Kaput

Fair enough - long term plan is to replace it with something non TTS so I'll just put up with it for the time being

I have a TTS fitted Hornby Tornado but even with the volume on the lowest setting its still annoyingly loud. Anything I can do speaker wise or something to get it quieter?

Dapol use Gaugemaster DCC23 decoders for factory fitted 6pin models. Sadly its not an amazingly good decoder and you're better off with a £20 Zimo MX617N (might need to trim the pins to make it fit).

Sadly that update has nothing actually new in it and the late 2020 date is pretty much plucked out of thin air and has about zero chance of happening

Wrong way round on a 6pin decoder will just make nothing happen, won't do any harm.

Zimo MX616N fits perfectly. Might be a challenge to find a 621N as they aren't in production any longer and I believe the 617 is a tad too big.

Has anyone ordered anything from TCS in the past few weeks? I ordered a decoder on the 20th and the order has sat pending ever since and I don't see any notices saying anything about them being closed due to the lockdown or anything. I also couldn't help notice that even though I made an account, logged in and the prices were showing in £ the Paypal payment still appeared to be going through as $ (not that the payment has actually changed from pending/pre-authorised).

So far all Kato have done is announce they are making a model of a Japanese designed and (partially) built train that runs in the UK. I wouldn't read any further than that into their intentions when it comes to the UK market.

Not being able to read them without a motor load is perfectly normal on most DCC systems. For the lights issue....have you tried putting the decoders in the other way round?

They did manage to fix it for me, somehow I hadn't verified my email when I registered and it reverted to some sort of guest thing. Don't entirely understand how that happened but their IT folks got it sorted out.

It's the same decoder. Previously it was only available as a spare part hence the "X" product code. The new release is just it being made available as a standard "R" coded retail item. I imagine it'll probably mean the packaging upgrades from an anti static bag to a box but these days who knows...

It is quite sad just browsing the Farish pages on a site like Rails of Sheffield, the amount of stuff that is preorder outnumbers the actual in stock items by an insane amount.

Some alarm bells ringing from there as most of the images look exactly like the ones on Hattons website.

Yup, looks exactly like a drop in sound decoder for a Kato loco of some sort. Probably a Digitrax due to the stay alive capactior

Remember the factory sound comes with LokSound Select decoders which are cheaper for the manufacturers to obtain. Unless I'm mistaken the Class 156 sound available via the DC kits website is full fat LokSound v5's now hence the price. There is a possible chance if you contact Charlie directly he might still have a supply of the Selects from the factory fitted version that could be sold for the price difference between non DCC and sound fitted.

Think I have #20s on both but I do have 2nd radius curves so I tend to lean towards caution.

It works perfectly fine - can't actually remember the last time mine even ran as a full 4TC. I'd very much suggest Kadee couplers for using with the Heljan 33/1 as well.

Ah. Fair enough, cheers I'll have a tinker at the weekend.

Bit of a random one and maybe better suited for the DCC forums but I was trying to enable the dynamic braking on my 156 so it matches my LokSound V5 stuff but I can't seem to actually set CV179 (the braking force) any higher than 0. Decoder Pro just gives a failed to confirm error. Any ideas or is it just something the LokSound Selects don't actually support?

It's almost like you waited until I sound fitted my Bachmann 37/4 before announcing these....gits

Seems like its off for the year - I imagine with it being mostly outdoors (in tents) theres a fairly limited seasonal window for when it can happen and the jury is still out on whether the entire summer is dead and buried...

I have a distinct feeling the type of traders that have fully functional websites with online ordering facilities and such are the ones the least affected by the cancellation of shows. The smaller traders that rely on shows are a lot more likely to either not have a website at all or only a basic one and any mail order setup is strictly old fashioned email/post based and wouldn't actually hold up to replacing their show attendance.

Even when something exists in a manufacturers N gauge range it seems to be a pain to actually get them lately due to lack of reruns of older releases. The Farish Black 5 is a prime example - hardly ever see any for sale. Sometimes seems like theres two extremes with N, either it sells like hotcakes and if you aren't there at release you'll miss it and be up the creek or it doesn't sell at all and ends up in the bargain bin for no real reason. Distinct lack of a middle ground where a newcomer can come in and find some models of fairly common prototypes. I've been on the lookout for blue/grey MK1's to make up a fake 4TC rake, so far managed to find an FK and thats it...lol

I used a Hattons 8pin direct fit decoder with an Elite once upon a time (in a Class 71). Seemed to work fine, only slight oddity was a noticable buzz from the loco whenever it was on the track that doesn't happen with other decoders.

Cheers Dave, just sent a message via the contact us form on the site.