SRman

Melbourne's CBD: the grounds of the old Royal Exhibition building. A slightly earlier photo, looking across towards Mount Dandenong from the upper floor of our local medical centre. Shame about the wires going across.

I tried it just now and it still came up with the Adult content warning, but there was a clickable 'button' below that that asked if I wanted to proceed anyway. That worked.

You really need to set the Power Cab as address 2. It should cope with addresses for attached devices (the Pro Cabs) up to 6, I think, but addresses 3, 4, or 5 will definitely work with the Power Cab v1.65 (without the 'B'). Incidentally, even with the older v1.28, I successfully had three Power/Pro Cabs attached, even though officially only two were supported - it was a feature not documented by NCE or officially acknowledged by them, but it was known by some of the more savvy users.

My experience with multiple Power Cabs over many years was that even with different versions, they will work together, with a couple of minor procedures. At one stage I had versions 1.28 and 1.10, but all are now 1.65 (but not 1.65B). 1. Firstly, use the lower version number as the 'slave' unit. 2. Ensure you have allocated a different cab address to the second Power Cab - the main one should have address 2. 3. Do not plug the 'slave' in until the command unit has powered up. When you are eventually able to get the upgrade chips, by all means upgrade them to the same version. V1.65 allows you to set a power up delay on the 'slave' unit, thus doing away with the need to plug it in after the main one has powered up.

I would suggest that if you swap bodies, swap the cab interiors to keep those with their original chassis. That should hopefully keep the light connections correct for the chassis.

Coming in late to this topic, I had a similar problem a while back with a Hornby Railfreight 56, but when I disconnected the bogies and cardan shafts, I found it was the motor end bearings that had the "concrete grease". Having freed that up with some difficulty - a combination of oil and brute force got it moving - even so, I lubricated everything I could, including the shaft bearings in the gear towers, and it now runs perfectly again. The biggest problem I had was with the very limited clearance between the motor and the flywheels, trying to get the oil into that space.

I am adding the scenery to extend Church Hill and fill the gap at the back between the trackbed and the backscene. I have left a slight gap behind the lifting section that won't show from normal viewing angles - it is cvered by the woodwork that the hinges are mounted on anyway, so will merely be painted so as not to interfere with the opening of that section. I am not satisfied with the track at the joint between the lifting section and the main boards to the right, so am considering relaying that short section to the right of the points coming out of the fiddle yard. I'll use longer pieces of track off the lifting boards, shortening the lines on the main boards to match, and probably have sliding fishplates just to ensure perfect alignment. The underside of the lifting bits of track will have cork glued to them to allow the ballast to go up with them and not leave any gaps in the scenery there. I'll post more pics as I progress with all this. Doing little bits at a time results in the bigger job being finished eventually. p.s. The lifting section starts where the brick wall currently ends in the photo.

Would this be of interest, Wilwahabri? Hamburg Hochbahn trains : https://www.modellbahnshop-lippe.com/Drive+trains/Electric+Railcars/Zeitgeist%2D441002/gb/modell_317536.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter717&utm_content=Zeitgeist+441002

That often works for some things with our two delinquents, but if either of them gets into the train room, they just ignore the treats. Changing tack a bit, I managed to get a rare shot of Sykes showing his colours. A tri-coloured male is fairly unusual. A couple of weeks ago we had a rather hot spell, so the last thing one needs is a hot, fluffy cat cuddling up to one. Hattie shows that she knows how to relax. (Yes, that's me wearing shorts!).

LSWR M7 0-4-4T rumbles past with a 4-wheel brake coach leading its train. The new LSWR style signal box stands in a windswept location at one end of Newton yards.

The bus kits are with the MBF. The trams and ex-Transport Replicas cars and lorries seem to be with KW Trams.

That works, although what you'll often find with the Powercab is that it works even if it doesn't get the read-back from the decoder. Anotehr alternative is to put the decoder into a suitable locomotive, program it, then pull it out and install in the TC.

Some pre-grouping fun: LSWR meets LBSC. I have been trundling my new Hornby generic 4-wheel coaches around with suitable motive power. The LBSC coaches arrived a few weeks ago, and have been running around behind a Bachmann E4 0-6-2T 579, to be joined today by the LSWR set seen behind Hornby M7 0-4-4T 245. I tried to position these to hide any more modern road vehicles in the background, but failed in ne of te photos. I think the LBSCR must have had more money than the LSWR ... they could afford to hire a loco crew! (Note to self: must add crews to my M7s, and a whole heap of other locomotives and units too).

There was a reference in one of the earlier posts that the website will be updated tomorrow (1st March) to allow pre-orders. I haven't seen any prices yet, but it's a fair bet they will be the same as the existing class 24s.

Some oldies: a couple of photos of my previous layout, which was dismantled after 2009. The camera resolution was not great. I have photoshopped some background clutter out in the first shot, but the second simply used a tablecloth as the backdrop; actual layout images are only tweaked for brightness and contrast.

I am sorry to hear of Geoff's passing. I have had aquite a few very pleasant and informative online exchanges with him. My condolences to his family and friends.

I can't answer that one, but my suggestion would be to go on YouTube abd watch a few cab rides through areas that have deep cuttings and/or retaining walls. Quite afew lines out of London's termini have such features, as do several of the other major cities.

