Freemo, BL2s and Baldwins..

There has been a fair bit of progress lately. (including a new video uploaded to Youtube).

The Freemo modules I described in the last post are pretty much built - adjustable feet were installed yesterday. I'm going along to a Freemo meet at Armitage tomorrow of the 'Midlands' group to see what it's all about. Never done anything like this before, so quite keen to find out. There will be handful of modules as it's a new and small group, but there will pictures to follow! I'm taking one of the boards to make sure I'm building properly, and I'll take a few bits of stock and my controller. Hopefully by the next meet I can actually add a module of my own to the set-up.

It occurred to me that I have never 'played trains' with anyone. Although I have made some friends through the hobby, and share lots of online and 'real' conversation, I've never actually operated a layout with anyone else. So far, that part of the hobby has been a very solitary activity. I have been offered the controller at one or two layouts at exhibitions before and always declined - mostly through fear of mucking up or driving someone else's trains off the table!

I've really enjoyed getting back in to my other hobby lately, and the social aspect of wargaming has re-vitalised that for me, so I am riding that wave for now!

As far as track plans go - I am applying the KISS principle and I aim to produce two stand-alone modules. I'll do a separate post on that once track-laying starts.. for now, bits of foamcore and felt pens have helped me to plan..

As well as the Freemo modules - I got stuck in with the BL2. I found a cheap decoder (probably Hornby or Bachmann) which I managed to get hooked up, along with a couple of LEDs and the loco has been put to service on it's first run to Brett this evening.

#36 switching a long string out of Northwest Lumber

I'll get some BL2 video posted soon. I really do like this loco and can see me looking for another BL2 at some point.

Speaking of new locos - I sold a bunch of stuff on eBay lately and treated myself to  a new sound-equipped loco.. I love the thereby old diesel sound of this, and the fact that it's a little different.. the model is a Bowser - Baldwin DS4-4-1000 switcher..

The Baldwin

Phew! I think that's enough for one post!

BL-2 and Split Gears

Despite telling myself that I didn't really want to take on any 'projects' as such, today I am introducing a potential new member of the YPRR fleet - a BL-2, lately in the service of the Monon Railroad.

 

This was a cheap speculative purchase from ebay. The model is an older Lifelike Proto 2K and needs some work, but I have always liked these ever since I first saw a picture of one, and have hankered after one for a while. 


The BL-2 is considered to be an 'ugly duckling' and a failed experiment at creating a 'branch line' engine that was a road switcher. The odd shape of the body sides was to allow the crew to view along the body, something that couldn't be done with the big road units 'F' types etc.. but ultimately a number of other designs with walkways which allowed crews to cover the length of the loco during switching without having to constantly dismount, proved more popular. There were other reasons too, I'm sure.

Despite it's lack of success, or perhaps because if it, I like it! (always a champion of the underdog, me!) Actually, I intend to get a Ford Edsel to park outside Smith & Hogg.

As to this model, I gave it a run on my test track - it is DC and will need chipping but wanted to make sure it was a runner. The motor is actually nice and smooth but there was definitely an audible thunk and a little stutter in it's gait. I suspected that this was the infamous P2K split gear issue. The internet came up trumps here in describing exactly what this meant, and how easy it was to remedy. I happened to have a later P2K GP18 that has been causing me issues for a while, so I decided to swap out the wheelsets. Although the replacements are slightly smaller in diameter, they actually look okay and the engine runs very well now.

It turned out that 3 of the 4 axles were affected, tiny little hairline splits that I most likely would have never noticed if I wasn't looking for them.

So the next big step is to convert this to DCC. Ideally I'd like to install sound. Initial investigation suggests either the Loksound Select (recommended by a friend), or the cheaper Digitrax SDXH166D.. before I choose either, I need to be confident that I understand the electrics on board and make sure that I identify anything that needs isolating. Someone has already swapped the lights and done some modification, so I'm just in the process of working out what goes where!

I shall upload a short video in a while.