Damo666

I bought a new class 56 last year from a shop who, I believe, found some old stock hiding on the shelves. It’s the Hornby R2648X EWS 56059 with decoder fitted. I’ve only now got around to opening the box and putting it on my rolling-road test track. Was a bit slow going in one direction and wouldn’t move in the opposite direction. The rotating fans on the top wouldn’t rotate. Background, but maybe not very relevant: I lubricated the axels with a little oil where recommended on the Hornby manual, removed the body, lubricated the two vertical fan axels (good idea) and the horizontal shaft on the opposite side to the rubber band (may not have been ideal). However, loco moves in both directions fine now, slight squeaking coming from somewhere. The fans rotated at first, but I think the oil on the shaft means something is slipping, but I’m not too concerned about this. The issue / reason for posting: I tried to re-programme the decoder on my NCE PowerCab. Manufacturer reported as 255, which I think means that the decoder cannot be read. Is this correct? The decoder version is 012, so something seems to be reporting back. I cannot reprogrammed the decoder loco address, stays at 3 Is it definite that the decoder is broken, even though it takes input from my NCE and responds to lights, speed and direction?

Thanks @jhb171achil, interesting proposition. I got caught out recently in the Accurscale department of RMWeb when I referred to some coaches using the Hattons version of Irish eras. It would be helpful to have an agreed reference source. I recall a few years ago seeing something somewhere on the Irish railway logos, and grabbed a screenshot for my reference. Unfortunately I didn't also record the source, but a few minutes this morning and I've found it here; I see that you and someone called 'LostCarPark' contributed to that thread too. This is my 'updated' personal snapshot, which I hope is acceptable to post here. All credit to the original authors who are in the link above. How well do the Irish rail logos match the A - G eras you propose?

Hi Andy. It’s a great collection, I’m sure you will find most will be of interested to RMWebbers. Update: The Wrenn 1978 catalogue County Donegal Railways (Pan Books) The Cavan and Leitrim Railway (Pan Books) Mainline Railways Vol No. 1 The Airfix Railway System First Edition I had requested the Model Railway Journal No. 146 and after posting I spotted you also had No. 195, but Mike @Royal42 had asked before me so it's fair that he should get preference before me. I see that Mike has kindly suggested the Midland Railway Society as an alternative. Can you keep me in mind if Mike has changed his mind please. Many thanks. I’ll PM my address details. Damo

Sorry Mike, I hadn't seen your post in the middle of all the images by Andy. You were there first. Damo

Hi Andy, Could you set aside for me: The Wrenn 1978 catalogue The PAN Books of County Donegal Railways Model Railway Journal No. 146 Mainline Railways Vol No. 1 The Airfix Railway System First Edition Thanks Damo

Indeed. What price was it? (Not that I was going to buy it, although if it was cheap I'll regret not).

I wanted to click 'Thanks' 'Like' 'Interesting/Thought-Provoking' and 'Round of Applause' but could only choose one. Take your pick.

I could be wrong about what 'Era5' is, as I'm certainly no expert, but using the designation used by Hatton's on their website I associate it with the 1960s - mid 80s 'Black and Tan' livery and their 'Broken Wheel' logo.

With the excellent new MM produced CIE/IR Class 121 having been released late last year, and the impending IRM Class A/001 loco about the hit the doorstep, is there any hope for a new production run of CIE coaches? The last batch by Messers Murphy & Co are as rear as a sunny day in summer on the west coast, yet these new locos will have no way of transporting passengers to sunnier climes. Not so much a wish, more a plea.

1. I removed the DCC Decoder and reinstalled the blanking plate. Put the loco on the test track with a DC power supply and it runs sweetly. 2. Put the DCC Decoder back in the loco and it still trips the NCE system. 3. Removed the Stay-Alive capacitor and it still trips. 4. Next step was to put the chip into another loco, this time a Bachmann Class 08. Bachmann runs perfectly on DC, but trips when I put the the decoder in and run on DCC. So I guess that something happened which damaged the Decoder. (And having taken the decoder out of the Hornby, I see that it's not DCC Concepts but a blue wrapped decoder which my record show is an 8pin DigiTrains).

Thanks Nigel. The Decoder is an 8pin DiGiTrains decoder which I got from DCCTrain Automation. Loco ran OK on my rolling-road after I installed the decoder, and also OK on the layout for a while until 'something' happened. A good point, and something that I hadn't picked up until earlier this week (and after the Loco problem appeared). I had Cobalt DCC IN x2 wired to the Accessory Bus and the S1-Frog to the point frog. I'm now amending the wiring so that the DCC In x2 takes the power for the motor off the Accessory Bus as before, but S2-L, S2-R takes the frog power of the track bus, with S2-C wired to the frog. Hopefully my re-wiring will find the problem, if that is where it lies. Thanks D

I'm in the process of wiring up my layout to DCC, taking the process methodically. I've a Power Bus and a separate Accessory Bus, off which are the DCC Concepts Cobalt IP Digital Point Motors. Before I moved on to installing the point motors I simply wired all the track and tested each section on the board before moving onto the other tracks on the same board. All OK. Then when I fitting the point motors, I tested their operation at each stage, giving them accessory numbers. All seemed to be OK. I then took a Class 08 shunter which is DCC chipped and started to run it over the points. My wiring seemed to be OK apart from two turnouts where my NCE PowerCab tripped. I cannot remember my exact next steps, but I continued to run the shunter over points to see where that trip was happening and at some stage the shunter just kept moving even though the throttle was at zero. I recall reading that this might be because the chip had reset and the loco is thinking it's running on plain DC. But before I could investigate this the loco ran over a point and the NCE again tripped. Now the loco just trips every time it's on the track. I've a short test track for running-in locos or if I need to do any CV changes, and when I place the loco on this test track the NCE just trips, resets and trips again. I'm guessing that something has blown. The DCC chip has a separate Stay-Alive. I'm not sure if a slight discolouration on the outside of the Stay-Alive is indicating that this has blown or not. (I cannot recall if I glued the Stay-Alive in the cab, if I did, this might be the stuff you can see on the door). Anyone have any suggestions as to where I should start my investigations?

