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Do you know of a business that will fit a DCC sound chip to an old, analogue, Mougel HOm model of a French Billard railcar? IMG_20220202_102411053.jpg

Do you know of a business that will fit a DCC sound chip to an old, analogue, Mougel HOm model of a French De Dion Bouton railcar?

Does anyone know of an HO scale model of a building that would pass for a semi-derelict old French building (Romanesque or medieval) with a large arch, or similar? Something like this: https://images.app.goo.gl/sUBctQBjaRpnBDHk7 Bit of an obscure request but if anyone knows of something, do let me know.

Update: The Hornby controller has sprung to life. No idea why. As I'm just using it for testing track and locos (I intend to use a DCC controller on the eventual layout) I shall stick with it for the time being. If it fails again I shall throw it away and buy a Gaugemaster Combi. Thanks for all the very useful advice.

I watched a Youtube video: Testing the output of the transformer gave me a reading of 17v AC (as against its stated rating of 16v AC). Does that matter? Either way, electricity is flowing out of the transformer. The controller requires 15V AC to be going into it. I plugged it in and then tested the output terminals and wires of the controller, which should show 0-12v DC. The meter showed nothing. I tested again and still nothing. Can I rightly conclude that the controller is faulty and that I just need a new or second hand one that will take an input of about 17v AC?

Thank you. I do indeed have a cheap multi-meter which I have used to check the output of my car battery. This is it. How should I proceed with a transformer though? I apologise that my knowledge of electrics has faded since I passed my physics O level nearly 50 years ago. By the way, the instructions with the multi meter are poor.

I was using an old Hornby controller (R.965) with its transformer (C.912) to test the ultra simple wiring on my layout under construction (just a circle of track). All went well until, suddenly, it didn't. The power cut out for no obvious reason and will not resume. So, I guess that either the controller or the transformer have failed. And yes, there is indeed power coming from the mains plug to the transformer. My question is this: can I safely just buy any other Hornby controller off Ebay and expect the transformer to supply it with power without any problems? Or are the controllers and transformers matched in some way that prevents a user from mixing them up?

In your view, which manufacturers make the best/most authentic model pavements for a French village or town?

Here is a pic I took last week of a steam engine on display in the main station in Reims, the capital of the Champagne region. I didn't have time to investigate why it was there but it was a nice surprise. This Wikipedia link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/État_140-101_to_140-370 says it is a 140 class engine, made in 1917, and is on permanent display.

Has anyone tried to use old postcards of village or town scenes as backscenes for a model railway layout? Getting the perspective right would be tricky but the idea keeps attracting me.

Thank you.

Has anyone tried to use old French postcards of village or town scenes as backscenes for a model railway layout? Getting the perspective right would be tricky but the idea keeps attracting me.

What make and size of diesel engines were used in the De Dion-Bouton ND railcars?

I came across this academic paper about the development of French railways. It is called "The Belle Époque of the railways: the Freycinet plan and its effects on the French population and economy" : https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-03045195/document

Thanks, I have now used the LR Presse website.

Where can I buy HO scale copies of those adverts painted on the sides of French buildings? You know, adverts for Dubonnet, Martini, Total etc. I want to stick them on the sides of some of my model French house. This outfit, Regions & Compagnies, appears to sell what I want, such as this: https://www.regionsetcompagnies.fr/produit/douze-publicites-murales-peintes-sur-crepi-ancien and this: https://www.regionsetcompagnies.fr/produit/quatre-superpositions-de-publicites-peintes Amazingly, the firm's website won't accept a UK address for delivery. Anywhere else in the world, but not the UK! Any suggestions for alternative suppliers?

Thank you very much.

Would you be kind enough to scan that page and email it to me? If you can, many thanks.

Thanks for these opinions. I intend to place the baseboard on a lazy susan bearing so that I can manually move the layout round in a circle. I think that hoping to obscure every possible view of the rear half of the layout, when viewed from the front, will be impossible and would look very ugly too. So yes, plenty of disbelief will have to be suspended.

I am making a small French narrow gauge layout in HOm scale. It will be a circle of track on a circular piece of plywood 80cm in diameter. I plan to put a back scene across the middle of the baseboard to divide the layout in two: one half will be a completely rural scene; the other will be a village square. My question is this: is there any "golden rule" or rule of thumb that indicates how high the back scene should be, and what shape? My initial idea (which I have tried out with bits of cardboard) is that it should be 30cm high, reducing with a gentle curve to 20 cm at the outer edges. Any thoughts?

Thank you for your offer of help. The model whose engine I am trying to identify was the ND model, seen here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Dion-Bouton_ND_207_Tournon_21_sept_1975.jpg

Does anyone here have a copy of this book, written by Yves Broncard and published in 2009 by La Vie du Rail? If you do, could you refer to it to answer a question for me, please?

The specific questions to which I'd like an answer are: who made the engines? what type were they? and what size?

Where is the best source of information (printed or online) about the railcars made by the French engineering company De Dion Bouton?

A French railcar model in HOm made about 30 years ago.