Yes, there have been wall bracket mounted models, but another possible solution, one that I will be using for a restricted area on my Underground lines, would be a gantry of some sort, mounted to the walls. Mine will be a simple girder affair as favoured by LT, with one end mounted to the retaining wall, and the other either on a support post or attached to the viaduct walls that carry the main lines above.

Not exactly layout-related, but an adjunct to it: I have just rehashed the computer I use for programming and so on, as well as adding more storage for trains. I have been using a proper computer desk, but after a good deal of thought, I realised that I am constantly to-ing and fro-ing between the computer and the programming track, so don't really need to sit at the computer for long periods. I decided to investigate using a sit/stand desk together with another Ikea Alex drawer unit. Working out the space available, I found there was sufficient room for the Alex unit and the computer itself, but a sit/stand desk would have to be off-centre. With only 68cm available on the Alex, I found that a desk from Officeworks would sit there but needed an extension on top of the Alex to support it fully. A trip to Bunnings yielded a piece of melamine surfaced chipboard at 120 x 59.5 cm, where I needed 88 x 48 cm, so that was cut down then some melamine edging added (iron-on strips). I didn't do a brilliant job, but it passes muster at normal viewing distances. To make sure the top was secure, I added some screws drilled into each end of the Alex unit, so there is no chance of it overbalancing at the ends. The end result blends in nicely with the existing units and means I don't have extra trains sitting on top of the other Alex units. I should add that my train room computers (past and present) have always been obsolete ones that have been replaced over the years. The current one started off as my good one around 12 years ago, was then cascaded to my wife after I built a new one several years later, with her old one going to the train room. That procss continued over the years until this one became mine again (my wife only uses her laptop nowadays). If this one dies, I will probably replace it wth an old model from my workplace (a high school), for which I know the specifications (they are Intel i7s, and a part of my job was maintaining them!). The current one is a Pentium D, so probably has a limited life left in it.

Going back to my comment in my earlier post regarding the Hornby tension lock couplings allowing the coaches to hunt a little, I tried some short Bachmann couplings, which reduced the inter-coach gaps a bit but still allowed the fore and aft movement, so I tehn tried some Roco close couplings. Those reduced the gap too much to the point that the buffers would not quite allow the coaches to traverse the tightest curves (radius 3), so it was then onto the Hornby close couplings that came with the Maunsell coaches. They seem to work fine - no problems to report yet. And just tonight after getting home from a friend's place, I received an email from Kernow saying that they are now sendng my rake of LSWR liveried 4-wheelers.

The two end brake coaches are in 'proper' Cherry Paints LT brown, but I think it looks too dark. It may lighten a bit with matt varnish, but I haven't tried that. The lightest colour (I think Humbrol #118) seems a little too light to me, but I have been inclined to go with the intermediate shade (Humbrol Leather #62), perhaps with a bit of weathering grime added. I am still experimenting, tried Humbrol #70 as well, and there are still three shades of brown in use, but none left with the lightest and darkest tones. I'll have to take a more recent photo. Eventually, the intention is that I'll hack the ends of the brakes to add real windows rather than the painted-on ones I have at present, and maybe I'll remove the duckets and drill out some extra windows for the guard's compartments. One other improvement for running purposes was to fit metal wheelsets.

You've got that sorted. I was going to warn you that that is the most tedious part of the Sturgeon A kits. They are easy enough to build, but drilling out the handrail holes and bending them all is (as I said) tedious. Like you, I used a bending jig for mine. It is worth it in the end, though.

I succumbed and bought four of the LBSC 4-wheelers, with plans to buy four or five of the Hatton's coaches when they come along. I know these are all generic but they are better than anything I can knock up and paint, and fill a gap where I have locomotives and goods wagons for the pre-grouping railways, but no suitable coaches ... until now. I posed the set with Terrier n0. 82, 'Boxhill', then actually ran the set with E4 579. The 4-wheelers are very free running, and tended to hunt slightly at slow speeds, so I will experiment with alternative couplings, hopefully closing the gaps a little in the process. Those Farish coaches did have some lovely lining, at least on the Southern Railway set. I scoured the web for a few more in any livery I could get, so they could be used to represent London Transport Dreadnought coaches to go with my Heljan Bo-Bo electric locos. I have experimented with various shades of brown, and I think they look good, even though, like the Hornby and Hatton's 4 and 6-wheel vehicles, these are entirely generic in nature, and not at all accurate for either Southern or LT types. They still look the part (photo added to illustrate the effect).

While not TTS, this may help with ideas too: I wired a 'Hogwarts Castle' model for headlamps and a firebox flicker, but having used a 2-function decoder, I used the yellow wire for the firebox (and white for the headlamps). I was able to program a flicker on this decoder, but as others have said, this may not be possible with the Hornby TTS. I reprogrammed the outputs to be constantly on for both the white and the yellow wires (i.e. on in both forward and reverse modes). With the TTS decoder, if you are not using the white and/or yellow wires for lamps or other outputs, these can be used for the firebox glow, possibly with both red and orange LEDs together. There's no law that says these wires can only be used for head and tail lights.

I recently bought a green RB (S1765) and FO. The FO has a yellow cant rail stripe, but the RB out of the box does not have a red stripe, so I have just added them from some Fox Transfers red striping, which had to be cut in half to get the correct depth for the Mk 1. I was a little worried that the green base would show through the red, but the transfers actually have really good density, so all is well.