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legomanbiffo

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  1. legomanbiffo
    With several months passing since the last entry there's a fair bit to report.
    To begin with, what a brilliant summer we've been having for photography. After seeing some superb examples with incredible resolution in Rail Express last month I decided I had to upgrade to a D800 and up my game. Initial results were slightly disappointing (we're talking relative here, disappointing vs those Rail Express photos I'd set as a personal benchmark) but as with most things, application brought progress. This was aided in part by the loan of a series of books by Scott Kelby from Tim Rogers. After a bit of experimentation I'm now getting results I'm much happier with. Don't look too closely at this one though, it's a very low res copy of a failed experiment but I just love the colours.
    The trip up to Perth gave a great opportunity to try out this new toy. Stops were made at Greenholme, Greenhillstairs and Crawford Village on the way up and Crawford Bridge and Docker on the way back. Upon arrival at Docker I was incensed to find that the farmer has planted a line of non-native, fast-growing trees to obscure the classic view, clearly an attempt to stop photographers getting under his feet. Shame on you Sir. Fortunately there's still a good shot from the bridge so I will make a point of going back there every year just to annoy him. Perth was well worth the trip and one we will be repeating next year for sure. So much more pleasurable than freezing your bits off taking photos on the way to the SECC. AMRSS take note.
    The Caledonian Sleeper has been the target of several early starts, particularly given that this may be its last year with 90's on the front. I have to get up at 0545 and wear waterproof trousers as the favourite field is heavily soaked in dew at that time of day. Lovely pictures though. I was also fortunate enough to catch the Loram rail grinder which followed the sleeper one morning.
    30-odd years ago I could often be found at Nuneaton station and / or behind a Class 86 on the main line. I also used to listen to Les Ross on Radio Birmingham and then BRMB (you know where this is leading don't you. Well, not quite where you think, but bear with me). If you'd told me 30 years ago I would one day ride in an 86 owned by Les Ross from Nuneaton to Crewe I would never have believed you but that is precisely what happened. I've been pestering Les to record his loco for a little while and after a possibility fell through recently he offered me the cab ride. And very enjoyable it was too, a great opportunity to hear the rheostatic braking and neutral section first hand, and speak with the on-board fitter from Willesden. Many thanks guys.
    Anyway, what was it this blog is supposed to be about....? Oh yes. After several months hiatus, two recording sessions came along in quick succession; D1062 Western Courier at the Severn Valley Railway and D123 (Class 45) at the Great Central Railway. Many thanks to everyone for their help on the day. Both were really sweaty affairs in near 30 degree heat. In each case it was possible to attach mics very close to the exhausts to cut out unwanted sounds. With the Western I used two mics, one on either side. I’ve run with one mix but may do another version in future with an alternative mix for a bit of variety. A double-take was made as we passed a field in the Western and saw Elephant and Rhino wandering by; the adjacent West Midlands Safari Park of course. Although I don't like the look of the Westerns (alright, alright, stop throwing things), the sound is excellent. Initial prototyping took place with a Dapol model with it's integral bass reflex speaker in the body. Nice. Then Charlie sent down a Heljan one which has vast amounts of space in the underframe, duly converted to a big speaker enclosure. Even better. This afternoon I played it through a 7mm test bed (Visaton 60x60 speaker in a sealed box). Wow. The first production version is available from a Yorkshire retailer near you now.
     
    For the first time in ages my pal Richard and I went to a model railway show as paying customers; the new marquee-based one at the GCR. Highlights for me were the superb Roundtrees Sidings and the ride behind Gordon Highlander. Now where's my mic...
    Stopping off at the Co-Op on the way home after recording D123 I could hear something highly unusual approaching (the car park is next to the WCML). Whizzing past on the slow line went the Hasting Unit which I subsequently learned was on the way back from Crewe on a railtour. One of the most unusual things I've ever seen through Atherstone, and what a great sound! Where's my mic (again)...
    This week, having rekindled some lost enthusiasm with the Western I have kept up the momentum and made a start on the Class 37 recordings made from 37175 at Bo’ness. I’ve put a ‘teaser’ video of progress so far on You Tube today. I really like the sound of this loco, thanks to Stuart and the guys up there for their assistance. On the subject of 37’s I’ve been given a set of Ruston 37/9 recordings which appear to be suitable for the purpose so once the Bo’ness chip is completed I’ll have a proper look at them...
    Still on the subject, one of my 37's is presently away being fitted with the right coloured head lights. Why Bachmann are still bringing out models with sodium yellow headlights is beyond me.
    Finally, after some delay the first production run of my replacement tanks for the Class 26, 27 & 33 are now at the (3D) printers. I've made several minor design changes from the initial test run. Now 3D printed in black, suitable for 4, 8 or 100ohm 20x40 speakers and hence usable with pretty much any sound chips, not just ESU. A straight replacement for the centre-section of the Heljan underframe, to which the sides clip on and the speaker clips in. Supplied with full instructions.
  2. legomanbiffo
    Late February means it’s time for our annual pilgrimage to the frozen North and Model Rail Scotland. This year’s trip started a day early on the Wednesday, for reasons that will become apparent shortly. First stop was to stoke up at the Little Chef just off Jcn 16 on the M6 (Crewe), our usual breakfast stop for this trip.
    Several en-route photo opportunities had been discussed but in the end we went to a favourite from last year; Docker, on the WCML in Cumbria. Upon arrival, a search on Real Time Trains quickened the pulse as the ‘logs’ to Chirk was due. Almost as I finished reading the words the unmistakable pounding of a 56 drifted into auditory view and we prayed for the sun to stay out. And stay out it did, I still can’t believe how lucky we were. Subsequent shots of an unliveried 350/4 and a Plasser tamper pushing a trolley-thingy were nowhere near as good with the sun in (even after adjusting the white balance).
    From there it was a short hop to Greenholme by which time the rain came on. The intermodal DRS 66 working which normally flies through Atherstone was reduced to a crawl on the climb to Shap and made for interesting listening. A mental note and reference shots were taken of this excellent location and then it was onwards and upwards to a sadly freight-free Carlisle station. The first night stop was at Moffat, staging post for the final thrust in the morning. If you’ve never visited Moffat I can thoroughly recommend it, plenty of good hotels and restaurants in a beautiful setting in the Southern Uplands, and after breakfast only an hour to Glasgow.
    The subject of Thursday’s attention was a 35-year old successor to the famous ‘Blue Trains’; the Class 314. This recording session had had a very long gestation. Following a steer from a DEMU member in early 2013 (thanks Peter), a session had been set up for February last year, but was cancelled at the last minute when the host called in sick – doah! Luck was on our side this year and thanks to First Group and staff at Shields Road this veteran unit has now been captured for posterity. No model yet as far as I’m aware but a set of recordings ‘in the bank’ nevertheless. We never thought we’d see models of Lion / EM1 / Blue Pullman etc so someone will do one eventually.
    Friday and Saturday was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends but sad news was to arrive. My very good friend and ‘chauffuer’ Richard had to drop everything and leave for Manchester where his aged father had taken a turn for the worse. Sadly he died not long afterwards but Richard was fortunate enough to get there in time.
    The rest of the show wasn’t quite the same, and getting myself and all my stuff home was interesting with no transport. Plenty of offers were forthcoming from fellow modellers and traders passing through the Midlands, but everyone was leaving on Monday. As I needed to get back on Sunday the services of Virgin & London Midland were called upon. An offer of £92 First Class was grabbed with both hands. My camera, recording gear and show purchases went to Manchester with Richard. The stock boxes that would fit in Charlie’s already-bursting van went to Leeds, and the rest was kindly taken by Fiona of DCC Supplies back to Worcester and I will be re-united with them all at Leamington show. Oh, and my car was stuck at Richard’s house, half an hour from home.
    Recording sessions for later in the year are shaping up nicely. Nothing I can divulge just now but suffice to say that there are some interesting and innovative things in the pipeline. Finally, with the assistance of Pete Harvey we will shortly be launching a range of 'easy-fit' resin underframe tanks incorporating loudspeaker enclosures, to make high-quality sound much easier to achieve. First examples will be for the Heljan 26, 27 & 33, with a set for the Bachmann 40 currently in development.
  3. legomanbiffo

