NIK

Hi, Lickey Incline in the midlands is 1 in 37.7. Could you explain what load 5 is?. As a general point curves on up gradients make things worse. I've also done some tests on loco pull and stock friction and there was huge variations in both. There is the option of DCC Concepts Powerbase with small very powerful magnets attached under the chassis of locos. Very thin steel plates hidden under the sleepers facilitate the loco gripping the track more firmly and allow better loco performance on gradients (and curves). A layout at my club has had Powerbase fitted to a combined 36" radius curve and 1 in 40 gradient just in case. Regards Nick

Hi, Its been confirmed that Beggarwood Lane is going to our club's exhibition on the 14th & 15th March 2020. So I guess the emphasis for the next few months is to get the layout as reliable and operator friendly as possible. I could see more buildings being completed and stuck on the layout. DCCing more stock is likely to occur and we might even get the EMU sidings filled up (there are plans to extend some a bit further off scene to allow more EMUs to be accommodated). Regards Nick Murphy (on behalf of the Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society - still looking for members)

Hi, Two more (both with the comic messiah John Cleese himself): A fish called Wanda. Clockwise. Regards Nick

Hi, The OP was asking for films that were light hearted/entertaining. So could I mention: The Dish. Starter for Ten. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. North by Northwest. E.T. Catch me if you can. Men in Black. This is Spinal Tap. Regards Nick

Hi, I finished watching the last episode wishing the Beeb had taken the Jamaica Inn approach and made the dialogue inaudible. Regards Nick

Hi, Isn't that due to Murphy's law?. Regards Nick Murphy

Hi, That reminds me of an episode of Lewis, the spin-off from Inspector Morse where a reveal that involved a character doing biological research in a hidden room included having a bank of cabinets at the back of the room with flashing lights al la 1960's computers. I guess I still respect set dressers as they have a budget to work to and the visual aesthetic is a high priority - I guess the organic look of many scenes in Alien cost more than using bits from the scrap bins. I've noticed some films now have a publicity budget many times the cost of the film. Apart from being a way of minimising the tax paid on a film it may distort the look of a film since the adverts may have to have more immediate impact than in times gone by. Regards Nick

Hi, The chances of an accurate train appearing on TV or film is a million to one they say. Regards Nick

Ah, Time to have a word in your own shell like?. Regards Nick Murphy

Hi, At least one Class 119 in Blue Grey had a headlight in 1989 so preservation societies probably inherited them. Thanks to Darius43 for pointing out Silver Fox are now doing conversion kits. If I buy any I may use Bachmann DMMU chassis as the donor at least for the power car. Regards Nick

Hi, If the operator stands the opposite side to visitors in an exhibition then very small amount of bright coloured paint on rail chairs on non visitor side. Regards Nick

Hi, The original poster mentioned trying baby oil in a smoke generator so that was what triggered me to sound a note of caution. Water vapour ought to be the ideal if it wasn't for the effects of scale (please excuse the pun) and the possibility of damaging scenery (real moss on artificial moss anyone?). Regards Nick

Hi, Its possible alternative liquids used in a smoke generator may produce carcinogenic chemicals. At the very least it could get you banned from exhibitions, at the worst...…. Regards Nick

Hi, How are you consisting them together?. Regards Nick

Hi, If the CD-ROM motor is less than 12V and your DCC system applies ~12V pulses to the motor you can hardly ask for a refund. Regards Nick

Hi, I understand the financial crash in 2008 and the rise in wages in Chinese model railway factories forced Hornby to withdraw their OO live steam range. RE DCC: Hornby's live steamers require about 40 volts (at 5 amps) so is a degree of incompatibility on the voltage side. The temperature inside the loco may make using a DCC decoder difficult. Regards Nick

Hi, In which case it may be a mechanical problem - my first thought is that the drive from one end of the motor to the worm is occasionally slipping. When the slip occurs one bogie locks up and the motor tries to drag the loco along so the current will rise a lot. I don't have any current consumption data for working Liliput loco and I've never measured the current consumption when a bogie locks up but I could hear the motor humming. Regards Nick

