That Model Railway Guy

Hi everyone, With all the lovely weather we’ve had lately my 00 gauge shunting layout hasn’t had much attention over the Summer. Instead I’ve been out in the sunshine working on my G Scale garden railway instead! The railway is not new by any means, the first permanent tracks were laid just under 10 years ago but it has gradually expanded and grown into it’s surroundings over time. Unfortunately with my work often taking me away from home for long periods of time, it hasn’t been the easiest to maintain and running sessions are somewhat sparse… at least until lockdown hit. With the combination of nice weather and being at home more, it was the perfect opportunity to finally get things running again. I call it The Pevensey Light Railway and imagine it to be a fictional narrow gauge line that previously ran between Pevensey Bay and Eastbourne Harbour. Nowadays the line is run as a preserved heritage railway on a somewhat shorter route between Pevensey Bay and Castle Halt… although there is scope for an extension should permission be granted in the future by the landowners! Here’s a little video I put together of my latest running session, I hope it’s of interest to someone:

Hi Ron Ron Ron, Yes that was my main thought regarding the price of the XL series, especially when there are other boosters out there that cost a lot less. It’s just finding one with enough amps that’s compatible with the Z21 that’s evading me at the moment. It’s a fair point to bring up moving over to battery power but it’s not something I’m really looking to do at this time. If I was just starting out then it’d definitely be a consideration but as the railway is already well established and I don’t seem to suffer the problems of dirty track that most people do outdoors, I don’t really want to start dismantling my locos to fit batteries and receivers when I know everything works fine as it is. Essentially I’m just looking to replace the broken MTS system and I was hoping the Z21 might be a good solution that would also push me to make a start on moving my 00 layouts over to DCC too. But it looks like that might have to wait for the moment and I just get a straight replacement of the G Scale DCC system instead. Thanks for the suggestion though. Even if ultimately it’s not right for me it’s still worth considering every option and it might help someone in the future.

So I presume that means the Digitrax one is out then?

Ah fantastic! Well I wish you the best of luck with the Z21. It looks like a fantastic system and I’m sure it’ll provide you with plenty of fun. Hopefully I’ll be able to join Z21 owners club someday but I need to make sure it can do what I want before I spend that kind of money

I think that must be referring to the XL series which, like the XL booster, is yet to be released as far as I know: https://www.roco.cc/en/product/247002-xl-0-0-0-0-0-004-1/products.html But it sounds like the track voltage isn’t adjustable on that version so presumably I wouldn’t be able to use it for my 00 layouts Maybe what I want to do just isn't possible but I could have sworn I'd seen others doing something similar. Thanks for looking though, I really appreciate the assistance.

Hi Michael, No, not at all. I think the conversation just turned to the Z21 boosters because they’re intended to be used with with the Z21 and so should be easy to setup. In my first post I mentioned a couple of other boosters I’d looked at, the Ulhenbrock Power 8, which sadly doesn’t seem to be available anymore, and also the Digitrax DB210 but I don’t know if there’s compatibility issues between that and the Z21? But I’m happy to hear suggestions for other boosters as well. Essentially I’m just having trouble finding a booster that will provide enough amps to accommodate the G Scale locos without having to go through adapters or split the layout into sections.

Ah apologies, I think I’ve got completely the wrong end of the stick then. I thought I’d seen others that were using just the output from the booster to power the whole layout and not bothering with the output from the Z21 itself other than to send the commands to the booster, but I’m guessing that’s not actually the case then? It’s not really possible to split this layout into different electrical sections so perhaps the Z21 isn’t right for me and I’d be better off getting a DCC system that’s intended for larger scales that provides more amps from the outset. Sorry if all this seems completely obvious to you, I’m just used to the simplistic MTS where everything is contained within one box and I didn’t have to think about it

Hi WIMorrison, Thanks for replying. Yes, as I mentioned I’ve looked at the announced Roco XL booster (I think that’s part of the Z21 range) which does seem to be a good solution and, as you say, just works. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a release date yet, or if it does I couldn’t find it. The price also seems to be much higher than other boosters out there as well as needing to buy a power supply on top of that. But I admit it is a good option and it may well be worth paying the extra just to have a simple solution once it’s released. The ones you suggested seem to output 3A which is the same as the Z21 on it’s own isn’t it? So I wouldn’t actually be gaining anything there unless I split the layout into multiple sections, something which isn’t really possible - sorry should have made that clear in my initial post! Just looking at the dual booster, can you combine the two 3A outputs on that to have one 6A section? I’ve been led to believe (perhaps falsely?) that for G Scale you need a minimum of 5A to be safe. Certainly that’s what my MTS system had. But if it’s possible to combine the outputs to have just one 6A section that might also work. I appreciate the suggestions though.

