Thursday 17th December

Worklist:
Continue testing track
Form yard siding extension
Complete plastering of tunnel interior

The layout was set-up and Laurence supplied some loco's for testing. One diesel in particular caught Stephen's attention - one he wasn't familiar with. It ran 'alright', but was occasionally a little 'tardy' and even seemed to disobey the direction it was sent. Geoff overheard his misgivings and asked if it was a DCC enabled loco, which Laurence denied, then queried himself. However, the letters DCC on the bottom gave it away. Geoff explained that DCC loco's displayed exactly the features noted when run on standard analogue powered track. As the loco was unlikely to run in DCC mode it was suggested the chip be removed and replaced with a blanking-chip, which Geoff supplied. After replacement, the loco performed perfectly!

During a previous running session, Stephen had expressed concern about retrieving wagons from the yard siding as it was easy to become 'trapped' between the buffer and magnet. As there was a road beyond, he suggested an extension be formed across the road. Geoff wasn't too enthusiastic about having such an unprototypical feature, but suggested the track run up to the long wall, with an arch and a pair of dummy doors. All agreed, and he got on with the job.

Rails across the road

Overview

A plasticard arch and trial piers. Only small loco's would go into the house grounds.

Stephen progressed with his work on the tunnel interior, which needed additional areas of plaster before it could be painted. Once applied, the set of led lights were tested. These had been made-up several months previously, in fact, probably just after last Christmas, as they were Wilkinson Christmas decorations! The wires had been twisted together and painted black. The led surrounds were painted to reduce the size of each 'bulb'. Only about half were needed and they were mounted on a scale 'plank', to be fixed to the wall side, once the tunnel was painted. These lights will be powered from the new DC supply, and via a voltage regulator and switch - the first use of the power feed.

Tunnel mouth