wormoworm

Hi all, it's been a while since I checked in on this thread (over 35 new pages!) so apologies if I'm pointing out things that have already come up in the discussion. I thought I'd share how I managed to improve the running of my two 66s. Both of them suffered from wobbly axleboxes (one not too bad and one much worse). I found the root cause of the problem to be some extra bits of moulded detail on the inner bogie frames that prevented them from sitting correctly in the main part of the bogie. The photo below shows where the tops of the moulded springs catch on the bogie frame. By removing the top 1mm or so from the springs with a scalpel, I was able to get the inner frame to sit nicely in the main bogie frame. More info about how I did this can be found here. /T

I received my 800 yesterday, and two of the coaches exhibit the bogie catching issue. On the third coach, I can see a small amount of material has been removed from the inside of the white pieces on the body, similar to what Darius reported. When I tested each coach on my test track (settrack with a mix of 2nd and 3rd radius curves), the two unmodified coaches consistently derail on the curves, but the modified one does not. Since I live abroad and sending the set back will likely take time and effort, I decided to try and solve the problem myself. Using a fine file, I chamfered the inside edge of the body, along just a small 4-5mm strip where the bogie was hitting. I also applied a very very slight chamfer to the corresponding area on the top of the bogie. After these modifications, the coaches run perfectly! Neither of these tweaks are visible in normal operation, and I'm not worried about them potentially affecting any future warranty claims, as they are actually less extreme than was has been done to the third coach at the factory. When coupling the train together, I discovered another issue. When the last two vehicles (coach and dummy driving car) pass through a 2nd radius "S" curve (2nd radius right immediately followed by a 2nd radius left), the dummy driving car is forced off the track. Driving the train slowly through this S curve reveals the problem: on the dummy car, the close coupling mechanism is pushed all the way to the right and hits the silver boxes mounted on the underside as the curve tightens. At some point it can't go any further and the dummy car derails. Luckily for me, my order from Hattons also included plenty of 4th radius curves, so this won't be a problem. But I thought I would report this, as my model (and probably others) can definitely not negotiate a 2nd radius S curve. Perhaps this is why Hattons have written that 3rd radius is the minimum. /Tom

Thanks for checking Darius. Looks like I'll have to find open the coach in the usual way and find some space. Tom

On a slightly different note, can any 800 owners confirm whether or not the underside of the coaches can be removed in the same way as for the driving cars? If so I'm hoping I use that space to fit some old decoders so I can control the interior lighting throughout the train. In one of the youtube reviews there is a brief shot of the underside of a coach and there seem to be two marks of some kind, they look like they could be screw holes but it's not clear. Thanks, Tom

So the list of locos showed up OK, but you weren't able to select / acquire one?

OK, and what about locos? Do you get any locos at all? Does the "Choose locomotive" button even appear? And does Engine Driver show the turnouts and locomotives? Thanks

Good to hear that the app no longer crashes! A step in the right direction. @Ian, Just to clarify, when you tried the app at the show you could not see any turnouts or locomotives at all? I need to look into this asap

Michael, I found and hopefully fixed the crash you are experiencing, the update will come out later today.

Good ideas about the throttle - I will try and get hold of an iPhone at some point. The speed control could do with some work - there are things I like and things I don't like about it. I've also been trying to think about feedback, i.e. how can you use the speed control without having t keep looking at the screen - this is my biggest annoyance when using a smartphone as opposed to a traditional DCC controller with a physical dial and switches.

Ian, Nice to hear it will be tested at a show! Some family of mine might be going, I can't make it this year unfortunately as I live in Sweden. I checked the Uckfield page, I assume you are going with Santa Barbara, correct? Would be great to get your thoughts on the app after some use at the show. Just bear in mind it is a beta, there are a few bugs I haven't found yet I'm sure. /T

Unfortunately I'm no iOS developer! I'd be happy to work with one though...

Over the last couple of months I have been developing an Android app for controlling JMRI. I do a lot of Android development in my day job, and my main hobby is working on my JMRI powered model railway. So for me it seemed the perfect project to combine the two. I’ve been using the Engine Driver app for a few years now, and found it to be a pretty good wireless throttle with a lot of features. But I wanted to build something simpler that made it quicker and easier to perform the most common tasks (controlling locos and throwing turnouts). In particular I wanted: Throttle and turnout control on the same screen. Loco speed control somewhere within easy reach of my thumb. An interface that scales well to 7 and 10 inch tablet screen sizes. Anyway, I feel that the app is now ready for a beta release, so if anyone is interested, you can join the following Google+ community to get access to the beta app: https://plus.google.com/communities/103043383838285932882 The app itself is fairly stable, but there may be crashes here occasionally, and there are definitely some bugs I haven’t fixed yet. Here is a screenshot of how the app looks like on a phone: (There are lots more screenshots in the beta community). In a couple of weeks I will fully launch the app on the Play Store so that anyone can download it, but for now it’s only available if you join the beta community, just in case there are any major issues. I must mention that this app would have been impossible without the work the JMRI guys have already done with both WiThrottle and Engine Driver. To figure out the networking side of things I had to go digging into the Engine Driver source. A massive thank you to all involved! This app will always be free, and never have ads. I’m doing this because I love railway modelling and app development. I hope a few of you guys try out the new app and let me know what you think, either here in this thread, or in the beta community. I have lots of features planned for the future, and any ideas from users are always welcome. Happy driving!