Sir TophamHatt

Just to confirm: Bought my decoder from Olivias Trains. Fitted it but when trying to read the decoder address, it didn't respond. Tried it on the track anyway and selected 3, but nothing. Tried re-seating the decoder, nothing. Contacted Olivias who hinted I must have damaged it. They said they'd replace it "this once" <-- I'm sure the DSR would have something to say about being sold a faulty product - one that they admit was potentially faulty! Spoke to Hornby yesterday. The guy laughed when I said I'd read a fair few had been returned to them. He said it was a problem with a selection of chips which had been solved quite a while ago. Talked me through a series of tests: resetting CV8 to 8, trying to read CV151. It didn't seem to reset but as soon as I tried reading CV151, I heard a small buzz from the train like it reacted. Reset CV8 to 8 again and all working fine. So... Not a great experience from Olivias, but glad it's all working properly now. Seem to have had a spell of bad experiences recently

I guess the 8F is tender driven?

Not compatible with Prodigy Advance? I wonder what it is that makes TTS decoders incompatible? Can anyone confirm if they've got a PA2 and TTS decoders?

£259?! I hope it's DCC sound for that price! Might just get the old model if it's going to be stupid money.

Can I buy a sound chip over here for it?

Just as an update: The answer is no and now it's getting hugely frustrating dealing with "Customer Services". Subscribed on the 6th of December 2017. No gift had arrived by the 16th of January 2018, so emailed them. Have emailed back and forth but still no gift. They don't refund, but if they're not upholding their end of the contract then that policy may be moot. Emailed a Customer Services Team Leader, their Press Officer (for a statement) and CC'd in MR editor. Had an anonymous reply from someone in Customer Services saying they'd "investigate". No response from MR or their press officer. 8 days later, no response. Has put me off this magazine and they've lost a J70 pre-order from me. It's not like I'm asking for 10 years free subscription. Just what I thought I was getting in the beginning.

Barnes?

Inspiring photos

Hm. I understand but polls would be so complex and specific, the options would be huge to cover every possible answer. "As your layout stands at the moment..." Mine is half finished at the back, but the front is just track. As a result of this poll, I've started leaving a couple of units and trains out. It certainly looks more inviting to actually play with rather than sitting there doing nothing.

To bring this to a conclusion: Telephoned and spoke to a nice lady who sorted me out the part - £2. Didn't realise the original was attached to another part of the train, but fitted the new one and glued it. Might need another coating of glue to ensure a good fit - just hope it sticks! EDIT: It didn't stick Will just run the loco without it. Thanks all

I thought it was something down this line Thanks

Just a quick question. What does a "reblow" actually mean? Cheers

Hmm. Interesting. Might be the first train I completely wreck, or the first one I understand the workings of a modern motor. Although it can't get any worse than it is now!

Hi Thanks - not particularly desperate but I was mroe making sure I hadn't missed something Although a forum I frequent puts a 6 or 12 month restriction so you can only change it every so often, if you so require. Cheers!

Hi I guess there's no option to change user names / display names? Thanks

Just wondering whether it's worth me sending a loco in for a service. At the moment, I can't really run my Standard Class 4MT as I snapped the speedo cable, despite detaching it from what I thought I needed to when installing a decoder. Then, in my haste, I broke out the socket and hard-wired the decoder (I don't think the box says DCC ready), so not sure if they'd even consider it for a repair of this bit? £30 is a little steep for such a tiny piece :/

Whereas my Hogwarts Express model has decided it's no longer going to work :/ It was working, but then all of a sudden it's just stopped. Looked at the connections to the motor - all seem okay. Pickups all appear okay; it's just dead

Prodigy Advance 2. I think it has a port but it's "factory use only". Asked this elsewhere but seems appropriate here also: Is there an advantage to setting DC operation = OFF if I am never going to run the train on DC? I'm digital all the way and only use a couple of metres of DC track to test some older trains (40+ years!) I have in rediness to convert to DCC.

Is there an advantage to setting the "run on DC" option to off if you're always going to run on DCC?

Hmm. Tempted. My 08 isn't sound, but I stil have to buy a chip for it. £20 for the chip, or an extra £20 for bells and whistles... Sounds like a no brainer, even though I'll probably rarely use it.

Apparently scraping the blade backwards on some demin works to clean it. I tried. And tried from side to side but didn't make much difference at all.

Hmm. That's a shame. I guess it means I can easily upgrade to sound in the future if I want to. Will probably just opt for a bunch of Lenz or Zimos then as they've been the best plug and play I've encountered so far.

Yeah, I thought about [investing in a SPROG] but I'm equally happy to save the £40 odd at the moment. There was one on ebay but went for the price of a new one so no point really. However, now the chips are in and the locos back together, I'd rather just change the setting on the chip than faff about soldering again Read through the website, that's a pretty good explanation - adding the "bits" together to get the value seems sensible. Just a shame a fair amount of important bits are all lumped together in the one option!

... or buy as you need it? Depends what it is but on the whole, I buy for the future as well as the present. Obviously things like Locos and rolling stock are a little different but if you see a pack of five decoders but you actually only need just one at the moment, will you still buy the five anyway? Or do you bulk buy track pieces, but some goes into storage straight away as it's not required? People is another good one. I bought about 500, but only need about 200 at the moment, but I knew it would probably work out cheaper in the long run to bulk buy the extra.

I have a multimeter but don't understand how to use it, nor what I'm looking for or what the readings mean. I know, hand smacking head moment. Without someone going through the exact points of how to use it and what to do, step by step, I don't really have time to mess about with it, considering I've never really been in need of one before. But then I'm missing huge gaps in model railway terms. For example, I don't know what a split chassis is. To be fair though, if it's older trains that have this, pretty much all of mine are newer versions or will be new versions, so it's just something I never learnt.