Coryton

Huge second hand haul today - just like the old days!

Some big discounts in the Hornby New Year sale.

Some still do - have a look at the Antics web site.

Interesting. Though it didn't really cross my mind that the interior might be accurate. Gettting it half right is more than I expected.

Thanks - that's most useful to know. Though it does seem a bit disappointing - if I can see a huge capacitor through a window I'd rather that it actually did something... On the other hand I hadn't realised it had a custom test car interior. I'm a bit surprised that Hornby don't seem to mention that or show photographs. The lights seem to be behaving better too. Maybe the contacts have self-cleaned themselves a bit now. Fingers crossed.

Can someone tell me how the lighting normally works on the APT "trailer" coaches? I've just bought the APT-U "Development vehicle" and the lighting comes on and off immediately when I turn the (DC) power to the track on and off. It seems to have a rather large capacitor in and I thought that was to prevent flicker - but if that's the case I'd expect the lights to come on and off a bit more gradually. The lighting also flickers when the coach moves, and sometimes goes off completely when it's stopped, coming on again randomly or if the coach is prodded, so something doesn't seem right.

TMC are offering 50% off some Bachmann EMUs and DMUs in their Advent sale.

And if you want a (small) tree to run it round, Hornby will throw in a free 4 ft real Christmas tree and a highly prototypical* commomorative 0-4-0 steam locomotive if you spend £100 or more on the Hornby web site. * Other descriptions are available.

Well this is something a bit different from Hornby! Free potted 4ft Nordmann pine Christmas tree with "selected" train sets. I think the idea is that you can run your Christmas train round it.

This might be of interest to someone. Hornby are offering a free "Coca Cola" Christmas Routemaster (RRP £20.99) on in-stock orders over £50. While stocks last...

Thanks. I've just seen that. Very useful.

Hattons have announced a "HUGE warehouse clearance sale" with amazing deals of up to 20% off. Over 10 000 products reduced apparently. They must have quite a big warehouse. And presumably would like to have more money in the bank and less stock in their warehouse.

Quite a few second hand models have appeared at Hereford models, described as "shows little signs of use"...but no photos.

There are assorted wagons on the Hereford models web site that appear to be "new" (as in not second hand) but from a while ago and at prices to match.

For those in or near the area (and apologies to everyone else), Lord and Butler in Cardiff now have a huge collection of boxed rolling stock that looks as if it's never been run, varying from ones so old they have Beatties price labels on up to, I think, fairly recent times. Too much to even begin listing, but it includes wagons, coaches and multiple units sometimes with many of the same item.

There are some pretty good prices at present at Bure Valley Models - too many to list. The links on the front page don't seem to work but you can go through the menus at the top choosing a gauge then type of rolling stock.

I've just seen that this got some answers - and thanks everyone for that. It seemed unlikely that there wouldn't be a front coupling (both because it's needed, and because the proper DMU version has one), but it was quite striking that all the photos I could find showed it without one, apart from what looked like a pre-production one. And they have had to change something at the other end. I assumed at first that this was one of the DMUs that (for reasons that have never been clear to me) uses H0 style couplings internally, so I was a bit surprised when I realised that the 101 normally has a bar coupling. It didn't occur to me to ask Bachmann. I generally take the view (and it's been my experience when I've tried) that all but the smallest companies are useless when it comes to that sort of thing but I'm sure it's not always the case. I do wonder why they didn't put a tension lock coupling on the DMU. The only thing I can think of is that the height is wrong and a hook and loop was the easiest solution - possibly problems only came to light a bit late and it was easier then fitting suitably cranked tension locks? I thought I read something somewhere that the hook and loop on the Mk 2 coach wasn't in a NEM socket but I may have imagined that. Obviously I don't have one, but I believe that, no, there are no directional lights (which makes it just like the real thing) or internal lights. (Though I think it still has the electrical pick-ups and lighting switch underneath). Hattons say "Please note that as the DMU vehicle modelled in this pack acted as a non-powered observation coach in real life, this model does correctly not have lighting or a motor fitted."

Could anyone who has the Bachmann Highlander Coach Pack (39-005) tell me how the couplings are arranged? In particular, all the photos I've seen (except for one which looks like it's from Bachmann before manufacture) show the DTCL "cab" end with no coupling. Is there a NEM pocket so that one can be fitted? I would expect so because unlike a DVT for prototypical operation this needs to be capable of coupling to a locomotive. But I can't see any evidence that it is the case. Also, it looks as if the DCTL and coach have an H0 style hook and loop coupling. Does the coach have a NEM pocket so this can be swapped for a conventional tension lock? Or do the coach and the DTCL always have to run together?

There's normally no postage cost no matter how low the total order.

There are a few Hornby R60176 pair of Drax Biomass wagons at Hereford models at £49.99 each. Not my thing but a quick web search suggests that this is a good price. Edit: it would appear that they have all gone now. (Hattons are also offering "Midland Pullman" Mk3's at the bargain price of £40.49, reduced from £40.50, so if you want to save 1p....)

I do not think that all DC controllers use PWM outputs. I think if there is a transistor attached a huge heat sink somewhere that's a clue it's not PWM.

I had a play with one a few years ago and I wasn't impressed. I believe that the pre-China train set controllers were actually pretty good, but these, and the previous generation, don't seem that great. But it's a good point that controllers rarely put out a pure DC signal (and for good reasons). Presumably though putting a pure(ish) 12 V DC (pr perhaps a little more) on some sections on a DC railway while controlling other ones is less likely to cause trouble than attempts to mix DCC and DC on different sections.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but my interpretation of the response below from Simon Kohler is that they don't claim operation of sound chips from a DC controller turned up to maximum voltage because it may not be able to provide enough current for them to work. So - a 2 amp DC supply directly to the tracks should be fine (at least to run one locomotive). (Also I don't understand the comment above about amplifying a digital signal to increase voltage and power - doesn't a DCC chip just take the "AC" DCC track voltage and use pulse width modulation to control motor speed?)

It probably does merit a thread of its own, but I'd argue that the relevance is more than marginal. Unless I've missed something, the only work that would be required to end up with a fully controllable battery powered engine would be to add one of the new decoders and connect it to a 12 V battery. (Where to put the battery and how to keep it charged is left as an exercise for the reader, but I'm assuming that there are at least some people reading this thread willing to go beyond buying Hornby products and just plugging them together).

I thought that there were (non Hornby) sound decoders that will run on DC (though obviously no sound when there isn't enough voltage to run the decoder). Do they also require "high" currents to work?