RAF96

If you are in the North East, go visit the Snow Goose café at Roker Marina, where (at least it was still there last year when I stopped for coffee and cake) all the walls are papered with a map of old Sunderland either side of the river, including all the rail tracks, coal depots and buildings of the era. Take a camera and snap a picture of any bit you want to model. Rob

@ray post #16 That is why RM asks for the spec as they use it to populate the CV list with the correct associated description. If they fail to recognise a decoder from CVs 7&8 then you end up with the standard NMRA/NEM set which as you say is no use to man nor beast. I presume JMRI has done the same associative listing for all decoders in Decoder-Pro. Rob

@nigel post #14 I have no idea of how many decoders RM has in its database, nor where they got their 'stock' from, but I do know a feature request has been lodged asking for access to CVs above 255 as many folk are using sound decoders requiring adjustment in those areas. @ray post #13 RM will flag up an unknown decoder and pop up a dialogue asking the user to submit a spec for the decoder along with its manuf and version info. It has been known to fail to spot a known decoder at times. Rob

Try a download of Hornby Railmaster time limited free demo which works with Hornby kit obviously, but maybe could be conned into working with any other USB connected controller. That has a Decoder interogation facility which reads all 255 CVs sequently having worked out from CVs 7 & 8 which decoder it is so that it loads up the right descriptions for each CV. Rob

Just seen R8212 pair of rollers for a Hornby Rolling Road up on the bay for gbp 117.38 plus 3.99 postage within UK. I know they are scarce but I still have plenty of new ones in my drawer, and I certainly wouldn't try that old overpricing trick to sell them.

More than likely a weak magnet. I have a 3-poler in a Class 56 that runs fine on the rolling road but put it on track where it has to drag its own weight and it wont go. I tried a neo magnet after success putting one in a Class 90 but it was real notchy and needed half chat to get it to run on track, so it is parked up now waiting conversion to a dvd motor from Finland.

The Rocrail forum is very good and if you ask specifics about PIC support either someone will jump in with info or the writers will look at it if you can provide the associated spec, your trackplan and the other files requested when you submit a report using the built in system.

Rather than cart the fuel cell around on each and every tram where it is stated it cannot cope with the ever changing demands, think instead of siting the fuel cells as sub stations along the tram routes where their inefficiencies of supply could be averaged out.

Literally wallpapered on the walls of the Snow Goose Cafe at Roker Marina is an amazing map,of Sunderland, with the complete layout of the river Wear and associated infrastructure, north and south of the river and the complete local railway network detailed from mainline to coal staithe level. Go and enjoy a coffee and cake but take your camera with you to photograph the specific details of the area you want to model.

For anyone hoping to install Hornby TTS chips to older locos then please check the stall current of your intended install is within limits of the TTS decoder. If you want to run an old Triang XO3/4 motor with a full rake up a hill then I wouldn't bother, but if you just run light engine at low throttle as I do then you should get away with it. Check, check, check...

Try the Maplins stuff, small bottle, big price. I've used it in lieu of wires up a street light that I LED'd.

Are manufacturers moving towards the old Alan Sugar (Amstrad brand) method of quality control nowadays then. His modus operandi seemed to be build them cheap in great quantity and if the customer complains it doesn't work as advertised then bin it and just give him another one. The difference being of course that these hobby products are not cheap at all, so one would expect a measure of decent quality control to be in place to minimise down stream repair/replacement costs. And why cannot a model be tested at various stages of build to ensure it is good, a few seconds delay on the production line should not put the price up that much. In ref to post #3 aircraft quality control was generally batch selective. First articles had to be checked to prove manufacturing capabilty, then percentage checks during production and depending upon if a new production batch was undertaken or the place of production was moved.

The TTS diesels are more acceptable than the steamers as they drive quite realistically, but on the steamers you cannot synch the chuffing wheels.

Interesting to read the obscene renumerations given to the two directors who left having failed to achieve the task they were specifically employed for.

