NIK

Hi, As has been said it depends on the application. A OO finescale club exhibition layout I help with has 6.5mm birch ply tops but they are supported at least every foot in X and Y by 6 inch deep 5.5mm ordinary ply uprights. The upright ends of the boards have two layers of 9mm birch ply to provide a strong and stable interface to the next board and keep the tracks and scenery aligned. The joints were accurately made otherwise the layout would rely entirely on the glue joints. The layout is ten years old now with no sign of warping even though some boards are 4' x 3'. I don't know of any hard and fast rules for determining the thickness of birch ply baseboard tops. Assuming very good support from very deep ordinary ply 9mm birch top may be good for 2mm finescale layouts for a 10 year plus layout lifetime. For O gauge and above the locos may become heavier than scenery of the same size but the degree of deflection in the baseboard top that can be tolerated may go up a bit. However the locos are less likely to be removed from a layout unless its only used at exhibitions so the stress may be applied for much longer. If the buildings on an O gauge layout can be made part of the structure then the baseboard top takes less of the stress. I've done computer simulations of 10mm birch ply tops with 10mm birch ply uprights and they showed great stiffness even when large round holes were added in the uprights to lighten the structure and allow cables to pass through. I haven't found any engineering data for ordinary ply so I haven't been able to simulate that. Using three ply rather than 5ply or 7ply or 9 (the number of layers) may be going away from using an engineering material. Also if the ply isn't sealed and the room its in gets too cold and moist then self warping might get bad. Regards Nick

Hi, Could you say what computer and operating system you are running JMRI on please. Also when you mention layout editor do you mean JMRI Panel Pro?. Could you please open JMRI/PanelPro/Edit/Preferences/Connections/'Prodigy or Gaugemaster or whatever you command station is called by JMRI' menu and post on the forum topic a colour screen capture of the connection window. Regards Nick

Hi, yes, I've had a couple of Bachmann diesels jam up - the worm gear was no longer solidly attached to its shaft. You don't say if you could hear the motor spinning or was it humming and getting hot?. Could you give more detail what 're-set the wheels' involved?. What was the item you call undercarriage that you removed?. Regards Nick

Hi, The only Dapol OO Class 73 I've put a decoder into had a slightly similar problem - ran fine on DC but would move slowly in one direction on DCC regardless of controller settings. My guess was that it was a fault with the wiring to the decoder socket. I taped over the middle three? big metal pads on the main pcb that connect to the lights via spring loaded pins. The loco then ran ok. Regards Nick

Hi, If your grandson is pretty young is fitting stay alive needed?. Won't he be running it full pelt as his mind works full pelt?. If the track get so dirty the loco wont run then fitting a stay alive will result in the loco not responding to the controller which might be frustrating for a young one. Regards Nick

Hi, Some things I'd like: 4 CIG (in Blue-Grey). 3 Car version of previous 2H in Blue 3 Car version of Class 101 in Blue Grey. 3 Car version of Class 119 Gloucester Cross Country DMMU in Blue Grey before and after Reading Gatwick mods. All to be available on some sort of reservation/credit scheme spread out over time so I can afford to buy enough before the production runs out (due to price rises to date and after Brexit/more Chinese industrial policy changes). Some things that might happen: 4 CAP (as suggested) could be an easy win. 3 Car version of previous 2H (probably doesn't need low profile motor or more detail so mediumly easy win if Bachmann's new design office in Hong Kong can use the Kernow scan data?). Bachmann announce train identification system to compete with Hornby (would be nice if they integrate it into their Railmaster 'programming language' and add decision making functions and variables). Regards Nick

Hi, I don't have the details about the club I'm a member of in Basingstoke (BNHMRS) - home of the Basingstoke Bodgers from heat 3 and the Final. We publicised the TV show heavily at our last open day in mid October and despite us for confidentiality reasons not being able to show any of the layouts done for the show or the layout built in a day for the Radio Times magazine (some of our GMRC publicity) and I think we got more than usual interest in people becoming members. Since the last open day and taking the heat layout to Warley I've been told we've had 8 expressions of interest with two people coming to Warley in order to ask to join. I think at least 3 have already joined the club but its hard for me to separate out the GMRC effect from general club membership matters, demographic changes plus a publicity push our club was already doing (improving our exhibition further including big name sponsors, going to two open days a year, more social media). I don't think any of the Bodgers has groupies yet but they have been involved in selfies. Regards Nick

