Noel

Interesting did similar in the past with a Bachmann conflat wagon pushing it with GoPro was fun for some cab ride videos

Holy Sacred Cow that photo could be real prototype scene.

Go the road looking better than I've ever seen

Or the real holy grails

Looks fabulous. Still waiting for mine. Long term 3D as it continues to improve resolution seems the future for pre 1970s rolling stock.

Absolutely exquisite models.

PS: After TIP. After cleaning track post ballasting and weathering I did the usual speed step 1 running test along the track work over all points to check electrical continuity and cleaness of track, But there as one section of track were an MM 141 kept stalling only at speed step 1, or a slight judder. I spent two evenings trying to find the cause, the track top was spottless, no apparent lumps of ballast stuck to the rails, but no luck. It wasn't until I had natural day light that I discovered wearing an optimiser that there was one tiny tiny piece of granite nudging a wheel flange enough to interrupt perfect electrical continuity. After all the work and wiring to have perfect electrofrog point I wasn't having that. A scalpel removed it an perfect speed step 1 running was achieved. But it bugged the hell out of me until I eliminated it. Running a wagon along the track after ballasting was usually good enough to allow ones hand feel if there were any grit affecting rail contact or flange contact, but missed this tiny bit of grit.

Cheers George 1) Its just the colour that I thought suited this layout (grey and darkish) and I had done a number of test strips with it for display cases over the years. I store it in woodland scenics container because its easier to dispense and better than the leaking perishable plastic bags it comes in. It is actual granite. I've used woodland scenics on other layouts and was happy with it. 2) I only lightly weather the ballast, the woodland scenics fine grey is nice, less dust. Too much sleeper grime and the grey would be lost. Some folks weather the track separately before ballasting. 3) Cork has been the universal track bed for generations. It was a bit of a myth that it acts as a sound insulator, its porous so the PVA mix goes right through it making it rigid, and particularly at the ballast shoulder edges. A pal in WMRC introduced me to 3mm closed cell foam some years ago and I did a few experiments with it. It was not pourous, but the PVA ran to the edges (ie ballast shoulder) creating a sound bridge direct to the base board, so I use an extra under layer of 3mm closed cell foam covering the whole baseboard so that nothing on the surface is in direct contact with the wooden part of the modular baseboards. This ensures 6mm of foam between all track and the baseboard with no PVA edges. Its easy to cut to shape, and inexpensive. It may seem a bit OTT, but some layout baseboards can be sound amplifiers with a guitar effect, especially plywood. https://www.efoam.co.uk/closed-cell-polyethylene-foam.php#sheet1 Double layer of 3mm closed cell dense foam

