Track layout begins

I have a basic track plan which is based on Beattock, somewhat modified to fit on a practical-length baseboard. I’ve used XtrkCAD as a planning tool, which has been okay to use.

The photos below show Board 1, which involves the southerly approach to the station. I’m checking whether the plan can accommodate one or two Class 439 tanks in the banker siding – great news, as it can actually hold three!

The Class 439 tanks are, of course, hacked Dapol M7s – not accurate but close enough for now and they look the part. Also, there’s only one tank currently, but eventually I’ll have three or four.

Operationally, the sequence goes something like this:

1. The banker runs down the hill from Summit in reverse (cab first), through the station (Up platform) and over the trailing crossover.
2. It then pulls forward over the crossover onto the Down line.
3. It then reverses over another crossover onto the siding.
4. It then pulls forward past the crossover, where it waits in turn.
5. When its turn comes, it pulls forward from the siding and drops onto the back of the train waiting in the station.
6. It remains uncoupled, and gives two crows from the whistle. Two crows are returned by the train engine at the front. A further crow from the banker is sounded, and it begins to push the train from the rear. At the same time, the train engine starts pulling, and the whole train moves off.
7. After reaching the Summit the banker drops off the tail of the train, while the train carries on, to coast done the other side of the bank. The banker crosses over onto the Up line and coasts down the bank, where the sequence begins again.

I worked this out from a mixture of photos, LMS rule book procedures, deducing tank movements from the track plan, and some relevant articles (which are few and far between on this specific subject). It may not be completely accurate but it’s the best I have at the moment.

The most complete source (though not entirely thorough) is Mullay & Coleford's article on the Moffat branch operations in Railway Bylines (March 2000), which, in a useful digression, explains the role and operational procedures of the bankers.

Turntable at Beattock

What's a suitable turntable to use? The obvious choice is the Peco NB55 model, and according to the catalogue is "based on a Ransome and Rapier 73ft well type turntable, supplied to many railways both at home and overseas." In other words, it's generic.

The turntable deck is 151mm (6.1 inches) diameter. It's just too big to fit comfortably on the layout, according to XtrkCad. The turntable at Beattock was "a balanced 54ft unit from Cowans Sheldon nearby at Carlisle" (source: LMS Engine Sheds, Vol 5). So it was 19ft (36mm in N gauge) smaller than the Peco effort. It was probably only used to turn banking engines - a Duchess or similar would never have fitted on it.

Re pictures, there aren't any. The only source I have is my North from Carlisle video (B&R videos, vol 33) which has a scene where they turn CR439 class 55234 prior to towing it off to be scrapped. You can see that it's a well-type table, but barely long enough to squeeze the tank onto.

My plan, such as it is, is to buy a secondhand Peco version on eBay and cut it down. I suspect I'll need a few goes at this, hence using the cheap option.

***Update: the video source is Cinerail's North From Carlisle, not B&R.

Installing a decoder in a Dapol M7

This is my first foray into DCC decoder fitting, and I’m pretty much a beginner in soldering and general delving into the innards of a loco. So I started with much trepidation.

Why the M7? Well, in my mind it's not an M7 at all, but an ex-Caledonian 0-4-4 Class 439 that worked as bankers at Beattock. Since there's no RTR version or kit available the M7 is the closest I can get without scratch-building (one day perhaps...).

The basic conversion approach is that described in Railway Modeller June 2006 by Roger Miller. Some of the pictures in the article are unclear (they were to me anyway) so I've included my own here.

The basic steps are:

 

Remove the body from the chassis, and clamp the chassis in a vice or similar (I used one of those crocodile clip stand things).

  

I used a Digitrax DZ125, bought for £17 from Digitrains.

  

I used a pointed soldering iron tip, for accuracy.

  

First step: unsolder the suppressor coils. There are two, and they come away quite easily by applying the soldering iron.

  

A removed suppressor coil.

  

Removing both coils it looks like this.

  

Then unsolder the capacitors (those little orange blobs). Here's the prepared chassis resting on the handle of my wire cutters.

  

You need to remove the yellow and white wires from the chip. No going back now...

  

Solder the wires, one at a time, ensuring the bond is strong (ie it stands a gentle tug - don't yank it!).

  

The chassis with all four wires soldered on.

 

On the test track, set the chip ID to the loco number (or whatever convention you're using). Amazingly, my effort worked first time. I noticed that the loco now crawls around the test track at speeds much slower than I could get using DC.