AndrueC

A minor update. You also need to be aware that loose scatter getting into the motor itself can be a problem. It really doesn't take much. But mine are all still working and I'd say 95% reliable. If one doesn't throw it's usually just a matter of prodding around carefully with a scalpel and all is good. I'd stick with my original assessment though. If you have no choice other than above board, surface mounted fitting then Cobalt-SS is a good choice. For something like a fiddle yard I'd argue they are a great choice. You can keep an eye on them when throwing and help them if you have to. Installation takes mere minutes. For scenic sections I'd suggest going for something underboard if you can. This is especially true for smaller scales like N where the motors are rather large. You can hide them using distant rodding but that sounds like making a delicate situation even worse. What would I do in the future? I think I'd look at assembling from smaller baseboards so that I can pull a board out and put it on its side in front of me to work on. This isn't just a turnout motor issue - it makes working on everything a lot easier. But with the underside of the board more accessible I'd go for a IPDigital motors.

It's like being in a train but without the sea.😁

Enabling DC running should take about a minute the next time you're at your club and that includes the time required to remove the loco from the box and place it on the track 😉 https://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29 calculator.htm It's possible that Dapol have a good reason for shipping sound fitted with DC running disabled though. Maybe the sound feature doesn't work or works poorly. Still I agree that they ought to mention this. DC doesn't have the flexibility of DCC but I see no reason for people to assume that a sound fitted loco is DCC only. Note: There can be issues running some DCC decoders on some DC based systems but as you appear to already be doing this it doesn't seem worth worrying about.

Enabling DC running should take about a minute the next time you're at your club and that includes the time required to remove the loco from the box and place it on the track ;) https://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29 calculator.htm It's a bit irritating but I'd hardly call it a disaster. Note: There can be issues running some DCC decoders on some DC based systems but as you appear to already be doing this it doesn't seem worth worrying about.

..and is carrying far more passengers 😉 I'll admit that I posted that graph more as a cheeky discussion point than because I believe that it shows a definite causal relationship. But still I'd be interested in whether you think that is 'more cost per passenger' or just 'more overall cost to run'. Because those are two different things and depending which you believe (or maybe both?) surely affects future planning.

I doubt it will work like that. The money saved will just be retained by the owners. I don't think it's likely that it would be redistributed to there lower echelons. And even if it did - top level management might be paid well but when you divide it by the thousands of people doing front line work it won't amount to much.

Maybe. But if it's not-for-profit where is the pressure to improve? That's typically one of the big advantages of private ownership. The desire for enrichment by making a better company and access to funds to invest to achieve that. Unfortunately at some point the owners want to cash out and that's where things often go wrong. Governments ownership typically means limited desire for improvement and lack of funds to even attempt it. On the other hand it also usually means that funds are not going to be sucked out of the company to make someone rich. It can however result in a company collapsing because the government sees it as somewhere to reduce expenditure when the public purse is looking tight.

Yes. Did the government ever do that? Well okay there is an example of government investing money into the railways. HS2. That's working out...not so well. The Post Office was privatised because the government was unwilling/unable to invest the money needed to modernise the network - despite all the great inhouse expertise available. BR seems to have suffered the same fate. There is a lack of investment in roads. Is there anything that any government has significantly invested in successfully invested in over the last 70 years?

It brings to mind this graph which appears to show an unfortunate corelation between ownership and passenger numbers.

I was examining one of my Maunsel coaches earlier this week in order to work out how to fit light bars. In the process I discovered that there are concertina extensions on the doors. I've had these coaches for several years and had never noticed them before. If you pull them out you can assemble a train with continuous corridors. It looks good stationary. But what I hadn't expected is that due to some strange alchemy they stay connected as the train runs. They don't appear to be magnetic and nor does there appear to be a spring. I only wish Dapol had added them to their more modern coaches.

That's not the point. The point is that it doesn't matter what I set CV 5 to be because the top speed is always the same.

Did I imply there'd be no more work on my layout? Well I'm sticking to that..just. I decided that my newly purchased 102t aggregate hoppers, nice though they are, really would benefit from having a load. My initial plan was to have them contain sand. My track has sand between ballast and grass so it seemed a reasonable commodity to be hauling around. Unfortunately I wasn't able to colour match on my first attempt. But..I decided to go ahead and complete the process as an experiment and it looked so good that I've run with it. So what was the process? The hopper wagons have internal 'baffles' which I thought slightly complicated things. I had this idea of cutting out some foam, sliding it underneath then putting a thin 'load layer' on top. But I couldn't find what seemed like the right kind of foam. Also it seemed like it'd be an irreversible process since the load would have to be glued in place. So instead I thought I'd try something really simple. There is a gap between the baffles and the top edge (you can just about see it in the above image). I reckoned I could slide a bit of card in there and have it rest on the baffles. So the process then became: Measure the load space - 70mm by 10mm. Test insert the card. Turns out that the front and rear slopes prevent the card sitting down so reduce the length to 69mm. Paint the card the desired colour - don't overdo the paint though as it'll make the card bend. Prepare some plaster (the kind used for casting). Reduce the water content slightly and replace with appropriate amount of the colour acrylic paint. Leave to dry. It'll take a lot longer than normal due to the paint. Break the plaster up and put into an old coffee grinder. Give it a few whizzes until the plaster has almost become a powder (for larger scales, stop sooner). Using a glue stick liberally coat the painted card with glue on the painted side. Place the card glue side down into the powder. (*)Using thumb and finger sprinkle a bit more stuff on the card until it looks good. Carefully spray the card/plaster with matt lacquer. Repeat from (*) until you're happy. You can then insert each card into the hopper. They go in best sideways to get them under one edge then they just click home. And the result? See for yourselves: The colour doesn't match that of my sand but I don't think I care. The train can be something being hauled into Wallarium rather than just around it. And I think it contrasts nicely with the grass and the colour of the hoppers themselves.

I have a Dapol N Scale Class 121. It has a Dapol Next 18 Imperium decoder fitted and the top speed is insane - I have to set the speed to no higher than 5 out of 28 on my NCE PowerCab to get a fairly realistic speed. Quite frankly it's too scary to run at step 28. So I've tried setting CV 2 to be 1 then CV 5 to be various values and CV 6 to be half CV5. Nothing I've done appears to make any difference. CV 29 has a value of 6. When I put the decoder in a different loco the speed is fine so presumably it's some kind of gearing issue in the 121 (it also has a noisy whine). Anyway I don't understand why nothing I do with the CVs is having any affect on speed so can anyone explain? Thanks.

I found time to have a bit of a play around. I think setting the value up to 255 does make them brighter but it was hard to be sure since the room with the layout was in full sun. But I could see the flicker with my eyes. Whether that's just because I was looking more closely or because of the different values I put in I don't know. I should have more time this week so will investigate further. I have other Class 68s on the layout so I can see if those also flicker. I can say that to my eye they don't.

Manufacturer 154, ver 4. So that's Dapol. My guess would be an Imperium Next 18. That makes sense since they make the loco but I can't see anything in the CV list that relates to light brightness unless 'dim value' is the one?