John Isherwood

That's precisely what I intend to do with my new / final layout. I don't really enjoy architectural modelling, and I want to complete this layout quickly. It will be very much a shunting and 'watch the trains go by' layout, so to indicate the presence of a station by modelling the platform ends will work for me. Regards, John Isherwood.

I did detect the humour . Regards, John Isherwood.

My point is that those who struggle to apply transfers can console themselves that the prototype was far from perfect! John Isherwood.

Whoever applied those lettering transfers should have been shot - look at the visible carrier film !!! John Isherwood.

PROBLEM SOLVED - PLEASE IGNORE

Some forty-five years ago, as an impecunious young family man, railway modelling was of necessity a low priority when it came to spending. Chancing on a secondhand Tri-ang BR 2-6-2T, I felt that it could be upgraded at relatively minor expense. Checking the body moulding against a drawing, it was clear that quite an improment could be made by shortening the front footplate behind the bufferbeam, so this was undertaken using, I seem to recall, the front end of a broken Hornby Dublo Standard 2-6-4T. The body was still some 4mm. too long, but the 'stretching' had been introduced by Tri-ang throughout the body, and further length reduction was impracticable. I then fitted the chassis with Romford wheels - (plain mazac on one side) - and added a few more cosmetic details. A repaint, reline and renumber produced a model that had much more the 'feel' of a scale model, for not much expenditure. That model has subsequently been in storage for the intervening forty-five years, but the prospect of, at last, having a layout on which to run it, prompted me to dig it out the other day. Placed on the test track, it ran with surprising readiness, but it's appearance was certainly not suitable for 21st century standards. In the meantime, I had picked up a Kemilway motorising kit for the Kitmaster / Airfix / Dapol BR 4MT 2-6-0 kit - another product of the mid-1970s - which I had vague ideas of using to further update the Tri-ang 2-6-2T. This Kemilway chassis kit was used as the basis for their own whitemetal and brass kit of a BR 3MT 2-6-2T, and so the chassis kit should be suitable for the Tri-ang, I reasoned. Checking the frames against the Tri-ang (still 4mm. too long) body showed distinct promise, so assembly of the Kemilway kit was commenced, and has now reached the rolling chassis stage. I added a set of new Markits wheels and a couple of Comet bar-framed pony trucks to the basic chassis kit, which was an absolute dream to assemble in a Poppy's jig box. Right from the outset, the chassis rolled beautifully - no binding whatsoever, and a mere touch sends it rolling along the test track. It is now my practice, when using the Poppy's jig to assemble frames, to very slightly elongate the holes in the chassis for the bearings of the non-driven axles, so that the rods can be used to easily set the axle centres to match. In this way, the axle bearings are free to take up positions that exactly match those of the coupling rods. The next job will be to assemble the High Level Highflier Plus gearbox to a Mitsumi motor, and then fit that combination into the chassis. Further progress in a few days - got to go 'up country' tomorrow! John Isherwood.

...... and one in the eye for all those who say that MTK products are rubbish and unbuildable! John Isherwood.

I need to strip the wires so that it is possible to : - support the seven wires at a constant but close distance apart using choc. block connectors; make soldered dropper connections at any point; this will ensure that dropper connections to the bus wires are as short and direct as possible, and can thus be easily be traced. John Isherwood.

I have received a BACS payment from a Mr. P. MOORE, but no accompanying e-mail. If you are Mr. P. MOORE, or know him, please contact me via PM ASAP. Thank you in anticipation, John Isherwood, Cambridge Custom Transfers.

Quite so - but obtaining and stripping in excess of 100 metres, in a timescale that fits in with the long-delayed plans of someone who is aged 70+, could be a challenge! Time is an increasingly precious resource! John Isherwood.

Precisely !! Googling did the trick, thanks - I now know where to source my bus wire! John Isherwood.

Nigel, I have something similar, from Gaugemaster, thank you. However, it seemed silly to pay for plastic insulation that I'd send to landfill, if it were possible to buy bare copper wire. Regards, John Isherwood.

I am thinking that these should be 2.5 sq.mm. (0.8 mm. dia.) solid copper wire, as found in 2.5 mm. twin and earth cable. However, this would involve stripping insulation off over 100m. of cable. Can anyone point me at a source of sensibly priced; (ie. comparable with buying and stripping twin and earth cable); 2.5 sq.mm. bare solid copper wire? Thank you in anticipation. John Isherwood.

The origin of this part of the thread related to hardened steel idler shafts in HL gearboxes - there is no danger of overheating a piece of plain shafting. As to heat transfer when cutting motor shafts, try : - https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1588792803?iid=261925047918&chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=261925047918&targetid=938486033020&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006537&poi=&campaignid=10199638297&mkgroupid=101938342477&rlsatarget=pla-938486033020&abcId=1145987&merchantid=110769374&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiLvCpP7R6wIVmKztCh0PfQm5EAQYBSABEgJ5YfD_BwE or something similar. I can't imagine that cutting hardened steel rod with even 'chunky' pliers can do the pliers much good! To every problem there are at least two solutions - the proper way and a bodge. Money spent on tools and equipment is the best investment you can make - it'll save you time, worry and injury, and result in a far better outcome. John Isherwood.

Really? Surely the sensible way to do this is with a cutting disc in a 12v electric drill? John Isherwood.

