wasdavetheroad

Could be possible but that depends on the loco size. You would need a switch between the receiver/motor and a switch to isolate the receiver from the battery as well as the receiver (Rx) is drawing a small amount of power when the motor is idle. I think a 3PDT switch would work if wired properly.

Are using a track controller for the DC rail power? Using the radio transmitter (Tx) to control the Rx on DC makes it more complicated as well as needing rectification. Others more expert than me will know more. 

You could try emailing Micron Radio control fo advice.

I must be getting old, how do you search for multiple words in content?

Excellent video. Pity i did not think of the wood filler when constructing my S&C station etc. I like the gutter down pipes as well. I wonder if an empty fine tip ball point pen would good for embossing, I was in the Range this morning and could have bought the real thing.

I have a Airfix/Dapol 3 coach lavatory set, Brake 2nd/Composite/Brake 2nd in BR Crimson and would like a 2nd as an occassional stengthener, no need for a Lavatory. Extensive modification of the Airfix coaches is beyond my old hands so what would be a reasonable RTR option ?

I contacted DCC Concepts with several images. They swiftly replied and asked me to return the item for examination and sent me a paid postal label. I posted it last Friday 2nd class tracked so it might have not arrived yet. Fingers crossed🤞

I have several old style Peco Loco Lefts and use one of them as a virtual turntable and for moving groups of 3 wagons to/from storage track on a shelf. I opted for the MPD 360mm to accommodate extra long wagons  and also a rather nice Hornby Fowler 2-6-4T loco in LMS crimson Livery which I am converting to radio control. My old hands can't do fiddly stuff any more so I am going to permanently attach a short luggage van containing the fiddly bits and run it as a steam special.

Plan B might be to use 3 new Peco lifts but at 450mm it is too long. Plan C is to consider re boxing 2 locomotives and trying to knock something together from their loco lifts.

My layout is Kato H0 unitrack running 00 scale models. I do not have any old big flange models but a friend gave me this LNER J83 some years ago. He found it in a charity shop for a pound, I still have the motor. Produced from 1976 to 1978. BIG flanges and no flange on centre axle. After lubrication I pushed/pulled the chassis with my trusty Lima Class 20 which will pull out the side of a house.

Results - no fouling on the track straights or curves but not checked 430mm radius, but some issues on the pointwork. OK straight through but catches the point blade otherwise. I checked the back to backs, 1 mm less than tolerance!.

As an alternative Peco do a Code 83 90 degree crossing for less than £22 compared with the Unitrack at £17.50. With Setrack this would work out cheaper.

Needing a large 'virtual turntable' for my large locomotives that can also be used to transfer groups of wagons to a 'virtual siding' I have just received delivery of a DCC Concepts 360mm Motive Power Depot and there is a problem which I hope is just a rogue item.

My track is Kato Unitrack HO scale and I checked the 369mm straight and it is in gauge and really straight, not curved or warped. The MPD gauge varies from end to end and the plastic end pieces differ in width by 1mm, the images will show the problem.

Has anyone had a similar problem?

The long version. Are you using a Deltang type transmitter with the 12 position Selecta knob? If so select the position you want the receiver to bind to but don't turn the Tx (transmitter) on. Apply power to the Rx (receiver) and the LED will flash slowly as the Rx searches for the Tx. After several seconds (15?) the LED will flash rapidly, the Rx is now in bind mode. Hold down the Tx bind button and switch it on then release both buttons. The LED's will flash as the Tx and Rx establish the bind. When the Rx LED stays on it is bound to the Selecta position you selected.

You can do this as many times as you want as it just over writes a memory location in the Rx

Banking would be a more complex problem than double heading or piloting which can have both locos using the same throttle but 'putting a sock on it' requires careful monitoring of the banker to avoid pushing too hard and causing a derailment. My solution for DC would be to use a battery powered radio controlled banker not coupled and having say a Hornby medium coupler bar without hook to push on the train brake van with a hook less coupler and not a wobbly narrow tension lock.

