TEAMYAKIMA

Again, many thanks to one and all who took the trouble to share their knowledge to help me. I discovered that the 0-6-0T 's CV5 was set at 160. I set up the 2-8-2 and the 0-6-0T on parallel tracks and experimented. After several 'suck it and see' moments I settled at a set speed for all four anti-clockwise locos at 32% and with the 0-6-0T's CV5 set at 245 it speed matched the 2-8-2. Job done and once again apologies for my complete ignorance of DCC and thanks for your help.

I regret that my general understanding of such matters is so abysmal that I often use terms and expressions that mean one thing to a non-expert like me and something completely different to an expert. Hence any misunderstanding is totally my fault and I apologise for any inconvenience caused by it. I can only thank all of you for your support and input - I have not been able to put this advice into practice tonight, but will do so tomorrow and report back.

Thanks, I'll try that as soon as the rain stops and I can get down the garden and into the shed 🙂

Hello Nigel (and Iain) No, it's not double heading. I have a set up on my industrial system as follows........................................ My industrial system (not my main lines) has short trains. But the three FY roads allocated to the industrial system include one very long road and two relatively long ones. The very long road is allocated to clockwise and the two relatively long ones are allocated to anti-clockwise. The very long clockwise FY road stores three trains and the two other roads are each allocated two trains - so, a total of three clockwise and four anticlockwise trains. All clockwise trains share the address 100 and all anti-clockwise trains share the address 200. There are three dead sections on the very long FY road and two dead sections on each of the other two. Each of these dead sections are fed by a timing device and I activate the timers from the handset and all three (or two) timers are activated together. So, let me give you an example, in fact the example which is the 'problem'.......................... Track 18 houses the 0-6-0T with a short train and a 2-8-2 with a short train and each train begins the day with the appropriate loco sitting in a dead section of approximately 12 inches length, but most importantly both locos are 'programmed' at a set speed. So, in this case they are both programmed as 200 and 200 is set at 38% i.e. they have both run into their respective dead sections at 38% but the power has not been turned off - the train simply stopped when the loco entered the dead section. When I want a train from track 18 to move into the scenic section, I use the handset to activate both timers together and they are both set at approximately 7 seconds. Consequently the leading train sets off for the scenic section at 38% and the trailing train sets off at the same setting and moves up the FY road and eventually hits the (now) dead section and stops. Meanwhile the first train runs through the scenic section and eventually enters the FY and stops when the loco gets onto the dead section. Track 16 (the very long road) works similarly except that there are three trains, three dead sections and three timers. The idea behind this was to make the industrial operation suitable for one man operation - otherwise we needed a second man just to move the trains up in the FY. Each class of loco performs differently and so track 16 has three identical locos and so they all run at the same speed at any given speed setting e.g. for example 38% -consequently the trains don't catch each other up. The same is true on track 17 - two locos of the same make and class and so they don't catch each other up. But with track 18 the 2-8-2 runs much faster at any given speed setting and so it tends to catch up the 0-6-0t. Now, obviously this is only a problem when the 0-6-0T is the leading train and the 2-8-2 is the trailing loco. What can happen is that the 2-8-2 catches up with the 0-6-0t's train and couples up to it - result is chaos! The easy solution is to remove the springs in the Kadee couplings at the rear end of the 0-6-0T's train and in the coupler at the front of the 2-8-2, but I thought if I could either slow the 2-8-2 or speed up the 0-6-0T that would be a better solution. So, TBH they don't have to exactly speed match, I simply want to slightly speed up the 0-6-0T or slow down the 2-8-2.

Iain Firstly, many apologies for not thanking you for that - all done now. But secondly, I see that you live in Alton - are you part of the Alton show team? The reason that I am working on my locos is that I am taking my layout to next month's Alton show - will you be there? If so, please come and say 'Hello'. May I take this opportunity to ask you another question please? I need to speed match my ESU fitted 0-6-0T to my Soundtrax fitted 2-8-2's, but only at one given speed. Let's assume it's 38% and so the 0-6-0T and the 2-8-2 should run at the same speed at 38% - it doesn't matter if their speeds don't match at 30% or at 50% as long as they match at 38%. I have looked at the ESU manual, but as usual I regret to admit that it makes no sense to me. Hoping to meet you in person at Alton. BW Paul

Please forgive this ignorant question (I regret that I haven't read the entire thread) but is this seen as a purely clubroom layout? Will it, can it, be seen at exhibitions?

