Chamby

And of course, the same will probably apply to any virtual reality venture entered into by model railway manufacturing companies. Perceptions of long-term financial stability will therefore be a critical success factor for anything that SK et. al. may go on to develop...

Fox Transfers also produce the curly 6 & 9 as waterslide transfers in off-white.

An interesting philosophy, but it now creates an inconsistency.... I have never felt that my quarterly financial contributions through subscription to BRM magazine merited a medallion, to remind people that subscription exists and encourage non-subscribers to sign up. So in the new hierarchy, maybe current subscribers to the magazine should expect to be awarded silver or bronze membership, distinguishing them from those who access the forums without making any financial contribution at all....?

If I become a goldmember, can I change my username to Austin Powers, and have time travel included in the package, please?

Its mostly Hornby loco's with a 2-wheel leading pony truck. The front pony wheels crab at an unnatural angle when negotiating curves, with the double-pivot: The L1 and P2 have this, among others I believe. The exaggerated angle causes the inside edge of the flanges to effectively reduce the back-to-back clearances on curves. Plays havoc running through the check rails/across the insulating breaks of unifrog points, shorting out nearly every time. Its one of those situations where the design tolerances of the two manufacturers, Hornby and Peco, are probably OK in most circumstances, but put them together and... Phil

May I politely point out... The LNER also had a wonderful line from Sheffield and beyond, to Marylebone!

If we’re talking about good looking locomotives, surely Mr. Robinson’s 4-6-0’s deserve a mention. They may be regarded by some as a less successful design than others, but they looked great!

Hi Tony. Unfortunately I had already laid most of the unifrog points before I realised the scale of the issue, so I had to alter them in situ. The following photo's show how it was done: (1) above, shows the underside of the turnout where the switch rails are bonded to the stock rail. These two bonds both need to be cut. If you have already laid the track, like I had.... (2) drill a hole through the top of the sleepers to reveal the bonds underneath. Break them... I used a small screwdriver and just pushed down until they gave way. (3) shows the next steps. The holes in the sleepers are repaired with hot-glue-gun glue, then trimmed flat. The rails are cut with a slitting disc, to create new electrical breaks further away from the frog. Droppers are soldered to the severed rail (left hand side of the break above) and wired into the frog... both rails are connected this way. Another pair of droppers are added to the blade rail (to the right of the cut above) and wired directly into the bus wires, essentially replacing the bonds that were cut, but re-siting them further down the blade rail. (4) shows the finished article. The paint is still wet where I painted over the glue-gun plugs. When dry, the only obvious difference is the extra cut in the rails... painting the soldered droppers the same colour as the rails, and replacing the ballast makes them all but disappear visually. You can do the same modification with the rails on the far side of the frog as well, if necessary... if you also get shorting problems where the frog's check rails extend beyond the insulated rail break. I find this can happen at some locations, but not others. You don't need to cut the rails though, just add insulating joiners when connecting to the next section of track. It's a faff, but it fixes the problem and still looks good. It would have been a much more customer friendly product if PECO had just made it electro-frog in the first place! I am not surprised that the EMGS haven't specified unifrog for their version... Good luck with your own conversions, Phil.

I can vouch that the tiny connectors are just as good as the larger ones in terms of conductivity. Just open them up slightly with a Stanley knife blade and they slip onto the rails much more easily. But droppers on every length of rail is always good practise with DCC. The shorting issue... welcome to the unifrog. As well as checking the back-to-backs, you’ll have difficulties with ‘double pivot’ pony trucks, and those wide, flangeless trailing bogie wheels that Hornby are so fond of, and some longer wheelbase locomotives when taking the curved road. I have ended up modifying all my unifrog points, relocating all the electrical breaks further away from the frog (at both ends). If you have a large roster of motive power that you don’t want to extensively modify, or you want to run guest stock on your layout, this is the only way to eradicate it. And it is much easier to modify the turnout before it is laid!

When a book has been printed, it becomes a fixed item. Yes, errata can be acknowledged, but it is a firm reference source that cannot be changed until it may perhaps be reprinted. Electronic media can be edited at any time. Therefore, you can read it one day and it says one thing, some time later it may have been updated and it says something else. It is therefore less permanent. I used to oversee a team that produced and distributed administration guidelines for schools relating to a statutory annual activity. Printed copies were sent out each year to every school, as a master reference source for all matters relating to administering this activity properly. Everyone used the same, fixed reference source. Then government policy mandated that the guidelines were delivered online. This now meant they could be updated and corrected throughout the year by the authors, and they were. However for the schools, it suddenly created a new dilemma.... Print a copy off yourself for reference, it could become superseded very quickly indeed. That is why printed matter seems more tangible. It is not just about having something physically in your hands... it’s because it will read the same tomorrow, as it does today. Of course, that doesn’t make it any more prone to error, but at least it gives you a fixed reference trail that everyone can refer to! Phil

It depends... Hornby or Dapol? (Yippee, we finally got back on topic!)

