jaym481

How much is it for a roll of, say 25m? I haven't lived in the UK for a while, but even here in Canada copper wire is not cheap.

The DCC Concepts system is repurposing their mimic panel board to control lighting. The board will control any lighting as long as you get the plugs, which can be had off eBay for less than the cost of resistors to connect LEDs to a straight 12V system. The board does look pricey at £50 including 24 LEDs (LED's separately are £25/pack). That's over £1 per output (24 on the board).

I have the same problem with 2 parcels from Hatton's. Unfortunately I didn't realize the industrial action was going to be more than just occasional days of down tools. If I had known, I might have made a better effort to combine the packages and send by the unfortunately far more expensive (at least to Canada) courier.

I've just downloaded the "large" version of your document Fred. I'll see what I can figure out from that. Thank you again. Jay

Here is a closer view of the car on the right:

Thank you Fred, and thank you for the book recommendations. I'll see if I can find them here. Regarding the car types, I was going by what the seller said, and he wasn't sure as it was an estate of one of our club members. The club is oriented to British model railways, so the expertise in Continental is thin on the ground. Here are some pictures to the two different types:

I've recently branched out to Continental trains a bit, particularly German pre-WW1. I also took an interest in CIWL models, as I came upon an old Liliput teak set (incredible detail, incandescent lighting(!) and awful running due to the lighting pickups), and also obtained locally a full train of Jouef blue cars, comprising 6 WL (the seller said 4 Y cars and 2 Z cars - not sure), a restaurant, a blue and cream Pullman and three steel sided bogie fourgons. I've been trying to figure out the eras of the liveries, and the best I can figure out using the internet and a lone coffee-table book on the Orient Express history is that the natural teak colour gave way to blue sometime after WW1. One thing that intrigues me is the format of the coach numbers. The early teaks all seem to have the same format "No. xxxx A" but I'm not sure if the letter A was the only such in use. This format also appears on models of the steel coaches of the '20s and '30s. The blue Jouef coaches I have use two variations on the WL cars - the "Z" cars have simply a 4 digit number at each end of the car just above the solebar, and the ones attributed a Y models have a multi digit number in a very small font below the central coat of arms. Anyway, if anyone can point me to some internet resources which might help (I have already gone through Fred's (sncf231e) document on CIWL models) and a couple of websites in, mostly, English that came up with a basic search; assistance would be greatly appreciated. I can read French, and of course there's the ever-popular Google translate if there are resources in other languages. Book recommendations also welcome, and hopefully anything recommended will be available here in Canada. Thanks, Jay

I spoke with one of the Rapido Canada guys at the Great British Train Show in Ontario last month. They are "working on it." I'm not sure what their agreement with Locomotion is, so a future release may be limited to other GNR numbers or fictional liveries.

In my case there's only one point, though the wiring of the frogs is the same as the diagram. It works fine, I just finished hooking everything up today and it's all good. My setup is a loop, so when the points are set to send a train through the diamond there will be no train coming the other route.

I'm just in the process of installing the Peco code 75 long crossing with DCC Concepts iP Digital as well. I was happy to see the document Gary attached above. Unfortunately DCC Concepts' on-line advice library doesn't seem to have it, and the document with crossing wiring shows the Cobalt Classic, which has different connections. In any case, I'm glad you posted that Gary. If you are able to add the results of your installation, especially if you encountered any issues, I'm sure others like me searching would appreciate it. Regarding the SL-E194 the four wires are one for each frog, and two for track power. It took me a few minutes trying to trace the wires to figure that out. So, in summary, I'm going to try this: All crossing joints isolated. Power feeds to the crossing using the wires provided. Frog feeds as provided. Cobalt iP digital works the point that enters the crossing. Track power connected at the usual DCC terminals, as well as at the S2-L and S2-R terminals. Frog dropper for the lead-in point connected to the frog terminal, and frog dropper for the furthest crossing frog connected to same. Frog dropper for crossing frog nearest the point connected to the S2-C terminal. Hopefully all works fine first try, but that would not be my usual result, so as necessary the track feeder wires to the cobalt will be swapped if shorts occur. If anyone sees a flaw with this, please don't hesitate.

