SRman

Most of the sugar cube speakers are 8 ohm impedance. The LokSounds do have some tolerance, with ESU listing the acceptable impedance as being between 4 and 32 ohms. All the usual sound files are locked to a decoder so cannot be copied, but the functions are not locked and can be remapped at will. I have been doing this remapping to many of my previously fitted sound decoders to try to bring the most used functions into line with each other.

Thanks Stuart. I could certainly use a bit of the Southern fencing, and maybe a few other bits and bobs. I'll make up the list in the next few days and get back to you. The postage sounds about normal for small items to Oz. 👍

Still with the upcoming BRMA meeting on Saturday 20th in mind, I decided that I must add the backscenes along the western side of the layout. With assistance from Mrs SRman, and a little bit of swearing, I turned the train room into a shambles for a while! I did succeed in getting them into place, and am quite pleased with the effect. I did also manage to scuff a part of it as I manoeuvred the boards into place in the very narrow confines behind the layout.

No option for anywhere other than U.K. delivery?

The same occurred with the class 92: Accurascale standardised the function keys between the sound and non-sound variants, it's just that pressing those functions that would have worked sounds will do nothing on the non-sound locos. I have been remapping quite a few different sound decoders for locomotives from different manufacturers to help my memory a bit without having to consult the list sheets all the time. That's just a personal preference, but, as you said, it makes sense, especially when dealing with the same type of locomotive.

That's really funny, because I actually do use Kadees on my class 33/1s that are used exclusively for the push-pull work (the rest retain tension locks). Unfortunately, those are the very few class 33s from Heljan that don't suffer any coupling droop, so I had to introduce a downward bend in the shafts of the Kadees.

Thanks also. 😊 I don't know if this will be relevant to your mode of operating, but for ease of consisting, and standardisation, I equip all of the Bachmann units with Kadee #20 couplings at the cab ends. If your curve radii are a little easier than my minimum 3rd radius, you may be able to reduce the gap by using #19s.

And hot on the heels of fitting sound into the class 52, I have now done a Hornby class 50, 50 045, the one that featured in the last video I posted. This one has an 8-pin interface, but the speaker wires are pre-attached to the decoder, so soldering a speaker to them is not really a challenge at all. Speaker choice this time was a double iPhone speaker from Roads and Rails, and the sound quality from it is very good. The ESU/SWD sound file has some very good sounds and also a few rather naff sounds. There is a very thin, reedy spool down from the turbos at some points, and the top end thrash is a little inconsistent, but the spooling up sounds and thrash are really evocative. I had to cut away part of the fan mechanism's housing to fit the speaker in easily. Seeing as these are unlocked files, I may be able to do a few edits and tweaks further down the track. For the time being, it will do nicely.

Continuing my drive to replace non-sound decoders with sound ones over time and as funds allow, I have fitted a LokSound 5 DCC decoder to my Dapol class 52, D1030 ' Western Musketeer', and loaded the free ESU/SWD class 52 sound file onto it. I tried an Accurascale Accurathrash speaker in it, which meant breaking away the moulded speaker well along one side to get it to fit. However, the result was a tad underwhelming, so the next step was to look up Roads and Rails fitting guides to see what they had used: a 25mm square x 7mm deep speaker was duly substituted, and that sounds somewhat better. I can't say it sounds the best it could, yet. I'll persevere with this one for a while, and if I don't think it cuts the mustard, I'll try a pair of them in series next - they are 4 ohm impedance speakers. I did tweak the bass and treble settings, which helped the sound quality as well.

Thanks for the review. They are still lovely looking units, and the livery applications are still well done by Bachmann. I would draw your attention to the original units actually did have a space for fitting a speaker - there is a removable section of seats in the middle of the powered car in all of the variants, right from the first releases. I was seriously considering getting one of the SWT 3 CEPs or NSE 4 CEPs but in the end, plumped for a non-sound jaffa cake 4 CEP, which has all the good and bad features you have highlighted in your unit. Like you, the expense is just too great at present to buy two or three of these units in one hit. I did post a video on YouTube of the refurbished unit running with an original blue/grey unit and a jaffa cake MLV. I have never been impressed with previously available sound files for the SR EMUs in general, so your comments regarding Bachmann's sounds are of great interest to me. Is there a chance you could post a video to demonstrate the sounds at all? All of my current 4 CEPs and MLVs have Lenz Standard + decoders (v1 and v2) fitted, and all will work happily together in consists without any adjustments having been made, although I do alter the inertia/momentum settings on all of them: I standardised long ago on CV3 = 25 and CV4 = 18.

