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Hello, I’m new here, new to the hobby, and clueless.

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#421 ·
Eltonfrog said:
What I should’ve told you yesterday is that there are reed switches scattered secretly across the layout. Hidden in the loco shed, switches summon green glows with a whisper; a magnet, behaving suspiciously like a wand, conjures lights in both the Jinty and the carriage.

Beneath those unsuspecting vehicles lurk two more magnets, each one activating seven reed switches buried between some sleepers that sets the church ablaze with flashing coloured lights, as if it’s hosting a disco for ecclesiastical spirits.

All marvellously clever—TFME is clearly a genius, albeit gloriously bonkers.
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Even Better, Bonkers fits in well here as sure you have already come to realise ;)
 
#422 ·
I have had another idea about your engine shed and the brick centre pillar. Why not remove it and replace it with a metal stanchion? You could make one from an old ball pen, especially the type with an octagonal cross section. A strip of paper wound round the bottom end would make a base etc and painted black or company colours. That ought to give you a bit more clearance. I haven't made one like this myself but remember seeing it in one of the modelling magazines far too many years ago.
Chris
 
Discussion starter · #423 ·
A few more treasures landed yesterday, hand-delivered by the ever-mysterious postal communications operative.
Five Model U ‘gardeners’—each with the charm of post-apocalyptic lawn care specialists—and, at long last, the elusive shepherd with his sheepdog from Osborne Models.
I’d nearly written them off, what with the lack of payment, the sea of dodgy reviews, and two phone calls that yielded only vague promises of imminent dispatch.
But lo and behold, it turned up. Clearly, miracles still happen. Might as well put it to use before it disappears again.

Image
 
#424 ·
Eltonfrog said:
A few more treasures landed yesterday, hand-delivered by the ever-mysterious postal communications operative.
Five Model U ‘gardeners’—each with the charm of post-apocalyptic lawn care specialists—and, at long last, the elusive shepherd with his sheepdog from Osborne Models.
I’d nearly written them off, what with the lack of payment, the sea of dodgy reviews, and two phone calls that yielded only vague promises of imminent dispatch.
But lo and behold, it turned up. Clearly, miracles still happen. Might as well put it to use before it disappears again.

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Hi Carl,
Good to see they arrived, looks like some challenging painting on the Gardeners front - have Fun :)
Cheers for now, Norm
 
Discussion starter · #425 ·
Most of the time, this hobby is great fun, interesting, and educational. However, sometimes it can be quite exasperating, like this morning.

You may recall, dear reader, that a couple of weeks ago at the Guildford show, I bought a couple of Crimson & Cream Bachmann carriages quite cheaply. When I got them home, I discovered that they had passengers in them and were wired up for lights, which was a nice surprise. However, the lights didn't work, and the carriages were quite grubby, as were the wheels.

This morning, I decided to clean up the carriages, the coachwork, and the wheels, they were real quite grubby, and one of them had a sticky white residue which I hope was glue. I wanted to see if I could get the lights to work too. On one of the carriages, I noticed that after taking off one of the bogies, a wire for the lights had come disconnected. So, I soldered it back on. It sort of worked, but then, as I was testing it, that particular carriage kept derailing. It didn't matter what I did or which way I sent it on the track; it kept derailing. Further inspection revealed that the bogie with the wiring connected to it was quite stiff. So, I've disconnected the wiring, and now the carriage runs around the track with no problem at all. At some point, I shall get the fragrant Mrs. E to rewire the lights in the carriages to be operated by battery and a magnet. It'll make life a bit simpler. I think the reason why the carriage kept derailing is because the curves of my layout are quite tight, even the larger curve and the wiring on the bogie was making it stick.
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A link to a short video showing the sparkly clean carriages running round the track with the City of Lancaster.
 
Discussion starter · #427 ·
Norman Byrne said:
Hi again Carl,
Well those coaches seem to be running much better in the video now for sure :)
Also looks like lots of details being added to the layout overall - very nice indeed.
Cheers for now, Norm
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I forgot to switch on the brazier.
 
Discussion starter · #431 ·
Chris from France said:
Where are the DC controllers and all the switches? A DC layout requires a lot of switches (points, insulated track sections...).
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At 1 minute into the video, if you look to the bottom left you’ll see a row of PECO switches, just. The two DC controllers are on the table behind the church out of sight.
 
#437 ·
Eltonfrog said:
I wanted to see if I could get the lights to work too. On one of the carriages, I noticed that after taking off one of the bogies, a wire for the lights had come disconnected. So, I soldered it back on. It sort of worked, but then, as I was testing it, that particular carriage kept derailing. It didn't matter what I did or which way I sent it on the track; it kept derailing
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Carl, one of the reasons the bogey isn't traversing properly is that the wire the previous owner has used is way too thick, so obviously it's not allowing the bogey to track correctly. Also I notice the wire has been thread through the chassis instead of being thread through the centre of the bogey.

Secondly, the pickup wipers are not only "old hat" but also cause quite a bit of drag, so binning them, IMHO, would be your best option.
I've also just removed about 20 of those wiper pickups and replaced them with DCC Concepts wipers.

Can I suggest instead of using battery-powered lights, (which, at some point, you'll eventually have to dismantle the coach to change), you use something like the DCC Concepts wipers.
Image

Quite easy to fit, and, with a reed switch you'll be able to turn them on and off as you wish. The other advantage is that as the pickup's power is taken from the inside of the wheels, so the insulated wheels you currently have will work.
 
#439 ·
Eltonfrog said:
@Smudge8617 thank you for that. Will they work with DC? If so, I shall forward this information to the head of electrical engineering otherwise known as the Fragrant MrsE.

edit: just to clarify is it these? Wiper Pickups (12 Pack)
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Yes, (sorry forgot you're DC).

The FMrsE will need to add a Bridge Rectifier so the lights work in both directions, but I'm sure she is already aware of that.

And yes, those are the wipers.
 
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