big jim

Wired up the dcc concepts assessory decoder this evening and all i can say is wow! Its an 8 way unit with CDUs on each individual decoder output First up you dont need a separate power supply, it just runs off the track bus which is a bonus Programming it is a doddle, flick a switch on the decoder you want to program, activate the address on the handset and flick the switch back, job done So i tried it with the seep latching point motor that the esu decoder wouldnt throw and 'click' threw first time with a resounding click, then the big test will it throw 2 at once, wired up 2 together and....'click'....yet another resounding click so bingo problem solved The next job was to fit the point motors, i hit a slight snag but worked round it, as the points are adjacent to each other there wasn't enough room to fit them side by side so i had to take a corner off each motor So when they were fitted under the board they slotted together Once i cut the motor pins down i tested the points in all directions with the Hornby 56 which ran beautifully over them, it does spark going from the down to the up but it doesnt short out, i could probably wire the frog polarity switches in on the decoder output but i cant see the need really I then had a look at the touchcab app on the phone to change the points settings as i jo longer needed 4 separate points in the memory (only 2 needed now as they co-act instead of being individual outputs) I found a point diagram on the list called 'double crossover 4 way' which looked about right so i used that one, however this is where things got really interesting! The '4 way' obviously means 4 points however i didnt realise it meant it would throw 4 points together if required and low and behold the assessory decoder did just that without issue, all 4 points thrown together, compare that to yesterday where the ESU couldnt throw one! This is the touchcab display..... Route set normal Single pair of points thrown The other single pair of points thrown Both pairs together Very impressed indeed, to top it all i still have 6 outputs left on the decoder so im going to remove the other ESU on that side of the layout and extend the wires from the existing points to the new decoder, there are a couple of points running through that decoder that could also be co-acting and there are three point motors in the depot area ive yet to wire in to any decoder so that will take care of all the outputs on that decoder at least A few weeks back I was thinking about what i'll do with the yard side of the layout regards the points motors as i was getting frustrated with the seep motors not throwing correctly but i recon when i can afford it i'll get another dcc concepts 8 way decoder and stick with the seeps i'd already bought months back now i know i can get them to work, i was going to replace them with peco low output motors which i know work well with the ESU decoders but doing that would be around about the same cost as buying another dcc concepts unit (and i'd lose money on the seep motors) I will use a couple of the ESU units to power some colour light signals i have in stock when i get round to fitting them up

The thing i dont understand is clay mills is a cctv crossing monitored by derby box, the only way i can think it got on there was being driven through the closed barriers as surely the signaller will have seen the car on the crossing on the monitor in the box and not dropped the barriers or pulled off for the train?

Just a couple from last night 66111 has lost its EWS logos and gained DB but more importantly its also lost its unofficial highland rail logos off the bodyside too, just another anonymous shed now unfortunatly (although i have driven it when it had the stags on) Also this is interesting in kingmoor, there are quite a few of these throughout the yard but this is the most complete of the lot, i went into the opposite side of the yard than i normally do so its the first time ive seen this particular 'stand pipe' Its obviously a vacuum pipe of some sort, this is the only one ive seen still with a handle, there no doubt would have been gauges on the top but i dont know what it would have been used for, getting brakes off, keeping brakes on, brake testing, im sure someone can enlighten me?

Nope, and i won't be doing 087 when i get to carlisle in the morning either!

Looking rather clean too

Whereas if you had gone to aristotle lane end you will have seen that the up and down jehrico is no longer there between the north jn and the station!

Just not had a chance to tot it up, it will be quite high however much it is!! My west coast knowledge alone is 250 miles (without diversions) then add to that the chiltern, MML, east-west routes, east and west mids local lines, marches line, north wales, manchester and liverpool areas, it all adds up!

they are the rear of ESR "dalek" warning boards

couple more days worth of pics, bescot to didcot.... bescot waiting to go on for fuel EWS convoy and the next day, didcot to bescot got to didcot nice and early and enjoyed the sunshine, not ideal for photos as the sun was on the wrong side 66s ex chiltern 67 165 heading for london bristol bound HST one of the few XC trains booked through the station instead of the avoider looking over to the GWS society museum, could almost be somewhere like the forest of dean! hereford HST express HST london bound HST heading under the new foxhall bridge (and temporary footbridge) ews 66 rear powercar of a london HST, note the route indicator next to as opposed to above the signal, this is due to the platform canopy being in the way then my train arrived, same one i took out the night before but this time loaded with spoil not just trains to be photographed, lots of wildlife too, loads of red kites circling overhead and a helicopter, a lynx? spot the trainspotting rabbit 70804 first stop fenny compton then coventry into bescot just as the sun went down and just after dusk this shot was actually taken after dark with a long exposure (15 secs) as was this one, on full zoom and home i went, logs to carlisle tonight

