New Railway Modellers Forums

Somewhere in amongst the dross on You Tube there's a vid of an Aussie electric running on OHL through the country side. Now being Oz land 16ft is nowhere near enough clearance for a level crossing so there's a break in the catenary for every crossing. The train they showed was probably doing 60-70m...

The original Eurostars ran on third rail until HS1 was opened. Just visited Birmingham and watched the Trams running past the Town Hall and along Broad Street on battery power. There's a short length of overhead into Edgbaston Village terminus to give them a chance to recharge before going back to ...

There are the modern dual-powered units in service now, besides the surviving class 73s - class 800 IET and the like where they run on overhead power and switch to diesel-electric power for non-electrified lines, plus the older class 319s converted to dual or even tri-mode power - they originally ra...

There was also sufficient space in the barrel for me to pop the original blanking plug in there for storage, so it doesn't get lost.

... I fitted a normal 6-pin decoder... Please identify that decoder by brand and model number, that's useful information for anyone with a Rocket. (Purely seflish motivation, I am liable to be approached by acquaintance with 'requests'; thus far a Rocket hasn't come my way.) Very tidy job, which is...

While this won't help with Buelligan's problems, it may assist anyone else who purchases one of these sets. I fitted a normal 6-pin decoder into my Stephenson's Rocket by the simple expedient of bending the pins around 180 degrees, so they pointed back over the decoder. I carefully bent them back ov...

I have an original LBSC version, and every so often I dig it out with a view to improving it, particularly with the previously mentioned ogee curves and over-height stance in mind. I also would like to replace the reduced flange/smaller centre wheels, although it runs well for the type of mechanism ...

If it is of any help, I am also happy with my Oxford Radial. There were minor criticisms of it in the motor block showing where there should be daylight, but with mine being a BR black example, this isn't really obvious unless one is looking for it. Mine being one of the very first releases needed a...

Piko have some reasonably priced starter sets with continental European stock. The track has moulded ballast (not entirely convincing, but still an improvement on plain sleepered track, I think), and there are cheap controllers in some that can be used elsewhere later on. the trains supplied tend to...

Not least for the easier job when forming flexitrack curves. But we have to mention the caveat: not suitable for much of the European manufactured OO still readily available s/h, because the flanges will run on the rail chairs. Easily enough fixed with new wheels, but these are becoming costly now....

Adding to what Bigmet said, even the insulfrog points would be better and more reliable if wired up properly, rather than relying on the small contact area where the blades meet the outer rails. Electrofrog points will give more reliable continuous contact all the way through, especially if you inte...

On the rare DCC conversions I have done with the old ringfield motors, I have been lucky with most already having both brushes insulated from the main frame. However, one did require the screw to be replaced by a plastic one. I have a couple of old K's kits lying around, and they have some plastic b...

She's a professional librarian, the grand daughter of a railwayman, and her first post was at a library run by a considerable scholar of railways. Whatever I obtain in the way of a non-fiction book is classified before it goes on the shelf... OK, you're in trouble!! :lol: :lol: My wife encourages m...

... however there is also a very good book with a lot of information well worth grabbing a copy if you see one... My wife is likely to do me an injury if I acquire another railway related book, and especially one that is not suited to my declared interest, which she well knows is GNR/LNER/BR(ER) st...

Their steam locos seem to get rather mixed reviews, although they are very nice looking beasts. I don't have any of them here, though. The diesels are mostly very good mechanically, and fairly basic electrically so not too much to go wrong. There were problems with the motors and bearing fitting on ...