Railway Lyons

Hi All, This thread has been quiet for a while with work and family taking precedence over the hobby. Unfortunately, it is going to go cold for a while more, as the shed and layout have to come down for a house move. With not enough space in the new location, with the in-laws, the layout will be in storage for the next while. Only solution to make it possible to save for the deposit to buy our own home. Once our house is bought in next 12-18 months, I have been promised the space to resurrect the layout and get it fully operational again, in a permanent home. So until then, my modelling will be limited to kits and modifications to rolling stock, which can be seen on my workbench from time to time. So for now, Wallacetown will bid you adieu!

Little more work done on a few bits and pieces in the last few weeks. Have been spending a lot of time installing point motors, 28 in all, building and programming Accessory decoders, 7 of these, and designing layout on Hornby eLink. So far 3 points are working and all track is live, controlled from a centrally installed touch screen monitor. In the spare few minutes away from under the layout, the Jeep is progressing. A repaint, transfers, number plate and crew will make it I think.

Hi Paul, I didn't changed the loco at the time. However, it is now on a long list of locos to have detailing added and possible conversion to Irish from its current LMS guise. Regards.

He is trying to be heard over the rest of us..... @Paul, I have completed one before, same version if there is a permanent link to the tender, it was 10+ years ago, so below is from memory. The conversion needs to be carried out in the tender, easiest done with a chip with a wiring loom attached, how i did it. In the tender, feeds from loco end goes to black/red on chip, then orange/grey to the motor in the tender. Remove the capacitor between the motor contacts if there is one still there. Test run to ensure forward is forward, if not reverse wires going to motor. That should be the job done. Hope it helps.

My order arrived yesterday. Delighted to finally have it. Looks nice when all lined up but i haven't assembled yet. Need a cuppa and time to sit and read the instructions. It could be getting quite noisy on railways round the country now.......

Looking good George. Must pick up a ploughvan myself at some stage. One question, what did you do to get the couplings on the flats? I have 3 at home and cannot figure out a nice way to couple them with enough space for Kadees.

Now that Concorde has been delivered to its hanger for display, I could get back to the tasks at hand. One that has been on the list for a while is my Tara Mines, so long in fact the glue on the boxes has given way. Couple of hours have produced the early stages of 7 Tara Mines wagons from 6 Dapol IOAs. Whilst detail, painting and transfers are still required, I found it to be fairly straight forward conversion so far. Hope you enjoy! Fresh out of the box: Bogies and underside detail removed: First cut to shorten: 2nd cut to shorten: 2 end sections remaining: Comparison in length of original and shortened: 6 of the 7 being glued: The 7th wagon is made up of the 6 centre offcuts with some plastic card ends made up. A freebie really. Will post more progress of this project in the next 2 weeks as I get back out to the shed (after the rugby of course)

Hi JHB, Looking back at the D Class, it is something that would benefit with black con rods. Will have to add it to the ever growing list of jobs to get round to.

Hi All, A couple of weeks break from the trains to build a gift for my dad. An 1:144 Revell Concorde kit, assembled, painted and decals all to add to his ever growing collection of model planes. This was a nice change to build and went together quite well with very little filing. Lining transfers were a bit of bother, having to be broken up into numerous pieces to make it manageable, even then would not stay put.

Welcome back after the new year guys! There appears to be quite a bit of modelling going on in the last few weeks, so i thought I would put in my 2 cents worth. Currently on the bench are 2 ongoing conversions from Warley purchases. Hornby LMS 4MT for RPSI No.4 - (inspired by previous conversions seen on here) and Hornby S&DJR 2P for RPSI S Class "Slieve Guillon" - (something different) Progress pictures will follow in a few days once I get the camera back out. There is more on the bench awaiting completion, delayed due to lack of paint supplies etc. Here's to another year of good modelling and many more announcements.

Hi Lads, Spoke to Jason from Rapido over in Warley, deliverys are expected to begin going out in January, fingers crossed. As for the HST announcement, all we could get from him is, "keep your eyes on the webpage".

