johnb

I fully agree with Phil, the contact strips from the wheel pickups MUST be split on BOTH sides. I've done that by first epoxy gluing the strips to the side of the bogie letting it fully cure and then cutting them and making sure that the cut parts DO NOT TOUCH each other. It can be done without gluing first, but I found things to be a bit wobbly with risk of touching across the split. Then I simply soldered the decoder wires as usual, the red and black to the the section connected to the wheels and the orange and grey to the upper part of the split strips. Checking with a meter at intervals to make sure that no contact was possible. Try not to linger with the soldering iron and it will not damage the plastic bogie structure. I'd add a photo but that particular model is buried deep in the stored stock pile. It's all a bit of delicate work, but taking it slowly and carefully all will be fine. John

I am sure that we all appreciate your thanks Nutford. We seem to have got you thinking anyway!!!! Do come back when (not if) you have any more questions and we'll do our best to help Personally I'm pleased to have been able to assist. regards John

Another supplier to look at is Coastal DCC (no connection other than a satisfied customer) They do appear at shows and have a variety of systems operating on a test track. The guys are helpful and knowledgeable. Again, where are you located? If you give us a clue then maybe someone could point you in the right direction for advice. John

All the makes of controllers and chips do essentially the same thing. Some just have more facilities than others. There is no one simple answer. If you go through the posts on here (there are lots) then you will see that everyone has their personal favourites. You really really need to try systems out and see which one suits YOU! I tried several and settled on NCE, others also tried a selection and swear by Digitrax or Lenz or Roco or ESU or Zimo or others. It's very much a personal choice. Essentially though you cannot usually mix controller systems, but almost any chip will work with any control system. As someone posted here a while back "ask 10 people and you will get 11 answers!" There are often DCC suppliers offering a variety of systems at the bigger shows where you can test systems. Otherwise there are clubs with DCC systems where you can see the systems working on a layout, members within a club may well have their own different systems. In my club one layout uses the Z21, I use NCE and so on, however altough the controllers can't be mixed the locos will run on either system. I cannot stress too much that you need to try various systems yourself. For example I like the NCE handsets, others certainly do not! John

You could try the so-called 'scale' Kadees which are somewhat smaller. Or the Sergeant true scale HO coupler it's quite a bit smaller. John

Have you considered using the MicroTrains couplers? Essentially they are Kadee type knuckle couplers for N gauge. Would need some trial and error to work out what to do, but they are pretty small and, I'd guess, need some accurate setting up. John

The street cars in New Orleans use a broader gauge, I think either 5ft 3ins or 5ft 6ins. The difference is very noticeable where the street car tracks run alongside the main railroad along the river frontage. John

Would been an 'interesting' experience on a windy day too!! John

Thing is, Arriva have been running this franchise and therefore know where the problems are. They will have looked at the overall package on offer and have decided that the risks involved are too high for the potential return. I would expect that there would have been a lot of high level number crunching carried out and in the end it was decided not to spend the money on bidding. Their exact reasons may never be publically known, but it comes down to a simple question:- "Given the risks involved, can we see our way to make some money?" The answer would seem to have been "No!" John

Obviously I'm a bit naive on this. I would have thought that there would have been a effort to avoid a mish-mash of types in any particular section of line or station area. As Russ says it must make things tricky for drivers. John

It's interesting Mike that the two ground signals SB 6413/6411, despite being almost side by side, that one has red/white lights and the other red/red. I would have thought that some consistancy would have been applied with the yard or at least adjacent signals would be the same type. I realise that drivers would of course know what the meaning was, but .... John

Now that sounds a splendid plan. Train operation may become a bit erratic later on though. Unfortunately I am unable to attend as I wiil be exhibiting my layout at the Poole (Dorset) MRC show on that day. Have fun regards John

So there's an answer how to use it when you've b******d up one end of a double slip. John

Yes, I do know how it is. Got the tee shirt on assorted unwise actions!!!! HTH John