I got it from Marks models about 7 years ago

There is no absolute right nor wrong way to ballast and hundreds of brilliant youtube tutorials. Just thought I'd share my experiences in photos. Javis fine granite looks well with code 75 or code 100 track (00 gauge). This little spreader is handy for straight sections other wise spoon it on dry and use a brush to spread Use a spoon or screwdriver handle to tap the top of the rails and cause the ballast to move off the sleeper ties and in between them. The percussion helps the ballast settle between the ties and not on top of the sleepers. Less tidying up later after gluing. In photo below an strip of balsa wood wrapped in grease proof paper is used to form an edge where a station platform will go (ie to stop ballast shoulder spreading sideways). If you end up with too much dry ballast material it can be reduced with a degree of precision using a vacuum cleaner with a stocking to collect the surplus ballast for later reuse. Mist spray the dry ballast with water (inc a few drops of either IPA or fairy liquid). Ensure a gentle mist so the spray doesn't blow the ballast around. By pre-wetting the ballast material when you later add the PVA/water glue mix it will flow and be absorbed into every crevice of the ballast. Then apply PVA glue 50% diluted with water, also add a few drops of IPA to aid flow. Use an eye dropper or puppet spread it liberally down the centre of the track and at each side of the track (ie ballast shoulder). It should spread thinly right through. Before applying glue judicious wet all the ballast material using a mist bottle sprayer (water plus a little IPA or few drops of fairy liquid). Don't worry about the mess, the PVA glue dries clear and can easily be wiped off the top of the rails. When doing points much more time is needed to get ballast in between the sleepers without risk of fouling or gluing the points moving parts or tie bar. But with practice you'll get quicker. These self adhesive point motor hole covers are ballast coloured to if ballast is too thin around the tie bar it won't be too visible. Because these are electrofrog points wired as recommended the point blades are not used for electrical conductivity so don't worry about a bit of glue or later paint weathering getting in there. With Insulfrog points you would need to keep the point blades 100% spotless and free from both glue and pain or the rails won't conduct when switched. Another advantage of electrofrog points. Also visible in photo below is a Kadee under track uncoupling magnet. This one magnet will be sufficient for the entire yard and facilitate delayed uncoupling too. Avoid ballast and glue getting between the point blades. TIP: Do not have the point motors installed under the baseboard at this stage (avoid PVA mix dribbling down the point motor hole and fouling the point motor internals). Its not rocket science to keep the tie bar free from PVA glue and keep ballast getting between the point blades. The first point you ballast will take and age but you'll get pretty quick after that. TIP: Keep moving the point to sure no stray ballast got under the tie bar nor between the blades, also helps to move it a few times for the first few hours the glue is drying. Next morning its easy with a small headed screw driver or tweezers to remove the od bit of stray ballast glued to the inside of a rail. Allow 24hrs minimum for PVA mix to harden, I normally allow TWO days for ballast to dry before track cleaning or weathering. Once fully dry Test all points move freely and that there is no stray ballast at points (eg inside check rails, point blades, etc). Then mask point blades and airbrush weathering colour (usually sleeper grim over the ballasted track and especially the sides of the rails. Sleeper grim will dull the shine toy track just enough and look like real world rust rather than some of the excessively red colours rust materials. Note tie bar is free in photo below. Weather the track and ballast material with an airbrush. Its quiet quick, one pass each side plus one pass over the centre of the track and a pass along the side of each rail. IMHO sleeper grime ends up looking more like real world rusty track than some of the overly red rust materials on sale. I mask just the point blades when air brushing weathering colours over the track work. Postits are useful for marking spots were ballasting may need some touching up or more weathering needed. Unballasted track can look a little raw and train set like before ballasting But Ballasting makes a world of a difference to how track can look and help cheat that 5ft3in gauge look. MAIN TIPS TEST ALL TRACK WIRING IS 100% ok before ballasting (now its easy to fix later much more difficult) TEST ROLLING STOCK CAN RUN ALONG TRACK WORK FREELY AND THROUGH POINTS ok before ballasting Apply the ballast material dry - use 1/2" brush or ballast spreader Use spoon to tap rails and bounce most surplus ballast off the tops of sleepers Wet the ballast material with water mist spray before glue (this helps PVA penetrate right through to baseboard or track bed material such as closed cell foam or cork). Apply PVA glue mix 50% diluted with water plus few drops of IPA or Fairy liquid. Apply judiciously and don't worry about the mess now. Use an eye dropper or pippet to apply the glue/water mix. Be very careful not to glue moving parts of points nor point motors (suggest remove during ballasting) One ballast has been wetted with PVA glue DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TOUCH IT or try to move it. Do that later when its dried (ie remove or add ballast) Recommend allowing TWO DAYS for ballast to dry before touching up, or track weathering, or tidying up stray ballast on top of sleepers or glued to the inside of rails. The PVA ballast mix will effectively glue the track to the base board or track bed material Personally I use a double layer of closed cell foam track bed, one layer to cover entire baseboard, the other layer as track bed. This is vital to ensure PVA never comes into contact with ply baseboard material creating a sound bridge and noising baseboard guitar effect when trains are running. PVA cork track beds are notoriously noisy as once the PVA/Ballast shoulder has hardened the edges contact the base board and transmit running noise and amplify it across entire base board. Closed cell foam doesn't alow PVA to permeate through to track bed and the second later ensures even the edges cannot contact the base board (eg like hard as rock cork bed). It can look a scary mess mid process but it ends well in the end and tidy Have fun.