    Plasser & Theurer

    By legomanbiffo,

    I can't believe it's so long since my last update, an unfortunate reflection of how busy I've been of late. My missus has been labouring under the misapprehension that DIY and household chores somehow have priority over serious model railway business. She was helping me clean out the loft the other day. All dusty and covered in cobwebs, but she's good to the kids. Actually, she's not been very well lately, she's even had to give up her coal round...
    The new Deltic videos, filmed at a friend's 7mm garden railway seem to have gone down well, clocking up nearly 1500 hits in a month. Thanks very much Dave for the help. We had so much fun on the day that I forgot to record the various departure sequences and only two of the four were captured. The Heljan model is on the back-burner for a while now but I will get around to putting another big speaker in the free space inside the body. The loco was supposed to have made a public appearance at Newark until a certain Yorkshireman managed to corrupt all the CV's and disable the sound before the show even opened! It seemed to go down well at Peterborough though. I always know from the smiles when I've got it right.
    Out in the field, just two recording sessions to speak of. The first was undertaken in the 'Garden of England' at the excellent Spa valley Railway (Tunbridge Wells, Kent; sadly on the other side of the M25 hell-hole from me). The session was supposed to have included the Thumper but its turbo expired the week before so in the end it was just 31206. The Thumper is likely to be in the spring now.
    It was a real pleasure to spend the day on the 31. As a youth living on the Birmingham-Norwich route, 31's featured heavily in my haulage book (just had a quick count-up, over 60 different locos, happy days). This one sounded excellent and pretty much everything was in full working order including both sets of horns. The crew were great and gave me everything I needed. I had plenty of time to set up and tied a boom-mounted mic about a metre from the exhaust (see the photo), which yielded some very clean engine sounds. I also managed to capture various sounds that I missed in my first 31 session when I was just starting out (exhausters, brake applications, BIS etc). The sound project has had an intermediate upgrade (various new auxiliary sounds and enhancements but still with the original engine sounds). The new engine sounds will be incorporated asap so I suppose I'd better start looking for a Hornby loco to ready for a video. Public thanks go to the loco owner, the crew and the railway. As well as the Thumper and 31 the Spa Valley have also got a couple of 33's and the 37 which I recorded in 2011 (37153, now looking superb in Inter-City livery). Well worth a visit if you're down that way. Oh, and they have some of those old-fashioned trains too :-)
    On the way down to Kent I dropped in to see Richard Armstrong of 'The Armstrong Powerhouse' and have a play on his Rail Simulator set-up (big screen, simulated loco control panel that sits on your lap, sub-woofer, the full monty). Great fun and very interesting to compare and contrast his railway sound editing environment and business with mine.
    The final amusing anecdote in Kent came after the recording session when we were all starving hungry and ready to eat. I went back to my hotel room (right next door to the railway) to drop my gear off. Walking back down the corridor I was horrified to find a long trail of dirty black footprints leading all the way to my room. Oops! Cue big tip and apology to the cleaner next morning.
    The most recent recording session was with a Plasser 08-16 tamper which came about as an indirect result of Jonathan Buckie's superb kit. My helper on the day was exemplary, a real authority on the subject and I suspect this won't be the last time we work together. Recording and editing this has been really enjoyable as it's so different to everything that's gone before. They are incredible pieces of kit and very interesting technically. I doubt whether I could have made the project work so well with a v3.5 chip but the v4 is so flexible it has been quite straightforward to make the necessary adaptations from normal loco operation. The project is almost finished, just final testing really now. Jonathan is trying to get a model ready with fitted sound for Warley. I suspect he may shift many more kits than he anticipated, and good luck to him.
    My 03, 33 & 60 are now in the very capable hands of Lord & Butler for weathering. When I get them back I'll try and get a video done of the 60, and the 33 to demonstrate the all-new engine sounds (recorded from 33109 at the ELR). The 03 will be a while longer as the project is in need of major work to bring it up to current standards.
    The (very) slow boat from China has finally docked with Charlie's 144's on board. Part of last month was spent recording new beepers, brake applications and a handful of other sounds to enhance things. I also managed to capture a generic Northern Rail on-board announcement which has been included. Now I have had a production model to play with the project has been tweaked to suit the mechanism and the finishing touches have been applied. Many locos and units have distinctive sound features that immediately identify them and you just have to get right. For the 14X units it's the ear-splitting flange squeal that results from the long wheelbase, two-axle design. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. As with the original version, you can squeal, creak and groan to a standstill and the sound will pick up again (slowly at first) when you set off.
    Finally, the next recording session is shaping up nicely so perhaps more on that next time...
  4. legomanbiffo
    Not my favourite track by The Undertones (that would be John Peel's favourite, Teenage Kicks) but good all the same.
     