Exactly! ...... and there's no 'mucking about' - I would hate to see a loco built by someone who can't assemble a High Level gearbox. If one can tolerate gearboxes below boilers and where the firehole door should be, it astonishes me that loco lamps and crew loom so large in one's priorities. However, as is often said here - each to their own! Tony has, after all, built up a very good relationship with DJH over the years, and it's not surprising that he is loyal to their products. John Isherwood.

Thank you for your experiences - however, I think that we are talking apples and oranges here. I will only be using choc. blocks for one purpose - supporting the seven heavy duty, bare, copper bus wire at the rear of each board; they will not constitute a means of electrically connecting one wire to another. I have some of the choc. blocks in stock already, and the balance is on order. The connections between the bus wires and the jumper cable plugs and sockets will be via soldered tag strips. Connections between the bus wires and other equipment - controller, switches, etc. will be via soldered connections at each end. The layout will not be dismantled once erected, (until it is demolished after my demise), and the jumper cable connectors will only come into play if it is necessary to isolate a board for fault-finding purposes. To all intents and purposes, the layout will be permanent, and fixed together as a single unit. Electrically, the layout will be purely solder-connected; no mechanical connections will be used within electric circuits other than high quality, professional plugs and sockets. John Isherwood.

I will be using the smaller size of choc. block, and large diameter bare copper wire for the busses, so I'm fairly confident that the screws will bear on a high proportion of the wire diameter. John Isherwood.

Expanding on this subject, below is a diagram of what I envisage : - I am hoping that, once installed, this mechanism will enable minor adjustment to be made to the point throw from the baseboard edge, rather than from beneath the baseboard. Section and isolation switches will also be installed into the upper surface of the trunking, providing easy access to the wiring connections via the removeable front capping of the trunking. We'll see in due course if this system works in practice! John Isherwood.

Not with any confidence that it will work - because I've never tried it! However, for what it's worth, I am looking at : - https://www.rapidonline.com/reely-high-quality-steel-spring-wire-0-5mm-x-1000mm-51-1577 & https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/cable-sleeves/1789508 Now it may be that the PTFE tube is too close in internal diameter to the diameter of the wire - in which case I will go up a size in the tube. Comment from those experienced in this form of point actuation will be welcomed - it's very much 'suck it and see' at the moment! What is clear is that purchasing the materials this way, rather than buying the branded Mercontrol product, is much cheaper. John Isherwood.

... or it could be a strip of land set aside for an intended length of flood bank, to link up with the railway embankment. It would then have been possible to reclaim the land thus enclosed for development. Note the marked similarity of the width of the strip of land in question, to that of the existing flood bank enclosing the Llyn Bach. Don't forget that William Madocks, (17 June 1773 – 15 September 1828), was responsible for the building of the Cob, and many other embankments in the area, with the principal intention of land reclamation rather than railway construction. John Isherwood.

Really?!? I'd have thought that they could have gone the whole Hog(warts) an done one that ran on a circle of track round the Christmas tree ! Very seasonal. I'll forego this one, methinks! John Isherwood.

The operating principle that will be used on this layout is that the operator will plug either controller A or controller B into the nearest socket to the intended movement; and switch each of the sections required for that movement to his controller - identified by colour code from a track plan. The train movement will then take place, and then the section switches will be returned to the centre, off position. I would agree that there will be quite a bit of section switching, but short sections can be advantageous when trouble-shooting. Where it will be necessary to isolate locomotives - such as in the centre station road, where banking locos are held - switched isolating gaps will be cut in the supply rail. Again, these isolating switches will be sited on the appropriate board edge. Perhaps I should mention that the front, operating edges of all boards will consist of 40 x 40mm. white electrical trunking : - All local section toggle swiches, isolating toggle switches and point mechanical control / frog polarity slide switches will be mounted onto the upper surface of the trunking, and the removeable capping strip will give access for wiring and maintenance. As this will be my first and last major layout, it has been designed from the outset with ease of construction and maintenance in mind. A centralised, all-singing, all-dancing control panel may have appeal for the younger enthusiast, but I need, and will increasingly need, a simple and easily maintained system. What I have designed is essentially eleven small layouts which abut each other, each with their own local controls. Power will be supplied by what are effectively ring mains - one AC and the other DC. Wiring within each board will be simple, straight runs from the ring mains to the board edge and back to the rails. Point control will be by similar straight(ish) runs of stainless steel wire in PTFE tube, and the baseboard edge operating slide swiches will both throw the point and switch the frog polarity. All very old school - but simple, robust and tried and tested. Being based on one end of Evercreech Junction station, I will be able to run (sort of) prototypical trains to a (sort of) prototypical timetable - or, just watch the trains go by; (I've loads of stock that has no business whatsoever to be seen at Evercreech Junction)! Regards, John Isherwood.

I see no need to move controllers whilst the train is in motion; the relevant controller will be plugged in at the most convenient operating position for that movement. I will be sticking with good old 'steam' DC control by wires. A broken wire can be traced and seen, but a radio handset that won't 'talk' to the controller would be beyond me. For the same reason, I won't be going anywhere near DCC !! John Isherwood.

I have ordered 4-pin XLR audio plugs and sockets for connecting the controllers to the baseboards - I prefer these to DIN plugs as they lock into the sockets. Each controller will be clearly marked, on the controllers and their plugs, as A or B, with the sockets also clearly marked accordingly. As there will only be one of each controller available, and as I don't forsee anyone operating the layout unsupervised; (I'm not a MRC member); I don't anticipate problems. The availability of local control points will be useful when problem-finding. Regards, John Isherwood.