They're a great bit of kit Barry but, as you say, they need a loco with some grunt to pull around.

I need to get one of them! Where did you get it with the hook style coupling?

[user=2006]Barry Miltenburg[/user] wrote:

Three cheers for Santa!!   :cheers

My CMX track cleaner arrived this morning so I will be giving as much of the track as possible a going-over this afternoon.  It is a really heavy bit of kit (332 grammes) so I will probably employ a couple of Class 24's or 25's to pull it around.  It is certainly not something that an 0-6-0T is likely to manage - especially up anything of a gradient.

I will feedback some results shortly

Barry

A great bit of kit. I push mine round with either Deltic or a centre motored Class 44. 99% IPA is a good cleaner.

[user=2057]TeaselBay[/user] wrote:

I need to get one of them! Where did you get it with the hook style coupling?

If, as it should be, mounted in a NEM pocket, then you can just swap whatever it comes with over to the coupling of your choice. 

Yes

I got my unit from Coastaldcc (www.coastaldcc.co.uk or 01473 710946) and paid extra for a pair of small hook & bar couplings.  Had I known that it came with standard NEM pockets, I would have not paid the extra and taken a couple of sets of couplings from my stock.  Fool!   :oops:

I was going to use IPA (not the Pale Ale sort  ) as recommended.  Before it gets a first run, they recommend a wash out so I will get that done over the next day or two and let it dry out thoroughly before topping up with cleaner.

The last 3 days have been somewhat consumed with Trinity Square but I now have all the boards down, all the track laid and all of the feeds & points wired with the exception of the two points for the vans sidings which, for some bone-headed reason, I completely forgot to do!! - probably because the switches will be in a separate panel at that end of the station rather than in the main panel and they just slipped my mind.  The separate panel will also house the connection for the yard controller which is also a job outstanding.  One of my J11's has been on test duties and has run around all over the place testing feeds, isolators, point polarities etc.  All good!

The main panel contains the isolator sections for the main station platforms and the loco yard.  There is also an isolator section at the end of the yard headshunt.

Platform 4 (goods arrival and overflow passenger platform) and the loco yard can be allocated to either the station controller or the yard controller and this is done through 2 DPDT switches, also in the main panel. 

As ever. the wiring under the baseboard is best not viewed until tidied up - another job I must do before my MRC chaps get here on Thursday.  I will get that done when I go round with the vacuum, tidy away all the tools and clear up the inevitable mess that layout building creates. 

If they all turn up, I will have 8 people in the shed on Thursday; new Covid-9 rules apply - masks and open windows.  I think its going to cosy but a good test of how many people I can accommodate if I want to have group running sessions.

My biggest concern is that having seen some of them let loose on the club test track (if its not stationary, its doing 200mph), I fear for some of my locomotives  :shock: :shock:

Trying not to stress………….

[user=2006]Barry Miltenburg[/user] wrote:

My biggest concern is that having seen some of them let loose on the club test track (if its not stationary, its doing 200mph), I fear for some of my locomotives  :shock: :shock:

Barry, one of many advantages of DCC is that maximum speeds can be set to overcome lead-footed drivers. I have one on my layout & he gets frustrated when he can't do 200mph !

Good luck with your running session Barry……….I would be terrified letting a group of friends loose on Granby…..I still havent recovered from letting a couple of friends operate the turntable…..I have it all captured on video :shock: :shock:…..admittedly they were sailors rather than modellers and it was after dinner……you would think at my age I would know better :oops:.

 I am sure your group will be far better behaved. I will wager that they will be totally amazed at the progress you have made……..I certainly am.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on with your track cleaner…….something I keep meaning to purchase.

Best wishes

What a day - preparing for tomorrow's onslaught!

Tools and rubbish cleared away, everywhere hoovered and a few troublesome trucks cut out of trains to avoid embarrassment.

Tonight, in the calm before the storm, I was running a few trains in and out of Trinity Square, then - disaster!

Pulling points set 5 caused a major short circuit!  Strange, it was working earlier  :shock:

It only occurred when the points were in the reverse position - fine when in the normal position.  Motor switch?  Remove motor - no obvious issues.  Disconnect frog wire connection.  Sorted.  Right, clearly something to do with the frog connection but with the motor out, nothing made any sense.

I decided that I had an issue with the point so started to lift it - first bit of track out was the platform road.  To avoid problems, I turned the controller to move the N7 and get it away from pins and tools.  It ran fine.  Pull set 5 - no problem.

