I often have requests on maintaining HD locos and another was received very recently. Ron Dodds has produced a series of videos on Youtube which explains how to do just about everything you need to know to service and repair your locos. The videos have been mentioned on the posts before but now I have added links to each video in the Links section to make it easier to watch the video on the subject you need.

These are the most useful videos for anyone running HD 3 rail and so much better than words and diagrams as you can work whilst you watch pausing the video at the critical times.

Brilliant

For his significant birthday we bought the boy a new camera, body only and that was expensive, his lady bought the lenses and in return I got his old camera and some lenses plus a tripod. I have never had a dslr before so it was time to take some photos of the layout.

My first efforts are below, I need time to get used to the camera but at least they are in focus. Click on the picture to view it full size.

I think that there will be more posts like this as I play with my new toy.

Just thought that I would post a few pictures and update the latest activity.

The first picture is of a GWR scene features in the foreground a Graham Farish large Prairie. I have had this for a while but its always been an indifferent runner if it ran at all. I finally traced the problem to the commutator segments being filled with dirt and crud. A fine toothpick to clean out the grooves worked a treat and now its a reliable runner but not all that fast. The middle loco is a Gaiety body on a HD 0-6-0T chassis which has been 3 railed. The rear loco is another Graham Farish but this time an 0-6-0T.

Probably my favourite HD loco is the 2-6-4T and I have many variants on this theme. On ebay I spotted a repainted one renumbered as 80098 which is one that is currently awaiting overhaul at the Midland Railway after a long service on the railway. I won it with a low bid and when it arrived was mostly disappointed as the chassis was really rough with the wheels not being in gauge, the motion was broken on one side and it was a pretty grim runner. The repaint though was not at all bad despite the number on one side being a bit wonky. I worked on it and got it to run OK but was not really happy so I started looking for a chassis for it. Well that got me bidding on the low side for complete engines. Most I lost as I wasn’t prepared to go very high. But I did win an 80054 which was in good condition and ran well so I just added it to the collection. Then came another repaint this time in blue (Caledonian Blue?) and I won that at an even lower price. The blurb stated that it needed a repaint but that it ran well. In fact the paint job is not bad at all but it had no handrails and no numbers. The handrails have been added from an old body and I think that it looks OK and has been added to the fleet. 80098 remains as it was still running but without its replacement chassis. I had better stop bidding for complete locos unless the body is a basket case.

The pictures shows 80098 with its broken running gear alongside the blue version

There is a similar story with a Bo-Bo. Sometime ago I won a Playcraft Class 29 diesel which had been fitted with a Bo-Bo chassis. Now Playcraft is HO but in fact this fitted in well with the other diesels and was added to the fleet. It had been repainted with full yellow ends and with the Bo-Bo chassis runs very well and pulls 4  or 5 coaches with ease. When I won this it came with a “free” original Class 29 in two rail in original condition. So look for a chassis and fit it under this one as 3 railing it looked difficult. Now ebay people like to break up locos and sell body and chassis separately but with the aim of getting more for it than fo the complete engine. So lots of low bids on complete engines with most being lost but one came up. Low price nice repaint of a Wrenn body but the chassis is very noisy. I have got it running as best as I can but do I put the chassis under the Class 29? Currently its added to the Bo-Bo fleet.

I started my 3 rail layout with 3 small ovals and 3 HD A3 controllers which worked fine. There was a great deal of correspondence on the web and the HRCA that these controllers should be handled with care as the mains leads could perish and cause problems with the controllers with the fabric covered mains leads being the most vulnerable. I added a mains trip.

When I started my extensions to two of the lines I switched to an H&M Duette being slightly newer but still behind the mains trip. This did not last that long before it had problems and this was changed to two H&M Clippers. These have the added advantage of being 12V and 1.5 amps allowing a little more oomph for some of the engines.

Over the years I have kept with these but they gave up fairly regularly and as they are sealed with rivets not screws I have been reluctant to delve inside. This came to a head over the last winter when one failed early on, was replaced and this one failed as well after a few months. Time to break out of the circle.

