Junctionmad

ah here, how many layouts have working point rodding, I was referring to the majority of point motor operated ,layouts , often operated by a form of lever frame

I never quite understand why people find these discussion pointless. I mean once they do not decend into rancour, they are merely a thread in RMWEB amongst thousands of other threads. The electrons show no sign of getting tired !!! a discussion is just that , it doesnt have to convince anyone, converge or convert

join merg , and you can build their DCC system for about 20 quid , if you use your smartphone as a throttle !!!!

Nonsense , we can discuss what we like , thanks for the back seat modding

DCC is not just a more complex method of controlling locos, it offers modes of use that cannot be easily achieved if at all using DC. it also offers control and tailoring to individual motors that a DC system cannot do no matter what controller is in use . Furthermore DCC allows much supplier wiring of larger layouts compared to DC. Im that regard DCC is a simpler system and easier to debug that complex section switched DC the vast majority of reliability issues remain the user wiring installed on the layout whether its DC or DCC. Modern DC feedback controllers are quite complex also.

of course DCC can indeed help with your point levers , as you can encode at the lever frame and decode wherever you need to drive points and signals , with no additional wiring , other then what is already there to drive the track.. This use of DCC seems often to be overlooked, but has been used to great effect in my local club layouts. I remain convinced that in the absence of a standards body for BPRC , it will remain a niche control system .

And since 2014 , any EU fishing vessel over 15m

Satelitte based worid coverage Ais detection is fully operational and available to legimate governments and bone fide security agencies. Ais tracking such as marine traffic and others , do not have access to this data and have significant holes in their coverage Correction , I should add that orbcomm satelite AIS tracking is available to paid subscribers of MarineTraffic but only for designated specific ships.( i.e. A fleet operator etc )

I'm not aware that anywhere on the tin does it says " works over long distances with no knowledge of any basic electrical principles " Or rather like just sticking a cable into the end of a 13 A plug and wondering why the lamp doesn't come on , throwing it the air and declaring " it's says it's a plug " but it doesn't work A servo and a controller board are parts of a " system " , they are " components" , they like all electronics have specs , power requirements , installation guidelines etc. . It requires "'understanding " and a little bit of " learning " to take these " components " and join them together to make a fully functional system.

What I find bizarre is people are still sending him money. You do all know the definition of insanity !!!

It's clearly DCCexit. !!! So stop moaning you DC people. Ok ok I'll get my hat ......

I cannot agree with these statements. What we are seeing is people using a servo incorrectly , ( we had a posters here with meters of servo cables and the servo board in the control panel ) , we have people that simply dont understand the current requirements and we have people that simply dont know what they are doing The result is these people " throwing their hands in the air" and declaring the technology is unsuitable . All the time , many , many layouts are successfully using the technology quietly. Abide by the technologies limitations , use short servo cables ( mine are no more then 15cm long ) , appropriate power supplies , good controller design, good power wiring and good grounding the result is no issues The technology is entirely suitable , but only when used by people that understand the technical issues associated with it.

The main thing thats seems to get forgotten is that layouts have points , signals, track/block circuit detection, fixed lights etc etc , a model locomotive is Not the same thing as a model boat or a model plane, unlike the others it has to exist on a " layout ". this means we still have plenty of wiring and in fact adding DCC wiring is not much of an additional chore yes get proper points, and proper loco pickup and no judders. DCC is capable of providing excellent slow speed running better then DC , and slower then the prototype typical operated at. BPRC will be a niche and the best off luck to it . people over estimate the complexity of wiring track.

I see no electrical reason why slow running cant be achieved in DC and especially in DCC ( DCC will always be better at slow running), This is especially true of diesels that perform at sub scale walking speeds on DCC ( slower then the prototype moved in reality ) not against batteries , but its just another " option "

I bought several lengths of C&L exacto scale bullhead , nice but very hard to curve without cutting the webs , then I tried DCCs new stainless , don't like it at all. ( daft idea -stainless ) , I've settled on the PECO , I'm hand building 00-SF points to match , using ply sleepers and C& L chairs painted to match

Just read this very interesting thread , my grandfather started off as a linesman for the GPO in Ireland , just after the first war. Interesting in Ireland , all poles and wires were the property of the GPO , The railway company's had no hand act or part in them. This included any signalling or box to box communication, which was maintained by the GPO . This extended to bell signals and the ETS machines and Harper block instruments. It meant that , for example ETS machines were also maintained by the GPO and equally there no electrical connections between any GPO equipment and the railway or its signals. It meant ETS machines were mechanically interlocked with starting signals rather then have electrical interconnections ! The situation remain right up till the demise of semaphore signalling in 2005

Elsewhere , in Ireland , at the infamous Limerick Junction , you had the peculiar situation where the station access road crossed an access line to no 4 platform.

Just a point that confuses me based on Stationmasters description , Would not a shunt fron the yard onto the upmain , that passed through the up starter /gates , be put " on the block " and given the clearance point on the up main is likely fouled , that equally it would be placed on the block , i.e. Both a blocking back inside home and "shunting into forward section " sent to the respective boxes

Railway modellers are a wild bunch , no doubt about it

I like the Dinghams. But I do find the loop pivot has a lot of slop and over time this causes issues. It really needs a better bearing face , crimping the pivot tends to cause the loop to bind up. Also I have issues with them on bogies , very hard handle reverse curves, in 00 also there is s lot of slop in the back to back which doesn't help things at all ( at least I'm in 00-SF )

Some of the original founders are still active http://www.kp-tech.co.uk/ and providing support

yes , but one would expect that the business has a sales income that is supporting the current level of turnover, the only reason a prospective buyer would scale it back so dramatically , is (a) lack of capital , to fund immediate cashflow or (b) the business is not covering its overheads at all. Otherwise you throw away sales by being unable to handle the volume of orders consistent with the turnover. in fact " downscaling " a business is more difficult then expanding it in my experience ( 32 years owning a business) . The danger is that sales fall away causing a vicious circle to develop.

I am a member of several actually , dont get snotty

Pete is obviously desperate to be shot of the business, because in so acting, he either sells it or it closes, and that puts him in a huge disadvantage in any negotiation. its a rather strange approach to selling a business, IMHO.

the tax advantages involve VAT, thats about the height of it, and many societies in the UK would be under the VAT exemption limits anyway. But again I was proposing that members join to access components, the Society should receive something in return for its efforts above and beyond mere sales. it doesnt take vast amounts of cash , but I think the various gauge societies should ensure that the key components necessary are protected from business failure or arbitrarily disappearance , thats my view