Weekend Engineering 3

Layout Update
In episode 3 I talk about the results of the points testing and the incline tests as well some general progress on the layout. One of the ideas at this stage was around the edges of the 2 side boards – I was looking at doing a double track junction, with a route via the inside and the option to jump over the gap using some sort of lift up bridge. I have never built any sort of bridge like that before, so it might be a problem! As it happens, this layout is actually my first real attempt at woodworking, so its all a learning curve. I also mention a look at using the Lenz automatic braking sysmtem (ABC). This will be in a separate video.

Engine Update
Athearn Ready to roll EMD GP60 – originally a DC loco, I used a PCB and motor connectors from spares of DCC ready loco of the same type. The upper body hasn’t got a cutout for the DCC decoder, so for now the body sits up at an angle like in the video. Once I’m happy with the working of it, I will make the cut out in the body. It wont be seen as its under the removable panel, and newer models of the same have this area removed.

Lima/Hornby Class 156 – East Midlands Trains
Originally an ebay find, this was painted by someone else and had a hurst models detail kit fitted which sadly had mostly come off in shipping. Although I could glue them back on, there were some other issues – kadees had been fitted directly to the chassis, however these fouled the bogie and some of the under frame added detail. Although the underframe detail was nice, I decided to simply swap over the body onto a new Hornby (plastic) chassis. I may revisit the chassis and underframe at a later time, but for now this gives me a working model on a newer motor, with good wheels, all wheel pickups and no traction tires. The lights had been modified by a previous owner, apparently to make them more prototypical, however this seemed to have gone wrong or wasn’t complete – I forget the exact notes the seller gave me, so either way it needed work, I therefore decided to fit an Express models lighting kit to it insted. Some of the holes were wrong or too large, so I filled in the gaps with polyfiller using a pin to pack it in around the lights, I had the lights carefully pushed forward so they protruded about 5 mm, this allowed me to fill the gaps and then carefully paint (again with a pin) the now white parts of the filler. Once dry, I could then carefully push the lights back so they lined up just out from the front, like a light cover would. Ofcourse its not perfect like the real thing, but from a normal viewing distance, it looks good, and much better than it did before. I then added a loksound v4 decoder from Olivia’s trains, which I fitted myself, however its just sitting in the passenger area at the moment.

Athearn SD40
This is the loco that was running slow in DCC. Thanks to Robert for the comment about the CV5 max speed setting. The issue was indeed caused by the decoder and settings, it now runs just fine.

Trains Running 3

Trains Running on the main layout with a Bachmann RES Class 47 with Olivia’s Sound, an Athearn Southern Pacific GP60 and a Lima HST in Blue/Grey InterCity.