SRman

It's getting a little closer: an approximation of the track alignment on the upper level viaducts.

Continuing on with the small extension, a quick lick of "Hurricane Grey" paint completes this stage of the project. The first pic shows an overall view, while in the second, I have moved the viaduct into what will be its final position (or very close to it).

That is a Ballast Brake conversion of a Cambrian Kits 'Dance Hall'. They supply the necessary bits and the instructions in the kit to do this conversion.

Actually only 12mm, Doug, but I know exactly what you mean. That was just enough to give me the clearances I needed for the LT lines behind the viaduct.

Well! I'm back from 10 days in New Zealand (had a lovely time for Agnes' and my 30th anniversary), so only a couple of days left of the school holidays before reality sets in and I have to go back to work. I have promised to widen the layout slightly to provide more clearance for the front viaducts, so went to Masters Hardware today and bought some 12mm square and 12mm x 30mm wood. This allowed me to add a strip 12mm wide at the front edge of the layout. To compensate for the projecting lip, though, I also had to add some timber behind the pockets for the controllers, using this as a good excuse to also lower them slightly so they don't project upwards over the layout top surface quite as far. Of course, it also meant unscrewing the hinges for the control panel and resiting that onto one of the 12mm x 30mm bits of wood.

I took Sherlock Holmes over to DougN's place yesterday and we posed it with some of his Gresley teak non-corridor coaches. While not an accurate pairing, it looked good ... it even looked "right". Doug had been doing some clearing up of his workbench which meant that there was some clutter on the layout, but he soon cleared running space, so we sent Sherlock Holmes around his figure-8 circuit. As expected for a Heljan mechanism, it totally ignored the gradients, both up and down hill with three coaches on. At one stage, the train ran into the back of another train with Doug's D16 on the front, and Sherlock Holmes managed to push the dead loco and train half way up the gradient! Adding two more teak coaches also had no effect on the loco's hauling powers or smoothness.

Yes. The small PCBs are a simple interference fit in their recesses and also look identical on both sides to the naked eye.

Even with suitable cropping, have a gander at that incredibly tall exhaust pipe on the locomotive!

I have now solved the lighting glitch. It was as simple as flipping over the small lighting boards over the cabs - see the last four images in Dave's (dasatcopthorne's) post #246. The cab lights now come on individually with functions 1 and 2, while all three white end lights turn on (and off) with function 0.

My Sherlock Holmes arrived today. After a quick check on DC on the rolling road, I fitted a decoder. I started with a Lenz Silver+ 21 but, like others have reported, it surged and stopped repeatedly in one direction, and the lights didn't respond at all either. I then tried a TCS EU621, which works faultlessly with the drive in both directions. However, there is an oddity with the lights: the lower two white lights come on with the direction of travel on function 0, as do the cab lights at the relevant end. Function 1 turns on the upper white light at the leading end and function 2 turns on the upper light at the other end. Now I feel sure that the cab lights should be the switchable ones on functions 1 and 2, so next time I take the 'lid' off, I'll have a look at swapping the connections - Heljan usually use identical two pin plugs for these so it should be straightforward ... [gulp] I hope! I'm not sure why the Lenz decoders have such a problem with this mechanism, but I think it is probably something to do with the BEMF settings. The TCS one I used boasts that it is self-adjusting for BEMF, and it seems to work, thus justifying that claim.

My Sherlock Holmes arrived today. After a quick check on Dc on the rolling road, I fitted a decoder. I started with a Lenz Standard but, like others have reported, it surged and stopped repeatedly in one direction, and the lights didn't respond at all either. I then tried a TCS EU621, which works faultlessly with the drive in both directions. However, there is an oddity with the lights: the lower two white lights come on with the direction of travel on function 0, as do the cab lights at the relevant end. Function 1 turns on the upper white light at the leading end and function 2 turns on the upper light at the other end. Now I feel sure that the cab lights should be the switchable ones on functions 1 and 2, so next time I take the 'lid' off, I'll have a look at swapping the connections - Heljan usually use identical two pin plugs for these so it should be straightforward ... [gulp] I hope! I'm not sure why the Lenz decoders have such a problem with this mechanism, but I think it is probably something to do with the BEMF settings. The TCS one I used boasts that it is self-adjusting for BEMF, and it seems to work, thus justifying that claim. Edit: sorry for the duplicate posting. I thought I had just edited to add the photos but obviously something went slightly haywire!

Nice! What mechanism is powering the 74, if you don't mind my asking?

Those skyscrapers are really well disguised, there, Ian!

