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Sorry, yes, I did mean advanced consisting. As Adrian says, I think most controllers support Universal/Old Style consisting - they just send the same commands to all the decoder addresses in the consist so of course the decoders don't have to support CV19. There is a slight delay in the response of locos other than the lead loco although it's not very noticeable.unless the command fails because of dirty track or something. I just mentioned it as the 36-557 does support CV19. I guess you can get better results by using 28 speed tables rather than just CV2 CV5 and CV6. I found that I got quite good results from the Blue Pullman using a slightly exponential speed table and a top voltage of 125 but that may be a bit slow. I just set both decoders to the same address, but you could always run it as a consist I suppose and so have separate control of the functions in either half of the train. Alternatively you could always program each of the decoders separately with the same address so that you could, say, control the cab lights independently or even directionally.- I guess there are loads of possibilities! Keith

Bachmann have now replaced the documentation with that for the MC-1 decoder so at least we know where we are now. I too spent a fruitless amount of time trying to program CV5 and CV6 into the Blue Pullman. The annoying thing is that you can program and read back values for CV5 and CV6 but they have no effect. I guess it's get the best out of the speed tables or change the decoder. The former 36-554 21 pin decoder supported CV5 but not CV6, it also didn't appear to support double heading. Keith

I didn't have any spare screws with that thread, so I wanted to get them out in a way that didn't destroy them. Having done so I've cut a slot in the head so that they can be turned with a suitable screwdriver. Now that I've done this the model runs as expected with no roughness or funny noises, so it's probably not worth trying to get it replaced, the only remaining fault is one wheel not picking up current from the track. I can deal with that at some point in the future. In this situation I think most of us just want a model that runs just fine straight from the box, which it really should do. The question is how to go about getting a properly working model - it's all very well to stand on your statutory rights, but that may just get you a refund which may not be the desired outcome. In the case of my particular model I could either fix it myself or return it to STEAM and ask that it's returned to Dapol for repair if there's not another available. Either course of action is a major hassle and so I'm asking myself if I really want to have this happen again with another exclusive or limited edition model - easier just not to buy it in the first place. The accuracy, finish and detail of this model and also the Class 22 is certainly superb, but it's spoilt by this lack of quality control. The model of D1000 appears to be heavy and powerful, so I'd expect it to perform well. I've got a rake of eight Mk1 maroon coaches that I've fitted interior lighting to which will look very nice with it. Great slide show Nidge - thanks for posting! Keith

Obviously this is a QC issue and it's not confined to Dapol models either. Models that I've bought this year incude two Dapol Class 22s both of which had pickup faults - on one them 3 out of eight wheels failed to pick up current from the track due to dirt/corrsion, distortion or bits of molten plastic in the wrong place, and two Bachmann Blue Pullmans, one of which had a Cardan shaft assembled the wrong way round and the other one had a bogie where the part that's supposed to press on a springy metal strip on the PCB was wedged in between the springy metal and the PCB thus preventing the bogie rotating. This model was also totally devoid of any kinf of lubriaction. As far as my D1000 is concerned, apart from the chewed up screws issue, one of the wheels is not picking up current although that in itself is unlikely to stop it running smoothly as the other eleven wheels are all collecting current as expected. .I think we all know that it's the retailer (in this case STEAM) who is responsible for supplying goods that are of merchantable quality and fit for the purpose for which it is designed. In this case this includes the fitting of a decoder for DCC operation. However, what is STEAM going to do - they can refund the purchase price of course but that's not a satisfactory outcome. Even if they have any spares, are they going to be prepared to dismantle one (to make sure that it's possible to remove the body) and check all the current pickups and so on. I doubt they have the staff. Anyway, I've now managed to remove the two offending screws by tapping them round with a centre punch without damaging any other part of the model and it runs OK when fitted with a decoder (as I thought it would) despite the faulty pickup on one wheel. I can worry about that when we get a definitive technique for taking the bogie apart. Talking to other modellers locally it seems that these kind of faults are quite common and of course they all point to careless and slipshod assembly at the Chinese factories. Combined with the double digit cost increases of items such as this that are made in China, perhaps it's time for manufacturers to consider the idea of bringing production back to the UK. I think Hornby has done this with Humbrol paints. I shall be thinking very carefully in future if I really want to spend £160 on a supposedly ready to run model and then have all this hassle with it - I rather suspect that I'm not alone in this view. Keith

I went and got mine as well. Unfortunately two of the screws holding the body to the chassis have had the heads chewed up on assembly, thus making it impossible to remove them in order to fit a decoder. Does anyone have any ideas? Should I just return it to STEAM and ask for a refund - I presume all the models have been sold. Most disappointing. Keith

I just had a phone call from Geoff Davies to say that the Western Enterprise models have arrived at STEAM. I'll pop over there tomorrow to collect one

That's what I thought initially as well, but I think that forward and reverse lighting counts as two functions, so if you've got a 3 function decoder then it does Function1 = forward lighting, Function2 = reverse lighting and Function3 = aux (one cab light in the Class 22), so you need a 4 function decoder to operate both the cab lights in this case

Thanks very ,much for posting the pics, I'll have a go with that. Keith

I removed one cab and attached the speaker to the roof facing down. My idea was that the sound would come out through the bogie. It is reasonably loud and has more bass than the original. As this is my first effort with sound I didn't quite know what to expect. If you get the chance to post some pics it would be very helpful, thanks.

