Focus Now Switches to my QR 2000 Class Railmotors

So this week was supposed to be a slow week to recover from the last 4 days in Sydney at the Great Train Show at Rosehill.  Monday started with me getting out my WNI-32 module from WifiTrax and installing that in an NCE Procab.  So when assembled, the Procab becomes a wifi enabled device and it will work on any wifi connection.  The process to enrol onto a wifi network can be a bit laborious if there is a password set, unless the owner allows the WPS button to be pressed and it will happily join.

Tuesday's job was to get out my Far North Hobbies 2000 class railmotor set that was obtained down in Sydney at the second hand stall.  I made two baseplates to affix the wheels to.  They seem to run quite well.  I took one model over to Bob’s place on Tuesday night for our fortnightly get together, as he has a set of these railcars running on his layout.  We placed my railmotor next to his 2000 class set and my car was sitting about 1mm too high compared to his.  I thought it still needed to be lowered by at least another 1-2mm.  So on Wednesday I remade the chassis base plate and I think they were lowered by a couple of millimeters.  The railmotor was sent to the DC test track and the railmotor was just skidding on top of the rails.  So it needed a bit of weight added above the bogie.

On Thursday I added a slice of lead above the motor bogie and it ran smoothly with no more slipping.  The next task was to fit a decoder and wire up the second bogie to the decoder, bring the motor bogie pickup wires to the decoder and then run wires to the motor.  I then took it back to the DC test track and it ran very smoothly.  So the switch was set and it was put on the DCC test track.  It was given a long DCC address of 2004 as it is a passenger car version of the railmotor and I was very happy with its running on the layout.

However, upon checking this model against the QR plan, the model is too long, too high, too wide and just looks obese.  I was hoping that this two-car set was going to absolve my need from buying two 2-car sets of 2000 class railmotors from Guy at the Club, when he finally releases his models.  I have been patiently waiting for about 12 months, but I think progress is being made on his models.  I think I will need to still buy two 2-car sets off of Guy just so that my scratch built intermediate 2050 class car will be the same size as the end cars.  Guy’s cars are perfectly re-created in scale, unlike the Far North Models sets that are at least 5% too big in all dimensions. 

Late on Thursday I started cleaning off the flash from the bogie sideframes from the Far North Models kit.  I also started measuring the base frame for the second railmotor (the one with the luggage compartment). 

On Friday I cut up the base frame and spliced in the bogie support frames.  I then added a stiffening beam to the base frame.  I also got out the lead weight again and added that to the chassis frame, followed by the installation of holes for the wires to come up from the bogies up to the decoder.  I took the second railmotor to the shed and gave it a test run.  I was again pretty pleased with how it ran on DC. 

Saturday morning’s job was to install the decoder in the second railmotor and wire the bogies into the decoder.  Once that was done, I then tested the baggage car version of the QR 2000 class railmotor on the test track on DC again, and then switched to DCC mode.  I gave it an address of 2005 and gave it a run on the test track on DCC.  Very Happy indeed! 

Saturday evening I joined the British NMRA Region’s Brew and Natter online gathering.  There were 4 Queenslanders online there along with about 20 from the UK and Europe.  That was an enjoyable 2 hours of photos showing of layouts tours and discussion.

On Sunday morning I then put the two railmotors back to back, consisted them, and ran them around Acacia Ridge Yard, before I realised that I had equipment in the way towards Clapham Yard.  I still had not supported the trackage from Sunnybank to Rocklea Siding.  I'll get back to that next week.  So I relocated the railmotors to South Brisbane in a siding, then I realised that the sidings were not powered.  So I wired up the two sidings at South Brisbane with some wire jumpers.  But I did run the railmotors from the platform at South Brisbane to Park Road, until I found another dead piece of track.  I think I need to fix up a rail joiner.  Another job for this week.  So I ran the train back to South Brisbane Station where the set now rests.  I then replaced the KD on one railmotor as the jaws are not working.  I also need sound now to be added to the railmotors, but no one had a sound file and I can’t afford sound decoders for these railcars! 

The section from Sunnybank Station back towards Rocklea Siding.  A guard rail has been added outside the track.

Look from above Sunnybank Station back towards the shed door.

Underneath the Sunnybank raised section is Acacia Ridge Yard.

The entry into South Brisbane Station, where the jumpers were installed.

A shot back towards the stop blocks at South Brisbane.

The Baggage Car version of the railmotor sitting in one of the sidings at South Brisbane.  Its twin is inside the house ready to get the start of headlights and marker lights.

I also need to install the lights inside the railmotor shells with connections back to the decoders.  I have pulled out 2 white LEDs for the headlights in one railcar, and 2 red LEDs for the front marker lights.  That is next weeks job.  I will also call in to Geoff and check out the paint options for these railmotors early this week as well.  I will hopefully have them painted before next Saturday which is Club meeting day.