GoingUnderground

I don't know where you get the idea that it is Piko who are "pushing into new areas and making it work" with the SmartControl. It's ESU, who announced their Mobile Control 2 at the Nuremburg Toy Fair in 2014, (as vapourware as the handset they showed was clearly a mock up), which is the basis of the Piko SmartControl system. ESU are clearly, to my mind anyway, doing all the work, including providing both the hardware and software based on ESU's MC2 and ECoS. The only relevance may be whether it was ESU who first approached Piko, and possibly other brands, with a proposal for them to share in a Dynamis/Navigator replacement, i.e. SmartControl, in exchange for a financial contribution to the development costs, or if Piko saw the dummy MC2 and went to ESU with the idea of turning it into the SmartControl system. It's not just Roco who believe in firmware upgrades to improve their product. Long before the Z/z21 came on the scene, ESU have been upgrading ECoS's capabilities and functionality and bug fixing through a series of over 30 user installable firmware upgrades since it first went on sale 8 years ago. Users of the original ECoS can use the MC2 with their ECoS even though the MC2 wasn't even on the drawing board when the first ECoS went on sale. If you want to know about SmartControl, most of it will be covered in the ESU Mobile Control 2 Manual. The only bits of SmartControl functionality missing are how to configure the SmartBox, but much of that will probably be somewhere in the ECoS manual. http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/instruction-manuals/digital-systems/ As the SmartBox apparently uses much of the ECoS 2 firmware includign the standard icons, it should theoretically be possible to add your own loco icons, there are over 8,600 (and counting) colour icons available for installation to ECoS 2 owners. Whether ESU will make the ECoS icons available to SmartControl owners is another matter, especially as the vast majority of them were created by ECoS owners like me..

If it was split from a set then fit for purpose is probably limited to being fit to work with the rest of the set contents. ESU are still tweaking the MC2. The loco icons sound like they are the same as the ECoS default set, which includes an 08.

I would have thought that if the product specification says Loconet port and you bought it expecting the Loconet port to work, subject to the stated limitations of supporting Wired Controllers and Occupancy Detection only and you were relying on those functions being present, then you would seem to have grounds for a not fit for purpose, always assuming that German consumer legislation, you're in Germany and I'm assuming that your dealer is also in Germany, recognises such a concept.. However, if you bought it expecting to use a Loconet booster then as that wasn't included in the list of supported functions then I don't think that a fit for purpose claim would stick. The SmartBox must be quite a piece of kit, as it looks to be an ECoS without the screen, function buttons or throttle knobs, but with a built-in L.Net module. The firmware update follows the usual ESU pattern of being released as a zip file containing a linux file with the file extension ".bci". It looks to be over 3 times the size of an ECoS firmware file at about 40Mb, the latest ECoS firmware file is about 12Mb. The way that I understand Android devices work, and I have only one of them, is that they are designed to accept apps from Google Play store to reduce the risk of trojans or other malware being present in downloaded apps. But the user has to find and select the app to be installed on an Android device from those available on the Google Play Store as judging from the instructions for the ESU MC2, I don't believe that it or the SmartControl will go off on their own searching for updated versions of their respective apps.

Absolutely, but ESU do want people to write apps for the MC2 for use with other command stations, and have already released the necessary code fragments needed for the throttle knob operation. The code fragments would need to be incorporated into an app as they cannot be used on their own. So you may see, one day, an MC2 being used with other DCC systems. The MC2 still has not yet been put on general sale, AFAIK, not even in Germany. There are posts on the ESU Users Forum from folks who ordered theirs back in Jan 2014 when it was first announced asking why it is taking so long to go on general release. Incidentally, it would seem, judging by the Piko video and ESU's user manual for the MC2, that there is very little difference between the Piko app for the SmartControl and the ESU app for the MC2.

Phil stopped selling them as soon as the Heljan model was announced. He told me that he had absolutely no choice in the matter, as enquiries and orders simply stopped dead. He withdrew the kit from his range sometime later. I bought several Bo-Bos from him some months aftewards whch comprised the resin components only, but without motors (Black Beetles), which I sourced myself from Branchlines, and hence they have twin motors as a result. I imagine that he had a stock of bodies, etc. on hand when Heljan made their announcement but to keep stockholding costs down he probably only bought in the motors and wheelsets against specific orders. His body shell does have its shortcomings, particularly the steps, but that can be rectified.