Download the demo version of Hornby Railmaster, stick your loco complete with unsub decoder on the programming track and ask it to read all CVs. If its in Hornby's RM database it will bring up the manufacturer code and name and ID the decoder for you. Else use JMRI Decoder-Pro to do the same thing.

I use 12 pin pluggable choc-blocks, available in various current carrying versions from various sources. Mine are big chunky ones that take a bit of pulling apart/putting together. I've never managed to post a picture on here and copy and paste of live links isn't reliable either, so can't show you them.

Just looking at the Hornby geometry download and it is plain to see that R8075 has its inner leg rad = R2 and R8074 has its outer leg rad = R3. The legs in between when used as a curved R2-R3 cross over mean there is a gap that by eyeballing it suggests could be bridged by R643 (R2) but from feedback seen some say it fits and others say it doesn't and they had to use a bit of flexy. Logically one would assume the outer leg of R8075 is great than R2 but less than R3 and the inner leg of R8074 is the same, (i.e. R2-1/2) which is probably why R643 isn't a good match.

Try this - my equivalent to a Lenz ADCC BM1 module, which works fine and you may use freely - no royalty or other such fee. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/24940-assymetric-dcc-generator/ Read about ADCC and the various modules on Lenz web site. BM2 and BM3 module equivalents are in work elsewhere on the inter-web using PIC technology. The BM1 module works when a loco hits an isolated section where there is a break in the RH rail in the direction of travel. Locos can be set to slow or stop and/or ignore if travelling through the section in the reverse direction, so you could make a DCC shuttle arrangement given a bit of thought. Be aware suitable Lenz decoders work on distance after detection but Hornby Sapphire decoders work on time after detection so control is to say a tad variable. Please repost with your ADCC experiences.

I read a thread somewhere about Hall effect devices and the magnet proximity was fairly critical even for a neo magnet. The problem was the sensor could not be so low as to contact the rails at crossings but the magnet should not be so high as to be obtrusive above the sleepers. 4mm was about the max for reliable approach/depart detection. A lot depended upon the rail profile ratio 100, 85, etc.

NMRA standard DCC as I understand it: There is a notional +15v to -15V applied to the track, but the loco decoder isolates the motor from that voltage and only when commanded sends a regulated directional PWM to the motor which moves at the speed and in the direction commanded. If a DC loco without a decoder is placed on the track then the motor 'feels' the full +/-15V range, but as the net output is 0V then it doesn't move. It does however get warm from the pseudo AC it constantly feels. Upon command the PWM is directly modified with a bias to + or - and the loco moves in that direction at that speed. This latter effect is why a decoder equipped loco with DC running enabled can receive a 'false' DC signal and take off like a bat out of hell uncommanded. Or have I missed the entire plot of the post...

You should see the standard of driving out here in Cyprus. A mobile phone in one hand, a smoke in the other, whilst pulling an illegal U turn at a red light. Most times they also have a frappe (cold coffee) in the car as well. Footpaths are for parking on and no one walks between shops, they all drive. So few people pay their road tax at Jan 1st that we always get an extension to end Feb, then because not many more pay up it is usually extended to end March, or you can pay monthly if you pay for the whole year. Once they pass their driving test they ignore any rule of the road (or other rule) that they don't agree with as not affecting them, red lights are ignored if they can see there is no cross traffic.

It is the same 4 pin plug that Hornby fit to their lenders, there is a special tool for it - Peters Spares has them but currently out of stock. see here http://www.petersspares.com/Hornby-x6468-tender-plug-insertion-extraction-tool.ir

My old analogue H&M2000 controller was pressed into service to provide AC Aux power for my points CDU circuit. Anything you already have is always cheaper than anything you have to go out and buy.

I am speechless at the quality of this work Mirek - absolutely unbelievable. Produced in any other medium it would be admirable, but made out of cornflake packets - just impossible to get my head round. I hang my head in shame at the rubbish I turn out using 'better' materials.

If DCC then check controller and decoder are both enabled for 128 speed steps as this can effect both directional lights and if fitted some sound decoders.