Electrofrog point vastly improve the low speed running of locos over point work avoiding stalling or juddering. This is especially useful for locos that do not have all wheel all axle power pic ups or 060 and 040 steam locos, or diesels with power pickups on only one bogie or 060, 040 shunters. Its fair to say that most modern locos with all wheel pick up on all axles and bogies especially if they have keep-a-live capability will run ok over insulfrog points which do not need any wiring at all. Older locos did not have AWP so did not run smoothly over insulfrog points at low speeds, especially 4-4-0 0-4-0 and 0-6-0 locos. Nowadays more and more folks put up with the little bit extra work to install electrofrog points on their layouts for smooth running. This applies to DC or DD. Electrofrog prints require some basic additional wiring to manage and switch frog polarity when the point is thrown. The following alterations below are recommended for each point before track laying to facilitate trouble free frog polarity switching (DC or DCC) without risk of short circuits: (these are documented on Peco instructions). STEP 1 Insulate point frogs using plastic fish plates (ie both frog rails). The dropper wires from each point can double up for frog switching and also DCC bus power. Recommend dry pin track before laying to get all the wiring holes through the baseboard sorted and drill point motor access holes. Track can be tested at this stage for continuity. Later track bed can be put in place and track temporarily pinned onto track bed before being glued to the track bed by means of PVA ballasting method (ie ballasts track as well as glues it to base). Later the temporary track pins can be removed for better aesthetics. If using modular baseboard construction the baseboards can temporarily be sat on their edges so for wiring (ie using the back scene boards to old them vertical). This is so much easier than crawling and working under as baseboard. Makes fitting of point motors and wiring much easier. In the example below the length and amount of wiring needed to each point is greatly minimised by using point motors with built in frog switches (ie the three wires in step one above only need a short run to the point motors switch terminals, so no long cable runs back to a spaghetti control box at the other end of the layout. In the example below analog stall point motors were used (eg Cobalt or Tortoise) which have built in switches for frog switching LEDs, etc. Below there is an 8 way DCC accessory decoder board connected to each Cobolt analog point motor with only two wires per motor. This eliminates the need to run wires from each point all the way back to a central control box on the layout, and means only short local wire runs to the nearest accessory decoder. Had I used Digital Cobalt Decoders even less wiring would have been needed as the point motors would not need the accessory board and could have got their power from the overhead track via the droppers. This allows points to be DCC switched as accessories on a DCC cab controller, BUT if a DCC switch encoder board is used points can also simultaneously be switched by physical switches or point levers and the remote switch box only needs to be connected to the DCC bus using two wires, instead of the old mess of running three wires form each point to a remote switch or lever all the way across and underneath a layout. Best of both worlds, DCC cab accessory switching or manual lever switches. Pair of Blue and yellow wires below connect each point motor to the accessory decoder board. It is a real help if baseboard can be put on their sides for wiring one at a time. They can be daisy chained together using old computer 25pin D type connectors. DCC encoders can be used to facilitate simplified wiring of switches for point motors. Only two wires needed to connect a remote bank of switches or point levers anywhere on the layout. These can be plugged into most systems DCC cab bus. (eg portable virtual signal boxes). For the physical installation of point motors testing alignment of screw hols and lever hole a 9v batter with a switch allows a single point motor to be operated and tested without any other wiring having been done. This is handy to drill screw holes correctly and test the throw of the point motor. Its a few seconds to move this test harness from one point motor to another. Have fun. Compared to the brillo pad and maze of wiring I used to have to lay under the DC layout 20 years ago this is 1/4 of the work and wiring needed.

