Liddy

I forgot to mention; this loco has a 25 x 9 mm PEEK speaker in a homemade 5.5 mm deep enclosure, it only just fits! Yet I'm tempted to try something with a larger 'cone' and enclosure to try and get more bass and complexity out of the sound project. Does anyone have a view on that?

It's too easy, isn't it? Still, I find it fascinating; a smooth, quiet running Dapol Class 50 was a pre-owned bargain and another piece of luck enabled a body-swap to pre-TOPS Blue, just like I remember tearing past the swings and slides at our Rec'. I'm now in the habit of using Digitrains sound files, but they didn't have a Zimo Next18 small enough at the time. I nearly went with Legomanbiffo as his projects are sublime, but didn't want to confuse myself with ESU and Zimo protocols! Luckily Youchoos had the hardware and Digitrains did a reblow. And here it is on speed step 4 with volume at 40/255, turn the volume up and enjoy.

It's the right way up on my phone!

I've figured it out using a battery, Common is Black, Red is tail lights and white is headcode lights.

Hi, Please can anyone help? I can't figure out the Common wire for the lights. Guess it's black, but if someone has a wiring diagram or knows - please message me. Thanks P.S. the black is sandwiched between the red and white wires - not easy to pick out in this photo

Frampton P4 is looking great even after being in deep storage. My highlight of the show today.

So happy to meet Paul and Rich again today at Lydney show. Frampton P4 still looks great and highlights those tiny yards we used to find almost by accident. Thank for showing this gem again.

Good morning @scottystitch Is there any news on the Society Ferryvans please? Rgds Ian

Hi, Glad to say my copy looks fine. 👍

Very disappointed with online content this year - lots of traders shown as attending, don't have links to their websites. Seems it's the same with all layouts. If visitor numbers are down then the organisers need to look at their own efforts first.

Hi, Well, I'm happy with the mechanics and electrics, final testing was completed tonight and everything works (sound deadening/wire-in-tube/frog juicer) Now I can concentrate on the scenery; I have a Scenecraft 'Great Central Goods Depot' which should set the scene nicely, abeit a little worn/unkempt. I think it looks like the one at Quorn and that one is not as low, being attached to a platform on the 'porch' side' and from an archive photo, having a small loading platform on the road vehicle side. (If I have that wrong, please, please, correct me) An ancient Peco road-over bridge recovered from a previous layout is being hacked to produce a bit of a scenic exit and will need integrating with some sort of raised roadway. A hardstanding will be needed as I want to suggest forklift operations. Provision for a cassette or extension. Frog juicer with red/black input top right, track power red/black middle right and frog feeds in green. Bent Wire-in-Ballpoint pen ink reservoir tube. A one minute video hosted on YouTube shows the track being tested With the Peco road-over bridge narrowed, skewed and positioned, I drafted the roadway and track down to the yard on mount board and cut it out. Fettling it to fit/suit the location was a very enjoyable - back to teenage modelling exercise. I made a little 40 degree repose 'gauge' to check embankment slopes and hacked some polystyrene packing to support the roadway. I kept going and glued most of the elements in place. A tiny test board has been made with an offcut of track to test ground cover techniques. Hi, Thanks for dropping-by. Some progress as I'm trying to keep going. The bottom of the ramp has been cut into the yard surface to try and make that transition smooth. I've added polystyrene to create an embankment supporting the road. Trying to give an impression of slightly uneven ground with the formation and yard having been levelled. Some photos to illustrate my my thoughts. I'm still moving the bothy around and thinking it might need a weighbridge. When I fitted the bridge I used a Farish BR 12T van to test for clearance - unfortuately a my Farish locos are taller, so about an hour was spent lifting it slightly and realigning the track. All good now. As per my strap line I have been working on some detail, as the inside of the bridge is visible to the curious I have cut up the unused wing walls to create interior walls and highlighted to myself that I need a solution to the interior faces of the road walls! I have been distracted by collecting rolling stock! Now I'm back to scenery. The bridge needs finishing at the baseboard edge, the road needs widening, the road profile made fitting spear facing nigh impossible, the road went straight in to the background and I've been putting it off untill I had two things; a brainwave to carve foam board to correct the road contour and found more wing walls dead cheap on a second -hand stall (plus a Hornby milk tanker!).

