melmerby

Is that like the ones on the first wagons with a dovetail NEM pocket? They were miles out and have about a 3mm crank as the pocket was mounted directly under the floor of the wagons The ones on the the GWR 45XX are about 1-1.5mm too high so have a smaller crank.

Hi all A freight train (4S43) has failed at Greskine on the WCML northbound line in Scotland What appears to be the rescue loco has come from further north as 1Z99 on the south bound line as far as Beattock summit where it crossed to the northbound line From there it has run wrong line down to the stranded train but instead of it's reporting number appearing in the blocks only 4 red asterisks show as it travels through each block, that code stays in that block even as it has moved to the next. My question is why does it's reporting number not show?

What happens with those people that have a total of 20 fingers & toes?

Tonight whilst travelling home on the bus I spotted a car being driven a little erratically in the opposite direction in traffic. As it passed i noticed the driver was holding a container with food in it in his left hand and was scooping said food out with a spoon in his right hand. I assume he was steering with his knees as there wasn't a passenger to do it for him. The Car? A BMW, however it was covered in little scrapes and knocks so I assume that was his normal driving method.

Surely you need to know the mass to know how much energy is contained therein?

Which you can buy here: https://goo.gl/maps/WygMiajQHG12

Note It is a " No Claim Bonus" not a No Blame Bonus and as such the insurance company needn't have backed down unless it clearly states in the policy details that it will not penalise you in a no blame situation. They normally do cover those costs, but I found one company in particular, difficult to deal with - AXA. They expect you to do all the leg work. I had to sue another driver in the small claims court to get back the cost of some damage in a no blame accident. AXA wouldn't do it themselves, needless to say I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole now. I still lost two days annual leave for the two appearances in front of the beak.

Yes. Rudy's videos (on various aspects of model railways) are definitely worth a look. Seeing it in pictures makes it so much easier to understand.

Slow to Drop? I'm not familiar with modern signalling so if this isn't relevant ignore it: Could you introduce a delay when the relay is released that isn't there when operating? (I'm thinking on telecom circuits where relays were slow to operate or slow to release compared to normal)

Presumably that means the T/L couplings each end aren't the same? At least on the 45XX they were, even if they were at the wrong height and wrong horizontal position!

I'd agree with that!

I thing you mean the other way around i.e. if the 48v one was feeding the 16v one and the 16v one's plug is loose However if you plug both into the mains together something nasty would happen (Fire and brimstone) as the voltages aren't the same.

Whilst espousing the benefits of DC you came out with this statement: "Last weekend I was operating a shunting layout which was DCC operated. I just didn't get the hang of the inertia control, as soon as the train started I had to take of the power and apply the brake, it was pot luck if I stopped where I wanted to. Far harder than driving a real loco." When challenged you added this It comes across as a reason for not having DCC because there was no mention that it was an option that could be turned off, just as inertia is an option on some DC controllers.

Hi Paul I am hardly likely to go off in a huff as the post was made in a good natured manner, hence the smiley at the end. I just feel your original post left too much to individual interpretation. The fact that the layout was intended to be a contract build wasn't made clear and only emerged later and the costs involved with that have a huge impact on the actual recommendations that others would make. A bit more information at the start would have stopped an awful lot of confusion and speculation. You have now, as far as I can tell, given all the salient information. I admire your plan and hope you can get it to where you want it. We all have ideals and my layout has evolved somewhat from that originally envisaged. I now have some 60 points and 100+ individual blocks, that's a lot more complicated than my original plan. I didn't intend operating the points from DCC having started with a (home brew) CDU and some thyristors to switch such things as H&M point motors using either a pointer and stud or push buttons but have evolved through Seeps & Lenz LS150s ending up with NCE Switch-8s & Tortoises. I would recommend you consider allowing for re-thinks/adjustments along the way, in case something gets set in stone that you would like to change later. To a certain extent I also run 4 fleets of locos (although only 60-70 in total) as I model Grouping to WW2 but with all 4 companies and have the various stock out at different times. I also have the (mostly) appropriate vehicles, 400+ wagons and 175 coaches, to run with the locos.

Who said you shouldn't be able to run several units on DC? What inertia? I don't have inertia on my DCC hand controls. Again more misinformation.

Forgive me but your first post was IMHO too vague and you only came back in on the third page. By that time much speculation had been made as to what you might want and more details have only been teased out as the discussion has progressed. It's a little wonder it has got somewhat out of control.

The heaviest ever run was in Australia where BHP Billiton ran a train of nigh on 100000 tons with 8 AC6000s distributed down the train. They normally run half this amount

You don't know what those pins might be in contact with if they aren't in a socket. One could be contacting something conductive and you could unwittingly complete a circuit by touching the other. You have to consider the worst possible scenario, it might be highly unlikely but must be taken into account. Mind you where I used to work I came across someone that as part of their test equipment had a 13A plugged mains lead with bare crocodile clips on the free end!

If you think that you shouldn't be let near AC mains equipment. That could very well be lethal as the ouput from the unconnected plug will be at mains voltage and with a current capability to kill.

If they don't have sound the actual draw isn't that high. I have 25 or more 4mm locos on the layout at a time and the total (non-moving) current consumption is in the order of 750mA (30mA per loco) and that includes some lighting in vehicles and buildings.

The NEM Kadees have the swivel heads to try and make up for the rigid pockets on many vehicles

More to do with a manufacturer (Usually Bachmann) treading it's own path and not using the NEM standard* placing of the coupling pocket, leading to a requirement for several different configuration NEM fitting tension locks. Later offerings from Bachmann are generally better. They seemed to have got the message that a standard is what it says and not a starting point for a variation! * actually for H0 but as we in the UK use H0 track it is a sensible standard to use

And also complete lost on the day it was filmed as the sky itself had varying cloud amounts, which gave the same effect!

I have fitted Kadees to my first Bachmann 45XX (Non DCC Ready) Here's how. The loco is fitted with coupling pockets on the pony trucks so I expected to be able to just plug in some #18s No way, Bachmann in it's wisdom have mounted the pocket at the wrong height and in the wrong position relative to the buffer beam (i.e. too far back!) As you can see the T/L couplings fitted are non standard (standard at the top, 45XX at the bottom) As the pocket forms much of the pony truck, butchering was off the cards so I decided to make an adaptor from plasticard. The tongue was a force fit into the Bachmann pocket and using that arrangement the coupling was fixed at the appropriate height and distance. The #18 was fixed to the plastic adaptor with a 10BA nut & bolt. A #18 with the plastic adaptor: The bits assembled: Fitted to pony truck: Checked against the gauge for height: I think a tack of bostick type adhesive to keep it all together and trim of the screw and it will be finished

My first question is: Are you using Unos? If so have you considered the Mega? More I/O pins/More Memory/faster. Second question: Why Arduinos? Surely you could do this with a computer running an railway automation program & DCC? See Here: