bandmbill

The weekend will see 7 passenger trains and 3 freight trains running each day - most trains will be steam hauled but there will be a diesel hauled freight train both days and two diesel hauled passenger trains on Sunday. The Leighton Buzzard line was built in 1919, inititially a couple of steam locos were used but were quickly replaced by petrol and diesel power - the sand didn’t go well with steam loco motion - so the line was internal combustion powered for most of the time it was carrying sand and for periods since preservation.

Annual gala weekend - details here - https://www.buzzrail.uk/special-events/anything-goes-gala/

To be fair to the KWVR their midweek timetable alternates steam and diesel trains…………

I would place the loco on your work bench wheels in the air - select the loco and turn the speed up a bit - two leads from the track and apply power to each pair of wheels - work through the wheels to see if any aren’t picking up…..

Excellent service - very quick delivery - good communication.

Handsets aren’t cheap but the price is comparable to a loco with a decent sound chip fitted so not unreasonable….

The Piko is a Daisy 2 with a bigger enclosure - you can update it and edit the loco roster using the Uhlenbrock software - the Daisy is a bit less of a handful…..

I have been using Uhlenbrock Daisy 2 throttles with a LocoNet command station for 6 years now - loco control is very good - wired via Loconet and wired through the Uhlenbrock Funkmaster box on 868 mHz - haven’t had any issues at exhibitions big and small. The new Daisy 2 WLAN can work with Z21 protocol - I’ve no experience of this though.

Enjoyed the show - good variety of layouts - lots of people I knew - thanks to the organisers!

You do need to test that short protection works on all parts of a layout - also use power districts each with protection set at appropriate levels……..

I use good quality XLRs - having used them in touring PA and lighting rigs the latches are good for a large number of operations - using them on an exhibition layout then they are probably being plugged in and out less than 20 times a year (testing prior to a show and setting up at the show) so they aren’t going to wear out. DCC busses won’t be carrying a current anywhere near 5A unless you are operating G scale stock, if you are getting close to 5A then maybe that should be split onto two power districts - I am using 16 x 0.2mm wires and can fit those into 3, 4 and 5 pin XLRs.

XLR are good for 5 amps - XLRs are pretty well indestructible for our uses - the ability to do up to 7 connections and by use of combinations to prevent wrong connections……

I have used XLR audio connectors - they come in 3 to 7 pin formats - very reliable and hard wearing but not cheap.

Lorry cameras are good - kits usually have one camera and one display but the displays can work with two or more cameras - automatically switch to work in low light/darkness with IR light source built into the cameras.

Agree about using JMRI for all programming - my whole roster is in JMRI - it does take a while to read in all of the values of a decoder but as you say you can just leave it going. Once you have the decoder in the roster then programming on the main is very easy.

Agree on the use of JMRI - my roster is on JMRI - easy to edit decoder settings - all in one place for all makes of decoder. I bought the Zimo MXULFA recently to be able to update decoder software (does that very well) and to upload sound sets - I have done that a couple of times and it has worked. I wouldn’t use it to program CVs - that is what JMRI does really well.

The Zimo repair scheme is that if you break the decoder you pay £20 for a replacement - I’ve broken two so far out of 20 - both my fault. Most of my Zimo sound decoders have come from Digitrains - the sounds are very good even through the small speakers that fit in my 7mm/ft narrow gauge locos - there are 150 UK sound sets on the Digitrains website . Usual disclaimer - just a very happy Digitrains customer!

If you haven’t gone down the sound route yet then go Zimo - I have consistently got really good results from Zimo - less successful with Loksound….

Excellent!

Does the combo without the PSX1 trip ok when tested?

I have successfully used Digitrax PM42 Power Managers - trip speed and current is configurable - reports shorts back via LocoNet. There will be a surge of current at startup - if 30 locos are causing a single device to trip the perhaps split into two districts? My 09 layout would only have a maximum of 8 locos on the scenic bit and the same in the fiddle yard……

If you don’t have sound equipped locos you can survive without stay alives but since I have fitted nearly all of my locos (sound and no sound) with stay alives running at shows is generally very good…….

If any if you have any Bandai N Gauge motor bogies that you don’t have a use for…… This is a similar unit to the Kato 11-103 or newer 11-109 but has a shorter wheelbase. Please PM me…..

The Vallejo Earth Textures work well - colour and texture - ready mixed - looks expensive but goes a long way….

On my small 09 DCC layout we have a single booster and a 4 way power manager - one district is the scenic part of the layout, one is the fiddle yard, one is for the accessory decoders/points and one for the test track (short length of track - can have rolling road or wheel cleaners). The districts are set for fastest trip speed so that the district should cut out first and not the booster. Fiddle yard on separate district because stock can cause shorts when being swapped, likewise when cleaning wheels.