SRman

An update from my 10800 experiments: I reported before that I was having no luck with the top light on the short hood using any of Zimo MX634C/D (I tried both settings!), Zimo MX638C/D (all four settings tried), Lais 860019 (which, in spite of claims I have seen, appears to be a 4-function decoder), and now, the latest attempt, a Lais 870019 with stay-alive capability and 6-functions. The latter only arrived today and it works! 👏🎉 As the locomotive requires five functions for the lighting: lower markers front (forwards), lower markers rear (reverse), upper marker front, upper marker rear, and cab light. The Zimo decoders have six functions but still would not light the rear top marker for some reason. Anyway, the Lais 870019 works all of the required functions. I have not added a stay alive pack, but it has the wires attached to make such an installation easier. While I had the body off, I used an orange Sharpie on the cab light and that has dimmed down nicely to a dull yellowish glow - I may have added too much ink, but it can be wiped off to reduce the effect a little. I hope this information may help others here as well. On the subject of Sharpies, I will try using a black one to touch up the handrails where I have scratched them from repeated removals and reinstallations of the body. They don't normally have to cope with much handling.

I just checked my green Hymek from the very first batch Heljan released, and it does have a light that activates at each of the trailing ends which is supposed to illuminate a tail light, but is actually totally ineffective. Mine might be misaligned, or it may have lost a light guide over the years, but the light bulb doesn't align well with the actual tail light. The headcodes light up fairly dimly, but the lighting is visible even in fairly bright room lighting.

Great - that proves as you said earlier that all the bulbs are working, so it looks like it might need a tweak to the decoder settings. Out of interest, do the lights work correctly if you take out the decoder and put the blanking plug back in (on DC analogue, of course)? Anyway, the thing to do with the decoder is to work out how to set F0(f) to work both head and tail lights at the relevant ends, then F0(r) the opposite way. I'm not sure with the HM7000 system whether you can analyse the Function mapping easily. For the more prosaic decoders I use Decoder Pro on a computer to talk to the programming track, but Hornby's system might allow you to do something similar graphically rather than trying to work out individual CVs. I doubt that altering CV29 will do anything to correct the anomaly. Edit: Ray H's suggestion above is also a good one to try, before fiddling with any CVs. He posted while I was finishing typing my response! 😄

Back to photographing my motive power using themes: this one is Bulleid Merchant Navy class, in both original and rebuilt forms. Once again, the liveries cover a range of eras. Believe it or not, there is an overlap of numbers, as a sort of before and after effect. 😁 There are two originals missing: one is a nearly finished Millholme white metal kit on a Hornby chassis, but it hasn't been converted to DCC yet, to be 35028 Clan Line, and 35015 Rotterdam Lloyd, a Frankenstein's Monster made from two Airfix/Kitmaster kits on a modified Hornby Dublo chassis; both would have shorted out the tracks when I took the photos. The original form locos are (in no particular order) 21C3 Royal Mail (SR green), 35018 British India Line (a Golden Arrow resin body on a Hornby chassis), 35023 Holland Afrika Line, and 35024 East Asiatic Company (BR blue). The rebuilt types are 35005 Canadian Pacific (preservation BR blue), 35012 United States Lines (on the lower programming/test track), 35015 Rotterdam Lloyd (edit: missing from the photo), 35021 New Zealand Line, 35023 Holland Afrika Line, 35024 East Asiatic Company, 35027 Port Line, and 35028 Clan Line. To deal with the duplicate numbers in DCC addressing, I have added 100 to the rebuild MN numbers, so 35023 becomes 35123, for example.

I'm not quite sure I'm getting what you are describing. Can we start with some terms of reference: Loco cab ends are #1 and #2 (I know the WR actually used 'A' and 'B' for these), with cab #1 at the radiator end. Track directions are (say) east and west. Loco set to head west, with cab #1 leading facing west, you have headcode lights at cab #1 and tail lights at cab #2. Then when it is reversed to head east with cab #2 leading, you get tail lights on cab #1 but nothing at cab #2 end. When you spin the loco round so that cab #1 faces east, you send it forwards eastbound, you get no headcode lights on cab #1 but tail lights are on at cab #2. So that means the headcode that worked when facing west now doesn't when turned to face east. Have I got that correct? My suggestions will follow once I have that right. 🤨

There has been a slight delay on delivery of these models because the ship they are on has been diverted away from the Middle East hot-spot where terrorists have been attacking ships they believe have Israeli content, according to a recent email. The models are now expected somewhere around February 2024. I have one on order, myself.

Not all that unusual. All of the RTs built up to a certain time had top box bodies, as did the non-standard versions from Cravens and Saunders Roe. Top box bodies tended to be disposed of first in the 1960s, including sometimes putting them on Leyland RTL chassis at overhaul, because the RTLs were destined to be sold off before the majority of the AECs. I could give chapter and verse on this, but it would take a lot longer ... such details fill up entire books on the RTs and on London Buses in general. I always ask the (rhetorical) question, what other bus company would consider 120 buses as non-standard? 😁 There were 120 Cravens bodied RTs.

