My 00 Gauge layout - Oldmoor Junction Model Railway

[Peter C]

Oldmoor Junction Model Railway - Update 12a
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I thought I might as well inform anyone who's interested that Oldmoor Junction Model Railway operations have restarted after a period of several weeks.
The new trackwork (mainly the points to keep the geometry of the track through Oldmoor Junction) has allowed me to run trains again - but there have been a few problems: these being the track itself and some locomotives.

The trackwork is currently unballasted and doesn't have pins holding it down yet, meaning that vibrations from and the weight of trains moving over the curves, where there is no pointwork to keep the main running lines in place (less friction/weight), makes the track move. I think I've got this sorted for the most part, but I need to keep testing things over and over until I make sure it's all alright before pinning the track down.
The locomotives which have been playing up are 60163 Tornado and 50046 Ajax. I suspect the former is playing up because a wire has got caught somewhere in the mechanism and the wheels need a good clean. Nothing I can't fix. But the second one has been playing up for quite a while - I suspect it's in need of a wheel clean as well but I think there might also be a couple of issues with the DCC chip. The TTS decoder in 50046 is actually a Class 31 decoder - it was the closest thing to a 50 Hornby offered at the time - but I hope to get a 50 TTS decoder at some point so major work/checks on the decoder might not happen for a while.

That's what's being going on on the OJMR, if anyone's interested

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Ah yes I read your last update, got sidetracked and forgot to comment.
When are you going to fix the track down then Peter? I reckon you should go for it and start doing the ballast etc (obviously after you’ve tested everything first though).
Has your 50 got sound then? I bet you’ll find it needs a wheel and track clean. That seems to be the main issue I find when things are playing up. DCC really hates dirty track.

 

[Peter C]

My plan is to test the track and engines to make sure that they work as-is before I pin the track down to ensure that if I find any issues with the layout post-pinning, it's down to the way I've pinned the track down and not the trackplan/engines. The pins I'm going to use are Gaugemaster's Hornby-style track pins I think. They're called "Hornby-style" as they're identical to the Hornby ones apart from they have a flat top instead of a round top, meaning pushing them into the baseboard and taking them back out with pliers is so much easier.

The 50 does have sound, yep I've had issues with it for quite a while (maybe a year?) but now I've learnt more about how these things can be fixed/what the issue might be caused by, I'm (slightly) more confident in trying to fix it. I've also found that previous wheel-cleans were probably pointless - the Peco track rubber I used is curved on the edges, which doesn't allow for it to get into the corner of the wheel between the main bit which touches the rail and the flange, meaning a lot of dirt and whatever accumulates there over time. I've had this issue with cleaning the wheels of other locos but it turns out the Hornby track rubber can solve it - it's got sharper corners (as in straight edges meeting at 45 degrees) and so can get into that smaller area. The only issue is that my track rubber is very well-used and the edges have gone slightly curved now, meaning it's not as good - maybe having a track rubber for the track and one for wheel cleaning could work?

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

I’ve sent you a pm.

 

[Peter C]

I’ve sent you a pm.

Replied

-Peter

 

[Peter C]

Oldmoor Junction Model Railway - Update 13
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The pinning-down of track on the layout has taken place: work began over the weekend and the only bits I need to finish now are the three bay platforms in Oldmoor Junction station. I need to move some coaches and the units out before I can do that though, so that'll have to happen when I get an hour or so to allow for the shunting of engines and coaches around the layout and then the actual pinning-down of track!

I've also been working on the signals - having learnt a bit more about how the placement of semaphore signals relates to the track layout, I've begun placing the ones I have in more realistic locations. I need many more, though, to make what I want - mainly ground signals, but quite a few semaphores and colour-light signals as well. They won't all be operational, but hopefully I can find out a way of making as many of them on the main sections of the railway (e.g. two loops, branchline) operational - could be quite fun when combined with some point motors. My intention is to have as much of the layout operational as possible, so there's more to do than just watch trains go round and move points by leaning over the baseboard. I won't bother with any of the complex interlocking they use on the real railway, or even some of the stuff I've seen people use on their layouts, but I think I'll eventually learn what needs to be switched in what order!

I've also done some basic scenery work - this being just moving buildings around to try and make some sort of town for the trains to run around. I've found that the two terraced houses I've got work very well in their own bit of scenery in the far-left corner - if I keep them there, they'll have a small road in front of them running next to the railway before disappearing off the side of the baseboard or up to the wall. It's going to be fiddly and a bit difficult but I think I should probably be able to do it.