    Yes, the Siberian winter has finally drawn to a close and not before time - I was getting fed up with it. The camera has been out a few times and I was especially pleased with this one of 90041 near Dordon. 'It's all about the sky' as they say.
     
    On the workbench I've finally completed engine #1 of the Deltic sound project. In 7mm it sounds really good. In 4mm it's good but quiet, and I fear there is little more I can do about it. With an Alan Butcher bass reflex speaker it is acceptable for home use but you won't hear the engines properly at an exhibition. If anyone is desperate to try it please drop me a line, I'd be interested to hear some feedback before finalising it (you'll get a free reblow with the finished article of course). Developing the second engine has begun but is tricky as it has to be done in the model (the Lokprogrammer software allows you to test one sound set at a time but I need to drive two at once to see how the engine sounds interact).
     
    Also coming along nicely on the workbench, and very likely to overtake the Deltic is a new engine sound set for the Class 33, based on recordings made last year at the ELR. This one has got a really nice chuggy, rolling idle and is quite different to the first one I did.
     
    I thought Bristol show was better this time than in previous years. There were three really nice 'kettle' layouts and even - shock horror for Bristol - some Modern Image. I picked up a nicely weathered Heljan DPU from Lord & Butler which will no-doubt feature in a video sometime in the future. It's a really nice model and sounds great with a 23mm round speaker at either end (inside the body on the 'shelf' above the bogie towers, facing up).
  5. legomanbiffo

    Jeremy Paxman

    By legomanbiffo,

    Did you threaten to overrule him....? Aah, a truly classic political interview by the man at title. Now if I ran the BBC, all political interviews would be conducted with a Nicholas Parsons 'just a minute' style bell. As soon as the interviewee failed to answer the question or decried the opposing party, the bell would be abruptly rung and the interview terminated. Tell us what you're going to do, not what the other party aren't doing, otherwise you're off.
     
    Anyway, as you've probably gathered I've been up to something in the Paxman department. First of all, I've done a bit of upgrade work to the Paxman HST sound project. This involved adding engine priming sounds of the correct duration, and a higher-revving speed step at the top end, with all its associated transitions. This has improved the driving experience no end. I've also developed a speed-dependant 'Mk3 coach wail' function. With this a 'wail' clip is played at regular (speed-related) intervals to mimic the airbag suspension noises. There are 8 different wails and the sequence is randomised so the end result sounds completely prototypical. The effect is on a function key and can be turned on and off at any speed as required. This will be rolled out to all Mk3-related chips (67, 86, 87, 90 etc) in due course. Finally, I have been studying a 'wired for sound' HST video in order to model the operation of the cooler group fan more accurately. I'm confident I can get it to behave prototypicaly now, I just need to develop the flowchart for it. This fantastic video gives you an idea of what I'm trying to achieve;
     

     
    In other Paxman news, I had a very interesting discussion about 'Project Miller' with the chaps from the 125 Group at the Nottingham show this weekend. If you haven't heard, the aim of Project Miller is to restore the prototype HST to an operational state using a production Paxman engine. It turns out that the project is much more advanced than I was aware of so all being well we'll all be able to enjoy that Paxman scream again before too long. Details here;
     
    http://www.projectmiller.org.uk/
     
    and here;
     
    http://www.125group.org.uk/
     
    With the 57 now out of the way and the HST upgrade (almost) completed, the Heljan Deltic has come out of its box and back onto the workbench. Work continues on removing rough edges from the engine sound transitions and creating the last few clips I need to make the engine sounds as responsive as possible. Once this is done I now know where I'm going with the second engine so the whole thing can be brought to a conclusion (at least in 7mm). I'm sure it's going to sound rubbish in 4mm but there are a lot of devotees who won't take no for an answer so my work may not be over at that point...
     
    In this week's photo, East Coast's 43320 leans to the curve as it hammers through Alexandra Palace on a Northbound working, unfortunately sounding like a lorry instead of a proper train :-)
  6. legomanbiffo

    Genetically modified

    By legomanbiffo,

    The 2013 recording season has gotten off to a flying start. The text, received with 48 hours notice said words to the effect; 'do you want to come along and do some recording, with three or four different locos to choose from, one of which you haven't recorded before?' Let me think about that for a minute.....
     
    After an hour's drive and a generous helping of lard to set me up for the day, a start was made on the previously unrecorded loco, the 'genetically modified' 57. I must say that when I started out recording this beast it was mainly to fill the gap in the range of chips that I do. I always enjoy the recording process and I knew some users out there would be very happy but at the end of the day I wasn't intending to get a model 57 for myself. Fast-forward two weeks and all that has changed. The damn thing has grown on me to the extent that I bought a sound-fitted one at Doncaster show from those fine chaps at Lord & Butler / Dirty Boy weathering (more on them in my next blog entry). In comparison with the Deltic the editing has been a breeze so far. The project is shaping up nicely with all the ancilliary sounds done, also the multistart functions which were enabled by some skilled choreography by the driver on the day. Many thanks, you know who you are!
     
