Too hot ...

 

AM08 & AM86

 

Just a quick video while I was running trains ...

 

Ballasting, ballasting, and ballasting ...

Following on my spring cleaning and some ballast issues, I decided to fix those as well as finishing up on ballasting around the double-slip switch D2. As of now, all painted tracks have been ballasted!

Ok, I still need to finishing the center of the double slip ....

Adding new engines to the ECoS Command Station

 

Since I didn't have the ECoS by the test bench when I added new engines during the winter, I had to now add them to the ECoS; with two challenges:

• Adding the picture for each engine
• Manually configuring all functions for the Roco engines with Zimo decoders. I don't understand why Zimo doesn't support Railcom ...

 

 

 

 

In a previous post, I mentioned that one of my BB 16000 from REE was unresponsive on the test bench. I tried putting it on the layout and it immediately shorted and I heard something popping and a bad smell.

Here's a picture from the previous post:

And here where it popped:

And it left traces of smoke on the connectors to the pantographs ...

Interestingly enough, without the body on, the engine worked okay including lights and sound. Go figure ...

ČD 359 Západní expres

 

Here's my ČD 359 Západní expres running from München to Praha in 2019. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cosmostrainadventures/40558916783/

Here's the original on vagonweb.cz.

In HO scale, it is as follow:

Description	Image	Reference	In stock
ČD 362		MTB HOCD362-040	✔
ČD Bdmpee		ACME 55293	✔
ČD Bdmpee		ACME 55293	✔
DLB ABbmdz		ACME 55199	✔
DLB Bmz		ACME 55199	✔

And here's the video:

Spring cleaning

 

Pretty much like every year, I did a nice clean-up of the layout, the tracks, and the train room. I cleaned the tracks with the rubber and ran the Roco cleaner afterwards.

You can clearly see the difference: clean on the right and not so clean on the left with cat hair ...

While cleaning the tracks, I have to be careful not damaging the ballast. Unrelated, but it just so happens that some of the ballast didn't hold well to the vacuum. I'm not sure if it wasn't glued properly or if it got damaged through the winter because of temperature differences and UV light  ...

But, at least, trains are running again!!

 

Opening for Spring

 

 

New engines

I got a couple of new engines and since I temporally fixed my issue for Roco models, I updated those as well.

LS Models 17414DCS - NightJet Vectron BR 193 962-8

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/191979005@N08/53941406201/

B-Models VB3605.03 - SNCB HLD 5111

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/philstephenrichards/5976062234/

Piko 21688 - ČD Vectron BR 193 290-4 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/136314743@N04/41657962420/

Roco 70434 - ÖBB 1044.01

I bought this one because it was deeply discounted. I'm not sure just yet for which composition I will use it, but I know Rh 1044 is a very common engine for ÖBB.

https://www.roco.cc/ren/70434-electric-locomotive-104401-obb.html

It got address #1014:

Roco 70527 - ÖBB 1116 088-6

Check this post to see the pictures. I post here only the decoder with address #1116:

 

Roco 7510032 - ÖBB 1216 227-9

For the EC 73 "Smetana" Prague – Brno Hbf., I needed a ÖBB 1216!

https://www.bahnbilder.de/bild/oesterreich~e-loks~br-1216-e-190/633604/1216-233-oebb-mit-ec-73.html

 I purchased Roco 7510032 - ÖBB 1216 227-9:

https://www.roco.cc/ren/7510032-electric-locomotive-1216-227-9-obb.html

 And I gave it address #1216:

 

Roco 7510053 -  NightJet BR 185 552-7

Check this post to see the pictures. I post here only the decoder with address #1857:

 

Roco 7310010 - DB BR 218 150-1 

This is a diesel engine for my "Nordsee Express" train. I made a post about it here. As mentioned on that page, there's a special edition of the BR 218 in cream and blue livery, but it is sold out. Instead, I'm purchased the main Roco model that works well too.

https://www.reisezugwagen.eu/?p=45150

That main model is Roco 7310010 - DB BR 218 150-1:

https://www.roco.cc/ren/products/locomotives/diesel-locomotives/7310010-diesel-locomotive-218-150-1-db.html

It got address #2181:

 

Roco 70733 & 7500035- SNCB HLE 2870 & 2869 

This is a new InterCity composition with a new livery for HLE 28 from SNCB:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/193935765@N02/54192880310/

 I found Traxx BR186 on sales and I will use the DCC Sound for the HLE 2870 and the DC with ESU decoder for the HLE 2869: