The OO Garden Shed By John Geeeee

It has been about 18 months since I last posted a blog update on here. I have mainly been playing with sound decoders and growing my sound fitted loco collection.

I picked up a Bachman stone signal box the other week which was at a sale price in my local model shop. It came in a blue/green colour scheme (Scottish??) so I have repainted it to fit more in with my loose LMS type theme. I am now putting together a Ratio white metal signal box interior kit to install in it.

Here is the source of all my DCC frustrations of late! Don't get me wrong, it's a great controller, probably the best, but trying to program decoders when you do not know what the terminology means is a nightmare.

I have recently got a new SLR that has a video function in it so thought I would try some quick DCC sound demos of my fleet. The first is a Bachmann sound fitted 55022 that I bought from someone on this site. The video shows that in reverse it only has a single slow speed? When moving forwards it moves off straight away before the engine sound has had time to ramp up? Can I figure out how to change this, can I hell! I am not sure why the picture links show up as small but Click and Watch and you should see the full size versions:

The next two are a new Bachmann class 55 and a Dapol Western that I have fitted sound chips to. Everything hunky dory and fun.

The last one is my only (and probbaly my last!!) sound fitted steam to a Bachman 5MT. A loco that ran perfectly well under DC, stick a Sound decoder in it and it wants to sit and admire in silence every point it crosses!! I have cleaned and proded and cleaned and proded....... nothing makes it any better. It has an MX646R Zimo decoder in it and it was suggested that a stay alive capacitor could not be fitted to it, but I honestly can't see how it will work without one. Once it is running at pace it can skip over points quite effortlessly, try crawiling around a yard and my index finger gets blisters from pushing!

I also recently bought a Digitrax PR3 decoder programmer to help me with easier programming by connecting it up with DecoderPro software. It lasted all of 30 minutes at which time I innocently connect it to my program track at the same time as my ECoS 50200 was connected to it. I assumed the PR3 would just read the decoder whilst the ECoS would test out the changes. I pay my attention to my laptop and behind my back the PR3 is now smoking and melting away!! Hopefully it is now on its way back to Digitrax for repair under their "I am an idiot" accidental damage warranty.

So the world of DCC is certainly more exciting. Is it simple? There are people who baulk at the thought of wiring up a DC layout, believe me it was a piece of p**s compared to getting a DCC sound loco running how you want it to

Cheers

John Geeeeee