34theletterbetweenB&D

I am going to guess that should have read 'all the others run around 0.09A ', (or 90mA) and the behaviour then makes sense, especially as you have overcome it with an extra power feed. There wasn't enough current supply for the higher current draw mechanisms, and almost certainly due to resistance in the rail connections. Replacing the length of track where the problem happens will not always fix this. The railjoiner(s) or rail ends making poor connection might be those attached on the connecting rail pieces either side for example. That the slow to a stop didn't happen with the rolling road offers a further clue, could be that the weight of the rolling road helped the flaky connections into better contact.

By strange coincidence I spent all day yesterday in an ambulance, and the crew were very informative in this matter. The problem with the mid-lifer's motorcycle is that the thrillseeker's activity typically ends up also impacting the life of others, which is rather selfish. Chainsaws have all the edge you could possibly want, and do the job both more cheaply and with no one else involved.

Here's my suggestion based on 'Keep it simple'. To get the best out of model railway, you do need some mechanism knowledge. For now, focus on building up that experience with what dominates currently manufactured product: which is not split chassis.

So given that the Midland Pullman didn't serve Derby, is the answer to the title question in respect of this service thus 'bob on'?

There is content on their website on the subject. Claimed to have their own factory, and there were photographs of both the interior, and outside at what looked like the factory gate; the principal posing with the factory manager on receipt of an award, there was some Chinese text on view which might give a hint to location. http://www.oxfordrail.com/General.htm

Heterodox opinion! I was very interested in the 'stay alive' concept when embarking on my DCC journey fourteen years ago: and have never yet had the slightest need to use it. A properly sorted layout in terms of track and wiring, and locos with good pick up arrangements and quality decoders, job done. No need for extra components to be purchased or to find space for in the locos. This goes double for the centre motor twin bogie traction which have excellent pick up thanks to the two sub chassis they run on ensuring many wheels in contact with the rails at all time, and plenty of weight. What you lose with 'stay alive' is the first warning that track dirt is building up. The moment I notice a loco stuttering when starting or stopping - that is in dead slow movement - is the moment to check for track dirt. Because DCC is so thundering reliable, you get excellent signal to noise ratio: the moment movement isn't perfect there's a problem, and the 99%+ assignable cause is dirt on railhead or pick up wheel tyres. (The other cause is fault in loco, wiring joint usually.) Side note. I clean track on a schedule by rail drag, which schedule was determined as the half way interval in accrued operating time to first evidence of definite track dirt interfering with running, as described above. The dirt removed by the drag is typically a dry dark grey deposit. But every now and again a large gob of dirt falls on the track, and I am still trying to track down the source(s) as these are now the sole source of the remaining occasional track dirt problem. I know it is fresh when I find it, as it is soft and greasy. I suspect it comes off driven axle hubs but cannot prove it, nor do I have a means of prevention, other than the very sparing grease lubrication of driven axles which has been my practise for the past decade. Ideas?

The Oxford product nevertheless remains a good model, and it has one feature definitely superior to the Hornby model in the mounting of the rear carrying wheel. Had it been launched at the same time as Bachmann's first Blue Riband steam models and the Hornby rebuilt MN - none of which were 'perfect' - I have no doubt it would have been seen as overall equivalent to those items But without a doubt, what Oxford have to struggle with is the torrent of steadily improving product we have seen since. It's quite a big hill to climb, matching the standard of the best of what we are now accustomed to. Evaluated against this background, I feel the Radial is a fair first effort: the potential to improve from this point is there.

With CV's 5 and 6 set to zero they are probably at the manufacturer's default settings. I would recommend adjusting CV5 to the maximum speed you want the loco to do - by trial and error - and once satisfied with that set CV6 to about a third the CV5 value, and then see how it does through the speed curve. (I would also suggest a lot more in CV's 3 and 4, try 60. That'll give you some simulated inertia to deal with.)

Shame! When our phormiums flower the scent is quite something, vanilla ice cream with a dash of rum or similar. Attracts a huge range of moths as the scent is strongest at night. They don't take kindly to cold/wet winters, and may just turn their toes up in protest. (Hertfordshire.)

In defence of which position, 'the authorities' in such an incident face dual jeopardy, by incorrectly identifying those who were not present as probable victims. People can be anywhere in the world these days, and some of them possibly 'off the grid' and thus not readily contacted. It takes time to collate all the incoming evidence and assess it for reliability.

Could they actually make their rated 20mph, or did wise crews run them rather slower than that? (Memories of how they used to yaw very visibly when seen approaching head on while out running.) I saw them regularly employed on the 'Welwyn Shunt' between Hatfield and WGC yards in the 1960s, usually with a very modest load: and it was easy to beat them on the ancient single speed Raleigh boneshaker inherited from my Pa, by the road route which was significantly greater in distance, from the 'Red Lion' bridge in Hatfield to the Twentieth mile bridge in WGC.

