Adventures in DCC and EM with a BRM 4MT

[MichaelW]

Thank you Andy, more exciting things have happened today, but more on that as and when I get a chance to type it up - apparently I should be talking to other half and my dear mother...

[Ramrig]

Great stuff Michael, I have now also ordered BRM to get my own 4MT.

 

 

Andy.

 

I thought that the offer was only available at the BRM Exhibition at Doncaster, in person?

 

PS only just seen this thread, I have been out of touch for a couple of weeks due to a family illness.

[RedgateModels]

If anyone wants one of these limited edition locos for themselves Steve Cole of BRM has very kindly donated one for the raffle at the Mansfield Show next week, so come along and buy some tickets! (shameless plus over)

[Ramrig]

I was lucky enough to get one at Doncaster with my BRM Subscription. Now how many BR Standards is that now .........................

[MichaelW]

"The Manager

Any big bank,

Some town,

 

Dear Sir,

 

Please find enclosed an application form for a business loan to support the recent expansion of our transport company. Though we have no history of trading income, and our recent acquisitions have exceeded our cash on hand by some margin, we believe they will allow us to start building up our services to a level that we will be able to turn a profit within a few months.

 

We would like to take this opportunity to explain the reasoning behind our acquisitions, and hope the following list provides sufficient information for you to evaluate:

 

Operational Control - Nielson Control Enhancements have supplied us with a new system to control our operations, which should reduce the costs of the communications network. This particular system has been chosen as it provides all the features of more expensive systems at a realistic price, and can be expanded as needed as we expand our company in the future. Using Direct Coaling Control technology, this system can also improve the running abilities of our locomotives through the addition of on-board computers. Part of the system purchase has included two different versions of these computers for evaluation purposes.

 

Locomotive - although we already have one locomotive, we think a second will allow us to provide a better service, allowing for the continuation of service when our existing loco is undergoing maintenance. It will also give us the option of increasing our service provision during times of extra demand.

 

Coaches - despite our many previous attempts, the Railway Inspectorate have denied our requests to carry passengers on the locomotive we already own. Provision of a coach will allow us to satisfy the RI's demands, and will also allow us to carry a substantial number of passengers on each trip, significantly increasing our revenue.

 

Wagons - having started the business, and solely advertised it, as a passenger carrying transport company, we have been asked if we would be prepared to start carrying freight. Having found a range of wagons on offer at substantially reduced prices, we have taken the decision to begin such services.

 

Track - As a result of the above acquisitions, we find that our current track provision is no longer sufficient, and we need to expand it to be able to utilise our new acquisitions to their fullest. Whilst this will produce no direct revenue, it will allow us to organise our stock so that only those items required for a trip have to be included.

 

We trust that this is sufficient information to explain our acquisitions, and look forward to hearing from you about our application,

 

Yours etc..."

[Andrew P]

Thats Great Michael, let me know if you get any joy. hahahaa

 

I got my 4MT today and fitted the chip this evening, what a sod to do, but it's nice and runs O.K.

 

Ramrig, you can NEVER have too many Standards, I now have 5

 

Andy.

[emt_911]

Michael

 

Cracking, but, I think you forgot to include real estate aquisition for the track building.

 

One of the best I've seen for a long time.

 

Duncan

[MichaelW]

Thats Great Michael, let me know if you get any joy. hahahaa

 

I got my 4MT today and fitted the chip this evening, what a sod to do, but it's nice and runs O.K.

 

Ramrig, you can NEVER have too many Standards, I now have 5

 

Andy.

 

Hi Andy,

 

Good to know that it is possible, especially as Jason said he had been defeated by it every time.  Any hints or tips for the novice chipper?

[MichaelW]

Cracking, but, I think you forgot to include real estate aquisition for the track building.

 

One of the best I've seen for a long time.

 

Thank you Duncan!  

 

Now, you've got me all worried as I haven't included the job lot of building materials I got for the stations or bridges either.

 

I'm now really looking forward to getting home and being able to have a play!

[Ramrig]

I got my 4MT today and fitted the chip this evening, what a sod to do, but it's nice and runs O.K.

 

Ramrig, you can NEVER have too many Standards, I now have 5

 

Andy.

5 4MT's or 5  different standards?

 

I think 76114 brings my total up to 31 different standards.

 

... and yes, you can never have to many!!!

