Stevelewis

I have mentioned this on the 5 BEL thread but to date no response: Has any one with both a 4 VEP and a 5 BEL had the opportunity to compare the motor bogies? I have made some comments on the BEL thread, re the motor bogie, but I no lnger have a 4 VEP with which to compare it.

I fully agree with this Having been a DCC user for many years, experience has taught me that keeping point ( and signal control!!) seperate from the digital loco controller makes a lot of sense, In practice the digital wiring for points etc is less than that required for analogue control , but that is not really an issue, as each point motor requires wiring anyway. The only exception to this is the Garden Line where digital point control is used , but that is a different scenario, there are not that many ponts and the distances are a lot further, and the ability to control points via the R/C hand held is an advantage, many large scale points are available with decoders already 'on -board' so there is absolutely NO wiring required I look forward though to installing some Dapol signals on the N gauge layout soon!

I am certain that you will find that knuckle couplings do eliminate phantom uncoupling, we run 30+ car freight trains on a US N layout ( which are knuckle fitted as is the norm for US stock) we have no problems at all, layout includes 1in 25 gradients and around 11" rad curve in 'hidden'section' Its just the cost of converting all the UK rolling stock, at £17 for a pack of 5 pairs it works out at £3.40 a wagon! BUT I am wondering if the Dapol earlier type of knuckle coupling may be the answer?

As A user of Kadee and similar knuckle couplers on H0 , 0n30, & USA N Gauge layouts, I decided that I should give the NEW Dapol knuckles a try! I would add that It would not be my intention to retrofit all rolling stock as we mostly keep trains in fixed rakes, but the convenience of hands off uncoupling of locos from the fixed rakes is obviously a plus. I received a pack of 5 pairs today from Liverpool and have given them a quick test, I found that fitting them to the following items presented no problem ( All Farish items Class 24, Sealion, ex LMS brake van, Mk 1 coach, I used a KATO unitrack uncoupling track in the storage loops in which we use Kato Unitrack ( This is a 62mm track section with uncoupling magnet already factory fitted) Coupling and uncoupling worked very well indeed, no problems were encountered with phantom uncoupling, and propelling uncoupled stock did not result in any unwanted recoupling. The only thing I would point out is that N gauge stock tends to be light and it may be worth considering weighting stock so that the system works as it should. There are recommendations on the NMRA web sites as to suggested weights if anyone is interested ( www.nmra.org)

I predict a "WINNER" here for Dapol, I live reasonable close to their premises so next time I am in the area I will take a look! I bet that the initial stocks will sell out pretty quickly

Actually Royal Mail get it right almost all the time for me I send approx 25 items a week and receive around the same number by RM ( This is work related) I cannot remember the last time there was a problem!

I am sure you will find a place for it its a nice item, Just the lights are rather TOOOOO bright for the period it depicts ( as I remeber the DLWs the interior lights were quite dim and the headlights not much brighter than the steam locos oil lamps)

My Rails order arrived early today Saturday at 0830!! Just 16.5 HOURS after placing it!! Very well packed........ every item's carton individually bubblewrapped! Incidentally I paid £20 less for the order ( 7 items) than some other mail order retailers web prices...... AND Rails do not charge a 'premium' for Saturday delivery... ( one retailer charges £12 for Sat dely!!)

I placed an order today with Rails, my first for over a year, the order was placed simply due to the fact that the 2 items I required were just in the process of being delivered to retailers from Bachmann and Rails recvd their dely. late this afternoon. I found their service to be excellent and the assistant very helpful, she arranged to 'phone me as soon as they received the delivery into their premises, this occured at approx 3-30pm, the order was placed for Saturday delivery, I will report further if the delivery is recvd. on time. Incidentally whilst browing their website I noted that some of their prices are very competitve indeed and as a result a few Farish Art Deco buildings were added to the order, this may parhaps give a clue to what the other 2 items are!!

I think the name on the unit would probably quite easy to remove it appears to be a transfer ( in similar vein to the real thing which I am advised is a vinyl decal!) quite small in size and only on one side Incidentally the description of this item did stae that etched nameplates were included, however according to Bachmann it was decided not to do so as the original only had the above mentioned vinyl decal!

Just a bit confused here! What difference does the name make? In fact the name is quite inconspicuous on the model I had to look 2 or 3 times to find it AND it is only on one side! Or am I missing a point?

Everything appears spot on on mine! Re my previous post about the occasional eratic running, that fault has now been simply corrected and it runs absolutely perfectly, just like Bachmann's other EMUs

I see a battle looming! I reckon that the cost of the Blue Pullman and the 5-BEL Brighton Belle, will prevent many from buying both so I reckon that the ffirst to appear on the market will gain the lion's share of sales ( well initially anyway). But even if the 5 BEL arrives first unless there is specific info from Hornby indicating that it is far superior mechanically to the VEP I reckon many will hold back on purchasing, I know that some retailers have had cancelled pre-0rders, and as a result reduced their orders for the 5 BEL

This just illustrates the difference between 2 manufacturers models,........... The Bachmann 4-CEP will restart on a 1 in 30 gradient on a slightly less than 18" radius curve ( leads to storage sidings) without hesitation and no traction tyres, whilst tthe Hornby 4-VEP which we had failed to cover 25% of the gradient even when it was reduced to a 3 car set and it took a full speed run at the gradient! ( the 4-VEP was returned to the supplier pretty sharpish for a refund!)

