John ks

As a Queenslander I only started getting interested in QR models when Wuiske Models produced RTR models My next problem was that while i had a decent length of narrow gauge it was all HOn3 (& a loop of HOn2½ /OO9) I looked at my layout & decided that to add some HOn3½ track to the layout would be too difficult. For what it is worth I may have been the first person to do this conversion. At the same time there was a gentleman in the US (possibly from Soundtrax )who had a couple of Wuiske's locos & was looking to convert one loco to 3ft gauge. I got this information from my local hobby shop who relayed my efforts to him. First i got a pack of wagons & regauged them to see if it was possible & it worked fine Next & scariest was to purchase a loco If i remember correctly it may be possible to do the conversion with the bogies still in the body but a lot easier with the bogies out of the body There is a cover that holds the 3 axles in place, unclip it & the 3 axles should come out ' twist the half axles from the gear push the wheel along the half axle 0.75mm. a wheel puller or a vice can be used Assemble the half axles into the gears, replace the wheel sets into the bogie. there is almost 0 side play with the regauged wheelsets. Now for the fun part, the plate that holds the wheels in place needs to be trimmed so that the wheels don't foul it In the pictures, the yellow line shows before trimming & the red lines show where I trimmed it to After the conversion the locos run almost as good as before. I currently have 3 locos & 20ish wagons all running next D&RG Steam Wuiske Models make two versions of their models, one with narrow gauge bogies 3'6" (12mm) or the other with standard gauge bogies which is completely wrong but if you want QR models & already got a standard gauge layout then it is a compromise that some people are happy to make. My compromise is a bit like OO scale where the track gauge is a bit narrower than it should be, but we'll keep that our secret Hope this helps John

Most of the following has already been explained but if you prefer working with images Top image is a representation of your 2 layouts each with its own Power Cab Next image is both layouts joined using one Power Cab & the second Power cab configured as a pro-cab Last drawing is both layouts joined & using a SB5 Both power cabs use the coiled cable to make them pro-cabs Hope this helps john

To me both circuits are the same except for the diode across relay The diode is there to prevent back EMF from the relay damaging the output of the decoder When a relay is switched off, the collapsing magnetic field in the relay induces a large voltage (Back EMF) in the coil. This voltage can damage the electronics in the decoder Don’t try this but if you were to hold two wires going to a 12v relay & touch those two wires to 12VDC you will get a shock which can be quite painful (or worse), Don’t ask me how I know this. Problems with both circuits is that current draw of the relay may be too much for the decoder output. Similar to Nigelcliffe suggestion I have 2 relays controlled by a decoder & I used optocouplers to isolate the decoder from the rest of the circuit . I used a couple of transistors between the optocoupler & relay The LED strip probably needs a rectifier to convert the DCC to DC John

As an Aussie i have no trouble reading that destination🙃

The following items from Iowa Scaled Enginering, a US company will probably do what you want but the cost may be too much I believe the wireless connection is Wi-Fi ProtoThrottle The ProtoThrottle™ Realistic Control Stand Throttle mimics a standard EMD control stand $499.00 ProtoThrottle Receiver for NCE Cab Bus and Lenz XpressNet This receiver connects the ProtoThrottle to an NCE command station or Power Cab* using the Cab Bus $99.00 John

The new drawing only shows the red LED which may be a bit easier to see what is happening In the LH drawing with the switch off current flows from the positive through the LED then the resistor to negative & the LED lights In the centre drawing with the switch on the diode (as DCB explains) shorts out the LED Another way to look at it, the voltage at point B will be 12 volts The voltage at point A will be 12 volts minus the forward voltage of the diode (1 Volt) ie 11 Volts The Voltage across the LED will be 1 Volt which shouldn't be enough to turn on the LED as most LEDs need a forward Voltage greater than 1.8V If you want to prove that it works then build the test circuit With the diode disconnected the LED lights With the diode connected the LED is off While i was writing this i built the circuit on a breadboard & it works John

Here is a slightly unconventional way to wire the signal that requires a SPSP centre off switch (on-off-on) And using LEDs for the signal aspects Hopefully the drawing explains it all The diodes are 1N4004 or similar (1N4004 is a 1A 400V diode, a 1N4001 is a 1A 100v diode & would also be OK) John

Have you tried "Po" or POM (Programming On The Main ) If you have one of the DT4xx throttles as shown in the picture Turn on the system the display should look something like the LH picture The loco numbers will be shown on the display (in my case they are 5003 & 5015 Select one of the locos by pressing the left or right throttles (in my case loco 5003 is selected on the left throttle) Press the prog button (usually 3 times) until "Po" shows on the display (this puts you in the Programming On The Main mode) next to the "Po" will be the loco number (in my case it is 5003) You should then be able to change CV's Warnings about POM POM is done on the main line not the programming track All loco on the main with the same address will have their CV.s changed There is no feed back from the decoder when you POM The only way you know if you are successful is to try the loco & see if the changes you made work Hope this helps John

If by red & black wires you mean the the wires from the Cab LEDs then the red wire (assuming it is the positive for the LED) Would connect to the blue wire from the decoder The black wire would go to an AUX output from the decoder either the green or purple or pink wires If the decoder is the one in the picture then i would wire it as per the picture You would heed to cut the green wire from the 8 pin plug & connect it to one of the cab lights Alternately you could connect the LED to the green pin on the underside of the circuit board & not cut the green wire from the 8 pin plug This would require care when soldering the wire to under the circuit board so that you don't short between the pins The pink & light green wires on the RHS of the decoder are extra function outputs (AUX3 & AUX4 I believe) Hope this helps John