Thanks Fran, Can I support my local model shop and buy from them, or is this only available from the IRM website direct?

Will these by pulled by a CIE Class 37?

Thanks for checking Roy. BTW, Google has their telephone number, I've tried but no reply. I'm probably too early so will try again in a while. Here's what I got: Edit: Spoke to Olivia's at 9:10 and advised them of the above.

I went to visit Olivia's Trains website last night at 23:15 hrs and my browser wouldn't give me access. Thought no more of it but my daily Panda security software has reported and blocked 10 Malware detected events at www:https://www.oliviastrains.com Just a head's up, make sure you have a good anti-virus/malware scanner software on your device and be careful until this is resolved. I'd give them a call to let them know but I don't have their telephone number (and obviously cannot access any on-line).

The Model Rail Database tell me that: 32-755 came out in 2009 and was in the 2009 & 2010 catalogues 32-755A came out in 2018 and is in the 2018 - 2021 catalogues. It is also 'Sound Decoder Ready' (This feature is not noted in the 2009 version).

The Bachmann website just tells me it 'Revised' but no clarity as to what is revised. I'm wondering if the prototype Class 57 has been revised and this release represents the updated prototype, or as you say, it's just a new loco number.

I see that Bachmann have released a new version of their Class 57 in Arriva Wales livery. Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the new release and their existing model in the same livery please? I *think* the model numbers are: 32-755 (57315) for the old version and 32-755A (57314) for their latest erelease.

Hi Justin, If you are new to crimping, I'm happy to tell you what I learned as I was new to this 2 weeks ago. Crimps are colour coded. Red covers 16-22 AWG Blue covers 14-16 AWG Yellow is for 10-12 AWG Remember, the lower the AWG number the thicker the cable = larger the capacity (Amps). (There was also an M4(#8), M5(#10), M6(¼) and M7 or M8(5/16) designation on some crimps. I never got to the bottom of this.) Here's a note I made in OneNote, cannot remember the source, but it might help someone to see what common cables are in AWG: Please note, like RMWeb, I've found different answers to the same question. In writing this post I decided to check and, of course, found more authoritative data, here: but for my layout I'm happy to use the above as a rough guide, it suits my layout wiring purposes to make sure I'm in the right ball-park. For me, here is what I'm using: This chart will show some variations of cable available for a particular cross-section: For the crimps, I just needed the Red and Blue crimps and also got them from Amazon. It took me a long time to find just blue and red fork crimps without buying a lot of additional ring, spade, bullet crimps multipack in blue, red and yellow. Many of these multiple boxes would be about 70% useless for me. A company called 'All Trade Direct' on Amazon sold packs of 100 for £3.29 of single style crimps. (Amazon prices fluctuate so there may be cheaper options when you look).

Hi Mike, thank you. I used the open-end (fork) crimps as I then only have to loosen the screw on the terminal to slide the fork in/out. I felt that the ring crimps would be slower as I'd have to completely unscrew (and potentially drop / lose it) as I was making adjustments / refinements to my wiring.

This is where I got mine last week, although the link you gave is for the 25A version, which is way more that we should need. I got the 15A version, although if they had a 6A or 10A that would have been OK too. I bought a set of 6 position and 12 position terminal blocks as I thought that this would be ideal. It was only after installing that I realised that I could snip the connecting bar to make 2 smaller buses on the strip which was more versatile (see top right). 5 pieces of 6 position is currently £8.99, 5 pieces of 12 position is £10.99, but if you snip the connecting bar you can have 10 x 6 position for the same price of 5 x 12pos. Or 7-5 or 8-4. Two 12 position terminal strips, as they come. Snipping the connecting bar gives me a 4 bus and a 8 bus on the same terminal strip. I snipped the connecting bar in two places so that I removed a small section of the bar, otherwise a single cut might still bridge the gap.

The answer to my own question, based on advice above and my own experience is: Method 1: Using a 'normal' sized flat screwdriver (size similar to a neon mains phase tester), push the spring down with gentle force. I did this with my first point, the spring suddenly released and hit the desk before then went flying somewhere. I'm not confident that this is the best method. Method 2: With a jewellers flat blade screwdriver, pull the spring sideways and slightly downward. I'd have to move the tie-bar a little to get the best exposure on the spring before doing this, as the gap exposing the spring wire is very small. The spring would then pop out of one of the holes and could be lifted out.

You are right, I haven't heard the prototype, neither carefully or otherwise. I hadn't realised that the action of the point would have been era dependent, but I can see now from Pete's reply that it would have been useful to mention in my OP that my layout is modern era, although to be fair my question was about removing the spring and not the sound of the prototype.

Thanks David, I haven't tried this, but I'd prefer not to hear the click of the point switching nor the sudden movement as it's not very prototypical.