Simon M

No Rules for me -I just like running these great scale little loco’s around and the fun of modelling/creating my own little world - BUT I am leaning towards Era 7/8 as ties in with my younger teenage years - love my little blue 08 and HST swift, Class 50 on order so may have to move on my Flying Scotsman and William Whitelaw to make space for more in future 😉

Yes. Agree, once I got it back in I could not see how it could have come out, unless it wasn’t in correctly in the first place. good luck if you have a go yourself

Hi David, I had this exact issue on my HST swift, managed to fix myself and not had any issues since, posted on here - hopefully link below:

I’m having the same issues with my Mk3’s, they don’t seem so freely moving (the hook mechanism) when compared to my Mk1’s. for me the uncoupling happens at the same place on the layout which happens to be a turn out point. I think as I use seep motors the pin is sitting slightly proud which then pushes the bow and uncouples. It must be very fine margins as 3 out of my 4 Mk’s go over ok, but same coupling is nearly always affected. Definitely something different with these Mk3’s though, all Mk1’ Pullmans, Maroons and Custards and Wagons no issues, stated swapping some around now to try and cure.

So following Richard’s excellent tutorial I have done my 4 mk3’s this week and it works a treat. my slight tweaks - used a bridge rectifier instead of 4 diodes, used a 330uf capacitor (just fits in) and increased the resistor value as I found it a bit to bright (and I am running my rails at 18v) also as the 1st and buffet have orange seats, as opposed to blue in the others I found the light colour from outside was too different, so I removed the orange seats by the 2 screws and sprayed them a similar blue to the others. Job done 👍 will probably have a go at my mark 1’s next as now have all the components.

Running my HST swift today and smiling all the way, then after stopping, then trying to pull away could hear motor spinning but not moving. Uncoupled coaches and tried again with only slight movement so on closer inspection the front bogie was spinning but nothing on the back. Opened it up to find a drive shaft loose in the body shell. assume the “proper” way to refit would be to remove the motor bracket and lift the motor to get enough clearance to slot back in, but I couldn’t get the motor to budge and didn’t want to force it. The shaft is a made of nylon/plastic so there is some flex, so managed by full lock on bogie and flexing shaft slightly to re locate. all back together and working again remembering the small clear washers ! no idea how it managed to pop out but thought I would post here as many help if happens to anyone else. i did think it would be a return to Hornby, but fortunately maned to sort myself.

Actually you do! Picture makes it look much worse than it actually is - on the joins there is a slight dip hence the height difference. Should have taken picture on better section of layout 🙄, another job to the list, straighten the joins( on the plus side I get no derails on any of my Loco’s or rolling stock) so not all bad.

Will check mine again later - could be track imperfections causing difference in height as my photo above is where baseboards join where the power unit is on one side and the first coach is on the other

Yes they do, and as there is constant power to the rails the dummy lights are always on moving or stationary

Got my HST and 4 Mk3’s today and 1 decoder (explanation below) - I know others have already said, but these models are fantastic, really impressed with the detail. anyway, quick check on DC to check runs freely then opened up to fit HM7k decoder, lifted cover to check motor wires on flywheel (thanks Richard) and fitted single decoder and speaker, routing wires to avoid screw (thanks Peachy). Paired up, updated and all good to go so been running in this evening. so I have it running with one decoder, blanking plate left in dummy and still get lights on Dummy though will are not directional i.e. they will stay on same colour irrespective of whether your going forwards or backwards, suits my needs at the moment as majority of time being pulled and happy as sound from front is more than ample and saves expense of 2nd decoder, but will see how we go - I may well add later and definitely be adding a stay alive and coach lights 😉

Woodland Scenics medium grey (B82) for me too, just need to weather it now.

Yes exactly that - 5mm foam board, spray adhesive to stick to base board. Easy to work with, cut etc. packs of 10 or twenty sheets from Amazon or craft shops

Updated photo now the 4th loop on upper level added(challenging as panels need to be removable for access to tunnel sections, so had to overcome power and point motors connectivity) All ballasted and all points now motorised controlled by a combination of HM6010 for the yards and traditional switched CDU on the loops. Next job adding street lighting and continue with the scenics, oh and soon will have an HST there ;o)

Hi, these are the download printable ones from Scalescenes - 00 version printed at 63% to get to TT scale. time I added an updated picture as added a 4th raised level loop now

Hi, absolutely happy to help with anything I’ve learnt over thrash few months - I used RailModeller Express to do the initial design as I use a MacBook so was limited, plus the free version only allows 50 elements/ track pieces per lay out so did several plans e.g each loop but duplicated the points/joins between each loop to ensure alignment was correct.