SRman

Routemasters came along in the late 1950s (apart from two prototype units that first ran in - I think - 1954). This was about the time that AEC and Leyland started using the Monocontrol style semi- or fully automatic gearboxes and selectors. LT stayed with the earlier style of steering column selectors on the Routemaster family, but used the newer direct-selection mode for their operation. They could be left in fully auto mode (set up to start in second gear), or they could be driven with manual gear selection. Coach Routemasters (RMC and RCL) didn't have the automatic control from new, as far as I know. That may possibly have also applied to country area RMLs, but I am uncertain on that score. Earlier generations of London Transport buses in the RT and RF families used pre-selector gearboxes, where the driver selected the gear he wanted, then pressed the gear-change pedal (a third pedal that was not a clutch - they had fluid flywheels), which then engaged that gear. The driver would move the selector to the next gear that he/she wanted, then when the time was right, depress and release the third pedal again. Quite different style of driving, but still no clutch pedal to depress/release when stopping or moving off. I suppose they could be said to be an earlier form of semi-automatic, with the driver's foot doing the work that electrics and pneumatics did with later semi-autos. London Transport did have some manual gearbox buses at the time the Routemasters entered service, in the form of 84 GS class Guy Specials, used exclusively on country services, with a couple surviving until 1972 as staff buses.

I use the spacing dictated on straight sections by the Peco points distance on crossovers, but widen this out considerably for curves - my outer curves are to approximately 2' radius. I use the Bachmann class 166 coaches to test the clearances, as they are not only among the longest coaches in my collection (mark 3 coaches are also the same length), but they are wider than standard because of the more generous clearances on the Great Western main lines. In the fiddle yard, I have widened clearances on the straight sections slightly to allow easier insertion of fingers to pick up or put down items of rolling stock.

No snow here: the view from my office window today.

Gone With the Mind.

The class 58s (or at least, earlier models released) had a light leakage problem with the clear plastic light guides. There was no fault with the lighting itself, with the correct bulbs illuminating at each end. On my Heljan class 58s, I removed the light guides and cleaned them up, including removing any glue that Heljan used) and then painted the guides black, except for where the light is expected to enter or leave them (observe that very carefully!). That fixed the problem completely. p.s. I have three of them, all on DCC, with one fitted with sound. I would not advise using the Hornby decoder, as it won't cope well with the Heljan motor under a heavy load.

I may get some power to it, and could run some shuttles, but I'm also a bit unsure of the viaducts as I still have 5 more double tracked arches to convert from the Vollmer single track viaduct kits. You may notice, though, that the under-track plate girder bridge is taking shape, where I had a place holder before. It shows up with a bright white, unpainted plastic card deck in one of the overall pics.

That was pretty well my thoughts on it, but when I placed the turntable to the front, with the shed behind, it just didn't work for me. The overall layout of the tracks became more contrived.

I did try that in a 'dry run', but the 5' radius of the curved point pushed the whole curve out too far. I wanted the two crossovers to be trailing as per older railway practice.

I'm not sure, Peter. I may have partial power to it, but I don't know if I'll be able to get the lot running - it's only a few weeks away.

Hey Little Johnny, I've put some snakes in your lunch box for you.

I have cleared some of the 'junk' off the layout now, and have been experimenting with ideas for the shed area. I did try the turntable in a position next to the running lines, with the shed further back towards the back of the layout, but I didn't like that, so have tried the arrangement in the next two photos. The tracks are overlapped to suggest points, whether they exist or not at this stage. The two tracks to the right (in the 2nd photo) of the turntable could house a couple of short EMUs or DEMUs. I also took a couple of late night photos from the other end of the layout to show an overall view (or as near as I can get to that).

And just in the news today: https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/02/27/11/38/deadly-snake-found-in-child-lunchbox

I now have a continuous double tracked circuit! It isn't runnable - several points to be rejigged for DCC and no wiring, yet. However, one train has run under its own power on DC with some jumper leads from my programming/test track; that's how I got the class 166 around to the back crossover to illustrate how I think a crossover should appear (as mentioned earlier, I really try to avoid reverse curves if at all possible). Anyway, here are a few more photos of my progress, with the last couple showing that back crossover. The engine shed has been posed in the later shots in approximately the position I can see it in in my mind's eye. This may well change! While I was doing all this, my other half was busy sewing, with some "help" from Hattie. Hattie wants to come into the train room, and will shoot in at any opportunity - I left the door open very briefly while disposing of some of the rubbish and leftover bits, and she jumped straight off the table and through the door before I could get back.

That's OK - I was trying to say that there was a real precedent for that, but it looks like the vague memory stirring in the very back of my head got it wrong on several counts.