Hi Paul, I now have manual braking and brake squeal 'nailed', I further increased CV4 and CV578. Thank you for all your help. I'm going to ask a further question; Is there a way to turn off Flange Squeal when speed equals zero? Thanks in advance Ian

Hello Paul, Thank you again for responding. CV8 = 8 has been done. Responses are still as before, neither F2 used repeatedly or Horn/Whistle has any effect on loco speed, they both just play the air release sound. CV4 = 080, CV309 = 002, CV349 = 005 The decoder is an MX649R loaded with ZS20ASL sound project from Digitrains hardwired into a Farish Class 20 (DCC ready) Your assistance is hugely appreciated, any further information that would help or any adjustments you suggest, whatever, please ask. I know it can work, I'm frustrated as to why it doesn't work in this instance. Best regards Ian

Thanks Paul, your advice is always very welcome. I will do a reset and post those details later tomorrow Best regards Ian

Am I being unrealistic? I have a Zimo MX decoder in a Farish loco. PM sounds are fine, but this project should have manual brake on F2 and brake squeal just before coming to a complete stop and I can't get either to work. So far I have tried the F2 button, but as is commonly known on the PowerCab it is a momentary switch. The Option button is set as the default Brake and instantly sets the speed to zero. The Horn/Whistle button (by default set as a trigger) activates the brake sound without any effect on the loco speed! Whatever control I use there is no brake squeal before stopping! My next step is to try a WiFi throttle via a USB interface/PC/PowerCab set up, but if going via a PowerCab will I experience the same frustration?

Really excellent work,I had to visit a second time. Great weathering on the bulldozer and Landie! Super scenery with great textures and suble colours. Highly recommended

Looking forward to seeing LDF for real.

Hi Phil, Thank you for posting about this exhibition, such a shame it didn't go ahead last year. Looking forward to it and bringing 3 mates. Have a great day!

Looking back, I am a serial baseboard builder. I enjoy the woodworking and I'm happy with the results. My last effort was a simple working diorama plank with scenery (see profile photo) now home life has settled down again I'm having another go. This time trying an Ikea Lack shelf with an N gauge inglenook (Boomerang generation (sad consequence of the pandemic) mean my space is restricted again. Starting with a 110cm shelf, because it fitted over my bench I realised that by rationalising my books/magazines and cutting the bookcase down to size I could add a 30cm unit to make space for large radius points. By gluing the shelves together I could use the bracket rebate in the 30cm unit to help hold the backscene board. A simple inglenook has been laid out with a road overbridge to disguise the left end and trees to hide the right-hand end. Buildings will be minimal to help the sense of space, a fantastic Harburn Hamlets Railway office, a Kestrel platform and hopefully a scratch built Goods shed as per Llangynog. I have some Woodlands scenics trees but at £13 for 5 I'm going to have to learn to build trees. 11th July Update TBH I wasn't comfortable with the arrangement above, so I've been moving things around. Now I'm much happier with the look I'm trying to achieve. As you will see below, the open end of the board (because that's the view when you walk in the room) now has a P&D Marsh level crossing. Like the header photo the line will disappear into a tunnel at the far end, so I can extend my sidings to the max. The tunnel is possible because the road climbs initially as it crosses the line and then for the whole length of the board. This is freight only, saving precious inches over a platform and allowing more room for vehicles. The Bothy now guards the yard entrance, the base for the Goods shed will come towards the camera a couple of inches and the centre track will terminate where a coal merchant still operates at the far end of the yard. Track will be laid on foam track bed to absorb wheel noise. UPDATE; I must be my own worst enemy, I haven't done any work or added to the blog in months, but my thoughts haven't stopped. I decided that I didn't like what I was creating and in my head went back to Square 1. I joined the N Gauge Society and N Gauge Forum to read others stories, I decided to use Easi-shunt couplings and played with them, I decided to make do without buildings and not to fence the layout. Though I still think the Artitec Warehouse https://www.artitecshop.com/en/goods-depot-1160.html in anglicised form has great potential. I stopped buying rolling stock unless it had NEM coupling mounts and started selling my Farish BR Bauxite goods wagons. There was much playing with AnyRail to find something that is practical. Eventually the wallpaper for the backscene was glued-on, a curved corner created (filled with lightweight filler) the first layer of foamboard glued and the trackplan stuck down. Working with the printed track plan on the baseboard was really useful, it gave a great feeling for the space left for roadways/hedging/trees etc. I'm really pleased with this. A second layer of 5mm foamboard has been lightly glued to the rear of the trackplan and Woodland Scenics foam roadbed lightly glued over the track image. I'm trying to eliminate motor-geartrain-wheel to rail noise as much as possible. Good progress was made today, it shouldn't take long to fill-in with foamboard to the front edge of the baseboard. Also, I need some thin card overlaid on the backscene board now to smooth the ripples in the corner. I've re-printed the trackplan of the points to locate them exactly, not a big deal, but with hindsight as the roadbed is so wide I could have just drawn the outline of the whole trackplan and filled it in with roadbed, saving the printout for re-use. Having positioned the points, I will take my time to lay them carefully, add the wire in tube and fix them down.

Hi Mikkel, I cut the bottom two shelves off to retain the neat finish at the top.

Hi deepfat, thank you for the compliment, it's really down to using the pre-made shelf, the hardboard was cut with a 'Stanley' knife to fit.