E100

A 73/9 in both 4mm and 2mm would go down very well.

I think an issue with units is that if a manufacturer gets a sniff of someone else doing it they could very easily get scared. Duplication can work for class 37's/47's but not for a 325. The risk of tooling up 3-5 loco/coaches is huge. You could mechanically design a PEP to be interchangeable but the bodyshell differences and nuances throughout their service lives are huge to the best of my knowledge. You can sell a lot more Mk2b TSO's than you can a middle coach of a 507/508. Then again you can charge a premium for them and therefore whilst the risk is large the reward could be equally large for whoever steps up to the mantle. Dapol and Revolution stand to gain a lot from the 323/321's hitting that ~£100 a coach sweet spot at the retailers based on the enthusiasm seen so far. IIRC Accurascale have previously said on this thread or another they looked at the PEP units but then heard someone else was so believe they backed off.

I've had my RTC pack and WCRC coaches for a while to look over. I have to say I'm extremely pleased all round. Fell pretty solid to me as well with no detail lost on any of them. Thanks Accurascale and can't wait for my much larger 2c order to roll in! Regarding the WCRC Maroon it's not something I will lose any sleep over. It's very common to see brighter freshly painted coaches and some older faded and darker ones all mixed in together as others have said.

So I got the multimeter out and placed the old 2020 coach on the track with 12V DC voltage (about 12.8V or so - though I usually run DCC around 15V). I firstly checked I was on the right setting which being a complete novice took a bit of trial and error even with the manual and got a reading of 0.01V of my Alpha Meter. I've then put the two probes onto the two capacitor wires and got a reading of around 4.6-4.8V giving me fair confidence that the 5.5V super capacitors should work on the old board. I've therefore ordered a set of them to give them a try.

So I purchased most of the old 2020 coaches at a major discount apart from the TF coaches. I got a 2022 set of these and have just opened them up to compare to try and resolve the capacitor issue. Having now looked at both boards it's very clear they are radically different with the 2020 capacitor positioned towards the pickups and the 2022 capacitor is positioned away from the pickups. I've taken photos below. Note that the new capacitors are 0.22F and 5.5V vs 1000uF (0.001F) and 25V. I'm really not too experienced with electronics at this stage but willing to try and learn. I'm a little concerned that if I go with a straight swap of the new into the old that they could go bang. This is partially due to the the new supercapacitors being rated at 5.5V vs 25V. It's suggests that the track voltage goes through a resistor with the new but not with the old? But then again is that also a part of the electrical issue and that they should have been 5.5V all along? I note that the 2020 capacitor appears after R01 (SMD resistor? labelled 331). Has anyone given the 2022 type capacitors suggested above or similar in the 2020 board? Either way hope the images below help. 2020 TS 2022 TF

Thanks for still posting it. Even if the running is imperfect the development of a project is really nice aspect of the hobby I enjoy seeing.

Just in case any body like me was on the fence I've just made my one of these my first purchase from Bure Valley Models. Don't have any affiliation but at £172 for 78054 with a Scottish shed plate and painted timken roller bearings it's hard to say no. The first batch are at £164.

The hole is a bit more negative than I meant that to come across in fairness. That being said, currently there is a significant investment of many millions that a return has yet to be made on by the recent financial results (which are granted probably now out of date). This is obviously understandable as this was never meant to make a return over 1 year but several years so it hasn't failed, since it's far to early to determine that and there is plenty more models on the way. However, I do think it's fair to say it's been a heck of risk and one that has yet to fully pay off, as there are significant questions around the long term viability that cannot yet be answered to the positive or negative in the same way that DCC sound models were a risk and it's only in the past few years gaining significant market share. The point I was really trying to make is that one way I can see them mitigating against this risk is by looking towards models that have a broader market appeal into the European TT:120 market such as IWA Cargowagons or other types of wagons that made it here from the continent on train ferries during the 70's/80's for example.