The railway centre looks as though it might be coming back as well. I've been playing around with ideas using AnyRail and I've found a design which seems to be alright. Here it is:

The three tracks to the bottom-right of the frame are the three bay platforms of Oldmoor Junction station. The railway centre will be based in the top-left corner of the layout and will mainly be used for displaying DC engines but will also have a couple of sidings set aside for DCC engines to be stabled there when the TMD is being used in its carriage sidings form (it's large enough to be able to store 4 Mk1s and 5 engines, or 5-6 Mk1s and no engines). I've decided to try and design a track layout which looks like a depot of some description, just like Didcot Railway Centre - it's the inspiration for this section and is based on the old Didcot Depot which was located in the triangle of tracks at Didcot. I've also managed to get plenty of straight sidings - all of them are straight, meaning engines won't be sat on tight bends which look completely unrealistic if you look at them for long enough. Some of them are quite short, but they can be used to hold smaller engines like 0-6-0s. The only downside to this design is that the track will cost stupid amounts of money: ~£70 from Hattons I think!

So that's quite a long post to describe what I've been working on with the layout over the past few days. I think the goal of getting an operational and half-decent-looking layout to play around with over Christmas/New Year is looking more and more reachable (the idea is that enough scenery and trackwork will be finished to create a layout that looks somewhat completed). Having the track pinned-down is so nice as it makes cleaning it much easier and I've had very few issues with it. I've discovered some sections of the layout which need another check and a bit of a fix but the main loops are all working. The signalling poses an interesting puzzle for how I'm going to realistically signal the layout, the scenery is coming along well, despite being in very early design stages at the moment, and the railway centre seems promising.
Also - this is my 2,000th post on the forums: where has the time gone for me to make 2,000 posts?! Here's to the next 2,000 - let's hope I can keep finding things to go on about for that long!

Thanks for reading,

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

I started my current layout in 2016 and after a 3 year break have started on it again, daring to go DCC. Its about half way there track base / track wise, and on loco conversions to DCC. I just been learning the hard way about blowing DCC chips. Apparently I need end suppressors to stop peaks in the current!

Peter its good to see your mix of old & new locos, but the prices now! When I gave up with my old layout, I could get a new loco for £10, coaches for £5 and wagons for £2. I must say though the quality now is exceptional and sound too!

 

[Peter C]

I started my current layout in 2016 and after a 3 year break have started on it again, daring to go DCC. Its about half way there track base / track wise, and on loco conversions to DCC. I just been learning the hard way about blowing DCC chips. Apparently I need end suppressors to stop peaks in the current!

Peter its good to see your mix of old & new locos, but the prices now! When I gave up with my old layout, I could get a new loco for £10, coaches for £5 and wagons for £2. I must say though the quality now is exceptional and sound too!

I started my layout in 2015 and it's been an endless project - this is probably the tenth trackplan I've designed! I don't think I've ever blown a DCC decoder - I've been quite lucky in that regard - but they are a pain to sort out apparently.
Modern engines are stupidly expensive - definitely! The detail, as you say, is very good, but I don't have a single engine in my fleet which doesn't have any detail broken off from handling it. Even my Class 68 has managed to break its own buffer - no clue how it did that!

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

I started my layout in 2015 and it's been an endless project - this is probably the tenth trackplan I've designed! I don't think I've ever blown a DCC decoder - I've been quite lucky in that regard - but they are a pain to sort out apparently.
Modern engines are stupidly expensive - definitely! The detail, as you say, is very good, but I don't have a single engine in my fleet which doesn't have any detail broken off from handling it. Even my Class 68 has managed to break its own buffer - no clue how it did that!

-Peter

One of the cats knocked a Cargowaggon off my shelf the other day, breaking two of the buffers off (and losing one of its nine lives the process)...

 

[reddragon]

I started my layout in 2015 and it's been an endless project - this is probably the tenth trackplan I've designed! I don't think I've ever blown a DCC decoder - I've been quite lucky in that regard - but they are a pain to sort out apparently.
Modern engines are stupidly expensive - definitely! The detail, as you say, is very good, but I don't have a single engine in my fleet which doesn't have any detail broken off from handling it. Even my Class 68 has managed to break its own buffer - no clue how it did that!

-Peter

If you want a good solid loco to enjoy, Lima win on pulling power & quality. OK the motors roar, but that's it. Many of mine are 30 years old and run very well. Old Hornbys however, lacked detail and couldn't pull the skin off custard. OK, I have gradients and 8 coach trains, but still. I do have twin motor Hornby class 25s though. Not looking forwards to those conversions yet!

