Phil Bullock

33 minutes ago, phil_sutters said:

A solitary Peacock so far this year.  Too many cold breezes perhaps.

As beautiful as ever… 

42 minutes ago, James Makin said:

 

Just to show you can't please everyone, I actively remove cab lighting from all of my locos once they go 'through the works' - taking the circuit board right out to prevent anyone running them with the cab interior light on - just as the amount of times I've been operating the Club layout at shows and you come back from lunch break to find your mates have lit up the fleet like a Christmas tree! 😄

Yes we do the same but it is a mixed blessing as lights can be a useful indicator to rookie drivers that they have selected the right loco! 

Working out on drive on layout has its advantages …. Buzzed yesterday by a male brimstone and a tortoiseshell in addition to the more literal bumble bees.

Overwintering peacock had left the garden shed too, hopefully to produce a new year’s generation. 

New visitors for our garden this morning…, siskins ! Very happy with that.

Re bird apps I use Chirp-o-matic but if it comes up with exotica I treat it with a big pinch of salt. It was persistently trying to tell we there was a golden oriole in woods at Talybont  on Usk last April. 

54 minutes ago, gwrrob said:

Is this an usual Rapido wind up for April 1st ?

 

31065? 

Great work Andy!! You can never have too

many guards vans… 

11 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

Hi @JN,

 

Doh! Many thanks for that. Fat fingers on my part. Now amended!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

That’s Welsh for you isn’t it? Good job it wasn’t Hafodyrynys …. 

Just now, Dagworth said:

About the worst thing you can do is to tin wires that are going into any sort of screw terminal. Over time the solder will flow and the joint become loose.

 

Andi

Cheers haven’t done that! Where 2 or more wires go in to the same terminal there’s plenty for the screw to clamp on to … with a single small diameter wire I strip the end then wind the stripped core back up around the end of the insulation to give the screw more to bite on.

17 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

I've started using bootlace ferrules for terminating wires - as long as they are crimped properly they can be used in chocolate block or similar and not have issues.

Can I ask what issues you have had … in the interests of avoiding them ! 😉

1 hour ago, RBAGE said:

Seek help.

Ok! When are you free? 😉

4 hours ago, Suzie said:

There is a lot of wire and choc-blocks in line with the DCC feed from the ECoS to the track. I think that simplifying it might help a bit - much as it goes against the grain for making fault-finding easy.

I have shared your aversion for chock blocks! But have overcome it…. Handy for keeping wiring in place too! 

It’s all colour coded and am now installing colour coded LEDs on each board so if any bus goes down I will know … and have an idea where to start fault finding. 

Red… accessory bus

Green …. Scenic area track power 

Blue …. Fiddle yard north end track power

Yellow…. Fiddle yard south end track power 

Also following @WIMorrisons advice and powering frogs using the accessory switch on the Cobalt point motors powered off the relevant track power bus. 

On 09/03/2024 at 08:53, Suzie said:

Since you are running reasonably close to the full load of the ECoS you might like to think about getting a booster and feeding the the fiddleyard via the booster.

We have a 7 amp power supply for ECoS - so far it’s only been the IP-CBs that have been tripping. That might come later though as if we split the fiddle yard roads we could have up to 48 locos on the layout. But prefer to work incrementally whilst on a learning curve.

Here are the IP-CBs installed

and their above board control panel …

I have run the indicator LEDs and reset switches up on to the panel. There’s also a disconnect switch on the panel for each IP-CB. 
 

Just got to run the additional buses around the rest of the layout now….

Definitely not an installation for @Clive Mortimore Clive “two wires” Mortimore 😉

If the horn sounds like this … 2 mins in to 

This video 

then it’s a Howes sound file.

If you work out what the functions are and post them on here am sure someone will recognise the file structure….

On 23/02/2024 at 16:16, Coldgunner said:

 

GCGQ - Is that the Gauge O Guild militant wing?

Splitters…. 

A few observations..

Prior to the Newport stop the SW -  NW Warship hauled trains ran via Maindee East and North Junctions … crew change at Pontypool Road or Hereford perhaps?
 

D855 was at Crewe when I visited in 1969 and D862 made it to Crewe in 1971 on the NA - NLW motorail but via Brum I think.

The NBLs seemed to wander further than the Swindon built locos appearing in the West Midlands, on Padd - BNS trains and also on Cotswold line trains to Worcester and Hereford in addition to West of England duties whereas the Swindon built locos wandered rather less probably due to their commitment to Waterloo - Exeter jobs until October 71. There’s also the rumour of the LM not liking the Swindon locos under their OHLE due to the exhausts being on the centre of the body line rather than offset as on the NBLs. 
 

It’s amazing how much. Interest these locos still generate….

2 hours ago, Halvarras said:

 

My money's on @Phil Bullock - his bank account must have recovered from a full set of Bachmann Class 43 Warships by now...................?! 🤭

Noooooooooooooooooo!!!! I’d be surprised if even 1 sneaks in!!!! Cash lined up for 25s 31s and 37s…. Although our Western fleet does keep growing …. But nowhere near that full fleet yet. 
 

Oil sloshers rule!!! Although we do have to run some other stuff occasionally…. 
 

My next loco purchase from our friends at Accurascale will be 57xx ….

On 16/03/2024 at 17:05, cctransuk said:

 

Tended to be used in block trains - until it was discovered that the diagonally opposite, very heavy doors made them unstable at speed, and they bounced of the track!

 

Cue a mandatory speed limit; experiments in modified suspension; and eventual sale to the Army.

 

CJI.

Was it the doors themselves John? Or the fact that if you had a rake of wagons it would be difficult to load them with evenly distributed loads … doors on each side only giving access to one end of the wagon?

On 14/03/2024 at 09:34, dasatcopthorne said:

We discovered that the problem with fully solid state juicers is the power rating capacity.

 

One loco mostly seems to be fine but beware of locos that draw more current than the juicer components can handle.

 

Dave.

Gen is here…

Tam Valley frog juicers

Our over wintering peacock in the garden shed is still there though.. 

Pretty central in Brum then. Have you spoken to Redditch they are a friendly bunch . As Phil says a good plan to go and talk to them. It’s a shame their show was 2 weeks ago, that’s always a good opportunity 

50 minutes ago, paulbb said:

Thanks for the reply. I do remember seeing class 22s at Axminster, and Abingdon in 1967. A friend claims he saw one at Banbury and even Leamington.

Yes they worked up to Warwick on oil tanks 

13 minutes ago, 2750Papyrus said:

First Brimstone of the year!  Always a sign of spring, though I had to persuade the puppy not  to chase it.

Was just going to post exactly the same! Saw a female road side driving home from Usk this morning 

And Birmingham covers a large geographical area… a more specific location might help

1 minute ago, Downendian said:

I was invoiced yesterday for 5803 - delivery should be soon! 
Neil

Yes hoping we will have them for Winchcombe!