Railway Lyons

Many congratulations. Hope all are doing well.

Happy New Year to all and may it bring forth many more brilliant models to one and all.

Decided to take the idea for the NIR 450 Castle class and try it for myself.

Bean with the Bachmann First Northern 150/1 sets, of which i bought 2 and began looking up the pictures.

here are the results of my efforts so far:

Also a second livery struck me as being a nice change:

Some minor touching up and light weathering to be added.

Still work to be done with transfers, on the motor ends creating vents etc and middle cars.

Will also be doing something similar with the Bachmann Class 170/2 3-car units.

I changed around how the forum handles attachments, and moved them out of the database - should be ok going forward!

 

Stunning work on the APT! Any video of her in action? !

No video just yet. No layout to run on, just a length of test track.

Waiting to fit the decoder first and get to the club to run her.

Will post when I do though.

Working ok for me?

 

Can you give me more specific details?

Seems to be fine now.

Here is the 2 new motors fitted to the original chassis, no alterations needed.

Copper Clad board installed to allow easier commonality of wiring and simple installing of DCC chip

No alteration to bogie frames needed as Class 35 motor bogey fits perfectly.(Obtained from Peters Spares)

First Motor remains as arrived, second has wiring reversed.

Also fitted are DCC directional lights, including cab light.

Hi All,

I have some pics to put up but I keep getting a "Database Error" when i try to upload them.

Is there an issue at the moment?

Thanks.

Hi to all,

I have successfully remotored my Hornby APT and it runs really nice and quiet now.

My solution in the end was 2x Hornby 5pole Class 35 motors.

They do have to be wired in reverse to each other as one side has rubber traction tyres so if you reverse the 2nd one and crossconnect the pick-ups all is good.

The Class 35 spares will fin right into the existing bogie frames so no need to cut anything.

I will be fitting a DCC decoder to it in the near future as well as directional lighting.

All in all the project is coming along nicely.

Hi burnthebox,

http://www.exactoscale.co.uk/4mmtrack.html

The above link will take you to all the 4mm products they have.

As for Bullhead v Flat rail:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_profile

No need to apologise for not knowing something.

We are all here to help each other.

I'm in the hobby 20 years and still learn new things all the time.

Hopefully when you do get round to building your layout we will see pictures of your progress.

Hi burnthebox,

I think I remember the one you are talking about.

There is track made by Exactoscale (and im sure some other companies) that has sleeper spacing that does look more realistic.

This could be what was used.

Exactoscale track is supplied with the sleepers of your choice, concrete or wooden, and rail of choice, Bullhead or Flat, among others.

All you have to do is pass the rail through the chairs on your sleepers and there you go.

However, this track is slightly more expensive but in my opinion well worth the improvement in looks.

Hope this helped.

Hi Guys,

Here are a few of my latest projects:

Rescued some 6 battered MKI from a box at swap meet. repainted to CIE green. Just awaiting transfers and new bogies.

Repainted from Blue/Grey MKII Lima Coaches. Only waiting on Transfers.

Took on Improving MR141. Some detailing and weathering to be done.

Also tried it on the MR201. Some detailing and weathering to be done.

Also, just a tip for anyone trying to improve the look with Kadees etc, I used the coupling holder from the loco instead of Plasticard. In the 201, i found removing the coupling armature, easy to do once body is removed, gave the space needed behind the skirt.

Many more to follow so I will be posting as I go.

Cheers.

Hi Declan,

I bought the Flying Scotsman one when it was released and have had endless fun with it.

The smell alone is a joy but on a long open track it is amazing.

Only problem I had was when I put it away in storage for a while.

Not realizing it at first, I put in a box with padding, but the loco was lying on its side.

In doing this the valve became blocked by some old oil (you can never totally empty it).

Therefore I recommend that it is always stored standing upright.

Other than that no worries at all.

I hope you get as much fun from yours as I have from mine.

Hi,

To start, welcome back to the hobby.

You have 3 great engines to get you going once again.

The NCE isn't a bad system at all for those beginning in DCC but you may be pushing it a little hard to run 4 trains at a time with the low amperage being delivered.

The below table may help in looking at what systems are available and you may end up finding one that does more for a similar price:

Thanks a lot folks,

I will keep you updated on my progress and any snags I come across.

Cheers.

Hi All,

I have recently purchased a Hornby APT. It runs Ok with the original motor in it but I would like to upgrade it to a more modern and smooth running motor.

I also plan on making other modifications to it like new lights, interiors and DCC control, so it would be a shame for the performance to let it down.

Has anybody already replaced one of these motors and any recommendations on best replacement to use?

Thanks in advance

Hi Lads,

The attachment might help in finding out about what functions are on each DCC system.