chris

I suppose I should really. I've got a point I need to put in, and it's going to be driven from the Accy decorder I mentioned, so that could be a good test bed.

Yes, this set up does reverse the polarity. (according to the manual)

All five shelf brackets are now in place. As predicted I did cockup the measuring, but just got away with it. Didn't do much else on sunday, other than run trains We had a day trip up to Tynemouth yesterday, taking advantage of some bargin tickets. Grand Central are charging £4 single York-Sunderland! We called in on Rolling Stock Models in North Shields and spent a few quid on bits and bobs along with Thomas, Annie and Clarabel. That may complete my mandatory Thomas and Friends collection.

The DCC control is not a problem. I've just checked the manual for one of my Decoders, the Digitraxs DC52, and it is designed to work 2 wire solenoids. An Accy Decoder output has three terminals: Left, Centre and Right; these would normally correspond to Thrown, Common and Closed on a three wire point motor. To control a two wire solenoid you connect it to the Left and Right terminals and ignore the centre one. Simple.

Work on the viaduct (Phase 4a) continues. I've cut and painted the board that will carry the tracks round the corner and on to the viaduct. Unfortunately I dont have a single piece of roofing felt that is large enough to cover it. I could put a patch work of felt together, but that would be asking for trouble. I need a new roll. After my usual period of procrastination I've installed 3 of the 5 shelf brackets that will support the viaduct. I've not placed the viaduct baseboard on the brackets yet. I'll leave that joy until tomorrow and I'll find out if all my measuring was correct; it very rarely is

On the tube front, isn't cycle brake tubbing the standard for this kind of thing?

Dave, I need to get my head around how to do what Ian has done but with a dcc Accy decoder. Most decoders are quite flexible in the they can control tortoise point motors and Peco/Seep type, so it shouldn't be too hard to get them to work on a two wire system. Ian, very well done. This is a very impressive innovation for garden railways.

Good review of the Ten Commandments Metal Station Benches in May's Hornby Magazine. I assume the ready made version are your handy work.

This is developing into a very interesting project. You do realise that I'm going to need a more detailed account of what you are doing. A trip to your house may be required. Two wire system? I'm kind of conditioned to 3 wires. I'm guessing it throws to the opposite state whenever it receives a bolt of power.

£1.50 I think I may make my own. I found some old overhead projector acetates which are designed for inkjet printing. Now what shades of red and blue do I need

The design that Bill has come up with for Whinny Hill has caused me to think about straying from my original four phase plan I made for Amblethorpe. I don't like variations from plans, they tend to be expensive and time consuming, but this idea was too good to dismiss... The viaduct is part of phase four, where the track will run in front of the consevatory window, and should be refered to as phase 4a. 4b is to create a removeable section which will span the garden path and join phase 1 near the throat of Colwick station (which will be a branch terminus) to form the double track loop around the garden. With 4a and 4b connecting I need to have a good idea of how 4b is going to work so I can put "passive provision" in the construction of 4a. The original 4b plan was for a simple double track link between the viaduct and the mainline. I would need a point at the mainline end to enable the branch to Colwick station, this could be a single feed off the outer track (down main) or a classic double feed off both lines which would require a crossover as well. That was the original plan, but Bill sowed the seed of an idea. What if there was a point at the end of the viaduct which would enable a track to swing left and into platform 3 of Colwick station, creating a wye. The operational oppertunities would be great. To give you a better idea, here a plan I knocked up on. My iPad

I should have done a test months ago to see if it worked long term. The bridge deck is made of 10 squares of plastic so there are plenty of joins which aren't water tight. I would prefer a continuous surface over it, but I could work with what I've got.

I've just gone though this thread looking for a track plan, which in didn't find, but careful study of the photos has shown me that I was wrong about Whinny Hill. I was sure that you had a reversing loop, but as you know, you don't. All the same, I'm still blaming you for giving me the idea of puting a wye on Amblethorpe, which kept me awake for an hour or two last night as I tried to plan it out in my head. More on this on my thread.

