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Just started giving it a run in. Almost silent in one direction, bit grindy in the other. This seems to be improving with running in. Only picking up from the powered bogie. Popping the body off showed up the problem. The vertical tags on the bogie were bent and the copper strips they were supposed to be touching were also bent away from the tags. The bogie pulls straight out, pliers to straighten the tags and the copper strips were pushed down with a flat bladed screw driver. Job done. Nice model, good detail and not too flimsy. Fine hand rails….probably half the thickness of those on a Farish class 25. Once run in, I’ll fit the decoder and give it a weathering…..it’s far too clean.

Not yet, I’ve literally just got it out the box. If I get a chance I’ll give it a run on DC today, prior to fitting the decoder.

Just the brake thirds and full brake have E prefix’s.

One of my former work colleagues had posted this picture on FB. Photo by John Atkinson. This looks like a nice little project using a Farish Bulleid open 3rd……..what colour do we think this is, weathered Olive? It almost looks like Sleeper Grime colour. This is the opposite side. The coach has been preserved at the Swanage Railway. Photo by the Swanage Railway.

A pleasant surprise when I got home today, my Class 128 parcels DMU had arrived from Revolution Trains. Luckily I’d bought a suitable decoder for it at work today, along with my blue/grey Mk2Fs and some Evergreen plastic H and L girders.

The Mk2Fs are now in stock.

The MK2Fs are now in stock. (Not the Virgin trains ones yet.)

The green is way too pale. 3514 was one of my units when I had a proper job. The catalogue images are much more accurate in colour.

Nice to meet you Ian. Glad you enjoyed the Hastings unit demo.

The 6B had a trip to the NGS York area group meeting today, where it successfully had a circuit or two around the DCC layout. I’ve also finally made a start on weathering it. Four coaches done.

Blue / Grey and Chocolate and Cream varieties have arrived along with the RMBs and the Thompson BGs. Just the Mk2F s to arrive.

…and now looking a bit neater……and over exposed photo so that you can see what’s what. Decoder at the rear, speaker under the PCB and Ribband cable.

The sound decoder has been fitted, it was a bit more of a struggle than I expected but it all fits….and after a CV change to match the decoder to the motor it’s all up and running….and very nice too.

Well I managed to shoehorn everything in. Decoder is secured and the speaker too….and off we went with a stutter. The decoder instructions say that Cv54 can be altered to suit the motor by changing the value to zero then press F1. Whilst changing the CV was fine, pressing F1 only changed the CV value from 0 to 1. After several goes…and some muttering from me….I put the power car back on the fiddle yard and off it shot a short distance as per the instructions. The power car now runs fine. job done.

The sound decoder arrived today, not sure what I was expecting as I’m still a newbie with DCC. So the decoder seems to be a Next18 with a flat harness to a six pin plug. Speaker casing is oblong so I will need to remove some of the internal chassis moulding as the speaker fittings are round in the 4CEP. The spare wires I guess I can just cut back to avoid anything touching each other. The flat ribbon harness will be a bit of a pain as it’s not long enough to run along the top of the PCB and fold under. I thought it would have to twist over the side to go underneath the PCB….but a way out. there’s a cut out in the PCB just wide enough to take the cable through. It’ll look a bit neater once it’s finished.

The sound decoder has been ordered. Only one at the moment. I will probably make a start on weathering it this Saturday at the NGS Yorkshire area group meeting.

Not much done to the layout this week, I have got all the buildings back on and a fair number of road vehicles too. There has been some progress on my T-Trax modules. PECO security fencing being added, a road overbridge is under construction. More tanks and pipes to add. I’ll get some photos at Saturdays NGS York area meeting. In other news I’ve ordered the sound decoder and speaker for the 6B…….watch this space….or maybe it should be listen?

http://www.1s76.com/1S76 1984.htm https://zenfolio.page.link/AEX9e 50029 at Leeds on 1O86 the 1400 to Brighton, loco came off at New St.

Many thanks, I’ll have to check the maximum size for the speaker too.

Is it possible to have your class 201/2/3 sounds put on to a six pin chip? This would be for my N gauge class 203 / 6B. It’s powered using the Farish 4CEP chassis and motorblock. It has no lighting as headcode blinds were not very visible in daylight.

It’s crying out for two…..but I suspect one for the time being. Just awaiting a reply from Legomanbiffo as their class 201/2/3 sound is not available on 6pin.

Yes….or use a class 101 or 108 DMU chassis…..wrong bogies of course.

The 6B had a good run on the T Trax modules at the weekend. I have temporarily popped a Dapol decoder in to run it on Olympia but will get a Bachmann one at work tomorrow….prior to getting it sound fitted.

I realised I hadn’t taken any photos of what the powered coach looks like. The motorblock just fits width wise, the PCB didn’t need any trimming. The motorblock is glued in place with some contact adhesive. I will add some plasticard to the rear bogie pickups to hold them down better on the chassis. There is plenty of room for a speaker once I manage to source the 6pin sound decoder.

Like much of the country it’s a bit of a wet day here in York…..so I’ve made good progress re-cladding the RKH/Bristol cars showroom. The photos show how badly the brick paper has faded. Once finished the brickwork will be painted and fresh facia signs made.