    It's worth pausing for a moment to say that the driver can make the difference between a good project and a great one. When making recordings the instructions you have to give them to achieve what you want can sometimes appear quite abstract (slam the door 9 or 10 times in different ways....don't open the throttle until after that bridge....sound the horn before moving off, not during, and so on). Once you explain the reason in each case, most will understand and do their best. Some set out to do their best but forget and fall into 'normal driver' mode. Some listen attentively and then do their own thing regardless.
     
    It also helps to have a driver who is knowledgable on the internal workings of the loco. Can he (temporarily) isolate the noisy traction motor blower whilst you record the quieter compressor next to it? Can he cause the start to fail? Does he know how to bring on the cooling fan if the engine isn't hot enough? Happily the driver in this case was exemplary and a full set of great sounds was captured. After the 57 was finished we moved on to a couple of other locos to capture a handful of sounds on each that I was missing. All in all a very sucessful day's recording.
     
    Despite all of the above the Deltic is still moving forward slowly. Every clip of engine sound is in place and there now follows an iterative process of getting them to flow naturally regardless of what you do with the throttle. Once that is done the project would normally be finished but in this case there's the second engine to think about. I'm currently gathering information from various sources that will enable this to be modelled accurately.
     
    A week off work has also enabled progress on other things. I've fitted an XL chip and a Visaton 40x70 speaker (!) to a Heljan 7mm 37 for Charlie. The first attempt with the enclosure was unexpectedly rubbish but the second was far better. This just goes to prove the importance of experimentation when doing your speaker fit. I've also done a chip and speaker fit in the new Heljan 31 for a customer of Charlie's. This was something of an ordeal and the thing nearly got the lump hammer on a number of occasions but it got through unscathed and sounds very good. It's also got independantly switchable tail lights and the fan works slowly enough so that the noisy mechanism doesn't drown out the sampled clips of the real fan.
     
    In the photo, 57012 pauses at Nuneaton on a working from Lawley Street to Southampton (I believe).
  7. legomanbiffo

    Slug it out

    By legomanbiffo,

    I've had to set the Deltic to one side for a while as it was seriously doing my head in! However, one man's loss is another's gain as my time has been temporarily diverted to the recordings of 37901 made at the East Lancs Railway last year. Regular viewers will know this to be a habit of mine, switching from one project to another in order to maintain sanity and enthusiasm. Progress on the slug has been rapid and satisfying. Don't get me wrong, I love the Deltic sounds and they are really good in the Heljan loco but I've found the editing quite tedious and time consuming.
     
    In contrast, I am really enjoying the sounds of the chugging Mirlees engine in my Bachmann 37 test bed. I suspect it will be very popular with the 37 fans out there. The sound project is quite different to 'traditional' ones and although there are inevitably some looped engine sounds in there, you tend to hear them less than normal and the overall effect is more like a real loco. The engine sounds are 80-90% completed so it won't be too long before release. Thanks to Richard Armstrong for use of his photo here. Check out what Richard did with his recordings of the loco at 'The Armstrong Powerhouse' website.
     
    On the photography front, the alignment of good weather, a week day, and a day off have been few and far between, but today fortune was on my side and it was off to a couple of favourite local spots on the WCML. I've had my D700 for a while now and I'm starting to get the results I'm after.
     
    Finally, this evening's task was to fit a v4 chip and a pair of 'sugar cube' speakers into Maggie's 08 for Warren Lane, by way of contribution to this excellent layout. Listen out for it next time you see WL on the circuit.
  8. legomanbiffo

    Back to the 60's!

    By legomanbiffo,

    No, not flared trousers, kipper ties or mind-altering drugs, I'm afraid it's bad news for whistler fans; the 40 project has temporarily returned to the back-burner as the weekend threw up another opportunity to attempt the Class 60 engine recordings. I wasn't going to take any chances this time and with Paul Chetter's assistance, three mics were brought to bear; one in the engine room, one against the grille closest to the engine room, and another on the bodyside near the exhaust. The engine room track captured the character of the loco very well and also sounds great through a bass reflex speaker in a test-bed loco so we're now cooking by gas. The auxiliary sounds are all done so as soon as I've edited and programmed the engine sounds and completed final testing it's a runner. I'm guessing two or three weeks.
     
    It's worth highlighting the cost of recording trips such as this. On this occasion the venue was two and a half hours away from me and an early start was called for so I travelled down the day before and stayed in a hotel. Being a Bank Holiday everywhere was booked up and I ended up paying over a hundred quid including breakfast. Add an evening meal and a tank of diesel for the return trip and you're looking at close to £200. This is in addition to the cost of getting the rest of the sounds last time (same venue, cheaper hotel, perhaps £150 in total), and before you count the 40 or so man hours of editing and programming (and any fee paid to loco owners etc in other circumstances). It's tough work but someone's got to do it :-)
     
    In the photo, 60011 breezes up the Lickey on the 28th Feb 2012.
     
    With the loan of Hornby's latest 90 & 92 models from Charlie, the two sound projects have been tweaked to suit the modern mechanisms. Sound fitting is very straightforward on both and even with a standard speaker inside they sound really good.
  9. legomanbiffo

    People power

    By legomanbiffo,

    The last two or three weeks have been a bit of a blur, with a week's working trip to Norway followed immediately by Warley and then another week away from home on a course. Work is such an inconvenience when you're trying to develop new sound chips :-) As is customary with Warley, everyone left their orders until the last minute so getting them ready whilst in Norway was a bit of a challenge. Fortunately this possibility was forseen and a family member received full training in the use of the Lokprogrammer before I went and had everthing ready when I got back!
     
