DCB

I have often seen the playing card system mentioned but have never worked out how you relate a card to a wagon. When I operate "Ugleigh" the BLT outside down the garden I leave the incoming train in the platform, then I pull out all the wagons which are in the sidings and need to be taken away, back them on to the brake van then put the incoming wagons in the yard in the best available places for loading or unloading. One or two will have arrived and need to return as the intermediate station(s) can only be shunted by down trains. Then the train departs hopefully before the passenger is due as the branch is one engine in steam. What role do playing cards play? Deciding which ones go/stay?

I actually set aside an hour this evening for a running session, no maintenance allowed, which was curtailed by problems after about 35 minutes. Ran an originating Up goods with a Crab, Up through goods with an 8F 48475, . Terminating Down goods with Hagley Hall, down through passenger with a Hymek, Up Passenger and Parcels with 47XX blocking P1 for half an hour loading parcels, Up XP with Devizes Castle. Down XP with Glos Rgt Castle stopping at P3 and taking Manobier Castle as pilot up bank, Pilot detached outside terminus to save platform space , Up Goods with 9F had caught the XP Being held outside the station by East Box while the pilot was attached to the XP before stopping on the through road before taking 81XX banker up Bank. 14XX ran auto train down main line to Middleton Basset and return. 81XX and Tender first Manobier Castle returned coupled together, 81XX to Banker siding, Castle to MPD, Hall goods shunted by 77XX Goods yard pilot and 77XX Down yard pilot to release Hall to loco spur, 77XX removed breakdown crane from road 2 to breakdown siding on Up side and return. 4566 carriage pilot came across to return brake van to Marshalling yard and return to Up side. finally Castle Sir Edward Elgar hauled Up XP from terminus which de railed on the upper lift out which has warped. Working a bit like a one armed paper hanger, using 5 different controllers, often driving two train at once and two locos on one train off one controller I ended up with a lot of shunting to do and only 25% of the locos on the layout actually moved. Despite being an oval no train went right round more than once. Nothing ran on the branch as it was raining! And this is DC Just wondering how others operate

I have never had any luck with fold up chassis but that looks like an absolute B***** with two folds needing to be made simultaneously front and rear with a gap between. I would use a very stout 12" steel ruler clamped to the brass sheet to make the bend around. The second side bend is going to be really awkward. It's very pretty but is it a basis for a working loco?

In 2024 with 5 volt power supply from USBs an industry standard it makes no sense to power LEDs from a "12 volt" supply Many "12 volt" supplies deliver well over 12 volts off load over 20 in many situations. For anything but blue and white I use 3 volt power supplies and resistors to adjust the brightness. of signal lamps, That way the resistors run cool. dissipating maybe 20% of the load not 90%. I have seen badly scorched card buildings where resistors have run very hot inside them. Heritage White and Blue will not light on 3 volts. Heritage red need about 30% of the current of Heritage Green for similar brightness. If you must use 12 volts step the voltage down through a number of 1amp diodes in series rather than by resistors as it gives a much more stable voltage much less dependent on the number of LEDs in circuit.

Why eliminate the switches. It makes more sense to leave the switches so on start up you can add extra locos and lighted coaches to the load by stages Switches with 1 amp breakers in series would allow a straight forward change from DC to DCC. My DC layout has Power Districts, I now realise nearly 40 years after wiring it. Up Up Main, Down Main, Up sdgs, Down Sdgs, Loco depot, Branch, Hidden sidings, all switchable between several controllers and operating positions and all subdivided by isolated sections. As the layout is 24 ft long X 8ft plus a 30 foot branch fault finding would be impossible without the power district switches. With DCC my Horny Q1 would have shut the whole layout down when it dd its party trick of shorting out randomly, As it is the switches isolate the fault to easily identify which area of the layout the fault has occurred at. Mine also has isolating points, With DCC non isolating points a derailment short anywhere on the layout, sidings hidden in loco sheds etc, loco running into wrongly set point etc could stop the layout completely , or stop it powering up. Separating point power from traction power is essential. for reliable operation. People falsely claim DCC has less wiring than DC. That was only true with low power relying on fish plates two wires to the track, point motors, signals etc plugged in . But fishplates can't conduct much more than 2 amps and point blades 1 amp so people needed droppers and As soon as "Droppers" and ""Buses" are used the reverse is the case. adding huge numbers of soldered joints for a smaller number of DC Feeds. Many 1970s layout plans had 3 (Three) feeds for the entire 8 X 4

Or you have been collecting and building locos for 60 years. Quite a few of mine alternate between display cabinet and layout, but last count there were 60 on the layout, many Hornby Dublo and over 60 years old doing the heavy work which 2000 era Horny can't take on so just look pretty. Though to be fair K's kit built locos are gradually replacing more recent iterations. so I don't have the time to convert locos to DCC if I actually want to have time to run trains .

