philsandy

I thought that the green wire was for sound, F1 ?

So do away with the socket, and solder the red & black decoder wires to pick ups, and orange and grey to motor? How would you hardwire a sound decoder, ie. where would the green wire go?

No, it is DCC.

I am building an etched kit of a Stanier 3P and plan to fit this on a modified Hornby Stanier 4P chassis. The DCC socket is right at the front in the smokebox. On the Hornby body the underside of the smokebox is cut away to accommodate the DCC socket/decoder plug. But the Stanier 3P smokebox is smaller in diameter (approx. 3mm) and if I cut a slot in the underside wide enough (12mm ) to go over the socket it might be seen. Is there any reason why the DCC socket can not be unscrewed from its mounting, and have the whole thing, socket/ decoder plug, with a strip of insulation tape around

Thanks for that Brian, lots of good tips there, very useful.

I don't know how far back it goes for "toy trains", as I stated in my second post I don't know how old the model is.

Have just bought an Judith Edge etched kit, a Stanier 3P 2-6-2T. Never built a kit before so it's all new territory. Would like some advise on how to roll a tapered boiler. I don't have access to rollers so will need to do it by hand. Found a diagram of a Stanier 3P 2-6-2T showing some dimensions. The boiler is 4' 2" (16.7mm) outer dia. at the front and 4' 9" (19mm) outer dia. at the rear. The etch is 0.015" N/S. How would one go about rolling this to produce the correct taper, what diameter bar would I need, (slightly smaller than reqd. diameter?), is it best to anneal it befo

Just had a look now, a white dot. I wonder if it's worth contacting Hornby and asking for a replacement. I only got it yesterday, and as I said it does run well, but the fact that it would not respond on one occasion when I kept pressing the emergency stop suggests it's not reliable.

Thanks for all your replies. I don't know how old the model is, but I bought this still in it's unopened box. It runs very smoothly using NCE Powercab, although on one occasion it would not respond when I kept pressing the emergency stop. Are you suggesting these decoders are only 100% on Hornby's own DCC controller?

Just bought a Hornby Stanier4P 2-6-4 T DCC fitted (R2637X). On the program track the manufacturer code is 255, so this is an ESU? The version is 012, can anyone tell me what type of ESU decoder this is.

Yes, Araldite Rapid has a slight rubbery texture when it has set (2 hrs.), you can make an impression in it with your fingernail. The regular Araldite sets rock hard (14 hrs.).

Didn't know that, I have 6 on my layout. Do you know why?

After further investigation: The problem is SW2 is not switching polarity of the last crossing (purple). I put a meter on SW2 and found there was no power going to it when SW1 was set at Normal, which it needs to be at for routes Y & Z. When SW1 is Reversed (route X) there is power to SW2 and it switches polarity for routes Y and Z. Of course when the loco contacts the other crossing assembly (green) it shorts, as it is the wrong polarity. Do I need to swap the wires on the outer terminals on SW1 only , or also on SW2?

For a passenger train at a terminus there would need to be a run round loop, the loco would uncouple from the carriages and run round to the other end of the train. It would then run bunker/tender first (ie. running in reverse) pulling the carriages. Or the use of an auto coach to operate as a push pull unit. ie. the loco always stays at the same end of the train and either pulls the carriages or pushes them. When pushing, the auto coach is at the front.