    I've now taken delivery of a Heljan 7mm Deltic and 37, and an Aristocraft 66 for 'product development' purposes from Charlie. For some reason my missus doesn't see it as product development and unkindly tries to purport that I'm playing trains. I've fitted an XL to the 66, which comes ready-fitted with a great big speaker. Whilst it's very loud all I have proven so far is that Hornby and Bachmann aren't the only ones to 'throw' speakers into models with no regard to basic audio principles. It's going to sound fantastic once I've changed this but for now, people power has forced me to sideline it in favour of something else....
     
    Yes I've finally been nagged into submission by all the Deltic fans out there. The question 'when will you be doing a Deltic?' is second only to the question 'when will you be doing a Western?' and has recurred with monotonous regularlity since I said I'd done the recordings. Well an XL has now been fitted in the Deltic and the first of two custom enclosures has been built, in the tanks. This will be sufficient to make progress on the sound project but I'd like to build another enclosure in the body to deepen the bass even further, just to see what's possible. I can confirm that test clips definitely make it sound like a Deltic though.
     
    As for the Western, I'm working on that. The general answer to any 'will you be doing a xxxxxx ?' question is yes, where xxxxxx is UK diesel or electric. Recordings are generally made on an opportunity basis though so some projects will take a lot longer to appear than others. Anyone with ownership of, or access to a loco or unit may short-circuit this wait by getting in touch with me!
     
    In the photo, 55016 Gordon Highlander looks stunning at Crewe Works Open Day, sometime in the 80's I believe.
  10. legomanbiffo
    Take one Hornby 08, add two sugar cube speakers in the nose and the result? Gronk heaven!
     
    Over the past few years I've tried about 6 different combinations of v3.5 chip and speaker (standard & micro chips, 23mm round and micro speakers. In the nose, in the cab etc etc) and have never achieved a sound even approaching acceptability. Having heard the superb sound from the sugar cubes in Paul Chetter's 03 at the LYDCC show, I thought I'll have to try these. They sat in the speaker box for six months but today I got round to fitting them, along with a standard v4 chip.
     
    To say they are impressive is a complete understatement. I put two 8 ohm ones in parallel, in the nose, behind the grille which is acoustically transparent. The resulting volume is around twice that of any of any other fit I've tried and more than adequate. In fact the engine sound volume had to be turned down a bit to match the level of the other sounds. Mounting them was a piece of cake, I simply stuck each one using a dod of black-tac on the front of the motor assembly, one above the other. It doesn't seem to matter if they are touching anything around them, in fact they are pushed tightly up against the nose when the body is put back on.
     
    Still a bit of work to go before the v4 sound project is released on an unsuspecting public but I'm really pleased with progress after trying for so long.
  11. legomanbiffo

    Do the European

    By legomanbiffo,

    No doubt someone can tell me what these locos are. Each one had three more pantographs than most electrics in the UK, presumably for multi-voltage operation. We waited 20 minutes to get a better picture without the catenary masts in the way, only to get 'bowled' by a poxy two-storey Dutch bogcart!
     
    Yes, after talking about it for several years my pal and I finally got round to visiting the Eurospoor show in Utrecht, courtesy of Stena Line from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. I was well impressed by the ferry; very clean and modern with excellent food, but less so by the 0600 alarm call (0530 on the way back)! Eurospoor is about the same size as Warley but instead of being crammed into one hall it's in three and as a result is much more spread out and enjoyable. And the food was miles better, NEC take note. There was much less sound on display than I expected, but I was most impressed by the Viessmann working tamper with sound, and a G gauge layout with some of the best smoke / sound fitted steam locos that I've ever seen. I also marvelled at a small OHLE maintenance vehicle, apparently made by Fleischmann, with a working pantograph and an inspection platform that raised up and down and then rotated through 270 degrees. Hornby and Bachmann have still got a lot of catching up to do.
     
    On the way back from Harwich we planned to do some photting but overlooked the fact that it would still be pitch black (and foggy) when we got off the boat. However, it was just getting light by the time we got to Manningtree, and we got some very atmospheric shots as a result. After a couple of hours there it was over to the ECML foot crossing at Offord Cluny (a 'Trainspot', and a truly excellent one at that). Being south of Peterborough it is very busy, with commuter EMU's adding to the usual ECML fare. The level crossing gives plenty of warning of approaching trains, and there are good pictures to be had in both directions from both sides of the track.
     
    Back on the workbench, progress continues on the class 40 project which is about three-quarters done. So far there are just three engine notches (plus idle), but some very long transition sounds which add greatly to the experience. With the v3.5 chip long transitions were a bit of a no-no because they lengthen the throttle response time too much but with v4 it's different story as you can program your way out of them. I suspect there'll be room for a fourth notch (and hence four different ways of departing) before I'm finished.
  12. legomanbiffo
    Coming soon to a DMU near you, Rolls Royce engine sounds courtesy of the Class 127 high-density 'Bed-Pan' unit at Llangollen. After a very successful weekend spent recording the 104 and 127 with Paul I'm afraid to report that the 127 has leapfrogged everything to the top of the editing pile. The unit had a lovely rasping exhaust which we managed to capture in addition to the engines. Rasping exhausts is something the previous DMU's I've recorded didn't have so it had to be done. I know there are some who would question why on Earth I would edit DMU recordings before I did the Deltic or the 40, but there you go. Good things come to those who wait.
     
    At the end of the second day I found time to have a look around the shed at Llan and see the incredible restoration work these guys are doing, not only on DMU's but also wooden bodied coaches and so on. To compare these 'works in progress' to the operational sets is a real eye-opener. As I think I said in the previous post, the Wickham unit is a pleasure to behold and its art-deco interior has been restored to a very high standard. If you haven't made the trip yet I can thoroughly recommend it.
     
