Patrick Davey

Delighted to say that at long last, Brookhall Mill will be exhibited - for one day only!!! Very many thanks to the Ulster Model Railway Club who have very kindly accommodated me on the second day of their upcoming exhibition, which runs on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th August, I will be there with the layout on Sunday 20th. Looking forward to that very much!!

Full marks to the IRM team for no doubt undertaking a lot of work to bring these undoubtedly elusive sounds to us! Three of my 4 A class are original Crossley-engined locomotives, but so far, I have only bought one of the new decoders. From my very limited experience of installing these, I’m guessing the fragile nature of the pins makes it inadvisable to regularly swap decoders between locomotives?

Magnificent!

Still exploring it myself!!

Can anybody confirm that the video above is playing?

Bliss: FullSizeRender.MOV (Turn up your sound!)

Good morning folks, I am very pleased to report that all is now well! I was going to try some of the diagnostic suggestions which were kindly provided here, so I opened up the access hatch on top of the locomotive and noticed that the blanking plate was very loose, which probably explains why it wasn’t running, anyway it is now running perfectly on both DC and now DCC, with all lighting and sound functions working!! I feel quite silly for wasting your time…..

Thanks everyone for your sympathy, and for that detailed troubleshooting advice Noel, I shall indeed follow that. @Tullygrainey Alan you are very gracious, but the responsibility is fully mine, I was totally aware of the risks but thought it was only an issue if the throttle was on, lesson learnt!!!

This is a feast for the eyes of the BCDR enthusiast!!! No. 29 looks great with the number plate now too! Amazing work as always Alan, such an achievement!!!

Thanks all - it was only on the track for a few seconds, I heard the buzz and took it off quickly. It's an NCE PowerCab, how do I try it on the DC channel? Do I need the DC controller connected for that? Thanks for the help.

So it was DCC day today and it started off well with a chipped A3r showing off a range of impressive lighting effects and sounds. Then I decided to chip my MM 125 but I placed the loco onto the by now DCC-ed track before fitting the actual chip, there was a buzzing sound and she won't run, on either DCC or DC. The chip is fine though, worked great in my other 121, No. 132. I had been aware of the dangers of doing what I describe above, but perhaps the excitement made me fire ahead carelessly. What have I done........?

So I took my first tentative steps into the exciting world of DCC today, with mixed results....... on the plus side, the lights and particularly the sounds are superb and very enjoyable to experiment with: DCC Sound.mp4 However the DCC setup identified a potential short circuit at a crossover, so as a precaution I have ordered replacement turnouts. And.....there was a disaster, a careless one on my part - see separate post for details. And special thanks to Alan (Tullygrainey) for his assistance today.

Work on the track continues - has anyone ever used one of these: A nice idea but not a successful experience for me. The applicator nib started to fray almost immediately after contact with the moulded chairs on the sleepers and after a few lengths of track it became unusable. The actual paint colour was very realistic though so I ended up extracting this and applying it with a brush! Have moved on to using the chinchilla dust to represent sand, and for the first time I used a - cheap - static grass applicator to add some vegetation which will hopefully look like it's growing up through the 'sand'.

Good idea - I hope you dream about BCDR No. 6........

The most important tool in the toolbox is......patience..... I began wiring the layout yesterday (for DCC, so more feeds than a newborn baby) then suddenly the solder started to huff with me and not work, leaving me with only some of the feeds attached. It was the very end of the solder roll so I'm wondering does the composition of it change towards the end....probably not..... anyway I was left with an unfinished job (grrrrr) and no solder plus a room echoing to a chorus of colourful words so I did something I never do.... I left it - that was quite radical for me as I usually try to plough on and end up making things worse. Anyway 24hrs later, a calmer me picked up more solder and right enough, I got the job finished and all is well! The layout is now fully wired (won't win any tidy wiring awards though) and A3r seemed to enjoy exploring her new playground: Wiring Complete.mp4 Testing was carried out with a DC controller. I'm very pleased with the track as it's all quite old and most of the turnouts were taken up from an earlier layout, which is always a risky thing to do, but with the price of 5 large radius Peco turnouts plus a double slip being somewhere close to £150.00 that was definitely a bit of a saving! I'm still scared of the double slip though. Long work day tomorrow then hopefully I can get the track rusted on Sunday evening: Then it's the foliage and chinchilla dust for ballast. Then..... the exciting world of DCC programming awaits!!

She looks well settled in now Alan! Am sure all of us are itching to ask....... what's next?

I think No. 29 was primarily a shunter? As such it may not have been capable of much speed hence the low likelihood of her taking an excursion somewhere but I'll get thinking anyway! Edit: There could always be an 'engine exchange'.........maybe the GNR was thinking about buying a 0-6-4t shunter and asked the BCDR to trial their one on some GNR branches.......

Thanks Alan - I just need to dream up some insane reason to justify a visit by BCDR No 29 to the County Louth coast!

After a successful electrical test, I proceeded with the dry brushing of grey and white to bring out the detail on the sleepers, and to give the neglected bleached effect. Happy enough with the result, will begin rusting the rails tomorrow or as soon as my rust pen arrives!

Base coat applied: this is always a nice stage, when it all blends together. Another electrical test will follow later to make sure there’s no paint fouling the turnout blades. I have also learnt that I am petrified of double slips.

Decided to have a go at a test section of track to see if I can get the weathered 'sandy' look. The sleepers look a bit too glossy and copper-y in this shot but overall I'm happy enough and have decided on the following approach, once I get the correct colours: 1. Light matt brown base colour over everything 2. Dry brush sleepers with a mix of grey and white to give the 'bleached' look 3. Paint the side of the rails a rust colour (specific tool ordered for that) 4. Add clumps of foliage 5. 'Ballast' with chinchilla dust so it looks like the foliage is growing out of the sand. The subject of rusty rails is an interesting one. I have observed the prototype closely and believe the following is true: * On active railway lines, the movement of trains throws up dirt etc which gives the sides of the rails a muddy brown colour * On lesser used lines, the lack of movement of trains allows the sides of the rails to assume the rusty colour I think!

I love how you are teasing us here Alan!!!

Enjoyed that! Thanks for sharing - what a beast!

A small but important job completed this afternoon, the in-filling of sleeper gaps. 71069856164__E34AA8AD-3DB2-48CD-BC8C-3C188C0D467F.mov

Thanks for that.........!