Ray H

If nobody more local to you offers to help - give them a day or two to catch up - you can PM me and I'll do it for you if you're happy to post it.

Is there a possible case under the Sale of Goods Act especially if you could take a decoder, check/prove it is working in a different loco and then show it not working in the loco concerned? Could you find a Hornby dealer who would witness what you find? Might just be worth checking under the socket to make sure that nothing is touching where it shouldn't. Presumably, as it comes with a blanking plate, the socket's wiring only needs to work initially on the pins that (I assume) when connected, link the motor to the pick-ups. If there's a short with any other part of the socket that wouldn't matter under dc operation. Is it possible that you have caused the socket to move just enough when pressing the decoder into the socket that something that shouldn't be touching comes into play? Is the 21 pin decoder a necessity? Could you remove the 21 pin socket and hard wire a decoder with a different type connection like the 8 pin decoders that come with a harness from which you cut off the connector? I assume that you only need the motor and track power pick-up connections - i.e., there aren't any lights and things like that which you want to use, so you wouldn't lose anything using few connections. Do you have anyone near you that could help if you don't feel confident in doing these things yourself?

Can you screw L section angle to the baseboard edge to help stop it from warping? Like wise, could you secured said angle under the warped baseboard section. Yo can pick up the angle from many DIY stores. I've used aluminium angle but wonder whether steel might be better. Is the board secured on one long edge - in which case you should only need to cure the other long edge.

Also remember to set CV 4 to a high number - I use 80 or 100 - if you're assigning CVs 309 & 349 to give a faster braking rate. Changing CV 4 to a high value should (will) leave the loco to coast to a gradual standstill with the speed set to 0 (unless the key defined in CV 309 is pressed). A word of warning though. It is surprising just how far a loco will coast when you don't press the key assigned in CV 309 to cause it to stop more quickly.

Presumably there'll need to be some room (time wise) for freight as well.

Can you do something similar with notes of the realm? I'm thinking of changing £10 into £50? 😃

I suppose the thrill of Andy's live music gigs and their audience is, in a way, not too dissimilar to showing and operating your layout at a show, something Andy no longer does, which might be where the lack of modelling mojo comes from.

Apologies, I missed the "which has five sets of single pole double throw switches on them" bit of the initial post, possibly thrown by the reference to "(they mimic prototype levers)" in the same post and the reference to ON/ON in a subsequent post.

Nice, easy, etc., the various suggestions may be but the way I read your first post you were looking for a way to operate whatever system you choose to actually operate the signals. It needs to be something like a switch, something to change an electrically state either directly or indirectly. You can, for example, have an all singing means of make the signal arms move but you still need something to initial the system (like servos) that will make the arms move. As good as AI is at present, they haven't yet got a system that works without some kind of human intervention (even if that's just initial data set up). You indicated earlier that your switches/levers were ON/ON with no centre off. If there isn't even the slightest moment when the switch changes from one ON state to the other, the switch isn't actually doing anything. There doesn't need to be a centre off state that could pause the lever's movement momentarily and that the operator can detect, but there has to be a point in the lever's travel when it changes state with the possible exception of a make before break device which, itself, can still be electrically detected.

Somewhere on my O gauge layout thread - see link in my signature - there are pictures of my lifting flap. It too has two levels and none of the tracks are at right angles to the board edge. Its a single board, more by virtue of how to do otherwise when its folded back when not in use than for any other reason. With the benefit of experience in operating the layout I'd probably have preferred two separate boards so that I could just operate one level if I wished to. I do have a portable backscene that I can fit to the board if I feel like it but think that I've only done that a couple of times so far. Two different level boards might require you to have two different backscenes if you want to go that far. The layout is in a garage and the access flap is across an inwardly opening door. I will never have the flap in place when the door is closed - and the door's seldom closed when I'm in there as it is - the garage being an integral part of the house.

My question about centre off was intended to ascertain whether the switch was either ON (when switched one way) or OFF when switched the other, or whether the two travel extremities of the switch's travel were both ON in which case there had to be a mid point in the travel where the switch changed from one ON state to the other ON state and thus had at least somewhere in the travel when both ON states were ON or was momentarily in an OFF state. A switch that doesn't change the ON state to another state isn't technically a switch as it might do something mechanically but it doesn't electrically.

Is there a centre off position on the switches?

I believe that more modern RTR locos have shallower flanges so they should be OK.