[MichaelW]

If anyone wants one of these limited edition locos for themselves Steve Cole of BRM has very kindly donated one for the raffle at the Mansfield Show next week, so come along and buy some tickets! (shameless plus over)

 

Shocking attempt at a plug!  However, they are very nice locos, so it would definitely be worth a punt or two.

[MichaelW]

5 4MT's or 5  different standards?

 

I think 76114 brings my total up to 31 different standards.

 

... and yes, you can never have to many!!!

 

Hi Ramrig, according to my other half, yes, you can...  Apparently getting another one that looks the same is not approved of!  There are certain advantages to N-Gauge - the boxes are slightly easier to slip past the authorities, and then it just becomes another one on the layout / in the storage boxes.

[MichaelW]

So, I finally made it back home this evening having run the gauntlet of dear mother's list of jobs for me to do (sort computer - done with a bit of head scratching; shelving - measured, ideas suggested, left her to think about it; fix phone - dropped it on floor, it now works  ), a generous helping of snow in Edinburgh and along the A68, and a mint green VW beetle that waited for me to get close before deciding to pull out a side road and drive very slowly in front of me.  Don't these people understand that there are important things to be done?

 

So once I'd got in, and done those annoying jobs that get in the way of our fun (washing, cooking, eating...) I fetched my new DCC system out its bag.  In the end I decided to get an NCE PowerCab for a number of reasons: it has most of the functionality of a high-end system;  it has enough power for what I need it to be able to do; it feels easy enough to use; and the price was about what I was prepared to pay.  Having read the manual (quickly, but I'd already downloaded a copy when I was investigating the options) I quickly plugged it all together, and was ready to start playing experimenting.  At this point I realised there was a small problem.  Neither of my locos were DCC enabled.  However, I had thoughtfully purchased a pair of decoders to solve this problem.

 

Now, fitting the decoders was a bit of an effort - and I think I'll leave it's description for another day.  Once I've calmed down.  

[Andrew P]

5 4MT's or 5  different standards?

 

I think 76114 brings my total up to 31 different standards.

 

... and yes, you can never have to many!!!

WOW, :no: that is an awful LOT of Standards, I only have 2 Std 5's and 3 Std 4's plus another Std 4 reserved,that is out of some 31 steam locos.

I need to buy some more  OR SELL ALL MY O GAUGE and that will fund about 20 good OO steam / Green Diesels.   

maybe when I get my dream room for my dream layout :stinker: :senile: :senile:

 

Andy

[MichaelW]

Before I carry on with the tales of DCC, I may take a slight detour to tell the story of a fool (as in 'money' and 'easily parted')...

 

Having managed to escape to the Glasgow show for a few hours on Saturday, and given my recent interest in kettles, I was mesmerised by "Stainmore Summit" and "Alloa".  Having oggled at them for a while I decided to go see what the various traders had on offer for me to spend my hard earned on.  Having dismissed several options (A4s - too big, green and brass things - too Great Western, diesels - too modern [we'll have less of those rude words in this thread - ed], etc...) I chanced upon a model of a B1 in early emblem BR Black at a price I decided couldn't be refused:

 

 

This loco (61250) was built by the North British Locomotive Company at its works in Glasgow, and entered service with the LNER at its Doncaster shed in October 1947.  There it remained for the rest of its life, save for 16 months when it moved to various places around the network (New England, Grantham and Immingham) before being withdrawn in April 1966. As such, it's highly unlikely to have been seen in the same places as 76114.  Annoyingly, this means I'll probably have to renumber it at some point in the future.  However, there are several likely candidates that aren't too much of a change to aim for.

 

Doubly annoyingly, later on, whilst looking for some wagons to shunt with, I happened across a different B1, this time 61180 in a rather fetchingly weathered late emblem BR Black livery.  Oooo, I thought, that does look nice!  At approximately the same time, my wallet clamped itself shut, and refused to open till I'd banished all thoughts of acquisition from my mind.  I think I made the right choice, at least that's what I told myself.  Repeatedly...

 

Having had an opportunity to check on its history, I'm now slightly thirdly annoyed that I didn't get it, 61180 was built by the Vulcan Foundry in June 1947, and started its life at Eastfield, till it was moved across to the east side of Scotland in 1955 (Dundee) - where it remained except for a short period shortly before withdrawal when it moved to Dunfermline and  Aberdeen.  As such it is quite likely to have appeared near the places 76114 frequented. 