My OOC example arrived last week, and is posed here with the kit-built one in green from Little Bus Company I completed some years ago.

As I have noted on the Accurascale class 37 thread, I have upgraded the power supply to the NCE Power Pro system that supplies the entire layout except the programming/test track. For many years I have used a 15V 5A laptop power supply, which has coped perfectly well with all the demands of the layout to date. However, with the Accurascale class 37s, I found that the stay-alive packs were not working, although they worked perfectly well when on the programming track with an NCE Power Cab supplying full track voltage. I was able to transfer a class 37 with sound and lights working from the programming track to the main lines without interrupting anything. However, the reverse was not the case. I recently read that the Power Pro can use up to a 19V power supply (that's official on the NCE website), so purchased a suitable laptop power adapter with a 19V 4.5A output. Connecting this up to the Power Pro worked straight off, so I briefly tested Accurascale 37 609, which demonstrated a short period of capacitance. I really didn't give it very long to charge up, so it may actually be better than the initial test suggests. Whichever way, the higher track voltage has proved a success. A normal meter showed 12.8V at the rails, where previously it was somewhat lower than that. I know that it's not a true reading because of the wave form of DCC, but it was a fair comparison between the "before" and the "after".

Backtracking slightly, a while ago I reported that none of the stay-alive packs worked on my main lines powered by an NCE Power Pro 5 Amp system with a 15V 5 Amp laptop power supply. However, they all worked perfectly on the programming track (when on full track power) using an NCE Power Cab with the NCE <2 Amp power supply. I have been able to test any of the class 37s on the programming/test track, then lift it with sound and lights running up to the main running lines with no interruption, but not in the other direction. I noted only recently that NCE do approve of power supplies up to 19V for the Power Pro system, so knowing that there is a fair voltage drop between the input and the output, I bought a 19V 4.5 Amp laptop supply and tested it on my system - no problems to report, with 12.8 Volts showing at the rails. A very quick test with 37 609 on the main lines, powered up with the new supply, showed it did now have some capacitance. I really didn't give it long to charge up, so I can't report full capacity yet, but there is a good chance it does work better than the 2 seconds initially seen. I have reported this success to Accurascale as well, as it may help some of their other customers (I hope).

I have added some of Bachmann's barbed wire fencing along the back of the garage scene. It barely shows from some angles, but the whole point of using it is to allow a clear view of trains at the back as they go past. The beauty of having the scene removable can be seen in that I was able to work on it in a more comfortable location. There is more to do in lining both sides of the road with hedgerows. There are also a few "holes" to fix up which the close-up shots show rather cruelly.

I did a little more fiddling with the layout wiring late today, something I have been putting off for a long time (where have you heard me say that before??). Again, it relates to the lighting rig with the white LEDs - I have kept the coloured string on a separate switch. I ran some extra 12V wiring to allow me to move the plug for the western end lights to the same power board as the eastern end lights and also the main layout power, so now, when I switch the trains on, the white LED lights also all come on, instead of my having to switch the left-hand end on separately. While doing this, I realised the variable voltage power adapter for the new string was actually set for 9V instead of 12, so swapping that for a straight 12V adapter means that the lights are all now roughly the same brightness. I can reuse the variable one more productively elsewhere. Also while doing all this, I tried to tidy up the wiring a bit, using some velcro straps. I found that two of the longer straps joined together could go around the massive main girders, and the bonus is they can be unhooked to allow further wires to be held if necessary later. It may not look that much different in the photo, but the exposed wiring at the front of the layout really is neater now.

I have been pondering upgrading mine on a Power Pro system. Currently it uses a 15V AC 5 Amp computer laptop supply, which means the actual track voltage is lower (I haven't measured it, though). NCE say that the Power Pro can take 19V AC, so I have bought a suitable laptop supply with 4.5 Amps output. I haven't plucked up the courage to connect it yet. How does this relate to the Accurascale 37s? Well, all of mine have the stay-alives working when I put them on my programming track with a Power Cab powering it, but when they are on the main lines with the Power Pro, none of the stay-alives are working. While all of my points are live frog and have auto-polarity switches, none of the locomotives stall on them, so it hasn't been a high priority for me to "fix" the problem (such as it is), but it is something I'd like to have working eventually.

Regardless of the rejection, I love that. I do have the Hatton's P in that livery, and it is one of my favourites.

One of the points leading into the western end of my storage roads was playing up recently when we ran a friend's Fell diesel - the auto-polarity wasn't working properly, leaving the frog dead in both directions. I tested it with a short wheelbase locomotive, a Hatton's Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST and that confirmed that no power was getting to the frog and Vee area at all. It would have been useless using any longer wheelbase locomotives or units as they can bridge the short dead section anyway. I suggested that some of the pickups were not doing their job on the Fell if it was stalling there, in addition to the lack of power feeding the section. I have been procrastinating about fixing it, but finally bit the bullet to move some stuff out of the way and pull the layout out from the wall to get at the underneath of the point from that side - the layout is on casters but it is also heavy! I sent the Andrew Barclay around to get it to stall on the point so I would be able to tell when I had restored power, but it carried on through the point perfectly. Tried it through all the other points with blades set in both available directions in turn, and it sailed through all of them without the slightest hesitation. This was both annoying and relieving, as I don't have to try to trace the faulty connection. I figured it has to be in the wire leading from the frog/vee to the polarity switch but didn't know for sure which wire was the correct one from the point (it's partially obscured from the front of the layout). Thankfully I now don't have fix anything, especially as some temporary medications I am on are making me a bit unsteady. The photo shows the loco after I had driven it back from testing each road in turn. It remained under its own power at all times, with no prodding or pushing at all. It is sitting beside the new CEP unit shown in my previous post.