I stuck the remaining bits of felt down yesterday and then assembled the viaduct in the shed so I could take measurements. I'm getting close to the point where I can fix the whole thing in position, which means I need to decide its location. Lots of "if it was 100mm to the left, would that make a diference?" procrastination. I still need to join the two baseboards together, I'm planning on doing that once they are in situ. They will be connected by a river bed made of plastic which isn't thick enough to be "structural". Each baseboard will be on shelf brackets which should be enough to hold them firmly in place. The viaduct will be in the middle of the conservatory. I will still have to bridge the gap between my current baseboard and the viaduct. The gap is about 800mm and the board will have to facilitate a 90º corner. I think I may have enough board and roofing felt so won't need a B&Q trip. I'd like to run roofing felt along the plastic trackbed of the viaduct? Any suggestions on how I stick it down?

Not sure if it's robust enough, time will tell, but it's a Wills kit. You can buy it as a stone effect plastic sheet, but this is their viaduct kit. https://railsofsheffield.com/three-arch-viaduct-kit-ss80-JJJA13868.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My MPV stopped working again. The lights worked but it didn't move. Turned out the a small nudge to the flywheel was enough to get it going. I guess I need to run it in, but I don't have an indoor layout and I've not finished Amblethorpe's loop yet.

More viaduct works today. Having slapped a coat of paint on the embankment woodwork on Saturday I was ready stick on the roofing felt. I needed to do some careful cutting first and it didn't take me long to realise that needed to make paper templates first. They worked a treat, so much so, I got all my cuts right without and need to trim later. Both of the embankments required three pieces to cover the sides and top. I've got these stuck in place, but still need to wrap the top sheets round the edges. I should find time to do that tomorrow. There's a few more pics in my gallery.

No problem, I'm glad someone else is enjoying it as much as I am. You're dead right about speed step 2, impressive.

I've had my eye on this model since it's launch in mid 2011. I had it on my Christmas list for that year, but Sarah was under strict instructions to buy this or the Network Rail Class 31 from Hornby, but not both. I wanted an element of surprise... The 31 has been tootling around Amblethorpe for a year now an I've been keeping a watch on the ads to see if the MPV has become a "BARGIN". On Monday I spotted it in the ModelZone Sale. On Tuesday I purchased it. On Wednesday it was dispatched and Thursday delivered, DCCed and run. So Friday and it's time for a review. It's great. What you want more? OK here's a picture. another? more! see my gallery. From a detail point of view this is quite simply the most detailed OO model train I've seen. It runs very smoothly, which is doubling impressive, when you release that all those grey units between the cabs are removable, so where exactly is the motor? DCC conversion was easy peasy. I did have one problem, it stopped working. User error. If you can find an excuse to run one of these on your railway then get yourself to ModelZone and spend £68, you won't regret it. But you'll have to go to a shop, the've sold out on line. and the Hornby Class 31 is still at full price, so good choice by Sarah.

I've put a few drainage holes in my boards. I use 10mm aluminium tube hammered into a 10mm hole, it's a good tight fit. I cut the tube to about 30mm long at a 45º angle on the bottom, this encourages a clean drip out of the bottom. Que low quality picture

I thought Ian would have some. I did get some off the kid next door so I could play an iPad game in 3D mode. Not sure I've still got 'em, but the kid next door is still buying comics...

Just got the Windhoff out it's box. Now time to fit the decoder, and give it a run out.

Genuinely nice to be out in the garden today. Didn't even need to wear a coat. The track got a clean and a EWS 66 with autoballasters got a short run out. My temperamental accessory decoder has sprung back to life, it doesn't like the cold. Bit of a relief, it controls 14 points so it's rather important. One point motor that had wintered in the shed was returned to operation. The two which were left out were fine. The final point motor in the shed sidings was wired up, I hadn't bothered previously because the Accy Decoder wasn't working... Should have a new train to play with tomorrow. Bachmann Windhoff MPV has been dispatched by ModelZone. I'll have to DCC it, but I have the chip and it's the easiest ever train to convert. http://www.bromsgrovemodels.co.uk/bachmannwindhoffdccinstr.htm?v=NfoIXfeg430" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; forecast is for 16ºc on Sunday

Great stuff. Looks like you have lots of play-ability there, sorry, I mean plenty of scope for operational interest.

Had chance to look into this today and your right, faulty diode. I may try it with just the capacitor and see how that goes.