While this one is not a Terrier, I seem to recall there was an experiment with one or more Terriers where the rear coupling rids were removed, thus making them 0-4-2Ts, albeit with the rear carrying wheels the same size as the driving wheels. I'm fairly hazy on this, but it may have been in relation to experiments with Terriers on the Lyme Regis branch, in a failed attempt to replace the Adams Radial locomotives. Bringing us back to the topic, there was also an experimental trial of a D1 on the branch as well.

I used a TCS 21-pin decoder in mine. The various lights are worked by functions 0 to 2: F0 - directional end marker lights (3 white lights should show at the leading end) F1 and F2 - individual cab lights. When my loco arrived, the cab lighting pcbs were assembled upside down, so the cab lights lit up the top marker light on its own, and the top marker light lit up the cab at the same time as the two lower marker lights. The pcbs just clip out and flip over - an easy fix!

I too wondered this, but after Kaput's answer, I went to Rails' website and looked up two of the models, opening their pages in new tabs, then flicking back and forth between them. The two models I chose were DRS 68 003 (early) and 68 008 (later), and the difference in the fuel tanks was then obvious. However, I couldn't see any difference in the handrails between these two. There were extra markings at the nose ends on the newer one.

We can save that delight for Ivan's next visit, eh Doug?

There is a crossover going in at the end of that curve as well, but that won't have a reverse curve because it is going from the inner to the outer track - curved point on the inner track leading into the curved road on the straight point on the outer. These two crossovers serve different purposes, with the one in the photos (so far) serving the loco sheds and storage, so, for the most part, light engines will be the main users. If there is room, I may add a carriage shed, but I'm fairly sure that will only be able to cope with two or three car units. The crossover on the other side will be to allow whole trains to be reversed from the fiddle yard loops. Trains on the outer track will run 'wrong road' for a short stretch, before gaining the inner rails. there is also a crossover at the other end of the fiddle yard that will allow limited swaps in the other direction ... the limit being the trains have to be on the centre lines (the loop nearest the centre of the eight lines)

2nd post: These two photos illustrate why I dislike reverse curves. The end throws on the coaches, especially longer ones, are shown up in the second pic, while the first shows how it should ideally look all the way through the crossover (in this case - reverse curves on plain track can also show exactly the same traits). The difference? A few inches of movement of the coaches through the crossover.

Not very well earlier today, but I did extend the curve at the end by one more yard of double track. I am so close to having a complete circuit of double track! It won't be in a runnable state for a while longer, though; I still have several points to lift and convert properly for "DCC-friendliness" and auto-polarity switching. Still feeling pleased with myself now, though.

Yes, I have misjudged stops on occasions too! That adds to the enjoyment of the challenge of actually "driving" the locos or units, for me.

For the vast majority of my installations, I tweak CVs 3 and 4, giving them much higher values than the defaults, so they more closely match all the sound-fitted locos in behaviour. I usually start off with CV3 = 25 and CV4 = 18, then further adjust if necessary from there. I watch the starting behaviour and if it jerks from a standing start, I reduce CV2 to 0. Occasionally, I adjust the top and mid speeds, but not as a general rule - the most recent one of these I did was a Janus diesel which seemed to have much too high a top speed for my liking. Other adjustments come down to individual locos requiring them - as someone has previously mentioned, sometimes the BEMF settings need changing to suit particular types of motor.

And some further work done this morning, through to the early part of this afternoon, after which my back gave out (I have been suffering chronic back pain for over a year, and the reason was only recently revealed ... arthritis - Oh well, I'm sure a good many of you reading this also have the same problems). I have realigned both tracks since yesterday's photo, and added the crossover. I'm not entirely happy with the crossover's reverse curve, but all other trial positions with straight and/or curved points just didn't work within the limits of my 2' radius outer curves - the Peco curved points are really nice but the outer radius is 5' and that just doesn't work here, except at the transitions into straights as I have done in this instance. All three points on the main lines in these photos have now been dealt with to allow frog polarity switching to occur automatically with some Gaugemaster modules. I have made up a card template to space the tracks on the curves , now, so there will be a little less trial and error for the remaining double track curves, as at the end of the layout (the next bit to be done!). I have bought some code 75 points for the loco shed and yard area inside the end curves, and also a couple of lengths of bullhead track, so that area will appear much more lightly laid than the main lines. That's still a little way off, though. Overall, I am pleased with my progress here. I have also been giving thought to how the next bit of wiring is going to be done, because I want to insert a couple of circuit breakers into the line before the wires reach any tracks.

Has anyone actually imported a herd of elephants to the Amazon to try this out?