So to the Rolls Royce version. Why Rolls Royce – it does what any controller does, controls the trains, but it does it in an immaculate fashion, it’s hand built to order and its a work of art as well as totally functional. oh and by the way its expensive.  I never thought that HD trains did slow running but with this controller they will crawl very realistically. It has enough power 15V and 3 Amps to run the most reluctant of engines and with the separate amp and volt meters it is also possible to gauge the health of the engines by the amps they are pulling whilst running.

The controller is made by Allister Hughes of Superneomagnets  and although I always buy my magnets off him I have no other connection except as a very satisfied customer. We spend lots of money on engines and rolling stock and use very old controllers because we know no better. Now having a modern one I have smooth performance, excellent slow running and more power than I know what to do with. The transformation of the running experience is huge I just wish that I had bit the bullet before. It has a separate transformer which I have tucked away behind the control panel. I also ordered the optional hand controllers so that I can shunt in the sidings on both lines – very convenient.

It is very interesting that so far experimenting with some of my engines the Triang Winston Churchill pulls nearly 1 amp when pulling 3 coaches whereas most HD engines are below .25 amps when pulling normal trains. The 8F, which has always been a slow runner, shows that it needs some 13- 14 volts to run at normal speeds. All very interesting but not really sure what it means but you can never have too much information.

Now what do I do with the three ancient Marklin controllers and the A3 controller which still manages the small oval?

I expected the new controller this week but there seems to a minor delay before it is shipped.

Here is a teaser pic

The boy recently converted a Wrenn LMS R1 loco to 3 rail running. This is my fourth R1 in various liveries. These locos have very light plastic bodies and with the addition of the 3 rail skid are just about able to pull one coach and a van or 4 plastic goods trucks. This is perfectly OK for branchline running and I have run that way since I had the layout.

But in the course of the conversion we had two engines running together and so we progressed to see what they would pull. The two engines were able to pull a 7 0r 8 wagon goods train or 3 SD carriages. So a real case of double heading where a single engine can’t pull the train so a second engine is added, a fairly common practise in steam days and now taken to extremes in the US with up to 6 diesels connected to the same train, sometimes 4 up the front with 2 pushing and in some cases even a couple of engines in the middle.

I have a collection of small engines mostly converted from Triang or modern Hornby which all suffer from the R1 problem – plastic body plus skate giving minimal haulage capability. Well along comes double heading and they will now pull my standard goods and passenger trains. A real game changer in running more interesting stuff.

All double heading has been done on my sole remaining H&M controller but I will try it with an A3 and then comes the new controller which is due next week.

Spring is here and the clocks have sprung forward – more time in the garden less in the train shed.

A lot of running over the winter but little in the way of layout changes or for that matter new rolling stock. The running has had the unfortunate affect of causing some of the converted engines to give up the ghost. Two Farish models an 0-6-0 PT succombed and the large Praire tank also stopped running plus the Triang dock shunter. They have all been placed in the dead loco box as they are not worth getting repaired. I will have a go during the Summer but I am not hopeful. Also I had two of the H & M controllers fail. These are fairly easy to come by but they are old and probably the same will happen again so I have bitten the bullet and ordered a new double controller from the chap who sells the Neo magnets listed in the links.

Expensive but hopefully worth it. It is built to order and will take a few weeks to arrive. I will post pictures and running performance when I get it.

Update April 6th – Yet another loco dead. The converted Bachman 2-6-2 standard tank has broken its front driving wheel and has locked solid, No chance of resurrecting this one, Shame as it looked good but would not pull much of a load. Perhaps I should concentrate on HD locos and not this modern converted stuff.

Could the contributor to David’s Layout please contact me through the comments section as I have lost his email address

A great deal of running but not a lot of purchasing. I have only bought two engines since Winston Churchill. An additional Bo-Bo and I am waiting on a 2-6-4T renumbered as 80098. These were excellent value and could be used for spares but at the moment they are runners and running.

The problem is I am running out of space as I make it a rule that all runners are present on the layout and available to run whenever required. No storing  in boxes and getting them out when required – not my way of operating.

Perhaps an extension………………

I received a request on running Marklin and HD on the same track. I do this. Each track has a HD controller and a Marklin controller. The Marklin trains will run one way only using the HD controller and will not reverse. The HD trains will not run with the Marklin controllers and could damage the motors.

I have added the types of conversion methods to the page entitled Three Rail Conversions