Ron Ron Ron

2 hours ago, Andymsa said:

I always solder every metal rail joiner

38 minutes ago, RFS said:

 

Does that not then prevent heat expansion in hot weather with the risk of rails buckling?

An alternative would be to solder short jumper wires, thereby overcoming the expansion issue.

.

.

1 hour ago, Welly said:

I wish the RTR manufacturers tell us how much space is available for the decoders in their "DCC Ready" locomotives AND the decoder makers tell us the dimensions of their products!

 

I have just tried to fit a Rails 21 pin decoder to a Hornby 87 and the decoder is too wide! I've had to fit a Hattons 21 pin decoder instead.

 
The PluX and Next18 interface standards should provide the certainty that matching decoders will fit locos with the matching interface.

A key part of their interface specifications, is the maximum dimensions of the decoder and provision of space to accommodate the decoders in models fitted with matching interfaces.

Then comes along a decoder manufacturer with a decoder that purports to be Next18, but fails to comply with the most important criteria for that format.

Hornby’s so called Next18 version of their HM7000 series.

.

.

On 01/05/2024 at 17:35, Geep7 said:

…… if the temp is going to fall below or near freezing, as when you bring them back into the ambient temperature of an exhibition hall the chips don't like it.

Nothing worst than cold chips….

.

The planners and environmental teams thought it was OK to plow a cutting through a prominent woodland hilltop, to truncate some ancient Iron Age dyke and made other balanced judgements on similar locations, but required such mitigation as to require a very expensive pair of long, cut and cover tunnels, underneath 1. the mixed use, vague remnants of a disused WW2 airfield and 2. a stretch of open farming land.

OK, fair enough, I shouldn’t comment any further and I freely admit I’m not suitably informed on whether the system has worked properly in these cases.

I'll go back to watching GB News and reading my Daily Mail.

.

.

HS2 cuts through miles of open countryside, through farmland, unused green spaces, even cutting (controversially) through woodland.
Huge earthworks are taking place to create lengthy cuttings, embankments being created, all resulting in significant re profiling of the landscape in places.

They are also building new viaducts across rural valleys and numerous new bridges are going up.

All in the open rural environment and in many cases, within a short stone throw of towns and villages.

That's why I find it unfathomable that there appears to be a special case for Chipping Warden and Greatworth?

By contrast, the Burton Green “Green tunnel” appears to be totally justifiable, as the route cuts right through a village, following the trace of a disused railway line.

In that case, they have compulsory purchased some residential properties, despite local opposition to the plans.

There will be some “green bridges” and the Sheephouse Wood Bat tunnel included on Phase 1, to mitigate specific environmental impacts.

So what are the Chipping Warden and Greatworth tunnels for?

.

Latest progress on the Colne Valley viaduct.

After spanning the Grand Union Canal, two more spans have been completed, across the final lake to be crossed.

The launching Girder is now ready to move on to the next pier, to complete the half finished third span and start of the 4th.

New viaduct segments are lined up ready.

/

3 hours ago, IRC said:

…….. I have come to realise that I need a LOT more bus wiring. Three times as much in fact and I’m not sure it is worth it? 

I don’t know about your example, but generally speaking, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it would require that amount of extra wiring.

You can be imaginative in how you divide your layout into Power Districts and how you route the track bus wiring.

The idea that you must run multiple tracks of bus wire to be able to adequately feed all sections of rail, is not correct.

While you can route the track bus wires to follow the rails, you can also use branches and spurs, or root and branch, or combinations of all types of bus wire routing.

That opens up the scope to be a bit creative and minimise the amount of wire needed to feed all the rails in a Power District.

How you divide the layout into separate Power Districts, can also have bearing on how much wire will be needed.

.

2 hours ago, idd15 said:

What about using Hornby HM7000 decoders for this application? The app itself is of course free if you have a Bluetooth device. Just an idea… 

cheers

idd

I would have suggested the Hornby Bluetooth system, as the lowest cost system of all… i.e.  £0 (zip, zilch, nada) for a virtual command station (the HM DCC app) and using a cheap power supply in leu of needing a DCC system Booster track output.

Of course that would be ideal for someone starting out with DCC, but not much use to someone like the OP, who already has decoder equipped locos and may not want to refit them all with HM7000 decoders.

.

27 minutes ago, WIMorrison said:

Ron

 

do you have a link to this set? I can only find a Lenz starter set at around £350 but would have a use for this simple set - if I could find it 😀

https://www.lenz-elektronik.de/digital-plus/starter.php

KMS Railtec are advertising the additional handset for £33.96, but don't appear to have a price yet for the starter set.

.

Lenz now have a new low budget and extremely basic starter system.

It's named "Starter Digital Set" and is priced at €99 (full list price)

Additional handsets priced at €39.95 each.

This system is more basic than the Bachmann E-Z Command - 4 loco's and 10 functions only ....in 2024 !!!!!!