 

[Peter C]

One of the cats knocked a Cargowaggon off my shelf the other day, breaking two of the buffers off (and losing one of its nine lives the process)...

Oh no! I've not got anything (apart from myself and family) that could knock trains off the layout but even the thought of it happening scares me. That's why all of my engines are in the sidings or on the other side of the layout completely!

If you want a good solid loco to enjoy, Lima win on pulling power & quality. OK the motors roar, but that's it. Many of mine are 30 years old and run very well. Old Hornbys however, lacked detail and couldn't pull the skin off custard. OK, I have gradients and 8 coach trains, but still. I do have twin motor Hornby class 25s though. Not looking forwards to those conversions yet!

I've got a Lima Class 50 - I repainted it into a GBRf Class 50 (50007) last year. If I can find it I'll put a link to the thread here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/my-progress-in-making-a-00-gauge-gbrf-class-50.180971/ It's something I'd like to go back and revisit at some point - particularly because the DCC chip needs looking at since the engine no longer works on DCC. I tried re-soldering the wires to the motor but nothing happened. I don't know if it works on DC. The paintwork also needs re-doing - I've learnt enough skills (I think) to probably make it look half decent this time and so maybe a new bodyshell from eBay will come in handy. Mine was originally 50013 Agincourt in BR Blue and it was fairly easy to paint over so I'll go for something like that again I think.

I've got an old Hornby HST, and a Mainline GWR Mogul, both of which are pretty rubbish at pulling capacity (to be fair, though, the HST powercar can do four Mk3s (two old Hornby, two new) and then another powercar which is unpowered. And that's good enough for me considering GWR run their Castle sets, so a four-car HST on my layout is something I can get away with!

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

One of the cats knocked a Cargowaggon off my shelf the other day, breaking two of the buffers off (and losing one of its nine lives the process)...

Tell me about it! My Class 395 has blown 2 chips now and its panto fell off. Looks to be made of brittle plastic and getting a body off a Brighton Belle to DCC, an under frame box fell off. Grrr.

I have now reached 21 conversions, most by me but a few at the local Model Shop as I chose to let someone else do those as in the too tricky box! Just 29 to go of which 15 sit in the not practical category so they need to go.

I have done one with sound, which is great as its a new 52 Western model.

Peter if you want some old locos / coaches / wagons, let me know & you can have them.

Oh no! I've not got anything (apart from myself and family) that could knock trains off the layout but even the thought of it happening scares me. That's why all of my engines are in the sidings or on the other side of the layout completely!


I've got a Lima Class 50 - I repainted it into a GBRf Class 50 (50007) last year. If I can find it I'll put a link to the thread here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/my-progress-in-making-a-00-gauge-gbrf-class-50.180971/ It's something I'd like to go back and revisit at some point - particularly because the DCC chip needs looking at since the engine no longer works on DCC. I tried re-soldering the wires to the motor but nothing happened. I don't know if it works on DC. The paintwork also needs re-doing - I've learnt enough skills (I think) to probably make it look half decent this time and so maybe a new bodyshell from eBay will come in handy. Mine was originally 50013 Agincourt in BR Blue and it was fairly easy to paint over so I'll go for something like that again I think.

I've got an old Hornby HST, and a Mainline GWR Mogul, both of which are pretty rubbish at pulling capacity (to be fair, though, the HST powercar can do four Mk3s (two old Hornby, two new) and then another powercar which is unpowered. And that's good enough for me considering GWR run their Castle sets, so a four-car HST on my layout is something I can get away with!

-Peter

Old HST / class 25,29 and other motors will fit in a dummy car. I have 4 dummy cars that I took out motors from, a very easy job to do. That's how I got a class 24 & 25 that can pull a long train. That's the older shiny wheels ones 43002/43010 as the current Hornby Railroad HSTs are the old Lima model. Lots of cheap ones about on ebay

 

[Peter C]

Tell me about it! My Class 395 has blown 2 chips now and its panto fell off. Looks to be made of brittle plastic and getting a body off a Brighton Belle to DCC, an under frame box fell off. Grrr.

I have now reached 21 conversions, most by me but a few at the local Model Shop as I chose to let someone else do those as in the too tricky box! Just 29 to go of which 15 sit in the not practical category so they need to go.

I have done one with sound, which is great as its a new 52 Western model.

Peter if you want some old locos / coaches / wagons, let me know & you can have them.



