bertiedog

Ebay is wonderful, look up reed relays to get a pack of cheap ones, and under reed relays there are very few, they list them as reed switches instead, with bulk packs! Anyway a bulk pack for a couple of quid from UK supplier coming for the layout. Stephen

A useful side effect of the magnets is the possibility if wide use of reed switches for location, switching points or level crossing etc and other effects like signals. The reed relays sense the magnet about 1.5 inches away,

Track cross section, Peco half sleepered on top of white plastic tape top surface, metal core, then self adhesive rape to baseboard, the lot ballasted over with basing sand or ballast. The Peco sleepers will be glued to the white PVC after it is sanded, with impact adhesive and then ballasted down.

in the meantime track ordered, at least enough to make a start on the vineyard end and under the Castle, and one of the Feldbahn Steam locos in black livery, coming from Germany, and post free as well, It may get a red paint job added later and a bit of finer detailing, like handrails and pipes, plus some better valve gear and slide bars, and some crew, the 00 scale Modelux figures would fit well Glazing and brass surrounds can be fitted to the cab windows, plus some footplate extras. On the track I have also bought two packs of spare rail section and with the discarded sleepers from the ready to lay Z track, this doubles the amount of track, a cunning plan to save a bit of money! The metal tape is also ordered as well, so that track laying can proceed ASAP.

There a lot of difference between discussion on here and being dismissive about the subject, to each his own, and I was not in the toy trade, but modelling and model engineering, but never dismissive of those who buy trains to play with, Also being graced with the name modeller does not automatically mean the person suddenly gains knowledge and higher standards, there is a long learning curve. made worse in the UK by the minefield of what people think are standards, that have been concocted over the years from sources too numerous for the hobbies good. Add in makers who make free abuse of the term Rp25, when they have never read the standards or understood them, and we have the mess that Peco has to deal with daily/ Code 83 must seem like a dream to them, standard, accepted, and makers who keep to the designs, no wonder they wanted to move into that market.

The reason the dual is used is that a single track could suffer a minor glitch as it urns, like crackle on a wireless volume control, but in the regulator circuit this is very problematic, as the gliich can send the regulator output to full voltage for the period of the glitch, dependant on exact circuit used. So they double the value and in parallel it gives a virtually glitch free potentiometer. This trick was used widely in High end Hi-Fi, with dual or treble wipers built in to the pot, plus in Marantz they dualled the pots as well.

If it losing the point on removing Bachmann screws then they are soft, but I have never had one fail on crosshead screws, but I do check most carefully that the bit fits the head to the full depth, and dress the end with a cut off disk in a Dremel tool, some appear to fit the cross head but are not engaging full depth, or are too pointed and it needs the tip ground away to get full engagement/ But by all means get the brands that are better, although most will be Chinese anyway these days. It maybe that Poundland vary in batches, but I just ran a Brinall test on one and it is over 75, which is three times mild steel, over 90 would be hard tool steel, so indicates heat treated steel.

Done rough outline drawing of the chassis and looks very practical to make, far less bother than 2mm scale chassis. Short wheel base locos can be catered for with the magnet in the middle altered to two magnets, one at each end. I think that split frame will be vital, no pickups or dirt problems. 060 versions are easy with the Lawton parts and gears, and I am looking into basing most on one size of wheel with integral stub back to allow the frame to pick up the power. The Peco Z gauge track seems to go down to about 5 inch radius curves with alternate sleepers removed, any tighter and it may need to be soldered to screws to keep the gauge accurate.

I'll give you the one and six each plus postage at 1955 rates........ .

Retirement of the owners, a board decision made long after I left.

Also I think a major assumption is being made by the few who do follow it, that the track matters that much, I can assure you that whilst in the retail trade with railways, the track was barely if ever mentioned, apart from the already converted EM/ P4 /S4 users. 99% of customers wanted RTL track, any code, with a full range of point types, thats all. Some like finer codes, these have come all ready, but even flat bottom versa bull head rarely came up in the shop. Dare we suggest that RM web does have a lot of far more enthusiastic scale followers than average, and it biases the postings about track........ In the US there is one set of standards....here the discussion brings forward about 10 to 15 ways of making, buying or producing track track......and that's just in 00... The vital issue is when those points are in the shops....far more to the point, when will it be a full range..... Stephen.

When I made some points for a club layout, i used correct geometry, with a straight section after the frog in a cross over, I had a lecture about it from a senior members that it wasted a further 5 inches or so..... another complained that it did not matter that the "waggle" of the coaches looked different if curved geometry was used..... Another said it made no difference.....another said curved points derailed everything, they did on his layout as he ran at Mallard speeds.... Another said they looked right, another said they looked wrong, and all of this on a model where as in all layouts everything else was a compromise due to it being a model... you just cannot win. The cross over, by the way was on a main line with four foot radius curves feeding it! Model railways are all compromised in some way or another, even P4 on overall size. Peco offer the best British made range of products in the world for modellers of all tastes that run railways that are practical designs, It all works out of the box. Stephen

If the wheels are N/s then if you have a lathe they can be restored to 100% accurate finish, with a new boss silver soldered on the front to improve the crankpin boss appearance. A session with a set of Swiss files and a de-burrer would restore the spokes to fine scale appearance. Just got to find a 4 coupled loco that needs 26 mm diameter wheels!

Trouble with Sayer Chaplin, information on what they did outside the famous etched parts is very scant. Hamblings owner in the 1970's stated that they did a full range of wheels at one point, along with masses of various parts never mentioned today,..He should have known as Hamblings bought all the stock after Sayer Chaplin closed down and still had some items in stock in the early 1970's. I can confirm the detail as I was working at Hamblings at the time. A maker who wandered in and out of making items and then dropping them was Kirdon, an electrical engineering company just like Sayer Chaplin,(and Graham Farish). Mr Howard also said Stewart Reidpath made some nickel wheels as an experiment, the process was the same as the brass wheels they made, by hot coining the metal into a die, but they found the nickel wore the dies out. Besides which SR used a push on wheel, not the square end type. Again he knew the details as Hamblings owned the SR remaining rights and stock.

