After a pain-free final setup on Saturday morning, we've had a chance to fully test the recent modifications.
The new, automated semaphore signal system not only worked perfectly, it gained a fair amount of attention. The electric uncoupler also worked reasonably well, although some locos required some tweaking of the couplings, which was to be expected.
Removing the diamond crossover and points made a massive difference to the performance of the layout, no more phantom uncouplings or bogie derailments in this section.
The LMS 2273 tank (as featured in the Scrapheap challenge posts) made an impressive first appearance and was soon promoted to running double-headed with 2274 on the upper loop. Speed match is reasonable, which is impressive considering that the armature is home-wound!
The Blue EMU in its six car formation ran faultlessly until one of the couplings snapped on the rear centre car. As the couplings and bogies are riveted (and I don't have the tools to refit) I swapped the chassis with a spare, corroded carriage that I had in the stock box. Afterwards this again ran perfectly with a reasonable amount of speed.
In total there were three casualties - one of the 0-6-2 tanks jammed but this was quickly spotted, again thanks to the use of the ammeters. Closer inspection revealed that the top bearing retaining nut had come loose and wound itself onto the top of the armature - a quick fix and back in action within a few minutes. One of the Co-Bo's shed three of its tyres, closer inspection revealed that these were perished and were on the loco when I acquired it.
The biggest (and only) disappointment came with Duchess of Atholl, again! After swapping chassis with the redundant Duchess of Rutland, the loco had a notable shake when running, resulting in more than a few derailments when run at speed. As we packed up the locos I noticed that the valve gear has come off and the rod pins are missing. Annoyingly this was the reason why I swapped the chassis in the first place - I'm starting to think this thing is jinxed! For now I'll borrow the chassis from the Duchess of Montrose (also featured in the Scrapheap challenge posts) while I track down the correct transfers for the Abercorn project.
Once again we were very well received with further bookings taken.
The layout is once again safely packed away ready for service again in two weeks!
Video footage here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_3DxRbVC8E&feature=youtu.be
A selection of pictures below:
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