I managed to effect a repair on one PowerCab (having not thought of using IPA etc) by overlaying small squares of the adhesive copper tape on the underside of the (then) poorly keys. It still seems to be working. I also picked up a few rotary encoders from RS a while ago. I know it took me a while to work out how to make the replacement but it turned out to be quite easy in the end (but I can't remember now how I did it 😗)

There was an IC upgrade to version 1.65 several years back that, if nothing else, I believe allows you to have six locos on the recall stack. You can also get a new membrane which should resolve all your button issues and the thumb wheel can also be replaced reasonably easily. I know both can be bought direct from NCE but there's a chance you might be able to order one from a retailer over here to save carriage/tax.

Have had a quick look at the Lenz Silver manual but didn't see anything there that might help. It might just be worth trying each of the function keys in turn - with F0 on - and see if that does the trick. Other than that you might need to play around with the decoder's wiring if you can work out which wires go to the tail lights. Sorry I can't be more helpful but I've not had any dealings with Lenz decoders.

Is that with the light function (F0) on & off? Do they change ends when the direction is reversed? What decoder are you using?

Had a visit from Jim this morning. He brought his class 13 here for a run. He did have a small problem with the rear loco's coupling rods jamming at one stage but we think we managed to resolve that issue. The locos were photographed near the top of the LR gradient up to Gawcott.

I'm 99.9% certain that A stock never (routinely, if at all) worked beyond North Acton towards White City. I'm equally sure that it would have been out of gauge at White City. I disposed of my old WTTs some while ago so I can't check but I think the otherwise midday 12 minute interval clockface departures from Ealing Broadway were adjusted by 2 minutes twice a day to facilitate the A60s (and any other surface stock) reversing at what was, at that time, the sole eastbound platform.

Was it in those days? I seem to recall there were return paths from North Acton to Ruislip depot.

Wasn't A stock delivered to Ruislip depot initially?

It might cost less than the present arrangement!

Work on the layout hasn't been excessive since the previous update although I have done a bit over the last few days. Sometime after I returned to modelling after the usual - others things got in the way - extended break, I bought a roll grass mat for one of my previous attempts at building an OO layout. It didn't seem to work then and has remained in its long cardboard tube (and getting in the way) under the present layout (and in our spare bedroom prior to that). Having decided that it was time to exert some effort on the layout's scenic front and wishing to be free of the aforementioned long cardboard tube, I extracted it from under the layout to see what use I could make of the contents (and to discover how much of the content there still was). The first thing I did upon opening the tube was to extract the contents and (heaven forbid) read the instructions! These indicate that heat needs to be applied to the mat once in situ. I don't remember that element of the previous use attempt which may account for why I hadn't had a great experience when used previously. I cleared all the clutter off the Gawcott baseboards and applied several pieces of the mat between the track and the backscene with the mat padded out with some scrunched up newspaper and narrow strips of foamboard no more than 15mm high (and with irregularly cut top edge) to support the mat against the backscene and give a gentle slope upwards away from the track. I'd previously affixed some more foamboard, this time a bit taller, along the front edge of the same baseboards. I then used more foamboard and/or some stiff cardboard spacers at right angles to the front edge strips tapering down to baseboard level. I stuffed more scrunched up newspaper between the spacers and stretched 50mm masking tape over the top, fixing that to the spacers. I covered the masking tape with pieces of newspaper pre-soaked in diluted PVA a bit Paper Mache style. A second layer of PVA soaked newspaper followed. Having used up all the grass mat I turned to Artex which I mixed with some cheap green acrylic paint and covered the now dry paper with said mix. I've since given the Artex a coat of acrylic green and will now leave everything to dry for a while. The above picture doesn't do the overall impression any favours whereas I can really see the difference, possibly aided by the fact that baseboard top is no longer used as an open top store of miscellany.

Just a thought . . . . Would a very dim small light (little more than a dot sized - you can decide the actual size of the dot) in the black hole help to convey the tunnel impression - and then there's the wisps of smoke emitting therefrom.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Ron in the 1970's when, in his full time job's role, he was our insurance company's kindly representative. I eventually helped to bring him into the then modern world by helping him produce his various slide catalogues and supplements using a word processor, a task I continued doing on his behalf until his wares passed to a new owner. Previously, Ron had re-typed the entire catalogue every two years. I still come across the odd page of the proof catalogue every now and again as I'm loathe to only use one side of a piece of paper. Ron was a brilliant orator by all accounts as well as a good singer. He would always address his good lady as his present wife, whom I met on numerous occasions when delivering the computer produced catalogue's offerings. They do say that behind every good man there is a good woman and that was truly the case with Ron. Another source of considerable railway knowledge lost forever. RIP Ron.