pauln

Thanks. I like the grey roof better than the reddish one on the one I got; John Hampden. I gave mine a test run today. Fine in DC but on two different DCC chips it only runs properly in one direction. In the other direction it runs for a second, stops, runs for a second, stops, repeats this about half a dozen times then refuses to move at all. Same on rolling road so not a pickup issue. Also had one of the gear cogs clicking and jumping occasionally. It will be on its way back to the shop on Monday for an exchange.

That was Not The Nine o Clock News.

That's good news. After buying and sending back two terrible runners I swore I'd not get another but at £99 it was just too hard to resist having another try. I'm hoping it will be worth the money. Edit : I've just had the despatch note for the VEP and a BIL from Kernow so they must have had more in stock. Their web site now says "Please note we will have more stock available very shortly when we have collected it from our secure storage - we did not expect to get through the stock at the shop so quickly!"

Assuming you have kids (rather than having a worrying interest in Peppa Pig) make sure they realise how important the thing under the duvet is.

Bring it down south and I'll bring along my EPBs, CEPs and MLV !

Thanks I hadn't seen those. They could be useful but, unless I am doing something wrong, the shipping is extortionate (9 euros for one little plastic item).

Woodcote Road. But grew up in Battersea looking over the line to Stewarts Lane (why on earth didn't I have a decent camera when great stuff like the Brighton Belle used to go past?). Those vinyls are the same ones I ended up buying - probably from the same seller in OO. I've laid some of the yellow lines and they look good. Need to get the bus stop done now. Dustylionflower was the seller I was thinking of too.

Superb work. The speed of your progress puts me (and most others I'd guess) to shame. I still live in Wallington (but down the leafier green end). You've done much better with the Scalescenes road markings on your various layouts than I managed - could never get the tarmac sections to match. There's a Bachmann Scenecraft pack 44-502 that contains a couple of ticket machines (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-44-502-Train-Station-Modernisation-Pack-OO-Gauge-/231378655982?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item35df3e1aee) and several ebay sellers sell card ticket machines but I would have thought you'd be perfectly capable of a great DIY job anyway.

Hi all, I was about to order the large logo blue version but a quick search for a suitable decoder first only showed up a few PluX22 examples. Is there any other choice in the UK apart from Uhlenbrock or Zimo and is there a sound chip with 73 sounds and a PluX22 interface (paging Legomanbiffo ?) Edit : found a Lokpilot at Digitrains which seems to be the cheapest at £27. Thanks Paul

Very interesting start. You work a lot quicker than I do.

Hmm. I have just started running mine and it is a bit noisy and derails the rear bogie on one set of points every two or three circuits. I'll have a closer look using your suggestion, thanks.

On the contrary I think it is a great layout. The long shot looking along the length of the layout is very impressive and you've done a great job with those scratchbuilt station buildings. Paul

I'd agree with that. No point in buying the BSO and FK if you can't buy the rest of the rake. That said some new TSOs have now been released so maybe that will change (or maybe not if the shades of blue and grey aren't quite the same - I think there are some differences between the batches ?)

Slightly off topic from working patterns but on topic for Lima Mk2s - is there an easy way to swap the extra large couplings for something smaller and at the right height for current Bachmann / Hornby locos. Thanks Paul

That looks pretty good grass for a first go. Will need mowing soon.

I was drawn to this thread by your "other post". I don't know how I've missed this before. Lovely work on the footbridge and on the track lifting cameo. Some great ideas for me.

Chris, I did send Ben some videos which I took of my defective units and he did discuss this with Simon Kolher. Now, as per earlier posts, I can't fault Mr Kohler's efforts to check the poor running on my models and to send me one which had the traction tyres swapped and some adjustments to the DCC chip CVs which largely resolved my running issues. What none of us know is how widespread the running problems were - somewhere between "only a small number of people on a web forum found the issue" and "quite a lot of customers returned their models" and this could certainly have been explored a bit by the model rail press with the manufacturer.

That ratio fencing does look pretty good as do the yard lights

Few more shots of the exchange sidings at Chilmark ... sorry this is a bit off the original topic of Dinton but I thought you might find them interesting.

Thanks. I shall be getting onto installing platforms and fitting 3rd rail shortly on my layout so will watch your efforts with interest.

The one that Hornby sent me to try out also had the traction tyres on the diagonally opposite axles - this helped with better running for me. Not sure how easy they are to swap for those that have one at home ?

S A C Martin's letter can be found earlier in the thread - around page 30 something I believe. I wrote direct to Simon Kohler by letter / email and had several exchanges of email within a reasonable timescale. My concerns (see also earlier in the thread) were about the noise generated by the motor and the poor traction and I certainly had the feeling that Mr Kohler was keen to resolve this problem for me. Whether this results in a permanent change to future production is down to Hornby. In my case it feels like I had some of a batch of dud motors which explains the noise - my replacement does not have this issue - and a swap round of the traction tyres, a new DCC chip and some changes to CVs (all of which Hornby did for me) have resulted in a 4 VEP which is much closer to a Bachmann CEP in performance. So, personally I can't fault Hornby's response about the mechanical problem but personally also I didn't have any concern about the bodywork issues others have commented on. I do wonder, though, how many people actually contacted Hornby direct rather than just post comments on forums. In this thread I'd estimate only 4 or 5 people have mentioned writing direct. I don't know what the production run is but I would guess this is only a tiny percentage and I can see why Hornby might be reluctant to take this as evidence of a major issue. If it is true that retailers are sitting on large stocks that might also be an indicator - but whether this because of the model's design, market saturation, price or a number of other reasons Hornby will have to judge.

Looking good. Are the platform surfaces card or plasticard ?

Thanks. I am sure they weren't there a few days ago when I last checked. Should have checked again before posting.

Are there any photos of the blue one (in model form) yet please. I can't see on this thread. Thanks Paul