SRman

A small but significant step was taken yesterday: I finally got around to fixing the gap in the woodwork on the upper level at the current (temporary) end of the fiddle yard loops. I have been toying with the idea of using the existing board as a template to cut an entirely new one, but after assessing the degree of support under it, I decided to just cut the small, oddly shaped bit of MDF from an off-cut, trimming it with the jigsaw in small increments for the final fit. This now allows me to screw down the adjacent board, which is already cut to the correct shape and fit, which, in turn, allows me to start more track laying. As a preliminary to the laying of further track, I have placed a few lengths of rail and posed a 9-car unit as being the maximum allowed length: 2 x 4 CEP units and an MLV were loose coupled to gauge where the end of the loop is needed (with a little leeway built in) and where the next lot of points will go. There is, as always, still much to do (that's almost become my mantra!), but it feels like a new start on progress after a period of stagnation.

Blue Hornby 2 HAL unit 2677 arrived on Tuesday and has been run-in, fitted with a Lenz decoder and Kadee #19 couplings fitted at each end. Because Hornby made a mistake with the length of the coupling pocket mounting at the driving trailer cab end, these units really need Kadee #20 couplings, but I don't have any of those left so the #19s will have to do until I can order some. The unit is seen here running in multiple (DCC consist) with the green HAL 2603.

Hi Rick. I do have a strip of warm white LEDs too, with the older stock in mind. For the S Stock I used the cool white as it seems to match the real thing better. I may shop around for another strip that isn't "ultra bright", as the descriptions sometimes go! All of the pre-EPB stocks had their lights on the 600 Volts in series like Christmas tree lights, with two sets per coach. A (late) friend who worked at Stewarts Lane Electrical used to regale us with tales of how difficult it was to trace the faulty light bulbs on occasions, as well as numerous tales of other misadventures on the third rail system.

I have been contemplating fitting lights into my London Underground S Stock train, and possible to some of the Hornby BIL and HAL units as well, later. I've just fitted lights into the first two of the S Stock cars. I'm using the strips of surface-mount LEDs that can be purchased quite cheaply from eBay sellers, which are arranged in sets of three LEDs with a resistor included in each set to allow for direct wiring up to 12 Volts DC. I tested one group of three sets of three on DCC wired straight to the track and that worked fine, so proceeded to wire up the first two cars of my six-car S Stock. The Driving Motor cars are easier as they already have a PCB feeding from the bogie pickups, but Bachmann have been very kind to us in fitting pickups to all of the trailer coach bogies as well - wiring the lights involves more wire and soldering than the DM but is still relatively easy. I'll take photos of my wiring for the next entry, seeing as how I've reassembled the tow already done. The lights are very bright, so I may look at ways to dim them a little (especially if I want to light the BILs and HALs!), but I'd say the experiment has been a success, so I have four more cars to wire up in the near future. I have posed an unlit car beside the two with lights for comparison. Also related to lighting in coaches, I have been trying to figure out the best way of providing a centre coach for the Bachmann/Kernow green 2H unit to make it into a 3H. Replica Railways' non-gangwayed 64' coaches seemed like a good starting point, although the thorny question was raised about how to keep the through lighting facility for the head and tail lights, plus the interior lighting in the centre coach. My answer was to sacrifice a cheap Bachmann 4 CEP unit centre coach. The unit cost me $AUS50 plus postage (approx. £25 plus post) from far north Queensland a couple of years ago, so was an easy candidate. I can use the remaining 3 CEP for other projects. I had to cut off the headstocks on the CEP TS chassis and adapted the Replica semi-open seating unit to screw on where the Corridor TS seats had been, The Replica SO body shell has prominent lugs inside at three places on each side. By filing them down to form simple ledges, the body shell sits very firmly on the CEP TS chassis at almost the right ride height - a teensy bit more filing to thin the ledges should see it right. The Replica body shell needs the roof ridges filed down and the gutters thinned a little - both items need more work at this stage, but I am getting there (the plastic seems quite tough!). I like the Replica shade of green but it is a little light and a little too blue for the shade Bachmann used, so I have already brushed a coat of clear varnish tinted with some dark brown and a little yellow. Again, more work is required, with perhaps a tint of dark grey or black for the next coat. The lighting bar from the CEP coach will sit nicely in the roof but will need to be hard-wired to the PCB in the chassis. The interior will need painting, so when I pull it apart next time, I'll take some photos of the slight interior mods and the other areas I have mentioned. This is not going to be a perfect match but I think it will pass muster once I have finished it. I must say also that Gareth at Replica Railways was extremely helpful when I purchased the four non-gangwayed green mark 1 coaches - three to form a loco-hauled set and one for the 3H project. He put in the Pullman rubbing plates instead of buffers for the latter coach, and also emailed me some plans for the class 205 vehicles, as well as suggesting that maybe I didn't need the complete coach kit if I was using the Bachmann chassis - I said I had plans that also required the spare chassis so kept it simple. Edited to add the missing photo.