The link to this video was found on the DCC concepts web site At about 12min into the video you will find the answer John

I basically agree with starting with a 1k resistor, but i have found modern LEDS can be very bright & i have used 4k7 & higher value resistors to get the required dimness I had a look on woodland scenics web site & from the image of the stick on LEDs I could not see a resistor The mA rating is generally the highest current the device can carry & to me doesn't indicate that there is a resistor present I totally agree John

This is a guess Some type of shuttle controller The clues On top of the board are Two terminal strips If you were to feed power from a DC controller into the 2 terminals on the top LHS (sp6) & connect the track to the 2 terminals top RHS (SP7), the track power would be reversed by one of the relays (top RHS) & the other relay (top LHS) will turn track power on or off Another clue The four terminal strips (SP1,SP2,SP3,SP4) have the following markings "- LED + LDR - " The - goes to the negative side of a LED (as connected in SP1. this LED would be used for remote indication & is in parallel with LED1 on the PCB) The + goes to the positive side of a LED The + also goes to a LDR (Light Dependant Resistor) The third terminal of SP1 which looks to have a "-" next to it would go to the other side of the LDR The loop of wire in SP2 is where a LDR would normally be connected The terminal at the bottom centre is marked " + supply - SP5" As at least one of the relays is marked DC12V , I would expect the supply voltage to be 12v DC with + & - connected as shown on the PCB Hope this helps John

I was thinking that a capacitor in series with the LEDs might work so I cobbled together the following circuit & it works If the LEDs are too bright then a higher value resistor could be used. it may work with one LED but i used 2 LEDs so that the forward voltage of the LED would not be exceeded, you could replace one led with a diode, or you could use one LED and see how long it lasts Just for fun I added a speaker in series & when connected to DCC it made a scratchy sound , the LEDS seemed to flicker a bit John

Here is a couple images of the earlier NDM The replacement pantograph is Sommerfeldt & its HO scale, which makes it a bit undersized but is a great improvement in the bottom image its just sitting on top of the NDM the top image has the pantograph more permanently mounted to the chassis (not the body) the NDM has been repowered using Heljan class 33 parts & a kit bashed chassis The chassis & bogies are rigid & the body tilts around the chassis, much like the new Hornby model If you look very close you may spot Kadee couplings & they work OK, they have enough slack so that tilting isn't a problem The kadee's make coupling a breeze & building a test train with a LAB coach or any other vehicles easy John

I completely agree with what WiMorrison said . for those who work better with drawings the Grey crossings (frogs) need to be insulated from the rest of the track work & could be controlled by a frogjuicer the Red crossing can be all metal as it is all the some phase (DCC for polarity) I have several points like the one shown in the first post When i built them i didn't realise there was a prototype for my points Thanks for showing that point John

If you don't like the idea of a 3 way switch, you could use 3 push button switches "S" for straight route, "L" for left route & "R" for right route As for working out the Diode matrix that is a headache I wouldn't wont John

To select which of the 3 routes through the 3 way point you could use a 3 way switch to select that route & a push button to set the points Wiring a diode matrix with a push button at each end could look something like this to go from 1 to 5 press & hold button 1, then press button 5 & the points should change for that route For this circuit to work the point motor (twin coil type) needs the 2 coils to have 4 not 3 connections IE the common to both coils must not be joined In this example there places where diodes may not be required EG top connection to point motor "A" should be fine without diodes Hope this helps John

For those who don't know the chassis & bogies are rigid (except for being able to rotate to go around corners) & the body rotates around the chassis when it tilts. There has to be room between the decoder & body so that ( as paulRhB explains ) "the decoder & chassis doesn’t foul the body" John

I was pondering the same thing Is it possible that when the plastic flows into the mould ( from 2 or more sprues ) it will join along a line & this " flow joint" may be a week point The drawing might make help explain what i mean This might explain why the breaks are in about the same place John

I've got 8 coaches & a spare NDM waiting for the 7 car set to arrive If I want to run a 14 car set I have 2 choices, 1 do a body swap on the NDM's & have number matching set 2 Just use the second powered NDM as is & have a set without matching numbers If I go with the second choice 1, who will notice or 2, If I understand correctly, the porotype run without number matched sets John

If by spare power car do you mean this one My knowledge of that NDM is almost zero (saw it at the ERM & later at Crewe) Was it at Shildon before it was at the Electric Rail Museum? Taken on the last day of the Electric Rail Museum. Its now at Crewe Looking resplendent in it fresh livery John

When I was a kid I remember playing on/under that bridge. I lived a couple hundred meters from that bridge . I seem to recall seeing trucks stuck under that bridge & am sure it flooded there. The creek that went under that bridge is now in pipes under car parks for a shopping centre & the Colmslie hotel. Only 60 years ago, how time flies when your having fun John

I know that bridge, its on the Cleveland line Between Wynnum & Wynnum Central stations , next to the Wynnum RSL Club & less than an hours walk from me If you were in the taxi & were to drive straight ahead (apart for a roundabout ) for 800m you would get very wet in Morton Bay I still tend to duck when i drive under that bridge If i remember correctly they built the new bridge on temporary piers next to the old (timber trestle) bridge & in a weekend, demolished the old bridge & slid the new bridge into place 350m north is a 2.1m clearance bridge & 700m south is a 2.8m clearance John

Something like this should work John

Looking at the previous post gave me a thought Take 2 TPS sets Put 1 or 2 Electric locos between them, add tilt technology & you have a modern day APT John