hockeyshooter Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Hello all. Am returning to railway modelling after a gap of around 30 years. I had a Hornby/Lima/Peco OO layout in the early 1970s and kept a couple of the baseboards and all of the rolling stock. I'm adopting DCC for loco control and points will be motorised and ultimately computer controlled, perhaps via an Arduino and relay board. I'll also be installing webcams. I don't have much room, though - just 89" by 53" to be exact. He's my most recent layout idea, using Peco Streamline 100 electrofrog points - can't use fine scale as the old rolling stock won't like it. I've tried converting a couple of my locos (both green BoBo diesels) to DCC but they're not running very well, even on a nice new straight piece of track, so having cleaned the pickups etc there obviously still isn't a good enough connection to the track. I'm going to offload a pair of 0-6-0 locos that I'm pretty sure will never be happy under DCC and buy a couple of modern locos that are already either DCC or are socketed, just to make certain they run OK. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
royaloak Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Have you serviced the locos? They wont run well unless they are stripped, cleaned, oiled and adjusted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyshooter Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 I've not been able to completely strip them but have done the best I can. But I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that they simply don't have enought pickups for DCC to work. I've now ordered a Backmann DCC-ready Class 25 to see how I get on with it. The older locos may all just end up on eBay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted September 12, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 12, 2016 Hi there and welcome back! Things certainly have moved on.... the Bachmann 25 will be like a Limo compared to those Hornby bo-bos for sure but unbelievably some Bachmann models - 40/43 - have been deficient in the pick up dept too...although sorted on latest 40s However for the Rolls Royce of Bo-bos have you seen... http://sulzertype2.co.uk/page.php?p=home Cheers Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyshooter Posted September 18, 2016 Author Share Posted September 18, 2016 However for the Rolls Royce of Bo-bos have you seen... http://sulzertype2.co.uk/page.php?p=home That's nuts! Daren't guess the price. Have now bought my first DCC-ready loco - a Bachmann Class 25 - and have decided to offload all my old locos and replace with "new". They just run so much better! I'll be fitting LEDs too. A couple of Class 24s next and perhaps also replace my DMU - not sure what to do about shunters, though. I have a couple of Class 08s but I don't want to risk such a short loco on what may still be an Insulfrog layout. Looks like Heljan are the only company to have done Class 33s with DCC and they're massively expensive! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
royaloak Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 That's nuts! Daren't guess the price. A lot less than you would think! These are truly magnificent models. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted September 18, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 18, 2016 A lot less than you would think! These are truly magnificent models. They certainly are. We wont be buying any other 24s and wait with bated breath for the 25 to follow... Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Phil Bullock Posted September 18, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 18, 2016 That's nuts! Daren't guess the price. Have now bought my first DCC-ready loco - a Bachmann Class 25 - and have decided to offload all my old locos and replace with "new". They just run so much better! I'll be fitting LEDs too. A couple of Class 24s next and perhaps also replace my DMU - not sure what to do about shunters, though. I have a couple of Class 08s but I don't want to risk such a short loco on what may still be an Insulfrog layout. Looks like Heljan are the only company to have done Class 33s with DCC and they're massively expensive! Don't think you will regret that. If you are worried about your insulfrogs have you thought about stay alive capacitors? Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyshooter Posted January 22, 2017 Author Share Posted January 22, 2017 Haven't updated this thread in a while - but I've been busy! Spent the best part of two weeks over Christmas ripping all of the old insulation out of the shed, then fitting new wall, ceiling and floor insulation, new carpet, new lighting and finally got the baseboard in. I've since been temporarily fixing most of the track in place, over a 1:1 printout from AnyRail 6. I've done about half of the cork underlay and will soon be in a position to fix the track down "permanently", then putting in the DCC bus and dropper wiring. Haven't decided on point control yet as DCC Concepts are looking to introduce a new system using very small surface-mount point motors, which would help in places where I have points over supporting woodwork. If that turns out too expensive I'll use servos and a MegaPointsController board with their mimic panel board. Anyway - here's some photos of the build to date... New 50mm wall insulation. In retrospect I should have used 25mm as 50mm is a touch too thick and sits slightly proud of the wall battens. 10mm thick insulation under the new carpet - this stuff is designed for under-floor heating, weighs nothing and costs very little. I stuck it down with "no more nails"-type adhesive. New carpet and two out of four supporting legs in place. Legs are 44mm square and battens are 44 x 70mm - a bit over-the-top perhaps but this way I doubt anything's going to move! The battens at the back edges of the baseboards are screwed to the walls: Re-wired electrics. The centre switch is for a tubular frost heater.Making certain everything fits. I ended up swapping all short Peco Flexitrack sections in my design for Settrack - just to make life easier!Latest work - cutting sections of 3mm cork for underlay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyshooter Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 I'm now rapidly approaching the stage where I need to decide on a remote points control system. I've looked at METG, megapoints controllers and am intrigued by DCC Concepts new yet-to-be-released surface-mount solution - although I fear it might be too expensive. Any recommendations? I've got a couple of points where the motor can't be fitted directly under the point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyshooter Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 I've now started work on the point controls. I've decided to give MERG a try and have bought the CANUSB4, CANPAN and CANSERVO8 boards, basically because I think the megapointscontrollers offerings are great but just too expensive.I'm going to use HK15178 servos - here's one on a 3D printed bracket that MERG sell in kits of six. My little MERG servo test rig - here checking that I can safely extend the servo wires between the CANSERVO8 board(s) and HK15178 servos. I know its recommended that you don't extend the servo wires but if I don't I'll need almost as many servo boards as I have points.A little more progress today in that I've finished cutting the cork underlay for the main area, stuck it down and painted all of the trackbed with two coats of matt grey emulsion - which I must say actually looks pretty good even before ballasting - which is a long way off yet.And using a tag strip I bought at a recent show I've plumbed in the DCC bus. This is 24/0.2 bought from Nairnshire Modelling Supplies through eBay which should be plenty for this little layout.The more sharp eyed among you will note that the tag strip closest to the camera is actually the wrong way round. "Wondered who would be the first to spot that..." Capt Mainwaring.Next up is drilling through for the DCC droppers and the point motor servos then I can actually get some track fixed down. I know some are against pinning down the track but in this case, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.