Model Railway - What's your latest acquisition?

A jolly good read so far......

 

I am pleased that you like the book. It was one that I wasn't keen on as I have several books on the Duchesses by various authors, that I thought were better. That was my opinion so it is nice to see someone has a better view of it. Sadly with books, some seem to excel and others don't. I have a couple of books on the Britannia's that are not really up to par with incorrect descriptions and the occasional mistake. Very few mention the variations in the latter years with tender swops and bearing changes. Sadly I have to accept that the class had so many variations that Hornby could not feasibly cover all. I tend to look for books, now, with good clear photos as the main content to see the alterations throughout their lives. Enjoy your book.

I've just been very fortunate and acquired a small selection of Jouef models.  They were donated to me from my daughter's boyfriend's grandmother, who is French and whose late husband was a keen railway modeller.  She wanted the trains to go to someone who would appreciate them.

Most are in very good condition, and although the locos don't run very well at present, the motors seem fine.  It just seems a case of improving the pick-ups, and adding some more, so that's my next workbench project.

Two metres of Peco code 100 rail ad two PL10 point motors for my siding addition.

I had the points already, so one is now installed - in plac of a section of plain track - and just needs the wires from the motor adding to the control panel. At the moment the down relief line is out of action whilst the engineering work is undertaken, but the down relief platform - 7 - is still accessible from the Down Main. Just need to solder on a feed and earth connection to the track though and the down relief will be operational again. 

Main issue was "demolishing" a retaining wall - using a 25mm wood bit to eat away at the 3" x 2" timber to get some clearance. I managed to lose control of the drill and sever several wires to other point motors - so not happy at that but they can be easily changed.

Next task is to lay a short piece of straight track then a Y point that will form a catch point in effect with a short length of rail coming back - not sure what the correct terminology is for this short dead end.  

I will then have to lay about 5' of straight track for the siding, wire up the feeds ( analogie cab control ) to split the siding into two sections to stable 2 x 3 car DMUS. It wil also be used to stable up to 6 coaches 

I may need a couple of buffer stops,. switches for the track sections and one for the point motors - both will be thrown in tandem. Maybe also some rail joiners. 

Finally the retaining wall wil need "rebuilding" - i.e. a new piece of stone efferc card - ballasting and signalling - a shunt signal arm will need to be added to the down relief home signal.

So - a good few hours worth of work, but should be worth it. 

Maybe later, the carriage siding may be extended to be a freight avoiding line instead ! 

 A Heljan 1361 0-6-0ST and an LMS Mk1 (slightly worn sides and some other bits of Mk1 to canabalise into something.

I've bought a R9289 Edward from Thomas and Friends to complete the set of new DCC Ready models. I've fitted a decoder and run him in and am pleased with the performance so far.

I've also bought R383 Gordon from eBay as my old one had an accident and despite my best efforts with soldering wires it kept shorting and i was making a mess of it.

I had written a script for a comparison video for You Tube between R9291 and R383 Gordons so when it arrives I'll try and record it.

A friend also gave me a Hornby APT that had been in his loft for 20+ years. A couple of bogies are missing but i tested the lights and they work. So another project for when darker nights set in and parts to search for at model shows.

More progress on the siding this evening. I went up to the loft to see what parts I needed to buy tomorrow, and luckily its only a buffer stop and 2 section switches. 

Anyway I have now rewired the down relief - so the layout is operational again fully amd started on the siding - a short straight leading to a trailing Y point, the short "headshunt" forming a sort of catch point and the first metre length of siding proper. Its in position, but not pinned down.

So hopefully into town tomorrow to get the few bits mentioned and then I can make more progress. Still  a few hours to go to finish it all off, but its looking good so far.   

Into town today and bought 3 on-off-on switches to control the 2 sections in the siding and a spare, a couple of buffer stops, some rail joiners and another length of flexi track. The on-off-on are used so I can work the siding off either controller. 

I am already planning further amendments to Platform 7 ( down relief ) road, an exit to the down main as well for more flexibility in operation. Will have to see. If I do that then I may also add a section of track and a couple of points to add a fourth track in the station throat.  Eventually I would like it to be 4 track all the way around the cicuit but the next piece after that would be under the high level good yard and would be a lot of work to get to it, but it could be done.  

No progress on the layout though as I have just spent 2 hours removing wooden cladding from pipes and the kitchen framework next to the range cooker. Why - a water leak from a joint which is outside the cooker and whilst working I noticed a second leak higher up - hence more stuff to remove to hopefiully give the plumber more access. 

There is always something isn't there - but time is a great healer and no doubt it will all be sorted soon and the kitchen put back together - but in the interim its a pain !! 

@m_duck

I am glad you have the new version of Edward. I love my one. The blue paint colour and his face, are so much better than the previous R9232 Edward has.

If you could add pictures of your R9232 and R9289 Edward's, together to this topic: https://www.hornby.com/community/forum/r9289-edward/?p=1/, then that would be great. 

GNR-Gordon-4

50 years of the 50 Special Edition arrived today

https://youtu.be/2g99U8P-hfA

The next acquisition will likely be an Analogue controller. Not sure whether it was something I did or not, but my Guagemaster D controller started to fault and cut out/reset and eventually the power just stays on at full on track 2 output - i.e the control knob has no effect. I guess I had a short and it overcame the protection of the reset eventually as I dallied trying to find the fault. Maybe though it just gave up the gpost after 20 plus years. I have disconnected the output and it still is the same, so must be an issue inside the controller, nothing to do with the wiring to the track now at least, but may have been.    

At the moment track one is OK and the 16V AC outlet for the points are fine, so no need to do anything in a rush.

Cant complain - its well over 20 years old and only failed once before which was repaired under the lifetime guarantee - I seem to recall though that the controller tumbled about a foot to the floor and that caused its issues. May have to see if that guarantee is still operated, but if not 20 years of use is great so will purchase  another. DCC instead - ??  I dont think so. I can't face chipping 50 plus locos, and I do like my section switches to control the power to the track. I may go fpr a 4 track one though as I do have two branch lines that could do with a separate  control whilst I run 2 trains around the main lines. All the section switches only have 2 options though so will need some judicious planning as to how its wired in.     

Progress on the siding continues, but as always I am hampered by my poor trait of being untidy, so the maze of wiring I have created under the control panel does not help - last night I must have wasted 40 minures tracking down a fault in the point motor circuit. However, one good result was that I finally found the reason for a reluctant double slip point motor - the soldered connection on the switch was poor it turns out so I re-did that and it now works fine. Those intermittent faults are always the worst to trace.  

However, in essence it is all good fun and part of the game of railway modelling. 

At least some more progress on the siding - the panel switches are in and its all connected and tested and the two points throw together powered of fthe 20 plus yr old gaugemaster CDU. The first metre of the siding is pinned down and wired up and a 3 cfar Lima 117 DMU is stabled there now. Next task is to lay the 2nd metre of track tp stable a second DMU and wire that up to a section switch. Thren the usual painting the track sides and ballasting.  

After that, still pondering modifactions to the layout at the end of the down lines. It would be useful to have the down relief platform 7 with the option of exiting to the down main and also adding a meter or so length of track to "4 track" that area by adding a track between the Up loop and the station throat so the loop becomes an Up relief line. That will need another two points as well and quite a lot of remodelling as an overbrige and embankment that takes the high level branch line headshunt will have to be demolished and reworked. 

All good fun !