zoomer1979

What convinced you over the other offerings? I prefer Jamie's sound for the 50 due to the long drawn out start up, plus the AWS sound when changing ends. Neil.

Had a run of my 002 today. The running is clunky and it is very speedy and trainset like. I had already got a V5 sound chip for it so decided to fit it and calm it all down using the CVs. Speakers were fitted vertically in the cab corridors facing into the body, making it sound great and coming from the heart of the loco. I could only haul my existing Mk4s due to the previously mentioned coupling issue. Yet another "could do better" model from Hornby. Wish Cavalex hadn't been scared off. Neil.

Hi there, looking for some advice about using the Aux 2 purple wire to control the coach lights on the Hornby APT. Plan is to use the chip in the DTS and wire down through the other trailer cars X 4. Is it ok to use this for 5 sets of coach lights? Would there be a load issue? Also, would it better to switch the red positive or the black negative. I've only tried switching through the black, as the purple read as -8v DC. Any advice would be great. Neil.

Has anyone used the purple auxiliary wire on a DCC chip to switch coach lighting? I did some experimentation yesterday and was able to switch the DTS coach lights on and off by breaking the black and feeding it the purple and switching on the Aux which is F20 on the ESU V5. Could I wire it through to the other coaches to switch them too without overloading the chip or dulling the lights in each coach? @legomanbiffo @charliepetty @Richard Croft Neil.

So now the bad news. I decided to quantify the difference in heights between the articulated bogies that are causing the coaches to ride unevenly. So using the depth function of my digital callipers, I measured the distance from on a flat glass base to the bottom of the bogie where the mounting pin is located. The distances varied from 17.2mm at it's lowest, to 21.3. So that's more than a scale foot in difference between coach ride heights. Some of these have not been looked at by Hornby and there is glue been used to keep the locating clips in place. It seems the upper plastic part of the bogies is frequently warped and Hornby have been trying to correct it, unsuccessfully. I'm going to try and get them all the same so the ride heights are consistent. Don't want to send them away again and wait weeks, plus I have done my own improvements, so I wouldn't want to undo my work. Neil.

So today at the railway I was mostly running my Dad's 14-car set. He has fitted ESU Loksound V5 with @legomanbiffosound in the two DTS's and in the two power cars. I noticed after changing away from the default address of 3 that the power cars decided to go different directions. This was corrected using CV 29. I then noticed quite a difference in top end and acceleration. A measurement of each NDMs top speed and an adjustment of CV 5 got them nicely matched. So the set actually tops out at scale 155mph! The bad news will be in another post. Neil.

Yes, it made the flickering worse, but each half set when pushed along by hand feels massively free running and will run away down slight inclines and round a corner before stopping. Previously it would squeel to a stop within its own length. Neil.

That was my thinking by fitting pinpoint bearings and low friction pickups. Not just to enable single motor car working, but just improving things.

Well I finally feel vindicated today. I got to run my full set after I fitted pinpoint bearings and changed the pickups to low friction axle type, as sold by @DCCconcepts. Guess who doesn't need a second powered NDM for the 14-car formation? Well I still do! It does however run fine without the unpowered NDM. I will maybe try what others have and lighten the load of it. On another note, having returned a couple of the intermediate coaches for repair to Hornby due to badly aligned bogies, the repairs have turned out to be super glue bodges. With the top bogie clips popping out and causing adjacent coaches to ride high and low, they decided to glue down the parts instead of replacing the clips. They have now warped again. See attached pictures. Another frustration for this underwhelming model. Neil

Hi folks. Has anyone of the original release, got a noisy PC1 when it is trailing. It started as a whisper of a squeak, now it's a proper squeel. Sounds motor/drive related. Neil.

Well after finally getting my Princess Coronation sorted and fitted with sound, I finally got a chance to run it with its full intended train. And surprisingly it was able to haul the complete train with hardly a problem. Quite happy to finally see this train completed. Neil.

Hi Shane, Was noticing on your video of the APT under tow on the exhibition layout, that the rearmost axle on the DTS has a bit of a wobble on it. Bit of a dodgy wheel perhaps, but easily fixed. Do you think it could do with the tilt more exaggerated? Was expecting more tilt on your corners. Neil.

I didn't know there was cab lights until I saw a DCC Sound fitted example and the cab light function and sound was used. It's not very bright, so could easily be missed if you are not expecting it. Neil.

Agreed, it should say, "some assembly and modification required, as we couldn't be bothered". Neil.

Yes, quite a few are bad, and that's after being sent back to Hornby for repair. Some came back with new bogies, others were marked no fault. Will just need to persevere and do what I can to get it good. A frustrating model to say the least. Neil.

Well, here is a video of mine and my Dad's full trains running together on the same DC controller. My Dad's is the first one, unmodified with single powered NDM and one dummy NDM. He has fitted DCC to the driving cars, so that's why the lights are off. My set, the second one has 50% fitted with pinpoint bearings and low friction pickups by @DCCconcepts You can see the difference it has made to the running of it compared to how it was supplied. Neil. https://youtu.be/nSqF70g4Rfc

Well yesterday, the smoking NDM was returned. The repair note stated "new chassis assembly fitted, new pantograph fitted". There was no defect with the pantograph, other than it's rubbish, so maybe it got damaged in transit or during repair. However they replaced it with the early pantograph instead of the high speed one it was sent with. This is getting tiresome. No wonder Hornby and Simon Kohler didn't go to Model Rail Scotland, I think there would of been a few angry customers! Neil.

Aye exactly, which is why I'm going to make mine switchable as part of my improvements. Presumably Hornby have only wired the front and rear lights through the socket correctly for DCC. What does this leave me with to switch the coach lighting? Neil.

Further to this, I was running the repaired NDM and within 15mins it stated running poorly, then smoke came from it again. Will be sending it back as soon as Hornby respond to my repair request .

Hi Steve, that's what I'll be using too, for the connections at least. Hoping to disguise the wires as the real life jumpers between the coaches. I have options for 4-6 wires. I think the biggest difference will be the bearings and pickups, should be able to run with one motored NDM hopefully. Neil.

Well tomorrow I'm starting the work to fit pinpoint bearings, low friction pickups and through wiring. At the same time I will be detailing the interiors and I think I will tame down the coach lighting. How many through connections do you think would be ideal? I'm thinking through + and - from the pickups to the DTS chips, a switch + for coach lights, anything else? Neil.

It also clearly showed the farcical Hornby tier system. And the fact they were loaned a set for the TV show and then were left in the lurch for sales. Neil.

Good news, suppressor removed and is back up and running. Drive shafts are a bit out of balance I've noticed. It's possibly the reason why some of the NDMs are noisey and some aren't. Neil.

Well, that's another dead NDM for everybody's count. Had three on the go on DC to run them in again after sitting a week and noticed one significantly slower than the other two. Investigation on a rolling then released smoking Genie and that was that. Back to Hornby! Neil.

Thanks Charlie, great work as always. I did notice on the functions list there is no tilt pumps listed, as Kit says, they should be there and are the same as APT-E. Are they on there by any chance? Neil.