So, I use US Soundtraxx chips. All were professionally installed and some have this issue and some don't I put one of my7 steam locos on the track and it starts wheezing away - no problem - but when I enter its address to start running it, it always gives out a short loud 'hoot' as if it's saying 'hello'. All joking aside, it's just annoying me rather than affecting operation. Any thoughts on how to turn this 'feature' off?

I've recently had it confirmed that we came 4th (equal) in the public vote for best layout at the Taunton show - not bad as there were 35 layouts. 🙂

This is just to announce that my Chinese HO layout will be at the Alton show in February. We set out to both educate and entertain. If you want to learn about the railways of China, our layout authentically portrays the last days of steam operation in a remote region of the country. If you simply want to be entertained, our layout has three main lines with constant action and several unique features - such as a 19 coach passenger train and double-headed 2-10-2's on freight trains - all totally authentic! Hoping to see you there!

Our well-known O gauge layout, ADDISON ROAD, recently won 'Best Layout' at the Tolworth show and it received some amazing coverage in local media. https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/news/2023/12/olympia-re-created-street-street-amazing-1925-model-railway?clear_cache&utm_campaign=14264705_Weekly briefing 231222&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&dm_i=BGN,8HQPT,U1B74E,Z3SE4,1 ADDISON ROAD is virtually finished now and available for shows around the country, but the group are keen 'builders' as well as operators and so they have started on a new project, WEST BROMPTON, which will keep the group busy for the next few years. Would YOU like to be part of our new WEST BROMPTON team? We meet most Fridays and once a month on Saturdays - send me a PM or visit our club website www.tdmrc.org.uk

Addison Road recently won 'Best Layout' at the Tolworth Exhibition and it received some amazing coverage in local media. https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/news/2023/12/olympia-re-created-street-street-amazing-1925-model-railway?clear_cache&utm_campaign=14264705_Weekly briefing 231222&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&dm_i=BGN,8HQPT,U1B74E,Z3SE4,1

Apologies, I must admit that I hadn't publicised that issue as much as I should have. Due to a clash of dates we have had to pull out of York in 2024

I must admit that I have not read every post on this thread, but I hope this layout may have some relevance to this discussion. My Club was formed in 1961 and for our 50th anniversary I built this 'typical' 1961 Table Top layout. It represents a typical kitchen table layout which got dismantled every day because 'mother needs the table back' Except for the two trains which run clockwise and anti-clockwise and the tea cup, everything else is glued down permanently in place - YES, the de-railed tanker, the track plans, the Railway Modeller, the pencil etc are all superglued in position There is usually a half-eaten biscuit in the tea cup's saucer and at one show a visitor complained bitterly that I should not have included the ashtray and (toy) cigarette as it would encourage his 3 year-old son to take up smoking.

Hello Steve We have three shows booked in 2024 - Alton (Feb 3/4) Abingdon (March 2/3) & Aylesbury (May 24/25) and, so far, in 2025 it's Basingstoke Can you see a pattern developing? 🤔 If it continues like this we will be doing Warrington in 2056 and Yeovil in 2057!

Years ago when my layout first appeared on the exhibition circuit it didn't have a lighting rig. This suited me as my layout is set in industrial China in the spring not Cuba in high summer. Consequently, the average hall lighting suited my concept. After a few shows and having spoken to viewers I decided to add lighting facia using 12v LED strips and that seemed fine, but having seen some recent photos and videos of the layout at shows, I'mm not so sure now. The trouble comes in well lit venues. Here it is at Manchester and you can clearly see the shadows of the two supporting beams It was even worse at Warley as can be seen in this video at 20.52 and beyond as the whole facia casts a long shadow along the front of the whole layout Consequently, I am thinking of only setting up the lighting rig in badly lit venues. I realise that I could light the layout in a completely different way i.e. not using a facia at all and having 'floodlights' on poles coming over from the back of the layout, but I don't want to go that route. For me there is a problem at the moment and the solution is to make a decision once I get to a venue ................. If it's a badly lit venue use the existing lighting rig If it's a well lit venue don't For me that long shadow at Warley completely spoils that video and something need to be done, but whilst I am sure that I could improve things by flooding the whole layout with extra powerful lights please remember that I want subdued lighting not a tropical island at high noon. Plenty for me to think about!

