SRman

Damn you, Ivan! Now I can't get that one out of my head ... you've given me an ear worm!

Ahh, yes, but the Indian one has through-flow ventilation!

At least if Ivan (Horsetan) becomes a minister here, he won't keep using helicopters to travel short distances, he'll go by horse!

Queensland under Joh had to have a different calendar ... no Marches allowed!

I have only ridden on a couple of Pacers (classes 142 and 144); the seats were just bus seats and not very comfortable (I know some have been refurbished and have improved seating, but that was well after my experiences). However, I can't say the ride was bad. It wasn't ideal on jointed track, with the 'Nodding Donkey' name being appropriate, but compared to the riding of many Australian trains (those NSW double deck interurbans excepted!), the ride was fairly soft and forgiving.

Mine has Howes' sounds on it (note also that it's an older v3.5 decoder). Not very exciting sounds, to be honest, but I know Bryan tried to match them to known footage of the locos at work. One person I know of didn't like the MAN sounds and had Maybach sound from half a Warship blown onto his. It does sound nicer (I can't say 'better' because it is less accurate). I do have a video from long ago but it will have to wait for a bit before I can upload it for you.

Will do, Bernard. He is a top bloke! We will probably see him for a few days in December when he comes to stay in Melbourne.

Maybe not what you want to spend on, but my Dapol class 22 has an ESU LokSound decoder installed. I can't remember what I had in it before I bought the sound decoder, though. You could try the TCS one mentioned, Lenz Silver 21, or ESU LokPilot - these are all decoders i have used fairly extensively in my collection.

Yes, Tony Asquith (who was Little Bus Company at the time) actively assisted BT in doing the Lodekka. He actually showed me a couple of pre-production models (for which there is now no need for secrecy). I can't remember whether he also assisted with the MW model, although it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I know Tony has also generously assisted other small manufacturers, particularly with models that weren't already in the LBC range or weren't planned for that range.

Yet another new arrival at Newton Broadway: a Rails of Sheffield weathered 10001. There will probably be a few more new arrivals over the next few months too, as the manufacturers seem to be catching up all of a sudden! Anyway, 10001 was run for a few hours on the rolling road on DC power (longer than I intended as I forgot about it!). I have now fitted a Hatton's 21-pin decoder, which works all of the lighting functions (head and tail lights plus cab lights - both ends not independent). I haven't even opened the detailing pack yet, so it is seen in the photos as it came out of the box. I intend to "Southern-ise" it a bit, with extra lamp irons and a large BR crest on each side. I have found one photo so far showing the position for the crest on one side, but have yet to locate a pic of the other side for the correct period. I have also had a little play around with the photos to try to take them back to the early-mid 1950s; these follow the coloured originals.

I usually have a heap of spare 'zip-lock' bags around that are ideal for those bits and pieces. Once I open the sealed pack from Hornby/Bachmann/Heljan/whoever else's names you want here, the remaining, unused bits go into the resealable bag until I can file them away properly in one of the multi-compartment boxes I have.

If it is of any help, I used some black-tack (Homelux Bath Seal) to stick the panels in place. this still allows them to be removed if i want, but they don't fall out all over the place!

I agree with this: the first issues of the class 110 actually included a separate centre car, with the most common livery I have seen being the refurbished white with blue stripe. This model is not too far off modern standards, as long as you change the wheels, and possibly the couplings. There is no lighting inside, but even that isn't difficult to add.

The ones I got caught out by were black, making them hard to see. That doesn't mean Hornby always use the same colour materials, though. They were wedged between the top of the bogie and the underside of the cab behind the buffer beam.

