Wenlock's Blog

Excellent little video Dave, right up my street !

Whilst the use of sound is rather like Marmite to some modellers I quite enjoy using it too.

I have also had to "modify" the sound decoders in some locos to get the "chuff" rate correct and without knowing which decoder you've fitted I wouldn't wish to advise you about altering the relative CV's for fear of giving you the wrong information.

May I suggest giving SW Digital a telephone call for advice on the matter, as I've always found them to be really helpful on matters like that. I'm now able to carry out various CV changes with confidence but my initial changes some years ago were talked through in a step by step manner over the telephone and all worked well.

Keep up the excellent modelling.

ATB

Grahame

I love the models. The layout is coming along nicely. Your sound was good. Is it a loco specific one?

Excellent little video Dave, right up my street !

Whilst the use of sound is rather like Marmite to some modellers I quite enjoy using it too.

I have also had to "modify" the sound decoders in some locos to get the "chuff" rate correct and without knowing which decoder you've fitted I wouldn't wish to advise you about altering the relative CV's for fear of giving you the wrong information.

May I suggest giving SW Digital a telephone call for advice on the matter, as I've always found them to be really helpful on matters like that. I'm now able to carry out various CV changes with confidence but my initial changes some years ago were talked through in a step by step manner over the telephone and all worked well.

Keep up the excellent modelling.

ATB

Grahame

 

Thanks Grahame, glad you enjoyed the clip:-) Good to hear you've managed to master cv adjustments, a subject that I must admit fills me with trepidation! I'll definitely be giving SW digital a ring when I finally pluck up courage to have a dabble:-)

I love the models. The layout is coming along nicely. Your sound was good. Is it a loco specific one?

 

Hi Pete, glad you liked it:-) According to the SW Digital website the sounds were recorded mainly from pannier tanks and other assorted small 2 cylinder GWR locomotives. I guess they struggled to find a prototype 517 anywhere to record:-)

 

 

Very atmospheric. 

Superb, what a fantastic looking layout

Very atmospheric. 

 

Superb, what a fantastic looking layout

Thanks both, glad you enjoyed it :-)

Very good Dave. I do like the sound I think it works well on simple layouts where only one loco is moving at once. I would assume a 14xx would have a similar sound I have ridden in the cab of one but couldn't say quite how it sounded. I look forward to see the layout at the SWAG meet.

Don

Very good Dave. I do like the sound I think it works well on simple layouts where only one loco is moving at once. I would assume a 14xx would have a similar sound I have ridden in the cab of one but couldn't say quite how it sounded. I look forward to see the layout at the SWAG meet.

Don

Thanks Don, glad you liked the it :-)  I can't imagine there are many people around who remember exactly what a 517 class sounded like as the last one was scrapped in 1945!

 

looking forward to see you again at SWAG:-)

Hi Dave, I made the video full screen and it was a bit like time travel!

 

There are so few giveaways in the modelling, it's impressive how it all fits together. Now all you need is the steam :-)

Hi Dave, I made the video full screen and it was a bit like time travel!

 

There are so few giveaways in the modelling, it's impressive how it all fits together. Now all you need is the steam :-)

Hi Mikkel, I rather hoped you'd enjoy it:-)  I'm beginning to think that the lack of steam seems even more conspicuous by it's absence once you add sound, maybe a case of one step forward and two steps back!

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

First ever post in here so here goes! I've lurked on this blog for a while and am mightily impressed with the quality of modelling on Sherton Abbas. It has been an inspiration to me. What has really prompted this post is to enquire as to what is required to convert ordinary 2 rail to dcc? Please excuse my ignorance or maybe point me to an idiots guide on rmweb...? I love the sound of the 517 and think it would work well on my cameo layout of the Midland in London c1907.

Cheers, Richard

First ever post in here so here goes! I've lurked on this blog for a while and am mightily impressed with the quality of modelling on Sherton Abbas. It has been an inspiration to me. What has really prompted this post is to enquire as to what is required to convert ordinary 2 rail to dcc? Please excuse my ignorance or maybe point me to an idiots guide on rmweb...? I love the sound of the 517 and think it would work well on my cameo layout of the Midland in London c1907.

Cheers, Richard

 

Hi Richard, really glad to hear that you're enjoying the blog:-) Your London cameo layout sounds right up my street, I'd love to hear more about that! I'm in no way a dcc expert, but here's my 5 peneth for what it's worth:-)

 

All the track work still requires a negative and positive feed just like dc, but all the track is live the whole time with no sectional switches.

 

I'd wired Sherton Abbas with a negative and positive feed running down the centre of the baseboards with all track feeds fed from that. Point frog polarity is switched using the tortoise point motors used to move the points.

 

All I had to do to convert to dcc was remove the dc negative and positive feeds from the dc controller and swap them with the new dcc controller negative and positive feeds.

 

In dc the voltage to the track is variable depending on how fast you want the loco to go whereas in dcc the track voltage is constant and the decoder in each loco controls the speed steps.

 

I bought a prodigy advance controller set from a friend that consists of a hand controller and a transformer that provides the feeds to the tracks.

 

I've only fitted sound into one loco so far and used a sound decoder from South West digital. I've found them to be a really useful source of advice about all matters dcc both over the telephone and at shows.

 

I hope you find this of use, it maybe worth posting questions on the dcc section of the forum where Im sure you'll get more expert advice than mine!

 

I must admit I approached dcc with a level of trepidation, but in my experience it really was as simple as changing two wires to the layout and fitting the loco with a sound chip and speaker.

 

If I can be of further help let me know.

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

That's very helpful, thank you. For info I started a thread yesterday over in the 7mm forum entitled 'Midland in London', more overall pics to follow today, it's not as advanced as Sherton Abbas!!

Cheers, Richard