DCC couplings
We had a request from a customer to fit some Roco DCC controlled couplings. The decoder to do this is quite expensive but the couplings and electrical wiring were not too difficult. Result, one pleased customer who can now uncouple his Class 66 from his wagons remotely.

November has been a very busy month - hence this is a bit late appearing. We are still working on the content for the new website - nearly there now.

O in bits
We were given three O gauge locos to put sound and smoke into this month. Several problems came to light. Two of the locos had boilers that were inaccessible from outside - and all three had solid chimneys. Some careful drilling was needed (the customer had been warned of the hazards but he said go ahead anyway !). One chimney came off but the other two were successfully drilled. This is ongoing as on two of them we still have to get into the bottom of the boiler to get the wires out.

Another of the locos looked as if it had been dropped - the cab was in pieces. That was a time consuming job putting it all back together again. I wish I had taken a “before” picture - but too late now.

Minitrix A4
We were asked to convert a Minitrix N gauge A4 to DCC. The surprise was that it already had been converted. However the existing decoder had a nasty scorch mark on it. We did not want to simply change the decoder and have the same happen again so a complete check of the wiring was needed. It might have been quicker if it had not been ready converted.