Nice to see LT trains running. Those Gresleys really don't look out of place at all. I did something similar for my EFE '38 stock, with Steam Era wheelsets from here in Australia. As per your description, I also removed the pinpoints from the axles. They do run better but there is still a lot of friction from the 'U' shaped axle bearings on the EFE bogies. I now have some Metromodels pinpoint bogies to fit, so had to buy more wheelsets (again from Steam Era Models) but this time, retaining the pinpoint axles! I have yet to actually fit these bogies but they do promise to improve the running and will allow me to run the four car set with only one Black Beetle motor bogie. Cheers, Jeff.

Thanks for the compliments, Jamie. I used the brown paint as a temporary measure to hide the stark white of the polystyrene, particularly as I was going to host a meeting so it would be seen. I still have a little more landscaping to do, followed by a layer of plaster, before I do the 'real' grass and shrub textures. I usually mix some brown powder paints into the plaster mix so any chips won't show up white later. That's the technique I have used in the past on several layouts. The church itself is the standard Hornby Skaledale one from a few years ago - the second church they released.

Continuing with the C=Rail containers, I have decorated a couple more of the tank containers, plus a 40' hi-cube container, and finished off a previously started 40' one. Starting with the box containers, I completed the Hanjin one, which had already had the main large side logos and names applied some time ago, I added all the remaining details such as the numbers and end logos and information panels. The OOCL one was just a bare, off-white box! Both still require the locking bars to be applied ... unfortunately, I can't find where I have put those at the moment! Turning to the tank containers, I decorated the Stolt and Seabrook ones. Both are visible just behind the Brisbane City Council Leyland Panthers (resin models from Brisbane's Model Buses), which are another project (I have just added the fuel and water filler detail on the closer bus). EDIT: The 40' containers aren't 'hi-cube' ones!

Well ... not the aforementioned classes 74 or 70. Not in Sunny Scotland!

I still look at mine and marvel at the fine printing on the sides. Wonderful models!

If LU_fan has any other blue square DMUs (or buys some in the future), it may be worth retaining the couplings for multiple working. Depending on which types of units were allocated to an area, class 101 could work with any of classes 105, 108, 110, 116, 117, 118, 121, and 128 (to name only those that are, or have been, readily available as ready to run models ... or have been announced, in the case of the Kernow 116/7/8). Of course, some of these multiples may never have occurred due to geographical separation. In model form it may not be practical to run the 101 with a Hornby 110, which has entirely different motor characteristics. Of less value, perhaps, in view of the internal coupling system on the 101 model, it was entirely possible to see combinations of types within sets, such as a 101 Driving Motor, class 108 trailer and class 104 Driving Motor at the other end, but that may be getting away from the point of the original query.

I had the Kernow original sounds but wasn't happy with them, so had mine reblown with Ian's earlier sound project. If the new one is better still, I wouldn't mind another reblow. Has Bif posted any videos of the new sounds yet (I couldn't find it with a quick search)?

SouthWest Trains used to run class 159s and 170s in multiple, before swapping the 170s for refurbished 158 units.

And another tank container with transfers applied, this time for Stolt.

West Yorkshire PTE used to regularly run such workings in the late 1980's, at least in peak hours. I rode on a 155 + 144 combination out of Leeds, heading eastwards. I can't remember what the ultimate destination was for this train, as I was only getting off at Cross Gates or Garforth. At one stage, I believe BR banned such workings because of the end-throws on the long sprinters adding extra wear to the pacers underpinnings, but the WYPTE never seemed to let that worry them.

Some time ago, I purchased a couple of C=Rail's bulk container packs, one with 40' box containers, the other with five 20' tank containers. I have built and decorated three of the box containers, with two still being completed (delayed by a bad can of primer that left lumps stuck to the surfaces). These are now awaiting their transfers, plus the locking bars on the white one. The tank containers were only partly assembled, to make painting easier, before putting all the fiddly bits on. I completed the painting to my own satisfaction, even though a couple of bits are still a little rough. The detailing bits (walkways, tank fillers, ladders, etc.) have now all been added, although, looking at liveries of the real things, I should repaint the red framework one into black. The GCatainer item is the first to be completed properly, although there were only a limited number of images I could find to assist with the positioning of the transfers (which also came from C=Rail). I think it looks reasonable, regardless of the accuracy of positioning some of the transfers. They are posed here with a couple of C=Rail's professionally finished tank containers, which also gave me some clues as to where some of the markings might be placed. And these are the previously finished examples of the 40' boxes.

How do you know, Kevin???