Reconnect the platform road and the short came back.   :shock:

Having established that the short was nothing to do with the points set 5 but was something on the platform road, I went looking.

At the end of platform 2 was the 4MT 2-6-4T on the "Coastal" train which had recently arrived.  I had bought it to a stand with the coaches positioned correctly for the engine to run round the train.  But leaving it there meant that the engine bridged the isolator between the platform road and the frog for the run-round points.  When point set 5 was pulled, the near rail of the platform road became a "feed" whilst the frog on the run round points (set 1) was still a "return".  The loco was bridging these two and thus I got a dead short.

After an hour of work, sweat and anglo saxon, I moved the 2-6-4T about an inch and cured the problem.
 :thud

I will move the isolation break to avoid this issue in the future.

Either that, or convert to DCC…………..

I had a similar issue. I put a loco in a storage road and thought I'd stopped it. I was driving another one when about ten minutes later it stopped. I took the loco off the track and went to use another one, but the whole layout was shut down. It turned out that I'd left the original loco on speed step one and it had taken all this time to creep up to the isolating joiner and shorted everything. Maybe I should have looked at the front of the Lenz command station, where I'd have seen the light flashing because of a short. Anglo Saxon was alive and well here too.

[user=2006]Barry Miltenburg[/user] wrote:

Either that, or convert to DCC……….….

Not before time……I thought you would never see the light :pedal  


Only joking Barry…….I have exactly the same problem. Generally the first look for is a loco in the storage yards that has been inadvertently edged forward.

Bet you are glad you found that when you did rather than in front of an audience. Hope all goes 

Best wishes

Not sure what's fouled up the quoted bit of your post John - your end, my end or within the works of YMR - is anyone else seeing a problem or is it just me ?

I was about to make a similar comment about Barry wishing he had a DCC layout John ( :roll: ) but you beat me to it ……    

It's easy to find a short when you only have 2 wires to worry about Barry …..

Hope all goes well for you today.  :thumbs

[user=2006]Barry Miltenburg[/user] wrote:

After an hour of work, sweat and anglo saxon, I moved the 2-6-4T about an inch and cured the problem.
:thud

I will move the isolation break to avoid this issue in the future.

I have had that happen to me before on new layouts when first beginning to use them in anger, very frustrating at the time but all part of the process of ironing out the bugs and perhaps learning how to use ones own layout  ;-)

[user=6]Petermac[/user] wrote:

Not sure what's fouled up the quoted bit of your post John - your end, my end or within the works of YMR - is anyone else seeing a problem or is it just me ?

Sorted….thanks Peter,not sure how that happened:oops:

The driver of 63574 looks over the crowded shed as he waits with an empty coal train.  The 9 visitors turned out to be perfect guests and we discovered the, often discussed, mental health benefits of having a hobby you can share with fellow enthusiasts.  In fact, we agreed that a summer special with wives and a BBQ would be a good follow-up.

A new club member joined us and there was plenty of chat and friendly banter.

We all model different things - including 16mm NG, 4mm, 3mm, 2mm, 009, modern, steam and transition, British and overseas.  Despite that, we all shared a very happy couple of hours with Mrs M providing tea, coffee and mince pies.

An excellent way to ease into the festive season!!

A  successful evening Barry with trains, banter and good cheer. Well done and thanks to a great work effort. Roll on the summer for another MRC away day.

 Merry Christmas,

Bill

Today, I have broken out the CMX cleaner and had a go at the track.

First up is the initial clean of the tank which is recommended using "aggressive" cleaners like nail polish remover.  I don't have any so just used a bit of petrol from the mower can - petrol cleans most things!

Then, empty out an leave to dry.  Meanwhile, the corduroy pad can be cut and fitted to the weighted pad slung underneath the tank.  When ready, in goes 9cc of IPA (or any of the other track cleaners quoted on the leaflet, some of which are clearly trade names from US sources).  Close the filler and then adjust the central flow knob until you get a slow and steady drip of fluid onto the pad.

I top-and-tailed the beast with a pair of Bachmann Class 24s and off they went for a couple of laps.  The amount of crud lifted onto the pad was quite frightening and more a comment on my track cleaning prowess than the efficiency of the machine methinks!  A fresh filling of IPA and a new pad had the other main line done and I then started doing bits of Yarslow and the branch.