I think it's time for reflection on 2023 and a look forward to 2024 and beyond. Our last three shows - Taunton, Warley and Manchester - were all successful with crowds two, three and even four deep at times. At those shows we have had some issues, but we have learnt how to deal with them and have moved on. One such lesson that we learnt was if you have five identical RTR locos, the fact that four of them will run perfectly in reverse through a set of standard PECO code 100 points does NOT necessarily mean that the fifth one will !!!🤔 Things went so well at Manchester that we were able to experiment with a few of the so-called 'complex' moves on the China Rail main lines - just to add a little variety to the operation. There are two of these 'complex' moves, what I like to call the simple complex move and the complex complex move and we tried both at Manchester. All of these 'experiments' were successful, but that doesn't mean that there weren't lessons to be learnt. We plan to make these complex moves part of the standard operation at future shows, once we have made some minor operational tweaks to deal with the minor issues these experiments brought to light. So, we move into 2024 in buoyant mood - a layout which is finally delivering its full potential and a team of experienced operators keen to show it off around the country. So, all I have to do now is to wish everyone who follows this thread a 'MERRY XMAS' and a very 'HAPPY NEW YEAR'

On the subject of videos, I have always wanted a definitive one which captures all our unique features and in the last few days I have some time looking at various exhibition videos to get ideas. I think that the Abingdon show in March might be the ideal venue for such a video session as we will be in a separate room and so there will be less background noise than in a large packed hall. Consequently, the layout will have to be completely finished and running perfectly by the Abingdon show. So, no pressure then! 😬

There are several videos on YOUTUBE showing the Manchester exhibition, most of which include BEIJIAO, but this is my favourite as it highlights one of our new features - QJ 7141 with dynamic smoke - and I think it looks really good. We start at 7.13 and 'NO' that's not our soundtrack!

Thanks

Please allow me to say straight away that I am not a DCC enthusiast and 99% of what I read or am told goes right over my head, but to an extent I have learnt how to do VERY basic things like change loco addresses. I use Digitrax and all my chips so far have been SOUNDTRAX. I now have a loco which comes factory fitted with a ESU chip and that has somewhat thrown me. I don't like the loco's 'take-off' speed and hope to lower it and I want to change the direction of travel so that it runs tender first in forward mode. I have looked up ESU decoders and it seems to me that CV2 is linked to starting speed - how do I attempt to set the take-off speed lower? Also I see that loco direction is linked to CV29 - how do I change direction? I apologise that these questions are soooooooooo basic and I genuinely wish that my brain was more DCC friendly, but please take pity on me and give me the advice I need. Many thanks Paul

Absolutely true in my/our case. My layout needs 6 operators and we try to use 'local' operators whenever possible in order to keep costs down. Consequently, at our last three shows we have always had two completely new team members who, in some cases, have never even seen the layout up until then. Another issue is that some team members always use DC on their own layouts and we use DCC, but just because someone is used to using Gaugemaster or Hornby or Bachmann or NCE at home does NOT mean that they take to DIGITRAX like a duck to water.

All joking aside, the key thing these days is to be constantly learning how to get the best out of the layout - from the viewers' point of view, from the operators' point of view and from my point of view. The layout has many operational possibilities and we need to learn how to exploit them to the best advantage.We learnt a lot at Warley, we learnt a lot at Manchester, what we need to do before our next show is to find ways to use that knowledge to our best advantage. One problem we have in that regard is that operators only gain experience at shows - we can't set the layout up every week like a club can. So, the trick is to find ways of saving that knowledge we've gained and making it available to operators who come 'cold' to the next exhibition. We now have crib sheets for setting up the layout, crib sheets for using the Digitrax handsets and soon we will have crib sheets to enhance the operation based on the experience we gained at Manchester.

Wow! That's a leading question if ever I heard one - like something out of PMQ's! All I can say at this stage is that I was told by the exhibition manager that we came 2nd or 3rd in the public vote for best layout. All I can say at this stage is that all the operating team have told me that they would be very happy to operate again as/when the opportunity arises. and that means that we now have a pool of 16 potential operators. All I can say at this stage is that things were going so smoothly on Sunday afternoon that I just drifted off and looked around the show - a first for me! That's all I can say at this stage.😉

WOW! As the owner of BEIJIAO I can only thank you so much for your comments. The layout has been on the circuit for a few years now and has always been changing/developing with each showing. It cannot be set up at home and so we try to learn from every exhibition we do and make the next one better than the last and it seems, from your comments, that we are 'nearly there now' . Thank you again - it's moments like this that make the whole thing worthwhile.

I've just found this photo elsewhere on RMweb showing the layout at Manchester. The photo was taken before the show opened - HONEST!