Well however long it takes you, it is worthwhile Tony. Somehow it adds another level of detailed definition to the layout. Impressive. Ho hum, thats another thing to add to the growing list for my own project... Phil

The 'elusive category 4' can indeed be found. It helps a lot if you fit into the male version of that category...

Yes, but it is still incorrect grammatically. Proper nouns don’t have to follow the rules, of course. Phil

Latin? I came second in my class of thirty students, achieving 22% in my end of term exam. I’m not sure whether that says more about the teacher or our attitude towards the subject though. Re: Southern trains on NE metals, I have found ‘football specials’ a source of prototypical interest, though rarely modelled. Several photographs exist showing Bulleid light Pacifics on the GC at Leicester and Nottingham: 34054 34042 hauling Southampton supporters to Nottingham Forest, for example. Looking up football fixtures for the years being modelled might give an indication of the possibilities. Saturday workings, of course. Phil.

So... left hand drive, it already has a double exhaust, they’ll be putting german style deflectors on it next!

I was all smiles with this until I read that you have to ‘like’ Rails as a condition of entry. The unashamed pursuit of ‘likes’ is always a big turn-off for me. Tedious indeed!

All the hoo-ha between Hattons and Hornby in the programme has to be taken lightly, I suggest. Hattons need Hornby at the moment, they haven’t had any new stuff from Bachmann since last November and have a growing list of out-of-stock items that most other retailers are still happily selling in their stead. I know that this situation has impacted on my own buying patterns, spending rather less at Hattons this year. And it’s not just Bachmann items either, I tend to buy a few items together so this piggyback business has gone elsewhere too. I’m sure that Hattons recognise that Hornby’s 66 is a very different model to their own high-spec product. And they have had no issue with selling Oxford Rail’s warwells alongside their own, either. All of the retailer/commissioners including Rails and Hattons have not yet reached a critical mass to move on from their retail business and become solely manufacturers. While that situation exists, especially whilst heavily investing in multiple new Product development like Hattons are at the moment, they are dependent on Hornby and Bachmann products: as key suppliers they are essential to keep their customers buying and the cash flowing. That is SK’s ace card at the moment.

I bet there are ten trainset type layouts being built for every model railway, and by retiring baby boomers. They just don’t go to clubs like us, being happy playing trains in their man shed. Phil.

The significant price increases seen over the last couple of years or so are actually part of the problem for Hornby and Bachmann. Although it improves profitability for them, it also improves the financial attractiveness for new competitors. A more profitable market will inevitably attract newcomers!

My thanks to all the responses. I have taken your advice and ordered a bulk supply of Zimo decoders today. I have a busy weekend ahead of me! Phil

Latest news on the Zimo website, announces a new MS series decoder. Looks like a direct response to the Loksound v5. Features include 16 bit audio, 128 Mbit memory, 16 simultaneously playable sound channels and other tweaks. The range will mirror some of the existing MX series decoders, but they will be introduced alongside the MX’s, which will continue in production for now. No indication yet re: price, or when we are likely to see them in UK retailers.

Thanks for all the prompt replies. A quick follow-up question for the Zimo fans, do you use stay alives? I have a few of their 6800uF super caps, that I understand can be used with the MX633. Thinking this combination may be good for the shorter wheelbase loco’s?

To date all my DCC loco's are sound fitted, so I have little personal experience of non-sound decoders to date. I have decided to 'bite the bullet' and convert the large balance of my OO locomotive roster to DCC, so intend to make a bulk purchase of non-sound decoders. I have a lokprogrammer which leads me towards ESU chips, but I am conscious of the price premium which adds up with a bulk purchase... is it worth paying the extra? Looking for ease of fitting, reliability, fine motor control, and lighting functions for forward/reverse. So nothing too fancy or too large, but quality and robustness is a must. Any tips welcome please, based on your experiences good or bad! Phil.

The above entry is on a related thread (in layout design section). First thing to do is check the back-to-back measurements, that will fix the problem in most cases. In trying to keep the electrically switched part of the frog as small as possible, Peco have introduced this design flaw, unfortunately. It would have been SO much better if they had stuck with the electrofrog design...