Hi All, I’m a newcomer to DCC and while I’ve had an old LGB MTS system for the garden railway for years, the rest of my layouts (00 & N) are still DC. Unfortunately the MTS system has recently stopped working and since it seems to be outdated technology now seems like a good time to upgrade and have a proper go at moving all my layouts over to DCC. I really like the look of the Roco Z21 and it seems perfect for my 00 layouts but obviously a big reason for getting it is to also use it on the G Scale railway. Is this possible with the Z21 on it’s own or will I definitely need a booster? The garden railway isn’t huge (although there’s scope for a possible extension in the future) and I probably won’t have more than two, maybe three, locos running at a time. (All LGB 0-4-0’s and 0-6-0’s). I looked into boosters it seemed like a lot of people were using the Uhlenbrock Power 7 or Power 8 with the Z21 for G Scale but these don’t appear to be available anymore. Perhaps I’m being thick but all I can find now is the Power 4 which only puts out 3.5 amps. Another option I’ve looked at was the Digitrax DB210 which looks great but I have no idea if it’s compatible with the Z21. Does anyone know of any reason why it wouldn’t work or any extra hoops I’d have to jump through in order to get it to work? Ideally I want something that connects to the Z21 with minimal fuss as I’m not keen on having lots of adapters and extra bits and pieces to setup - especially if I’m moving this back and forth between the 00 layout and the garden railway. There also seems to be the Roco XL Booster which has been announced but as far as I can see hasn’t been released yet. Presumably this would be the simplest option as it’s designed to be integrated with the Z21 but the price seems to be much higher than other options. These are just the boosters I've looked into so feel free to suggest others if there's anything else out there capable of providing enough amps for G Scale. Finally, to circle all the way back round to “do I need a booster” - what actually happens if the Z21 reaches it’s limit? Does it just stop working until you reset it or will it actually do damage and destroy the system/locos? I’ve heard you can monitor the current draw though the app so I’ve thought about getting a Z21 without a booster initially to see what the draw is and then making a decision on whether to get a booster or not based on how close I am to the limit. Or is this asking for trouble? Apologies for the multitude of questions but hopefully everything above makes some sort of sense! Like I say, I’m definitely a newbie when it comes to DCC and I’ve tried to do as much research as I can on my own. Unfortunately I’ve been going round in circles for a while now, so I thought I’d ask for advice on here since you’re all much more knowledgeable than me! Thanks in advance for any help and let me know if there’s any details I’ve forgotten.

Just saw that Hattons have added the LB&SCR livery artwork to one of their 3D renders. Gives a very good impression of what the finished model will look like. You can see it here: https://www.hattons.co.uk/newsdetail.aspx?id=870&utm_campaign=mar-376-hattonsgenesisrender1%2Bartwork&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Klaviyo&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJqb3NlZkBqb3NlZnBpdHVyYXJpbGV5LmNvbSIsICJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogIkpHUWVYaCJ9

For anyone interested here's close up look at Rocket with a bit of it running on a test track...

Yes it does look as if it's been delayed for 100 years or so!

Another new arrival at Pickwick Yard! I think this is the first time I've ever managed to fit a passenger train on this micro shunting layout I'll have to start work on a larger layout soon so that I can give Rocket a proper run!

My Rocket arrived yesterday afternoon so I put together a quick video showing off some close up angles of the detail and plenty of shots of it running too incase anyone fancies having a look. Have to say I’m really impressed, although it looks like I got lucky as all the detail was intact on mine and it was a great smooth runner straight from the box. Very happy indeed

Thanks so much to everyone who tuned in last night, it was great fun taking requests while talking a bit about the layout and upcoming plans. If you missed it you can still watch the archived stream in my post above or here are some low quality stills taken from the stream:

Just about to go Live now!

I don’t know if this will interest anyone but I noticed recently that my Model Railway channel on YouTube had hit 200 subscribers so rather than make a thank you/celebration video I figured I’d have a go at doing a livestream! I’m somewhat used to live streaming as part of my day job but I’ve never combined it with model railways before so I have no idea how well it will go. Feel free to join me tonight at 7pm, either for a live running session on Pickwick Yard or a potential train-wreck… both figuratively and literally!

It's highly unlikely that these two would have ever met but they do look good next to each other! I've also been experimenting with different camera angles to try and get shots as if you were standing next to the track beside a loco...

And another! This time it's the Hornby Terrier that's under the microscope with a little shunting on Pickwick Yard featured at the end of the video.

Don't know if this is of any interest to anyone but here's a video I just made of having a close up look at my Terrier with a bit of a running session afterwards.

This certainly won't be one for the purists but here's a little Thomas The Tank Engine running session to celebrate the 75th Anniversary

Hi Steve, It’s been quite a while since the Metcalfe kits were made (over 10 years in fact!) as they were recycled from another unfinished layout. As far as I remember they weren’t too difficult to put together, certainly much easier than the Scale Model Scenery Low Relief Factory. Thankfully they've seem to have stood the test of time without too much of a problem.

Thanks Kevin, really glad to hear you like the layout and the videos. I'm planning on filming some running sessions later this week as they've gone down well in the past and it gives me an excuse to play trains!

The Peckett B2 has been out on the layout again and I couldn't resist making a video to show it off! If anyone's still on the fence about these great little locos I've provided plenty of close ups as well as some shots of it working around the yard

On the off chance someone hasn't quite made their mind up about these lovely little locos yet, I've just put together a quick video showing off some close ups of the detail and also a bit of running towards the end.