chris

Was temped by the diesel gala, but decided we'd have Sunday lunch on the North Norfolkman Dinning train. It was a wise choice. Toy shop was in Cromer. On the high street, opposite the Parish Church. It's mainly a hardware store, but has toys and kitcheware up stairs, not that it has stairs, there is a slightly odd lift in the middle of the shop floor.

Bachmann have just released a static caravan. It looks good, but it's over £20, which seems a bit pricy. Faller set was £25 for 4 caravans with awnings. It's an "Airfix" style kit, but some bits are pre-painted and I think they will look fine once assembled. Beeching didn't forget Sheringham. There is a closure notice for the Cromer branch on display in the NNR museum. It was one of the few lines that got away, and no one is sure why it survived . Glad it did, and I'm not the only one, there were plenty on our train this morning, well loaded by Cromer and about 60% of seats on the 2 coach DMU taken on arrival at Cromer. And yes it was a bit nippy, but we had clear skies all week, so if you could get out of the wind it was rather nice.

We've been on holiday for a week in Sheringham. 5 hour trains journeys at either end to get there and a couple of days on the North Norfolk Railway. Lots of inspiration. I did buy a few models, but not trains. While in a toy shop I came across Siku, a German manufacturer, who work in several scales including 1:87. Their range of farm tractors etc is very extensive and because modern tractors are so large they look fine in the slightly smaller scale. I picked out a couple of models which were at the toy (£2.99) end of the range to go in Sarah's farm yard scene. For a couple of quid more the quality appeared impressive with full glazing and details. Most of their range is modern, but an internet search did show that they have a classic range as well. Just noticed that Model Zone have dropped the price of the Bachmann Windhoff MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle) to £68. I've fancied one of these since their release, but held off for over a year waiting to see if a retailer had some to shift. I didn't buy myself anything at York Show (just a Faller Caravan set for Sarah) so I think I have money in the budget for the MPV.

I'll ad photos to this topic, I ran out of time when posting them. I'm not so bothered about the realism, it's a garden railway and I have to avoid the temptation to try an make it like a show layout. It was an internal battle to stop myself being more creative with the slopes at each end, but had to stick to a stright line slope so the roofing felt will go on easily. If I hadn't already built my viaduct I would be copying yours.

Yep, cracked on with it today. Too cold for garden or shed, but was fine in the conservatory. The second embankment and slope have been fabricated and the wood work is all in place. Painting will come next and then a top coat of roofing felt. Not sure when. We are off on holiday next Sunday and won't return until a week Monday.

Managed another hour on the viaduct yesterday. I'm building it in to halves. I have two baseboards which will eventually be joined together with a small river section. Both of the boards have been cut to length and coverend in roofing felt. One board now has an embankment with slope attached to it (sundays work) and one half of the viaduct (yesterday). My next job is to make the embankment and slope for the other end, I'm using 6mm ply. This slope will be at a more gentle angel about 30º rather than 45º to make it asymmetric and hopefully more realistic. The river bed is being made from plastic. I was looking for something thick, like the chopping boards IanR has used, but in the end I've sliced up the lid of an old recycling box. It will link the two baseboards, but won't be load bearing so should be fine. Should be able to crack on with it on Sunday.

I have a small battery pack (mini UPS) which is designed to give you 10 minutes of computer use when the mains goes down, enough time to save your work and shut down your PC. I have it in the shed and these days use it to power a light when I haven't switched the mains supply from the house on. It's now in the study ready for the next outage. Broadband and wifi are plugged in to it. I can live without mains power, but not the internet

The stay alive isn't on the AC side of DCC, it works on the rectified side of the chip. The stay alive goes between the +DC wire (blue) and the ground. The ground doesn't usually have a wire and has to be found somewhere on the chip! I'm using DCC Concept's decoders that are Stay Alive Ready, and ready means they have two extra wires from the decoder to hook the stay alive to. In theory a stay alive is just a capacitor. To stop a current rush into the cap at switch on a small resistor is placed on the positive feed. A diode is placed in parallel with the resistor to allow the current to by pass the resistor when it flows back.

Had an unsuccessful attempt at a stay alive in one of the 66s. Bit of progress on the viaduct. But the sunshine forecast turned out to be heavy rain and then some wet snow. Motivation was lacking. It was BBQ weather this time last year.

I had a go at a DIY stay alive this afternoon. It didn't work. Too cold in the shed to have a go at troubleshooting. I'll have another try with the soldering iron sometime.

