Barry's havering

[Clay Mills Junction]

A bit more experimentation tonight.

On 4/26/2022 at 9:08 PM, mick said:

In my experience I'm not sure that would work with my sprung points. It would just add resistance to the operation of the tie bar making it difficult (almost impossible) for the less heavy wagons to push the blades over and run through them. I think they would just ride up over the rails unless heavily weighted.

You were correct there, it does seem to be adding too much resistance to the tie bar. So another solution will need to be sought.

On 4/26/2022 at 9:08 PM, mick said:

I find it is only the point blade away from the spinging wire that edges forwards because the spring wire that is soldered to the side of the rail connects into the tie bar itself and holds that side in place.

It does also seem that this is partially the case for this point too. The initial shift in the tie bar seems to be at an angle.

On 4/26/2022 at 9:08 PM, mick said:

I have yet to try any modifications to prevent the blades moving forward. I haven't found it such a big issue to make it a priority but agree that over time the blades do move forward - I just slide them back into place until the next time.

Mine must be worse than yours then. Mine seems to move down and the tie bar crashes into the next sleeper very quickly; although I am simulating the movement manually it does seem that it might not be much more than one reasonable length train before it needs adjusting. Once the tie bar does crash it introduces a little resistance but more problematically the blade doesn't fully return for trains going the other way.

Other than that, even my lightest brake van goes through with only a slight wobble, the VBA and unloaded OBA have no problem. I'm thinking the only things that might need added weight will be the old Hornby "toy" stock from my original Midnight Freight set (to be honest, I'm not bothered about running that) and a few random bits of stock like the brake van which isn't the hardest thing to add weight to.

It might be a back to the drawing board moment. I'll have a think, I have a number of small springs I bought to try. Maybe I can hang one off the free end of the tie bar to keep tension on it without impeding the movement.

[mick]

Yes I'd like to get back to it and have another attempt, though at the moment I'm pretty pleased with how mine are working.

Do you think it would be possible to secure the end of the rail in that slot permanently? Would the rail still flex sufficiently if it were secured? It's something I was looking to try.

[Clay Mills Junction]

It doesn't look like it will take much spring force to keep the free end in the correct alignment.

I'm going to call the spring wire that keeps the point straight the "Main spring" and the one to keep the free end of the tie bar in place the "Alignment spring" from now on.

The issue I think I will have is the alignment spring is too short and therefore impedes the tie bar movement. I think the alignment spring will have to be a combination of spring and something else attached further up so that the pivot arc is much bigger and therefore doesn't impede the tie-bar movement.

However, until I finish the blocks for the inner line of the passing loop I don't actually need the point to work, so I'm going to defer solving this problem until I have to. Mainly because I think I need more materials to solve it.

[Clay Mills Junction]

I shouldn't have, but I was picking up my Dad's class 91, Durham Cathedral in Intercity Swallow and bought myself a VEA in speedlink livery to go along with my now numerous other Speedlink wagons.

[Clay Mills Junction]

The longest ever extension to the railway happened today, 4.5metres more than yesterday! That is, however, not properly laid and using my indoor test track for 3.5m of straight track. So the track was too lumpy for anything but the Class 20 and some short wagons to run successfully.
More of that in the main thread when I can get the Mobius2 camera to work again.

The point of this post, I was joined by a Mr Blackbird in the garden who seemed quite intrigued by the class 20 running along on it own. Not sure if he wanted me or the railway out of "his" garden.

[Loco Hauled]

Probably hoping that somewhere along the line the vibration was going to bring out a nice juicy worm! LOL

[Clay Mills Junction]

I was hoping to get some video today using my camera wagon. Unfortunately, after trying to charge up the Mobius camera I found it wasn't accepting a charge. Fortunately, replacement cells are not expensive and a bigger one can be fitted 820mAh instead of 520mAh (more than half as big again) costing only £7.

In the mean-time I have my other action camera (a Drift2) which is bigger and isn't quite as suited to sitting in the wagon.

Why do I have two? One for the front of my bike and one for the back. Yes, it has caught some bad driving and some quite close passes. Neither has been much use since I don't commute since Covid came along, other than on the model railway.

I have got some footage so I'll try editing and get a video update for the weekend.

[Clay Mills Junction]

On 5/11/2022 at 10:53 PM, Loco Hauled said:

Probably hoping that somewhere along the line the vibration was going to bring out a nice juicy worm! LOL

Hi, Your question on Youtube, that video is unlisted but can be found on near the top of page one of this journal.
I'm going to re-make it with all of the wagons and locos stored at Dad's but in my garden.

[Loco Hauled]

8 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

Hi, Your question on Youtube, that video is unlisted but can be found on near the top of page one of this journal.
I'm going to re-make it with all of the wagons and locos stored at Dad's but in my garden.

Great stuff! Need some Lima engines so they make a nice growl 😁

Edited May 17, 2022 by Loco Hauled

[Clay Mills Junction]

4 hours ago, Loco Hauled said:

Great stuff! Need some Lima engines so they make a nice growl 😁

Lol, I do have some Lima in my "secondary" Fleet (old stuff not for YT). The Class 37 has had a CD motor replacement and runs quite well to be honest, still not quietly though.

