RevolutioN Trains announce "Caroline" Inspection Car in OO gauge and EOI for one in N gauge

[NTrains]

On 07/08/2023 at 19:06, TomScrut said:

For those of you wanting to know about DCC functions.

 

I have just put a LokPIlot V5 in mine, fitted OK and drives all functions OK (despite being logic level at AUX3 and 4), @Roy Langridge I think it was you who wanted to know this. V4 also fits and works.

 

There does seem to be an element of logic in place on the board. Functions as follows:

 

AUX0f/r - Front/rear headlights

AUX1 - Interior lighting

AUX2 - Tail lights (directional based on activity of AUX0f/r, won't work without these active, not due to decoder)

AUX3 - Step lights

AUX4 - Searchlights (directional based on activity of AUX0f/r, won't work without these active, not due to decoder)

 

This is all OK other than the fact the tail lights cannot be operated independently of the front lighting, so when the loco is pulling, Caroline's lights will be firing at the loco which seems a bit absurd but maybe (let me think on that) unavoidable with a 6 function decoder I think? Edit, had a think. In practice surely would have been better to have had the head lights go off when the tails come on? Unsure as to when Caroline would need both headlights and taillights on. That's the only way I think it could be done on 6 functions. Controlling all lights with complete independence would need 8 functions.

 

Might need to investigate the switches to turn the loco end off, if they do that.

 

LP5 on default mappings, hence why I know nothing to do with the decoder.

 

Hi Tom, 

may I ask which version of Lokpilot you are using? I ask because I’ve installed the MTC version (59659) and an unable to use Aux 3 & 4. Looking at the destructions, it appears they are solder tab functions unfortunately.

cheers!

Bob

[TomScrut]

1 minute ago, NTrains said:

Hi Tom, 

may I ask which version of Lokpilot you are using? I ask because I’ve installed the MTC version (59659) and an unable to use Aux 3 & 4. Looking at the destructions, it appears they are solder tab functions unfortunately.

cheers!

Bob

 

I was successful with Lokpilot 4 and 5, 21 pin MTC non MKL version. Unsure if it was the DCC or standard but I don't think that makes a difference.

 

Have you checked the switches underneath?

[NTrains]

1 minute ago, TomScrut said:

 

I was successful with Lokpilot 4 and 5, 21 pin MTC non MKL version. Unsure if it was the DCC or standard but I don't think that makes a difference.

 

Have you checked the switches underneath?

Ah, I have the MTC MKL version looking at it. All switches are in the ‘On’ position and all work on DC.

I’ve got a Lokpilot V5 Basic knocking around, might try that a little later instead.

Thanks Tom, appreciate your input.

 

[Stueyboy43]

Just received my Network Rail Green Caroline from Rails of Sheffield - very well packed and quick delivery. 

 

Had one roof horn missing off the roof, a shorter one, however it was in the box. 

 

Will have to fix it in place at some point, it has not snapped off as it has the plug to fit in the hole, just looks like no glue (or not enough) used to fix in place.

 

Otherwise with a quick look at it, it looks fantastic 

[Butler Henderson]

3 hours ago, NTrains said:

Hi Tom, 

may I ask which version of Lokpilot you are using? I ask because I’ve installed the MTC version (59659) and an unable to use Aux 3 & 4. Looking at the destructions, it appears they are solder tab functions unfortunately.

cheers!

Bob

The Lokpilot rebadged as Bachmann 36-577 works 

[Geep7]

5 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

The Lokpilot rebadged as Bachmann 36-577 works 

That's usually the decoder that I would use for most of my 21-PIN fitted locos, but they've been out of stock pretty much everywhere for quite a while now, so i've been using the Dapol Imperiums instead.

 

Btw, has anyone had any luck programming the decoder whilst in Caroline, or have you had to put it in a loco to program it. I'm looking at using JMRI to program mine, so wonder if that would make a difference?

[Butler Henderson]

16 minutes ago, Geep7 said:

Btw, has anyone had any luck programming the decoder whilst in Caroline, or have you had to put it in a loco to program it. I'm looking at using JMRI to program mine, so wonder if that would make a difference?

Either in a loco or a decoder tester

[Monkey28]

Just received my Network Rail Green Caroline from Rails of Sheffield This morning 
 

I have a Dapol Imperium decoder and it's not working with my NCE power cab but works with my old Hornby Elite.