I thought playtrains was being discontinued unless I dreamt this?

I do think a way for Hornby to try and dig themselves out of a TT120 shaped hole is to swing some focus towards those cross European models such as 87's but also wagons used on both sides of the channel to bolster their European brands at the same time. To be fair they are obviously doing the 66 though arguably more from a UK perspective that more lateral thinking. I do understand the need for the phase 1/2/3 models but beyond that I can certainly see more broad appeal models coming to the fore even if that comes at the slight detriment to the UK range. I would also be interested to understand if models such as the Flying Scotsman are selling well on European layouts in the same way that the HO models seem to have gone down well.

Spoke with DCC Train Automation at Model Rail Scotland. They basically said Yamorc is perfect for smaller/medium layouts with Lodi ideal for medium/larger layouts, especially those looking to utilise railcom which can swamp the other bus systems.

It's simple a case of two options to me. If you want you can put in pretty much any DCC decoder and it will do all the basic functions. If you want to unlock all the advanced lighting features you buy an ESU lokpilot decoder from a retailer (such as roads and rails for example but pretty much any ESU retailer would do I'm sure) who can blow the decoder (likely for free) with the file from the ESU website which is freely available or use your lokprogrammer or find a nice person who has one at your club or on here / a friend etc. I don't think that's unreasonable to me based on the size of outfit Cavalex are and the functionality we are asking these decoders to do and this is really maxing out the capabilities of the highest specification on the market. All that being said I would welcome a single DCC standard for the 21pin interface that would ensure that these issues don't occur but that isn't the world we live in yet.

It is an identical SKU between Rails and Locomotion

I have resolved to do two days next year. Whilst not as huge as Warley, everything is so interesting and I found the traders much more accessible due to less crowds especially towards the end of the day. A really cracking day out for the 3rd but certainly not final MRS I go to. Excellent organisation as ever.

Those are stunning. Well done. I would suggest some photos of those would go very well on the realistic modelling thread! Look forward to seeing this tomorrow!

I also hope we may get an update soon on the project as it is slated for release at the end of the year.

Well as someone who was there when it was announced and not checking Facebook it was definitely a surprise to me and I'll be sure to stay off facebook before for a nice surprise. Any idea when you are doing it or are preferring not to say? Either look forward to a natter tomorrow.

I have but not had a reply.

Buckjumpers were March 2023 and the partial retool class 66 was at Model Rail Scotland last year.

Can't wait!

It certainly could be though I suspect they might want to make more of big bang new tooled announcement welcome as those are. The most recent loco has been the pannier (excluding the Hatton's announcements) which would be around 3 months ago. Alternatively a raft of Scottish 37's inc. 37/4's would go down very well.

Is the MRS announcement at the show again? The reason I ask is I'll make a beeline for the stand otherwise I'll head to the back of the show!

The simple answer is no unless you like yours with a white stripe and a westie (37027). They definitely plan to at some point but when is who knows.

I think it's fair to assume they (all or some of them) may have been produced but haven't left the factory i.e are sitting on pallets waiting for their brethren to reach a similar stage before being dispatched in one large group. Obviously, tens of thousands of models don't immediately go from having been completed to on a ship. They also need to wait for a ship to be allocated to be sent to the port from the factory one would presume. Just a couple of reasons for a 'purgatory' of sorts between the two stages. Short of putting a tracker on the containers themselves I don't think we can reasonably expect anymore from Accurascale in terms of updates from what they already do. It's leagues ahead of many others and I think we've been somewhat spoiled by the detailed tracking information provided by many couriers when ordering from overseas that whilst nice to have and often interesting doesn't change from the fact they'll be here roughly in the next few months and the old phrase 'they'll be here when they are here'. The SLW class 25 experience is certainly a lesson in patience with orders for one SKU alone spreading out over a month due to the small team but as they, like these, will be excellent I don't really mind at all!

It wouldn't surprise me if this batch is an order of magnitude bigger than the 24's.