Thanks, I'll try that. I thought the oblong speaker might produce better bass. It's certainly an improvement on the speaker supplied with the decoder. I think the sounds are good anyway.

Here's my Heljan Class 47 with the Howes sound cip and a Loksound 40mmx20mm speaker. I think it sounds beefire than the small round one supplied with the decoder. Excellent sounds I think.

Hi Ian, Glad you've got it going with the TCS decoder. Mine worked OK with the Bachmann decoder apart from one of the cab lights, so it's curious why it didn't work at all for you although I have heard of decoders that work perfectly with a decoder tester but just won't play in the models. Cheers Keith

Just to recap on my experience with this. After I'd sorted out the pickup issues, I first tried the Bachmann 36-554 21 pin decoder. The model ran fine but only one of the cab lights worked as they are separately switched and need a decoder with more functions. I then used the TCS EU621 decoder and everything worked just fine after I'd remapped the function key for the 'other' cab light. This was necessary because I've got the Gaugemaster Prodigy 2 controller which has momentary action on the F2 key. When the second model arrived (which also had pickup issues), I fitted the same TCS decoder. I now have both locos double heading a china clay train and they run just fine. If your model runs OK on analogue DC, but not on DCC I'd have thought that you've got a decoder/controller issue. My understanding of the blanking plug is that it sends the track current straight to the motor although in this model there are a number of components on the blanking plug. BTW, has anyone tried the Howes sound decoder? I think you only get the small round speaker with this as standard which is OK, but if my experience with the Class 47 sound decoder is the same then it's well worth changing to the larger one. It's only a couple of easily soldered wires. I used the Loksound 40mmx20mm with its reflex enclosure and it's much beefier. I've moved the video to the sound files section as thought a class 47 was rather off topic, sorry.. Cheers Keith

It looks like you've got it plugged correctly which I think is upside down compared with the Bachmann instructions, but you need a 4 function decoder to get both the cab lights to work. I used the Bachmann 21 Pin decoder to start with and the motor, directional lighting and one cab light worked. I changed to the TCS EU621 in both my Class 22s and it works well. If it doesn't work at all on DCC (no motor or lights) and you're sure the decoder is working then it may be a bad connection. It's certainly pin 11 that should be missing. Worth trying a different decoder. Good luck. Keith

I got my D6320 earlier in the week. There was just one pickup not working so an improvement on my D6331. Fine after I'd cleaned a blob of what looked like varnish off the bronze strip. I fixed the valance panels lower down so that the body would fit on correctly and it now looks fine - the two locos look great double heading the china clay train.

Yes, all the weathered examples that people have posted look excellent. I need to pluck up courage to get some china clay dust on mine!

Thanks Andy, it does make a big difference to the appearance of the loco's 'face'.

Here's my attempt at a headcode, I made it from a photo of a prototype at St Blazey so at least the font will be right!

I've got the same controller and I believe F2 is commonly used for whistles with sound decoders, hence the momentary action. I don't know about the Hornby Sapphire decoder as I've been rather less than impressed with Hornby's digital stuff generally. I used the TCS EU621 as I know how to remap the function outputs on TCS decoders. They have a useful chart http://www.tcsdcc.com/Customer_Content/Technical_Info/Tech_Manuals/FunctionRemapping.pdf which shows you how to do it. F3 is commonly used for the 'low gear' function I think. Just as example I remapped the F2 cab light to F5 by sending a value of 64 to CV36 Hope this is some help. Keith.

