Wykeham - Somewhere in the South.

[bulleidboy]

Many thanks Phred and Jaz for the positive comments. I hope to fit a TXS decoder and speaker into a Hornby M7 tank engine very soon - hopefully will sound a lot better than a diesel?

Update: I tried to fit the 8pin TXS sound decoder into the M7, but have now given up - I just could not get it to fit along with the speaker. I removed both side tank weights, and placed the decoder and speaker in this space, but I could not get the body back on - the wiring harness was the problem. May be someone else will be successful.

[bulleidboy]

As I could not get the decoder and speaker into the M7 tank, it went quite easily into the Bachmann Class 3 MT.

IMG_1569 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[bulleidboy]

A quiet Sunday at Wykeham shed.
IMG_1572 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[bulleidboy]

Todays job is to fit a Hornby 21pin TXS sound decoder, speaker and stay-alive (Power Bank) into the new Hornby Coronation Class 46220 "Coronation". Normally with this installation everything would go in the tender - the tender has a 21-pin socket and a cut-out under the weight for a 28mm round speaker. The slight downside to this, is that it is very obvious that all the sound is coming from the tender and not the loco - I have experienced this in a Merchant Navy Class already converted with the speaker in the tender . I have removed both loco and tender bodies, and the stay-alive will fit in the space where the speaker should be, and with the speaker wires lengthened, the speaker will fit into the loco - there is a slot in the chassis, near the front, that will take the speaker and the smallest speaker housing provided in the decoder package. I will have to drill a small hole in the tender to take the wires from the speaker to the docoder, but hopefully that will be very straightforward. If you were to fit a round speaker in the space provided, I am pretty certain the speaker would touch the tender wheels, which protrude into the speaker space - you can see in the picture that the centre tender wheels come into the speaker cut-out.

IMG_1573 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[bulleidboy]

A little bit of track maintenance today - replacing the old under track magnets in the fiddle yard, with Kadee surface mounted magnets. These appear to work a lot better than the magnets positioned below the sleepers - and you can see them from a few feet away. Luckily very hot water and a probe made light work of getting the old ballast out which was laid some years ago, and then removing the old magnets. The new Kadee magnets come in a couple of sizes (depth) depending on which code track you are using.
There are so many things which you wish you had done during the early construction days Only five tracks to do.

IMG_1598 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

IMG_1597 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[Phred]

A very neat installation. The Kadee magnet looks like a part of the railway infrastructure, not like an add-on, if you know what I mean.

[bulleidboy]

Yes they do Phred - by the time I get the ballast back, and maybe a bit of paint on the magnets, they should blend in nicely. BB

[Bigmet]

... they should blend in nicely...

So well that it's a good job you have the signal post nearby to remind you where it is when it comes to positioning the couplers that you wish to part.

Still mulling over the matter of indicating an uncoupler location when trains occupying adjacent tracks block the view...

[bulleidboy]

That does cause a problem Bigmet.

[Richard08]

... they should blend in nicely...

So well that it's a good job you have the signal post nearby to remind you where it is when it comes to positioning the couplers that you wish to part.

Still mulling over the matter of indicating an uncoupler location when trains occupying adjacent tracks block the view...

Yard lamps?

[Dad-1]

Hi,

Just a caution regarding these magnets.
If you have all the brake rodding under your locomotives check for running over the magnet.
There are some locomotives that can foul. In my case the immediate ones coming to mind
are the Bachmann 56XX, and my Hatton's Andrew Barclay 'Katie'. There was at least one more
but I can't recall.
These magnets sit slightly above rail head and some models are too tight !! Slight trimming
may be required.

Geoff T.

[Bigmet]

Still mulling over the matter of indicating an uncoupler location when trains occupying adjacent tracks block the view...

Yard lamps?

I'll have to get organised over placement of such things to avoid a 'forest'. Probably a couple of tall sighting objects at rear, and references along the front to line up for the uncoupler locations.

[captrees]

This is a great thread. I have just revisited it in its entirety, only to find I had already said I was impressed on page 15.

Well I'm still impressed. It sort of feels like home to me, in spite of the green carriages. Its the weeds in the (slightly random) ballast, which I find utterly realistic to my fading memory, and the way the backdrop blends in almost seamlessly. Well done.

[bulleidboy]

Many thanks for the positive comments and suggestions.
Another job for the "to do" list arrived today - ninety one seated passengers - they all need painting - I might leave this for the winter evenings?
They all came from Fine Scale Figures who are sadly closing down - as are Hardy's Hobbies. If you need "people" look at the FSF site - there is a discount code - it's a good discount.

IMG_1599 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

IMG_1600 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

[Bigmet]

...ninety three seated passengers...

First thought on seeing the picture - wow, a ready to paint fully modelled symphony orchestra.