Another Woody video on YouTube!

Once again the WMD film crew have been at it and another YouTube video is published giving an uopdate on My Last Great Project Layout. Always worth a watch if you have insomnia!

A certain irony!

there is a certain irony in what happened to my Lima Class 117 DMU after posting about a Blue day yesterday! The DCC chip blew up! The DMU had become stuck whilst I was too busy with something else like going through Mrs. Woody's job list and the motor was still drawing current. I am guessing it all got too hot and the chip blew! I knew it had gone as I could smell it. On the workbench the good news was with a bttery on the motors terminals it ran. Meanwhile the lack eveidence on the taope was enough to confirm what happened.

Peeling back the masking tape showed that the plastic sleve that the chip is wrapped in had melted and the chip did not look very well!

Lesson learnt! Don't look at Mrs. W's job list whilst operating trains!

At least the motor is OK so I can fit another chip when I have tiime from that job list! The irony of it!

I had a blue day today!

I had a blue day today! Not that I am feeling blue as in 'under he weather' or feeling out of sorts but a day, well only an hour, (just in case Mrs. Woody is reading this) Playing operating My Last Great Project Layout. Blue, because, during a tidy up, I rediscovered this Class 37 loco in British Rail corporate blue livery.

Coupled up to a rake of Mk2 Br coaches it looked very smart.

Adding a few other BR blue bits made it into a 'Blue day'!

There is the Class 37, a Class 25 and the Class 101 DMU. 

It is probably about 40 years since you could see a sight like this on the real railway but on a layout you can take that Time Machine back to those times. I like this Blue Day!

That's all folks!

 That's all folks! No, it is not the end of WMD, but as the cartoons used to say, That's all folks, refers to the end of another season of events at the Rocks By Rail Museum. Where has a year gone as it only seems like a few months ago we  closed the 2024 season!

Anyway, whilst previous years final events have been blessed with Autumnal brightness, this year we had wetness! The morning was dry but by about 1pm the clouds had opened and we all got soaked! The prospect of rain had not put visitors off and there was a good attendance and the volunteers all had fun so it was a winning day!

I was shunting, as seems the norm these days, assisted by John, Pete and Dave as well as Martyn operating the face shovel and with Mr. D as our shunting loco.

It was a long day but the final train of wagons left with Mike the guard waving goodbye for the last time this year!

Then it was time to put Mr. D to bed in the shed at the end of the day but we still had visitors!

That's all folks! But it won't be that long before we start again!

Not a great deal to report!

Not a great deal to report! The card top for the bridge/tunnel structure has been painted with rattle can primer to represent the tarmac of the road going over the structure....

...and the side profiles of the background hill have been roughly cut to shape out of card. This will form the base and support for the polystyrene that will form the shape of the hills.

Hopefully more to report in the next few days!

In Ya Face!

Looking for something, I came across this kit I built back in 2005 which is now 20 years ago! Time does fly! Despite its age and being dusty I still have fond memories of building this kit. It is a Revell Mercedes 1628S Truck in the unusual to Europe scale of 1/25th scale which because of the large size of the completed model does make it look smaller compared to a similar Italeri kit truck in 1/24th scale. 

Never the less, I did build this as a British truck that would be used to haul across to mainland Europe hence the left hand drive configuration. It was also a model that I did a few additions to with aftermarket parts and decals. There is the lady on the grill, the TIR plate.....

....whilst inside the cab there were tax discs, papers and documents as well as the CB name of In Ya Face! which I just came up with based on the garish paint scheme!

I even added the suzies on the back which are the air and electrical connections to the trailer brakes and lights.

Apart from a good clean and one of the rear mudguards needing gluing back on, this model has survived well and it still has that charm that I thought it had all those years ago when at one time it was on the now defunct Truck Model World Forum! Now theres' a claim to fame!

All in a day at the Museum!

The Rocks By rail Museum cannot be accused of not being innovative. I have posted before about the oversized washing machine, otherwise known as a concrete mixer! This is used to wash ballast and if you wonder if ballast can get dirty you should see what comes out of the mixer apart from the clean ballast!. One of the weak areas of the concept has been the discharge shoot. Various concoctions have been put together over the years but all have eventually failed. So, this Winters task is to sort that out with a bespoke heavy duty shoot and welder ace Rob is getting on with it.

