JST

Yep... just found them ta!

Rats! Thanks anyway.

Have I missed something here... have Hornby dropped these from their range or something? Suddenly when I decide (finally) to buy one, none of the usual suspect have any. Plenty of spam cans or Merchant navy Class but no rebuilt West Country or Battle of Britain Class. Or maybe my googling skills have deserted me.

I have found that my new Bachmann locos seem to need a lot more running in than other makes. My 0-6-0 Pannier tank exhibited the same behaviour as your loco to the point that I sent it back to Bachmann for attention. It came back just the same but now runs super smooth after about 3 months of running!

Absolutely right Nigel! I will have to make sure that I don't run the shuttle for too long when one of my mates from the UK is over visiting - he is a retired BR/Amey senior signals engineer!

Thanks for this Nigel but I have just been up in the railway room and tried RM in record mode. It works well. Because ABC shuttle is in play there is no danger of the bubble car hitting the buffers at either end. I currently have the delay set for 1 minute which allows a good margin of error for signal changing but the Dapol bubble car seems very consistent in it's running times and so it all seems fine for my approximate purposes. No points changes are involved so what can possibly go wrong? Just need to figure out how to put RM programmes into loop mode.

I forgot to point out that the shuttle function is controlled by ABC modules in both bay platforms and by the ESU sound decoders so I am not sure how a RM programme is affected by this. The time delay in the decoder is always bang on every time so maybe there is hope before going down the more technical route inferred by Nigel. Ray, to save me having to quiz the RM manual is it easy to set up a loop? I like the idea of programming in all the sound effects and luckily for me, the railway room is well out of the way of the domain stalked by "Management". I will go and do some experimenting!

I have fitted Heathcote Electronics block signalling gear to my main lines and they work swimmingly well but I am now wondering what to do about my single branch line. I tend to leave a bubblecar or push pull auto coach on shuttle mode while I do other things on the mainline. Now I would like to add signalling to the branch line. In simple terms the line goes from the main station bay platform to the bay platform of the BLT and the total distance is about 60 feet. I want to put a Dapol semaphore start signal on each bay platform and a 2 aspect colour light shortly after leaving the station at each end. Is there any gear out there which will operate this set up automatically without "SPADS" while the trains on "shuttle" but with the ability to have manual control? I cannot get too hung up about prototypical accuracy as it is only me my family and friends who watch the layout hence the suggested signal placement is for best visual effect rather than anything else. I run the layout via Hornby Railmaster and an Elite which controls the track and an eLink with a 4 amp supply that runs the accessory bus. I could set up a programme of signal control within Railmaster but this would be time bound rather than actual position related and I don't know if you can "loop" the programme. Any ideas welcome and I am quite prepared to be told I am in cuckoo land!

Fair comment but what about using 6v CD motors in series - a possibility?

I think you are right CHAZ D

Yes. The Elite and the eLink (not a Select) both have USB connections to my computer and Railmaster controls both of them. They are Controller A and Controller B in the Railmaster settings. When you set up accessories (mainly points in my case) in the Railmaster set up diagram you allocate them to Controller A or B. In my case all the points are allocated to Controller B (the eLink which powers the accessory bus) and the track is run by Controller A (the Elite). What I want to do is allocate the TT motor function the the eLink and hence power it from the accessory bus but leave the TT desk track powered from Controller A, the Elite.

Yes, Railmaster can control two controllers. In my case an Elite and an eLink. The Elite currently controls the Heljan TT via decoder address 228 (I think) as well as supplying the track power to the deck rails. I want to connect the TT motor control the the accessory bus (still with address 228) and leave the rack power to the Elite track bus. This would mean I could still control the TT even if the track power shorts out. Railmaster allows you to allocate each accessory decoder to either of the controllers linked to it.

I run the layout through Railmaster and use a Hornby Elite to run the trains and aneling to run the accessory bus as Railmaster can control two separate controllers.

