johnb

( I repeat, the Tortoise does not need a centre-off, and if anything centre-off can be a disadvantage as the motor can relax from its end position ). I agree I've got 11 on my DCC layout all operating on an independent 12v DC supply, switched by DPDT switches without a centre-off. The Tortoise does relax without power, particularly as the operating wire to the point tie bar is a bit flexible.

I'm in Hertfordshire as well, here the all grey bin is landfill. Recycle bins ares the ones with a blue lid, Green is .. well .. for green stuff. Not too far away is Bucks and they use another set of colours!

Last year I was on Arundel station and in the length of a few metres on the same track, I spotted pots spaced at 4, 5 and 6 sleeper intervals. Mostly though they were at 5 sleeper intervals, I was wanting to check that my layout was correct in using 5 sleeper spacing

Is there a sealing cover under the yellow cap? It just unscrews.

I had a similar issue with one of my PowerCabs the reason was a broken connection within one of the plugs on the flat cable.

A very sad loss my sincere condolences to his family. A great guy always ready for a chat. Loved seeing his layouts and talking over the detail and operation.

I did have one in the distant past and yes the change to track pickup as exactly that just relocate the insulator with the red wire into the adjacent hole

Have you thought about adding 6mm ply sides to the boards to increase the space beneath? Also the addition of deeper ply sides will reduce the tendency of the 2 x 1 to distort.

I came to KDs through US modelling quite a few years back and then experimented with fitting them to UK outline stuff. I use them on exhibition layouts and find them pretty good. It's nice to be able to lift stock straight out of a rake without having to distangle tension locks. In short they suit me and my operations. There are several alternatives out there, so take your time and experiment with a few. Testing them by pushing and pulling over your tightest curves and points particularly through 'S' curves. Pushing rakes of stock through 'S' curves are I find the toughest test for most stock. Have fun and good luck!

That's what I've done and with success. I use a 3ft radius curve and Peco med radius points. Therefore I set the rear face of the coupling in line with the buffer face. Yes the Kadee gauge is an essential tool. I prefer to use the No 148 'whisker' coupler but I have used the older No 5, again with success.

Has the crash dislodged the chip? Might be worth pulling it out and reinserting. Also check any wiring for damage or loose connections.

Depends if it is points to go to the storage roads or a sector plate/traverser one. if it's points then you'll need somewhat more length. I use a sector plate which is a bit over 4ft long to accomodate 4 car EMUs. That allows for a fixed connection to link to the main layout. It easily takes loco + 3 coaches as a loco is shorter than an EMU car. A loco plus two is getting on for 3ft on it's own, I'm thinking of a 2.6.4T and two BR sized Mk1 coaches

As a youngster I regularly saw the Cutler and the Yorkshireman running through Pinner and always wondered why I never saw the down Cutler. Later found out that it went back 'the other way'! Those days the Met line was only double track and these expresses simply mixed it with the 'T' stock EMUs and Met electric locos with Dreadnaught stock. The staff at Pinner would always shout out 'Stand back - fast one coming!' or 'This one is not stopping!' Brings back memories!!!

Looks like it's back on Firefox. Am double checking my logins so don't think its me.

I have one somewhere, however due to some works going on I am currently unable to get at it to give any details. It is 12v (nominal) output 16vac input, it is of US origin and is rated at 3amps I have it mounted is a box with a handheld remote controller. Not been used for some years. I also have a dismounted suitable 240v mains input transformer, output 16v at 3amp at least. I do have a suitable empty enclosure. The whole thing is decidedly weighty and would be pretty pricey by Royal Mail or courier. Hopefully I should be clear enough of the works by Thursday Collection would be best, I live on the western end of Hertfordshire. Please drop me a pm if this might interest you. regards John

It would seem to be a browser issue. I'm using Firefox, fully updated and still get that despite removing cookies and history. On Chrome, which I hardly ever use, all is OK.

Original Limas were deficient in pickups, the unpowered bogie was particularly touchy. I added pickups to all wheels and renewed the others on the trailing bogie. One issue is that the original wheels seem to get dirty easily, with crud and maybe some discolouration which doesn't help. This gives poor connectivity, on DC supply this is largely unnoticed. The issue is that some DCC chips can be very sensitive to tiny interruptions in supply and tiny blips and/or sparking disrupts the DCC signal which essentially confuses the chip. A rough pad can cause fine scratching which exacerbates the problem, it may look shiny and clean but minute scratching will be there. There are a lot of comments on wheel/pickup cleaning on here. JST's comments about additional wiring is also very valid, the original wires are a bit fine and vulnerable. I've not used stay alives on the couple of Limas that I still have so can't give you any reports, but it does seem that these could help.

Yes subject to the voltage as Lemmy says a battery will work fine.

As a first step into DCC I'd be rather wary of using secondhand ones, you're buying an unknown quality with little recompense if it's a wonky one. Suggest that for first buys you go for something new in the £20+ range, Zimo for example. Then get used to using and configuring them before you get into the depths of CV twiddling. I assume that you are an OO person. I've got three NCE starter sets and they've run whatever I've operated with them, that's Zimo, NCE, TCS, Bachmann, the occasional Hornby, Digitrax, to mention a few. All those were the base range of the manufacturers, nothing special. The NCE will handle sound chips quite happily. Only thing to watch is the current draw, the NCE PowerCab will only go up to 2amp absolute max. Not a problem unless you've got a fleet of some of the Heljans, the earlier ones I've got (Class 33s) can have quite a heavy current draw so need a higher current chip say 1,.5 amp. I got started into DCC almost accidentally quite a few years ago when a batch of seven locos I got off ebay said to be straight DC turned out to be DCC fitted! A bargain indeed! I purchased an NCE Powercab to try them our properly and have never looked back, Have been used at a number of shows and with three exhibition layouts OO British and HO American. Please let us know how you get on and don't hesitate to ask questions. Everyone on here has their own favourite DCC system and chips so don't be put off by the sheer number of "You must use X" comments!!!! Also this would be better asked in the DCC section All the best Johnb

Get professional help. Start with your GP and they will refer you on. These days there is a lot of help available, but one has to ask and also stress the urgency. In Hertfordshire there is the 'Wellbeing' sevice to which one can self refer, how widespread that is I don't know. All the very best, be assured that there is a route through the morass. It does however take time to get results, so get started as soon as you can.

Cannot recall how it sounded unfortunately. I was at street level and the loco up on the bridge immedaitely to the north of Pinner station, it wasn't moving all that fast.

Can't help much but I once saw it running through Pinner station on the Metropolitan. Looked very strange in that brown livery

Thanks for the bus info, much appreciated.

Is there a bus, I mean a regular route one from Wolverton Station?

It does and pretty well too.