Newton Broadway

I just realised, I mentioned the Melbourne Tait set in an earlier post, but didn't post a photo of it.

 

After running the six Accurascale CDA wagons, I dug out my old Hornby models in English China Clays (ECC) livery, and the comparison is really chalk and cheese. Also in the photos is a Hornby class 56 I fitted with sound that hasn't had a run for a while, so I sent it for a good canter around the layout with the CDAs in tow.

 

A recent acquisition from my trip to Denmark, bought second-hand from Togcenter in Gentofte (a northern suburb of Copenhagen) adding to my small DSB fleet, and backdating things just a little. The three 1970s/80s/early 90s style suburban/regional coaches which form a push-pull formation were all AC versions. I have replaced the wheels on the two Heljan red/brown cars with Steam Era 10.5mm wheels on 25mm axles, but the McK driving trailer already had insulated axles, suggesting that it would be easy to convert to DC/DCC. This proved to be the case when I got it back to Australia and opened it up: there was a 3-pin connector with a jumper over two of the pins. Moving the jumper proved to be the right thing as it then worked on 12V DC. I removed the AC pickup skate under the leading bogie and snipped the wire from that. There is a decoder already built in, so a quick check on the programming track proved it to be readable and able to be reprogrammed, followed by allocating an address. All the lighting functions worked perfectly.

F0 = directional head and tail lights at the driving end
F1 = flashing orange lights behind the cab side windows
F2 = cab lighting
F3 = top headlight turns off
F4 = tail lights at the non-driving end
F5 = interior lights, bright
F6 = dim interior lights (needs F5 to be on)

 

In recent times, I have been trying to run a few locomotives and units that haven't been run for a while. In doing so, I have found I needed to do a few repairs for bits that drop off or get knocked off by my careless handling. Most are very minor, but one was much more serious, while a second project was to fix a "Frankenstein" class 66 made from different, unmatched parts.

The first item was a Heljan class 47 I bought second-hand, and has generally run well up to now, but when I pulled it out from the storage drawer, the bogie at one end dropped out. Upon further investigation, the top clip that holds the tower together and locates the bogie within the chassis had cracked down the side, caused, I think, by excessive oil (not done by me, I should add). On further investigation, the other end was also on the way out. A look at Gaugemaster's website for the necessary clips showed that they were out of stock, so if I was to get this model going again, I had to find another solution. I tried making some brass wire clips but that was a failure.

One of the other locos that hadn't been run for some time was a Heljan First Great Western class 57, 57 605 'Totnes Castle'. The chassis under the 57 is all but identical to the 47, with the addition of a top light, and the body finish is somewhat inferior to the Bachmann class 57, so I decided to sacrifice the 57 in favour of getting the 47 going again. As the 47's bogie towers also needed to be cleaned up, I took the lazy way out and dropped the bogies out of the 57 to use instead, with the better wheels from the 47 swapped in and the 47 side frames added. This saved trying to swap out the extra wiring for the top light on the 57. Swapping the bogies is quite easy as the pickups can be eased out after the side frames are pulled off (they are a simple push-fit on spigots), and the top clip is just that, a clip-on component. Likewise, the base plate is also a clip-on component allowing easy wheel swapping.

Anyway, the upshot of all this is that the BR blue 47, 47 508 'S. S. Great Britain" is now running very nicely and near silently, while the 57 is sitting in bits, awaiting a future time when I can get hold of the necessary components to fix it. The broken clips are on the left-hand side of the second photo.

 

The second project was more of a fix up for a mixed-up model. I bought it cheaply some years ago off a now deceased BRMA member. I'm not quite sure how this model came about, but it had the newer style class 66 body for 66 412 in DRS livery, fitted to an old style 66 chassis with original WiPAC lights. I bought the necessary components from the Bachmann spares site to update the model to the correct configuration, with not only the correct shorter fuel tanks, but also the correct chassis details like the extra set of steps on one side and the larger headlights with smaller combined marker and tail lights. The chassis had a shade of blue on the ends that didn't match, but the previous chassis had yellow ends, also incorrect for this model.

