Chipping a 67!

With the Transport for Wales Train Pack having arrived I need to DCC chip the Class 67 loco before I can run the train. In theory a simple job having actually read the instructions. 

Undo four screws, lift body off, remove 8 pin DCC plug, fit DCC chip and reverse the other steps.  Simples! Well actually most of it was. The hardest bit was getting the body to lift off the chassis even with the four screws removed.

With the body off the inners were exposed which does look electronically very impressive!

With the 8 pin plug removed it was time to fit the DCC chip.

I used one of my Lais chips from the WMD Stores and there is plenty of space to fit it.

With the chip in it was, as already stated, a simple reverse of procedure to get the body screwed back on. A quick test with a 9v battery confirmed all was well for the programming stage that will come later.

 

RIP Holly cat.

A week ago Holly cat was a bit under the weather. A trip to the vets found nothing wrong and for a few days she picked up a bit before on Tuesday starting to go downhill. By Thursday it was obvious that another trip to the vets was needed. Mrs Woody took her as I was at the museum. Blood tests revealed nothing but a scan revealed fluid on the lungs and around the heart. Unfortunately for Holly things would go down hill further and much more quickly. I went straight to the vets and Mrs. W and me made that hard decision that she would only suffer if we didn't make that decision. After 14 years she parted with us as we held her at 6pm to have sweet, pain free dreams. Now under the apple tree with all the other WMD cats that have passed on, she can rest in peace. Love you Holly! Never forget you!

Film set and reading matter!

Yesterday Mrs. Woody and myself had a day out at Belton House and gardens. A wonderful place to walk around and of course there are some shops run by the National Trust, one of which is a second hand book shop. Always worth a look round even if you don't find anything to buy but on this occasion I did and one is a bit of a niche book that I did not even realise Hungry had a system of forestry railways. That should be an interesting read. 

The next book is more of a look at the pictures book on Britain's Railways from the air. I can recall this book when it forst came out years ago at a price I could not afford but as they say have patience!

Walking round the gardens we discovered that they and the house had been used as sets in the Netflix series Bridgerton. Never seen it but it looks like one of those historic dramas and there are various signs around marking out places where filming was done..

One of the volunteers told us that a lot of filming was done at night as it was easier to create the right daylight with lighting then relying on daylight itself! 

The exterior of the house certainly looks impressive!

And so do the gardens.

However, just like the Rocks By Rail Museum that I volunteer at, they have picnic tables disappearing under wild growing grass!

Something new!

Something new arrived at the WMD HQ the other day unfortunately when Mrs. Woody was in and able to  it before I could secrete it and claim later that I had had it for years! However, being busy with the building of the monster sized log store, which is slowly being filled....

I have only just had the time to look at the new arrival and it is this.

With prices for models going up a lot recently I tend to buy second hand. However, every so often there is a bargain that is irresistible to me and this was one of them. Hornby had it discounted on their website from £458 to £275. Now whilst £275 is a lot of money and I was lucky that my modelling piggy bank had some funds in it, it is a saving of 40% and as I had some Hornby points on my account the cost was even less to me. £275 could have bought me a DCC sound fitted loco but with this pack I get a Class 67 diesel, four coaches and a DVT (Driving Van Trailer) with lighting all in matching Transport for Wales livery. It is actually a scale length train as I found out when I visited the Transport for Wales website here.  I think that, at todays prices, is a great bargain. I just need to find time to get the loco DCC chipped and get it on the track and running!

That took some effort!

Well that took some effort but the log store is finished!

Todays jobs were the roof, sides and floor - simple!

The roof was made of five used floor boards that had been the roof on my old conservatory, edged with some donated 2 x 1 timber.

Then covered with some felt salvaged from when I demolished a shed three years ago! I knew it would come in handy one day!

Getting the roof to the back of the house was a back breaking journey but my fears of getting it in place were unfounded. Once leaned up against the end of the log store it was just a case of sliding it in place and miraculously it fitted - almost as though I had planned it!

With that in place just the sides and floor to do. The sides are some old pallet wood and the floor the last of the floor boards.

And with that it was finished and so was I! However I did have enough strength left to inaugurate the log store with the first logs to go in! Just a whole host more to move into their new home. However I think I will rest my back for a day or two - That shouldn't take too much effort unless Mrs. Woody has other plans for my rest time!