A good strong frame of L shaped metal attached to the mixer itself means it should be strong enough to put up with the battering it will get.

 Of course, with any such project, there is a need to admire the work as Andy, Alex and Rob do!

For me, I was not admiring the overgrowth in the two storage sidings.

So, out came Sammy Strimmer and vegetational butchery ensued!

Now, I do have to admire that! Just need to get between and under the wagons next! All in a day at the Museum!

Inspired!

Having taken a break with DCC chipping the class 150 DMU it is back to the bridge/tunnel structure and I am inspired to get on with it!

Firstly I needed to deal with a bow in the back of the tunnel top

Constructing a card girder was the solution.

Once glued in place straightness was restored!

Hi

Moving onto the bridge part I added some wooden quadrant to act as a stiffener and support for the top.

One each side should do the job so I had to find some more quadrant! Next on the list is the top I think.

Just what I hoped!

Having thought about the issues with the electrical pickup of the Bachmann Class 150 that I posted about yesterday, my conclusions were keep it simple as to any solution. Some Googling had shown that the issues I was experiencing were not unique. One solution involved soldering wires from the bogie pickups to the circuit board contacts which is probably very robust. However, before breaking out the soldering iron I wanted to look at a couple of things. One was the wheels in the bogie and the pickups. Having tried to run the motor using a 9volt battery making contact with the wheels I noticed that the level of motor running seemed dependent on pressing the wheels in certain directions which indicates a pickup issue. Turning the chassis upside down, the bogie frames were removed.

What was revealed was not good! Lots of shiny oil.

It may be good for the gear wheels but was not good for the contacts! Both ends were the same. The excess oil was mopped up. The contacts and backs of the wheels cleaned with some contact cleaner. Then the bogies were put back together and the chassis turned right ways up. This allowed me to use masking tape to hold the circuit board contacts in place and permanently rubbing the bogie contacts. 

Not sure how long this will last but it worked and the unit runs like a dream!

Whilst the bits were out of the box. I added snow ploughs and scale couplers to each end.

They made a big difference to the front end.

And on the layout it looks even better!

And this has given me the boost to get back to the bridge /tunnel structure! Just what I hoped!

However, in true Woody style it has not quite gone to plan!

Sometimes you find a project that you are working on just does not seem to flow. You have done similar things before so it is not as though you don't know what to do and how to actually do it. But, for what ever reason, the project just does not come along and your mindset is not with the project either. That is the way I am with the bridge/tunnel structure I am building at the moment. It is not the first time I have or indeed other modellers have gone through such a thing and it won't be the last. We all have different ways to deal with the problem. Mine is to usually put the project to one side and do an easy and quick to show results project which usually gives me the lift and inspiration to get back to the original project.

So that is what I have done! However, in true Woody style it has not quite gone to plan! The plan was to DCC chip a Class 150 DMU that I had bought second hand/used/pre loved (take your pick!) about 15 years or so ago.

I payed just £85 for it which was a good price then and considering that the new ones today are £200 to £250 even Mrs. Woody would have to say it was a good buy!

The detail and paint finish are superb!

To fit a chip was simply a matter of taking the top off. However, the two screws at the rear are small and deep set down a narrow opening. Finding a screw driver that fitted was a pain but eventually the screws were undone and the top came off revealing the circuit board.

Access to the chip socket was easy and it was all marked up which was a nice touch.

The blanking pug was removed and a 21 pin DCC chip fitted.

Everything was going great! Or so I thought!. Testing on the track revealed that it ran like a stuttering rabbit! It would go, then stop then go, stutter, then go and so on. Clean the wheels I though. No difference. Lubricate the motor. No difference. Eventually I traced the issue to the electrical pick up system.

The bogies transfer power by copped uprights arrowed with the horizontal arrow. These 'wipe' on the copper strips on the green circuit board with the vertical arrow. The system is not good and despite cleaning it and a slight improvement in performance there needs to be a better system which I will have to think about! At least it has taken my mind ff the bridge/tunnel structure!