Conversion involved taking everything out of the old chassis, and for ease of conversion, I photographed the wiring to make sure I could get it all back correctly afterwards. While the Bachmann PCB has clips to connect the wires, I found that I had to break the soldering iron out anyway because two of the wires dropped off other components, like the lighting switch under the tanks.

After swapping everything, I left the decoder off and put in a blanking plug to test on DC first, and apart form the lights working in reverse to the way they should, all went well. That was fixed by swapping the brush wires, even though I had put them back the way they were originally.

The photos show the locomotive as it was when I got it first, then the wiring photos (the screwdriver allowed me to follow the bogie pickup wires), then the intermediate stage with "funny" coloured lower fronts, then the final appearance as it is now. I added a front deflector at the leading end as the final touch.

 

I remember riding the Taits back when my family first arrived in Melbourne, in 1966. I also saw them at least twice a day, every school day, seeing as I had to walk over the Croydon level crossing to get to or from school. They were always 7-car sets, as described by Echidna, but also had a mix of clerestory and elliptical roofs, something not catered for in the Auscision models. Also, I couldn't justify the cost of a 7-car set for myself, so settled for a 4-car unit. I deliberately chose the discs I did because I still live along the Lilydale/Belgrave line (Ferntree Gulley in those days - they took over part of the Puffing Billy line to get to Belgrave). I also tweaked the marker light control from the decoders so I could put up the correct combinations for these lines.

I remember the pressed metal ceilings, but also the twisting of the woodwork so that the manually operated sliding doors refused to stay closed, and gradually worked their way open as the train squirmed along the track. The current track standards are no better!

 

For anyone interested, I have just done a quick video of two pre-grouping trains of 4- and 6-wheel coaches running around Newton Broadway.

 

My Accurascale sound-fitted class 92, 92 043 'Debussy', has arrived. I have given it a run and it is everything that others have said in the various forums and YouTube videos. Even so, I have already got to work on it!

The first two photos show it as it was when it originally arrived, and the third and fourth photos show it after a few subtle mods and improvements.

I have glued the etched depot plaques on, and added the sun visors inside the windscreens. It was a bit of a faff to get the cab interiors out to allow access to the insides, but I got there eventually, without damaging anything. I have also modified the pantographs very slightly as per a post in earlier in RMweb in the Accurascale class 92 thread, where someone showed how to reduce the cast 'pips' on the arms to allow the heads to sit more level when the pantos are parked. Due to mine being used to represent third rail running, this is a position mine will spend most of their lives in, unless I'm showing off the operating feature. One of the photos shows a pantograph raised to its new lower height limit (set with CVs 360 and 368), together with the cab lighting and headlights in the night running condition. The second photo shows the rather nice instrument lighting.

I don't have any suitable driver figures at present, so at some stage I'll have to go through some of this again to fit them.

 

There have been some more developments on Newton Broadway regarding new arrivals, conversions and builds, since that last post.

The second Accurascale class 92, GBRf 92 020 arrived and was put into service. When just two days old it suffered a minor disaster when Hattie got into the train room and knocked it off the bridge embankment, thankfully not to the floor, but into some wire trees. The loco suffered a few scratches along one side and lost an etched grille, which was found again hiding in the scenery. I polished most of the scratches out with some T-cut, and mixed up some orange paint to closely match the lettering to replace some fuzzy edges caused by the action with the T-cut. You can still see a small amount of the damage if you look very closely, but from normal viewing distance it is fine. This loco now has the sound decoder, while 92 043 has a LokPilot 5 installed. Accurascale's Simon was very kind and supplied my with the complete set of CV settings to put onto this decoder to match their factory settings.




3D printed industrial locos from Hardy's Hobbies have seen more progress, with the Manning Wardle on a Hornby Peckett chassis being completed including numbering and naming with new plates from Narrow Planet, while the Hudswell Clarke (H-C) is now nearing completion and has run a few laps on test. The latter suffered a dropped connecting rod, but I repaired that with a 14BA screw drilled into the back of the crosshead. Both locos are in fictitious liveries, but some may recognise BR mixed traffic lining I have now used on the H-C, after some experiments with a single orange line around the edges.






