Bob Reid

On 12/04/2019 at 19:46, Tony Wright said:

Now, two questions, if I may, please?

 

Should I expect the 'DCC on-board' one to run on plain old DC? Obviously not with all the functions, but at least run. This one won't.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

In the case of Hornby's DCC fitted loco's (sound or otherwise) you certainly should.  The instructions will tell you they should operate on DC or DCC except it would appear that someone forgot to tell the factory.  The J36 I bought had exactly the same problem so preferring to run them in on DC before using them on DCC, I was surprised to find it didn't do exactly as it said on the tin.  One of the DCC variables has been incorrectly set. CV29 will have been set at 2 (as it was on the J36) or a number other than the correct number 6. To change it you either need someone with a DCC controller to set CV29 to 6 or replace the Decoder with a blanking plate.

Bob

I know there's no comparison to 240v / 13A but its the sort of bodge that makes you think of the old 30A Baco-Foil fuse in the cooker trick

Doesn't come with it - it's supplied as a Hornby Spare though - available from Peter's Spares circa £3.00 - it seems to be Hornby's Standard plug - X9084R, though it might be worth checking with them.

10 minutes ago, micklner said:

Obvious question at this point. What do you do if you are DC only and do not have access to a Prodigy Controller ?

Just disconnect the decoder plug and fit a banking plate Mick as ADB did above.  If you want to keep the decoder in place and functional you'll have to speak to a friend with a DCC controller (any one, not just the prodigy one used) and just change CV29.

Same here - it looks like the default for CV29 of 6 has been set incorrectly to 2.  Changing to 6 had the same effect on mine, working in both modes....

I did find the volume level from the factory to be over the top and setting the overall volume level using CV182 set to 1 does reduce it a bit but the other sounds may still need playing about for the desired level.  

Bob

[Just to add, if I have but one criticism of it - the exhaust beat at slow speed on first setting it in motion has a curious echo to each beat but a great loco otherwise (your chuffs may vary) ] 

22 minutes ago, Legend said:

Paul from Hornby thoughtfully forwarded me a blanking plug, so I’m hoping it is just a case of remove TTS sound chip and replace. I have Haig already , so I’m thinking it should just be the same as that electrically with chip removed. But must admit never bought anything DCC before, being strictly DC only and running a Relco ,so a bit apprehensive . It’s probably relatively simple though

You would be better asking Hornby that one to be one the safe side unless someone else has done it before.

10 minutes ago, GNR Dave said:

I'm liking option 3

So does Hornby's warranty folk...

The sound won't work as noted earlier, but DC operation should - well according to Hornby it should.

Certainly the main instructions show an 8-pin (NMRA Std. apparently) blanking plate under section 6. DCC Ready / Sound however no reference is made to removing the factory fitted sound decoder just that there's space in the tender beside it for a 28mm speaker.

Reading the instructions the decoder is supposed to have CV29 set to a value of 6 to enable DCC and DC running - if I'm reading it correctly it needs to have 4 added to the DCC only value of 2 for this to work - the CV Notes supplied explains this but having read it, I'm confused already though that's through ignorance of the more complex bits of DCC decoders on my part!  The short answer is you would need to check the loco on DCC to see if it is set with CV29 to a value of 6 to enable running on both DC & DCC.  I couldn't find the Sound Decoder Manual on the Hornby Website otherwise I'd include a link to it but I'm sure Hornby's service department will oblige.  I'll try mine shortly on DC and DCC.

32 minutes ago, Tony M said:

This weekend I am proudly representing Accurascale at Ally Pally…… what have I let myself in for.

C’yaz over the weekend ;-)

Tony

Have you switched your spellchecker off for the weekend already?

It's SHIRAZ not C’yaz for goodness sake

5 hours ago, 071 said:

Well, nobody has guessed it so far, so here is another clue! We're so nice like that. All I will reinforce is that it is an item of rolling stock that is not powered, but it has been used to help power many others...

 

Find out on stand 62, where we will have a very ropey 3D print (sample not quite ready in time, BOO!!) and on here at 9:30 this Saturday! Pre-ordering will also be opened!

 

 

In other news, we will have O and OO HUOs as well as OO cemflos for sale on the stand in very limited quantities. So, dont miss out on them if you intend to get some. Also, we can take pre-orders on our new announcement, Deltics, PCAs, 92s, Mark 5s etc at the show if you rather do that in person than online! 

 

I wont be there myself sadly but Patrick and team will look after you. Revolution trains will also be on our stand with a representative so you can chat to them about all things N gauge.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran

Reduce the size of that image and what looks like a brake block carrier with the adjacent wheel (back) seen behind appears - either my vivid imagination but rather than a disc braked HAA it's a tread braked TTA or similar - full of diesel no doubt

I can still imagine with all this talk of unpowered but helping to power many others, it'll be a modern MGR wagon in one of the many variants HAA etc. I could of course be talking nonsense.

53 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Out of interest, and by way of a big 'thank you' to all who've contributed in one form or another so far this year, the monies collected for CRUK already are close to £2,00.00. And we're still only in March! 

Perhaps you might want to add proofreading after this missive.  Good to see a mistake now and then!

Thanks.  Perhaps my point clumsily made was, in terms of development of carriages none of those that went in to the Grouping should be considered second string - only for fear that in some way it pushes the history and the importance of its place someway down the line. Anyway here's to more books on carriages.  Of course, having worked in the former Drawing Office, I'd thoroughly recommend Caledonian Railway Carriages by Mike Williams and published by Lightmoor!

Bob

Just who determined this?

Caledonian - second rank? Good grief man it was the True Line - between the Caley and the Premier L&NWR ran the WCML   Any company carriage books are most welcome here.

No idea.  The gearing on it makes it fairly easy work anyway - a dam sight easier anyway than it was as built - just two big levers to push the table round - one at each end.   I've no idea whether they'll follow the LMSR's example and at some point reinstate the original vacuum motor with of course the modern air equivalent!

Bob

As a side note, this was only made possible by the sterling efforts of the Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust.  Without them the 1906 70' Caledonian Railway turntable was sure to have gone elsewhere, or for scrap!

Here, courtesy of Aberdeen M.R.C. is a video of 60163 being turned at Ferryhill.

Same here - different topic (mine) hope I haven't booger'd it  and now it's working again - it's been York'd I think.

Well it's not the original Aberdonian, what with the absence of most of the Caley main line from Glasgow and no Buchanan Street, but this A1 does a good job of impersonating it...

Stonehaven (1Z63 10:14 Edinburgh to Aberdeen) 14/3/2019

Last engine of this ilk up to Aberdeen was the Peppercorn A2 60532 Blue Peter in 1994! - okay different class, but maybe one day it'll be back, and then there's the P2 to come. This A1 however, makes it look all so easy.

Bob.

8 hours ago, Major Clanger said:

 

You may need to clear your browser cache. It's working fine here, and other customers are placing orders.

Many thanks Andrew, it's all working fine now.

Thanks Andrew.  It looks like it's partially working at the moment.  Selecting Carriage Kits and Components or Wheels etc. although showing a number of items available seems to remain on the main menu, and the search box doesn't appear to do anything.

Bob.

Thank you Mike.  Even at £45 a bottle, it sounds like I'd easily recover the cost in postal savings fairly quickly.  

Bob

Mike, these are fantastic prints.  Before I end up committing myself to one, can you say (relatively) how much cheaper these are working out when compared to using the services of the likes of Shapeways?  At face value and given how much it cost for my last order from Shapeways I'd wager these work out more than 50% less expensive. 

Many thanks,

Bob.