Hi, This is the electronic Christmas card I sent to members of the model railway club I belong to - home of the Basingstoke Bodgers who wore Santa hats in their heat: Merry Christmas

Hi Ross and welcome to the forum. Could you let us know the scale of the plan - are the dimensions shown in centimetres?. If you haven't already you might want to consider adding a high degree of insulation to the inner walls of the building and spacing the layout away from the walls a little bit to allow air to flow to minimise condensation spots. I would suggest having a good check on the width of baseboards as lower back damage might build up unnoticed - if needs be perhaps design a very sturdy portable structure with soft padding you can lean over and rest on. A layout design might take into account how its going to be operated including if you would like to run trains while still building part of the layout. Also some 3D model railway layout design software allows you to run virtual trains and move your position around so you can see if you or visitors get the right view of your trains. You seem to have at least one gradient in your plan - have you heard of DCC Concepts Powerbase?: a system primarily designed for allowing locos to haul better up gradients - however it has to be installed before the track is laid. I've installed it on a club layout's scenic gradient just in case. If planning to use set track on the layout allow for lots of expansion gaps - on a big layout like this they may affect the fit of the track plan onto the layout. The club layout I mentioned seems to have suffered a bit due to the heat in our wooden club hut this summer. Lastly there is a drastic option but it depends on the detail of your layout and timescale - make the layout not as one piece but like an exhibition layout with a series of baseboards. Then if you have to move house or the outbuilding roof develops a leak you don't wipe out your dream layout. Also having lots of connectors between boards makes electrical fault finding much easier. If the point motors are under the boards its much easier to separate a board, put it on a bench on its side and get good access to do a permanent adjustment. Regards Nick

Hi, If you look closely there appear to be dimensions on the plan - in centimetres?. Regards Nick

Hi, Hopefully it will be a cheaper alternative to the Traintraxx model railway vehicle ID system that appears to use Chinese 13.56Mhz NFC readers and tags. If the Hornby system when released is more sophisticated than the 110 loco limit/above sleeper sensor system they first announced I think it would be useful to those that use Rocrail or JMRI if Hornby published the data interface. With the help of MERG members I've been modifying £1.50 Chinese 13.56Mhz NFC readers with the aim of including them in a very low cost RFID system. The aim is to get a very low cost model railway vehicle ID system that can: 1) Fit under baseboards up to 12mm thick, up to 2mm thick cork (or 14mm total base thickness). Work through non metallic ballasts. Work with all track types that don't have a metallic base, will work with steel rails. 2) Work with OO and ideally N gauge and O. 3) Read data from tags at high speed (120 scale mph in OO). 4) Write data to tags at medium speed (60 scale MPH in OO). 5) Not read / write tags on vehicles on adjacent tracks. 6) Work with DC and DCC. 7) No mods to track or track wiring. 8) Very high reliability (ideally less than one read/write failure per 8 hours on a very busy layout with 30 reader/writers). 9) Thin tags, (will work with 12 x 19 mm tags for OO). 10) Close spacing between reader/writers without interference. 11) Immune to other wireless frequencies (Wifi, Bluetooth etc.). Fourteen EDIT Radio to Digital modules have been successfully modified to make prototypes of that part END EDIT so far. Initial OO speed tests have all been passed (>=300 laps over the reader/writer per test without failure). If successful the details at the very least will be available to MERG members. I definitely can't speak for MERG as a whole or the other MERG members working on parts of the system but my hope is if the system (reader-writer/ digital interface/small commercial NFC tags) proves popular the system electronics might appear as a MERG kit. Regards Nick

Hi, Its just possible depending on the degree of wheel tread polishing that the loco had been temporarily pulled off the production line sometime after it had reached the running stage as a sample for running tests. If the loco was bought off an auction site then the actual seller might have missed off the 'as' in 'as new' - lots of examples of alleged interesting descriptions on the *-*** Madness section of this forum. Regards Nick

