Atholl finished

Following on from this blog entry: http://dublonutz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/more-diy.html

I finally got around to ordering some waterslide transfers to complete my Atholl restoration.

Although I have some waterslide transfer paper, I don't have the correct LMS font style on my computer and my talents for home-made decals are probably best left to black locos only!

Fox transfers supplied me with the necessary bits to finish this project. After carefully cutting the numbers and letters from the transfer sheet, they were soaked in warm water with a dash of washing up liquid as per the instructions provided.

I haven't fitted a waterslide transfer in years, As the numbers are cut out separately I needed a straight edge so I used masking tape...

 After carefully applying the numbers, I then used the same method to fix the LMS lettering to the tender. The Duchess of Atholl name plates are brass and were glued into place before the whole loco received two coats of satin lacquer...

The lighting here isn't great and doesn't really do this justice, here the lettering looks really bright but in reality it doesn't look that bad...

It looks a great deal better than it did previously, good for another 50 years I reckon!

Three railing a Bachmann 2 EPB

I fancied a blue EPB and after the recent success with the other Bachmann units I decided to make another purchase.

This one is second-hand, which doesn't bother me, actually I prefer this because of what I'm about to do to it!!!

It's often said that the best things to run on three rail track are proper three rail locos that were designed for that purpose. For successful conversions I've found that you need four key things:

1. Weight (to compensate for the resistance from the third rail skate)

2. A decent, secure method of collecting power from the centre rail

3. Sufficient clearance underneath to mount a pickup

4. Current return to as many wheels as possible

This is where I've found the Bachmann EMUs to be the most successful. The motor carriage is nice and heavy, it can cope with the added resistance from the pickup assembly whereas my attempts with Tri*ng DMUs were less successful due to their light weight and awful wheel flanges.

What follows in this post is the process I used to convert my EPB to three rail running. I'm not an expert, this isn't a how-to guide - if you choose to follow this and trash your beloved possessions, don't blame me!

So here's my shiny new (to me) EPB motor coach...

And here it is in the nude with it's body carefully prised off.

Both bogies are removed as I need to modify both of them.

This is where the power is collected from the non-powered bogie, the contacts brush against the copper terminals that protrude in the picture above. I need to remove the power collection from one side as this will become the centre pickup.

I need current return to all the wheels, I also need to ensure that power collector is isolated on the same side as the non-powered end.

One of these is about to be removed.

This is the power collection at the motor end. It is possible to bend these out of the way rather than cutting the strips but as I have no intention of ever returning to two rail operation, I can be more brutal.

And this is where forming the new centre pickup begins.

A piece of vero board (it has many names, peg board, bread board, PCB project board etc)

The beauty of the vero board is that all those pre-drilled holes mean no extra drilling!

The strip is cut to size and lines up perfectly over the existing pickup screw holes.

I will need to remove the existing pickup retaining screws and replace with longer ones that I sourced ages ago.

Easy way to establish current return on the powered bogie. A paper fastener, which can also be used for the centre pickup, is cut and the strip bent to the shape of the underside of the bogie, it is then pushed under the existing collector strip on both sides.

This may look like a total bodge, but it avoids the need to solder wires and this method was used on my first Bachmann three years ago as a temporary fix. It's still there and you can't see it unless you look underneath!

If the strip doesn't stay in place then it is possible to carefully solder it at each end. A powerful soldering iron with a small tip is recommended and be quick, there's plastic everywhere.

Now that I've worked out which side to take the centre power from, I cut off the connecting strip and fed a wire through the gap. Thin, stranded wire, smaller the better is crucial here. If the wire is too thick or too stiff it will affect the movement of the bogie and the unit will derail on every corner.

The Märklin skates have only one small centre fixing, which from experience isn't enough for this kind of application. I screwed the pickup into position using one of the chassis screws temporarily just to centre it, the skate is then soldered on each side and the wire soldered to it. This is going nowhere and the centre screw is then removed. 

The pickup is now perfectly centred - this is essential for good running over points, crossovers and tight corners. If the pickup isn't dead-centred then there is a risk of short-circuiting or stalling over points.

Finally and using longer screws, the new pickup assembly is screwed over the top of the existing ones. This is all done with the bogie screwed back into position on the chassis. Should the bogie need to come off in future, it's just a matter of undoing the two screws to access the centre screw underneath.

What can't be seen here is another wire soldered underneath between the two existing pickups to give me current return to each side.

The wire from the new pickup is soldered onto the pcb above, with sufficient slack allowed for the movement of the bogie.

With the wheel continuity tested, the body is refitted and the unit tested.

Testing the lights...

No modifications have been made to the trailer coach, the whole unit lights up correctly, but only when running forward. For me this is fine as I don't run in reverse. When reversed the rear coach lights go out. To solve this a second pickup would be required in the trailer coach and ballast as the un-powered coach is so much lighter. Again for my purposes this is not necessary.

The final modification for it to run with the other EMUs is to fit Kadee couplings.

This unit had no couplings fitted at all and these simply push-fit into position. The metal bar is then bent upwards to clear the centre rail.

And here are two EPB units coupled together.