Also with a minor tweak to its lining, I have recommenced work on the resin Merchant Navy, which was started well before the new Hornby model came out, and is actually perfectly runnable. The top line on the tender on this side was too low, so I had to paint it out and apply a new strip. Sources of dissatisfaction for improvement before entering full service are the cab side windows which are too deep (some strips of plastic will fix this), and the rather large gap between loco and tender - I'm not sure how to fix that yet as the coupling is one of the older style sprung conducting types.




And lastly for this entry, I decided to use some of the 'Golden Arrow' insignia I have had in the drawers for years on one of the DJ Models class 71 electrics. The printed flags are not entirely satisfactory, but the rest looks good, I think. Technically, the side arrows should not have the black edging but it became too fragile when I tried cutting them off on one of the arrows. The items all came from Precision Labels. I think I try to print some smaller flags myself (they varied considerably over the years), then replace the current ones but reusing the wire stalks.

 

Yes, indeed!

The MN is from Golden Arrow Productions. I can't remember for sure when I got it, but at that time there was no hint that Hornby were going to produce one.

The arrows and front board are thin foil on card. A chisel blade would decimate them, I think. I was using a scalpel and that was pushing my luck.

Luckily the headcode didn't need changing as 46 was correct for this train.

 

After not receiving much from Britain for quite some time (Royal Mail postal strikes, not sending internationally, etc.), I have had waves of parcels arriving over the last few days. Among those were the third Accurascale class 92 (the one I wanted the most!), and some Rapido stock, including one of the new Hunslet 16" industrial 0-6-0ST locos, and a few of their new SECR or ex-SECR wagons.

The locomotives have both been tested on DC and then fitted with decoders; both run superbly. The class 92 ran as expected once fitted with the sound decoder I had prepared for it (legomanbiffo sound, the same as supplied by Accurascale), but the Hunslet exceeded my expectations, after seeing other reports of slightly indifferent slow speed running or derailments on points or curves. What is even more gratifying is that I only used a relatively cheap Hatton's Next 18 decoder in it. With a mnor tweak to the starting voltage (CV2 = 6), the loco will creep barely perceptibly on speed step 1.

These photos were taken just after decoder fitting, but I have subsequently fitted etched name plates to both locomotives; the supplied ones for 92 032, and my Narrow Planet bespoke ones for the Hunslet, which is now minus its NCB markings and wearing the name 'Beverley' and number 72 more photos will follow later).

 

Etched plates fitted to the class 92 and Hunslet.

 

And now, the Hudswell Clarke No.70 'Beatrice' is all but complete apart from a little weathering.

 

Now, getting away from building or kit-bashing rolling stock, I did some more fiddling, this time on a job on the layout I have been wanting to do for a while. Having cleared the clutter from the floor (well, some of it anyway!), I can now more easily get behind the layout at that end. I have removed the underlay from the Engineers' siding beside the engine shed, which involved pulling up the bullhead track and buffer stop, and scraping most of the sticky residue off the boards then relaying that bit of track. Reason? Because the wagons were tending to roll down towards the points. Modern models are too free running!! The "dead" man in one of the photos was knocked off his perch on top of the sheds - he was restored to his rightful position in the last photo.

All of this involved much swearing!

While I was round there, I noticed that the state of the track was appalling and it's a wonder anything ran round there at all. Rail tops easily cleaned up and looking nice and shiny again.

There is still much scenic work to be done around this area.

 

I bought a small magnetic whiteboard with the idea of using it to keep track of what locos and units are stored in the engine shed area, especially the ones I can't see to read the numbers. I have drawn a rough outline of the tracks in red paint marker, and can use whiteboard markers to write the numbers in. This one is a bit rough, but I can redo it more neatly later if it works out for me. Also, the whiteboard is double sided so if I mess one side up completely, I can use the other.