Albie the plumber

Sales must be slow

Could be that the speaker itself is no longer up to the job . That or maybe the wire connections to it .

OK so I took the plunge and sent the chip to Digitrains for reblowing. I wasn't dissapointed when it came back ! A far superior sound file that allows you to change gears and a lovely rasp coming from the exhaust of the Bussing engine . Really pleased with it. So many thanks to all those who took the trouble to reply to my original post . It all helped . Albie

The 2 industrial versions are now priced at £100 on a box shifters site ....or was it a trader on ebay ? . Anyway , a more realistic price IMO.

They've been over oiling their models for years . Had much the same problem with my class 40. Used more oil and grease in the model than in the real thing !

Hi Bob , Thanks for the reply . I chose these sounds as it offered something a bit different . There is at least one Railcar that retains its Buessing engine , that I believe is on the Ribble valley railway. All the others have AEC engines so the Paul Chetter sounds are authentic for this model but I have these sounds on my 3 car 117 unit . As excellent a sound project as it is , I'm going to persevere with this one with a possible reblow to the updated sounds and see how we get on . As an aside , congratulations are in order for getting your railbus to show a red light at the rear . Much as I like these models , I find them quite tricky and even horrid to work on , Albie

Hi John , Thanks very much for your reply . The sound project is indeed for the twin engined VT98 / BR798 and its on a ZIMO MS440C . On returning to the ZIMO sound database , it shows this project as being the ZSP00098 made in 2008. The very basic function list shown would seem to match the functions on the chip albeit some functions are on different F numbers . The ZSP01223 Project you mention does indeed have much more functionality and is clearly a different project to the one I have. I had the sounds downloaded for free when I bought the chip from Digitrains at a recent show so perhaps I should send the chip back with a note explaining the above . I really do appreciate your reply as it had not dawned on me that there was more than one sound file available. Perhaps it had not dawned on those nice fellows at Digitrains , a company from whom I always get a great service . Kind Regards Albie

Hi Folks , I recently bought a ZIMO chip with the DB Schienenbus sounds for my Heljan W&M railcar on the basis that both vehicle types used Buessing engines . Listening to the sounds , it does indeed sound similar to its British counterpart . The only trouble is , I cant get it out of 1st gear !. It sounds lovely winding it up to the point where 2nd gear would be selected (25/26 speed steps out of 128 ) but you then hit a brick wall . The engine sounds just idle and no matter what keys you press or throttle changes you make , you cant get the sounds to change up . Consulting the ZIMO website doesn't help , it does give a function list but that's it . A far cry from the comprehensive instruction sheets that usually accompany British outline sound projects . I'm hoping that someone out there will have gone down the same road as I but actually mastered the driving technique . Any help on this would be greatly appreciated . Many thanks Albie

I seem to remember reading that the 09's had slightly larger diameter wheels .

Bought the original Bachmann 08's and while they were a good model , I found that after half an hours use , they would find themselves on the work bench having wheels and wiper pick ups cleaned off . Quickly traded them in for Hornby versions which even without lights is a cracking model . Hope the pickups have been improved on this version .

Many thanks for your reply ! The photo's are very helpful indeed . It is the original run so CN 6 it is Will get the soldering iron out . Thanks again for your help ! Albie

Hi Folks , My railbus is now in front of me on the work bench ready to fit sound . I've bought a ZIMO MS decoder with VT98 Scheinenbus sounds . Only trouble is , the decoder has no speaker wires or solder pads on which to attach said wires . The decoder instructions state that wires from the speaker should be attached to the loco's circuit board , The Railcar's board has 3 spare terminals numbered CN3, CN6 and CN8 . So the question is , does anyone know which terminal is for the speaker plug ? Would be grateful for any advice . Albie

Looks like a 37 to me . As for small windows , good thing we are modellers . And yes , I know we shouldn't have to do it .

I would be in the market for Blue FYE , gangway doors and D numbers but it's not likely to happen with Bachmann sadly. They'll just turn out refurbed examples with TOPS numbers and domino headcodes.

Cheers Charlie !