Hi, I am working on such a device for a club layout which presently uses a bit of aluminium foil strip as a reflector under the bogies and aligned with the third rail shoes. An infrared beam from an IR LED behind the front running rail points up at the bogie. An infrared photodiode with shroud and next to the LED looks up for the reflected light. A microcontroller (currently an Arduino clone from China costing £1.50) turns the IR LED on and off very quickly and compares the ambient light to the reflection. If the difference is above a certain threshold for a certain period it decides whether its the aluminium foil that's doing the reflecting and if it thinks it is triggers the third rail flash. As its an off ramp flash (the big one when a train is accelerating) it produces a big flash (increases quickly, jitters a bit) and then tails off and has little very short random pulses for a short while to represent the tiny hot bits of pick up shoe? left behind. The unit drives a high power Surface Mount LED (white with a hint of Blue) mounted in a tiny socket behind the third rail where the off ramp starts to dip down. I was going to use magnets on the bogies and Hall effect sensors mounted under the ballast but I couldn't work how to tell those magnets from the magnets used on locos for DCC Concepts Powerbase within the variable times the magnets were within range depending on train speed. In the future I'm hoping to enable the third rail flash units via train identification using 13.56Mhz RFID so that the third rail flash unit cant do a miss fire if it accidently triggered on something under a non electric train (or maybe it could be extended to electrodiesels in diesel mode). Regards Nick

Hi, I've read I think on this forum that Hattons decoders in the Blue packaging have been reported as having problems, with some decoders causing the loco to stop suddenly when it is supposed to be moving. I didn't experience this with previous decoders in the Orangey packaging (but I didn't get on with the lack of detail on the CVs in the instructions). Regards Nick

Hi Paul, One thing it reminds me that although a decoder may have n outputs some of the outputs (logic level) may not be able to switch 12 volts and at the max current rating of the main function outputs. It also reminds me to check if the logic level outputs are switchable to standard function outputs. Also I'm hoping to add extra functions to some of my trains: One for EMUs is in the form of on board DIY electronic third rail sparks unit where I'm hoping to use the Zimo advanced smoke generator features to control the level of sparks (the Zimo decoders can produce three levels of intensity of pulses on a function output depending whether a train is accelerating, coasting or braking). Surface mount Infrared LED and detectors might be hidden under + behind the pickup shoe to detect the presence of the third rail. One for my BR(SR) buckeye fitted locos and multiple units is DCC operated uncouplers (DIY probably). Also for the far future I'd like to add working BR(SR) rolling headcodes - that may require a function output or to initiate a change from a headcode to 2 rectangles or back. Since I have a lot of the above trains and MUs I would like to use budget decoders where possible - some even have extra function outputs that are not widely known. With the help of MERG members I've started using surface mount device (SMD) hot air soldering and I'm hoping to be able to add new circuit boards to my RTR and kit built trains to use the extra functions some budget decoders have. Regards Nick

Hi, OO Steam: Small tank loco and Larger Big Four Tender loco. OO Diesel/Electric: Small Diesel Shunter (probably industrial). Coaches and wagons: Not sure about coaches - maybe a true pre-war design - two types only to be announced. Wagons - random wagon possibly of simple prototype to enable railroad and 'fun' versions to be produced. Surprising item: Based on another post elsewhere on this forum Loco Detection finally pencilled in for release but with more modern technology. Regards Nick

Hi, From my DCC notes the Bachmann 36-567 Next-18 DCC decoder is by Zimo. I think the Bachmann 36-568 6 pin direct DCC decoder is also by Zimo. I've made a spreadsheet of the current consumption and the DCC socket type fitted alongside the description of most of the locos I've current tested and added to the right side a table of what I think are the best budget decoders listing connector, maximum currents, function power outputs, function logic level outputs and cost. So I can then look to see if any of those decoders will fit the bill (apart from size which I found is best done by taking the body off the loco to see). Regards Nick

Hi, Last time I tried them none of the above. The Zimo budget decoders for £20 are in a higher league for features* and documentation. *Need to check they are small enough and have enough current drive for your locos. I've done hundreds of hours of high speed running with Zimo budget decoders without problems and also they have transformed locos that have struggled to run slowly with many other decoders. Regards Nick