While I was doing a little digging for information on the HAL units, I was browsing the Blood and Custard web site page specifically devoted to the HALs. I spotted an error in the photo and caption on the page showing a 2 BIL with a 'Tin' HAL Driving Trailer, so I emailed the address on the "contact" page to let the owner know. I was very careful to emphasise that I intended no criticism of the owner's efforts as it is a very useful and informative site, and in a fairly short time received a very nice reply from Colin to thank me for the correction and to say that he had moved the photo to the correct page (on the 2 BILs) with a correct identification of the coach and the unit. On a different tack altogether, I have been contemplating fitting lights into my London Underground S Stock train, and possible some of the BIL and HAL units as well, later. I've just fitted lights into the first two of the S Stock cars. I'm using the strips of surface-mount LEDs that can be purchased quite cheaply from eBay sellers, which are arranged in sets of three LEDs with a resistor included in each set to allow for direct wiring up to 12 Volts DC. I tested one group of three sets of three on DCC wired straight to the track and that worked fine, so proceeded to wire up the first two cars of my six-car S Stock. The Driving Motor cars are easier as they already have a PCB feeding from the bogie pickups, but Bachmann have been very kind to us in fitting pickups to all of the trailer coach bogies as well - wiring the lights involves more wire and soldering than the DM but is still relatively easy. The lights are very bright, so I may look at ways to dim them a little (especially if I want to light the BILs and HALs!), but I'd say the experiment has been a success, so I have four more cars to wire up in the near future. I have posed an unlit car beside the two with lights for comparison. Some of this really belongs in the workbench blog, so I will post the same thing there, plus an update on making a centre coach for the 2H unit to make it a 3H.

The Interurbans are also a slowly disappearing breed. I rather like them too.

Latest arrivals at Newton Broadway (curse those bargain sales!): Not a good photo, but this is a three car BR Mark 1 "suburban" non-gangwayed set from Replica Railways parts. The body shells come pre-painted but without numbering. This set is still awaiting numbering, window 'stickers', set numbers and underframe detail components to be fitted. I ordered one more complete kit so I could adapt the body to fit a spare Bachmann 4 CEP TS underframe to convert a Kernow green 2H DEMU to a 3H unit. This conversion is still in progress and also requires the green to be darkened a little and the roof ridges to be removed. The 4 CEP chassis allows for the interior lighting and head and tail light connections to be continued through the unit. In the meantime, I have other plans for the remainder of the 4 CEP (3 CEP now!) and the remaining Replica chassis. I'll try to post some detail shots of these in my workbench blog later. I have ordered two of the bargain Hornby 2 HAL (class 402) units from Hattons. One, 2603 in green with fye has already arrived and been fitted with a Lenz decoder and Kadee #19 end couplings to match with all my other 2 HAL and 2 BIL units. A blue unit also with fye is still to arrive. I also succumbed to temptation and bought a Network South East 2H (class 205) unit from Rails of Sheffield. These were commissioned from Bachmann by Kernow Model Rail Centre. Unit 205 001 is seen on its own and running in multiple (consist) with a previous purchase from Kernow, unit 205 012 in Connex livery. Again, Lenz decoders and Kadee #19 couplings are fitted, although I may have to go to the longer #20 couplings for tighter curves (only tested on the outer run for now).

They are nice, particularly the weathered ones (which seems a shame in some ways, hiding the superb "chromed" finish). For the ladder issue, I remove them, clip off about 1mm from the solebar level lugs, then glue them back on. This makes them sit slightly nearer to vertical and gives the tiny bit of extra side clearance I need. Answering rprogers' query from 2010 (post #344) - only 6 years late! - I did weather one myself, and I don't think I did too bad a job on it.

Nice editing, Rick. I was working on my cut last night but haven't finished it yet. Interestingly, you cut the branch footage at almost the same point I chose to cut my version. I have a small amount of additional footage added to one (I have separated the up and down directions into two separate videos), with a sort of camera fly-over of some parts, which I took after I had transferred the "cab" footage to your computer. Your cut also fills in a few of the place names I wasn't sure of, so I can add that extra info into my final cut. As we all said at the time, the new view really does add to the mystique of our models, giving an entirely different perspective. I really don't like seeing myself in videos but it was unavoidable here. DougN also has a prominent "starring" role in the background! Thanks again for a wonderful and entertaining afternoon and great company.

