The Chiltern Model Railway Exhibition

A quick visit to The Chiltern Model Railway Exhibition in Stevenage on the 14/01/2017 as I was on a mission and the halls were rammed full I made for Megapoints controllers and purchased the servo controller. A short while later I bumped into a fellow club member who told me that TTCdiecast had some not to be missed show bargains. I could not resist so I purchased Hornby 6947 Helmingham Hall a good sized locomotive for Pix Valley. Back home on to Ebay and ordered 10 micro servos for £13.50 more to follow on the signalling.

Lima Mk 1 coach lighting a more elegant solution

A small circuit that will work equally as well on DC or DCC

Components required:-

BR1 1 amp bridge rectifier

R1 2k ½ Watt resistor

C1  4.7 uF Radial Electrolytic Capacitor 

Cheap Lima Mk 1 coach lighting

Pix valley is a DCC heritage layout, with that in mind 5M White 300 SMD 12V LED flexible strip Purchased from Ebay at around £ 6.00. This is easily cut to length with sharp scissors. A strip of brass shim 3 cm by .6 cm needs to be cut as shown in the photograph and fixed to the bogie with short 2mm screws.

A length of the LED flexible strip is cut to the required length and taped to a piece of wood covering the solder pads the whole length is sprayed with white undercoat and finally a top coat of yellow. The wiring is fed though the bogie soldered to the LED strip with a 1K ohm resistor in series. Carefully sticking the LED strip to the roof of the coach; the result is a rather pleasing warm light.

There is a small bleed of light from the top of the body and roof that will need addressing. 

Arlesworth 30 foot platform extension.

Something I have been planning for a while now is the platform extension at Arlesworth. In a major feat of engineering the whole of the platform was lifted and moved 30 ft to allow a new section to be inserted. Now I can eventually install some signalling but more of that later I have some research on type and positioning of the signals.