 

I was right not to buy it.  I was right not to buy it.  I was right not to buy it...

 

(And fourthly annoyingly, this is the second time I've had to write this post...)

[MichaelW]

In my quest to learn more about the steam era, a few more books have appeared over the weekend:

 

British Railway Pictorial - Scottish Region 1948-1967 by Brian Dickson - lots of pictures throughout the period, covering most of the Scottish area

 

Scottish Steam 1948-67 by Brian Dickson - again, a good range of pictures, all with dated captions, and covering most of Scotland

 

3 of the Past and Present series:

 

9 - South East Scotland (Edinburgh, Fife, ECML and Waverley routes)

19 - South West Scotland (Glasgow and WCML to Stranraer)

31 - North West Scotland (Glasgow and Stirling to Oban and Mallaig)

 

I like this series, not just for the comparisons, but for the detailed captions, and the choice of photos that normally show the railway in the landscape - and how the land hasn't generally changed, though the railway has (or gone completely).

 

Finally

 

Track - How it Works and How to Model It by the 2mm Association - so much detail about the prototype, lots of explanation of pointwork, transitions, etc. and a decent how to build it section too! Certainly one for those interested in the technical side.  Some of it is 2mm specific (it talks about specific makes of model chairs etc), but there is a lot that isn't!

[emt_911]

Michael

 

Judging by the amount of research you're doing, you will end up with one stunning layout when you build it.

 

Duncan

[Andrew P]

Hi Michael, you are obviously getting into steam now, so you are offially one of us.

 

I was Modern Image once

Now I wouldn't go back, the nearest I get to that is Blue Diesels on Glen Roy and shortly on my N Gauge project Glenfinick

 

Andy

[MichaelW]

Hi Duncan - I hope so!  Certainly there is lots of inspiration in those books, lots of grime and interesting looking trains...

 

I've already been sketching ideas 

 

 

Andy, I fear you are right.  Rather than going to bed when I got back from the club tonight, I've been playing...

 

 

4 lengths of flexi-track, 2 points, and about 30 minutes of finding bits - followed by an hour of playing testing.  

                 

[MichaelW]

During all my playing testing last night, I was struggling to couple and uncouple the wagons as I shunted them around.  In the end I was using the end of my scalpel handle, but I don't think that this is particularly safe thing to do (I'm still recovering from shoving the sharp end into my finger last week). 

 

What do people recommend to uncouple the Bachmann mini-tension-lock couplers?

[Jason T]

 

I use this, an old mini pen with the nib removed, a bit of wire jammed in and all sealed up with Superglue.

[MichaelW]

I've been looking at some operating ideas today, particularly the Car Card and WayBill system that the americans like for their big layouts.  This page has a good deal of information on how to set one up, and links to how to operate them.  Now these are designed for their large style layouts, but I wonder if the concept could be adapted to suit the more british style of single station layout, mainly to give a bit more purpose to shunting than just moving a few wagons around.  Hmmm...

[uax6]

Michael

 

Theres a mini discussion on the waybill system here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/68296-car-cards-and-waybills/

 

It worth a read too.

 

Andy G

[MichaelW]

Well, back in post 88 I hinted that fitting the decoders was not straightforward, and I'd tell the tale later.  Well, it is now later, so here's that story in full:

 

Having set up my PowerCab, I had two locos that had both been run under DC, two decoders to go in them, and not much idea how to do that.  Thankfully, I'd had a discussion with someone at the club as to how to get into Bachmann locos, and as everyone I'd asked said the 4MT was a pain to get into, I started with the B1.

 

Getting the chassis out the loco proved to be very easy, holding the body upside down, you can see the one screw at the back, (slightly larger than those holding the keeper plate on the chassis).  This can be easily undone, which then allows the chassis to lift out the body at the rear, and the front locating tab slid out of its mounting.  At this point I learnt lesson number 1: never turn a chassis over above a carpet when there is a loose screw resting in a hole.  About five minutes later I put the screw down in a safe place, and started looking at the top of the chassis to see how the decoder fitted. 

