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Hi Andy. The photo doesn't show it very well, but the lamp definitely has two electrodes with two filaments in parallel connected to them - it's not a single filament supported in the middle, I'm familiar with those. I'll try and do another that shows it more clearly as the photo I posted is looking end on to the electrodes. It sounds a good idea to measure the current at differing voltages, I'll try and set something up so that I can measure the voltage and current at the same time. It's a pity there's no further information on the lamp, mostly they have a voltage and current (or power) marked on them. Cheers Keith

Umm, to get back to the topic, I removed the lamp from my Marshall III controller and it's a tubular MES lamp, but has two filaments. The only marking on it is 'Vitality X878', which isn't very helpful. As a test, I supplied it with 6V which made it light fairly bright, although I got the feeling that the rating would have been higher than this. It quickly got too hot to hold and so I connected an ammeter and the current draw was 1.5A at 6V - not surprising it got hot quickly. I'll attach a photo of it - I've never seen a lamp quite like this before. Someone may recognise it though. I don't know if it's the original lamp but Vitality bulbs would have been going when the Marshall III controller was manfactured

It's certainly true that there are a lot of small and fragile parts on this model so maybe the less it gets handled the better. Clearly better QC in China is needed as it would obviously be easier to check the pickups before the bogies are fitted. For most people the least hassle way to deal with these things is just to fix the problem as returning the model involves a trip to post it off and of course it also involves the retailer in the expense of refunding postage charges and having to fix or replace the model and send it out again. It took me around half an hour to sort the pickups out and I haven't so far come across any other running issues, the motor is smooth and quiet and the model pulls 11 coaches with no problems. It's just that these little niggles rather tend to spoil things. The only other issues were that one of the pipes had fallen out of the buffer beam and a handrail had also dropped out. Both these were loose in the package and so it was easy enough to deal with them. I seem to remember that one of the DJ model locos was supposed to have had every model personally inspected by Dave Jones - a rather tedious job I should think. I don't buy locos all that often but I think it would be nice to get one that worked correctly straight from the box.

I recently bought one of these and at least four of the pickups didn't work - you could clearly see daylight between the pickup and the back of the wheel. This seems to be a particular issue with this model, although I've had a number of Chinese made models, particuarly the Dapol Class 22 and the Steam Museum special D1000, that have had pickup issues. I think if we're paying £180 for this model then it's not unreasonable to expect that it will work correctly from new. On a point of principle, I was tempted to return it and ask for a replacement but there's no guarantee the replacement would be any better. Kernow can hardly be unaware of this issue, so I should have thought that in the interest of good customer relations, it would be an idea to take a look at every model before despatch - it took me only a matter of seconds to see the faults. Having corrected the faults, the model now runs just fine, it's quiet and very powerful. It would have been nice not to have to spend time dismantling the bogies to realign the pickups before I could use it. My old Tri-ang models never seemed to have these issues... Keith

I never got the headcode lights to work with the sound decoder, although looking at the circuit board it looks as though it's wired to use a logic output on AUX 3 as it has the transistor and the other parts necessary to provide an 'amplified' output to operate the headcode LEDs. I eventually worked around the issue by fitting an additional function only decoder and used that to operate the headcode lights (which I was able to make directional) and the cab lights, although I don't use those often, just for when I get visitors really who like to see them lit up. The sound decoder operates the marker lights, the motor and the sound of course. The sound decoder works very well at controlling the motor and the model runs plenty fast enough for me. Although this didn't solve the AUX 3 issue, it's better to have the headcode lights directional I think. It's a pity taht some people seem to have difficulties with poor running, but mine is really very good with the Legomanbiffo decoder.

The thing is that I haven't been able to get the headcode lights to work using either the ESU sound decoder or the TCS EU621 both of which have logic level outputs on AUX 3. As the circuit board is wired for logic output from the decoder with the transistor to provide the 'amplified' output for the LED, I'm puzzled as to why this doesn't work. I don't have a decoder that has a standard function output on AUX 3 so I can't just try that. I'll have another look at the circuit board and see if for some reason there are different versions of it that require different types of decoder. I'd prefer to get the headcode lights working with the ESU sound decoder, so if anyone has achieved this it would be good to hear what they did! Cheers Keith

I have the' later' version of the sound decoder and it's fine out of the box as far as the running is concerned. I'm also waiting to hear back from Charlie about how to get the headcode lights to work with it as that's a serious issue for me. I have a feeling the situation is that although the Loksound decoders have 6 function outputs in total, only 4 of these outputs are amplified (able to drive loads directly) with the remaining 2 being logical (only supplying a control signal). This is due to the fact the the ESU decoders conform to the NEM (MOROP) Standards with Aux 3 & Aux4 specified as logical outputs. I think that you just need a suitable NPN transistor and a bias resistor to make a 'physical' output that will control a device - in this case the head code LEDs.

