awj.sompting

Thanks Brian and RAF96. Whilst I had realised that the 2 systems could not be interconnected I hadn't realised that there some point work scenarios that could risk an interaction between the 2 systems. As it happens I have been successful in getting a Prodigy Advance on an Ebay bid so the problem is solved Alun

With my Bachmann EZ Command having expired am looking at purchasing a Prodigy Express ( the EZ Command was only going to be an initial step into DCC ) but as the Prodigy Express can not deal with points and accessories am considering using the Hornby E Link that came with the set that I purchased as part of my return to railway modelling for the control of points and accessories. Hesitant to use the Hornby E Link for control of trains as when using it in the first efforts of setting up my trial layout I had a couple of experiences of loss of communication between my Notebook and the E Link. Not sure if anyone else has tried this and if there are any tips. Alun

Brian Thank you for the suggestions. I will get the Hornby E Link out. The total lack of power that I ended up with I had tested with a multimeter across the strip connector where the track output leads from the EZ Controller were connected to the leads running to soldered connections to the outer oval and all other leads to the layout disconnected from the strip connector. Whilst recognising that the E Link is capable of a lot more than the Bachmann EZ I had preferred using the EZ because of the availability of the stop button. Alun

In order to gain some experience of DCC on my trial layout I had purchased one on E Bay. Every thing had been going reasonabl OK for the ;past 10 months but last weekend I suddenly experienced locos changing direction whilst going round the outer oval ( power supply was only being fed to outer oval as am in process of rewiring the layout and then found myself with no apparent output from the controller despite all relevant lights being on. I am assuming that something has gone awry in the controller and it is not worth getting repaired but just worried whether the strange reversal of direction is likely to have caused any damage to the Decoders. The locos that I was using were a Hornby 0-6-0 Pannier Tank, Heijan Rail Bus ( although this did not experience the reversal of direction as it was failing to get round the oval ) plus two second hand locos that had Hornby Sapphire Decoders fitted although it is the Hornby 0-6-0 Pannier Tank that I particular remember exhibiting the reversal of direction.i Seems getting a proper DCC Controller will need to move higher up the priority list although I have got a Hornby E link that I can use as an interim measure. Alun

Thanks Jason. Whilst I had glanced at the chimney earlier I had not spotted the slot in the screwhead probably because of its colour and not having a sufficiently intense light source. Alun

Wanting to convert this to DCC but at the moment am unable to work out how to take it apart as removing / loosening screws does not appear to be doing anything . I know it must be possible as it was converted to Zero 1 control but stopped being used not long after due to a move of home ( Zero 1 chip was in a matching LMS wagon linked by 3 wires ) Any thoughts / information will be appreciated. Alun

Thanks Salmotrutta - I attach a picture before I unsoldered the wires. After I had unsoldered from the left hand motor brush strip both wires just fell away. The right hand brush strip had a copy on wire connection to the unpowered bogie. I have not been able to identify any pick ups making contact with the wheels on either the powered or unpowered bogies and had assumed it was using metal to metal contact between the axles and the bogies unless my eBay purchase was missing some vital bits. Alun

Am doing a DCC conversion to an oldish Hornby Hymek. Fortunately it is a version of the Ringfield Motor that relied just on soldered wire connections from the motor brushes to the motor bogie and trailing bogie. My problem is that in unsoldering the wire from the motor brush to the motor bogie the other end of the wire has come away from the connection to the motor bogie ( in fact there seemed to be two wires linking the one motor bush to the wheels on the one side of the motor bogie ) and I can not see how the the connection was made. I am assuming that the block in which the axles are mounted is metal and that I can solder the Black or Red Decoder wire to what seems to be the metal block at any point that will not cause any fouling of motor drive or wheels. However I assume there is a possibility that there is a specific point oh the side of the block that the wire needs to be connected that will involve dismantling of the motor bogie as where the original wire was attached was hidden by the wheel. I have checked with multimeter that the motor bushes are no longer connected to any wheels. Alun

Just seeking some general guidance on what size wire to use and also the minimum requirement in terms of features on a test meter. In relation to wires I am interested in knowing what wire people recommend for - a) DCC bus wire b) DCC dropper wires c) wires for connections in locos / bogies when doing DCC conversions. It has also become evident that when doing DCC conversions on older locos that a test meter is important to check continuity etc. so some tips on the minimum features that are needed in trying to decide on what meter to purchase. Alun

Thank you all for the various suggestions. I was soldering to the side of the rail on the outside edges and i suspect that I am using thicker wire than is necessary which meant that the solder went slightly higher than the top of the rail. Whilst the possible techniques for removing the excess solder are appreciated I suspect that this time round I will replace the one piece of rail and start afresh using thinner wire for the final connection to the track.