I have one of these which is currently powered solely from the track bus wire. I now have an accessory bus and would like to power the turntable motor function from the accessory bus whilst leaving the turntable track powered from the track bus. It seems to me that to achieve this I should connect the control box terminals 3 & 4 to the accessory bus and terminals 1 & 2 to the track bus. Is this right or am I about to blow something up?

This true. However, I have Railmaster on my phone but due to the restriction of screen size I don't use it much as I can only have one throttle visible at any one time and the track plan is a bit small for feasible points changing. This is why I use pc monitors and a wireless mouse. I can access the full sized track plan and have 4 throttles visible at the same time. I tend only to use the iPhone for trains going up the branch line off the main layout.

I note you intend to stick with your Elite. For my part I have an Elite which controls the trains via Railmaster . Railmaster has the ability to run two controllers so I have an eLink powered by an Elite 4amp power pack as the second controller which runs all the accessory decoders. So basically I have 4 amps running trains and 4 amps running accessories. My layout is smaller than yours (about 150 yards of track and 60 pairs of points) and it all works swimmingly well! I have about 40 locos on the track at any one time about 10 of which are sound fitted. As you have a large layout there is a way of making Railmaster of more use. My railway loft is 30 ft long so I use a wireless mouse and 3 monitor screens so I can run the entire layout "cordlessly" from multi locations. You pays yer money...........

Well I went to try some of the ideas given here only to find the loco had cured itself! I can only think that the gear train in the bogie(s) had dried out and the lubrication I gave it has now seeped into the gear run. Anyway, I will monitor the situation. Again, thanks for your help.

Thanks for all this. As soon as I can get back to the railway room I will check these ideas out and report back. Many thanks for your help.

My Bachmann class 47 is driving my round the bend! It runs well (DCC Lenz Silver decoder) but at slow speed it emits an intermittent grumbling/grinding sound. I assumed it was the dry motor bearing syndrome so took the thing apart completely, oiled the bearings and tested the motor directly with a dc supply. It ran perfectly. I assembled/lubricated the bogies and propshafts but the sound persists. The odd thing is that if I run it at shunt speed towards a buffer it makes the noise until it hits the buffers and then sits there with all wheels slowly spinning on the rails in perfect silence! The only thing I can think of is there may be some sort of issue with the gears in the bogies which goes away when the wheels are under a bit of tension when held against the buffers with the wheels spinning on the track. Any ideas anyone?

You are of course quite right that Railmaster is not "automation" but unless I misread the OP he was looking for some "computer control" which Railmaster does.

Everyone has their own needs and preferences as far as DCC Controllers are concerned and I guess you will need to do some research before settling on what is best for you. It is oft said on this forum that if you can, you should get to a shop that has various controllers you can try before deciding. If you are happy with the Select (which will be fine for the short term) you may like to consider/look at a Hornby Elite and Railmaster The Elite receives some criticism for it's menu driven functions but when coupled with Railmaster software it is extremely competent. I run a layout with about 40 locos and 60 sets of points all controlled with Railmaster and it works very well.

Correct! I forgot that it had to be done to my loco.

It is always possible. I can't help with the space question but I can tell you that when, out of reasons to do with nostalgia, I converted my Wrenn "Dorchester" to DCC I got the armature rewound and the magnet re-magnetised. This brought the amperage pulled by the loco right down to an acceptable level for a DCC decoder. Even so, I used a Digitrax decoder that handles 1.8amps.

My Lima locos were "inherited" so cost me nothing. Soldering in a bit of wire and a general service cost next to nothing and now they run quite well so I consider myself ahead of the game. However, I would not put sound in them as I reserve that for my more expensive locos. Each to their own.

I have several Lima diesels and they can be made to be quiet with a bit of work. There are youtube videos (I think!) about how to do this but mainly it involves stripping down and cleaning/properly lubricating the gearing. I have also fitted CD type motors to mine which are more responsive and quieter. Fitting sound is another thing - before even contemplating it you need to improve the pickup arrangements and bin the traction tyres. A soldered connection wire between the non driven bogie pickup and the decoder is a start. This bypasses the awful clip arrangement.