R2577, 60 077 Canisp was not originally fitted with sound from the factory, and is listed as having an 8-pin plug/socket. Factory sound models from Hornby use the 21-pin connector. So, first question: did you remove the spongy 'rubber' packaging from under the leading edges of each bogie? I missed this with my first Hornby class 60 and it did move but really struggled to do so. If the answer to that question was "Yes", then you may have to check to see if the wires to the brushes are intact. If a wire has broken or become unsoldered, it could be at the brush end or the decoder plug end. Also, check the orange and grey wires from the decoder are attached to the plug. These are the most likely causes of no drive to the motor itself. The track power is very obviously getting to the decoder, otherwise you would be getting neither lights nor sound. The class 60 body removes fairly easily by spreading the sides behind the cabs and letting the chassis drop (gently!) out under its own considerable weight.

Don't forget another variation, at least in early days; some repaints into BR blue received blue buffer beams. I must say that the red set off the blue so much more nicely, though.

If you are both using computers at the same address (through the same modem), then it is easily possible they have targetted that IP - the outside world sees only the IP address of your modem, not the individual internally allocated IPs of your computers.

Hi Peter. For the ESU decoder, program CV 30 to 2 (or CV 8 to 8) to reset it. The sound files won't be affected. For the speed steps, there is a key at lower right on the NCE controller which toggles 28/128 steps. If that does nothing for the problem, read the value in CV29 - program it to something like 34 (no DC operation) or 38 (if DC operation is also required) and see if that cures the problem (that's assuming you are using a long address).

With the clas 31, try changing the speed steps on your throttle to 128; it sounds like it has reverted to 14, for some reason, which would give the symptoms you describe. If that doesn't work, it may be to do with CV29 needing reprogramming. With the 33, I'm not sure; if all else fails, try a decoder reset.

Duplicating my post in the Kernow 4TC topic: Well, I got cracking and fitted the Kadee #20 couplings to both units. I was also going to perform a decoder swap with another (completely different) unit that I had recorded on my spreadsheet as having a Lenz decoder, but only requiring two functions. However, on reading the decoder on that unit, it turned out to be manufacturer 48, i.e. Hornby, which means I have now located my second Sapphire decoder! The result of this was that the Zimo MX634D decoder had to remain in the TC for the time being, so I decided to have another go at programming a Zimo to work the lights properly in these TC units. I am extremely proud to announce I got it to work. I started by programming a value of 3 into CV8, then 3 into CV 124 (actually already in there but I wanted to be sure). Then I moved to JMRI Decoder Pro to read the functions, and changed a few checkboxes. The screen shots below were actually a dummy run to duplicate the settings as I didn't take screen shots while I was actually doing the programming. The first shot is the "before" and the second is the "after" - the area with the orange highlight is the section I was playing with. The upshot of all this is that both units now have operable interior lights. The following shots and video show the combined train in action, with blue unit 416 (with Lenz Silver 21 decoder) leading blue/grey unit 404 (with the Zimo decoder), propelled by Heljan 33/1 D6520 with legomanbiffo sound (ESU LokSound). The video also shows bif's drive lock feature in action; the speed is held while the engine has been ramped up to full thrash. The interior lights on the Lenz decoder work on F5, while the Zimo one works them on F3. I didn't want to tempt fate by fiddling further to try to get them on the same F keys!

Well, I got cracking and fitted the Kadee #20 couplings to both units. I was also going to perform a decoder swap with another (completely different) unit that I had recorded on my spreadsheet as having a Lenz decoder, but only requiring two functions. However, on reading the decoder on that unit, it turned out to be manufacturer 48, i.e. Hornby, which means I have now located my second Sapphire decoder! The result of this was that the Zimo MX634D decoder had to remain in the TC for the time being, so I decided to have another go at programming a Zimo to work the lights properly in these TC units. I am extremely proud to announce I got it to work. I started by programming a value of 3 into CV8, then 3 into CV 124 (actually already in there but I wanted to be sure). Then I moved to JMRI Decoder Pro to read the functions, and changed a few checkboxes. The screen shots below were actually a dummy run to duplicate the settings as I didn't take screen shots while I was actually doing the programming. The first shot is the "before" and the second is the "after" - the area with the orange highlight is the section I was playing with. The upshot of all this is that both units now have operable interior lights. The following shots and video show the combined train in action, with blue unit 416 (with Lenz Silver 21 decoder) leading blue/grey unit 404 (with the Zimo decoder), propelled by Heljan 33/1 D6520 with legomanbiffo sound (ESU LokSound). The video also shows bif's drive lock feature in action; the speed is held while the engine has been ramped up to full thrash. The interior lights on the Lenz decoder work on F5, while the Zimo one works them on F3. I didn't want to tempt fate by fiddling further to try to get them on the same F keys!

