New Railway Modellers Forums

The model was introduced by "I think Palitoy" under the name "Mainline" it may well have been produced by the same people who produced it for Bachman. One wheel oscillating is usually a symptom of one set of wheels being "flipped over" whilst still coupled via the rods....

I use Contacta in the small bottle with a long thin needle dispenser. I stopper it by pushing a Peco track pin down the bore, need the varifocals cleaning to do that. Then pull the pin out next time I want to use it. I don't know what happens between Contacta and blackened steel pins, but I'll never...

I find Ebay useful in as much as it often can find components that a manufacturer has used, which aren't generally advertised and can be very useful in the design of things that the trade will never supply. I'm currently hunting for the type of microswitch which has a long wire actuator rotating a s...

No not banned, pretty prolific so there has been much advice about not encouraging it. Known in the UK as "baby's tears" or "Mind your own business". I remember it being sold in the 60's and older gardeners advising don't plant it.

I think your point about getting the "pull" in line throughout the train is as important as the other possible adjustments. St Oval is quite a good test those first radius curves will quickly highlight any wagon with an upward element to the coupling stresses. Propelling a light wagon thro...

Well second does suggest that it's only been sold and bought once before, pre-owned does allow for the item that's been repeatedly sold on. It's strange but there are certain items that you see offered on Ebay that were recently fought over and went for a ridiculously high figure. Surely the success...

You may have your power clips connected wrongly. try reversing the wires to one of them, or fitting it to the opposite side of the track. Forwards and Reverse are not the most useful way to label the direction switch, and calling the terminals on the back of the controller positive and negative is n...

I solved a similar problem on a Hornby DMU by cutting a square washer of black plastic foam (draft excluder) to fit between the bogie frame and chassis. It placed very little load on the bogie but acted as a horizontal damper, still working ok ten years on.

You say the brushes are fine, how can you tell? If they don't look worn then the graphite could be too hard/have hard particles in it. Use a graphite crayon or4B pencil to cover the copper surfaces of the commutator with graphite, and then use the end of a cocktail stick to clean out any particles f...

Bigmet wrote:I spent altogether too much time in my youth listening to the wonderful Tom Lehrer.)

Pity any pigeons who perch on your line's telegraph wires then, or are they safe away from the park?

A track from an evening wasted with...........

Hi - what a fine looking engine, mind you there was a fine standard set by the Knotty for you to work to. I notice that the troublesome leading wheels have a generous amount of vertical movement built in to the frame. I think some experimentation may be necessary to get those wheels to stick to the ...

Oh Ye of Little Faith, see! Your couplers weren't stuck in the Suez Canal

Looking lengthways down the platforms is more like the way we often see the real thing> There's a similar view on Warwick and Leamington's "Addison Road" layout where you can look in through the Victorian booking hall and to the tracks beyond.

Very likely to be a slide in, rub down a piece of masking tape on top and bottom surfaces then try forcing them in each direction to slide. In the strong light look to see if one of the edges as a fine line running through it. You could try squeezing the two ling edges towards each other hopping tha...

There's a layout that's appeared at the NEC a couple of times, it's Bath Green Park and the first mile of the S&D route. It's just over 60 feet long, wherever they put it ends up blocking one of the crossways circulation spaces.