Dapol didn't even think to test their shiny new "DCC ready" model on DCC to see if it worked properly. From that, it is apparent that they really did very, very little in the way of quality control or pre-testing.

It's the way the new(er) web shop works. It charges the credit card automatically when an order is placed, then Kernow refund it if the item isn't yet available. Unfortunately, that penalises those of us from overseas as the banks charge us for each international transaction, on top of the normal credit card charges (as ExPatBrit said). The old web shopping site could deal with the pre-order without debiting the card.

I agree it's a pain for we 'furriners', but there is a way around it: Kernow Model Railway Centre have actually said in the past, if you wish to avoid all those hassles and extra expenses, phone them up instead to place a pre-order.

Aaagh! No, Bill: did you have to tell me that? I've already overspent on some Hornby bargains from Hattons as well as a reduced price 'Thumper' from Rails. I'll set my "better" half onto you for trying to tempt me further!!

DougN should be with me (or maybe I'll be with him!) but since he hasn't yet named his layout or station, it's a little harder to do the station announcement for him.

I have always found them to be a bit on the slow side from accepting an order to actually sending it, although they are usually reliable and with fair to good prices. As Keith said above, they are sometimes useful in being able to supply items other retailers have sold out of.

Yes, according to the MLI I checked last night, the initial allocation was Heaton. They were commonly used on Sunderland/Newcastle to Carlisle services, interchangeably with the Tyne & Wear liveried batch. There was one photo of a unit on a Derby - Matlock service, although it is possible that was an unusual working while they were being tested and assessed. Later on quite a few went to South Wales with Arriva, but that is beyond the period Peter wants to model.

Hi Peter. I like the Lenz ones too. However, if you can find them, the TCS EU621 decoders are good value and work well also. I have no experience at all with the DCC Concepts decoders, although I have a couple of 8-pin ones to fit eventually to something. I have the Modern Locomotives Illustrated magazine on the Pacers and relatives - will try to find out the operating areas of the Provincial 143s for you.

Peter, in answer to your question at the BRMA meeting yesterday, class 143s first entered service in 1985, with 143 001 to 019 in Provincial livery similar to that applied to the class 142s. The Realtrack model has not, as yet, been offered in Provincial livery. So they were in service a little earlier than we thought but still at the tail end of your chosen modelling period.

Latest Newton Effort Railway?

One more video of my layout, this time at a more realistic speed with a Heljan class 47. I have also now taken a video of Roger T's layout during his BRMA meeting on Saturday 23rd April, but am not sure where to post that once I have edited it. It was well received by Roger and all those present. I'm looking forward to doing Rick's Penhayle Bay. Once that's on camera, I will be able to upload the vid straight to your computer, Rick, through a USB cable from the camera.

Further to my last posting, and after a little digging in Southern Region DEMUs (Kevin Robertson and Hugh Abbinnett, 2012, Ian Allan Publishing Ltd.), I have found a few photos of early green 2-car units running in multiple as four cars in total. Page 26 has 1103 plus another 2-car unit on crew training or test at Fullerton Junction in Summer 1957. Page 30 shows the same unit and another unidentified 2H at Fratton on a Salisbury - Portsmouth service in September 1957. Page 33 has a photo of the same unit once again, with an unidentified 2H on an Andover to Southampton service via Romsey and Redbridge in January 1959. That should be sufficient for modellers to realistically run two green Kernow models together if they want to.

I can't say I have seen any pictures of pairs of 2H units but there is no reason why they could not have run together in the early days before augmentation to 3H. In their last years it certainly happened - there were four, five or six car formations depending on what was available (some, at least were also hybrid units formed from two or more surviving vehicles from different sets, or even from different classes such as class 205 centre coaches in class 207 units).

The high level air pipe connections were the same on all of the 1951/57/63 types on the Southern Region, it was only the DEMU 27-way jumpers that were set up differently. The brakes would therefore have been operable as straight air brakes, but not in electro-pneumatic mode.

Agreeing with Gordon here, the control jumper wiring differed between the electric units and the DEMUs. One Thumper, 205 101 (ex-1111) was refurbished and was capable of being easily reconfigured to work in multiple with the electric units, but to the best of my knowledge, this never actually occurred. It is possible that a class 419 could have towed a dead Thumper but there would have been no control from the remote cabs.and, again, I don't think this has ever occurred in reality either.

I know this has been mentioned before, but if Bachmann could be persuaded to produce a 4 EPB, they could run some extra centre coaches to be marketed as add-ons for the Thumpers. This would help to reduce the cost per coach and as I would assume that Bachmann would continue the through lighting facility for a 4 EPB, that would solve the problem of keeping the lighting through the 3H as well.