Yes, the head code lights don't work using a four function decoder. I have emailed Charlie Petty to ask how the ESU sound decoder can be configured to provide an output on AUX3 so that the head code lights will illuminate. It's a bit of a pity that the head code illumination wasn't wired to AUX1 or AUX2 as most people will be more interested in head code lights than cab lights. Keith

That's what I thought too, so I tried it in the Class 71 and it behaved in the same way as the Gaugemaster decoder. I then tested it on my decoder tester and the outputs of Aux 3 and Aux 4 didn't light the LEDs. When I probed deeper it seems that the EU621, or at any rate certain versions of it, is not compatible with NMRA 21-Pin Standards, in particular Aux 3 and Aux 4 are logic outputs rather than amplified outputs and so they won't light an LED. Interestingly though the EU821 specifically says that it provides 8 lighting outputs and also says that it's compatible with NMRA 21-Pin standards, a statement that is absent in the description of the EU621. Thanks for posting the bit about Dave's definitions of what does what, I obviously should have looked at that in the first place. However, what I'd really like to do is to get the Legomanbiffo decoder to turn the head code lights on and off - I'll ask Charlie about that to see if it's possible. If not then it may be necessary to fit an additional decoder just to control the head code lights, but I'd prefer not to have to do that. Cheers Keith

That would make a lot of sense from what I'm seeing. I think directional lights count as two functions - when I've bought a 3 function decoders they've always had front and rear lights and one other function output, so a 4 function decoder would be using all available functions for directional lights, forward cab light and reverse cab light. I've got a TCS EU621 21 pin decoder which I can try as I think that's a 6 function decoder. If the head code lights are directional as well, this will need 6 functions. Thanks very much for your help with this. Dave - could you tell us if this is correct and we do in fact need five function outputs from the decoder to operate the directional marker lights, front cab light, rear cab light and head code lights, or six function outputs if the head code lights are directional? Does anyone know what the situation is with the Legomanbiffo sound decoder on this point, i.e. how many function outputs it has? Cheers, Keith

Thanks for the reply, I've tried the Legomanbiffo sound decoder and a Gaugemaster DCC27, which says it's a 4 function decoder. It looks as though function 3 controls the forward cab light (F1button), and function 4 controls the reverse cab light (F2 button), but I may have got this wrong of course. I was expecting the head code lights to use F3/Aux 1, but it looks as though it's the forward cab light.

I've got mine now, also the sound decoder from Charlie. There's loads of fine detail and the overall appearance is very nice. My only gripe is that one of the works plates is crooked and the other one has traces of glue visible, although that's not very noticeable. It runs very nicely as well but I can't get the headcode light to illuminate, the marker lights come on OK though on F0, and using a conventional decoder (rather than the sound decoder), I can make the cab lights come on using F1 and F2. Am I missing something? Any ideas would be appreciated. Cheers, Keith.

I don't think any of the Class 71s were named 'Flying Scotsman'...

I should think Kernow are very busy sending the models out and would prefer not to be answering the phone, but there's never an excuse for being rude or offhand, however busy you are. If the packing is being done carelessly then it might be better to take a bit longer and make sure they send the correct models as ordered and pack them up securely so you don't get a dented box. They're probably sending them out in order of ordering, I didn't order mine until September 2015, so I'm not holding my breath. That was only one though, I couldn't afford two of them. Having said that, Charlie Petty sent me two of the Realtrack Class 143s although I only ordered one - I hasten to add that I returned one of them! That reminds me that I've still got a credit with Charlie for the return postage on that, maybe I should order a sound decoder for the Class 71 and claim a discount. I'm sure we'll all get our models in due course anyway. I get a certain amount of free train travel so I could offer to pop and collect mine, but that might cause worse problems... Cheers Keith

Thanks for clearing that up Dave. I knew about the Hattons ones, but I was under the impression that it was just the weathered ones that were a Kernow exclusive. It's just that I had a problem with the Dapol D1000 where there were pick up issues and the heads of two of the screws holding the body to the chassis had been chewed up on assembly thus making it impossible to remove the body for repairs or decoder fitting. The box was lovely though and also contained a Lion and Wheel pin badge. Of course, as all the models had been sold, the only option on offer was a refund of the purchase price, hence my worries about limited editions generally. Cheers Keith