NIK

Hi, Just west of Woolhampon on the Reading Newbury section I saw 4-car EMUs sparking away on a very frosty morning (Thursday) last week as well as IEP 5 car twins sets sparking on the overhead wire. The IEPs had the pantographs up only on the extreme ends. On this section of line the metal arm that connects the insulator pot to the contact wire seems to be about three inches deep and has holes punched in it presumably to reduce wind resistance (and weight?). Regards Nick

Hi, Another vote for copper clad sleepers (epoxied to a strong and stable baseboard, not cork). For very good alignment pattern makers dowels. Then bolts or other methods to keep baseboards tightly together. Apologies to those who have seen this photo before but there are at least three baseboard joins in this photo, most are three foot wide and the layout has no leg adjusters at present so it hasn't been fettled for photographic purposes. Regards Nick

Hi, Working down the club on Beggarwood Lane is gradually ramping back up after the bulk of the Great Model Railway Challenge related stuff is over. John S. has been cleaning and painting some Skytrex factory sides to make a low relief building. Stuart is seen making a groove for more conduit to be laid (using a vacuum cleaner to remove the debris). The position of one of the combined signal/speedometer sensors is being checked (the MERG HECTOR2 infrared unit will detect the passage of the train and some other electronics probably an Arduino clone will do the timing and display). The Mk2 third rail flash prototype as sketched above is being tested on a DCC test track - its has had a loco do 849 laps at 143 scale MPH without failure. I think this is the first view of the industrial branch after its conversion to a headshunt and siding. The headshunt is on the next board. The goods shed from the last layout (SE28) has been cut down to make a low relief structure. The track will be wired/rewired up to the goods yard power district bus (it was connected to the incline/main clockwise power district before) and then covered in to make a 'tramway' area. Regards Nick (a member of the Basingstoke and North Hants Model Railway Society - still looking for new members).

Hi Phil, Just because the motor runs when connected to a 9 volt battery it does not necessarily mean it is fine. It might have some shorted turns so that it draws more current than the Zimo can provide. Its magnet may have gone out of spec or separated from the rest of the magnetic circuit - again resulting in a higher current. A way to check this would be to get hold of a meter than can measure up to 10 amps DC and put it between the 9V battery and the motor (no DCC decoder in circuit). Regards Nick

Hi Rob, If you want the embankment to stay pretty flat you should support the ply all the way along with a material that doesnt give - thin cheap ply uprights will do (with holes in to make it lighter). Otherwise there is a risk of the ply slumping or self warping. I've found from the long bridge on the last club layout I worked on (SE28) that the passage of trains on raised tracks are more noticeable against the backscene and any warping looks really unrealistic (unless maybe its a logging railroad). The ply woodwork under this embankment is eight years old and its got only a few lumps and bumps that it had when it was made. Just to illustrate how keen the eye of the newcomer can be a member of my model railway club who works in 2mm scale had a look at a yard of track on our layout and said its tllted. We got out two spirit level apps on two smartphones and it was tilted by one degree - the wrong way to be superelevation. Rather than re-lay it we will probably add some scenic items to disguise it. Regards Nick

Hi, To carry on with the balance thing regarding railway modellers: +ve?: Because I'm railway modelling so much I don't use my diesel car as much. -ve?. Because I'm driving less it will be longer before I am forced to replace my particular (sorry for the pun) type of diesel with something that's healthier in inner urban locations (which I never drive into anyway). +ve?: Because I'm railway modelling so much my stress levels are lower so I have the leisure to make better environmental decisions if I want to. -ve?: Because I'm railway modelling so much I use more heating and lighting as I move around the house (doesn't apply to garden model railways). +ve?: Because railway modelling tends to be a constructive hobby the materials used tend to be thrown away at a much lower rate (goodness know how many golf balls I lost when learning golf). -ve?: Railway modelling items are non-standard and may be less easy to recycle. +ve?: Railway modelling typically more environmentally favourable than driving a real train. -ve?: A lot of armchairs get worn out and have to be disposed of . Regards Nick

Hi, I think the flicker might depend on the decoder - I've never seen any DCC decoder I've used cause flicker. Might get flicker if you use too small a resistor or too efficient an LED. Regards Nick

Hi, I haven't, but I have seen a report that some LED packages may allow moisture in. Might be able to seal the LEDs (probably the metal pins to the plastic package interface) using a conformal coating. Regards Nick

Hi, The link says any magnetically operated knuckle coupler so I would guess that's a yes. I think some people make their own using electronics, a servo and two high strength permanent magnets. Regards Nick

Hi, Yes, if one fancies a bit of signal box operation or trains passing by then your layout's electronics could listen out on the internet for trains departing other layouts scenic sections and pick out those trains that you have the stock in the fiddle yard. The matching train could then depart your fiddle yard for your scenic section at an appropriate speed. There is an extra security element in that everyone using the same system will be transmitting over the internet what trains they are running and therefore have in their possession. Could make for synchronised model railway exhibitions - as if the operators didn't have enough problems . Regards Nick

Hi, Perhaps most people haven't found the topic so can't give an opinion. I'm going to go back to my Arduino - where is it? - its near my computer. Regards Nick

