jpendle

Yes the N Gauge Metcalfe kits are slightly over scale. I may be wrong, I often am, but wouldn’t an OO9 layout use OO buildings? Regards, John P

I'd like to see all liveries frozen for at least 25 years to stop the pernicious problem of model liveries becoming out of date before they've even hit the shops. 🤔 John P

You mean Odessey and Oracle, apparently the sleeve designer couldn't spell. John P

Only a couple! I'd go for all 10, as long as I could spread out the purchases 😃 Regards, John P

I think Dapol only use Next18 decoders in their N Gauge models. Plus, the HM7000's don't meet the Next18 standard for decoder size and Dapol have their own decoder brand. Regards, John P

That's cos you're not Austrian or Swiss for that matter 😄 John P

But in Austria, Germany, and other parts of Europe, they use a decimal comma! 4,5 5,75 etc. John P

Quite frankly that's rubbish. If the loco pcb/wiring has a short from the pickups to the motor terminals then its going to run fine on DC because that's what a blanking plug does. The decoder won't be happy though. I've a Dapol N Gauge CL156 where the decoder in the dummy car doesn't work and the lights won't come on, works fine on DC and there's nothing wrong with any of the decoders that I've tried. At least I've not fried any of them as there's no motor. Regards, John P

Yes that's what you need. BUT please take note that the polarity of the non-loop tracks has been changed from what you would see in a DC dogbone where the outermost rail would always be the same polarity. Also if you plan on using live frog (Electrofrog) points you will need to isolate the rails at the 'heel' end of the points. Regards, John P

Is this Dc or DCC? With DCC you would use reverse loop modules/frog juicers for the two loops and polarity would change automatically. With DC you would need to isolate the 2 loops run a train into the loop, switch the loop's polarity with a switch and the loco's direction, then you can continue round the loop. I'm not aware of any automatic methods using DC as you have the issue of changing the loco's direction "on the fly", which DCC decoders deal with automatically. Regards, John P

So that'd be Direct Chat to Direct Chat then? 😁 John P

But why are they all named "Oscar"? 🤔😁 John P

But as Peco is the Pritchard Patent Product Company, may be it should be pronounced P-P-Peco Like P-P-Pickup a Penguin. John P

Duke's of Hazzard anyone? John P

Apparently after 23 years living in the US I still can't pronounce my christian name correctly. What's your name? John Joe? No John. Joan? No John. J O H N John Ohhh, you mean John ^%^%#^%(&@%(*&%^@(&$%^%*&%^!!!!!!!! Regards, Joe Joan John P

Not me. jpendle's are as common as muck in Lancashire. John P

Or even "instant oral feedback" when the person next to you shouts "turn that bl&&dy thing down!". 😁 John P

As an aside, about 30 years ago I was on a training course in one of our US sites and the instructor, a Scottish gentleman, was talking about ISDN,DSL,& Fibre. On one of his slides he had FTTC. So I asked what did that stand for, he told me I was an idiot, cos he'd just told me what it stood for. I said I'm not an idiot you haven't told anyone in the class what FTTC stands for. After a couple more minutes of back and forth insults it all became clear. In the US the hard edge between the sidewalk and the pavement is called the Curb. In the UK the same thing between the pavement and the road is called the Kerb. John P

The problem on this 'ere forum and others is that Hornby are assumed to be a dominant player in the world of model railways. They're not. They may well be the dominant player in the world of UK Outline OO scale but it stops there. Given that DCC is used world wide then to think that Hornby will change what the rest of the world (i.e. Not UK Outline OO) will do is a bit far fetched. Now if the NEM got Zimo & ESU to team up on a new Bluetooth comms standard for DCC that would be a different matter, but as has been mentioned you would still have the issue of getting track occupancy detectors to work, etc. Then there's the issue of interference when you run your Bluetooth loco at an exhibition along with a 100 or so others. To my mind there's plenty that could be added to DCC decoders to provide additional functionality without even looking at Bluetooth. Stay-alives, accelerometers (for automated tilt, flange squeal) maybe even GPS for loco detection outdoors in G scale! Regards, John P

They just detect short circuits and then change the track or frog polarity, doesn't matter how the turnouts are operated. Whether they'll work with the Peco N Gauge Scissors is another matter. That may well be the issue. I'm not familiar with the Peco scissors but I suspect that the entire formation should be electrically isolated from the rest of the layout otherwise shorts may occur. e.g. if the bottom left point is set for the diverging route then the rails on the straight route will be set to the same polarity. If the top left point is then set for the straight route this may then create a short circuit as its rails will be set to opposite polarities. BTW the Frog juicer is a red herring, you need to figure out the rest of the wiring first and then bring the juicers into play. Regards, John P

It looks like all 4 of those resistors have been subject to mechanical damage. They should all be replaced but I don’t know what with. The 4 resistors are wired in parallel so that lower power components can be used. E.g 4 1/8W components to deal with 1/2W of power. If you remove all of them you should be able to measure the resistance of a single device. Not sure how you can work out the power rating though. BTW it’s likely that the right most one will also split in two when you try to unsolder it. Regards, John P

Nothing wrong with that. I'd rather have Zimo or ESU in my RTR than say, Dapol Imperiums. In UK N gauge it has been made pretty clear by the manufacturers, whose decoders they are using. e.g. ESU in my Revolution and Farish sound equipped models. Regards, John P

Dapol's next offering then 😁 John P

You only really need a booster if the number of locos or accessories is going to exceed the capabilities of the PowerCab. So how many locos, what scale, are they sound equipped, and are you operating point motors with DCC. As an example I had to add a booster to my Z21 3A powered N Gauge layout when I got to 40 loco's (non were sound equipped) and 70 Tortoise motors controlled by NCE Switch 8 decoders. Regards, John P

Assuming it's a 01298 number then it should have 6 digits after it. And while everyone's off down memory lane the original 4 digit area codes e.g. 0942, 0204, 0298, etc,etc, where set up somewhat alphabetically based on the letters on a very old rotary or brand new mobile phone. 942 Wigan 204 Bolton 298 Buxton 223 Cambridge 774 Preston Regards, John P