what are people doing on their layout right now

graeme Jolley · January 02, 2015, 10:56:50 AM

Minitrix Britannia versus DCC chip with instructions on how to do it downloaded from the web courtesy of this site. At the moment still sitting looking at the instructions and feeling a little worried that I may have bitten off more than I can chew. First problem is the website instructions show a chip with the yellow wire at position 1 and the chip I have has it at position 3...............

This was my New Year resolution which may fall at the first hurdle. Is that a record for the shortest ever New Year Resolution? Think I may give up and continue ballasting the extension recently installed.

Regards

Graeme

railsquid · January 04, 2015, 11:37:24 AM

Performing mass double-amputations

Newportnobby · January 04, 2015, 11:55:03 AM

Quote from: railsquid on January 04, 2015, 11:37:24 AM
Performing mass double-amputations

i.e. fitting figures into locos/carriages.
Why do I have a picture in my mind of lots of amphibians in France going around in wheelchairs?

railsquid · January 04, 2015, 12:32:29 PM

Quote from: newportnobby on January 04, 2015, 11:55:03 AM
Quote from: railsquid on January 04, 2015, 11:37:24 AM
Performing mass double-amputations

i.e. fitting figures into locos/carriages.

Give that man a cookie

Quote from: newportnobby on January 04, 2015, 11:55:03 AM
Why do I have a picture in my mind of lots of amphibians in France going around in wheelchairs?

I don't know, but whatever you're drinking I want some. I think.

railsquid · January 04, 2015, 01:48:35 PM

Quote from: railsquid on January 04, 2015, 12:32:29 PM
Quote from: newportnobby on January 04, 2015, 11:55:03 AM
Quote from: railsquid on January 04, 2015, 11:37:24 AM
Performing mass double-amputations

i.e. fitting figures into locos/carriages.
Give that man a cookie

Et voila.

My first attempt at this kind of thing - the Mrs. came home with a pack of restaurant car staff so I had to go and buy a restaurant car to put them in. The diners are from a cheapo pack of randomly-coloured people I bought at a show.

It looks somewhat better in real life, tricky to get the camera angled, focussed and lit right (need more practice).

Jerry Howlett · January 04, 2015, 01:58:09 PM

Person in pink (the second window from the left) needs second helpings !

Jerry

Great perseverance, I gave up which is why my pullman (NO NOT THE BLUE THING

) has one lonely diner.

railsquid · January 04, 2015, 02:27:52 PM

Quote from: Jerry Howlett on January 04, 2015, 01:58:09 PMGreat perseverance, I gave up which is why my pullman (NO NOT THE BLUE THING ) has one lonely diner.

For added fun the Kato lighting unit I put in, which required a thick-ish perspex strip to be installed under the roof, was too low for the standing waitresses even after I cut their feet off (gentleman that I am). Luckily I'd bought a 3rd-party lighting kit the other day which was much thinner.

Croxy · January 09, 2015, 02:03:16 AM

Temporarily fixing track down and soldering dropper wires to the track and attaching to the bus wires.....

Skyline2uk · January 09, 2015, 03:52:15 PM

Well I have just returned from the man cave having swopped out my Gaugemaster DS (vintage 1996) for my new Morley Vesta N.

Happy to say that this was a complete success and all worked first time round (except, of course, I managed to cross the wires and now locos go the opposite way to how they used too

). Especially happy with the built in CDU which makes the points work much better and more reliably than they did previously.

This does mean the end, for now, of me using the Electronic Track Cleaner (needs 16V AC, not the 12v accessory output offered by the Morley). Have just un-hooked it, but its not like it got lots of use anyway. May look into powering it with my smaller Gaugemaster E which I use for wheel cleaning.

The DS had developed a fault, so will be eventually sent back to Gaugemaster for a repair ("lifetime guarantee" and all) and then used for something else.....

In the meantime, I just had to have a nice ~~play~~ test session with the new controller

Skyline2uk

Newportnobby · January 09, 2015, 04:20:06 PM

Glad you like the Morley. I have the Vortrack version and, although it's disappointing the main panel controls don't have a 'centre off' the handhelds more than make up for that

Skyline2uk · January 09, 2015, 04:30:30 PM

Yeah so far so good, enjoying the CDU like I said, the hand-helds are indeed a nice bonus too.

It is very interesting seeing the difference between locos in terms of when they start to move with this controller. Newer stuff moves off under much lower power settings, perhaps not surprising really.

Skyline2uk

johnlambert · January 09, 2015, 08:29:15 PM

Not quite on my layout but I've sorted and labelled my stock boxes. Hopefully the labels will save some hunting when I'm after a particular loco or piece of stock.

On the layout I'm just getting a feel for how my new ticket office will look when it is finished. More photos appearing shortly in my layout thread.

Bob Tidbury · January 09, 2015, 08:48:57 PM

If anyone is going to buy a Morley controller and ask they can fit center click control knobs mine has I think it is much better .
Bob

austinbob · January 09, 2015, 08:53:57 PM

Quote from: Bob Tidbury on January 09, 2015, 08:48:57 PM
If anyone is going to buy a Morley controller and ask they can fit center click control knobs mine has I think it is much better .
Bob

I have a Morley controller and its great. Yes the absence of a positive off position can be a problem - but I'm use to that now. You just get to know where off is!! Just like you get to know how long you need to boil and egg with your particular cooker, pot and size of egg. Silly comparison really but I think it makes the point.

Skyline2uk · January 09, 2015, 09:03:37 PM

QuoteIf anyone is going to buy a Morley controller and ask they can fit center click control knobs mine has I think it is much better .
Bob

Didn't know that was an option, but I got it

Skyline2uk