Chamby

The Heljan one Is worth a look... I have operated one on a couple of club layouts, they work well and look good. Costs about £200 (includes motor, controller etc.) but has been highly recommended to me. I Have also worked a Peco one, operated by hand, on another club layout. It used Meccano gears with a simple crank handle poking through a hole in the baseboard edge. Much cheaper to buy but more modelling skills required to get it working, but easy to use and not much to go wrong! Leicester Central’s was a well type turntable, so I’d avoid the Dapol (Old Airfix) one.

Maybe when the replacement M&GN bridge is in situ? It would be good to see how much of a difference that makes...

Sounds like the Sunday afternoon of a two-day show...

The blue-backlit handsets are now supplied as standard with GM Prodigy Advanced 2 systems, and when you buy additional handsets (model DCC-14).

Thanks to all for the informative replies, they are much appreciated. The Peco OO bullhead turnouts usefully come with the switch rails already bonded to the stock rails: The difference with the 'Unifrog'is in the positioning of the electrical break between the switch rail and the frog... Peco have attempted to keep the electrified frog section as small as possible so that, as well as working like their 'electrofrog', you can also elect to leave the frog electrically dead and use it in the same way as their 'insulfrog' products. The problem is that, in order to minimise the dead section, the electrical break between the frog and the switch rail is practically in the throat itself, leading to a potential short: I have about a dozen of these turnouts installed on my layout and the majority work fine. Just a couple of them have shorting issues, probably something to do with the angle of the approach track setting how the wheels ride the rails as they run through the turnout. As well as needing to check the back-to-backs, I have also found that the bizarre double-pivot pony truck arrangement used by Hornby (as in their L1, P2 and O1 locomotives) causes the pony wheels to 'crab' on curves.... this also causes shorting with these turnouts when running in the forward direction, but not in reverse due to the way the pivot behaves differently depending whether the pony is being pulled or pushed. I am coming to the conclusion that the easiest solution will be to either modify the affected turnouts and reposition the electrical break further down the switch rail, or substitute hand-built points in these locations. It does surprise me that this design passed the pre-production testing at Peco though! There has been extensive discussion about these points in the Peco section of RMweb, for those interested. Phil.

Can I ask a basic question please? I am having a little trouble with a Peco bullhead rail turnout that shorts out occasionally. If you are familiar with the product there are some notable design differences with their previous streamline offerings, mostly to do with their new ‘Unifrog’ concept which appears rather more sensitive to shorting out around the throat. As a result I am looking more closely at the back-to-back’s of both my loco and rolling stock wheelsets, and as expected have found some variance across RTR stock. Can I ask the more experienced builders on this thread what back-to-back measurement you normally use? 14.5; 14.75 or 14.82mm? The latter is for RP25 standards, I believe. My layout currently has a mix of Peco & C&L bullhead rail trackwork, but also some code 100 streamline used off-scene, which probably doesn’t help matters! Thanks in anticipation, Phil.

I run a mix of sound and non-sound dcc. Some of my more recent sound installs are an absolute delight to drive. My favourite to date has to be Locoman’s 8F, it is like music to my ears when out for a run on the layout.... In contrast, some earlier sound installs are now disappointing in comparison, and don’t get turned on that much. That’s the down-side of adopting developing technology I guess, once you’ve experienced something better, the older stuff just doesn’t match up to the new benchmark! I think we’ll continue to see this trend for a while. ESU are releasing a new chip reputed to give ‘hi-fi quality’ sound later this month, so things continue to progress. Phil.

The plastic ‘H’ shaped connectors provided by C&L look good and work re: alignment, but overtime I have found they are not very robust and they are impossible to replace on laid and ballasted track. I have replaced them with Peco bullhead joiners... open up the joiner, slide them under the rail join, closeup again with pliers. You can use Peco joiners with C&L code 83 rail, just push a Stanley knife blade into the slot to open it up a bit, and they fit well. Peco bullhead joiners are by far the most robust, and they have mock bolts, so do look good too. I use them universally now for both Peco and C&L OO bullhead rail. For plain track, I have used both Peco and C&L flexi track and am happy with both. If using C&L, just be aware that the sleepers come in two thicknesses... the thicker ones are compatible with Peco re: height. Phil.

There are some very nice deltic sound files around now, and some very effective speaker installations too. But at high speed, the dominant sound close-up will still be the metal wheelsets clattering by. Over distance though, in real life, the longer wavelength of the Napier drone travels much farther... not easy to replicate in model form. Some things don’t scale down well! I agree with you about diesel MPD layouts. Diesel sounds are simpler to replicate than the subtleties of steam, and there is more room in the bodies to install bigger or multiple speakers. MPD’s are popular because they provide a high density of slow moving traction in a modest space. In an exhibition hall however it can (and usually does) become an overbearing cacophony for everyone else. Operators tend to forget that pressing F1 turns the sound off, having multiple locomotives just sat idling endlessly is not a nice sound. At home, I usually drive my sound fitted locomotives for a while but turn the sound off if running the train for any length of time on a continuous run. Less is definitely more, sometimes! Phil.

