Continuation of my effort to have a running locomotive (2)

S

Sarah Winfield

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Sitting in my lounge I have a short length of LGB track on the floor with a running DCC powered 0-4-0 LGB red and green locomotive sitting on the rails.

I am very grateful to all those who have helped me from a far and also to Bachmann for their assistance.

The locomotive was bought off ebay as a partially running one (it apparently would go one way but not both). It seems that, in fact, it is quite versatile.

I'm really quite pleased because I bought it as it was a good price and I was prepared to try and sort something out, even if it meant modifying it for DC.

This is my first ever running DCC locomotive of any sort and I now look forward to growing my track and running another locomotive on the same piece of track and experience the advantages of DCC.

Thank you again.

Sarah Winfield
 
That's great to hear, Sarah - so did Bachmann come up with the answers that allowed you to get the loco running on your EZ Command system? Was it just a case of reprogramming the loco address number?

Jon.
 
Jon, basically yes. I needed a piece of track and to understand in my own mind what I was doing. The loco now sit on my on my window sill waiting some additional track.

A couple of questions again if I may, please?
1) Is the rail used on LGB track all the same height?
2) Will my 0-4-0 negotiate the smallest radius of LGB points?
2) What is the distance between two parallel tracks when using LGB short points?

Thank you.

Sarah
 
Answers are:

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. 9 and 5/8 inches if you have manual point switches between the two tracks or don't bother with point switches and just set the points by pushing the track across. If you have the manual point switches outside the track, add 2 inches per side, so one switch outside the two tracks add 2 inches and add 4 inches if both are outside.
 
Totally agree on (1) and (2) - in fact ANY loco that LGB has ever made will negotiate the smallest (R1) points.
Re question (3), Playmo's answers are correct for the overall width to the outside of the sleeper ends on both tracks - between track CENTRE-LINES the spacing is approx. 165mm (about 6 1/2 inches).

Jon.
 
Here you go: roughly 25cm measuring the outside of the sleepers
DSCN4579a.jpg


As has been said, the manual point lever adds about 5cm:
DSCN4581a.jpg
 
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Sarah, I think you've said earlier that your window-sill space is about 11" wide? So, I'm assuming that the reason for question (3) is to know if you can run two parallel tracks joined by a crossover of two Radius 1 points in that width..... the answer to that is YES, but you may have to have the "front" track right up at the at the edge of the board so that there is enough clearance for rolling stock on the "rear" track nearest to the window - if you try to centralise the two tracks on your 11" available width, then you may find there isn't enough width for the locos and stock on the rear line.
Don't forget that as locos and rolling stock negotiate the crossover between the tracks, there will be a certain amount of overhang as the corners of the stock go round the curve of the points - not a huge amount if you stick to short locos and 4-wheel wagons/coaches, but even they will swing out a little and this needs to be allowed for.

Jon.
 
Jon makes a good point (no pun intended!): the rolling stock will overhang the edges of the sleepers even on straight track, such that the total width is around your 11". You'll definitely need to set the front track at the edge of the windowsill.
DSCN4592a.jpg
 
Back when I lived in Leagrave near Luton I had a very small LGB Layout on top of a Bookshelf. The Bookshelf was made of 1ft Wide Melamine. It had a Run Round so that extra Inch does make all the difference with space. Simple thought, you could just plonk a length pf 1ft Wide Melamine on your Window Ledge to get that extra vital width. You then might just have space for two sidings and a bit of Shunting could be indulged in. Have a look at this site for some inspiration:-

http://www.carendt.com

There are some G Layouts, but other Gauges Plans could be used.

JonD
 
Thank you JonD. I had thought about a length of 2 x 1 long enough to fit the space and which I could remove when not using the layout.

I'll enjoy the web site when I have time to fully read it.

Thank you also to all those who have contributed to my thread and for the photographs.

Sarah
 
ntpntpntp said:
Jon makes a good point (no pun intended!): the rolling stock will overhang the edges of the sleepers even on straight track, such that the total width is around your 11". You'll definitely need to set the front track at the edge of the windowsill.
View attachment 212740
Click to expand...
Sarah's house may have wide window cills :confused::confused::confused:

However, good to hear that trains are running :clap::clap::clap:
 
I have another question regarding my little running layout, please.

When I adjust the speed knob on the EZ controller, the locomotive starts quite quickly (in other words there isn't a nice smooth start) and similarly when turning the knob to bring the locomotive to a stop it does so suddenly. Between the stop and start the speed does vary as the knob is adjusted.

This is unfortunate and I wondered if this was usual either with this locomotive or the controller?

Otherwise I'm quite happy just to chug it up and down on my 4ft of track.

Many thanks,

Sarah
 
That sounds rather odd, Sarah - one of the plus points of DCC is that it SHOULD allow very controlled low-speed running, you should be able to have the loco barely crawling along at speed step 1. It might possibly be something to do with whatever settings are programmed into the decoder - there may be a bit of starting delay on it, in which case you might be thinking that nothing is happening and keep turning the controller knob up..... try turning the controller just a very small amount, and then wait a couple of seconds to see if the loco starts to move after a small delay.

Jon.
 
Rhinochugger said:
Sarah's house may have wide window cills :confused::confused::confused: ............
Click to expand...

Sarah did say quite early on that this particular sill was 11" wide (by around 8' in length).....

Sarah - I'm presuming you actually want to build a "micro-layout" that fits on the window sill, so will be using a length of board placed on the sill anyway...? As has been suggested before, if you can get that board cut to just a little bit wider than the sill itself, even by an inch or two, that would give you some extra clearance room - 12" width would be good, and anything up to 15" even better!

Any good DIY store (B&Q, Homebase etc) will have board-cutting facilities so you don't have to do the job yourself - and as 8' (OK, a very near metric equivalent - 2400mm?) is a standard sheet length for things like MDF or Chipboard you'd just have to buy a suitable piece and get them to cut it down to whatever width you want. You can always get them to cut it again to two 4' lengths if the full 8' is difficult to transport home.

Jon.
 
Thank you for your swift response Jon. (It has come through on my email)

I have tried following your suggestions though it still begins with an sudden start rather than a nice slow build up in speed.

I'll try videoing it and post it on the site.

Is it easy to add a video to a post please?

Sarah
 
This sudden start, stop, was common in quite a few locos fitted with chips by Lgb too and partly responsible for some of the gear stripping the HSB 2-10-2's suffered so probably the chip you have doing the same.
I stopped it on all mine by putting a value of 5 or more in cv3 acceleration and cv4 deceleration. Does the ez command allow basic programming?
 
I do enjoy reading your responses and I'm really grateful for your continued interest.

The actual size of the sill is 10' x 11". It is cut into an alcove and the length of the inner part of the U shape is 8'2". I think with some hinged supports I can place a piece of wood 8'2" long x say 4" wide to increase the 11" to 15".

I am unable to have a permanent installation and will have to dismantle the track when I get visitors, not that that should happen very often.

As funds increase I might be able to lay some track in my garden though once again it cannot be permanent.

As far as the Bachmann EZ is concerned, Paul, I do not think the unit has any programming capabilities.

Sarah

PS. I meant to ask, would it help if I were to measure the output of the EZ controller to see if it jumps causing the sudden start? I do have a digital meter.
 
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