dave75

I picked up a new Bachmann 08 shunter in the recent offer from rails.

Can anyone recommend a 8 pin direct DCC chip that will fit without hacking away at the body? 

They seemed to be quite common when I got my last 08 about 4 years ago, now I've looked round the main players and don't seem to be able to find one without a harness.

And Michael has a thread on here, where he displayed a chassis he built for his fleet of EM1s think it's on the Wentworth Junction thread.

Yes it acts like or is AC, but I think I can draw from this helpful discussion that I can build a DCC power district in the same way as I would a DC section. I just need to think about wire thickness and what hardware I need on the end of that wiring next.

That the one, thanks , and the final second of the video answers my next  question too. 

I found a hatch in the kitchen floor of my new house leading to a similar space kind of space . There's a small boarded room that the previous owners have used for storage leading to a large space with a rough floor . I wouldn't call it a cellar, its quite dusty , it's at ground level as the land falls away to the back of the house.

I was wondering about its suitably for a small layout until a larger space in a more accessible location becomes available. Dennis seems to have it working very well I wanted to understand what work he had done.

Ah okay so by in phase essentially we mean the same polarity . Just as passing a loco across a section between 2  DC controllers, if they are "reversed" the loco does the little backwards/forwards dance.

Thanks very helpful 

 "but all rails are powered and it doesn't matter if a loco bridges the gap, provided all power districts are in phase with each other."

Thanks I think this was the information I was trying to discover, I did want to blow chips up by getting it wrong.

Which begs the follow up question how would power districts not be in phase? 

There was a LNER layout featured in the pop up for this website a few weeks/months back, the owner appeared to be to be in quite a cramped space , does any know the layout name and if it has a thread on this forum ? 

I like it , it has the feel of a dockside branch, loose the turntable and have two sidings in its space for loco storage/inspection/coaling.

Operation along the lines Nick has outlined wagons arrive, are placed for unloading, some more urgent than others , then marshalled to depart, some sticking around in the yard awaiting incoming loads.

Sorry poorly worded question. 

On the trackside , are power districts separated from each other by an insulated rail joiners on each rail ?

Looking at expanding my dcc plank layout, have read lots about power districts but have yet to find a decent simple definition of what one is. 

Leaving aside the hardware required which seems to be a circuit breaker etc and thinking just of the track, is a power district any different from a DC "section" 

Ie a lengths of track electrically isolated from ajoining pieces by isolated rail joins or cuts in the rail?

Just to put a different view , if you have an old laptop and can find £30;for an Arduino, you don't need a big expensive "controller" to go DCC so I'm not sure the deep pockets line is relevant to the thread. 

Paul , do you have the drawing?

7 hours ago, The Pilotman said:

That's a different type of wagon in that image; one of the Belgian registered versions. 

Thanks, that's just saved me a few quid ;-)

59 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

As to it's exact set up, I don't know, but I reckon it was used on occasions like one night when the incoming Brush 4 humped it's own train direct from the reception sidings, although it didn't go over the hump when finished.

 

Mike.

In the one of the tinsley  book , the author mentioned slow speed fitted 47s standing in if a 13 wasn't available. 

@Enterprisingwestern what is a portable set in term of this discussion.

BR database shows the radio equipment was removed  from this loco in the early seventies, I wonder what the thinking was behind that.

Did these locos also have a more precise Speedo so the correct speed could be maintained easier?

Have these models ever been done in this livery?

I'm trying to figure out if it's an earlier livery that the traffic services or a transition to/from it. 

Picture from Twitter  July 1981

I didn't notice the 2-8-0, the Garrett looked very impressive .

No doubt the video they were filming will be along soon !

I think a couple of 08s had the radio equipment as fitted to the 13s so they could talk to the tower. There was an article somewhere that had the call signs , the tower was 'tinrail control' I'm sure.

Is it the one with two piece bodysides and the separate cab fronts? 

If so I'm trying to build one like that but it way out of kilter.

Thank you that's very helpful, I think I  should have added the centre road is only for loco changes and maybe splitting restaurant and parcels sections, although I may run round and reverse a train on the orange road to depart the direction it arrived.

B1 propelling 2 Pullmans on the Darnall triangle, it must be the Master Cutler stock.

One can only assume it's propelled them from Nunnery CS to Darnall West junction, pulled them down to Attercliffe junction, then crossed over and is propelling them back to Nunnery via Woodburn Junction 

Was it common certain parts of a rake to be turned in this fashion? 

Okay here's a rough sketch, anyone familiar with my posts will recognize the station layout. 

So I'm getting that I need two reverse loop modules which would be aligned on the loops, where I've marked in blue.

Any other elegant solutions out there?

Doesn't seem to bother the car people either does it . Cars are like pizzas , chassis is the same, just pick your topping, vw, skodia, seat, audi .

I'm hoping to move on from my dcc shunting plank to a larger layout, dumbbell design with a station with crossover on the central section.

Any thoughts on how to effectively wire this in DCC. I feel like in conventional DC , it would be 3 sections, the central section and the 2 ends to prevent shorts.

Do I follow the same principles or is there a better way?

Grateful for any thoughts 

17 hours ago, NIK said:

Most of what you said plus JMRI (free computer assistance software for model railways)?.

 

Regards

 

Nik

I've gone down this route for a trial shunting plank layout, found it very good , 

If you can drive a computer and wire a point motor, it's quite easy , jmri has a few odd features but that's just a learning curve, like where you save your layout diagram and assigning points motors to the layout.

I've gone mainly for new locos and midrange decoders so not quite budget.