jaym481

1 hour ago, reddragon said:

I have the Z21 with a twin power booster giving 3 sections in total, enough to operate all I have.

That's what I have, though the double booster is track feed and the Z21 itself is accessory bus. My layout, such as it is, is more experimental than an actual layout though, so I rarely have more than two sound locos and a bunch of lit coaches on at at time. I do have an issue with a Digikeijs reverse loop module that apparently doesn't output enough to run a Hornby loco with one of their new HM7000 sound decoders installed. I need to sort that out.

I'm getting an odd occurrence on the website. When I first select an item, the price shows as a lower price than the ex VAT price in parenthesis. Coincidentally the lower price is what the ex VAT price would be if they were reversed. I sent an email, though I know they aren't always reliable.  In any case, when I select the scale of the item the lower price disappears. I haven't complete an order yet, as I would like to clear this up first. Is the lower price displayed a glitch (he asked hoping the glitch would be a result in his favour)?

Jay

2 hours ago, Porfuera said:

 

Same here.

 

My order was placed last Wednesday (10th) just after midnight. On Friday afternoon I received the email saying that it had been picked and it arrived this morning (Monday) just after 10am.

 

Pretty good service under normal conditions but considering they must be swamped at the present time then I think that is exceptionally good and they must be working very hard to get all those orders out of the door.

 

Along with so many others on here, I'd like to add my thanks to everyone at Hattons for all their hard work in the past and for the pleasure enjoyment that they've brought to many people in this hobby and in others and to wish them all the very best for the future.

 

I wonder if they're prioritizing UK orders? I wouldn't blame them - those of us abroad are already used to longer wait times. I do miss the UK "order on Monday, delivered on Wednesday" post. Sometimes even next day.

46 minutes ago, br-nse-fan said:

 

The last email I got from Nigel, and I hope I am not letting anything out of the bag, was that he felt Hornby does not consider the Canadian market worth their time or effort, and are content with their being no distribution.  

 

I don't know what the current climate is here in terms of sales, etc..  I know there used to be several options to purchase UK models in Canada, but most have closed shop... and even the mainstays at the GBTS have been clearing out more and more and not continuing after their current stock is sold out.

 

Postage is a whole other matter, and that alone will be sufficient enough for me to curb my spending.  I bought a pair of the EFE SR 'Boosters' from Kernow, and the postage was £30 to Canada, in comparison, one of my last orders from Hattons was a similar size/weight and it was only £11.

I'm not surprised. I'm sure Nigel's volume of sales doesn't even reach Hornby's radar, though with postage and the increased enforcement of taxes by Canada customs he could potentially see an increase. 

I've found that Kernow's £15 for packages under 1kg only allows for one locomotive, and nothing else. A friend and I recently combined orders for two locos and two decoders, and Kernow subsequently asked for an additional £30, making the total postage £60! They explained that they would have to break the order down into separate packages, and that a loco and decoder came in over 1kg, so it would be £30 each. Some back and forth resulted in a lower price, but my orders from Kernow will now be very limited. Rails isn't much better. 

Given Hatton's lower postage rates, I do wonder how much they absorbed postage costs, and how that may have played into this decision. 

Have you set addresses according to the instructions? In other words, if the three are linked, you can set the first address and it should address the rest of the inputs sequentially. 

Are you getting power to all three? I think the sniffer should have enough to power all three, but I've only ever powered one with a sniffer.

9 hours ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

I think the relevant word here is collections. Collecting is, I believe, a pastime in itself. Finding, researching, buying, displaying, possibly even bragging. 

 

Railway modelling is more about creating and using, although for some collecting is a major part of the hobby. However, I wonder if being described as a collector is seen as less worthy than being called a modeller.

There are record collectors, and those who collect records to play them, much the same as with model railway items. The principal difference is that with records, both collectors and those who collect to play will refer to it as a "record collection."

From past comments seen on RMWeb I'd say there's a subset of railway modellers who regard collecting as much less worthy. Seems to be human nature to identify groups to which one can feel superior.

9 hours ago, br-nse-fan said:

As a Canadian who has been using Hatton's since the early 2000's, the news is very saddening.  With the recently closing/winding down of not only Hatton's, but the Canadian distributor for Hornby (Britannia Models), there is no longer any way to get Hornby products locally.  Hornby have refused to communicate with the local supplier here in Ontario, and the only other distributor being in the US, has put a huge damper on UK outline availability.