Just scanning randomly through the pages of the publication, whilst several models do get lowish overall ratings around the 60% to 80% mark these generally fall into the old established model sector, it is unusual to find a NEW model with such a low rating as 74%

Interesting to note that in the 2012 edition of " Britain's Model Trains" Bachmann's 4 CEP gets a 10 / 10 rating for Performance and 10/10 for value for money and an overall rating of 95% ,Whilst Hornby's 4 VEP is rated 7/10 for performance, 6/10 for value for money and an overall rating of 74%

Hi Mick Thanks for the confirmation.......................................So its out with the soldering iron\!! Strange though not experienced the fault with any of the CEPs or EPBs

My view would be that if you can remove capacitors, do so, in my opinion capacitors are the greatest source of peroblem causing in digital circuits, I learned this many years ago when I first started using digital! Since then whenever I see capacitiors I remove them and this has served me well! Its intersting to note that Bachmann's 0 gauge Brass loco range ( now discontinued) do not contain anything in their circuits usually just the cables connecting the loco pickups to the motor

Ah That explains it ! I know the feeling, as an experienced modeller of over 50 years It is so frustrating when faults occur on models which you know are probably a manufacturer error but know that it may be poss to rectify with less hassle ( See also my recent post in the Desiro thread, the glitch I am experiencing with that unit is such that I could have rejected it, but am prepared to rectify it myself , hopefully)

Surely though if you have purchased an item which is unsatisfactory, why accept a repair? Surely a new item ( or refund) would be more acceptable . A retailer I recently spoke to recently told me he has more than half a doxen VEPs awaiting collection by Hornby for credit.

I am encountering a small problem with mt Desiro, now please dont take this as mt doing a bit of moaning cos I am not, I am simply reporting it to see if anyone else has noticed the problem and perhaps help with suggestions if they have. The Desiro runs brilliantly smoothly and quietly with a good controllable very slow speed and a good 'cruising 'speed. It runs equally as well as the other Bachmann 2 & 4 car EMUs on the layout. However we have noticed a tendency for it to stall at low speeds on curved track and we beleive that power pickup may be the cause. The unit collects power from both bogies of the power car...... The power is transferred to the PCBs in the car via vertical rigid brass sections which press upward on horizontal l sections of Springy brass in the car floor................, now as the bogies turn on curved track the vertical section on the bogie moves from the centre line of the Horizontal brass strip where the 'spriginess' is not as strong and this coupled with the natural up & down movement of the bogie seems to cause interruption of the power flow. Having checked as far as possible without dismantling the POWERED bogie (which is not something to do lightly on these units!!) it is thought that the unpowered bogie is more likely to be the cause of the problem. As the springy pressure at the powered bogie does appear stronger. We have tried a few fixes such as adding some additional weight at the non powered end, but this did not seem to help. We are now considering 'hard wiring' the unpowered bogie to the PCB which could easily be done, just a case of 4 soldered joints and a couple of lengths of cable. The strange thing is the wiring & pickup system in the 350 is almost identical to the CEP & EPB, on which this problem has never occured. I would add that all the usual checks have ben made to ensure that power is being collected by all 8 wheels on the power car. I just wish to repeat I am in no way 'knocking' the Desiro, it is a briliant model, well its cost, and I will have no hesitation in buying other versions when available.

I am experiencing a slight glitch Maybe I am confusing it with the SOUND Hornby Black 5 which i beleive does use ESU Decoder, ig my memeory of the documentation with the loco is correct.

I have used a dozen or so Sapphires in various locos & units that require 21 pin decoders and never had any problems, I have used the 'shuttle' facility which the decoders has and found that to be fscinatingly brilliant in the way that it can make a train shuttle up and down an end to end section for long periods without any attention at all! It has to be remembered that Hornby decoders are made for them by a well established decoder manufacturer I believe ESU ( Electronic Solutuons Ulm , Germany) who have a very good reputation in the field of electronics

There are plenty of alternative brands around I have used a Hornby!! Saphire in the 350 which was only a couple of pounds more than the Bachmann 21 pin, Hattons had Lenz 21 pin in stock last week, I think Tim at Arcadia has some stock and Signal Box Rochester has Hornby Saphires in stock

I received my Desiro this morning, and I am pleased to report it is superb, and lives up to all expectations, Runs smoothly from a crawl up to a rather fast top speed!! The unit sounds great even with out a sound unit! Decoder fitting is really user friendly, had I not stopped to photgraph the decoder plug I reckon that firring a decoder would take around 2 minutes! The only thing I would comment on is the fact according to the catalogue Etched 'APOLLO' nameplates are supposed to be supplied as this unit is/was a 'namer!' However they are not supplied, I phoned Bachmann to query this omission and was advised that although they state namplates are supplied, in reality the unit had only printed plastic names on it! SO no name plates supplied!!