Most enjoyable Charlie, and welcome food for thought at the half way point of my enforced 14 week lockdown. Your videos always seem to have a lovely casual appearance of good clean fun and modelling....just as it should be. Stay safe Cheers, Bob
Charlie your videos are great and your a credit to the hobby and RU-vid. The way you present is outstanding. Not only do viewers get to learn new tricks, they also see what could go wrong. It feels to me like your not on the screen infront of me but that kind of a feeling Im in a club meeting with everyone interacting. Well done mate and thanks for all the tips you share, and the time you take to do all this. The look in your face that somthing works is just as much a suprise and joy to you as it is to us. 🤣🤣🤣
The Cabling and Board numbering makes perfect sense. Your numbering system is like how it's done in a lot of Electrical wiring systems. You name a panel and then cables that have 24 cores... You name the cable by the panel name and then the wires inside are numbered internally 1 - 24 from the factory. So your wiring becomes automatically named and numbered eventually. so Panels PS1 and PQ3 are linked so the cable name is PS1-PQ3 and cables inside are PS1 1-24 and PQ3 1-24 so your naming is automatic eventually. So your cross board numbering would be B1 - B2 ...
I had one box car that would derail on only one of the 30 points (turnouts). Turned out to be the wheel spacing was to close on 2 of the wheel sets on the one of the trucks. Mind you this was a brand new out of the box freight car. After several attempts to adjust them I was able to get it working. To make things easier in the future, I broke down and purchased an NMRA Track Gauge RP-2. Hated to spend the $18 on a piece of metal but it has helped tremendously and saves a lot of aggravation. Thank you for the video.
Trains running??!!! 😱😱😱 Fair play Charlie. I bet that was a really good moment for you. Those train look great running especially on the scenic sections. Ha e a good week and look fwd to next weeks update. 👍👍👍
Once this is all done and all the automation is set up, this is gonna be a real nice layout, doubt youl get bored of this one charlie, dont rush anything mate take as much time as you can on each individual part, the end result will reward you and us massively. quick tip, when you build your station, fit a small loco speaker and a spare decoder in it with train announcements, it works bloody brill!
March 13th, on your 'New Terminal Blocks' video, I posted a comment. I was supposed to get back to you with a link for the 'Wago' levered connectors. Huge apologies, was stupidly busy with one thing and an other, then events overtook us. I have been 'Locked-down' at home, and 'Locked-in' at work (not even let out for lunch, but to compensate for that, we took an hour off the working day). It has all been very surreal. For eight weeks, I've had no sense of the time of day whilst at work, and no idea what day it is either, this is not an exaggeration. I have every sympathy for those on the front line, experiencing similar, but under extreme stress also. I have now been furloughed, hallelujah! Glad to see you went for the ferrules, they will make life so much easier, and will come into their own, when say replacing a point motor, upside down, and out of sight, or any modifications for that matter. You'd probably given up on me, and researched Wagos yourself, but if not, please let me know, I'll do the leg work, I owe you that. Nice to see your layout coming to life. I think I detected a glint in your eye. Hope to get there myself sooner rather than later. I've acquired plenty of trains (once I got started, I found it hard to stop), but sadly have no where for a layout, permanent or otherwise. Mike
Good going, Charlie. I've also had issues with a couple of Bachmann Mk1's too in the past, a mixture of back-to-back and over-complicated coupling mechanisms! Got there in the end.
Charlie I've been following you for awhile and I must say your efforts are impressive. While I am in the US so some of your items aren't always available but for the most part I can find a substitute. In particular the terminal blocks with the jumpers, I found on Aliexpress similar blocks but without the jumpers. Your episode on using them instead of dropping hot solder on oneself convinced me to drop my bus bar of a heavy solid copper wires to using the terminal blocks. I considered the using spades but decided it was simpler to simply tin the ends of the twisted copper. Thanks keep up the excellent work!
Brilliant to see some trains running. I find getting the trains back in operation after a period of layout downtime really ramps up the inspiration and motivation. Looking forward to more train operations and the layout progressing.
Resetting the sanity threshold. It was the first bit of advice an “expert” Gave me. Get a loop or in my case I now have my previous layout done so when you have weeks of working away and just want to watch a train go around if you atleast join some scrap track up like this or have your first loop done you can release the frustration and watch a train go around. Great release. And you can refocus and take your time getting back to it. BUT the important lesson as Charlie mentions is the opportunity to test for things that might need fixing for me ensuring large coaches or freightliner containers can navigate the scenery clearly. Class act Charles stay safe
Great idea Charlie, just making a temporary extension so you can run trains. My layout is 5m x 3.5m which I built in Lockdown 1 after being away from the hobby for half a century. The track was all Hornby Set track, after watching your channel and various other videos and advice on various Facebook Sites, I took the track up and bought Peco Code 100 to replace it with. My original layout had 53 points and so I purchased 53 electro frog points and 8 double slips together with 61 Guagemaster PM1. Unfortunately I had to go back to work after I had taken it to bits and I haven’t been able to get started again due to time available and being a bit nervous of all the wiring and putting it off if I had a few minutes spare. Found an old bit of 8 x 4 made a basic loop with one dropper for feed and ran a few trains, so satisfying. Thanks Charlie
Great to get some trains working Charlie! It's amazing how patient you are. I don't think I could have lasted so long without having a complete circuit to run around, but it's your attention to detail and meticulous planning that will prevail in the end.
finally finished the binge watching so far as this one. (not much else to do during covid lockdowns and a Canadian winter) .what a fantastic series of videos packed with humour, sarcasm in part but soooo informative .Cheers Charlie and keep them coming. off for a beer before I start the next lot
Lovely to see some trains running on Chadwick. Watching your videos over the past few weeks inspired me to take up the hobby again after a break of some years, so much so I just bought myself a cheap(ish) Hornby digital train-set (to dip my toe in the DCC water), dusted off my old Inglenook layout and I'm hooked again! Thanks Charlie keep up the great work
Hi Charlie, nice to see the layout running. As you said, always an exciting and apprehensive time but in the main all looks well. I do like that viaduct scene, looks amazing. Keep safe and well mate, regards Bobby 'T'.
