legomanbiffo

During a layover at the GCR I spent a couple of hours recording anything and everything that made a noise in the signalbox at Loughborough shed. This included the various types of levers, bells, buzzers, telephones etc etc, and also the signalman's description of what each was and when and how each might be heard. One day I will have time to do something with them. One issue with DCC control will be the excessive number of different combinations (lever actions and bell codes) that are possible. With around 30 different F keys it might be possible to do something meaningful though. Bif

Watching this with interest! Are you planning to fit catenary wires (I assume so)?

I'd be well up for doing the sound for these. I'll make some enquiries re a recording session but if anyone can fast track this then please let me know ;-) Bif

No need for that Kit, I already have recordings of the traction motor blowers at Crewe, plus the tilt pumps, horns, doors, right away beeper, compressor, even the horn in the power car. I'd estimate I have recordings of around 80% of all the sounds the original ever made. Next question.....! My own upgraded Hornby model has three sound chips (old 8Mb v3.5's!) and four speakers. There is one chip and speaker in each end and one chip in a power car feeding speakers in both power cars. All sounds are routed appropriately. It is very effective and could easily be reproduced commercially if designed in from the beginning by Rapido. Over to you Jason :-) Bif

Yes, plenty of 8 and 21-pin chips at DEMU but if you want anything specific please let us know in advance to avoid disappointment. Bif

Hey, don't knock it; those youngsters are the future of our hobby and there are precious few of them about. The conversation this afternoon was regarding the age profile of the hobby and its future. It doesn't bode well. On a more positive note, new 'toilet flush' feature on our Leyland DMU (an entirely accurate recording as always) has been the subject of much amusement with the younger viewers. I only added it as a tongue-in-cheek feature for comic effect but it has become quite a talking point. I was surprised to learn recently from someone in the know that all units up to and including 158's still discharge waste onto the track!

Does this mean I have to record a 380 now.....?! I suspect the majority of sounds will be the same as a 350 though, which I've done already. Anyone know of any audible differences? Bif

I wouldn't normally announce such things here, but as the question was asked in the thread I will; my Ruston 37 is now ready.

Dave, You've guilt-tripped me into picking up the Ruston project again! I had some spare time today and made quite a bit of progress. Still a little way to go but I've broken the back of it now. Bif

I'm afraid not Dave. As well as the day job I've been doing the APT-E for Rapido and the 68 for Dapol, in between recording sessions and something has to give. The Ruston recordings are not mine and weren't made with DCC sound in mind, and have been harder work than I anticipated. Bif

Yes we are Roy. I will be doing the sound seminar again. I'm open to suggestions on what to talk about this year (within the subject of DCC Sound of course). Bif

Relax Charlie, it's under control :-)

Not quite ready yet Dave, sorry. Shouldn't be too long now though, it's aproximately half-finished.

