dave flint

[quote Edit: I see the disappointment, angst, and "well, that was a fat lot of nothing" comments have begun in the OO announcements thread! Chill out guys... Well I'll echo it here. A lot of fuss over nothing. I'm chilled though...and so is the wallet

Well, another shameless bump. I seem to recall dapoldave mentioning this was down on the list - but hopefully not dead - but can't find it anywhere. Any news ?

Thanks Ben. I didn't get that issue so I'm sorry to have got it wrong and not given you credit for your (correct) observations. Still smarting at having to use three chips though !

I hope that the 142 also comes weathered with authentic rust in the corners of the window pans. The 142s have aged a lot worse than 144s.

The merseyrail units have their own special form of 3+2 seating. They're devices of torture to sit in, more akin to chairs found in a junior school. Other visible mods done over the years affect the isolating cocks under the secondmans side window. Originally 4 cocks,one altered following the Liverpool ls runaway when the brake res cock got taken off the fleet, and now they're fitted with sanders with additional and altered pipework. They also had a fine mesh grille fitted over the radiator in a light grey colour. Direct acting brakes replaced the woeful cable operated originals. And im intrigued by the mention of a crew s escape hatch.. no one mentioned it in the 7 years i drove them. I suppose that could have been deliberate.....

That looks very much like DCC concepts ones. Most of my stay alives appear to do little, if anything. Running isnt great on anything with a small motor. I've fiddled with various settings and still not found a satisfactory setup. In fact, I prefer the Hornby 8249 in these locos. They are very cheap though at £11 quid. Maybe worth a punt but I've wasted enough money on these previously.

I'm going all deja vu and mithering about this model again. Looking on dapols website for updates seems to draw a blank. Has this slipped off dapols radar ? Any news ?

Saw Thornton gate at totally transport and spoke to you (with bored 5 year old lad in tow....) very impressed with the layout in the flesh. Excellent work.

I've had limited dealings with Digitrains - mainly at exhibitions - but had to order from them online.I placed an order late of Friday night, and got a very apologetic email early on saturday saying that one of the items was out of stock, and had been for a long time. Slightly disappointed, I read on. They explained that a much cheaper, better and smaller alternative (the Tam Valley Booster) was available, and explained its functions. Out of ignorance I didn't know this product existed and readily agreed to the substiution. The amended order was confirmed in another email and delivery advised to be by 1st class post on Tuesday (today). Well, the package has just arrived. I've not had chance to test anything yet but everything is well packed and looks good. Excellent service by Digitrains and Royal Mail.

That does look very nice. Any ideas about a suitable chassis to motorise (and dcc)it. I could stretch a Bachmann mech but i think we need a 6 ft wheelbase in this case.

Not my scale now, not my era....but i see in the review something that pleases me immensely. Four screws to get the body off. Splendid stuff, and quite a nice model i suppose......well done Dave and team.

Btw here is the Hornby effort, and the wrong printing of the yellow panels...... http://www.oliviastr...,r:16,s:0,i:126 which actually differs from their own pre publicity shots http://www.topslotsn...s-142-Train.jpg Hope there is no copyright problems, just trying to highlight the error - breakdown between designers and factory ? It really does affect the face of the model.

Im intrigued by who at Northern would approve it. The MD ? Marketing department ? If they're the same folk who've approved the Hornby one they need to get out more and open their eyes! Forgot to ask the obligatory "when's it due"question as well ! Cheers for the response and Im looking forward to bagging a brace.should look good with my NR 153s and the s&c special 156.