The problem with a radio controlled banker, say a 2-6-4T is finding space for the battery but apparently you can take power from the rail. I just googled it and other locos were used including a A4! and an interesting story about a 9 car DMU assisting a stalled Black 5 on a mixed freight outside Preston

According to Digital wiki??? with DCC speed matching to within 10% is good enough. I have 2 Hornby 2P 4-4-0's that were within 3% straight out of the boxes. I ran them light engine coupled around the layout with the faster loco in front and observed the tension lock coupling carefully. On 3 sections around the circuit the tension lock slackened and the slower loco was pushing!. Even at 10% difference when pulling a train with the slower loco in front the weight of the train has the faster loco as the slower loco of you see what i mean and the couplings remain under tension for the complete circuit.

For DC double heading i remember reading on a US site that it helps if climbing an incline one loco can't pull the train on its own and as long as you don't get wheel spin or skidding you should be OK

I don't have much need for double heading but can occasionally just couple 2 x 2P's to pull a 8 coach passenger train. Normally i will just use a Black 5 instead. Another consist i might try one day is a compound 4-4-0 piloting a 4-6-0. In this case i would have 2 or 3 different 4-6-0's speed matched with the Compound.

ps- I use battery powered radio control but the principles are somewhat similar to DCC

I decided to try out inkredible cartridges as they are a Which magazine best buy, not the cheapest but a similar price to the Wilkinson ones I was using. I loaded the first 4 a few days ago and there was no error message on the Epson SX215. I print on A4 labels and ran a test print of red ashlar, the quality looks OK, as for fading my railway room only has light when I am in there, otherwise it is pitch dark.

I have an Epson Stylus 215 inkjet printer and have been successfully using Wilkinsons ink cartridges. Alas Wilkinsons is no more and it is likely that my local branch will close even if some survive. Any suggestions about alternative ink availability? 

Rx 5 LED flashes indicates low voltage

http://www.deltang.co.uk/rx611-selecta.htm

You could email Deltang for suggestions

4 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

I would definitely be looking to increase the range/running time, at the expense of speed/power if necessary (it’s a shunting layout so it’s not like it has to be very fast). If I went down the radio control route I would probably use some sort of 3D printed tank loco on a Kato 4-wheel chassis - this seems to be a fairly common and well-proven option for radio control-fitted locos in 009 as you get a lot of space inside the body, though I know someone who fits radio control to much smaller locos as well. I don’t know how easy it would be to fit to older whitemetal kits as potentially the parts are thicker with less space inside the body.

 

How long do you find that it takes to charge a loco, relative to the time it can run for on that charge? I’m just thinking that my exhibition scenario as described above potentially relies on being able to get one hour of running time from only one hour of charging, which seems a bit unlikely.

Most my OO scale locos are modified to allow for a speedy battery change. The tenders lift off the chassis and the Diesels, mostly Lima have bodies that lift off. You need to find out the power draw of the loco by fitting a battery of say 100mAh and timing how long it will run. If your loco needs 200mA for an hour the battery should be larger capacity. The recharging is easy, have  pre charged spare batteries and just swop. It will only take a couple of minutes.

009 might have problems with finding room for the batteries

If 15mph is 22 feet per second (according to the net) at 4mm to the foot for 00 scale that is 88mm ???

4 hours ago, CloggyDog said:

20 inch round Oleos on the real thing, so 7mm is about right.

 

I'm assuming you've one of the early Lima 20s with the 13 inch buffer heads? If so, an alternative would be to get some of the 20 in buffers that Lima did on the later 20s (and also on the 47) - I can spare a set of 4, if you want to PM me your address.

 

The Lima buffers are moulded in delrin (or similar 'slippery' plastic which few glues will work on)

I bought a number of Lima diesels some years ago when they were cheap and have a spare Class 47 body with the large buffers, problem solved. Thanks for your offer as well so I don't need to inconvenience you. Hold on to those buffers as Lima stuff is getting rarer and more expensive 

What was the diameter of the buffer heads on a Class 20?  I want a quick improvement to my Lima model. I have plasticard and several hole punches

17 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

The voltage applied to the track sets the speed of the motor.

 

Going downhill the weight of a heavy, but free-rolling, train can attempt to push thr loco(s) faster than the motor is driving, and if there is a worm gear somewhere in the gear-train a fight will take place between the wheels and the motor, because most worms used in model trains are very inefficient, and  won’t “back transmit” motion from wheels to motor.