 

The socket comes fitted with a blank, which is a small piece of PCB only just larger than the socket.  On the B1 this was held in the socket better than the socket was attached to the chassis.  Thankfully I realised this before doing any damage, and used a small screwdriver to help ease it out the socket.  I decided to try my TCS decoder first (a TCS DP2X-UK) as it is a direct plug-in, so should be easier to use.  Looking at the PCB on the chassis, there was no indication of which socket was for pin 1, and checking the loco instruction sheet provided little reassurance of which way it should be fitted (it suggested front of loco was pin 1, but didn't show any wires coming off the PCB to allow this to be checked for orientation).  In the end I took a hopeful punt, and inserted it with pin 1 to the front, then reassembled the loco.  Lesson number 2: Test the chassis before putting it back in the bodyshell.

 

With the loco back on the track, I selected loco 3 on the controller, and to my amazement, it actually moved!  I then spent the following ten minutes or so watching it shuttle back and forth on the short length of track I'd set up.  With manual in hand, I then decided it was time to program the chip.  This proved to be quite simple, with the handset helping me through the basic configuration (and allowing me to skip bits I didn't understand).  At this point things started to go a little wrong.  Lesson number 3: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

For some reason, I decided it would be a good idea to replace the TCS decoder with the Zimo one I'd also bought.  Hmmm...  The loco came apart easily enough (without having to search for the screw this time), and I started to ease the docoder out the socket.  This was fine till I pulled it out the last little bit. Somehow I hamfistedly managed to bend pin 1 on the decoder.  Not a problem I thought, I'll just straighten it up.  Unfortunately, it didn't want to straighten, so I ended up with a 7 pin decoder.  And a pin.  Ooops said I, I shouldn't have done that(*).  Checking the list of connections, it was a rather important pin, being the motor feed.  Ah, said I, that's not so good(*).

 

After a little break to calm down, I plugged in the Zimo decoder, which being wired, rather than a direct fit, was easier to insert.  Then I tried to put the chassis back on.  Suffice it to say my mood was not improved by the number of attempts required to get the decoder, wires and chassis all in the bodyshell at the same time.  I lost count of the number of times I thought I'd got it in, only to look at the other side and see a bit hanging out, or that the body wouldn't sit all the way down on the chassis.  Now that I think about it, if I had just used a bit of masking tape to hold everything in place, I'd have got it done in a jiffy.  Finally though, it was in, the loco back together, and I could try it.

 

Lesson number 4: You program the decoder, not the loco.  Took me a little while to realise I was still trying to control the now broken decoder, not the one I'd just fitted.  Once I'd figured that one out, I ran it up and down for a while, then decided to explore the programming a bit more. This time I looked at the speed settings, and what they would allow you to do.  Using the handset to guide me through it again, I didn't quite get the purpose of the start-speed setting (the loco ran quite happily at setting 1, and adjusting it up and down didn't appear to make much difference), but the top-speed and mid-speed ones made sense (if were to little purpose, with only 6ft of track, if that, to shuttle along).  I also liked the delay(momentum?) settings - I managed to get the loco starting and stopping convincingly, making it an absolute joy to watch it reverse direction by slowing, stopping then starting off again at the press of a single button.

 

Eventually I got bored of watching it, and wanted to get my 4MT going (that is the anticipated joy of getting the 4MT going was greater than the joy of watching the B1), so I had another look at the TCS decoder.  Realising that the pins on it were individually soldered on, and one of them had no use (2*track, 2*motor, 2*light, 1*return, 1 spare) I decided I would have a go at using the spare one to replace the broken one.  I quickly found my soldering iron, and, fitting it with my as yet unused really thin bit, I set about removing the two pins.  The broken stump came off with a bit of difficulty, there being little to grab hold of, but eventually I managed to ease it off the board.  I then set about the spare pin, which with slightly more ease, came off the board, and attached itself to the soldering iron.  It resisted most of my attempts to remove it, till I tapped it gently against the board I was working over.  Now, I would have expected it to fall onto the board and remain there.  Oh no, it had other ideas, it just disappeared!  Oh dear, I opined, why would it do a thing like that(*). 

 

Suffice to say, by this point I'd had enough so went off to do something a little less stressful...

 

(*) This is the closest I could get to what was actually said without the filters complaining...

[MichaelW]

Michael

 

Theres a mini discussion on the waybill system here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/68296-car-cards-and-waybills/

 

It worth a read too.

 

Andy G

 

 

Thanks for the pointer Andy,  it looks an interesting discussion.  I'll have a better read of it soon.