jpendle

MIne arrived last week and are superb. Here's a CL66 hauling all 16 around on my layout. Regards, John P

I reckon the problem is that bloke in the 4 foot with the badly drawn arrows of indecision on his hi res vest. Regards, John P

I thought Liam Gallagher had more eyebrow than that. John P

That's not how it works. You can't apply a raw DCC signal to the lights in a model and then switch them on and off with the decoder. The lights need DC from the decoder to work, not DCC. Regards, John P

Hi James, My iPhone has no issue connecting to the router, just sometimes the Z21. There is no other signal in my train shed. I'm beginning to suspect that switching both the Z21 and the router on at the same time through a switched extension block may sometimes cause issues. Next time it happens I'll connect my computer to the router and see if that can connect to the Z21. Regards, John P

I'm ashamed to say that, even with a degree in electronics and 40 years experience in electronics manufacturing, I had to search for the definition of a commutator before typing this. The last time I did any electric motor theory was for Physics A level. I suspect that a great many modellers have no clue about how DC motors work and wouldn't have the first idea about how to clean a commutator, and therein lies the problem for the manufacturers, do they design models for those of us who can strip down a DC motor, or for the majority (my assumption) who can't? Regards, John P

I also have intermittent issues connecting my iPhone to my Z21, which I believe started after an iPhone update which caused the iPhone to start reporting "No Internet Connection" when connected to the Z21 router. Sometimes my iPhone connects without issue, but at other times it refuses to connect to the Z21 itself. Turning the router on and off seems to fix it. I also think there's a correlation between the iPhone switching from my home network to the Z21 router, but I've no hard evidence for that. When my iPhone is connected to the Z21 Wifi, if I use the App to "reconnect to the Z21", I get an "unable to connect" message. I've thought about reporting this to Roco but it only fails when it wants to, I can't reproduce the failure once everything is working! Please don't get rid of the Z21, you'll regret it! Regards, John P

Why not? It’s the power draw that matters not the current. Assuming a 24V DCC supply at 30A, that’s 720W. A 13A plug on 240V would be up to 3000W ish. An electric fire uses more than 720W and they just plug in to the mains. Regards, John P

Hi, You cannot feed the power through the crossing as you have suggested. The two frogs in the crossing MUST have their polarities switched depending on the route taken through the crossing. Therefore they must be isolated from the rest of your track and have power fed to them through some form of switch. Also you haven't indicated were your track power feeds are. It looks like the frogs are not isolated at all, so if you were to connect all the other track to power you would get shorts at each frog. The simplest way to control the crossing frogs would be with a Double Pole Double Throw switch wired to change the polarity of the frogs as required, remember that the frogs will always be at opposite polarities. Regards, John P

It would be useful to know what make of decoders are in the respective locos. Thanks, John P

"A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah" trainset would be very nice 😁 John P

Already been done by Revolution, I've got my 2, plus two CL68's and two (not barrier) coaches. They are accommodation for said Royal Marines. Regards, John P

These 3 for me. The IIA's would complement Rev's Biomass wagons, the cut down HYA's are widespread. Might as well do the HYA-IIA while you're at it 😁 And for my frustrated N Gauge friends all of the Loco Hauled Coaching stock except the MK5's ( for obvious reasons). Regards, John P

I very much doubt that any exist. The average modeller doesn't have the equipment to assemble a tiny, double sided, Surface Mount technology PCBA. And in any case, if the likes of Zimo can't get chips then what chance the rest of us! Regards, John P

Anything at all. I might not want it, but the more players in the N Gauge market the better. But I will make a shout for Loco Hauled Coaching stock. Again I don't need any, but at least it'll stop people constantly complaining in the Farish pages. 😁 Regards, John P

Hi Iain, Are you sure about that? The traction setting for locos in the app doesn't care what "set distance" is used as long as it's consistent between locos, it's just there for double heading. So there's no way for the app to calculate the loco speed from the traction setting. Regards, John P

I'm sure it happens quite a lot, but model railways is a broad church. The modeller who can't even begin to dismantle a loco may be modelling their scenery to architectural standards. The modeller stripping down models to their component parts and cleaning motor brushes may well run screaming from the room at the thought of wiring Electrofrog points. It would help if manufacturers described how to strip down models for maintenance rather than providing just an exploded parts diagram. Regards, John P

If you set the Steering to Differential then you don't need to look at the screen, the slider only responds to you moving your finger up and down the screen. If it's set to Normal then the loco will go at whatever speed setting your finger hits on the screen. Regards, John P

Chips are made all over the world, and Zimo already manufacture in Austria. Regards, John P

Well I already bought 2 Tango Freightliner 90’s, expecting the green ones to be a year out. How wrong can you be? So what excuse can I make to acquire some green ones? Or do I wait for all those lovely DB ones that will show up as soon as I empty my wallet? Regards, John P

Well I got an email yesterday saying that my credit card had expired so I called today and my wagons will be dispatched soon. One interesting thing, I tried to add a Farish GBRF CL60 to the order and was told that regular orders and pre-orders can't normally be combined. But after a quick chat to a manager they confirmed that I could add the loco to the order, I'll get a final invoice once they've packaged everything together. Saves me paying double postage. Regards, John P

I'm hoping for a "proper" Northern liveried 319, as opposed to the, extremely short lived, Northern Electrics livery. Or even a Northern 769. John P

The only thing confusing me is that I haven't had any emails from Rails at all!! John P

Assuming that there are already wires on the frogs, then wire each frog wire to the contacts marked F on the auto frog and wire the 2 contacts marked R to your track bus. Assuming a Gaugemaster Autofrog, the wiring won't really change regardless of the autofrog/frog juicers that you use. So you'll need 4 Autofrogs or a 4 way frog juicer. Regards, John P

Hi, My understanding is that advice is to make OO points more DCC friendly as it helps prevent short circuits caused by loco wheels as they traverse the crossing. In N Gauge it's not necessary as the gaps on the points are proportionately bigger than on OO, and you are correct they don't have the bits of wire. BUT you still have the issue of relying on blade contact for continuity, or using auxiliary switches on point motors to switch the frog polarity instead. I've got 80 points on my layout and none have been modified, all have their frogs wired to auxiliary switches on my point motors and I don't have any running issues with them. Regards, John P