Yes, there are other retailers... I've used Rails and Kernow a number of times in the past, and no disrespect to any of them.. few can come close to the level of service that Hatton's has been able to provide over the years.

I'm knocking around websites looking for options, but most are "offering" postage to Canada at the £30-£40 mark unless you bring it in under 1kg. I wasn't aware that Hornby wouldn't communicate with Nigel - I understand he bought Britannia, and the last email i had from him indicated he was negotiating with Hornby to take on distribution here.

On another note, I realize the folks at Hatton's are probably working long days trying to fulfil orders, so I shouldn't expect the "pick list packed" message as quickly as usual (no more than 48 hours usually). I was wondering how long it's taken for others who ordered this week? I placed my order Monday evening, so it would have been in their queue Tuesday morning.

6 minutes ago, rogerzilla said:

Rails and Kernow are the big two now, I think.  Less competition is always bad news, and I had some bargains from Hattons over the years.

From an international customer perspective Hattons had the best postage rates, and with their checkout including the weight of the item, one could tailor an order to a particular postage rate. Plus the Trunk service. Those innovations alone will be most missed by me.

My final order went it late last night - early morning GMT. I made sure to include a Hattons tea mug for £2. 

Regarding some of the large blocks of items disappearing at once, their website now says they are open to offers from trade and resellers, so that is certainly a factor.

Hatton's was my go to when I lived in the UK, and remained so when I moved back to Canada in 2016. Things tapered off some over the past few years, mainly due to pressures outside of their control (Royal Mail and Canada Customs). I have no idea how much they relied on international trade, but their specific mention of Brexit and GST (Australia's new tax rules for importing) lead me to believe it may have been a significant loss. Sad to see.

I do wonder if we might see something vestigal of Hatton's star up in the US under their recently acquired MB Klein operation? Perhaps the pressures that make UK operation more difficult for them are not as significant in the US. 

Perhaps MB Klein is a "lifeboat" for the bulk of Hatton's cash at the end of the day. If dealing from the US market doesn't have the same market pressures that forced Hatton's to close, the owners and cash assets could carry on in business from there.

If you added the functions under one address they won't transfer to the new address when you change it. You have to manually add them again. It's one aspect of the Z21 that I wish could be managed better.

It's probably a CV setting, which should be in the Soundtraxx documentation. I don't have any Soundtraxx decoders installed, so I'm sorry I can't help beyond that.

3 hours ago, WIMorrison said:

I was having issues with a DR5013 whereby it would throw intermittent faults like you suggest and I cured it initially by stopping the DR5013 forwarding the short event over Loconet to by Z21 thereby preventing the Z21 dropping out due to this message. I then suffered a different issue whereby some locos would run a slow speed whilst in the feedback controlled by the DR5013 and other then undertaking some surgery on the board there was no cure therefore I got rid of it - glad that I did as the LS5410 replacement has been much more reliable :)

Being in Canada I have limited choices for electronic modules. The LS5410 seems to be out of stock at the moment. It looks like the LoDi KSM might do the trick, but vendors for it seem to be thin on the ground, and my location can make communications difficult if the vendor isn't responsive to email. I can substitute an AR1 for now, but I want functioning detection in the loop eventually, so need something like the LS5410 or LoDi KSM which don't trigger occupancy.

The segment of the layout where this loop is will be rebuilt this year, as I extend the layout beyond where it is now. Hopefully I can find a solution before I need to setup another loop. While I can swap out the Hornby decoder easily enough, the Dapol A4 is a very complex installation, and it's a locomotive I don't want to abandon - it took quite a while to find one at a reasonable price.

8 hours ago, Suzie said:

It looks like you don't have enough current available for the momentary short when the train enters the the reversing section.

 

I am not familiar with the particular hardware you are using, but it may be that the DR5013 is taking too long to switch which may be due to a high impedance somewhere in the wiring either feeding the DR5013 or in the track feeds.

 

Yes, different sound locos will draw different amounts of current so you have one loco that just draws a few milliamps extra that is the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Thanks. The DR5013 is set up to switch without a short, and the location(s) of the fault are fully within the loop, so it's already passed the isolation sections. My guess is that once the loco is fully within the loop it is taking track power from the 5013, and the module isn't able to pass the full power available from the booster it's attached to, without shorting.

 Update: I've done about three hours of troubleshooting using multiple locomotives with various decoders. Here's what I found:

The problem happens when the loco enters or exits a reverse loop controlled by the DR5013. 

