AMJ

With the Irish inkling "G spot" ok I meant G class shunter! That would make an Irish shunting plank feasible.

I think that just like the Corgi brand the Oxford diecast will continue. They have a good customer base in N, HO, OO and O scales. Prices are good for what you get. Many of the guys in USA say that the HO models that are produced are a good way to populate your highways. The brands will remain as in future they might want to sell the Oxford range or keep it like the Airfix range. Over the years the Corgi OOC model bus range seems to have dwindled away from the heady days where there used to be say 4 models a month at the time when EFE were doing 5. Oxford Diecast brand is well known and respected for the road vehicles and as others say I think that the OR will be blended into Hornby. Many of the road museums sell OD products but can't imagine they would want to stock rail related items.

Without checking the dimensions of wheelbase etc I wonder if the new 47 and 69 will share some components. If so this will speed up the development time scales.

I'd recommend watching Anthony Dawson on YT, he is associated with various museums and doesn't necessarily put the NRM branding on content. Plus he has written various historical books including one about Liverpool and Manchester Rly. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC75PkfxmwyEM6RrVStVwqwQ

I had a thrash behind one at Roaring Camp in California the other year. Just like our geared Sentinel locos more cylinder beats per revolution of the wheels.

Only send the ship to Dublin if it has iRM items onboard

Just a shame that the forum can't have the same thread in multiple places so that there is one in USA and one in manufacturer.

For those who have not seen the Canadian KR Models website they have opened expressions of interest for various wagons and a 2 truck Shay loco. https://www.krmodels.ca/

005 is still sat at Midland Road on those bogies today. Well that's about 8 months in the same siding. There are a few 66's at the ends of others there that have not moved for many weeks. A few Christmas trees?

For those who have not been to Leeds Midland Road 59005 is still sat in the siding it has been there for months. It has accommodation bogies in place of the usual ones and a "Not to be moved" board on it. I bet that it won't be going south for a while!

There is way too much duplication. From what I have seen in Larry Pucketts videos on YT you could get away with just your DCC and AC feeds as sub busses for lower voltages AC/DC can be taken from the main higher voltage one. You can make the decision do you need a certain voltage on this section? See https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dcc+guy+power+bus

In the dim and distant past when I ran a mail order business any funds taken towards future items needed to be placed into a suspension account so that if an item was unavailable or a refund was asked for then the funds would be readily available. Card transactions were carried out at the time of packing as card companies have a serious dislike for failure to supply goods or services.

Please see the UK distance selling regulations https://www.gov.uk/online-and-distance-selling-for-businesses If anyone you are attempting to buy from is in breach I suggest referring then to this regulation.

Many of the steam ones are quite handy for more locos than the ones that they are intended to be used in. I have a trio. Many chips of this style can be wiped and then reloaded. But that might involve exposure to UV. As Hornby give out zero info about technical details and file sizes and types etc that can then be loaded it will be impossible to do so.

As others have said there are many out there who I cringe at the presentation or way things are done and tend to avoid them in the future. For those who like inspirational and instructive I watch quite a lot of the MRH coverage from USA. Ken Patterson "What's neat this week" and the monthly MRH one are at times fun. TSG Multimedia does USA prototype and model videos that many in the UK should take a look at as they are well lit, damn fine sound and edited to be of a sensible duration. Toy Man Television is also in USA and Dale has a lot of fun with models and prototype videos. Ron Marsh of Ron's trains n things is also worth watching especially the monthly railroad wrap with Tony Cook, Lionel Strang. A comment was once said by Ivo Peters - let the trains do the moving not the camera. This holds true for video as it did with film cameras as need to have them on a tripod. I mention many from USA even though I model items from UK as I think they are a few years ahead of us here for style, content and quality.

I think that many USA makers include cab/radio chatter that unless you are sat with a scanner you will never hear. On a DMU a few door slams followed by the guard or station staff whistle is more appropriate than the buzzer. Unless you are sat inside next to the door the guard is at then you can't hear it. Active drive on DMU https://www.digitrains.co.uk/zsdmua.html

For those who have not used Soundtraxx DCC chips they have a number of features Sounds start up when the loco gets track power - this can be changed by tweaking CV's Sound equalisers and individual volume controls for each sound. CV's to turn enable functions when on DC CV's to turn enable functions when consisted - this can be handy to turn on brakes, whistles etc. Any button can operate any function so as an example I have set volume on bell to 0 (removed from F1) and moved Mute from F8 to F1 For full list of sounds see www.soundtraxx.com Videos from Soundtraxx https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCURYyguc6F1Gp1uzwhFAY9Q

Interesting video that could be a cheaper way to DCC the layout

The Tsunami2 Steam is of interest to UK modellers as there are various whistles include for UK locos. Simple CV changes can disable US features like bells. Can be set to use vacuum in place of air pump, Any light and or sound function can be on any button by tweaking a CV.

Full manuals for Soundtraxx products can be found at https://soundtraxx.com/ on the reference menu The Econami chips have a few features less than the Tsunami2 but they have far more CV's that you can play with than many more expensive chips. About 120 pages for the Econami manual.

Email with spec from Soundtraxx Specifications Dimensions: 25 x 10.5 x 4.1mm Max. Motor Stall Current: 1A Max. Function Current: 100mA (each output) Function Outputs: 6 Audio Amplifier: 1W, 8-Ohm Load DCC Track Voltage: 7.5V - 22V Sound Channels: 16 Tsunami2 Digital Sound Decoders integrate a full-featured sound system, Hyperlight™ lighting effects, Hyperdrive2™ advanced motor control, and a DCC decoder into a single package. Tsunami2 Digital Sound Decoders offer 20+ lighting effects in each model! Other popular Tsunami2 features include: Reactive Dynamic Digital Exhaust, Functioning locomotive and train brakes. We also offer a large selection of selectable sound effects including: manufacturer specific prime movers (up to 12), bells (12), airhorns (40+), couplers, compressors and more! Tsunami2 TSU-N18 Decoder Part numbers: 884010 - TSU-N18 Steam-2 885026 - TSU-N18 EMD 885027 - TSU-N18 GE 885028 - TSU-N18 ALCO 885029 - TSU-N18 Baldwin & Others 885030 - TSU-N18 EMD-2 886007 - TSU-N18 Electric

I'd be tempted to go for optical (IR) sensors and lights on a control panel. The other week Larry did an interesting video about automation of a reverse loop which might be of use. The point is controlled by the loco going onto a section of track with detection. Obviously there is an auto reverse module for the main section of track.

This week I changed the speaker to a meaty oval one in the Bachmann 24/0 which has an ESU v5 chip in The guts have been rewired onto a ESU 21 pin board in place of the factory 8 pin one.

For a few years the LMS(NCC) think ex Midland were parked where the horrible 142 was parked in one of the photos. If it's now at Bolton Abbey even less will happen on it. Nice photos.