Thanks all. My local shop had two Digitrax AR1 units, which appear to be simple, and they were cheap. They should at least do the trick while I get things running. I can always change them out for something better in the future. Automation is a possibility, but some way in the future. Right now I'm just trying to get functioning track down so I can run a train.

I'm going to need two reverse loops on my layout. I have a Z21 (black), and i see Roco has a reverser module. Digikeijs also has one, and of course there's the PSX-AR which is common and favoured on my side of the pond. I think the AR only works through a short circuit, like a Frog Juicer, while the other two have that option, as well as being able to use block detection to achieve the aim. I was wondering if anyone was familiar with all or some of these, or any other module that might work, and could offer some advice.

Is it just me, or is the Z21 app locomotive database function wonky? I recently bought a Roco set of locomotive and wagons, loco DCC fitted with sound, and thought it'd be a good chance to try out the database for adding a newe loco to my app roster. The search function seems to be non-functional - I tried the product number as indicated, including trying the numbers for a coupole of locomotives that are already listed - no result. My set is a 2021 catalogue item, so maybe it's just new enough to not be listed?

Perhaps because the coupling isn't the only production expense?

The render shown doesn't have NEM pockets? Is it intended to have them in the production version, or will they be in the box to be fitted by the owner, replacing the tension locks with the 'T" slot as shown?

I don't think there are any ready-to-run wagons out there that reflect the Wainwright period (pre-1913). The Rapido wagons are mostly post WW1 prototypes as has already been mentioned, not only livery, but design. Most SECR open wagons of the Wainwright era were of the high, rounded end type, usually with sheet rails. I can't think of any of those in RTR (which doesn't preclude their existence of course). Most of those were rebuilt with the ends cut down post 1912 or so. All that said, it looks like I may be dropping a bit of coin on some "break" vans soon.

Thank you Ian.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I just obtained one of the A4s. I tend to use JMRI for "fine tuning," and though the decoder is recognized as Dapol, there are no characteristics in JMRI (not surprising). Has anyone managed to figure out who the OEM is for the sound decoder in the Black Label A4s?

He's in Cambridge, Ontario: https://britishmodeltrains.ca

Kernow is Tier 1, so that gives you an idea of the situation. I pre-ordered through my "nearly local" supplier here in Canada, as he get's Hornby product through the US distributor and was able to secure what I wanted.

The post I replied to implied that "North America" has a unified approach to legal matters to whit: "its no surprise to me a North American company would reach out for a lawyer & the media before picking up a phone" So check your work navigator.

It's no surprise to me that someone from the UK can't understand the difference between Canada and the USA.

There have been several mentions that the project wouldn't be profitable for Hornby. Is that actually the case? Jason Shron isn't the sort to take on a project if it would be a drain on the company coffers. He's cancelled a few projects when the pre-order book didn't reach certain thresholds. It's why Rapido doesn't ask for money up front.

I doubt they're losing any sleep, but their lawyers have probably already made a first draft of a C&D letter. Large corporations tend to be very tetchy about their IP. Even to the extent of sending C&D letters to tiny companies that have a product that just sounds similar to one of the corporation's brands.

You may be making assumptions without considering a few facts. The way Rapido produced the announcement was more subtle than Hornby's now typical "announce a product before the compentition to undercut their sales" tactic. One particularly delicious result was Hornby's flailing with the timing of their own release once Rapido "announced their announcement." The fact is, Rapido's announcement is no where near the same as Hornby's behaviour, as it wasn't announcing a new model just to get in first. It announced that Rapido, and more importantly StudioCanal, were not pleased with Hornby's transparent attempt to abscond with SC's IP and undercut an agreement that likely involved substantial investment for Rapido. There have been many examples to show why IP infringement is not taken lightly by most industries, even by companies smaller than Hornby. Others have explained why this is so. SC will most likely issue a Cease and Desist letter soon. I expect Hornby will back down, cry a river about "cultural appropriation" (a delicious irony from a British company), and air it all in the court of public opinion, because they can't afford to do it in a real court, knowing they are on very shaky ground. In the end, Hornby will still make it's profit on train sets, and Rapido will still sell well researched and designed models, and provide excellent after sale support.