    These two trips were the first test of a new solid-state recorder which permits the simultaneous capture of up to 6 tracks at once (three stereo pairs, or combinations of mono & stereo etc). It's quite a step up from my old Minidisc recorder which will now be retired.
  13. legomanbiffo

    Wet wet wet

    By legomanbiffo,

    I'm just reviewing the latest set of recordings from a full day at the ELR yesterday. Fortunately the rain didn't impact on the recordings themselves but merely added to the general discomfort of standing up all day, holding mics in uncomfortable positions and struggling inside confined and dirty places (no, not Bury). After leaving here on Tuesday morning it was raining within 15 minutes and it didn't stop chucking it down until early on Wednesday morning. 50mph all the way up the M6 in heavy traffic and spray, and the same coming back yesterday.
     
    Anyway, enough of that and on to the subjects of my attention; 33109, 37901 and 55022 (again). The 33 was of interest because the first set of 33 engine recordings I did are not that great; adequate but no more. The latest set are much better, still perhaps not the definitive set (I have higher standards these days) but nevertheless better. The horns were very good at both ends. I'll have to compare these with the ones on the existing project to see if there's room for improvement. I also grabbed some good brake release and application sounds which I was missing.
     
    Second trip of the day was on 55022. Again the main objective was to capture better engine sounds than the previous trip. I deployed two mics, and one of them gave me almost exactly the results I was after. It has taken 30 years to improve on the Deltic recordings I made with a cassette recorder at Peterborough in 1982!
     
    Finally it was the turn of 37901, Mirrlees Pioneer. As far as I remember (not that far these days) I've never heard one of these before but I really liked the sound of the engine. Again two mics were deployed, one near the exhaust and the other in the engine room. Having just finished doing the 60 the similarity of the engine sounds was notable. Even the priming pump and cranking sounded very similar. I preferred the more mellow sounds from the exhaust-based recording though and it's probably those I'll run with as they capture the character of the loco better. I'm looking forward to editing these, more so than the 33 or Deltic. They might even leapfrog ahead of the 40 (sorry to those of you who are waiting for that).
     
    55016 Gordon Highlander is pictured at Crewe Works Open day. I forget which year it was (I've got the ticket somewhere) but no doubt someone can tell me.
     
    Off to pack the bags again now as I've got to be at another preserved railway at 0900 in the morning. No peace for the wicked...
  14. legomanbiffo

    Snap happy

    By legomanbiffo,

    A few days off work has, for once, coincided with decent weather so two days of photography was kicked off with my newly-acquired D700 at Elford & Portway on the NE-SW route between Burton and Tamworth. Despite being just down the road I'd never been before. It's a cracking location though, and was pleasantly busy. As well as the usual fare of 170's, Voyagers and HST's I saw two 60's on the Kingsbury tanks, Colas's 56094, two 66's, and a DCR 31 towing another 31 and a 56, all within three hours or so. Tomorrow I'm off on an East Midland Ranger so you might see me in Leicester, Nottingham, Grantham or Peterborough.
     
    Progress on the 60 engine sounds has been laboured, hampered significantly by the remaining flakiness of the Lokprogrammer software. I'm getting there slowly though. I've still got about half a minute of space to play with, which will be put to good use 'gilding the lily'. Amongst other things the chip will feature 'multistart' and different horns in either direction. Following recent progress, the horns will be playable right down to short 'toots'.
     
    Mr Petty informs me that there's a Hornby 67 on its way to me, which will give me a chance to tweak the project to suit the new mechanism, and will no doubt prompt a bit of upgrade work before the orders roll in.
     
    On the modelling front, all of my IC-liveried Mk4's have now got Keen System's underframe skirts fitted. I'm planning to get some reference shots on the ECML tomorrow. These will be forwarded to Mr Harvey to produce some etches to cover the Hornby underframes, which bear little resemblance to reality.
  15. legomanbiffo
    After trying the 60 engine recordings through a bass reflex speaker in a loco I have reluctantly decided that they are not going to be worth running with. Whilst the pounding bass sounds stunning through the hi-fi it simply isn't cutting it in model form. I need to go back and record again from two or three different places and hopefully I'll end up with something more usable. All the other sounds have been edited and sound great from the model so once the engine sounds are captured we're laughing.
     
    So with that hiatus it's time for another English Electric on the workbench; I've made a start editing the 40 recordings made at the ELR back in April. Initial test-runs with the engine sounds have been very promising and I think I've got another good project on my hands. The engine recordings were made on the uphill run from Bury to Heywood with about 6 on. After stopping on the bank we did a run up to notch 1 and back down to a stationary idle. This was repeated for notch 2, 3, 4 and so on. The higher notches from stationary were of course very entertaining. Separate runs were made to capture notch 1-2, 2-3 and so on. Both sets of horns were good. Watch this space.
     
    The picture is 40030 at Nuneaton on a rake of what look like HTV's, circa 1979. The factory unit behind the loco is no more, swept away by the new alignment up to the WCML flyover from platforms 6 & 7. On the subject of the flyover, the new alignment to the north is well advanced. All of the major civils are in place and most of the track appears to be laid, which will allow trains from the Leicester line to access the northbound WCML slow line without crossing all four tracks in the station. As long as they don't plant any trees there could be some very nice shots to be had from the Jodrell Street footbridge.
  16. legomanbiffo
    A week off work has enabled me to clear the decks of reblow work and progress loads of dormant modelling projects;
     
    08 After cracking the sound, attention has moved on to the weathering job. I've tried to make mine look faded, oily and dirty similar to this one; http://www.flickr.co...9@N22/lightbox/ I'm really pleased with the results so far. I'll post some pictures once I'm finished.
     
    108 After trying various methods of passing two wires down the train to the second speaker I've finally come up with a really effective and completely hidden solution. All you can see in between the vehicles are the Kadees and a set of bellows through which the wires pass. Again I'll post some pictures when I get a minute.
     
    OTA's Weathered the last wagon in the short rake of 6 (one of the new Bachmann ones) and cut some more 'logs' from the tree in the garden ready to go on it.
     
    BG & GUV Weathered a blue GUV and blue / grey BG for the parcels train. There should have been a third BG but the Newspaper van I bought at the Northampton show (39-182B) has a printing error on the window bars which couldn't be seen until it came out of the box. It looks awful and there is no easy fix so be warned.
     