When running top-and-tailed, the tank did not like Peco code 75 slip points - especially running straight through them.  When running around the curved sections (as at Middle Junction for example), no problems.  I put both Class 24s at one end and the problem went away so clearly any hesitation of either engine (likely the leading one) cause the tank's leading bogie to deflect and derail.

It works perfectly fine with one engine leading and although I haven't tried it, would suggest that a lightweight 4-4-0 or small tank engine might struggle.  Doubly so if you have tight curves or gradients.  My minimum radius on the main line is 24 inches and that presented no issues but going up the branch (at 1 in 50 or thereabouts), the heavyweight Class 24 had to dig in.

Would I recommend one of these?  Early days but it certainly shifts the crud from the track without any abrasion.  IPA is cheap to buy and the corduroy pads can be made or bought for little cost.  Once the Motive Power Department get the hang of moving the beast, I'm sure it will be great.

One downside for my type of layout - I will have to clear the storage sidings to clean those areas.  Shifting 2 trains out of the way at a time is no big deal so I will simply add that task to my proposed regular (monthly?) maintenance routine and it will be fine.

Thanks Santa!!

At first Barry, I thought you'd put petrol in the CMX  :shock:

That is most definitely a no-no.  The vapour is far more inflammable that the petrol itself and could very easily ignite from the slightest spark from a motor.  Additionally, whilst petrol "appears" to clean everything, it does leave a residue from the additives.  I'm assuming your mower is 4 stroke and not 2 stroke, the latter running on a "petroil" mixture which wouls leave more crud than it shifts ……

I have a CMX and pull it with an all-wheel drive US outline GP30 diesel.  It does a brilliant job but, as you've discovered can easily snag fairly on anything proud between the rails - point blades, point operating wires, proud track pins etc.  Old corduroy trousers make excellent cleaning pads although they are a little course.

Hi Peter

The petrol reference was a bit of joke [apologies to anyone who considered using it for real - it goes bang very easily don't you know!!!] - I used a wash of IPA in the absence of anything else.  My wife doesn't use nail polish remover which was mentioned and I'm not big on having chemicals around that could be described as "aggressive"!

I haven't checked the BTB measurements of the wheels - perhaps I should?  Not sure how easily I could get replacements if required - they look awful small - certainly smaller than the 3-hole disc wheels that appeared on British Macaw/LowMac type wagons.  That said, I have not read in any review that the units benefitted from re-wheeling so I'm probably worrying unneccesarily.

In other news, being brilliant at getting things right on the second attempt, I have just ordered a few more Peco point levers to replace the (on)-(on) momentary switches at Middle Junction.  Apart from the tactile nature of these items, they give a visual indication of the lay of the points - something that I am discovering is very useful when you can't see the points.  During my testing this afternoon, I found myself constantly getting the switching at MJ wrong with trains stopping on dead sections caused by points not thrown or wrong points thrown.  It will be a relatively simple job to change the switches as the wiring is all in and OK.

Now, what else needs improving…………..

Sorry Barry - I thought you were being serious regarding the petrol …….. :oops:

Regarding the wheels on the CMX, they are indeed much smaller than those we're used to in the UK but, if you look at normal HO gauge US outline stock, you'll see the wheels are indeed tiny.  No idea if that offers some running advantage or if it's because they don't normally use raised platforms as we do but their wheels are smaller than ours ….. :hmm

As far as polarity wiring is concerned, I too have found that, given a 50/50 choice, I invariably choose the wrong 50 ……. :oops:

[user=2006]Barry Miltenburg[/user] wrote:

Three cheers for Santa!!   :cheers

My CMX track cleaner arrived this morning so I will be giving as much of the track as possible a going-over this afternoon.  It is a really heavy bit of kit (332 grammes) so I will probably employ a couple of Class 24's or 25's to pull it around.  It is certainly not something that an 0-6-0T is likely to manage - especially up anything of a gradient.

I will feedback some results shortly

Barry

Hi Barry,

Interesting bit of kit which triggered a couple of thoughts.

1) 332g isn't per se that heavy, a couple of my coaches brought up to "correct Weight" are much the same. There is the friction from the pad to add on and that's likely the biggest factor regarding load on the loco.

2) great device when you have lots of track to clean but at £170.00 that's one big price ticket to pay for the luxury.

For those whose Railway Modelling Budget allocation doesn't stretch quite that far, I've a very effective home made solution based on a recommendation from one of the Modelling Mags and I'll write up a note on it shortly.

Colin