There are reports of the ESU MC2 being sold at the Leipzig Model Railway exhibition yesterday, Friday. Now that the MC2 is on its way, the SmartControl, (and ESU's own version as Navigator looks to be heading for the exit lounge), can't be far behind. We know that the handset must work, or the MC2 wouldn't be on sale, so the only remaining work for the SmartControl must be finalising the firmware for the SmartBox, which would, I guess, be derived from the very recently released ECoS firmware 4.1.0.

Jens was supporting the Beta testing of the recently released update, (4.1.0), to the ECoS firmware, so I am surprised to hear that he may be stopping further development of Touchcab. Whilst TouchCab has been ported to the Lenz system, it did start life as an ESU ECoS only app. I do wonder if Jens's decision has been influenced by the fact that ESU will soon be releasing the Android based Mobile Control 2, which will bring additional cordless non-iPhone throttles to the ECoS. Also, ESU's firmware 4.x.x does allow ECoS users to control their ECoS remotely from any computer using Java or a VNC Client, so that even my GBP60 Windows 10 Tablet gives me virtually the same facility on Windows as TouchCab did for iPod and iPhone users . However, it is sad when a pioneer like Jens decides that support for his excellent brainchild has to end. Jens, I'm not an iPhone user, and never will be, but thank you for your support of the ECoS through TouchCab. Hopefully, we have not heard the last from you and TouchCab for ECoS.

No I got the impression that it was probably more serious than that. My guess, and it really is a guess, is that it may have had more to do with the cost. The LTM isn't the wealthiest of organisations.

Yes, I was, and thoroughly enjoyed it. A request to provide the missing conductors was fed back to Bachmann, but I'm not sure that the point about letting us retrofit the missing conductors was fully taken on board. Had aninteresting chat with Mike Walton from the LT Museum who commissioned the model, and it sounded like there were a lot of politics in the background and I got the impression that the model might not have seen the light of day if some folks had had their way. I would like to thank Mike Walton of the LT Museum, Andy Barr, (Heritage Train Ops), Peter Btabham Brabham, (hope I've got his surname correct), and everyone in LTM, and LU for arranging the excursion, plus everyone at Bachmann for bringing us the model. My only gripe, and I'm really not being fair, was that 45mph on the fast line between Harrow and Moor Park was a bit pedestrian for the Met Line that I fondly remember. Bring back the A Stock Tour when we were bouncing off the cushions at over 70mph.

Having just had some quiet time, SWMBO's out, I've taken a coupling apart, and I can see how neat a design it is and how cleverly the contacts would be accommodated within it. It is also easy to remove them from a car, and they can then be taken apart, but that is rather fiddly, but possible as they are simply clipped together. So retrofitting the necessary contacts and wiring loom as a kit would be within the skills of many modellers. The alternative would be retrofitting the Pullman couplers instead with the necessary contacts pre-installed. Bachmann need to be lobbied hard next weekend to either make the contacts and wiring looms available, or to sell sets of Pullman couplings which owners can fit in place of the contact free ones. Getting the body off the motor cars isn't too difficult, secured with 3 screws and also by retaining lugs, under the centre of the double windows, but it is harder on the non-driving/trailer cars. where in addition to the retaining lugs under the double windows, there are additional retaining lugs under the single windows at both ends of the car, making a total of 4 per side - a craft knife blade does the trick. both styles of body shell, DM and non-driving, have some screw bosses and stand offs moulded on the ceilings, obviously intended for fitting interior lighting. In the non-driving cars, the contacts from the wheels have small eyelets in their ends where they project above the level of the chassis, making them very easy to wire up without a soldering iron, and simply begging for wiring in to a power/pick-up bus running the length of the train so that all bogies collect current - no more problems with dirty track or stalling on dead frogs.. As there is a motor in each driving motor, and each one has its own decoder socket, DCC users thinking of adding car lighting controlled by a decoder which would need a lighting bus running through the couplings (back to where we started). But the lighting bus could not be end to end as that would mean that it would be conencted to the lighting bus from the decoder in the other DM. The obvious thing to do would be to omit lighting bus contacts from the "A" end of the MS car 24087 as that will always be in the centre of the formation whether 4 car or 8 car. I can't help thinking that the motor unit used in this model is so compact that it leaves Bachmann and/or the LT Museum very well placed to introduce more LT EMU rolling stock, and I would not be surprised if we eventually saw A Stock, COP Stock, R Stock, and possibly even F Stock from Bachmann, all using this same motor unit. It may even be small enough to use in Tube Stock - RTR EFE '38 and '59 Stock?

