SRman

That's my lot for today. I have not completely brought them into line yet. the screen shot for 37 423 shows that the engine room lights on AUX14 were still allocated to F17. I will be swapping that to F18. While some of these are still works in progress, one thing I like with being able to use the LokProgrammer or Decoder Pro software is that one can work on the files away from the layout, sussing out the logical sequences for the lighting functions and shifting the functions around without having to have the locomotive attached or stand near the layout to do it. It doesn't allow one to work out what sound slot is what sound though, so that needs the original function list to help work that out away from the layout. There will be others to come, bit feel free to post your own versions. Mine are by no means definitive or the only way to do things. 😁

And on to the Accurascale class 92. In this case, I have three with Accurascale sound and one non-sound one, so that simplified things for me. Having set one to my satisfaction, I was able to load the same file with amended address to each of the others. I did reverse the operation of F8 for AC or DC configuration, seeing as my layout is, or will be, Southern Region third rail territory. This means that pressing F8 will raise a pantograph, rather than lowering it after the original default for starting sound on F1 automatically raising a panto. Likewise, I have reversed the tail light operation as per the 37s, so F20 now turns them on when needed. Most of my trains remain in storage loops with locos attached, so tail lights are not usually needed. Also, for straight electric locos, I cannot see a use for Drive Hold, so that has been left off, but it could also be kept relegated to a function above F28 the NCE system cannot reach (although the LokProgrammer could operate it). This was 92 009, but the same settings were applied to 92 020 and 92 032. For the non-sound loco, 92 043, I had a locally purchased LokPilot v5 DCC decoder, and Accurascale's Patrick very kindly forwarded a file with the settings they use on their LokPilot decoders, which included the settings to operate the pantographs and kept the lighting functions the same as on their sound decoders. As such, I had to do the same swaps for F8 and F20.

Last one of my AS class 37s, 37 608 with ESU Hi-Fi sounds.

Last but one for the 37 variations is 37 609 with Jamie Goodman sound bought from Roads and Rails. For all of the 37/4 aand 37/6 locos I have with the top headlight, I was assured by a DRS driver in the AS 37 topic that the headlight comes on with the WiPAC headlights, as they have a rotary switch for markers, day running, night running, and off, so I have set the top lights accordingly with F0 and F22.

Next, the legomanbiffo summary for 37 026 - after the screen shots I added F18 forwards works AUX11, and F18 reverse works AUX12, which are the car-style headlights fitted to 37 026. That means I took sound slot 8 off that function. F2 also had "Brake 1" added to its Logical functions. One other thing I haven't mentioned is that I have turned down the brightness of some of the lights. On 37/0 locos I turned the cab light brightness down, and on all of the AS 37s I turned the engine room lights down. For the tail lights on F20, basically it involved swapping any references to "F20" to "not F20", and any "not F20" references to "F20" all the way down the sheet, working methodically so as not to get confused. For those who are happy with the default of tail lights being on when the lights are turned on, leave that set of changes alone.

Thanks. I did do that on the Bachmann LT class 20 to help match it to Sarah Siddons, but I did it manually with the necessary CV changes. I di use Decoder Pro for most brands other than ESU, but the LokProgrammer is really much, much quicker with the ESU decoders. In my case, the NCE Power Pro is connected to the computer through a serial port, whereas the LokProgrammer uses a faster serial to USB connection.

The Accurascale sound ones are as follows: 37/4 and 37/6 (this one was 37 423) Edit - there are some logic errors in this version of my file - I have posted a better one further down - Jeff (SRman): Note that sound slot allocations and the actual sounds in those slots can vary between different sound providers. I haven't really begun to bring those into line, except for the playable horns on F3 and F4. Next, the Accurascale 37/0, in this case, D6704, which does not have anywhere near the number of lighting functions available compared to the refurbished types): I did post the 37/0 list in the Accurascale class 37 topic as well, which seemed to cause a few problems for some people. Having started this thread specifically for this type of operation, I hope no one can object here.

After that long preamble, the first locomotives I got to grips with were the Accurascale class 37s, of which I have six. Four are refurbished types of class 37/4 and 37/6, and have the WiPAC light clusters plus top headlights, so have the full gamut of lighting possible. Now let me say at the start that what Accurascale have done is perfectly good, but my personal preferences go, as stated in the preamble, include having the tail lights off by default. I also have sound projects on them from Accurascale, Jamie Goodman (who also did the Accurascale one), and legomanbiffo. The ones I installed myself have LokSound v5 DCC decoders, whereas the Accurascale factory-fitted ones have the slightly fuller LokSound v5 version, which allows more protocols but makes no difference whatsoever to the actual programming here. Some sounds get shunted around the allocations too, to make room for the lighting and braking preferences. So, here are the settings for the legomanbiffo 37/4 and 37/6 locos (although looking at this, I haven't done the F22 remapping for night running on this one yet):