 

Any ideas as to why it is not working with the power cab? 

 

Update I was trying to use a long address not a short address 🤦‍♂️

Edited August 12, 2023 by Monkey28
Update on issue

[Geep7]

4 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

Either in a loco or a decoder tester

Think it's probably about time I got one of these.

[Butler Henderson]

20 minutes ago, Geep7 said:

That's usually the decoder that I would use for most of my 21-PIN fitted locos, but they've been out of stock pretty much everywhere for quite a while now, so i've been using the Dapol Imperiums instead.

The Imperium 1 is a rebadged Lais 860019 which works fine in Caroline. I've had a shuffle of decoders with the result an awful 21pin Lococruiser is now thankfully homeless - anyone any idea what loco that might work okay with it, plainly not a Bachmann 47 which squeals with it,

[Bucoops]

Well my last minute purchase arrived from Rails today. A small hole in the outer packaging but no damage to the actual box, and fortunately, no loose bits inside. 

 

The detail is superb, the build quality is decent, and I like the packaging, it was nice and easy to open and remove the coach. I sometimes have to wrestle a bit with the clamshell type that is popular at the moment.

 

Only observation is that I wonder if it would benefit from having slightly heavier bogies considering it will spend most of its life being propelled. I've not run it so that is pure idle speculation.

[Shedmaster]

8 hours ago, jonnyuk said:

anyone else having issues with the leading bogie derailing on 2nd/3rd radius curves. The curve its derailing on is under a hill so really hard for me to see what's going on, i think maybe the bogie is catching on the nem pocket but can't be sure. 

I think the orange ETH conduit may be the problem here.

 

the NEM pocket can swing one way without issue, but when it swings the other way, it hits this orange pipe worky bit and is therefore restricted.

 

I found this out by turning the coach upside down and observing the range of movement, it is restricted in one direction.

 

hope this helps?

 

Shed.

 

 

[MRDBLUE17]

Hi everyone,

 

Our Viridian Green examples arrived with us yesterday and we got a fair number of orders out before the courier came. Colin & Mike then picked a large batch of orders that went out today so should arrive tomorrow and Monday. 
 

We are holding our £149 price on these until next weekend and limited stock is available to order on our website now. Also available in the shop and at St Andrews exhibition. 

 

We will have further stocks of Imperium1 decoders arriving next week too so if you require DCC fitting or decoder sending please add a note to your orders.

 

Thank you

Mark and team at Rainbow Railways.
 

All remaining orders fully paid will go out on Monday unless waiting for decoders or weathering.

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by MRDBLUE17

[jonnyuk]

1 hour ago, Shedmaster said:

I think the orange ETH conduit may be the problem here.

 

the NEM pocket can swing one way without issue, but when it swings the other way, it hits this orange pipe worky bit and is therefore restricted.

 

I found this out by turning the coach upside down and observing the range of movement, it is restricted in one direction.

 

hope this helps?

 

Shed.

 

 

i'll give it a look thank you, i notice that when pushed round with the hand (well given a big nudge) it was slowing almost to a halt. I checked the b2b and they where way off, adjusted them and it now goes round. only given it a few goes round so will check the above tomorrow

[TravisM]

I'm a little dismayed as I tried fitting a Dapol Imperium decoder and surprised that the decoder won't stay located on the pins.  When I turn it over to put the body back on, and the decoder just falls off.  Wondering if it's the decoder, I tried a different decoder and I've now got the same problem with the blanking plate, so I was wondering if anyone else is having the same issues?  And if they have and resolved it, can they let me know.

[Martin_R]

4 hours ago, Geep7 said:

That's usually the decoder that I would use for most of my 21-PIN fitted locos, but they've been out of stock pretty much everywhere for quite a while now, so i've been using the Dapol Imperiums instead.

 

Btw, has anyone had any luck programming the decoder whilst in Caroline, or have you had to put it in a loco to program it. I'm looking at using JMRI to program mine, so wonder if that would make a difference?

I’m sure that you cannot read or write to the decoder in Caroline as a decoder needs a load ie motor during programming. I did all my programming in a ESU LokProgrammer.

[Kaput]

24 minutes ago, jools1959 said:

I'm a little dismayed as I tried fitting a Dapol Imperium decoder and surprised that the decoder won't stay located on the pins.  When I turn it over to put the body back on, and the decoder just falls off.  Wondering if it's the decoder, I tried a different decoder and I've now got the same problem with the blanking plate, so I was wondering if anyone else is having the same issues?  And if they have and resolved it, can they let me know.

