davetheroad

Fair point, get them all to see the light!

Scalelink have them on their website. 51mm centres from 22" up to 36". You have to buy a full circle of 12 pieces though. If I ever built my super layout I would consider them as I don't really like flexitrack.

How many locos do you intend to run and what type? IMO a solution without any wiring is the best. Convert the locos to radio control and battery power and you are good to go.

I have just returned from holiday - shattered. I converted a Lima Gronk (with outside frames) and can get a nice less than 5mph with a Deltang and a single lipo. About 70 minutes operation with a 130mAh lipo is good. I got a max speed of 126mph with a 9V Pololu but don't tell anyone!. I have a 2-6-4 tank attached to a passenger brake as I could not be bothered to squeeze the stuff into the tanks. I could do it but my hands and eyes get more ancient every day and I had enough trouble with the Jinty. Battery capacity is the key. Some mildly serious increase and everyone will suddenly start to take notice. Hornby might be really happy they kept the Lima moulds and power bogies while Bachmann may be frantically getting rid of all that weight they don't need any more. ps - bullfrog snot is a good alternative to traction tyres. pps - the sheer joy of no wiring.

As I charge all my batteries out of the locos and only need them to last for one operating session I just don't bother with switches! Actually my latest Lima diesel conversions have enough power to run for about 4 hours so they have large switches, easy when you have lots of space available. They use 4 x AAA NiMh batteries or I can use a pair of small Lipos for one session, in which case the switch is not needed. I like Robins idea of homemade switches.

don't get confused between Bluerailways and BlueRail as they are completely different products!. BlueRail is about radio control of individual locomotives with either track or battery power or a combination of both. Actually BlueRail and the Deltang system I use can replace a DC controller by using their receivers to provide PWM power directly to the track. Bluerailways looks like a direct replacement for standard DC controllers.

Calculate Calculate A 65 foot turntable rotating at a speed of 1 mph at the edge would take about 30 seconds to rotate 360 degrees ????? If so that motor might be just what is needed. edit just looked at a video of the one at York railway museum. About 90 seconds rotation. Add a 3:1 reduction gear for authentic operation ?

It is a right pain, I have a number of Hornby Railroad Mk1 coaches which are great, except for uncoupling. The problem is the hooks catch on the dummy knuckle couplings and I don't really want to remove the knuckles.

If someone would sell them without the sound I might buy a couple and put Lima bodies on them.

Whatever!

Nice looking loco. What is the R/C gear and battery??

Your e-flite charger gives 300mA per hour so that suggests the battery is about 150mAh A 150mAh lipo can supply 1 Amp for about 9 minutes so your 70 minute run time suggests the loco is drawing about 129mA When the loco is switched on and not moving the battery will still run down as the receiver draws about 15mA when idle and after 1 hour of no movement it switches into 'sleep' mode which draws about 1mA. To exit sleep mode you have to switch off and on again. Sleep mode start time can be set up to 6 hours or never. Surprisingly battery power and radio control could be a good solution for exhibition use especially with multiple larger locos. For example my larger diesels have run times of about 4 hours or more. They could be switched on, left for 6 hours and still have 3 hours run time left! Or with 'sleep' never you can have a 2 hour/12 hour combo.

Nice video Corbs How big is the battery in the loco? I like the idea of using a USB power bank for the E-flite USB charger as it makes you independent of a leccy supply.

This is a new bogie so the traction tyres are OK. I have re-motored A Lima class 47 with Diesel- trains kit and the motor already had the lower edge ground away. It performs better than the Railroad 47 with smoother and better low speed performance and an impressive endurance with 4 AAA NimH batteries. I have code 100 track so that helps with those Lima wheels!