The dip in the track looks quite prototypical Charles. If nothing is derailing you could even try putting temporary speed restriction boards up for traversing the area. Just a thought till you manage to get a tamper through the junction. Cheers from Oz mukka.
Glad to see some trains running. I have been following you for ages. I have Parkinson's and although I don't have a model railway myself. I have been very keen to follow your journey. Thank you.
Wow Charlie. Wow wow wow. This video is just enchanted! It really shows how hard you’ve worked and the tremendous effort you’ve put in to producing a realistic looking layout. The scenery and everything. I can’t begin to list the plus points. What a treat to see trains running on your layout. Last weeks break van looks a treat too! Top job.
I must say Charlie you have made great progress. You really did get me at the start when you shown a train running but still great progress Congrats on this Say safe Regards dan
Charlie, love how you recycled the old boards. They layout is coming along great and it is awesome to see the trains running again at Chadwick. Job well done. Love the back shot of the Brake van, the LEDS look perfect on it. I am looking forward to seeing the back scene and the scenic installs on the rest of the layout. Thanks for sharing and stay safe. Ken
Yay running trains..Charlie if you thought progress was slow to get to this point then chances are it’s now going to be much slower cause now you have a lot of testing a head of you and sometimes that testing just becomes rail fanning and nothing gets done I have one module waiting for scenics and it’s been two years
Great video Charlie, I'm a young father of a 9 week old baby boy. Building my own model railway for me and him to enjoy. The videos you make help very much.
Sounds like an excuse to build a layout.😁 "I'm building a model railway for my son." "Great idea; how old is he?" "Nine weeks". "Hmmm. 🤔" Seriously though; start 'em young.👍
Hi Charlie - Its always a milestone when you get trains running and I know as I wondered when I would get there and can now move on to scenic. Thanks for the idea of putting connectors on the end of the wire to go into the connecting block rather than bare wires. I will adopt that method as my wiring is only temporary at the moment whilst testing. Keep well...………...Kev
Relatedly - until about 1985 the only trains to show two red tail lights were the Royal Train and the Edinburgh-Glasgow Class 27 push-pull services. I think it was about the same time that DMUs started using built-in electric tail lights instead of an oil tail lamp?
@@RoamingAdhocrat I spent a lot of my youth around the push/pull 27s and that never dawned on me until you mentioned it.😁 If someone had asked me, I think I would have said that *only* the royal train carried two reds.
The "black art" of signalling is a minefield but the same scenario shows why signallers had to check for "complete with tail lamp" as trains passed their box. Track circuits are handy things though. That's one of the reasons I like seeing block detection on a layout, with resistors across the wagon/coach wheelsets. In theory at least, Charlie's system would alert him to the breakaway.
Well done Charlie, it's a great feeling to get things running even if it is temporary. Fellow youtuber Jenny Kirk had same issues with the bubble car and only solved the problem using Dapol's own brand of chip. I can confirm this works as my mates Railtrack version has one installed and lighting is all OK. Cheers and stay safe 😎
Hi Charlie, I am big fan of your layout and you, your videos are great. I am happy to see your trains running again. Keep up good work, I am looking forward for next videos (sorry for my bad english)
Fantastic Charlie So pleased for you to finally get to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Another great video and I look forward to next Fridays content Nick
Charlie, the long wait is over. At last we see trains running on "Chadwick". Progress should now come along in leaps and bounds. Great to see you are getting a well deserved following. I`m always impressed with the neatness of your wiring, because I have seen some layouts where the wiring looks like a spaghetti dish gone wrong. Very much looking forward to seeing more trains running. Cheers Greg
On my Lenz Silver+ Decoders in the 'as delivered' state, the brightness of the standard "F0" output can be adjusted in CV55 and that of the "F1" output with CV56. The value is adjustable from 0-255 where 255 is the maximum. As Mr. Eckert implied below, this assumes you have not done any 'custom mapping' of the Function Key Numbers with CV57. (Or any adjustments in CV60!) I really like the way you keep everything so neat and tidy, particularly your wiring!
Hi charlie great to see your layout now coming to the end of the viaduct great to see trains doing the fun stuff great channel I watch your videos every week liked the one about couplings keep the video’s coming. Kev
Hallo Charlie , it's always a pleasure to see how you work on youre layout . When the fraight train is going thru the points there is also a little hump when going on the straight track . Greetings Bert
Chadwick finally comes to life! Really pleased to see trains running and even at this stage, you have a lot to be proud about. Ok, the original boards only have one set of droppers each, it's pinned down & there's a slight dip going onto the viaduct but these are signs of progress. I would still watch if trains running were another 6 months away. Obviously there's still a lot of work to do but as usual Charlie, you make it a privilege to watch the progression. I'm looking forward to seeing quite a few things but as long as it's you talking us through it, I'm very happy. Stay safe & take care. P.S, don't airbrush the new backscene - remember what happened the last time!
Hi Charlie. Great work 👍! Good to see trains running at last! 😛 Let's just hope that there's no need for another video of "Backscene Blunder" when they arrive... 😂 I see what you mean about that kink in the track, I wouldn't like to see a loco going over that in real life... Stay safe mate, GWR
Good to see something running Charlie, proves your wiring works.😁 At least you can have trains on the move while you're working on the layout now and it should simplify any farther testing too.