    Voyager Removed the v3.5 chip and 100 ohm speaker from one end and replaced them with a v4 and bass reflex speaker. Still got to swap out the other three speakers and the chip at the other end.
     
    318 Touched up the paint job on the Bratchell kit (round the doors mainly), and fitted the motor and pickups to the centre car. Now waiting for Kadees and a pantograph from a well known, noisy retailer from Yorkshire.
     
    Anyone hazard a guess at the location of today's photo, circa 1986?
  17. legomanbiffo
    Saint Collen's coracle would have come in handy over the weekend when the Chetter & Bishop 'dream team' paid a two-day recording visit to the Llangollen Railway at the kind invitation of the Llangollen Railcars Group. The weather was not kind, the wettest since Temple Mills in my case, but didn't hinder proceedings unduly. Four mics were pointed at the 108, Wickham (109) and 141 on several runs each up and down the full length of the line, producing some excellent under-load engine sounds. Also laid down in each case were cold and warm starts, horns from both ends plus a full set of all the distinctive 'auxiliary' sounds like the guard's buzzer, vacuum brake applications, saloon heater and so on. All 3 units were in really great shape and a credit to the group, so there were none of the issues of 'dodgy' sounds you sometimes get with preserved stock. The Wickham in particular is like new inside and a treat to ride in.
     
    If you haven't visited Llangollen yet then next weekend is your ideal opportunity as it's the Railcar Gala. The line itself winds for 7.5 miles along the banks of the river Dee, in full spate at the moment with the recent rain, so the waterfalls and rapids along the route are visually and audibly stunning. The line is flanked on both sides by the spectacular foothills of the Snowdonia National Park, and of course hills means gradients and engines working hard.
     
    Public thanks go to the group for hosting the visit, and to Evan and the drivers Rod, Jim, Graham and Mike. Paul and I will be making a donation to the group in return for their hospitality.
  18. legomanbiffo
    You see there's two kinds of people in this world my friend. Those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.
     
    A classic line from a classic film, the relevance being; which of the three are these two in the photo, taken at Newton Heath during a recording visit in April 2010? The 180's are notoriously unreliable and the front end design could be good, bad or ugly depending upon your point of view. And the 142's, what can you say? Two Leyland Nationals on train wheels with no suspension. Their only redeeming feature is that they're full of character!
     
    Anyway, the reason for this interlude is that I've been bringing the 142 project into the 21st Century in readiness for Charlie & Arran's long-awaited model. It's coming along quite nicely (the sound project that is, you'll have to ask Charlie about the model).
     
    Thanks to Mick Bryan who took the photograph on the day (and another 20Gb of them for reference!).
  19. legomanbiffo

    Hammer time

    By legomanbiffo,

    Two models that came close to the lump hammer treatment this weekend were a Hornby 50 in 4mm and a Heljan 20 in 7mm, after I expended an inordinate amount of time on both.
     
    The 50 is the Rail Express limited edition 50149, weathered by Grimy Times and destined to become the star in a You Tube video demonstrating my v4 Class 50 sounds. Yesterday I milled off the weight in the underframe and spent most of today building a long speaker enclosure to fit down the middle with cut-down tanks etc glued on the sides. It contains two 20x40mm ESU speakers, wired in phase and completely airtight. I was convinced it would sound great but it's nowhere near as good as I expected. Back to the drawing board with that one.
     
    The Heljan 20 was loaned to me by Charlie to try out my project in 7mm. The casting has space for a chip (fitted vertically) and a speaker (in the tanks), but like a venn diagram, the two spaces overlap so you can't fit both at the same time. Without going into detail, fitting chip and speaker was a complete pain in the butt which I will steer well clear of in the future. In contrast, their 26 was much easier and well thought out.
     
    There can't be that many photos of Class 50's on the drags but here's one; 50023 Howe leaving Arley tunnel on the Nuneaton-Birmingham line dragging what looks like an 86, circa 1980.
  20. legomanbiffo

    Ped-antics

    By legomanbiffo,

    These titles get worse, it took me at least 3 minutes to think that one up. Yes, ped-antics on my workbench this week as my Class 31 project gets its upgrade from v3.5 to v4. Relive the glory days of the Birmingham-Norwich in it's full audio splendour. The photo of such a working dates from Summer 82 and is one of my favourites from that period. Eagle-eyed viewers will note that it's running wrong-line through platform 1 at Nuneaton instead of the more usual 5 going in that direction (towards Leicester). The mists of time have obscured the reason why. Back then we used to detour to the railway on the way to school to see what was on the first Birmingham-Norwich of the day. I don't remember actually being late for school but we did have to run a few times when it ran late.
     
    The upgrade to v4 involves several broad steps;
     
    1. Making various changes to the project in order to improve the driving response. Without giving away 'trade secrets', the aim here is to ensure that any significant change to the throttle elicits a (sound) reaction as quickly as possible, typically within 0-2 seconds. None of the 'open the throttle wide and wait 10 seconds for the sound to catch up' here.
     
    2. Reviewing the recordings I've got with a view to extracting new clips to take advantage of the extra space. In particular I have a look to see what I've got in the way of priming, cranking and starting, to see what 'multistart' options will be possible. If suitable recordings exist, the necessary clips are extracted and incorporated into the project.
     
    3. Sourcing / extracting an extra set of horns so that the two ends sound different, just like the real thing. Locos in preservation that have two sets of working horns that all sound good are few and far between so often these have to be sourced from different locos. For the 31 I've only got one set so I'll be looking for an opportunity to record another in the future.
     
    4. Sourcing / extracting additional clips of door slams, buffer clash, brake application sounds etc, to add variety to the project.
     