Yes, I would be surprised looking at the photos if most of those reported injured were still on the tram when it hit the building. I could envisage people being hurt jumping off the tram if its brakes failed going down hill and pedestrians being hurt after the tram overturned and slid along the road. Video 125 have a video showing the remaining tram lines in Lisbon and some of the older lines have very steep sections mixing with road vehicles and pedestrians. Regards Nick

Hi, Apart maybe for the Airfix Quickbuild range made by Plastech in Newhaven, East Sussex?. Regards Nick

Hi, Do you happen to recall where in the model press was a mention of a retool being carried out on the VEP?. I only ask in case I could afford VEPs at the new higher prices (and Brexit to come which may reduce sterling for a number of years). I would like to see an improved VEP maybe with an improved power car mechanism (no traction tyres, more weight, increased torque motor, flywheel?). Regards Nick

Hi Robin, I think that's a very good point - analysis of the present situation if not combined with a very good evaluation of future possibilities is I think a poor analysis. I wonder whether privatisation of the railways was done without considering the effects of other transport policy then or in the near future. Clamping down on the use of roads and other factors maybe caused more people to use trains to go to work - how dare they - that maybe made the privatisation idea from a quiet nice little earner for non government organisations into an unpredictable mix with the possibility of media reports, public anger and scrutiny by Parliamentary committees. Regards Nick

Hi, I find it hard to guess because: 1) Brexit (April 2019?). 2) It was reported that Hornby had worked out that 90% of their profits came from 50% of their range. They then reportedly cut back on the range of items made. If they make profit from their new releases that analysis can't influence choice of production items forever. Also producing a particular item is not an isolated situation - if there aren't a set of coaches in the same livery as a pair of HST power cars the sales of the power cars is affected. If there is no Railmaster software, sales of E-link will be affected. If there are no train sets there may be less new modellers to buy Hornby items in the future. 3) There have been management changes reported including Simon Kholer re-joining as a consultant. I would hope he will have an eye on warrantee returns including TTS sound chips and careful study of some of the less successful items produced when 'design clever' was being mentioned in the model press. 4) Any effects of the Great Model Railway Challenge TV series. 5) Production of the Hornby Junior. 6) This Christmas's sales and how they break down. 7) Changes in Chinese production and transport. Regards Nick

Hi, There are towns/villages where due to various circumstances there are rows of shops in the high street where each shop is small enough that nationwide shops that have been and gone were located elsewhere. If you want to make an entire high street that covers the 1980's to the present day that may be a challenge - antiquey towns and villages might be a possibility. When we built SE28 a 1960's Woolworths building was included - we didn't know Woolworths would later fold like an MFI bookcase. But we did have a Northern Line tube station based on Morden next to it which I think still exists but that is a bit of a special case. Regards Nick

Hi, If the high street is immediately behind some railway tracks then it may not be next to and parallel to the railway but pointing away from it. Most high streets have shops either side. If the town you are portraying has a lot of independent retailers in a town with a conservative with a small c attitude to rebuilding and nationwide chains then it might be possible to do a stretch of shops. Horley in Surrey according to the photos on the internet still has a lot of independent shops with various architectural styles although some have had the top stories rebuilt or refaced to make more modern looking flats. There are some nationwide companies from the 1980's still on some older style high streets - Corals I think and Lloyds bank. Maybe bung in a town pub (free house), local launderette, indy department store (Horley still has one), model shop, greengrocers, hairdressers, opticians, knitting supplies, funeral directors, old established charity shops, second hand shops, car parts, local estate agents, local café, specialist record shop, newsagent, solicitors, library, police station, local council offices, car repair garage (cars behind premises with entrance through front of building), shop that nobody seems to go in - not sure what they specialise in, shop being refurbished, shops to let, antiques shop, interior lighting shop, carpet/curtain/fabric shop. Here's a photo from a previous club layout I worked on: SE28: I build the three shops mid right based on independent shops on the main street in Horley. Making the roofs for the attic rooms was difficult but that and the bow fronted second floor windows was worth it. If I'd been doing 1980's to the present day I will have left out the supporting struts to represent an end of the terrace which may have been bombed out during the war. Of course if its a new town its very difficult plus the station may be surrounded by station car parking. Regards Nick