Well that’s the misery of Christmas over for another year! I actually quite enjoy Christmas itself but two things spoil it for me; The ridiculous three-month build up, the over-commercialisation of everything, and everyone being on holiday at the same time and clogging up the shops / roads / Post Office etc. The three things that spoil Christmas for me... And there’s having your railway time compromised because you have to spend time with family. Amongst the things that spoil Christmas for me... Well here’s my idea for addressing these issues; stagger Christmas alphabetically. All families with surnames beginning with A or B would have Christmas on 25th January, C & D on 25th February and so on. Every year it cycles forward one month so we all get a shot at a spring / summer / autumn / winter Christmas. You read it here first! Anyway, on to business... One of the most enjoyable recording sessions of the year was with Richard Armstrong at the Spa Valley Railway back in August. The weather was absolutely superb and the Kent countryside magical. Add in the Thumper and 26038 and what more could you want? (drink! girls! etc). The Thumper was excellent; lovely rolling idle, honking horns, great turbo whistle and so on. The 26 presented a problem as far as DCC sound goes; there was an issue with the engine governor that meant the revs at any given notch were not steady and hunted up and down. This will make it difficult if not impossible to use the sounds. I’ve yet to fully assess them but fortunately my existing engine sounds are fine. The horns and all the other auxiliaries will come in handy though. It just goes to show how considerable time and expense can come to nought – something the chip buying public doesn’t always appreciate. The photo shows yours truly tieing one of the mics on at the start of the day. You can see more of what we got up to here; October saw another trip oop-North with Richard again, at the East Lancs to record 40145 & the Hymek. I’ve yet to make a start on the Hymek but the 40 has provided the exhauster sounds the project was previously missing. In the fullness of time I’ll process the 40’s engine sounds to provide an alternative to the existing project (recorded from 40135, also at the ELR). The final recording session on 2014 was a significant departure from the norm; my first full main line recording. I previously made recordings of a 350 from the cab window with the help of London Midland, in order to capture the tone change that you hear at around 25mph, but this was something much more advanced; at the invitation of Hastings Diesels Limited, Charlie and I travelled on board the Christmas trip of said unit from Hasting to Kensington Olympia and back. Needless to say you cannot cable-tie a mic to the handrail or out of the window here. Quite some time was spent working out how we were going to put a mic near the exhaust in a safe and indeed fail-safe manner. The extremely remote possibility that you might somehow cause the trip to be delayed or cancelled if something went wrong certainly focusses the mind. I’m pleased to say that everything went exactly to plan and we got the recordings we wanted. There’s no video yet, but the chip itself is ready for those wishing to partake. One happy consequence of the Hastings trip was that I now have recordings of an authentic Southern Region whistle (two actually), so this feature has now been added to the Thumper and the generic SR EMU project that I did for Charlie (but don’t admit to). Answers on a postcard - what else carried them? One amusing anecdote from the trip was the ‘tourist information’ given by the ageing Italian waiter at breakfast, who offered to tell us where we could get ‘cheap sex’ in the town and get the hotel porter to turn a blind eye! Perhaps Charlie and I fitted the profile... (Before you ask, we didn’t!) In other news the 37/4 has recently been upgraded with the addition of RETB token exchange sounds. These are set to a level as if heard through an open cab window, so they are subtle but clearly audible. You can repeatedly request the token, and ‘grant’ it when you are ready. This feature will be added to the 67, 156 and other classes that have worked on the West Highland & Cambrian lines as time permits (suggestions on a postcard please). The Scottish theme continues with the addition of user-configurable Scotrail on-board announcements (to the 156 initially); Welcome aboard this First Scotrail service to <destination>, please familiarise yourself etc, where the <destination> can be chosen from a list of 17 different ones by changing a single CV. Destinations include all the popular terminii and larger stations served by DMU’s in Scotland (Aberdeen, Ayr, Dundee, East Kilbride etc). This feature will be added to the 150 and 158 as time permits. A similar feature with all the popular Scotrail EMU destinations is also in preparation (Ardrossan, Ayr, Balloch etc), to be applied to the 303 & 320 chips, and similarly configurable Welsh announcements are in preparation for the Arriva Trains Wales 143 (thanks driver for those – you know who you are). Work is continuing on the Ruston 37/9 engine sounds which are approximately half-finished and sounding very good chugging round the layout. Time is currently being spent between this and bringing the long-lost sounds of a train back from the dead... Latest attraction on Charlie’s stand is the mighty Heljan 40 with sound to match. The model has a large void in the centre of the casting which I’ve used as the speaker enclosure, closed off with a thick plasticard lid at the top and a single large speaker facing down at the bottom. Whistle while you work. See you all at Stafford , Donny and Glasgow! If things go to plan I’ll be recording again while we’re in Scotland...

That low-profile chamber is more suited to the other type of Bachmann speaker fit. You shouldn't need it here - try the glue / Blu-Tac first. Bif

Sandy, Your speaker fit wasn't the one I had visualised so different advice applies. In this configuration the body of the loco is acting as the speaker enclosure. The success of such a configuration depends upon all of the sound radiating from the front of the cone going out through the radiator grille, and all of the sound raditing from the back of the cone staying inside the loco. Any leakage from the front of the cone into the loco body will defeat this, and Bachmann's speaker mount is inherently leaky. To fix this, remove the speaker and the plastic plate it's attached to. Apply Evo-Stik or Blu-Tac all around the plate (where it meets the roof) and refit. Block any remaining gaps you can see with more glue or Blu-Tac. The interface between roof and plate must be airtight. Then carefully apply a very thin bead of glue or very thinly rolled Blu-Tac around the speaker cone and refit to the plate. Don't apply so much that movement of the speaker cone is impeded. Again the interface between speaker and plate must be airtight. That's all there is to it. Louder, fuller sound for little or no expense. Bif

A loudspeaker needs to be in airtight box for best results. Whilst you can craft these out of plasticard this is often tricky in Bachmann locos as sound is something of an afterthought for them. This is where blu-tac comes into its own; just use it to help you form an airtight chamber behind the speaker cone using the recess in the top of the Bachmann chassis. The bigger you can make the chamber the better. Don't obstruct the free movement of the cone and make sure no wires can touch it or they will rattle and sound awful. You'll gain 40-50% in volume and it will sound a lot less tinny if you get it right. Volume control (CV63) is minimum 0, maximum 64 on the v3.5, but maximum 192 on the v4. That is one easy way to tell which chip you have; set the volume to 64 and listen, then set to 192 and listen again. If it gets louder it's a v4. If it stays the same it's a v3.5. Another way is to see what's written on the speaker. If you can see 100 it's probably a v3.5, whereas 4 is likely to be a v4. Bif

