Pete the Elaner

I am not mistaken. I urge you to not be blinded by their not so recent history. Their last 6 titles were due to 1 man: Jean Todt. Many credit Schumacher for building the team but if Todt had not been there, Schumacher would never have signed for them. If you remove Todt's influence, the last of their other 9 titles was in 1980. That is over 40 years ago. Todt was pushed out the season Raikkonen won his title, He & the team he built were driven out by their management's desire for control, That management structure is still there & they have not won anything since. More pertinently, it is why they have not won anything since & therefore why it is the wrong team to be at to win a driver's title. Constructors title is of little concern to a driver considering switching teams.

Why would he want to do that? He has nothing to gain. He has plenty of money & should know by now that Ferrari is never the place to be for a world title. Their management structure has been incapable of supporting a winning team since Jean Todt left & shows no sign of improving in the near future. Mercedes finished above Ferrari in 2023 & he finished above both of their drivers, even though the general feeling is that Mercedes had a bad year. There has ben a constant stream of F1 trash in the media this winter. It seems to be getting worse each year, with many stories being repeated from years ago without acknowledging they are recycled. I will not believe anything until I see pre-season testing & even then, there will be updates before the first race.

I really don't understand some drivers. I have just driven home from the club, along the A421 between the A1 & M1. For those unfamiliar, it is 70mph dual carriageway & I was in my car, so 70 was the limit for me. I was in the overtaking lane & accelerated to 70 but had to back off because the car in front was doing just over 60. A car pulled up on my left because he did not want to pass on the left, so I tried to stay slightly in front but not closer than about 2 seconds behind the car in front of me. The car in front was a little slower than those in front of them, but backed their speed off to around 56 & matched their speed with a lorry in the left lane, remaining in their blind spot. They even dabbed their brakes a couple of times to stay there & maintained this position (yes, in the blind spot) for a minute or 2. I was not sure if they were trying to brake check me, even though I was still a couple of seconds back. I began to wonder if there was a car in front of them which I could not see, but it was clear. Eventually they got past the lorry & pulled over. I see many on dual carriageways/motorways who are completely oblivious to others' blind spots. Lorry drivers are usually pretty good, but not invulnerable to mistakes, so I try not to leave myself vulnerable.

I know some who would be put off by learning to drive a model train properly & like the direct feel of a DC control knob. But you can adjust acceleration/deceleration really easily, so you can set it up exactly how you want it. I find it much more interesting to bring the train to a controlled stop rather than have an instant reaction. I had never previously used the coast feature quite as described in the manual but after having given it a try, I like it.

Not hard, impossible. The fussier ones among us will have learned how to re-map functions or, more likely, use software which makes this easier.

Sound is 1 delay but when I spoke to a member of staff at Warley, I was told that they wanted to improve on the design of the pantograph because it does not park low enough on the 92. So the whole lot is not being delayed in order to make a good recording of the sounds. I thought the same when I installed sound on my first electric, but the addition of sound still adds character in the same way as it does with diesel or steam.

Maybe you could borrow one? I don't use mine a great deal because JMRI does everything except firmware updates & re-blows.

It happens elsewhere too. I've travelled first on a Pendolino before because it was cheaper than standard. I think this was because they mis-judged accommodation a few years ago. When Pendolinos were introduced, the first batch were 8 coaches, 4 of which were firsts. The kitchen & luggage areas took around 1/3 of a coach each, kitchen being in 1st & luggage in standard. The shop was also in a standard coach, leaving more floor space for first class than standard. The split between passengers meant that first was never very busy, leaving standard wedged. All sets got extended fairly quickly, thankfully with standard class. Some of the firsts were also re-built into standards too.

I am not sure that 140mph running will happen any time soon. All trains needing to use the line will need to be compliant. Some sections are only 2 tracks. Others are 4 but you cannot just ban non-compliant stock from the fast lines because there may be an issue of some kind on the slow: points or signal failure, land slip, failed train, engineering works. All trains would then need to use the fast lines. While that is possible, what will it really gain? On 4 track sections, the slow lines are too full to take everything but the fastest trains, so allowing a higher top speed would only allow them to catch up with slower trains more quickly, causing them to get checked by double yellows. For a passenger, going slow in a fast train is highly irritating. I expect drivers are equally irritated. It only takes the slightest thing to go wrong & several trains then get delayed. Planners have to conduct an investigation into most delays, so they do not like it either. Running at 140mph puts 25% more energy through the running gear (energy increasing with the square of speed), so increases the wear on trains & rail by 25%. Increasing maximum speed to 140mph on existing lines therefore requires a lot of investment. Is it really worthwhile? Only the last part about increased energy & therefore maintenance applies to a dedicated line.

