giz

RIP John. I only went to his shop rarely because it was a bit of a trek from Bury St Edmunds but he was a regular at East Anglian exhibitions with his trade stand. He was always open to a chat when we met and did me a few good deals.

1 hour ago, Peter749 said:

When I saw this announcements about the FO vehicle I had to check what was on my layout and I have two Bachmann FO - 39-241

https://www.hattons.co.uk/107224/bachmann_branchline_39_241_mk1_fo_first_open_m3000_in_br_maroon/stockdetail

It is interesting that Bachmann produced a type of vehicle that BR only built 3 of - E3000 - E3002

 

I think they used the compartment side of the FK on both sides so they produced it without having to tool new sides. There were also 11 RFOs with the same bodystyle.

I find the Powercab to be pretty simple but the most basic dcc controller must be the Bachmann EZ Command.

Currently available as the plus version:

https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/product/category/282/e-z-command®-plus-digital-command-control-system/36-502

but the original can be obtained secondhand

The most obvious missing RTR coach for the GE section in this period is the dia 265 lavatory third, of which 79 were built just before the war. They were 54ft long steel clad with 8 compartments, a lavatory and a side corridor but no gangways. I don't even think a full kit has ever been available although Mousa Models did brass sides only.

Finally, after three versions of the Dia 1/800 (Dublo, Parkside and Hornby) we get the 1/801. Was just thinking about this version the other day when I found my almost complete Parkside kit.

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Sort of ! ............ a batch of 158s were diverted and were 'rebuilt' as 159s in the process ....................... though I've never sussed out what the 'rebuilding' involved. 

I seem to remember that one mod was to the multi working connection so that they wouldn't match the 158s to stop Regional Railways borrowing them.

Additionally, some 2nd generation sets were reformed as 3 car sets. In Scotland some 156 sets were split and added to a 2 set, in order I believe, that a 6 car formation could break into two equal portions en route. For much a longer period, in the West Midlands in particular, 150/2 cars were placed inside 150/1 sets.

One other reformation that occurred was the 'leaf fall' sets made from one 156 and one 158 car as the 156 had tread brakes which cleaned the wheels whereas the disc brakes on the 158 didn't.

5 hours ago, SRman said:

 

The Bachmann Mk 2s tend to ride a little low. Some time back someone suggested adding shims above the bogies to raise the ride height. I added some crudely cut plastic sheet shaped as an open 'U' to add 1mm to the ride height of a couple of Bachmann Mk 2s and they now match the Mk 1s and a much older Hornby Mk 2 which I tarted up and flush-glazed. I haven't received my Accurascale Mk 2B yet but I fully expect it to match the height of the Bachmann Mk 1s and the newly raised Mk 2s.

Just been doing a comparison, Bachmann Mk 2a and Accurascale Mk2b are near enough the same height as makes no difference. A Bachmann Mk1 on B1 bogies is noticeably higher, whilst a Hornby Mk1 is lower but not quite as low as both Mk2s.

10 minutes ago, The Black Hat said:

Id say they are spot on. From my research and little memory of the time I think Transpennine was a livery carried at the time and was darker. Regional Railways comes along based on this but think the shade of blue got a bit lighter..... 

That's what I was thinking but the Bachmann coach in the photo is the ModelRail TransPennine release, not the Regional Railways one. It looks like they used the same blue for both.

Received my TransPennine livery 2Bs this morning, thought I would compare them to other TP coaches I have colour wise.

This first one shows the Model Rail Bachmann version. Dark blue is quite different:

However, compared to a Lima coach I repainted with Railmatch paint and converted to a 2C there is a good match:

The intention was to run my Lima and Hornby repaints in one train and the Bachmann and Accurascale in another but it looks like the Bachmann coaches could do with the dark blue repainting.

Spišské Podhradie is a small town in north east Slovakia, about 40km east of Poprad. Its main claim to fame is Spišský Hrad (Spiš Castle), a World Heritage Site, on the hill above the town.

At the bottom of the hill, below the castle, lies the terminus of a short branchline which joins the main line between Poprad and Košice at Spišské Vlachy. Although the main line is electrified at 3000v dc, the two branches in the area (the other goes to nearby Levoča) and the standard gauge lines heading north from Poprad are diesel worked.

Currently the branch is only served by a summer tourist service using a 4 wheel railbus but freight still ran into the 2000s. I believe this may have stopped when the line was closed for some time when a bridge near Spišské Vlachy was washed out. The bridge was completely rebuilt but there was no evidence of any freight when I visited last year.

The following photos were taken on a visit in October 2023.

The station building

The platform!