It does provide either 3 or 4 amps to the track though.

Thankfully it's not sold in the UK at present, as far as I'm aware.

.

Finally, a progress report from the Bromford tunnels, on the approach to Birmingham.

Yesterday, 29th April 2024

Mary Anne - 2,148 metres - 3,452 metres remaining.

Elizabeth    - 120 metres - 5,840 remaining.

.

36 minutes ago, Grovenor said:

If that 30 billion figure is correct it would seem way out of line for any posible development value.

I think the £30 Billion may refer to the total cost of HS2 construction to date.

Nethertheless, the Chipping Warden tunnel and its sister tunnel at Greatworth just to the south (same design and construction), will end up costing  £100's of millions by themselves, if not a billion.

.

I can’t see that rational for safeguarding the site, when HS2 has taken swathes of both green and brownfield land, without any requirement for such provision.

.

Chipping Warden "Green" tunnel. 

The tunnel under nothing, but the edges of remains of a disused WW2 airfield, some of it used for storing cars, the rest being unused green land, woodland and some agricultural use.

All this effort and cost, for what?

.

A very clear view of the Copthall Tunnel and the Colne Valley viaduct running off into the distance (you can make out the West Hyde, Chilterns south portal site in the distance).

.

I regularly saw 8 and 9 set WIA rakes behind an EWS 66 on their way to and from Southamton docks.

I'm not sure if I ever saw a 10 set rake, but then I wasn't counting most of the time.

In more recent times, seeing odd sets being laid up in various sidings around the network is very sad.

Waiting for one of these 45 wagon trains to slowly traverse the Canute Road crossing, into the Eastern Dock Gates, seemed to take an age.

Compared to most other long freights on British rails, the full length WIA trains always gave me an impression being the closest we had to North American length trains, even if they're really massively shorter in reality.

I've been wanting these in 00 for 20 years.

I'd hoped, but never thought they'd be made as RTR.

The wallet will have to lay down and submit.

.

A must watch video, showing the latest scenes at Curzon Street.

While work on the approach viaducts is still the most obvious sign of activity, you also get a very good look at progress on building the nearby piers along the approach route coming in from Washwood Heath.

The bridge deck that will span Lawley Middleway, can been seen, being assembled at an angle to the route, ready for lifting into place at a later stage.

Clearance and preparatory work for construction to start on the station building itself, is also well advanced.

Piling work is starting shortly.

If you've got good sound on your computer or device, enjoy the lovely soundtrack.

.

35 minutes ago, dave75 said:

Ah okay so by in phase essentially we mean the same polarity....

Yes, but the polarity switches back and forth at a very fast rate.

The phase is keeping that switching in sync at the same timing.

Last weekend at Burton Green...

(Note: no work taking place on a weekend)

.

22 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

The rate of progress depends not only on man vs. machine but also on the geology.

Indeed.

See the link I posted further up this page, regarding the difficulties encountered with boring the Northolt West tunnels.

https://www.geplus.co.uk/news/hs2-tbm-quartet-tackles-differing-geology-on-twin-bore-tunnel-under-london-22-04-2024/

.

1 hour ago, Bon Accord said:

Comparing mortgages and interest rates between now and 40 years ago really isn't illustrative.

For a start the average house price today is nine times the average salary (and rising), whereas in 1984 it was only four times.

Required deposits were significantly less and certainly back then much of the calculations were based on one wage, as opposed to today where two people can scarcely afford a mortgage.

Whilst interest rates were higher 40 years ago, today's homeowners are paying a LOT more for their property.

 

 

That's why you should treat any price, or cost  comparisons with the past, based purely on the the prevailing rates of inflation, with total suspicion .

For example the cost of a model train, a TV or a pair of shoes between say 1990 and 2024.

There are so many changing variables involved, relative cost of materials, variation in labour rates in different economies over time, different manufacturing technologies, different levels of overheads, relative costs of transportation and loads of other things.

Simply saying that inflation over that time period has been X % , has very little bearing on how or why prices have increased over the same period.

Those inflation calculators you can use, are interesting and amusing, but are far too crude to present a full picture.

.

51 minutes ago, dave75 said:

 Which begs the follow up question how would power districts not be in phase? 

They would not be in phase if each individual rail in the adjacent Power District (or sub-district), on the other side of the insulated rail joiner, has been wired in the reverse.

i.e. not the same feed wire (left -right, inner-outer, red-black or whatever colour)

The track power is actually a DCC signal, which reverses rapidly in phase.

So each Power District must be in sync with each other, because otherwise, a loco bridging the gap where the two sections of rail are out of phase would cause a short.

As an analogy, think of  + &  -  with  DC.

It would be the equivalent of a loco's wheels bridging  + &  -  as it crosses the gap between each isolated section of rail.

Adding additional Boosters will be OK (if connected properly) because they should work in sync....provide the actual wiring to each rail is the right way round.

Take the same care with connecting up Circuit Breakers.

.

.