Your collect it yourself comment has put a wry smile on my face

I for one am impressed that you have achieved this through a cold, wet winter. The rest of us have basically been in hibernation since late September. Great work.

Just spotted they are doing a MK2f, one of the most requested models of the last couple of years. They are even doing the DBSO which allowed Scotrail to do push pull trains with 47/7s. No sign of a Network Rail version (which I'm after) but I imagine that Model Rail will be on the phone trying to commission one, they've done a lot of Network Rail specials in recent years. One can dream.

I'm picking up bits and bobs about the new bachmann range, their web site isn't overly helpful. One thing I spotted was that they have made improvements to the 150 Sprinter DMU the key thing being that the motor no longer takes up all the space in the motor car. The new model has a full interior seat layout in both cars. More importantly for me I've just found it listed on the Rails site as 150 204 in Northern Rail livery. That'll do nicely.

No, not really. I'm not venturing into the garden until it warms up again. Proper Parky today.

I've done a couple of lighting conversion jobs on DMUs, but I've slavishly copied Martin Clayton's work which can be found here http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/railindex/trainsindex.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; In the last couple of years he has gone down the route of DCC sound and his improvemnts have got very complicated. His early work, mainly on Northern Rail units, is a good place to start. My first job was to add lights to a 156. I followed this. http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/class-156/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Martin has started to add stay alive capacitors, so I may drop him an e-mail and ask for some tips. The chips I put in my 66's have stay alive wires and theres plenty of room inside the Lima body.

My guess is they are 10 to 15 years old, but no older than that as the Class 66 first hit the rails in 1998. They are more than toys and perfectly acceptable for a garden railway where fine detail is not as important as on an indoor layout. They do look the part pulling my rake of autobalaster wagons. The problem with adding lights is that they will have to be placed where the body work overlaps the chassis making it all a bit tricky to get everything aligned. I've noticed a few areas where the paint job doesn't match the prototype so I'm going to have a go at touching it up. If that improves the look I'll see what LEDs I've got in the spares box and consider putting some lights in.

Weather not suitable for outdoor railwaying today. I received my two Lima Class 66s from Rails yesterday so they've both been DCCed today. As usual it was a simple job, only complicated by trying to work out how to get the body off the chassis. Must have taken an hour to get it off the EWS loco (web searching and fiddling) and about 10 seconds to release the Freightliner. Once you know how… These are my first Lima locos and I'll have to have a think about whether it's worth putting the effort in to get them up to the standard of more recent models. Putting lights in will be tricky but doable. One thing that will have to change is the tension lock couplings, they are far to big. Something for the shopping list for York Show at the end of the month.

Well you could go DCC. A circuit the length of yours could manage 3 trains chasing each other, without them looking like they are chasing each other.

I've used 5amp fuse wire and it's worked fine for me.

Rails have just listed a huge selection of Lima diesels. They are all second hand but A1 boxed. I've just purchased a couple of Class 66s https://railsofsheffield.com/second-hand/JJP0-JJM2-JJS0.aspx#skip_to_list

Ah yes, sidings in the garden to free up the running lines in the shed. Yesterday I was wondering if I could sneak a 3 metre siding in anywhere. I currently have a siding for a 3 coach train and one for a 4 coach, a terminus platform is long enough for my HST, but I could probably do with a long'un somewhere outside.

Great stuff. I think the mix of on a shelf and on the ground is working really well. From the video I've been trying to work out when your sidings and loops will go. Already looking forward to seeing them in place.

Colour blanking, I'll look into that. Spring clean in the garden got a bit serious when started switching paving slabs around. Much tidier now. Afterwards I stuck some roofing felt to the viaduct's baseboards. Must get cracking on the viaduct.

The idea of the other thread is that that one is a "how to guide" rather than a thread. If someone suggests an improved way of working I'll edit the how to. The aim being that people won't have to wade through 5 pages of a thread to find all the best tips. If you are struggling to solder outside, and in February, it is next to impossible, then here's a couple of tips. While inside, tin the end of the bonding wire and the bit of the rail you'll be bonding to. When outside it should be the case of pressing the two together and applying the iron. Another way is to add bonding wires to both rail ends. When outside all you have to do is solder the two wires together, which should be a lot easier than wire to rail. Bit late now, but I use 5 amp fuse box wire for bonds, there's a lot less wire to heat up.