The question posed as we packed up at Warley was quite straightforward; Charlie, do you need my demo locos for any more shows before Stafford? Answer from Charlie: No. In that case I'll take them all home for maintenance / updating with the latest versions / playing trains over Christmas. You'd have thought he'd be able to think 7 days ahead. Mind you he's knocking on a bit now and you have to make allowances :-) Bif (hard at work doing his 'real' job this weekend and not just playing trains) :-)

Good advice which I did indeed follow; I bought the 70-200 f2.8 and used it with the D60 for a while (an excellent combination, I guess because you're using the best part of the optics). I've since added the 50mm f1.4 which is a great lens and one I use 90% of the time. Thinking about adding a 35mm prime just now but can't decide between the f1.4 or f1.8. Don't tell the missus though :-)

With several months passing since the last entry there's a fair bit to report. To begin with, what a brilliant summer we've been having for photography. After seeing some superb examples with incredible resolution in Rail Express last month I decided I had to upgrade to a D800 and up my game. Initial results were slightly disappointing (we're talking relative here, disappointing vs those Rail Express photos I'd set as a personal benchmark) but as with most things, application brought progress. This was aided in part by the loan of a series of books by Scott Kelby from Tim Rogers. After a bit of experimentation I'm now getting results I'm much happier with. Don't look too closely at this one though, it's a very low res copy of a failed experiment but I just love the colours. The trip up to Perth gave a great opportunity to try out this new toy. Stops were made at Greenholme, Greenhillstairs and Crawford Village on the way up and Crawford Bridge and Docker on the way back. Upon arrival at Docker I was incensed to find that the farmer has planted a line of non-native, fast-growing trees to obscure the classic view, clearly an attempt to stop photographers getting under his feet. Shame on you Sir. Fortunately there's still a good shot from the bridge so I will make a point of going back there every year just to annoy him. Perth was well worth the trip and one we will be repeating next year for sure. So much more pleasurable than freezing your bits off taking photos on the way to the SECC. AMRSS take note. The Caledonian Sleeper has been the target of several early starts, particularly given that this may be its last year with 90's on the front. I have to get up at 0545 and wear waterproof trousers as the favourite field is heavily soaked in dew at that time of day. Lovely pictures though. I was also fortunate enough to catch the Loram rail grinder which followed the sleeper one morning. 30-odd years ago I could often be found at Nuneaton station and / or behind a Class 86 on the main line. I also used to listen to Les Ross on Radio Birmingham and then BRMB (you know where this is leading don't you. Well, not quite where you think, but bear with me). If you'd told me 30 years ago I would one day ride in an 86 owned by Les Ross from Nuneaton to Crewe I would never have believed you but that is precisely what happened. I've been pestering Les to record his loco for a little while and after a possibility fell through recently he offered me the cab ride. And very enjoyable it was too, a great opportunity to hear the rheostatic braking and neutral section first hand, and speak with the on-board fitter from Willesden. Many thanks guys. Anyway, what was it this blog is supposed to be about....? Oh yes. After several months hiatus, two recording sessions came along in quick succession; D1062 Western Courier at the Severn Valley Railway and D123 (Class 45) at the Great Central Railway. Many thanks to everyone for their help on the day. Both were really sweaty affairs in near 30 degree heat. In each case it was possible to attach mics very close to the exhausts to cut out unwanted sounds. With the Western I used two mics, one on either side. I’ve run with one mix but may do another version in future with an alternative mix for a bit of variety. A double-take was made as we passed a field in the Western and saw Elephant and Rhino wandering by; the adjacent West Midlands Safari Park of course. Although I don't like the look of the Westerns (alright, alright, stop throwing things), the sound is excellent. Initial prototyping took place with a Dapol model with it's integral bass reflex speaker in the body. Nice. Then Charlie sent down a Heljan one which has vast amounts of space in the underframe, duly converted to a big speaker enclosure. Even better. This afternoon I played it through a 7mm test bed (Visaton 60x60 speaker in a sealed box). Wow. The first production version is available from a Yorkshire retailer near you now. For the first time in ages my pal Richard and I went to a model railway show as paying customers; the new marquee-based one at the GCR. Highlights for me were the superb Roundtrees Sidings and the ride behind Gordon Highlander. Now where's my mic... Stopping off at the Co-Op on the way home after recording D123 I could hear something highly unusual approaching (the car park is next to the WCML). Whizzing past on the slow line went the Hasting Unit which I subsequently learned was on the way back from Crewe on a railtour. One of the most unusual things I've ever seen through Atherstone, and what a great sound! Where's my mic (again)... This week, having rekindled some lost enthusiasm with the Western I have kept up the momentum and made a start on the Class 37 recordings made from 37175 at Bo’ness. I’ve put a ‘teaser’ video of progress so far on You Tube today. I really like the sound of this loco, thanks to Stuart and the guys up there for their assistance. On the subject of 37’s I’ve been given a set of Ruston 37/9 recordings which appear to be suitable for the purpose so once the Bo’ness chip is completed I’ll have a proper look at them... Still on the subject, one of my 37's is presently away being fitted with the right coloured head lights. Why Bachmann are still bringing out models with sodium yellow headlights is beyond me. Finally, after some delay the first production run of my replacement tanks for the Class 26, 27 & 33 are now at the (3D) printers. I've made several minor design changes from the initial test run. Now 3D printed in black, suitable for 4, 8 or 100ohm 20x40 speakers and hence usable with pretty much any sound chips, not just ESU. A straight replacement for the centre-section of the Heljan underframe, to which the sides clip on and the speaker clips in. Supplied with full instructions.