I hope to assist anyone else who thinks like me and wants diesel and electric sound projects (or even non-sound decoder settings) to match each other's function key presses. There are a few reasons for doing this, with some being purely personal preferences, but others making sense when operating locomotives in multiple (i.e. a DCC consist). Firstly, I have decided that I prefer the manual braking to be on F2 as this is always a momentary contact key on the NCE systems, and some other brands as well. That means shuffling the next few functions up one F key if the sound project designer has it on F5 (which seems to be the other default choice). Next, I want Drive Hold / Drive Lock (whatever!) t be standardised on F8. I have a couple of projects installed where it is currently on F7, or other keys. Also, F11 for the flange squeal. Lighting allocations depend on what's available on certain models, but purely to assist me to remember some of them without recourse to the function lists every time I want one of the less used ones, I have standardised on F17 being engine room lights, F20 tail lights on (some projects have F20 to turn them off, as they are on by default with F0), F21 cab lights, F22 night setting (for WiPAC style lighting), and F19 for depot lights (tail lights at both ends). There may also be shunting lights with all marker lights on, and separate high-intensity headlights - I haven't decided which function shunting lights should be on (maybe F16), but separate headlights are to be F18. I will post screen captures of the settings on the LokProgrammer for the various loco classes as I work through some of them, but I would like others who are also inspired to do the same to post their settings - they don't have to agree with mine. I worked with computers in the past (retired now) so am an inveterate tinkerer and like the challenge of doing these personalisations. I would strongly advise anyone attempting such changes to read and save the original settings first, then when tinkering, save under a different name - I add the text "- JL mod" to the end of the file name after the original naming, and if I make even more major amendments after that, I use additional "v2", "v3", and so on. That allows me to restore to a previous working version if it all goes pear-shaped. My posts at present are aimed solely at ESU using the LokProgrammer, but much of this work is also possible using JMRI Decoder Pro software, which also allows modification to other brands of decoder. I find Zimo sound decoders a little obscure though, so don't tend to make as many drastic changes to the order on those. It still becomes necessary when running locomotives with the different brands in together. A case in point is an excursion train on my London Underground lines, topped and tailed by a Heljan Metropolitan Bo-Bo electric with ESU LokSound fitted and a Bachmann LT class 20 with a Zimo sound decoder on board. they took a lot of careful speed matching, but that's another story. I intend to do separate posts for each type of loco or unit and there may be long spells where my time is spent elsewhere on other tasks.

For sound you would need a DCC sound decoder and a speaker. DCC alone on a decoder won't add sound, even if you put a speaker in. If you want to go along the sound-fitted route, the best option is to buy a ready-fitted version as that actually is cheaper than buying a non-sound (DC analogue) version and buying a sound decoder and speaker. Next best option is the non-sound version and add the aforementioned sound decoder and speaker. Least best option is buy the DCC-fitted one then later buy a sound decoder and speaker. This option leaves you with a spare non-sound decoder to fit in a different locomotive or unit. In the longer term this is the most expensive option.

I have a couple of the Minix Corsairs, and both have cracks running up the middles of the body sides. It appears to me to be a weakness of this particular moulding. However, that would make it easier to justify hacking them into convertibles and filling in the door shut lines anyway.

I agree with you regarding different sound sets for multiples of the same type of locomotive. I have done this with several of my class 33 and 73 locomotives (amongst others), and keeping it relevant to this topic, if anyone is interested, I have fitted different sound projects to some of my Accurascale 37s and also experimented with different speakers, although at present I have only two types fitted. Of my AS 37s, the current sound and speaker combinations are: D6704 Accurascale sound and Accurathrash speaker; 37 026 legomanbiffo 37/0 West Highland sound and Accurathrash speaker 37 423 Accurascale sound and ESU 'super' speaker * 37 602 legomanbiffo 37/4 West Highland sound and Accurathrash speaker 37 608 ESU Hi-Fi sound and Accurathrash speaker # 37 609 Jamie Goodman sound and ESU 'super' speaker * 37 423 had a pair of Roads and Rails 25mm square speakers in series until a few days ago. # The ESU sound in 37 608 was downloaded from the ESU website, and required a fair amount of tweaking to get all the lighting functions working correctly. It sounds good, though. I am still experimenting with speakers and will be swapping one or more Accurathrash speakers out for other options. I just recently bought a few different speakers from Roads and Rails to try out a few ideas. Even though the Accurascale sound was done in-house by Jamie Goodman, I find that the separate Jamie Goodman project I bought seems slightly different. I do like to use different sound projects from different sources anyway, but some of this for the 37s was dictated by my deciding to buy certain liveries at the last minute, when all the sound ones had sold out everywhere, and even the non-sound ones had gone from Accurascale's own shop. That gave a little extra incentive to try different sounds from various sources.