The OP lists his P.D rights but they do vary from area, conservation areas often don't have p.d and some houses have had P.D removed as part of the original permission. Our railway shed is purpose built 24 X 8, wood, insulated, central heated , has lasted 40 years and has subsidence issues. The railway is 00 The garden shed is a lot younger, lists a bit its on paving stones has not subsided but not suitable for a railway. Just not robust enough. A Stable would be better, we put a 3 bay stable up for our Parish Council store, and lined out and insulated would make a great railway shed 16 X9 (8X4.5 in oo speak) is a bit small for a railway. A lot of old modellers in 0 had the station in the shed and a garden railway, Some covered the outside lines for year round running and some ran from shed to shed, 16ft station and line running outside to do a 180 and come back in, or even a 180 both ends would work well. Grab some 1960s / 70s Railway Modeller and Model Railway constructor mags for inspiration

I find it astonishing that brakes on coaching stock are not standard for DCC layouts. You can just about couple up a 1950s 3 rail Hornby Dublo Duchess to a rake of 3 rail metal wheel coaches without moving them but it seems completely impossible with 2020 era models, the whole train moves before the coupling couples! The number of operators is relevant, it should be possible for several operators to work a medium size "Buckingham" or even "Marylebone" Terminus with DCC pilot driver, main line driver(s) signalman. Then again with decent signalling even a BLT can come alive with little action, a few block bells clanging, the signals coming off, train arriving, signals going back. loco setting stock back so it can use the loop, running round setting back onto the stock and then fast forward 2 hours. Signals off, train starts train entering section. Train disappears into hidden sidings. and wait for someone else to look interested. And then the daily goods OK the 20 times daily goods at an exhibition sorting wagons to be left from out going. It would look a lot better than "Flashburton / Moronampstead" with a Manor on 2 coaches, a Dean goods in primer on shed and a Terrier tank as station pilot,

Some companies seem remarkably stupid in failing to realise a model in their livery can be a valuable free advertisement for them. Unless it is a model of a Tesla with a smoke unit or similar. However watching the Horizon Scandal rather shows stupidity is not the preserve of the less intelligent, but is manifest in some of the most intelligent and indeed highly qualified individuals in society.

Bere Alston to Tavistock would be interesting, especially the Tavistock end high on the hill above the town. BR connection available at Bere Alston.

I wouldn't weaken the springs, sliding the holder back in its clip on some points can fine tune the tension but too weak and fine flanges will find the gap between blade and stock rail and split the points. The Peco motors are a bit marginal throwing Peco points. at the best of times, 12 volts DC which is effectively, 16 volts AC rectified is not enough,in my experience. My first thought would be more volts, my Duette delivers around 21 volts DC off load on a nominal 12 volt output some other 12 volt controllers deliver anything between 12 and 24 volts off load and a capacitor will charge towards this off load figure. Are the SPDT switches all left off. unless one s being thrown? because any left on will drain the capacitor. It might be worth ensuring the blades are free to move? You shouldn't feel the motor when changing a point manually, if you can its's out of alignment or gummed up. I don't like under track direct point mounted point motors as they get crud in. I prefer the bell crank system or wire in tube from a horizontal motor.

Maybe that is a possible revenue stream for Hornby, spares for older models , which seem to last for 50-70 years even if their recent efforts don't. The Nellie/Polly/Connie locos seemed to start with a black loco with solid non see through wheels a steel strip chassis with Mazak spacers rivetted in, unique I believe for Hornby and an X04 motor, 2 start worm small worm wheel (same as transcon ) Later they received separate steel tyres and much later shiny plated tyres. Some plated tyre ones have a huge dome and some have a Can motor similar to contemporary Scalextric cars, not as good as an X04 similar but not the same as 101 smokey Joe etc.. The Romfrord 30/40/60:1 gear sets fit the chassis and X04 as does the Triang TT single start worm for slower sub 100MPH top speed. Its a pretty little thing but could not be built as a full size loco as the firebox would hit the crank axle and the connecting rods would foul the leading axle . It needs outside cylinders and ideally outside valve gear unless the drive was from the front axle a la Dolgoch I am planning stretched 2-4-0T versions which would have leading axle drive from inside cylinders for my 5 X 2 00 gauge layout. and maybe a non stretched outside cyl 0-6-0T version.

Maybe vape oil might work, if the cars full of vape fumes are anything to go by Has anyone ever heard a shoveling sound from an actual steam loco actually in steam let alone actually running? The sound of shovelling precedes the glow of the door opening when working hard when the glow is more a brilliant flash. This weekend recording locos on the NYMR P3 ( J27?) Std4 Tank and Black 5 shows the background hiss of boiling water is the dominant sound of a steam locomotive, the hiss of escaping injector steam, steam leaks sizzling safety valves. To be fair they don't sound anything like any DCC sound, but that's because the sound is synchronised with loco speed, where the pulses should be synchronised with wheel speed and the volume by the operator, depending on whether accelerating, pulling hard, coasting or just powering along gently.

It's the interface issue. But the real thing which irritates me is the unrealistic operation DCC enthusiasts think is good. Full size Trains can't creep for extended periods unless Slow speed fitted for MGR operations , but they can stop to the nearest 6" or less so coaches never move when couping up. I am working on sound, So many sound locos chuff like they are pulling 400 tons when running light. Real ones usually give 4 or 8 chuffs then coast. But its the interface. I want a speed control knob Hand held one handed. ideally wireless. Everything else can be on the console, Whistle button would be nice

Please give one example of a suitable controller or pair of controllers , where two operators can operate Railway traction similar to two cars being operated on the same lane of a Scalextric Digital track.