The Heljan locos tend to suffer from coupling droop, so my usual solution is to replace the cranked couplings with straight couplings. Normally this works for me if using Kadees as well, but one end only on my D6520 seems to have a little less slop than usual for Heljan. The simple expedient for that was to bend the plastic part of the Kadee downwards slightly to line up properly with the TC couplings.

No, I haven't had that problem at all. I do note the lights turn off after a certain period of inactivity - I have yet to work out how to stop that, but it is probably just a simple CV change somewhere. I have five EPBs, which often get run as multiples of two or three units (1 x green and 2 x blue, or more up to date, 1 x blue/grey and 1 x NSE). All have the Lenz Silver decoders. I like them for two reasons: one is that they seem to match the motor characteristics of both Bachmann and Hornby very well, and the other is that by having all the same decoders, it is much, much easier to match the behaviours of the units when in multiple (consisted). I have, in the past run up to three 4 CEPs in multiple, even with an MLV as well, and up to four Hornby BILs/HALs. None have shown the problem you have experienced. I hope you are able to work out what is causing it, or alternatively, that you can find an equally good decoder for your EPBs instead of the Lenz. That Zimo decoder I stuck in the last CEP is good but seems to have a slight buzz, where the Lenz ones don't make any noise (or, rather, they don't make the motor make noise!).

My second 4TC unit arrived from Kernow today, so after decoder fitting it was sent around in tandem with the first one. Both have Kadee #19 couplings fitted at the outer ends, but the inter-unit spacing is just a little too close for comfort. It is nice to have the gangway faces touching, but I am not confident they'll like the inner radius curves. Even so, 416 (blue) and 404 (blue/grey) and class 33/1 D6520 were sent around at increasing speeds until flat out with no incidents or problems on the outer radius. I also scored a relatively cheap green 4 CEP unit from eBay (yes, yet another one!). That was fitted with a Zimo MX634D decoder (in the absence of any Lenz decoders that I prefer in all of the non-sound EMUs from Hornby and Bachmann), after a quick and successful test on DC first. As this one duplicated 7141 I already owned, I renumbered this one with transfers from ModelMaster. It is now 7156, which is really a unit from the phase 2 batch so is not 100% accurate ... but who will really notice when it is running in service? Unfortunately, ModelMaster made a small error with the sets of transfers and only provide one unit number per sheet, whereas the CEPs really require two such numbers (one each side of the gangway, over the cab windscreens), so I had to laboriously make up two extra unit numbers. That took twice as long as doing the rest of the numbers for the entire unit! I used T-cut to remove the old numbers, and the complete new ones just slid into place. I'll investigate swapping some of the smaller numerals or blanks for the headcodes from some of the spares I already have, just to update the model's era slightly.

My blue/grey unit 404 arrived today. I have run out of suitable decoders (like the Lenz Silver), so stuck a Zimo MX634D in it as a temporary measure until I can either buy more Lenz decoders or swap one out from something else that doesn't specifically need one (my NSW interurban unit has one where any other 21-pin decoder with two or more functions would do the job). It means I can't operate the interior lights on 404 for the present. I fitted Kadee #19 couplers to it, as per my previous unit, 416, then coupled it all up, with 416 leading 404 and D6520, and sent them all around at low speed at first, but worked up to full speed with no dramas or incidents. The inter unit coupling is a little close, with the gangways touching (which looks nice but may not go around anything tighter than my outer radius curves). I may try swapping the couplings to #20 to allow just a teensy bit more leeway. I'll post a video clip at some point after I get the interior lights working on 404.