I decided to do a bit of troubleshooting and a minor overhaul of a Network South East class 50 (Hornby 50 045 'Achilles'). It was intermittently shorting on left hand curves and any slight humps in the track, but not consistently, plus there was a hint of bearing shriek coming from somewhere inside. I traced the short to a pickup wire having dropped off the bogie tag and touching the chassis just occasionally. To fix that I had to dismantle one of the bogies, which also meant I could lubricate it properly. It also resulted in much swearing until I realised the wire was caught up inside the chassis and left a little short at the bogie end. I fixed it once, then fixed it again! I oiled the motor end bearings and the worm drive bearings as well, then put it all back together, and this time it ran beautifully. While I was working on oiling the bearings, I removed the fan drive belt but left the fans in place. I suspect they were responsible for a bit of drag on the motor drive shafts and also for the bearing noise. There's no sound in this one, so it runs very quietly. The Mark 2 coaches are mixture of Bachmann Mk 2A and Accurascale Mk 2Bs, and the magnetic close coupling can be seen to good effect here.

The LokPilot would not be locked. If you have the facility to do so, you should save the settings for possible reuse later on. Only the sound file on a LokSound would be locked to that decoder's serial number, but even so, you would be able to reblow it with someone else's sounds. You just would npt be able to restore it to the factory sounds later.

I decided to do a bit of troubleshooting and a minor overhaul of a Network South East class 50 (Hornby). It was intermittently shorting on left hand curves and any slight humps in the track, but not consistently, plus there was a hint of bearing shriek. I traced the short to a pickup wire having dropped off and touching the chassis just occasionally. Long story short, I put it all back together, and it ran beautifully hauling my NSE rake of mixed Bachmann Mk 2A and Accurascale Mk 2B coaches. The effectiveness of the magnetic close couplings can also be seen here. The train ran continuously for several minutes without fault, but I only videoed one complete circuit.

Having just done a quick read of mine (factory-fitted), I can confirm it's a LokSound 5 DCC.

Andy's first post shows it as being an 8-pin interface, so I would hazard a guess and say you would be correct.

I'm not entirely agreeing with you, but also partially agreeing. I still have several of the original Bachmann class 24s and 25s. The cab shapes have long been a source of dissatisfaction, of course, and they were criticised for that. It took a long time and some competition before Bachmann launched the current models. On the plus side, the mechanisms were streets ahead of the old Hornby model with its ringfield motored model, and the running qualities are still well up to current standards. Later, lights were added but no visible improvements were made to the shape. There was a minor improvement to the relief on the side hatches. Also on the plus side, several of the Bachmann models were bought with sound at bargain prices - pretty well a sound decoder and speaker with a £20 locomotive thrown in. Heljan's model is an improvement on Bachmann's 25, but I don't find the cab front convincing enough to buy one at present day prices, I'll stick with the old Bachmann ones for a bit longer. SLW really shook thinks up ... at a substantial price, but well worth it for the vast improvement in accuracy and quality, plus a new standard in sound reproduction. I bought two of the class 24/0 locos with sound. However, I can't see me buying the SLW 25s, beautiful as they are, unless I can sell most of my Bachmann class 25s to fund one or to SLW versions. For the time being, for all their visual faults, I am prepared to accept them because they are still very decent runners. It's the art of compromise, and everyone has their own variations on how much compromise they will accept. Bringing this back to the class 47, I still have a couple of the original tubby Duff Heljan 47s and also the 57s. Again, the running qualities are superb, and I don't mind the appearance as taken from viewing distance on my layout. They don't sit so well against the earlier Bachmann class 47s, which have their own faults. I'm not entirely convinced by the current Heljan frontal appearance on the new 47s. It is so typical of Heljan: they are very hit and miss with their models, with some like the Hymek being very acceptable even now, yet others missing the mark to varying degrees, some quite badly, others very nearly right. I am not buying a new Heljan 47 or 57, much as I like the superb looking finish on the NSE 47.

