a complete newbie !

[cjbeattie]

hey btw

i read tonight on tutorial that there is a difference between 'normal rail joiners' and 'insulated rail joiners' needed for dcc.. can someone explain in 'simple' english for me please the difference and why and where they are needed..

thankyou

[Ditape]

hey btw

i read tonight on tutorial that there is a difference between 'normal rail joiners' and 'insulated rail joiners' needed for dcc.. can someone explain in 'simple' english for me please the difference and why and where they are needed..

thankyou

By normal rail connectors I believe they mean metal ones and insulated are plastic ones and you need the plastic ones to isolate the frog rails on your points to avoid shorts. the frog rails are the 2 middle ones one turnout end of the point if you use electro frog (live frog) points, you can also use the plastic ones to break the layout in to power zones if you have a really big layout.
I hope this helps

[austinbob]

isnt the peco stuff cheaper? per length and price?

Peco code 80 flexitrack from Hattons is £2-60 per length or £52 for 25
Cheltenham Models budget flexitrack is £1.75 per length or £32 for 20

[shaker_wooders]

hey simon

i plan to take table up stairs into computer room which I will half and have around 9 foot by 4 layout then.. And use table as a centre support then get mdf and do supports to opposite walls to and the table in the middle.. Then lay the track on that.. Then the layout will be a mostly industrial layout lots of shunting room and lines etc, a 2 line loop and in the middle a little bit of countryside and the rest shunting and a  industrial scheme.. (fingers crossed)  would love the room also to have a separate countryside line and a few tiny stations alone the route. That would be cool but I know im restricted by size...

I know its overall  plan to start off as a newbie is overlay ambitious I just done want something I will get bored of when built...though there is something very enchanting about N gauge that 00 dosnt have perhaps the size? Perhaps the ability to build large worlds in a small scale.. Cant explain it ..

I just hope it works..

Well that sounds like a plan!

It may be ambitious but I am with you about not getting bored because it you have built something that isn't what you really wanted to build.  Something that I have read on more than one occasion on here is to take things in stages and not to make anything permanent until you are absolutely sure that everything works properly.  Good planning is essential and there are plenty of threads which explain some of the mistakes that we all make, even the people who have been making layouts for 30-40 years.

You will also need to play test the layout whilst you are building it by running lots of trains on the various parts of your track.  Playing Testing is an absolutely vital part of the process 

Don't forget to keep your other half involved as you will need to keep her onside when it comes to spending some cash on the engines/coaches/wagons/scenery that you absolutely must have to "finish" the layout.

I am hoping to get round to starting my layout in earnest this year - I just have to help my other half with her house plans first and then hopefully I will have sufficient brownie points to convince her that it would be better if we bought a "man cave" for the layout rather than use up 3/4 of the conservatory.

Wish me luck

Simon

[cjbeattie]

Hey guys

Got a bit of a problem here, I got some second hand peco track from the net and since fitting parts of it to my existing bit the engines are stopping intermittently on bits of the track more so when going at a low speed. Whats odd is that they can run perfectly fine at one point and yet 5 mins later they stop for no reason dn require me to give it a nudge to get going again..

Both my engines the original I got with the pack and the royal scot that I just bought do the same so I assume its not the engine, I have checked all the connections and all are tight and all pieces of tack flush next to each other so I cant explain it..

The new bits of track are slightly less shiny than my new stuff but seem to be ok...

Another error ive noticed too now is when I try and put the trains into the sidings they stop on the middle of points junction and I have to nudge it to get it going again.. Any ideas? When the points are straight the trains run over them fine only stopping when I flick the points and try and put it into the siding...

Any help would be great

Craig

Hey Simon, good luck with your layout! Lol I know feeing about keeping other sweet otherwise you get the wrath of a annoyed angry women on your back which is a restrictive element to creating a successful detailed layout lol

[austinbob]

Hey guys

Got a bit of a problem here, I got some second hand peco track from the net and since fitting parts of it to my existing bit the engines are stopping intermittently on bits of the track more so when going at a low speed. Whats odd is that they can run perfectly fine at one point and yet 5 mins later they stop for no reason dn require me to give it a nudge to get going again..

Both my engines the original I got with the pack and the royal scot that I just bought do the same so I assume its not the engine, I have checked all the connections and all are tight and all pieces of tack flush next to each other so I cant explain it..

The new bits of track are slightly less shiny than my new stuff but seem to be ok...

