Netwalker.co.uk -

Repairing the Pantograph on Hornby Class 90 from 2004

Posted on 8 February 2021by Antony

In a past post where I got my soldering iron out and starting installing DCC Decoders into Hornby locomotives from the early 2000s you might have seen I had taped down the pantograph while I was working on the Locomotive.

The pantographs on these old locomotives, unlike the modern versions were made of metal, and were actually designed to be used to power the locomotive if your layout included active overheard wires. Not a feature you see on modern locomotives!

They’re actually quite fragile – and sadly one of my recent eBay purchases arrived in the post with a broken main arm (as you can see in the photo at the top of the post). The photos on the listing showed it to be intact, and it appears to have not survived the journey in the mail. Thankfully the seller offered to remove one from another loco and send it down. So a repair is possible.

Model Railways

Easy: First DCC Decoder install in a Hornby Anglia Class 86

Posted on 6 February 2021by Antony

This blog post documents my first go at installing a DCC Decoder chip into a Hornby Class 86 Locomotive.

Having recently got my Hornby train set out I happened to accidentally find myself on eBay bidding for some trains Hornby originally released back in the early 2000s. My mission was to collect the Hornby ‘East Anglia’ franchise of locomotives and coaches. When living in Norfolk I regularly travelled on ‘Anglia Railways’ through various differently branded franchises on the line to London so this is where building my collection begins.

I found this fantastic example of the Hornby R2160 Class 86 ‘Crown Point’ locomotive and snapped it up. It’s in mint condition and runs brilliantly. So here we go! Time to install a DCC Decoder.

Photography Networking

An awesome high-tech Bird Box

Posted on 30 January 2021by Antony

I appreciate on first inspection this looks a lot like a wooden bird box which falls pretty short of being classed as ‘high tech’. But this has to actually be one of the coolest things I’ve been given.

Complementing the spacious and robust wooden bird box is a 1080p HD wireless night vision camera, and an auto sensing daylight LED lamp.

And the whole lot works beautifully with my existing home network setup!

It’s a kit from Green Feathers – the ‘Complete Deluxe Wifi Bird Box Camera Kit‘ and you get everything you need. Mine includes the additional daylight LED to help the camera not drop into night vision mode during the day.