Legoman is now ready for his trip to Perth! He's just waiting for his hat to be finished.

Apologies, I didn't spot big Dave Adam's post. All of my sounds that were originally created for the v3.5 chip are still available as reblows. When v4 came along it became clear that it was not straightforward to backdate the sophisticated v4 projects to load onto the v3.5 chip, plus there was the issue of space (the v3.5 having only half the memory of the v4). I decided that my time was better spent creating better v4 projects instead of 'dumbing them down' to fit on 'old' chips. In short, everything I do is available on v4 but only the earlier projects are available on v3.5. There are quite a few of these early projects though. A full list is available on request. Hope this helps, Bif

I won't repeat the joke about the Grand Canyon being started by a Scotsman (or Yorkshireman) who dropped 50p in a ditch :-)

My 37 sounds use the full four minutes of space so they will only fit onto a v4 chip unfortunately, but thanks for the recommendation Phaeton.

One theme of this period in the sound lab has been consolidation; instead of working on new projects I’ve concentrated on rolling out specific improvements across the range, where suitable recordings are available. One example of this is to change F5 from a simplistic brake dump sound to a multi-function brake sound experience! If you press F5 whilst stationary you’ll hear a brake dump sound . If you turn on F5 when moving, nothing is heard initially, but you now have a ‘playable’ brake application function. Dipping the throttle briefly will trigger a gentle brake application sound. Dip it further and it brakes a little harder. It is possible (for example) to approach a signal, repeatedly ‘touching the brakes’ without unduly affecting the speed of the loco. The theme of consolidation reminded me of the classic Norman Wisdom film ‘The Early Bird’ which documents the struggle of an underdog horse & cart milk firm against the mighty Consolidated Dairies with their new-fangled electric milk floats. The opening 15 minutes or so, in which hardly a word is spoken, is comic genius, with the hero Pitkin (Wisdom) struggling to get up and make the tea for himself, his boss (Mr Grimsdale) and the boss’s ‘fancy woman’. There's a link at the bottom if you’re interested. Work on 10000 has continued. I am currently prototyping the engine sounds in a Bachmann model and things are progressing, slowly but surely. A packed show schedule in May / June will see me with Charlie at Bristol, Derby, LYDCC (where I’ll be assisting Tony Molyneux with his seminar), Railex, DEMU, Wigan, and Perth, and also Nottingham as a visitor. The first production runs of resin tanks for the Heljan 26, 27 & 33 have been kicked off. These comprise a replacement centre-section for the underframe assembly of each loco, to which the Heljan sideframes are attached. The new sections feature a sound chamber which accepts a 20x40mm speaker in a simple clip-fit aperture, making the fitting of sound much more straightforward. At Ally Pally I picked up some excellent weathered JNA’s from Lord & Butler which will no doubt feature in a video in the fullness of time. I must get round to doing more videos at some point as there are several new projects that haven’t been captured yet (33, 40, 60 & MPV amongst others). Finally, a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of a personal guided tour of some of Paul Woolard’s local photographic haunts to capture some of the Cross-Country workings that were being diverted via Chepstow. Pictured above at Purton is the Daventry-Wentloog working. Paul has taken some beautiful railway photos and one of his taken previously at Purton featured in Rail Express this month. Hopefully some of his skill will rub off on me.