Wykeham - Somewhere in the South.

[bulleidboy]

Latest addition to the coaching stock - c/o Rails of Sheffield sale - £224 down to £104 - seems a good deal?
IMG_1883 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Pardon my ignorance, but what are these three (pre-group I guess) carriages?

They were built between 1906 and 1910 by the London South Western Railway (LSWR) and lasted until 1956/7 when the last one's were withdrawn. They could be seen all over the south-west section of the Southern Railway region.

[Peterm]

They look good, and at today's prices a good buy.

[bulleidboy]

Latest addition to Wykeham shed.

IMG_1904 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[Phred]

LOVE the cab detail!

[bulleidboy]

Hi Phred - the loco takes a Next18 DCC decoder. Unfortunately the Hornby HM7000 Next18 sound decoder was just to large to fit. As with all 0-6-0's there is very little internal space - the decoder would sit on its long edge in the right hand water tank, but it was just that fraction to big to allow the body to be refitted.

[aleopardstail]

one of the main drawbacks of the HM7000 is the size, needed in part for the antenna. I think its a lovely idea, especially as a way to load sound profiles but there are a few issues

the lack of RailCOM is a big one for me

[bulleidboy]

This is the problem with the Gen.1 decoders. These decoders were made on the basis of what parts were available at the time. It is hoped that Gen2 decoders will be a lot smaller. I do have about twenty loco's fitted with HM7000 sound decoders and using either my Hornby Elite (DCC) or my iphone 15 they all work perfectly - I have had no problems at all. The new 6pin, which will not have sound, but is bluetooth and does have a plug for the stay-alive is very small (see Peachy's Youtube video).

[Bigmet]

... Unfortunately the Hornby HM7000 Next18 sound decoder was just to large to fit. As with all 0-6-0's there is very little internal space - the decoder would sit on its long edge in the right hand water tank, but it was just that fraction to big to allow the body to be refitted.

Are there possibilities such as detaching the Next18 socket so that it can be slightly repositioned or the mounting 'reduced', or cutting away whatever internal part fouls on the decoder making it impossible to relocate the body on the mechanism.

I have lost count of the number of models where the socket mounting arrangement either unnecessarily takes up more space than the decoder, or isn't optimally positioned relative to the available void which a decoder will fit in comfortably. Having chopped off oversize socket mountings, I have slightly relocated a good number using compact double sided tape rather than the now eliminated bulky device supplied.

[bulleidboy]

The loco is the Rapido Stroudley E1, so not designed as such for a Hornby decoder. The loco instructions do say "most commercially available Next18 decoders should fit" - the sound version of the loco came with a Loksound decoder prefitted. As you can imagine there is very little room inside the loco.

[bulleidboy]

Slowly getting the DCC Concepts Alpha system wired-up for point operation - half way there on stage 1. Stage 2 will be to connect all of the small white sockets to the push buttons on the control panel top.

IMG_1909 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[bulleidboy]

After some months of grovelling around under the boards removing miles of wiring, the point control panel is finally fully operational. All twenty five Cobalt point motors work as they should - and with only two wires from my Hornby Elite to the track.

It has taken some time, as when I created the layout back in 2013/14 I had full access to the undersides of the boards, but over the years as stock and model railway related paraphernalia increased, kitchen base units were placed under the boards for storage - these are now very difficult to move, and there is very little room between to the top of the unit and the underside of the boards, so access to the Cobalts was not as easy as it had been in the past.

I still have to add the voltage regulators for the layout lighting, but all existing wiring was labelled when the board under the window was removed to allow a new double=glazed window to be fitted - so hopefully that will not be too complicated a job? The "reddish" glow from under the panel, is from two illuminated readouts that tell you which point has been activated - I do not need these, but there is a plug which would allow external readouts to be installed. As mentioned before, the Gaugemaster Twin-Track controller operates the two turntables.
IMG_1922 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[BrettG]

Very nice mate.
When it comes to wiring i always wish i knew at the start,what i will end up with at the end!
Im always adding something electrical,more wires to try and hide!
Brett