. When do you expect we will see the Accurascale Manor do you think? My guess is this time next year! Best wishes

Is the unusual location of the power/route indicator simply an error or was there some photographic evidence for it?

I had to pack my Hornby prairies with lead……hard wired the decoder which made space for more lead and a stay alive……….and I had to modify the pony truck mounting………it was definitely not a case of running them straight out of the box. At least they are now reliable runners, no stalling, and haul 4 Hornby collets ok. They still dont like some of my admittedly poor track…..wherea all other locos including the Dapol Mogul runs fine on these sections. The mogul, incidentally, ran perfectly (apart from a top speed that Lewis Hamilton would envy) straight out of the box….the speed issue was solved with cv adjustment. The Dapol prairie is said to have the same power train of the Mark Ii mogul so I am moderately optimistic……time will tell.

I have one on order Robin but you will not want to wait for my review I am not expecting to see mine under the tree! Best wishes

Thanks John. Its not too bad here we live about 600' up on the North Shore Mountains. 40 miles to the east, Abbotsford (150,00) is completely surrounded by floodwater.........its the centre of a big farming community. Its heart-rending watching the poor farmers trying to save their livestock by trying to tow them to safety with a rowboat- only the cows head above water- hundreds of animals have died. The economic impact will be long lasting I am afraid Best wishes

The Last Wall I cant really call this the last spike. There is still the Brewery to complete (dont ask) and perhaps a Castle around the pillar. However, other than that, this is the only major construction remaining 54" in length it will form the layout edge from the canal warehouse in the foreground to the green bus above the red throttle The first section will contain a tunnel mouth for the branch line I have built plenty of walls on Granby over the last 14 years. I think the most successful have actually been Scalescene prints but I dont believe they will work here. So close to the viewer they will look too flat and have durability problems. Lots of Wills sheets to paint: The absolute master at modelling with Wills sheets was undoubtedly the late Alan Downes. Here is an example of his work with Wills Random Stone: This example is perhaps a bit too "Cotswoldy" for dark satanic Granby but is a superb example of his painting technique. He claimed to use Wills sheets by the lorry load......check this link if you dont believe me: He developed a very effective weathering technique: "All the stonework used here was WILLS RANDOM STONE SHEETS (SMP 200) where I first brushed them over with COLRON LIGHT OAK WOOD DYE which acts both as a primer and the base colour to the plastic sheets. Working a sheet at a time, lay it flat then aim a very light dust coat of ACRYLIC MATT BLACK up and under the stone courses but don't over do it. When this has dried, rub talcum powder well into the joints then scrape off the surplus. Using the COLRON ENGLISH LIGHT OAK again DAB, NOT BRUSH, this over the stonework with a large FLAT modelling brush where it will soak into the talcum powder and because the dye is corrosive, it will adhere the talc between the courses permanantly. However, you can use different shades of wood dye if you wish but it MUST be COLRON as this is spirit based and not water based which will just run off the plastic. - oh, and the matt black MUST be acrylic as the dye will not attack it." My plan to follow these instructions to the letter fell at the first hurdle. Colron Spirit based dye is unavailable in Canada! Furthermore the few examples of spirit based dye I could find were in unsuitable shades.....too dark So here after much experimenting is the Dew Compromise (how very Canadian) At the bottom a virgin sheet. Next dirty white weathering powder rubbed vigorously into all the mortar courses. Surplus powder removed by a sharp tap with the sheet held vertically Light dusting of matt black acrylic from rattle can held at an angle to sheet Here is a close up Not a patch on Alans but I am not too unhappy as a start point. Once the various sub units are made I will apply some dilute washes. I may brush highlights to individual stones.....not sure about that right now So with the trials complete it was time for some mass painting in the garage : To be continued........... In other news Ben Jones @61661 the Heljan Rep was able to find a spare buffer spring for the Diesel Railcar and mailed it to me in Vancouver......thats what I call service.........thank you again Ben. I often finish with a comment on the weather......The little creek in our local park on Monday: The lower mainland has had the most horrendous non stop rain for almost a week. In just 2 days the rainfall exceeded the total for a normal November. Merrit (pop 17,000), a town threatened by forest fires in August, has been completely evacuated because all essential services have been cut by flooding. Sections of both the highway and railway connecting Vancouver with the rest of the province (and Canada!) have been completely washed away. It kind of puts the absence of Colron Dye in perspective!

Granby Shed

Not sure about that. In Chateau Dew that would leave the dog with a casting vote and I know where his loyalties lie.

Oh dear…..I guess I will have to carry out due diligence and make sure all the boxes are ticked in my planning application for the next project! Best wishes

Thanks Paul for the detailed reply Apologies for being ambiguous about the red and black circles. I thought, at the time, you may think I was referring to the contact indicators then forgot to clarify things. I thought the red circle within a black circle might have been an alternative push button option.. If you want to save on occupancy detectors you could use flagman indicators in dead end sidings. Triggered by the CI in the preceding block . I use them quite a bit. They are better than virtual contacts because they are more flexible and typically there is less distance between trigger and action. Did clay trains run to Birmingham? Best wishes