Pete the Elaner

It sounds like you're going to enjoy tweaking your CVs to get the locos running the way you want. . This aspect of DCC is not for everyone & I have not had a detailed look at it. The features are there so why not make use of them? Some decoders may have a shunt mode which gives good slow speed control & a limited top speed. For others, you may well want to limit the top speed by adjusting CVs. If it takes a while to get an 08 to run nicely at low speed rather than whizz around at a scale 70mph, then this will probably be time well spent. Even 2 identical locos with the same model of decoder are likely to run at slightly different speeds so different locos with different decoders certainly will. If you want to run them together & are willing to spend a little time with them, you can adjust CVs to match their speed. How far you want to go is entirely up to you. It is not wrong to fiddle in this way & neither is it wrong to run things unaltered. You also mentioned braking. There is no braking feature on the throttle. You set your target speed & let acceleration/deceleration settings get you there at the rate you have set. I believe some decoders have a braking feature but I have no experience of this.

I agree with you. The Option button can be re-assigned. We are responding to an earlier mention that the Momentum button could be re-programmed, which I believe is a mis-understanding.

There was a discussion about this a while back & I do not think the momentum button was one which could be re-programmed. The manual is quite comprehensive & detailed but the downside of this is that it can be awkward to find what you are looking for.

Real trains take ages to stop & the momentum can be set to simulate this. All my locos & units are set up like this. If you think you need 1/4 circuit to stop then you probably need a lot more. If you start braking too late then you are going to overshoot. Reduce speed twice as far in advance of what you think, bringing the train into the platform (or siding) at a crawl, then you can reduce further later on. Some may find this annoying but I consider it to be a realistic part of driving a train which DCC provides & therefore good fun trying to get it right. If you don't get it right, you can always cheat with the stop button. Real drivers don't have this luxury.

I agree about the 'disastrous being too strong bit' & recording of CVs being good practice. I have known the momentum button it to affect sound on a Hornby Duchess: It got rid of the nice clanking sound as the loco coasts. The loco address & momentum were all that had changed with this so a factory reset was a quick fix. I am intrigued by the recommendation of a Sprog though. Instead of dragging this thread off topic, I have asked about it elsewhere: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/123473-sprog-v-usb-serial-connection-to-command-station/

Loads more than that. Marylebone - GC Fenchurch St - LMS, but I am not sure which pre-grouping company owned it. London Bridge - SR, not sure about pre-grouping owner Cannon St - SR, not sure about pre-grouping owner Charing Cross - SR, not sure about pre-grouping owner Moorgate I am sure there are more too. I don't understand why the never sorted out the Southern's pre-grouping mess either. If you want to go the south west, you use Waterloo. If you want Kent, you use Victoria, which is west of Waterloo. If you want to head south, then this is served by Victoria & London Bridge. You take pot luck as to which terminus will get you home first. Take a Thameslink from Blackfriars to London Bridge & the train runs as walking pace the whole way. This is all very good for versatility but it makes getting out of London a very slow process. Compare this to a fast service out of Paddington, Euston or King's Cross where you accelerate to full speed soon after leaving the station throat.

The best way to implement occupancy detectors is to feed each block via a detection module. The occupancy is detected by a current draw. This requires isolating each block from each other. It may not be practical to retro-fit this to an existing layout. An alternative is to use infra-red detection but this means installing something on the layout then having to disguise it. Heathcote electronics do some useful looking products for signal control, but I have not had a detailed look to see what would be required for this. If you want to have a go at building something yourself, you may want to consider joining MERG.

I like that. Easy & clear.

The last sentence about feeds was responded to but not the rest, which is a very good guide to troubleshooting. From comments I have seen on this forum in general, it is an underused fault finding technique. If you suspect a short, you will be passing excess current through something, which can damage the components. These should have safety cut-outs, although the PowerCab itself does not; It relies on its power supply to cut power. The first thing you should do is remove your PowerCab & any locos / rolling stock from the layout. It will now be impossible to damage your PowerCab or its power supply. If you have wired up your layout on multiple boards, disconnect them from each other. This will make it easier to find your fault. Switch your multimeter to resistance. Go around the layout testing each piece of track for resistance across the running rails. You should have infinite resistance everywhere. Anything else will indicate a fault. If you have a multimeter with a 'connectivity beep' then be wary about using this for this fault. It will indicate a good connection but not necessarily a mediocre one which can still cause a problem.

Never seen that before. Excellent servicing tips.

Nice & clear diagrams. Regarding the links across joints in your second diagram: I don't just link the rails together to feed one rail from the other, I take this connection further to the bus (DCC) or section feed (DC).

Sommerfeldt have never made anything British. We are just fortunate that the Faiveley pan is very similar to a European one. I like Bachmann's compromise with the 350 pan, but a BW one is more complicated. I understand the discontinued Hurst BW pan kit is very fragile so I can understand why a RTR manufacturer would want something more robust. I have some Hurst BW pans in my kit drawer so it may be time to have a go at building one...especially as I am building a 321 right now.

Yep, the first 10 (streamliners) had single chimneys. The next 5 (non-streamliners) had single chimneys but not deflectors. 6234 was given a double chimney as an experiment. In this form it became the most powerful recorded steam loco in the UK & remains so to this day. Others may have been more powerful but there are no recorded figures to prove it. All Coronations from 6235 onwards were built with double chimneys. The next non-streamlined Coronations (6249 onwards) were built without deflectors. Deflectors started to appear late in the war (c1944) starting with one of the red ones (6233 I think). They were fitted to ex-streamliners as part of the de-streamlining process. As much as I would like to see 6233 in LMS red with no deflectors, I am sure the drifting smoke would make this hazardous so it would not be done.