All finished in under an hour. Minimal tools and materials needed.

This job can be done in exactly the same way using brass paper fasteners as a collector but I found that these are more fragile, require regular adjustment, create more upward resistance and tend to squeak and squeal againts the centre rail. The Märklin skate is a much neater and more sturdy solution and are readily available brand new. They also clean up the centre rail a treat!

Yeovil Railway Centre Video

Video footage from the Yeovil Railway Centre weekend can be found here:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBFscRpfijc

Yeovil Railway Centre

No better place to hold a model railway exhibition than a proper railway station!

Another easy Friday evening setup (we like Friday setups!) and we were ready for another two day show.

Once again lots of great feedback, some familiar faces and three possible future bookings, even one for 2017!  

I installed the electric semaphore (mentioned in the last post) on Friday evening as a late addition. On Sunday morning I acquired a home & distant signal which was fitted by the TPO but this isn't fully wired yet. This semaphore however worked really well.

For the first time ever, I was able to run all three of my Bachmann EMUs, creating an eight car consist of 2 EPB + 4 CEP + 2 EPB. These have now been fitted with Kadee couplings at the front and back of each unit and they performed brilliantly - no more uncouplings and no more derailments. They ran together all weekend and attracted a great deal of interest. 

A short video of the Bachmann EMUs running can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxYUR-idyX4

St Paddy also made a successful debut having been rebuilt using spare parts in the days leading up to the exhibition. Here St Paddy is double-heading with Crepello. St Paddy is at the back...

Cardiff Castle, Silver King & Bristol Castle all parked up in the fiddle yard with their coaches ready to take their turns...

The venue had a first floor balcony which gave me a unique opportunity to take this picture:

The remaining pictures are courtesy of photographer Jim Rider, who very kindly emailed me these pictures...

Another really enjoyable weekend with no major issues apart from the usual (and expected) broken wires and occasional oiling.

Next outing in two months...

Automated semaphore signal

It occurred to me recently that there are no semaphore signals on my layout, they're all colour light ones.

So I started hunting around for some electric semaphores to add to the layout and acquired a single arm signal, which then required automating (obviously)

Now normally I would use the same method that I used in the station by using the dead sections in the points but for this one there are no points nearby.

Time for some modification...

I used a standard piece of straight track and cut away sections of the third rail either side of one of the rail fixings. This gives me a small section of isolated rail, which I was then able to solder a wire directly under the rail fixing. The isolators either side were taken from a broken piece of isolating track that I had spare. The fixings either side of this were then wired together to allow continuity through the track. Finally some PVA glue was used to secure the rails. It dries clear and is hard to see.

So I have an isolated rail section for a trigger and an electric semaphore ready for fitting. Now I needed a control circuit.

Having recently made the colour light signal controls using a transistor & capacitor arrangement, I used the same principle for the semaphore. The main difference this time is that colour light signals require a constant power supply to either lamp. The semaphores need only a brief pulse, just like the points motors. So for these I combined a timing circuit with a capacitor discharge circuit (same as the points) then it was time to fit the signal itself...

First thing that struck me was just how big these things are, especially when compared to the colour light versions. The mounting base is massive!

After some tweaking and a bit of foliage around the signal base, it now  blends in a little better.

Next project is to fit a home and distant signal by the TPO set, which will wire into this one.

It looks and operates really well.

Restoring St Paddy

I realised that in less than five days time I'll be exhibiting my layout again. Also realised that I haven't ordered the transfers for Duchess of Atholl so I'll omit that one from this weekend's run. Also realised that I haven't done anything regarding restoring the St Paddy that I recently won.

I'm still baffled as to why anyone would do this to such a desirable model...

Thankfully, someone else's loss is my gain and I was confident that I had enough spare parts to bring this back to life without costing a penny! 

My initial thought was to do a temporary body swap with one of the other Deltics but in the end I decided that I had to make this one work and stripping the others wasn't an option.

First of all I attended to what was left of the original St Paddy. The surviving bogie's coupling was broken and this was changed easily (these are only held in place with one screw)

I also noticed that most of the tyres were either perished or missing. After a quick scrape with a screwdriver, this was pretty much all that remained!

After cleaning the wheels first, I fitted new tyres. At this point I also checked for magnetic strength. Nothing too scientific here but the screwdriver test showed a pretty strong magnetic pull and my other test, which involves applying finger pressure to the wheels, indicated that this one has a fair amount of pull. With a weak magnet, doing the finger test will slow the motor to a stall. 

Normally I would fit a neo magnet, however whilst I have them in most of my locos, I find them to be too strong for the Deltics. One of the reasons for securing all the signals on the new layout was because we found that on the old layout, the Deltics could pull the signals over and the sidings were so close together that two Deltics couldn't be parked side-by-side, otherwise the two would stick together!

Now for the missing bogie...

After much searching, I found a bogie, sadly with no wheels or pick-ups! After more searching I found enough wheels to build up a bogie...

 After yet more searching, I found two pick-up assemblies...

After bolting the pick-ups into position and a couple of insulation resistance tests, I soldered the existing wires to the replacement bogie...

And finally found two side frames in the biscuit tin of spares.

All done...