Let There Be Light

Roco DB BR151

For me, the big let down on many of the Roco locomotives is the lighting that they come equipped with. Many rely on poor filament bulbs for the directional lighting - this being transmitted via rather convoluted plastic light guides. I made the decision quite early on, that where I had any locomotives like this, they would have their lights upgraded to LEDs that could then be switched via the DCC onboard chip.

So, fast forward to a couple of months ago and I managed to purchase this Loco Class BR151, complete with factory fitted DCC chip, via a well known internet auction site. At the price I got it for it would have been silly to turn it down. OK, its one of the earlier/budget versions that Roco do so the detailing isn't too great, but its still a great looking typical German freight workhorse loco that I wanted on Kradlebrücke and so it was duly purchased.

Once I'd given it a bit of a running in on the rolling road, I began to start the weathering, paying particular attention to the roof, running gear and ends. Theres still a bit to do on the buffers themselves, but its pretty much there with a work worn appearance - I didn't want it to look like it was ready for the scrapheap. The weathering has done a good job of covering up some of the lack of detailing - like the folded handrails for instance. I'm also going to detail the cab interior and fit blinds and a driver possibly.

The next and main thing to sort was the poor lighting at either end. I know that the lighting on German locos isn't as extreme/bright as maybe some of the UK locos but even so I wanted them to at least be visible and fitting LEDs with resistors would allow a bit of control on the light level output.

You can see how the factory fitted light guides try and send the light to the lenses at the front - a bit complex and not particularly functional either.

Whilst looking for some LEDs to try out I found an unused kit I had bought for one of my UK outline Class 67 models and so did a bit of a test to see if these could be used. Imaging my surprise when I found they were a perfect fit for the light lenses on the Class 151. So a quick electrical test was sorted to see if these would work with the DCC onboard chip wiring...

Once this was sorted the LEDs were secured in the relevant positions with a spot of glue and then tested again. All in all they do a pretty good job - they might not be perfect but they kick out a good level of light and the only addition will be a bigger resistor on the front centre light to knock its power back a bit and also maybe a bit of a dab of yellow tint to alter the colour temp a bit as its quite white (it is after all meant for a Class 67). Once this has been sorted the next thing to do will be to add the cab and blinds back in and then 151 166-6 will be ready for duty.

Size Isn't Everything!!

Roco DB Cargo 333

I guess I should start with the smallest loco and work my way up, although despite its size, this little shunter weighs a fair old bit and so I doubt if there will be a problem when shunting wagons around the layout.

I'd been watching this loco on an auction website for a couple of months and it hadn't sold, so I just put in an offer and was surprised when it was accepted and duly arrived on my doorstep a few days later. It ticked all the boxes - perfect livery, mint condition and still had the accessory pack unopened. I was also surprised that it was DCC ready with an 8 pin socket in the cab - the downside was that it had no lighting, so I plan on getting a bit creative and am going to be using DCC nano LEDs to provide lighting controlled via a Lenz Silver decoder.

After giving it a good old running in on the rolling road - about 30 mins each direction - it was already running a lot quieter. I don't know how old this particular loco is, but I have a feeling its been stored for many years, so the fact that it ran so well and didn't need a complete strip down was a bonus. I popped in a Lenz Silver decoder and the change was amazing - not the slightest bit of noise and it ran so slowly and smoothly (helped no doubt by the weight) that the next step will be to work out how to fit lights to it. Not helped by the solid metal body and the fact theres little or no room in the cab - oh well I like a challenge! Till the next time...

Willkommen bei Kradlebrücke Hbf

Hello

Welcome to my new blog which will hopefully chart my progress building and detailing stock ready for a planned H0 model railway to depict modern day German railways. The name Kradlebrücke is totally fictitious and came about as a direct copy, albeit a German version of my current in progress UK layout Cradley Bridge. You can check out my ramblings and projects on the corresponding blog https://cradleybridgerailway.blogspot.co.uk

I have my partner to blame for this project - if she hadn't taken me to Germany for my birthday, the interest in German DB railways would probably never have been started - well thats the excuse I'm sticking to anyway. As a 'modern image' modeller I guess the modern German railway system has plenty to offer - quite a diverse number of locomotives, both electric and diesel, in numerous different liveries. Plenty of freight action from all over Europe passing through, and some wildly different passenger stock to what we are used to over here in the UK. So with all that I knew I wasn't going to get bored. The fact that I could also warrant having a play at doing overhead catenary, large bridges, tunnels and maybe even a snow scene finally sold the idea and so for the last few months I've been trying to collect the stock I want from various internet auction sites and some of the well known importers. I've also given a couple of German companies a try and they have proved really good for finding elusive bits and bobs.

No real surprise as to the manufacturers of the stock - Roco, Piko, Brawa, Acme, Lilliputt and Fleischmann to name a few. I'd heard of some of these but not all. On the whole the quality of the German H0 stuff is way above the UK standard, especially on the new stuff thats coming out. You just have to be a bit careful on some items though as they seem to do a budget and a detailed version of some of their models and I've been caught out a couple of times - but to be honest I don't mind adding detail. Some of the older locos come fitted with just bulbs and lighting guides - despite being DCC ready - and so a process of replacing the bulbs with nano LEDs will be carried out so as to bring the older locos up to current spec and give a bit more control. I'll also be adding sound to a few examples too - well it would be rude not to eh?

H0 stock doesn't seem as readily available as UK 4mm and so it seems to attract a premium price and I'm sure isn't as mass produced either as stuff seems to sell out quite quickly, so I'm always scouring the trade ads, websites and auction sites for different bits n bobs. I'm slowly getting there though with a roughly 50:50 split of both passenger and freight stock at the moment and a good smattering of both electric and diesel locos to have a play with. Can't wait for the UK outline electrics to be at the standard of the European ones - fingers crossed for the upcoming Bachmann Class 90. So to round off this introduction I'm hopefully going to show each loco I've got and then show what I've done to add detail and maybe give a bit of background to the real thing as well. Same will apply for the rolling stock too and fingers crossed we will have some track down in the not too distant future and can start playing for real!!

Auf Wiedersehen für jetzt