    5. I'm sure there are more steps but it's time for bed now...
  21. legomanbiffo

    Park & ride

    By legomanbiffo,

    Sometimes the simplest things can be a whole lot of fun. The 90's have got a really quirky sounding handbrake that operates automatically (via a push-button I think; I didn't see because I was outside recording the sound!). When it's applied the thing clunks and whirrs away quite loudly. When you take it off again the noise is the same but different. So the mind starts thinking, if I could work this feature into the sound project the loco could be realistically parked without shutting it down. An evening of fiddling later and it works a treat. You can leave the loco to its own devices and use F1 as normal, the handbrake then comes off and goes on appropriately at start-up and shutdown (but not when standing at signals etc). You can also manually take it off at a time of your choosing after pan-up, and you can also apply it (and remove it) manually whenever the loco is stationary. I've had great fun getting it to work just how I wanted it, and control is simple and reliable. I suspect this will become a feature of all locos where I've got the appropriate recordings. I've got the video camera in the house so if I get time over the weekend I'll post a clip of it on my You Tube channel.
     
    The photo was taken at Coventry on the 1st May 2009. First Scotrail liveried 90019 pushes a scratch set of Virgin stock towards London whilst substituting for the Pendolino that crashed at Grayrigg if my memory serves me right. I also think this stock may have ended up as the 'Pretendalino'?
  22. legomanbiffo
    Ding ding ding ding ding, can I have some order please! Younger viewers should turn over to Dick & Dom now.
     
    XL'ing the Class 33 for v4 has highlighted one or two things about the project that I wasn't happy with. I also noticed that some improvements made to other projects hadn't found their way to the 33 yet so this evening was time to start putting this right. I'm not quite finished yet but the new version will have 'Multi-Start' (prime more than once, extend the cranking, have the loco fail to start after repeated cranking, attempt another start and so on). At slow speeds, slight acceleration will now cause a rise to notch 1 and back down again (previously stayed at idle unless you exceeded the notch 1 threshold). Finally, if you thrash hard from stationary then quickly drop the throttle, the 'escape' back to idle is now much better (previously took too long, loco still thrashing when it should have been back at idle).
     
    Tonight's photo was taken in the pouring rain at Salisbury, mid-way through an All-Line Ranger in April 1983. Of the 6 nights that week, only one was spent in a proper bed. The itinerary had been carefully planned such that we spent each night tucked up in a nice, warm steam-heated compartment on some obscure overnight train (unfortunately without en-suite facilities - I don't recall washing arrangements other than paying 10p for a shower at Glasgow Central. You could do these things when you were young). Everything went well until one train in Scotland turned up with early Mk2 stock which had those fibreglass bucket seats you couldn't lay across. I've had worse night's sleep since then, but not many.
     
    If you are still struggling to remember, Colin Crompton was the flat-capped compere at the Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club, and one of 'The Comedians'.
  23. legomanbiffo
    It's not very often I finish two projects at once but that's what has happened this time. I have a policy of continuous improvement so I don't really consider any project as truly 'finished' but the Class 50 & 303 are both at the stage where I'm happy to release them into the wild. It will be a while before I do videos of either though.
     
    As mentioned before the 50 comes with multistart which in this case means user-controlled priming and both cold and warm starts. It has two different sets of horns, one in each direction, and an automatic cooler group fan which starts when the driver takes power, as per the prototype (this can be turned off if you don't like it though). You will definitely need a bass-reflex for best results, ideally in the underframe, but the effort is worth it.
     
    I was expecting the 303 to be similar in character to the 304 but in fact they sound quite different. One reason for this (I learned at Bo'ness) is that the traction motors on a 303 were cooled by a quiet oil pump rather than noisy blowers. And of course the 303's had sliding doors and beepers rather than slam doors like the 304. As mentioned previously, around 90% of the sounds with this project are genuine 303.
     
    Nothing particularly noteworthy about the Class 303 photo other than the location - platform 5 at Nuneaton! It was taken in April 1983, in the middle of an All-Line ranger which cost me the princely sum of £100. I think there were a handful of them allocated to Longsight at the time though I stand to be corrected?
  24. legomanbiffo
    In the olden days, before 50's were called Hoovers we used to refer to them as 'bleeps'. I have no idea where that name came from, or if it was in common usage. Answers on a postcard...
     
    The photo is a vintage scene from Birmingham New Street in the late 70's. I wonder if Jim is planning to have hordes of spotters at the platform ends like this?! Those were the days.
     
    The Class 50 project is shaping up nicely with a full set of auxiliary sounds recorded recently at the ELR. I've ended up using engine sounds recorded from the same loco back in 2008, simply because they provided everything I needed to make a 'multistart' chip including both cold and warm starts. The cold start is great, slow and chuggy but eventually blends seamlessly into the idle. This single clip ate up 81 seconds of the four minutes available on a v4 chip!
     
    Recordings from Bo'ness have already been put to good use in the Class 37 project. I recorded the horns at both ends of their loco and have replicated this in my two projects (37/0 & 37/4). Also, it's now possible to do shorter, more prototypical 'toots' than was possible before.
  25. legomanbiffo
    I wasn't planning to go to the Worcester show but the draw of a sunny day and the newly released London Midland 350 proved too much to resist. The show was only in one hall but there was a varied selection of quality layouts, a good cross-section of traders and plenty of second hand stuff. All in all most impressive. Sadly no rail blue Lima 73's (everything but in fact) so I settled for an NSE example to do the forthcoming video.
     
    The 350 is a lovely model but as usual the chip and speaker fit appear to be a complete afterthought. Just out of interest I fitted chip and speaker as Bachmann intended and the sound is truly awful in comparison to my test-bed (which can be seen on You Tube). It would have cost Bachmann virtually nothing to match this had they paid due regard to sound at the outset but no. I was hoping to post a video of the newly-upgraded v4 sound project but I now need to do some work on the speaker fit before that will be possible.
     
    The day was rounded off nicely with a heads up from my pal Mark which produced the snap on the left. Unusually, the pair came around the corner quite slowly and, as if on cue, opened up in front of me. Excellent.
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