I have also enjoyed plenty of your layout progress videos. I agree that it is sad to see the layout gone but all of us get to a stage where we have so many things that we want to do differently that the only choice is to start again. You have plenty of videos (& I'm sure photos too) which will always bring back fond memories. Good luck with the replacement. You seem to have some good ideas & are giving yourself time to consider them before getting started so I am sure the next one will be well worth the effort. I never regretted dismantling my last layout. I am much happier with my new one. ..so far.

There could be several reason for this: 1. What I heard could simply be wrong. 2. We never had OLE when the locos ran in the 30's & 40's. This could be something to do with it. 3. It may have been very route-restricted in BR days (weren't they banned from going to Birmingham without special clearance?). Network Rail may be more stringent with their route availability requirements than the LMS were. These are not facts, the first is hearsay & 2-3 are guesses. I hope I am wrong & it appears on the mainline one day, although drifting smoke could be an issue too. Since returning to the main line, 6233 has always run with deflectors. It never had them in the 30's so I wonder if these are a safety requirement?

You can't argue with a photo & the one you included earlier proves that it did indeed run in unlined black as a semi. Jenkinson's gives 4/46 as de-sreamlining for 6235 & 6/46 for repainting into 1946 lined black, then 7/46 for 6221's de-streamlining. There is obviously an error here. It also says 6222 was de-streamlined a month before 6221 & went straight into 1946 lined black. I am thinking that this was also wrong. 6233 was never a semi anyway & 6229 was one of the last to be de-streamlined so 6235 is the only 1 of the preserved 3 to have carried unlined black as a semi.

That would be nice but I was told that there is something about the modifications made to bring it into gauge have made it impossible to steam. As for 6235: It was the first to be de-streamlined & the only one of the class to carry wartime black as a semi. I guess I am in a minority wanting to see it like that?

I like 86401, especially with the old MU jumpers. I may be wrong but I thought the newer (yellow) style of warning flashes were introduced in the mid-90's. Edit: I have just looked at some old pics of 86401 in NSE & it never had warning flashes. I wonder if they omitted them from overhead Electric locos because it was just stating the obvious? I also noticed that the TDM cable stowage receptors are set in their newer orientation. The cables used to plug into them from below, but around the same time as they removed the old MU jumpers, they shortened the TDM cables & plugged them in from above. The res 86 (416) illustrates what I mean. 86213 & 86502 have the older TDM cable configuration.

I think I'll stop short of re-creating that I do pass through the real place on my way to work some days. Fortunately not today though.

Lots of photos of 86's & 87's in IC Swallow livery there. Interesting to see the variations within the livery: colour & position of nameplate. Position of INTERCITY logo, full/half yellow end & with/without swallow logo.

Sound fitting a 37 was on my wanted list. It has just moved up a few places!

Scratch-building buildings is not my strong point, but to create a real location, it is something I have to work on & I am enjoying getting there. It is good to have a friend nearby who can help. I am learning a lot but Charlie has probably done more of this than I have. I spent yesterday evening at Charlie's working on the station building together. It has taken us 4-5 months of working 1 or 2 evenings a month just getting the roof right. There is no time limit on modelling & I have been getting on with other things like wiring the fiddle yard & building retaining walls. This is the building before the station was rebuilt in the 60's. All I have is 4 photos to work from. Each of these must be 80-100 years old & do not show the building in great detail, but give me a good idea of the shape of it. The roof has some quite complex angles so it was always going to be the trickiest bit. Apparently I could have chosen something easier for my first building! The card prototype for the roof is in the background, but there were dimensions which were not quite right so we needed to change a few things when building the proper one. Last time I saw it, the plastic roof was slightly twisted but Charlie tweaked it a little before yesterday & managed to straighten it up. I made the last abutment & we got on with making up some rain strips, which I had never even considered. The walls should be slightly easier & the building will be lit so needs to have a detailed interior. Still plenty to go but this should be the most difficult building & certainly the most prominent because it sits right over one end of the scenic section. I don't want to rush it & end up with something I am not entirely satisfied with. 20170412_225043 by rip, on Flickr

The decoders should give you more detail which you can query with your PowerCab. I'll assume you have not read the instruction book. With only 1 loco on the layout, press PROG/ESC until the throttle says 'use program track'. It will then ask what program mode. Choosing 1 for STD mode will read the manufacturer & model code from the decoder.

I think you mean "I don't indicate because I know where I'm going". I have heard that several times.

It is more complicated than that. According to https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits , the national speed limit FOR A BUILT UP AREA is 30mph, but there is no definition given for 'built up area'. Street lights are usually accepted as indicating a built up area. The 'black bar sign' indicates that the national speed limit applies, but this varies according to what type of vehicle you are driving & what type of road you are driving on. For a car or motorcycle, these are 30 for built up area, 60 for a single carriageway road & 70 for a dual carriageway/motorway. I was horrified at how few people knew this when I did a speed awareness course. Most know the first & last but few know 60 & 70 for single/dual carriageways. For a goods vehicle below 7.5T, the limits are different: 50 for a single carriageway road, 60 for a dual carriageway & 70 for a motorway, so be mindful of this when hiring a van to take the layout to a show. There was a legal minimum distance for speed limit repeater signs but I understand this was repealed after someone escaped their sentence after proving that the repeaters were slightly too far apart in the area they got caught.