OO Gauge - Latton Fields

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Branch Line - Roundy, roundy with some shunting

Good stuff Ed,nothing rash now you watch that there cogitatin…it can lead you astray !!  :mutley   My layout ( yup rumours are true I AM building one lol )  is in pretty rough conditions too so I'm expecting some issues as well . One thing I'm going to try is graphite, bought some artists graphite sticks 100% purity ,but they were in a clearance bin so cheap, but apparently rubbed on the tracks after cleaning it helps conductivity and combats oxidation of the track


Cheers


 Matt
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Ed
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Wondered why I'd bought that graphite stick, that's been rattling around in one of the 'electrical bits' boxes for the last couple of years :thud


Ed

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Now I may be repeating someone else,s post cos I am sure I have read this somewhere and I have not tried it so I,m not sure if it works, but if you clean your track with an abrasive block, which I do, it leaves tiny scratches int` rail tops that fill with muck and attract more muck, so cleaning with isopropanol alcohol will fetch out the nasties therin, then rubbing over the track with the graphite block will fill in the scratches and restore electrical contact, now there is also a commercial product called track magic which apparantly cleans and fills the scratches and is electrically conductive, I have seen a video on youtube about it and it looked effective but I believe it is fairly expensive, but if it works? I think myself I will try the IPA first and the graphite block once I have found a supply of IPA, any way thats my twopennorth, I am certain there are other methods out there maybe someone will come up with another idea and lets us know!

Cheers for now, Pete.   

it was already on fire when I got here, honest!
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Just look on fleabay for the IPA , you can Get a 5ltr quite cheap, delivered, far cheaper than buying the little 75cl bottles ( think mine was about £15  next day delivered ? I know it was much cheaper for the 5ltr and was surprised how fast it was sent )

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  Matt
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Blimey Matt, 5 litres :shock:

Sounds like you bought a lifetimes supply :mutley


I got a 500ml bottle for about £6 and I haven't even used a quarter of it over a year.

Need to make sure it's the the 99.9% stuff Pete.

Must admit I do often reach for the Peco track rubber initially and if I've ballasting you can't help getting some glue on the rails, so not much option really.

But even after using a track rubber (I know it's abrasive), if you run a cloth with a bit of IPA along the rails, you'd be amazed how much muck is still on there.

Of course that could also party be due to my garage environment, might not be that bad if you have an indoor layout.

My Jinty still seems ok over the siding and points since I put some graphite on, so fingers crossed (thanks Matt :thumbs)



Ed

PS I do however now have an alternative plan :cool:



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I use a graphite stick on my rails and have not cleaned them for nearly a year, have to be cleaned thoroughly before you use the graphite though.

As for you wire in the tube and the embankment, I would run a bigger tube through the embankment then put you normal wire in the tube through that, it then keeps the scenics off of the actual wire in tube, if that makes sense.

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Andy
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Was thinking along the same lines Andy, only perhaps going under the board and back up again.

I can get to the underneath of this bit of the layout without necessarily having to sit on the floor, as it's right at the end of the base board.

At present I've gone over the embankment again and it looks and seem to works a bit better, but as usual I'm waiting for glue to dry.

Keeping the scenics off the wire in tube as much as possible is definitely the way to go, if you have anything other than a short run.



Ed




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 You can use either grey plastic plumbers pipe as an outer sleave or cut a length off the hosepipe    bury that in your scenic stuff and you can feed your normal wire in tube through it without it getting mired in plaster etc


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  Matt
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Problem is Matt, the inside diameter of the outer pipe has to be fairly near the outside diameter of the wire in tube, otherwise the wire in tube will just flex when you push it and not move the point.

This looks and works better, so far.

I have cut a piece from a supermarket plastic milk bottle, to cover the wire in tube where it runs down the embankment. Hopefully I can cover the whole lot with plaster bandage and put no pressure on the wire in tube as it goes down to the choc block inner connection.

There is a piece of styrene covering the wire after the choc block inner and the connection itself can be covered by a building.




As far as the 0-4-0s and 0-6-0s stalling on insulfrog points, the answer is ……………………………………








……………………..