Now THAT sounds very good indeed. Make it easy to get into and I'll buy you some chocolate ! BTW please don't repeat the error that Hornby have made on their Northern Rail one - spotted today in Manchester. They've got the yellow front panel wrapped round the side incorrectly and following the same angles as the cab front. No - its vertical on the wrap around bit on the real things I see daily. A bit hard to describe and a very obvious cock up on the face of this OO model. And £84 too

I've taken the plunge and DCC'd my Farish 350......at long last. I have to say I'm impressed with the end product. But getting there was a bit fraught, expensive and overly difficult. Firstly, we have end lights on the driving cars and the motor (unprototypically) mounted in the pantograph car. Farish have fitted standard Rapido couplers between the cars, so no power connectors. So youre looking at 3 x 6 pin decoders for this job. Ouch. The cynic in me says this is an attempt by Farish to flog more of its decoders. I suspect Farish will claim that in trying to get end lighting, provision for DCC sound and realistic interiors something had to give, and there wasn't the room to fit a motor, lighting and sound in an end vehicle. I don't think that the N sound market is large enough to justify the necessary provisions on the unit, and I'd certainly forego the interior details as in all honestly you can't really see them through the windows. Lets get on with the installation. Armed with 3 decoders, I decided to take the powered car apart, so that all three chips could be coded on the load of the motor. I'll admit to it being a real struggle. Instead of th ebody being a straight "lift off", you need to prise the body an underframe apart by running your nail or a knife along a seam just above the bottom of the body. Contrary to the instructions, I found the best way was to put a nail in the seam underneath the passenger doors and work inwards and outward. Its very hard though. The underframe came off fine at the "trailing" end, but despite best efforts ( and the "chassis" bending like a banana) the motor block end wouldn't budge. After easing it to and fro, it seems that the PCB near the top of the chassis block was sticking to something inside the body. It finally popped out after more force was applied. now the really tricky bit. the 6 pin socket is easy enough to see, and the blanking plug just slides out. But, just where your fingers would lie when holding the decoder horizontally, some fool at Bachmann has put in two metal "towers". Somehow you have to slip the chip into the socket with it lying between these raised bits. You cant really hold it by its end as the rest of the motor block fouls your fingers. Maybe its my chipolata fingers, but boy is it hard. I'm sure they could have orientated it to face into the saloon but that precious seating won over practicality (even though invisible in normal use....) So, in goes chip one. Nothing. Nothing reads or writes. After a lot of head scratching, it looks like I've moved the motor block away from its contacts. A little downward pressure on it, a hint of movement and a little snapping sound, and it works. It must have moved just enough when the PCB was stuck in the body. Success. The Bachmann chip is programmed, and with more difficulty slipped out from the socket and ready for the driving cars., Access into the driving cars is just as "easy" as the powered car, requiring nails and dexterity. SNAP ! Oh dear. One bit of plastic that's representing the inter-car control and power cables has snapped off the inner end of one vehicle. I'll put it to one side and glue it later..... The body comes off eventually, and reveals an interesting PCB layout. There are two contacts on the floor of the "chassis" that meet downward fingers from the PCB in the roof. this then has mor fingers at the other end gong back down to the floor. No cables to get in the way, but reliable in the long term ? At least access to the chip socket is easy, and in goes the chip. Repeat this programming for the other driving car (and no need to reverse direction on the chips, the front/rear changeover works fine). Although the Bachmann 6 pin decoder was ok in the motor car, I tried a Zimo 621 chip which seemed to give even better control and smoothness. It is a very nice runner, although its only been used on a bit of straight test setrack. The radious 1, 2, 3, and 4 temp loops at Grandads house haven't been tried yet. So, that's just short of £65 for the three decoders, An hour to get the job done, A bit of plastic broken off. Oh, a small scratch on one car where my nail slipped out. Obviously, none of this is mentioned in any trade press review.........best of luck to you all. Seriously - it seems another downside to RTR EMU's. A lovely model, but expensive to chip. Farish - I reckon you could have sacrificed sound and fitted lights and the motor in one of the driving cars. You'd still have three different "chassis" to design, but you'd save us a chip. This design makes a DCC fitted 350 cost around the £200 quid mark. And the box and other descriptions just have the "6 pin" decocder symbol. No mention there of 3 x 6 pin decoders..........