These are the types, the tips are all the same hex fit on both items or fit Jacobs chucks perfectly.......

All the smaller sizes in the workshop are the Poundland sets or the separate micro screwdrivers sets, and the plated magnetic bits are not monkey metal, they are hardened, needing a diamond file on some for re shaping or custom use. A good swiss file will file the metal, but risks ruining the file as that are hard. The Pound type to steer clear of are the micro screwdrivers with chromed bodies as a set, the ends are soft and come loose. I do have Moore and Wright as well as Swiss items, but the Poundland are the day to day items most used. There must be about 5 sets to provide spares for any job.ll at £1 per set of, I think, 40 per pack. I do appreciate quality being a instrument maker as well as modeller, sometimes value for money does mean the cheaper scores.

One and six in 1955 is about just short of £2.00 today, So less than Scalelink at £3.00 each. If nickel silver they might be Sayer Chaplin, who would have had them made by Bonds for them. Bond's own were cast in brass or bronze for 0 gauge, plus cast iron for 0 gauge and gauge one. In the post war era many suppliers listed wheels, like KMR, made for them by other manufacturers in other trades like car parts. Most cast iron wheels were made by Stuart Turner of Henley on Thames, who supplied under their own name, as well as making for everybody else, including Beeson. Few made their own products, they bought in what was allowed by the Board of Trade, who strictly controlled all supply, although this was fading by 1955, although it did still affect building a layout as there was still a restriction on the amount of wood you could buy, I think 30 shillings was allowed unless you got special permission for house building. If you admitted that that the wood was for a model railway, in theory the lumber yard could refuse to supply. Of course people got around it purchasing second hand etc. Mr Harold Wilson was the head of the Board of trade who introduced the stupid regulations and restrictions that nearly broke the model trade. Stephen.

But the LM series is not a fixed regulator, its regulation is set by the components values on the output, and reducing the input max voltage to a lower figure, (fully covered in specs), just alters the regulated output Max. It just works at the lower input levels (above the min allowed) to regulate the voltage output within the range set by the max input. A fixed value regulator is different, you must be above the output or it does not work, but LM is OK as long as the input, at whatever value is above the output. If the input has to be at the full allowed value to get a regulated output, then why do the makers specify an input range? Forgetting the drop out and loss, if you feed 6 volts in you can get 0 to 6 volts out fully regulated at every set value, thats the whole point of a variable regulated voltage source. The LM317 works on 6 volts in, and gives a fully controlled range of voltages out..

There is a choice of joiners, one remains , one new, So running Peco you would introduce new geometry, financed from profits, and leave old customers with points that will not fit, plus a double inventory of parts. Don't worry about it, as a serious user, I assume you use P4 anyway? or do you accept 00 anyway?, in which case Peco caters for it very well indeed.

Frankly I am amazed that Pecos track still has detractors stating that Streamline is "Poor", in what way, given that you must dismiss personal preferences, unless serious. It's visual appearance in the various versions including bullhead is defined by the use of 16.5mm track, which was nothing to do with Peco. Where standards exist, the US, the products meets or exceeds the expected qualities demanded by the customer. The British have no standards apart from clubs and trade ones that have been and still are ignored by the customers. So what do you expect to be on the ,Market when there is no agreement among the customers? Come back and complain when there is a BRITISH MODEL RAILWAY ASSOCIATION, who have set standards in all aspects of the hobby and rigidly applied them for 60 years

Go on then, give us the exact details of a product that will be better, given it must match the existing geometry, gauge and rail section. The chairs must be universal, not one company, sleeper practice the same, use existing fishplates and take all Peco accessories.Remember your selling to the general public, so no personal preferences are allowed........It must suit most 00 locos and stock, and be reliable. Stephen

Actually having a very hard look at the pictures, they may well be K's efforts as the crankpins do vaguely lie up with the square, but the spokes do not!!!, a mistake Romford or Bonds are unlikely to have done. If K's they are plated Mazak, which gives a better surface, but wears off after use. Stephen

A Monastery?..there will be enough trouble with the Schlossed Blue Nuns occupying the Castle, let alone having a nearby Monastery! On the locos it seems the motors are not coreless types, just efficient micro motors. I have ordered a pile of bits and pieces from Nigel Lawton to make three chassis, one plain frames, one out frames, and one with outside frames and cranks. These will have a 5:1 belt drive, plus 10:1 worm and gear sets. Rough layout drawing shows a 7mm diameter 3 mm thick magnet can just fit between the wheels. To save pickups they will be split framed around a Tufnol middle section under the motor and the layshaft, which will be ballraced, there appears enough space to get a small flywheel on the motor shaft, behind the pulley. Al Diesel outline at first. Stephen

My vote as before "Bonds of Euston Road", but there were one or two others, minor makers who copied Romford, but they may have been just re-labled Bonds anyway. The other major make was Hamblings, but they are Bakelite and brass. At one point Ks attempted to make a Romford copy, they did not work, as the square end quartered the wheel OK, but the crankpins were drilled out of quarter! Also at one point Kirdon got Muddocks the die cast people who made the Romford castings, to do a version for them. Stephen

It was reported by Oxford themselves it was based on scans, but in terms that covered the other products as well, so with respect where does it say no scans were used? How else would the footplate rivets get interpreted as on the splasher face? Our company made scanners optics and used Leica, and the problem of flat surfaces facing upwards and shadowing on to other surfaces is well known.