My D1000f ran quite well on initial tests and I got both cab lights working individually when I fitted a TCS EU621 decoder. However, I was still getting occasional low speed stallling and quite a bit of light flicker in site of cleaning the track and the wheels thoroughly. It also developed a curious squeal (rather like check rail squeal) when going over facing points in one direction. Meter tests suggested that current was only being picked up by one wheelset on each bogie. This afternoon I took the bogie frames off for more detailed tests and I found two instances where the springy phosohor bronze strip was not making contact with the brass axle bush. In one case it was bent and twisted to the extent that is was nowhere near the brass bush, and in the other there was a bit of black plastic stuck on it at the just the spot to hold it off the brass bush. The spring strip is held on the bogie by melting the plastic and this wasn't done with sufficient care during manufacture. I removed the offending wheelsets and dealt with the issues and made sure that contact was being made after refitting the wheelsets. Although the gears were all well lubricated, I applied some Peco Power Lube to the all the contacts, checked for continuity with the meter and then reassembled the bogie frames. The loco now runs very well indeed without a trace of flicker from the lights and the strange squeal has also disappeared - I have no idea what the cause of that might have been but it does suggest an assembly issue of some kind. The low speed performance is particularly good on DCC. At the slowest possible speed, it took 14 minutes to travel the length of one of my platforms which is 2.74m long, while pulling 7 clay wagons and a brake van. This works out at about 0.6 mph which is very impressive. The only other annoying thing (which is my fault of course) is that one of the steps (or whatever they are) just under the buffers fell out (or more likely I knocked it out) but I didn't notice at the time and of course has now disappeared without trace! I suspect this isn't the only model with this kind of pickup issue and I think Dapol should take it up with the Chinese manufacturers. It would be a shame if what's otherwise a fantastic model gets a reputation for poor running when just a little bit more care in manufacture would prevent this fault. I've got another one coming from Kernow (D6320) in a few weeks and I'll test the pickups on that as soon as it's out of the box and if there are any faulty ones I'll ask for a replacement loco. Apart from that gripe, I'm very pleased with the loco and looking forward to more diesel hydraulics from Dapol. Keith

Sorry I didn't reply to this sooner. Of course Kernow is a reputable and well respected business, I've bought loads of things from them as I'm sure we all have. We also know that Dapol have gone to huge lengths with numbers and livery details (with new information coming to light at the very last minute) to make sure they didn't release a 'wrong' model. What happened to me was that after Dapol announced that D6331 would in fact be a model with SYE rather than all over green, I looked at Kernow's website and saw the revised details posted there. I didn't want to cancel the pre-order so I didn't do anything at that point. However, a few days on when it looked as though the first consignment was about to be released I had another look at Kernow's web site and saw that D6331 (D1000f) had disppeared from their web site altogether, but this was before the model was released. It was at that point that I called Kernow to ask what was happening with D1000f, thinking that Dapol might have had to make another last minute change which they had notified to retailers but wouldn't have had time to tell the rest of us about, so it was on the basis of what I was told in that call to Kernow before the model was released that I changed my pre-order to one of the other numbers. As you might imagine, I was rather upset then to see that D1000f was the model that was going to be released at Warley and delivered to retailers. However, this all has a happy ending as I saw that Kernow had a few left and so I ordered one of those which I've now got and very nice it is too and looks great with my china clay 'hoodies'. Incidentally, you get a much nicer box with foam protection and stout cardboard from Dapol than Hornby or Bachmann locos have.

Many thanks to Dave and everyone for the helpful advice about decoders. I've got a Lenz Silver 21 in a Bachmann Class 37 and it works well there. The Bachmann 36-554 gives excellent results with running, it's just the cab light issue. I'll try one of the decoders suggested with more functions - I thought the issue might be something like that. Thanks again everybody. Keith

The model I've got is excellent, Dapol have got the 'hang dog' look of the loco's face spot on. It's full of well applied detailing parts (wire handrails and so on). Dave has certainly worked tirelessly to get everything right and managed to get the models here in time for Christmas. It runs very nicely too, specially on DCC as it will crawl very well. The only issue I have is that on DCC, the interior cab light only works at one end of the loco, although they both light up directionally on DC. I guess this is a decoder issue - I'm using the Bachmann 36-554 which only has one lighting output in addition to the directional loco lights so if anyone has ideas on a more suitable decoder I'd be grateful for any advice. Cheers Keith

I knew about the all over green issues, but Dapol said that D1000F, which is the one I pre-ordered would be released with small yellow ends instead which would have been fine. However, the guy I spoke to at Kernow said that D1000F was not going to be released at all at present SYE or otherwise and that I would have to choose one of the other numbers instead of D6331 and wait until they arrived. Possibly he misunderstood my query which was to ask why D1000F (D6331) had disappeared from their website altogether and not because I specially wanted an all over green one. I didn't want to cancel my pre-order but I was told I had to change it to one of the other numbers if I wanted one with SYE. However, in the event they had some D6331 models left over so I was able to get one anyway. I've yet to try it but it looks very nice. I had some issues with the some of the valances pieces dropping off but I found that if I partly removed the body and pressed the valances firmly onto the studs on the chassis before replacing the body they stayed attached OK. Cheers Keith

I originally pre-ordered D6331 from Kernow when it was being offered in plain green, then they changed the catalogue to refelect that D6331 would now have small yellow ends which was fine as would have suited my layout period quite well. D6331 then disppeared totally from Kernow's online catalogue so I rang to as what was going on and i got told by Kernow that D6331 was not going to be available after all and that I should choose one of the other numbers instead. It now seems that I was misinformed so presumably it's going to be some time before I get one.