Sir TophamHatt

Indeed! I have If you mean that the Red & White lights come on in the front unit when going forward then the wiring will have to be altered I wired the decoder properly (first in a long time!) so when I select forward on the controller, the train travels forward but the red lights are on at the front instead of white. When I reverse the direction, the white lights then turn on at the back. I guess changing CV29 wouldn't work as I'll have the same problem but in the other direction? I rarely/never reset decoders so happy to change the correct CV numbers to change this, but if it means getting the soldering iron out again, if it means it's fixed, then it's fixed. Here's some photos of the finished loco though: I didn't have any warm white LEDs but I can change this later if I can't "yellow" them another way.

Just to circle back to this. Used it yesterday to test an LED that went... well, very bright then very dark very quickly. Brill!

It just struck me. As I understand, you use AN when the word following starts with a vowel, ie an animal, an extra bag of chips. But saying "a led" doesn't sound quite right. However, by extension saying "an light emitting diode" doesn't either. Anyone else share this... err.. concern? PS: not a concern, but I can't think of the way to say it.

So... turns out I had the blue wires going into the LEDs the wrong way... No emoji for sheepish! The screw didn't need replacing, neither did the other one on the other side of the motor. I've restricted the motor to 100, which seems to be a good speed too. There's one last thing now. If the red lights come on when the loco is going 'forward' is this something I have to change at the wires end or can I change it in the CVs? I'm guessing it's yet another soldering job, swap the yellow and white wires on the LEDs?

Thanks Phil Your knowledge has really helped me with this. It's the most complicated I've done so far. Quickly tested it last night the motor turns so that's great. I reduced the 'vmax' to just 50 for now, so it was pretty slow. Just have to fit the gear and test it turning the wheels. However, I have followed the below posted by John ks but the LEDs didn't turn on. Would the low 'vmax' be responsible for this? Or have I wired something wrong? Each LED has it's own 1k resistor. The only other thing that has changed is there are left and right pickups from the rear coach but only a right hand from the front coach (the red wire coming from the point above the wheel on my last image). Would the screw that didn't appear to be doing anything be a pickup from the left side of the front coach (via the live chassis)?

Thanks. Managed to light up some LEDs yesterday too, so that was exciting! I'll give some of this a try. Is there a way I can use the multimeter to see if a chassis is live?

A digital one. It's a Gunsons Pocketmeter 2! Been in my toolbox for about 10 years.

It'll be very difficult to do what you want. The model is a very tight fit. I converted mine to DCC and the decoder wasn't particularly easy to fit in. Easier than Emily or Hornby's Stepney though! It might be worth using the Bachmann model as a test bed for getting the proportions right, then re-printing them as panels that you can shape properly to get the desired look/colours. Not entirely sure what people said about the face either (but I am possibly looking at the wrong model!). The TV series has more of a grey toned face, I agree, but this Hornby one isn't close: And the current one isn't much closer if any than bachmanns offering either:

Can anyone give me some basic pointers on how to use a multimeter? As in, I have no idea what setting to put the meter on or where to prod the prongs. Don't mind giving a simple task a go. For example, could I see how much power is running through the rails? If so, how do I do it?

Thanks so much. Man, learning so much but becoming a lot more confident with not just converting but motors and the basics of what a train needs to get going. I'm about half way through, but somewhat started again with the wires looking at what went where and then thinking why. Many of the connections I could rip out as they're no longer required; for example the pickups from the rear non-motor car both went via a screw, then towards the front car. As the screw wasn't particularly doing anything apart from holding the wheel bracket in, I bypassed that and ran the wire straight to the decoder. Strange though as the front car has a pickup for the wheels on the right but not on the left. Is this where the live chassis comes in? I guess I still have to make sure the (new cd) motor isn't touching the chassis too? Or in the attached image, the small screw here (labeled B on the image near the top of the thread) doesn't actually go anywhere now, so if I took it out, would this mean the chassis isn't live? Or is it still receiving power through the wheel? Don't mind checking with a multimeter but someone will have to detail the steps I should take.

It's a Prodigy Advance 2. Regardless though as I'd still need some sort of USB to track clip converter. My PC is in the the other room and while I do have some track I could move, I don't have the option to move the PA2.

Thanks. Can I control that with the CV option? Or would I be better using a few diodes? And just confirmation on the LED lights, I don't need the connection from the pickup to the LEDs anymore?

Even if only one will ever be on at one time? Don't mind using a resistor for each of that's the case as it'll be easier to wire but thought I'd save a couple of I didn't actually need to use them.

Thanks all. I'll take a look at these and play around. No PC yet but I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse, so just need a sprog now.

It says videos are unavailable.

Sorry, I have another question. Can two LEDs share the same resistor? They're directional lights so only one will be on at any one time anyway. Or is it best practice to give each LED it's own resistor? The Loco I'm doing has one red bulb and one white bulb at each end, which then fits into plastic directors to produce 3 lights. Thanks

Hi Sorry for not coming back sooner. I wanted to give myself time to do this properly. You're correct though. It looks like A is connected to the chassis while B is connected to the plastic isolation. Does that mean it's not really able to be changed to DCC? Sorry can't flip the photo. The top brush is A. Alternatively, if I used a CD drive motor as a replacement motor, I guess none of this would matter? But then I'd have to fit that motor into the housing? Then I can just follow the diagram above for wiring the LEDs? Would I then need the blue common return?

So I'm having a bash at fiddling about with some CV values. Th3 default values on the Hornby HST are pretty nice with stopping and starting. But on the other side, I have a Stepney loco that just starts and stops abruptly! I'm not entirely focused on getting very accurate running from individual loco types but something a little nicer than what I have now. I've got some fairly nice values in so far: CV2=1 CV4=8 CV5=180 CV6=80 However, using the above, it seems to take a long time to get to speed. I use 28 speed steps, but by the time I reach 14sp, the loco is going less than half of the maximum speed. Is it just a case of adjusting CV6 to a higher level to make the mid point come in at a lower speed step? I've lost my marbles from trying different values so not too sure where to go from here. Also, if I set the max speed to 255,I'm not going to burn the motor out am I?

Can anyone explain the two types of the Class 50 (super detail)? I understand one has a rotating fan, and the other doesn't? Why was this changed? For what benifit? Cheers

Just a note for the above, I have a Google account for that very purpose (Google Drive instead of OneDrive). FYI: When filling in your details for said dummy account, you don't have to fill in real ones and the email address can be anything random too.

It's funny as I see people say how cheap they are. I'd consider them about right for pricing; certainly not cheap but not particularly expensive either. Would I pay £40 for one coach? No. But then this comes from someone who is a little ignorant to prices. Some may be happy to pay best part of £1000 for a set of a particular train. It's not worth that much to me.

I had the same email but it's still not arrived :/ I'm sure last time I had am email and it arrived within a couple of days. Will give it a chance.

So you open it for a whole load of stink together? I didn't mean it as rudeness. Perhpas I just eat too much asparagus! Although we have a water saving device in our cistern so it always uses less. I do enjoy the adverts you see abotu taking showers and reusing dishwater. I don't have baths in summer and have a dishwasher that uses less water than a washing up bowl. If I choose to water my garden with my allotment of water, that's my choice. I'm happy to drink beer only... so long as I don't get caught in the rationing of it!

Although in practice this is a load of rubbish. Modern toilets have a much shorter flush and leaving it "mellow" in a warm house for the day creates a stink. Just glad I gave my garden a good hosing for an hour the other day.

Out of interest say you set a train going, can you then unplug the walk around, then plug it in elsewhere and it'll carry on and now whats happening?