I've definitely gone to the dark side, I now have two blue diesels :shock:


Ed





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Someone else with good taste. Mon the blues.:mutley

Cheers

Toto
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:mutley:thumbs:thumbs:thumbs
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Was kind of thinking just short pieces of the pipe where you were having problems with the scenery, not over there whole length sdo you would secure the rest of the wire in tube as normal to stop it flexing but it looks like you have a solution anyway mate

:thumbs
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Are you feeling a little sad, Ed ?? :cry:  Seems like you have the blues…. :mutley

Cheers, Gary.
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[user=1708]mattc6911[/user] wrote: 
but it looks like you have a solution anyway mate

:thumbs
Not counting my :chicken's Matt!


I suppose I am a bit blue Gary as it seems I can't really run the exact era I'd like due to the rather dirty environment :sad:, at least not without a lot more work and expense.

But hey, it's still railway, albeit with a bit of modellers license :mutley



Ed



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Ed,

You can run whatever you like. I will be, at least to a point when anyone's looking. The minute I'm on my own …….. Out comes Thomas.:mutley

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Toto
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G'day Ed,
Just catching up here while I have wifi that works.
Had a thought?.Would plastic drinking straws be the right size to fit over and protect your wire in tube.?
Cheers
Gormo

"Anyone who claims to have never made a mistake, never made anything!!"

https://sites.google.com/site/greatchesterfordmodelrailway/home
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That's a very good idea Gormo :thumbs:thumbs:thumbs

I've got some lying around so if the current set-up doesn't work, that's now plan B.


Ed


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True to form, things continue to go wrong.

After testing the Hornby Deltic on DC,  I installed a Digitrax chip which arrived the following day.

Didn't matter what I tried, the chip wouldn't hold a loco address of 55 which I wanted it to have. It seemed to go to all sorts of random numbers such as 1, 2, 6, 20, 17, etc.

Tried the chip in another loco, same thing. Tried the chip from that loco in the Deltic, it's fine.

So I sent it back and in the meantime ordered a Hattons own brand decoder, to use as a temporary replacement. Bit annoying as I'd just paid £4 delivery charge for the loco and other stuff from Hattons and I very nearly ordered a decoder at the same time, but decided to get a Digitrax one.

Then the garage computer (a nine year old Packard Bell laptop, dug out of a cupboard) decided to give up. It boots to a black screen which appears to be a common fault with this model as it gets old and past it's shelf life. Not viable to repair, so that's off to the dump.

The Hattons decoder arrived the following day and worked fine in the Deltic, but the loco was causing shorts when it went over the insulfrog crossover at the station throat.

Got the nail varnish out and re-applied it, and the Deltic was fine in one direction, but shorted in the other.

Before messing about any further, I tried the 0-6-0 Jinty over the crossover and of course in now stalled :thud

That's it, fed up.

I'd just finished putting brick paper on the wall that was to go along the back of platform2, but if nothing will will run reliably over the crossover, there's no point in sticking the wall in position only to have to pull it up at a later date.

The crossover came up along with platform 2.





Tidied up with new pieces of 'Funky Foam' as underlay, but the platform surface didn't survive coming off the base.

I'm going to replace the crossover with a single point, so yet another delivery charge for Hattons.

Who said this hobby is fun :twisted:.

That's it, rant over.


Ed


PS Almost forgot, the Wi-Fi web cam I had in the garage for security also broke, and the new one isn't accessible via a browser.







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Crikey Ed,
That's an unfortunate run of events. Sorry to hear things aren't going to plan.
I would suggest you leave it alone for a couple of days. Do something completely different, just to clear the annoying fog of frustration.
That's what I do when things go pear shaped.
Cheers
Gormo……from Asburton NZ.

"Anyone who claims to have never made a mistake, never made anything!!"

https://sites.google.com/site/greatchesterfordmodelrailway/home
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Hi Ed,

Walk away from it my man. Don't even think about it for a couple of days and when the haze has cleared, go back with a fresh set of eyes. I've lost count of how often I've had to do that and it does work. Sometimes, you can't see the woods for the trees.

Have a well earned break.

:thumbs

Toto
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