AMJ

The easiest old locos to covert are any with the X03 type of motor as these tend to have a live feed through the U shaped spring to one brush the other has insulation on it. Insulate the live one, put red and black to the track and orange and grey to the brushes. Far easier than quite a few modern locos.

I just use standard CAT5 network cables with RJ45 ends (parallel in computing terms not crossover). I had problems with the one supplied with the handset at an expo, in the laptop bag I had a 3m plugged it in and worked without any issues. In the loft I have a 5m cable enabling me to wander! Working in IT I have access to many....... Maplins etc can supply for a few pounds.

If it has not been mentioned earlier the ones on the hill cart road in Indian Himalayas are great. Ones include:- Hurry Burry spoils the Curry Give blood to the blood bank not on the road There are many others including one about it's better to arrive late than be late (as in deceased)!

Nice to see another industrial rather than a main line locomotive be selected. At one time BR contemplated buying a batch of these so those wanting to do a hypothetical livery can do so. A sensible design would be motor in say the A end bonnet reserving the B end for the DCC chip and speaker. Would need working lights to ensure you know which is front and back ends!

Gently straight the pin then ensure the chip has all the correct pins in the right place and it'll work o.k.

I picked one up from Frizinghall at lunch time. Ran it on dad's DC layout prior to taking the body off to chip it. Having taken the weight out of one side tank a chip will slide in (both Lenz Silver and Bachmann Standard fit) between the splasher and the outer side of the tank. Detail pack has small tension lock couplings along with the NEM pockets and brake rigging. A word of caution the slightest knock on the front buffers pops them off. Managed to catch one taking it out of the box and the other on something else. Easy to glue back on.

It doesn't sound faulty just a chip inserted onto the pins wrongly. Correcting the bent pin and placing the chip onto the correct pins will get it to run.

Looking at the dimensions for some of the Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST they have different sizes of wheels but many have the same spacing. Meatier tanks and boilers. The GNoSR MW built 0-4-2T locos used in the docks would be very nice, BUT we are getting off topic.

Arriva was widely expected to regain the Northern franchise. So much that a friend who works for them mentioned a few members of staff had got out the old Arriva jackets and worn them to work the other week! Ok so potentially I will be able to get an Arriva bus (well they have a monopoly where I live) into town, change onto one of their trains. By a circuitous route I could travel on other DB company trains to London where I will be able to get a DB train to Köln and on wards.........

The T shape will make as Jamie says quite a long dark entrance from the motorway into Leeds for car drivers. Page 15 shows the semi 3D view with Neville Street being covered from the canal crossing up to the existing station. Looks like the old Dragonara (now Hilton) might go. A friend in Candle house will be happy (the round building to the south west).

Talking to Charlie Petty the other week at the Leeds Show says he should have some LEGO man sound chip's ready soon.

Chris that looks very nice. One obvious omission are the 5 (yes FIVE) members of the loco crew. On the footplate you have a driver and a fireman who is often crouching to shovel coal from the shoot into the firebox. Sat on top of the coal (which needs pilling as high as gravity permits blocking the cab windows) there is a chap with a hammer breaking the coal into smaller lumps. Above the coupling at the front there is a sand box with a hinged lid, the sand is fed by hand onto the rails by two sanders who stand on the step in front of each cylinder. Fantastic, well done Paul for another excellent model.

Please get back on topic ,the west Clare should be on a separate discussion.!

I am of the opinion to fit a harness along with plug or socket as you can test with a standard plug on DC and then fit say a reasonable chip and if you found a suitable sound later it would then be simple to swap the chip out. Remember the simple rule of red and black to the track orange and grey the other way. From most harnesses they will give you the appropriate colours for the lights etc and these can be wired in at a later date.

My driver is one of the Bachmann crew. Many of the early diesel locos do seem to have quite a small door to get into the cab the Barclay built 01 were similar dimensions.

Those are looking like the real McCoy. Now for the rest of the locomotive.

This is a 3 foot diameter wheel which is standard for a MW L class 0-6-0ST. Without taking a tape measure to Sir B as the photo above is fairly square on I think it could be feasible to size from that. ​

Here is one of the wheels on Sir B sorry it's black with black frames. Earlier MW wheel style or it should be classed as an EB Wilson style but I have seen similar on early Hunslet locos as well.

Do not rush HE 555 aim to start it as a 10-15 year project after starting running with a diesel loco and coach. How about say a Wagonmaster from Bord Na Mona? I look forward to assisting any way I can.

SPUD see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/19869-spud-motor-bogie/

For info if you have fitted the latest Bachmann 6 pin decoder it is very easy to change a couple of CV's to alter the way the lights work. CV 33 & 34 control the forward and backup lights as per F0 button CV 35 controls F1 Initially I had set mine so that on F0 both head and tail lights were on in both directions. Therefore it was showing a typical shunter with red and white at both ends. I later amended the defaulst back for F0 and amended F1 to turn on tail and head lights at the same time. Values are 1 forwards 2 reverse 1+2 = 3 both Check your manual but the full one for most Bachmann ones are only available online. This is simple with the silver. Having red coupling rods and the driver sat in the seat adds the extra 2% to the model, also done on mine.

A pair of HC 0-6-0T locos from MCS at the MSC gala held at Middleton Railway before 67 came out of ticket along with 32 the small tank. 67 is a Middleton home engine and I look forward to her joning the restoration queue. The other loco to visit at the gala was 4002 Arundle Castle - I have senn the other diesel of the same type as it's in storage in Lancashire just up the road from the East Lancs Taking these locos 67 and 70 are the same 32 was one of the smaller locos. I wonder if it would be feasible for a 3D printed body to be placed onto one of the RTR mechanicals.

The addition of a man in the cab sets the loco off and I have added one as per photo on someone elses post. Big cab windows therefore he is visible. As it's a Gardner engine same as the one in the 03 it might be worth considering one of those sound projects. I don't think I managed to get a photo of the control desk when we had Cider Queen visit but I managed to get a photo of another loco framed by the front cab window. I must try to find it....... Geoff Plumbs photos of the Hunslet loco are great I must mention them to one of his relatives that I know.

On my Derby light weight I have wire connections (with plugs) between the two units similar to stewartingram, just like the distributed power collection in the Blue Pulman this vastly improves the running of it. Previously I used to see lights go out on the trailer or power car stop on some dirty track. (Note to self must clean track.) As my DLW has sound it just keeps chugging away.

Glowing Fireboxes are not a new feature, just the type of control we can do with modern electronics. A few of the 1970's locos had this feature. For a single driver loco I'd be tempted to designing it with loco drive and tender drive via a cardan shaft, just like the real loco it would probably not haul much!