First off I'd contact Dapol and see what options they can offer. Second, if there isn't a repair option, then it's the glue it option. Third is don't suck up ballast again! It's only supposed to collect dust and light debris, whilst the odd granule of ballast is probably OK, hammering the impeller with a load of the stuff would seem to have been inadvisable. John

First thing to try is a decoder reset. It's usually to set CV 8 to 8, but read the leaflet that came with the decoder. That returns the decoder to factory settings allowing you to reprogramme it again. Has the unit been on the track when a short circuit occurred? That can sometimes confuse the decoder to the extent that a reset is the only way to clear it up. That's happened to me. The second issue is something else obviously, but do check that the pins that the decoder plugs to are all straight, they are all too easy to bend (Guess how I know that!)

And here, will be in use all next weekend at the Farnham Club show in Aldershot! John

Could be three things, track is uneven at the point the loco was put on, or the wheels are not sitting properly om the main track, or the main track is still dirty in places. John

Some chips do not permit alteration of some CVs. what chip are you using? John

I have found that the weights that the NMRA give often work out too heavy for the smaller UK layouts. I did some detailed testing a few years ago on my then layout, max length13ft over Peco medium radius crossovers. I was using Kadee body mounted couplers on 3 or 4 bogie parcels vans or a few more 4 wheelers. My view is that a weight corresponding to 20grams an axle worked well. So a 4 wheeler van at 40grams and a bogie vehicle at 80grams is about right. I don't go less than 30 grams or much over 90grams total weight. I also mount the Kadee so that the pushing face is level with the buffer faces which avoids buffer locking over reverse curves of 3ft radius. I'm using UK Bo-Bo diesels. Those weights and Kadee setting suit me. I also use the height as per the Kadee height gauge, I'd prefer to set them a bit higher but as I don't want all the work involved in altering NEM fitted stock I accept the compromise. That's my solution to the issue and I accept the appearance, others will doubtless disagree. John

Sitting there humming could be a sign that the mechanical side is jammed somewhere, not becessarilly a decoder issue. Is it a steam or diesel? If it's steam the rods could be jammed somewhere or in the case of a diesel the gears could stuck wih solidified grease. Once you are sure that everyting moves freely then first off try a decoder reset, probably by writing 8 to CV8. If you left it humming you could have fried the decoder, so before fitting a new one, remove the old one, fit a blanking plug and see if it runs on DC. Give that a try and if not successful report back on what happens. regards John

A word of warning. If using liquid lead DO NOT flood it with PVA glue to hold it in place! There is a slow reaction between the lead and the PVA which results in expansion of the mix. This will split anything that tightly confines it, be it a plastic or metal body. Seen an 'O' gauge brass loco ruined by this reaction. John

They were listed from individual fares. So to go from A to D via B and C the booking clerk would look up A to B, B to C and C to D and add the lot up. Years ago, pre computers, I once required an unusual weekly season ticket, from my home station to Chatham. The clerk looked in his local book if one had been requested before which it hadn't been. So as I had gone to the station a day or so before (expecting a probable issue) when it was quiet he used the massive fares manual to see what home to Victoria would be, then Vic to Chatham and then took in what the long distance commuting discount would be (over 25 miles I think back then). It was a significant discount. A weekly from home to Vic was about £20 way back then and Vic to Chatham was about the same. I got a through weekly for about £30! He gave me the season grinning, told me the discount and added 'another one for the book!' John

Worth a try by phoning, in past years cash has been accepted on the door. It's more a question of making sure there's enough food for lunch. John

I find it a very good day out, seeing what everyone else is doing in a variety of types and designs of layout, modelling details, control systems, wiring, and so on, and so on. I'll be there on the Hemel Hempstead table with a 4ft LT layout very much in the thinking/ideas stages. Some other club members will be there doing some other interesting things. Lunch is a cold buffet, tea and coffee is on all day. Probably won't get much modelling done as expect to be talking a lot. TEAMYAKIMA's Chinese layout is impressive, Paul had it there last year in it's earlier stages and after seeing some of the work in progress during the year it ought to be looking quite something. John