Having initially used the Hornby power connector track sections for applying power to my initial trial layout I decided to move to soldering the power leads to the track in order to get power available to the sidings. However with it being the first time in some 35 years of using a soldering iron the solder connection to one of the oval running tracks has resulted in rolling stock being derailed. Have tried remelting the solder and moving the solder down from the top edge of the rail with some limited success in that rolling stock does not derail every time. Clearly I need to improve my soldering technique going forward but my initial issue is whether it is feasible to further remedy the solder joints I have or if it is more realistic to replace that section of track and start afresh. Alun

I wish you every success with the project as it is a location that I have stayed at several times in recent years in my touring caravan with just a hedge between my caravan and the railway line. I also have a sentimental attachment to the TCs and REPs as I was a junior clerk in the Southern Region M&EE Dept. at Croydon at the time of their introduction and Eric quite a bit of overtime folding the numerous copies of the wiring schematic diagrams for them. Alun

Thanks for the various tips and suggestions. As already mentioned I will be holding back on any modifications to the loco until I have other DCC Locos. However in addition to revising the layout to remove going through the curves of three turnouts in succession I also relaid several sections of track to try and eliminate some of the joint issues which in places were due to some not immediately noticeable damage to the fishplates when I d.ismantled my first attempt at putting a layout together. I am pleased to say that I am now able to push the Auto-trailer through the crossover between the inner and outer oval at full speed not that I would necessarily want to on a regular basis. Improving slow speed movement over turnouts awaits acting on the suggestions made. Alun

DavidCBroad - Thanks for the benefit of your experience and when combined with some of the comments \ suggestions by The Johnster it is clear that I need to start getting my hands dirty in making some minor modifications to the Hornby 0-6-0 PT. As it is the only working Loco for the layout I will not venture into this until more items are available to use on the layout. I am currently awaiting the return of a Heijan AC Cars Railbus where the fitting of the DCC Decoder ran into problems plus I have been bidding for some DCC fitted items on Ebay but without success so far. I am also trying to get sufficiently confident to embark on doing a DCC conversion to one of the old collection and need to identify which one I can find the clearest instructions for. One thing I was encouraged by was this afternoon my 10 yr old granddaughter decided to add the Triang Blue Pullman Dummy Power Car to the 0-6-0 PT and Hornby Auto-trailer and they seemed to function without much problem. Whilst not a combination that I would have thought of it does mean that some of the old items may be more useable than I feared. Alun

The further responses are very much appreciated. I did rearrange the layout to remove the movement through three turnouts in succession and also replaced the Hornby turnout with a Peco one plus the track is now pinned to the baseboard ( I had initially been relying on double sided masking tape as I was not sure how far I wanted to go with this interim layout ). Theses changes have considerably improved the situation. Felt sufficiently confident of the improvement that I allowed my 7 year old grandson to experiment with longer trains on his first visit to play with Grandad's model trains. Yes there was some derailments but to be expected when he had some 6 or 7 wagons on addition to the auto-trailer coach. He did add further wagons to the extent that the loco eventually was unable to keep enough adhesion to pull everything round the oval. Have to say that he very quickly became adept at stopping the train at the right point but he certainly preferred using the second hand Bachmann E Z DCC controller to using Railmaster with elink but the lack if touch screen and loss of communication between the Notebook and Elink probably influenced this. Thank you "The Johnster" for your detailed and extensive suggestions many of which I will be working through. The curves on this interim layout are controlled by what came with the "Western Master" set and the Peco starter track set which fortuitously were not the same so the outer oval is No. 3 radius and the inner oval No. 2 radius. the size of the baseboard means that I am not able to make the oval curves any more gradual even if I could justify it financially. Alun ps my 0-6-0 PT does not have any traction wheels they are all smooth.

Thanks Corbs for that suggestion. Certainly something for me to consider for the " goods yard " area inside the inner oval as I was wondering about how I was going to have it moving wagons around across turnouts at slow speeds. On cost grounds will probably not manage changing turnouts on the ovals for the time being plus will need to research what is involved in electrofrogs for the DCC wiring. Alun Thanks for the further responses - Harlequin - i am going to reset the layout to move the turnout to go from the inner oval to the centre area so that it is before the crossover rather then after as this will bring it into line with the suggested layout in the PECO track plan book. If I still experience problems I will post a plan / photo. At this stage checking the back to back distances of the weheels on the auto-coach is beyond my experience but something I will undoubtedly need to learn. melmerby - The 0-6-0 PT is brand new having come with the Hornby Western Master DCC set although it did have to go back for replacement as the coupling rod between the nearside wheels came off within 24 hrs of starting to use it. The auto-coach is brand new out of the box but as with the 0-6-0 PT there is no guarantee that it will have emerged from the factory in perfect condition so as mentioned I probably need to rapidly learn about checking back to back distances of wheels. D9020 Nimbus - Have not tried pushing anything else yet. As mentioned above I am adjusting the layout and will then try with the wagons that came with the Western Master plus some other new Hornby wagons. If this goes ok will then start trying some of the older items I have but as these will be approx. 30 years old they are even more likely to throw up issues on wheel back to back dimensions and flange depths. DavidCBroad - At this early stage of coming back to the hobby I am not feeling the need to be perfect in following prototype and will anyway in the longer term be mixing late GWR steam / diesel and early BR Western Region diesel in my layout. The Hornby 0-6-0 PT was the closest affordable way of getting started on a DCC layout after an initial setback on trying to fit a decoder to a DCC Ready Railbus and therefore not being sure whether the second hand Bachman E-Z DCC Controller. Thank you for the several technical points which will be helpful as my own knowledge and ability to make adjustments develops. BR70103 - The leading bogie of the Auto-trailer seemed to be staying on and it was the actual loco that was derailing. Both Loco and Auto-trailer are new Hornby with no apparent mismatch in coupling heights. Will need to look at buffer issue on curves when I have put trackwork back together.