Hi, If its drawing too much current as soon as the DCC system is switched on but the loco is not being given speed steps above zero then it is not likely to be the mechanism that is causing the problem. One way to check that the loco has been given speed step zero is to warm it up on DC, give it the minimum speed step it will move at, then set the speed step to zero, check it has stopped moving then turn off the DCC system and repower it. If the EB1 trips it is unlikely to be the mechanism since the decoder should not be switching on the motor at all. Can you measure the current draw when you start to apply DC (ideally test this by applying 12V DC immediately rather than turning up the control knob). Can you measure the DCC current (you have an NCE EB1 - do you have an NCE Power Cab as your command station?). Regards Nick

Hi, Now the truncated industrial branch has gained a siding Beggarwood is due to have an extra working point (possibly its 56th -we've never counted). Its important that this point is reliable as its going covered over as part of a tramway section. At the moment the point blades don't move at all possibly due to paint. Another MERG 3D printed servo mount has been assembled (not the latest design). The piano wire has not been added as its down the club as is the servo tester. The SG90 clone servo motor bought off E-bay doesn't have any end stops so it hasn't been possible to roughly set up the servo spindle position prior to test. The micro switch is for the switching the polarity of the point frog. Connection to the frog and DCC bus is via the 3 pin terminal block shown at the top of the picture. On the baseboard where the point is there should be a spare DCC accessory decoder output spare as well as a spare Servo4 driver output (both MERG modules). The point will probably have its own DCC accessory number but might also be operated by the existing goods yard macro used to access the industrial branch from the goods. Originally the industrial branch was going to be wired to the clockwise mainline DCC power district as it shared a diamond crossing with that district but now its gained a point the possibility of short circuits has increased due to wrongly set points and higher risk of derailments. The branch and siding is now wired to the goods yard DCC power district so if there is a short the mainlines will be unaffected. Regards Nick (on behalf of Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society - still looking for new members).

Hi Phil, Once everything suggested has been exhausted then changing CV#57 (decoder voltage reference) to 255 may result in a slightly higher top speed. I've used it before to maximise top speed. The downside might be less predictable speeds if the DCC voltage varies. A current of 0.2A matches with the Bachmann OO steam locos I've measured. I've found many of the recent releases of loco types I've tested have a top speed lower than the prototype. Curves, gradients and the friction of vehicles being hauled may also reduce the top speed. Regards Nick

Hi, As far as I understand it the DCC Concepts Alpha system works by separating off the DCC bus for accessories and providing modules to simplify the provision of switches, mimic panels and ground signals. Only the Cobalt Alpha digital switch seems to have no wires apart from the cable to the Alpha sniffer) but part of it is duplicating what is in the DCC system (the sending of DCC accessory commands). The same wires run to point motors, signals and track sensors. So it doesn't seem to be a system that allows expansion without the provision of some wires as I said in my OP. In an ideal world accessories would have no wires. I don't think the Alpha system is compatible with the NMRA LCC which I believe uses CAN hardware to send data to and from LCC accessory modules. Regards Nick

Hi Ian, I've used UV glue from UK suppliers mainly for experiments with making split axle pickups. I've tried using various heat shrink tubing to join the axles of OO wheelsets I've cut in half. I tried applying UV glue to the first layer of heat shrink tubing, sliding clear heat shrink over the axle/heat shrink combo, shrinking on the clear tubing and then applying the UV light from the glue dispenser's LED. The UV glue seems to work well for this application providing bonding and extra rigidity - time will tell. Regards Nick

Hi, With DCC as you add functions such as signals turnouts etc the number of wires increase (similar to DC) but the complexity doesn't increase as much as for DC and the wires can be shorter and can be restricted in length to one baseboard per function. The number of wires going across baseboards or passing around a layout doesn't have to increase. An analogy could be computers and printers in a private home. Adding an extra computer or printer is limited to a standardised cable or wifi link to a router. I don't know any technical solution available that gives extra electrical functionality without some extra wires. Regards Nick

Hi, Any type of accessory decoder that is compatible with your point motors will do although as you are using the Power Cab you might want to look into accessory decoder with a separate power supply to reduce the load on the Power Cab. I've got three different types of accessory decoder on my DCC test track and all work without problems. Regards Nick

Hi, If you meant the NCE Power Pro (the Pro Cab is only a handset) then Digitrains have the 5 Amp version in stock. Regards Nick