The Lima 156s have yet to have their CD motor conversions.

[Loco Hauled]

I have bought a couple of cheap Lima engines that had had the CD motor conversion. I threw  the CD motors away and put a good old Lima pancake back in. I've never really seen the attraction of the CD motor. I find Lima engines will run really nicely if you give them a little care and attention, even in the crawl, although I'm not a crawl fetishist... LOL

[Clay Mills Junction]

I bought two more Oxford Rail Mk3a coaches in Scotrail livery, they were cheap (£48 for the pair including p+p) because they were sold as "damaged detail" and no returns.

The ebay username didn't mean much but the postage label gives away these came direct from Oxford Dicast.

I've only opened one and the only thing I can find is one coupling is drooping. On opening the coach I can see that the problem is the coach seating screw not gripping into the chassis. Since the fix for that is so simple I'll have that done tomorrow.

That suggests Oxford don't know how to fix a very common problem with their own coaches. Pretty shocking that they couldn't engineer the same solution to resell it.

[Clay Mills Junction]

I can confirm the second coach is the same, only fault is the drooping coupling. Which I will fix and have two perfect coaches for what amounts to more than 1/3 off the retail price of new coaches.
I still need a first composite to complete the set though.
 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Clay Mills Junction

[Clay Mills Junction]

It's incredibly hot outside.

[Archie]

2 hours ago, Clay Mills Junction said:

It's incredibly hot outside.

I recorded 40.5 oC in the car yesterday. I'm sure its partly due to the sun. In the next hour we are expecting thunder and lightning, its crazy.

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Archie

[Clay Mills Junction]

I'm considering a new DCC control system. I think having the sprog is a bit of a faff just to set up for a quick session. It'll be even worse when I get to using phone control outside with a separate WiFi hub.

I'm also not wanting to break the bank with the way things are going.

I'm watching a few videos on the z21 Start or white version, seems a possible option. I would get the multimaus as it seems that is easier for a quick session and a phone could be set up for a second controller for a longer session.

Under consideration and research currently.

[Clay Mills Junction]

Definitely decided I have to have a better means of control. Running back in to stop a derailed train on the laptop is difficult. Even popping back in to control a train is problematic. It gets even harder when trying to film. (I'm trying to re-make Meet the Fleet as one big video)

[mick]

I'm not sure of the actual differences between the Z21 white version and the Z21 black version that I use outdoors but I do prefer to use it along with the Multimaus to actually control a train rather than using a phone or tablet. I just prefer using an actual hand-held controller - it seems the most natural way to go and is far easier to operate when trying to film simultaneously than it is when using a mobile device. The range of the Multimaus is pretty decent and connection is reliable enough and rarely does it lose signal when I'm moving around the garden. It is an additional cost however.

I do occasionally use a tablet (I prefer the larger screen) if I have multiple trains running and more especially when double-heading as it's far easier to control the speed of multiple loco's along with the sounds (horns etc) of one individual loco. I do like the consisting feature of the Z21.

I also had great success with the Wireless Gaugemaster Prodigy though I now use that up in the attic.

[Clay Mills Junction]

Given Hornby's announcements I'm waiting on the control front for that to come out to see if that works.

I have been investigating how I might solve the problem of the awful garage. I've come to the conclusion that the size of the garage and the need for it to be brick or block built will make it too expensive to replace. So that is out of the question.

With that, I'm going to have to do something to cover the side of it, maybe climbing plants? That will make running the railway down that side more difficult, but the railway is essential so I will engineer a way. Possibly I will bring the railway out over the path and bring plants out behind it.

[Clay Mills Junction]

I brought the over decking board out of the garage, thinking Spring can't be far off now, A bit of damage to one track so that will need repaced. I think the rails had slid through so were sticking off the end, I'll shorten the replacement so that can't happen again.

I have my first Hornby bluetooth sound decoder and the power bank. Unfortunately no app yet but I'm not in a rush. I saw something that suggested the Android app will be weeks behind the one for apple so I'll be waiting on that.

I didn't buy anything at Model Rail Scotland other than an extra two car coach pack for the APT, making it now 7-car. KMS had the pack at half price (£58) so that was a bargain and less than the 7-car pack originally. I think the standard Hornby 7-car set looks a bit strange with two power cars, the development coach and 4 passenger cars, I prefer this look with one power car and 6 passenger cars.

I'll have to think about what I'm doing with the railway this year. My four year plan is about 2 years behind. I think early on I'll need to re-wire the first board as it'll be a through connection for the bus.
Second priority will be to mix cement and fix in the ends of the curved viaduct in the corner and the remaining blocks that need done on the passing loop station. I've rethought and decided I would like control of the points for the passing loop so I'l need to figure those out. I can't see me extending beyond the U this year to create a full circuit, I think I'll concentrate on finishing what I have and making it reliable first.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Clay Mills Junction
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