Jump to content
 

greslet

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    167

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by greslet

  1. greslet
    The Rede Valley Railway is finally getting the engines it needs to make it look authentically in the English borders. First one into traffic is a Hornby Q6, weathered and sound fitted. A steam railway set in the North East needs the engines that made that part of the world distinct. Steam ended on the […]
    The post Hornby Q6 is added to the fleet appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.
  2. greslet
    The Rede Valley Railway is finally getting the engines it needs to make it look authentically in the English borders. First one into traffic is a Hornby Q6, weathered and sound fitted. A steam railway set in the North East needs the engines that made that part of the world distinct. Steam ended on the […]
    The post Hornby Q6 is added to the fleet appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.


  5. greslet

    ECML Operations

    By greslet,

    The winter 1950 working timetable for services between Alnmouth and Berwick upon Tweed which includes Chathill is shown below: Downloadable PDF The summer 1955 working timetable showing all movements in and out of Newcastle Central Station in summer 1955 is shown below Downloadable PDF
    The post ECML Operations appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.
  6. greslet

    Chathill Station

    By greslet,

    The fictitious Otterburn station on the Rede Valley is based on Chathill station on the Newcastle & Berwick section of the East Coast Main Line. Chathill station is one of only a very few stations that remain open on the main line in Northumberland. More information on the line is available here The gothic architecture […]
    The post Chathill Station appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.
  7. greslet
    The last blog post was in February 2015 and the last one to do with any progress on the layout is over a year old. 2014 was really a year of no modelling whatsoever. Stevenson Road is still sitting with electrics and track complete but very little else, and the Rede Valley line didn’t run […]
    The post A New Year resolution – back to layout building and blogging appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.
  8. greslet
    This morning’s Scotsman carries interesting coverage of comments by Alex Salmond suggesting that the Borders Rail project may be extended beyond Galashiels all the way to Carlisle: The First Minister said he expected the return of trains to the Edinburgh-Tweedbank section next year would be “one of the most enormous tourist line successes we have ever seen” […]
    The post Waverley Route to reopen to Carlisle? appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.
  9. greslet
    Mallard 75 has brought together the 6 remaining LNER A4 pacific locomotives. With two of these set to depart to North America, all 6 are very unlikely to be seen together again and over the last week (15-23 February 2014)…<p class="more-link-p"><a class="more-link" href="http://www.railwayblog.kevinappleby.co.uk/mallard-75-the-great-goodbye-1210/">Read more ?</a></p>
     
    Source
  10. greslet
    Mallard 75 has brought together the 6 remaining LNER A4 pacific locomotives. With two of these set to depart to North America, all 6 are very unlikely to be seen together again and over the last week (15-23 February 2014) The Shildon Annexe of the National Railway Museum has hosted the Great Goodbye. I took […]
    The post Mallard 75 The Great Goodbye appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.
  11. greslet

    Stephenson Road is born

    By greslet,

    Every model railway needs a back story, whether it is a real location or a fictitious one. My micro layout has simply been known as the 300 inch challenge up to now. It really needs a name by which it can become known and a location with some historical story it can become part of. […]
    The post Stephenson Road is born appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.
  12. greslet
    The 300 inch challenge micro layout now has its top level baseboard (or benchwork for our American cousins) in place. Unfortunately this happened with only a week to go to the Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society annual exhibition the layout wasn’t part of the 300 inch competition. lets hope it makes it in time for […]
    The post Upper Level Baseboard Completed appeared first on Rede Valley Railway.
  13. greslet

    Bootlace Ferrules

    By greslet,

    What is a bootlace ferrule? Answer, it’s a very convenient fitting to attach to the end of a wire that will then fit very snugly into a screw terminal. The DCC world is full of equipment that is supplied with rows of screw terminals. I find that connecting bare wire into these a very hit […]
     
    Source
  14. greslet
    More and more downloadable building kits are becoming available and there are now several manufacturers supplying these items. Some of the producers are quite well known, but I’ve been a fan of some of the items produced by a lesser known supplier, modelrailwayscenery.com, for some time. I particularly like the ranges of signs and some […]
     
    Source
  15. greslet
    Last night Bassetlaw (North Notts) Railway Society had their annual outing to Roy Jackson’s Home t0 see the progress on Roy’s Retford layout. I must say. on behalf of my fellow club members, it was a very enjoyable trip. This layout simply gets better and better. Roy Jackson was in great form to entertain us [...]
     
    Source
  16. greslet
    There is a great DCC myth that you need to modify all your turnouts to work with DCC. This really isn’t true, and my Rede Valley layout has been operational for some time using PECO turnouts straight out of the box, mainly because most of the track was already laid before I converted to DCC. [...]
     
    Source
  17. greslet
    The build has actually started! We have a baseboard. I decided that the size of the layout would make no difference to baseboard construction technique, so my materials of choice are 9mm plywood baseboard top: thick enough to be rigid and not flex too much and also able to take screws on the underside to [...]
     
    Source
  18. greslet
    York has become a regular Easter outing, and while Wife and daughter explore the shops I watch the trains. The exhibition seemed to have a huge Welsh theme this year but typically I stayed true to my roots and modelling interests and managed to fill most of my time watching fine exampes of North East England. [...]
     
    Source
  19. greslet
    When developing a micro layout every millimetre matters. The initial placement of track onto the plan looked ok, and I tried items of rolling stock to check siding lengths and clearances. Then I looked at a Seep point motor and … <a href="http://www.railwayblog.kevinappleby.co.uk/baseboards-are-going-to-be-a-challenge-690/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">?</span></a>
     
    Source
  24. greslet
    Want to test and program your DCC locomotives away from the Layout? I've built a portable programming track to do just that. It is also the ultimate plank layout! All you need is a yard of track, a sprog II to supply the DCC signal, and a laptop with a spare USB to connect it to and provide a host for the programming software.
     
    The full details are on my Rede Valley Railway site
  25. greslet
    Inspired by Pete Goss' layout "Rowlands Castle" (see below), I really must get my WD Austerity 2-8-0 into traffic. This will also provide a good place to test out one of the OMNI decoders I bought at Hartlepool at the weekend.
    Gaugemaster BPDCC25 with 8 pin DCC plug
    The OMNI is a straightforward 4 function 8pin 1.2amp decoder, so fitting should be quite straightforward. Digitrains were selling two sizes of these, I went for the larger ones which measure about an inch by half an inch in old money - (0.95†x 0.65†x 0.2†for those wanting to be pedantic). Bought in a 5 pack these work out at about £11 per decoder. The smaller units were a little more expensive at about £15 each, but I don't think I've got any issues finding space inside the locos I want to chip for the larger units.
    On face value these look like excellent units to get basic steam locos up and running in DCC, and offer the basic essentials: 4 digit addressing; Back EMF; and silent drive. In addition the locomotive will still run on DC if required (something my ZTC equipped engines wont do) so I can run it on the club layout.
    There are no instructions supplied in the packet, however there is a pdf on the Gaugemaster website with full details. The small chips are coded DCC26 and the larger ones DCC25, but other than size, functionality is identical, though the mini is rated at a lower 1.1amps.
    Now to open up the loco.........
×
×
  • Create New...