Yes, and you made it abundantly clear that they are the MPV/Pullman conductor couplings, BUT with the contacts and feeds to them left out = not a conductor coupling as supplied out of the box to my way of thinking. Just because a low spec low budget car shares the same body shell as its high end high performance derivative, that doesn't make it the same model. You can make it the same by adding the missing ex-works bits from the spares list for the upspec model. It remains to be seen whether Bachmann will do likewise and make the genuine Pullman couplings available to be retrofitted to replace the ones supplied with the S Stock, or supply the missing contacts and related wiring loom to be added to the existing as fitted couplings to turn them into conductor couplings. If Bachmann don't do either, then there is the possibility of a cottage industry springing up that offers kits with the equivalent of the missing contacts to allow S Stock owners to upgrade the couplings themselves. If shouldn't be too hard to design such a kit if the designer had access to the original Bachmann Pullman coupling to get the dimensions etc. Now that I know that the design is the same as used on the Pullman, I may investigate the option of adding the missing conductors myself, much the same as I once upgraded the front brakes on my car from drums to servo assisted discs.

I know you are, and I never thought otherwise. your post was quite clear, even to me. But if Bachmann used the conductor coupling body but didn't fit the contacts, for whatever reason (cost, or not specified by the LTM, or whatever), then they don't count as conductor couplings. The decision to use dead axles which then means that the drag caused by the wipers on the wheels is greater also looks like another economy/cost reduction measure, or oversight on someone's part..

Sorry, but in my book, conductor couplings with the conductors/contacts missing are not conductor couplings.

If any S Stock purchasers have an ESU ECoS, I've uploaded an S Stock loco icon on the Loco Icon Bazaar. I thought that the white paint looked a bit "brownish". Not the bright white I was expecting. Is it just mine, or do others think the same. I'm going to fit the traction tyres and compensate by linking all the pickups together through the train. That will probably mean replacing Bachmann's coupling head with a micro connector. It is a pity that they didn't fit 4 wire conducting couplings. It will be worth asking Bachmann on the S Stock Model Tour if they are going to make additional tyred wheelsets available to increase the adhesion. Mine will also be getting interior lighting, adverts and line diagrams, when I get round to it. Not sure what to do about the seating colour, though.

Mine arrived at 9:15, a nice big package. As the model was commissioned by the LT Museum and is only available through the Museum, and as the packaging is LU and LTM branded, perhaps this thread and the review thread should both be moved to the "Retailer Commissions" sub-forum as a London Transport Museum Commissioned model.

You can ask to opt out of being a BT Wi-Fi hotspot, but you can only do that by using your BT e-mail account. I can't do that as I haven't used mine since I first got a BT ISDN Home Highway line, and that was a very, very, very, long time ago and I've long since forgotten all the details I used when I set up the BT e-mail account. I've tried phoning BT to ask them to apply the opt out from their end, but nothing has happened, it still shows as Activated. They said they'd send a confirmation e-mail to my BT e-mail account even after I'd told them that I couldn't access it and why, and that they couldn't change the default e-mail account to the one that I use.

There is no need for a share button. All it needs is the option to allow other operators to take control of a train already being controlled by someone else. The ESU ECoS has that option. You don't need a handover as such, just make the new operator aware that the loco is on its way so that they can switch their controller to it, (or you risk having a loco running under no operator's control), and for the original operator to relinquish control. If it's low cost, then IMHO it's unlikely yo be British made, our unit labour costs are too high compared to India or China.

Back to the 611, Has it fixed all the issues that so many of us found unbearable in the 505 and 511? Have any new bugs come to light? It sounds like there have been several changes to the firmware issued since it first went on sale. At least that's one thing in its favour, software bugs can now get fixed without sending it back for reprogramming. If it really is being produced in batches of 40, that's cottage industry volumes and the unit cost of manufacture will be quite high, so it may take a long time to recoup the development costs.

The MC2 and its twin, the SmartControl, are both android devices, just think of them as an android based tablet with a built in motorised throttle knob from an ECoS. AFAIK the hardware and operating system (i.e. Android) software is identical. The difference is in the traijn/layout control app supplied with each. In theory, you could load and run ESU's program on to the Piko version to use it with an ECoS, or load and run Piko's version of the software on to the MC2 to use it with the Piko SmartBox. Both will be able to download apps, programs, games etc from Google Play. Anything that you can do on an Android tablet you'll be able to do on the MC2/Smartcontrol handset. The only thing you can't do is make phone calls on them usong the mobile phone network, but if you are in range of Wi-Fi and use Skype or a similar VOIP app then you can call folks. Android tablets are so cheap these days that a mobile phone reseller offered one for free to someone I know when their new smartphone was late arriving.