Wonderloaf?

First go with the control panel for the upper level: I rerouted the Dapol signal wires and buttons and drilled the necessary holes to mount them. A couple of holes didn't quite line up properly because of the makeshift arrangement I used, but the principle is great. I had in mind that this first attempt would be expendable, at least for the laminated diagram. I can very easily print another and laminate it, and use this one as the guide to get all the holes in exactly the right places. That will eliminate a few wrinkles in the laminated diagram. I'll also find a way to mount the diagram on the acrylic a little more firmly. Eventually, after a lot more wiring, there will be metal studs for point control in the diagram as well, plus a few more signals - whether they be semaphore or colour light is yet to be determined.

I didn't change the pockets and just used the supplied magnetic couplings straight out of their packet. Initially I used some Hornby short magnetic couplings which also worked well but left a very small gap on the straights. What didn't work with the Hornby couplings was the Bachmann to Accurascale join: the levels of the pockets were different and I had to mix the coupling lengths as well. Accurascale do supply alternative pockets which are set further back, but I haven't experimented with those at all.

I have been using the Accurascale supplied magnetic couplings on the Accurascale Mk 2Bs, and Hunt couplings on the two Bachmann Mk 2As that are currently forming my West of England rake. The Hunt couplings with a combination of lengths are now forming the connection between the Bachmann and Accurascale coaches. The set has been running like this for a few days now with no problems to report. The corridor connections are touching on the straight sections.

With the BRMA meeting due at my house in less than a fortnight, I am continuing to tidy the room up and complete small improvements, while all the time trying to ensure that nothing will stop the trains from running on the day. I have tweaked how the track sits on the revamped viaducts, keeping an eye on the very tight clearances at the curved end of the Wills viaduct. I removed a short section of the wall capping and filed a slight downwards slope on that end of the wall, but I will have to do something better with it later on. For the present, everything clears it properly. I also adjusted the rail lengths to eliminate a couple of excessive gaps at the joints. On the other end of the layout, I have added more railings alongside the goods yard to protect the main lines. I have used some modern key clamp style fencing, which is bright safety yellow, but I will eventually paint it all in a more neutral grey or silver-grey to suit the 1960s, which is basically what the layout is intended to represent. For the modern image stuff I'm currently running, the yellow is correct. Also in the last couple of days, I have printed out a track diagram for the upper level control panel, laminated it, and cut a section of acrylic sheet to mount it on. While there is no way I'll have any of the point motors wired in and connected for a while, I will be able to mount the Dapol signal control buttons in the panel. At present, they are hanging loosely off the edge of the layout below the running lines to the left. With the Underground control panel, I mounted the laminated sheet behind the clear acrylic, but that was prone to collecting the swarf from drilling the holes for the point control between the laminated sheet and the acrylic sheet. This time, I intend to mount the laminated printed sheet outside of the acrylic, so the acrylic being clear becomes a little academic; it's there purely for support.

I have to say the maroon grilles accentuate the superb detail that black paint on all the others tends to hide.

I don't know if this counts as a mistake or a historical change, but Leeds has a suburb called Cross Gates, but the station signs all say Crossgates as one word. I have seen it referred to elsewhere with both versions of the name.

You would most probably have to update the firmware. I had to with all of mine. As you say, it is easy enough, and quite painless! 😁

Hi Rich. I haven't tried the cranked Hunts, and don't actually have any here. A pity I didn't have that in mind when I put a recent order in with them for lineside items. What I am finding is the slight angle of the straight one caused by the Accurascale being slightly lower seems to alleviate the rubbing problem between the Bachmann and Accurascale coaches. I did note a slight scraping with the two Bachmann coaches but it doesn't seem to affect the running of the coaches at all.