I checked the running without the central wheelset, no improvement. I removed the bogie frame, it just unclips, the geared wheelsets just pop out and it appears the axles are off centre because the central gear mounting sleeve is too close to one wheel, not by much but enough to restrict the sideways movements of the wheels. I moved it about 0.25mm and also widened the BTB so the gauge was a comfortable fit between the wheels. Tested again and it WORKED. However...... there was still a bit of jerky motion so I checked and the cause was the squared off end of the rail at the 'V'. A bit of work with a file putting a smooth chamfer on the end of the rail and the job is done Thanks for the help folks I think I will ease all my wheelsets BTB's out a tad and have a chamfering campaign.

Long live the Hornby Railroad range, especially those based on the old Lima designs. They make ideal candidates for conversion to battery power/radio control because there is lots of empty space inside. Power bogie and traction tyres, no problem. My conversions have good haulage capability and my track gets cleaned about twice a year!. For smoothness re-motored Lima ones have better low speed performance with simple PWM battery power. I just bought a de-chipped Class 31 from Rails... Lucky to get one as they are going like hot cakes. Hopefully it does not have the same problem running through points as my just converted older Railroad model.

The power leads are routed well away from the wheelsets and there is enough slack in them to allow for the bogie traverse.

I have a Hornby Railroad Class 31 in 'dutch'? livery and have just converted it to battery power. It negotiates all the Streamline code 100 turnouts OK except 2 modified curved turnouts where it makes clunking noises and the power bogie derails when approaching the turnout from the heel end. I have checked the back to backs with my DCC Concepts BTB gauge and although the BTB is very slightly tight it is no different to the BTB on my Railroad Class 47 and a Lima class 47 and they both sail through the turnouts smoothly, as does a Lima class 26. Anyone any idea what the problem might be? I notice the centre wheelset on both bogies has smaller wheels.

It would be easier to buy a Lima HST and remotor that with a kit from diesel-trains

Is the model based on the equivalent Lima version? If it is you can buy a remotoring kit for less than £13 that should transform the performance with better slow speed response and a motor that draws less milliamps.

Why do Peco only have one version of the asymmetric 3 way turnout? It would be good to have an 'opposite' version.

......I acknowledge however that there are pure collectors whose purpose is to possess a model and not to use it. Is that a problem? Not really they help support the people who make the models which I use as a modeller and so help keep costs down. Just occasionally when a manufacturer gets it wrong (and I am not setting any blame on them) the collectors dictate the value of models to the rest of the community - well so be it. Learn to live with life's disappointments (or of you got one when released life's joys). It could be said that 'collectors' put the cost up if manufacturers feel they need to include stuff like sprung buffers. I can't see any practical purpose for them , they are as much use as a cat flap in a submarine!. I was in the market for MK1 coaches in blue and grey. Bachmann have them for £30 plus and Hornby have some pending for a similar price. Why? Would not producing the Railroad version for £15 make as much profit? Buying 12 of em is eye wateringly expensive when you just want to run them on your layout

Which is why I thought having hookless old style broad tension locks on the rear wagon and banker plus tension locks elsewhere would allow you to 'eyeball' the formation so some of the couplers were under compression. You need to be going up a hill of course?

As I use radio control with battery power any loco can be backed onto another anywhere. Uncoupling is a different problem of course. Why a 2P with a Jubilee? My prototype inspiration is Cumbria so I imagine a pilot would be needed because due to diversion between the WCML and S&C or vice versa the main loco crew do not know the road well enough so a pilot is attached. Is it plausible?

I have been thinking about the possibilities of double heading of locos that have different transmitters but only having one operator. It should be easy for banking if the banker has an old style broad tension lock without the hook. Set the lead loco going and bring the banker up to the rear of the train. you can then take up some of the load and the lead locos speed should increase as its load lessens. At the top of the incline drop your banker back. actually you can do this with one transmitter. For piloting/double heading I am thinking of trying replacement speed knobs (potentiometers) with multiple indents. speed match the locos and when you want to double head just ensure both transmitters are set to the same indent!. Four locos on each of 2 transmitters gives you 16 possible double head pairs!.