johnb

Ah! those 2BIL kits, they got me into 3rd rail EMUs. I picked up two at a very good price quite some years back. They went together well and ran (with Tenshodo power) on my first EMU layout for quite a few shows. I still have them stored away. I then got another along with the conversion kit to make it into a 2HAL, but then Mr Hornby brought out their 2HAL! So it got stored unmade. Oh well, then the same thing happened with Charlie's EMU and DEMU kits. So all in all quite few languishing projects!!!

Are the bogies free to turn and lift?

Works very well agree with Andi, been using a couple for some years very useful at exhibitions ( er .. what are they?)

I noticed! I have corrected the original post.

I've used both Peco 75 and 100 on US layouts, no issue at all. A variety of locos through from Trackmobiles up to SD50s .

I'd suspect an issue with the gearing, maybe caused by wear if something is free in one direction but shifts and binds in the other when run the opposite way, maybe a bearing or the worm gear shifts just enough to catch on something.

Yes, and I also use StreetScenes flat printed sheets of assorted buildings. As my baseboards are only 300mm deep it suits me.

Well I've used simple printed card buiding ends, essentially the end wall o a card kit and I think it looks alright!

Not sure, but look at the templates section on their website. They're usually pretty accurate.

Marlow Maidenhead & District MRC regret that the show planned for 9th January 2021 at Cox Green Community Centre has been cancelled. The Centre has been booked for 8th Jan 2022.

MTK ah yes! I've built, many years ago now, the Cravens Parcels unit as Test Coach Hydra in RTC red/blue complete with mis-matched bogies as it had at first. It potters around quite succesfully with a Tenshodo Spud bogie. The other, which I have yet to finally complete, cab windows mainly, is a less successful build of Test Coach Iris, again in red/blue, using one of the 'Buckingham twins' Derby units sitting on a hacked Hornby Class 110 chassis. Both are buried in my 'must-sort-out-sometime' box. John

Clapham P1 I recall reading somewhere that there are structural conditions below the track level that mean that there are weight restrictions in that area. I understand it will cost an awful lot of ££££s to reinstate P1

See the Southern Railway E-Mail Group website https://sremg.org.uk/home.html under Prototype Features. All you will need to know about 3rd rail

Try Coastal DCC very helpful there.

To quite an extent the feeble lighting is prototypical. The lighting on the real thing was pretty dim. Many of the original modernisation diesels had lighting that was reminiscent of oil lamps!

I started with an NCE system, the PowerCab, some ten years or more back and still use it, or rather them now. I have exhibited with a series of four layouts over that period without a failure. I usually exhibit six to ten times a year, until this year of course!!! Two layouts being US and two UK and have another two in the pipeline (one of each). I have not had a failure of the Powercab itself, only a couple of instances where the cable connection got badly wrenched in transit (bad packing up after a show) and the socket needed replacement. One was repaired professionally and the second I did myself pretty easily. Being on the exhibition circuit I purchased a second unit quite early on, just in case. I still use the original unit. I have not found the need to change or upgrade. I only have smallish end to end layouts, the biggest being 13ft x 1ft As for suppliers I have always had very good service from Kevin at Coastal DCC (no connection). I don't personally use sound, but have run friends sound locos without issue. As for decoders I have a variety, but in the last couple of years have settled with Zimo which I find good value and work well.

Dirt, dust, some corrosion on pickups. In a shed sounds like dampness causing slight corrosion or attracting dust. It's been pretty wet and humid lately. That's my immediate reaction. Check for spiders webs and that sort of thing.

Don't know the 156 in detail., but is it worth checking for a broken wire or dodgy contact at some point.

That's the sort of price that could stimulate the LT Museum/Bachmann to do another run in the future, with different numbers! After all, the designs, tooling, and all the rest of the stuff needed are probably still available!

Mid/late '50s on Bridge Street and High Street in Pinner they were concrete posts with white(ish) flourescents. At around that time side streets were usually concrete posts but with smaller sodium yellow heads

Ah! Oops! Find out what I am talking about first!!!!!!!!!!

Try taking the coupler boxes off. That's foxed me a few times.

Obvious one, is the motor pulling too much current for the chip to handle?

I regularly run a set of Bachmann 2EPBs paired and also a Hornby 2HAL/2BIL combo using the same DCC address for each motor in a pair. The decoders in each pair are also the same model and version number. The EPB set uses Lenz Silver minis and the HAL/BIL set uses TCS EU621s both were just plugged and run well as pairs without any further adjustment. Using different manufacturers motors and different decoders within a set may well require some adjustments to get similiar speed/acceleration for each one of a pair. I have no experience of using Hornby or Gaugemaster decoders in any of my stock John

I have adapted a Tenshodo to DCC a couple of times. It is a bit fiddly. The need is to cut the brass strips that run on both sides from the wheel pickups to the top of the motor housing. Then the DCC wires (red and black) are soldered to the pickup strips to the decoder and the orange and grey to the tags on top of the motor. No need to dismantle the bogie. I use a cutting disc in a Dremel, being rather careful. This cutting does leave the brass strips floating about a bit, so the procedure that I ended up doing, is to make the cuts then to glue (I use Gorilla glue) the strips to the sides of the housing. Do make sure that the cut is clean and no stray whiskers bridge the gap. Allow to go off then start the soldering. One point to note is that I run a DCC only policy with my stock, so have the analogue DC option disabled (via CV29) on all decoders. So I do not know how the Tenshodo might react to DC supplied via the decoder. John