 

The socket on the Imperium/Lais decoders is a bit tight, compounded by the location of the socket on Caroline's PCB not having anything behind it to apply pressure to.

 

Best option is probably remove the PCB then you should be able to get enough pressure to get the decoder onto the pins.

[Jeremy Davison]

Got my Viridian Green Caroline today from Rainbow Railways today and very nice it is too.  The external packing was excellent and I quite like the Revolution box itself too.

 

With regard to the DCC chip, as mentioned earlier, I fitted the Lokpilot 5 Fx (which I know has at least 6 powered functions) and was initially disappointed to find the searchlights and step lights not working. I then turned OFF the power option to AUX3 and AUX4  and now all the lights are working fine.

I just wanted to share this so that its clear that there are clearly drivers built into Caroline's circuit board to work with logic inputs on AUX 3 and AUX4 by default.

Hopefully this will be of use to anyone struggling to get their lights working.

 

Cheers

Jeremy 

[TravisM]

47 minutes ago, Kaput said:

 

The socket on the Imperium/Lais decoders is a bit tight, compounded by the location of the socket on Caroline's PCB not having anything behind it to apply pressure to.

 

Best option is probably remove the PCB then you should be able to get enough pressure to get the decoder onto the pins.

Thanks for the suggestion but I’m worried that if I start disassembling the model, am I at risk of invalidating any warranty.  I’ve noticed that the screw in the middle of the roof has fallen out and can’t be put back in, another reason for not disassembling the model.

 

I just feel that it would have been better had there been a option to buy the model DCC fitted

[SRman]

I have two of these saloons on the way, one blue and grey, one NSE (they won't both be in use at the same time, it will depend on what era I am running), and several spare Zimo MX638C/D decoders, plus an MX634C/D, so I'll be trying those out first. The ability to switch between the logic and full outputs with the Zimo 21-pin decoders is useful, sometimes. I'll report back when I have tried them out.

[Traveltrains]

9 hours ago, Jeremy Davison said:

Got my Viridian Green Caroline today from Rainbow Railways today and very nice it is too.  The external packing was excellent and I quite like the Revolution box itself too.

 

With regard to the DCC chip, as mentioned earlier, I fitted the Lokpilot 5 Fx (which I know has at least 6 powered functions) and was initially disappointed to find the searchlights and step lights not working. I then turned OFF the power option to AUX3 and AUX4  and now all the lights are working fine.

I just wanted to share this so that its clear that there are clearly drivers built into Caroline's circuit board to work with logic inputs on AUX 3 and AUX4 by default.

Hopefully this will be of use to anyone struggling to get their lights working.

 

Cheers

Jeremy 

Hi Jeremy I have the same decoder. Please can you explain how you turned off the power function to Aux 3 and 4. I have a lok programmer.

Thanks

[Ian J.]

Got my b/g version from Rails this morning. Looks lovely. It'll unfortunately be going back in the box for some time as I'm still on modelling mojo hiatus.

[Butler Henderson]

13 hours ago, jools1959 said:

I'm a little dismayed as I tried fitting a Dapol Imperium decoder and surprised that the decoder won't stay located on the pins.  When I turn it over to put the body back on, and the decoder just falls off.  Wondering if it's the decoder, I tried a different decoder and I've now got the same problem with the blanking plate, so I was wondering if anyone else is having the same issues?  And if they have and resolved it, can they let me know.

Are all 21 pins perfectly aligned - they can easilly get bent which means  a decoder or blanking plug will not fit properly - check that all 21 pins are visible in the decoders sockets.

[South-East Rail]

Hi Ben & Mike,

 

Please could we have an update on the progress of order dispatch? I ordered my Caroline in July 2020 (paying in full) but it is still showing as 'Processing' on the website. I appreciate that there are only two of you on warehouse duty but I'm getting a bit worried that my order has been lost in the system, especially given that 70% of orders had already been sent out on Tuesday. 

 

Thank you in advance!

[Jeremy Davison]

3 hours ago, Traveltrains said:

Hi Jeremy I have the same decoder. Please can you explain how you turned off the power function to Aux 3 and 4. I have a lok programmer.

Thanks

Hi, its here; I've highlight the checkbox: