Model Railway Forum

Well I missed all the excitement as I haven't been on since July, but since we are back in business here are some current status pics from the loft. nothing much has happened for the last 8 months between work and the good summer but hopefully that changes, and a delivery from Hattons is on its way to help with that.

and a few more, although now that I look its not that up to date as the backscenes have developed a lot so will try and catch up and follow the developments

Well done Chris - look forward to seeing more photos when you can. R-

thanks roger, well the shopping includes a Hornby TTS HST power car set so that will need a few photos

Absolutely. Keep up the good work. R-

Some lights for the yard, and might need a bigger shed for the HST

Well the weekend was mostly playing with wiring, bus connections really needed to be made and the buildings needed a DC bus fitted too. it was also time to split the power so the DCC from the elink only runs the track and the points are run from a booster as it was becoming noticeable that there was a lack of power.
Roll on monday and the postman got santa's job off to a good but early start with the arrival of an HST

Ive been trying to develop some uncoupling technique and had acquired some magnets to try and copy a video I had seen by John Mellor, using a staple to pull the tension lock up. That didn't work I think the steal hook on my old test wagon was attracted as much as the staple. that led to me thinking about using a small magnet on the hook to repel it from the one in the track. Success! (partially)

I was testing it on a metal tin as that allowed the magnets to stay in place, but it was at a slight slope. what i found was that it would actually brake the wagon before it got pushed over and lifted the hook a little further playing around this morning has resulted in this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKA6eii7hJo

not sure if i can incorporate a hump yard in the layout but might be fun to try

That looks good Chris but presumably because it is a permanent magnet it will be an "always on" uncoupling when travelling over it. Or, do you find that a little speed prevents the uncoupling? I note you are travelling very slowly. R-

Chris, the method you describe was an original idea from Brian Kirby.
On the old forum I did some investigation into the method and developed a design using electromagnets and a couple of small design changes that prevent recoupling - a drawback of the original idea.
When I get a chance I will start a thread on here.

For anyone that read the original thread don’t worry it won’t be as long as before.