NIK

I hear Crufts has gone bust - they've sent in the official retriever. I hear Wimbledon tennis is brassic - they've had to raffle Nadal.

Hi Mike, Sorry, I didn't spot it was a non DCC topic but carrying on from what DCB said did you buy any of the units second-hand in which case there is a slight chance they may have DCC decoders fitted but running in DC compatibility mode. You said it was not controller specific but were all the controllers tried of the feedback type?. There is just a chance that feedback controllers may struggle with multiple units. Also I find it very difficult to judge slight changes in speed of a model train - maybe coupling together units is showing variations in electrical pickup. Do the units have Kadee buckeye couplers at the cab ends - that may reduce the effect of surging. Regards Nik (EMU and DEMU mad)

Hi, I've not looked into this in detail but I think I remember talk about the back EMF feedback features of decoders reacting with one another when in a consist. I think the solution that was mentioned was to turn off the back EMF feedback feature on all 'locos' except the leading one. I think that's a bit of a challenge for model Southern Region practise in particular where splitting/combining of units can occur quite frequently in stations and fiddle yards. I don't think there are any DCC decoders that offer say the option to automatically turn off the back EMF feedback to all of the advanced consist bar the front unit. Regards Nick

Or 'leave me alone I'm catatonic'.

But the cat has been turned up to 11.

Hi, Perhaps Bachmann sold a larger number of green 4-CEP than Hornby sold 'original' 4 VEPs?. Or some of those who bought original 4 VEPs are too ashamed to reveal that they had by advertising them for sale?. Regards Nik

A mate bet me that placebos are better than the real thing. I said he was right and gave him a fake twenty pound note.

What, a pun avalanche?.

He was an armed policeman and all his family were armed police. He died surrounded by his family.

Milton Jones's grandfather fell into a vat of grease. He went downhill quickly after that.

I think I'm getting addicted to a particular skiing piste - it's a slippery slope.

Just a few minutes to go before opening. Steve Flint is the judge for Best Layout this year. I'm told there are some tempting prices on a second hand stall. Grindley Brook looks like a treat for afficionados of scenic modelling. Regards Nik

Lots of people say something else when they approach Reading.

News just in: After a couple get married on a moving train, the bride said 'I feel so lucky - a moving train!'.

Missed computer game hits: Resident Weevil Assassin’s code of safe practise. Call of Nature Close Cry Baldur’s Turnstile 0.5 Life Triablo Pathetic Theft Auto Shop Counter-Strike Cul-de-Sac Fighter Closed Minecraft Mittman Metal Gear Flacid Not quite Total War Dom StoreCraft The Simms The Elder Bread Rolls Microsoft Light Simulator Falloff Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Nation Football Manger BioShack Buzz Simulator Napoleon: Total Pig Need for Speed: Trabant The Leg End of Zelda Fitzgerald Tom Clancy’s Splinter Injury Rain Simulator Guitar Villain Min Payne Medal of Honor Blackman Bus Replacement Simulator Farm Subsidy Simulator Command and Conker Crysis Averted Crab Game: the Starter Final Fanta

I think there was only 1 King George V not 6000.🙂

Isn't Burger Bognor the opposite end of the prom to Burger King?. Also talking of Geoges didn't the Prince Regent eat so much he became Gorge the 4th?.

After a fossil forest is found near Butlin's in Minehead, the worlds oldest fossil is found sitting in a deckchair in Bognor.

Hi, No work on Beggarwood Lane planned this week at the club as we prepare for our annual exhibition at the weekend where this time we hope to raise some money towards the interior of our new club hut so that we can get it signed off by the building inspector and we can move in. Beggarwood is planned to all go up after our show. A lot of third rail has been lowered. In addition to a block of flats a 1960's industrial unit has been started for the right hand end of the scenic section. It looks a lot cleaner than the Victorian warehouse to its left and the 1930's flats to its right but I guess it should do. Scenery was starting to encroach on the site for a shunting signal for the carriage sidings but after consultation with our newly retired signalling engineer its going to be replaced with three ground position light signals. We've started to look at whether the viewing public will be able to see the aspects. Once the layout is up we can put a bit of string on the floor to represent the barriers and then see which if any of the ground signals can be seen straight enough to be seen. Will probably fit all three ground signals with surface mount LEDs plus wires as it will be difficult to retro fit them. Signalling the carriage sidings has brought up the problem of how to signal bidirectional lines. There are understandable route numbers for the three sidings, and for routes that are unidirectional I was going to add clearing a signal to the end of an NCE macro. That's not going to work for bidirectional routes where the signal to be cleared depends on the direction the train is going to go. We may have to look at the NCE macro number allocation to find macros that are both spare and where the number indicates which direction the train is to go. The NCE Power Pro macro numbers go from 0 to 255. 0 to 9 have been allocated to routes in the goods yard in order to speed up shunting (less buttons to press on the hand held cabs etc). Some of 10 to 99 are allocated to routes on the clockwise and anticlockwise mainlines. Some of 100 to 199 are allocated to routes associated with the loop on the anticlockwise mainline. Some of 200 to 255 are allocated to routes associated with the spur with the gradient. Some of 100 to 255 are used linked to other macros to extend them as NCE Power Pro macro can only have up to ten instructions each and some routes involve setting more points than that. So they are reserved but not typed by the operators (hopefully). Regards Nik (on behalf of Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society - still looking for members)

Probably. Depends what you mean by sound. The photo shows a circuit board with a DC blanking plate plugged in. So no DCC sound decoder mentioned or shown. Or a DCC non sound decoder. The spring like thing is an inductor in series with the motor and if its come away at one or both ends the motor will not run. Regards Nik

Hi, There is a commercial kit in HO that use a tiny DC motor to open the hinged jaw of a Kadee coupling. The motor could be controlled I think by a DCC decoder probably one of the types that deals with DC motor/solenoid DCC uncouplers. The DC motor/solenoid approach I think makes it easier to couple up as motor/solenoid only pulls the jaw open and a very light spring returns it while allowing coupling without operating the actuator. A servo tends to stay at the position it was last set to and is difficult to budge when coupling up. I think the friction when coupling has to be less than the static friction of the most free running bit of stock you have. In OO I've measured static frictions down to 0.75g for one type of 4 axle coach (with electrical pickups on the coach). You could do something similar to the kit mechanically 3D printing the coupling parts (apart maybe for the spring)?. Regards Nik

Most of what you said plus JMRI (free computer assistance software for model railways)?. Regards Nik

Hi, Well spotted. My booster is drawing 440ma at the max setting of my DC rolling road. Did you measure the current draw at max speed step/max DC voltage?. Regards Nik

Bit like the Bristol Boxkite which could fly as far as the string allowed.

Hi, Some DC motors sold to fit in model loco kits etc have varistors fitted internally which may limit voltage spikes. Whether they help with EMC I don't know as the varistors could be there to protect the commutator. Regards Nik