How's everyone's weekend shaping up?

It's a busy one here in Break towers as we will have all four children here so need to balance the entertainment needs ranging from a 3yr old to a 13yr old, I've promised the biggest one an IKEA trip for some new shelves - which obviously i will then have to assemble and hang, there's a garage full of stuff which needs to be sorted and cleared, a job which i would put off except the garage is pretty inaccesible because of it and that's where the boiler lives. Why is the boiler relevant? Because it's been playing up (it's only 3 years old) and so I need to arrange for a boiler guy to come take a look and he'll obviously have to get through the garage to get to it!

So what's everyone else up to, and please tell me it's more exciting than mine :)

If our current weather forecast proves to be correct, I'll spend the weekend making sure my boat doesn't leak or fishing on the uncut grass…………………….

I will spend Saturday at the Melbourne Tram Museum  telling mostly true stories about the trams and tramways. Sunday I hope to find some time for Wombat Creek.

For me, it's going to be quiet with just a few dog walks, so I can sneak off to the model railway room and tinker away!

Bob

Definitely not more exciting Jay, just normal domestic duties with a bit of time on the layout if possible.

Not a great sports fan, but I might watch the England v Scotland rugby tomorrow.


Ed

Saturday- Winter/ Spring Garden clearup if its dry. Maybe start another Smallbrook kit if it's wet.

Saturday night is works night out soo a few beers and a meal NOT hearing all the usual  B.S. from fellow tradesmen.

Sunday depending on the hangover, A trip to Model Rail Scotland in Glasgow

Barchester said

Sunday depending on the hangover, A trip to Model Rail Scotland in Glasgow

From “Post #289,748”, 23rd February 2024, 2:11 PM

If you go we'll want pictures please Matt  


Ed

I'm in Buxton, Derbyshire ahead of a short trip to Chapel-En-Le-Frith and the New Mills MRC show.

New MIlls MRC are somewhat unique in not having a clubroom nor layouts - they just meet once a month in a local tavern for a social, quiz, talk etc, but then stage an annual exhibition over 2 days to raise money for local charities.  This is their 48th in 50 years.  20 layouts plus a dozen demonstrations and loads of trade support so they clearly know what they are doing!  Full marks to them.

For those of us who meet up in the NW around each others houses, this seems a structure that might work for us!!

Barry

Mmmm… went to a local "Totally Renewble Denmark" (Denmark Western Australia) show and tell at a resident's house Saturday morning. "Electrify everything and source your electricity from renewables". Turns out that we are on the right track in our new house and had most of our plans reinforced by the resident's real world experience.

Dropped into the local butcher in the town for some sausages, then to the boat on her mooring, to get the sail tape to try and repair the old spinnaker I tore last week.

Next is to get back into the garage/workshop to continue with arranging/rearranging the shelving and workbenches brought down from the old house in Perth last week. Oh my… where did all the tools come from, and "can't throw that out" bits of timber, etc, etc.

…and then… if this post zips through as fast as I hope it will, I might update the Newcastle Emlyn thread, just to show the state of play. (Don't get your hopes up, there are too many house duties to take care of before I can get back into the layout in any significant way)

cheers

As Ed said Matt - don't forget your camera - and you too Barry.  I'm pretty sure I went to a New Mills exhibition some years ago - in a school in some moorland town if memory serves me right ……………..  If it was them, then it was an excellent exhibition and well worth the drive over from near York.

There are those of us - well, me really, living in the middle of nowhere where railway modelling is as rare as hen's teeth so we really rely on you guys and your cameras to get our fix !!  Please don't let us down ………………..

Anyone up Bingley, in Yorkshire way it is Keighley Model Railway Clubs show this weekend (2/3 March 2024); at a Garden Centre just outside Bingley. Nice place, decent cafe etc. Obvious attraction is that there is something for non modellers to see as well!

It's summer here in Queensland and I haven't been able to do much in the garage where my layout resides. High temps coupled with high humidity spoils most days. Roll on, winter.

Forgot to add that I got my MXULFA back from Zimo the other day and loaded a sound file on to my B4. I used the MS480 6 pin with all the pins de-soldered to save space. Soldering very thin wires on with my hands that shake didn't make it easy, but it's just about done now. I'm putting a large speaker in a CWS wagon. I'll make some tarps out of tea bags and see if I can put a video on when it's finished.

I look forward to that Pete.

I too have the MXULFA and the MXTAPS but alas, don't use either very much.  I'm no fan of the dark art and certainly find electronic type soldering with my shovel like hands difficult - I think I ought to change to Gauge 1 to allow me more space to fit things in……………………..

That'll teach me to copy my reply before hitting post. Lost the reply, so here we go again!

I fitted the decoder, large speaker and stay alive in the wagon, making sure that nothing could short, and it read back the address on the programming track. I then powered up the main and it drove and sounded very nice. I then fitted the loco body and put it back on the programming track and once again the address read back OK, so I turned on the main… nothing. Turned off and found the decoder was too hot to hold. I checked all the wires for any possibility of a short, eg trapped wires etc, but found nothing.

So it looks like it'll be going back to Austria again! It's all ready been repaired FOC. I have to say that I've not had so much trouble since the MS decoders replaced the MX.

I'll let you know how I get on.

This weekend I hope to find time to put down the remaining tracks around the turntable. There seems to be some issues with the worm gear, but I will stay positive and get it sorted.

The decoder's winging it's way back to Austria again, as of yesterday. Just to check, I connected the same wiring to a MX658N18 decoder, via an adapter board and albeit with no sound, it works perfectly.

Expensive returns in terms of both time and cost from you to Austria and back Pete…….

You're right, Peter. But what else can I do?  A big minus for living so far away, but hopefully I won't need to send anymore.

Claus Ellef said

This weekend I hope to find time to put down the remaining tracks around the turntable. There seems to be some issues with the worm gear, but I will stay positive and get it sorted.

From “Post #289,829”, 1st March 2024, 4:15 PM

On our way to a family function my wife and I stopped in at Diamond Valley Railway in Eltham, Victoria. The queue for the train rides was very long and we decided to watch the traffic instead. Several passenger trains were operating at the same time.

The gauge is 7 1/4” and the railway is controlled by semaphore and daylight signals operated from a fully functionally signal box. It is not a model railway, but the rolling stock is scaled down copies of Australian (mainly Victorian) locomotives, carriages and wagons.

If you ever visit Melbourne, a trip to the Diamond Valley Railway is worth the (de-) tour.

Diamond Valley Railway Inc. | Eltham, Victoria, Australia