Noel

that looks more like an RC shark!

[video=youtube;Hcu-dE3LUuo]

I'm distracted playing with model trains too much - need to get on with scenic landscaping work! Short video a bit amateurish but fun driving model railways Hopefully by the time I next play with iMovie there will be some greenery for the trains to run through

Looking good. I particularly like that last photo scene. Your dead right. I'm 22 years at our layout and I haven't even got near the beginning of the end, put perhaps nearing the end of the beginning thanks to inspiration from the incredible railway modellers on this forum.

That first pic looks almost like a photograph of a real scene! Truely Superb. I had to look twice at the 1st photo to be sure it was part of a model layout.

Hi Richie. No prob, understand. The thrust of my query was how they had stood the test of time on Amiens street. Stephen kindly setup another thread. Cheers Noel

Thanks Stephen Thats really helpful. Did you remove the centre springs from the points or leave them in place? Noel

In fairness the questions are specifically about this layout and raised because of posts on this thread about the installation of cobalt point motors some years ago. Just interested in Stephen's experience, how they worked out over time on Amiens Street, and his current opinion of these motors three years later. http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/4-Amiens-Street-Terminus?p=14759&viewfull=1#post14759

Stephen, I have spent this evening being greatly informed and most entertained by re-viewing this entire spectacular thread. What a layout project. Simply stunning. It's clearly a very large project and will take some years to complete, but the progress since 2012 has been very impressive. I love the clever track plan which offers loads of operating potential. Cobalt Point Motors: Can I ask you now that you've had cobalt point pointers installed for over three years what you now think of them? (i.e. reliability, robustness over time, etc). A few questions if you have the time: Do Peco points need to be adapted in anyway (i.e. remove center spring)? I know very little about them, but if they only need two wires to the DCC backbone, can they still be operated by analog lever switches rather than just accessory numbers from a DCC cab? The cobalt lever switches with the safety release look a bit large and unwieldy as well as expensive, which type of lever switch would you now recommend? What motor model do you recommend? Currently I have insulfrog points which seem to be fine with all wheel pickup diesels, but in the future I suspect I may replace some points with electrofrog. Therefore would you recommend a model that could do for insulfrog now (i.e. ignore circuit switching), but do electrofrog switching in the future? How did you fig them to the baseboard? Did the double sided tape to ply stand the test of time or did you have to glue, or screw them? Will they work for some points where they cannot be located directly under the points (i.e. via horizontal push rods for points sited at baseboard joints)?

That station building has real character and the warm brick colours make a pleasant change from typical GSWR grey limestone buildings. Nice platform detail too.

Wow what an Aladdin's cave of MM locos!!! PS: OP's photo of 080 in the workshop is a superb composition

Your welcome. Btw, my typo mistake, The Lenz Silver+ are 5 function decoders hence they can operate one of the cab lights but not both. I really like their 'motor' drive characteristics and BEMF options which seem to suit MM centre drive chassis well. The €35 MM supplied ESU 6-fn LokPilot is a good chip too, but €10 more per loco. 141/181s only need 4 functions for the lights. Manual here (German, English, French) http://www.digital-plus.de/pdf/GOLD_SILVER_plus_manual.pdf

Hi Noel Thanks. Yes I've standardised on Lenz Silver+ 21pin (10321-01) for MM141/181/071/201 models that do not require sound. I sourced them in Germany for €25 from Kieskemper and amazon.de which is a better price than UK due currency hop and poor UK prices. Germany is the best place to source Lenz or ESU products at competitive euro prices. The 10321-01 silver+ are 4 function decoders so operate the directional running lights and head lamp on MM locos, but won't operate both cab lights in 071/201 locos. Personally I don't use cab lights on my 071s anyway. F1 turns the directional running lights on and F2 turns the headlamp on. I really like the Lenz ultra smooth drive at low speed and usually change CV3 and CV4 to 15 for gentle acceleration and deceleration. One minor quirk with the default out-of-the box CV settings that I haven't had time to change is that the lights initially only switch on once the loco gets a throttle input, but after that the lights stay as commanded even when loco stops or remains stopped. Cheers Noel PS: On sound I like both LokSound and Zimo, but for 141s I just love driving the newer Zimo sound project from Keith Pearson (MrSoundGuy). And one or two sound locos is enough for me, otherwise the sound is a confusing din! I also turn sound decoders volume right down to between 20-30%.

OK Boss - will try harder next time Slightly 'crisper' focus below despite poor light! Newly commissioned 7078 with Lenz €25 decoder 7078 shutdown for the night Used a camera this time! I just love 'playing' with model trains

Judging by the high quality of work around the window frames, I presume many of the original body panels and much of the super structure has been replaced over the decades during various major overhauls?

This layout is simply in another league. A land of imaginary realism - its alive. One fees like one has walked down that track in a dream, or a distant memory. Pure class.

Thanks. I almost guessed the right era. The 103's were seriously powerful locos.

That's a great looking collection. I'm not familiar with continental trains, what sort of era did the prototypes operate? One almost expects to see Roger Moore as 'The Saint' on board in a tux.

The superb photo on the 071 loco-080 thread thread inspired me to unbox and chip 7078 today and pop it on the layout. The layout has been a bit neglected during the summer break, but hopefully now tooled up with foam, plaster and static grass tools will make some progress this winter. 7078 unboxed today from Mark's earlier summer sale 7078 pulling a rake of mineral wagons Notice how different the white balance effects the colour of the yellow panel in the two photos!!!

Careful now Moderators won't like that sort of tone

I tried to register with RU forum but their registration page is down due to a missing 'captcha' graphic. Does anybody know if that forum is active?

It's great to see these 38yo locos being overhauled and put to good use. It is refreshing to see state capital assets sweated properly and exploited to the full of their operational lifespan. 080 looks very well.

Superb modelling.

Really enjoyed that.

Excellent scene