As a DCC sound user, (though a selective one) I would agree that for a layout like LB, where trains are mostly passing by, DCC sound would add little to the proceedings for much of the activity, with the exception of the whistle/chime of approaching trains, and probably the Deltic. Hearing the characteristic drone building up in the distance, before DP1 bursts onto the scene would certainly add something! Sound could also be selectively deployed for the pick-up goods and the stopping services, especially the whistle and chuffing when pulling away from the station. With a little creativity, these effects could be achieved by means other than DCC, or else by using DCC chips and speakers under the baseboard to give appropriate realistic ‘sound bites’ at the key moments. Whether you you think it’s worth doing is down to personal taste, I guess. Phil.

Andy, has the migration/transfer activity completed? My ‘reputation’ (such that it is) is stuck on about 30% of what I had before the upgrade. Just curious (not nagging), is it work still in progress, or has it been lost forever in the ether?

On the subject of populating coaches and teak painting, this might be of interest? Something I did as an experiment a couple of years ago. Bog standard cheap-as-chips Hornby Railroad plastic teak coaches, with the roof grubbed up a bit, the sole bars painted and a lick of tinted varnish to liven up the teak a bit. I mixed the solebar colour with satin varnish in a ratio of about 1:5, and just painted all the 'woodwork' with it. The colouring is thin enough to allow the yellow lining to show through. Slight variations in the mix ratio have a nice effect of adding subtle variations to the teak colour between coaches. Renumbering with HMRS prefix transfers completes the effect - a big improvement over the basic coach. I just need to weather the under frames now... The passengers are added to each coach, 1-3 in each corridor. I find it is enough to give the impression of populated coaches as the train runs by.

Doh!

You don’t need to fully populate a train to create an impression of occupancy. I find placing just a few standing or walking passengers in highly visible locations makes a big difference. There is little benefit to placing passengers in compartments with external doors, for example, as the windows are relatively small and it is not easy to peer inside the unlit compartments in daylight. A ticket collector walking down the corridor, the odd passenger walking to/from the toilet compartment or buffet car is sufficient enough to create an illusion of occupancy in these coaches. It is rather different however if you are modelling modern image stock with larger windows, particularly if modelling rush-hour trains. The 18:05 out of Paddington would need every square inch of standing space crammed with passengers, and perhaps the help of Modelu to portray the poor souls with faces pressed up against the windows in the crush!

Often judgement of DCC is based upon the experience of operating somebody else’s layout and I can understand that, from this limited perspective, the cost/benefit argument is not compelling. Of course operationally you can do most things with analogue... with lots of pre-planning and miles of wiring! DCC does simplify things hugely out of sight, under the boards, and behind the control panels, and it is hard to appreciate this until you’ve been there and done that, so to speak. DCC is one of those things that requires a step of faith, but once you’ve done it, the return on your investment is very tangible!

Yes, similar thing here, there’s still a lot that hasn’t migrated over yet. Phil

Yes this works, thanks. However be aware that once you have clicked on the ‘x’ and the sig disappears, the ‘x’ disappears with it, so you can’t similarly click to re-instate the sig.

With one of his A2/2’s behind, perhaps?

Tony, you might start a new trend with that new Avatar... The pic in your profile is most excellent though.

I have just been browsing the forum using my smartphone rather than tablet or PC and have to say, it is much better to use without the signatures. With the expanded layout, some people’s lavish signatures take up way too much of the available screen space to the detriment of user friendliness. Obviously this is not an urgent priority at this time but some curbs on signature excesses would be appreciated down the line, Andy! Phil

On the modelling bench at the moment: some Enginemen picked up from the Modelu stand at Warley last November, currently in a half-painted state. The detail on them is delightful, I only hope I don't lose too much of it under a layer of acrylic paint. It has got me wondering... is there a collective noun for enginemen?

Hi Andy, good job so far. Not sure how the reputation thing works, it seems to be very hit and miss across users...

Well that was a long break from RMweb, it’s amazing how used you become to being able to log in and catch up... I had to do some modelling instead! Now, where were we....?

Average... Are people making the same comparison here? If LB is being compared to all OO layouts ever constructed, it would of course be well above average. If you’re just comparing it with a select group of exceptional layouts including the likes of Pendon, it might be assessed differently. I think we need to be clear about the reference group, before we can understand what average actually means! Phil.

Well I’m going to speak up against the flow of conversation here... as I much prefer your photographs in colour, Tony. Black and white has its place, from a historical perspective and for some, there’s an element of nostalgia no doubt. The prototype however existed in full colour and people saw and lived with it every day in full colour. Why swop Apple green, Brunswick green, Malachite, Garter Blue, Crimson lake, glorious teak, etc etc... for something where they all look, well, just a similar grey! Why lose subtle shades of weathering and discolouration that show the true character of the railways, subtle shades of rust and soot and ash overlaying those glorious colours, all lost in the greyness of a wholly artificial medium? Just saying! Phil