Old HST / class 25,29 and other motors will fit in a dummy car. I have 4 dummy cars that I took out motors from, a very easy job to do. That's how I got a class 24 & 25 that can pull a long train. That's the older shiny wheels ones as the current Hornby Railroad HSTs are the old Lima model. Lots of cheap ones about on ebay

Your story of a broken underframe box reminds me of my Mk1 Restaurant Buffet coach: it's missing one after I tried to do something with it or something. I can't quite remember what it was now!
That's a very kind offer you've made - I don't think I need any trains right now, but if you PM me I'm happy to discuss it
I might look into getting another powered HST powercar for my HST set if I get more coaches. At the moment I'm alright but that might change if I get the Hornby GWR HST set (the RailRoad one - someone's selling the two powercars for £80 online)!

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

Your story of a broken underframe box reminds me of my Mk1 Restaurant Buffet coach: it's missing one after I tried to do something with it or something. I can't quite remember what it was now!
That's a very kind offer you've made - I don't think I need any trains right now, but if you PM me I'm happy to discuss it
I might look into getting another powered HST powercar for my HST set if I get more coaches. At the moment I'm alright but that might change if I get the Hornby GWR HST set (the RailRoad one - someone's selling the two powercars for £80 online)!

-Peter

The Railroad ones are basically the Lima ones and they are not much more than that new! £108 for a train set with centre coach.

Hornby R1230 Starter train set - "GWR High Speed Train"

hattons.co.uk Hornby R1230 Starter train set - "GWR High Speed Train"

www.hattons.co.uk

 

[Peter C]

The Railroad ones are basically the Lima ones and they are not much more than that new! £108 for a train set with centre coach.

Hornby R1230 Starter train set - "GWR High Speed Train"

hattons.co.uk Hornby R1230 Starter train set - "GWR High Speed Train"

www.hattons.co.uk

I think the one I saw on eBay was new as well. Is that coach the proper length or the shorter version? I've read that it might be both. If it's the shorter one I'd be more inclined to buy a proper length and more detailed one from Rails of Sheffield to make it match the two I've already got.

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

I think the one I saw on eBay was new as well. Is that coach the proper length or the shorter version? I've read that it might be both. If it's the shorter one I'd be more inclined to buy a proper length and more detailed one from Rails of Sheffield to make it match the two I've already got.

-Peter

Its the longer Lima version.

I have just bough a 4-car Castle set. The coaches are still in the box as the detail looks very fragile

 

[Peter C]

Its the longer Lima version.

I have just bough a 4-car Castle set. The coaches are still in the box as the detail looks very fragile

Ah OK. I'll look into it then
The one I saw on eBay was just the two powercars, and no track or anything, so I'd be more inclined to go for that one and then get two coaches from Rails of Sheffield to make a consistent set than have different standards of coaches.
The Hornby GWR Mk3s have quite a bit of detail, but as long as you hold it by the underframe section, you'll be alright. None of it should break off (it hasn't broken off mine yet). The couplings you get with them are designed for close-coupling and are very good too.

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

That's how I got a class 24 & 25 that can pull a long train. That's the older shiny wheels ones 43002/43010 as the current Hornby Railroad HSTs are the old Lima model. Lots of cheap ones about on ebay

Ah yes! The old twin engined class 25...
I had a couple that I did that to, it was a very easy conversion to do and gave lots of extra power.
In the end I had one converted like that as well as a standard one permanently paired up and through wired which was great because it gave double the pick-ups and didn’t used to stall over points. They were actually quite nice little models and possibly the best diesel that Hornby made in the 80s, with a bit of extra detail and flush glazing they looked pretty good.

Sometimes those old Hornby motors used to make a horrible screeching sound which you could never get rid of though. Do you remember that?

 

[reddragon]

Ah yes! The old twin engined class 25...
I had a couple that I did that to, it was a very easy conversion to do and gave lots of extra power.
In the end I had one converted like that as well as a standard one permanently paired up and through wired which was great because it gave double the pick-ups and didn’t used to stall over points. They were actually quite nice little models and possibly the best diesel that Hornby made in the 80s, with a bit of extra detail and flush glazing they looked pretty good.

Sometimes those old Hornby motors used to make a horrible screeching sound which you could never get rid of though. Do you remember that?

Yes as did Mainline. They just need oiling, that's all. I have one like that now after the recent hot weather.

 

[Cowley]

Yes as did Mainline. They just need oiling, that's all. I have one like that now after the recent hot weather.

One thing I used to like about that old stuff was that you could easily take it apart and repair it yourself, much like a lot of things in those days.

