WEST ORTON

[Steve M]

Thanks Barry. The first tunnel mouth emerged from the printer this morning so I think I have settled on the way forward. I agree, more greenery needed.

[Steve M]

The change should at this end of the layout are still very much a work in progress but it’s coming along.
Added the static grass to the tunnel mouth modules - a combination of 3D prints and high density foam - and have them free standing in place to allow access for track cleaning. The backscenes were free with this month’s Railway Modeller, which was handy. Also added some stone walling to the sides of the mainly hidden inclines. Probably do some ballasting tomorrow.

20231219_155019 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

20231219_155114 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

20231219_155129 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[bulleidboy]

That looks very good Steve. The tunnel portals came out well.

[Hound Dog]

Great work Steve…… the river and falls look great and everything blends together nicely.

[Carl L]

Very natural indeed.

[Chops]

Museum quality.

[Steve M]

Rummaging around in the shed I realised that I had a few TTS decoders lying around from when I upgraded to HM7K decoders. I knew a few had been damaged when I added stay alives to them but I went through them all to establish if any still worked. Result two saved decoders.
Added stay alives to them and fitted them to a couple of locos on the go do list but made a complete Horlicks of the second one (it was always marginal having previously been hard wired).
One out of two ain't bad.

[Steve M]

A rather trying day. A couple of HM7K decoders arrived from Hattons yesterday to allow me to upgrade a couple more of my older locos.
Started with a Bachmann WD Austerity but the initial test showed a short circuit somewhere in the loco. A complete strip down, clean and rebuild cleared that fault only for it to return after the new decoder was fitted. I suspect there is a broken wire deep in the innards of the loco - that rebuild can wait until the weather warms up.
I then started on an old Dapol class 122 - straightforward installation with sounds and lights working but strangely no movement. It turns out that Dapol use an interference fit on all the driveshaft components but the grease they use seeps into all the joints so they no longer ‘interfere’.
That loco has also had a full strip down with all the parts now soaking in solvent to clear the grease before reassembly with a smear of superglue over the weekend.
Finally the first decoder was refitted to a Heljan - that went without a single hitch.
Makes a change .

[Stese]

Finally the first decoder was refitted to a Heljan - that went without a single hitch.
Makes a change .

You can say that again... a friend of mine has a Swedish T21 from Heljan... whenever he's done anything with it, it's been easier to tell me what bits DIDN'T fall off...

[Carl L]

Reading this, do I really want to attempt to do my 70’s locos?