Had a look at the accessory decoder earlier, i cant for the life if me get it to throw the seep motors, the decoders either side of it throw their seep motors fine but this position just wont do it, even changing the accessory decoder completly doesnt cure it! During problem solving I tried a peco low voltage pm-10 which the decoder threw without issue so i can rule out a power supply problem however they are not latching motors so i cant use them on the scissor crossing In the end after doing a bit of reading up on the web i went to trident trains and have invested in an 8 way dcc supplies cobolt CDU accessory decoder which im hoping will cure the problem it also claims to be able to throw 2 motors at once so if it does work then i can save an output and have the relevent pairs of point motors co-acting on the scissor crossing as opposed to they way they were set up as 4 individual points I'll report back tomorrow how i get on as i have a day off work (kind of!) to have a play Im also thinking of utilising some of the removed points in the station area by remodelling it slightly when i put it back in place

forgot to add this the other day

a few from yesterday, basford hall to hinksey and back to bescot basford hall 57s on the flask train 66 shunting my loco arriving and coupled up to 34 coalfish and off i went, first stop bordesley loop where a few things went past voyager chiltern 168 172 168 68 heading for wembley then on to dorridge 68 heading for stourbridge and into hinksey, dropped the wagons off and headed back to bescot ready to depart hinksey and into bescot going back again later to pick up the same loco to take back down to didcot with a train (and ultimately slough)

just a couple from last night, iphone pics from hereford 60085 again, got to say, this is the best of the fleet, runs beautifully not the best shot as it was going dark and the digital zoom on the iphone is awful, 66118 on a morton on lugg stone service, shame the first 2 wagons hadnt been repainted (and yes it was safe for me to be stood in the track as my train was stood next to me blocking the route!) had a good run, left hereford pretty much on time and the first stop was chirk station, it was touch and go at chester as that was the first place i saw a red on the whole trip but i kept it creeping along so they pulled off by the time i got to the magnet!

got the crossover fitted, just need to do the point motors and its sorted had to drill a few more holes for the point motors and take a bit of the side bracing away so i can mount them as the baton was in the way, its not had too much removed so is still strong and in place, i used the fishplates from the hachette track as they had a crimp in them already so fitted the code 83 perfectly and i used the cripmed end to attach to the code 75, the rail top is perfectly level, no step between the 75 and 83 track i have tested it with a Hornby 56 pulling a couple of coaches doing all possible moves and it works lovely, no shorts, ran across at quite a slow speed too without issue i can't work out if i can get the points indicator to work again in its current form, hopefully i can adapt it to suit but im struggling with it at the mo as there are more isolated sections on the scissor than the 4 points, so i cant get it to light up correctly for a diverging route the points motors are all wired up however im having trouble with the ESU accessory decoder, theyre just isnt enough ooomph to throw the points motor even when loose, it may be one i've tinkered with in the past and made a mess of the settings, its making the motors click but thats it so at least i know its got power if very little, i dont think its too far from the power supply, its about 25ft away from it, im using 2 core mains cable to supply it from a dedicated maplin regulated supply, the accessory decoder futher away (30ft from the supply) works better than this one so i think it may need tinkering with to up the 'kick' or resetting

Well they are london midland trains so its touch and go as to whether they run nowdays too!!