This looks to have been a weighbridge

Mrs Giz says this building used to handle grain

The rolling stock shed. As it has recently been renovated my guess is that it is used to store the railbus when it is operating

There used to be a wooden goods shed here (see Vlaky.net photos)

Further prototype photos can be found here:

https://www.vlaky.net/galerie/1712/spisske-podhradie/

https://www.vlaky.net/galerie/5247/spisske-podhradie-km-9-474/

Layout planning to follow in next post.

Here are a couple I did over 30 years ago, unfortunately the flushglaze has yellowed over the years:

The maroon one has Replica commonwealth bogies and I had to cut holes in the floor to accommodate 14mm wheels. The blue and grey one has Lima B4s, reversed to get the traction rods the right way round and it did have Mainline couplings fitted but one appears to have fallen off.

I fitted them with oval brass buffer heads that I obtained in bulk from somewhere.

I remember seeing somewhere that DB999501-505 were rebuilt from withdrawn LMS kitchen cars.

The easiest way to open up a Lima 2b is to hold both ends and twist in opposite directions. The roof will pop out of its clips and can then be removed. Sounds brutal but works.

You're lucky, I dug all my DC Kits DMUs out recently so they were to hand.

IMG_20240227_0001.pdf

IMG_20240227_0002.pdf

Mid 60s built Mk 2 BFKs and BSOs didn't have them either. Not sure if late build Mk1s had them or not.

@Magna Junction

Here's what I did. The decoder is a Zimo MX637P22 6 function. 

When I fitted the decoder, head and tail lights worked plus one cab interior light. At the end that the cab light did not work (I can't remember which) I swapped the plug with the blue and green wires from the socket that it was in to the empty one next to it. I had to lever it out with a small screwdriver. Both cab lights then worked on separate functions.

Note, this is one of the last run of 24s, the un-numbered ones, and the new 25s may be different. If the 25 has engine room lights in addition, which I think it may, a more than 6 function decoder would be needed to make them work.

1 hour ago, Magna Junction said:

Hi Giz,

 

Have you got any pictures of this set up?

 

I've ordered a non sound Tamworth Castle thinking it was DCC ready.

 

Cheers.

 

Scott.

I'll see what I can do tomorrow. Basically it meant removing one of the lighting leads from its socket and moving it to a spare one. It will work if you plug in a standard Plux22 chip except for one of the lights, which as standard is connected to pin 11 (which is present on their Zimo sound decoder but absent on all other Plux22).

I think they did this Plux22 modification so that there will be enough outputs to independently switch all the lights on the 24/1 with the extra Scottish headlights, however other manufacturers seem to be able to do it, I think, using pins 3 and 4 (the data outputs)

6 hours ago, SHerr said:

Sorry, probably not a very clear description.

I have a DC (no decoder) version on order but have a DCC layout. However the only DCC option from Suttons appears to be  Sound fitted. I spoke to Phil a while ago and he stated that there wasn’t much demand for DCC without sound.

 

I want DCC non sound so would like to know what the best decoder is as I will have to retro fit.

 

Hope that’s clearer.

I used a Zimo Plux 22 on my SLW class 24 but there was a problem. Because they use a special Zimo sound decoder which has the index pin space replaced by an extra live pin, the cab lights on one end would not work. A standard Plux 22 has 21 pins, the SLW one has 22. I got round it by swapping the lighting plug connection to another socket which was attached to another pin on the decoder socket and thus used one of the other function outputs from the decoder. This may be the same for the 25, maybe not.

On 21/11/2023 at 13:34, adb968008 said:

He might be able to store bikes, wheel chairs.

 

Whats more with tip up seats it could be a convenient overflow

 

If the train had a designated family carriage, had snakes/ladders on printed or other board games on tables, better family friendly interior decor it might be interesting… god forbid a changing table in the toilet area… it would also encourage the scrotes to find a “more cool” carriage to hang in too.

 

Like this?

https://www.vagonweb.cz/fotogalerie/SK/ZSSK_Bdghmeer.php

Looks like a Bachmann 36-553 or the ESU equivalent:

https://www.hattons.co.uk/19639/bachmann_branchline_36_553_8_pin_3_function_0_75a_decoder_with_back_emf/stockdetail

From around 1980 it appears to have been re-tooled with a new, more accurate body but still with inside frames:

http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_year_details.asp?itemyearid=163

The original one then looks to have been used in the Thomas range

Looks like the Playcraft one to me:

http://www.playcraftrailways.com/Buildings1.htm

The B326 Bridge Street

9 hours ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:

I'm surprised they aren't DMBS and DMCL, with D standing for Driving. Certainly later data panels (mid-70s onwards) used D. There's one on this page from the excellent railcar.co.uk site: https://www.railcar.co.uk/data/design-codes/

I don't think they originally envisioned that there would be non-driving motor cars in DMUs. It wasn't until the Trans Pennine six car sets in 1960 that there were any.