Almost finished!
I've just got to add the crew who are currently being painted, but the Castle has seen a few hours running.
Here it is this evening with a pair of Vale Of Rheidol coaches.
View attachment 284512
I have now finished the cab with a reverser, floor and hinged fall plate (is that what it's called?!) and some very uncomfortable looking tip up seats.
View attachment 284513
And the tender has had a few more details added inside, as well as a load of coal.
View attachment 284514
View attachment 284515
And as it passed through Canoe Bay we briefly had an all Great Western line up
View attachment 284516
View attachment 284517
I've spent quite a bit of time working on the smoke. This evening in the low evening sunlight we did catch some glimpses of the smoke which was nice, but as expected the volume is about 1% of what you're really want...
First I was getting hardly any smoke at all. I discovered that the smoke heater voltage settings were wrong - the decoder instructions stated a top voltage of 10v on the heater, but the specs supplied with the generator said 15v - I duly increased the top voltage and got smoke.
Second problem, the fan wasn't working - or maybe occasionally worked. I took it apart a couple of times - poked, prodded and cleaned a bit which improved it and finally deduced that one of the solder joints from motor to PCB was not good - reflowed the solder and now it works reliably.
I don't know why I am surprised, but the fan assisted smoke generator is no more than a heater and a fan - nothing else on the circuit board at all! We probably won't use the smoke much - maybe just when the light is right and there's no wind - but it is nice when you catch it puffing in time with the chuffs.
The YouChoos sound is another story. It's my second sound decoder, the first being in my GWR Railcar - the drone of a diesel I find just disturbs the peace so I don't use it much, but the Castle sounds lovely - it would be a shame to run without it. I don't enjoy the sound of the steam pumps much - particularly not when stationary, so delving into the CV's I discovered I have a great deal of control over the sounds - so I just turned that off.
It runs very nicely overall. I think the Thomas motor block which it is based on is not the best - though it is much improved by removing the waggling eyes mechanism and adding a decent amount of weight. I also have pickups in the tender via LGB ball bearing wheels, so conductivity is no problem at all. The front bogie so far is running very nicely, and the crossheads and slidebars are working fine and don't seem to impede running. I had a little squeak to begin from somewhere, but a drop of oil on all the moving parts has cured that.
I going to try and make a decent video of it once I've got the crew in - so you can hear the sounds and maybe even see the smoke if you're lucky!
Perhaps most importantly this little chap is very pleased with our new engine!
View attachment 284518
1
1