They can be variable. If you get a good one, then great. If you get a poor one, then spares may not be the easiest to get hold of. But they cost barely any more than just the compressor & you will learn a lot about what you want from an airbrush. Knowing what I know now, this is definitely the path I would recommend. I started with a Badger 200 & upgraded to an Iwata Revolution. The Iwata feels nice to use & is easier to clean, but the Badger gave perfectly good results whether for re-spraying stock or fine, light weathering. The limit with my setup is the user.

It is indeed very easy to re-map functions using JMRI. It looks pretty similar to LokProgrammer. I have looked at the manual with regard to doing this manually, but it seems very complicated, especially compared to JMRI. The pre-loaded feature list looks very reasonable. I like the idea of having switchable modes via a high numbered function & it is obvious somebody has put a lot of thought into this. I'll probably do something similar to what you suggest, but will familiarise myself with the model first.

3. Old resistance mat controllers provide very poor slow speed control. I have heard others claim otherwise, but when I have seen their layouts run, it is clear that they have no concept of how a train really accelerates.

ABC braking with DCC will do a lot of that & is supported by many decoders (I think even the Zimo MX600 series). It is really a subject for & covered elsewhere instead of drifting away from the conversation's original suggestion of a cheap old controller being unsuitable for a modern motor.

I can do way beyond what I want to do with it too, but it makes the easier things really easy. It turns CV settings into well labelled check boxes or values. I do not know the CV for master volume, but I don't need to. JMRI takes care of that & I just move a slider labelled Volume. It also stores your CVs in files, so once you have read them in, you can see what they are without having to re-read them. I have not seen the specs for your system but expect an LN90 will have a USB or serial port. It is free to install & use. You only need a cable & compatible computer to run it, It runs on Windows, Mac or Linux. There is very little to lose & a lot to gain from trying it out.

That was "the lap" when he dropped from 4th to 5th at the start then made his way to first before the last corner. Surely the best lap in F1 history? So it is quite amazing to have a photo of him on his own!

Another vital thing you have missed: At low speed with DC, there is a low voltage between wheel & rail, which is the weakest part of the circuit & susceptible to dirt. DCC has a constant higher voltage, which pushes the current across this boundary. This is a huge help with slow speed running.

But that is way beyond what any DC system can do, so how can it be a downside? DCC is a gateway to achieve so much more than DC could ever possibly offer.

I have got a couple of Gaugemaster ones with the simulator, but have also tried others. The driving experience provided by these is nowhere near as good as active/dynamic braking on a Loksound or Zimo. Loksound v5's dynamic brake is a huge upgrade from a v4 too. But I agree that a DC controller with brake/inertia is a more sophisticated unit than the intended subject of this thread.

I agree. I think hills give a circuit some character but Silverstone is almost completely flat. I made this comment before running a half marathon around it a few years ago & was told "it is more undulating that I think". It wasn't. There were a couple of very gentle inclines, but nothing more than that. Compare this to Brands Hatch, which is has some very steep drops & climbs. The advantage Silverstone has is size. After seeing Brands & Donington, I thought I knew what to expect, but was surprised by how enormous Silverstone is. The others managed to cope with a Grand Prix in the 80s & 90s but F1 has outgrown them. I know there are street circuits which have smaller facilities, but the money they generate makes up for this.

I expect Cav & Alex will be happier than anyone to see these arrive. Seeing the finished result of your hard work (in this case years of it) is highly rewarding.

They may not send it straight away. I ordered a sound chip from DC Kits a few years ago for what was then a brand new loco. I received a reply from Charlie within an hour to say he assumed this was for the new model & they would get a model of their own in order to customise the file before fulfilling the order.

How has this waded into DCC? It was originally about buying a £200 loco & driving it with an old or cheap controller which gives a nasty, spiky output. Your ideal DCC throttle is my nightmare. I like having to think about stopping a train instead of doing it instantly. Don't real trains coast for miles & take a few hundred yards to stop? Where is the fun in being able to stop it straight away? If I really need to stop instantly, most systems have a red panic button. Not everybody wants a centre-off which only allows about 130 degrees between off & max either. I have used one & hated it. 0-max is about 300 degrees on a Gaugemaster, which allows a lot finer control simply because you need to turn the knob further for a small increase in speed.

It sounds like it is a Gaugemaster but my friend was not sure. They have 3 ranges: Those with cream coloured faces are their standard range, which give a fairly smooth output & should be ok for coreless or modern motors. Their black faced range has feedback. These are better for older motors & I believe also give a constant speed up gradients. These can damage coreless or modern motors. They make a red faced range too. I am not sure what these are.

I assume you mean the club in Olney? I have just got back from a darts match in the Carlton Club. 😁 I know somebody who may know straight away what controller you have been using.

How can it possibly be a fully private project? It will not generate any revenue for several years. Railways are rarely self-sufficient, usually requiring subsidy. That is certainly true in UK. I guess it is budget-shifting again. If private companies are 'funding' it, then the subsidy will come from a different budget & not from the HS2 construction budget.