Black Beauty. This has become my favourite livery for the CIE A class. Epic 1960s nostalgia. By way of confession, I got a little confused the other night when running it and I couldn't get F22 to work (ie headlights), but of course the early un-rebuilt locos didn't have lights lamps. Call it a brain 7art. Looking forward to the Crossley sound decoder whenever it becomes available for my 3 older A classes (Silver, Green and this Black beauty) Black Beauty. CIE's top line loco in its day.

ABFAB. Wonderful.

Wow that's mad Ted. I bought most of our Cravens for €35ea only 5 years ago. How times have changed. How come the demand has increased so much these past 3 years? Have that many people taken up the hobby (ie Irish scene), or returned to the hobby in the past 3 years? Its kind of nuts seeing blue NIR 071s going for silly money now when they were available on retailers shelves for €160 only six years ago. How fast things can change.

I can only remember when I first saw a 201 in Killarney back in 1995 and got talking to the driver. He was not impressed with comments like 'This computerised heap is unreliable and always thinks its broken down'. He told me the 071s were on constant rescue duty and some cork trains changed back to 071s because they were analogue (for that time) and reliable workhorses. I vaguely remember phrases such as 'how this heap of 5h*t got ordered is a complete mystery as it spends more time in the workshops than hauling.' and 'disaster in the Irish climate'. But they obviously got the problems sorted as they've been running for the past 27 years. The most impressive thing for me about 201 was they way the first one was delivered to Dublin airport by air on the big Antonov. Personally as a prototype it is visually the most boring looking loco CIE/IR have ever operated (ie the long peat briquette). But an important workhorse in the past 25 years. Hard to believe the 071s are still going strong such has been the superb maintenance and overhauls of the class at Inchicore over the decades that kept them going.

IRM A55 is a beauty to behold. Departing Gort for Athenry with the afternoon working

PS:

Found These old photos before migration from BR to CIE

Now this superb model was made for my layout OMg indeed Nostalgia gold. The closest thing to an Irish steam engine in spirit.

Got delivery of this beauty yesterday A55 in CIE Black. Straight into service hauling pickup goods train to Galway via Mullingar, Moate, Athlone and Athenry with 10 wagons being disconnected and sent north to Claremorris. Photo doesn't do this model justice as the lighting was poor.

My money is on Ammonia wagons and Mk4, perhaps even a 22k yoyo. Personally I've now got enough Park Royals and Laminates, made enough of my own over the past 4 years from kits and kit bashing. Will check with interest tomorrow evening.

Play time. A class locos get an outing on the layout today. A23r+A17 courtesy of time travel.

PS: Fran a few more questions by way of explanation if you were able to please answer or point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful: Is F6 a toggle between normal inertia acceleration/decelaration times and more direct slower shunting throttle response? or is it a sort of train load setting? Is F13 intended as gradual train braking from coasting or throttle hold? Can one set this decoder up for coasting when a braking function is needed to bring the train to a halt over a prototypical distance? Many Thanks Noel

Hi Fran No prob. Thanks for the info and link to the PDF. Are the cab lights supposed to be bi-directional? They seem to come on at both ends. Will have another play later today. Thanks. Noel

Been playing with A class with the ESU decoders commissioned by IRM installed. Love this loco's incredible chassis and smooth running. A few DCC sound questions please if anybody knows the answers I'd much appreciate it. Please forgive if I've misunderstood the published function list: How does one turn the cab lights on? F12 doesn't seem to do anything What is F23 (Shunt mode lights) meant to do? It seems to turn both cab lights on rather than shunting lights or have I missed something F25 engine room lights doesn't seem to do anything? Is F13 Train brake designed to gradually brake the train when coasting (eg when F7 is engaged)? How does one simulate long distance gradual braking (ie inertia)? Do I need to do any remapping or something? Many thanks Noel