lyneux

Am I allowed to say: I'm glad it didn't? 🤣

I'm not sure he actually wants to sell anything. My last interaction with him was over an old dusty Bachmann NSE 166 he had in the display cabinet. I asked him 'how much' to which he replied 'make me an offer'. So I offered him £150 for it (fair eBay average price after a bit of googling) but he told me that he wouldn't let it go for less than double that. I picked one up recently for £100. I decided after that experience that it was my last visit. Guy

I think you misunderstand the role of customs officers if you think they check IP rights as well as collect import duties!

I wouldn't recommend that. 3 ohms is NOT fine for a Loksound V5. Read the spec: https://www.esu.eu/en/products/loksound/loksound-5-loksound-5-dcc/ 4-32 ohms. Guy

Yes, exactly my point. Publishing the protocol spec (with whatever license you like, open source or otherwise) would help to gain traction for this technology and prevent this. BlueRail Trains are smart then. It sounds like they are licensing their protocol/tech so that other brands can build compatible products. Even better (from an adoption point of view) would be to open-source it. @RAF96 - any idea of Hornby's plans in this area? Thanks, Guy

See my post from last week for some details of the recording session with Biff and Revolution Trains at Merehead (link below). I think the combo of a sugar cube and EM1 works really well to capture both low and high frequencies. Make sure that you fit an enclosure to your sugar cube though as the high frequencies are not as loud without it (details in my post). The 'default' volume that Biff has set seems loud enough for me, but as Charlie says, if you want it louder, tinker with the (well-documented) CVs to increase the volume. Guy

It will never become an industry standard unless they in some way open up the spec for the protocol it uses. DCC succeeded purely on the basis of it being an open standard. Guy

Sorry to hear you've been under the weather Will. Those corridor connections look superb! Can you take a pic of the ends with the unit uncoupled? It would be good to see what they look like end-on. Cheers, Guy

Hi Andy, Am I right in thinking you have tinkered with the street plan a bit to the south end of the layout around Warwick Road? The Radnor Arms looks like it's swapped sides of the street? I think I can see what you have done. Is it because the tracks curve round to the fiddle yard? If so, I am assuming that the police car is exiting Warwick Road and heading up Holland Road? Guy

I have finally got all the bits needed to install sound into my three Dapol 59s: Loksound v5 from DCKits with Legomanbiffo sounds, sugar cube speaker (plus the moulded ESU enclosure) and EM1™/Accurathrash™ speaker. I was present at Merehead with Biff last year when he recorded the 59 with the Revolution Trains team on a foul and miserable rainy May morning. Despite the weather, it was quite special to be present at the recording of a locomotive and for it to happen at Merehead, the spiritual home of the 59s, made it extra special. Having some personal attachment to the recording process meant there was only one choice when it came to sound equipping my 59s: Biff's new sound project. I wanted to retain the high frequency whine and ying of the prototype alongside the bass of the engine so rather than just fitting an EM1, I decided to also fit a sugarcube speaker to provide the higher frequencies. Fitting the speakers was fairly straightforward. The EM1 had it's lugs removed on the trusty proxxon table saw and for the sugarcube I added the plastic ESU enclosure but without any of the spacer 'rings' as there isn't much space left once the EM1 is fitted. The sugarcube is 8ohms and the EM1 4 ohms. In series, this gives 12 ohms which is within the 4-32 ohm range for the Loksound V5. Be careful though, in parallel these are 2.57ohms combined which may damage your decoder! The sugarcube was fitted in a gap on the main circuit board (as circled in green). I was careful to use electrical tape to insulate the circuit board from any inadvertent shorts. And here's the final result. Not too shabby! Thanks to Biff as well as Mike and Ben from Revolution Trains.

Also, the red brake pipe has it's handle on the wrong side.

Absolutely stunning!

An indication of what the max current draw might be is probably to be gained by looking at what current the decoders are rated for. For comparison, Loksound v4 is 1A, v5 is 1.5A. EDIT: Also, by way of comparison, the existing Hornby TTS Sound decoders are rated at 800mA.

The design of both protocols is quite different but 'yes', could be done reasonably easily with an Arduino I think. At least they are both published. Likewise it should be possible for Digitrax Loconet, although it requires a license and the signing of an NDA to obtain their specs. I think this would need to be a slightly different physical interface too as it is not based on RS485. Guy

No, it's published (Cab Bus): https://dccwiki-prod1382-images.b-cdn.net/images/7/78/Cab_bus_protocol.pdf EDIT: It looks like it is quite a 'chatty' protocol though with continual polling of the throttles: https://dccwiki.com/Cab_Bus

I can tell you it works because I have built my own Xpressnet throttle using an arduino and was looking to do something similar to the Hornby Dongle myself. It’s an ugly protocol though when you go down the rabbit hole! Spec is here: https://wiki.rocrail.net/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=xpressnet:xpressnet-v2.pdf But at least it’s ‘open’… Guy

If your beeb spoke xpressnet using it then why not? Just need to write the compatible software. Because it hasn’t been done doesn’t mean it can’t.

I don’t think this has been answered for you but given it’s my day job I’ll have a stab. In networking terms (using the OSI layered model), then RS485 operates as physical layer protocol (layer 1) but on top of that you have xpressnet that operates at OSI layer 3 or 4. Basically it’s protocols tunnelled within protocols. You need the same protocols all the way up the stack for it to work. For me, the key point here and the driver for wide adoption is standards (yes, I work in telecoms!). Open standards work. Closed ones don’t. Interesting to read about the blunami stuff. I wonder if that is an open standard? Clearly Hornby have realised this too which is why their dongle translates into the widely adopted throttle protocol, ‘xpressnet’. Guy

Very little info on how this works technically. It looks like the legacy dongle is an interface via xpressnet? Could be useful for owners of compatible systems. Makes perfect sense as a system. Guy

Same problem here on an iPad in landscape mode, e.g.

It's the speaker you get with the decoder. Choose the one you want! EDIT: Note the price goes up for 2x Mini Bass... unsurprisingly perhaps!

Thanks for the update Fran. They look very nice. Being cheeky, when can we expect the Mk 2C announcement? Guy

Hi Charlie, The 142 looks superb! Will definitely be having one, probably for Oldshaw. Quick question on the wheels. It could just be the angle of the pic, but is the axle properly aligned with the axle box? Also, I assume there will be space for EM/P4 wheels between the frames? Many thanks! Guy

Nah, not big enough! 🤣

Please keep us updated of the parcels whereabouts…. we can’t wait to hear more about your delivery!