Just arrived this morning is the Bachmann refurbished 4 CEP unit in Jaffa Cake livery. The first photo shows the unit 1522 on its own, the second shows it with the matching MLV 9008 (68008) on the rear. At this point I haven't consisted the two units because I want to run 1522 in first. The CEP ran perfectly on DC on its initial test, and also when I fitted a Lenz Silver decoder. However, the interior lights in the motored car didn't come on when tested, and I traced that to the body not clipping down quite correctly. After fixing that, it stuttered and started then stopped repeatedly, so another trouble-shooting investigation revealed that the trailing bogie's springy contact on the PCB had got caught and was bent, so off came the body again (a right royal pain!), and out came the long-nosed pliers. The latter contact bending has also been reported by someone else on RMweb. After testing the chassis successfully, the body was clipped back in and the small black light guide moulding was clipped back into place on the headcode light after that came loose. Fortunately that was accessible from the front corridor connection opening without removing the body again. This time it ran perfectly, as it should, so it was posed for the photos.

I have just installed a new, brighter LED strip for layout lighting along the eastern stretch of the layout. It still isn't quite as bright as the strip on the other end, but it's much better than before. The photo shows it with the room lights off, so just the layout lights on. For comparison, the second photo shows the other end's lighting from a somewhat earlier time. I think having the plain wall there also helps with the lighting as it reflects some back onto the layout.

From memory, F29 was the brake, but there is no way to access F29 on the NCE systems ... F28 is the limit. I reprogrammed the brake to work on F2, together with the brake sound. Easy t do using the LokProgrammer, but I'm not sure of the CVs involved (it's not that difficult to reallocate them manually, though, as long as you know which CVs are involved).

As I have said in other related topics, the Farish coaches are incorrect in just about every possible detail, but they do actually look the part! I have a rake of them representing Dreadnought coaches to go with Met Bo-Bo electrics Sarah Siddons and Sherlock Holmes. I have sometimes wondered about the possibilities of converting some of these to T stock, so I'll be very interested if you go ahead with it, Chris. 😎 The photo was taken quite a few years ago, and shows how I was experimenting with different shades of brown. The darkest shade is supposed to be the correct one, but I think it looks too dark. The end windows are simply painted on here, but one day I will drill them out and glaze them properly.

A little bit of fiddling with settings using the LokProgrammer today, involving Accurascale 92 009 Marco Polo. The main problem I had was the total lack of braking when pressing F5. In the LokProgrammer software, I made two amendments: 1. Added 'Brake 1' to the function activated by F5, which previously only showed the brake sound. 2. Adjusted the Brake 1 setting under the brakes tab, testing each time until I was satisfied that the train could stop in a reasonable time - I settled on the effect being 215% (it was 50%). I might have to check the other class 92s as well. The other problem I had was caused by a loose above board point motor which caught the bogie of the locomotive (and also several of the wagons after that) and knocked off one of the shoe beams, which I eventually found along the track in the four-foot. That was retrieved from an almost unreachable location and glued back on. All of my Accurascale locomotives continue to be excellent runners to date.

I usually use a PVA style glue, such as Glue n Glaze. This dries clear, excess can be wiped off with water, and it is still easy enough to remove again even when dry if one changes one's mind as to the positioning of the discs.

The night light setting only works on the 37s with WiPAC light clusters. I'm not sure about the depot light setup - I haven't tried it but that also may only apply to the later lighting. I forgot to mention mine is also an NCE system.

As Steve (55020) said, there should be working headcodes, tail lights, cab lights (directional), engine room lights, and instrument panel lights. All work fine on my D6704, although the photo is only showing headcode and cab lights.

I can't speak specifically for the Heljan wagons, but in more general terms with similar problems I have had with other manufacturers' wagons, I have found that once the wheel back to backs have been set, if they still derail or have problems, I look at the amount of movement available in the bogies. Often, if they are held in with a screw, a quarter turn looser seems to fix most of the remaining problems. If the bogies are clipped in rather than screwed, removing the bogies and filing a small amount off the face of the boss to allow more rocking fore and aft seems to be the main adjustment needed; occasionally they need a little side to side rocking allowed, but it is important to only do that on one bogie, otherwise you can introduce an undesirable wobble in the wagon's running.

While my advice ended up not being on the right track (no pun intended), I'm glad it set you off on a more methodical approach to the troubleshooting. You may be able to get a small slitting disc in to enlarge the gap then fill it with something with insulating qualities to stop the rails closing up again.