Hi to all, Hope everyone has their Christmas lists sent off, and have been good to deserve them (but a sack of coal could come in handy for the steam engines) I have been away from the layout for a bit now, work commitments taking over. However, over the Christmas period, I have 30 point motors(SEEP) and 5 Accessory Decoders(MERG) to install to enable the eLink to run all from my PC. Once this lot is in, I will be doing up a proper running video(I haven't been happy with others so far). Best wishes to all for the coming season!

Just spotted this lot on eBay: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Murphy-Models-bachmann-lima-irish-livery-collection-/181879217042?hash=item2a58d89b92

Hi All, I have a couple of older tanker models at home that have seen better days. In an effort to try resurrect them, I got an idea to use them for part of the Weed Spray train. Their chassis are too far gone to save, but tanks could be put on donor flat to make up part of the consist. What I am wondering is, what is the diameter, in full or scale size, of the tanks on the Weed Spray? Many thanks for your help in advance.

Hi All, More updates from the workbench. As promised: NIR 3K, D301 & Restaurant. Extra to that is CIE MK1 and Mk3 DVT. Still a lot more to come in the next few weeks. Working on a running video also, so keep the eyes peeled.

Shed of the Year on Tv last night. Dream City in last 4 of the NORMAL category. Beaten to the post by a floating shed. Hard Luck Roy, was still amazing to see your work. You had mine and my girlfriends votes.

Yes, I can see where the capacitor would come in handy for that. I have all live frog points and am not relying on the blades for contact. A bit of dirt on the contacts now could cause me trouble but i have always kept the Lima contacts as clean as possible. If I notice a decline in the future, I have the option to add the capacitor in any case.

I don't have a capacitor built into the circuit for the lights. I have used the circuitry before and found it woks fine using the Hattons 8 PIN with Harness chips.

I am doing something similar. I am fitting a LIMA 201 with DCC directional lights. Having ripped the motor and gears out, it will be towed/pushed on the end of my Push/Pull rake with motorised MK4 DVT. The newer motor in the DVT, from a Bachmann Voyager, has no problem moving 6 coaches and the dummy 201. It does look quite nice on the end of a rake.

Hi All, Been a while since i have had the time to do any projects. Setting up the layout & shed has taken some of my time, and my daughter has got the rest of it. However, recently with the longer days, I have gotten out to the workshop and got modelling again. Here are my latest exploits: Mk4 DVT from a Pendolino - Still awaiting glazing and grills. Arrow from Class 158 Central DMU - doors and windows moved to get doorways in right place. Grey 071 from Orange/Black 082. IR Intercity from MK2 BR Blue/Grey More to come in the coming weeks! NIR 3000 CIE 4F CIE D301 IE MK3 Intercity and Restaurant...plus more

Hi JM, At a distance the lack of relief is not as noticeable, especially the better the print. What I have done in some instances before is added the print to an uneven surface to give it the effect of not being a wall paper. Or you can add some relief to it yourself by adding down pipes, air con fan units etc. You will be surprised how the eye can be tricked.

Hi Junctionmad, Most of my layout has it on it for walls, footpaths and building fascias. From my experience, a good printer set to high resolution will definitely give a good result. Just be wary of the fact that sometimes your screen resolution might show colours as desired, but print might have a slight different hue. Print a test and adjust as needed. Trial and Error can yield some interesting results.

Hi Burnthebox, A layout can be wired as DCC and operated as DC if only a DC controller is connected to the lines. However, isolating DC locos will not be possible due to the 'always live' aspects of DCC. Vice Versa is also in theory possible but as a DCC loco is isolated on a DC wired layout, you would would loose the lights/sounds etc. A DCC wired layout with a DCC Controller connected would make it all DCC. Once you loco chip is programmed, you are ready to go.

I personally have had no issues. I mailed asking regards postage for O and OO coaches, ordered at different times of the year. Amount was reasonable for each parcel and delivered in a timely fashion with no hassle to Rep. of Ireland.

First bit of running has taken place to check it is all working after travelling to my shed. All looks good, now to begin the computer control and detailing.