Thanks Corbs for that suggestion. Certainly something for me to consider for the " goods yard " area inside the inner oval as I was wondering about how I was going to have it moving wagons around across turnouts at slow speeds. On cost grounds will probably not manage changing turnouts on the ovals for the time being plus will need to research what is involved in electrofrogs for the DCC wiring. Alun

This is not solely a layout issue but would appreciate advice as to whether the solution is primarily from layout adjustment. I have just returned to railway modelling after an approximately 35 yr gap and am creating an interim layout whilst I work on flooring the loft for something more extensive. I have have got a double oval with a crossover followed on the inner oval by a turnout into the centre of the baseboard which enables trains to move directly from the outer oval into the track inside the inner oval in one movement. As I have gone for DCC the only working loco at this moment is a Hornby 0-6-0 GWR Pannier Tank to which I have added a Hornby GWR Auto-trailer ( there is also a small selection of wagons that I have not worked with as I need to acquire some additional track for inside the inner oval ). I am experiencing derailments when the 0-6-0 is pushing the auto-trailer across the turnout and crossover in moving from the inside area straight back to the outer oval. In order to avoid the 0-6-0 stopping on the turnouts the movement can not be done at a slow speed. What I am really asking views on is whether I am trying to do something that inherently is unrealistic to achieve and that the solution is to move the turnout from the inner oval to the centre so that it is before the crossover between the ovals in order to prevent pushing over three turnout curves in succession. The track I am using is a combination of the Peco starter pack and the track that comes with the Hornby Western Master DCC set with some additional Peco track. Alun

John New Thanks for the warning re damp as I also live on the south coast with the coastline between Brighton and Worthing being visible from my front garden. The garage door faces west with some funnelling effect towards it due to the driveway between the bungalows when the wind is coming from the west. Fortunately other than the area immediately behind the door I have not so far experienced any worrying dampness to stored items. Alun

Thank you all for the helpful comments. At the current time the loft is the only viable medium term option for me. The garden already has a small tool shed, my garden office ( which is 6x6 and already occupied by shelving, swivelseat and exercise bike plus wife has designs on it to be more of a garden summer room ) ), and greenhouse. The garage is only possible for a limited period as the spare space could be needed if my daughter needs to move back home at short notice which at notice which at the moment is an ever present risk and would involve stoting her furniture from a 1 bedroom flat. Altrhough not perfect in terms of accessibility the loft can be got ready in less time and less cost Am going to bid on ebay for a basic DC controller to start testing out the items that I have and continue to bid on ebay for a DCC controller and treat myself to a new loco ( tempted on getting a Hymek ) but the cost of getting up and running means that I can not rush too quickly into updating locos and rolling stock. If I can not succeed in getting a DCC controller at a reasonable price on ebay I am giving thought to going the Hornby Elink / RM route as I have a laptop that has been largely replaced by a Notebook and a couple of semi redundant Android Tablets. Have been trying to find reviews / comments on this combination but the threads I have so far noticed seem to date back 2/3 years. Again thanks for your responses. Alun

Hi I have decided to return to railway modelling after a 37 yr gap ( moves of home and life's commitments intervened). in restarting I still have some nostalgic items that II would like to reuse but it may not prove feasible. eg i have the Triang Blue Pullman set, , a French Hornby SNCF bb16009 electric loco, a Lima GWR King Class that my son purchased a little while after a move of house when reinstatement of a layout was still being thought of, and a Western Explorer with a missing bogie but make not clear ( but not Hornby) These plus associated rolling stock are accompanied by a Zero 1 Controller but it looks as though we only got as far as fitting a decoder on to an LMS 0-6-0 Tank engine before everything got taken down for a move of home. As my interest is geared primarlily towards late Great Western steam and early Western Region diesel I did not want to have to start completely afresh but if I were to go for DCC I appreciate that converting items of their age may be problematic. I have made a start and bought a starter set of Peco track and bidding for a second-hand DCC controller on ebay. In the meantime I also need to get the attic boarded out to accomodate a layout although I am thinking of a very temporary limited set up in the garage for testing things out. Any tips will be appreciated. Alun