Another error ive noticed too now is when I try and put the trains into the sidings they stop on the middle of points junction and I have to nudge it to get it going again.. Any ideas? When the points are straight the trains run over them fine only stopping when I flick the points and try and put it into the siding...

Any help would be great

Craig

Hey Simon, good luck with your layout! Lol I know feeing about keeping other sweet otherwise you get the wrath of a annoyed angry women on your back which is a restrictive element to creating a successful detailed layout lol

Hi Craig
A couple of things to try here.
Clean the track with Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) and paper towel. You can get IPA on line or from Maplin. You'll find black streaks on the tissue paper if there is any crud on the track. Keep cleaning until there are no more black streaks.
Check the rail joiners to see if they are tight and making contact. Second hand track may have been connected disconnected a number of times.
If the points have plastic frogs (thats the bit at the junction of the moving point blades) then sometimes locos may stall on those. Particularly short wheel base tank engines.
Hope that helps.

[austinbob]

Hi Craig
A couple of things to try here.
Clean the track with Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) and paper towel. You can get IPA on line or from Maplin. You'll find black streaks on the tissue paper if there is any crud on the track. Keep cleaning until there are no more black streaks.
Check the rail joiners to see if they are tight and making contact. Second hand track may have been connected disconnected a number of times.
If the points have plastic frogs (thats the bit at the junction of the moving point blades) then sometimes locos may stall on those. Particularly short wheel base tank engines.
Hope that helps.

Another thing to check with the points is that the point blades are touching the fixed track (making electrical contact that is). Clean the edge of the rail on the moving blades and where they touch the fixed blade with IPA. If the points are second hand then they may well need cleaning like this.

[Newportnobby]

Agree with Bob - it sounds like dirty track is the problem.
Try running things on your original track and if all is OK then give the latest track a good dose of elbow grease with the IPA either on a tissue as Bob suggests or a piece of hardboard. The crooks and nannies of pointwork can be difficult to get at - I use a pipe cleaner to get to them.
IPA may be available at your local chemist (you may have to explain what you'll be using it for). Failing that, plentiful supplies can be found on Fleabay.

[austinbob]

Agree with Bob - it sounds like dirty track is the problem.
Try running things on your original track and if all is OK then give the latest track a good dose of elbow grease with the IPA either on a tissue as Bob suggests or a piece of hardboard. The crooks and nannies of pointwork can be difficult to get at - I use a pipe cleaner to get to them.
IPA may be available at your local chemist (you may have to explain what you'll be using it for). Failing that, plentiful supplies can be found on Fleabay.

You can also try your local camera shop. Many lens cleaning solutions are based on IPA - sometimes diluted with water. You don't need a lot - it goes a long way! If you use paper towel to clean the track make sure you lift any bits away that get torn off as you clean across track sections. You don't want any bits of paper to get into your loco mechanisms! Paper towels are fine when they're wet but dried paper and paper dust is not good for your locos.

[cjbeattie]

thanks for the help guys ive ordered some  Isopropyl Alcohol  online...

and some new connectors

here is picture of royal scot i got online second hand... sorry not a very good picture..

beautiful little engine though...



once again thanks for the help 

[cjbeattie]

hey guys

i ordered rather stupidly a cheap set of rail cutters a week ago they arrived and when i cut the flexi track the cut is not clean, so its impossible to fit the fishplates,  infact it would be cleaner and less jagged if i did with a hammer 

i read online that 'Xuron cutters' get the rest result and cleanest cut..

what do you guy suggest before i order dont want to make another mistake

thanks

Craig

[Chetcombe]

You can' tog wrong with Xuron. But before splashing out I would take a metal file and file down the end of the rails to see if you can fit the fishplates. Even with Xuron cutters you need to do a little filing...

[Dave95979]

i used an old dremmel with the fine cutting blade no need for filling but you cant cut a dead vertical cut but is hardly noticeable

[daveg]

A set of decent cutters is a good investment but as mentioned, a gentle finish with a fine fine does help.

Here's a link that may help you decide on what tools you could find useful:

https://www.expotools.com/acatalog/HAND-TOOLS.html

Dave G

[austinbob]

A set of decent cutters is a good investment but as mentioned, a gentle finish with a fine fine does help.

Here's a link that may help you decide on what tools you could find useful:

https://www.expotools.com/acatalog/HAND-TOOLS.html

Dave G

Just a warning....
For some reason Dave, my antivirus program is blocking this page - doesn't happen very often. I'm using BitDefender. - Site contains malware apparently