If anyone is interested, I had a good session on the LokProgrammer reconfiguring D6704 's functions (with Accurascale's own 37/0 sound factory-fitted) to get them closer to the other 37s I have for operating the lighting functions, although I decided to simplify it a bit seeing as the standard Accurascale file allows for lighting options the green 37 simply doesn't have. I also have all of them set to use F2 for braking, which means the horns get shifted up one each to F3 and F4. I have not rationalised the AUX outputs for the lighting functions yet, as some are not actually used to light anything. There is no night headlight setting on this model, and only the headcodes and tail lights for the nose ends (i.e. no actual headlights at all!). I have put tail lights as default off, using F20 to turn them on. Cab lighting is now on F21. Engine room lighting is on F17. F23 does depot lighting, which is all red tail lights on when stationary, but I'm not sure the 37s of this period had this feature. I must emphasise that I have not finalised the ancillary sound allocations yet, so some of these are a bit arbitrary at present. Turning F0 on lights the headcodes at whichever end is leading. Pressing F20 while F0 is on turns on tail lights at the other end. F21 lights only the leading end's cab light, which has had its brightness turned down to a setting of 11 (out of 31). The engine room lights have also been dimmed to 17. I always save the file loaded into the LokProgrammer first, then save again with a different name so that if it all goes pear-shaped, I can load the file settings I started with back in. I understand fully that not everyone wants to do any of this, and it is done purely to satisfy my own preferences, but I hope this might get people thinking about the possibilities for their own models. I hope you can see the logic in these settings. One thing defeated me with the simplifications though, until I looked at the original file: AUX13 had to be there for all of the lighting functions to work. I'm not sure why that is, but until I put those two lines at the end back in, none of the lights worked.

For the record, Mark 2, not 2a, but what great photos, with so much detail to be absorbed. 😊 The ends were actually roof grey, not black, although weathering would have made them appear darker.

I bought from the originally released batch, one SECR version and the Bluebell version. Both are lovely models and nice runners, but the Bluebell livery really sets the loco off - it is a very attractive, even pretty, livery. I'm looking forward to getting a matching livery on Rapido's O1 if they choose to produce it.

No, he's one of the Flowerpot Men when he was a toddler! 🤪

It is the correct socket. You could also look at the LAIS DCC shop on AliExpress https://laisdcc.aliexpress.com/store/2977030

... snipped ... I'm not saying that anything there is wrong, but my reservation on using F25 on all the time is that I have to make a point of turning it on for every new running session as the decoder "forgets" that it was on when the power is turned off. That's the reason I would swap the F25 on/off position for F2. I have the same issue with F20 (or whichever other function number is involved) on many of my locos which turns off the tail lights while hauling a train. I need to reverse that so the default is off, seeing as they are in front of trains for the vast majority of the time I use them. It means that if I leave F20 turned on when I kill the power, the locomotive "forgets" that, so when I turn the power back on for a new running session, I have to toggle F20 twice; once to turn it off, and once again to turn it back on. Please don't take this as a criticism of what you have done, it isn't that. It is an explanation of why I want to do this differently. I agree that it is impossible to please everyone, whatever settings you choose to standardise on. My system is an NCE Power Pro, by the way. Again, I would not expect you to be able to cater for every different DCC system.

I agree that there's something "out" with the Heljan front. I just went onto Rails' website to see if I could find some similar photos of the two to compare from roughly the same angles, and came up with these two: https://railsofsheffield.com/products/class-47-316-br-blue-plated-headcode-panels-diesel-locomotive-dcc-sound https://railsofsheffield.com/products/Bachmann-35-414-class-47-4-47435-br-blue-diesel-locomotive While they aren't exactly the same, my attention focused on the front "ledge" below the windscreens; the Bachmann one shows a slope on top while Heljan's seems almost level. There may well be other slight differences, but that's what caught my attention first. It seems to result in too much flat metal below the windscreens, above that ledge, although it could be a trick of the lighting.

These tavern cars came from Mallard60022; we did a swap with my green pair with Comet sides and his Southern Pride pair, which you see here. I tried to do the brickwork on my original set, but gave up and painted them green. The Southern Pride ones get over that with their printed vinyl sides. p.s. I did check my Booster for the wheels sitting flat on the track and can report no problems with mine.

Small tasks: 1. Painting and decorating a C-Rail container. Once everything is dry on the container, I'll varnish it and weather it, and add the locking bars to the doors, and; 2. Adding some suitable-looking figures to the Titfield Thunderbolt's coach (Dan's house). Of course these aren't true representations of the people in the movie, but they have the right sort of character, and at present we can hardly see them once the body is back on. At some time in the future I will try to arrange a little lighting inside.

Another video from me, this time of the ex-SR 'Booster' Co-Co electric. As described earlier, I had to alter the wheel gauge a bit on all axles, taking them down to between 14.2 and 14.3mm, plus I had to tweak the electrical pickups on one bogie to ensure they stayed in contact with the wheels at the extremes of their lateral movement. The running continues to improve the more I run it. For the video I cobbled together a reasonably appropriate train of mostly Bulleid stock in crimson and cream.

Ahh! 😉

Absolutely. Those were my thoughts exactly.

Once I see what other functions are around, I might reallocate the 2-tone horns to another function anyway and put what is a less-used sound or function on the alternate F2. That would be for my own personal tastes and preferences. I agree that it is difficult to choose a set of F-key allocations to satisfy everyone, so what you have done is sensible. Those of us who are brave enough to do the reallocations can do so, and if it all goes belly-up, we do a decoder reset and start again. 😁