It seems to happen when sound is on.

It doesn't happen with modern sound decoders from ESU, Zimo and others OEM for Continental locomotives (I tried several locos from REE, Roco, Piko and others).

It happens with two locomotives that I own: the Hronby A1 with the HM7000 TXS bluetooth decoder operating in DCC mode, and a Dapol Black Label A4 which has an American sound decoder which I forget who the OEM is. I think it may be WowSound?

My hypothesis is that the problem decoders when sound is active are drawing too much current for the DR5013. One of two things happen - the 5013 flashes red for a short, or the 5013 goes dead and the Z21 flashes blue for the layout STOP command. I'm guessing the 5013 going dead (LED's all dark) is what may be triggering the STOP as it represents a portion of the layout no longer getting power. 

So, is the 5013 sensitive enough to current draw to short out or go into protection when the current is higher than typical modern sound decoders draw?

15 hours ago, Modelu Chris said:

STOCKISTS: Chris has been single-handedly expanding our network of stockists to include North America, The Netherlands, Australia and an additional 10 UK stockists, many of who he has personally visited in his own time.

Curious about the North American stockist(s). I don't see any on your website yet.

I've had an unusual situation where a STOP command (flashing blue) seems to have been issued to the Z21 (black - to be clear), yet I didn't issue it. I was using a WiFi Maus, so pressing the stop button on it would have been noticed. I had no device with the app operating, and no computer connected running the Maintenance Tool. The only thing different was the locomotive being operated was a Hornby A1 with a newly installed Hornby ZXS sound decoder. No other locomotives were on the track. I've tested a number of other locomotives, including a Pacific (albeit a tank engine, the Rails A5) without this happening. As well, the Hornby locomotive managed a complete track circuit without issues when the sound was off.

So the question is: besides the usual means of activating the STOP command (app, Maus, button on the Z21 or through the Maintenance Tool), how could it be activated?

10 hours ago, TomScrut said:

 

They are 21 pin as per the discussion on the previous page.

And I'd thought I read every page without finding that, but clearly I was getting lazy by the time I came on that page. Thanks.

Are these actually fitted with the 8 pin decoder socket? Given the other improvements, and that Hornby are using the 21-pin socket in other models now, it seems a bit of a throwback if that's the case.

9 hours ago, Stevio778 said:

Thanks Jaym So I'm going to need just one of these

https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/train-tech-sc4-dual-Dapol-servo-semaphore-signal-dcc-controller.html?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8YCQ8v-5ggMVgZeDBx3qyggTEAQYASABEgIBfPD_BwE

 

For one of these? 

https://railsofsheffield.com/products/Dapol-4l-001-006-gwr-junction-lh-2-arms-lh-short-post-signal?variant=35450504544328&currency=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google%2Bshopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo_Tz5IC6ggMVhwaLCh2mXwa3EAQYBiABEgLrFvD_BwE

That's the one, though there are retailers who have it for lower cost than Gaugemaster.

Iain and Keith, the idea of "build your own for half the price" is great for those who have attended electronics Hogwarts. Some of us muggles could probably eventually do it, but at twice the price in the end, not including the destroyed Dapol signal. 

For the Dapol signals I use the Train-Tech decoders specifically designed for them, as all of the other options were either overcomplicated (for me) or wouldn't allow iTrain to change them as Iain described above. I also believe Dapol has the T-T decoders available with their own branding.

8 hours ago, DaveArkley said:

So you're running Anyrail while still in S mode. Interesting...

 

Cheers

Dave

He wrote "Just needed..." I think you may have misread.

On 15/10/2023 at 12:16, WIMorrison said:

 

But remember that this is a one way process - the Z21 will see that you have done something with your NCE set, but the NCE will not be aware of anything being undertaken by the Z21, any throttles, or control systems attached to the Z21.

If just using it for controlling a single locomotive it doesn't really matter if it can't receive any Z21 information back. It saves splashing out on a Maus if all he wants is a thumbwheel-type of throttle control. Points etc can be controlled through the Z21 diagram on a tablet.

35 minutes ago, Tallpaul69 said:

I do wonder about the effectiveness of the "slider" throttles on the tablets as expresses by another contributor, but that may just be due to my familiarity with the NCE thumbwheel.

I guess I could start with a tablet and add a Wifi throttle if I found I did not get on with the "slider" throttle. 

If you like your NCE handset you can connect it to a Z21 through the sniffer input.