billyboy

Hi lads, I bought a Prodigy Advance accessory decoder a few years back and finally getting around to plugging it into the DCC bus to run a few points . I have what I think are twin coil Peco point motors that were from an older DC layout built by the Father of a lad I know. Anyway I have the motors working on a test rig but what I want to do is if possible put on signal lights I also inherited from the same guy into the mix. So far as I can see the motors are activated by a pulse signal to flip the points and there isn't a constant 12V\16V pushing through to power the lights which I think would be about right . It will work with slow motion point motors & signal lights according to the manual . Anybody know a way around this? I'm an electrical novice so may be missing something blazingly obvious. Thanks, Bill

Hi lads, was wondering if anybody has bought via online shopping anything from the UK , curious about the vat situation when the postman arrives at the door with brexit and all that. Haven't bought anything since late last year and was holding off too see how everything settled down.

Ahhhhh I had a problem like this, at pretty much the point on the track it would short out the controller. I traced it to a freight car with metal wheels but it only happened when two train met head to head, which was odd.I replaced the wheels and fine since.

Impressive work.

I was thinking it was Putin , but Trump....mmmhhhh...food for thought. I hear he's not too fond of trains.

I'm clearly getting grumpy as I get older. I managed to blow a DCC Concepts chip while testing the led lights I fitted front and rear to an Athearn DC loco , the wiring wasn't tied down and the cover was off the loco so I was just running with just the chassis. It worked fine but a wire managed to hit a live rail. Chip is now dead, my fault. Fired a mail off to DCC Concepts and got a mail back , part cost replacment which is good considering I killed it. "Noting that you may not have that much experience with fitting decoders, we are willing to offer a replacement at half retail price." That above line in the email annoyed me , seven locos in converted from DC to DCC I suspect I might have an inkling about what to do and I did explain how the wire accidently hit the rail. I blame Brexit Over-sensitive on my part? Bill

Moyasta is about 10 minutes from Kilkee by car depending on how fast you tend to drive there may be salt corrosion but I'm no expert on that. I hope they get the building , as for planning permission I doubt the neighbours would mind but who knows. It'd be good to see the rolling stock on static display or even running.

Wooooooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mighty impressive layout. I thought I had too much rolling stock, appearently not.

I am impressed, I wish my layout could look that good.

Thats good to know, I might drop them a line to see if they need volunteers to help out. Yeah the sea air is a problem down there one of the locos has a fair bit of rust. Thanks Garfield.

Hi lads, I loaded up the clan and heading to Kilkee for a bit of sea air with a drop into the West Clare railway at Moyasta to look around and see the IE Locos and Rolling stocking there. They've a 121,two 141s but hard to tell with the tarpauline covering them , an A class ( I think) a push -pull set DVT and a few MK 3 coaches but all are pretty much abandoned by the looks of it which is a bloody shame anybody know whats going on out there? Bill

Selling a Bachmann First Northwestern Class 158 DMU for €90 , free postage. Local pick or COD postage , I take paypal as well. Its DC and the few times I've run it around my old layout it was a very smooth runner.

Just had looksee , website not the best but prices seem ok, firesale prices?

Hi lads, Looking to sell some rolling stock I don't need anymore. whats the story with payment when you sell on here? Bank draft , cash or paypal? What do most people do and what works? Bill

A friend sent me this on , happening in Shannon town. http://modellingmunster.com/modelling_munster_show.htm

That is class.

Well worth a visit as they're about 20-25 mins from Heathrow and just off the M4\M25, good bunch of people and good selection.

Thanks guys, Kevrail : the layout & track plan is a work in progress. The older athearn locos and the GO Transit commuter carriages were a bit fiddly on the Hornby points and track so I really had to spend a lot of time getting the alignment correct. Irishrailwayman: Ahh yeah moving it could be a problem, If I win the lotto and move house the missus is going to be dealing with a lot of sobbing on my part. Bill

Well lads, was off in LEGOLAND Windsor with the clan and found a model shop in Slough, Model Junction about 15 minutes from where we were staying. They do UK & North American stuff and I went gaga in the shop. The wife let me loose in the place while she talk to the husband & wife team running it, good bunch of people. I got three Walthers freight cars and two Kit Classics kit ( CP Rail and Grand Trunk ) I also got a Pikestuff Single engine shed kit. Bill

Just an update on the Alco S2, Its a great little runner, love the bloody thing and shunting is great stress relief after a day at work. I noticed though that it tends to struggle with more that 6 or 7 wagons behind it...prototypical? Bu that gave me an idea to use my Athearn Via Rail F7B unit as a booster unit.Its a dummy unit I bought in Canada back in 2001 so I've track down an F7A unit with a motor and swap the body shell.Common practise in the real world? Bill

Ok, no great lover of Con- Cor and Via Rail then Off to ebay!

I'm doing a partial sell-off my VIA rail stuff and thought I'd try here before I went to eBay , three Passenger cars, a baggage car & Diner. All five have been slightly weathered by myself, knuckle couplers fitted to them except for when I had to connect to the loco in which case its the horn hook type on that carriage. I've added weights to them as well as I felt they ran very light. Pretty smooth running with them now. One or two of the weights have worked loose in side but nothing a bit of glue won't fix. Being Con Cor there is no internal fittings. The Diner car has a broken clip to hold the coupler in place but if you run it as the last car this shouldn't be a problem. 40 Euros excluding postage for the lot. For postage I'll ship with An Post stanard rate for the box they'll be packed in. Bill

Well lads, 6-7 years in the making and I'm still not finished , I post here every year or so on the progress and I am getting there :banana: I had one section that I really wasn't happy with, it was the main point interchange for the yard access and the station further down the line and the cross over between the main up and down. Anyway the last long weekend I had I pulled up about 3 meters of track , the station layout, the entrance to the yard and a spur off the station. Spent about a week putting it back together and wiring in the DDC bus. The first four pictures are how it was , the final four are how its now. The pictures with the rebuild are on my phone so a post for another day. Removing the Horby curved points and general realignment of the main up and down tied into the access to the Yard and station actually helped a lot. I've lost storage tracks for now but as I extend the layout around the outer wall of the attic I can put more and longer storage lines in. I'm a lot happier with layout now, it runs better as well. Back to the scenery. Bill

Grand, thanks Broithe.