ianp

Do you know of anyone who has had great success installing DCC sound chips and loudspeakers on old DC locos? I have been advised by one person with expertise in this area that it is fraught with difficulty because, among other things, short circuits in the motor will blow the sound chip very easily, writing it off at the cost of more than £100 per card. Non-sound chips are apparently much more forgiving. My expert adviser has given up doing this sort of sound chip installation work because it takes too long and is too risky. Do know of anyone who thinks they can do better?

Are there any UK retailers who sell Bemo models?

Sorry if I have been confusing. I just want to explore the possibility of buying a r-t-r HOe/9mm loco and plonking the body onto the top of an HOm/12mm chassis - if one exists.

Thank you. I have had a look and those chassis are too big for my purpose. I want a chassis to motorise a static kit of a French Billard railcar or to swap the 12mm chassis, if possible, with an HOe/9mm chassis, on an existing r-t-r French narrow gauge loco.

Does any manufacturer make a motorised, ready to run, chassis in HOm 12mm gauge, similar to the ones made by Kato in N gauge (9mm)?

I'd like to build a small circular layout in HOm gauge, depicting a French rural scene or village with a train line running round it. But what I'd really like to do is place the entire layout (about 80cm in diameter) on a revolving platform (a bit like a microwave platter), so that at an exhibition the entire layout would revolve slowly to give viewers a better view of everything in the scene. Has anyone ever seen this, or done this, and how? Any suggestions about how I could find and then operate such a platter or turntable? Thanks.

I'd like to build a small circular layout in HOm gauge, depicting a French rural scene or village with a train line running round it. But what I'd really like to do is place the entire layout (about 80cm in diameter) on a revolving platform (a bit like a microwave platter), so that at an exhibition the entire layout would revolve slowly to give viewers a better view of everything in the scene. Has anyone ever seen this, or done this, and how? Any suggestions about how I could find and then operate such a platter or turntable? Thanks.

I'd like to turn down the volume of the sound effects on my DCC train. However the instructions for my NCE Power cab controller (written in unintelligible jargon by a US computer geek) don't tell me how to. Nor do the instructions for the model itself, an REE 141F SNCF loco like this: https://www.aandhmodels.co.uk/ree-sncf-141e-and-141f--classes-1621-c.asp What should I do?

I'd like to turn down the volume of the sound effects on my DCC train. However the instructions for my NCE Power cab controller (written in unintelligible jargon by a US computer geek) don't tell me how to. Nor do the instructions for the model itself, an REE 141F SNCF loco like this: https://www.aandhmodels.co.uk/ree-sncf-141e-and-141f--classes-1621-c.asp What should I do?

Three of these are for sale on a well-known auction website, should you be interested.

If you are interested, I am selling an old Triang, TT gauge, 0-6-0 Jinty tank engine on Ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203775840456

Should you be interested, I am selling this white metal kit on Ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203768040202 It is a Keyser, white metal, model of a French, FNC Autorail X5600, in HO scale

I am planning to build a micro layout, modelling a French village scene, in HOm (12mm) gauge. The track will be a simple circle. So, what is the shortest radius I can sensibly expect to achieve using commercially available HOm track from manufacturers such as PECO, Tillig and BEMO? My guess is a radius of about 12 inches. Does anyone know better?

I am planning to build a micro layout, modelling a French village scene in HOm (12mm) gauge. The track will be a simple circle. So, what is the shortest radius I can sensibly expect to achieve using commercially available HOm track from manufacturers such as PECO, Tillig and BEMO? My guess is a radius of about 12 inches. Does anyone know better?

The French Railway Society has its annual rendezvous in Kent this coming Sunday, should you be interested: http://frenchrailwayssociety.org/

Yes, I do have this translation sheet. If you tell me your email address, I can scan the pages and email them to you.

Are you aware that the latest catalogue from REE advertises four different versions of the 030 Bourbonnais? Link: http://catalogues.ree-modeles.com/2021-ree-h0/#p=11

That is an odd sort of road crossing.

Where does one view such webcams? Youtube?

Well, that has got off to a disappointing start. 1) I couldn't at first get onto the website at all. 2) I couldn't then access the sessions at all and just went round and round in circles until I twigged that I had to click directly on the words "inscription gratuite". Does that mean "click here" in French? 3) Each session is in the form of a live Zoom webinar which is being recorded. Unfortunately the picture quality of the layouts is poor. Even worse, the camera "operators" wave around their cameras (presumably their smart phones) like hose pipes.

The French railway magazine publisher LR Presse is staging its third Trainsmania exhibition in the next day or two: the 7th and 8th May to be precise, but online. Details can be seen here: https://www.trainsmania.com/ It is a replacement for that would have been the third such physical event. The previous two exhibitions (in 2017 and 2019) took place at the main Lille exhibition centre and were fantastic - huge and of very high quality. To be honest, the fact that a 3rd such exhibition was taking place had somehow passed me by completely, until yesterday. On both days the schedule indicates that throughout the day there are timed 45-minute sessions devoted to individual layouts, workshops, and discussions of modelling techniques: http://www.trainsmania.com/le-programme/#vendredi-7-mai-2021. I presume these have been pre-recorded. The website says the programme is not suitable for viewing on a mobile phone, only a desktop computer. But it is all free. The instructions say: "You just have to click, in the calendar of events, on the link of the one that interests you. You will be redirected to a virtual room which you can easily access, after entering your name, via your browser or the Zoom software if you have it installed. You can attend as long as you like and ask questions via the "Q. and R. ” at the end of the page. You can leave at any time and visit another event!"

It is a huge and magnificent layout which is sometimes used by REE Models as a stage for publicity photographs of their latest engines, carriages and wagons.

Well, how odd. It worked for me, and I pasted the link direct from the email from the publisher. Try again: https://en.calameo.com/read/006235721f891cdc52233 If that also gives error messages it must be something going wrong at their end. Which, if I am frank, is not uncommon with French websites.

This may be of interest to many here. The French publisher La Vie du Rail has just published an "Historic Atlas of French Railways". Volume 1 can be seen here: https://www.boutiquedelaviedurail.com/l-atlas-historique-des-chemins-de-fer-francais-tome-1-la-vie-du-rail-c2x33149687 More than 300 pages for 49 euros! And that is just the first volume covering a mere four regions. You can sample it via this link: https://en.calameo.com/read/006235721f891cdc52233.

Well done. Are you aware that the French model firm REE are producing a ready-to-run version of this, with DCC control and sound effects, for both 9mm and 12mm gauge rails? They should be available this summer. Here is a link to the catalogue: https://ree-modeles.com/catalogue/catalogue-hom/materiel-moteur/555-autorail-billard-serie-1