It's a hard call to make, when unrestricted media coverage exceeds the bounds of decency. The fact is that unfettered media means that very little can be successfully brushed under the carpet, by those whose interest might be of the 'nothing to see here, move along now' persuasion. I believe that keeping this disaster in the public view is in all our interests: the pressure needs to be kept on full strength, to determine very quickly just how many people might be living in a potential funeral pyre. I'll wince at the tasteless intrusions, but would rather that, than risk of any concealment.

The heat is producing results. My wife had heard the strange 'whee waah' calling on Saturday while working in the garden, and on Sunday morning I got five seconds view of a female golden oriole. Just want the rollers now, on a visit from Affrreeecah...

Given that there is a specimen in the NRM - and there's the Buckjumper come to that - I will be surprised if these don't get announced within the next five years. Given that a J69 can carry renditions of the GER blue and LNER green liveries in BR service it is a little surprising that we have never had one RTR in OO.

Although as described and illustrated up thread, a simple modification which took about 30 minutes fixes this completely. Savings for the screw driver brigade! (Essentially remove flywheel, then move motor closer to gear tower, leaving the underboiler space clear.)

Fact check time. Although I have not been directly affected by any of the mazak rot problems, there's been plenty of on line traffic which leads me to believe the following: Bachmann's N class: replacement cast footplates made available to owners with failed models Heljan class 47: replacement drives made available to owners with failed models Hornby class 30/31: replacement drives made available to owners with failed models. If the above is true then manufacturers have addressed consequences. What they are up to in their manufacturing processes is a closed book! Mazak is not in use for this purpose casually. It offers all the properties required at an affordable price, but with a process requirement that lead be rigorously excluded from the melt and diecasting stage. The alternatives carry very sigificant cost implications, sorry to say. And it should be kept in mind that all alloys have their failure mechanisms, many here will have seen what happens to steel and duralamin - to name two very common alloys - if not treated right...

In the case of diesel traction the Railroad range is dominated by ex-Lima bodies, with a better motor bogie by Hornby. Dependent on traction tyres to move any sort of load. All of Bachmann, Dapol, Heljan, Hornby (main range) and SLW have versions of the centre motor flywheel drive to both bogies with at least two axles driving and picking up on each bogie, plain metal tyres, plentiful weight. In all but the narrow bodied types from Heljan a chunky five pole flat can motor is used, an 1830 or 1833 in exterior dimensions*. (I have had one of these running regularly roughly since your departure 25 years ago, in an example of a Bachmann Peak which was first introduction of this type of drive in OO during the early 90s, still as quiet and reliable as ever.) These are a day over night improvement in the drive stakes over every motor bogie ever offered in OO - based on the well proven designs used in North American HO - quiet, smooth and with ample traction. Practically every diesel prototype that has run on BR now has a model available too. Most folks run out of either layout space or vehicles to fully test the haulage of the larger types that weigh in around 600g. These will realistically start and accelerate smoothly up to whatever is a scale maximum speed for the type with a 'full trainload'. (I have tried one such with 40 BR mk1s behind it, and it achieved scale speed for the rated service maximum of 105mph.) Most OO rolling stock is now on metal wheels. Get a look at Bachmann's split axle pinpoint pick up for coaches and MU's, pretty much the ideal low friction pick up. Hornby will insist on axle wipers, better than wheelback but still imposing incremental drag. We are waiting to see what Oxford Rail (relatively new entrant to OO) get up to in their Mk3s. * Edited to correct a small economy with the truth. I haven't actually laid eyes on either the Dapol or SLW motor, but have made the dangerous assumption that they will have something fo the same standard - or better - than B,H&H, all of whose motors I have had out of the mechanism for inspection. Perhaps owners of D&S will comment?

The simple fact is that the steam loco exhaust set up is always a compromise: from a power production perspective the selected arrangement should be the one obtaining the most efficient entrainment of the combustion product for least energy, over the target speed range of the design. ideally a variable exhaust configuration would be used - the 'jumper top' blastpipe fitting is an attempt at this - but the brutal truth was that the smokebox environment was so filthy that no such mechanism remained sufficiently reliable in service while steam was the majority power supplier for rail transport. Modern technology can do it. Read Chapelon and his followers for more.

Unfortunately, those elected typically are out of their depth in any technical or scientific matter. I found myself in front of a Commons select committee in which the problem that quickly emerged was that all those on the committee had a pre-Newtonian grasp of mechanics. Not fit for purpose...