Anyone can piggyback off your Wi-Fi internet if you have a BT Home Hub 5, no matter what operating system you are using, Windows, Linux or Apple, even when every computer and smartphone in your house is turned off, as it uses the Home Hub's Wi-Fi through BT's Wi-Fi Hotspot sharing. Even if you turn off the Home Hub's Wi-Fi using the advanced settings, all that does is stop you using it. It remains turned on with an insecure Wi-Fi connection for any passing user with BT Wi-Fi HotSpot rights to use. It appears as "BTWiFi-with-Fon" in your list of available Wi-Fi connections. This BT Home Hub issue has nothing to do with Windows 10, but is all about how the Hub works. It can be turned off by users with the Business version of the Hub, but not by domestic users. Also many people do not realise that they need to have a secure connection when setting up their domestic Wi-Fi. Just go into any housing estate and search for Wi-Fi connections on your laptop, and I guarantee that you'll find several domestic Wi-Fi connections that are not secured using a network key, and you will be able to use them without the person concerned knowing anything about it, and possibly see the other computers connected to that router.

You can have a fast connection, but that doesn't guarantee files will arrive quickly. It also seems to depend on which server you end up connecting to at the other end, and sometimes how much internet traffic there is in your bit of the phone system. Sometimes when it is clear to me that a download is going very slow, and I can see that if you look at the status of my connection, I stop the download and restart it which often results in connecting do a different server with a faster transmission speed.

What was probably taking so long was downloading the Win 10 update itself as it is between 2 and 3Gb in size, the download for my 7 Pro 64 Bit was 2.6Gb. I downloaded an ISO file of Win 10 64 Bit to give me a clean reinstall media should I ever need it, and the 64 bit version is over 3Gb and it took several hours even over a BT FTTC ( the one that us poor folks in the sticks have to use as BT will never run fibre into our homes) broadband line.

I don't use Outlook. I use the Mail and Calendar apps.

If you've reserved your copy of Win 10, and are on 7 or 8/8.1, but don't now want 10, then just cancel your reservation, as described below. My daughter has not reserved Win 10 on her PC and it isn't showing any signs of trying to update to 10 when I was using it last night, even though it does have the magic KB3035583 installed, but it is set to download and apply updates manually. To cancel your reservation, click on the Win 10 icon in the system tray. When the "Get Windows 10" window opens, click on the "hamburger" icon (the 3 horizontal parallel lines) in the top left of the window, and a menu will drop down which will include an option "View Confirmation", click on that, and in the new screen that opens there will be towards the bottom left in blue letters the words "Cancel Reservation". Click on that to cancel your reservation of Win 10. If you want to uninstall KB3035583, that is easy to do yourself. If you have reserved Win 10, but have decided you don't want it after all, then first cancel your reservation as described above, or Microsoft will keep thinking that you want it, and you do need to use the Get Windows 10 program installed by KB3035583 to cancel the reservation. Now you can uninstall KB3035583, and to do that you open "Control Panel" from the "Start" menu, select "Programs", then the "Programs & Features" option. When the list of installed programs appears, click on "View Installed Updates" on the left of the Control Panel screen to see a list of all the updates that have been installed on your PC. All the various updates are grouped together by program/application, and there will be a heading "Microsoft Windows" followed by a number, (the number of updates that have been installed), and below that a list of all the updates that have been applied to Windows on your PC. In that list will be an item "Update for Microsoft Windows (KB3035583)", click on it to select/highlight it, and at the panel above the list will now include an "Uninstall" option as well as the "Organise" option that was there when you went to that screen. Click on "Uninstall, and the offending KB3035583 should be uninstalled. I haven't tried this as I do want Win 10, but this is the normal procedure to uninstall a Program or Update so it should (famous last words) work. Having uninstalled it, you might need to make sure that you change your Windows Update options to "Notify me when updates are ready to download" so that you can choose which updates Windows installs just in case it tries to reinstall KB3035583 again.

That's because it uses a rebadged ESU Mobile Control 2 handset, and the SmartBox base unit uses an the same housing as the ECoSBoost booster, the ESU Navigator base unit, the Dynamis base unit and the Dynamis Pro Box, so it's clearly been designed by ESU using ESU standard components where possible. However, from the pictures that I've seen of the MC2 and Smartcontrol handset, the Piko one seems to use a different program to the MC2. If you're thinking of getting the SmartControl, the ESU MC2 is delayed, again, until the autumn, so the SmartControl may be suffering similar delays as the retailer that I use is showing it as pre-order.