 

[Peter C]

Oldmoor Junction Model Railway - Update 14
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Thanks to the amazing generosity of @reddragon, the OJMR fleet has recently become a lot bigger with the addition of several older but very interesting locomotives (and a multiple unit!).
I've been playing around with the engines over the past few days and they are all good runners - they need a bit of a service but that's to be expected from older engines. They've also been made that bit better I expect through the purchase of a new Gaugemaster controller - I realised the transformers I thought worked with my Hornby DC controllers don't actually work with them so I've gone for a better controller which will hopefully last a lot longer. It's quite small but makes the engines run really well.


I've taken a few photos of the stock now part of the fleet - now I've got more of each class of engine I can make some scenes reminiscent of days gone by in the British Rail era.

Here's a photo of the OJMR HST fleet:

The two HST power cars furthest away from the camera were on the layout originally and the nearest three are the new additions. The closest one is quite interesting as it is a model of W43002, with a front coupling attached by a previous owner. I think this power car will probably stay as it is, seeing as 43002 was one of my favourite 43s given its special livery in GWR days and the fact that it's been preserved. The other two (second and third away from the camera) are 43010, so they'll be renumbered to give five different numbers as I've currently got 43010 three times!

Here's a photo of the three new Class 37s (circled):


Here's a photo of the two Deltics now part of the fleet:


Here's some of the other engines (front to back: Class 47 (see below), Class 31, GWR Albert Hall, Class 33):


And last, but not least, a comparison between new and old Class 47s, the older (yet newer to the OJMR) one being closest to the camera:


I'll be posting photos and videos about these new members of the OJMR fleet over the next few days/weeks, including my plans for what I'll be doing with them. I hope you find this somewhat interesting!

Thanks for reading,

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

Getting 31226 going again would be nice. As a twin motor Triang loco, double servicing is required, but the pulling power is amazing, enough to pull a nem coupling out!

 

[Peter C]

Getting 31226 going again would be nice. As a twin motor Triang loco, double servicing is required, but the pulling power is amazing, enough to pull a nem coupling out!

I was having a look at it earlier actually and thought it was quite interesting that it had two motors - I've never seen a twin-motor Triang loco before so it's quite a novelty! The motors look to be the same, if not similar, to that of the Class 37 from Triang I've got and had for a while, so hopefully I can get it running again.
I need an engine which can pull quite a long train to go with the long freight train I've made up so it's high on the list of engines to get running!

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

I was having a look at it earlier actually and thought it was quite interesting that it had two motors - I've never seen a twin-motor Triang loco before so it's quite a novelty! The motors look to be the same, if not similar, to that of the Class 37 from Triang I've got and had for a while, so hopefully I can get it running again.
I need an engine which can pull quite a long train to go with the long freight train I've made up so it's high on the list of engines to get running!

-Peter

From my last layout when much younger, I had a big hill, conversions to twin motor was required. I did various Hornbys (motors ex cheap HST power cars you now have without a motor) and this class 31, the beast. Lima locos were fine with extra lead weights! Wrenn were built powerful

 

[Peter C]

From my last layout when much younger, I had a big hill, conversions to twin motor was required. I did various Hornbys (motors ex cheap HST power cars you now have without a motor) and this class 31, the beast. Lima locos were fine with extra lead weights! Wrenn were built powerful

Sounds brilliant! I think my layout is on an incline, but only through the floor and house it's in - the trains seem to struggle going round the curve into the station on the left-hand side.
I did wonder what the weights were in some of the engines - if they're lead I'll have to be a bit more careful when servicing them
-Peter

 

[reddragon]

Sounds brilliant! I think my layout is on an incline, but only through the floor and house it's in - the trains seem to struggle going round the curve into the station on the left-hand side.
I did wonder what the weights were in some of the engines - if they're lead I'll have to be a bit more careful when servicing them
-Peter

They are steel blocks, but lead is much heavier, so my dad used to melt down lead from car wheel balancing blocks and i used them sometimes. Shouldn't be any on those i gave you though as all but the 31 I was given to me by a friend.

 

[Peter C]

They are steel blocks, but lead is much heavier, so my dad used to melt down lead from car wheel balancing blocks and i used them sometimes. Shouldn't be any on those i gave you though as all but the 31 I was given to me by a friend.

Ah OK - thanks for clearing that one up

-Peter

 

[reddragon]

Lead is fine if you don't handle it or try to eat it.

 

[Peter C]

Lead is fine if you don't handle it or try to eat it.

That was what I was thinking - and I don't think, if we're honest, that trying to eat parts of model engines and their weights was high on my list of things to do!

-Peter

 

[Cowley]

Wow.
That’s a really nice thing to do @reddragon, and knowing Peter he’s going to very much enjoy using all of that.
I think I see a railway extension looming...