Hi, If its under a commonly agreed topic then couldn't anyone find it?. When I said under electronics I meant as a sub topic of electronics. I hope the OP isn't put off posting. His contributions might reach an even wider audience if they were located under a commonly agreed topic. Regards Nick

Hi, If this topic were located under electronics I would not have questioned its location. This is a forum that includes technical topics so do not all people need to be able to navigate it?. If someone on a forum like this was to describe a locomotive on its own as a train would there not be confusion, if not forum discussion ?. Words maybe don't matter but surely their relationship to other words does especially for the new entrant to a forum. Isn't there a lot of choice in railway modelling at present, perhaps more prototype information than ever before - would it not be a good idea to make navigation to topics as clear as possible?. Regards Nick

Hi, If you want to reverse the polarity of the motor try connecting red to grey and black to orange (based on the DCC decoder mnemonic Red and Black come from the track, Orange and Grey go away*. * to the motor. Regards Nick

Hi, I was trying to postulate the opposite case - that an Arduino topic should not automatically be part of the computer control topic as the Arduino is just one example of something that can be programmed but is not what most beginners would regard as a computer. For instance this morning I've been programming an Arduino using a laptop. Type Arduino into Wikipedia and it says they are single board microcontrollers and for laptop is says small, portable personal computer. Regards Nick

Hi, So DCC would go here as it uses microcontrollers?. Regards Nick

Hi, Dapol said they were developing a diesel smoke unit. Diesel smoke unit kits have been for sale at exhibitions (I bought one) and diesel smoke oil was on sale in at least one model shop that sold a lot of US outline model trains (I've got a bottle of said oil). Zimo DCC decoders now have sophisticated features for controlling smoke generators and fans (a lot more than just on/off by function button). Regards Nick

Hi, I find this an interesting topic and I use Arduino clones myself but to avoid confusing people new to this area an Arduino is not a computer - its a microcontroller module or in some cases a microcontroller sub-module. Could this topic be moved to another heading or a new heading created?. Regards Nick

Hi, It could be the socket area - I've added DCC decoders to some Bachmann OO steam outline locos where the wiring to the socket has risked short circuits when a decoder is inserted. Regards Nick

Hi, The layout planning software 3rd Planit has for a number of years an extra 3D viewing mode using very cheap Anaglyphic glasses. So you can look at your planned layout from different places as trains run around as before but in 3D. Regards Nick

Hi, I've just looked at one of my Hornby 4-VEP coaches with the motor bogie and it looks as though your AWS magnets might be a tad too high - just a few thou will do it - I saw the same on the last club layout I worked on. As to the jitteriness I found changing to a £20 Zimo MX600R decoder made enough improvement to make me pause and not replace the motor bogie. Also it might be worth trying a good decoder with a small stay alive capacitor- my 4-VEPs have poor pickups and that combined with no flywheel makes things far from satisfactory. I have considered adding a flywheel to the VEP motor bogie by mounting it inside U shaped metal channel attached to the motor bogie casing at one end. If you use Black Beetles you should check the weight of the rest of the coach doesn't exceed the pivot rating for the Black Beetles (100 grammes per pivot). Two Black Beetles might struggle with the friction of the axle bearings on the trailing coaches (Hornby used plastic groove bearings for the VEP - a plastic compatible non conductive lubricant applied to those axle grooves might help). Adding a bit of extra weight to the original motor coach may help with performance (pick up and smoothness). Regards Nick

Hi, That's because DCC is a bidirectional voltage that may or not be referenced to mains ground - so by employing an opto-isolator the Arduino power supply doesn't have to be referenced to or powered from the DCC and you can connect the Arduino to a computer via an ordinary USB lead. Regards Nick

Hi, I was just worried that the extra metalwork might have been part of the governments decision to cut back on electrification. I guess dewirements are a major problem for the UK with its patchwork of 25kV electrified routes, rationalised mainlines and few diesel locomotives. Regards Nick

Hi Jamie, But is not the GWML line speed much lower than HS1 or TGV lines?. Or have the lines including Reading to Newbury been designed for 140mph and 140 mph is near enough 186+ to require large metal supports?. Does HS1 has to cope with pairs of Javelins or do Javelins have pantographs both ends like I assume all TGV units do?. Regards Nick

Hi, Do you have an official Arduino Motor Shield from Italy (if such a thing exists) or a Chinese clone? - I only ask as I bought a lot of Chinese RFID reader clones from 12 different suppliers and they were extremely variable in their performance and some had major functions that didn't work at all. My Hornby Class 73s have poor pickups (don't know if its wheels, wipers, something else) and don't like having their CVs read or written. One suggestion would be as you have got a DIY Command station is to make up an 8 pin DCC socket, connect a motor or suitable resistor to it, plug in a good decoder and try and read CVs from it. A simple but reliable DCC decoder with a few CVs would be a good start (dare I say it but a Hornby R8249 might be a good one for this test). The other thing would be to research the CurrentMonitor.h file - if you needed to adjust a variable in order to write to the loco you may have to adjust another variable to get it to detect the ACK pulses. I'm guessing the value you want to put in is a fraction of the value you put into the first variable (which I guess was the current limit value for the programming track). If you can with JMRI Decoder Pro try reading one CV that is known to exist at a time to start with to gain experience and save time. Happy DIYing. Regards Nick