This is a thorny one, and I have a very firm opinion born out of several experiences. Just my opinion, but a small club - essentially no more than a group of friends with a shared interest - is well advised to stay as an unincorporated society. Poicy on minors: the legal guardian joins the club and is present at all times the minor is there. (Essentially as the exhibition model, children are only admitted on the basuis that they are accompanied by parent or responsible legal guardian at all times. Adults with conditions that make them vulnerable in law required to make a full declaration at application to join, and to update by declaration of any subsequently developing condition. Undeclared conditions invalidate membership immediately on detection, they never were a member. (How that stands in law tbd.) (I have had the joy of endless hours of work arising from two members of an organisation wrestling each other to the ground because each believed the other to be falling over and 'went to help'. There was injury to both parties - in one case significant - with no other members present: and then both parties attempted suit against the organisation on the basis that they had 'vulnerable adult' status: completely unknown to the organisation, and not obvious or detectable (just for a start both were drivers and had arrived in their own completely standard motor vehicles).. All this despite the fact that they were present 'on duty' for the organisation, which their claimed vulnerability made them completely unfit for, and if that vulnerability had been known in advance would have seen them barred from performing this duty by policy of the organisation.)

Oh but it is fully detectable. A simple non-destructive test for the 'poisoning' elements that induce this failure mode is available, and it is not hugely expensive now, a hand held XRD analyser will do it. (When I were a lad, the first very costly commercial instruments were two tons and a three phase power supply + expert analyst to prepare the samples operate it, and interpret the results...) Having said all that, this is for the known and relatively rapid 'zinc pest / mazak rot' usually caused by lead contamination. But mazak is a relatively new alloy formulation, and it may have more than one such failure mode, and the next one we haven't had the alloy around long enough to experience it. Alloys are like that! Then again, the original owner will more than likely be safely dead... Get in there and look for crazing of the paint, and cracks. But I would suggest that there are other causes more likely to produce these symptoms. First, the motor mount on the early Sanda Kan period of construction is a mechanically inept design. The sole securing point is an inch away from where the motor has to be clamped down for the worm to engage the pinion. It can slack off very readily. Adjustment and even glueing the motor in its location have worked for my on the A3/A4 mechanism which has this and the following design flaw on the 2004/5 releases I own. Second the pick up arrangements on the loco are poor, in that the chassis block is used in the conduction path, via a peg cast into the bottom of the block bearing on the pick up strip, A plain face contact like that will go non-conducting if the loco stands for years. All mine altered; peg removed, soldered on wire connection, chassis block thus isolated fro the track, reliable conduction. Thirdly all the other metal surfaces vital for conduction will oxidise: wheel tyre, wheelback, wiper strip contact patch, and there's no pick up as a result. Hornby fixed 1 and 2 with the Britannia and since then have done much better in these respect in succeeding releases

Is it truly vital to strip this right down? Inching on the mech while holding the keeper plate on, remove keeper plate and then wipe all around - and repeat - will soon get excess lube away and allow any dirt to be cleaned off. I had to do it to fix one that had suffered a vertical drop onto paving and had several crushed flanges and so required new wheelsets, the memory this left is 'that was fiddly'. So if it is vital, the pick up assembly was lightly clipped onto the block when I took it apart, (but keep in mind that Hornby do change construction, and I was working on a first batch release).You will need to unplug the two brake detail assemblies, (they were a tight fit) before tackling the pick up assembly, and to allow the wheels to then be removed. But in order to remove the pick up assembly, I had to create slack in the wiring from the decoder socket down to the pick ups. You can pick up the exploded diagram from Hornby's random filing heap if you have the patience: worthwhile to show you what's what in my opinion, but I don't know the number of the diagram: and keep in mind there may be more than one to reflect changes to mechanism design, for which you need to check on the diagram for the model's 'R number'.

That could be fun. When I buy second hand it's typically project fodder, breakers for spares, or stuff I am looking out for on behalf of expat muckers. Nearly every piece of s/h I have purchased from Hattons is now in a significantly different form, and what isn't is no longer in the UK.

Rather than just turn off BEMF there may be adjustments. I don't know what's available on Digitrax decoders in the way of BEMF sampling and applied feedback control. On some decoders it is possible to change sampling interval or duration, and the feedback value, and thus effect very different control capability. If there is capability to tune these values to suit the motor, this might enable a reliable stop on command. Boring I know, but this is a 'read the manual' job, unless a Digitrax user can advise.

It surely is a very useful item, has those 'Ramsbottom/Crewe' running gear dimensions y'see. That's why I will probably be purchasing at some point: there hasn't been a nominal 5' wheel 7'3"+8'3" loco drive produced before. Very useful for a number of other subjects, for an idle type like me who won't build an OO mech if a good RTR option offers. (I'll let youse guys test it to destruction first, before venturing any cash.) Anything GW sells s/h, so no problems selling on any offcuts to defray expense.