well then you will like this lot, a few more from rugeley but first a couple from the baglan job pics as they come out of the camera, no messing or editing, there are some cropped and straightened pics on flickr, the link is in my signature hereford 150 unit heading towards manchester hereford box southbound 175 the new lifts in came my train i was booked to follow the WAG but it failed in the platform with a problem with the wipers so was cancelled, meaning i got a good run as far as sutton bridge where i was looped for 20 mins southbound 175 then non stop all the way to wrexham where i had to wait 15 mins for the section to clear towards gobowen job done so on to today, another afternoon down the cannock chase line got a train to stafford, i missed the LM london stopper so couldnt get a look over stoke to stone unfortunatly pendolino 350 unit to rugeley, this is the train i missed at crewe! you overtake it on the birmingham service from crewe as that runs direct via the WCML to stafford ews stone train, very hard to photograph as very warm and at full zoom! half hour wait at rugeley, again full zoom was a problem with the heat haze pendolino sometimes you don't need trains 170 to walsall pendolino voyager 350 to crewe freightliner 90 freightliner 66 170 from birmingham, i caught this to walsall 2 freightliner 70s so off i went to walsall and back 170 departing for birmingham, this is the unit i got back from walsall long evening shadows another 350 to stafford where i changed for a virgin back to crewe pendolino 350 heading to northampton pendolino and my train home broke the back of it now, happy to be assessed on it as and when i can back to the hereford to chirk logs tomorrow

And the fact i was doing 55mph past you probably didnt help! Just been looking through the duel log at chirk at it would appear that tonight is the first time 085 has been on the logs

Im such a bad dad!! And so i dont look completely bad, he said it was is favorite ride of the day, he just didnt like the dark tunnel!

everything is having the new 'oscar' logo, class 70s included, they are getting changed as and when

Nothing other than whats on the side of 60047 in the pics above There is a tamper/track machine pics thread somewhere

Yes much better and really pleased with it Big job broke out tonight, something ive been umming and ahing about doing but finally took the plunge, if i didnt do it now i'd be stuck when i carry on with the scenics First part was to clear the high level station area Then It was to remove it.... So i could get to the hidden pointwork that ive not been overly happy about, i have a scissor crossing in stock i was thinking of putting in the station area but decided to use it 'below deck' as it were It is a code 83 crossing which i was told was wired for DCC so before i wire it properly i decided to see if it worked, i have temporarily joined it to the code 75 track using fishplates from the lengths of 'hachette' track that came with the coach in issue one, they are quite good as they are crimpable, i may well use them on the finished set up! So i wired it in with metal fishplates on all joints at the live end and ran a loco over the points, once it passed over the 1/2 way point it passed over an insulated joint and obviously stopped so i ran a wire from the live end to power up the insulated end and and low and behold it moved off again, so yes, wired up for DCC and wiring it in with metal fishplates at both ends it does indeed work nicely so nice and simple to install I'll have to drill 2 more point motor holes and replace the seep motors with the latching type as the points are unsprung, its a shame the low power peco motors don't latch as they work lovely in pairs (co-acting) and i could save a couple of outputs on the accessory decoder and set a route with one button This should be the final position of the points, i will then have to work out how to reattach the points indicator i made

a few from today, changing trains in rugeley trent valley, lashing it down when i got there northbound pendolino southbound voyager crewe bound 350 with the birmingham service in the background, i caught that to walsall before heading back to rugeley pendolino ECS voyager to Chester by the time i got to walsall and back it had stopped raining heavily, had 20 mins to wait for the train back to crewe via stoke, couple of other bits and bobs passing through tamper thing pendolino colas tamper (with the new logos on the side) and a 350, crewe to willesden on the baglan logs tomorrow then back to road learning cannock later in the week

Sound a bit like the engineers job a had a few months back where it was important that i left bescot before an ews possession train as he was booked to have a possession take round him on the single line between coventry and leamington, the mistake of him departing first iwas picked up by bescot pic and after a few calls to NR control i left first only to be looped at international and the ews train pass me toward coventry Luckily he was only a short train so was aboe to be looped at kenilworth so i could pass him again but not before i picked up a 30 odd minute delay

Well thats me off to sleep, just done a possession train in oxford and driven home, gonna sleep til 10 then take the kids to alton towers, a bit skint til friday (payday) so will be using our annual passes to get in and taking a picnic, heard its really quiet there at the mo in the aftermath of the 'smiler' crash so hoping today is too, we dont do the big fast rides anyway but its always nice there when you dont have to queue for anything

Some from tonight, did a possession train at oxford north jn, started at hinksey where 50% of colas 70 fleet were ready to head off on various trains (2 more out of sight) The view from the window at hinksey Sat at oxford north jn waiting to move in the possession, i didnt actually move my train, the other train moved first to be unloaded and by the time it was time for mine to move i'd got relief!