More log store building!

Last week I was sweating in the heat and today I almost had to put another layer on as it was getting cold but the log store build progresses!

Additional uprights and cross members have been fitted to make the structure more stable.

Then the back pieces were fitted. As I am building this out of what I have there is a mixture of timber but I am working on the principal that the gaps give the air the ability to circulate drying the logs. Fitting these parts was made easier by cutting a couple of spacing pieces that were temporarily screwed onto the uprights meaning the plank of wood was supported as I drilled and screwed it in place - working smarter not harder as I get older!

The back is in place so just the roof, sides and floor to do! 

Hope it warms up a bit tomorrow!

Making electricity flow!

 I have needed to sort this out for years!

My rather poor excuse for making electricity flow from the DCC controller onto my USA switching layout. A sort through the WMD Stores revealed a number of phono plugs and one socket - perfect. If you are not aware phono plugs and sockets are generally used to connect speakers to an amplifier and are perfect for low voltages.

Using the wires supplied with the layout that electrically join the two baseboards, I spliced in a phono plug.

Then the socket was wired and soldered up.

The wires were also screwed into the DCC controller plug.

With it all plugged together this is what it looks like. Certainly a lot more robust and worthy of its job than my previous effort!

The greta thing is that I can now make a similar set up for Chalkdon my 009 narrow gauge layout where this controller will also be used. All I need to do is unplug the USA switching layout wires and move the controller over to Chalkdon. No more twisting wires together or using various clamps to try to make electricity flow!

The finished unplanned project!

My unintended and unplanned freight car weathering project is finally finished. I will let the pictures taken on my USA switching layout speak for themselves! Lets just say I am pleased!

Miniture Engineering.

A strange day at the Rocks By Rail Museum as when I arrived the gates were locked and a volunteer was waiting to get in. To cut a long story short I had to hunt down a set of keys from a local volunteer and open the place up. Now I knew Richard was into all things steam but I was amazed at what he is building in his garage at home.

This is a quarter scale miniature traction engine which is getting to the point of being finished and being able to be steamed! Strange what you find out about people in the strangest of circumstances! I await the finished engine which may hopefully be on the road next year.

Meanwhile, back at the Museum, with keys in hand I was able to get us into the place and open up to our visitors of which there were a few. I carried on with my usual mower mayhem but to be honest it is beginning to look good on the vegetational front. You can almost see stripes in that grass!

The unusual planters are also looking good!

Whilst things that we want to grow are doing well, the weed killing treatment on the track a few weeks ago has cleaned up the track bed nicely.

On future projects, this has been dug out of storage ready to be worked on! That will be fun to paint!

And as I left the Museum, locked up, to return the borrowed keys this went pass the entrance. Lovely to see and no doubt a much slower pace of life. Put that and the miniature traction engine on the road at the same time and you could think you had gone back in time a hundred years!

Why at the hottest times?

Why I always seem to choose the hottest of weeks to start on a major physical project is a question that I cannot answer but it always seems to happen! At the moment I am building a monster of a log store for WMD HQ. Now I understand whilst I refer to it as a monster to some others who have large log storage requirements it may be seen as just a piffling small store but it is double the size of my present one, which at 20 plus years old is about to collapse! I also have piles of logs and timber for burning all over the place so hopefully it will all be able to be gathered in this store and kept dry.

Anyway, on the basis that I will use what I have, much of the stock of timber that I saved from other projects has gone into this one. The photo below shows the base which is 4 x 2 inch timber salvaged from the shuttering to the base of my Man Cave. I knew it would come in useful and with the price of timber these days its saved enough to be not so guilty about that next train!

Being such a large and dense timber there is some weight in that base!

This is where it is going but as you can see this has become the WMD building materials and scrap storage area.

After a clean up it looks better!

Having nearly dehydrated from carrying the base around, it is in place!

To stop the possibility of rot from damp, I raised the base on five of these old cut down fence posts. And to try to stop those rotting I have put a layer of roofing felt on the side that lays on the concrete slabs.

With those in place it was time to attach the uprights and then the preconstructed top which was not easy to lift in place!

With the top fastened in place I could fully appreciate the size of this!  Still much to do like sides, back ,floor and roof but I think I have dealt with the most physical parts now!

I wont be able to do any more until next week probably but hopefully it might be a bit cooler by then!