 

The natural motor speed at a given voltage will vary ever so slightly between locos, hence fighting between locos, as well as between loco and train. 

Solution? Add some drag to the train to prevent it overtaking the locos at low speeds. The idea is to ensure that the locos are always pulling, rather than being pushed.

 

Locos with clutches in the drive train, and locos with highly efficient gear-trains won’t exhibit the same problems.

 

PS: do the locos have rubber traction tyres? That will make things worse, because they can’t even skid with the wheels locked.

 

With respect to Miss Prism, and all those who agreed with her (him?), I don't think back EMF has anything to do with it, unless, and I think it very unlikely, the gear-train is very efficient. If the gear-train doesn't permt "back driving" of the motor from the wheels, the EMF produced by the motor will never exceed the line voltage at the loco, and when the two are equal, no current will flow via that motor, the only exception being if there is a flywheel, because that will cause the motor to act as a generator in the event of sudden interuption of the line supply. If the gear-train does permit back-driving, then yes, the motor speed could exceed that due to line voltage, and current will flow from it into the line if there is a receptive load, the motor on the other loco, assuming that has a slightly different response to the conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did they do something like that in the olden days of unfitted wagons, applied the wagon brakes and pulled the train down the hill?

If one loco can pull the train uphill an extreme solution could be to have a dummy loco which ideally should be no heavier than one of the coaches. I did this with a pair of Lima class 20's, made easier by spare  non powered bogies being available.

1 hour ago, JeffP said:

Locos do have speed discrepancies.

Back in the 60's a mate and his brother both had Hornby Standard 4 80033 tanks.

We used to set up a large circle, place the locos diametrically opposite each other, and put the controller to full power.

We then watched as the faster loco, always the dame one,  caught up the other one.

Used to take over 60 circuits.

That's excellent, at least 120 complete circuits to catch up the slower loco which means it is 0.83% faster so no need to speed match at all.

this was discussed some time ago

7 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Hornby's prongs should fit an NEM standard pocket, as should any coupling with NEM prongs, but different makes use different materials and it may be that the Hornby couplings are a stiffer plastic.  It can be a bit fiddly to get the prongs both to engage in the box at the same time.  Try squeezing them together with a pair of long nose pliers, or even a long nose pair of pliers, and release them once the nobbles are safely inside the box; you should then be able to push them through until the nobbles click out into a fixed position at the back of the box.  Hold the box steady with another pair of pliers while you do this, as you do not want to put stress on the waggler.

Spot on, I just tried to insert a Hornby coupling into a Dapol pocket. It fits but you have to push until it clicks into place

Dapol sell a pack of 40 replacement couplers including the NEM pockets (COUPNEMOO). Over £20 per pack.

I have modified my Dapol couplers to stop them drooping and the annoying hooks dropping out.

I am also completely replacing some of them with Hornby ones. Plus Hornby wheels in many cases to get rid of the wobbly wheel issue.

N scale and 2' 6" wide. That should be reachable without having to move anything. Devise a cunning scenic break in front of the fiddle yard which would be OK if you are more interested in trains moving through scenery, in which case your viewing height will be low, not like from a helicopter or drone!.

I have a copy of Harold Bowtell's book 'Rails Through Lakeland' and there is a chapter on bridges. There are a number of upper and lower Bowstring girder bridges on the line including some with the track curved. They have heavy longitudinal timber baulks beneath the rails, canted in the curved versions with longitudinal heavy planks between. No evidence of ballasting. It is mentioned that the lack of ballast puts more strain on the bridges structure.

15 hours ago, The Johnster said:

..............  am not sure that DCC was the right way to go when it first surfaced 40-odd years ago, but it is the way the hobby has gone whatever my misgivings then and now.  I believe it has a limited future all the same, and will be replaced at some point by NFC control of locomotives with onboard power supply by paired  smartphone app running on electrically dead plastic track.  Prolly not in my lifetime though; reckon 20 years tops before my withdrawal from service and removal to the Great Swindon Dump In The Sky...  I'm 70 in a few weeks, and some of my parts have stopped funtioning properly, but I'm good for service on secondary routes with light traffic at low speeds for a while!

It appears that NFC technology (near field) is designed for transmission ranges of about 4 inches, however other radio protocols are available.