nigelwright7557

I have been around for over a year now. I sell model railway electronic controls. DCC controllers, DCC shuttle, DC shuttle, DCC reverser, PC USB DCC controller etc. My website is at www.platformfour.uk

I hate laptops, too slow and the finger pad is terrible. I have a desktop 12600k processor, 24gb DRAM and big monitor. It is lightning fast and the screen easy to read. I do have a laptop but used for backup in case desktop fails. If you really need a laptop an SSD makes a big difference to boot times and disk access speed. At least a 12th gen processor. I only ever bought one pc in the 1990's. The rest I built myself. Just buy in components from likes of AWD and its not hard to put together. Makes upgrading easy as all I need is motherboard and cpu. Maybe DRAM sometimes. If you dont need ligntning graphics most Intel processors come with onboard graphics which is good for anything but demanding games.

Hi I have been into model railways since age of 4. Remember the steam age as a child. I am an electronics and software engineer. I design and build my own DCC and DC controllers.

Will the Lenz work with Hornby select ? Are all these encoders/decoders compatible or is it bets to stick to one make ?

I eventually chased the standards down. I finally got programming CV1 loco address change sorted.

Having been an electronics/software guy for 40 years I do a lot of my own model railway electronics. I did a small layout (Penrith & Blencow) which had 2 platforms at each station. This meant I could run 3 trains automatically around the 4 branches. I used PIC microcontroller, PWM and relays to switch power to various block sections. I also had a destination board LCD display. I added an automatic speech announcement system using a sound chip. I used my echo box to get some spacial sound and it sounded very good. In more recent times I have got into DCC. I designed and built a DCC shuttle. I am currently working on a DCC encoder. It can control up to 127 loco's. It can also control function decoders for points etc. It can change loco's address if required. Great fun.

Wanted very cheap dcc points decoder, would prefer Hornby.

Managed to get my system to change CV1 now. It takes quite a few loops code but works fine now. Thanks for the help.

Partly the challenge, I have been programming for 40 years so always looking for a new challenge. The biggest challenge with DCC is getting the right information to do certain tasks. The software part is easy. Loads of info around on DCC CV's. However, not so much on the fine detail of how many bits in preamble and how many times you should send a set command. What I have found is differing ways of doing it which just causes confusion. As said earlier managed to get a loco to go forward and backward and change speed so basic communications are right. My DCC loco has gone wrong now and for some reasons thinks its address is 255 ! So waiting for a new decoder to test my CV changing software.

My new pcb with motor H driver in and built up. Took some time to get 1 and 0 timings as close as I could get them. I can now get loco to move forward and backwards. I can also alter its speed. Struggling setting CV1 despite sending out codes DCC spec says. Code has to be sent twice to set a CV which I do.

Thanks for the standards name. I found the data I am looking for in there.

I have managed to build my own DCC controller. The software currently can move a train forward and reverse at a speed I set. So far so good. My next step is to start programming CV's. I have looked high and low and cant find the data packet information. Lots of info around on which CV does what but very little on data format to be sent to the loco. Any help would be appreciated.

Mine is pretty basic. Forward/reverse and speed control. It can send function commands too. I might expand it in the future.

I am using a PIC32mx230 microcontroller. I am using a 2 amp motor driver H bridge to drive the loco. Communications with the PCB is via USB to a Windows PC. The hardware also has short circuit detect with overload LED indicator.

Working on a basic DCC controller. It controls speed and direction of up to 127 loco's. It can also send function commands to loco's too. Uses PC software which sends commands via USB to my DCC controller.

Thanks. I managed to find a motor driver h bridge driver which will give a couple of amps. Just waiting for parts and a new pcb.

I am currently sending out speed and direction with addresses from 1-99. I am having trouble getting my loco running at the moment despite DCC commands looking spot on on the scope. I am just driving the track with 12 volts and zero volts, does it need to be phase reversed or just switched between zero and 12 volts ? I had a look at a decode circuit and theirs needs the phase in one direction to read the DCC command through an opto coupler. Reworked my pcb tonight to do phase reversals and not single ended driving of the track. I had 3 other pcb's in the system for update so sent them all plus DCC pcb at same time for manufacture.

I wrote the code for preamble, sendzero and sendbyte. Sendbyte doesnt call sendzero or sendone as I did it discretely so the bit times could be finely adjusted. Thanks for the tip on zero stretching. After returning form the above functions it can be stretched a little. Some time is spent reading ADC's for timer setting and speed setting so I just leave output at 12 volts for a little while. White waiting for turnaround timer to timeout I send DCC codes again so the loco doesnt time out and go into DC mode. I was in two minds about addressing, whether to use "broadcast" address 0 to send speed and direction or actually send out data with all addresses. In the end I settled on sending out all addresses with speed/direction.

Nice to see someone making new DMU models. DMU's bring back happy memories of the Keswick line which I managed to go on the last day of operations. Managed to get myself on the video "Trains to Keswick" by Lapwing productions. Typical grey day on the Keswick line and some snow around too. Sadly didnt take my camera. After the line closed they started a model railway exhibition in Keswick station in around 1981.

I am working on a DCC shuttle controller. I managed to find a simple description of how a basic DCC command works. From that I can control speed and time from potentiometers into a microcontroller. I am using a cheap PIC microcontroller running at 8MHz. I use two breaks in the track to stop the train at either end and a relay to restore power when direction is changed. The software is the main thing to be right as the timing pulses are exactly 58uS and 100uS. I just do it port bit banged rather than use PWM. I might change it to PWM if its not accurate enough. Waiting for a DCC loco at the moment. Software is written but not tested in real life yet.

I enclose a file with some of the line blockages etc. intact.txt

Cedric Martindale is economical with the truth ! He told me in 1998 that the line would reopen in 2000. Then in 2000 he told me he expected it to open in 2002. Its now 2015 and they are stuck at £400,000 and nothing much has been raised for a number of years. Cedric had the massive embarrassment to call a meeting at Keswick station hotel and says he couldn't pay back bonds. Of course the bonds holders said they would accept a holding off of repayments. Cedric went to the NWRDA for support and they said there was no need for a railway to Keswick. Cedric has been pretty useless when it comes to persuading Eden District Council about the case for a railway. One of the councillors wives owned Penruddock station and she got planning permission houses on the track bed where the station once was. Flusco was probably the last nail in the coffin for the line with a diversion estimated at £17 million. I am not a troll. I am a huge fan of the Keswick railway spending many hours walking the full length of it since closure. I went on the line twice on the last day of operations. I am a big fan of model railways being a electronics engineer I have designed lots of electronic controls for model railways. Don't be fobbed off by the Keswick railway supporters dismissing of me. They know I am right thats why they get so upset.

The Keswick project has been going for 20 years approx. and has raised in that time £400,000. Given the railway will cost £85 million to reopen that means at the current rate of fund raising it will take until 6265 to get enough funds to reopen the line. There is absolutely no need for a railway to Keswick. The A66 runs fine even in mid summer. There are plenty of buses and taxis for those without cars. A few years back I took a bus from Keswick to Threlkeld in high season and there were 3 of us on the bus ! If they cant fill a bus they sure wont fill a train ! Eden District Council have said the line will never reopen. The NWRDA did a survey and said there was no need for a line to Keswick.